Getting People to Connect with You
Travis Chappell is the founder and CEO of Guestio, a new software that connects high level guests with high level content creators, and he is the host of the top rated show, Build Your Network. In addition to being featured in Entrepreneur, NASDAQ, Yahoo Finance, and ReadWrite, Travis has also been featured in Forbes as a top ten podcast that will change your life alongside Joe Rogan, Gary Vaynerchuck, Tim Ferriss, and others.
Most people never took the time out to realize how important it is. So, they don’t have any systems…it’s very much on accident…they leave it up to chance.
For me, it’s everything. For everything that I’ve been able to do, it’s all reliant on my network.
I can now shave or months or potentially years off a learning curve or save myself a lot of money.
Like when we were building this new software company called Guestio. I had no idea how to run a software company. I still don’t….but because I had people in my network…that advice is always better than a quick Google search.
You are the people that you hang out with the most. So, choose them wisely.
Start a podcast and interview those people. It’s the best way to get your foot in the door. It’s the best way to have a conversation with somebody that normally doesn’t have time.
I’d love to connect with everyone that reaches out to me…but if there’s no reason for the call, it’s hard for me to find time in my schedule to make that happen. But, if it’s a podcast interview then it’s easier for me to find time to make that happen.
I would ask myself, what would be a content channel I could start that would allow me to connect with these people? Whether it’s a podcast, a Meet Up group, a live event, a virtual event, a YouTube channel, IGTV show, whatever it is you want to do. Build some sort of content platform that allows you to be able to connect with those people a little bit easier.
At first I was open to anybody…which I think there’s merit to that when you’re first getting started. Be willing and open to having a conversation with everybody.
I think people when they start something don’t know what to do so they choose to do nothing instead of choosing to do something and I was always in the boat of ‘better do something’ ‘fill up my schedule with something…I don’t know what it is, but I’ll fill up my schedule..’
Then I started getting to where my schedule was full all the time..and now I just have to be a little bit more picky…because I literally don’t have the time.
You have to become a more valuable person. Your network will increase in direct proportion to the amount of value you can add to other people.
With me it’s a little more exaggerated because the asset I’ve been able to build is a public facing asset….that’s not always the case…
If you are that low key person…it may take longer, but it will happen…to me it’s thinking about it in simple supply and demand economics. If you want your time to be worth more then you have to make it more in demand.
Why would somebody else want my time? That’s really the question you need to answer. Because I have some sort of knowledge to offer? Because I have some sort of content to offer? Do I have some sort of connection to offer? Do I have finances or money I can offer?
Your time is the only thing that’s completely scarce…It’s the only real asset that we have in life. Money can be replenished. Time can never be replenished. So it’s by definition in low supply. So if you make it in high demand…it’s worth more.
If you’re talking about adding value to a specific person, then you can’t just do a blanket statement of what could bring value….people with a lot of money? They really don’t care that you’re going to pay them $100 to jump on a phone call, they’re still going to say ‘no.’…but I guarantee you that something is valuable to them. You just have to figure out what that thing could be.
If you can master adding value…you can master networking….because that’s all it is. Adding value to people at scale.
It’s going to vary from person to person because people value different things.
The only way I would know is if I followed your stuff meticulously or if I asked you a ton of questions or if I knew somebody in your circle…you’re probably going to have to do a bit of investigative work to figure out what’s valuable to some people.
A continuous relationship is based on continual value exchanges.
Every relationship is based on mutual reciprocation of value in some way.
In general, no matter who you’re trying to connect with, if you’re always focusing on making yourself a better person, then you’re probably going to be more valuable to just about everybody you connect with because you have more things to offer more people.
The Apostle Paul…Paul was one of the best sales people of all time…said ’I’m all things to all people so that I might by some means win some’ or something like that. It’s the best networking advice I could give to anybody which is learn how to be able to be valuable in multiple circles and not just one.
If I can be the bridge (between circles) then there is a big value piece for both of those people because they’re both extremely high quality, they just don’t happen to know each other because they’re not in the same space.
Be interested not interesting….more recently, the advice that I try to give is be interested And interesting because the interested part helps you to connect with other people. The interesting part, makes other people connect with you.
You always want to be other person facing. That’s what interested means. Don’t hog the conversation…talk to that person. Ask them questions. Have some empathy. Try to understand how they see the world. Try to put on their glasses for a second and view the world through their lens. That’s what I mean by be interested. But by be interesting…when the conversation finally turns back over to you, have some interesting stuff to talk about. Get out of your comfort zone. Go travel. Go see the world….get some stories.
Guestio came out of people asking me all the time how I was able to get the good guests on my show that I got….It takes a lot of hard work and persistence. And either people don’t want to do the work or they don’t have time to do the work.
At the end of the day, there needed to be some innovation there. How do we shorten the gap?…that’s what Guestio was born out of.
We have an entire marketplace full of guests…you can go on there and search for people you’d want to bring on as a guest …anything you need an expert guest for….you can go on there and book them. We have a free marketplace…but we also have a paid marketplace for some of those people that are really hard to get in touch with.
At the end of every interview I would ask them…is there anybody that you think would be a really good fit for an interview on the show? And then I’d follow up with those people.
The answer to that is my family which is why I do everything that I do….in terms of what we’re working on…it’s definitely the software company.
We have our Podcast Profit Academy and coaching program….to help busy entrepreneurs build profitable podcasts.
Free training…We go into the 3 secrets that you may not know that will help you build a profitable podcast in 2021.
I basically just look for a level of professionalism. The downloads don’t really matter to me as much at this point. It’s just like ‘are you gonna waste my time?’ is really the only thing that I’m curious about.
I used to say ‘yes’ to every interview request. Then I got on some where they…didn’t know anything about me….why did you even invite me to be on your show? No. I’m not going to do your job for you. It’s literally a Google search.
If something is outside of alignment with your core values and your brand messaging then it’s probably not a good fit.
I tend to release every episode I record because you never know who’s going to get value out of it.
The question shouldn’t be ‘Do I think this is good?’ The question should be ‘Does my ideal listener think this is good?’
Done is better than perfect.
Learn from your mistakes. Don’t do it again next time. But, put it out there.
At some point it just becomes an excuse to not release the content you’re creating.
If you’re stating out building your network, then I would recommend starting a podcast.
Every piece of my network in the past 3 years has come…from the podcast.
Only take advice from people you’re willing to trade places with.
Audio : Ariza Music Productions