Real Connections-Meaningful Results One Conversation at a Time w/Ben Albert -15

Shawna: 0:00

Today's guest has an unlikely path of finding his way into his purpose and his current role as an entrepreneur. As you listen to a story, you'll enjoy seeing the breadcrumbs and glimpses of possibility that he stacked together to find his way. His approach to networking keeps connection and giving at its core, which is something I definitely find resonance with. My favorite part for our conversation though, was actually his approach to self care, which is different than any other conversations we've had so far in the show. I think you'll like it as well. He also left us with a great collection of takeaways and applications for your life that I think will enjoy. There's three of them, so be sure to stay to the very end. Welcome to The Grit Show, Growth on Purpose. I'm so glad you found us. I'm Shawna Rodrigues and I'm honored to be leading you on today's journey as part of this community growing together as seekers and thrivers. And now for a little more information about our guest. Ben is the owner of B Albert marketing, LLC. He's also the curator of the real business connections network, where he hosts five podcasts. Once an underdog. Now a successful entrepreneur, Ben is passionate about helping other underdogs achieve their dreams. Ben is on a mission to move the needle on 1 million careers, one conversation at a time. And I got to have one of those conversations, which I'm thrilled about. And now all of you get to be part of a conversation too. Welcome Ben. I was so glad you got to be here today.

Ben: 1:27

It's two sided, Shauna. I'm so excited to be here, humble to be here and really excited for our conversation. I don't know where it's gonna go. Exactly.

Shawna: 1:34

That's part of the fun. Yes. Well, I'm excited to learn a few things from you, but I would love for us just to start a little bit more about your journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

Ben: 1:46

Yeah, I, I didn't have a single entrepreneur on my wall when I was a kid, never anticipated, I'd have a podcast or a business. Um, I had photos of Michael Jordan and Vince Carter and all these basketball players cuz when I was a kid. I was, obsessed with basketball, like obsessed Jersey for every single day of the week. I don't think I ever remember washing any of them, but I'm pretty sure my mom took care of that for me,

Shawna: 2:11

Oh, good.

Ben: 2:11

cuz I basically lived in a basketball Jersey at the same time. I was a very quiet kid. If anything, I was like reclusive. Like I barely spoke the first 13 years of my life was incredibly shy and it was humorous cuz I was the smallest kid in school. The smallest boy, the only smaller person was a little girl, Olivia Lee. So I was the second smallest person in school, but I wanted to be a basketball

Shawna: 2:36

Yeah, you want to break some rules?

Ben: 2:37

I wanted to break some rose and I played all day every day and was obsessed with it. But as I got older and everyone continued to get bigger and get a growth spurt, I of course stayed the same height was small and actually started making myself smaller, Shawna. Like, I didn't wanna be bullied. I wasn't like the kind of person that wanted to fight back. So I just wanted to do my own thing and I kind of just stayed in the shadows and really didn't focus on school. Didn't really think I'd amount to anything was really kind of sad. And, you know, I don't wanna put anyone on the spot when my father was an alcoholic and I really kind of felt disconnected at home. So I never saw myself as a media personality or starting a business. Like I was just trying to figure out what my next step was gonna. Now high school comes and you know, it's legal in New York now. So not that big of a deal. I started smoking pot in high school and my friend, Brendan G shout out to Brendan introduced me to like the music scene, like took me to my first concert. And before you know it, I was obsessed with music. I feel like I'm a very obsessed person. So I was obsessed with basketball that didn't work out for me, became obsessed with the music industry. I had a guitar, drums. I took some cool pictures with it, but wasn't really the best guitar player, but where my sweet spot seemed to be was in the promotion. And I didn't understand what I was doing at the time, but I was just handing out flyers. I was setting up my space pages. Um, I was like the one selling merchandise. There's a local band from Rochester, New York, where I'm from weird band. They're called Giant Panda Gorilla Dub Squad. No one's ever really heard of them.

Shawna: 4:24

But ifyou had; you would not forget that name.

