Creating meaningful connections is vital for both personal and professional growth. When you actively make an effort to expand your social circle, you provide yourself with opportunities to learn, grow, and collaborate with others while enhancing your overall entrepreneurial journey.

Quotable host, Alessandra Pollina, highlights the importance of connecting with others purposefully and personally, which not only leads to fruitful outcomes, but also opens the doors to any future collaborations. She shares her own experiences and emphasizes the significance of attending social and professional events to establish and strengthen connections within the business community. In turn, this ensures that you form a long-lasting network of people who can support and contribute to your personal and professional growth.

Building and nurturing business connections is essential for long-term professional success. However, it’s not just about attending events or collecting contacts. The real strategy lies in cultivating genuine relationships and providing value to others.

In this episode, you will:

Discover the art of building and nurturing thriving business connections
Uncover the secret behind prompt, personalized follow-ups that make a lasting impression.
Learn innovative ways to stay connected and engaged with your network.
Realize the power of reciprocity in fostering long-lasting relationships.
Appreciate the impact of meaningful personal connections and in-person interactions.

Being intentional with making connections and nurturing them can lead to new opportunities and partnerships. – Alessandra Pollina

This episode is sponsored by Big Picture Copywriting. Head to bigpicturecopywriting.com to get your website, email, sales, and launch copy written for you.

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Episode summary:

Building Connections

Creating meaningful connections is vital for both personal and professional growth. When you actively make an effort to expand your social circle, you provide yourself with opportunities to learn, grow, and collaborate with others while enhancing your overall entrepreneurial journey. Building connections can be done through attending various events such as networking gatherings, conferences, or social meetups, where like-minded individuals interact with one another and share ideas and experiences.Alessandra Pollina highlights the importance of connecting with others purposefully and personally, which not only leads to fruitful outcomes, but also opens the doors to any future collaborations. She shares her own experiences and emphasizes the significance of attending social and professional events to establish and strengthen connections within the business community. In turn, this ensures that individuals form a long-lasting network of people who can support and contribute to one’s personal and professional growth.

Consistent Communication

Staying in touch with your connections through consistent communication is vital for fostering strong and sustainable relationships. Regular check-ins allow you to maintain a connection while also providing opportunities to share resources, exchange ideas, and offer assistance when needed. Consistent communication doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming – a simple message or a quick conversation can be enough to maintain the relationship.Alessandra advises finding ways to maintain communication with contacts periodically, whether by scheduling reminders to reach out or by sharing news and updates that may be of interest. In the podcast, she mentions the importance of keeping a steady line of communication and expressing genuine care and curiosity about the other party’s progress and endeavors. This consistent approach to communication is what solidifies the relationship, leading to long-term benefits for both parties.

Following Up

Following up with new connections is a crucial step in building and maintaining strong relationships. Doing so allows you to express interest in further involvement, demonstrating your commitment to the relationship. Swift and personalized communication with references to your previous conversations keeps the connection authentic and memorable.Alessandra highlights the importance of timely follow-ups, recommending that individuals reach out to new connections within 24 hours of meeting them. She shares her experiences of drafting personalized follow-up emails and connecting on LinkedIn immediately after an event. This approach helps to keep the conversation alive and maintains a sense of enthusiasm, which ensures that new contacts feel valued and included in your network.

Building Personal and Professional Networks

Building a strong network encompasses both personal and professional relationships, as they can be equally rewarding and fulfilling. Personal connections can lead to unexpected opportunities, while professional relationships help elevate your career and expand your knowledge. By investing time and effort into both aspects of networking, you can discover an abundance of possibilities and experiences that enrich your life.In the podcast episode, Alessandra Pollina shares how her personal story has been positively impacted by nurturing both personal and professional connections in her own life. She encourages listeners to stay in touch with new contacts and to not limit their networking efforts to solely professional events. This broader approach to networking highlights the importance of striking a balance in one’s personal and professional life, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling journey filled with opportunities, learning, and growth.

Timestamped summary of this episode:

00:00:03 –
Introduction,

Alessandra Pollina explains that she wants to discuss how to form and nurture connections after meeting new people at events or elsewhere.

00:00:41 –
Building Connections,

Alessandra talks about how she recently hosted an event to celebrate the launch of a magazine and how she enjoyed meeting new people. She highlights the importance of building a foundation to maintain a connection with someone.

