Married to the Hustle
Married to the Hustle
Unlocking Success: Networking Secrets for Entrepreneurs
Can networking transform your entrepreneurial journey? Join us on 'Married to the Hustle' as we delve into the secrets of building powerful connections as a couple. We share our unique experiences and lessons learned from navigating networking events together. Discover how we leverage our individual strengths to work the room and following up to release the pressure of every interaction feeling like a sales pitch.
Learn from our early misconceptions about government certifications and how they can open doors to significant opportunities through active participation. Consistency is crucial, and we explore how setting manageable networking goals can prevent overwhelm and foster meaningful connections. From asking insightful questions to mastering follow-ups, we cover it all.
Don't miss our candid stories and expert insights that highlight the importance of clear communication and strategic networking. Tune in to 'Married to the Hustle' for practical tips, personal anecdotes, and actionable strategies that will empower you to build genuine relationships and thrive in your entrepreneurial journey.
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Alex & Jessica Fortis
Welcome to Married to the Hustle, the podcast where love, faith and business come together.
Jessica:I'm Jessica, and with me is my partner in life and business, Alex. Together, we're diving into the wild world of entrepreneurial couples Each week we'll bring you real stories, hilarious moments and valuable insights from couples.
Jessica:Welcome back, welcome back. I'm so excited to connect with you guys today and chat about networking and networking as a power couple. Nonetheless, because you know we I do a lot of networking on by myself and alex does some networking by himself but when we're both in the room, how do we get to work the room? And so Alex tell our audience why is networking important?
Alex:Networking is important, especially when you're starting out in business, right you want? For me, networking is like a form of marketing, right? You're marketing yourself, you're marketing your company, you let others know what you do, you name the company, how you can serve others and making those connections.
Jessica:And.
Alex:Jessica, you know when she says working the room right. So usually when we go into networking I tell Jessica, hey, I'm going to take this side of the floor, you take the other side of the floor and we'll work it. We'll meet in the middle. How about that? It's just a joke, guys. We don't, we don't network like that. But it was pretty funny.
Jessica:Right Now we don't network like that, but it was pretty funny right. No, we don't have that kind of strategy, but it actually sounds like fun.
Alex:Right, see how many people we can meet. I do say that when I do network I try to be very authentic and letting them know, because networking is, it's fun, but it can also be a little it'll make you think right, because people obviously are there to promote their business, right. So you get a lot of people that come, you know, trying to sell you stuff, and I was one that I was buying some of that stuff at first and I realized, hey, networking shouldn't be about that selling. Networking should be about building relationships, letting people know what your business is, what you do, and just making connections that way.
Jessica:Yeah, for sure, for sure, and I'll say, I'll say this my coach had said to me one time that people come into your circle in one of three ways they either are client, connector or collaborator.
Alex:There you go.
Jessica:And so they come into your space to either potentially be a client, right, or they come in to your space to potentially connect you with someone else. You know what, alex? Yeah, actually I love what you do and maybe I know someone at such and such organization and I'm going to connect the two of you, right. And so that's number two. And then the third one is collab, the collaborator, right. It's it's like okay, well, you know, I might not be able to connect to you, I might not be able to buy your product, but you know what, let's collaborate on a couple of projects, let's get together. Let you know, do you want to be part of a board with me? You know, and and so when you look at each connection from that lens a client, a connector, a collaborator it just makes it so much easier and the pressure is relieved, right. And hey, my coach is Renee Rebar Shout out to Renee Rebar, she's the one that talks about that all the time. And so that helps me take off that pressure of every discovery call is a client, every discovery call is a client, right. And then we start to look at the clients and the people inside of these discovery call is a client, every discovery call is a client right, and then we start to look at the clients and the people inside of these networking events with a dollar sign on their forehead. But the reality is that we're all there for something to grow something in some way shape or form, and when you take that pressure off yourself, it makes it such a more viable connection.
Jessica:And so you know, another way that we do networking, not just like through the chambers of commerce, are government certifications.
Jessica:So we here are minority women, business enterprise certified through several agencies, and so I was just on a panel this morning discussing our experience as a certified entity, and one of the things that came up is you know, the certification get you business. And the reality is that the certification does not get you business. It does not guarantee you any business at all whatsoever. But what it does guarantee you is it guarantee guarantees you to get you in the room, get you in the room with the right people, and even if you're not the prime contractor, you might be the subprime contractor, Right. So so if you, if you're sub to that, to that original contractor, that's still a great connection for you to be able to make. And so these government agencies, they do a lot of networking events, they do a lot of meet and greets, and being able to take advantage of a lot of these programs that are free of charge for us business owners is very is pivotal, you know, because that is also an opportunity for you to network and connect.
