Full Transcript: MOTM #466 Networking for Newbies

[Transcript starts at 1:08]

Hey, hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Today we're answering yet another question from another dope Insta homie. Morgan, my girl, thank you for submitting this one. Both of the episodes from this week are from folks submitting questions.

Um, and I love them. I love the people and I love the questions. So if you have questions, folks, please submit them at any point in time. It doesn't have to be just when I have a question box up. Any point in time. You wanna text me? 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5. I promise it is me. If you wanna drop a comment on YouTube, you want to DM me.

Don't send me an email, we'll not get back to that. Uh, if you wanna DM me, @themovementmaestro, happy to hear from you and turn it into an episode. So the question today was how to network better; for collabs to get on other people's podcasts in the real world, hanging flyers, going out and doing real work to get more potential eyes on you.

And I really like this question because it's got a few parts to it. Um, and just of note, if you submit a question, I will answer it. But understand that I will probably dig deeper, not because I think that you don't know what you want, but because that's where my mind immediately goes. Blame it on my PT roots, where it's not just about treating symptoms and you know, fixing symptoms.

It's about identifying the actual root cause, the root problem, and looking to go after that. So when I read these questions, I'm asking myself, Why are they asking this? What am I hearing when they ask this? And I'm gonna usually riff on that. So if you ask a question, I don't want you to be scared, is what I'm saying.

I don't want you to be scared to ask a question cause you're like, Maestro's gonna tear me apart. Never, I'm never gonna roast you, I'm never gonna judge you on this. But I will probably dissect the question a bit in my brain first and, and then, and then go and answer this. With this question, if you read it again, how to network better dash for collabs to get on other people's podcast, in the real world, hanging flyers dash, going out and doing the real work to get more potential eyes on you.

I think perhaps you can hear it's kind of different questions in there. The initial part, how to network better, that makes me ask the question, why do you wanna network better? Which I think this person has tied into the last part of that question, which is to get more potential eyes. Of note, those things are not necessarily directly related or like immediately related, meaning networking doesn't immediately need- le- Wow.

Networking doesn't immediately need- lead. What a, what a day. Networking doesn't immediately lead to more eyes. It can over time for sure, but I don't want you to think that if I network, I'm definitely getting more people today. Like let's just separate those two things. So first resource for you, if you are interested in specific networking strategies, check out episode 32, not of my podcast, but of Danny Coleman's podcast. Uh, it's called Take Care Radio. That's Jill Coleman's B- brother actually. And I know about this episode cause we all went out to dinner, um, to celebrate some birthdays and Jill asked, Hey, what was, what would be your number one recommendation or suggestion for networking?

Right? What would be your number one networking tip? And she's like, we recorded about this today. And you know, was a bunch of us sitting there and she was like, I'd love to hear all of yours. Um, so check out that episode if you wanna hear Jill's suggestions. You wanna hear Danny Coleman's suggestions. Um, but we were talking about it at dinner and then I actually sent him a DM a little while after that cause I was rereading for the eleventy billionth time the book, the Go-Giver. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. I know I talk about it a lot bec for a reason. Um, we can link that in the show notes. And yes, it will be an affiliate link because Mama didn't raise no fool. And by affiliate link, I mean Amazon affiliate link so I will get approximately one penny if you purchase through it.

Uh, but, at dinner, they asked for, uh, I'll come back to the Go-Giver at dinner they asked what was the number one networking tip, and mine was actually to connect people. In the book the Go-Giver they have this concept of a super connector, uh, which is where we're gonna tie this in, but that's just something that's always been something I do and I really enjoy doing. Is like, if this person and this people, this person should know each other, I'm gonna introduce them. And it, it's like, I like it. I enjoy doing that. Being like, oh, I know a guy, I know a girl. I know someone that would be perfect for that. It has proven to be a phenomenal networking strategy and the Go-Giver and the Go-Giver's definition of a network is why I think it has been so beneficial to me.

So in the book, the Go-Giver, they redefine network as a group of people who are personally invested in seeing you succeed. I love that. A group of people who are personally invested in seeing you succeed. I think this is a phenomenal reframe, and if we view a network in this way, we might come up with some different approaches to networking.

Namely that we put the interest of others first and become personally invested in helping them succeed. What?! Flip the script, flipin' the script. If we flip it one more time and say, well, why, why would that help us? Why would that ultimately help us? O Obviously based on the definition, if it's a group of people who want to personally see you succeed, that would help you. But how does helping them succeed, how does being personally invested in helping them succeed, help you? Because if we flip it and we think about this as like the recipient of that, I know that I personally wanna help people who I feel like genuinely care about me.

