Our Favorite Ways to Network in 2023

Foreign this is the no Closer show where you get the latest developments in distressed note investing and learn the secrets of how you can control millions of dollars worth of property for panties on the dollar. Get educated and entertained by someone who has closed thousands of deals and lives to support you in achieving the same. Now here's your host CEO of We Close Nodes, Scott Carson. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Nucleus Show. Happy New Year to each and everybody out there. Yes, it is the Monday first Monday of 2023 and hopefully you're ready to kick some ass to take some names this year. Hopefully you make this year your bitch. All right. It is one of those interesting days, I will tell you that right now. I always love the first of the year. It is my favorite day of the year because I think everybody comes into it with positive energy and some big ideas and grandioso resolutions of what they want to accomplish. They want to get skinnier and they want to get smarter. They make more money but not necessarily want to do all the work that goes into it. So. But anyway, let's get straight to the meat potatoes of this episode because that's what you're listening to. And my big focus of this episode is to share you smart networking tactics. Because here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen, if you're spending at home and wanting to accomplish some things, raise more capital, find more deals, make more money, you can't do it yourself. All right? You honestly can't do it. Yes, you can use some of the money you've worked hard for, but at some point you're going to run out of your own capital. And if other people's money is good enough for Warren Buffett and a few others, it's good enough for you. So the best times to network where you're going to have the most amount of impact, meet the most amount of people is in January and February of the year. So what I want you to do is I want you to pull up your local Rea club. Your Rea club stands for Real Estate Investing Association. If you don't have one, go to meetup.com, look in your area, 25 mile radius of your area, type in real estate as a niche and see what's going to be happening or what that will be taking place around your market for the next month and look at attending a real estate investment club. Look at the National Rea Club and see if they have a REIT club that's in your neck of the woods or within driving distance for you look, we're not talking about going every night this week. We're talking about going maybe one night a week or maybe just one time a month at the bare minimum to your local REIT club. Now I get it. Oh, I've gone before, Scott. It's not really my cup of tea. There's not a lot of note investors in it. There weren't a lot of people there. Well, yeah, there may not have been when you went. It all depends on the topic that was being discussed or the speaker or what time of the year it was, was right before a holiday or right after holiday might not be bad. But here's the thing. Your rea club meetings, your BNI groups, your business networkers International, January and February are always going to be the the biggest attendant with new people coming because they have the same resolutions you do. They want to do more, they want to be an investor. So what do they go out, start networking with like minded people to start tapping the resources. So this is the biggest, biggest time of the year for you to not be a wallflower. Quit hiding behind your computer screen. Quit behind hiding behind the excuse, I gotta work, I don't get up till 5, it's at 7. Get off your keister, jump in your car and go network with people. Now. Maybe you don't have time, maybe you have a very busy job, I can respect that. But there are different networking events that meet in the mornings like bni.comb and I groups often meet in the morning and the lunch hour. A lot of re clubs meet in the evenings, others are meeting on the weekends, Saturdays. If, if you can't find a group, guess what? Start one yourself. You'll be surprised. Especially go to meetup.com and start your own group. You'd be surprised that meetup.com will start sending people. You don't need to have a lot of people. I think Meetup allows for, if you've got five people that are interested that you can start a group and that's a great way look at go to Facebook. This is something that we've done is gone to Facebook and join groups that weren't very active, reach out to the admins and start generating traffic in this group by taking it over, starting to post, starting to offer up live in person meetings and you'd be surprised the amount of positive energy you'll get. We started doing this actually here locally in Austin, Texas for Austin podcasters. Meetup had been dormant for two years. No in person meeting, obviously because of COVID but we started a meeting we did one in November. We had about 18 people do one, December, another 18 people, different sides of town. We've got a big event planned here in a couple weeks and it's been productive in helping get the word out. You know our local real estate clubs, I'll be attending those this month and next month. It all depends. You know, it may not be my best cup of tea because we don't have a true sophisticated or really well organized note group here in Austin, Texas. It's Texas, fastest foreclosure state in the country. More people like rehabs. Plus it's a way overpriced. But it may be worth starting one here in the area if when I tend the rea clubs, the two bigger ones that meet, if they're still operating or are still productive, you never know until you get off your ass and go. And if I were you guys, if you're in a bigger city out there that has a much many more opportunities for you to network, then go once a week, get out there and go. Go network. If you're not doing anything, guess what? Go. You