Stop networking wrong: How to grow your business through community

Being in the right rooms doesn't mean being the biggest fish in your networking circle. Actually, it's the opposite. 

In this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by Kristina Bartold, co-founder of The Social Snippet and High Vibe Women, to talk about the real reason networking rooms matter, why community is the fastest growth strategy in business, and how proximity can completely rewire what you believe is possible in entrepreneurship (and help you grow your business, faster).

We also cover:

- How to network and tips for taking on summits and conferences

- Mindset shifts that will grow your business

- The value in seeing people as colleagues, not competition

🎉 Get your ticket to High Vibe Women in Burlington, Ontario:

*And use code PODCAST50 for $50 off!*

https://www.highvibewomen.ca/march-2026-event

Meet Kristina Bartold on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kristina.bartold/

Work With The Social Snippet:

https://www.thesocialsnippet.com/

🎉 Get clients from Instagram! Tap here to work with Jenna Harding inside Magic Marketing Machine!

https://www.magicmarketingmachine.com

✨Tap here to watch a FREE masterclass on “How To Get Clients From Instagram (without wasting hours glued to your phone)"

https://parkdale-republic.lpages.co/evergreen-webinar-registration/

Tap here to get your free Posts That Sell Template (This caption got us 10 sales calls in 3 hours)