People who I feel like genuinely want to see me succeed, yes, I wanna help them out as well. It becomes this, you know, reciprocal thing, this symbiotic amazing relationship there. So to me, the answer to the first part of the question, how to network better is to focus on helping other people succeed. I don't want you to just frame it as that.

Just say it like, I'm gonna focus on helping other people succeed. No, I want you to actually focus on that, and center it. The action item here is literally supporting other people. Promoting their stuff. Actually sharing your expertise, and you can do this for free. I think about the relationships that I've fostered in the DMs, just from being like, one, I support them, uh, you know, I, I can say kind things, but maybe you actually subscribe to their things.

You buy their work, you buy their coaching. Maybe you share your expertise. And in this case, I'm thinking about Ben Patrick, who's become a good friend of mine because I helped him out in the DMs just kind of nicheing down, honestly. And some social media stuff. And same thing with @SharonSaysSo, helping her out in the DMs and, and just sharing about social media in the beginning.

And then she hurt her ankle, uh, and I was helping her with that, just literally wanting to see her succeed. Kind of like in life, right? So don't just, don't just, you know, think about it. Be about it. Okay. 

The second part of the question that was asked, I think is actually more of a, uh, solution, right?

Because it was, um, actually no, that's gonna be the third part there. The second part, which is, which was how, basically how to get people to wanna do collabs with you and how to get them to invite you on their podcast. You can always ask. But realistically, you want to be asked, right? You can absolutely go and be like, I'm gonna go and pitch myself. By all means.

But realistically, to get the most out of this and to see the most benefit from this, you're gonna want to be asked and have them ask you. So what we're gonna dive into is how to get people to want to ask you. Um, just like a little bit of an aside here. I, I did, um, Ramit's course recently, um, Endless Audience, and he talked about this. Like how- he's a real big SEO guy.

He's a real big, you know, into blogging and writing, and he spoke about this, how guest blogging is basically horrendous. Like, pitching yourself for these things can be the worst. He's all about the SEO strategies, which is gonna be like, write your own content and look to really optimize it so that people search and it gets found.

The kind of double ba whammy, double bammy, double whammy here is getting featured, you know, in something that someone has written or getting asked by somebody to be, uh, you know, an expert or something like that. Or they're doing a piece about you and then you get back links from their content. So a big, you know, the, the New York Times or something like that.

If they did an article on you and then they linked to your website, that's actually, that's going to be the most beneficial for you. Right. It's not gonna be you pitching yourself necessarily unless you go and write for them, unless you're like, I just wanna be a writer. That's different. Okay, so in terms of getting people to want to ask you to be on their podcast or wanting to do collabs, number one, here is your own personal success and proficiency.

And ultimately those things, helping that person in some way, shape or form. They wanna learn from you. You could help their audience. Maybe you've helped them in the past and you're like, dude, this was awesome. I wanna support this person and I wanna share them with my people. And lastly, this part here is kind of like, I don't wanna say it's a caveat, I wanna say it's more of like, um, I'm thinking about what I do when I'm gonna ask someone to be on, that yes, I wanna learn from them or their, uh, their, their expertise can help my people or they've helped me and I'm like, man, I learned a lot from you and like, this was awesome. I also wanna see that they have some skin in the game. Especially if it's like someone that's newer, like, I'm not gonna promote someone that has like one post and really isn't doing anything, right?

So if you're looking to get invited on, like yes, you have to be in the game as well. You gotta be showing up as well. The reason that I don't love or don't really promote, promote or push asking and pitching yourself is because oftentimes that lends itself to the interaction- interaction being more transactional. Which isn't the worst thing, but it probably won't get you the results that you desire, right? When it's transactional, they speak about you differently and they promote you differently and push things differently than when it's relational, right? How much they're willing to say, how much time they're willing to give. It's just the, the, if it's on a, if it's on a podcast, you can hear it in their voice when they're just like, I really like this person and I trust them, and I would love it if you gave them, you know, a look see, right?

So this is, you know, part of the reason that I promoted Danny Coleman's podcast. It's not transactional, it's relational, which if you're wondering transactional versus relational that was Monday's episode, 4 65, talking about handling what to do when people default on their um, payment plans, right? 

