Next Level Pros - #68: Network = Net Worth? Here's How to Become a Pro

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

The world of networking and building meaningful relationships is the topic of discussion in this episode as Chris shares a treasure trove of tips and tricks as how we can effectively expand our social and professional circles. From the power of consistency in networking, to the art of providing value in every interaction, this episode is packed with practical advice for those eager to boost their career or simply wanting to make more meaningful connections. Highlights: "Your network is your net worth.""The number one rule of success is consistency." "The number one rule of success is consistency." "Whenever you meet someone new, figure out a way to provide them value." Timestamps: 01:23 Consistency is Key in Networking 03:18 Understanding Others’ Needs 05:03 Morning Meetups 06:02 Consistently Following Up 09:22 Creating Real Value 14:06 Continuously Learning

What is currently driving your business? If you could wave a magic wand and something was accomplished, what would that be? Would that be more time with your family? Would that be more successful email campaigns or better on Pinterest or whatever it may be? Really starting to understand the needs and the wants and the desires of these people.

And rather than focusing on yourself, focusing on them, right? These are some of the keys. Yo, yo, yo, yo. Welcome to another episode of the Founder Podcast. Today, I am going to be shooting a solo. We're going to be talking about some really cool things. Most importantly, how to build your network. Now, you've heard the buzzword. You understand that by creating connections with people, we've all heard that your network is your net worth. But how does that apply and how do I develop out a better network? The reality is that this is something that you have to work on consistently your whole life. You will never arrive one day and be like, my network is completed. I no longer want to develop these types of relationships. So early on in my career, I was pretty devastated.

I was just like, dude, how does this networking thing work? I don't know a lot of people. How am I going to advance? My net worth is directly connected to this. Like, how am I going to get there? And so first and foremost, in any type of networking, the number one rule, like any rule of success is consistency. You have to consistently be reaching out, consistently asking to be in new rooms, consistently asking for invitations or to be put in contact with somebody else, right? Like these are things that you have to consistently do and it's never going to happen all in one motion. So I want to rewind back to one of the previous podcasts, one of the early episodes that we shot when we first launched this thing.

It was with Mr. Dan Fleischman. And I'm going to share with you some of his best practices that have really changed the game for me in continuing to build my network. One is whenever he meets somebody new, he's figuring out a way to provide them value. So what happens is that most of us, when we meet somebody new, we put, we save their contact on the phone and then we never follow up again. Or maybe we reach out when we need something and that just isn't how you network. So what you have to do is rather shift the way of thinking of rather when I need something, how do I provide something that this guy or gal needs? And the key thing is, one, if you meet them, you are in the right room. You're potentially one, two, three levels above you.

Now, if I meet Elon Musk, chances are I'm not going to be able to save his phone number or provide him immediate value because he's so many levels above me and what he is running. So the goal is one, I need to add value to somebody that's one, two, maybe three steps ahead of me in the game of life in accomplishing their different desires. And so I want to one, save their phone number. When I save their phone number, I need to put a few things in there. I need to take notes. What city is this person located in? What's important to them? Is it family? Is it their business? What's currently driving them? These are like some of the questions that you can ask to actually get past the surface level of what is it that you do?

You know, what have you accomplished? It's like, okay, what's important to you right now? What is currently driving your business? If you could wave a magic wand and something was accomplished, what would that be? Would that be more time with your family? Would that be more successful email campaigns or better on Pinterest or whatever it may be, really starting to understand the needs and the wants and the desires of these people. And rather than focusing on yourself, focusing on them, right? These are some of the keys, but when I save their number, I'm going to save what city they're at. I'm going to save these important aspects to them, what they're currently trying to accomplish. And then later, the way that I utilize this, according to Dan Fleischman, and has been very impactful for my own networking,

is whenever something new, I'm going to pay attention to the news, whether it's a new restaurant, a current event happening, or whatever it may be. Say I see a new restaurant opens in Las Vegas. I'm going to go to my contacts. I'm going to search Las Vegas, which should pop up a number of people that I have met that are from Las Vegas. And I'm going to send these people some, some actual value. Hey, this new restaurant opened up. I just thought of you thought that you might benefit from going to, it looks like it would be a cool thing, right? Real simple action, but it immediately anchors you to this particular restaurant. So whenever they go try it, whether they do or not, even if they drive by a billboard and they see the restaurant, they're going to be like, oh, Chris recommended that. Yeah, Chris, he's a pretty good guy.

