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Power Pockets

Power pockets is is a topic that I think is really important. We talked a lot yesterday about social media and social networks. Power pockets are the physical places that you could go there, the places where you're going to accelerate your networking from events. David, you just gave us that nice tip about finding events to go to. But what has happened is that in the past, we obviously were more tied to our desks because we didn't have virtual work balance that we have now in a lot of situations. And so people weren't able tio goto, a co working space, they weren't able to take their laptop and travel. And so now what you need to recognize is that there are more hubs of activity taking place in that traditional networking might have been the golf course, or it might have been, you know, going tio expensive club now you could go to a place with free wifi, such as a starbucks or repeats and actually feel a sense of community and kind of work balance, and so recognizing that how power poc...

kets air happening both online and off is really important. All right, so co working spaces I talk in the book about co working spaces. It's been a huge trend in the last couple of years, and a lot of major metropolitan markets, you know, co working spaces, it continues to be on the increase and so it's, you know, shared work environments. If you're starting a business it's interesting way to try to keep your office costs low, it could be good for productivity, because sometimes when we work at home, I'll be the first one to admit it's easy to get distracted, you know, it's easy to go clean the closet or sit outside and chat on the phone. Being in an environment where you are going to be inspired and productive could be a really good step for your networking where you can meet a lot of people melodies, story where she was constantly going to events, going to places where you can start to feel like a regular where you're known. I would imagine that at your event now, you know, a lot of people in the community and so year after year, you have stronger ties within the network of your community and so being a regular, even if it's being a regular at a restaurant uh if it's a coffee shop but reaching out and making that connection with people if there's someone that is serving you coffee why not say you know thank you so much nice to meet you my name miss porter you're going to start making more connections if you really think about all of those interactions so another thing that's important a lot of offices are getting more into open and virtual spaces here at creative live we've got one big work room that I have been doing and I ng about its fabulous looking but again sharing and not isolating yourself out so use this as a metaphor that you want to surround yourself with people that are sharing your passions and your purpose so giving you an example the story I think is a classic and very humorous story and when glad is a venture capitalist now and she happened to have been raised in minnesota where I'm from and so we have that common connection in that common spirit and that work ethic of you know hard charging I wantto work, work, work, work, work and do it all by myself which leslie, I know you relate to this well I interviewed and for the book I wanted to have both men and women in the book and her story she had a father who was a basketball coach she grew up mainly with boys around so she was very competitive she started at a bank and this is back in the seventies she's you know been in the work world for some time and she was at a bank and she was working in software and she had a co worker that every day at lunch he would disappear for you know, over an hour and a half and so finally she said to him, you know what's going on at lunch where do you go every day? And he said, well, this is in minneapolis the nicollet mall which is a very cute little area I ride my bike down the nicollet mall I go and have a beer I eat lunch I drink or I watch I dream of jeannie and then I ride my bike back and she thought, well, so looking at you know are the people in your environment really going towards thie same types of goals do they have the same motivation the same energy? Ultimately what happened was she realized that she couldn't accomplish what she wanted to do in this bank environment. So she left she brought a couple of the software people whether she started her own business later on sold it and now she's a software bc so again if you're being brought down by your environment if it's depressing if you feel unproductive if there's tons of negativity if there's backstabbing you know political aspect unfortunately sometimes removing yourself from a situation and putting herself into a more positive one is something that you need to consider all right any questions about that just a couple quick notes I think it's funny daryl says that they are actually sitting in a co working space right now yea and then we have ruth kalinka who is a founding member of a co working space so and you know I'll give them a question back how has that changed their network being part of a co working space I will ask them and we'll let you know in a perfect perfect because I have found just might you know, temporary visits to co working spaces there's one I went to in new york that I put in the book called the called grind you know you could have one hundred people in at one time and a lot of times in the co working spaces what's important to do is find one that is specific to kind of your goals in your industry also figure out you know what services they're giving a lot of times they have lectures they will have websites where you khun do postings if it's a creatively oriented one maybe they'll let you show your work on the wall you know health conference rooms they will also help people connect and create you know, job opportunities for each other so looking at what the co working space provides in terms of community building is really important to ok so questions to ask about power pockets is the environment collaborative or competitive you know thankfully and this might just be my perception so I'd love to hear if you guys agree but I do believe that we're moving more towards a collaborative society that there's a lot more sharing we've got the shared economy that's really on the rise we've got the co working spaces there is a gentleman named jack hillary who's done research on innovation and what's interesting is that in the past innovation