Mark Sieverkropp Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Mark Sieverkropp
Mark Sieverkropp is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast interview.
He is a man who is joining a select few of willing victims, I mean guests who can say that they have joined up dots more than once….
If you go back and listen to episode 37, todays guest appeared with his business partner Scott Barlow and spoke with passion and more than a touch of humour as to how they got the “Happen To Your Career” online business going.
The action they took.
The dreams they have.
And the issues they overcame to provide career support across the globe, for those who are looking to change direction, move up the corporate adder, or just do something they love.
How The Dots Joined Up For Mark
Today however, Mark isn’t coming back to join up more dots, but instead to share with us all, the steps we can take, and skills we need to explode our network of friends, colleagues and clients sky-high.
As the saying goes “No Man is an island” and with the worldwide web literally falling over with potential prospects, money making opportunities and chances to strike up a conversation, how is the best way to do it?
Is it all about providing value first?
Or is it simply about quantity over quality?
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs in todays Free podcast, with the one and only Mr Mark Sieverkropp.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Mark Sieverkropp such as:
The best ways to maintain and nurture relationships without it looking a bit weird!
How to explode your network with the combined use of twitter and hashtags!
The five steps that you should follow to ensure that you have at disposal a network that can change your life!
The reasons why Facebook could be the last of the methods that we would recommend to use last right at the beginning
And lastly….
How you MUST keep it real and simple, and not rely on automating your tweets, comments and Facebook posts. Be a person all the time!
How To Connect With Mark Sieverkropp
Return To The Top Of Mark Sieverkropp
If you enjoyed this episode with Mark Sieverkropp, why not check out other inspirational chat with Shifting Work, Noah Kagan, Dorie Clark, and the amazing Jack Canfield
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Mark Sieverkropp Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, Hello, it’s me again. It’s David Ralph, the host of Join Up Dots coming to you from back in my garden in the United Kingdom. It is a lovely place today. The sun is shining. The birds are flying across and the squirrels are making my lunches is it is like a Disney theme. And I’m feeling pretty good today because I’ve got a chap on who has already been on the show way back in the early days. He was way back in about Episode 37. And he’s a man who is joining a select few have a willing victim I mean guests who can say that labour Join Up Dots more than one ones. Yes, if you go back and listen to that episode 37. Today’s guest appeared with his business partner Scott Barlow and spoke with passion and more than a touch of humour as to how they got the happened to your career online business going the action they took the dreams they had any issues they overcome to to provide career support across the globe, for those who are looking to change direction, move up the corporate ladder, or just do something they love. Well, today, however, our guest isn’t coming back to join up more dots, but instead to share with us all the steps we can take. And the skills we need to explode our network of friends, colleagues and clients sky high. As the saying goes, No man is an island and with the World Wide Web literally falling over with potential prospects, money making opportunities, and chances to strike up a conversation. How is the best way to do it? is it all about providing value first, or is it simply about quantity over quality? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start sharing the best practices best made him one of my best online friends. Oh, going my best online friend. But one and only Mr. Mark Sieverkropp. How are you, Mark?
Mark Sieverkropp [2:07]
I’m well, David, how are you?
David Ralph [2:09]
I am always Well, Mark. I really am. I’ll be honest, I haven’t been well this week. I say that a lot on the shows. I didn’t realise how often I actually don’t feel very well and actually tell it but occasionally I sort of dip back into the archives and listen to the shows. And literally, you know, I must have listened to that five this week. And every single one of them starts with me saying I’m not too well at the moment. But I’m I went off to Spain and I came back had a lovely Holiday Inn. And two days later, my body just exploded in blockchains and spots and god knows what I was going to change the show to join up spots. But it’s been incredibly itchy and my hands have been like pigs trotters but you know, Mark, still I have persevered. I have been recording the shows because I know, but my customers my listeners deserve it.
Mark Sieverkropp [2:58]
Well, and you could never tell you know, I I’ve heard you say that as well a few times. I can never tell I’m like well, if that’s David not feeling well then. I don’t want to know what he what he does when he feels well. So
David Ralph [3:08]
have you heard of Dr. theatre?
Mark Sieverkropp [3:11]
I have not.
David Ralph [3:12]
Now, this is a phrase that I assumed it was worldwide but it’s certainly in the theatre business where people say you know, the show must go on. And actress obviously they’re doing shows time and time and time and time again. They will they will unwell. But they say that when the curtain opens, they’re so focused on it. They instantly feel better and all the issues go and then the curtain closed and I go Oh, I feel it again. Right. And that’s that’s Dr. Theatre, and I used to do training overseas up in the City of London, and I could feel dreadful until I started doing it. Totally forgot that I felt dreadful and then straight afterwards. Bang. I felt dreadful again. Dr. Phil, there
Mark Sieverkropp [3:49]
you go. Dr. Theatre strikes again.
David Ralph [3:51]
Absolutely. So you’ve got an exciting night tonight. You were telling me that you’re going to your first football match your well yes soccer matches. You said Seattle, rounders,
Mark Sieverkropp [4:03]
Sounders our Sounders Islanders, yeah,
David Ralph [4:05]
round. This is a game that game was play over here.
Mark Sieverkropp [4:09]
Okay, it’s I’m
David Ralph [4:10]
glad it’s not that name, then it’s the same kind of thing. Because only sort of the the American games you take the rough and tumble of the British game. And you kind of soften it up with pads and god knows what don’t you.
Mark Sieverkropp [4:22]
So now Now hold on, because because you say that, but I was having a conversation with a friend of mine. And they accuse you Europeans of bringing diving into games. So yeah, but we run
David Ralph [4:32]
the tumble, we do diving in a tough way. We will just ourselves to the ground, just wearing a pair of shorts and a T shirt you will promote
Mark Sieverkropp [4:41]
that is true.
David Ralph [4:42]
heads on and god knows what if we aren’t going to get into networking. But this is quite interesting. I went to what did I go to a Dallas Cowboys American football game once. And it was Dallas Cowboys against Miami dolphin. And it went on for hours. I’ve never known so many adverts. And when I got there that the lady next to me said oh you from the United Kingdom? And I went Yes. And she said oh you watch soccer, don’t you? And I went Yes. And she went people die at your soccer games. And well, not really. I’ve never known anyone to die. But is that the kind of image that people have of the United Kingdom the passion that we have the European football matches the the Champions League nights being really sort of passion almost about to boil over map?
Mark Sieverkropp [5:30]
Yeah, I think a lot of people have that idea of you know, these stadiums that are you know, crammed full of people. And when somebody loses all of a sudden there’s, there’s riots and cars flipping over. And you know, people lighting things on fire, not all the time. But you know, that does come in a little bit. But I think more than off more often than not now it’s about the diving, and they talk about how, you know, you Europeans are just, you know, actors, and you know, you’ve ruined the game. And and I keep telling them, you know, I’ve had friends tell me, well, they should do instant replay in soccer. And I vehemently opposed that, because that would ruin the game. I hope you agree. I believe you would. But that would ruin the game. I said, Yeah, sometimes they die. But you know what? I’m going to use that line from you. Now. I’m gonna say yeah, but they dive tough. That’s it that
David Ralph [6:10]
Yeah, you use it, you say that? That’s the the phrase of the day. So let’s get into the nuts and bolts of why you’re here. Because when you was here before you were talking about the happened to your career stuff that you was working on? Yeah. And one of the things that kind of made that successful, and certainly from my point of view, was your ability to network, you seem to have an ability to make people feel like they know you, even if we’ve never met and we’ve never met, but from from from the word go, you do things that normal people don’t do, and you will send an email, but has a kind of personality to it. Which others don’t? How have you developed that? Is that something that you consciously have always done? Or is it something that you’ve just kind of realise, hang on, I need to change my game somewhat?
