EP 79 | My Billion $$$ Networking Secrets

to onboard a team member. And as I've been doing this and as I'm in Paris, I was really thinking about like, man, what am I doing right now that is going to make this experience successful? And I know this is a follow up from my previous episode on being in Paris, preparing for this networking and how to

prepare for a big experience, something new. So if you haven't checked out that episode, go check out the previous episode because there's lots of great nuggets about, you know, what do you do in order to get in the right rooms and how do you behave once you're there? But now I want to take you after the fact, now that this whole Paris experience has wrapped and it was a total just it was awesome. It was total success.

Totally awesome. I want to share with you what I do in new experiences, how I network, how I get to know people instead of just living in the moment. Now, there's a caveat here. So this is going to be all about networking. However, when you I think it's important to talk about like the framework of experiences and doing something new. So I'm all about having moments of gratitude,

having moments of appreciation. Here I am eating this beautiful breakfast by myself, really enjoying a morning of just like. Gratitude and appreciation and getting shit done and just like having a nice, like, little pause. Maybe I'll talk about that in the next episode is how do you take a pause? But make no mistake, when you fly across the world in order to go to an event, when you drive across your town to go to an event, the event is not the time to feel the gratitude

and appreciation. When you show up to an event, you have to know what your intention is, and if you're at an event, your intention is to meet new people. Your intention is not to be inspired, and your intention shouldn't be to just take it all in. No, if you're going to an event where there are other people and you do not know those people, get clear. Your intention should be to meet those people. People have everything you want in this life and so you have to

figure out this networking game. And I'm just going to tell you, I'm a professional at this. It's been a minute since I've had to network by myself. Normally, Brain and I were a dynamic duo in a crowd of people that we have no idea who they are and we just have this great energy back and forth. And he does. He's like Mr. Vibrato and Life of the Party and I'm the people that people end up liking.

But he's the one that they think is funny. They like him too, But like, you just have this really good thing because I go deep and he goes entertaining anyway. Not the point. Networking and why the tips I'm going to give you today, networking and why you're there has to get clear on the front end. So if you're going to an event, remember experiencing it and join it. Those are all great things, but those are secondary intentions.

Your main intention is to meet new people and to figure out what can you do with those new people, what relationship can be formed, what connection can take place in order to push you forward? So set your intention before you go. I'm going to meet new people and it is going to be amazing. Now let's just go into my network Secrets. There are seven. However, as I go through this, I might add a bonus 1 or 2.

So you're going to want to stick around First one, when you get in the room, locate the people that you came to meet. Now you might be thinking, wait a second, Natalie. I don't know who's going to be there. How am I supposed to know who to meet? You will know when you walk into the room. You will know who you came to meet. There will be an energy,

There will be excitement. There will be people that you can tell like, Man, this person is more reserved versus this person is more outgoing versus this person has a lot of people with them. So I should probably figure out how to join the group of people with a lot of people and figure out who I'm there to meet.

And it's really clear if you are looking who you came there to meet and why I say this is the first step is what oftentimes happens in networking events is you just go there and you start talking to the one person that you first encounter and then you don't ever move past that person because both of you guys might be uncomfortable. And then you sit together, you have your meal together, you just become buddies. Well, remember,

what's our intention? Our intention is to meet people. So when you get there, find the person that you are there to meet. You are on a mission. You need to and should be meeting the majority of the room that you walk in. So for this Paris event, there were well, there was it was a small enough group where I knew I was going to end up meeting everybody no matter what. But but I had created the intention that I needed to find the person or the

people that I came to meet. So when you get into the room, yes, it's fine to talk to the first person that's there because you don't know who that person is. You don't know what connection you guys could have. But don't forget that you're on this mission to find the person or the group of people that you came to meet. Find them, don't lose sight of finding them. And that is going to force you to network with different people instead of just getting stuck and glomming on

to the one person. And quite honestly, whenever I've done this, to me it's the biggest cop out. If I don't do step one correctly, then the rest of it, it just kind of becomes useless. And I feel silly leaving. I feel like, Oh man, this wasn't really the right room for me when it could have been. But the only reason it wasn't was because I didn't fulfill on my mission, which was to find the people that I

came to meet. Okay, you get the point. Number two, when you are in a room of people that you do not know, the easiest way to keep the conversation going while not feeling awkward about ending it is to ask for their contact information. So let's say just yesterday I sat down with somebody. There was a group of people. I was eating with them and I knew it was my moment to go meet the other people inside this room.

