Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: What's up guys? Welcome to another episode of A Brit and the Yank Talk Business. I'm Stuart amidon with page 50 digital marketing and media. And with me as always is.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: I'm Tom Chaldecott at Knox Thomas with machinery safety and compliance.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Welcome to another episode of A Brit in the YankTalk business. Today we are talking about networking. Now that can be a bad word for some people. I think some people think of it as potentially a waste of time.
I could see people having objections to it saying things like, no, if you just provide a good enough service then your reputation will grow and your business will grow by its own nature. You don't need to try to network, you don't need to try to build relationships. And I think those people are well intentioned, but wrong.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: They've missed the point.
You know, there's several different categories to networking there and there's several different purposes to it. So you've mentioned kind of marketing. And the first thing that I'd start with is sympathizing with those people who hate networking. So when I graduated from university I joined this technology company and they were very much, I think this is kind of common with all tech companies. They want to be marketing, they want to encourage their employees to be on social media, they want to get employees out kind of networking. And as an employee you're like, this is the worst thing ever.
And I think you kind of got the blinkers on and you're like the only thing people do at networking events is try and sell to people. And I hate being sold to and I don't want to sell my stuff. So this is a complete waste of everybody's time. And you go in with that approach and it's one of those self fulfilling prophecies. It's a waste of time.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Yeah. Well, I think if, I think the real thing is that nobody likes to be pitched. I mean, so especially a salesman. Do you go to a sales networking event where you're a salesman in a room full of salesmen and all the salesmen are pitching each other? It's terrible. Nobody, nobody wants to actually be pitched. And so one of the things that we did from the very beginning was we adopted the mindset of advice is always free. In fact, I still, I still say that to people today.
I'll say things. And I think that's partly how you and I met. Tom was, we were just chatting and I was like, well, you could do this and you could do this and you could do this and you could do this, like just Advice.
And then out of that came a relationship. Now we get to work together, all those things. Like that's, I think that if you go and participate in a, in a networking kind of event with the mentality of I'm here to help people, I'm not here to sell, do you know what I'm saying?
Your, your, your priorities shift a little bit. You will sell, you know, you will in fact wind up selling some products. Some people I still have calls with folks, in fact, I had a call with somebody the other, I think it was last week or maybe the very beginning of this week where I sat down with them and we visited for an hour or so and just kind of talked about where they were. And at the end of the call I was like, hey man, you're just not ready to bring us on yet. Like, you need to get to the point where you have a marketing budget of around $20,000 a year before you're really ready to like step in and make this jump. It's not going to be safe for you, it's going to be risky. In the meantime, do this, this and this and this. And I would spend your money that you have available this way rather than trying to bring us on to do the high level, heavy lift kind of stuff. And he was like, wow, man, that's so helpful. And I think that's, and what I'm doing in a situation like that is I'm genuinely offering value, I'm genuinely providing him a service, but I'm also planting a seed so that in 24 months when he does have a marketing budget of $20,000, then he'll call and he'll say, oh yeah, hey man, I think I'm ready.
And then we can pull the trigger and build all kinds of cool stuff. But I think that's the importance. If you can treat, if you can treat networking as the long game, you have a, you have a huge advantage.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: I'm going to apologize for the noise in the background. There's like a load of trucks outside, but if you can't hear them, I think, I think one of the, one of the items in there is like, what is the purpose of networking and how do you approach it? So obviously there's a marketing piece you've mentioned. All the salespeople go, but there's a piece in there about kind of, it's again one of these self fulfilling prophecies. So the reason that you go is probably going to be what you get out of it at the same time. So if you're there to help people. And if you're genuinely interested in kind of understanding people's problems and thinking, not only how can I help people, but who do I know who could help this person that I'm talking to? Like, I'm having a conversation with this guy, and he starts talking about his marketing problems, and I'm like, ah, I could help this guy, and I could help Stuart, and I could introduce each other and maybe they can help each other.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: You're approaching it with that mindset. Then you will. I don't really know how you explain how it happens, but that's kind of what you'll take away. So you'll start building these connections that you're like, yeah, this guy does this. And. And so it's often the case now that, like, I want to know who's out there, because as I wander around a factory, I want to be like, what are the problems have they got? And how could I help them with their problems? And the only way I can help them with their problems, the only way I can, one, identify them and two, be able to help them, is no people who can kind of deliver that service. So, you know, we're not in. We don't do process safety, so we don't do kind of chemical processing. Okay. But, like, I've had plenty of conversations with companies that do do chemical and process safety, that now if I wander around, I'm like, oh, there's. There's some chemicals over there, or there's this kind of fluid process happening over here, and these guys are having a problem. Oh, if I, like, link these guys, then everybody helps each other. So, yes, if networking becomes about what can I learn from the guy that I'm talking to? You know, and people buy from people. And I know that sounds super cheesy, and I used to think that's. That's just like garbage and nonsense, but it's totally true. Like, when you become interested in someone else, people then think that you're interesting, even though you're not actually kind of communicating much because you're trying to kind of reap and learn from them.
