Networking That Works: Build Relationships, Get Referrals, Grow Your Business | Sybil Hale - Small Business Pivots

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome to another Small Business, pivots.
Today we have another specialguest which many of you
listeners probably already knowas she's world-renowned
networking queen.
We have all kinds of names, butI know no one can say their
name in their business like thebusiness owner, so I'm going to
let you introduce yourself, likeI usually do with our guest.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
So I am Sybil Hale, the owner of Pros Make Ready
Sanitizing Services, and alsothe founder owner of Mix and
Mingle Business NetworkingOrganization.
So I do a lot of differentthings.
I love people.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, you do, and people love you too, so we've
known each other for quite manyyears, very active in the
community.
How do you think we're going tohelp our listeners best today,
before we get started?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Before we get started .
We are going to help themnumber one understand how to
network correctly.
And networking really does workif you do it the right way.
It hurts my heart when peoplenetwork and they're like I'm
getting nothing out of thisbecause they're not doing it the
right way.
And I just want to make surethat people know I'm not maybe

(01:12):
the expert, but I've got alittle bit of experience
underneath my belt and I knowwhat works for me and I've seen
it work with millions of peopletoo and I think I can give some
value there.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Absolutely Well.
I'm looking forward to it, as Iknow our listeners are as well,
but let's introduce the showreal quick and we'll be right
back.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of Boss, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.

(01:46):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivot.

(02:08):
Sybil, where would you like tostart?
Well, let me start here.
A lot of people don't know yourupbringing.
We see you in the community alot.
You're very active,philanthropic, all that good
stuff.
But tell us a little bit aboutyour background that people may
not know.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Okay, well, little bit about your background that
people may not know.
Okay, well, let's start atbirth.
I'm from California All right,yep, and lived in Maine until 81
and came here in 81 when I wasin eighth grade.
It was a huge culture shock forme, coming from Maine, and the
school I went to was HardingMiddle School and then from

(02:44):
there I went to Northeast HighSchool.
I think that really developedme a lot because it was
multicultural and in Maine itwasn't multicultural and so this
was a whole different world forme.
Learned to adapt to that, madesome amazing, amazing friends.
I will say when we were inMaine, what built my work ethic

(03:05):
is we owned a chicken farm.
Most people don't probably knowthat.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
I had not heard that.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, I don't really share a whole lot.
So it was a four-story chickenbarn.
We got the little baby chickswhen they were baby chicks and
we would raise them until theywere big enough for poultry when
the trucks would come get themand haul them off for food.
They were big enough forpoultry when the trucks would
come get them and haul them offfor food.
And there were six of usthere's six of us kids, mom and
dad, and we all worked in thechicken business.

(03:31):
We all made sure that we'd go inthere every day, make sure that
the chickens had water, makesure that their grain feeders
were working, making sure ifthere was a sick chicken we
would have to take him out andtake care of his head and then
put him in the incinerator.
When all the chickens were gone, we would all go in there and
clean everything and get rid ofall the old sawdust and all that
.
So I believe that taught mework ethic and so none of us out

(03:56):
of my siblings, none of us,were afraid to work.
So that was a very good thingto learn.
So here in Oklahoma, it took mea minute to get used to the
weather here, because in Maineit's much cooler and we don't
quite have the humidity, so Ialso trained for a marathon,

(04:17):
like you did, whichcongratulations on doing that,
that is so cool, does it notjust make?
you feel so good it is almostsurreal, to be honest, it really
is.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
That is so cool.
Does it not just make you feelso good?
It is almost surreal.
To be honest, it really is.
It was really cool.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
I totally agree with you.
So it was back in 2005,.
I did my very first full.
It was the second annualwomen's Nike marathon in San
Francisco and I did the fullmarathon.
Thank God they didn't put us onthose hills that went like this
that's the first thing thatcame to mind.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was like, oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thank God they didn't do that.
But you know, when you do theOklahoma Memorial Marathon,
you've got that first hill thatyou get to go up.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's a little steeper than the hill.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
So after doing that I knew, I don't know.
It just teaches you that nomatter what you do, you can
accomplish anything in the world.
Amen, all you gotta do is setyour mind to it and I've always
felt that way.
But doing the marathon, I think, really helped me understand
that that much more.
And then after that I've doneeight of the half marathons with
oklahoma city and I am donewith those days.
It was funny when I was done, Iwas done.
So just a commonality you, thatwe both have, right there is,
you know, the marathon.

(05:27):
So with that in, let's see, in93, I started my very first
business, which was pros, was acleaning business, is called
Sibs housekeeping and more.
I started that because theplace that I was working, my
boss, was like you need to getinto a business, that's a need,
because his business was goinginto bankruptcy.