https://parkdale-republic.lpages.co/10-sales-calls-new

Music by Jordan Wood

Hosted by Jenna Harding (Warriner), Creator of Magic Marketing Machine

Transcript

So I'm scrolling on the Instagram, rotting my brain. And I see that this entrepreneur that I really respect is flying across Canada from the West coast to the, well, I'm the middle. There's actually a sign that says the middle of Canada, like the geographical middle. I guess the East flying to Ontario. can just say the places Vancouver to Ontario to go to this women's conference. And I usually take a lot of time to like make a decision and make an investment, but I followed the conference. opened up tickets and I was like, yes, I will go because someone I respected bought these tickets. So I will also buy these tickets and fly to Ontario to go to this conference. not everyone is going to make a buying decision that quickly, but sometimes when you know, know, when the vibe vibes, the vibe vibes, and that is also the power of Instagram marketing, my friends. So then naturally I get my ticket and I'm like, wait, who created this thing? And I find Kristina Bartold, who I already have a bunch of mutual friends with, who is the co-founder of The Social Snippet and the host of Community, the podcast. And so I have brought her in today. She is special guest to talk about, well, a few different things. And I also just like selfishly wanted to pick her brain a little bit about running events and creating communities and especially creating communities of female entrepreneurs and how important that is. Anyway, hi Kristina. my gosh, I'm so honored. That was such a good intro. I was just thinking what a great podcaster you are. Like that is awesome. But hi, I'm so honored to be here. I'm Kristina, co-founder of the social snippet and high vibe women. My heart is in entrepreneurial community, whether that be online, through a podcast or in person. So just honored to be here and excited. yay. And we're both Canadian. We're both cannucks Yeah. Yeah. hosers if you will. Do know where that comes from? No. It's a hockey. It's hockey. Naturally. So it's the the losing hockey team used to have to be responsible in like a rec league for hosing down the ice to like flatten it out after a game. ⁓ my gosh. Okay. I'm like, I'm not a big sports girlie, but like now I am a Blue Jays fan. Like I'm a big Blue Jays girl now. But until this point, I wasn't I wasn't big into the Canadian sport. So now I'm in. Yeah. But you had to because Everyone rallied around the Blue Jays because of their winning spree this year and there was community and you needed to be a part of it. So you're now a fan. Yeah. And I like literally was like when they lost, I like cried and my husband was like, you've been a fan for five minutes. And I was like, but their families like they like even people are relying on them, you know, but 2026 is our year guys. That's literally so funny. Fast and hard. That's how you love. I'm like looking up pictures of them as a kids and I'm like, this is just their dreams. I'm like, this is just our dream. And is it any different than us being Blue Jays players? A little, but like not too much, you know? My husband told me about a trailer that he watched the other day and I cried from his retelling of the movie trailer. So I get it. Yeah, you're with me girl. Okay, tell me about High Vibe Women and like how this organization came to be, which is the company or your sub company that's running this event that I immediately bought tickets to without knowing anything about it. God, I can't wait for you to experience it. ⁓ Yeah. So High Vibe Women kind of came a few years ago, about two years ago, where we essentially what was happening was Maria and I had the social snippet, which is our marketing agency. We do social media podcasting and we grew our business super fast. So we scaled it to seven figures pretty quickly. And the way we did that was by going to the US all the time and networking with Americans. Like this was like the whole thing. And then I don't know what time we on a plane and I was like, do you think there's Canadian groups like this? Like, you know, is there anyone close to home? And it didn't feel like there were. There were a few groups, but nothing that we could find that felt the had our spin on it. And so we started running these little pop up dinners and then the dinners like turned into so much more. And they started running larger events, 80 people the first time, 130 the second, 140 now 180, expecting 200 on March really just about, you know, helping women grow their community. really grow their businesses and really like grow their networks. So we know that that's the heart of growing a business. We've never run an ad. Our business, our social snippet business is entirely referral based with 80 clients, always growing, always new calls. And so that's where the heart of it really came from was us wanting to really help women build their communities so that they can grow their businesses. is kind of like one of those buzzwords that I always wrote off right there with authentic. You know, now I live in the woods. Like we moved to Manitoba to the middle of nowhere. No, sorry. That's rude to like the crows that are my neighbors. But When I lived in Toronto, I was highly involved in everything and I was a bartender. So I knew everybody. And then I was an actor. So I knew everybody. And then I started getting into entrepreneurship and just started my business. This is like nine years ago. And then I started to meet entrepreneurs there and I would go to like networking breakfasts and like the things, know, and teach classes and I was surrounded by people. And then we came out here and I can't find, I can't find anybody. have like all my friends are in their sixties because I live in cottage country I took it for granted when I had it and didn't realize the value in having like minds around you. And now I, That's truly the truth of why I jump to go to a retreat or to meet people or to like speak on a stage because I'm like, my gosh, I need the human interaction and support. not just getting clients is great, obviously from the networking, it's so much more than that. So much more than that. And I think it's so interesting because people will come to have a woman and they'll be like, who are the speakers? And I'm like, I'll tell you who they are. That's fine. But I'm like, it's actually like not about the speakers. It's about the people you're going to be sitting with. It's about the people at your table. They're like, We do like activities, do like networking, nothing too crazy. Don't worry, there's no like, know, like the activity is not too hokey. But like we do these activities to help people network and like