Tina Joy

Hey, This is the coming home to joy podcast, and I am so excited to have the amazing Cathy Weaver here today as a guest, we are going to talk about all things networking. Thanks, Cathy. Welcome.

Cathy Weaver

Thank you very much. It's one of my favorite subjects. I know, I

Tina Joy

know. I want to tell you a little bit about Kathy, but I'm Most about Kathy. Kathy is an amazing person who has written the book on networking, actually, actually written the book on networking. So she is my networking queen and the network expert. She has four books and she has a YouTube channel and she has an amazing business called miracles with water. Kathy, can you tell us about Miracles of Water before we dive into networking? Because that started this whole journey for you, right? So

Cathy Weaver

tell us a little more. It definitely did. And thank you again for having me on your podcast, Tina. I'm honored beyond to be part of coming home to joy. I love that so much. And the business podcast of what you do is super exciting for those of us who are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs. Back in 2000. Eight. I was schlepping vitamins and making about 11 a month type of money. And I thought, you know, I don't know what this is going to look like Lord, as we continue my journey. And all of a sudden at a networking event, there was a couple in the room who said we give away free water. And I thought how do you look like you do and give away free water? So of course I made a beeline to their table after the meeting was over. And of course they're cracking up cause this is not their first rodeo. And I said, okay, talk to me. You had me at free and they laughed and they said, we have been in health and wellness forever. And this is finally the icing on the cake, if you will, and the crescendo. And we have been with this company for 18 months and hit the top level, et cetera. So I said, let's talk, we did. And the rest is actually history in my company. You can DBA doing business as, and so as soon as I found out what the water could do, and then what it did do for my personal family, I said, Lord. We've got to have a title. We can't do Kathy's water. com. OMG. So what am I going to call my business? And I said, Lord, there are so many miracles with this. Oh my gosh. And so I flew to my office, got on my computer, checked to see if Miracles with Water was taken. It was not. And so that is my DBA now, Miracles with Water. Brilliant. Brilliant. So

Tina Joy

this so much happens and the same thing happened to me when I started my business, you know, 15 years ago with, okay, now I have this business. Now I need to meet people. I can't really grow this business. What do I do next? Networking becomes, everybody says you should network. So talk to me about networking and what it really is. I mean, if someone said to you, Kathy, what is networking?

Cathy Weaver

What would you say? Our journeys, Tina, are so similar because as soon as I had my business, I have my water machine. I thought, well, I hope people knock down the door to come and get machines too. Yeah. That's not exactly how it flew for me. And so all of a sudden people said, well, honey, you need to network. And I was like, I wonder what the heck networking means. I'd been in finance forever and corporate and all that. And so I thought networking, huh? And so I was invited to a few events. And of course my answer is always yes. And figure it out later. So what is networking? And so I realized as I continued to network, it just means talking and everybody wants this. Big, incredible definition with manuals and tutorials and all this stuff. It just means talking. And the good news is if you actually love people and you have a product or service that can actually help people for me, it was the next, it was a struggle. I am the opposite of an extrovert actually. And so I knew that I was going to have to have the Lord on my shoulder every step, or it was not going to happen. And so Lord. I'm an introvert. My comfort zone is in my closet by myself. So how are we going to work this out? And of course I can see him laughing all the time. Like Catherine, just relax. I got you. And so here we are and networking for me just means talking. I love that.

Tina Joy

So often when I tell people they need to network, they start thinking, they start going, okay, well, what events do I need to go to? I can't go to that. They think of the cocktail party, right? And that's actually part.

Cathy Weaver

Of

Tina Joy

what people initially start with, right? And that's how you and I met. Was at a quote networking

Cathy Weaver

event, but

Tina Joy

as we've gone through this, how has it changed over the years for you, especially since the pandemic. So your book, it's so funny that you say, I didn't know about networking. And then you wrote the book networking on steroids. You became like the expert in on how to do networking. And then the pandemic happened. Right? So when you take that, that definition of it's just talking, it opens up a whole different world. I live on 14 acres in the middle of nowhere. How do I do networking? I can't run from event to event. So what have you discovered about this networking thing and how has it changed over the years because you've been doing this a while?

