More than Business Cards: How Networking & Community Jumpstarted my Business Growth

When I first left my steady job to pursue my passion and spend more time with my daughters, I quickly learned that having a great idea is just the beginning. It was the connections I made in my local community that truly helped me grow my business.

Networking can feel daunting, but it's about forging genuine relationships rather than just exchanging business cards or making pitches. In this episode, I’ll share valuable lessons from my experiences and how building real connections has not only propelled my career but also created a sense of community and friendship in my life.

So, let’s dive in, and I encourage you to seek out your own community to help you grow

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:03
Unknown
Business networking. Networking in my local community was the the key to actually starting. To grow my business and confirm that I even had a valid idea if it weren't for network groups. I would probably not be here because at the time I had quit my job and I started this business to be present with my daughters. We all know that story, so I'm going to bore you with that.

00:00:20:05 - 00:00:40:10
Unknown
But I had started the business and I started. At that time, I was doing a lot of graphic design and websites, but I didn't know how to market and get people to become more aware of me. This is 2009, 2010 and 2011. The internet and social media specifically back then was called web 2.0 hadn't really taken off and it wasn't what it is today.

00:00:40:12 - 00:01:02:18
Unknown
Now, knowing that, how do I market my business? Somebody suggested I go do some business networking events. Luckily, I eventually stumbled across this group, which I love and I just got back from East Dallas and networking and through the course of showing up, I started to gain business from IT, business from the group and I started to find success.

00:01:02:19 - 00:01:26:17
Unknown
I started to do good things and start to get good reviews and testimonials and and people just recommended me. It was fantastic, and I really don't think I would have been successful at this thing if it were not for business networking, but business and networking in general gets a bad name, and it really sucks that it does, because what networking do to anybody.

00:01:26:18 - 00:01:50:19
Unknown
I actually have a close friend who hates networking, hates using the word that word networking because he feels like networking is outdated and he doesn't like it. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but that's the the perception that I got from the conversations we've had when we talk about networking, which ironically, we met him at a networking group, his own networking group, but it was his group was a little different and a little spicy.

00:01:50:21 - 00:02:12:18
Unknown
Having said that, he obviously had a bad experience. And the truth is, so about networking itself isn't the the it's not networking fault. The function of networking, it's the individuals there. There's some people that show up and have really bad intentions or don't care to actually build relationships. And that's that's the key. A lot of people show up and then they start cramming their cards in your face.

00:02:12:18 - 00:02:31:02
Unknown
So they start setting up calls with you one on ones only to pitch you the whole time, only to try to pitch you on MLM a pitch. I've been pitched many MLMs in my life, and at the beginning I didn't know what they even were, and how that even worked. And I found myself being pitched often, even when I thought I had to figure it out.

00:02:31:02 - 00:02:53:02
Unknown
I ended up getting caught off guard and to a pitch fest around MLMs. Sorry if some of you individuals and some of my friends already know MLMs and they're actually high value, high quality. I respect you, but this is my story. How is it that networking, for me is one of the most essential ways to grow your business, especially when you have more time than you have money.

00:02:53:04 - 00:03:10:21
Unknown
And even right now, I, I still go back. I've been involved in this particular networking group. I found my group and I want to start doing others, by the way. But I first got involved in it at this point. 1314 years ago, which is crazy. So I've been in business for 16 years. It took me a while to find them, but I've been involved in these networking.

00:03:10:21 - 00:03:31:12
Unknown
I talk about them often. You'll probably see content if you scroll back far enough where I've interviewed the leader, the handsome leader of his networking Chuck coverage, and my chiropractor and my best friend. And this is the other thing I want to say. The big thing I want to say around networking is essentially it's just hanging out, just hanging out with people who are in business.

00:03:31:14 - 00:03:50:04
Unknown
And ideally. And the point of it rather, is that you're trying to get to know each other, trying to know, like, and trust each other, because all business depends on trust. And if you know and like each other, you're going to trust each other and you're going to recommend each other to each other. And that's what ends up happening in this particular group, because the way it's set up is it's kind of a laid back.

00:03:50:04 - 00:04:10:01
Unknown
We're actually pretty silly and off the wall at times, depending on what's going on and personalities are allowed to flow. I've been in other groups where there's a lot of limits. I like this, by the way, who to where there are limits where you can only you can have one person who's a marketer and maybe another person who does life coaching.