(05:49):
He's like you need to go intoone, that's a need.
So I was like what he said?
Well, get into housekeeping.
I'm like no, no, no, notinterested in housekeeping.
I had a girl from high schoolthat did that.
I'm not interested in doingthat.
But the more he talked to me,he's like you can make as much
money as an RN.
My ears start perking up, youcan work the hours that you want
to work and I'm like, oh my God, I like that.
So I went ahead and jumped inand started a housekeeping

(06:10):
service and, as of this year, Iam 30, fixing to be 33 years in
the industry.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
So in 2012, so 19 years into my business, I had a
girl that was a no-call, no-show.
I was out of the countryenjoying vacation, came home,
confirmed she filed unemployment.
When I came home, I confirmedthat she was no longer working
for me.
She went out and filedunemployment and they gave it to
her.
She was a subcontractor.
You cannot do that.

(06:38):
She never paid unemploymenttaxes.
But this was during the timethe country was hurting for
money.
This was in 2012.
Obama was president.
They did not want people beingsubcontractor, contractor.
They wanted employee employermoney that's paid in on a
regular basis, right?
So with that, the UnemploymentSecurity Commission came in and

(06:59):
said we're going to audit you.
For the last three years as anemployer, I was like no, no, I
paid my taxes the 1099, mypeople.
When I made cash, I turned itin, I did everything legit.
So I talked to my CPA.
He said close it down, startunder another name and do things
differently.
Well, I did pay attention tothe 1099 form and the thing I

(07:21):
guess evidently I missed was youhad to make a checkout to a
business, not to a person, and Iwas making it out to people.
That's why they said I was anemployer.
So at that point gave fourgirls clients and customers said
here, take it, thrive, grow.
I don't want anything for it.
Here's how you do a business,but please take care of the
people and take care of yourself.
At that point I stepped out ofpicking up any new clients.

(07:45):
I was like I'm done, took thewind out of my sails, but I
still kept taking care of myclients because you build that
relationship that is one of thebiggest keys relationship.
So I had great relationship andI worked hard to build that
business right.
So I got into some multi-levelmarketing and did okay with it.
Didn't get where I wanted to goand so in August of 19, my

(08:06):
husband went through kind of amidlife crisis type of situation
and that made me hit my kneesand God directed me back into
the housekeeping industry withlots of reservation and fighting
.
I did not want to do it becauseI've been trying to get out for
seven and a half years right.
So after fighting and arguing,he won.
We launched October 15th of 19,pros make ready and after doing

(08:32):
about three jobs, my thoughtwas we were going to do a very
detailed cleaning service.
In other words, we're going togo into commercial buildings and
we're going to go into emptyhomes.
Guaranteed you would not find afuzz bunny anywhere.
I don't care what crevice crack.
You looked at drawers you canpull them out.
Underneath there, there'snothing.
We did three of them and afterI got done with that, I was like

(08:53):
you know what?
I just cannot do this anymore.
And it came back to aremembrance about fogging.
About four years previously,due to networking, I had met a
girl who did fogging sanitizingservices and I thought, man,
that is so cool.
If ever I was to get back intocleaning, I need to look into
that.
So I just threw it in the backburner, never thought of it
again, right?
So here I am doing it and it'slike I can't do it anymore.

(09:15):
And God brought it back to myremembrance and it was like it's
time to go talk to her boss.
So it took about a month to getin talk to him.
He's like sure here.
This is what you need to do.
We started fogging December 23rdof 19.
And what happened?
February, march of 2020?
Covid hit Exactly and we wereall set and going and I'm

(09:37):
telling you a hundred percent,not 1%, of that was me.
That was not my idea, I didn'twant it, but I love what I'm
doing now.
So what we do now is we useelectrostatic fogging and we go
in and we kill all the germsviruses, allergens, odors, mold,
mildew.
We can do it short term, we cando it long term.

(09:59):
We treat the HVAC system.
That's the air that you breatheall the time.
So there's microorganisms up inthere, your pollens, your mold
spores, there's all kinds ofodors.
All that stuff lingers up inthere and so, no matter how much
you clean your house, if youdon't take care of the air that
you're breathing, you're stillgoing to have some issues.
So we figured all that out andso we offer that we do

(10:23):
short-term and long-termsolutions, whereas we can put
something in the HVAC system.
It's a device that treatscontinually, we help people in a
whole different way and it'sgoing beyond clean and it's all
safe.
It's ions.
There's no ozone or anythinglike that.
With that.

(10:44):
I had a girl step up and ask meone time hey, because I've been
a networker for about 10 yearsnow.
I'm part of a group that's anindustry exclusive.
You meet once a week.
They're great.
I think everybody needs to be apart of a group like that when
you can afford to be a part ofthat group and you just got to
figure out which one's right foryou.
But that taught me thefoundations of networking.

(11:06):
I didn't really know how tonetwork before, other than I
just love to help people.
So I had people all the timewho do you know that does this?
Who do you know that does that?
So I was just naturallynetworking but I didn't know how
to network.
So I had a girl reach out andsay I want to start a networking
group teaching people how tonetwork.
Would you do it with me?
And I was like, oh, I can't.