And then they're more likely to go, oh, I've got a problem. Who do I go to? Well, Tom could help with this. Or like. Or even just like, I think I know that Tom knows lots of people, so Tom might not be able to deliver the solution. But if I go to him and we kind of build our relationship, he'll probably know who I should talk to and that I'm just looking at so our vision for Knox Thomas is, well, I'm going to read it off my screen. So it's to be the industry's first choice independent consultancy for all compliance and safety needs within the next 10 years. Well, what does that mean? That doesn't necessarily mean that I have to do it right, but I need to know people who, when people come to us and see us as the first choice independent consultancy that I can then go, oh, yes, you've come to us because we're the first choice and I want to point you to the best people who can deliver this service. They're over here.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think so. In our space, you know, media and marketing, I do have internal staff, but I don't carry internal staff for every single niche because whenever you say the word marketing like that is, that's a massive beast of an animal like you. Even just if we're talking search engine optimization, there's three different tertiary tiers and soon to be four.
With the development of AI and the way it's continuing to advance now people are looking at long tail keywords in a completely different way than they used to. That's a another topic for another time.
But what I have is a network of contractors.
And in fact I messaged somebody right before we got on the call this morning. I was like, hey, I don't know why we haven't done this yet, but you work in design. Why don't we talk and see if we can't add you to our list of contractors whenever we have work? Because we inevitably somebody bids a, let's say somebody builds a website with us. Okay, well to go along with that website, I need the web developer who knows the code and can build it. I need a host that's reliable so that I can connect with them and make sure that they're plugged in and going. I need a graphic designer who can lay out the website and make sure that it's aesthetically pleasing in multiple formats. I need a content creator, somebody who can write well and generate things and I need somebody to go out and produce media. Boom. I got five people that I got attacked for that project.
That's just one project. That's like, it's a massive lift. And so of course I have to be able to network with like minded contractors that have a quality of work. Part of our job is to vet them as we're going in and then as we bid, we look at our list of contractors and we say, all right, this is the amount of budget that the client's coming for. This is what they want their end project to look like. Who's the best fit, who's going to. Who's going to work best with these guys and be able to move forward from there. So, yeah, so networking is not just sales. That's very true. You're meeting people that you can potentially utilize later for other work and they could potentially utilize you. You know, so if I have a graphic designer to use the same example, who gets a lead on a web build, he's going to be like, oh, I remember the page 50 guys. I'm gonna, I'm gonna call them and I'll just do the design aspect and get them to do the rest of the lift. Boom, problem solved. It's a, it's very much like an ebb and flow relationship over time. And it works out well for people. Works out well.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: I think if you don't, you know, you can wander into a room full of salespeople providing kind of business services and you know full well, like, what the pitch is going to be from them and you know that the conversation is going to be not very interesting.
So there's a real opportunity there to set yourself apart from those conversations as well in that, like, if you approach it in a way that, no, I want to love and care for this individual that I'm talking to that God has placed in front of me, I want to be interested in them. They remember you as someone different from the guy who's just like, pushing sales, which is what most of the people there are doing. And you end up developing an actual relationship with them and kind of. I don't know. I had it, I had it earlier today. And this wasn't necessarily through marketing specifically, but this health and safety manager has just joined this business that we've been doing some work with and we were just kind of introducing each other and touching base. And she was like, I've heard loads about you, Tom. And everyone here speaks really highly of you. And I'm like, okay, I will see that as a good thing. And like, where's that come from? Like, that's come from me caring about individuals and wanting to. Right. Engage with people and listen to them and it not be about me and not be about me trying to sell. And you, you get remembered.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I think that to the extent that we remember that we are humans, right? Because the big temptation today, and you and I were talking about this before we started recording, the big temptation is to automate everything.