Ben: 4:26

I'll say that Giant Panda Gorilla dub squad. They had these shirts that just had Panda all over 'em and I swear to God, 15% of my high school had these shirts just because of me and a couple people promoting the living hack out of this band. Now. I know this now I didn't realize it at the time, but I was born or meant to be a promoter, an advocate. I wasn't the loudest person. I wasn't the leader in most cases, but I got really good at amplifying other people's voices at a young age and the music industry. It's kind of funny, cuz you're quite literally amplifying other people's voices, musicians. So. Lots happen. I'll skip a lot. I went to school basically joked around the entire time. Didn't have like the perfect journey. Didn't know what I was gonna be when I was in school. I went to communication studies cuz it said it was gonna be easy. You gotta go to school. You should go to this kind of school. You need an education. But when I was younger, I was so misaligned with what I wanted to be, that I was really just doing what everyone told me I should do, but I didn't really know what Ben wanted. I did know that Ben loved having fun. Ben loved connecting and like helping out underdogs. But most of my life, I feel like I was just kind of in a haze, just kind of doing the next best thing in front of my nose and not really knowing where my north star was or what direction to walk in, et cetera, et cetera. Um, the reason I tell this story is cuz you asked about entrepreneurship. I didn't see myself as an entrepreneur market. But over time, I realized my gift was in again, elevating other people's voices and not always being the one on the mic, not being the Steve Jobs per se, but being the person that allows that Steve Jobs, the prestige of getting on that mic. So what I get to do in my profession nowadays, Is amplifying incredible business people, incredible thought leaders with my podcast. Um, give them an opportunity to speak amplify, everything they do. And what's beautiful is I can make a living doing just what, in essence, I felt like I was lacking. Like when I was younger, I, I was lacking the belonging. I was lacking the voice and nowadays people joke in psychology that people get into psychology, cuz they're trying to figure themselves out.

Shawna: 6:47

Mm.

Ben: 6:48

I feel like that's me. I got into marketing because I was a quiet kid and I didn't want anyone to feel muted. And nowadays I get to with again, the podcast and the marketing elevate, awesome people and yeah, I guess entrepreneurship just lended. Well, to my purpose in life, but five years ago, I wouldn't have seen myself here 10 years ago. I would've saw myself hosting a bar or something. And 15 years ago, I thought he'd be a basketball player. So I'm just blessed to be here. And I'm curious, where, we'll be in another 10 years, but I really feel like I finally started to find a purpose in life.

Shawna: 7:26

No, it definitely sounds like you found your purpose and you define it so well as what it is. And so it's your job, but it's your purpose. You put more into it with elevating the voices and amplifying those around you instead of it just being oh I do marketing. That's incredible. So what was the impetus? What was the final thing that switched you over to being an entrepreneur and launching your business? Cause that's not a small achievement, like that takes a lot to make that transition.

Ben: 7:51

I feel like 15 years down the road, it's just gonna be a total cliche, but it was, COVID I skipped over this cuz it's just kind of like a side gig in 2016, I started a music podcast. So I loved podcasting and I loved connecting and I got into sales for a marketing firm. So I loved sales and I loved marketing. And then when COVID hit, I was actually furloughed from my, you know, sales, executive role that I was, I was doing fine. I was happy. I really wasn't happy, but I thought I was, and I'm

Shawna: 8:23

you're safe. You're secure. Yeah.

Ben: 8:25

safe I was secured. And I feel blessed because nine times outta. I feel like this furlough would've wrecked me. And for a few months it did, like I had been working one to two jobs, like over 40 hours a week plus school, before that my entire life. And now I have no jobs and I come from a family with drinking problems.

Shawna: 8:51

yeah, that's not a good recipe.

Ben: 8:53

what do you think I do? I start picking up the bottle and drinking way more than I pretty much had ever like points where I was just like a total disaster. And one day you look at yourself in the mirror and imagine like you've been studying personal development. You've been listening to podcasts. You have a morning routine. My morning, routine's kick ass. It works. However you have all these answers, but you're doing something. Whether it's alcohol or binging on food or Netflix, you're doing something that's in direct misalignment with all the positive things you're doing in your life. So you're doing all these positive things, but then I'm drinking myself into a stupor, and eventually I look myself in the mirror. I'm like, who are you? Like what? This is like, not, not what you were meant to do. And it's not like I just stopped drinking overnight. But I decided to start a business podcast because I realized I had to reinvent myself. No one was no one was ultimately hiring me. I started applying for jobs first. And then in September of 2020, again, during COVID I decided let's start a business podcast because I've done this in the music world. I have skillsets in marketing and sales let's skill stack, the podcasting, the connecting, the marketing, the sales, the growth mindset. Let's just try a podcast and see where it goes. And I chose business in Rochester, New York, very simply because I was starting a business in Rochester, New York. So I was the tiniest little marketing company. A smaller pond than the entire ocean of this world. And that's how it started. Like, I didn't even really know if this was a long-term thing for me. I just knew I didn't have many other options. And through connecting with brilliant people like yourself, one conversation at a time, one person at a time, one learning experience at a time, even if we're impacting three people like me, you and my mom or your mom, or even better like an employee or a client, even if we were just impacting three people, every conversation was worth its while, and that today is scaled into a business that's working for me.

