The Power Of Networking

Being that It was international chest day yesterday, a quite nasty pump was indubitably accomplished.

And after one accomplishes said pump…

It is only natural that this individual acquires a source of protein to fuel the perpetual growth of his muscles.

I totally wrote that in a 1950s very fancy guy with a top hat with a curly mustache accent, it’s funny what you can do with the English language.

As I mentioned previously in my last post, my friend Dimitri from Miami is staying with me and after we hit the gym yesterday we went to one of my favorite spots, ProteinHouse.

Their menu is super clean and overall I just like that all of the macros are on the menu so you can stay on track with your weight loss/weight gain goals.

I’ve eaten here dozens of times and whenever I have a really crazy week and don’t have time to cook my own meals, I’ll just order meal prep from them.

So the both of us order some bowls, and as we’re enjoying them this guy walks by our table and notices Dimitri’s hat which says ELEVEN MIAMI on it, which is a really popular club where he lives.

The guy goes, “You ever been to Eleven?”

“Yeah, multiple times!”

“Oh nice man, I know the owner, Gino, great guy.”

We introduce ourselves and turns out this dude is actually the owner of the ProteinHouse.

Super nice guy, he goes and grabs us some cards that give us a complimentary protein shake, which we really appreciated.

But wait, it gets better.

As we’re finishing up our meal, I notice in the fridge there’s this drink I really like called “Yes!” and I go back up to the register to buy a can.

I actually know one of the owners of this beverage company, Conor.

We met at an event a few years back and we did a little bit of work together but nothing really came from it.

I can’t remember all the details, but I was still really early in my copywriting career so I don’t think I got the information business he was running at the time any crazy results.

Nonetheless, I still liked Conor and had a really great dinner with him once in Vegas.

So of course I’m going to support his drink company, and also, it tastes amazing and I really like how it makes me feel, I guess it’s supposed to be like a mood booster or something like that.

(This is important, stay with me…)

So we finish up our lunch, and I see the owner of the ProteinHouse in the back of the restaurant doing his thing.

I walk up to him and just tell him how much I love his restaurant, how many times I’ve ordered meal prep from them, and how it’s by far my favorite post-gym meal.

He was super happy to hear that and we’re going back and forth discussing the place and turns out he actually owns a really popular steakhouse in Scottsdale.

Funny enough, we had reservations at a steakhouse maybe 10 minutes down the road from his.

He gives me his number and says “You seem like a cool dude man, let me give you my number, text me if you want to get some reservations tonight at our place instead.”

Well, now we have to go to his restaurant, it’d be rude if we didn’t!

He then asks me what my line of work is and I tell him that I do Marketing for Infoproduct businesses mainly, to which he says “Oh well that drink you’re holding…”

“Yeah, I actually know Conor, he’s a great guy!”

We both laugh and he’s in total amazement, “What a small world!” and all of a sudden this guy is asking me all sorts of questions about marketing for his businesses.

I toss him a strategy I’ve seen a lot of restaurants using and you can tell by the look on his face he’s thinking, “Why the hell is my $7000 a month agency not telling me to do this?!”

He goes, “Let’s do a working lunch man, I’m buying, let’s chat some more.”

Sweet, I’m down.

I don’t normally work with restaurants, but my skillset works with any industry because I know how to get people's attention.

Maybe that turns into a client, I don’t really care, I’m just happy to connect with someone cool.

But wait there’s more…

So I text him a bit later to see if 5:30 works for his restaurant, and he tosses me and both the managers into a group chat and tells them to take care of us tonight.

We get there at 5:30, and the entire place is empty, hell yeah.

Obviously, it’s not like we got reservations at 7 PM on a Saturday night, it wasn’t a huge burden for them to get us a table.

But to have the manager know who you are the second you walk into the restaurant, is fantastic.

That’s a connection that makes you look amazing on dates and business dinners.

And maybe I’m weird, but I prefer to enjoy a restaurant completely empty.

I don’t like all the noise from a packed restaurant, and you kind of feel like Tony Soprano when you can enjoy your meal in peace and quiet, which is badass.

The food was amazing and the cherry on top was they took 20% off our bill.

That my friends is the power of networking and spreading positive energy.

All I did was tell the guy how much I love his restaurant, we connected over knowing the owner of the Yes! drink, and look at all the doors that opened up.

This is why I tell guys you need to stop being an “introvert.”

It’s okay to prefer close settings with a few people and to enjoy your time by yourself. I’m cool with that definition of introversion.

However, that is not an excuse for you to not know anyone because you’re too much of a bitch to just walk up to someone and spread some good vibes.

You never know who you’re going to meet, so just make it a habit to talk to people all the time.

It can create some pretty cool experiences for you.