(11:29):
This is about a year and a halfafter I started pros and I was
like I've got to focus on thisbusiness.
So I helped her get connectedwith another person.
They started a networking group, went to that first networking
and at that networking groupthey're like pick two or three
people and set up a lunch.
So I did.
But I got to looking around thewhole room and I knew everybody
in the room.
There is 39 people because ofall the networking I do and this
.
So I went around and just toldthem hey, we're going to go have

(11:50):
our lunch over at this oneplace.
You're more than welcome tojoin us if you want.
I didn't know if anybody wouldshow up.
I knew the two people that Iset a lunch with would.
38 people showed up for lunch.
Wow, talk about blown away.
I'm coming off of multi-levelmarketing, which is a very hard
thing to do.
You've got to work really hard.

(12:10):
Any business is hard to do,right?
No business is easy.
It takes work and effort.
And when 38 people showed up,it was a very emotional thing
for me because it was hard toget people to come to things and
I had 38 people show up.
So, number one, we changed thatbusiness that day.
Everybody bought lunch.
Can you imagine what it did forthat business?

(12:31):
That's, that's over 30, threeor $400 or more for lunch that
day and that's at a very lowamount, right?
So we're all in the room and itwas like do you guys, do you
see the power in this room?
We have to go around and do aone minute, find out who's here.
So we did.
When we got done, everybody'slike are you going to do this
again?
I'm like well, I don't know,would you come?

(12:52):
And they're like yeah.
I'm like okay.
They're like how about nextweek?
I'm like no, no, we can do itmaybe once a month, and that's
how Mix and Mingle started.
So this was March 18th of 21.
It never fell below 38 peopleand it just started growing and

(13:13):
growing.
And I contribute that to acouple things.
Number one I believe it's a Godthing.
Again, I believe God works inour lives if we allow him to,
and I think I was just an openvessel and I was willing to do
it.
Do.
I like getting in front ofpeople.
No, that's not my space.
I'm the person that likes to bein the back of the room.
Make sure everything's working.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
I don't make sure everybody else is getting to
people.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, you get the exposure, I don't.
I'm going to get back here.
So when everybody did that anddecided that's what they wanted
to do, we had the 38 and it justkept growing and growing and
growing and we had gotten to thepoint that we had 69 people in
this little bitty room that heldabout 35 people comfortably.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Oh goodness, when was the first location?

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Whip Bakery Cafe.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Whip Bakery, okay yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, so over there in War Acres.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
War Acres yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
And so I came out after that meeting.
We had 69 people.
We were for sure we werepouring out the doors.
They had two separate doors.
Not everybody could fit in thatroom and it's always been
standing room only anyways,because that room was 35 people.
We've never had less than 38.
So we were always a little bittoo big for the room, but we
just kept having it there, kepthaving it there.

(14:24):
So 39 people.
And I talked to Kim, who was theowner at the time.
I said, kim, as you notice,we've outgrown your place.
We're going to have to go dosomething different.
She said nope, nope, nope, wedon't want you to leave.
You can go ahead and take overthe whole restaurant and we'll
put our regular clientele in theroom.
I'm like okay, cool, going tohave to limit how many people
come and I don't want to limitit because it's too good of a

(14:47):
thing.
And there was two ladies fromMidwest City that reached out
and said hey, we would like tostart something like what you're
doing here in Midwest City.
Could you teach us?
And I was like sure.
So the third time that we talkedabout it, I said you know what?
Would you all just like to be amix and mingle.
I said we have this hugefollowing.
It's getting bigger and biggerand bigger.
I don't want to have to limithow many people come, and if you

(15:08):
start something there, peopleare going to come over there too
and that's going to grow yourgroup much faster and that's
going to help reduce a littlebit on our number.
So we'll still be able to fitin our room.
And they did.
And then we had people and itwas successful.
Then we had people in Edmondreach out and say, hey, we want
to start one here.
And then Southside and thenYukon.
So by the end of 22, by October22, we had 13 chapters running,

(15:33):
still not realizing we reallyhad anything here.
Right, we're just doing a thing.
We started getting phone callsfrom out of state hey, what's
this mix and mingle?
What's this mix and mingle?
I'm like I think we might havesomething here.
We might need to protect it.
So we went and talked to acouple of attorneys and decided
to go with being an LLC andtrademarking it.

(15:54):
So we trademarked it for thewhole United States and we LLC'd
it.
So we did that in March of 23.
And so from that point forwardwe have been working on getting
all our systems and processes inplace, because we know we're
going further.
Don't know when we're goingfurther, but we're going to get
all our ducks in a row and beready to go.
So we have done that.

(16:14):
We're four years old now.
It is as of March of 25, we hitfour years.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Congratulations.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
I know, isn't it crazy?

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Every year is a good milestone.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
It is, it is, and it's just one of the stories
that totally proved to me whatwe were doing was making a
difference.
We had a lady in there who wasan author.
She has since passed and shecame to all four of the first
meetings and after that fourthmonth she said I have made over
$16,000 from Mix and Mingle andshe's an author.

