How To Network Like The Top 1%

Hey guys, welcome back to the show. Today we're gonna talk about advanced networking from a billion-dollar fund manager. And actually, so recently I've, our podcast has grown and show has grown like crazy. It's been really fun doing all this kind of stuff. I really like it. And my network has grown a lot. So I've been able to meet more and more higher-level people. I've been able to meet a few billionaires and a few very high net worth, $100 million type of people. Been able to hang out with them. They've given me mentorship and advice to help my companies grow and scale. And actually become pretty good friends with these guys. And I finally got the opportunity to sit down with one of these gentlemen and really ask him about how he networked. And this gentleman, even before he was rich, was one of the best networkers I've ever seen in my entire life. And I've heard, I knew who he was, I knew how he, and then he made all this money eventually, but even before then, had done an incredible job at building and scaling his own personal network. And that was actually, I think he says in his own words, a huge key of why he's now worth, you know, I don't know, $50, $60 million plus, is how he went about networking. I wanna walk you through a few of the stuff he taught me on how he'll actually, he said they would show up to a room, and we talk about this a lot, when you're trying to raise money from investors, how do you go and actually find, meet, and get investors? A lot of the times, there are these networking events in a big room or an audience or some type of place Where those people will be at, those bigwig type of names, and you have to, it's really intimidating, you have to walk into that room and start up conversations with people, meet them, they gotta know, like, and trust you, get their business card, set up some kind of lunch. It's pretty intimidating to do that, and it's intimidating to get around the entire room. I've been in rooms, actually just a few weeks ago, there was a room of about 200 people, together, and it was hard to go from person to person to meet, and how do I share my story, and how do I get them to know me, and then without being, looking like I'm trying to brag about myself, and looking like I'm trying to pitch them, it's a hard concept. So, with all that being said, after this event, actually he was at the same event as me, and I watched him at this event, the same guy, and he was bouncing around meeting people, talking, they were laughing, joking, and at the same time, he was telling them a lot about the cool stuff he was launching in businesses, and all this sorts of stuff. And so after, I was able to actually sit down and have lunch with him and we talked. And I asked him about how he goes about doing this type of networking. How did he do this? And he actually gave me some very cool actionable tips and points that I wanna share with you guys today. Does that sound good? Sound fair enough? Okay, I'm gonna pull up the handy-dandy whiteboard here. If you're on the podcast, I'll talk through it all, but let's go down here. So the first thing he said is in networking, There are givers and there are takers. There are people, and this is all around, not just one-on-one personal, but this is just in general, there are people that give and people that take, okay? And he goes, back in my career when I was in my 30s, I was doing a lot of taking, right? I was asking, they're always asking, hey, can I get this from you or get this contact? There's a lot of people asking and taking. And he goes, now I've figured out that the more you give, the easier it is to ask. So he goes, I give, give, give, give, give, and then I take. And I give, give, give, give, give, and I take. And I was like, what do you mean by that? And he goes, well, for example, I give, I will say, hey, I need to connect you with this really cool person that you wanna meet, let me connect you with them. He'll be a connector. He has a podcast, hey, I want you to come on my podcast. He gives them exposure, he'll post them on his Instagram story, he'll send them a text, he'll send them, at a party, he'll talk them up. Oh, you gotta meet George, this guy's incredible. and he'll give, he'll give them status, everything they want and then after doing that for however period of time, he then asks hey, can you make me an introduction to this billionaire, the one guy you know that I want to meet and he goes oh sure. You know Bridger has helped me so much, he's given, given, given, given so much to me. Oh of course, I feel indebted. It's the theory of reciprocity. Whenever someone gives you a gift, you feel like you've got to give back to them so he said the first thing you got to understand is giving And taking. If you show up to an event or to meet a wealthy person and you take instantly, you try to take, he goes sometimes it can work if you do it the right way and if it's the right opportunity, right time and everything in the right setting, but typically if you're really trying to build a massive network of people that just know, like, and trust you, giving is a really great way to go about that. The more you give, the more you'll give back and people feel indebted or feel this reciprocity back to you, so when you take, they'll follow up with it. You know what, I've met Bridger for a long time, he's given me so much, he needs some money for his new fund he's starting, great, you know what, I'll drop in a couple hundred grand or a million or whatever it is, right? Or I'll make this introduction for him, or I'll give him even a LinkedIn review or request, that's a really easy way to give is giving people credentials on LinkedIn, writing them a nice review, okay? So that's the first thing he says, think about in your life if you're giving or taking. Now the second piece which he taught me what I thought was incredible, and this helped me so much, and actually I've instantly made a change on how how I network. So on this concept of giving and taking, he comes down and he goes make sure you go to these events with a partner. It's hard to just go into an event alone and brag about yourself, okay? No one wants to listen to you and you can do it, right? You can give and meet people and whatever, it can happen but he goes it's 10 times easier if you have a partner and this is what you do at these events and this is how they've raised lots of money, scaled their