will always walk away from a networking event. Positive energy. You'll walk away some business cards. Hopefully you better take some of your own business cards to share. Heck, even in some groups like bni.com they'll often give you the registration list for attending. It may cost you 20 bucks, but guess what, that's breakfast or lunch is included. You may have to pay 15 bucks to go to a RIA club or maybe they let you attend for the first time for free. Go, go meet some people. Go network. You will get energy and synergy. You know, you will get a lot of synergy from these events and it'll actually help motivate you to do more. Of course you got to follow up with these people with an email blast or follow them on social. But this is one of the most important things that you guys need to be doing to find deals, raise more capital and make more money along the way. Because everybody is a buyer, a seller or a funding source. And if you're an investor, that's the sexy side of real estate. Everybody, everybody sits in the short term rental or the fix and flip. They're struggling right now because of the markets reducing a lot of cases or they're not getting as much activity or days in market have gone up or bookings have gone down. Distressed debt, distressed real estate, hey, we're making a comeback. We're coming on strong. I mean there's always been distressed debt, but right now is A great time. And it's really a sexy niche that people are really looking to learn more about. So get out. Talk about how you're a note investor, how you're making offers. It is one of the most important things you can do. I mean, if you hopefully started last year, our student Scott Meredith has done a really good job in building a network and helping out a local rea club. And you know, you never know, maybe volunteer to help with registration or help to speak, you know, offer case study or two. They have a deal of haves and wants. Get up and talk about what you have or what you're wanting. If you've got a case study deal close, get up and share what you got going on. It's one of the most important things that you can do in sharing who you are because people want to surround themselves with doers, not wallflowers. I've spoken at hundreds and hundreds of real estate clubs over the last 15 years and I'm always surprised when I walk in. Now you can tell who's active and then who are scared, who are new because you'll see people sitting in their desk or sitting on their chair. They're not talking to anybody. They don't want to get the network, they're not going to meet with vendors. You know, it's not gonna be wrong. I'll give you a little secret here. When I'm a speaker, one of the things that I learned is if I'm standing in front of the room, the, the people on the back row, if the room is divided into two sessions, back right row is often the people that have the most amount of money they want, they get there, they get the seats. Because if they don't like who the speaker is or don't like the topic, they can skedaddle out of there. And they value their time. So if you're going and networking, guess what? Goat. And you see people sitting in the back row, oftentimes made a little more season. Talk to those people, ask them what they're doing, what their focus is. It's the old, as I like to say, the four method. Where are you from? What do you do? What's your occupation? What do you do for fun? Recreation. What you do? This fungi. Have a good holiday, really easy. And then your message, maybe your message, hey, what do you invest in? You know, and if they're asking that, they're probably trying to ask you. Well, I invest in distressed debt, distressed assets, love, you know, or when you find out what they do, it's important to Ask them question. Of course they don't ask you back, then move on to the next one. But take some business cards or take a deal flyer. You'll never. You'll always be surprised what comes from it. But the thing about networking events, if you got to show up on a regular basis, you got to give it three to six months of showing up. It's kind of like that old, you know, saying. I say that 80 of success comes after the fifth contact. Well, 80% of success in rea clubs or networking events comes in from attending the fifth time. Now I get it. You may be busy, you're busy guy or gal. I get it. Crazy work schedule. Maybe you don't have a lot of time. That's why maybe BNI would be a better group for you. Now, BNI is not going to be like a real estate investing club, but they are professionals and experienced professionals. These groups only allow, you know, one person from every niche or genre out there. One realtor, one mortgage broker, one insurance agent, one carpet cleaner, you know, one investor, you know, one financial advisor. But these people have a network of other people. And if they're successful and paying the. What is the annual dues? I think it's 300 bucks a year or a month for BPARD BNI Group. I don't know. I think. I don't know. Don't hold me that. But they are really versed in the form of giving referrals. And everybody's looking to do something with their funds, their retirement. They want to get a higher return. They're looking for ways to invest. And going and joining a B and I group can be a way for you to end up with 10 to 30 cheerleaders who are really motivated not only to sit down with you and learn more about what you're doing, but to also send referrals back and forth. Maybe you've got a referral, maybe you're giving some referrals. It's a great way to build your local network. If you don't have a local network and like I said, you can go to bni.com, type in your zip code. You'll see the different groups around you. Like Austin. When I Look, there's like 40 some odd groups. I think pre Covid I did probably 30 of them. Yeah, I was going to a breakfast and lunch three days out of the week. A lot of times when things