4 Reasons Why You Should Become A Pro At Networking (especially if you're an introvert)

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Hi docs. Welcome to the Entre MD Podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you, embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. Unna. Well, welcome back, doctors, to another episode of the entremd podcast. As always, I cannot start an episode without telling you. Thank you. Thank you for listening, for subscribing, for reviewing, for sharing. You are the reason this podcast is so, so successful. So thank you and thank you for the PMs and DMs you send me. Sharing how you are getting wins just from listening to the podcast and doing the things you learn from it. So thank you so much. Today we are going to have fun. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, this is going to be amazing, but especially for the introverts, because we are going to be talking about networking. And I know. I remember when I started hearing about networking, I made a decision that this is not something that I'm good at. I just made a quality decision. Not my thing. Why? Because I'm an introvert. So let me remind you that being an introvert doesn't mean that you're automatically bad at speaking and networking and collaborating and all of that. It does not mean that, okay, networking is a skill. And like every other business skill, it is learnable. All right? But what I'm going to do Today is going to show you four reasons why you should become a pro at networking. Especially if you. If you're an introvert. Why am I doing that? Because if you can figure out the why, you'll be willing to go through the discomfort of learning how to do it well. Okay, so today we're going to get right into this. Okay? There are four main reasons why you should become a pro at networking. The first is the friendships you build. Now, there is a saying that entrepreneurship is so lonely, it's lonely at the top and all of that stuff. Is that really true? I mean, there are enough people at the top for people to be friends with each other, right? So when you network, you come in contact with people who are trying to do the same thing you're trying to do, or they're trying to do the same thing you're trying to do, or they're doing something in a different field, but they're trying to become the best versions of themselves. They're trying to shatter glass ceilings and all of that. Imagine having a group of those kind of people in your circle. And you can, if you will, network, okay? So you can have people who you call on and say, hey, this is what is going on in my business, and they will understand you. Maybe you're in a phase now that there's nobody to talk to about your business because nobody gets it. Nobody understands how you're a physician. You have a nice comfy salary. You have the house, you have the cars. You have your kids in private school. You have the 401k. Why in the world are you doing this? Right? But if you have a network of a group of friends, a circle of people who are entrepreneurs, they get you, okay? They get what it is you're trying to do. They get why you keep setting bigger and bigger goals. They get why you're trying to shatter glass ceilings. They get why you're trying to overcome obstacles and crush milestones. They get it. It doesn't have to be lonely at the top, but if you want network, it could be so thinking that it's lonely or I can't find anyone that I can relate with and stuff like that. That's actually a lim Belief is not true. You can have a circle, an inner circle of people who are just like you, your own tribe. But if you're not into going out to talk to people and insert yourselves in other people's worlds, then it just will never happen. Okay? So the first thing is you get quality friendships, quality relationships. When I Look at Entre MD in the last 12 months or so, one of the things that I'm most grateful for is the group of people I now have in my circle. Because I'm out there networking, because I'm out there collaborating. It's so wonderful to have people you can share big dreams with and they're okay. People you can share struggles with, and it's okay because they're like, yeah, that's you and everybody else. You know, let's keep it moving to have people to share wins with. And it doesn't feel like you're bragging. Like in the business school, we share wins every week. Right? Like you're comfortable to say, oh my gosh, I closed my first client, or, oh my God, I'm closing on my building for my brand new practice, or, hey, I just did this masterclass and this is what happened. And we share wins. Why can we do that? We can do that because we're in a circle of people who get us. Okay? So the very first thing, think about all the times you felt lonely. Think about all the times you wanted to say something you couldn't. Think about all the times you've been misunderstood. Think about the fact that that can all go away if you become a master networker. Okay, so that's the first thing. Right. The second thing is if you would be someone who networks, you can have audiences you didn't work for. And let me pause here to say this is not about you manipulating people and, you know, networking so you can get things out of people. Right? A good network is a win win. But it's just that though it's a win win, which means the other person is going to win, but you're going to win too. It should not be one way. Right. One way is parasitic or something. So when I say you're going to get in contact with new audiences, don't see like, oh, I don't want to just get in relationship with people for what I'll get from them. That's not the idea because they're going to get from you as well. Okay, this is a win win. All right. So audiences, for instance, if I have somebody who comes on this podcast and you know, so we network for like, oh, you know, what you do will serve my audience. Let's say you do is a physician or someone who does taxes for physicians, and they're pro at it and they told show you how to maximize your deductions and all those kind of things. Well, I don't do that. Right. But would I think that would be a Good service for you. If I find somebody like that, Absolutely. And I could have them come on my podcast. And if they come, then they have access to all these doctors who are not in their world before, right? So they have access to a new audience that they didn't have before. So think about you. Think about what you do. Maybe you're a pediatrician and you have an ob GYN and you guys do a joint venture together, right? You guys both bring your audiences together, so both people's audiences grow. So one way of growing your audience is doing all the stuff you do. You can do Facebook ads, you can do organic social media, email, all of that stuff. But it doesn't change the fact that your networking can put you in front of eyeballs that had no idea you existed, okay? And vice versa. So one of the benefits of networking is audiences, new audiences. The third benefit of networking is connections, okay? So I want, you know, let me pull an example. I'll pull this from the business school just to give an illustration. Your life can be so large if you will network. And when I say large, I don't mean like flashy cars and all that. What I mean is you can have a bigger impact. You can touch more people, you can help more people, you can generate more revenue. You can do all of that stuff, right? So think about the five people closest to you. Now, those people have five people closest to them, and those five people have five people closest to them, right? So the better the quality of the relationships you have, the better the quality of their relationships, right? Because it's, you know, it's a. It's a snowball and it keeps going. It means that you have access to all these people, that it now becomes a case where everyone you need is a few phone calls away. Do you see what I'm saying? The access to connections. Like, oh, man, I would really love to speak on this stage. And it turns out that you know someone who knows somebody who knows the host of the conference. You see what I'm saying? You're like, oh, I really need somebody who offers this kind of service. Well, someone knows somebody who knows someone who owns a company who. Who does a great job with that service, right? You can have all kinds of connections. So for instance, in the business school, that's one of the things that I love, is all the connections. If I could just pick. I'm going to pick at random, right? We have Dr. Aranola Dada. She's come on the podcast, her episodes, the difference six months can make. And she is a Rheumatologist in Seattle. And she's doing big things like she's building the center in Seattle. Okay. She's doing amazing things. And she is in the business school and we have Dr. Fung. God. And she's an aesthetic doctor. She's been on the podcast as well. She did the episode on how she made five figures for one TikTok video.