(16:47):
And I was like, are you serious?
That is so cool.
So it's like this is working.
Why would you ever want to stopsomething like that, so that
just and continue?
You kept hearing all thesestories.
It's like, well, we just haveto keep going.
This is really a good thing.
We're helping the community,we're doing a great job.
So our mission is so everybodykind of knows what this is.

(17:08):
We unite business professionalsand the community over
incredible local food, fosteringreal relationships, paying it
forward and strengthening thevery communities we serve.
Together we create more thanjust connections.
We build a movement ofcollaboration, generosity and

(17:28):
impact.
So what that means if anybody'skind of like, I'm not really
sure what you're talking about.
So bringing businessprofessionals together, it's all
business people, all industries, people that have businesses,
sales reps, that sort of thing.
Business professionals with thecommunity.
That means wherever we havethese chapter events, we want

(17:49):
the community, all those otherbusinesses around that area, to
come in, experience what we gotgoing on start doing business
together, build thoserelationships, make connections.
We do it at a local restaurantand we try to do a local mom and
pop, because most of us arelocal businesses, we're local
small businesses and we're thelittle guy and we need each
other.
So we do it at a local mom andpop.

(18:11):
We have to have a separate roomfor the most part so everybody
can hear.
While paying it forward, wealways have a non-profit come
speak because we want to helpthe community Give, pay it
forward, giving to the communitywhile building stronger
communities.
The purpose of that is when youcome together and you're doing
business together, it makes astrong community and that's what

(18:31):
we want to see happen in everylocation that we go to.
So my heart is I would love tosee us be in every town, every
city, every state.
I think it's needed.
Think about these little townsthat don't have anything going
on.
There's a very small group ofbusiness professionals in there,
but they don't ever gettogether, they don't even talk.

(18:52):
That's not how it should be.
If you guys can do businesstogether and build that
relationship.
It's all about collaboratingright, not competing.
There's enough business to goaround, and so ours is open to
anybody and everybody.
It's not industry exclusive.
We may have.
We've done it where we've evenhad six realtors in the room,
and it's fun.
It is.

(19:12):
Hey, I'm a realtor too, but myniche market is this yes, you
might all do the same things,but you can all talk about
something different to letpeople know that.
This is another thing that I doand it has just been super
successful and fun andeducational.
It's just been good, just beenso good.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Well, I've attended quite a few of them and have
really enjoyed them and see thevalue in them.
And you're right, they are fun.
They're different.
We do business coaching,business loans.
There's been other bankers,business loan people, business
coaches, and we've hadconnection meetings and we found
out that we do a different typeof coaching, you know, but we

(19:55):
help each other.
You know, as a I often oftensay that sometimes your biggest
asset or advocate is someonewithin your industry.
Right, cause you can learntogether.
Like you said, there's morethan enough business to go
around.
Well, you've talked about thehistory and that is an inspiring
story.

(20:15):
That's exciting.
Can't wait to see where it goes.
But you've got a lot of thingsyou do.
You own a business.
You're getting this off theground, which it's off the
ground already, but you'retaking it further places.
You're philanthropic throughoutthe community.
How do you balance all that?

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Did you say balance?

Speaker 1 (20:36):
How do you integrate all that?
How do you make it all work?
How about that?

Speaker 2 (20:41):
I don't think there's such a word as balance.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Well, you know, everybody keeps saying this
work-life balance.
I'm still trying to figure itout.
That's why I asked you.
But yeah, no, I like to saywork-life integration.
But how do you do all thateffectively?

Speaker 2 (20:55):
I feel like when you are in your element.
It's not work, it is fun, itfills your soul, you enjoy it,
and that's where I'm at withboth of my businesses.
I love them both.
I am helping people and that ismy heart is to help people.
I just get to do it indifferent ways.

(21:16):
It makes me so happy to heartestimonies of what connecting
people has done.
That really makes my day.
I love that and, like you said,you know, when we have multiple
of the same businesses, you'reso right Having those
one-to-ones which we're going totalk about here in just a
second how powerful that isbecause, even though they may be

(21:38):
a competitor of yours, they maydo something that you're not
able to do and you can be greatreferral partners.
But the only way you're going tofind that out is by having a
one-to-one.
And what I mean by a one-to-oneis a coffee date, a lunch date.
It's where you sit down andit's an intentional time.
It's not a sales appointment.
And that's where I think a lotof people go wrong.
They think, oh my goodness, ohmy goodness, I sell this.

(22:02):
Will you buy this for me?
Here's my slideshow.
This is what I do.
No, that's not what aone-on-one is.
For Now you can set up aone-to-one to do that if you
want to, but to get to knowsomebody the first time you will
turn them off so fast, becauseit's about getting to know, like
and trust one another, right?
Who are you?
Where do you come from?
Why are you the person that youare?
What drew you into what you'redoing now?

(22:24):
It has helped me immenselyunderstand people believe it or
not, and it may seemunbelievable, maybe not.
I used to have a chip on myshoulder.
I really did, and I don'tanymore because those
one-to-ones have taught me somuch about people.
Everybody's got a story.
Everybody's got issues.
We all are messed up.