00:04:10:05 - 00:04:34:09
Unknown
So there's limits around that. And they have their value and their benefit. But this particular group doesn't have that. So it's not surprising. Or sometimes it won't be surprised. Sometimes you have 4 or 5 realtors. Yeah. 3 or 4 marketers. You have financial advisors versus financial advisors in the room. Actually, it's pretty common. But at the end of the day, there's enough business for everyone, and not everyone is going to attract, or appeal to everyone in the room.

00:04:34:15 - 00:04:55:14
Unknown
So it works itself out. Are you tired of burning through your marketing budget faster than you can say, ROI? Posting on social media, crickets running ads, more crickets, watching your marketing strategy, flopping like a fish out of water while you quietly sob into your coffee. Fear not. This episode of the Teevee show Podcast, brought to you by, well, me Teeve, the marketer founder Rockstar.

00:04:55:15 - 00:05:26:16
Unknown
I'm marketing here to stop the madness. We take your marketing dollars and actually make them do something like work on video content and as a stop your audience from scrolling faster than they stop for a baby panda video. Yeah, we do that. So you done setting your marketing dollars on fire because it rockstar marketing. And let's turn those crickets into cash and if you show up and this is the key, and I've had conversations with younger individuals, who have shown up over the years, and I try to impart onto them my lessons.

00:05:26:16 - 00:05:48:00
Unknown
From fact, a couple weeks ago, maybe a month ago, I was there. There was an individual I had just started who showed up and he said, hey, you know, what how do you feel about this group and what's your experience? Because he, he heard that I had been coming for over ten years. I said, I love it, I may or may not ever get business from the people in the room.

00:05:48:02 - 00:06:08:12
Unknown
And in fact, that's what happened when I first started. The people in the room didn't give me their business, but they did pass along their business. They passed along or their referrals. And that's the points. Once I gain their trust, then they were able to refer me. They gave me website where the gaming graphic design word they gave me eventually, in their start, do more and more marketing.

00:06:08:12 - 00:06:31:03
Unknown
They gave me marketing work. People said, hey, Teevee is a guy from East, I was networking, he's doing Facebook stuff. He's doing QR stuff. At the time, I was doing QR stuff as well, way before it became so commonplace, so they referred me and that's what I was trying to impart upon him. And I say to everyone like, you may not get any business from the people in the room, but it's a second and third tier because you want to earn their trust.

00:06:31:03 - 00:06:50:06
Unknown
And people in here that have been in business for who knows how long and they don't need you because they're doing what they're doing, but they will refer you. And that is the magic of it all. And if you go into the room wanting to close people in the room, then you've already taken the wrong approach to networking as a whole.

00:06:50:08 - 00:07:06:21
Unknown
And that's what a lot of people do. They come and they they show up for a few weeks and they don't close anyone. They don't convert anyone into a client or into their MLM. Then they bounce. And actually that's great. They need to be filtered out anyways. But if you keep showing up and this is what happened, I did like six, eight months straight.

00:07:07:01 - 00:07:35:00
Unknown
Every single week I would show up consistently and I became friends. That's what the whole point of networking is, to become friends with these individuals, know them in a way that you may not ever got to know them unless you hung out with them like that. Maybe you got to know about their family, their children, especially when you do one on ones, you really get to understand who they are as individuals, how they got into this position of being a chiropractor, being a dentist, being a, financial advisor.

00:07:35:00 - 00:07:54:00
Unknown
Why did they do what they do? You learn stuff about their family, you know, their children, their wives, their their whatever. And when is it happening and shift for me, I, my chiropractor is in the room of financial advisors in a room. My insurance agents in the room. Who else is in the room? My car repair man is in the room.

00:07:54:02 - 00:08:11:11
Unknown
You you start to connect with those individuals, and you will give business. Yeah, you give them your business or refer people to to them because you absolutely trust them. They have become friends. And that's the coolest feeling, by the way, this individual I don't want to say his name, but I don't want to think I'm just trying to make him look bad.

00:08:11:11 - 00:08:33:11
Unknown
I'm not, I'm at networking. The one that says he hates networking, he just like he does do things differently. He's a beautiful man. He. I met him through networking. It's fun working. And then the leader of East Dallas networking. I met him through East Dallas. And he's. These individuals have become some of my best friends.

00:08:33:13 - 00:09:04:12
Unknown
Best friends. They have helped me in times of struggle. I had micro corruption. Both of them actually have been there for me when I was really starting off and really struggling. They have motivated me. They're having encouraged me. My daughters have grown up in the room or with them knowing who they are. They've helped, they've supported, they've encouraged, they've coached, they've mentored my my daughters and that's the goal is to get to know each other.