Mark Sieverkropp [7:04]
Well, I think it’s I think it’s been a combination of both David I, you know, I think I’ve got some, some natural tendencies to be friendly, you know, I’ve taken several personality tests through work and whatnot. And they’ve told me that I’m friendly, and I’m outgoing. And I like meeting people and being around people. But, you know, in the last two years, I’ve really developed that, and it’s because I’ve had people that said, Wow, you you know, you really know a lot of people Wow, you really, you know, you talked to a lot of people, you you, you have a way of making friends. And so it’s something that I’ve developed recently, and certainly, I think it’s something that, that we all develop. But you know, one of the things I found is people say, Well, I’m not good at networking, I’m not good at meeting people. Well, that’s what we do every day, you know, it’s like, if you have a spouse, you’ve obviously met somebody at some point, and you’ve created a friendship with that person to where they’d like to spend time with you, at least most of the time. So I think it is something that’s naturally that we do naturally, as people we we like getting to know people we like to, to meet people. And so I think everybody has it to a certain extent. But then yes, you I think you do develop it. And I think you consciously find ways to to get to know people, and for me that that hangs on, you know, adding value, and helping people and looking for ways that you can make their life better.
David Ralph [8:21]
But so many people will say, what is the point of having, quote, unquote, a squealing online friends, if you only get to meet three of them? And that’s a kind of valid point, it seems, in many people’s minds, to have a lot of time is needed to maintain those relationships. But would you say it is certainly something that is worth maintaining those relationships?
Mark Sieverkropp [8:45]
Oh, absolutely. You know, I started recently, kind of keeping track of, you know, the, I guess, if you want to say, the monetary value of the network, and the friends that I had created, and the relationships I had built, you know, things that, that I’ve been able to have actually access to, or gets us because of, you know, friendships I’ve made. And, you know, since the beginning of the year, David, I mean, I’m talking, you know, well over like $4,000, you know, so I would say it’s certainly certainly valuable, what I found is building these relationships leads to opportunities, and you might not think you need them now, but it’s the old adage of the best time to build a tree was 20 years ago. So even if you don’t see a need for, say, a new job, or you don’t see a need for, you know, having relationships to market a new product, or, you know, build a business, if you don’t see that now, build those relationships, because what I found is, when you need them, it’s often too late to build them quickly. So yeah, it’s, it’s super important. And you mentioned that you won’t meet many of them, but man, you know, some of my best friends now, I’ve never met, you know, you and I have never met, but but I consider you a really good friend, we communicate all the time online and can’t wait till we’re able to meet. But I’ve learned that, you know, with technology and with, with the way things are, you know, you don’t have to meet to become really good friends with people, most of the people that I know, in person, you know, in person from, from, you know, school, and, you know, other jobs and whatnot, I still only communicate with them over Facebook, you know, I don’t see them every day, I see him maybe once a year. So really, the foundation of that relationship is, you know, the the technology that we use. And so I don’t see any difference between that. And, you know, meeting offline as far as whether somebody can be your good friend,
David Ralph [10:29]
because I actually find the value that I’m getting from a virtual friends, and I’m doing that little quality business with my fingers Where is is vast, and I never used to think that I was firmly in the camp of what’s the point in having 100,000 Twitter followers, what’s the point in having all these Facebook friends, you never meet them. And I now realise, but the virtual friends are the people that are providing me so much value, I’ve never met them at all. And we connect on Facebook, and I can ask them questions, and they come back. And there seems to be an honesty and a trust that is built up quickly. Because they’ve got nothing to gain, I’ve got enough read again, you just basically help the other person because you feel like helping them. And I can say you can say a gentleman called Dwayne Scott in Memphis, there’s probably about five or six of them now. But I would love to fly over to the states and to Armenian places to meet these people. But do you need to because we are supporting ourselves and pushing ourselves on to greatness, hopefully, by that I need of just providing value, and not necessarily asking for anything back which you get more often than not face to face?
Mark Sieverkropp [11:44]
Well, you know, the beautiful thing, and I think the reason that that’s the case is, you know, there’s like you said, there’s no other alternative, there’s no ulterior motives, you know, they’re not going to, you know, if somebody is not your friend, because, you know, you’re willing to take him out and, and buy him a pint at the end of the day. You know, it’s not that it’s because they want to help you. And that’s the only thing there is it gets, it takes away all of that other stuff, you know, the, I guess the the shallow, you know, non meaning stuff of a relationship. And it gets right to the heart of it, I’ve found that I’ve built relationships quicker with people that I haven’t met, because I don’t have to deal with all that stuff. There’s not the, you know, the drama from work, or the drama from high school, or whatever it is, you just get straight to what are you doing? How can I help you? How can I add value, and I found that, that basis for a relationship builds a friendship faster, and it builds a stronger than having a relationship that’s built on, you know, we have the same sports team that we like, or we go to the same, you know, place or we, you know, do the same things, you know, for fun, I think it’s a deeper relationship. So you’re, you’re absolutely right, why, while it would be fun, and will be fun. I you know, I’m certainly looking forward to meeting many of the people, including you that I’ve met online, I don’t think it’s necessary. And I think if you do it right, you can build just a strong of a relationship with somebody you’ve never met and would never meet and get just as much value from them and add value to them. As somebody that you see, you know, every day at the office or see every day, you know, in the supermarket.
David Ralph [13:12]
So well, I don’t go to the supermarket every day, God forbid, I imagine that as English people, we get the supermarket to come to us, we order online, it gets delivered.
Mark Sieverkropp [13:22]
It’s perfect. But guys are smarter. Actually. We are
David Ralph [13:25]
and we and we don’t dive in the supermarket, either. We walk around holding onto trolleys, but for the practice. Absolutely. So for the listeners out there who are looking at networking, and they’re slightly frightened of it, it just seems the enormity we’ve obviously got LinkedIn, we’ve got Twitter, we’ve got Facebook, we’ve got emails, pretty much anything you say, can be used for networking, what is a kind of easy process to sort of ease them in? Would it just be using emails? Would it be twittering? Or what would you suggest?
Mark Sieverkropp [14:02]
Well, I think it depends on the person. I mean, some people are going to be more comfortable on on email, some people are gonna be more comfortable on on Twitter or LinkedIn. So part of its what your preferences and you know, certainly each platform lends itself to various different personalities and different types of conversation. You know, but really, I think the most important thing is when you’re starting out, and if, if you’re a little bit scared of it, I guarantee you, and I was just writing a post about this the other day, it hasn’t came out yet. But I guarantee you that there are several people within your network that you’ve met, and then you haven’t caught up with you You haven’t followed up with or talked to, since you met them, the best place to start, if you’re a little bit nervous is reach out to those people that you’ve already met a little bit, and rekindle that relationship. You know, one of the biggest things about building and growing your network is following up with people and keeping in constant contact with them. Because most people, most people think of networking, it’s handing out business cards and, and you’re trying to get something from them. But the way I look at networking, you meet someone, and then that’s just the beginning, then you have to start building a relationship, you have to, you know, be in front of them multiple times, you have to be adding value and you can add value. So if somebody is nervous about it, I would start with people that you’ve already met, but maybe you haven’t talked to in a year, or maybe you haven’t talked to in two years, reach out to them, whether it’s through email, and Facebook, like I said, whatever you’re most comfortable with, and then build those relationships. And what I found is as you do that, and you find ways to help them, then you’ll find other people that they know that you can also you know, add to your network and get to know and, and help them as well. And that’s how your network grows is through these people that are kind of on the fringes of of the people that you would consider in your network.
David Ralph [15:40]
But now, wouldn’t that seem a bit weird? You know, being devil’s advocate, you haven’t spoken to these people for two years or whatever, and then suddenly out the blue, you get an email from them, boom, it doesn’t that doesn’t that strike fear into somebody who isn’t naturally open to the networking opportunities that we’re talking about?