was primarily done by individuals so the car the light bob a lot of things that we see in history where single innovations now innovation is mainly coming out of collaboration it's people working together we're seeing more of it across networks there's global innovation happening people they're coming together because of software and so looking at are you collaborating is really, really important and that's networking that's bringing groups together? Do you feel drained or inspired? Is anyone laughing or having fun? I've got to imagine that those co working spaces there's probably some fun going on right at lunchtime there's probably some great conversations birds of a feather flock together and who you surround yourself with is going to influence your productivity and your outlook so think about that if you want to be more fit and healthy, surround yourself with people that are active don't go hang out at a bar, you know, it's azizia that so so think about the decisions that you're making in this space is that you're going to can you add value to the environment? Are there fast it's of your personality that you need to change or improve to working environment? For example, you might work in an environment that is very analytical or data based, and if you're struggling with that, you might need to take some courses to figure out, you know, how can I change my skill set or improve my skill set to work and thrive? So look at how you can thrive in your environment and my being kind and respectful. We talked about this yesterday about interns being tomorrow, ceos so important, we are no longer on the ladder to corporate success. Now people are moving the fact that we have smaller degrees of separation, every single relationship is very, very important to your future. So the next thing on power pockets that I want you guys to think about, you know, yesterday we talked about routines where you can shake it up, but I want you to think about, are there two events that you could attend in the next six months, and again, thinking about your financial resource is, and your time resource is, but often what I find is a lot of people say, I wish I went to that event, I wish I went to that conference, but the bulk of people are not following through and going to these events, and so I want you to think about with what you're trying to achieve with the technology with the creativity are there a couple of things that you can commit teo and say to yourself, I'm going to go to this in the next six months, time and time again, when I track a lot of the people that I've met in my network and the success they have been from events they've been from connections that I've made at either, you know, two day events or, you know, places where we really have come together, you can do a lot of amazing networking in that way, so putting you guys on the spot carrier there, any events that you've wanted to attend that you've, you know, thought while this would really be good for my career, my network and you haven't taken the step forward, you know, it's really interesting that this is coming up. I just was on facebook the other day, and one of the people have gone to college with just kind of said, hey, where I went to college, it bethany college in west virginia, so there's not you know, ah, huge host of people out here from there, but of course, obviously I knew there would be some but he said, hey, there's, an alumni event and first, second obviously, like, I hope I'll see you there and I was like, oh, my gosh, he's still living in west virginia, but, you know, all the alumni that have been here for years, you know, we're hosting this on that a lot firm here in the city, so I'm really excited. Tio, I'm like, I'm going to that. I'm definitely going to that and also I belong tio, a great networking group called the coma and my boss, tracy miles. They work together at two separate vc firms. I'm she founded this organization and it's, an office manager, like a kind of association of professional association and it's absolutely fantastic for networking, and I've got a really great experience. I've been a member there for three, four years now. And she has monthly events, and then, you know, probably every four months she does a really big event, so I'm never going to commit tio getting to one of those as well. Great, great, one of the women that I profile in the book has an art gallery, and so she uses that space to host events, and if she invites eighty women to the gallery on a quarterly basis while talk about a powerful network that you have it just immediately built in, and then your social calendar is going to fill that because people will reciprocate. So being the person that says, hey, do you want to come to this with me or let's, do this together? I've got to imagine that you're event has changed your life that when you started planning and organizing that that your network has has grown, yeah, absolutely, I mean, it was a great experience for me, but what was even better with a lot of women who've never taken the time? Tio network in person, that was their first conference or their first event like that, watching them leave and make those connections and start joint ventures? Or I think my last event, they started planning to have this like party bus to go like shopping's look at all, like, hang out together, and I mean, that was really exciting to see, and I'm like, well, I hope I get an invitation, you know? But it was just, like, it's been great to see what's come out of that, but even for me, I think I always try to challenge myself to go to events that aren't mine as well, so that I'm constantly meeting new people so great, great. So there's a ripple effect that you're seeing, which is very powerful, and, you know, I've seen that a lot. You know, one thing to do when you're thinking about these events is to think about the r a y or the return on investment, because sometimes there is both financial and a time commitment, obviously there's a time, and so looking at ok, is it going to cost money again? You know, yesterday we talked about identifying maybe there's two or three people that you need to do it's, that same preproduction mindset that you would have as a filmmaker, photographer, where you're thinking about your shooting, you want to do it the best that you can, you have to do the same thing with events where you're looking at, is there a way that I can see, the list of people that are attending can identify a couple people that might be good targets for me to talk tio if so, I'm