00:09:04:14 - 00:09:26:15
Unknown
If you approach networking from a have to close business, it has to turn into results. Right away. Then you're you're going to fail and your networking is not for you. Do ads, do videos, do podcasting, whatever else you're going to do because it is a slow, tedious process. As you can imagine, relationships take time to be nurtured to for people to trust you.

00:09:26:17 - 00:09:47:18
Unknown
And what ends up happening. Because I think the psychologically you study marketing, you study, how people work the other day. It's just familiarity to see your face over time. It's like you just become a familiar face. You become comfortable and it's easier for two to recommend you to befriend each other. And if you just come and go, then obviously you're just a stranger in the room.

00:09:47:23 - 00:10:10:12
Unknown
So the magic is in that repetition. Much like in marketing. And a lot of the marketing I actually tell people is a secret. The dirty secret of marketing is the repetition. The repetition helps people feel comfortable with you, with what you're saying your voice, your brand, your tone, your message. That repetition is what creates that feeling of comfort.

00:10:10:14 - 00:10:39:15
Unknown
Comfort comes from knowing that you're you're safe, that you're not just there to take advantage of them to, you know, to pick them on one on ones, only to then pitch them and sell them, then nobody wants that. So if you're if you want to grow your business and if you if you want, if you're if you're starting your business and you don't have that much money to invest into advertising, I 100% encourage you to find a networking group wherever you're at and go and go and just show up and connect with humans that are doing this work.

00:10:39:15 - 00:10:59:23
Unknown
They're also trying to build their dreams, are trying to help others. And it's you're going to find incredible value from you're going to find other human beings that are in that, in that grind with you who are trying to build something small, or maybe they're building something bigger, whatever it may be, you're going to find all types of people in the room, especially if it's a well-attended group like East Dallas.

00:10:59:23 - 00:11:17:22
Unknown
Networking. By the way, not only is the the leader, one of my best friends, but, I've also do some of their social media. I, I promote because I love the group so much. Kind of like I've done with my dance passion. I love the group so much. And what it's done for me in my life. I want to to give and to give value.

00:11:18:00 - 00:11:38:03
Unknown
So I've been running small ads to a video that I produced a while back, to help promote it, because this group, by the way, it's like on average, probably now we're around 40 attendees if on the low end. Chuck, I'm sorry if you hear this and my average is around, but it's a minimum of 40 people.

00:11:38:03 - 00:11:54:17
Unknown
I think on average I'm not on bigger days are probably pushing 60. My goal now actually recorded some video today that I want to I want to put together a little sizzle reel. It's, to promote the group a little more and put a little more money behind it. I want the group to thrive and continue to grow.

00:11:54:23 - 00:12:19:01
Unknown
It has content it's been in existence for, I don't know, probably pushing 15 years, 14 years, and it is a beautiful group. It's well run by a very handsome man with blue eyes. If you ever go and you're in Dallas, Dallas networking pyramid, make sure you give me credit and you call out his beautiful blue eyes. But it's something that I feel compelled to do because they have.

00:12:19:01 - 00:12:35:11
Unknown
They've given me so much just to release that I can do is help promote them a little bit with my skills, with my editing, with the little budget that I put behind it. I don't take it for granted. Hey, remember earlier when I told you about Rockstar marketing and how we can stop your marketing strategy from flopping around like a fish in the desert?

00:12:35:13 - 00:12:54:07
Unknown
Yeah, that's so true. But maybe you didn't catch that. Maybe you're thinking, oh, I'll just keep throwing money at random ads. I'm sure something you say eventually, right? Wrong. Spoiler alert it won't. Look, you don't want to be that business owner that keeps trying to solve their marketing woes with duct tape and wishful thinking. You need results, need Rockstar, not marketing.

00:12:54:10 - 00:13:22:01
Unknown
So if you're finally ready to stop a slow motion train wreck, that is your current marketing plan. There's a rockstar marketing. Let's make your business the rockstar it deserves to be. Otherwise, enjoy those crickets. And now back to our show. Now I will say in the last few years I have not gone much. I've been busy, I've been lazy and I want to change that because I still need humans to bump elbows with humans to to to connect with like in real world.

00:13:22:03 - 00:13:45:12
Unknown
Obviously I'm doing the advertising and the marketing on my stuff and this content that I produce. But humans, that's what makes us human as other humans. I went today, had a great time, had a great conversation with a few people, saw some old friends. Always love that feeling of people. I walk in and luckily, because I have been around long enough, I walk in like the market a star.