actually grow and build their community. like not to be, I'm trying to, you know, humble brag here, but like we have people who are like, hey, I have made like hundreds of thousands of dollars going to have women events. Hey, I like have sat next to somebody and they changed the director of my business. Hey, I had this conversation and it made me think 10X. Crazy. you and that's actually what you need. whether you live in a small town or you live in a bigger town, like I live somewhere between you and Toronto, like, you know, in terms of size. But like, I couldn't see what I wanted to be around me. And so it was amazing to me, like how many times this changes when you just get into the right room, which again, sometimes feels scary. Okay, wait, I love that. I couldn't see what I wanted to be around me. Can you see what you want to be around you? I guess you want to be 60 one day. Yeah. a fox, a turtle. But Jenna, maybe this is your sign. I don't know. We are on a bit of a cross-country tour. We have some events slotted in Calgary and Vancouver in that second half of the year. And we're doing some Ottawa. We've done some Halifax. Is Winnipeg our next spot? I'll help you. I also have like, if somebody follows me from Manitoba, I'm like, where are you? Do you want to be friends? like, where's your address? Meanwhile, I'm like so careful about people not knowing where I actually live because it's like remote and I don't want to get murdered. I have known for a long time in business that even though it is scary, it's better to be the, I'm going to use generic language, just don't take any of it to heart. like the newest lowest whatever person in a room instead of the best one because I've been the best in rooms and there's no growth there. Right? So even though it's scary to be the greenest person in a room is where the most growth is going to happen. And like you said, it's just so important to be able to witness what you want to and to be with people who have done the things that you want to do or something similar or even if they just have the attitude. You know, it's important to be around people like there are people that when I hang out with them, I make more money because of their energy. I swear 100 % and that's actually like the whole thing with high five women. It's like mindset, right? Like you have people. I have lots of friends who work in like not even like comparable industries like entrepreneurs, right? Like they're not going to be funneling me any kind of business. And it's not like we're doing like anything of the same, like I have a friend. She sells children's books. She teaches people how to sell children's books. This is her whole thing, which obviously is not what I do. And the amount of money this woman makes is like, I'm like, should I be selling children's books? Like, I'm like, if she can make this much money, it's possible for me too. Like, you know, and that's actually what we really want is we want people to see like a room and they'd be like, my God, like I see myself in there. you know, it might not look exactly the way that person did it. It actually shouldn't, but it's because it's my own magic. But it's like really that growth. That was what would happen to us. would go to the states, and we would be agency owners. I wouldn't have never thought of selling an agency, not that we're going to sell it today. But I never knew that that was an option for us as we were building it. I didn't know. I was like, it would be great if we made six figures. Imagine I had just thought of that. That's a huge accomplishment. But then I meet another person who's like, they have an eight figure agency. I'm like, whoa. And it makes you just think a little different. And so I think it's really important to be surrounded by those kinds of people wherever you can find them. my gosh, yes. you have to think of it in order for it to happen. You have to think of it first. Maybe you'll get lucky and something will happen that you never even thought of, but you're much more likely to make it happen if you actually thought of it first. And so you need to be inspired by other people to see what they're doing and what's possible to like open up your brain and break it free. I remember so clearly when I was living on Queen Street at Carlaw in Toronto. And I had been charging $400 for social media, one-on-one coaching in person. Like I'd meet people at coffee shops and stuff and do like six sessions, 400 bucks. And I said to my husband, I think that I'm going to charge 800 for these, just like this, like tomorrow they will be 800. And he said, can you do that? I was like, Yeah, I think so. Like, I think it's worth it, you know? I just did it overnight, but I... And I... I... It came up with it and implemented it, but almost part of you thinks like, is this even allowed? Yes. Yes, yeah. And I didn't know anybody else that did anything close to what I was doing. you need to see what other people are doing, be inspired by it, you know? Jenna, same thing, but even sometimes when you go to rooms, it's like one of those things where you can meet industry friends, like people who do the same thing as you. And you can feel tight, right? You could sit next to someone and they're a social media manager as well. And it's like, well now everybody's going to work with that person and I'm not going make any good connections, right? And that's just not the truth. And actually that's the best person you can meet. Because if you guys have the same mindset, I remember the first mastermind we ever did, we were charging $400 a month for social media management. Like basically like... giving them blood every week. Like it was crazy. Like now I back on this and I'm like, these people took us. $400, $400. And I sat next to this person and their deliverables were less than what we were doing. And they were charging no, they were like, we would never do anything less than $2,000 a month. Like nothing like crazy that you would even like think about doing anything for $400. You shouldn't even take the call for $400. was like, fair enough. And then that helped us raise our prices. And we're still mid range, I would say compared to other agencies, but And I feel very comfortable with where we're at. And I feel like it's something I can sell. But like, now I look back and I needed to do those things to get there, just how you needed to charge what you need to charge to get to the 800. Because sometimes people have the opposite problem. They're like, this service is $25,000. I'm like, have you ever sold it before? No one's paying $25,000 for that. So you need some proof. But I think those peer-to-peer connections are exactly it and exactly what you need. Yeah, absolutely. I went to alt summit