Shawna: 11:18

Mm-hmm

Ben: 11:19

I feel really lucky and it wasn't as simple as it sounds. It wasn't pretty, but I'm, I'm really blessed to be where we are today.

Shawna: 11:27

I love your sense of gratitude and your ability to see like, how great that is. But I also really love your point about that connection factor and obviously real business connections network. You built it into the title of, your business. And so can you talk more about your concept of connecting and networking and how you do that one person a time and the intentionality you put into it, cuz it's obviously made a difference for you. And I think it's hard to envision your next step in your next chapter and realize what your purpose is and the stacking that you did and putting joy in doing that is it's a hard step. But even once you get that, like then what, and your skill, the skill you have this connecting that you built, things is amazing. And I would love for you to talk a little more about that.

Ben: 12:12

Yeah. I learned. It just through sales and marketing and human psychology, just how to make a good intro and little things like that. But I had never done it for myself. I had only done it for businesses, but they say that confidence comes from memories of winning and you just need to get the smallest win and the smallest win and the smallest win. And then you start stacking those wins and you start getting confidence and you get better and better at what you're doing. So, what I did is I started on LinkedIn because I knew people I wanna connect with are gonna likely be on LinkedIn. I didn't know what I was doing on LinkedIn. I hadn't been on there in 10 years, but I started revamping the profile and I didn't have a name. When I first started my podcast. I was kind of just like asking people what they thought, but I decided on Rochester business connections. Again, simply put I'm from Rochester, New York. I'm looking for business connections, and this is the secret sauce that was brilliant. I didn't even realize how brilliant it was on LinkedIn. A friend request is called a connection.

Shawna: 13:15

Oh, nice. I didn't realize that.

Ben: 13:17

I was sticking to common elements. Let's reach out to SUNY Brockport, alumni. I'm from SUNY Brockport alumni. That's the school I went to. In Rochester, New York that are business owners. That are looking to connect. So very, very specific purpose here. And then the messages were really, really simple and, and they weren't perfect at, in the front, but it's, Hey, I'm brand new to business. or, Hey, I went to SUNY Brockport as well, brand new to business, but wanting to connect with other business owners, congrats on making it big time, something as simple as. And then if they connected with me, it would be, Hey, I'm starting, you know, a business related podcast to highlight some of the most outstanding business people in our area here. Would you be interested in being on that show?

Shawna: 14:08

That's amazing. I see you were offering them something that could benefit them as well as could benefit you in making those connections.

Ben: 14:15

Shauna? I had no audience. I had no podcast yet. I had not that much, I mean, I, I had better skills than when I started the music podcast, but I was new to this and it was so humbling to see people that would become mentors. And nowadays, like friends and partners, they would put their chips on the little guy, not all their chips, but they would put their chips on the little guy thinking, eh, maybe we get 25 listens and that's enough. Or maybe this'll be something or I've never been on a podcast. This is cool. And as people started saying yes, a lot more people than you would've actually anticipated. You get more confident you get better. And the first 20, 30 episodes of the podcast. So your podcast is amazing. You're like the exception to the rule. Like from episode one, you started kicking butt.

Shawna: 15:08

Thank you.

Ben: 15:08

My early podcasts. Weren't very good, but I got better by doing.

Shawna: 15:14

mm-hmm

Ben: 15:14

realize in telling this story, Shawna, we're talking a lot about me and what I did, but I kind of wanna like look through like the systems here, because whether it's finding a new job, whether it's starting your business, whether it's finding a business partner, whether it's finding a friend. You can incorporate something similar. Maybe you look to connect with an alumni, just cuz it's a warmer way to connect with somebody I believe that people. Attracted and wanna support someone with a big vision. So if you come to the table with a vision, people are gonna wanna jump on board and support you, especially if they like you. And if you over deliver with them, then they're gonna wanna like be your best friend and cheerleader freaking, ever.