Mark Sieverkropp [16:00]
I think it depends what that email says. I mean, you know, certainly I’ve gotten emails from people, I haven’t talked to you for a few years. And, and I’m excited about, you know, I’m like, Oh, yeah, you know, and I think it, you have to have made a good impression to start with. But it depends on the type of relationship. It was. I mean, if it’s somebody that you knew pretty well, and then you haven’t talked to him for a few years, it’s going to be easier. But what I found, and this is what I do, I’ll let you in one of my secrets, David, that every quarter, I have, basically, for me mail a template that I send out to every single person on my network. And I’ve sent that email to people that I’ve just connected on LinkedIn, and really haven’t ever talked to since. And I’ve got great responses back because the key to it is I’m not asking for anything, you know, that’s the fear is that somebody is contacting you. And they’re going to ask you for something, they want you to buy something or they want you to sign up for something. Well, these emails, you want to focus solely on telling them, hey, here’s what I’m doing. hope everything’s going well for you. And if I can help you let me know, because you
David Ralph [16:58]
do wonderfully at the end, don’t you? Thank you. That was the thing that really struck me about you, right, in the very early days. But the communication that I got from you was always let me know how I can help you. And I hadn’t seen that before on other people’s communications with me, it was, as you say, always asking for something it was there was always there was an angle on them. But yours wasn’t, it was just purely. I’m here, if you need me reach out, I’d love to help you bang. And when it kind of went in my heart somehow because it was so different from the normal ones.
Mark Sieverkropp [17:35]
Right? Well, and I think, you know, and even I have to do this, and I’m big on adding value and helping and sometimes I even catch myself, I’ll be like, Oh, man, so and so for something here, you know, and with these emails, you go to the extent of, I don’t even ask, and this might sound weird, but when I send you that type of email, David, I wouldn’t even ask how you’re doing. And the reason is a friend of mine, Matt McWilliams, you know, he taught me about this. And he he’s a It showed me about this. And he said, you don’t want to give them any reason that they feel obligated to respond to your email, all you’re trying to do is reach out, get your name in front of them, tell them that you’re there if you need them, and not give them any obligation to respond. So I don’t even say How are you doing? I will say, I hope you’re doing well. But I don’t want them to feel any obligation to take time out of their day if they don’t want to, and respond, but what I found is most people will still respond, and they appreciate the fact that you took the time to reach out to them, you you know told them that you hope things are going well for them. And that you are you know, willing to help them if you can, and you know, a lot of people It seems weird at first, I’m glad it didn’t seem weird to you. But as you continue to say it, people will sooner or later either believe you, or they’ll take you up on your offer just to see if you really will help them. And then that’s the point where you get to add value. So, you know, networking isn’t a you know, you know, one and done kind of thing. I mean, it’s a relationship that you build over time. And, and as you do that, that’s when you’ll see those those benefits. But But yeah, people, it can be a little bit weird. But I think if you structure the email, right, if you structure that, that follow up to that reach out, right, they won’t be weird, and they won’t feel, you know, because you’ll prove to them that you’re not wanting anything from them. And that’s really the key once people know that, you’re not just trying to get something from them, you know, they’re more than willing to, to build a relationship with you. And and, you know, keep in contact and, and that’s really what you’re trying to do is just keep that network warm, because someday you might need it. And you want to be able to add value up until that point. So when I do need something, you know, whether that’s a new job, or whether that’s a product, and I’m wanting people to share, that they’re willing to do that, because I’ve added value to them. And I’ve I’ve never asked them for anything. It’s not a normal thing for me to send them a sales email.
David Ralph [19:47]
So we we’ve had Matt Williams on show 81 or as we like to call it the MARC Seaver crop Levin was right. Well, maybe I might try to say your name as many times on the show as possible. I think we did the 18 times we got to be a world record.
Mark Sieverkropp [20:02]
Yeah, it was it was it was pretty impressive. I I was counting as well along with you. And it was quite entertaining. Thank you for that. You’re welcome, sir. It’s a boost of self esteem.
David Ralph [20:12]
So So why do you think that Matt says don’t even say, how are you doing? Is that Ben? Because it makes them feel that they’ve got to respond?
Mark Sieverkropp [20:22]
Yeah, I think so. I think it’s the email, you don’t want them to feel obligated because you want it to be a mutual relationship. And so, you know, I, I’ve, I’ve had people that I send that email, and I never hear anything from them. But what I do know is that they’ve seen my name, and they know that I am reaching out, which, let’s be honest, 95% of people aren’t doing. So it sets you apart. And sooner or later, I know I’ve, you know, I’ve been doing this for about a year now. So I haven’t had many of these experiences. But I know Matt told me that he’s had people that he hadn’t heard from for two or three years. And then all of a sudden, they responded to an email with, hey, you know, yeah, I could use some help with, you know, actually Boise. And so he knows that reading him. And it’s just slowly building that relationship and showing that, even if even if you don’t respond to me, I’m still going to continue reaching out to you. And I’m still going to say, I hope you’re doing well, I’m still going to say let me know how I can help you. Because it’s not about getting something back. And I think that’s what really builds that relationship to where, you know, even if that’s the only contact you have with them, you are building relationship, you’re sharing a little bit about what you’re doing. So they know what you’re doing, they know what’s going on in your life. And then and then they know that you’ll you’re willing to help if you can, if they ever need it. So yeah, I think that’s what it is, I think, you know, you don’t want them to feel obligated you want them to you don’t want your relationship to be an obligation for them. You know, because you’re asking a million questions. One, you’re just not going to get a response or two, they’re going to feel like you’re taking time that they don’t really have or don’t want to give it that point. So yeah, that’s, that’s really what it comes down to is reaching out, getting in front of them connecting with them, but not making them feel like they have to respond. But like I said, probably 70% of people that I do that with do respond, and they do shoot a quick email back and, and we get to carry on the conversation from there.
David Ralph [22:11]
Okay, so the lesson to the listeners on this one is go through your contacts, don’t even look at the ones that you would deem as be valuable or not. But basically construct a template that you can send out every quarter or whatever, change it. So it doesn’t get boring, but just kind of go, Hi, this is what I’m doing. Blah, blah, blah. Simple as that. And don’t ask for anything in return.
Mark Sieverkropp [22:37]
Well, I and also at the end of the show here, David, I do have a link for your listeners that I actually put together a PDF of, you know, some tips to create these emails, and then some actual templates that I’ve used in the past. So I’ll give that to you at the end. And people are more than welcome to go and, and input their email, and I’ll send that to them as well.
David Ralph [22:57]
Brilliant. That is great news. Now, the second thing that I’d like to talk about, and I must admit, I’ve only just started discovering this this week is Twitter. Now, for years, I have kind of dabbled with Twitter, and used it when it comes to me. Oh, I should I should send out a tweet here. I should do something along, right. And people said to me, do you respond to people’s tweets and do and what? No, no, I don’t, because I just can’t keep up with them. There’s too many flying around. And this week, I’ve discovered something which has literally changed my life mark, it has changed me. It has made me a man in Twitter land. And I’m sure you’re gonna go dog. Yeah, I’ve been using this for years. But it’s something called commune.it c o m? m, you n.it? Do you use this?
Mark Sieverkropp [23:48]
I don’t I you need to tell me what it’s about now.
David Ralph [23:51]
Ah, this is this is brilliant. I’m actually looking at it at the moment. So what I found with Twitter was that I was having to look at it all the time to see things coming up to me. And I just couldn’t keep up with it with thousands of emails coming through to the show now. And a lot of them are, you know, basically offering me stuff and a lot of its prey pretty shady stuff that you get. So I didn’t want get involved in it. Now if you go to commune it, so C o m m, you and it, you get a dashboard for an account. And as I’m looking at it at the moment, it breaks it up into thank new followers share the love, consider to reply. So for example, I’ve had some replies from people. But it tells me how many Twitter followers they’ve got, whether they’re a supporter of the show I How many times have I tweeted out my my tweet username. And so I’ve got one who’s like, I won’t get their name email. But I’ve got 24,000 followers, and they categorise them as a supporter. And then there’s one that’s a 52,000 followers, and now an influencer. So I should reply to them. And it takes all the emails, and it sets it up into actions. These are the ones you should think of replying to, these are the ones that you don’t have to reply to. These are ones that aren’t following you and all those kinds of stuff. And it’s taken taking my world by storm this week. And I just opened it up and I look at it. And I think Oh yes, I respond to those tweets, where I was trying to syphon through thousands and thousands of thousands of them to be able to build up the relationships. So this week, I’ve had probably six or seven guests of the show, get booked up through this, just because I can see how many influences I’ve got, how many followers vaping, I can have a look at their history and find out what they’ve been up to. And at the end of the day, I know that it’s going to be worthwhile for me having them on the show, because obviously they have got further influence to tweet out to the show. And it’s just, it’s just absolutely brilliant. It’s free to begin with, which is good for all the listeners out there. But then if you want to go into sort of the sexy, additional stuff with multiple Twitter accounts and all that you do have to pay, but I’m using it for free. And for what it’s showing me. I think it’s worth its weight in gold.
