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Your community is your internet price. Heard that earlier than? I’ve stated it for years as a result of I’ve lived it. The proper connection can change your life. The proper introduction can change your online business.
The issue is that most individuals assume networking means working the room, shaking 50 palms and strolling out with a stack of enterprise playing cards. I used to assume that too — till I noticed essentially the most useful connections occur one-on-one.
That is the place Lunch with Legends got here from.
Each weekday, I’ve lunch with somebody new. Generally it is an investor. Generally it is a founder. Generally it is a buddy of a buddy I am assembly for the primary time after they slide into the sales space. The aim is not to pitch. It is to not promote. It is to attach as a result of everybody’s happier with good meals and good firm.
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Why meals are the key weapon
Conferences are formal. Lunch is actual. At lunch, nobody’s watching the clock. Nobody’s hiding behind slides or an agenda. Meals slows you down.
That is whenever you get the reality. You hear concerning the deal they’re chasing. The problem they can not clear up. The aim they have been sitting on as a result of they do not know the place to start out.
I’ve realized extra over a plate of tacos than I ever have at a convention desk.
The way it began
Once I was beginning in actual property, I labored networking occasions prefer it was my job — as a result of it was. I would gather a pile of enterprise playing cards, observe up with everybody, and so on. At some point, somebody advised me, “Overlook the gang. Take one individual to lunch.”
It clicked. The most effective connections are private, not rushed.
That first lunch become a connection that shifted my profession. Not as a result of I requested for something, however as a result of we constructed belief via dialog.
Since then, Lunch with Legends has been my every day behavior. Networking is not about maintaining rating. It is about exhibiting up prepared to assist. As an alternative of main with, “This is what I do,” I ask, “What’s in your plate — actually and figuratively — and the way can I assist?”
That adjustments every little thing.
- Individuals bear in mind you, not as “the man from lunch” however as the one that launched them to their subsequent rent or shared an concept that unlocked an answer.
- The dialog flows. You are not pitching. You are listening.
- Alternatives come again round. While you assist with out anticipating something, your identify comes up in rooms you are not even in.
What it appears to be like like in follow
Final week, I had lunch with folks in utterly completely different industries. None of them had been “prospects” within the conventional sense. However in each dialog, I discovered a approach to join them to another person who may assist. A producer. A mentor. A buddy.
I did not need to power these alternatives. They got here up naturally as a result of I used to be paying consideration.
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Learn how to host your individual Lunch With Legends
You do not want a giant title or a flowery price range. You want consistency.
- One lunch. One new individual. Each weekday. Could possibly be a friend-of-a-friend, a younger skilled searching for steerage or somebody you’ve got been which means to satisfy.
- Maintain it informal. You will notice me on the similar 5 locations. I’ve my rotation down. If it ain’t broke, do not repair it.
- Hear greater than you discuss. Individuals will inform you what they want in the event you give them area.
- Comply with up with worth. In case you will help, do it straight away.
The selfie rule
Each Lunch with Legends ends with a selfie. It isn’t about ego. It is about reminiscence. That photograph is a bookmark. Months later, I can scroll again and bear in mind, ‘Oh yeah, she was searching for a podcast producer. I do know somebody now.’
It is a enjoyable ritual that makes the second really feel intentional, and it retains the connection alive.
Networking is an extended play. Not each lunch wants to show right into a deal. Some folks I’ve met solely as soon as. Others have change into associates, companions or purchasers years later. The worth comes from exhibiting up persistently, constructing belief and connecting folks. That is how your community grows in each dimension and energy.
Why meals works for networking
There’s one thing a few shared meal that breaks limitations quick.
While you eat with somebody, you are each simply folks deciding between fries or salad. It is human. It is disarming. It units the stage for an actual dialog as an alternative of a surface-level change.
That is why Lunch with Legends works. It turns networking into one thing folks truly stay up for. Who would not wish to break bread and study one thing? It is price it each time.
It is your transfer
Consider one individual you’ve got been which means to satisfy. Invite them to lunch this week.
Do not overthink it. Do not make it about what you want. Make it about exhibiting up, asking good questions and leaving them higher than you discovered them.
And sure — selfie required.
Your community is your internet price. Heard that earlier than? I’ve stated it for years as a result of I’ve lived it. The proper connection can change your life. The proper introduction can change your online business.
The issue is that most individuals assume networking means working the room, shaking 50 palms and strolling out with a stack of enterprise playing cards. I used to assume that too — till I noticed essentially the most useful connections occur one-on-one.
That is the place Lunch with Legends got here from.
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