When I first started a business with my husband, back in November of 2011, we thought we knew what marketing involved. He’d worked in radio and, as a DJ, often participated in the company’s promotional strategy sessions.
I’d worked for a Fortune 500 company in their marketing division. I’d been directly involved in planning their grand opening events – 20 to 30 of them per month – working with suppliers, entertainers, advertisers, security, and store managers to create strategic plans that would make the most of the $5,000 – $10,000 budgets they allocated to each event.
Discovering the Power of Connections
I soon discovered that there is a massive difference marketing to a warm audience that knows your brand and comes pre-educated about the benefits of buying from you versus marketing to a cold audience that doesn’t know anything about you or what you do.
I also faced another massive obstacle: we operated on a $0 marketing budget. None of the strategies and tactics we learned from my days spent working in marketing fit the situation we faced.
Our skills in developing relationships came to my aid. We leveraged my husband’s radio experience and technological expertise to trade advertising services with a local radio station. We leveraged my artistic talents and writing skills to form connections with the local art club and started a local writing group.
Those connections got us free office space in exchange for acting as the art club’s receptionist. Building a connection to the only local bookstore in town got our writer’s group free meeting space and helped us get a book signing to promote in the paper. All these connections eventually started bringing business our way as artists, writers, and small business owners began getting to know us and what we could do for them.
Pursuing a Dream
In 2016, I launched a writing business and connected with The And I Thought Ladies while on a podcast about an idea I conceived for putting together a reality TV show for writers. They leveraged their connections in film and media to try and help me get that show off the ground. No one wanted to pick it up. Nobody in Hollywood knew my writing abilities or why they should invest in me.
One producer called the show idea “too esoteric” to be of interest to the general public, even though surveys show that 80% of people believe they have a book in them even if fewer than 3% will ever sit down to write and finish one. Shark Tank’s on its eleventh season despite fewer than 65% of people believing they have a business in them. The interest existed – we just needed to prove it.
The Ladies encouraged me not to quit on the dream. We began working together and I became the editor for their literary magazines. That connection provided me free advertising for my books and events while helping promote other authors, agents, publishers, and editors.
In 2018, The Ladies invited me to participate as a presenter in their Experienced Writer’s Retreat in Las Vegas. That next year, they invited me back but this time, Joylynn happened to be presenting at that same retreat. The connection we formed that day led to us joining forces to start up Path To Connections ™.
Turning a Dream into a Reality
I’m happy to say that I did get my Writing Reality TV show last August. We posted the 4 preliminary episodes on YouTube, where you can still find them today. Joylynn participated in making that a reality and the And I Thought Ladies nudged me into revising my vision to a stripped-down version that made the execution possible without the $2.5 million budget I’d originally thought I’d need. It came together on a $0 budget.
They say that success in life depends less on what you know and more on who knows you, and a measure of truth can be found in that. However, in my experience, the more important thing in determining success is who knows you and who knows what you can do. Serving others shows your value and helps to nurture the connections that drive success.
I can tell you for a fact that connections are the key to making any dream a reality. The more connections you form, and the stronger the connections are, the greater your chances of making your dream happen and the sooner you can make it a reality. It may not look exactly the way you envisioned by the time it does become a reality, but that’s not a bad thing. Your vision didn’t take into account all the variables around it.
5 Steps to Forming Connections That Last
There are five basic steps to forming connections that last. Put this recipe to work for you and you’ll watch as the impossible becomes possible.
1. Show Up Strategically
Showing up in places that don’t connect to what you do or want to be known for doing doesn’t help you. It’s kind of like taking a business presentation to a pool party. It’s not only likely to be a giant waste of your time and energy – it’s equally likely to be an annoyance and a waste of time for the people attending. So choose where you show up with care and be sure you’re strategic when you get there.
2. Be Prepared to Serve Others
The root cause of most social anxiety? Thinking too much about what other people are going to think of us or worrying about offending them with what we say or do. That anxiety can be so bad that we end up creating the very problems we’re striving to avoid. It robs us of the ability to enjoy the event we’re attending.
The best way to relieve the social anxiety? Focus on serving the needs of others. Looking and listening for opportunities to serve others will put your mind to work doing something helpful and productive rather than something toxic and emotionally draining.
3. Follow Up with Your Connections
When you meet someone you think you might be able to serve at an event, or did serve at an event, be sure to follow back up with them after the event is over. That’s how I ended up landing a copywriting gig and working with Vyond and ManyChat, helping them with their Facebook advertising needs.
Service plants the seeds of your connections, but following up cultivates those seeds. It allows them to grow and to eventually bear fruit.
4. Be Strategic in Cultivating Your Relationships
The bigger your list grows, the harder it becomes to manage without assistance. Use relationship management software to support you in this area. Leverage it to keep track of important dates and milestones in their lives, as well as when you last connected to or contacted them, what the conversation covered, and any notes about your next steps with them.
5. Connect Your Connections for Greater Success
Path To Connections ™ exists because the And I Thought Ladies took their time to connect me to Joylynn M. Ross, the CEO and Founder of Path To Publishing. Sometimes all you may have to offer someone in terms of service is help with a connection – but those connections are powerful things that can open doors and change lives. Don’t be afraid to offer to bring two people who can serve one another together.
If you know someone you think might be able to help us achieve our vision of bridging the gaps between small business owners and the government, corporate, bank, and educational institution programs, initiatives, and funding that’s meant to help them succeed, we’d love to connect. Contact us with a subject line of [CONNECT FOR SUCCESS] and we’ll be in touch.
Get More Help Connecting for Success
As part of our efforts to help you gain more traction when trying to connect with others, we’re offering our “5 Steps to Get Anyone to Lean In and Listen to You” course at no cost to you.
Course Outline:
Introduction: What the course will do for you, who the instructor is, and why she’s confident she can help.
Step 1. Know Your Audience: The value of asking the right questions to tap into the needs of your audience before moving forward.
Step 2. Show Up to Serve: How the attitude you adopt when you approach your audience impacts the outcome and sets the stage for success…or failure.
Step 3. Create Your Message: Creating a message tailored to your audience that’s based on everything you’ve learned about them.
Step 4. Connect With Your Audience: How to get connected to your audience so you are in position to deliver your message.
Step 5. Deliver Exceptional Value: Why you should always go above and beyond when delivering services to your intended audience.
Conclusion: The next steps to take.
Add a digital workbook filled with exercises to help you make the most of your instruction and a copy of the slide deck to help you remember what you’ve learned, all for just $7.
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