Alex:I think that you hit a. You hit a point there with the certifications. People almost automatically think oh, yeah, yeah, well, I'm certified, you know. Now I'm waiting on a business.
Alex:You know, it's like waiting for somebody to come knock on your door. Hey, here's this, you know, $200,000 or $300,000 account. It won't happen that way. Unfortunately, I was one of those people, I'll admit. Ok, we got these certifications. Right now, where's the business? Where's the business? You have to be in the room.
Alex:That's the most important part, right, and some of these contracts that do come up, like the big government stuff. I mean, there are multimillion dollar contracts, right, and some of the primes that get them. You know, especially when you're a minority, you know the contract might call for, you know, a 23 or 25 percent minority owned company to go in there with you, and that's the only way they would get the business. So then that's when companies we've seen reach out to us hey, we're trying to bid on this project. Here's the scope. We need 23 percent minority owned business. Do you want to go into the project? And then that's, you know, but that all entails being in the room with these people. Yeah, there's a big misconception with the certifications, right, that the certifications are automatically going to get you the business.
Alex:And unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Right, you still have to work it. You still have to market your business. You still have to go to networking events and just being in the room your business, you still have to go to networking events and just being in the room.
Jessica:So, yeah, yeah, and I and we were just at a at an event a couple of weeks ago. I was one of the panel coaches at FSMSDC, the Florida State Minority Supplier Council, and one of the things that that happened there actually a couple of times, was that because Alex and I were in separate areas of the event, there were a few hundred people in there. When I would meet someone, they would say wait a minute, is your husband so-and-so? And so I would make these connections with people because Alex had already spoken to them about our business or about me, and so it was a really great way to make connections with others and break the ice too, because many people know that I'm an executive coach and I also own the commercial cleaning business with my husband. So whenever he would come up with an interaction where someone said something about building their business or not knowing how to go after certifications or that kind of stuff, he's like oh, you should talk to my wife, my wife is a coach, she handles a lot of that and vice versa. They will come to me and say you know how do you do a bid, how do. You do pricing, and I would say you know what you definitely need to connect with Alex, and not only that, knowing what agencies to be part of. You know.
Jessica:There was another person from the janitorial industry that we met. There we were like you should look into this agency, that agency, do this. Do that because we knew what we have been able to achieve by making a lot of these connections and networking with some of these big people, Because when you look at business, you want to be in the space of people that are ahead of you, so that there's no need for you to innovate. You just have to emulate what's already a proven process, Right, and so being able to learn that and then share that with others that maybe you're mentoring it's so important too, and if you're mentoring someone, I highly recommend that you invite them to a networking event with you so that they can make some of those connections as well and loosen up.
Alex:Right, pure example. That was yesterday. I got a text from Debbie and her husband that are starting out in the janitorial space and they came to me. They found me in another group and I answered one of their questions and they asked if it was okay to reach out to me directly. I said absolutely, what can I help you with? And you know, they they just getting started and they wanted to know how to go about it. And I told them this is what we've done. And today, as a matter of fact, yesterday they had messaged me, but today was one of the very first networking events that they attended. And here I am cheering them on and she's all nervous because she's going without her husband. And she said what should I do? What should I expect? I said listen, just relax, it's okay.
Alex:I went through the same thing when we first started networking. We used to go around the room and you had 60 seconds or so to talk about yourself and you know background, what's your business and what do you do. And I'll be completely honest with you when it was next to my turn where the person before me went, I broke out in sweat, but I got over that. So Debbie was asking you know I've never done this. And I said just walk into the room, you know, say who you are. Oh, but I don't have business cards. I said you don't need business cards, it's OK. It's OK, they're still in the very first stages of startup. So I share with her. Hey, you know what? Sometimes I forget my business card too, but here's a free app that we went to.
Jessica:And.
Alex:QR me. I mean it gives the person your name, your business, your email, the website, all the information that, a business card. So I was just trying to cheer her on, not to let that hold her down, and today I made it a point to make sure I reach out to her. Hey, debbie, how did the networking go? And she said man, it was great. Thank you so much. Right so that? Right so that that for me, you know. And I told her, networking is not just the one and done. Right, you have to be continuous with it being consistent, right? Yeah, do you agree with that, jessica?