So instead of just awkwardly saying, Oh, I'm going to go talk to other people, which then makes the person feel like. You don't want to talk to them. You asked for the contact info. You say it was so great talking with you. Can I get your contact information? You take their contact information. I always take a screenshot. This is my pro tip. I take a screenshot whenever I get their contact information so that I can remember

all of the people that I just connected with. You take a screenshot, you have the photos and then you've asked for their contact information. You move on to the next person. But it's a great like, man, this was a great conversation. It's showing intention that you want to move the relationship forward, which you should. You should be moving the relationship forward. You asked for contact information. Phenomenal. So great to meet you. And then you move on

to the next person. Now you have their contact information. The third thing to do is you follow up immediately. Now, immediately might be a little bit too soon. You should wait until you've left the event for follow up. That's at least what I do. But I'm following up within that day, maybe that evening, maybe on my walk home from the event that I just went or the car ride home. But I am following up immediately with those people. Hey,

it was great to meet you. I'm Natalie Dawson. Here's how you can contact me or here's where I'm at on socials. Let's get connected and then make your ask. Do you want them on your podcast? Do you want to set up a lunch? Do you want to do a coffee? Whatever the ask is follow up immediately bonus round on this. If they are a very important person to you, like you know that they're very important person. I did this with Elena Cardone, I did this with the editor of Men's Vogue that I sat with, which

is nuts. We had like a full two hour conversation. He was super awesome. You add a special touch. So with Elena, I got her address, mailing address. I sent her gold and black flowers. Still to this day, she has them there from that flower company that that preserves the roses so you can have them forever. So there's a special touch. It makes you memorable. It has you. It makes you stand out from everybody else. When you add that special touch with the Vogue editor, I've already

reached out. I haven't figured out what my special touches, but I'll probably send him something when he's back in New York. I know he's still in Paris right now, but I'll send him something saying, Wow, it was so great to meet with you. Thank you for the conversation. I'll put a little note in about something that I learned or something that I took away. This is the second pro tip on this for those very important people that you want to have a connection with, do something

that shows them that you're interested. I was about to have a meeting with Victoria Beckham a couple of weeks ago and I bought her clothes in order to wear her clothes to the meeting. That is a sign of respect and you can think that that's tacky. You can think that that's weird. I come at it from a genuine place, so it's not something that I'm not trying to. Well, I guess I am trying to impress them. I'm trying to,

but not for for ill intention. I'm trying to to pay my dues, to give respect where respect is is required. And I'm a big fan of Victoria Beckham's clothes. I'm a big fan of Elena Cardon. I've become a big fan of this, this editor of Men's Vogue. Michael And so for the special people that you get contact information like he and I exchanged phone numbers, emails follow each other on Instagram. Now I'm going to do the next thing, which is the special touch so that you're not forgotten.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be remembered. Women are told all the time that you should just kind of blend in. Let me just set this straight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be remembered and taking the right action to be remembered. The action, though, is in the follow up. So if you don't do the previous step, step two, which is asking for the contact information, you're going to really struggle to do the

the follow up. You're really going to struggle to be remembered unless you just like slide into their DMS, which that's weird to if you have to, you have to write if you forgot to get contact information. But ideal seeing as you get the contact information and then you do something that makes you memorable, be memorable at a networking event. You do not want to blend in. Do not blend in, do not come as like I'm a wild or a wildflower, not a wildflower, a wallflower. I'm

just a wallflower. And I'm just here to enjoy myself. Fuck that. No, you're there to be remembered. You're there to get known. You're there to move your life forward. And the people in that room can help you. You have to believe all of that. Okay, Moving on. This one is going to be a little bit controversial. I already know this, but I'm going to say what I'm about to say. Don't drink.

The deal is Grant Cardone says one thing does not blow a deal. You getting drunk one time does not blow a deal. However, it doesn't look professional. And if you're there with an intention to move your business forward, to move your product forward, to move your reputation forward, to start, you know, being in bigger places and doing more exciting things, the reputation should not be that you're the person that got drunk. Now, is it okay to

have a drink? Sure. And especially in social environments. I get why having champagne in your hand and all of that. I'll drink maybe a half a glass of champagne or half a glass of whatever people are having just for the social aspect. But the intention is not to get drunk or the bigger crutch is using alcohol to make you a more heightened version of yourself or a more funny version of yourself, or a looser version of yourself. Like be a grown ass adult. Yes, you might be

nervous networking. I get it. But you don't have to get drunk to cope with those feelings. Just fucking cope with the feelings. Sit there like a grown ass person and meet new people. It's okay that you don't have alcohol In order to do that, you don't need it. It's not a requirement. You shouldn't make it necessary. Cope with your own emotions, cope with your feelings, and you are going to feel more confident because that is the name of this game. You're going to feel more confident

afterwards if you do it the right way. If you get drunk, you don't even remember what you said. Like I can't even imagine if I would have gotten drunk with the editor of Vogue. And then the next morning I'm like, oh my God, what did I say to him? Did I say that was I like, you just get loose and you're not trying to get loose. You're not trying to get loose. You're trying to make a good impression.

