The Business Guide
Just a regular guy that decided to quit his stable job and start a business. After successfully being in business I've learned a thing or two, unfortunately the hard way. I've created this podcast to share my successes & failures and to talk about the "real" ins & outs of business. I'll be personally sharing my stories along with guests.
As Business Owners we wear so many different hats and we have so many different struggles, we will breakdown those struggles together and talk about how we've overcome them and how it's shaped us to be better. If your a business owner currently going through a struggle, I hope this content helps!
The Business Guide
The Art of Networking: Building Meaningful Business Relationships
Ever wondered how you can transition from an employee to a thriving business owner? Join me, Jonathan Wagoner, as I share my journey and reveal the secrets of leveraging networking to build a successful business, even on a limited budget. From attending chamber events and mixers to engaging with small marketing groups, I’ll show you how to find the perfect networking circles that resonate with your business goals. Hear firsthand how my consistent participation in organizations transformed casual encounters into meaningful and profitable business relationships.
In this episode, you'll learn why networking is more than just making connections—it's about building lasting relationships that can significantly impact your business growth. I recount a memorable encounter that turned into a highly beneficial partnership and stress the importance of seeking advice from seasoned professionals. Discover actionable strategies, including the hometown hero approach and innovative ideas like distributing homemade cookies, that can help you establish a robust network. Whether it's through social media marketing or referral strategies, I provide insights that can help you integrate both online and offline efforts to maximize your networking success. Tune in for a wealth of tips and stories designed to inspire and guide you on your own business journey.
Hey, what's going on? Everyone? It's Jonathan Wagner and I am your host of the Business Guide. On today's episode, we're going to talk about something that everyone needs to know. It is the art of networking. This pays dividends in the long term, in short term, but the things that I was able to do when building my business and businesses is having a powerful networking circle. So today's episode we're going to go over building a business, essentially on a budget, with a networking strategy. We have different marketing types that you're going to do and we're really going to go over the short-term versus long-term approach. Now, when you're networking, obviously, in chamber events and things like that, it's definitely a long-term approach, but I'm going to go over my experience firsthand on what I had to do to essentially establish myself and how long that took. All right, guys. Well, let's jump on in to this episode the Art of Networking, building Meaningful and Business Relationships. So thanks for joining us guys.
Speaker 1:If you don't know my background or this is your first time here, I am a business owner in Southern California. I've been in business a little over 12 years. I've got a couple different businesses, but mainly focusing in a service type based business, which is a water damaged based business. But starting that business I was a carpet cleaner and kind of worked my way up into these different ventures. I am also not a professional podcaster, so you may see me look off, you may see me stutter, get a little tongue tied. It is because I am not used to doing this. I just want to put out good information for other business owners that find it valuable and help them succeed.
Speaker 1:So, without further ado, let's get into today's episode. So I think it's important to go back to the beginning days of my business. This is really where I was able to set the foundation of my business in so many different ways. The things I did, the things I my business in so many different ways. The things I did, the things I've tried.
Speaker 1:But specifically in networking, I've spoken about it on the podcast before, but one of my first things that I had to do when I was in business, of course, you spend a bunch of money starting a business. You don't know where your leads are going to come in from. You're really slowly building your clientele list, and so one of the easiest things you can do I say easiest, one of the freest things you can do is build a really tight networking group. Now, when I'm talking about networking kind of in the first years of business was going to different chamber events, going to different mixers and really sitting down and taking as much free information that I could and really build relationships. So one of the first things I did in business was this really small marketing group I think it was called Coffee and Contacts and it met every, let's say, tuesday morning, something like that. Actually, yeah, it was every Tuesday morning and I stumbled because there were a couple different groups in my county. I went to a couple of them, but the one that I really liked was in Ventura. So getting into that networking circle was important. As you start to build your networking circle, it's okay to shop around, get into a group that you really fit in with, get into a group where they kind of obviously receive you and it's okay to shop around essentially. So I know that they're you know at the time and there still are.
