Hi, and welcome to the Awfully Quiet Podcast. Today is an episode where I wanna share a little bit of a networking hack with you. One that I, up until recently. Probably didn't think of as a heck, but then I got reminded of it and like this thing I do and how I feel confident to reach out to other people, how I got killer guests on the show, how I got some of my corporate positions, like the, some of the roles I got promoted into.

how I landed interviews in the past. I uncovered this red thread through all of it, and I felt like it was meaningful to share with you, and maybe you can take it away as something that you can try as well, or just something you can think of when you want to pursue something, when you want, when you need.

Other people to help you or you need to get in touch with someone or, you know, network with someone or, you know, build a relationship to a certain extent. Now,I always, like I said, this has, has just recently come through as like, oh, I, I do this thing and it really works out for me. So, I wanna take you back to when I wrote my master thesis.

I studied marketing and communications and I wrote my master thesis. And as part of that I did these expert interviews. And it was all in the pet tech space. So it was about, fitness trackers for dogs and bowls that would automatically fill themselves and all these technologies that would help with a pet's health, fitness, wellness.

Overall, it was 10 years ago. And it felt like really something of like, of the future, which is still feels a little bit, which is odd, but that is not the point. back then I reached out to a couple of people in that space, to founders, to CEOs in the startup space, in the pet technology space. and it was mind blowing to me how many of them said yes.

How many of them agreed to do these interviews with me? And quite frankly, they were one hour interviews that I recorded on like a little recorder, and then I had to transcribe them and for this, for this thesis, like word by word.and it was a lot of effort. So I remember. Reaching out to people on LinkedIn.

I remember flying, to San Francisco for an interview and all these crazy things that I felt like, wow, how are, how are these people saying yes to me? And the same thing happens to me on the podcast sometimes. I'm like, obviously two years into the podcast. My very, some of my very first episodes, I had killer guests on the show, like Met Abrahams from, from Stanford Business School.

Chris do, I had Heather Morrison, like all of these people who I followed on Instagram, who had published books, who have huge, huge businesses. Like what do they care? Coming onto a podcast that just started. But that red thread that I uncovered was I. For one, when I feel really passionate about something.

I can just sell it better, like my master thesis. I was all, I was obsessed with that topic. Like I know I'm, I am that person. I obsessed over it. I wrote about something that I felt passionate about. I had a lot of appetite for it. I spent way too much time on it. I wasn't one of those people who would just write the thing in a matter of a few weeks and then be done with it.

No, I made it a, a huge project.So whenever I'm really into a topic, when I, whenever I'm really into something that I care about, that I'm genuinely interested in, I feel like it's got, it serves a purpose. Like obviously my master thesis was, the purpose of it was for me to do a great job and, you know, to, you know, get a good grade if I'm really honest, obviously.

But also I wanted to position myself for future jobs in that industry. With the podcast, I'm obviously beyond the conversations I'm having and beyond securing these guests, I'm obviously working on making this a show that serves the purpose of changing the narrative around being awfully quiet, around being introspective.

I wanna make sure people listening to it feel. Like a sense of pride in being introspective and being quiet and, and feeling the, the power that holds and then going out into the world, wearing their introspection a little differently and using it as an advantage and leveraging it. you know, going into their next meeting with their head held high and going into their next opportunity and career spaces, feeling.

Empowered, feeling empowered is I, I don't like the word empowered, but feeling proud. Feeling like they can use their introspection, like feeling it. It brings an advantage, it brings value, and then using that in the workspace and for it to come to fruition in like them doing meaningful work, them being seen for the meaningful work that they do, and then enjoying their careers.

Feeling like it's fulfilling them feeling like it's meaningful, feeling like it gets them all the right opportunities in all the right rooms with all the right people to create something that is of value to them, to the environment that they're in.so, so that, that is what you can, you can hopefully feel the passion through the microphone.

So that's why I'm doing this. And then obviously it gives me an in with people that I reach out to for, to come on as guests on, onto the show. Like, this is the energy that I bring. And then obviously I, I reach out to them and I tell a little bit of that story. I always cater every single message to the person I reach out to.

I make it genuine. I find the common ground that I have with them, and I tell them exactly what I want from the conversation with them. I could tell him exactly why. I need them and what perspective I need them, I need them to share and how it is meaningful to my audience. And I did the exact same thing for these expert interviews I, I did for my master thesis.

And quite frankly, I was, I'm always so surprised when they, when they say yes, but, I probably shouldn't be because it is quite an, a different approach to, yeah, I think it just stands out because. It comes from a place of genuine interest. You feel passionate about something, you have genuine interest, and then you reach out with and and it come that genuine genuinely comes through in what you say, how you say it, and what you need them to do.

And I think the thing that we tend to underestimate, especially as introverts and especially when it comes to. You going to somebody else and you basically want something from them. Right? I asked these experts, like these, you know, startup CEOs, founders for basically an hour of their time over LinkedIn, right?

I, I reach out to those podcast guests and I ask them for an hour of their time, if not a little more, for their headspace, for their energy, for their effort. I want something from them. I and, and all too often as introverts, we think of this as stealing people's time. But the key difference is yes, you're asking for that time, but you're not asking for yourself.

You're not asking for the benefit of your own career advancement. You're not asking, you're not asking them because. For your own, for your own benefit, you're asking them for something bigger than yourself, and this is the switch for me. This is when it becomes meaningful to me,

and this is why I, I believe in hindsight, I secured some of these interviews and some of these people got back to me and, and, and for me to not feel awkward doing it in the first place. It's not for me, it's for something bigger. It's, it's for a topic that I feel really passionate about. It's for, a thesis.

It's for a podcast interview. And the same actually was true for me whenever I reached out to someone for a career conversation. You know how you're often being told, you know, you need to have coffee with senior leaders. You need to have, you know, do some networking, make sure people know you.and that can feel.

