Cultivated Strategy #3: Stop Wasting Time On "Networking," Do This Instead

{NAME}, Yesterday we talked about avoiding the black hole of applying online by identifying real people who could refer you into your dream job. You find them, you reach out to them, and you build a relationship with them. Sounds simple, right? The truth is, turning a virtual stranger into an advocate who is willing to vouch for you throughout the hiring process isn't easy - far from it. It's also much more of an art than a science. That's why people hate the concept of "networking" - there isn't a plug and play formula you can assign to it, there's no shortcut. Which is exactly why 95% of people out there do it the wrong way. Networking has nothing to do with big meetups, business cards, or boring small talk. Check it out, even Neil Patel - one of the smartest people in online marketing today (and someone I've followed religiously) - thinks that big "handshake" events like conferences [are a complete waste of time](=). When you approach networking the way everyone else does, you're going to get average results. But if you take a slightly different perspective, the consequences can be a complete game changer. Today I'm going to teach you how to n̶e̶t̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ build relationships the right way, sharing strategies I've used to connect with people like Arianna Huffington, Satya Nadella (Microsoft's CEO), John Lee Dumas (host of the Entrepreneur On Fire podcast), and more: Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella and I after having a quick conversation at our sales conference. Identifying The Right People (Again) I spoke about this yesterday and I want to reiterate it again today because it is so important. When it comes to networking, the quality of the person you connect with is exponentially more important than the sheer number of people you connect with. We want to focus on people who can have a direct impact on our goal: - If you want to land a job in Product Marketing at Spotify, the best person to know is the Director of Product Marketing at Spotify - If you want to have a conversation with Elon Musk, short of Elon himself, the best person to know is a 2nd connection who is close to Elon - If you want to raise a round of funding for your startup, you want to connect with people who know and influence venture capitalists It's also MUCH easier to manage relationships that you're building with 2-3 people vs. 20. Each relationship is like making a new friend - it takes time, effort, and persistence before it bears fruit. The Two Biggest Mistakes People Make When Trying To Build Relationships Whenever I mention the topic of networking, I always get a slew of the same responses about why networking doesn't work for them: "I hate networking, it just seems fake. We both know why we're having this conversation, right?" "I don't want to annoy or bother anyone, I'd rather not say anything than piss them off." "What could I possibly have to offer this person that would make them want to talk to me, let alone help me?" Right off the bat, it's important to understand that everybody builds relationships. Successful people expect to receive cold emails and pitches for their time, because they've done to the same thing in order to get in touch with other people they admire. Do you think that Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or Jeff Bezos were born with the network they have now? Absolutely not, and their most meaningful connections didn't come simply because they founded multi-billion dollar tech companies. No, those meaningful connections were built well before their stratospheric success. In fact, they were a huge reason that success happened in the first place. Networking isn't sleazy, sketchy, or annoying. It's a critical part of success. The problem is, as I mentioned above, 95% of people do it the wrong way. Here's the thing - most people who reach out to people they want to connect with make two huge mistakes: Mistake #1: They ask the other person to do something - "can you review my resume," "can you help me find an idea for a business," "will you introduce me to..." Whenever you're reaching out to someone, take a second to put yourself in their shoes. Would you review a resume or refer someone into a job if you'd never, ever met them before? Probably not. Yet, people continue to do this over and over as if it's their only option. My theory is that it makes you feel like you're doing "something" when in reality, you're doing the bare minimum. I can't tell you how many times someone has reached out to me with a copy and paste template hoping that I would refer them into a job: Please, whatever you do, don't ask your potential contact for a favor. Mistake #2: They simply ask the other person how they can help with no context, ideas, or solutions. While not as egregious as our first mistake, asking people "how you can help" is a sure fire way to get your email archived in 5 seconds flat. People do this because they read articles that say "offer value," but they have no idea what that means so they figure, "well, if I asked them how I can help, they will tell me and then - BOOM - there's my opportunity for value." That makes sense in theory. Your contact does have dozens of things they could probably use a hand on. The problem is, they don't have time to get you up to speed and transfer all of the knowledge you'd need to effectively help them. If you truly want to stand out from the crowd and get a conversation going, the best way to proactively add value is in a way that they can't ignore. The "Give, Give, Give, Ask" Formula (a.k.a The Canvas Strategy) When it comes to getting the attention of a stranger, there's no better way than offering value without expecting reciprocity (right away, at least). Who would you be more likely to respond to? 1. Someone asking you to look at their resume 2. Someone asking you what you need help with so they can help you 3. Someone who sends you a value packed email that gives you ideas for solving a problem, starting an initiative, or helps you with a personal goal The answer is #3 one hundred percent of the time. Your goal is to be person #3. Ryan Holiday calls it [the Canvas Strategy](): It’s [about] finding the direction someone already intended to head in and helping them pack, freeing them up to focus on their strengths. He continues, 1) Find new trains of thought to hand over for them to explore. Track down angles and contradictions and analogies that they can use. Ex: I was reading the biography of ______, I think you should look at it because there may be something you can do with the imagery. 2) Find outlets, people, associations, and connections. Cross wires to create new sparks. Ex: I know _________, and I think you two should talk. Have you thought about meeting ____? 3) Find inefficiencies and waste and redundancies. Identify leaks and patches to free up resources for new areas. Ex: You don’t need to do ___________ anymore, I have an idea for improving the process. Let me try it so you can worry about something else. I have personally used this method to connect with people at top companies, as well as influencers like Arianna Huffington, Neil Patel, and John Lee Dumas. For Arianna, I visited the pop up shop for her new brand Thrive and sent over my thoughts about the store and where it could be improved. After a few emails back and forth, I sent her a few sample articles I'd written that had seen a large number of views on Medium.com and shares on social. She asked me if I'd be up to write for both Huffington Post and Thrive: For JLD, I included him in an article I wrote for my site that saw a large number of shares on social, as well as a piece I wrote for Forbes. I shared both of these with him over the course of a few emails and landed a feature on his site EOFire that led to a slew of new email subscribers: * * * Your Homework For TODAY Instead of wasting time at that networking happy hour, go back to the list of 10 contacts you created yesterday. Pick 2-3 of them that you deem to be the "most influential" and begin doing your research with the sole goal of finding an angle where you can proactively add value. Here are some tips to start: - [Listen to this podcast]() on building your meaningful network - Look through their social media profiles and follow them - Google their name to see what comes up - Find out if they've written any articles or have been featured in interviews - Use a site like [Google Finance]() or [SeekingAlpha](=) and see if there is any news about the segment of the business that they work in - If they work for a public company, listen to their earnings call (if you Google "[Company Name] + earnings call" it should pop up) Tomorrow we're going to talk about a myth that's circulating around the career space these days which costs most people up to 50% of their potential salary. Tune in tomorrow to see how you can make sure you're not leaving half of your potential earnings on the table. Best, Austin PS - There's one concept that completely changed the game for me when it came to networking, [I talk more about it here.]() [Cultivated Culture] Land a job you love without applying online. How Can I Help You? [Resume Builder](=) [Landing Referrals]() [LinkedIn](=) [Interviews](=) [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you subscribed to get more career-related content on [cultivatedculture.com](). If you do not want to receive these emails or other communications you can easily remove yourself from our email list by [clicking this link to Unsubscribe](.                              Â