I remember him from X, Y, or Z, whether it was at a dinner or a conference or whatever it may be. So you're going to constantly be anchored to value that you've created that is very simple. And this is something that you've created. That is very simple. And this is something that you can consistently do. The other thing that Dan Fleischman talked about was whenever you're in that city, get a hotel that's near downtown and host morning meetups. So plan your different activities, your meetings and stuff for afternoon, host a morning meetup. Hey, we're doing this at the hotel. We'd love to get together, grab some coffee, grab breakfast, whatever. Maybe just chat for the next couple hours and just send it out, blast it individually to each of those people that are in that city and see who shows up. And this is a networking thing that Dan has consistently done year after year. And so after

20 years, it compounds to, you know, when you're only meeting up with a couple people to now 20, 30, 40 people, and you're constantly adding value into these different people's lives. Some other things that I've used that are best practices is actually keeping a spreadsheet of, all right, who are the most important people to me right now that I need to stay in contact with? And constantly following up with those people, not taking or asking, but even just checking in. One of my favorite things to do is to grab my cell phone, shoot a video and say, Hey, Dan, it's Chris.

Just checking in. I see you're doing X, Y, and Z on social media. Super cool. Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be coming to your city. Would love to meet up sometime, check in. Or hey, if you'd be open, I'd love to do 15 minutes has, and I do it by looking at their social media, watching their stories, seeing what they're lacking, and really diving in and creating real value. Hey, Founder Nation, are you struggling with scaling your business? Whether that's you just kind of hit a low patch, you're making enough money, but you really wanted to get to the next level.

We have launched Founder Acceleration, which really helps to get to the next level, we have launched Founder Acceleration, which really helps you accelerate to the next group. You'll have the opportunity to meet with me and my team three times a month. Yes, me personally, I'm going to be hosting the call and the rest of my team three times a month. It's super cheap. It's way less than having a minimum wage employee. And there you're going to learn valuable skills as scaling, strategy, sales, marketing, culture, how you really dial in your offer, your leadership, produce your accountability. We're going to be covering it all. And we do it three times a month, one hour. You have a chance to ask all your questions. You have a chance to actually be on a hot seat and evaluate your current business.

We have people in India, the U.S., South America, literally all over the world that are a part of this group. And it's just $4.97 a month. Down below in the link, you're going to see founderacceleration.com. You can go ahead and apply there and join this incredible, fast growing group. Let's jump back in the show. Before you do it, join the group. Let's go. Now, the only way that you're going to be able to create real value is you have to develop a specific skillset. If your best skillset is literally just meeting people, you need to dive a little bit deeper. Is your skillset in connecting people? Is your skillset is literally just meeting people, you need to dive a little bit deeper. Is your skillset

in connecting people? Is your skillset in marketing? Is your skillset in operations, getting companies sold, whatever, whatever it may be, find a specialized skillset that a lot of rich people need your solution, because this will allow you to network into one, two, three levels above you by providing this type of value. For example, I'm an incredible sales trainer. One thing that I can do to add value, like, hey, I'm going to be in Scottsdale. I did this for this team. I would love to come in and just share some knowledge with your sales team and add some value. You don't need to pay me. I just want to show you that you're important to me and I would love to, you know, go and train your team and then maybe grab lunch afterwards, whatever, whatever it may be. Like these are different ways that you can develop. Maybe you can develop out a skillset in doing Instagram ads or, or different content or maybe it's email or whatever it may be. And you actually create it and you give it to them rather than saying, hey, mister, what do you need? The worst thing that you can do is ask somebody what they need. And you've heard me talk about this on recent episodes.

You've heard me talk. And the reason why this is so like destructive is because you're creating more work for that person to understand how they need to, they're going to have to go in and be like, well, what are you good at? How can you help me? Like you do not want to create more work for somebody. That is the least valuable thing that you can do. What you can do is really understand yourself, understand your skill set and go and see a weakness, see a way that you can go and create it, create the value and give it to them where it's easily applicable and they don't have to do work to be able to implement it. This is the biggest key in networking and providing value to other people. So if you're watching this video and you

see something that I'm struggling with, and it's really what you're really good at, like that is going to be the easiest way for you to network me with me, not DM me and saying, Hey, you have something that I can help with. Or, you know, I get these DMS all the time. It's crazy. It's like, Hey, I see that you need more impressions. Can I help you with more impressions? Like, don't ask, like figure out ways to get me more impressions and be like, Hey, look, this is what I did to be able to improve your impression rate. If you'd like to see more, let's jump in. Other, other than that, like, hope you enjoyed the additional traffic. Hopefully you enjoyed the value that I was able to create. And you do that consistently over and over again and actually really understand people's needs and desires and understand like weaknesses. You are going to be able to create so much value and that person will not be able to deny you out of their network. work. So another few things that are absolutely imperative to building a great network is you got

