At the beginning of your business journey, something goes. You’re meeting a lot of people, following you and building your network. You’re going for coffee, picking your brain and attending multiple networking events each week. It is durable but essential. In the beginning, there must be everywhere.
Intentional networking
Dr. Emil Hodzovich
Many entrepreneurs, however, end up in a place where it makes no sense. Where the opportunity to say yes is more than the cost of the event itself. Here, a different strategy is needed. While there is a place for uninterrupted encounters and an open mind, a personal policy can lay the right foundation.
Dr. Emil Hodzovic has become a former medical doctor, high performance coach and investor who has learned rigorously how tedious and inefficient general networking can be. As the founder of Health Evolved, Hodzovic helps coaches and business owners lead a balanced life through a balance of health, wealth and happiness, and practices what he promotes by exploring new ways of living and managing. He has won new high-ticket clients by referrals and networking and is a member of several groups, but now he sees his time differently than when he started his entrepreneurial journey.
Purposeful networking is very busy with the six main components of Hodgovich and prevents the spread of time.
One step up
Alcoholics Anonymous describes the following companions who persuade or tempt you to go back to your old ways. Often, someone comes back after successfully chatting with these people as they progress on their AA journey. The following partners represent your previous version. As an ambitious entrepreneur, you may have a lowly partner, a family member who always wants you to get a real job, a friend who reminds you how naughty you were as a teenager, or a group whose interest you no longer have.
“When I started, I would rush to the ground by attending every event or meetup and saying yes to every request to connect,” Hodzovich said. If we become a combination of the five people we spend the most time with, then it is clear that those slots are full of A-players, not reflecting who we were and keeping us playing small. Mark and avoid. Join the groups that are at the top level in your business journey so that your growth opportunities are maximized.
Notice the high and low strength
When leaving someone, notice how you feel. Chances are it is either full of energy or ready for bed. For Hodzovich, awareness was key. “I noticed that I came away from some of the interactions that were fully stimulated, and as an introvert that had a huge perception. So I specifically start to find them and as a result avoid those that exclude me inconsistently.”
High energy conversations are about ideas, fun, and personal growth. Travel, business and productive sharing. Encourage someone, lend a hand, reassure them and reflect on their abilities. Low-powered people bring low-energy issues: gossip, complaints, drama, politics, hearings, and current affairs. If you can fully embrace yourself and feel good after saying goodbye, you can find your high-powered companions. If you find that you have to censor yourself, they are not your people, and intentional networking says you should leave early and never return.
Just don’t say
Time is your only finite resource. Although in the early stages of the business you can exchange your time for money, now you are exchanging your money for time. Assistants, team members and outsourced services are how you pay to get your time back. The value of each experience opportunity is large and time cleared so you can make more money or relax seriously.
“It would be a mistake at this stage to make up for the time you have wasted on unproductive events,” Hodzovich explained. So just don’t say. Get yourself out of a low-energy conversation with humility. Turn off invitations, leave WhatsApp groups. Don’t jump on the call, don’t book a catch up. Don’t go for less that your full potential. If they don’t get in your way, take them instead.
Intentional Networking: 7 Ways to Maximize ROI in Your Time
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Pay for the game
By creating a serious brand as an entrepreneur, you want to meet people who do the same thing. But where do they all live? Hodzovic believes that free networking events have limited value, which you can increase quickly. Often the solution is to pay for the game, where the guest list is verified before you arrive. Baby Bathwater, Frontier Club and 100 Million Academy Hall are examples of networks with high barriers to entry. When you graduate at this stage, what you want is an obstacle.
If you are confident that you can bring a lot to the table, you can choose the table. If you are wondering why you are not making progress, you could choose the wrong one. Deliberately meeting people requires a strategy, and payment networks can be one for you.
There is something to give
“The secret of intentional networking,” Hodzovich explained, “is not that you are meeting people. To accept. It’s the exact opposite, you’re meeting them To give“Your shopping in the new group is your insight, mental intelligence, the way with impressive listeners or people. They aces up your sleeve that you dish out with abundance.
With the right people, you can’t pay enough. Bring high power, never weird. Benefit, practice non-judgment. Talk about the biggest problem and see how they disappear. Be open to all kinds of opportunities because you can trust their source. Like actions and boomerangs, it all comes back to you.
Keep a personal CRM
“Tracking your engagement may sound sterile, but over time those relationships need to be maintained.” Hodzovic swears by a personal CRM system. If you have calendar events for your appointments, why not for your people? You can meet someone with a mastermind, it hurts amazingly, but then life gets in the way and if both parties are not intentional, the energy will not last. You can live in different countries, in different time zones. Can be out of sight without regular reminders to check in.
Keep a record because you care. Both Idea and Airtable can be configured to work as personal CRM and there are plenty of other apps out there. Entrepreneurs are intentional about their business growth and their SEO, but rarely about their network. Make a change by making a note.
If you graduated from an elementary school of entrepreneurship, you may need to rethink who you are spending your time with. Control your social commitment as you control your financial or sales activity and get the biggest rewards intentionally. Although the time to return will come, if you focus narrowly on this moment, you can make more difference in the long run. Save your time, save your energy and spend wisely with a new personal policy around the subject you will be joining.