And that's. I'm not knocking automations Like, I run automations, okay? We build automations for companies. You know, like, I don't think that they're bad, but if you're automating the human out of what you do, I think you're going to get into trouble there. There is this sense in which people want to automate.
They want to kind of remove themselves from the process so that they can focus on other things, which is not bad. It's not a bad idea.
But if people are buying from humans because they want to buy from a human, if they want to have a human relationship, you're going to run the risk of losing those accounts, losing those relationships, because you're taking the humanity out of it. I think the brands that are performing the best right now are brands that act like humans.
They act like humans in their interactions. They act like humans in their digital spaces. Their website feels human.
I think those are the brands that are doing well and will continue to do well in the future.
No, go ahead, go ahead.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: What do you think? So I think the other things that you have in here are like, I assume this is the same in the States. There's kind of memes that go round about like a manager telling an employee to pick up the phone and speak to such and such. And the meme is like, I emailed him. And then the manager's like, no, did you ring him? And he's like, I texted them. And then the third one is like, I've sent them another email. So, like, the fact that people are losing that ability to kind of actually communicate person to person and like, you see it when you go networking, like, you can tell immediately the people who, like, either, you know, they haven't, haven't done much networking before, or they, like, don't know why they're there and they just don't kind of have those kind of people skills. And they're like, physically shaking some of them, and it's really. It's bizarre to watch.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: I know.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: You know, they're terrified and I think. And that's only going to get worse.
I find it particularly. And I mean, it's probably the same for all of us. But, like, the people I often want to be selling to are engineers. Okay.
Engineers don't like talking to people, so they never go to events.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: So I mean, I think it opens an opportunity for, like, people who recognize the value in it. And because they recognize the value in it, they become good at it because they practice it.
Like, it's easy to, to be set apart and to actually Stand out.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
And we should also talk about that.
There are people who have gifts for this and who don't, you know, like, because they're so. I. I had a young man who was working for me for a little while, and he wanted to try sales. It was a whole new career path for him. He had a little bit of experience in interpersonal work, and.
And I was like, yeah, sure, why not? Let's give it a shot. And part of the duty of the particular type of sales that he was going to be doing is the cold call, which even experienced salesmen don't want to do. Cold calls, you know, like, they hate that. They don't want to try.
And it got to the point for him specifically, where he was filled with so much anxiety about calling someone he didn't know, that he eventually was just like, I can't do this anymore.
I got to do something else. And I was like, that sounds fine, man. You're not scratching. You're not bothering me at all. We tried it. It didn't work. Like, you know, go on, live your life. Enjoy life. There are some people who are not built for the social scene, right? They're just. They're. They're made different, and that's okay. Like, for those kind of guys, I would say you. You probably just need to attach yourself to someone who is. You need to attach yourself to someone who's gifted and built for the networking scene and recognize that, you know, God made people different. God made everybody with a particular set of skills, particular gift set, and they can operate in their lane. Well, I know one of our clients is a company that has an engineering department, and the engineer is your stereotypical engineer who is phenomenal at what he does.
But he is not great at the humanity side, you know, like, he's. He's just. He misses he's. And not to say that he's like a bad person. He's a great guy. I love talking to him. He's got a ton of wisdom in his head. But networking is not his lane. You know, building social capital with other people is just not as lame. So guess what? He has people for that. He has employees that run in that space, and they flourish and thrive and do a great job with that. And as a result, his business is blessed and continues to grow. It's. It's a different. It's a different thought process. So if you don't have this particular set of skills, find somebody who does and employ them or align yourself with them or just stand next to them at a Party and let them introduce you to everyone.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: I think. Yeah. I mean, it's just. It's totally important. I mean, your point you touched on earlier about how you could not do networking, or this idea that you could not do networking and that somehow the quality of your product could speak for itself. Now what do you do? You know, I don't like buying cars. Okay. Like, if you go out to, like, a used car dealership, like, what are you. Whether you are consciously doing it or not, what you're effectively doing is kind of deciding whether or not you, like the guy who's selling to you and what, you know, you're trying to work out through that. Like, is this person, and it completely doesn't tell you anything about the car. But, like, do I think this person's honest? Do I think they kind of maybe share the same kind of values? I do, and therefore, am I going to get a car that is reliable? Like, it's easy to argue that none of those things are related at all, but we can't get away from that. And, like, that is exactly what you're doing, the quality of the product. And also, when I'm out buying a used car, and I assume this is the case for 90% of the people who do, you don't know what to look for.