last year. Yes. I was just in Palm Springs by chance and it was happening. And so I like bought a nice shirt and went and it was so cool and I freaking loved it. And on day one, I ran into this girl who I had met before in Winnipeg. her name, Charmaine. and she's a social media manager. And so I had met her, she's like the one person I know in Winnipeg. And she was there and she said it was her fifth year. So I grabbed her in the lobby and I was like, hey, how do I make the most of this experience? And she's like, honestly, it's not about the sessions, just talk to everyone. And when you sit at a table, get to know everyone and it's really about the people. And I was like, okay, thanks Charmaine, bye, never saw her again, know, barely throughout the weekend. I didn't. go to sessions. I had intended to go. I went to one, it was a watercolor session. I freaking loved it. But I met up with these people who were in like a high level mastermind that I was in and they were all speakers. And so I went to their sessions and we all hung out. went to their sessions to like get people clapping and take B-roll and stuff. And then I just skipped every session and hung out with people and I had the absolute time of my life. Time of my life. ⁓ So anyway, with that. Do you have tips for when we're in these situations, maybe we're a little bit shy, like how do we get conversations going with people? How do we optimize like a quote unquote networking environment? Yeah, totally. Well, it's actually funny. I would love if you came to have a moment for you guys to go to the sessions. That would be ideal for me. No, don't go. Don't listen to her. Listen to me. No, I've done that too. I go to events. We're always we have this awesome space at our events called the chill space where people can relax and like take a breath. And I'm like, we're just giving people places to hang out. Like, go back inside. Less chilling. No. So really what I would say, especially if you're nervous or it's like your first type of event like this, focus on meeting one person, making one connection. I totally agree. I actually totally agree with Charmaine that it's like, it's actually really not about the stage. That's what people ask me the time. They're like, what about the speakers? I'm like, you actually should buy a ticket before I announce these speakers because it doesn't actually matter. Like, they're a catalyst for sure, but it's about the people in the room. Those are the people who you're on your come up with. Those are the people whose stages you're going to speak on. Those are the people who are like your connections. And so really leveraging that is the big piece. So I would say focusing on one or two relationships. And don't be afraid to message people in advance. Like if you know you're going to an event and you watch the event page, see who's posting, send a DM being like, hey, I'm going, I'm nervous. I've also had it where people have reached out to me and they're like, I'm going to your event for the first time. And I'm like, let me get you a buddy. Like, I'll get you a buddy. I'm happy to make an intro for you. Like, I'm so pleased to do that. Like, I just want people to have a great time. So I think it's really about, like, making that one connection, focusing on that and having a huge heart of service. don't go in being like, you know, I'm meeting Jenna. What can I get from Jenna? Like, I hope Jenna gives me these types of referrals. I hope Jenna does this for me. It's like, no, like, what can I actually do for Jenna? So I love to ask questions. And one of the questions I always ask what's a win for you right now? What can I do to bring you closer to a goal you have? And what do you need support on in your business right now? And people will tell you, they'll say, I'm looking actually as women, think especially we're not trained to tell people because I glitch out when people ask me these questions. And then I immediately like, no, reverse it. But I love to ask. And I love when someone's like, Jen, if you were like, I really want to be on 10 podcasts this year. I'm like, great. Let me think of everybody I know who has a podcast and let me make an intro. Right? Like I, we want to be of service to each other. So I think if we go in with a service mind, That's how you get the most out of it because you build amazing relationships that go past just that one day. Absolutely. I love that. And it makes you feel better too. That's actually one of the biggest tips I give teaching Instagram is like, it's the same thing actually, make content for the viewer, make it for people so that they can benefit from it. If you're just asking all the time, you feel bad and then your posts aren't as good in a nutshell. Yes, a hundred percent. And I think Yeah, if you're asking all the time, you get that reputation of asking all the time, right? Like I know some people that are mega askers, right? Like, and I'm not inclined to bend over backwards, right? But then the people who I just meet who are like, oh, I'm like actually struggling with this or I want to do this. I met someone today who's never been on a podcast. I have 60 podcasts that we produce. I'm like, one of my clients will take you. Like one of them will take you and I will make it happen for you. And like she was so honored. I was like, this is literally going to be five minutes to do. Brings you closer to your goal. I'm sure you'll think positively of me in the future. Like you can do a eulogy for me, but like, you know, that's the big goal. Beautiful. OK, Kristina, who's the perfect person to reach out to you right now for your business? Yeah, so I would say on the High VIbe women's side, the big piece is like anybody. We like we have women who are like one day in business and we have eight figure women sitting at the same table sometimes. So. anybody is welcome to have a woman as long as you have an entrepreneurial dream. and yeah, so that there, but on the social snippet side, we work with all different types of folks. you know, we've launched on the podcast launched over 60 podcasts we've worked with, ⁓ social media side, have, you know, 40 retainer clients that we work with. and we really focus on helping people build communities. So if you are community minded, that's the most important thing to me. so no matter where you kind of work with us, it's really about like, how do you want to build community in, in, that method? beautiful. We will link to all of that below. It is early 2026. So if you come to that March event, I will see you there. And you can use the code podcast 50 to save $50 on your ticket. Wee. Oh, okay. Love that. Thank you so much, Kristina, for being here. Oh, my gosh. My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me