going to try to research them and noah's much information about them before I go is there somebody that I know that has attended the event in the past? Well, was it successful for them? Did they think it was a value, you know, give you one example when I was launching the book, I had never launched a book before, and there are all sorts of book fairs and, you know, all sorts of things that you can dio and I did two book fair is one book affair that I did in chicago, and then I did one book fair here, the one in chicago had, you know, six hundred people, the book fair hair was like twenty people, and I thought, well, I'm not sure the return on investment worked for this, I probably could have been more efficient if I would have found someone you know, that had been there in the past, or if I'd done a little research on is this one going to be a value? So try to do your homework think about also a lot of events actually have content for free ted x is an event that's, an invitation only event that I've never attended, but I've watched tons of the content online, and so again, look at just like, creative live was streamed aa lot of events are streamed now over the internet. You know, how about having a viewing party where if you don't have the financial resources to attend, there may be a couple of people that are interested in the same topic, you know, get together, have a viewing party and talk about an event. There are lots of ways to find that information in that education so that you can improve yourself without spending tons of money. David, before I was thinking organization like a monthly dinner with some friends down in the peninsula, and what steps would you give to help ensure that that dinner little monthly dinner becomes a successful, where he may start the small group in slowly expand out a couple more people every month or so? Yeah, sure, that's a great idea some people that do dinners like that, they'll use not not even light, but there's one where you can say, you know, everybody pays thirty five dollars, and you have to pay it up front so that the host is collecting the revenue. So that's, one thing that I suggest is using an online tool to invite people, because then, if they've raised their hand and they've paid the thirty five dollars or whatever it is you know they're going to show up and they're going to commit the other thing is you might want to co lead it was someone or have a couple people were let's do this together because then you're constantly rallying so look at it as a team um and then you know make sure that you're doing something that's not going to be pricing people out that's going to be accessible that geography wise it's easy to get teo those are some of the things that I would consider but the dinners can be really, really powerful what's important to recognize is that it's the group it's not necessarily the food and so the group that I go to there has been, you know, an outing in a park where like let's meet it a park or let's go teo what happens is that you start being very supportive so it's like let's all go to porter's book signing or let's all go to you know so and so's wedding you like you into being a little community, so start the evolution of the group and recognize that what you're doing activity wise may change, so I have a related question a few months back I started a monthly breakfast group of some of my women friends who are in this area and care about the same kind of innovation topics and stuff but what I noticed was that the group lost steam after a couple of months and people would start to say, oh, I forgot or I'm busy and then it just kind of quickly folded so do you have any suggestions as far as how to keep momentum for? Because I think the group really had a lot of interest in connecting with each other but just being committed and showing up became an issue sure, well, you know, I would have an honest conversation with the people that are not able to show up may be the time that was selected was challenging for people I know a lot of people that do things you know, in the evening where it's, you know, easier to do it at the end of the day guest speakers where you're arranging a guest speaker also shifting the ownership so you're not the only personally there may be a host or it's almost like a committee where you have each breakfast is hosted by a different person in the group so that you're trying to get them too help bring people together those air some things that might help tow time, keep it together but don't give up on it is the same thing where you know, sometimes the evolution of a group is going to change and you may see that of ten people you have three people there the remaining core will keep it going with those serene and find the new people and you'll find the right mix you probably had a lot of change insuring and in your events is that true I have and I when leslie brought up that I thought of one of the mastermind groups I'm in because it was the same thing where we each committed to meet twice a month and then suddenly people can't go and it's kind of like well it's been on the calendar and since I know it's a format that works and the court people who do come you know they're people I want to stay connected with so you know we keep pushing through and we keep meeting but I think it's important to then expand and try to find new people who are going to be committed rather than just shutting it down entirely but keeping that core base but I think one of the important things for me in terms of my master minding my own events is something you brought up about having people co lead or help because I always feel like the responsibility is on me to remind everyone and be that person that's like show up are you showing up and like, you know, to do those reminders so having people co lead I think is really helpful and keeps you from feeling overwhelmed and responsible for everybody else you know another thing that is interesting I love that there's, a gentleman named tim mcdonald who works for huffington post, and he does a lot of online coffee talks on google. And he was saying to me that if he specific if he says, please bring to people that are interested in technology, you know, and he's really, really clear on the ask instead of saying invite people, you know, it's invite to and that they are interested in this and so, you know, having people bring people to the breakfast where you really are defining, who would be a good group member when people have a goal. Where it's like, oh, I need two things