Speaker 1:But BNI is a huge one that is kind of nationwide here in America. It's called Business Networking International. While I was never a BNI member, I was invited to fill in and become a sub that's what they called it essentially where another business owner maybe had something else going on and you would come in and fill in for that business owner and then you could pitch your business. Sorry, I'm going to move this a little bit, so if this makes a noise, sorry about that. So that's kind of what BNI was about Great people there, great legitimate businesses. This Coffee and Contacts was essentially like a BNI. It was a very small group of people probably 15, 20 people and everybody came from different walks in life. Now, and everybody came from different walks in life Now, I think what's important to understand is, when you're building that first kind of networking circle, you've really got to take what you can get.
Speaker 1:You want to build it with everybody. You want to understand what that person is doing and what that person is selling and in return they're going to appreciate that and they're going to then want to know what you're building and what you're selling. So, going into these networking groups thinking I'm going to make a connection with a ton of people, I'm going to make a ton of money off the first couple months that you're there, it's not going to happen that way, right, you've really got to build trust. These people have to get to know you and ultimately you kind of become friends and it's no walk in the park. So I remember you know that Tuesday morning going, tuesdays were my networking day. So if I could run my day for you real quick, I will.
Speaker 1:So Tuesdays I'd start my day coffee and contacts. I would then go and I would clean carpets for probably about an hour or two hours, depending on how many people I could get in there. There was a lunch mixer I would go to. After the lunch mixer I would get back to work, try to do another two appointments, just depending on how my schedule looked. Now in the infancy days of my business I definitely did not have a lot of work, so it was easy to make these you know these scheduling plans. Obviously, as I got busy in business it was a little bit harder and a little bit more challenging, but so anyways, I'd go to that lunch networking event. I would clean carpets the rest of the day and then I would normally follow it up with. There was a gentleman that had like a local networking group that was a part of an expo that he would put off, as well as different chamber events. So anything I could fit in on Tuesday nights was definitely my time. So Tuesdays were brutal for me. Now again, I went to these obviously wanting business.
Speaker 1:I think it's important to mention that I'm not in carpet cleaning anymore, but I was able to establish myself as a legitimate business owner that had legitimate services. I was able to really network and build trust with these people and as I got into water damage restoration, that's really where it paid dividends, really where it paid dividends In water damage restoration right, you don't know if you're going to have a water damage or fire damage or whatever it may be versus carpet cleaning is a service-based business. So really anybody could have used me. They just needed to have carpets and it needed to be time to have those cleaned. So I definitely got more immediate business on the carpet cleaning side, but on the water damage business, it really it literally took me years to build those relationships and then, pivoting in my other businesses, I've been able to come back to some of those people. So definitely long-term you know long term was, as has proved, to pay dividends and I didn't know that back then. So if you're getting into networking, I think that it's important for you to know you may be an immediate hit or there is a service that somebody can use you immediately, but you ultimately need to build trust with these guys and these people and these people. So, getting into this, I made a lot of friends, a lot of connections, a lot of connections that I still have to this day and they still use me and I exclusively use them. So I partnered up with some HVAC companies. I partnered up with some insurance brokers. There are so many crucial people that I met in those first kind of days in business where we were able to grow our businesses together. So definitely a long-term approach.
Speaker 1:I think that when we talk about a budget, when you're putting out a budget for this networking, obviously the commitment is going to be budgeting your time, not so much money. Now, I know with like a group, like BNI, there is a set amount of like a I don't want to say tuition, but a membership fee, if you will, I'm not privy to it. I don't know to say tuition but a membership fee, if you will, I'm not privy to it. I don't know. I just know that there is a membership fee. I knew it years ago but I don't want to say anything now. And then, obviously, if you have that breakfast or lunch, maybe some of them do dinners, but you would commit to the restaurant or that group for that lunch or dinner or whatever it may be. So you definitely want to budget financially that money when you're looking into your marketing budget and you need to create your networking circle with some budget. But moving on from there, it's really your time, it's really the time commitment that you're going to put forth saying, hey, I'm the business owner and I have the product that I would hope you need and this is why my product is better than that other guys that you've been using for some time. So I don't want to get too held up on networking groups, because they are absolutely important. I feel like I'm definitely going to be coming back on another episode with this type of networking, which is the groups, but moving on, it's just your overall network and making friends.