00:03:18 –
Making Connections Meaningful,

Alessandra emphasizes that it’s important to be intentional about making connections and follow up actions, such as sending an email the next day after an event to stay in touch with new acquaintances.

00:06:15 –
Following Up,

Alessandra suggests asking great questions beyond the basics to get to know someone better and to create meaningful connections. She also highlights the importance of regularly following up with people to maintain relationships.

00:10:56 –
Consistent Communication,

Alessandra stresses the importance of regular communication to maintain a connection with someone. She suggests finding the best way to keep in touch, whether it’s through email, social media, or other means.

00:13:47 –
Building Meaningful Business Connections,

Start by finding ways to stay in touch and keep top of mind for each other. Be a resource to them and ask for resources in return. Create a system for checking in periodically, even if it’s just a simple message to say hello or ask how they’re doing.

00:16:33 –
Give What You Want to Get,

Think about what you want from them in terms of why you’re building this connection and offer something similar. Share other contacts or potential clients, provide resources or insights, and don’t be shy to ask for help.

00:19:35 –
Staying in Touch with Business Connections,

Create a system for staying in touch, even if it’s just a quick message to check in every few months. Be intentional with your communication and stay top of mind for each other. An in-person connection is always best.

00:22:21 –
The Value of Genuine Interactions,

Genuine interactions are key to building meaningful connections. Stay in touch and keep up with your network intentionally. Our networks can be incredibly valuable, so make the effort to strengthen them over time.

00:24:46 –
Taking Action and Building Connections,

Send a quick follow-up email or connection request after meeting someone new. Try to create ongoing communication and offer resources or ask for resources once you’ve established a connection. Keep up with it over the long term and prioritize in-person interactions when possible.

00:27:11 –
Building Personal and Professional Networks,

Alessandra emphasizes the importance of scheduling touchpoints with new connections and getting out to meet people in person. She encourages listeners to share the episode with someone they know who is looking to build their personal or professional networks and to leave a review to help grow the podcast.

00:28:07 –
Connecting with Quotable Media Co,

Alessandra reminds listeners to connect with her on Instagram at Quotable Media Co and to email her at Alessandra@quotablemediaco.com to build a personal connection. She also shares a resource page with additional information on the episode’s topics.

00:29:01 –
Conclusion,

Alessandra wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to stay in touch and thanking them for tuning in. She reminds listeners to check out the podcast’s website for additional resources and to subscribe to continue learning about building connections.

00:27:38 –
Sharing and Reviewing the Episode,

Alessandra encourages listeners to share the episode with someone they know who is looking to build their networks and leave a review to help grow the podcast’s reach. She emphasizes the importance of getting ratings and reviews to make the show more visible to others.

00:28:44 –
Contacting Alessandra,

Alessandra invites listeners to connect with her on Instagram or email her to build a personal connection. She emphasizes that she loves personal emails and is always open to being part of listeners’ networks.

Connect with me here:
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https://quotablemediaco.com/podcast
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/quotablemediaco/
Transcription
00:00:03

I wanted to talk today about something that I’ve been thinking about recently. In part due to the event that we just hosted a couple weeks ago, you may have seen, we hosted an issue launch party for Quotable Media Co magazine’s, summer issue here in Boston and we had a great time doing it. It was really wonderful. One of the things that I loved the most was that so many people that I have known for years and have loved working with or having in my business space came to support the magazine, to support each other.
00:00:41

Some of them were featured in the magazine issue or have been featured in the magazine throughout the years, which was also kind of the point of it since this was our first ever in person event for the magazine. So we really wanted to celebrate all the past issues as well and anyone who’s been a part of it. But also there were so many people there who I had never known before, I had never seen before, I had no connection to. I mean, there was obviously some connection because they had seen about the party and attended, but they might have been connected to somebody else who was going or just seen about the event. We did a lot of promotion around the event.
00:01:20

We did some PR around the event. It was widely publicized as being open to any ambitious women in the area who would like to come, other business owners, founders, people like that. And a lot of them did come. And it was really cool to get to meet so many new people, especially in this space that I had created because that’s really kind of the whole point of everything we’re doing with the magazine. Anytime I host an event, all of that stuff.
00:01:50