(22:45):
Every one of us are messed up.
We all have issues.
But when you have thatone-to-one you really get to
know that person.
And when you get to know them,it's like you have grace.
You have grace for why they arethe way they are.
That's so important because welive in a world that we're so
judgmental and you know we don'twant to have patience.
This is not okay for us tothink differently, it's okay.

(23:06):
It's okay.
Everybody has a right to theiropinion and we shouldn't give
people a hard time for theiropinion.
If you believe this way, that'syour choice.
I believe this way, it's mychoice and it's okay.
We don't have to agree.
We can agree to disagree, butwe can still be friends, right?
So one-to-one what's aone-to-one?
Why do we want to haveone-to-ones, right?

(23:27):
So having a one-to-one isusually.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
You're listening to Small Business Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, Boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.

(23:52):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
What's a one-to-one?
Why do we want to haveone-to-ones?
So having a one-to-one isusually for me it's about an
hour meeting.
I sit down and I have coffee,but I start out with, like I
said, who are you?
I want to know about you.
Yes, if we get a chance, we'llget to the business.

(24:24):
But first build thatrelationship.
I really want to know you.
Then, if we have enough time,which usually we do we get into.
Why you, out of all the peoplethat do what you do because
there's other people that do thethings that all of us do for
the most part why pick you?
What is it about you that'sunique and different?
Secondly, who's your idealclient?
Who do you need to be connectedto?
Who do you want to do businesswith?
That just thrills your heart.
Now, if you say everybody,guess what?

(24:45):
There is no, everybody.
So, you need to be specific.
So, specifically, who is that?
Yes, there's nothing wrong withdoing business with everybody,
right?
But you need to be specific.
And then the last one is who'syour ideal referral partner,
right?
Who is it that brings youbusiness that you can connect

(25:05):
with, that you guys can bereferring off of each other.
That is huge and, truly, ifyou'll really do that when you
have a one-to-one and you'repurposeful, you really will do
it.
Your business will thrive,guaranteed.
And I'm telling you, if you'redoing it that way and it's not
working for you, I would love totalk to you, because I would
love to sit down and help figureout why it's not working for

(25:28):
you, because we're all inbusiness to grow and thrive, not
to stay still, because that'swhy the doors close and it
doesn't have to be that way,because that's why the doors
close and it doesn't have to bethat way.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah, well, I know.
Let's back up.
Just a tidbit here.
For those that are introverts,which, believe it or not, are
most people I believe the laststatistics I saw were over 70%
are actually introverts, so eventhose that appear to have the

(26:02):
floor and things they might beshaking in their boots inside.
But for those that areintroverts, you know what?
What can they do?
To come to a mix and mingle aroom of 30, 40, 80 people and
get involved, to get to thatconnection meeting Because I
know a lot of people are stillnew to networking involved to
get to that connection meeting,because I know a lot of people
are still new to networking,right, well, and that's great.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
We need every type of person.
I think one of the biggestthings is any networking that
you go, do, go with a buddy.
If you are an introvert, gowith a buddy.
Or have a buddy there thatyou're going to meet Somebody,
that's a friend, that when youwalk in the room you can go over
to that friend, because thatputs your heart at ease.
It's like, oh, I'm not standinghere in the corner and don't

(26:44):
know anybody and nobody's beingfriendly and talking to me.
This way, you go over to thatperson and that person already
knows you, they know what you do, and it's like who in this room
do I need to be connected to?
And at that point that personcan take you around and get you
connected to a couple of thepeople.
And a lot of times you startthe conversation, you connect
them and then it's like I'mgoing to step out for a minute,

(27:05):
I'm going to go over here, andthat gives you two the
opportunity to talk for a coupleof minutes.
And usually you don't want to gointo a ton of depth at that
time because you're in anetworking event.
Right, you want to talk tomultiple people, you want to
visit, you want to whatnot.
That's not the time to haveyour one-to-one.
That's the time to get theircard and say, hey, let's set up
a one-to-one.

(27:25):
And that's when you do thatfollow-up and set that
one-to-one up.
Next is when you come to a Mixand Mingle.
It's a very friendlyenvironment which is unique.
It is it is.
I don't want any of the clicks.
We don't have clicks with Mixand Mingle, and if we do, I need

(27:46):
to know about it, becausethat's not who we are.
It's so uncomfortable,especially if you're an
introvert, to walk into a roomand nobody will give you any
time or attention.
I've gone into rooms like that.
That's not fun.
I don't want to network in aroom like that, but I'm kind of
one of those type of people.
I'm a rebel.
If I walk in a room like thatand I feel that way, my butt's
going to walk over to a groupand I'm going to make my way

(28:07):
into the group.
I'm just going to, and you cantell too when that group is
closed off.
Nobody has an opening Sometimesif you just kind of stand there
.
But I'm not saying, do that,I'm just saying I'm different
and I'm going to go ahead andget in.
But for the introvert, when youcome to mix and mingle, it's a
very friendly atmosphere.