Right.

And she, you know, so someone who's doing that well with TikTok is also in the group. And then we have Amy Hong, who is involved, you know, helps doctors invest in real estate and she invests heavily in real estate as well. And she's in the group. And Dr. Melissa, who helps moms parents figure out healthy meal planning for their kids. And she's in the group as well. Dr. Fosa is an addiction doctor in one group. Dr. Michelle Taylor, who is really good at helping people negotiate. Right. Especially in, in the workplace, in the hospital systems and all of that stuff. Really great. And she helps other doctors do the same. Dr. Rosemary Thomas, she's an amazing pediatrician. Turned out Tobago, right? And bring in all these unique perspectives. This is 10% of the school. All of this is 10%. So think about all these people and all the people they're connected to, right? And you network with one of them and you have access to all these people. So when you network, you increase the amount of connections you have in your life exponentially. And there's this saying that the person who has people is richer than the person who has money. Because guess who has all the money? It's people, right? So imagine how big your network can be if you just network with the right people. Okay? The fourth thing, the fourth reason why is because you have access to skills and expertise that you don't have. Okay? So think about all the people I've mentioned, okay? What if I wanted to do a conference and I wanted it to be a conference for physicians and a holistic approach, not just business. I have access to people who can do life coaching for them, business coaching, run coaching, help them to manage their finances, help them to take care of their bodies, help them to address burnout, all of that stuff. I don't have to know all that stuff. I. I just need to know all the people who know all the stuff. So now I have access to all these skills and all this expertise that I don't have. Okay? So it was John Maxwell that said that one is too small a number for greatness. And it is the truth. If you are going to have a huge impact, if you are going to change a lot of lives. If you are going to help a lot of people, if you are going to generate a lot of revenue, you to are going. You need people. So the question you have to ask yourself is, okay, I know networking is uncomfortable. I know I'm not necessarily crazy about it, but what do I value more, right? Do I value keeping my comfort, or do I value having quality relationships, having access to audiences that I don't have access to right now, generating connections and having access to skills and expertise that I don't already have? Which do you value more? Right? And I'm guessing it's the latter. I'm guessing it's not comfort. So if you value that more, then it's worth it to embrace the discomfort of networking, figure out how to network, and go network, okay? Because it will change your life. I think the growth we can get from doing things by ourselves is additional, but the growth we can experience by networking is multiplication. And I would take a multiplier any day, okay? So I'm an introvert, and I like my me time, and I like my space, but I choose to love networking. Okay? And the thing is, after you do it for a while, you will fall in love with it. Like, I truly love networking at this point. I love meeting people. I love expanding my social circle. I love intentionally growing my inner circle with the people that I need to be in contact with. Okay. All right, so what do I want you to do? I want you to embrace this challenge. I want you to choose to build new connections with five people. Now, let me say this. This needs to be strategic, okay? So when you're thinking about it, okay, I'm an entrepreneur. I don't really have friends that are entrepreneurs, so I have no one to talk to. Right? You're gonna build relationships with entrepreneurs. I'm somebody who is really, you know, I'm committed. I have a commitment to becoming the best version of myself. You need to put people in your circle who are doing just that. You need to put people in your circle who, when you're comfortable and you're just, you know, celebrating yesterday's victories and trying to do nothing today, they make you really uncomfortable. Positive peer pressure. You want that? Okay.