But I hadn’t done an event like this on this scale really ever, I was going to say in so long, but really ever in a really kind of personal capacity, like for my own business, for one of my own initiatives. So it was really cool. And one of the things I was thinking about a lot in the last couple of days since then, or really a couple of weeks, it’s been a couple of weeks, is that I’ve seen new connections forged. I myself met so many cool people that I wanted to stay connected with and something that I think I’ve been pretty good at over the years and I know people struggle with a lot is kind of forming and then nurturing those connections after you’ve met somebody at something like an event or really anywhere or any time. But especially when you go to an event, because a lot of people go to events specifically because they want to meet new people.
00:02:42

They want to be putting themselves out there, getting to know new people, building their circles. And go to an event, especially like with that in mind, come back with a bunch of business cards or whatever. And then it can be a little bit overwhelming to actually do much with that. Like maybe there’s an email exchanged or where you find them on social media or something. But a lot of times I think especially when you do kind of meet a bunch of people at once, it can be a little tricky to sort of actually take that next step and turn it into something meaningful and not just be someone you met that night and then that’s it.
00:03:18

And you kind of forget about each other afterwards, but actually building it into something that’s going to be like a worthwhile business connection or partnership for years to come. And I feel like that’s usually the overall kind of goal and point of meeting people at something like that. So I wanted to think about some of the things that I’m trying to put into practice. Like with so many things, I think a lot of it has to do with kind of mindset or just being not even mindset, but being intentional, right, intentionality around something and just going into it being like, okay, I’m going to make sure I spend a little time doing this. I want to make sure that I don’t forget to do this or that I don’t just kind of put it off until it’s too late.
00:03:58

Right? So it’s just being intentional with making sure you’re doing these things in a way that feels good and makes sense and take place in a time frame that makes sense. So it’s not like rocket science, but I think it’s worth thinking about and just saying out loud and talking about and I might have an idea that you haven’t thought of or you might have an idea that I haven’t thought of, so let me know. But these are some of the things I’ve either done in this instance or in past instances when I’ve met people and wanted to make sure it actually went somewhere and became a relationship that we could keep going for years to come. So some of the things yeah, I mean the first part of it is to build that first connection, right, establish some kind of foundation to build on.
00:04:50

I think you can go straight into like, hey, I’d love to stay connected. When you’re first exchanging business cards, sometimes I’ll literally say, look out for an email from me tomorrow. I really want to stay connected. I really want to make sure we get together or communicate after this. Sometimes I’ll say something like that out loud so they know I’m really intentional about this.
00:05:08

I really do want to, and I really plan to actually get in touch and stay in touch. And it’s not just like, again, just that exchange of business cards and then it’s going to sit in my desk drawer and never come back out. So part of that is making sure that you get to know them as much as you can in a certain kind of way that will help you be able to have conversations after that if you have a chance. Sometimes I know you just kind of meet somebody for a second. You kind of say hi, you feel like you might hit it off or have some reason to want to stay in touch.
00:05:48

So you just exchange a business card and that’s all you have time for. Sometimes that’s how it is. But if you feel like actually talking to someone, trying to go a little bit beyond just the basics can be really good. Just in that you have a sense of who they are, you have a sense of what they like or something that would be helpful to them in the future, those kinds of things. Asking some kind of really great questions when you’re talking to them beyond just like, hey, who are you and what do you do?
00:06:15

Or something like that can be really good. So something that gives you more of a sense of who they are beyond that because then you’ll know how to reach out to them later on with something that will actually be useful or meaningful to them and then actually taking that the next day or even later that night. Sometimes I’ll shoot an email to someone literally that same night and just be like, hey, just really wanted to make sure I got into your inbox. It was great to meet you tonight. And just putting that first connection out there, that first touch point out there.
00:06:49

Because again, sometimes the next day you’re going to be really busy and I really feel like if you don’t get that first touch point out within the first 24 hours or even 12 hours, it can sometimes just already be too late. Not that you shouldn’t do it if you didn’t have a chance or you forgot but I just find that personally I will be much more likely to forget and never actually do it if it doesn’t happen within those 1st 24 hours, or honestly even twelve, I think the probability goes down if I don’t do it by the next morning. Sometimes I’ll forget to ever do it and like, hey, I’m admitting that right here. This is something I have struggled with in the past and that’s why I’ve thought about it enough to have some ideas on it. But I think doing that as soon as possible, even if it is that night and at least then hey kind of balls in their court, then they’ll see your email when they get to their computer in the morning and they’ll be likely to respond and you’ve already kind of kicked it off.
00:07:49

