Become A Better Networker By Channeling Your Inner Kid
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I walked to the park the other day with my girls. As we got there, a few other kids were there running around and playing.
As my girls got closer, a completely random little girl who we hadn’t ever met before ran up and without even taking a pause between words blurred out “HiDoYouWantToPlay?!”
My oldest immediately answered “YES!”
And that was it. They were off! Running, laughing and having a blast.
If I asked my daughter now what that girls name was, she wouldn’t be able to tell me. None of that was talked about. And frankly, does it even matter? They played their hearts out! That was the point.
Looking at this from an outside perspective and even further, a business perspective; we (entrepreneur adults) need to be more like kids.
Think back to the movie “Big” with Tom Hanks. The toy company was being ran by a bunch of boring adults. When Josh Baskin grew BIG and became Tom Hanks, he was a kid in an adults body. He was offered a job at the toy company and was crushing it by just channeling his inner kid. Well, he was a kid… so he was just being himself I guess.
Now I know it’s not the exact same situation and we’re not going to find some Zoltar that will grant us our wish, BUT the concept is there.
As a kid, we’re not as worried about what other people are thinking of us. Maybe a little, but that creeps in as we get older. We lose confidence and become self conscious. We stop interacting with people as freely as we used to. But until that age, we’re almost fearless!
Kids are ultimate networkers. Just like this little girl, she had no idea who my daughters were, but they came to the place where she was at and that meant it was a high probability they wanted to play. She wanted to play, so it was worth the shot. She was right.
How this is applicable:
Be the person that introduces themselves. You don’t have to run up and blurt something out, that’s weird. You’re an adult. But take this idea and do it YOUR OWN way. Personally, I like to find common ground.
- “oh I have those same shoes”
- “You have two girls, me too! #GirlDad am I right?”
- “Is that a Seiko watch? I love those!”
- “Man it’s hot today huh?”
Whatever. Just start the convo and then follow it with “hey, I’m Kevin by the way. I’m here from out of town. What’s your name?”
Whether your at the park, a conference, the grocery store, anywhere. These connections matter. They are superrrrr uncomfortable at first, I get that. But you have VALUE TO PROVIDE. And it’s be a shame if that value is never seen because you were too afraid to just introduce yourself.
On that:
If we haven’t met, I’m Kevin. I own some self storage, a bookkeeping company, a virtual assistant agency and I’m a full time police officer and girl dad! I’m obsessed with business ideas and helping people start their entrepreneur journey. I write and post to my personal blog and I’m building out a newsletter and entrepreneurial platform.