Mark Sieverkropp [26:13]
Yeah, it sounds like it. That’s awesome. One thing, I will caution you on being new to Twitter, may I share some advice? That is why you’re here, sir. Okay, good. Hey, that’s true. Um, you know, one of the things I found and, and while influencers are great, I’ve noticed that sometimes the best champions of what you’re doing will be people that are at your level or below. And so as you’re looking at that, you know, I think that’s great, because yeah, you’re right, you get a lot of stuff that just doesn’t matter. And apparently, you’re just more popular than I am. Because, you know, if you’re having that much trouble keeping track of everybody
David Ralph [26:48]
didn’t want to say I’m not so didn’t want to say.
Mark Sieverkropp [26:52]
But since I brought it up, right, but no, I I think that’s great. And, you know, that is one of the challenges when you get into Twitter is there’s just so much going on, obviously, you want to get more followers, and you want to follow more people. But, you know, like you said, I mean, things come so quickly, if I have my, you know, just regular Twitter com dashboard up, I mean, you know, I’ll get, you know, 2030 tweets and, you know, 10 seconds. And it’s like, how do you keep up with that. And, and one of the other things that people can do on Twitter is I use lists a lot, you can set up a list for the people that you really want to connect with, you know, I have list for a few different things. And and that helps you really to focus on people. So if there’s somebody that follows me that I, I really think I’d like to create a relationship with and get to know a little bit better, I’ll throw them onto a list of you know, people I’m building relationship with. And then I can look at that list and see only those people and that allows me to interact with them and allows me to not miss their tweets, because I have so much going on. With the other tweets, I really never look at my, my, I don’t even know what they call it. But you know, the the home feed with everybody’s I very rarely will look through that unless I’m bored, really. But you know, using something like community meet commune it, which I pulled up as you’re talking, it looks awesome. You know, using lists, using, you know, I will search one of the things I do because I talk about a lot about networking is all search for the hashtag networking. And then it’ll just bring up everybody that’s talking about networking, and I’ll get to focus on those specific things. Right, let’s
David Ralph [28:19]
slow you down on that, because that is something that I’m aware of what you’re talking about. But for the listeners out there, they may not realise the power of hashtags. And once again, yes, I didn’t realise the power of hashtags. They were just like silly things to be put at the end of stuff. But that that is really the Rocket Power that makes a network work on your behalf, doesn’t it?
Mark Sieverkropp [28:40]
Yeah, it is. I mean, you’re right. I think a lot of people don’t understand that. It’s just a funny way to say something. And there is some of that too. And I certainly use it that way as well. But, but yeah, you can use it to, you know, bunch things together and see only the things you want to see. So when I, when I go and hit search on Twitter, or you know, if you’re using hoots sweet, or any of those sort of services, and you search for that hashtag, then it brings just those things together. So, you know, say you’re, you know, selling I don’t know, toilet paper or something, I guess you could look for the hashtag toilet paper and see everybody that’s talking about toilet paper. And that’s why on TV, you see companies now putting a certain hashtag, if they’re doing some sort of marketing promotion, because they want, I would, I would venture to guess it’s more so for them than it is for us as the consumer, but they do it so that they can see everybody and what everybody’s talking about within that context. And so yeah, it’s it’s really powerful. And it’s one of the ways that Twitter allows you to see the things you want to see and not get lost in that, you know, that. That home screen of everybody’s tweets. So no, I love Twitter. I think Twitter’s fantastic. One of the reasons I think that Twitter is so good for networking is, you know, you know, David, if you and I were, you know, out at a restaurant and and having dinner and we saw somebody else having a conversation across the room, we’re having
David Ralph [29:59]
a relationship, keeping your head him up. Just a friendship. Are you telling me something?
Mark Sieverkropp [30:04]
Hey, maybe we’re getting ready to go to a game, I don’t know. But just having a good time. And, and we’re across the across the room we hear some guys talking about? You know, I don’t know, whatever. And we walk over and we just interrupt their conversation and start talking to him. That’d be a little bit weird. We might get punched, we certainly we get some dirty looks like why are you interrupting my conversation. But that’s normal on Twitter. Nobody thinks twice. If I tweet somebody, and then somebody else comments and asked and mentioned something about it to me, nobody thinks twice. So you have this opportunity to meet people, you know, that are talking about the same things as you are whether it’s you know, based on, you know, this list you’ve created or based on looking at the hashtag, or, you know, anything like that you can create and start relationships with people, because that’s a normal thing. It’s normal for you to respond to somebody people want you to, you know, you see some of the things people tweet, they’re certainly inviting responses. And so that, as from a net working perspective, allows you to interact with people that that and build your network in a way that you wouldn’t be able to, you know, in face to face conversations, probably.
David Ralph [31:08]
So I’m going to ask you a million dollar question here. But I want to have listeners out there are all our listeners, I know that they’ve got these idea of businesses in their head, is it advisable for them to start building their network before they start building the business? Or should they build a business and being go out to the network,
Mark Sieverkropp [31:27]
I would start building your build your network first. You know, it’s that it’s back to what I said earlier, where it’s the best time to build a planet tree is 20 years ago, if you have the network, and if you even have an inkling of what you’re going to do with it, that allows you to focus your your networking efforts a little bit towards that. But even if you don’t, what I found is that having a network, you know, I might not know somebody that can help me with this business, I don’t want to start but you know, David, you might know somebody, and you may be able to introduce me to them three years from now when I decided to start my business. So if I start building these relationships now, you know, you’re going to have you know, you’re going to have you know, like you were talking about your supporters, people that will encourage you and help you, you’re going to have you know, business coach type people that can give you advice that have already been there that you’ve built, putting your network, you’re going to have clients that you’ve put into your network. So all these things are ready made, and having those relationships is so vital to starting a business. You know, it’s funny, you bring this up, because my wife and I, we were just talking about this last week, there’s a friend of mine here in town that started a little taco shop, and her husband started and and I went to school with both of them. And I ran into her in the store the other day, and I said, you know, Hey, did you you started that taco shop up the road, right? And she said, Yeah, and it was telling me how it’s, you know, handmade taco or handmade tortillas and just sounded delicious. And I said, Well, I need to go try it. And he comes right. And I told my wife, I’m going to try it. And I said, I probably would have tried it at some point, I said, I made it a point to go try it because I knew them and I had a relationship with Him. And that same thing happens with any business you start, people will support you and give you encouragement in the beginning, because they know you, and they will make it a point to help you. Because they know you. So if you haven’t built that network, you’re gonna, you know, it’s a much more uphill battle than it could have been, if you would have just had these people that are willing to support you that you’ve spent years adding value to them. If you do that, they will reciprocate. So I would say absolutely start building your network today. So that when you do whatever it is you want to do one month from now, one year from now, 10 years from now, you have that support system in place already.
David Ralph [33:36]
I’ve been that is brilliant advice. And if I could go back in time, which I do every day on Join Up Dots. But I think I would focus more on Twitter than I did on Facebook, I thought Facebook was the way to build my network. But really Twitter, that’s the power isn’t it, that’s that’s the ones that go straight to the core of it.