(28:28):
You'll notice too it is more ofa go-giver mentality and people
come up to you and say, hey,how are you?
What can I do to help you?
I mean, who does that?
Right?
It just makes you feel so athome.
It's like you care about me.

(28:48):
You don't even know me.
It makes you feel good.
So when you come to Mix andMingle, you'll find there's a
lot of places that we have thetables pulled together.
It's not me and my three at mytable.
I don't want that.
That's not what networking is.
Networking is talking to otherpeople.
So when you bring them together, like in a family atmosphere,
then you can talk to otherpeople at the table that you
have no clue.
You've never met them before,or maybe you have, but you never

(29:09):
really had a conversation.
Now you have that opportunity.
Does that help?

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So we've gone from the first ofall showing up.
You know, to be effective innetworking you have to show up
first.
You gave some great tips Askingfor the one-to-one, the
connection meeting, meetup,that's another term that's used
often.
We've talked about what goes onin that connection meeting.

(29:37):
What about after that?
How do you, for those thataren't used to networking and
kind of building thoserelationships, what kind of
insights do you have for theafter the one-to-one, so you're
not annoying, because I knowsome people they feel like I
don't want to annoy them.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I always okay.
So whenever I do, a lot oftimes when we finish up I don't
usually get a whole.
It depends on who I'mnetworking with.
Some people are veryexperienced in that you will get
to talk about yourself more.
When it's a new person thatdoesn't really network, they
really don't know that you wantto talk about both of you when
you have a one-to-one.
So at the end I usually saysince we didn't get much of a

(30:16):
chance to talk about what I do,I want you to know what I do.
So do you care if I send you anemail?
It's going to be bullet pointwho we are, what we do, how it
works.
I've got two videos on there, atotal of four minutes, two
minutes on each video.
Will you take four minutes outof your time and watch those two
videos?
And then they'll usually alwayssay yes, I said.
And then I'm going to reachback out to you, if it's okay

(30:37):
with you, in about three daysand just touch base and see what
you thought of what you've seen, and maybe somebody will come
to mind that maybe we can help.
But then you need to make sureyou do your follow-up right.
If you don't do your follow-up,it's just like school time,
right?
You did your schoolwork, didyou turn it in?
Well, what's the sense of doingthe schoolwork if you don't
turn it in?
Same thing with if you set up aone-to-one and you have that

(31:00):
follow-up.
You set it up, make sure you doit, and that's you put it on
your calendar.
You put it on your calendar andyou live by your calendar.
I do Many side thought.
Many of you guys know I took atrip last year and left my
planner on the plane.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
It was so lost.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
It was awful.
I lived by my calendar and allI remembered was what that
Monday was.
I didn't know what the rest ofthe two weeks was and I couldn't
get my calendar.
It took over a month to get mycalendar back, thank, God, I got
it back.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, that's worse than losing your keys or your
phone.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
What do I do?
It was my life, it's my wholelife.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
And for those that don't have a planner, what I do
just another insight, becausethere's different ways to do it
is I put them in my CRM, so Icreate a pipeline of networking
referrals, or I have differentgroups and so I'll put them in
there to keep me on task of likewhat the next step is to remind
me.
Hey, it's Friday, you need tocall or email, so-and-so.
You can do that too.
A lot of people don't know intheir CRMs you can create
different pipelines, and sothat's another idea.

(32:15):
For those that like the techside of it, so uh.
So once we've gone to a meeting, I'm kind of going backwards,
cause I forgot this part Peopleget.
I can see people in the roomwhen they have to get up and
talk about themselves.
So let's say, you've got the 30seconds, 45.
I can see people like what do Isay?

(32:37):
What do I do?
Any, what's?
What's the best tips for that?
To introduce yourself in thatshort amount of time so that you
catch the interest of others.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Well, you really want to have a hook or something
like that.
But I tell people when they comein because there's people 25%
of the people that come at eachone of the meetings are brand
new, that have never been to amix and mingle.
So you can tell because theireyes are like huge, they're like
, oh my God, what did I walk inhere?
You know what is this.
So I just tell them just beprepared to share who you are,
what you do and what you'relooking for.

(33:07):
That's all you have time for,right?
So for more experienced peoplethat do it all the time, having
a hook is really important, andthat could be asking a question,
it could be stating a fact,giving a percentages of
different things, right, likeyou were mentioning how many
people, percentage-wise, thatwere introverts, something like

(33:31):
that that people are like oh,because you get their attention,
you want to do something to gettheir attention, and 30 seconds
is very, very fast.
At our meetings it's never morethan a minute, unless you are a
business sponsor, so you justdon't have a lot of time.
But really, a hook of some sort, pull them in, something they
can relate to.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
You've now created two well, several businesses,
but two currently.
What would you say is some goodbusiness advice that you've
learned that's been applicableto both of your businesses?
Because you read your missionstatement earlier and you talked
about processes when you expand, mix and mingle.
Even though this is anetworking group, you're still

(34:17):
treating it like a business.
So what are some businessinsights you can help people
with?

