March 26, 2024 • 12 mins
Do you feel like business networking is not for you as an introverted and soulful entrepreneur?
I am here to help! I build multiple businesses through networking and I want to show you how to do the same.
In this week's episode I break down some elements that are necessary for authentic connections.
I'm peeling back the layers of misconception and shining a light on the inherent strengths that introverts possess—strengths that can transform networking from a dreaded task into a fulfilling journey of professional growth and personal enrichment.
If you truly want to use relationship building as networking to build and scale your business - JOIN ME FOR A FREE 60-MINUTE CLASS -
HOW TO EFFECTIVELY NETWORK AS AN INTROVERT
Wednesday, April 17th at 12 PM PST/3 PM EST
Get your Free "Visualization: Clarify Your Path"
Follow me on Social Media for more tips:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/kavitalifecoach
FB: https://www.facebook.com/kavitalifecoach
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavita-melwani-coach/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my name is Kavita Melwani and I'm a Master
Certified Success and BusinessCoach with two decades of
experience as an entrepreneurand almost a decade as a coach.
I want to personally welcomeyou to the Soulful Entrepreneurs
Club podcast, where my visionis to empower as many
spiritually led businesses torun purposeful and profitable
(00:23):
businesses aligned with theirtrue selves.
I want you to confidently andopulently shine your light
without the overwhelm, thestress or the burnout.
Together, we will explorechallenges that soulful
entrepreneurs face and real,implementable solutions so you
can step into your uniquepurpose and shine.
(00:44):
Solutions so you can step intoyour unique purpose and shine.
It is possible to bridge thesuccess you already have with
the truest, soulful, mysticalparts of yourself.
Are you ready to rise up as theleader you were born to be?
Then join me.
My soulful friends, the time isnow for you to rise up and
(01:05):
shine your light.
The world needs you.
Hello and welcome to thisweek's episode of the Soulful
Entrepreneurs Club podcast, andthis week I am going to be
talking to you about networkingfor introverts.
So I sent out a poll in to myemail list and also I posted on
(01:28):
social media asking what is itthat you would like to learn
more about, and this topic isthe one that got the most votes.
So I will go deeper into thistopic in a class that I'll be
having, and the registrationdetails will be in the show
(01:49):
notes.
It will be on Wednesday, april17th, at 12 PM Eastern, and it's
an hour long class where I'llgo in depth into what and how to
network as an introverteffectively so that you can grow
, scale and positively impactyour business and your life, and
(02:12):
so I will go through strategies, some things you must have in
place and make sure that you do.
But today I wanted to give yousomething that you can take care
of, take and move forward with.
Okay, and so there's somemisconceptions about networking
and introversion.
So one of the misconceptions isthat introverts are not good at
(02:36):
networking, because when youthink about networking, it
involves talking to people,involves being around people,
and when people, when peoplethink about introverts, they
think about someone that likesto be alone, and the reality is
introverts like to be aroundpeople also.
They actually just recharge bybeing alone.
(02:56):
So there are strengths that areunique to introverts that can
actually help with being verysuccessful at networking.
The challenges come when youtry to network like an extrovert
or try to emulate someone thatis successful but is very
different from you, right?
(03:18):
So it's really important Ialways talk about using
strategies for your marketing,building your business, whatever
you do to make sure that youare utilizing your strengths and
expanding on your strengths.
And as an introvert, it can bedifficult to be in new groups of
(03:38):
people, people that you don'tknow, and then start to build
your business, and even thoughthat feels difficult, it is
doable and it can be fun and itcan be interesting and it can
add a lot of richness to yourlife and to your business.
So first I guess it should be itis important to talk about what
(04:01):
networking is.
So there's different types ofnetworking.
So, first, the one type ofnetworking is industry specific,
right?
So if you are a consultant,there may be a consultant's
group.
If you know, there may be abusiness networking group that
is like for the type of businessthat you're in, right?
(04:23):
And so there are industryspecific groups.
Then a different type of groupis more of that general business
networking group, and withinthat there are so many different
types.
Right, there are your chamberevents, there is the
organization called BNI, whichis Business Networking
International that are.
(04:44):
You know they have industryexclusive events, so only one
person from each industry can bea member of each chapter.
There are groups focused ononly women.
There's like mixed groups.
There's all kinds of differenttypes of business networking
groups.
There are larger groups, thereare smaller groups, there are
(05:04):
groups that meet weekly, thereare groups that meet monthly and
all in between, and so thoseare like what you would consider
like the traditional networkinggroup.