You're trying to be memorable. Nobody wants to be memorable or you shouldn't want to be memorable in that way. So I'm a stickler about the drinking thing. I'm a huge stickler. Once you get to know people. Sure. If you need to let your hair down and they become friends or whatever, that's fine. Okay, next up, we're off of that one. I've heard the saying so many times. Be interested. Not interesting. This is my take on that.

Be interested then. Interesting. So all your attention and energy should be focused on being interested in the other person. What do they do? What is exciting to them in their lives? Do they have children? Do they have a business? Are they excited about launching a new venture or a philanthropic endeavor that they have? Just be interested. Ask genuine questions as if because you are you are so interested

in the other person. Now, the reason I say as if it's because I realized that people really struggle with being interested in other people, because in most people's world, their world is the world. There's no. Point of view from somebody. Somebody else's perspective. So it's easy for people to. Ask one question and then start talking about themselves or how they relate to it. Whatever the person just said,

that's not the idea. You should be asking 5 to 10 questions or it shouldn't feel overwhelming, but you should be asking them questions about what they do, what they like to do, how they ended up at that event, what the context is for how they were invited to the event. Be interested in the other person without making it remotely about you, and then you be interesting. So after you are interested, you're still interested. But then. Then

you can start to be interesting. Then you can start talking about what you do, why you do what you do, why you're excited about some project that you're working on, the context in which you're at this event. But you don't start off by being interesting. It's the wrong way to do it. I have one over so many people that initially wouldn't like me. And here's the real rule

on this. Most of the times it has been very difficult for me in rooms of other women, especially when I'm with my husband, to get them to like me, because most of the time they are not my age. If I'm networking in a group of people, they are rarely people that are my age. So here I'm in my 20s. Most of the women are older, they have husbands. They're not thinking. When I walk into the room, that is going to be my future friend. That's just I

know I get the appearance. I'm not dumb to what people think when they first see me and they see my husband. I'm not oblivious to it, so I have to work extra hard. And that's like my little chip on my shoulder. It's the greatest chip I carry. I have to work extra hard in order to get people to take me seriously, in order to get people to like me. Because first impression normally is not great and

that is what it is. So I kill people with kindness around being genuinely interested in who they are because most people are so shitty at this. They are so terrible at asking great questions and really locking in and being interested in other people. So you start by being interested and then you move into being interesting. You don't have to dim your sparkle. You don't have to make yourself smaller. You can be interesting. It's not just you.

And I say this because I would air on this side where all I would be is interested, and then I wouldn't want to talk about myself, especially because the person was older. They were likely more accomplished and more experienced. So I didn't want to I didn't want to talk about myself. I felt uncomfortable talking about myself. I've gotten over that because you have to get known and you have to talk about the things that you do really well or else no one is going to know you

for those things. And then they just had a good fleeting conversation with somebody who was interested in them. But it doesn't go anywhere. So if you're young and you're listening to this, or maybe you lack self confidence and you're listening to this, it's okay to talk about yourself, but don't well, this wouldn't be your problem. It's okay to talk about yourself and talk about the great things that you're doing, not in a braggy way, but just saying, Yeah, this is who I am, this is what I do,

this is what I'm passionate about, etcetera. And that's going to be really easy for you to do because most of the time you probably spend too much time asking the other person all about their life and then you leave the conversation and they don't even know who your name is, which if you're in. Wait, wait. That's for another point. Hold on. I'll make that point in a second. Okay. Next up. It's attached to this Be interesting angle because

the next item is know your angle. So if you're in a room like I'm in this Vogue room, what's my angle? My angle is is going to change because all of us do different things. All of us have different roles in our lives. We love fashion, war, a mom war, a daughter war, a niece, war, a team member. We're a business owner. We work on this project. There's

also this other project. We have this philanthropy. Like no one needs to know your whole freaking life story because you have to know what your angle is inside that room. Are you there to connect with other moms? If you're there to connect with other moms, that's your freaking angle. Your angle isn't. Oh yeah. I'm starting this like, project on the side here that has nothing to do with this group of people. And it would just be something