Speaker 1:Now there is a story that I like to tell of you never know where you're going to meet somebody that really is going to change the direction of your business or be a long-term supporter of your business, and I will give you two examples. So number one infancy of my business. This is where I was kind of laying the groundwork for my business business. This is where I was kind of laying the groundwork for my business. I was pretty much almost about to take off and started carrying some cards around telling people I was offering this service, but I was still committed to my job at Walgreens before. So I was going out with a couple buddies we were actually going out to a happy hour at the time and I decided there was a property management company right in front of this restaurant and I decided to walk in and introduce myself. I ran into the owner. She was super nice, super receptive to what I was offering and I would only find out later that this lady is so loyal so she started using me pretty much immediately. Uh, throughout the years she has been so loyal to me and obviously, as I mentioned, uh, you know, I, I, I did have a service which was carpet cleaning. She needed that and as I got into water damage and fire damage restoration, she has used me for that and all of my services in in that field. So, um, that was 12 plus years ago and that relationship is still strong.
Speaker 1:So what did it take for me to network there? It wasn't going and waking up super early in the morning and going to a group, it was literally, I was out with friends, I had a couple cards on me and I wanted to go in and introduce myself. I wasn't shy about that. So when you're in business, you need to make sure that you are not shy of putting yourself out there. You have to be the spokesperson, the cheerleader, the mascot for your business. If you're not comfortable with that, you really need to assess your business plan and bring somebody in that is comfortable with it, because it is a huge part of success in business.
Speaker 1:Another example of that building kind of a random relationship, kind of on a cold call, if you will. In that situation it was just a walk-up, but there was a situation where we were working a project years later and this is probably 2017. You will meet this gentleman later on a podcast. We have since become very good friends, but in our industry we work with so many different people and on this particular project, I got a call from my guys and we said hey, we have a public adjuster. That is somebody in our water damage restoration industry that represents the homeowner, in our water damage restoration industry that represents the homeowner. They were on site and they were just asking questions about the project. The homeowner called them in. So from my interpretation at a public adjuster at the time, it was something that you needed to kind of shut down immediately. You needed to almost just not really say too much, and the public adjusters are kind of unethical and you don't really want to work with them.
Speaker 1:This public adjuster was very new in business. He decided to reach out to me that day, introduce himself and really wanted to grab coffee the next day. Now, the next day it was my birthday. So I remember this and I tell this story that I found it important to show up to this appointment and fast forward. I will tell you why this made all of the difference. So I sat down with that gentleman. He said, hey, I'm new in business, I've decided to branch off of being an insurance adjuster and wanted to start my own business and go into entrepreneurship. I just wanted to throw an introduction. I wanted to tell you what I'm about and I really liked the guy. I could tell that the guy was sincere. I could tell he was a nice family man and he was really looking to do right by people and really changed my perception of what a public adjuster was.
Speaker 1:That was in the middle of the month, at the end of the month, we had a massive wildfire just spread through our county and immediately I needed help. I was inundated with projects. We were kind of just. It was just all hands on deck and in that situation he had actually called me up and said, hey, I don't have a lot of work going on. Remember, refer me if you need me. But on the flip side, if you need me, you know, in-house to help you out, maybe write some estimates, write some invoices. I would love to do it, love to earn your business.
Speaker 1:That offer, that generous, generous offer, made me hundreds of thousands of dollars and he just took a simple thank you. What an incredible guy to build a relationship. And he knew that he had really nothing going for him at the time as far as leads coming in. We started throwing out his name as much as we could to repay him. But what a strategy on him. In his area of or, excuse me, in his business, he was able to say, hey, I'm here for you. And then reach out and say, hey, I'm here for you and I'll offer you this. Reach out and say, hey, I'm here for you and I'll offer you this. I mean, it helped me out tremendously. And now, throughout the years we have been able to work so closely with him where it's made all of the difference for his business and to this day we are. He's one of my best friends. He's a great, great guy.