And the third type of networkingis not necessarily a networking
group but is more like what youdo in your life.
(05:25):
So if you take a class thatyou're interested in, or if you
are in a book club or if you arein different social groups,
those are opportunities for youto network as well, and it's
because it's buildingrelationships.
Now I'm not telling you to goand now try to sell everybody in
(05:47):
your network, because inreality you're not selling to
that person necessarily.
You are presenting the valuethat you're going to provide and
wanting them to refer you tosomeone in their network.
So having that idea of how canI help talking about your
(06:10):
business in a way that is it'slike just how a person would
talk about work, right, it's notthat you're like being like
icky and salesy, but just like aconnection thing.
You know some things thatyou're doing that are
interesting, maybe somestrategies that you're trying
that are fun, or you know peoplethat you've met that are
(06:30):
interesting, and so that'sanother opportunity that is
often missed when it comes tonetworking.
And so when you think aboutthese three types of events, I
remember taking a course a whileback and being told that you
should have all three.
Okay, so you should make sureyou have an industry specific
(06:51):
event, you should have abusiness networking event, and
they even recommended maybe youdo a chamber and then an
industry specific businessnetworking event, and then also
the your regular life, kind ofsocial, social life, like you
know, like book clubs and thingslike that, and of running a
(07:20):
business and doing all thethings that I do.
The thought of being inaddition to all the things that
I'm doing, to being part of somany groups, it's just
overwhelming right.
And also, not to mention, I aman introvert myself and it can
be draining to be always aroundpeople that way for me.
So I have to pick and choosewhat would be the events that I
enjoy going to the most andfocus on building deep
(07:43):
relationships in those groups,and so that is what I'm going to
recommend, as an introvert, isdon't necessarily use the
strategy of let me try to joinlike as many groups as I can,
meet as many people as I can,and like you know, kind of like
it's a numbers game and andcause that works for some people
.
And if you want to do that,maybe when you're just starting
(08:04):
out your business, so you canstart to build your network.
I'm not telling you not to, Ijust know that if you are truly
an introvert, that it's notsustainable over time, and so
(08:28):
you know, as long as you know,okay, if I do this, it's for a
short term, but in the long runI want to focus on, you know,
one or two groups that arebusiness focused or industry
focused and then, just you know,utilize relationships in my
life, just letting them knowwhat I'm doing, and then you can
also use, if you like, asupportive social media platform
.
So if your client is onFacebook, then you connect with
people, you meet and networkingon Facebook, and so then you're
(08:49):
able to continue that connectionthere.
And of course, there are manyother strategies that would make
networking effective.
This is just the one that I'mgoing to recommend today, and so
you can have something that youcan implement immediately.
It is really important to beclear about your goals for going
(09:12):
to the event.
It's important to not selleverybody and think that you're
just selling the people in theroom.
It is also important that you,um are, um, not adding everyone
to your email list, okay, causethat's happened to me many times
(09:32):
because that's going to turnthe people off and you're
actually may have a short-termgain of having someone on your
email list, but the long-termrelationship that you want to
build, that's not going tohappen, right, they're not going
to trust you.
You want to build relationshipsthe way that you, as an
introvert like you, most likelylike to have deeply connected
(09:55):
relationships, and that's whyI'm recommending that you focus
on a couple of events and buildrelationships in those events,
and relationships of depth, okay, and because then you'll look
forward to the events, thenyou'll be able to um, you know,
actually build your network fromthere.
(10:15):
And now that's just one part ofit.
And beyond just building thosedepth, depth of relationship,
there are ways that you can growyour network too, right,
because if you just stick to twogroups and it's the same people
over and over again, then youknow you're not going to be
exposed to new people.
So some groups have visitors andI know that that's helpful to
meet new people, and so you wantto make sure that, if that's
(10:38):
you're a part of a group andthey have visitors, that you
reach out to visitors that feellike people you want to get to
know.
And so also, you know, usingopportunities that maybe the
group has the ability to gettogether with others in your, in
your whole network right Ofgroups, like there's that
(11:01):
possibility going to thosethings to grow your networks.
There's.
You know, there's a lot ofthings that you can do to make
it work for you, but startingwith making it simple, picking a
few, starting to buildrelationships, familiarity, and
then, if you want to know morestrategies of how to make it
(11:21):
work for you, some other nuances, then register, register to
attend the class.
I'd love to see you there.
