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How One Entrepreneur Added 700+ People to Her Network
Story time!
One night during an internship, Molly Beck was stuck in conversation with a man who was rambling on about his successes because “knew the right the people.”
The next day, she asked herself, “how do I just…know more people?” Fast forward to 6 ½ years later, Molly’s publishing her first book, Reach Out: The Simple Strategy You Need to Know to Expand Your Network and Increase Your Influence.
In the latest episode, The Growth Show interviews Molly to answer the question, “how can we know more people?” and makes the sometimes-anxiety-inducing idea of networking much less…scary.
Every day at 9:15, Molly sends one sincere message (keyword sincere) to someone at the “edge” of her network. That is to say, someone she is loosely connected to.
This isn’t about gunning for famous people and sending fan mail. Think about your career goals and who can help with them. Molly offers a ton of awesome, tangible advice that can work for anyone.
- (05:30) Avoid sending to the biggest names in your network — your emails will likely get lost in their inbox.
- (07:12) Be specific with the question you ask, like one nobody else can answer (especially Google).
- (07:40) Make it obvious to the person that it’s from you and to them. Site topics and ideas specific to them.
- (12:35) The routine Molly’s been doing for 6 ½ years. Naturally, she didn’t know she’d write a book one day, but she could because of these conversations.
- (13:05) How she went back the original threads from years ago, and started conversations again.
- (17:30) Molly’s first “professional Tinder date” that motivated Molly to continue her “reach out” strategy.
- (19:07) What happens when things get negative and how she handles rejection.
- (23:55) “If you keep at it, only the best responses will stick with you.”
- (27:20) The future of professional networks.
- (29:30) The need for getting away from the mentality that networking is a “coffee date.”
- (37:55) Focus on being a joy in someone’s inbox.
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Plan Your Blog Post from Start to Finish
There are two ways to go about blog writing:
- The inefficient way
- The efficient way
Okay, that’s probably the vaguest way we could describe the two ways to write a blog, but most people are probably writing blogs posts the inefficient way. Because, boy have we been there. Hey, it’s not all bad news, though. Today, we’re serving up a blog to help you write those blog posts (wait, a blog about blogging…?) in a way that will have you publishing polished posts week in and week out.
Spoiler alert: It all comes down to planning. Planning out your post will help you spend less time editing, write a more engaging post, come up with ideas for other posts, and work better with your team.
That’s a ton of benefits from one simple tactic. So, how do you effectively plan a blog post? Here ya go:
- Write Down Your Topic or Idea. This isn’t going to be the title. Just an idea of what your blog post will be about.
- Create a Mindmap. Wat? Grab a piece of paper and write your topic at the center. From there, write down all the key points around it. Branch out from each of those key points if necessary. You might notice other content ideas pop up during this. That’s a good thing.
- Type an Outline. This is pretty standard, but make sure you include the words “introduction” and “conclusion,” even if you aren’t going to write them in the outline. That will just help you remember to not do a subpar intro/conclusion.
- Flesh Out Your Outline. Take your outline and write a few key points for each section. Now you’re ready to get down to writing!
Plenty of examples for each step in today’s Read.
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Never Trust a Clown
Burger King is bringing beef to a whole new level with their latest ad dissing McDonald’s.
Capitalizing on the popularity of the horror film IT — and the terribly nightmarish Pennywise — BK took this opportunity to create a new catchphrase. And riff on McD’s iconic catchphrase, I’m lovin’ It.
The diss goes deep.
They aired the ad in theaters, which featured jump-inducing scenes from the movie, and showed the audience’s reactions.