I need to bring one friend, you know, networking where you're meeting. The friends of friends of friends tends to be a very powerful and great way to network because if you like the friend, you probably like the friend of the friend. So, you know, bringing one person to an event is easier to figure out how to do then bringing five, so to speak, you release it the topics and advanced to discuss that these of these dinners and circulate those in advance. Yes, I love that. I've done things where it's everything from a book exchange where you say, hey, you know, bring your favorite book, and we're going to do a book exchange. We'll talk a little bit more about that in another section, but I think topics could be really interesting. I've also in my mastermind group, there was one woman who was doing an online course all about the meaning of happiness, and so we knew that at that next group she was going to be talking about what she learned about the meaning of happiness is like, oh, good, I know what I'm going to be doing, and this is going to be fun, and so you're motivated by the topic. So that's a great suggestion, I love it. Okay, so, you know, another thing to think about in terms of groups is that you confined groups anywhere. Another woman that I interviewed from the book is a doctor, and she happens to own a crossfit gym with her husband in marin tj's cross fit. I don't know if you've been there. Yes, alison, I interviewed her, and so she's done tons of research about the power of community and what's important is the power of community can be found in all different places, and so she writes a lot about you know things that have happened at the gym where people have changed their lives, they've changed their social lives by coming together and having this routine and having this commitment that you know, amazing success can happen in groups that is hard to achieve on your own and so you know, it doesn't have to be a crossfit gym it doesn't have to be a technology event but looking at where can you find your group and the beauty is now that with online we can do more research we can identify communities that are going to be supportive and specific to us I did mention yesterday people with strong networks tend to be happier, healthier and live longer and also have more support in times of need so you know one specific example of that there's a book called connected and it's by james fowler it's a relief fund book and interesting book just about the power of networks and there is research that shows that social networks that we can feel the emotions that are going through networks there was actually on npr yesterday there was a story about a npr journalist who was sharing on dh tweeting about his mother was was on her her last day and he was kind of sharing from her deathbed you know what was going on in that experience and you know, people could feel his empathy and what was going on in this situation so there is the ability to share feelings and emotions through networks and stay connected in a very, very powerful in different way than it was in the past. So thinking about that any other events maybe teresa's or anything that you have wanted to go to yes, definitely we uh the sooty I has monthly mixers and I tend to just they're just not on my calendar. I need to be a lot more proactive about getting those scheduled in and they're just a no brainer for me. Okay, great. Leslie you've got your breakfast. I got my breakfast and what I really want to start looking at is rebooting. When I was at into it I had a group of co workers and we would ride the train together back and forth to work and we would brainstorm intentionally um on different topics to come up with new ideas for products and what I really want to do is start to recapture that and bring together some of those contacts were all in different companies now, but whenever we get together we fall into that same habit of coming up with new ideas and inspiring each other so I want to reach back out to that group and try to restart that great great and you know another thing when you were talking that I was thinking about I think because he brought up the car pooling sometimes how you merchandise or market, the group is also really important in the example I'll give you is that there was a company that was trying to create a rideshare program, and originally it was promoted at the company as a green program, like you'll be doing better for the environment when they shifted it. And they said this is actually more of a social program that you can talk to your co workers and drive together and that the ceo may randomly show up in the car then the whole mindset towards the program changed. So look at what's going to motivate people to join your group and, you know, some people are going to be motivated by the term, you know, master mind some people are going to be motivated by social club, but look at kind of how it's positioned and what people are getting out of it on dh make sure that you're communicating in the right way to people. So think about that question, so I asked people on line if there were any events that they had wanted to go to but haven't for any reason, we have new delano who's dying to go to south by southwest, that hasn't because, well, it is in texas and, you know, distance and, um just haven't made it yet. And that's why? I think one of things that we constantly are facing at least me personally is like they're things that I want to go to there's no reason I can't go, I just don't and it's just a missed opportunity, right? Um, and then we've got, like, needy, who wants to go to the national speakers association national convention but have not as they're all the way on the other side of the pond, so you know, it makes it difficult seems like distance is really the recurring theme here. These people are just spread out all around the world, one interesting event here that I'd never heard of, but thou lord wants to go to the brain wave interactive art, sound, meet up group I wanted tio, you know, on south by southwest, I had not been until last year and, you know, it was something, you know, the same thing where I was like, I always wanted to go and again researching about the events, what I ended up doing was putting in a proposal now this year, I'm lucky I have a girlfriend who happens to be you know, very proactive. And she gathered for people for a panel and put in a proposal. But now it's four of us talking about it together, and then we will share a room. You know, not all four of us, but a