The last option here in terms of, you know, getting people to want to bring you on is, again, this is kind of more in the pitch side of things, but that lateral networking meaning like you're bringing people onto your podcast that are your peers, especially if you're in the beginning of things and you're all kind of new to things, right?

You're, you're kind of hanging with that group and we're not looking to like go to somebody that's, that, the, the scales are clearly unbalanced there. 

The third part of Mo's question, which was about, um, kind of networking in the real world, which I'm gonna amend to say in-person. Um, things like hanging flyers. I think that this is the one that's actually more of a solution than anything.

And this is definitely a little bit outside of my zone of genius cause I live in the online space. But I did start in-person. Um, and I do believe that the easiest and fastest way to start an online business is going to be in person. And part of the reason for this is something that, uh, Sean Pastuch calls the in between moments or the in between times, and he spoke about this on a podcast episode that I did with him on his pod, on his podcast, the Active Life podcast. We can link that. Thank you, Courtney. Um, where he's talking about being in a gym and how it's easier to build trust with potential clients when you're in a gym, because there's the in between moments, right? Where if you are the person that's going to work out at the gym and you see a trainer, you see them when they're not working out with clients.

You see them, they're just walking around when they're typing on their phone or texting on their phone when they're just, when they're working out, maybe. The in between moments, not just when they're interacting with you. That is difficult on social media. You typically only see when they're act interacting with you or they're selling something or they're promoting a service, something like that.

Um, which is one of the benefits of, of Stories and why I want people to use stories. Cuz it can give people a little bit of insight. Yes. It, it can be, you know, um, what's the word? I'm, I'm- curated. Um, but at least it is some of those in between moments where it's just like, this is what this person just does in their off time.

This is what this person just, or just this is just how this person is as a person. But in the real world, you can build trust, fa fa, you can build trust faster because people are privy to those in between moments. 

Um, so you can check that episode if you wanna hear more about that. Um, but in terms of networking in person, heck yeah, pound the pavement and I would say look to see how you can provide value at local businesses.

To me, the best bet is to support them first. Whether you're like a patron of them, um, you're buying things from them, whatever. My first or best example with this is CrossFit, right? I got my start in terms of the cash-based model working out of my CrossFit box. My first CrossFit, CrossFit box, CrossFit 718.

I didn't go in there being like, Hey, I wanna be the PT here. I went in there and joined the gym. I was just like, I wanna be a member, and I bought all the swag. I still buy all the swag, right? This was, that was my first home. I went to the competitions. I did the, you know, the other classes that they offered. I was friends with the coaches.

I was just a part of the community. I, I, I went to class, like multi, I think of one point it was probably like five days a week. Like, I don't know how my body held together, but it did, like, I became a, a big part, you know, of that community. And then it became, hey, how can I provide value? I do this thing, let me, you know, help out the coach with this.

Um, I could do a mobility class. And then it was like, okay, I could offer this as a service, and hey, you have a space that's available, you know, could I rent this? It will help out the athletes, keep them, um, keep them coming to class. It helps, you know, helps the business itself. But it didn't start with me just being like, Hey, what can I get from this business?

It was, how can I support you? How can I be truly invested in your succes. Uh, an example, an example, what am I saying? A resource for this, this kind of, um, in-person approach to networking, my guy Chad, I promoted him a few podcasts ago. He is not at all new to the cash, cash based model, um, but he is my newest resource for folks that are looking to take their insurance based physical therapy practice and turn it into a cash-based practice. He is the go-to guy for that and he actually just did a post not too long ago. We'll link it in the show notes. Um, he did a post not too long ago about some networking ideas and I was like, these are really good. And things that I didn't really have to do because I wasn't in the, in the in-person space for years upon years, upon years upon years. 

Uh, as far as it goes or as far as getting, uh, more eyes on you.

Right? That was the last part of the question. Cause the first part was like, Hey, networking ideas and networking as a newbie. And the why was, hey, to get more eyes. Let's answer those separately, which we did. We just went to the networking side of things. As far as it relates to getting, um, more eyes from the social media perspective.

Few suggestions from you. If you've heard this podcast before, you listened before, it's the same things because once is never. So number one, probably most important is time. You have to give things time. You cannot replace time, you cannot expedite time. Any story that you think is fast, rest assured you are only seeing the final chapters there.

It's a total iceberg scenario where you're seeing the top and there's all this shit underneath. I think of someone like, you know Alex Hormozi, who kind of feels like he came on the scene and like just took it by storm. But dude's been doing these things for years and years and years and years. He said specifically about his podcast that he had it for four years before, like started doing really well.