There's going to be something wrong with it, and there's no way you're going to find whatever that thing is. So there's going to be an issue with the quality. But you're still there trying to work out whether or not I like this guy that I'm engaging with. So your personality. And we've chatted about this, you know, people, when they engage with page 50, or if they engage with Knox Thomas, they're engaging. They're buying from Tom or they're buying from Stuart, you know, they're not actually.
They're not primarily or in the first instant, analyzing the product. Like, obviously, the product has to be important and we have to communicate and we want high quality. Absolutely. But the first thing that they're actually building their kind of case for the purchase is actually on personality. So you're almost forced into a position where, as you say, networking is really important, and you've got to, at minimum, find people who are good at it so that through them you can kind of achieve your networking.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think I've solved the car purchase problem by I just buy from the same guy because I know him and he's my friend, so he just gets all my business. But that's literally what I do. Like, if I'm buying a new car from a dealership. No, Dave Ramsey, watch out. Don't. Don't listen to this, Dave. But if I'm buying a new car from a dealership, I call my friend. Ironically, his name is Thomas. You know, I call my friend Thomas and I'm like, hey, Thomas, this is what I'm looking for. This is how much money I got. Send me what you got. And he'll shoot me a few things. And I say, okay, that. I picked that one. You know, here we go.
And I asked him questions like, how's the car? Like, quality wise. He was like, well, it passed its safety check.
You know, like, we're not really sure. I sell warranties if you want one.
So it's just, it's kind of the, it's kind of the space that you're in. It really is about a relationship. It's.
People are. And this, this goes back to kind of what I was saying before. If you're networking with people because you want to sell to them immediately, it's not gonna work. You're. That's. It's. You're building relationships that are gonna turn into work into. In 6, 12, 24 months. That's the, that's how it plays. You know, it's not gonna be you showing up and saying, now occasionally that does happen. Occasionally it does happen where, like, you meet somebody and they buy from you the next week. But that's very rare. The vast majority of the time you're just meeting people, building relationships out over time, and eventually it's. It turns into work. Eventually it turns into more leads for you, and you are able to help people and it's a good thing, but it's not going to. If you're trying to do the hot sell, that's not going to play. And people can smell that too, and that's what turns them off. And they, they start to smell that you're just trying to sell to them, and they're like, all right, I'm done here. I'm out.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: So what, what advice or what would you recommend someone does who they.
They don't have a business idea yet.
They're employed. They kind of think they want to start something, whether that's going to consultancy or just start a business.
And they haven't really thought about networking. What advice would you give them? What would you suggest they should do?
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah, so I guess it depends on what kind of business trajectory they might want to be in. Like, are they going to sell A product?
Are they going to sell a low cost product? Are they going to sell a high cost product? Are they going to sell a service? You know, what kind of service is it going to be? Is going to be home oriented? Is it going to be business to business type work? Like where, where are you going? And based on that, I would recommend to start building relationships. So one of the first places that I would tell anybody to go and be a human is in a church.
Like, you don't realize the relationship capital that you get and develop from being in Covenant community with other believers in a local church.
If you put the time in and live like a Christian among other Christians, you've just built yourself a launching pad. You have a room full of people who at the very least are going to cheer you on and, and support you and pray for you, like, which is great.
That's huge. But what you also have is, let's say you start a.
Say you become a plumber, right? You have a room full of warm leads because guess what those people are going to do. You just walk up and say, hey guys, I'm a plumber. Now I'm looking. Everybody in that room is going to say, you know who I want to hire you. Because I go to church with you and I see your family every week and your little kids are cute and I want to help feed them. So my problem is my pipe is leaking. Come fix my pipe. I did that last week, you know, like, or I think it was, might have been this week actually. Something broke at my house. Who did I call? Somebody from church.