Shawna: 16:01

Hey, we like best friends and cheerleaders. I really think that vision piece is huge. Knowing what you want and letting that be a piece of it. I think it applies to more than just launching businesses. In our very first episode of The Grit Show, we talked about aligning your strengths to your job and if your job is actually utilizing your gifts and strengths. And getting that big vision and getting other people behind you as cheerleaders might be the way they can help you find other opportunities, for you to look to where you might belong and start to have those conversations about other jobs that might be adjacent, and then using the other pieces you're talking about, those other ideas Ben has around collaboration and things that are mutually beneficial to start opening doors, secret for everyone listening. I have, I make snowflakes. I make beaded snowflakes. Yes. This is crazy thing. And I have a bunch of them and someday I will sell them somewhere. But if I wanted to do that, like doing a collaboration with somebody else who does other ornaments, like, so we designed something together and sell something together. Like that would be a step, like you're saying, like where we work together or contribute to each other is a good way if I ever wanted to get that off of the ground. So finding ways to connect and contribute to each other, kind of what you're saying, like you were offering something to these business folks to get them on your podcast was giving them something as well as them giving you mentorship and support and connecting and supporting your business.

Ben: 17:24

It's a win-win um, I love the snowflake example because let's say it's Christmas time and you wanna raise money for a specific charity. You can actually donate your time and they would actually have you on the sponsor list. People pay thousands of dollars to be on that sponsor list. You actually have your product and your name there live as someone donating their time. And that's actually a sexier proposition than the person trying to sell a product. but it's through that collaboration in the, the building of relationships that are mutually valuable. I know one thing that I was late to the game, my entire life, I was taught to help people and to help charities. And I was raised Jewish. We call it mitzvahs. A mitzvah is basically a good deed and the greatest mitzvahs are the ones that can't be repaid. So I was raised this way and then I stopped doing it, cuz I got lost in this whole world of craziness of life in adulthood. And then one day someone reached out and said, Hey, do you wanna help with this, you know, sponsorship for cystic fibrosis? And at that time, I had started doing my networking and connecting with people and didn't have a bunch of clients, but I did have a network of people that, you know, I was starting a podcast, it was growing. So then when I aligned with cystic fibrosis, I used my network to help raise several thousand dollars.

Shawna: 18:50

That's amazing.

Ben: 18:51

it's not like just using my network and my connections. Oh, let's just put money in my pocket. It actually allows you to, God forbid, someone in your life gets sick. That's a great time to have a army of supporters that you've given, given, given. And the moment you have an ask, you get flooded with love because you're a giver.

Shawna: 19:14

Mm-hmm no, that's beautiful. So finding ways that you can give and give back and how this piece that starts with you giving. I didn't phrase that very well, but you get it right?

Ben: 19:23

Yeah, the, the thing I've said before is I, these are just arbitrary numbers. Let's say you give a hundred times and you get back 30 someone who's very selfish is like I gave 100 then there's 30. Does that mean I'm losing by 70? No, you received 30 and you got to give a hundred. Now imagine the person that gave zero and received five, they might be like, I didn't have to give anything. And I got five I'm winning. You didn't put any love out in the world. And those five that gave back to you or gave to you might not wanna ever do it again. You know? So you give, you give, you give not for the reciprocal, not to keep count, not to keep a checklist you give and you just know in your heart that it'll come back around and it actually does

Shawna: 20:14

yes,

Ben: 20:14

it actually does come back around, but you can't keep count because sometimes it's not equal, but it doesn't have to be really doesn't have to.

Shawna: 20:22

Yes. So finding those ways and getting creative about the ways you can give. Cuz I think that you did an excellent example of feeling like, well, I don't have the money to give right now cause I'm just building this business or just building what I'm doing, but I can give my connections to give their support or I can give my snowflakes or I can give whatever pieces. I have to find ways that you can still give, if you just get creative about it. You're good at outside the box thinking Ben, I think that's one of your other skills.

Ben: 20:47

I was a curious kid. I was a quiet kid. Um, I was obsessed with that growth, potential mindset.