to pay to be in the right rooms, whether you're paying with time, energy, or money, you have to pay in some sort of aspect. For example, this, uh, this last week I was sitting in a incredible room with Dave Meltzer and the way that I got in this room with Dave Meltzer, there was like 50 individuals. We were all having dinner. I actually did a few things. I, I paid with time. I've been building my network over the years and getting in contact with people that he was in contact with energy. I went down and I paid with energy and money to shoot podcasts other than down in Southern California California where I came to his house with my crew and I shot a podcast to be able to get in front of him and made it convenient around his schedule. So I paid that way. And then the following week I went and I had dinner with him and hung out with him at his

podcast studio in Las Vegas. And so this, these things cost me time, energy, and money. So I ended up spending $250 to be in the same room for the dinner. It helped cover some hard costs. I made a trip down to Las Vegas in which I paid to be there, paid to stay there, and made it convenient. And I invested my time, right? Like all these things to get in that room with Dave Meltzer. There, Dave Meltzer's event, man, I've met some incredible people. Not only did I reconnect with guys like Clinton Sparks and Dave Meltzer, but I also met new incredible people that were doing amazing things. NFL players, gold medalists, guys that are speaking on stages 250 times a year, like phenomenal contacts that I paid

to be in the right room. And what does paying to be in the right room? Sometimes this means paying for masterminds. Sometimes this means paying to be a part of monthly groups. You guys know that we have founder acceleration. Like this is a great way for you guys to come in and network with me. I literally run these calls on a weekly basis that you have the ability to interact, ask questions, add value to me, me in turn, add value to you, get coaching for 500 bucks a month. Like that is literally one of the cheapest ways that you can go and expand your network. And for those that are willing and want to expand that, go to founderacceleration.com. But I'm

not going to make this like a big sales pitch for me or my masterminds, but you've got to pay to be in the different rooms. Once again, time, energy, and money. And the more valuable you become, the less money you'll have to pay. And just the more time that you will have to dedicate to be in these actual rooms. And so like, these are the ways that you network. And ultimately like, what is your network equals your net worth mean? It means opportunities will be presented before you. Like when I hang out in rooms like this, I mean, we're talking about crazy stuff. Like I'll give you the examples of things that have come across my plate because of my network. One, I had the opportunity to invest

in a major league baseball team. Nobody gets that kind of opportunity. This is literally available because of the network that I have created. Two, I get opportunities to be able to go and make 20, 30, 40% returns. And these aren't like crazy schemes or what's it called, Ponzi's or whatever it may be.

Like these are real opportunities that are only presented to a close circle of friends that people want to provide opportunities. Because when you get in these groups and you offer value, people in turn offer value to you because they really understand the number one rule in networking and having success is being a giver rather than a receiver. So you have to shift that mindset of what can I give? And I have to give without any expectation of return. Too often we are just, okay, being very transactional. If I give this, I get this. If I give this, I give this. Remove the transaction and I promise you, you will start building a better and

more solid network. A couple, a couple other things that I just want to make sure that you talked about is like, or that we focus on, learn more, develop more skills. If your skills aren't where they need to be, spend more time educating yourself, buy courses, read books, spend time in front of mentors, watch YouTube videos, listen to more podcasts, whatever it may be. This is going to allow you to have more value to give so that you can continue to build a network further and further up. And like, and it's crazy, like how fast these kinds of things can happen if you're consistently doing it.

I launched my podcast in June 2023, and here we are January 2024, and the amount of networking and value creation that has happened over the last seven months of my life has been unbelievable. I am getting into rooms that I never thought I would be. And I'm like one handshake away from like every president, every prime minister, every like all these different guys and gals that are just absolutely phenomenal. And you too have that ability. You have to be consistent. You have to be persistent, which means that you have to constantly ask. Like you cannot be afraid to ask to be included or be invited to be in a part of the room. And when you get shut down, that's okay. Ask again, take a different angle, figure out more value so that they cannot push you down.

These are just some of the secrets to success that I've found in networking. And I hope that you continue to gain great value from the Founder Podcast. Once again, if you haven't checked out the Founder Acceleration community, go to founderacceleration.com. It's gonna be a great way to improve your network

so that you can improve your net worth. Until next time!