It will be free, it will be anhour and if you have any
questions beforehand, feel freeto message me and you can send
me a message on my website and Iwill get it and I can add
(11:43):
anything that you would thatyou're desiring onto the class,
like any questions you haveabout networking for introverts.
You're desiring onto the class,like any questions you have
about networking for introverts,so I will be continuing to talk
about this topic and give youmore strategies over the next
few weeks, and then, of course,the class will go more into
depth.
So until next time, take goodcare.
(12:04):
Bye.
Hello, my name is Kavita Melwani and I'm a Master
Certified Success and BusinessCoach with two decades of
experience as an entrepreneurand almost a decade as a coach.
I want to personally welcomeyou to the Soulful Entrepreneurs
Club podcast, where my visionis to empower as many
spiritually led businesses torun purposeful and profitable
(00:23):
businesses aligned with theirtrue selves.
I want you to confidently andopulently shine your light
without the overwhelm, thestress or the burnout.
Together, we will explorechallenges that soulful
entrepreneurs face and real,implementable solutions so you
can step into your uniquepurpose and shine.
(00:44):
Solutions so you can step intoyour unique purpose and shine.
It is possible to bridge thesuccess you already have with
the truest, soulful, mysticalparts of yourself.
Are you ready to rise up as theleader you were born to be?
Then join me.
My soulful friends, the time isnow for you to rise up and
(01:05):
shine your light.
The world needs you.
Hello and welcome to thisweek's episode of the Soulful
Entrepreneurs Club podcast, andthis week I am going to be
talking to you about networkingfor introverts.
So I sent out a poll in to myemail list and also I posted on
(01:28):
social media asking what is itthat you would like to learn
more about, and this topic isthe one that got the most votes.
So I will go deeper into thistopic in a class that I'll be
having, and the registrationdetails will be in the show
(01:49):
notes.
It will be on Wednesday, april17th, at 12 PM Eastern, and it's
an hour long class where I'llgo in depth into what and how to
network as an introverteffectively so that you can grow
, scale and positively impactyour business and your life, and
(02:12):
so I will go through strategies, some things you must have in
place and make sure that you do.
But today I wanted to give yousomething that you can take care
of, take and move forward with.
Okay, and so there's somemisconceptions about networking
and introversion.
So one of the misconceptions isthat introverts are not good at
(02:36):
networking, because when youthink about networking, it
involves talking to people,involves being around people,
and when people, when peoplethink about introverts, they
think about someone that likesto be alone, and the reality is
introverts like to be aroundpeople also.
They actually just recharge bybeing alone.
(02:56):
So there are strengths that areunique to introverts that can
actually help with being verysuccessful at networking.
The challenges come when youtry to network like an extrovert
or try to emulate someone thatis successful but is very
different from you, right?
(03:18):
So it's really important Ialways talk about using
strategies for your marketing,building your business, whatever
you do to make sure that youare utilizing your strengths and
expanding on your strengths.
And as an introvert, it can bedifficult to be in new groups of
(03:38):
people, people that you don'tknow, and then start to build
your business, and even thoughthat feels difficult, it is
doable and it can be fun and itcan be interesting and it can
add a lot of richness to yourlife and to your business.
So first I guess it should be itis important to talk about what
(04:01):
networking is.
So there's different types ofnetworking.
So, first, the one type ofnetworking is industry specific,
right?
So if you are a consultant,there may be a consultant's
group.
If you know, there may be abusiness networking group that
is like for the type of businessthat you're in, right?
(04:23):
And so there are industryspecific groups.
Then a different type of groupis more of that general business
networking group, and withinthat there are so many different
types.
Right, there are your chamberevents, there is the
organization called BNI, whichis Business Networking
International that are.
(04:44):
You know they have industryexclusive events, so only one
person from each industry can bea member of each chapter.
There are groups focused ononly women.
There's like mixed groups.
There's all kinds of differenttypes of business networking
groups.
There are larger groups, thereare smaller groups, there are
(05:04):
groups that meet weekly, thereare groups that meet monthly and
all in between, and so thoseare like what you would consider
like the traditional networkinggroup.
And the third type of networkingis not necessarily a networking
group but is more like what youdo in your life.
(05:25):
So if you take a class thatyou're interested in, or if you
are in a book club or if you arein different social groups,
those are opportunities for youto network as well, and it's
because it's buildingrelationships.
Now I'm not telling you to goand now try to sell everybody in
(05:47):
your network, because inreality you're not selling to
that person necessarily.