Shawna: 20:54

Mm-hmm

Ben: 20:55

Like some people coming from a place of lack, like just trying to figure out why I'm struggling And I think that curiosity, like many creatives. You find creative solutions to typical problems and in a world of ads on every single t-shirt and paywalls not to see the ads, and if you're on LinkedIn, everybody's always pitching you. And if you're on Facebook, the only way to actually have an ad is to pay. It's like everything's just like information adds overload. If you do things the exact opposite way, you immediately stand out from the noise. And you can create attention simply by being different. and we all have our own unique, different, so there's nothing more normal than to embrace that unique, different, because you'll stand out and you'll attract the right people into your life.

Shawna: 21:43

Yes. And I think it's good to be tracking the right people into our lives. We definitely, definitely wanna be doing that. So what is your favorite part about your business and getting to connect with all these different people?

Ben: 21:54

You just answered the question.

Shawna: 22:00

darn. I hate it. When I do that, I just took the words outta your mouth. Huh? Okay. Your second favorite part.

Ben: 22:06

If anything, I have been in a place where I'm analysis paralysis. I listen to every single podcast. I read all the books, I intake all the information and I forget most of it, six weeks in, um, cuz I'm consume, consume, consume, and still to this day, I'm like an information education consumer. Like I just love learning. Really what I love most about my business and running the podcast is I get to have these conversations on a daily basis, but the podcast and sometimes the chip on your shoulder of having it recorded and the chip on your shoulder of having a baby, which is my business, but something I really care about. Um, I no longer feel as much an analysis paralysis. And I'm actually taking the information and I'm implementing it as much as I can. So I encourage anybody listening. Like if there's something that, you know, you should do or not even should, like you just wanna do and it feels right. go do. it

Shawna: 23:09

Just go do it..

Ben: 23:10

permission to go do it every conversation's gonna have new thing. That'll spark something interesting. I just love that I get to have conversations all the time and it sparks all these ideas. You mentioned like, you know, creative thinking or like just doing things differently. The way I gained that was from learning from really brilliant people.

Shawna: 23:31

Hmm.

Ben: 23:32

So the best part about what I do is learning something new every single day. And even when I feel like I like know the answer, I talk to someone who also knows the answer and then they'll give me a nuance perspective on the same answer. They actually found the same answer from a different formula. And then it's like, oh, what are we missing?

Shawna: 23:57

Hmm.

Ben: 23:58

if we can get to the same answer in different ways, what else can we accomplish? You have this calming personality, Shawna, that I'm saying things that I don't know if I've ever said before, I feel like I'm like at the top of a mountain staring at the sunset, just like thinking about the meaning of life

Shawna: 24:17

Yeah,

Ben: 24:18

you know?

Shawna: 24:19

I love it. I love it. That's great. That's, that's what you're here for to share the meaning of life with all the listeners. That's what they love. That's perfect. I definitely appreciate that. No, this is wonderful. This is very helpful. I think you have a lot to offer Ben and I really am glad that you took the time today to come onto this. And I think that for our listeners, as much. marketing is part of what Ben does he has this natural knack for it. He stood out for me, cuz for those of you that aren't in podcasting, which is probably most of my listeners. You can get inundated with people trying to come onto your show. And Ben is somebody stood out. Above and beyond a lot of the people that, that reach out and he just has that way of connecting. And I think it's a gift that he has, and it's so incredible that he works with, businesses with marketing. And I think he's a gift to them because he does have the skill and the fact that he can share that is amazing. And that's part of why I wanted him here. And I think his gift of being able. Give first and the way he approaches things is effective. It definitely, worked. He cut through the noise of the list of people that, I'm trying to connect with or trying to connect with me to get onto this podcast because of that. So he is a gift and we are lucky that he came to share with us today. And you have a great story Ben.

Ben: 25:29

Thanks, Shawna. I, I wanna say, oh, first off I received that. Thank you. But I genuinely believe all the listeners have a similar or if not, their own version of that same gift. The issue we run into is we follow what everyone tells us we should do and how it worked. Oftentimes how it worked 30 years ago, 40 years ago. This is not an ageism thing. This is just a thing. Like there could be someone who's done something the same way for 30 years. And now there's someone new to a role. And what worked for person A might not work for person B

Shawna: 26:05

mm-hmm

Ben: 26:06

We're taught to follow the common narrative. All I like to do is go against it and everyone knows what feels right. But sometimes we're trained to do things that go against human behavior, um, rather than with it. So like when someone's sending you a ton of pitches and all this me, me, me, I wanna be on your podcast, cuz I wanna use your platform. They're going against human behavior, but someone taught them more equals more. And since they were taught that way, and it worked one time out of 50, they're like, if I can do one out of 50, let's keep doing it. So I wanna challenge people to think, how am I different? What feels right. And let's do what feels like genuine, authentic to me.