00:13:45:14 - 00:14:04:22
Unknown
Yes. Now, my brand actually Rockstar marketing. But it that's a great feeling. Had a conversation with the young lady. We were going to book a one on one, and somebody else wants to book a podcast that's pretty cool. And then on the way out, one of, one of the members told a fantastic story. I forget her name.

00:14:04:22 - 00:14:23:07
Unknown
I think the last name is Crane. So pardon me for screwing that. It's not coming to me fast enough. But I gave her a compliment on the way out because she, she told a fantastic story. She's a toastmaster, which explains why she deliver her pitch so well. Her her 32nd commercial. I screwed mine up. Even though I was up, I was going, I was practicing all morning.

00:14:23:07 - 00:14:40:14
Unknown
I screwed it up. In the moment of truth, I got most of the. But anyways, on the way out, ran into her in the parking lot. No, no. And congratulated her and told her I'd never buy a house for her because, I'm already engaged. And I don't mean she's like the Cupid realtor or something like that.

00:14:40:14 - 00:14:59:13
Unknown
She's hooked people up and it's. Anyways, it was a fantastic story. Run into her in the in the parking lot. We get into this conversation kind of cold, but as she's so engaging, their stories are fantastic. And we had what amounts to a one on one where we got to know each other a little better. I was, I enjoyed it, it was son, I got to know her.

00:14:59:15 - 00:15:24:04
Unknown
I think I've done some work for her in the past. And which is. Which is crazy, because here's something that I noticed for myself is I've been in business long enough. So long, and I've done work, all types of work, especially at the beginning. I was just trying to pick up whatever would come my way, and I think I did a little work with her and helped her with maybe her WordPress site or some graphic design stuff, but it's been so long that I'm not sure which is absolutely crazy.

00:15:24:04 - 00:15:42:22
Unknown
Nonetheless, she's a fantastic human. She's doing great work, she has a great story to tell, and she's a toastmaster, which makes sense given the way she she just tell stories. Networking. I'm going to do better personally of going out at least once or twice a month to make sure that the community knows me and remembers who I am.

00:15:42:22 - 00:16:02:22
Unknown
So they think of me whenever they need, they need marketing, or they run into someone who's doing need some marketing, but also just make some new friends. We need to do better. Like, let's, let's kind of think about that for a second. We as business owners, a lot of us are in our lives, in our business, in our brick and mortars or in our, our offices, and we don't get out enough.

00:16:02:22 - 00:16:19:22
Unknown
We need other people that are also doing the thing that we're doing are in this struggle to trying to build a business and help the world be a better place. So I would encourage you to to find a group that that clicks with you and that you can show up to, and you will probably be surprised. It's, I'll finish with this.

00:16:19:22 - 00:16:46:12
Unknown
I know for a fact there's been numerous, numerous, numerous businesses that especially in the home repair, home contractor niche that have absolutely built their entire business within the room because once you are known, liked, and trusted, you will be the go to. There is an individual Jesse Hughes. Chuck Seidman is, VP essentially of operations in the whole thing.

00:16:46:14 - 00:17:12:11
Unknown
He has built it primarily through the group and through other networking. These fantastic. He's involved in the community. There's a garage door guy. There's been some handyman people. There's been a CVD. Like, because the people in the room love them and they show up and they support and they're part of the community, but they are the obvious choice every time they need a recommendation or they find someone that needs that thing they're going to get, they're going to refer them.

00:17:12:13 - 00:17:41:14
Unknown
And, that's one of the other cool things that I've enjoyed about it is that I know people, if you know, if you need something, you need a chiropractor, someone to fix your dishwasher, someone to fix your your heating and I see someone to clean your carpet, someone for insurance, someone for investments. Like they're in the room. And most of them have helped me in some capacity, like even if you just use them for yourself and what you need and because you know and you become friends with them, you may have even had a drink with them at some point or another, you're going to recommend them.

00:17:41:16 - 00:17:59:15
Unknown
So that's the episode for the day. Thank you for tuning in. It's in the car again because I actually love the lighting in here. And at the end the day, I have a great mike. Have a great camera. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Steve, the marketer. Subscribe. Share your thoughts on on networking. What are you what are some horror stories?

00:17:59:17 - 00:18:14:11
Unknown
And even better yet, tell me, what are some great stories about networking? Networking at the end of the day has not hurt anybody's feelings. It's the people. People are people and you're always gonna have some shady individuals. So let's be good people. Until next time. Take care. See you on the other side.