Jessica:absolutely, it's about putting you out there. It's, you know, out of sight, out of mind guys, and. And so another cleaning company comes in and they reach out and suddenly they have a janitorial need and they won't. They'll remember your face. They might be like, oh, what was the name of that company? Again, oh, but this other company that I just met last week, right, so, out of sight, out of mind, you wanna be in the room at all times, building those relationships, building those connections, because even when sometimes they come to me about specific things, I might not offer that service, but I know someone who does, and so I love to be able to connect them with someone else. And so, you know, we gathered a couple of tips to help you guys with networking, and Alex shared one of them, which it wasn't even part of the three tips that I selected, but QRMe is actually a really cool app in a world of digital connections. Now the business card doesn't do it for you.
Alex:Every time I see QR me, it reminds me of our church, because they always say we're all about QR codes. Qr me is it's one of those.
Jessica:Yeah, absolutely.
Alex:I didn't want to cut you off there, but I just thought fun fact.
Jessica:Well, you just cut me off to share the fun fact. So that is one of the ways. Obviously, to connect with people is by having a digital business card, but here's the thing when it comes to making a connection with someone, it's not the business card that will do it. It's all in the follow up. And so let's talk about the three tips that we gathered to be able to share with you guys. So tip number one is have a goal to meet two to three people. The biggest thing that you can do to yourself is get overwhelmed when you pull into the parking lot and there's 300 cars outside, because you will get there, and as quickly as you showed up is as quickly as you're going to leave, because you're going to be so far out of your comfort zone that you won't feel comfortable in going in and even introducing yourself. And so what's number two, alex?
Alex:For me. I mean, we have three tips, but one thing that just came up to mind, right, when you're mentioning you know meeting two to three people people usually, right, when they come up to you, what do you do? Right? That's the very first question. I always say be different, right? Ask something different than they're not used to answering, and that's going to spark the conversation right away right.
Alex:So, instead of asking somebody hey, so what do you do? So how's your year going? You know, have you met your goals this year? It opens different conversation, right, Absolutely. So that's one of my tips. Another one is following up, having a goal to exchange contact info with two to three connections. That's usually our goal when we go out networking and then we, at the end of the day, just like, well, who did you meet, you know? And I tell her, well, this is who I met and this is what they do. But the most important part is the follow up. If someone really interests you and you want to get to know their business or how you guys can, you know, share insight with each other about you know their business or your business, join them for a cup of coffee, right? Right, have a sit down, conversation and one-on-ones. Those are important, right? How can you serve each other?
Jessica:Absolutely. And so the last one, alex, touch on it, which is the follow-up. It's not the connection that you made card, that you exchanged the selfie that you took. I tend to do that I take selfies and then I'll text them. Be like, yeah, let me just send you those pictures, just so that you remember who I am, and so so it's the.
Jessica:The secret sauce is in that follow-up, and so just this morning I was at an event, met four people at the event. As soon as I got to the office, the first thing that I did was send them an email, just so that the exchange and the interaction is memorable, and so I brought up points of things that they discussed. One of them said that we should become a vendor for one of the other counties because they don't have a certification program, and she shared a couple of organizations and I obviously I was just about to take the stage to be on a panel, and so I didn't immediately write it down. So I, of course, followed up with an email. Hey, what were those organizations again that you mentioned? So the follow up is key in order to stay connected. So, like Alex said, go meet for a cup of coffee, and it doesn't have to be in person. Do it virtually, right, if you feel more comfortable just chatting, just taking 15, 30 minutes to connect with each other and know what you do and who you can refer business to. Oh my gosh, and guys, please don't do it the other way. I have to share an experience with you. For privacy, I won't share who it was. I met someone at an event a couple of weeks ago. They text me hey, it was. I met someone at an event a couple of weeks ago. They text me hey, it was great meeting you. Yes, it was so great meeting you too. Oh, we should stay connected. Absolutely, we definitely should stay connected. I would love that.
Jessica:About two or three days go by and I get a text back June 12th, 11 AM. That wasn't the date, but it was. You know, that's what the message said. And I replied back, excuse me. And they replied back oh, sorry, that wasn't for you.