You are presenting the valuethat you're going to provide and
wanting them to refer you tosomeone in their network.
So having that idea of how canI help talking about your
(06:10):
business in a way that is it'slike just how a person would
talk about work, right, it's notthat you're like being like
icky and salesy, but just like aconnection thing.
You know some things thatyou're doing that are
interesting, maybe somestrategies that you're trying
that are fun, or you know peoplethat you've met that are
(06:30):
interesting, and so that'sanother opportunity that is
often missed when it comes tonetworking.
And so when you think aboutthese three types of events, I
remember taking a course a whileback and being told that you
should have all three.
Okay, so you should make sureyou have an industry specific
(06:51):
event, you should have abusiness networking event, and
they even recommended maybe youdo a chamber and then an
industry specific businessnetworking event, and then also
the your regular life, kind ofsocial, social life, like you
know, like book clubs and thingslike that, and of running a
(07:20):
business and doing all thethings that I do.
The thought of being inaddition to all the things that
I'm doing, to being part of somany groups, it's just
overwhelming right.
And also, not to mention, I aman introvert myself and it can
be draining to be always aroundpeople that way for me.
So I have to pick and choosewhat would be the events that I
enjoy going to the most andfocus on building deep
(07:43):
relationships in those groups,and so that is what I'm going to
recommend, as an introvert, isdon't necessarily use the
strategy of let me try to joinlike as many groups as I can,
meet as many people as I can,and like you know, kind of like
it's a numbers game and andcause that works for some people
.
And if you want to do that,maybe when you're just starting
(08:04):
out your business, so you canstart to build your network.
I'm not telling you not to, Ijust know that if you are truly
an introvert, that it's notsustainable over time, and so
(08:28):
you know, as long as you know,okay, if I do this, it's for a
short term, but in the long runI want to focus on, you know,
one or two groups that arebusiness focused or industry
focused and then, just you know,utilize relationships in my
life, just letting them knowwhat I'm doing, and then you can
also use, if you like, asupportive social media platform
.
So if your client is onFacebook, then you connect with
people, you meet and networkingon Facebook, and so then you're
(08:49):
able to continue that connectionthere.
And of course, there are manyother strategies that would make
networking effective.
This is just the one that I'mgoing to recommend today, and so
you can have something that youcan implement immediately.
It is really important to beclear about your goals for going
(09:12):
to the event.
It's important to not selleverybody and think that you're
just selling the people in theroom.
It is also important that you,um are, um, not adding everyone
to your email list, okay, causethat's happened to me many times
(09:32):
because that's going to turnthe people off and you're
actually may have a short-termgain of having someone on your
email list, but the long-termrelationship that you want to
build, that's not going tohappen, right, they're not going
to trust you.
You want to build relationshipsthe way that you, as an
introvert like you, most likelylike to have deeply connected
(09:55):
relationships, and that's whyI'm recommending that you focus
on a couple of events and buildrelationships in those events,
and relationships of depth, okay, and because then you'll look
forward to the events, thenyou'll be able to um, you know,
actually build your network fromthere.
(10:15):
And now that's just one part ofit.
And beyond just building thosedepth, depth of relationship,
there are ways that you can growyour network too, right,
because if you just stick to twogroups and it's the same people
over and over again, then youknow you're not going to be
exposed to new people.
So some groups have visitors andI know that that's helpful to
meet new people, and so you wantto make sure that, if that's
(10:38):
you're a part of a group andthey have visitors, that you
reach out to visitors that feellike people you want to get to
know.
And so also, you know, usingopportunities that maybe the
group has the ability to gettogether with others in your, in
your whole network right Ofgroups, like there's that
(11:01):
possibility going to thosethings to grow your networks.
There's.
You know, there's a lot ofthings that you can do to make
it work for you, but startingwith making it simple, picking a
few, starting to buildrelationships, familiarity, and
then, if you want to know morestrategies of how to make it
(11:21):
work for you, some other nuances, then register, register to
attend the class.
I'd love to see you there.
It will be free, it will be anhour and if you have any
questions beforehand, feel freeto message me and you can send
me a message on my website and Iwill get it and I can add
(11:43):
anything that you would thatyou're desiring onto the class,
like any questions you haveabout networking for introverts.
You're desiring onto the class,like any questions you have
about networking for introverts,so I will be continuing to talk
about this topic and give youmore strategies over the next
few weeks, and then, of course,the class will go more into
depth.
So until next time, take goodcare.
(12:04):
Bye.
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