Mark Sieverkropp [33:54]
I think so. And when what I found is that, you know, the people that I’m on Twitter with that I build relationships there, then we sometimes will switch it over to Facebook, and we’ll you know, add one another, they’re on Facebook. And then then we can continue that relationship there. But you know, there’s that natural barrier of somebody has to agree, you know, to be in contact with you on Facebook, they have to allow you to add them as a friend. And you know, it is a I would say it’s more intimate, you get to get to learn more about people’s lives and what they do. And that’s great. But Twitter, I found is one of the ways that I can start that relationship. And then it’s not weird when we become friends on Facebook, because I was I was one of the people. And I don’t know if you were this way, David. But up until probably six months ago, I kind of separated Facebook. And it was like the people that I actually knew I didn’t want anybody else on there. I just wanted the people I actually knew from real life. And I started realising that that was very dumb, because of the conversation you and I have been having this morning. You know, I’ve built great relationships with, you know, people like you and you know, I was listening to the day to the interview you did with Come on z constable and we’re friends on Facebook now. And, and you know, people like that that are really I guess you would say my online friends. But having them on Facebook, as well as taking that to another level. And it’s allowed me to see what their kids are doing and see what they’re doing for vacation in a way that Twitter doesn’t. But by starting with Twitter, it’s not as weird when you can, you know, you can kind of get to know the people that you really want to get to know and they will, you know, allow you to, to be friends with them on Facebook as well. So yeah, it’s a it’s a different dynamic. And there’s different, you know, certainly different benefits to both. But yeah, for meeting people, I would say Twitter’s probably better, because, you know, there’s no, you know, there’s nothing to stop you from tweeting, really anybody? I mean, I could tweet, you know, the President of the United States if I wanted to? Not Not that he’s going to respond, but I could. And in theory,
David Ralph [35:49]
why do you think he wouldn’t respond? Because that’s so I thought he might be
Unknown Speaker [35:53]
that. I thought that’s correct, yeah,
Mark Sieverkropp [35:56]
with nothing to do
with just checking his Twitter account, but now you know, a lot of people have people that that manage those. But the fact is that I found that really, when it gets down to a lot of people that are really, really busy, and, quote unquote, important, do use their own Twitter accounts. And, and I’ve met people that, you know, 10 years ago, before Twitter was around, I never would have had access access to, because they were on Twitter. And because I sent them a tweet, and they responded, and I’ve had friends, you know, conversations with people that, that I look up to, and people that are very successful that, you know, you wouldn’t get to have otherwise. So that’s another benefit. You know, certainly for somebody like me that lives literally in the middle of nowhere, I get to have these conversations, and this this interaction with with very successful people that I would love to learn from, that I wouldn’t be able to have any other way because I can’t go down to the chamber event and talk to him because they live across the country or they live, you know, across the ocean in your case, you know, so those types of people, it’s fantastic to build relationships using Twitter, because you have access to them. And you can, you know, get a response every once in a while. And it’s a lot of fun. It really is. And, you know, you also get to meet a lot of other people that you wouldn’t ever get to meet any other way because they either respond to you or you respond to them and, and you get to start that relationship.
David Ralph [37:14]
So So you think that Barack Obama is too busy to respond. But all these other guys that you’re talking about these these movers and shakers in the world will actually respond to you. Where do you get that kind of little self limiting thought for Barac, but the other ones you go? Yeah, I’ll just send it out to the neck and respond.
Mark Sieverkropp [37:34]
Well, without getting into politics too much. It’s probably more of a matter of one I probably wouldn’t tweet him into I wouldn’t care whether he responded or
David Ralph [37:42]
not going to tweet now. I’m not gonna say mark, so he doesn’t like you. Right? But right. Make
Mark Sieverkropp [37:47]
sure you use my Twitter handle so he knows who I am. He’s, uh, yeah,
David Ralph [37:52]
just gonna tweet. He’s the man in the blue shirt, the chequered blue shirt and the ADA.
Unknown Speaker [37:59]
All right,
David Ralph [38:00]
fat guy always wears blue chequered shirts,
Mark Sieverkropp [38:02]
right, we’re gonna wear we’ll find out that he’s actually a follower of mine. That would be interesting.
David Ralph [38:07]
That would be fun.
Mark Sieverkropp [38:09]
That would be fun.
David Ralph [38:10]
I’ll tell you something. He said, I wasn’t gonna say this on the show. But I got told this. And I’ve been told this about three or four times. Now, I with emails, and I don’t know if this is true. If there’s anybody out there listening, and I really know this isn’t true. please drop me an email because I’ve been listening to this this theory for years and years and years. But if you send an email to your mate across the desk, so from one side of the office to the other camp, and you say, what you saying first one, you go, hello, how are you? And you send it? Okay, well, now we’re going to do it separately. The first one you do you send, I make bombs, okay, in the subject title, and you send it and the second one, you say hello, how are you? there? Hello, how are you? Well, we’ll get there first, because the bombs goes off somewhere and they check out to make sure that you’re not a lunatic. That makes me want to try it. I’ve always wanted to try it. But then I suddenly don’t want to be dragged off my recording chair. Right and thrown into a Turkish jail somewhere. I don’t know what a lovely
Mark Sieverkropp [39:19]
if they probably are. I, you know, part of me wants to do that, while we’re on the air here is just send them and we’ll have a live test. But yeah, I don’t know that could be true. But yeah, you should probably be careful what you say.
David Ralph [39:30]
Yes. Yes. I’ve never tried that. I’ve never tried that. That’s just the theory. And as a public speaker, I’m allowed to share theories to the world. But let’s Yes, let’s get back to your networking. And then I won’t get into trouble. And I’m looking at the garden now to see if any, any sort of main upcoming guard suits, ducking under the Washington to try to get to me. So we talked about Twitter, we’ve talked about emails, I suppose the next one that is the big one is LinkedIn. And certainly people have told me that linked in is the Gods gift nowadays, if you know how to use it.
Mark Sieverkropp [40:09]
I think that’s true. My I’m, I’m still in the process of getting to use it everything that it has, I found that there’s several things that that is very good. For Business, when you’re building a business, or you’re trying to connect with people as far as careers, it’s fantastic. And the thing is, it’s built to connect with people. And that’s really where its value comes from is they’ve added all sorts of features that allow you to build relationships, you know, some of the things that I’ve noticed recently is, if you send an email, or a, you know, I guess they call it a message or an email or whatever, to somebody on LinkedIn on the right hand sidebar, it will say, you know, how did you and so and so meet and who introduced you, so you can start to build this profile of you know, how you know, this person, and it’ll have a list of the last emails that you’ve sent them through LinkedIn. So you can go back and look and see when you talk to them last and yeah, so it, it has all of these features that allow you to really manage your network. And, and I think that is the challenges, realising what all the features are, and then using the ones that that makes sense to you. But it’s certainly your right is, is a very valuable tool. As you’re building your network, because it has that focus, it’s not focused on, you know, what you had for lunch that day, you know, it’s not focused on, you know, where you’re going for holiday next month, it’s set, it’s set to, to help you grow your network and build your network, and it has a lot of tools that allow you to do that. And, you know, one of the ones that I’ve used recently, and I think actually, actually, I think I used it on you is is LinkedIn recommendations, you
David Ralph [41:48]
know, MIMO, okay.
Mark Sieverkropp [41:51]
Let’s just leave it at that. But recommendations are one of the things that I found or the one of the best ways to build a relationship with somebody because you go, you’re your list, and you click on the person that you know, for whatever reason, and, and you can leave them a short recommendation for really anything that they’ve done, you know, you can choose which which, you know, job title you want to recommend them for, and then you just leave a nice little note of why you think they’re great at that, and why you would recommend them. And I’ve had that had tonnes of value, I think I got an email back from you. And I did it for you saying thank you, and you appreciate it. I had a friend of mine that I did it for, that thanked me literally four times within a week, because I had sent the you know, given them his recommendation on LinkedIn. So I would I haven’t stopped event. Wasn’t, but I know they have not got us there. No, no. Yeah, it was, it was through email the first time I ran into him at a business function later that that week, and they thanked me once at the beginning and once at the end. And so yeah, it was a it was, it was fun. And I kept saying, hey, you just you know, you get what you deserve, when it comes to LinkedIn, LinkedIn recommendations for me. And that’s why I keep telling people, if if I like you, if I think you’ve done a good job at whatever it is, you’re doing, more than happy to recommend you. And it’s an easy way to do it. But I think the big value from that comes from it begins a conversation, you and it allows you another way to interact with this person. You know, David, you and I talk fairly frequently. But when when I get left that recommendation, you know, you emailed me and said, Hey, thanks. And that allowed us another email conversation that I think lasted most of the rest of that day. And so the key with with networking is just finding ways to reach out to people and finding ways to interact with them. Because that’s how you grow that that network. And that’s how you grow that relationship. So finding ways to open that door is really what’s important.