It's a no brainer, you know, I have a young man that cuts my yard. Guess what? He goes to our church.
I hired somebody to take care of my dad's yard while he's recovering. Guess what? They go to my church. You know, like this is, this is you. You build that into your life. So if you're starting anywhere, I would start there. Now when you go out of that, I would say it depends on what kind of service that you're offering. So chambers of commerce, we have those in the States. I'm not sure if they exist in.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: The U.K. we do.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Okay, so we have chambers of Commerce. If you're B2B Chamber of Commerce is a great place to be. Our first year, whenever we first started the business about seven years ago, our membership of chamber of Commerce probably generated $100,000 worth of work for us in the first two years.
And I paid them 75 bucks a quarter. You know, like that's not That's a great roi. And you have to go to the events, you have to meet the people, and you have to do this. You're building slow relationships and helping them out over time. But it's. It's a great system to put into place. It's a good system to get your feet off the ground. Now I'm no longer a part of our particular chamber of commerce because they've leaned hard, woke, and I'm like, all right, I'm out.
But I still look for relatable business networks because I've predominantly served B2B.
There's a few individual kind of projects that we do, but they're very, very, very few. Like less than 5%. The vast majority of our work is B2B. So that's kind of what I'm looking for.
And then if you're a.
If you sell widgets, you know, who wants to buy your widget? Go to those events.
Is it a values aligned product? Is it an educational resource?
I know a guy who started a company, and when he initially started it, they were focused primarily on school supplies.
And it's just, he orders a bunch of product created and built in China and then they ship it to the United States and he packages and brands it as his own brand and then sells and distributes.
But then over time, what he found himself in was he became the, like, the Bible journal guy. That's just where his products all landed. And so where does he go? He goes to Christian conferences and sells pins and highlighters and journals and devotionals and those kinds of things. And people build network and relationship with him and they buy his product. So you gotta kind of think of, who are you looking for? And then go, put yourself in front of those people. Build the relationships with those people. And don't. Okay, this is the last thing I'm gonna say. Don't view people in your.
If they occupy the same field as you, I would advise you to not view them as competitors. Okay?
Or maybe I should say it a different way. They are competitors, but don't view them with hostility.
Okay?
Relationship. Build with them. Talk to them, give them advice. Let them give you advice. Like, be their friend. If you're a Christian, one of the things that you realize is that the pie is not limited. Like, God is the one who provides for his people. He's not like, well, I provided for my people, but only this much, and sorry, all your money's gone to that guy now. That's not how it works. God says he's going to provide. He Makes the pie bigger if he's going to provide. So you can trust him. And how profound is it? Whenever you can go up to a competitor and be like, hey, man, you crossed a million dollars this year. Way to go. I'm super stoked for you. I bought you a bottle of Scotch. You know, like, congratulations. What a great way to live.
You know, like, don't. Don't get an animus with them. Congratulate them. Be excited for them. Move forward and build. And it's good, especially with other Christian brothers, I think.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: I don't know. I'd add loads to that. I think you've. You've put quite a lot of emphasis on kind of the marketing piece. I. I find, like, the opportunity for networking. Often I'm let down. So I'll put that caveat in before I make this statement. But, like, I think we can be excited about talking with people and where the conversation could go. So, for example, I went to a health and safety event and some guy, like, collared me, and he used a fantastic kind of conversation starter. I was just walking through the.
I can't remember what it was, but it was really good.
And he kind of started chatting about his product. And effectively, he offers this kind of online, online portal for kind of health and safety and quality, and it can be kind of planted into various formats. And he's got various clients and customers. And I just started thinking, like, hang on a minute. He's talking to these people. I want to.
He's talking to these people. I want to talk to those people.
And he's got this product that if I married my product to his product, we could enhance kind of the service offering that we have. He actually wants to speak to my customers. And, like, so we've.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Now.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: So with that particular item, I don't think we've got anyone who's using it as a complete product yet. But we've pitched it to several people, and it's like, it's quite an obvious service offering that just bolts onto the side of kind of what we normally deliver. And, like, I wouldn't have thought about that as a service offering if I hadn't run into this guy and we hadn't start the conversations. And I could have very easily been like, I'm at a health and safety show. Health and health and safety shows are boring. I don't want to talk to anyone.