Cathy Weaver

Absolutely. And actually the wild part for me starting in 2007 and then my Miracles with Water business 2008. And it definitely has changed, certainly for me personally, but definitely PQ, as I call it, post quarantine. And it really is phenomenal to see the transition a lot of people have encountered. So let's say all of a sudden You need to network your business or you're not going to have a business. And so you go to that very first event. For me, the very first place I went was actually meetup and meetup. com would be the site, right? Okay. Absolutely. And I didn't know what that was either. And so I. Well, and so of course it's a learning curve. Everything I do is actually a learning curve. And so meetup. com, huh? And then I did events within a hundred mile radius. Cause I don't mind traveling ever because I feel in fact, if I ever write an autobiography and don't laugh at me, cause I know how you feel about my next step with the Lord drives my bus. I already have the title. Ready to go. And he does drive my bus. And so I was like, Lord, where do you want me to go with this networking stuff that I know absolutely nothing about? And so meetup. com was my initial endeavor. And there were several, of course, in the Kansas City market. And so I went to as many as my schedule would permit. And so I was super excited to meet people. And some of them were, shall we say formal, excuse me, could you please do your infomercial? You have 60 seconds and they'd have a timer. My name is Kathy. And I would like to have you buy a Congo water machine. Thank you very much. Bye-Bye. And so it was one of those kind of things and other people were like, tell me about you. And so it was interesting when some people say, tell me about you. You either start in 1905 I this and I that and I something. Or they say I sell whatever it is. or they say I'm a grandma or a mom or a dad or whatever. And that's how they tell me about you. So it's just a very interesting thing. And that's what takes me always back to the meet people part. And that's all it is. You network at church. You network at the grocery store. You network while you're pumping gas. You network even while you're raking leaves and your neighbors are going by to get the mail. You network all the time. At least for me, that's what I do. I didn't know what the word meant. And as soon as I knew what the word meant, I was like, huh, I think I just networked. And the next thing, you know, in fact, my very first machine sale was a lady in my subdivision. And I posted a uh, I would say little paragraph in our subdivision newsletter. There's 800 homes in my area, which is from your community, where you have 14 acres all to yourself. Right. But in, in that particular time, I said, I would love to give you a 30 day free sample of Congan water. And the very first person who came to me was a neighbor and next thing you know, she got a machine. So I thought, I think I just networked online. And so that's really how that piece was born. And then of course, post quarantine, after the pandemic, so to speak, as far as the after part, what happens in 2020? When I can't go to all my chambers of commerce, I can't go to all my ladies groups. I can't go to all my local networking groups. I can't go to all my meetups that I've been working for 10 years to find. What do I do now? And so virtual was born for me and Tina, I don't know about you, but that has opened up a huge avenue for me of meeting new people. In fact, just yesterday I posted on social media. I got to start my day in Canada in a women's group. Then I got to go to Asia and hosted by the India team and I followed up in a huge meeting in Australia. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have a private plane that would take me to all those places. And I got to do all of that virtually and my network has exploded. So I'm so sorry about everything negative that has happened because of the pandemic. But I am telling you from a standpoint of networking and opening major doors, God is doing a mighty work. That is

Tina Joy

so cool. So, so cool. What would you tell somebody who is hearing this and listening and going? Oh, that's great. But you're talking about meeting new people. I don't, I'm shy. I'm an introvert. We hear that. You and I are both introverts. And that I may have to do a whole another show on

Cathy Weaver

that. That's a whole different topic.

Tina Joy

When the thought of meeting somebody new freaks me out, right? And so what would you tell somebody who is listening to this and going, yeah, that's great. But I, I can't talk to people. I don't network. What are some of the things that you would recommend people do if they're, I, I know I need to meet new people, but I don't know what to say. How do I talk to people? What do I say?