But yeah, I think that first kind of connection is the most important part. And if you know that you’re going to go to an event, like some kind of networking event specifically where you’re going to meet a bunch of people and you’re likely going to want to connect with a lot of people. Sometimes it can be really helpful to literally block off some time in the next morning. So, you know, like, okay, if I’m going to this networking event Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, I’m going to block put an hour in my calendar for following up and making these connections with people because that is really valuable. And I know sometimes it’s something where it feels like it’s a couple of extra emails.
00:08:28

You’ll shoot them off whenever you have time during the day, but they’re not top priority or the most important, but that’s when sometimes it doesn’t end up happening. So blocking out some time, however long you think it’ll be to shoot off a couple of those emails or whatever it is, make that first connection can be really helpful. And it can be, in general, best practice just to normally set aside five minutes or ten minutes every morning to send a few check ins or touch base messages, even if you haven’t been to an event recently or that night. But just doing that on a regular basis, that’s how you’re going to keep up with this stuff in the long term and can be really helpful and that’s we’re going to get to that more later. But I think that can be really helpful.
00:09:09

And it doesn’t always have to be an email. It can be social media, depending on the situation, how you met them, how they like to communicate. You can always send a message on Instagram or something or send a message on LinkedIn, but I do recommend emailing at least once within the first few days of meeting the person, even if you end up doing check ins on social or following up more on social or interacting more on social. But I wouldn’t necessarily consider replying to their Instagram story from the event as your first connection point. I think that a lot of people, even if they’re active on social, it’s not the best.
00:09:50

A lot of people aren’t great with keeping up on social messaging and it doesn’t really resonate or stick with them in the same way. I know personally I’m really terrible with social messaging in general. I will not see something for weeks or I will not reply for a long time, even if I do see it, because I just don’t make that enough time, which is a whole different story in itself, to actually go in there and communicate a lot. And so personally, that’s how I feel and I know other people feel that way too. So if there’s something that’s important, I want it to be an email.
00:10:22

But also the main reason I say this is because I think having something in the inbox that you can go back to is really important and helpful. You might meet someone like, I’ve done this a lot where I kind of will search the inbox for someone I know I met three years ago and we stayed in touch a little bit but not like a ton and I might just remember their name. Anyway, I’ll search the inbox and see what comes up and try to find them that way to stay in touch. Whereas if something was in my social messages inboxes, I will never find that. I will never be reminded about it, I will never see it again.
00:10:56

You know what I mean? So having something in your inbox where you can actually search, be reminded about it, find it again if you want to look up who that person was that you met, I think can be really helpful. So yeah, do that connection as soon as possible. Just connect in some way. Even if it’s literally just the message can just be, hey, this is so and so from the event the other night.
00:11:18

I just want you to have my email. So I just wanted to shoot this email to you so you’d have my contact and no, you can reach out at any time. That could be all it is. Or you could say, just wanted to have an email in your inbox and I’ll plan to touch base with you more next week or something. Like if you don’t have time and you want to keep that open for replying again, even if they haven’t gotten back to you, that can be fine too.
00:11:43

It doesn’t have to be that you have this whole long thing to say in the first email. It can literally just be like, hey, I just wanted to make sure you have me in your inbox. And then once you’ve kind of established that foundation, they know that you’ve met, you’re trying to stay in touch, you want to be a connection to each other. You do need to have some kind of regular communication. It doesn’t have to be regular like it’s happening all the time or every week, but having some kind of consistency obviously is important because otherwise they will forget that you exist or it won’t feel natural when you then do want to reach back out or something like that.
00:12:17

So thinking about the best way to kind of keep in touch whenever that may be, it might be every couple of months. It might be literally a few times a year, which is maybe the same thing. I’m never really sure. When people say every couple of months, does that mean more than few times a year? That might be four times a year.
00:12:34

