How to Create a World Class Network from Nothing

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?4 years ago I had 0 followers. 0 connections. In 2016 the only people in my network were my friends and my family. So not much of a network by any means. Regardless, today I have built a network of some of the world’s most credible and successful people on planet earth ranging from professional athletes to Oscar-winning filmmakers to billionaire CEOs.

I don’t have a trust fund.

I don’t have a rich family or any wealthy relatives.

I didn’t go to an IVY league school.

I could barely talk to people. I was extremely shy and socially anxious with hardly any social skills.

I’m going to share with you 4 principles and a few tools you can apply to also create a world-class network in this article.

If I’ve learned anything over the years its to be more afraid of the person on the come up who comes from nothing than someone coming up who already has something to lose. I’m not going to go into my full story in this article but check out the graphic below for more details.

Tools: LinkedIn + Podcast Double Combo

In my experience of marketing on the internet for the last 11 years. Never in my life have I witnessed such powerful tools of influence and distribution as LinkedIn & Podcasting. However, many people have podcasts and actively post on LinkedIn but don’t have much of a powerful network because they are not utilizing these tools properly.

Mark’s Easy 5 Step Process

1. Start a Podcast and interview 10 connections from your LinkedIn
2. Start posting micro-content from the podcast on your LinkedIn
3. Begin reaching out to more influential people via LinkedIn
4. Repeat step 2 & 3 to gain an audience over time
5. Leverage the size of the audience to do step 3 again but bigger

If you want to learn how to maximize LinkedIn to achieve your goals like grow your personal brand, attract clients, bring opportunities like media features & business deals check out my Unlock Your LinkedIn Mastery Course here.

Now, that we have the tools at play out of the way we can get into the fundamentals you must utilize with your brain and heart to gain a world-class network.

1. Nobody Cares About You

It’s so important to understand that if nobody knows who you are they’re not going to treat you as a human but just random person on the internet. Based on your profile image at first glance and whatever words you wrote in an email or message. If you don’t have a network at all and you reach out to someone asking them for anything like time, which is a resource someone can’t get back ever and must be taken away from their business or family, good luck.

So many people do this and I guess it’s at times okay to just ask but it’s not my go-to because I know the success to failure rate is going to be pretty high especially if reaching out to someone worth reaching out to...

Reaching out to someone and expecting them to care about you and do whatever you say on your first email sent is a form of entitlement that does not match the realities of this world.

2. Show People Before They Know You

It’s hard to tell who you are by a single email or message. You need to give the person you are trying to reach out to more evidence so they can build an idea as to what kind of person you are. This leads to the importance of representing yourself accurately online, which most people have not done at all.

If someone is going to be associated with you and they’ve never heard of you the first thing they’ll do is google your name. This might prompt them to see your Instagram which just has selfies of you and your dog or LinkedIn profile that isn’t even set up yet that has no details of what you are doing now.

But, imagine if this person googled you and found your website and scrolled through your Instagram and saw other forms of credibility and what you are trying to do with your goals on planet earth. Whomever you are trying to reach out to now has a clearer image of who you are and can make a more informed decision on whether you are worth the time or not.

3. You Need An Excuse

Reaching out to somebody for the sake of reaching out to someone or getting advice is a very poor technique and again doesn’t yield the highest rate of success. You absolutely need an “excuse” to reach out to somebody meaningfully and that could add potential value. Excuses in regards to mindset are not great at all to utilize in entrepreneurship and should not be tolerated, however in this case you need something else besides yourself to get in the room with someone.

I remember when I reached out to my first big guest on my podcast, Seth Godin. I sent him an email explaining a bit about myself and what I’m trying to do and if he would come on my podcast. He responded back to me in 20 minutes and we scheduled to chat the next day. Very simple, high success rate because there was a clear intention for him to say yes.

Imagine if I instead reached out to him as a 20-year-old and said Hey Seth I could use your advice. Can I pick your brain for 30 minutes for free? Oh, and by the way these 30 minutes you will never get back from using that time to work on a book, spend time with your family or take a speaking engagement for 45 minutes that pays you $50,000...

You need an excuse to start the first initial engagement - to get in the room with someone that is mutually valuable for them to spend their time with you.

4. Give So Much It Makes Them Feel Guilty

You have to be such a person of value that when they think of you they can’t help but help you with whatever you have going on because you have given them so much already. Now, it might be hard to imagine what you could say or give to a billionaire for example that would get them to value you. You would be quite surprised to learn that everyone even those super successful in the eyes of the public is also human and just like all of us need some help at times.

The key to giving is to understand. The key to understand is to listen and explore.

You need to do some investigative work to find out what this person is working really hard to do in the world and how best you can help them. I wouldn’t even ask them but just listen and watch and jump in when you think you could genuinely help them. You should get to that point where your target views you as an equal to them, on the same playing field in terms of value-adding that they form a mutually beneficial giving relationship with you.

Introverted or Shy?

Stay tuned for my upcoming book on how to eliminate social anxiety/shy and be yourself in front of anyone for those of you who are particularly hesitant on how to network.

My Upcoming Book - Screw Being Shy 

In my book, Screw Being Shy I will guide you with the proper conceptual frameworks and practical application based on the science of what you can do to create your own path out of social anxiety and not being a prisoner of your mind and not wait on other people in life to open the door for you. 

Releases March 14, 2020 to be notified enter your email in on my website: markmetry.com

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Listen to the Humans 2.0 Podcast

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