But, like, I just. This guy wanted to talk, and I was happy to see where the conversation went. And this is where it went. And now we, you know, talk On a relatively off frequent basis. So I think just being open to those. And I would pose people who are thinking about, you know, where, where could I start? I want to build something. I don't know what it is yet. I mean, talking things out loud is a fantastic way to develop your thoughts and also have other people kind of input stuff. And like, you know, a lot of network conversations are drivel, like, and they're incredibly boring. And like, I hate, I hate chamber of commerce events. So the only reason that I use chamber of commerce events is to be like, where are all the interesting people? What's the events that I should be going to? I think they're really helpful for like, this is somewhere to start. So if you haven't done networking, I would say go to your chamber of commerce events. But having your mind like, I'm going, why am I going here? I'm going here to have conversations. I'm going here to build my confidence. I'm going here to find where I should be going and having conversations. Where are the networks that I actually want to join? So I think the other helpful thing in kind of if, if you're new to networking and you're approaching it is like, what, what would success look like when I leave, when I leave that event? You know, is it, is it handed out two business cards? Is it, I've found out that there's this manufacturer over here somewhere and I've maybe got a name of some guy that I could kind of follow up with.
Or maybe it's that you are potentially looking for an accountant or whatever the service might be. And you've had conversations with four different accountants. I mean, I had one.
So trying to get insurance for us. Well, I find this with most service providers trying to explain what we do is really difficult. And then when you get into the kind of the weeds of it, We've had a few scenarios where insurance providers have gone, nope, we won't, we won't insure that because of this, this and this. And you're like, come on, where do I find someone? So, like, go to the networking event, find the insurers there and be like, this is my problem, how do I solve it? And the odds are that you're not going to give the business to them, but, like, they're going to help you work out. Like, what is, what is the actual problem? Is it that this particular guy was just a pain and he was just kind of refusing to kind of think laterally?
And it's through those conversations that the ideas develop. Like I've said it in previous conversations that we've had, Stuart. Like, conversation is just like gold dust. It's magic. Like, this is where ideas start. Like, without it, your ideas aren't developing. Like, the end, which, I mean, really is one of the reasons that I enjoy this podcast. Like, you and I are talking, and, like, ideas are whirring away, and, like, things are. Things are developing and appearing from nowhere. Like, it's awesome.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I look forward to our calls, too, for that purpose. And that's actually why we started recording these things, because we were like, maybe this would help somebody else. Yeah, I think.
I think that you said something really interesting just a minute ago of networking being an opportunity to develop skills, and I think that's true.
Maybe you just started a business and you have no idea how to talk to people.
You can go to the Chamber of Commerce event and figure it out, right? Like, you can go. You can go to a business networking event and be bad at it, and that's okay, you know, like, go and. But you're still learning, and you're learning what to do and what not to do and how to talk, and you're hearing other people who are doing a good job, and you're like, oh, I want to do that. I can't tell you how many ideas I've stolen. There's a lot of them, because I'm like, wow, that's a great idea. I'm going to start doing that, you know, like, because it's a. It's a genuine. It's a genuine place to be able to go and think and see what other people are doing and practice and try. That's a great idea. You know, that's a great idea for you to go and develop those skills. And it's a good way to get started when you don't have any experience in it.
So then I guess that leads to kind of our.
Our. Our big culminating question, right? When and how, like, does somebody really start doing this? So you've got a business in place. Do you do it before the business is in place? Do you go after the businesses in place?
When do you start building out your network? What do you think, Tom? When do you start building out a network of people? Now, that's exactly what I was gonna say.
Yesterday.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yesterday. I mean, I think one of the other things, and maybe this is a conversation for another time, is like, we should do things that we're scared of doing, you know? Yeah. Think about how dangerous is this thing and do, like, a dynamic risk assessment before you do it. But like, if you go to a network event and you're like, I've never been to a network event. I don't know who's here. This is kind of scary. You know, Like, I went to. I went to one in Manchester city center. I don't like cities. Everything about the center of Manchester is like, I don't want to be here.