Like the opposite of, of genuine, because you're basically reaching out to them asking for 20, 30 minutes of their time to self-promote and to make sure that they know you and to make sure that they know, you know, keep you in mind for promotions and so on. But again, there's such a simple flip to that.

That creates a whole different energy and a whole different vibe because I did those things. I did reach out to senior leaders and I did reach out to people in the organizations that I've been in for support and for advice, but never from a position of I need to sell myself. I need to pitch something, but always from a position of.

I am interested in your journey. I'm interested in your experience. I would love to learn from you, and I would always make sure that the people I do reach out to, I am genuinely interested in. Like if I'm not, if I'm really only doing it for to tick a box or because somebody else told me, oh, you need to, you know, speak to that person.

You need to make sure that they know you. And I've done those as well. They didn't work out. They, I left them feeling. Awkward, strange cringey, but whenever it came from me, like intrinsically, I saw a person. In the organization that I looked up to, for some reason, it could be that they were doing a fantastic job, they were really visible.

I loved their work. It could be that they had the kind of job that I wanted in the future. it could be that something along the way or in their journey really inspired me and I was really curious about how they got there or how they're doing such a great job or. Something that really sparks interest in me.

Something where I'm like, oh, I look up to that person. I think I can learn from them. I, I have questions I, I want to ask them. That's the right energy for me. If that is true, I know I can have a great conversation. I know I can reach out to them and tell them, exactly, look, I'm impressed by what you're doing on this, or, I'm, I'm impressed by your journey.

Can we grab a 20 minute, 30 minute coffee? Can we have a conversation? I would love to ask some questions. it is so much more genuine than just kind of coming at somebody and saying, can I pick your brain? No, nobody wants their brain picked. But if you're coming with genuine questions and you're framing it as such.

It's a win-win. You are not stealing their time, because more often than not, it gives them something. It gives them energy. That passion that you're bringing, that genuine interest, it translates over to them and they feel appreciated. They feel seen. Of course, they're gonna love that. Just imagine somebody comes at you asking for your perspective and your experience.

Of course you're gonna spend the time with them and you're gonna leave. Having spent that time with them feeling appreciated, feeling seen, feeling like you've given something back, it's a win-win. It's not you stealing their time when it is genuine, but you do wanna make sure that that holds true, that you're genuinely interested.

And then you wanna prepare questions in advance, always prepare questions in advance, and you want them to be questions that you actually have, you want to really understand. Some of their back, and you don't wanna make it sound like an interview, just keep it genuine. Just say, look. I honestly, I, I, I love where you are right now.

I think your job is what I would consider my dream job. Can you talk to me about, some of the things I might not be able to see yet, not being in the role, or what are some of the things that I might not know, some of the things that I need to prepare, some of the behavior, some of the skills, some of the mindset that is really important to thrive in your role?

What are some of the behind the scenes that you can share? That would help me prepare or would help me to put in the right development, projects for, for me to get there one day.make it genuine.ask for what you're really interested in and then stick to the time that you said you're gonna take up.

So if you said, you know, can we spend 30 minutes together, be sure to wrap up after 30 minutes. and it's going to be a meaningful conversation's, going to be a meaningful experience. And I think that's a, that's a heck right there because all too often we're being told to network. We're being told to reach out to people to build these relationships, but it's always for our own benefit.

It's always, you know, to advance, to self-promote, to unlock a promotion, whatever it is. But I don't think that's the right energy for us. I think the right energy for us is following our interests and following what. Feels real. And that is how we build trust and connection. I always went into these types of conversations and interviews a little bit nervous.

Still to this day, when I have a guest come onto the podcast, I am a little bit nervous because I don't know them yet, and it's obviously a stranger to me at at first, but then having prepared questions and outlined the conversation, the interview. tailored it to them. I always get so much back and, and they always are really appreciative of me having done that.

They're always like, you know what? Those are great questions. It was a great conversation. Thank you very much for putting in the time to go above and beyond the, the normal, questions that would be asked or some of the typical stuff that you talk about. It, it, it's creating a win-win. It's creating a beautiful one-to-one conversation and experience, and I hope you can take something away from it.

Honestly, if you have something that you wanna pursue, it may not be a Master's thesis, it may not be podcast interviews, but you may have something in mind for which you'd love to reach out to somebody else and you're just thinking to yourself.I don't know if they're gonna reply, you know, what do they care about me?

whatever it is, whether it's a job that you want, whether it's a team that you wanna apply for, whether it's a person that you wanna work for, somebody you look up to in your organization where you're like, I would love to be, I'd love to get in touch with them and have a conversation. Go out and do it and make sure you.

Come from a place of interest. You prepare, you have some questions for them and try it out. Nothing bad can happen, I promise you. If you come from that space, if you create that kind of mood and vibe, it's gonna be a good experience. And then. Once you have 1, 2, 3 of those little good experiences, you're gonna stack them.

You're just gonna be, you know, able to draw from this experience and go out and, and ask the next person and the next person after this. I feel like this is how. We thrive at networking and thrive at building connections, and these are connections that are truly qualitative and they last and beautiful things come from them.

Think I can speak for some of the guests I had on the podcast. They, they're not just guests, they're people I stay in touch with. they are, you know, fellow business owners who I draw from and who I, you know, genuinely have great relationships with. And it is, it, it, it just feels like. This is how it's done for us, quite our people or more introspective people.

We're, we're really, really mindful of people's time, but I feel like if we go about it this way. Is we can absolutely thrive and it creates opportunities not just for us, but for others as well. So I hope you can take that away. reach out to someone, create one of those great experiences, and let me know how it went.

I would love to hear it. Thank you very much for tuning in today, and I'll see you next time.