Jessica:And so now, at that point, I'm a little. I'm a little ticked off, right. I'm like, ah, yeah, that's not how you ask someone to. You know, set up a meeting. You know what I mean. Like that's how you do it. And so I, I said, uh, I said to her I said oh okay, good, it wasn't for me, because if that was the date that you selected, I was not available anyway. But if you wanted to connect because I know that's what she was trying to do I'd love to be able to connect with you in a couple of weeks, because I think the following week was a holiday and so we were gonna be tied up. We decided to set a date. Everything is good. We set the date, no problem. I somewhat looking forward to meeting with this person, just to see what they were about, right, and I get the invite, and there's a third person invited in the invite.
Alex:Talk about awkward.
Jessica:Right, and so I accepted the invite anyway. Right, because at that point I was just like OK, I already know what I'm walking into, so I jump on this call. No clue what this, who this third person is, and they go straight into the pitch. There was absolutely no opportunity for discussion, to get to know anything about me, about our business, about what we do, what we stand for. Instead of, this is what we do, and this is what we do, and this is what we do, and, you know, tell me a little bit more about this and that and the other. And it just got so deeply personal, without even building a relationship. And so I felt really, really awkward. And at the end, I think she can tell that I was a little standoffish.
Jessica:The third person, right, because the first person wasn't even saying anything. And so the third person she noticed that it was that I was a little standoffish and she said to me well, did you know where you're coming into this meeting for? And I said, absolutely no idea. I was supposed to come into this meeting just to get to know each other and a little bit more about what each other does. And she was like, oh okay, well, we'll follow up with you in a couple of weeks and I was like, okay, no problem, and hung up the call, probably about 15, 20 minutes, and we had blocked, I think, 30 minutes, and I was like, oh Lord, have mercy, I was off the hook, right, because it was such an awkward, awkward conversation.
Jessica:And so, please, when you make that initial connection with someone, genuinely get to know them Right, because at the end of the day, yes, we're all in it to do business and we're all in it to make money, right, we're all in it to build a legacy. We're all in it to make money, right, we're all in it to build a legacy. But you get more bees with honey Alex says this all the time you get more bees with honey. And so if you step into a conversation getting to know more about that other person and what they do and how you can potentially be a referral partner for them, they're going to appreciate that type of authenticity. And you wanting to invest in their business, them, they're going to appreciate that type of authenticity and you wanting to invest in their business, and then they're going to want to know the same thing about yours.
Alex:Right, right, and going into that, Jessica, there's a great book that I read. It's called the Go-Giver, right, and it's a sales book, right. But it explains, right, that you don't always want to receive, you want to give, right, whether it's information for something or connecting them to someone. That goes a lot more than that sales pitch, right. So it is a great book to read. I highly recommend it. If anyone has not read it before, it's called the Go-Giver and I believe the author is Bob Berg. So if you guys get a chance, you should grab the book and read it. And it's called the gold giver and I believe the author is bob berg. So if you guys get a chance, you should grab the book and read it. And it's all about, you know, giving to get those sales going.
Jessica:So anything else you?
Alex:want to share on this episode although that was mainly it.
Jessica:I had to get that. I had to get that out of out of my head because it was really bothering me a little bit.
Alex:That's definitely like a networking don't.
Jessica:Yes, please, we should do another episode on the networking don'ts, because we get a lot of those. We network a lot, we love to build connections and you know, and it's not always going to be perfect. You're going to do awkward things and you're going to feel strange and you're going to feel outside of your element. But as you continue to do it, you get more and more comfortable every single time. Continue to put yourself out there with integrity and authenticity and I guarantee you that it'll come back to you tenfold.
Alex:Absolutely. Those are great words. Preach it girl.
Jessica:All right guys.
Alex:That wraps up this episode. Until next time keep hustling that wraps up another episode of married to the hustle. We hope you enjoyed today's show and found some inspiration and practical tips to apply to your own business journey.
Jessica:We love hearing from you, our amazing listeners. If you have any stories, questions or tips to share, connect with us on social media or send us an email. Your input makes this podcast even better.
Alex:And don't forget to subscribe to Married to the Hustle on your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss an episode.
Jessica:And if you enjoyed today's episode.
Alex:Please leave us a review.
Jessica:It really helps us grow and reach more entrepreneurial couples like you, join us next week for more exciting stories, insightful interviews and valuable advice. Until then, keep hustling, keep thriving and keep loving what you do.
Alex:Thanks for tuning in and happy hustling.