And like, it's full of people that I don't really want to talk to.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: But like, I'm going to put myself there because one, it'll. It'll grow kind of a tenacity in me. It'll thicken my skin. I might learn, if nothing else, I'll learn that I never want to go there again, which is what I did learn.
But, like, it's in those scenarios where you're like, this is slightly scary. I'm going to go do it because it's going to be good for me. And like, on the other side, I become better. Like, that thing wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. And then you end. That ends up growing. And I think networking is a fantastic kind of start for anybody doing that. Like, it feels scary, but you're never going to see those people again. Like, if it went really badly, it wouldn't matter. Just don't go to another one of the events. No one will know.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: You put your foot in your mouth in front of a thousand people. Just don't go back.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Yeah, just don't go.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: There's another town you can go visit a different one.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: Probably some caveats in there, but like, and then the question is kind of, what's the next thing? You know, you could.
When you kind of grow that networking feels quite comfortable. You end up speaking at the networking events because that's just the next logical thing. And then you can start leveraging them in other ways. Like, you want to think about marketing. Well, how do I use it to generate LinkedIn material or content? And, and it can go in. It can go in loads of directions. But I think start networking now. It doesn't really matter where you pick or what you pick. You could start with the local chamber of commerce.
Just go and start having conversations. And I mean, you can always just leave if it's rubbish.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: That's right. You really can. You can just roll out and it'll be okay. Yeah, a hundred percent, I think any. And you kind of have to go to the like. And once you've done it a little bit, everybody gets the experience of, oh, this, this One was a total waste of time. Okay. Don't go back next year, you know, or next month or whenever it is. Do something else.
And that also kind of. And we don't have enough time to really talk about this. But this also brings up the opportunity of you starting your own networks. Right. The more that you do this, the more that you look around and you say, nah, this isn't really the people that I want to be building with. I want to be building with these type of people. Okay, great. Then start it and find a way to add value to those people's lives and pull the trigger. You know, one of the easiest things that we do, so every couple of months, we just do a professional development lunch, and I invite a speaker, and I offer to pay them a little bit, and I'll. I'll zoom them in or Skype them in or whatever. You know, they'll join via a teleconference. And the guy's sitting around the table, and we listen to this guy talk for 20 minutes, and then we get to ask him questions. Oh, it's a great value add for my employees.
And it's really easy to just plug in other people to it, too. And we already are doing it. Y' all want to come in here from, you know, last time it was Andrew Kapachette's. Yeah, I want to come hear from Andrew. He's got some stuff to say about Christians in business. Yeah, no. All right, see you later. Whatever you want to do. And out of that can come something.
It's an opportunity to grow personally, but it's also an opportunity to build relationships out in the particular sector that you're operating in. I think that's good. Yeah.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: I think one other item that I would add in, you know, we've kind of said this is where you could go. This is where you should start. I think that. And this is. This is going to be obvious, but I'm going to say anyway, I think that makes networking work and communication work is that what does the Bible tell us to do? To be slow to slow to speak and quick to listen. And the other piece in there that fits with that is. Is how do you facilitate that? Well, the answer to that is asking questions.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: And then shutting up.
And that blesses other people. It builds relationships, and it grows your knowledge and your understanding. You know, if. If you're the one speaking all the time, you're not learning anything. Okay. And you're not actually investing in that relationship.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Amen. All right, Tom, closing thoughts.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Well, I think that was my closing thought. I be slow to speak and quick to listen.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. Where there are many words sent a bounds. All right, guys, thank you all so much for listening to another episode of Brit and Yank Talk Business. We hope that you found this valuable and a blessing to you and to your business. Go forth and network.
And also if you have, if this is a blessing to you, we would appreciate you reviewing our podcast, sharing and subscribing to it and, you know, liking it. I don't know, whatever platform you're listening to on it, you can do all those different things.
And if you are a Christian in business, we want to get to know you, we want to meet you and, and help you continue to build and progress in all of these things. So if you're in the uk, look up Tom. If you're in the us, look up me. And we would love to hang out and just kick ideas around. You can Find us on LinkedIn or other social platforms as well. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you all next time.