But in terms of the online space and getting all these eyes, that part of that was easier because he came into the, into the online space with this huge business and this huge wallet, right? And people were like, oh, this guy has something that I want. Right? But all that took all of these years to build.

It wasn't just, you know, I did it in a year. I did it in 18 months. He said he started to, started to see traction on social in 18 months, but that's again, because of all the things he did for the years before that. Second part here, be prolific and consistent with your content creation. This creates more touchpoints, which is more opportunities to build trust and to demonstrate your expertise and to get wins for your potential clients, customers, consumers.

With this social media content, do not just share your opinion. People don't care about your opinion. They don't know you. They don't know why they should care. Solve problems for them first. Provide value for them first. Demonstrate that you are genuinely invested in their success and wanting them to succeed.

Why? Because you're helping them out. Being prolific, being consistent with your content creation will also help with the luck factor, which is very real thing. You know where some people hit it, some people don't hit the algorithm. Next part. I've been talking about this like kind of ad nauseum lately, and it's true.

When the space is crowded, you will not cut through the noise by yelling louder. You're gonna cut through the noise by being specific. You gotta niche down, right? Get specific about the problem you solve and who you solve it for. This ties back into the the first point though, which was give it time.

Because nicheing down for most people is a process that takes time and it's more so about learning your no than anything else, and also learning that when you chase all the rabbits, you go home hungry. Most people that are multi-passionate, you know, they come from an in-person, um, you know, brick and mortar where they're like, couldn't niche down but so much they're kind of scared to do so.

And so they have to go online and be like, well, I can help this person, this person, this person. They have to realize and, and do that and be like, oh, actually this isn't working and I'm attracting the wrong kind of audience. They have to experience that first before they're like, okay, I'm willing to, to niche down.

So there is that time factor there. Expertise. You gotta get really good at what you do. I understand that this requires more reps, which is where it ties into, hey, maybe go in person first. Right? Get really good at what you do. Get really good at getting results for people, which doesn't come from just reading, right?

There's that James Clear quote, I think: if you wanna learn quickly, read. If you wanna learn deeply, do. You gotta be able to get results for people. Tying into what I said just a few minutes ago in terms of like getting those reps though. Cause you're like, well how do I get the reps? Cause it's like I don't have the eyes, pound the pavement.

Go in person. Working for someone else is a very viable option. And maybe you work for someone else online. That could also be a thing. Um, cause folks always say when it comes to finding your people, they're like, where are they hanging out? They're probably buying from somebody else. That's probably where they're hanging out.

So the question is, can you work for those people who they're buying for? This isn't to steal customers, this is to get reps to figure out, do you like doing this thing? This is to start your career. Starting my career in traditional, in a traditional outpatient ortho setting was the best thing I ever could have done.

Learning on someone else's dime was the best thing I ever could have done. And then from there, I moved and started my own thing. You know, eventually I went, you know, left physical therapy all together, but I got those initial reps and I got those initial clients and customers and the proficiency and the skillset and the expertise and just all of the things that are afforded by those, those early days from working for someone else.

Tying into this, this idea of working for somebody else so you can get the, the reps is focus on the early adopters. Whether those early adopters are people that you know are customers that are coming because you work for somebody else, or they are your own personal initial clients, get results from them. They will spread your message farther and faster than you ever could.

I get it? It's like, well, where do I get that first person from? Probably somebody, you know. Right. We say it all the time. I say it all the time, just like we, the in sex and the city. When Samantha's like first come, the gays, then the girls in the industry, when she's talking to Smith Jared, when I'm talking to you, it's first comes your family, then your friends, then the strangers.

So it's probably gonna be someone that's in your ecosystem that's going to trust you with these things that you're doing. Get results from them, the best results possible. They can talk to other people. So I actually got a haircut today. And, uh, my, um, the woman who cuts my hair, my barber, she was talking about how she just finally got back into working out and I was like, how did you find this person?

And she goes, oh, it's like my cousin's wife, or something like that. That makes sense. Alright. There are people in your immediate ecosystem right now that would probably pay for your services or could utilize your services. Start there. 

And then lastly, as it relates to getting more eyes in the online space, support people and build genuine relationships.

So this could be laterally or this could be, hey, if you, you know, wanna get on someone's radar, there is something to be said about paying to play where it's maybe you buy their courses first. Like for me, if I was ever gonna try and get Ramit to come on the podcast or something like that, yes, I would lean on the fact that I've bought his courses.