I guess that could be six times a year. Anyway, just thinking about what makes sense, like are you going to send them an email every once in a while? Is it someone that you’re going to end up being? I mean maybe you’re going to call them or try to get together in person or maybe it is mostly a social media relationship even that can be a thing. But yeah, you might have to try to actually make those connections at the beginning because it might not be supernatural to reach out to this person.
00:13:06

You hardly know them after all. So you might have to actually purposely find opportunities to engage with them. You might have to think about like, oh, do I have something coming up that I could invite them to or that I could ask them to send their way or something, but just letting them know once in a while that you’re thinking of them and you’re still there. It could be just sending this is where it came into play to get to know them a little bit by seeing what they like, sending interesting things that come up. If you have an idea for them or their business or a resource that you come across that you think would be helpful to them in a real way, like nothing that seems forced or like, hey, saw this article and was just thinking of you.
00:13:47

But if it doesn’t feel real, that’s weird. But if it’s something that really does make sense and it literally does make you think of them, but you also can look up something that you think might make you think of them that’s not super weird. As I said, you might have to look for ways to stay in touch at first because again, you don’t know each other that well yet. But finding ways that you can reach out, that you can offer something to them that might be valuable or helpful or interesting can be really helpful. And that will help you keep in touch, keep you top of mind for each other.
00:14:26

And just make sure they don’t forget the overmat and fall off the face of the earth. As far as each other goes, So just even, like, jotting down to touch base in some way every couple of months after you’ve met them, if it’s someone that you care to keep in touch with. And then I think once you’ve kind of gotten that going, it is valuable to try to make sure that you’re actually going to be a good resource to them. Because we want to think about what would you appreciate from them or from others, someone else in your business circle and try to offer something similar. Because at the end of the day, we’re not just trying to connect with people for the sake of connecting.
00:15:08

It’s not just for the sake of saying we have more friends, right? We want to actually be a business resource to each other, be connected for some reason that we either enjoy spending time together or hanging out or talking about business stuff or whatever, stuff like this. You could become personal friends. I’m not saying you can only be business friends, but there’s something, right? Like you probably want to be building this relationship for a reason.
00:15:35

So think about what it is that you actually want from them in terms of why are you building this connection, not what you want from them and they need to be giving you something. But think about what it is. That why you’re doing this in the first place. And then think about how you can be offering that to them. Because assuming that they’re probably trying to connect with you for similar reasons, you’re connecting with them, right?
00:15:54

So think about that. Think about why you’re looking to build your business circle in general and how you can help people in that way. How are you helping them by being a member of their business circle, right? So trying to offer the same things that you’re hoping to receive, trying to, you know, maybe it’s like sharing other contacts that you have, other people that you know who might be useful to them for whatever reason, sharing potential clients with them. Like if you know someone who maybe makes sense to be a client for them or some kind of resource to them in business, things like that, that will align with their goals that you can pass along to them.
00:16:33

That’s really helpful, right? Or it could just be providing resources or insights that you think would be helpful to them based on what you know, they’re trying to do with their business. Give what you want to get. That’s how you build a real relationship and that’s how you can actually be helpful to each other and be offering something that makes sense and makes you guys actually have a reason for being connected. So I think that’s kind of worth keeping in mind.
00:16:56

And also don’t be shy to ask for help because that also helps show that you rely on them and that you’re here for a reason. Like you want to actually be like friends or be a good connection, but you actually trust them, right? You ask them for a recommendation for something that they might know more about than you or someone that they’ve worked with before, who if you need an accountant or something, right? That can be a great reason to reach out to someone and kind of offer them a connection, a business relationship, building connection or touch point. Hire them if they offer something that you end up actually needing at some point.
00:17:39

If they have a service that you actually need, hire them support in a way that’s asking for help, but that’s also supporting them, showing that you need and rely on them in some way can actually really help strengthen a relationship. Sometimes we don’t want to go there, especially when it’s new. It feels weird to ask somebody for something. But those are the like you get, you’ll know, that’s the kind of thing that they’ll if it’s the kind of thing you think that they would know the answer to or that they have a resource for, they’re going to want to offer that as much as you would if they asked you. So keeping that in mind and that can actually be a more valuable way to build a relationship sometimes than just offering how you can help them.
00:18:17