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well, this is something that Mr Michael
Morrison has always said Exactly.
I don't know that guy, yeahright, well, we've known each
other a long time and I rememberthe first time that we sat down
and I love the fact that youwere you're one of those coaches
, that you were in the field andyou've experienced it.
We don't all succeed ateverything we do.
We fail at different thingsthat we do and really people

(34:45):
want to know that.
But one of the biggest thingsyou said was you need to have
your systems and processes inplace.
You can't it's not a sellablecompany If you don't.
It is, but you're not gonnamake any money and you're going
to be everywhere if you don'thave those in place.
So, like you said, a CRM.
Oh my gosh, what a lifesaver tohave all that information in
there.
There's so many differentthings you can do with that.

(35:07):
There's so many differentthings you can do with that.
You know email campaign.
You got track of all yourpeople.
Every time you talk to them,that information's in there.
Every time you email them, allthat's in there.
I mean, that's so powerfulbecause there's not one of us
that can remember all of that.
And then, knowing the steps totake with that, what is your
process?
So, like we mentioned, theone-to-one.
So you set up the one-to-one,so you set up the one-to-one.

(35:33):
I always make sure that I textthem the day before or that day
earlier to double confirm thatwe're still meeting and where
we're meeting, and I put dot,dot, dot and everybody responds
back to me.
If they do not respond back tome within an hour before the
meeting, I will call them andmake sure, because none of us
have time to waste right.
Your time is super valuable, mytime is super valuable.
Let's make sure we utilize itwisely.

(35:54):
So by having these systems inplace, I don't have the no-shows
right, and if something needsto be rescheduled, we can
reschedule, but I haven'talready headed that way to do so
.
So that's just one of thethings.
But then also, you've got yourfollow-up right.
So how do you keep track ofyour follow-up?

(36:16):
Well, you put it in your CRMthat sends you a task, or you
put it in your notebook.
I've got a notebook that I stilluse paper.
It works well for me.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
I like to check things off.
Everybody's different right,yeah, but it's still a system.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
It is, and so for me I have it immediately, I put it
in my planner and that way Iknow.
So that's how I keep track ofstuff, so I know when to do the
follow-up, and then I just haveto block my time to make sure
those things happen.
Does that?

Speaker 1 (36:41):
help A lot of people it does, because there's still
people that think a CRM takestoo much time and I'm like no,
it saves you time.
In fact, for those that arestill doubters, we highly
encourage and almost require ourclients to get a CRM if they

(37:03):
don't, and we have seen a 30plus percent increase in revenue
.
Here's why Because you can'tremember everybody that told you
hey, call me in six months.
You're not going to rememberthat, and some people are just
trying to put you off and othersare.
I've got one that says call methe first of June, that's after

(37:24):
their fiscal year.
I wouldn't have remembered thatin December, right, I mean from
December.
In June it's summertime, latetime.
I got other things to do, so itreally is beneficial and worth
the time.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh goodness.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
And it doesn't take long.
That's the whole thing.
It doesn't.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
You know, if you have a whole database, a lot of
times you can transfer thatdatabase in there, export it or
whatever, and then that wayyou're not having to put all
that in.
But if you have to put all thatin, hire you a teenager.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
They like to make money and they love being on the
computer.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Sounds like we need another podcast episode between
you and I of CRMs.
We got networking.
Now CRMs it's all sales related.
Well, sibley, you've been ablessing today.
Is there anything that wedidn't cover that you feel like?
I really want to get this outthere?
I know you're talking about thefuture of Mix and Mingle and
some things that are coming upsoon.

(38:21):
If you want to share those,you're more than welcome.
Or if you've got other insightsyou'd like to share.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Well, I would like to kind of just let you guys know
that we do have some huge, huge,huge things coming up with Mix
and Mingle.
We're four years old, so we arefixing to start kindergarten,
if you want to look at it thatway.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Yeah, so it's time to grow.
We've got to grow.
It's time to get older and dolittle older things.
So with Mix and Mingle, wedidn't realize it was going to
be a thing.
So we've been free all thistime and we've got over about a
3,200 database of people Wow.
And again, 25% of the peoplethat come, at least, are brand

(39:04):
spanking new at each meeting.
And there's 15 meetingsthroughout the month, okay, and
each one meets once a month.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
At different locations right.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yep, 15 different locations, but every month.
You know, we got one atPapadios the third Monday of
every month, and we did that onpurpose, because that makes it a
lot easier.
So starting August 1st is whenwe're going to put it into
action, but we are introducingit to everybody as of May 15th.
We are offering a membershipopportunity and I am super

(39:35):
excited about this because thatis the next level and at that
next level we have so many morethings for you.
So we're going to have, just soyou know ahead of time.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Well, hang on, can I?
Yeah, so you know ahead of time.
Well, hang on, can I?
Yeah, oh, you're fine Go on tothe next level, because you and
I have talked about this for along time, so I'm hooray, thank
you.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Oh my gosh.
Well, it took me four years tofinally wrap around my mind to
make it a paid networking.
Prior to that, I've had you andI've had some other people
speaking in my life.
They're like you've got to becharging for this.
It's like no, I'm not chargingfor this.
I am not charging for this.
But what we have come to findis that people don't understand

(40:21):
the value of what we haveoffered them.
When you get that milliondollar list that is truly a
million dollar list who sendsyou the list of all the people
you're networking with when yougo have a lunch?
Nobody does that.
We do that.
We've done that since day one,and we still have people that
don't realize what we're givingthem.