Speaker 1:So you never know what that networking is going to look like until you're there. But always leave that door open to network yourself, network your business, and it doesn't always work in your favor. In that situation he knew I was inundated. He knew I was going to be strapped on cash and he said, hey, I'm just here to help you because I want to build a relationship. Now, people can get burned by that. I understand that. But in our situation he didn't get burned and it has paid dividends in what it's been able to do for his business. And same with me walking in and introducing myself and having a stack of super cheap business cards, that has paid dividends and has made me so much money.
Speaker 1:So you always want to leave your networking open as you go into these different groups, as you run into different people, sit down and have that cup of coffee. Sit down and ask them if I can come to your office when I was first in business and I didn't know what I was doing. I sought direction from people that had been in business and were successful, and those particular people. To this day now the roles have swapped of hey, you know what you're doing and I need some advice here. And oh, by the way, here's work for you and in return I give them work. So you want to keep your network open and you got to get crafty on it Again, if you're not good at it, that's okay. A lot of people are not good at talking with people. They're not good with networking. You need to be really, really good at creating a hiring process so you can attract and retain those people to help grow your business. So this is a huge strategy and it's a long-term approach.
Speaker 1:Moving into the long-term versus the short-term remember when I cleaned carpet, there was a very short-term goal there hey, you needed your carpets clean. I had that service that I could offer and, of course, I'm sure if I kept that business model, people would have continued to use me. But that was short term. Right, they could go back to their house, they could see their carpets were dirty and they could say, hey, I could throw Jonathan the work because I'm already going to get this done versus the long term of I'm sorry, I didn't mean to draw a blank there, but I'm trying to reference the long term of like my property management account. That, yeah, short term.
Speaker 1:She started to use me right away but my job tickets were low. And then when I started to get into actually building my business and scaling my business with service and people, they were there for the life of me. And a lot of those people that I met in those networking circles, I can tell you that there was a HVAC company that I met 12 years ago and it took 12 years of me throwing them work, them throwing me a little work here and there. Nothing super high ticket, but enough for them to be like OK, hey, I've got a project for you that I would like to refer you in on and that be thousands of dollars, and that recently happened. So it literally took me 12 years for my business to acquire a good lead. So the seeds that I planted back then helped my business thrive now, helped my revenue now, revenue now.
Speaker 1:So if you get into networking and you think I'm going to get into this group and these people are going to start referring me right away and I'm going to make a ton of money. If you take that mindset into this group or these groups, you are going to fail. Let me be the first person to tell you don't waste your time, because if you don't have the long-term strategy in that goal, then you're going to be disappointed, you're going to stop going and you're not going to be successful. I like to explain this and you will hear this often, I think, as me explaining it in these podcasts and these different episodes. But I like to treat my marketing like a train and you can almost.
Speaker 1:I mean right, networking is marketing. So you need to pretend that you've got this huge train and the train takes a lot of energy to get going and moving that train. But once the train is up to speed, it doesn't take the same amount of energy it did to start the train. But when you stop the train and then you have to restart it, you're using just as much energy as you did to first start the train. So you want to keep it going and I use that kind of analogy in marketing. You don't want to scale back on your marketing. If you've got a good thing going, just because you're busy, you need to pump the brakes. Same with networking You're going to get where and I ended up getting in this situation where, oh hey, I'm networking, my marketing's working out, I'm finally becoming an established business and I'm going to slowly start pumping the brakes and not go to these networking events, and that only hurt my business in the long term because I wasn't building those long term relationships anymore.