Cathy Weaver

What would you tell them? For me, in my first book, the networking on steroids that you referenced, I have a whole list of icebreaker questions. And that book was actually published in 2012. And Jesus is my publisher, by the way, because I am not an author. I sell water machines. And every time I say that out loud, of course he laughs. And so the rest of the story is icebreaker questions. Usually say, I am new here. Can you give me some tips that have worked for you? And that of course starts the ball rolling and they're usually like, Oh, honey, oh my gosh, you're new. Sure. Let me introduce you to Susie and Billy and Joey and all the rest of these folks. And so usually if you say, I have not been to this event before, or I'm looking to meet a realtor or a massage therapist or whatever you're looking for, you. automatically open the door to that person who definitely wants to help. But my biggest takeaway is if you have a product or service that can help people and that is your ultimate goal in the world is to help people and you make product or service that will do that. In my personal opinion, it is your job to get the word out about your product or service. And most of the time, the people that you are meeting are just as uncomfortable meeting new people as you are. And so instantly by having that focus, if you will, on your product or service, you can take the heat off yourself. Because, especially if you ask questions, where else do you go for networking? Have you been here before? Can you give me some tips that you have found work for you that maybe I could incorporate into meeting new people? Which one do you think would be a good start for me? And most of the time people are super duper happy to help. Plus, if it's not the case, that might not be the best group for you because it might not be a chemistry fit.

Tina Joy

And that's okay too. Right. And I like what you said about it's not walking up. Hey, let me tell you about me. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Those questions and being in that place of curiosity, meeting new people isn't about imposing yourself on new people. Meeting new people is about learning about them. And. You actually do people a favor if you ask them a question to your point about most everybody

Cathy Weaver

else is just as uncomfortable as you are. Absolutely. It's just like service

Tina Joy

going. Hey, tell me about you. What brought you here today? Why are you here? Ask a question. Be genuinely curious about who that person is. And you're giving them something to talk about so they don't have to think about what am I supposed to say? What do I do?

Cathy Weaver

So you're helping. And my favorite question in the whole world is actually, where else do you go for networking? And I have found that to work in person, personally, certainly, certainly virtually, because there are so many virtual groups now. And I mean, so many, I'm looking at my calendar as we speak and things are back to back to back to back to back to back now. And all this. You get an email and a new group pops up and you go, Oh, I want to go to that. So you click on it and then you look at your calendar and go, okay, I've got a 30 minute window between, okay, I can, okay. And so you actually have to weigh it. So there's so many different things out there. Where else do you go for networking? Is it open to everyone? Do you get credit when you bring a guest? And most of the time they're going, Oh my gosh, I'm going to give you a link into this, into something. And I'd love for you to be my guest. And that really is how everything has. opened up in a large way for me.

Tina Joy

So what would you say about, you know, sometimes we go, I don't know how to talk to people about my business. I don't know how to tell people about my business when you're actually just getting started and you're networking and you're talking to people. Should you be, let me tell you about my business. Let me tell you about my business. Should you be doing that or, or should you be. Approaching it in a different

Cathy Weaver

way. I don't usually do the should thing because everyone is actually different. And most of the time, especially when I'm meeting someone who has a business, I actually haven't heard of yet. That seldom happens at this point because my network is quite large. But if there's ever a Brand new something business, or they have rebranded or something like that. I might not know the term yet. And so I always say, I haven't heard of, tell me about that. So that of course affords me some time to take a deep breath while they're talking, because I just launched them into their conversation. And of course they can't wait to tell me about their product or service that I've never heard of before. And. buys me some time and I literally mirror off of them from a standpoint of how they approached what they do. So now I give them back what I do, their version of it. And so that has worked for me. But as far as the should part, I love talking about water technology. But I definitely would probably not say, did you know that I can actually split molecules in my kitchen faucet? Most people are like, what? And so I would not do something like that. I love drinking water. I love drinking healthy water. And I finally found the best water. And that's where my brain would go instead of the technological pieces. Or the direct sales pieces of owning your own business work from home, unless I'm in a career exchange opportunity. And I've, I've gone to those before job fairs and things like that, because those folks are oftentimes looking for solopreneur opportunities. So my, my spin, if you will, would be way different in a place like that. When you're doing it's, I might

Tina Joy

have

Cathy Weaver

so many questions.