(40:41):
So with that, it's just time.
Anything is there anythingreally free in this world?
No, nothing's free.
Everything costs money.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
There is but it doesn't last and it has no value
.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Exactly, and two it can't last Somebody's paying for
it though.
Somebody's paying for it, right?
So with this, if we ever fellshort, I would be the one to
come out of pocket.
Well, we want to go to otherplaces.
We believe everybody in theUnited States and beyond need
this.

(41:17):
This is such a great thing.
So with that, you have to havemoney, and so now it's time to
step it up to that level.
We're still going to have afree level, because that's what
we started with, so we feel likewe need to keep that, to keep
our culture the same at thispoint in time.
So we're going to have amingler level, a maximizer level

(41:38):
and a mastermind level withfoundership opportunity Wow.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
That's exciting.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Super excited.
Yes, so it's still going to hiteverybody's needs.
It doesn't matter if you'rejust one of those people that
just want to come and network.
You're not really interested inbuilding your business, you
just want relationship.
Come, it's for you.
If it's somebody that's likeyou know what I need to grow my
business.
I've got to take my business tothe next level.
Ross, I'm not going to havefood on my plate, then it's for
you.

(42:06):
And then it was those peoplethat want to be mentors to other
people because they havesucceeded in their business.
They have failed in theirbusiness.
Every one of us have failed.
We have, and a lot of times wealways focus on what we've
succeeded at.
But you know, those failuresare so important to share
because it lets people knowwe're real and that has not been
a bed of roses.

(42:26):
Everybody that is verysuccessful today.
For the most part they've beenthrough hell and back to get to
that point.
But a lot of people that don'tunderstand and have never had a
business.
Their look is you're a businessowner, you've got it made in
the shade, you can take vacationwhenever you want, you've got
all this money, you're doingfine.
It's like do you know the stepsI had to take to get to where I

(42:50):
am today costly lessons yes,yes, and that's why we have gray
hair or less hair for me

Speaker 1 (43:02):
yeah, well, that's that's exciting, anything we
didn't cover.
I mean, we did a lot in a shortamount of time.
Sounds like we might have to doanother episode soon, but I
always end with a question.
Okay, if you were in front ofan audience of small business
owners different seasons ofbusiness, different industries

(43:24):
what's one thing that'sapplicable for all of them?
So it could be a quote, a book,something you've learned that
would apply to all of them, orthat they could take with them.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Don't quit, don't quit.
That's one thing.
My husband, he was always, youknow he's always like don't quit
.
That's why he was in businessas long as he was.
For the first 10 years hedidn't make any money.
After that is when it finallystarted kicking in.
And the whole thing is when youdecide I'm gonna quit.
Your success could have beenright around the corner.

(43:55):
Don't quit, don't quit.
Keep pushing through, pushingthrough.
Yes, there is a time sometimesit's like okay, this is not, is
definitely not happening.
You know, you kind of know that.
But if you're just, you knowI'm tired of pushing so hard,
but you've had some success.
Don't.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
But if you're just, you know I'm tired of pushing so
hard, but you've had somesuccess don't quit, and if you
need a little bit ofencouragement of how that really
works, if you're physicallyable to go run a marathon,
that'll teach you not to quit,for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yes, you're so right, Because you can't quit once you
get out, but you would letyourself down.
Can you imagine if you wouldhave went halfway and said, no,
I'm not going to finish this.
Would you ever forgive yourselffor that?

Speaker 1 (44:40):
No way 22 was.
I didn't do nine months oftraining in ice, cold, rainy
weather, windy all this stuff Idid to quit and my mind, you
know it's a whole differentperspective.
So, if you are able to I know alot of people can't, but if you

(45:03):
are, I challenge you to run atrain for a marathon because it
will really help you withpersonal self-worth development
and everything like that.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
So it's a mental thing.
I know it's a physical thing,but it is more mental than it is
physical.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
After mile 20, it sure is All right.
Sybil, you've been a blessingto many.
Thank you for everything you dofor all of us in the community.
It's an honor to know you andhave you on our show today.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Well, thank you very much.
We appreciate you, michael, fordoing this, and I feel very
honored to come on and be ableto share what little bit of
insight I have.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
My pleasure.
Thank you for listening toSmall Business Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing.
Yours.
Boss, offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.

(46:03):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at Michael at
Michael D Morrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onsmall business pivots.

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Networking That Works: Build Relationships, Get Referrals, Grow Your Business | Sybil Hale

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