Showing that you’re actually asking someone for help can be huge. Again, nothing that’s going to be too crazy in terms of commitment or time from them or anything like that, but a quick recommendation or resource. People like to be that resource for others. So yeah, I mean, I guess to kind of recap that sort of long rambly piece, I’m saying once you’ve kind of gotten that foundation going, try to be a resource or ask them to be a resource to you in some larger way over time, that’s kind of the gist of it, right? And then once we’ve kind of done that again, we want to keep this going, right?
00:19:00

We want to keep this going in the long run. And even once we’ve kind of got things like that going, we’ve got some communication established, we know we can reach out, they know they can reach out, but we also want to make sure that it kind of continues from there, right? Not that it’s just kind of like asking for something, giving something and then that’s that. What about if you don’t really need anything for like a year but you want to make sure you do kind of keep that communication going, keep that relationship going? I think it can be really helpful to create a bit of a system for checking in with people.
00:19:35

And I know that that can sound a little bit like contrived, but I don’t think it really is. I mean, I think that’s what we need these days. There are so many people that we end up getting connected to and if you really want to create genuine relationships, you do need to stay in touch. And so having some kind of system for it can be really just helpful and you’re still having genuine interactions with them. It’s just that you might have some kind of reminder set to check in with them at certain intervals or have some kind of schedule to reach out periodically.
00:20:08

Even if it’s just a simple message to say hello or ask how they’re doing. Again, it doesn’t have to be that there is some big thing you want to give them or offer them or ask them. What keeps it going is just those quick messages like hey, I was just thinking of you and wanted to check in and see how things are going with you right now. That’s literally all it has to be. And it’s not weird, that’s something you appreciate when I very rarely get messages like that from people, but when I do, I really appreciate it and it’s something that I don’t do nearly as often as I want to and should, but I really do want to do more of and I’m actually going to try.
00:20:41

So some of you might see things like that from me now that I’ve just thought about it more again, but I do have this system in my project management. Project management, like what is that called? Platform tool, whatever. We have a chart, and it’s like people that I meet, I try to put them into this chart and have some kind of kind of depending on how I’ve met them or what the situation is, there are different kind of tags on the chart that show, like, hey, try to check back in with this person at least within six months. Or hey, check back in with this person in three months.
00:21:18

And it has little reminders and it really is just I mean, you know how much time flies. Three months can go by so quick and you’re like, wait a minute, I never checked back. Like, I never followed back up with this person I met at that thing. Or even literally six months goes by and you’re like, oh jeez, I wanted to build that. So having things like that, I mean, even with friendships, I’ve heard of people who do that with friendships.
00:21:41

I have certain friends that I do try to make sure I appear check in with often enough because, hey, the same thing happens especially as we get older with friends and everyone’s busy. Sometimes we don’t get together in person for a really long time and I want to make sure that we just touch base and actually are in touch in between those times that we’re going to get to hang out or anything. So, I mean, you can think about it. Similarly, you might have friends that, you know, hey, at least every month I try to have a more in depth phone call with this person because I don’t get to see them anymore or something like that. It’s really the same kind of idea, but just having a quick way to check in and touch base.
00:22:21

Yeah, that can be, I think, really helpful and just that keeps that’s what keeps it going. So it’s not just like, oh, five years from now, when you think you need something, that you think you’re like, whatever need the service that person offers, and you want to like, you’re like, oh, I know someone who does that. And you haven’t reached out, been in touch with them in five years, this would make that not happen. But also it’s for all the things like if you want to invite them to events or something, it’s just nice to have these in between check ins, like in between the times that you’re going to see someone or ask them for recommendation or hope that they’re going to refer you to potential clients or things like that. It’s just staying top of mind and staying in touch with people.
00:23:00

That’s really all it is. It’s just staying in touch with people and that’s the only way you’ll keep it going and actually do it and actually be a person they think of as someone in their business. Circle. So I think that that is ultimately what makes you a good business connection is someone who is going to stay in touch and stay on top of that stuff.
00:23:26

I think the main things to keep in mind, I think those are all somewhat easy things, but they do take a little time. Communication takes time in terms of like, I feel like every time I sit down to write an email, it takes longer than I expect it to. I’m always like, oh, I’m just going to shoot off an email real quick and then it does take a couple of minutes. But that’s why being intentional with these things is helpful. And that’s why I said before, if you have maybe five minutes built into your morning as, like, connection points, and you just shoot off one of those emails to somebody that you’ve been meaning to stay in touch with, maybe it’s not even every day.
00:24:04