Tina Joy

Like I said, you literally wrote the book on networking and I love you used to do a presentation called what's in your networking toolbox that has been amazing because it is a toolbox. It is a skill that you can learn and how important is follow up in

Cathy Weaver

this follow up is huge. And by the way, I still do what's in your networking toolbox. I just do it virtually now and it still works amazingly great because zoom has opened up many, many ways. opportunities for us, I feel, and the reach gets bigger. So I still get to do what's in your networking toolbox. And then I talk about the PQ version of networking on steroids just because how to navigate these Brady Bunch squares so that you can actually build relationships on screen. So that piece works very well for me. But from a standpoint of follow up, if you meet someone, you know what? I would really like to buy a Kangen water machine. But I don't know much about it. And so they just opened the door and they basically said, please call me back. If I don't call them back, who loses? And in my opinion, I lose because I could have a new team slash family member because my team is definitely my family now. And so that's number one. But they also lose because they could have blessed their family. with the gift of this technology. And I blew that by not following up. So I always think in terms of what if their family could be blessed like mine has with this water. And I didn't follow up. And they even said, I, I'd love to get a water machine. I need to know more about it. And I dropped the ball. The followup piece for me is huge. What if everyone in the room wanted to go to three or four of the other networking groups I mentioned? And I don't follow up. Then all of a sudden the group loses because they would have had new members or guests. And the person loses because they would have had new places to network their businesses. And I didn't follow up. So the answer is follow up to me is huge. If nothing else, just to have a coffee chat, certainly virtual at this point, to be able to say, you mentioned that you didn't know much about Congan water. What type of water do you drink now? And I would open the store that way. And then I would go back into the, where else do you go for networking? We got to meet you at ABC chamber and I know you must go other places because of the success of your business. So for me, there's all different types of ways of follow up and I wouldn't necessarily lead with the water unless that is the last message that the two of us had before we said goodbye.

Tina Joy

You mentioned in, when you were talking about the networking toolbox, building the Brady bunch squares we have and, and. You know, I, I live in a rural area. A lot of us live. A lot of people who listen to this podcast also live in rural areas and we do a lot of virtual meetings. If you're gonna, you know, if you're gonna be out and about with anybody, it's probably going to be virtual. And so how do we navigate? How do, how do you build relationship and actually network and meet people when you're doing the Brady Bunch squares on zoom? What would be your, your, the

Cathy Weaver

Best practices in that for me, it has been social media, social media, and then social media. And I was not proficient in all of the platforms back in the 2020 time when all of a sudden we found ourselves to be in our home offices. So I thought, well, I guess I better get lots Facebook business page. Hang on a second. I better get lots better with my book. Cause at that point I had only had two published and I better figure out how to do this. navigation thing on this thing we call Zoom. And so I had not become proficient yet, but then all of a sudden I was realizing, hang on a second. As soon as I would go to a Zoom meeting and quite frankly, all you need to do is type in free virtual networking events on your favorite social media platform. And quite frankly, there are so many. In fact, I checked one of mine the other day when I was doing a screen share for a training group and I said, Oh, just click on this and look at events. I had 1, 681. I know. And I'm the question is where do