couple of us to save funds. So if you start identifying, are there other people in your network that may be interested in the same event? Is there a way that we can get involved? Lots of times they're volunteer opportunities that have been is to if you email them or write them and you say, can I have a free pass? If I help you? You know, do x y and z that can help you reduce costs. Do you take volunteers at your events? Took a volunteer. I got accepted as a volunteer at the ninety nine u conference this year, which was an amazing opportunity. And what was the price of the badge? The low price was a thousand. Okay, is thousand dollars? And so you volunteered. And how many days was it was? A I volunteered for one day, one day and you got a thousand dollars off? Well, that's a great return on investment. You know there is one example in the book a friend who I interviewed she went to an event it was a sixty dollars event and she ended up making for great contacts at it and you know that served her well as she was doing her started when I was like that's a good return on investment you just spent sixty dollars and you made for good context it was a harvard business school event so look at that and see, you know, is there a way that I can reduce the price? Is there a way that I can be of service and help others carry I was able to attend a really exciting event last year's called the braveheart women's conference because I played for a scholarship and I'd been online and this candy for quite some time and it's like a twenty, five hundred other conferences just in l a you have to pay for you know I had to pay for my own flight and hotel but the conference itself was like almost two thousand dollars so I was like there's no way I'm going to get accepted so I did the old tapes and you know the old conversation and I'm like I'm just gonna apply I'm not going to say anything to anybody so if I don't get it I don't write it and I got it like the next day they're like please come and it was for amazing day is with fantastic women and it was just like putting out the ask like just going what's the worst that's gonna happen like I'm not going to go you know? But it was really amazing so scholarship opportunities to I think if you look or ask the right people involved in those organizations are also yeah ways to kind of the ten things you might not normally get teo that's great and you know, the other thing that I do think is important is that again even though you know financial resources and financial planning, you wouldn't think what does that have to do with networking it's like the more you can keep your costs low so that you can afford the ability to go to something you know keep your frequent flyer points save those up there are all sorts of online sites now legs are lee is one where you khun b you know, selling your services maybe you know howto give massages I don't well, that sounds that sounds bad, but you know what I'm saying? Maybe you're a fitness trainer and you want to be able to sell it so there there's airbnb where you can rent out a spare room there's even one called dog vacay where you khun b taking in for fifty dollars a night boarding dogs on dso making sure that you are if you're in a place where you've got financial situations how are all the other ways that you can kind of alleviate some of that stress and generate income streams? You know, blogging when we have lisa in today she's going to talk about blogging as a potential revenue stream and so when you do that and you keep your costs lower you can have more flexibility in your life to do these types of things do you have any tips you mentioned submitting a speaker a proposal for south by southwest and I thought about doing something like that not clearly not south by southwest cause that's a really big conference but starting small baby steps on smaller conferences that maybe I'm interested in going tio do you have any tips about how to position as a speaker or how to start that path? Yeah, well what you do first is, you know, offer to speak for free on dh you know, reach out to different groups and events and and right, you know, a concept it could even be just a you know, one page concept of here's what the topic is that I like to speak on thea other thing is if you make a you know, inexpensive video rial and it could even just be you presenting, you know, five minute presentation on your topic but sending that along can be really useful I would also recommend if there's an event that you want to speak at go and demonstrate your interest beforehand and then he say you know what? I really enjoyed this if there's an opportunity for me to get involved next year I would love that can we stay in touch? Can I get involved but then build up your rials so the way I became a speaker is that I spoke a lot on social media for free when I was with virgin america and by the time I left there I had given probably twenty key notes across the globe and had a great real s o find ways to get the experience which is actually a good segway to talk a little bit about shira because she will be joining us after lunch shira you know, wanted to be an on air host and she got her experience by taking as many red carpet gigs and you know, some things were free and some things were paid but get out there and, you know, get over any kind of fear that you have in practice and rehearse, but we've talked about becoming an expert there's a couple other things that you could do on that with a speaking I think is a really good way you know, carrie, you were just talking about the scholarships yesterday talked briefly about awards, but a lot of awards are really just things that you're filling out and so if there is a space that you're interested you know creative photography. There's got to be lots of interesting awards. A lot of, you know, coaching awards, but what are the credentials that you can start to build up so that you have more experience? I think that you have a really great potential to build up this experience with the events, you know, build up kind of your your public profile with all the content that you have, so build yourself help as an expert. So think about that. Think about that, how that can help build your your networking. When we come back, we are going to be talking about uber, networkers or hub players and how they can really change your life. We also will be having a call with shira from what's trending on dh. Then we're going to be moving into implementation, creativity and really getting an action plan in place.