were a little slow. But it was a great way to build some energy, build a database. Because literally when you walk out of BNI group, often they give you the registration list or you grab a bunch of stack of business cards to be able to network with people. Now you don't go just to network and grab the cards run you. If you're going to join one, join one. And many B and I groups will allow you to attend multiple ones for free the first time for you to get a fit for the group because they don't want you to be in a bad fit fitting group. They want you to be part of a group that makes sense, that's going to work well for you. I mean, there's literally a B and I group just across the street here that used to meet my old office building that I would go to when I was in town. That just made sense for me. But that's the thing, ladies and gentlemen, take advantage of this opportunity. There's so much momentum, people wanting to do some things, wanting to take action and this is a great way for you to get out, meet some people who are looking to invest more, they're wanting to learn some things. Maybe they got some capital, maybe they're just pissed off looking at their 401k or their IRA quarterly statements and really want to put some money behind their mouths, are willing to take action to make some things happen. So you know, I like to double down January, February, March as best I can. And you know, whether it's me going out speaking or getting booked to speak or doing on a zoom call or whether it's a virtual group and even if you can't find a group that makes it maybe makes this free to start a group like I said or go into a Facebook or LinkedIn group and offer to, you know, add some content to there to rejuvenate that group. Just make sure you do it from a good spot, don't do it in a negative spot. There are some people that like to just join me in a group till they fade off and they take those groups over and then they tort them from themselves and they don't really do a lot of good work or good job of really sharing and understanding the idea of a networking group. It's not all about the host. It's about providing value and content to everybody in the group. And sometimes you may be the leader, sometimes you might be the smartest person, other times you are not the smartest person. The important thing is to know when it's when you need to be and when you don't want to be. But the idea here is just be a leader, show up, take notes, network with people, come home and Then follow up is the key to being a successful network. At morning, it's not just getting out and pressing the flesh and swapping cards, but literally following up with those people. I actually have an email in my CRM keep. It's already pre format talks. Hey, it was great meeting you at Blank Event. Love to talk with you more about what you're doing. Here's a little bit more about me. I have a podcast, I've been I buying distressed debt investor and you know, like I said, love to talk more, see if there's any synergy. I've been doing this on LinkedIn for the last couple years, literally just reaching out to real estate investors and said, hey, I'd love to connect with you. What do you focus on and doing this? So this is something that we do on a regular basis. If you can't make it to a live event, then really you need to go over LinkedIn and leverage LinkedIn and just start looking for real estate investors in your city. Start there and go to your state and then go beyond that. And that's what I did. Started with Austin. I typed in real estate investor, then pulled up a big group, narrowed it down to Austin, Texas. Then I changed it to Texas and then we just went generic United States. But that's helped us grow our LinkedIn dramatically. But that's the thing. Go with a business card with your socials, make sure you've got somebody. I gotta give this guy a hard time. He's got a podcasting business card I went to, which is great. He's got a capture code, which is great. But he didn't have an email or a phone number on there or I've been to, I went to fincon and some guy had his name but he had no way to contact him. Like how the heck is anybody supposed to contact you? He's like, oh, it's a good point. Well, I only write my number on there if I want them to contact me. Like okay, I can understand that. Worst case, if you go to a meetup group or B and I group or something like that, look at the vendors. The vendors are such a resource of knowledge, connections. They know a lot of people. Look at the IRA groups that are in your area. Many of these IRA companies will have January or February meetup groups where they want the investors to get together. Great chance to network. And that's a, It's a high value target. I guess a high value networking event is talking with people who have capital or looking at capital and then maybe like I said get outside of. Maybe you don't want to go to your BNI group, you don't want to go to your real estate club. Maybe there's a bunch of, you know, entrepreneurs are not doing anything. Go look at your other media groups. If you got a country club, see if they have a networking event or your, your PTA or your net, your local networking, your audience. Maybe you need to start one. Hey guys. You know, Nextdoor has been a really great tool that's helped us in the past with a couple things. And if you don't know next door, it's free, but they will, you know, ask you where you live and they'll actually kind of link you with people in a specific area. And that might be a great way to connect with your neighbors. You know, connect with people that are right around you. I mean, I've met a lot of our neighbors walking every morning and getting to know them, but I met a lot of people a couple of years ago when we had to come together to fight some political issues taking place here in Austin, Texas. And they're still friends to this day and, and connect with them. So check out Nextdoor. Maybe that's, hey, just get people together for a happy hour or a networking event or you know, whatever it might be. People are more open to network than they've ever been before because it is first year. You know, if you can't make it in the gym at night because it's packed, then go network. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, the best time to do it, maybe even Saturday as well for you out there. But like I said, check out meetup.com bni.com reiclub.com or just meet.com and look for real estate clubs out there. But take your business cards, it doesn't cost you much. Good business cards. You can go to FedEx.com or Vistaprint, get them ordered, but don't let that stop you. If you're struggling, you don't know where to begin. Hey, reach out, be coachable. Book a call@talkwithscottclarson.com I'd be glad to talk with you, help give you some pointers. I had a lady in San Diego, I couldn't find anybody in San Diego. What? And so I literally jumped on there, did a Screenshot of the 20 real estate clubs in San Diego. She's like, oh, I guess I was wrong. Like, just got to be a little open minded. There's. It's never been easier to network if you really enjoy somebody. I love what my Stephanie does when she goes to an event, she really enjoys talking with somebody, she takes a selfie with them and then that's a smart thing. Take a selfie. Then if you're going to connect with them, you can share the selfie via social media or text message back to them. And it builds, it builds some great camaraderie immediately like that. So that's a great tool that she does. I do it some of the time, I need to do more of that. But just get out and network. That's the thing, guys. You got to look at your. If you want your to increase your net worth, you've got to grow your network. You can't be a wallflower. You've got to kill your inner introvert and let that extrovert guy. Even if you're just an extrovert for a couple hours. I know it may be, it may be very draining of energy because you're not used to that. But honestly, go with a partner, go with somebody who has the same goals as you do. It's always easy. You're going to go faster and farther with a partner or accountability partner. Maybe you're doing different things. Maybe your notes, maybe they're subject to deals, but still worth going and networking and hanging out. If you know somebody there, great. Who should I meet? Are you a member of? You never know. It's just a huge opportunity for you and you got to take advantage. January, February, March, Q1 is always the best time to get out and network. Then before get up and go again. Things have a tendency of changing every 6 to 12 months in these groups. You never know who's leading them or what's going on. And you never know. You might just be an expert that they may want you to come back and ask some information on how to deal. You know what? I'm very proud. In the past, we've had quite a few of our students actually present at different rate clubs about their case studies or their note deals that they're taking down. If you've got a deal that you're working through, you don't want to raise capital and you're having a hard time doing it through social media marketing. Guess what? Get up, go network. Go connect with people and you'll never know who you'll find who's ready to, you know, get things done. It's important. You know, we've talked about putting a pitch deck together. Have that available, but don't let that stop you from going out. Put that together, take the time to get those things done because those staples Maybe take the time to write an executive summary that look a lot more professional than just nothing but something that people that really, you know, potential investors that if you hand them an executive summary and a business card, maybe a case or two, they'll be like, whoa, let me blown away this person, this guy, this guy's got their together. I want to connect with them. I don't want to do more with them. And it gives them something to take as a general reminder. They need to follow up with you and make sure you follow up as well. Don't wait three days. It's not like a first date. Okay, Feel free. Next day, just drop an email. It's one of the things that I did starting off with when I would get home, I would send a personalized email to everybody. I meant just so it was top of their mind and, and link your calendar. Link something to follow up with. Maybe it's coffee, maybe it's a zoom call, maybe it's just a phone call or text message. But do so do it better now, guys. You're going to be investors for a long time. And the taking the time to spend an hour, two hours in your business once a week or once a month, it, it will have exponential results, you know, growth and just be so much more valuable to you in the long run if you just do this stuff on a regular basis. I know we get tired or long day at work. Last thing you want to do sometimes go to network. Sometimes we want to kill people from hating our job. But guess what, go get you a pint, go get your adult beverage, go sit down and network with these folks. And you'll always walk away glad that you went. You'll learn something new. You'll meet somebody new. You never know what you walk away with. Like I said, everybody's a buyer, a seller or a funding source, whether it's themselves or their referral network to them. And you'll expand your not only your tribe, but maybe expand in their tribe as well. So go out, take some action, buddy. I wish you the best of luck here in 2023. Whatever your goals and aspirations and resolutions are, I'd love to hear of what you're wanting to accomplish and we can help in any way. Feel free to reach out to me at talkwithscottgarsen.com or drop me an email. Scottclose notes.com love to help you in any way we can. So we'll see you in the top, everybody. Bye. Thanks for listening. Sa.