Tina Joy

you find these three

Cathy Weaver

networking events? Absolutely. There are so many. And so the tools that are now in my toolbox for the online navigation, first of all, this posting parties, I had no idea what that meant. And the second piece to that is actually my YouTube channel. And then the rest of the story went, Oh, wait, I'm not, there's no way I'm doing a video. Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, not doing a video. Well, the good news is you can actually do video without your face or your voice in it. And there's techniques for that. The posting party piece, which I did not know what that meant, has changed the trajectory of my expansion bigger than even I could have imagined. And so if you don't know what a posting party is yet for any of your listeners, now, first of all, it's all over my YouTube channel, Kathy Weaver, KC, which stands for Kansas city. I actually have posting parties on there, but the bigger issue is the posting parties I do for free are open to everyone. And I do about 16 a month now. And the reason for that is Tina has never met Susie and Susie has never met Joey and Joey has never met Billy and they all come to the posting party and guess what, that network has now expanded for each of them and so I love the posting party piece, especially when I realized that many people were not using it. LinkedIn effectively. No, no, no, I don't do LinkedIn. I appreciate that you can do a YouTube posting party. You can do a Facebook posting party. You can do a posting party for whatever platform you're most proficient in. But for me, I went to the platform I was not proficient in because I wanted to 1 million percent improve it. And I think I've done that. So what do you do at a posting party? The purpose of a posting party say that three times really fast, but the purpose of a posting party, at least from where I sit is to improve your profile and your social media presence. And I usually do LinkedIn just because quite frankly, it's easier. And there is so much on. LinkedIn that is free advertising that a lot of people haven't thought of yet. And so as soon as I was learning the nuances within that platform, I went, Whoa, this is amazing. And so at a posting party, I go through a screen share and how to Improve your profile, how to fix your this, how to add a call to action tab, how to add a featured section, how to make sure your 2600 character about section is filled in, how to get a recommendation from someone huge in your network without saying, Tina, can you please recommend me on LinkedIn? I can get you to do it without asking, which is my favorite part. And the rest of the story is we now create a post on LinkedIn. I would like to talk to you about Kong and water being a magnificent gift choice for the holidays and different hashtags, different websites, different things like that, of course, a picture. And then that particular post goes in the chat for the posting party and everyone at the posting party is now quote required to post and comment on my post, which now instead of one or two people saying, yay, that's adorable. Now I've got all the people who attended. to now say, hang on a second. I want, I need to do this. And I teach him how to do the engagement piece, the knock on the door, as I call it, which is tagging other people. Tina doesn't need a water machine right now because she already has one, but she's got a friend that needs one tag, tag, tag the friend. And now everyone gets to connect. And the posting party piece for me has expanded my reach so much. I can't, I can't, I show actually on screen numbers wise analytics. But it has increased my reach on LinkedIn so huge that even I had no idea I was underutilizing such a large platform.

Tina Joy

Interesting. So what I'm hearing is like, one of the things that has changed in networking as we go, we are able to go online is now we have More tools available to actually expand the reach on networking. That is much, I want to say control, but as an introvert, do you find it's a little bit more comfortable and then going, getting dressed and going out and doing red driving across town and, and dealing with all of the navigation of in person events. Do you feel that that has been a little more comfortable and a

Cathy Weaver

little easier for you? Absolutely. And one of the biggest things for me is, and this is a. Also, when I schedule one, I meet someone at a networking event. I was invited by Susie and I attended and most of the events I attend are 57 minutes. And let's even say 60 minutes, but still, let's, let's say an hour and that's the best news because quite frankly, how many times have you sat through a meeting one hour, two hour, three hours? And you're like, guess what? I can't do this. Oh my gosh. And so most of the time they're 55 ish, 56 minutes or so. And so I automatically go in with the timeframe and that helps me. And so now I know I can get through anything if it's only going to last 57 minutes. Right. So once that meeting is happening, and now I schedule a one on one with Susie, I'd love to meet with you. Now, quite frankly, in my case, my calendar, in fact, the other day I booked something for January 9th and I was like, Oh my gosh, but that really was the next opening. And so I literally was like, okay, this is going to be several weeks out. I don't care. I just want to meet with you. Great. I'm excited. So we've got January 9th on the books already, and I'm super excited to meet with this person as a matter of fact. And so the great news is during the coffee chat. And it's a, I do a zoom on purpose. I do think that a camera on kind of thing, if you walked into a chamber of commerce with a paper bag over your head, you're probably not going to do anything cause suspicion and or curiosity on a zoom call. If your camera is off most of the time, it's considered rude, but bigger than that, I want to know who you are. I want to know your dog's name and your kid's name and your husband's name and your sister's name. I want to know who you are. And so on a zoom chat, I set the timer on my phone and I set it for 30 minutes and I meet and it doesn't matter who the call is, what the anything is. I said it for 30 minutes. The reason for that is, first of all, I can do 3456 in a day and even that might make your head hurt. Initially, if you've met 12 people and they all want to one on one, I set a day or two. For my one on ones, if I'm not networking and then I can literally take notes, of course, and back to back to back to back to get that timeframe handled. If I do 31 minutes, I've just sorted the next person 29. And so I literally set the timer and I tell him up front. I have 30 minutes for this call because I have another call at one o'clock. I absolutely am thrilled that we got to meet. But tell me the most fabulous thing about you. Right, right. As soon as I say that, of course, it starts the conversation. But the rest of the story is whatever you're most proud of. I want to celebrate that with you. And that kind of tells me a lot about the person. I cut the grass today all in one shot. Awesome. You are a very hard worker. I sold three machines today. Fantastic. You are motivated in your company, whatever that looks like. So 30 minutes. And then if we choose mutually to have another coffee chat, many times it's three or four weeks out for the next slot. But I set that time also for 30 minutes because we now know a little bit more about each other so we can miss the original. What is so fabulous about you?