I would be randomly talking about. For me, knowing my angle in this group, most of them are interested in fashion, beauty and wellness. My angle, the thing that I have going for me there is that I am president of a health business that does really cool things with people, with a group of people that they are also either know or connected with. So that's my angle. I'm not going to talk about helping business owners achieve their goals in the HVAC and plumbing space in a group of

people that came because of Vogue. They're not going to that's not reality. Like, we're not in the same reality point when I use that angle. However, in four days from now, when I'm in a group of business owners who are looking to scale their business, I'm not talking

about Vogue 100 and I'm not talking about fashion. I'm talking about, Oh yeah, there's this plumber that we've helped go from 2 million to 9.2 million over the last 18 months, and all of a sudden that person's really going to be interested in what I have to say. So when you're in the room, know your angle and it's just like, how do I explain this? It's it's not that your angle has to be the end point. Your angle is like the come on, your angle is

your hook. It's it's the initial connection to, to, to be on the same page and to create understanding with the people that you're networking with. So I'm not going to talk about equity investments in a group with my Vogue 100 people. It's just not going to be the right conversation. I'm going to talk about skin care and exosomes and red light therapy, and I'm going to go down this full other path because that's what they're interested

in now. I'm still going to end up at the same place, which is how do I move these connections into a relationship with our business? And that's going to be regardless of the room, regardless of the initial angle that, come on, I'm still going and I'm still headed to

the right place. But this is just something to be mindful of when you're first making introductions, when you're first being interesting, be interesting in something that they understand, be interesting, and something that's relevant to the context of the group. Be interesting in in like what the right entry point is. And then when people understand what you do and people get that you're part of this group for a reason, that's when you go into whatever the end point is

for you. Okay, My last item. In a group. You are playing the long game. Do not get confused that a networking event, even though it's going to end at some point there's going to be a stop point. You maybe have an hour or two hours, maybe four hours or however long the time is. It is a long game. You are likely going to run into these people again. You are likely going to do another event or have somebody that you know that they know if you do the follow up properly. So think of it as a

long game. Think of it as the starting point for what will be a very fruitful relationship. Because if you go into it thinking it's just going to be the short networking event and you're just there to meet people in and out, you're going to be transactional in your interactions. If I believe that, I am going to see these people multiple times over, I'm going to conduct myself in a different manner. I'm going to conduct myself like me

because they're going to see me multiple times over. And I give this advice because I've watched people who think that they have to make this big splashy impression and they have to just like go over the top and be this like, ridiculously extroverted version of themselves. And then you meet them the next time and it's not the same person. Like they're a little bit more mellow, they're

a little bit low key. So I'm a fan of giving a little extra in a networking event, like going a little over what you would normally give from an energy standpoint, from a how you show up. But it shouldn't be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It shouldn't be. You know, this is just like this overly inflated version of you because remember that you're going to meet these people in the future. So just be you, but play

the long game. Networking is a long game. You're going to meet these people over and over and over and over again. So be consistent with who you are because you're showing up as who you are. That's not to

say you shouldn't do certain things. One thing that I watched a woman do that I thought was just like, really cool and really like something that I would do in the future is like, take care of the whole dinner and, you know, a bottle of champagne for everybody and like, nice champagne, not just like entry level champagne, but like set and set the tone and set the

impression like you, you are generous and you are giving. Again, I know that this is for some people that this is too much of a problem where you just like pop bottles and it's like a club scene and you're overextending again, not what I'm talking about, but in these like social situations, like being the person that takes control of the situation and that gets the dinner reservation or that gets the the spot at the bar and allows

for the evening the encounter to elongate. Like if you're in control, super cool order all the appetizers, like do your thing to the wine and dine piece. But playing the long game is like, Oh man, if I could teach more people and more people would just actually do this in networking situations, it wouldn't feel so fake and weird and you'd actually build better relationships. And I say

this from a place of man. I've been in so many rooms that I didn't know anybody in that I wasn't confident in, But because I played the long game and I had a five year vision in mind and a ten year vision in mind.

you are. You're there to build relationships. There's a genuine attention that you're putting into the moment that you are in, and people take that seriously. So. Those are my tips. If you are interested in knowing more of my networking secrets, I will share them with you. But this was like the list that came up that I actually. As I was going through these moments with my new group of Vogue 100 people like these were things that as as situations were arising, I was like, Oh, this is how

I handle this. And I've always handled it this way. So I wanted to share this with you. I am going to be taking feedback and questions on Building Billions podcast. So if you go there Building Buildings podcast, you can enter in your question comment. Would love to interact with you there. I'm going to be taking lots of questions in future podcast because I want to get to know what it is that you want to know through these podcasts.

So if you have something specific to networking or a situation that you struggled with in networking, please reach out. Go to Building Billions Podcast. Don't forget to review This podcast would so appreciate if you gave me a review wherever you listen to your podcast that will allow this podcast to grow and if you found value, share it with a friend. Let your friends know that this is something that you you're listening to, This is something that is helping you out and it would mean the world

to me. So with that, see you next time.