Shawna: 26:54

Mm-hmm

Ben: 26:55

I just try to do things differently. I actually really don't think that's a gift. I think the real gift is realizing that you don't need to be exactly what everybody told You you should be. You can be authentically you and people will receive it. And I don't think I have a gift. I think I've just discovered that. I think we all have the capacity to discover that same gift.

Shawna: 27:19

Yes, so everyone can stand out from the other voices. If they stop trying to follow the rules and stop following the formulas and start being genuine to themselves and following their own instincts and way connecting a little bit more. I like that. I like that a lot. I love that. We also talk about self care on each of our episodes. Would you mind sharing with us and doing a little spotlight on self care about what you do to take care of yourself?

Ben: 27:44

Yeah, we kind of teased this when I was talking about doing all these things that were great for me, and then all these things that were in direct misalignment. And I think that's one thing that's important about self-care sometimes it's actually the getting rid of things. That's self-care. It's not always adding, like you can add meditation, you can add a gratitude journal. I'm gonna just name things. I do meditation, visualization exercises, make introductions, drink a lot of water, new Tropic medicine, I have a gratitude journal. These are all things I do. And implementing just one or two of them, can really be helpful for people, but in a lot of cases, like I was doing all these things, but then I was drinking and eating myself to death. So what I learned about self care is I could do all these things that sounded great in a book. But if I was doing all these things that actually almost counteracted the positives, I felt better from my self-care, but then all these negative things were actually making. The things that were good, almost like muted or suppressed, like pushing it in the corner, making like the self-care not work. So my thoughts on self-care today

Shawna: 29:01

mm-hmm.

Ben: 29:03

actually the opposite of what I used to need. It used to be let's implement a meditation routine nowadays. It's like, what is toxic in my life? And self care can be as simple as just stepping away from that.

Shawna: 29:16

Ooh, I love that. And that is actually very unique. No one has brought that up. And so finding the toxic things and removing the toxic things as your way, implanting self care, I love that.

Ben: 29:29

yeah.

Shawna: 29:30

Very profound. I'm glad we got to that mountain top. There's beautiful things here.

Ben: 29:33

Yeah. I would, I would hang out on this mountain for days. Um, I didn't bring any supplies, but.

Shawna: 29:42

Yes. Unfortunately I didn't either. So we have limited time, but it's lovely up here. I love that concept and I think that's a good thing for us to, to spend some time for folks reflecting. Because, yeah, I we'll get to that in a minute about what we take away from this episode. There's so many good things that take away. It'll be kind of fun to see what we wanna try to implement, but as part of our spotlight, the one thing that we do here at The Grit Show, because we do like to give back to our guests, we actually have a line of coloring books called The Color of Grit and we give each of our guests a coloring book as a thank you for taking your time to be here on the show with us. And so you have your option. There's one that is out already and there's one that's coming out. And the one that is out is vintage mermaid and magnificent ocean. And the one that is coming out is you've got this, which is Funny and, inspirational quotes. So which of those two coloring books can I send you a copy of?

Ben: 30:33

I like the idea of you've got this

Shawna: 30:35

You've got this. I'm glad you like it.

Ben: 30:38

What's funny is I actually love that. Um, you've got this inspirational quotes, but I kind of already decided to choose that one. When you said it wasn't out yet, cuz I'm like such a late adopter. Like I'm nervous to try something new and you're like, it doesn't even exist yet or it's not even available yet. And I'm like, give me that one. I want the brand new one. I wanna be one of the first people to be blessed with this new book.

Shawna: 31:00

I love it. You will be one of the first people to get that book. When it comes out, then you will be on the top of the list Ben. We will definitely get you one of the debut copies of you've got this.

Ben: 31:11

can I have, can I have it signed?

Shawna: 31:13

Ooh, you are the first person to ask for that because you asked, you shall receive, we will make that happen for you. You will get signed. Copy of you've got this on the front for you.

