How Networking Brings You Bank

Are your Facebook posts hearing crickets? You put you and your company out there, attempting visibility through vulnerable posts asking for business, but nobody – literally zero people – respond to your magic.

Damn that feels like rejection.

But, more importantly, for entrepreneurs who are surviving on sales, it means your lifeline just got cut.

Networking? It’s not for schmoozers or old-school dudes in suits.

It’s for you, gorgeous (and gets results fast).

Here’s how to handle networking #likeabosslady.

Tip 1: Don’t have hidden motives

What’s the real reason you used your Facebook page as a billboard?

Because you didn’t want to make real connections.

Yes, networking exists so we can get more clients. But just like every other area of business, if people in your network only believe you seek advice to promote yourself or see them as money instead of humans, they will not work with you.

People want connections. We want to feel understood and heard and appreciated, and the companies who are best at convincing consumers they are their friends are the ones who are most successful. Because we buy in emotion, not logic, so people who feel invested in will invest in you (which brings me to tip 2).

Tip 2: No one has ever become poor by giving.

Anne Frank (the woman who first coined the words in tip 2) knew her shit (and mindset shift). The perspective we should all take is the worst thing an aspiring entrepreneur can do is be too stingy with their knowledge.

Let go of the reigns a bit, otherwise you’ll paralyze yourself.

By providing information, you position yourself as an expert and – bonus – show you want to help people. They appreciate and trust you. Rapport is one of the biggest sellers for moguls, and they didn’t get that title by keeping their mouths shut in fear someone else will steal their mojo. Plus, giving feels good (and instantly gives you the happies).

When I was preparing for the inaugural launch of CCC, I spent fifteen hours online each day, answering questions and providing free business coaching in groups like the Entrepreneur Incubator. By doing this, I showed up: proving I had the chops to run a group program and met a lot of other amazing women who have referred me their friends, even if they weren’t ready to work with me. Oh, and I’ve found plenty of women I’ve spent money on after I learned they were bosses in their industries.

I could save blog posts for my paying clients, but how can I get people to sign on when they don’t know how fucking awesome I am?

Tip 3: Be Yourself

While there might be thousands of other coaches who offer the same services as you, nobody does it the exact same way as you. Being yourself, telling your truth, is what differentiates you (an automatic way to set yourself apart).

It takes seven interactions with a potential client for them to feel trust in you. That means seven conversations or content shares, or a mix of both. If you haven’t been your true self with them every time you’ve talked, they’ll pick up on discrepancies.

Think about it in terms of dating: people pretend to be someone else in order to impress their potential partner. However, over the course of several dates, someone starts to realize you aren’t being yourself (maybe you loved steak on your first date but later said you were a vegetarian, or something less obvious but just as contradictory).

Don’t lie about who you are. Embrace it. Don’t give people a reason to question your credibility. It’s just not worth it.

Networking skills become more complex from here, but I guarantee everyone who is killing it on social media is also pretty perfect at hitting these three first. Have a networking question or additional tip you’d like to add? Leave ‘em for me in the comments.