Speaker 1:Now, some of those key people that originally were met yeah, we stayed into communication. We had a great thing going, but now the roles have changed. Where I don't go out and network because I don't have time and like mentioned to you before, is if you don't have the ability of going out and doing the marketing because you're shy or whatever it may be, then you need to hire the right people. So, in our strategy is hiring the right people to continue the networking. Now I will be the first one to tell you and everybody you know I think as a business owners and entrepreneurs, we should know this but nobody does it like the owner does it right. So I can't expect that my employees are going to deliver the same product and the same passion to these people that I have, but it is a crucial part of the business, so I know I have to give way a little bit. I have to allow these people to go out while knowing I'm not going to get everything because I am not the owner out there. Go out while knowing I'm not going to get everything because I am not the owner out there, one of the bigger, you know.
Speaker 1:Obviously, then, speaking on the long-term side, as you decide to merge into you know different businesses and things like that, you are going to see how these people that have been loyal to you for so long will jump on to your next business venture or your added on business or service or whatever it is, and that's been the case for me. So some of these day one people that I kind of met in the trenches, if you will, as they were in the trenches we've slowly been able to grow up together and be established and be able to embrace each other on new business endeavors as well. So creating that networking group is super strategic and I don't want to get into, you know, because we do a lot in my water damage restoration business. There's a lot of door-to-door sales on that. In the media company there's a lot of kind of cold calling networking, if you will. These two are two different marketings that I think we'll talk about later, so I don't want to get too tight up there.
Speaker 1:But you really have to treat you know you go to Google and you say, hey, google, here's, you know, $3,000 a month for my ads or whatever it is. You have to treat your networking just like that. But you have to know Google, I mean, works around the clock for you, putting a budget to real people and expecting real. You know, making real goals for them is something new, too right, and it's a long-term approach. So successful companies have it. I know that I have people networking for me and it does pay dividends. But you know, starting as a new business, you need to roll up your sleeves. You got to get to work and if you can't do that, you need to hire somebody to do that. Let me switch my notes here because I also want to pop in. So I think a couple free things that I would suggest you do in. Your networking is huge right now. That wasn't so huge when I started.
Speaker 1:That also does play a role in the success of one of my businesses, not so much my local restoration business, but is social media marketing. It's creating a network with people that don't know you showing them hey, I've got a brand you're marketing to them, but you're also building a network of people. I've connected with so many people that don't necessarily need my service, but they have people that need my service. So, social media marketing if you're not doing it, of course there's the actual marketing of maybe paying for ads or going in and doing content creation and things like that, but you almost need to treat your social media marketing as social media networking and build that network of people on social media as well. So social media definitely needs to be in your back pocket. You definitely need to leverage that to be successful in 2024. I would probably be.
Speaker 1:Also, if you're newer in business, I'm trying to think like I don't necessarily. I mean, you know this podcast is new, so I don't know if my audience is more newer businesses or if we have established businesses listening to come. Please share that in the comments later, by the way, because I want to know if you're established or not. I need to figure out where to direct this. But I think that when you're doing like referral marketing, if we're talking, you know referral marketing, I mean again, I'm going over marketing, which is I know it goes hand in hand and I don't want to speak too much on one particular thing, but there is also building the referral network, which was very successful for me when I started. So I definitely built as these people started to you started to network with me and I was getting my information out to them. I was able to give them content that they could pass on and be rewarded for ultimately growing my business. So I do think that you need to give time in almost like a referral networking as well.
Speaker 1:So, like the title of this episode suggests, it is the art of networking. I don't have black and white. This is what you need to follow. This is what you need to do. It is literally throwing yourself out there and seeing what works in your industry. What works in my industries might not work for your industry. So you can't go on Google and type in this is what I want to do and this is the type of service because it might not work for your industry. So you can't go on Google and type in this is what I want to do and this is the type of service, because it might not work in your industry and it might not work in your community. I know that briefly.