Tina Joy

So last question. One of the questions I want to ask every guest that comes on the podcast is, the faith component to this. And you've alluded, alluded some to, you know, God drives your bus. So how has your faith affected you when it comes to your business and

Cathy Weaver

networking? Thank you. Absolutely. I love being Driven by God's grace. And I mean that, where do I go for networking? Lord, I have no idea. I didn't know what meetup was. Did I find it random? Nope. I had no idea what to DBA my company. And again, Kathy's water. com, not a good fit for me, Lord, you're going to have to help me. And then when I created the, when I had created the logo for my company, I worked with a, Graphic design team, literally. And I said, I want a water drop. I want the ripple effect, and I want Jesus Christ in the center of my water drop. And of course, the graphic design person is going, what? And so we got several mockups, several templates, right? I kept going. No, no, no, no. Let's try this again. Green, purple, white, Jesus Christ in the center of my water drop ripple effect. Let's do it. And finally, and I know it was God who drove their bus because it is so incredibly perfect. I still love it. And this was created 12 years ago, six, my gosh, 16 years ago. And 12 years ago was my first book. But 16 years ago, The logo was created and it has literally been my brand. I wouldn't change it for anything. And Jesus Christ is in the center of my water drop. It's got radiant light and fabulous Lord. And so people always say, Oh my gosh, how do you make this kind of money? How do you, how do you, how do you do all of this? And I said, well, I appreciate that part of your question, but my company does not pay my salary. Jesus Christ does. He puts me in the path of the person who needs a machine. He puts the words in my mouth that will feed them what they need to know about this technology. And he gets all the credit miracles with water. Can you imagine this being a faith based business? Yeah. Yeah. And so especially when he drives my bus and he wrote my first book, literally. in two days. And I get this message, Catherine sit. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I don't write books, Lord. And everybody kept saying, you've got to give us a book, a PowerPoint, something to go off with all this stuff that you present. Because by then I was presenting in auditoriums, actually on network. No figure. And I said, Lord, everybody wants a book. Catherine sit. And so I literally sat down and two days later I rose up from the computer, sent it to my graphic design lady and said, I think I just wrote a book. And she said, yep, you did.

Tina Joy

Right. So I'm thinking we can find you at kathyweaverkc. com is the best place to find you. Thank you so much. So I believe you have built a business. You can love for a lifetime. Am I right?

Cathy Weaver

You are a million percent correct. That is what

Tina Joy

we try to do here. That's what coming home to joy is about. It's about helping people be inspired to grow a business that they can love for a lifetime. It's not about how do I. Crank out a business that I can sell and then get onto the next one. It's about, this is who I am. This is who God created me to be. And I love that you are a shining, brilliant example of that. Thank you so much. So check out Kathy's website for more information on the books and how to network and all of the cool stuff. She's got two books. We didn't even have time to talk about. So check out kathyweaverkc. com. Thank you so much, Kathy.

Cathy Weaver

Thank you, Tina. From the bottom of my heart, you're

Tina Joy

amazing. I'm so glad you're in my

Cathy Weaver

world back to you, my friend, me too.

Tina Joy

Make sure you check out the podcast and our next episode for those days. You want to learn more.