All right.

So you're gonna build five. You're gonna build connections with five new people that you don't have in your life right now. That's your practice, okay? That's how you're going to practice networking. Now, when you go to network, remember, we're talking about the why there's Also, the strategy of networking, okay? You have to remember a few things. One of them would be, remember you should be creating a win win situation, okay? You should be helping people win. So it's not just you wanting to get wins from people. That makes you a parasite. You want to be creating wins for people as well. Okay? And you will find the people who are really successful as entrepreneurs. That's what they do. For instance, my goal for the next 12 months is to help give the entre MD Business School students and my private clients as many wins as I can and as big as I can. Because when that happens, that's my win. I won. Okay? So you need to go in planning to create a win win, okay? And then you need to remember everybody is tuned into a station. The station is called wi ifm. What's in it for me? That is what people are thinking about 24 7. What's in it for me? What's in it for me? So when you go to connect with people, don't disregard that. Okay? What's in it for me? All right. Create a win win. And we had an episode of the Entrepreneur podcast, How to Become a Pro at Networking. And this was with an interview with Dr. Barbara Joy, who is an excellent networker. I couldn't find someone better. She is so good at it. So it's episode 84 of the Entrepreneur podcast. So you can, after this, you can go listen to that. She gives a lot of tips and practical things that you can do, and you can start applying them so you can go get your five new connections. When you get your five new connections, I want you to PM me if you're on Facebook, DM me if you're on Instagram and say, doc, I did it. It works. I have five new people in my life, and I'm well on my way to becoming a pro at networking. And ps, I'm an introvert. Okay? That's if you're an introvert. If you're an extrovert, don't say that. But I want you to let me know, But I want you to embrace this. This right here will dramatically change your life if you'll do it. If you'll do it. So I want you to think about what could happen. What is possible. What is possible. Think about six months from now. Your life is so different because one, you're no longer lonely. Two, your business is so much better and bigger because now you have so many more eyeballs on your business. Three, you thought there were things that were just out of your reach. And you found that by building quality relationships, those things are just phone calls away. Okay? And you now have access to things that you're not skilled at that literally you suck at. But now you have relationships in your life with people who excel at them. So by association with them, your deficiencies don't matter anymore. Okay? So this could be you. I want it to be you. I want to celebrate you doing this. So go do your work. Make sure you share the results with me. Make sure you share this episode with somebody else in your life. And I will see you, my friend, on the next episode of the ontremd podcast. Hey, if you love listening to the ontreemd podcast, I want to invite you to join Entre MD On Demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to entremd.com ondemand and I love to have you join us. See you on the inside.