Speaker 1:For some time I completely got out of California and I moved to Texas and I realized in Texas that even though I was a part of a huge area I lived in the DFW Metroplex, shout out to everybody there, but huge population and for a service-based business that I wanted to place there, I was like this is gold I've got. I think it was like 8 million people that I could reach out to. Little did I know that the little town that I sat in as I was networking and building my networking, I was networking with a plumber there, networking and building my networking. I was networking with a plumber there and I think our city was maybe population 7,500 people and he had probably about four different vans working full time. And I asked him you know what was his reach? How many cities did he cover? And he had only covered our population of 7,500 people. And he said, look, 7,500 people. And he said, look, everybody uses me here. I am the plumber that everybody goes to. That was foreign language to me. In my county in California you have to go into every different city because that's what the people want, but in this situation the people in his neighborhood and area wanted him. So as I lived there, I noticed that sports teams were sponsored by him. He had local advertising in the local pizza and Italian shop. I mean, this guy was everywhere and he was really building the I'm the hometown hero approach and that's how he networked. He was very involved in the city, the small politics that were there, so he was able to leverage his networking with building this hometown hero.
Speaker 1:So again, there is no black and white of how you're going to do this. You just have to get out there and you have to try. I know that recently there was an HVAC company that came into my area and dropped off cookies. They explained it was literally a door-to-door. They didn't know I was a business owner, they didn't know anything about who was living there, but they came out and dropped off some cookies and said, hey, I live in the area, I'm local, my family baked these cookies over the weekend and I wanted to share them with you, my neighbor, in hopes that you could share the word about my business. What a great marketing strategy, especially if you're looking to be that hometown hero in that area. It didn't take them a ton of money, maybe less than $100, to make a ton of cookies and get some bags, print some marketing material up. It looked good, it was professional, it wasn't something that was you could tell was thrown together, but they were able to go out in their community and network with their neighbors.
Speaker 1:So the art of networking is going to be challenging for you as a business owner to figure out what works and what doesn't work, and you can't just try that one thing. That business owner I'm sure, did not just try that one cookie approach. You have to strategize throughout literally every approach of networking. So, guys, at the end of the day, there's no rocket science. It's not rocket science to start up a business. I like to tell people that there's literally like three things you have to do. It is answer the phone, show up. When you say you're going to show up and do what you say you're going to do, that that's really at the end of this and all these different podcast episodes that I'll do. That's, that's the secret rule, ok, is just take care of your customers and do what you say you're going to do and answer your phone. Really that's at the end of it. But to be able to get your phone to ring and be successful in business, you also have to do a ton of stuff and there is no secret sauce.
Speaker 1:I don't care what these fancy gurus say, I don't. You know. I'm so tired of the spam that comes through the email box of hey, I'm here to do this and I know you could be successful if you do this, like people don't know my business. I don't know your business, you don't know my business. Okay, so now that we've established that, let's create a marketing plan. What is custom to ourselves and I can tell you in my businesses and my competitors? My competitors also don't do the same thing that I do. Matter of fact, when I see my competitors try to copy the thing that I do, they fail at it because it's not theirs.
Speaker 1:You need to be unique in business, so build a super dope networking circle. Network with everyone you went to high school with somebody to become a real estate agent. Network with them. Network with your insurance agent. Hey, I know you might not be able to refer me, but how can I get the work of your business, or whatever. It may be right, that didn't really make sense. To be honest, I said sorry, see, this is where I'm going to get tongue tied, but that last part didn't make sense but literally network with anybody and everybody you can Like. You're going to a restaurant and you stop into somebody and say hello. You never know where that next opportunity is going to be.
Speaker 1:So, guys, I really hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. I'm really looking forward to coming on here and sharing content with you as we get going. I would love to hear from you Please give me a comment of what content you'd like to see. As mentioned earlier in the episode, let me know if you're an inspiring entrepreneur, if you're already an established business maybe you're a smaller operation or if you're a large, successful business or just even just successful business owner that's been in it a while and knows a thing or two. I would love to know what you want to hear on this channel, because I would really love to give you that information. My passion here is providing information to you, to where you can come to and listen to a good podcast that gives you some quality information without trying to sell you something. So anyways, guys, thank you for joining me on the Business Guide. I'm your host, jonathan Wagner, and until next time I'll see you later. Keep up the hustle.