David Ralph [43:40]
And so once again, mark on that you’re just providing value around you, you’re giving your giving, because the thing that I always find on linked in, is when people endorse you, and once you build up quite a big network, quite a lot of those people have never met. And quite a lot of people I’ve never even spoken to at a date just read want to connect with me in any early days. I used to think to myself, no, I don’t know you, I’m not going to connect and now kind of thing. Well, it might be useful somewhere along the line Connect, connect, and they endorse you for all these kind of things, I think, how can I do that? But you don’t know me? How do I know that I can do great things.
Mark Sieverkropp [44:13]
Right? Well, and you know, honestly, That, to me, I’m very selective with my endorsements because of that, and I have the same feeling. It’s like, somebody endorsed me for something and it’s like, you have no idea if I do that or not, you have no idea if I’m good at doing that. So I’m very selective personally when I endorse somebody, because when I endorse them, I want it to mean something. And that’s the way I would recommend people using it. But you’re right, yeah, people do just, I think go along, and it gives you suggestions. It’s like this so and so know about this, and you can say yes, and that endorses them. But I think for me, I really try to keep it personal, because I want to be able to use that to build that relationship with them. And so I will only endorse people if I know for a fact that they do that. And I’ve seen them do it, or I have knowledge that they do it. And I think they’re good at it. Because that way it means something. And that goes back to the adding value thing, if you just, you know, indiscriminately endorse everybody for everything. People are going to realise that and they’re going to realise that, you know, you don’t really mean it admit, yeah, maybe somebody will see and say, Wow, you know, David Ralph has been endorsed 37 times for walking puppies? I don’t know. But does it really mean anything? Then if it’s just because somebody pushed a button, though?
David Ralph [45:26]
I did. I kind of I drag them now.
Mark Sieverkropp [45:31]
I’m glad you took a break for a second to chat with me. Really?
David Ralph [45:34]
Yeah, absolutely. I can’t have too many puppies in my life. But um, it’s, it’s brilliant, what you’re saying, because it’s so simple. And there’s not one person listening to this within the thousands and the millions of Join Up Dots. I’ve got to choose what I’m going to call them joiners, doctors, whatever. But who can provide a value back to people to genuinely say, How can I help you with can all do that the hard beer is trying to get money out of people. And the way you’re doing it, you’re not doing it, doing it doing it at all. And then ultimately, people are going to come to you because you’ve built up trust. They know that you’re not after something. You’ve got honesty and integrity running through you. It’s it seems too easy Mr. Seaver crop?
Mark Sieverkropp [46:23]
Well, you know, one of the things that I found, and I’ve seen this taught several times through people that teach, you know, sales processes. And I think this is becoming more than norm. But what I found is if you add enough value to people, they literally will look for ways to reciprocate to pay you back for that. A great example is I downloaded an app for my iPhone, and it was free. And it added it was so helpful for me ironically, it helped me with my networking connecting with people. But it was so helpful that I was telling friends, I’m like, Man, I’m just trying to find a way to send the creators of this app $5, because it added so much value. And I think that’s the way people are, if you will consistently add value, they will literally look for ways to help you. Because they feel it obligated to help you. And you know, that’s where you want to be. And not because you want to, you know, be able to blackmail people and say, Hey, you know, I helped you this many times, David, you know, you should, you really should buy my course. But because they feel like they want to because you’ve built that relationship, you know them, you’re friends with them, they, every time you turn, they turn around, you’re helping them somehow. And when you do that, they will be the first ones in line to buy your product when you have a product come out, or at the very least, you know, share it with their network and encourage people to buy it. And that’s really what you want. You want people that are, you know, I guess the evangelists for what you’re doing, you know, they the people that are part of your fan club, as it were, rather than, you know, trying to convince people that that what you’re doing is good, just having people that want to help you. And that’s really what it comes down to. And yeah, it might seem easy, I guess maybe it’s a little bit simpler, but but I really do feel that, you know, we build relationships first. And then, you know, we’re compensated because of that. And we have people that will support us after we do that,
David Ralph [48:09]
if you can help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want or something. Ziegler always says exactly. And that’s a phrase you’ve got tattooed up your arm.
Mark Sieverkropp [48:18]
I love that’s one of my favourite quotes that has been for several years, because it’s so true. And it it really is, it’s difficult, because it’s not, you know, start your business today and you get sales tomorrow, it’s not that way. It’s, it’s a cultivation, it’s a, it’s a long term process. But if you’re willing to invest in it, you know, I completely agree with what Ziegler says, you know, you will be able to get anything you want. If you help enough other people do that, you know, get what they want. And that’s really the the essence of the way that I look at networking, the way I would encourage your listeners to look at networking is to, to add value, and really be focused on adding that value and everything else will take care of itself. You know, I was talking to Tom Ziegler the other night, who is the son of the late Zig. And he was saying that they reckon that he’s dead, Zig has influenced 250 million people worldwide. That’s like being Jesus or something is Wow. Wow, that’s impressive. I’m not surprised at all. But yeah, that isn’t, that’s very impressive. And I think that, you know, I think that’s evidence of that, that exact belief, you know, you don’t get to influence that many people unless you’ve helped that many people get what they want, you know, that many people add some sort of value to their life. That’s how you get to that influence. You know, and I think all of us want to be in a position where, you know, we matter and we, you know, have influence in that, that people care about us and care what we do, and the only way you do that is by caring about other people and helping other people. And once you’ve done that with enough people, then it’s snowballs and, and you all of a sudden, your sons on a podcast and talking about how how their their dad is, you know, helps, you know are influenced. What does that happen? billion people? That’d be like, a quarter of a billion people. Well, a lot of people
David Ralph [50:03]
Yeah, what we have different opinions are different than your billions in the United States. Yeah, we have. We have, what, seven? zeros you have it or something? No, yeah.
Mark Sieverkropp [50:15]
Yeah. That’s interesting.
David Ralph [50:17]
Yeah. So if you’re a billionaire in England, does that mean that you’re richer than the billionaire in America? know, if you’re a billionaire in America, you richer because you’ve got more zeros.
Mark Sieverkropp [50:28]
It also means it will take us longer to get there. Unless you
see now, these are the reasons I have trust issues, because now every time I hear about a billionaire in England, I’m gonna be like, Really? Are they really a billionaire? Or they just like an English billionaire?
David Ralph [50:42]
And you say, this is why you Come on Join Up Dots. You don’t just get the
Unknown Speaker [50:46]
nice things.
David Ralph [50:46]
Yeah, you learn if you type bomb on an email, you get into trouble you learn, right? This is the kind of stuff that might see show award winning. I haven’t won any awards, but they’re becoming they’re becoming you should.
Mark Sieverkropp [50:59]
I’m going to went up for you
David Ralph [51:00]
see, you’re providing value to me.
Mark Sieverkropp [51:03]
I’m going to tweet that out after this. I’m going to say did you know that the English billionaires aren’t as riches? American billionaires? Yeah,
David Ralph [51:09]
absolutely. That’s the way to do it. I tell you what, while we’ve been talking, just because the last thing I want to talk about is Facebook, because I think that’s the fourth of the Yeah, the big group of them. But I just had a tweet that’s come through to me. And this is interesting, because I won’t tell you who the the name is the tweeter name. But it says, I have a radio show on FM radio, but artist interviews, email, blah, blah, blah, for details. Send your Twitter name and bio. Now he’s doing that totally wrong. Because I’m looking at that. Yeah. What the hell am I gonna respond to that?
Mark Sieverkropp [51:40]
Yeah, exactly. You know, and it uh, I get those sometimes the ones that I love is when you follow somebody, and you get the robo message afterwards, saying, thanks for following me. Please download my free book here.
David Ralph [51:54]
I was like, Wait, hold on what I love. Oh, I love that. It’s getting us onto the land Terminator, isn’t it that the world is being controlled?
Mark Sieverkropp [52:04]
Yeah. You know, the ones that are even better than that are the people that I’ve had a few that do this. It’s like, thanks for following me. Please retweet my tweet, and then they’ll give you like the link to the tweet.
David Ralph [52:14]
I live for a while. I like I’m not gonna get involved in it. I just see it. But yeah, as I say he’s like, it’s like a weird Terminator. Step forward, isn’t it? Yeah. What are you doing for a while? Follow me. I will I will kill you.
