Bring something real to networking events: a product, service, or MVP that gives people something to discuss beyond small talk. You can't ask for attention without offering value first. The speaker built a content agency and found that having something tangible to show transformed conversations into actual opportunities.
Now, when networking becomes a symptom of work, then that network is worth having. So the way that I have been successful in my industry is by building something first. I built my content creation agency first, and from my content creation agency, I ended up in these networking events. I ended up in these locations with clients. I ended up— I never seeked. I built something valuable first. And when I ended up in those locations, the conversations were able to go past a handshake. You see, if you go to a networking event and you don't have anything built, you'll meet these people and you'll network with them, but it'll only go as far as a handshake. If you wanted to go beyond a handshake and maybe a phone number or maybe some type of pick your brain environment, the only way to do that is to have something worth them wanting to pick your brain about. Because if you are trying to just network with people, chances are you are extremely self-centered and selfish, thinking that they should give you the time of day. No one owes you anything. And in fact, if you want anything from anyone, you must give them something first. It's one of the key principles to becoming successful. There's no such thing as a take without a give. This is why a service-based business like myself or any business out there gives the consumer something first. Imagine saying, give me the money first and I'll— I'm going to do something later. It doesn't work that way. So why would you think that you get the chance to network with people when you haven't done anything yourself? And there's a simple remedy to this. If you want to go to these events and you want to level yourself up, you want to increase your net worth, that's fine. You don't need a massively successful business. You just need something interesting that you've already made happen. Even if it's done basically no money, it's done no revenue. As long as it's tangible and it's outside of the concept of an idea, then you have a big chance of actually being able to network.