I have supported him in that way. I have shared his content in the past. I talk about him, I promote him on the podcast. It's not just this cold outreach where I haven't supported at him in any way, and then I'm like, Hey, but can you help me? Right. I am invested in his success as well. And there can be that, that um, creating of that network kind of that we spoke earlier.

You know, maybe not to that extent. Like, hey, Ramit's not part of my network, but also maybe. Right. But it's going to start with you actually supporting this person and being invested in their success, 100 percent. 

So last part here, just kind of zooming out again. You know I like to zoom out, zoom in, zoom out, zoom in. Right now, I do believe it's one of the best times to be alive. You can literally run your business through your phone. All right. You have access to all of these things. There's so many- there's- all the options, the tech, the support, all the things. You have in the palm of your hand. The flip side is that you have access to all of these things, which means that you can see other people running their businesses and you can, you know, be impacted by the marketing of other people who coach online business.

And this can create a bit of an artificial time squeeze where you think you should be doing more or you should think you should be doing things differently. They're not happening fast enough because you're not getting the results quickly. There is a huge time factor here. It doesn't take months to build an online business.

It takes years. Like let's go three to five years. I want you all to expand your timeline. If you were to expand your timeline, like there's nothing you can't achieve. But we put these like very short timelines on things and part of it's cuz we see it online and we're like, oh, we should be done. And like, this person wrote this thing and it's like really compelling and now I think maybe I should use that thing and they'll gimme results faster. When in reality you just need more fucking time.

You just need to keep going. Yes, there are some tactics out there that can help for sure, but I really want to put at the forefront just how long this takes. It's part of the reason that I don't like charging newbies high price points for business coaching. Because it makes them feel like they need to get a result quickly and they need to get, make money quickly.

It's like, well, I paid this coach $2,000, $10,000 and now like I'm making no money. Of course you're making no money. You just fucking started. Of course, right. I believe you need people to understand the time factor that is. Involved here, right? It doesn't take months to build an online business. It takes years.

The tough part here is that you can get an introduction to and an education in online business in just a few hours. You can start an Instagram account in just a few minutes, but the success that you're likely looking for in order to say, yeah, I have an online business, will take years. Right. 

So to recap this episode, the first part of the question, networking strategies, I want you to reframe it, right?

Give it a new definition, that one from the Go-Giver, a group of people who are personally invested in seeing you succeed. So the thought there is, how can I create this? Well, by being personally invested in the success of other people, right? Being personally invested in seeing other people succeed. The last part of that question, getting more eyes.

We listed those out. You can do in-person activities. My guy, Chad, is a big resource for that. You can work for somebody else. That's really, really valuable there and not talked about enough. Get results for your early adopters and be able to get results in general, right? Refine your craft. In the online space specifically, get specific, be specific, be prolific with your content creation.

There's more ways for people to, um, get results without even paying you. Right? More ways for people to just be in, in contact with you and be your eco eco ecosystem and get wins. Uh, and be consistent, right? Be specific, prolific, and consistent.

In summary, folks, the takeaway from this, how do I network better, how do I get more eyes? Be great at what you do. Be genuinely invested in helping other people succeed. And give it time. That's it.

I had fun with this one. Morgan, you the real MVP for submitting this question. The rest of you, if you have questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, slide into the DMs @themovementmaestro. Shoot me a text, 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5.

Let me know what you got questions about. I do have a question for you. Are you finding these episodes helpful? I know that I create a lot of content. I'm, I'm putting things out twice a week and I know it's a lot. Um, don't forget, you can always go to the website, themovementmaestro.com and you can actually search the podcast episodes.

So I know like on, on YouTube, on podcast players, you can't really search, but you can go to the website and search for specific keywords and the episodes will come up that will be that would be most relevant. So if you're ever wondering if I've done an episode already, you can absolutely go on the website and search, but I would love to hear from you and let me know if you're finding these episodes helpful.

That is my number one goal in making these, and yeah, I wanna know if you're picking up what I'm putting down. All right. That's it. That's all I got for you. As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.

Links & Resources For This Episode:

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Take Care Radio Ep. 32: How to Find a Mentor and Network Naturally with Jill Coleman
Read The Go-Giver
The Active Life Podcast Episode 184: Making your business fit your life, online – Shante Cofield
Check out my friend Chad on Instagram, and read his post HERE

Catch me on the socials: Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | TikTok | Facebook

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