Mark Sieverkropp [52:31]
That is a really good Arnold Schwarzenegger impression that wasn’t
David Ralph [52:33]
bad. Was it? I’ll just make the opposite.
Mark Sieverkropp [52:34]
That was good. That was that was nice. I like that. There. You know, there was there was a while there. And I don’t do this anymore. But there’s a while that I was frustrated with those types of messages. And I would actually unfollow people right away. And sometimes they would even send them a message and say, Yeah, why would I care what you have until you add value? But I don’t do that anymore. I just ignore them usually don’t respond. I’m going to tweet back to
David Ralph [52:54]
all those. Come with me if you want to live
Unknown Speaker [53:00]
will show you what better way. That’s a horrible impression. That was horrible. It was terrible. It was good.
Mark Sieverkropp [53:06]
So you’re you’re closer to Austria. That’s why,
David Ralph [53:09]
yes. And in Germany and all those kind of places. Yeah, we’re we’re, we’re closer to everything we’re closer to, to the nuts and bolts of what makes this planet great. And that’s that’s why the Americans, they they kind of create their own things don’t know, but don’t mean a lot to the rest of the world.
Mark Sieverkropp [53:22]
We’re kind of Cowboys, we’re kind of just Wild Wild West over here. We just do whatever we want.
David Ralph [53:27]
Oh, I love it. So Facebook,
Mark Sieverkropp [53:28]
late and blatant disregard to whatever you guys are doing really?
David Ralph [53:31]
Well. Yeah, I think that’s true. And that’s the way that we like it. We like you to not to know too much about us. So so you know, in the world of Facebook. Is that is that? Because in my head Mark bat is the last of the pile, basically, I would if I was talking to anyone. And they were saying, David, how do I really start networking? And I would go well, I’ve been with Marc Seaver crop someone, I can tell you a few things. And I would now go Twitter first, email, second, LinkedIn third, and Facebook a distant fourth? Would that be right? Or would you give a different spin on it?
Unknown Speaker [54:11]
I think
Mark Sieverkropp [54:13]
I think if you’re growing your network and trying to meet new people, yeah, Facebook’s the last and like we talked about previously that, you know, it’s very guarded. And it’s very, it’s very difficult to meet new people, you know, there’s a, a natural kind of suspicion, if somebody wants to add you as a friend and you don’t know who they are. And really, the way it works is, for me, at least, and you can tell me if you’re different. But when I get an email or a message from somebody, or friend request, I guess they call it. The first thing I look at is do I know them? And I’ll look at their page real quick. Okay, I don’t know who they are. The next thing I’ll look at is okay, it’ll say you have four mutual friends or you have no mutual friends. I look at the mutual friends. And that’s how I determine whether I’m going to add them or not. But I’m much more likely if I know who they are to add them. But after that, if I look at the mutual friends and I say okay, and I think I actually, I think I did this with you one time, David, there was a guy that wanted to add me and I’m like, hey, do you know so and so? Yeah, I don’t know that his boss. And I’m like, I go. I go, Well, they’re your friend on Facebook. So I figured maybe. But anyways, I think I actually ended up doing an interview with him. I think it was, it was it was Josh Denning from tropical.
Unknown Speaker [55:19]
Oh, yes. Yeah,
David Ralph [55:20]
I don’t know who he is at all.
Mark Sieverkropp [55:23]
I’m going to introduce you. I think you should be on his show. He’s a fantastic fellow. Is there a time that up other people’s shows? Are you too busy?
David Ralph [55:29]
No, I’m doing some good ones. I’m doing I’m on the soda preview hour on Monday. I’ve got
Mark Sieverkropp [55:36]
here you’re gonna be on the world changer show. Did I hear that?
David Ralph [55:39]
No, not the soda open up our That’s the one. We’ve missed them. I know. Mark. Hello, Neil. But
Mark Sieverkropp [55:45]
I am going to check that one out. But I have Matt McWilliams said he had you on his show or is going to
David Ralph [55:49]
he might want to have me but he hasn’t reached out.
Mark Sieverkropp [55:52]
Well, he’s going to, I’m going to mass. I’m gonna message him today.
Unknown Speaker [55:56]
You becoming a What do you think? I’ve been? You, you? That’s right.
Mark Sieverkropp [56:00]
I’ve introduced more people to podcast and I think anybody in the world is pretty impressive. If I could find a way to bottle that and sell it, it’d be fantastic.
David Ralph [56:06]
I bet you could really be logical. Because Yeah, we’re we’re in this this kind of environment where we die by our shows. And if we aren’t, if you’re doing a guest show like I do, and you haven’t got the guests coming through, that is the end of the day. And I’ve been in situations I do seven days a week. But I’ve got down to about five, and I think oh my god, and then I really focus for about two days. And then I sort of get it up again. And what I like I like to have about 30 in the bank. Right. So in case I get dragged off to a Turkish prison somewhat, the show is going to continue. And but if I can, you can get a nice, nice, lovely, the food’s lovely. I reckon you could do really well.
Mark Sieverkropp [56:52]
Well, and you know, I think that’s the you know, we joke about it. But that really is the essence of networking. I mean, I’ve been able to introduce Matt. And now this is turning into the mat show. This is weird. It’s like reciprocation, I’ve introduced him to several, you know, podcasts that he’s been on. And, and it’s a great way to add value. Because you know, if I have a connexion with somebody, because I’ve been on the show, and I can say, hey, you should be on so and so’s show that has huge value. You know, that’s a great way for people to get known and see other and have other people see them and find out who they are. And so it does, it adds a huge amount of value. So I’m actually offended for you that Matt hasn’t mentioned that to you. And I’m going to talk to him today. And we’re going to do it. No issue. That’s two podcasts I have to introduce you for
David Ralph [57:34]
it’s kind of like a blind date. Now you’re arranging a blind. Doesn’t. Do you want to go out with me.
Mark Sieverkropp [57:40]
He’s it? Yeah. He’s great. He’s great. He’s got a lovely singing voice, a beautiful accent. I’ve been told his legs are great. So just have a good time.
David Ralph [57:51]
And I’ll turn up and he’s I he’s not the Lord of the Rings when they see me.
Unknown Speaker [57:57]
You said it. I didn’t. Well, I see ya.
Mark Sieverkropp [58:01]
And then I got off track there. So I apologise. But yeah, Facebook is I think Facebook’s good for developing relationships, once you’ve built them. I don’t think it’s as good for meeting people. And, you know, growing your network per se, because it’s so garden, it’s so difficult to, I guess, talk to somebody that you haven’t ever talked to before. It’s just not done. And it’s a little bit weird, I think to people when you get a message from somebody you’ve never seen or talked to before. So yeah, for that, for that reason. Yeah, I would put it last if you’re trying to grow your network and meet new people and, and those types of things. But once you’ve met them, I think certainly it makes sense to you. And I guess upgrade them to a Facebook friend, you know, that’s my joke, I have it a joke with somebody that that I work with it. You know, we finally became friends on Facebook. And so now every time I, I see her, I always say Hey, friend, how’s it going? You know, and that’s just, it’s kind of a long running joke. But it’s you know, true, it’s a, it’s a big step in a relationship to be a Facebook friend.
David Ralph [58:55]
So we’re coming up to an hour now. And so what I want you to do, using your broad knowledge of networking techniques, can you narrow it down into the five kind of nuts and bolts steps that a newbie should focus on to be able to start building their network?
