The 5 Part Process to Networking Effectively - From the Archive

u yeah i feel like i could rule word i know i could be what i want to put at all in it like a days on on a less travel never looking back hey what's up folks interim producer bar shop here again with another episode from the archive this one is a quick hit probably from about two years ago sean on dives into his networking process which felt like a good fit based on our episode from wednesday if you haven't listened to that episode go back and listen immediately sean talks about his trip to la and within that episode he tells a story about business partner bin who in his words is the best network he's ever met so this episode i'm about to play felt like a really nice pairing to that episode but i will stop talking and let sean take it from here enjoy alright let's talk about networking that is one of the most annoying buzz words in the business world nobody wants to be a network or nobody i know at least that i nobody i like wants to be a network right when we think of network i see sc suit wearing kind of like fake complementing business card handing out or you know loves to be at a conference and just you know believes that the only way to to send an email is to shoot it your way right so nobody wants to be a network or but everybody everybody wants a badass ass network and prob you've probably heard the phrase your network is your network worth and it's not true but there's some truth in it like all like all cliches and so you know i wanted to to tell you about kind of the way i think about this stuff and i used to have this thing i i i wrote i half wrote a book like ten years ago all the things i had learned my first year doing a startup and i never published it maybe i should someday these are it's turning now into i guess podcasts like this or my newsletter go to sean prairie dot com you should be subscribing that's where i put out stories like this but anyhow the the the phrase i used was i said networking is like noah arc right you know the the old fable story of noah arc so here's kind of how it's like noah arc you have the flood and i would say for most business most start up businesses the just assume the flood is coming right for a startup up by default you're gonna fail you have to like do something to get out of failure into success and so the flood is coming and your network is your best chance of surviving because within your network you're gonna find knowledge expertise capital strategy different things that you're gonna need in order to survive okay number two build it before you need it so you don't wanna try to build your network when you need a network right if you wanna fund raise that's not the time to build your connections with investors it's it's too late at that point and it's very transparent exactly what you're doing is very transactional so you don't build a real network you don't build real relationships and so you wanna be placing deposits into those bank accounts for months or years before you ever are trying to make a withdrawal and so that's why build it before you need it and you wanna build it with the intention of it being mutually beneficial right you wanna be depositing so that they have something and their their account from you you're giving before you're you're gonna end up asking for something number three keep it kosher so know in the store of noah arc god you know granted noah and as followers the right to kill some of the animals in eat their meat but you know it had to be done in a certain way and it's the same principle with your network you wanna use but don't abuse your network everybody hates that guy who's just constantly asking and constantly using the network rather than it being a true you know friendship or or sort of ally ship where we'll help each other out and we'll we'll know where the line is where you're asking for too much okay number four you want two of everything so what i do when i build a network and this is i've never heard anyone else talk about this but it's it's made common sense to me and i think you should do it too is you wanna pair up every member in your network with another so often when you're networking you're going to people that are let's say more successful more knowledgeable more connected than that's very frequently the case and so that creates a the potential for kind of a one way dynamic right and you gotta think why would this why would this person on the other side if i'm gonna if i know why i would want to be connected with them because they're they're smart and their their experience and they have capital they have connections why do they wanna connect with me well first have some confidence they wanna connect to you because you're interesting person doing interesting things that you're fun to be around that you're kind and you help them you know without them even needing to ask but the second thing is when you're building a network you don't want them all just to be connected to you you want them to be connected to each other right so when i meet somebody and i i mean have two people in my network i erased introduce those two dots to each right i want them to connect with each other and now i've added value to both of them just by connecting them with each so that's how you want two of everything just like know had two of every animal on the arc and and by the way i used to feel this weird sense of like i don't know jealousy because i would introduce two people that ruin my network and all of a sudden they would become best friends and they would do business together and often they wouldn't even be including me in that stuff and i used to think man maybe i shouldn't maybe i should be trying to keep everybody to myself but obviously that's a naive short sided way of thinking about it it's a natural human human reaction but it's not the right response the right response is to say hell yeah i want all the people around me to be winning and i have so much abundance in my life of success of connections of all this stuff you know i couldn't even use anymore my cup is overflowing and so if they're having a great time together they're doing business together fantastic that's a win for me those are two people in my network who are winning because i was able to connect those dots and the last piece number five do the work building the arc was a lot of work and you gotta do the work yourself you gotta a google stock everybody you gotta find common ground you gotta make time if they like hiking then you better lace them up and you better meet them on the trail at six am right don't be lazy and don't suggest generic coffee meetings and and that stuff this is more like dating it's courtship right you you gotta figure out what other person's into you gotta speak their language and you gotta you gotta help them out and you're not doing it just to smooth with them right you're doing it because that's just the decent friendly thing to do is to think about what the other person interested in and try to meet them where they are and so if you wanna build a great network you gotta do those five things let's recap them prepare for the flood number two build it before you need it number three keep it kosher don't don't you know use but don't abuse your network number four get two of everything pair people in your network to each other everyone who you meet you should introduce to another person in your network and number five do the work don't be lazy and so yeah networking it could be sc if you're if you're sort of talented list if you're you're sort of talent list or catalyst about the way you go about it but i think it's different it's maximizing one of the most valuable resources around you the people that that that are that are in your orbit and it's a renewable resource it's in your control you you're able to build it and it's like sort of the gift that keeps on giving once you build it so that's it noah ark for networking if you like this this little story you should sign it for my newsletter i put out stories like this once or twice a week and i do a lot more of these written than i do in audio so so if you like this stuff you should join it's just my name sean p dot com and go sign up i think there's like thirty thousand people on there now we wanna get that to a hundred by the end of the year alright enjoy