business, all this kind of stuff because With a partner, it's very easy to brag about somebody else and not brag about yourself. So what he would do, he said, me and a partner would go together and one of us who was more social and kind of like the actual extrovert kind of a guy, he would go and meet people just like, 'cause that's just nature, right? He'd walk around, hey, what's going on? Blah, blah, blah. He'd start up conversation and he goes, hey, I gotta tell you about my partner, okay? My partner, I wanna choose my partner Bridger, right? Oh, Bridger's doing all this great stuff and he's so, you know, blah, blah, blah. He's gotta come I'm gonna come over here and meet you. And as that conversation's going, he will say, hey Bridger, come on over. And I'll go, oh hey. And I am talking to somebody else. I'll leave my conversation, go, oh sorry, I gotta go over here. See ya, good, and can I get your business card? Kind of finish up that conversation, 'cause you don't wanna be stuck in a conversation for too long. He brings me over to that circle. Hey, this is Bridger. I was telling you about him. Bridger does all this great stuff. And you just talk up your partner like crazy, right? And how do you guys know? Oh, we're actually business partners. So it actually looks good on you now, 'cause you're partners with him. Oh, what do you guys do? Hey, I've gotta move John, or Bridger, Bridger will now tell you about what we're doing with our fund, for instance, right? So what happened, if you guys can see the whiteboard here, he was here, set up this great conversation, called me over, and then he leaves to go meet the next person. I finished, and now I have all this status and authority that he's built me up so much, and now I can deliver on, hey, this is actually a fund we're doing, we're raising a lot of money, we're doing real estate, or we're trading this stuff, and my, and I'm not gonna pitch them full out, Usually in the fun, but I can tell them about kind of what we're doing, what industry we're in, and hopefully set up a— be kind of the closer and set up a— hey, let me get your business card. Let's meet this week and let's have lunch and we'll talk more if you're interested, right? And then while that's happening, the guy is setting up— this is one of my mentors— he's setting up another conversation, meeting people, and then he'll go, oh, Bridger, come on over. And I say, oh, sorry, I gotta leave. And I move to the next person. And it makes it very easy for us to bounce around an entire room meeting every single group or every single person, being able to build, and sometimes we'll switch. I'll build him up. Oh, he's the best partner in the world. He's doing X, Y, and Z. This guy's amazing. Yeah, he's incredible. Oh, you gotta, hey, come over here, and I'll bring him out of a conversation that gives me an excuse to leave. Oh, I'm gonna head over here. I'm gonna meet this guy. And what you can do is daisy chain your way throughout an entire room and absolutely just clean the room out. You can meet everybody in the room, they know who you are, they know about your partner and they're telling them about you, and your status is built up and you don't look like a total, you're not looking like a taker, you're not looking like someone that's out here taking all the, and promoting themselves and pitching, you're giving. Because you're giving to your partner and then you're, even when your partner comes over, oh, let me tell you about this great person I just met. This is Sarah and she's doing all this great stuff and everything. And you can give back to them by promoting other people in the room. Makes it way easier. He says this daisy chain that they've done, they've raised hundreds of millions of dollars by doing that daisy chain, what I just talked to you about. Going to rooms, promoting, the next guy comes in, that daisy chain, and they would have almost a script down. They got so good at this. That they would have a script almost down perfected of what they would say, how they would respond, jokes that they would land, and they would both kind of hit the joke at the same time and get investors to be laughing their heads off. And they seriously, they put it down to a science of how they would move from person to person, what jokes they would tell, how they would cue each other up. They'd almost a setter and closer style, and they've raised hundreds of millions of dollars doing this. So when you go to an event, And maybe have your business partner listen to this, okay? Think like that. Don't both sit together and go around and get some fruit punch. Go through, meet people. Everyone there is trying to make a new friend, trying to meet somebody new, trying to meet someone that can elevate their status, trying to meet someone that is at their same level or above them, 'cause they're there, they're at a networking event, they're obviously trying to build their network, right? They wanna meet people that are interesting, and even if maybe it's not money-wise, they've got plenty of money, but maybe they wanna have more impact, Or they want to meet someone that can help expand their reach online and be more influential to other young entrepreneurs, right? If you can provide some type of give, right, more than you take, it's very easy to take when you need to take. And so this I thought was really cool, this kind of an— I call it advanced networking from him, a way to think about when you go and approach these high net worth individuals. And do this. Now back to the, you know, inside of a fund, maybe that's not you, right? If you're not the natural salesman, the natural entrepreneur, whatever it is, that's okay. Partner with someone who's already been doing this for years. They've already been building their network, they've already been building up others, they already have, they've already given so much that they can now take. That's a really easy way to get your fund off the ground quickly when partnering with a money raiser. But still, and doing this together to help build your network, I think it's a great way, and I wanted to share it with you guys. I thought it was pretty cool. Anyways, that's it for today's episode. Let me know if you have any questions. Comment, like, subscribe, whatever this is on this page. Let me know what you guys think, what questions you have, and I wanna keep giving content to you guys. So thank you all, and I'll see you next episode. Bye.