Mark Sieverkropp [59:13]
Five, wow, let me see if I can come up with five I’ve got I’ve got several that I like, I think the first thing is you have to know what you want, you have to know what you’re going for. So whether that’s like you said, you’re starting a business. And so you have, you know, influencers and potential clients that you want to, to get to know or whether it’s just you want to, you know, connect with people that follow the same sports team as you do, or, or whatever it is, you have to have a goal, you have to have something that you’re trying to do. And once you’ve done that, the next step I would give you and this is one that I’m I’m blatantly stealing and I know he’d be fine with it. From john Corcoran, who’s a big networking guru, I would call him. And he says to make a list of 50 people that you would like to build a relationship with in the next year. And I would I would tell you to do the same thing, make a list of people that you would like to connect with. This is probably some people that are above your level, but also probably some people that are about the same level that you know, do the same thing or would be beneficial. Make that list and you just kind of systematically look for opportunities to build those relationships. The third I would say is, is you have to, as we’ve talked about throughout this interview, you have to solidify the network you already have, you know, you have to reach out to those people that you haven’t talked to for a year or two and, and build that foundation, build build relationships with them. Because if you if you don’t do that first one, they’re going to be more forgiving. As you’re learning to network and you’re getting better at it, they’ll be they’ll be more forgiving. If you screw something up or you you say something wrong. But to I mean, it’s it’s really it’s, you know, it’s right at your fingertips, it’s untapped potential that you don’t have to do the hard work of building starting that relationship, all you have to do is grow that relationship and connect with them and continue reaching out for them. The fourth thing I would say is that for mine for now, you all boy, yeah, for Okay, the fourth I would say is you have to have some sort of plan some sort of process to continue to connect with these people, once you’ve met them, it’s no good to meet somebody. And I’ve said this many times on on my blog. And as I’m talking that, if you’re not going to follow up with somebody, after you meet them, you might as well not do it, you might as well not waste your time on Twitter or Facebook or, you know, networking events or whatever you doing, don’t waste your time, if you’re not gonna follow up. So have a process that you know how you’re going to follow up with people, you know, whether that’s you set aside a couple mornings a day, or a week, whether it’s you, you know, email them right afterwards, or you plan on sending a thank you note or whatever it is know how you’re going to follow up. Because if you don’t have that plan in place, these new people you meet will go along the wayside, and all of a sudden, they’ll be somebody that you haven’t talked to for two years, like we were talking about. And you know, the fifth thing is, you know, you go where people are, you know, it’s, it’s a challenge. But if you put yourself in positions to be able to meet new people, you’ll meet new people. And you know, when you’re when you’re terrified or scared to do that. I think if you put yourself in those positions, it makes it easier. And if you are scared of that Twitter’s a great place to start, I would start on Twitter, because like I said, it’s not weird, if you jump into somebody’s conversation, it has to start having a conversation with them. And you can build relationships very, very easily without a lot of the nervous, you know, building relationships with people, it’s easy to do. So those are the five things that I would say the the things that you should start with, you know, and as we’re getting to the end here, David, I would, I would tell your listeners that that they certainly, you know, have two free things that I’ll give to them if they go to this link. And they will help you with those things. One is that reach out email and the other is a little free report on how to start a conversation with people. So I can give you that link now or we can do it later. Whatever you’d like to do. But I think that’ll help people.
David Ralph [1:02:55]
What What do we have that all on the show notes we at the end, and then they can just go to the show notes. I can click that and bang, they’re connected. So I suppose in summary of everything, and you did an amazing job of summarising that, and I bet you’re glad I think over the top 10 things.
Unknown Speaker [1:03:09]
But um, yeah, we still would have been juggling them. Yeah,
David Ralph [1:03:12]
yeah. I’m is kind of keep it real, although I was joking about that the Terminator and automating everything about not taking the sociability side away from it, he’s got to be right, you linking one to 112 groups, whatever, but being personable while you’re doing it.
Mark Sieverkropp [1:03:30]
Absolutely, I think that’s, that’s really the key. You know, I’ve heard several people say that nobody wants to do business with corporations anymore. They want to do business with people. And you know, if you want to grow your network, you have to be a real person, you know, you have to, you have to actually be the one tweeting, you have to actually be the one sharing things, you have to be the one responding. And if you’ll do that, and people get to know who you are, and they’ll want to connect with you. And so yeah, you have to be real, you have to, you know, share the good and, you know, the the fun things, the the enjoyable things, you know, that’s one of the things I like to do is just, you know, let my humour show through, and, you know, crack some jokes and make fun of some people and tease people and, and as you do that, and in good nature, I think that’s when you attract people because you know, it, it builds on those, you know, it’s those same types of things that we like and people that we meet in person. And you just have to find the most efficient way to do that on these various social networks. And as you do that, you will grow your network and you’ll meet people and you’ll naturally attract people that that are a good fit for your network.
David Ralph [1:04:30]
Well, it’s been a delight having you on the show. So let’s build your network. So how can our audience connect with you?
Mark Sieverkropp [1:04:37]
Well, the I think one of the best ways to get ahold of me is on Twitter and my Twitter handle is at s Cropsey that’s s kr o p p to and so I love talking with people on there and getting to know them. My my blog Seaver Seaver crop calm I blog on there once a week I actually in following in your footsteps David. I’ve started a audio blog, which is a podcast of sorts. And I repeat it quite a lot. Did you? I did.
David Ralph [1:05:04]
Did you not even notice?
Mark Sieverkropp [1:05:07]
I’m gonna have to go look here and go to iTunes, don’t you? You know why I didn’t fit in. You know, I didn’t see it because you’re in the UK. And so now I gotta go switch to my iTunes to UK to see it.
David Ralph [1:05:17]
So you know, typical Americans, I only
Mark Sieverkropp [1:05:19]
find themselves. That’s right. They get out of themselves all the time. You know, so so that’s a great way and thank you for that. I’m going to go look at it now. And then I’m going to share it with everybody that used you the David Ralph commented and reviewed my podcasts. And then you know, I I do love connecting with people David and so you know, I have no problems sharing my my personal email. It’s mark at Seaver crop com, would love to hear from you. And we didn’t get into this. But let me share really quickly one of my best networking tips. When people on PR on podcasts, give you their email, email them. They’ve invited you to build a relationship with them, and nobody does it. Matter of fact, David, that’s how you and I met. You know, we were on. We’re on the hip hop to your career podcast, and I put my email out and I asked a question. And David Ralph responded,
David Ralph [1:06:09]
and it was was a really stupid question. That’s why it was
Mark Sieverkropp [1:06:12]
it was a it was a ridiculous question. I’m, I’m surprised you didn’t call me all sorts of names in the email. And if people want to know what that was, then go back to my other interview with you. But um, you know, I found that nobody does that. But I have connected with so many people that are fantastic contacts, because they were on a podcast, they said, Yeah, email me at blah, blah, blah. And I haven’t asked a lot of people, but my guess is very few people actually do that. And it’s an invitation to, you know, connect with these people. They’re inviting you to talk to them. And so, you know, yeah, I’m inviting you to talk to me, all of you Join Up Dots or joiners or whatever you’re calling them. So market Seaver crop calm is a great way to get ahold of me. And I’d love to chat with you and get to know you a little bit better.
David Ralph [1:06:55]
Well, it’s been absolute delight having you on the show a second time, mate. And thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining those dots and getting out of bed at the crack of dawn is as it got light yet where
Mark Sieverkropp [1:07:06]
it’s just starting to. I’m looking out the window and it’s just getting to that dawn stage.
David Ralph [1:07:11]
So yeah, yeah. I professional to be able to do that. So
Mark Sieverkropp [1:07:15]
please come back to hop in the bed. And you
know, no, often the veterans,
David Ralph [1:07:18]
I’ll tell you what afternoon, I wish it was mid, mid afternoon. Jumping into bed only means one thing, but it’s a family show. So we’re not going to go over it. And the wife isn’t around anyway. So I’ll get into a real big trouble. Right. So please come back again, when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Mr. Marc Seaver crop once again. Thank you so much. Good day, sir.
Outro [1:07:49]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practice. This is including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free. And we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [1:08:15]
Yes, hello there. Do you know during the show, I was looking through the iTunes reviews. Everyone’s left. Oh, I’ve had some amazing ones. Well, every single one is amazing. They’re all five star. Why will they not be five star? Because it’s a five star show. But I haven’t seen one from you. Is it something I’ve said? Is it is it me? Please tell me Is it me? Well, if it’s just not oversight, please make amends by going over to iTunes and looking for Join Up Dots with David Ralph. And if you could find a few moments to leave a five star rating and review our would be absolutely amazing. And it will really push my show further up the rankings and make it more of a show that I want to deliver to you on a daily basis. So if you could do that, thank you so much. And I tell you what, I might even come mow your lawn is Sunday.