Maybe it’s like every Friday morning, you have like, ten minutes that you try to send off a couple of emails and maybe one or two per week, whatever that looks like for you, and depending on how many people you’re meeting and things like that, that but having a little system for that, I think, can be really helpful. Being intentional with staying in touch with these people that you meet can be really helpful because I just feel like we all really appreciate those connections. We appreciate personal connection, we appreciate getting to know new people and building out our networks. Our networks can be so, so valuable if we keep up with them and keep strengthening them intentionally like this. And yeah, if you do these things, you can build meaningful connections you can not have.
00:24:46

It be a waste when you go to events and meet people, you can actually have them become part of your network and help each other build your businesses together. Right? That’s what it’s all about. So I encourage you to try these things, especially if you came to the event and met people, hey, try some of these things, even though it’s been a couple of weeks. But if you have an event that you’re going to go to in the next couple of weeks, try to think about this beforehand.
00:25:12

Schedule a little time and put these practices into place and let me know how it goes. Let me know if you have something else that somebody has ever done that you’ve really loved when you met them, that you were like, hey, that was like a super nice way to stay connected, to get connected or stay connected or if you’ve done anything that you think has been really nice and valuable way to form a new connection with someone, let me know. But yeah, these are kind of my main things is just send that follow up email really quick or connection really quick and then try to create some kind of ongoing communication after that. Try to offer resources or ask for resources once you’ve kind of gotten a little bit of a back and forth going and then keep up with it in a real regular way over time, over the long term. And I think anytime that you can, like if these are people that you met in person, anytime you can do something again in person, the better.
00:26:07

Because obviously this is a person who does go out to in person things. And I mean, we all know that an in person connection is so much stronger than anything you can build online. But even if it’s not in person, like even if you try to do a Zoom coffee meetup or something like that with them, just to touch base in a stronger way or in a more deeper way. But yeah, invite them if you’re going to another business event later on in the city that you’re in. Or invite them if you have something for your business that they could come to or something like that.
00:26:38

Or just invite them for a coffee or for lunch one time in the future, even getting that, oh, I forgot to mention this, but that’s actually something I like. Getting something on the calendar really far in advance can be good because you might be like, well, we just met like last week, it’d be kind of weird to now go for lunch next week. That’s so soon. I mean, not that soon is weird, but I just mean like if this is something you want to kind of build out long term, you can literally say, can we put lunch in the calendar for next quarter just so that you stay connected next quarter? So that’s not a bad idea.
00:27:11

And I like to do that sometimes, like schedule things really far in advance just so that you know you’re going to have that touch point later in the year. But again, just getting out in person to meet up there doesn’t have to be a reason. It’s just to connect. So that can be great too. So let me know though, if you have any other ideas if you’re going to commit to doing this with new people that you meet or want to keep in your circles.
00:27:38

And if you like this episode, please share it with someone. If you think there’s someone that you know who is also looking to build their personal networks, I mean their professional networks, personal connections, whatever. I mean personal or professional, share the episode with them. Leave us a review if you never have. I’m trying to get better at mentioning that at the end of episodes because we are really trying to build the podcast even more this year and that is one way to do it.
00:28:07

Getting ratings and reviews makes it show to more people. So share rate review and definitely connect with me on Instagram online if you have anything to say or just want to say hi, we’re at Quotable Media Co Media Co and we share all the podcast stuff at Quotable Media Co magazine as well. And if you message either of those, I will see it. And you can always email me at Alessandra@Quotable Media Co Media Co, which I should also always mention, especially since a lot of my episodes lately are about connecting and building connections and forming connections. You can always email me.
00:28:44

I love a personal email, even if you just want to say hi. If you want me to be part of your network, that’s what we’re here for. So email me, stay in touch and have a great rest of your week.
00:29:01

And I’m going to put a little resource on the podcast page on our website. So if you go to Quotable Media Co Media Co podcast, that’s where all of our episodes live and we try to create resources for certain episodes. I’m trying to do a little bit more of that going forward. So you can find a little list of some of these the things we talked about in this episode and make a little resource sheet for you to follow along with if you are interested. So you can find that over there and we’ll put the link in the show notes too.