10/3/24 [The 444 Challenge] I called, now what?

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If you're new (welcome!) in July I did "the 444 Challenge" where I called 20 people every business day, five days a week, for the whole month. If you're reading this and missed it, you can find yesterday's post here .

If you want more business, clients, or customers than you have right now, how can you positively multiply the odds you'll get them? By being your own catalyst through networking with past connections.

Networking can be tricky--has it been too long to email or call? What do I say?

Imagine all of the contacts in your database or even phone you haven't talked to forever, do you just delete them and pretend they never happened?

Or do you risk reaching out and perhaps discovering you've had the golden connections you seek every time you leave your office to meet someone new?

Before I answer, I want you to consider that everyone is "busy." There are only so many hours in the day and when we all say yes to something, we're saying no to everything else.

It's easy to lose track of someone, feel like you've waited too long to say hello, and even mean to reach out--but life and work and family and holidays and ... well, I know you know.

When I made my calls and I connected with someone, there wasn't one person who wasn't happy to hear from me. Every positive conversation made me want to have the next one.

I heard, It's been so long! or I was just thinking about you. or I see you in my timeline (Facebook or LinkedIn) and [insert nice thought here]. Plus, I'm so happy to hear from you.

Which was followed by, at some point in almost every conversation, What are you doing these days + how can I help?

Remember my rules: I was just reaching out to reconnect, not ask for anything. So I only answered their direct questions to me with my 10-second "here's what I'm doing."*

Then, I asked them more questions. The stories, the updates, the conversations--they were all pretty magical in one way or another. What happened for me doesn't matter for you.**

What I hope you'll take away from my experiment is considering doing one of your own.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat, just over a longer period of time. Actually, I've incorporated a less-intense version into Q4--circling back to those I didn't connect with the first time.

If you have less than business than you'd like, you can hope the next big deal lands in your lap, or you can darn well make sure it does.

Over my many years as an executive business coach, professional speaker, and empire builder, I've developed a process that's easy to do and ridiculously effective.

It's not rocket surgery, makes great use of your time, and can cost little or almost nothing. Plus: it's all in here .

Call someone you haven't talked to in awhile that you really like. Someone you wish you talked to more often. Tell them you think the world of them and you just wanted to say hello. Then come back to this post and tell me what happened (or leave a comment about the last time you did this).

And, of course, I'll see you tomorrow.

*"I'm focused on writing books, creating bespoke books for clients, and running my mastermind."

**My businesses are growing faster than ever and I know from past experience there's both a direct and an indirect correlation to my experiment and my activity today. You don't have to call 20 people every day. What if you just called one?