Ben: 31:26

Love. it.

Shawna: 31:26

Yes, you've definitely got it. That's awesome. So what should we offer people? Cause we want something that they can take, like just in the next couple days to implement in their life. And I'm kind of taken with this concept of self care of removing things. I'm also taking with the concepts about, you know, the way of finding ways to give back in their networking and connecting and this examining their life and what they want. What, what should we give them as their take.

Ben: 31:52

Let's do three so

Shawna: 31:54

Ooh. Ooh. All right, let's do it.

Ben: 31:57

Any more than three is psychologically, sometimes too many options, but I

Shawna: 32:00

Okay.

Ben: 32:01

do three.

Shawna: 32:01

do three.

Ben: 32:03

So one, this is really simple. What toxic thing in your life doesn't deserve to be there.

Shawna: 32:12

all

Ben: 32:12

Right? Write it down and implement a strategy to reduce it. Maybe not get rid of it entirely, but reduce that toxic thing. Take a step away from it. Maybe if needed. I idea number two, this is one of my favorite ones. You just pick up your phone, you go to whatever platform you chat on the most, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, you go to your messages. You scroll to the very, very bottom, and you'll start seeing names of people you haven't spoken to in years that you love, you maybe shared an air and B and B with one time long lost relative who knows. Go to their ping click on their profile, take a look at something new and send them a message. Hey, oh my gosh. I had no clue you were engaged. I haven't been present. I haven't been as present as I could be. Just wanted to let you know, I was thinking about you, anything like that? It it'll, it'll tell itself by scrolling to the bottom. And if you did that once a day, your entire life. Think about how strong your connections would be. Just once a day, you scroll to the bottom message. Someone scroll to the bottom message someone, then eventually you're messaging the same people. That's fine too. so that's option number two. Option number three is business oriented. If you're ever going to a business oriented, networking connection and event, have something tangible that you're looking to accomplish that you need help with to accomplish not accomplishing more sales, but. I wanna start a blog or I wanna start a photo gallery, or I wanna like, start a podcast or I'm looking for someone to cross promoted event, or I'm looking for someone to partner with at a charity, come with that intention. And then you can actually wear glasses where you can sift through and find great collaborator. To tackle that endeavor with you, but come with the idea for me, it was start a podcast, come with the idea. Then you're good to go.

Shawna: 34:23

That sounds like an excellent fit. All three of those are good. So one look for something in your life that's toxic and make a plan to reduce it and address it. Two, start scrolling through someone you have not been into contact with in some time and find a reason to connect with them. See what they're up to and find that connection or three, when you're going into a situation for networking to have a very specific lens, to look through a project you're working on and how people can filter in and work with you on that and connect and be a support for that.

Ben: 34:56

Way more concise than I said it. I love it. Perfect.

Shawna: 35:00

People need to hear things more than once Ben, you know how we are.

Ben: 35:03

I love it. I love.

Shawna: 35:04

that's amazing. And so I know people are gonna wanna connect with you cuz you are a wonderful, wonderful connection to have. So what is the best place for people to find you?

Ben: 35:13

Yeah,, we'll give them one, but then a prompt if they want more. So if you go to RealBusinessConnections.com, it's really simple. Cuz you can just type it into Google, real business connections. Um, that's the name of the podcast. And on the website, you'll see my social links. You'll see my marketing firm, but if you Google or type in real business connections, you might take 15 seconds of research, but I'm on all social platforms and I'm all about meeting you where you're most comfortable. So whether it's Instagram, LinkedIn, et cetera, send me a DM. Send me. I love if you sent me a DM with just like one takeaway, even better. even better. Leave a review for Shawna

Shawna: 35:55

Ooh. Ooh

Ben: 35:56

The Grit Show If you do two things, you leave a review for Shawna, three things, leave her review, send her a DM, send me a DM. You'll actually create a ripple of joy. You'll make our day. And maybe we'll be friends. We'll see.

Shawna: 36:11

Yes. Ah, listen to all of this. I love this. This is great. We'll also have it in the show notes as well. Ben, you have been such an incredible joy. I have enjoyed you being here and I'm sure my listeners have gotten so much out of it as well.

Ben: 36:24

It's been so fun. Um, we gotta get to the bottom of this mountain. So

Shawna: 36:27

yeah.

Ben: 36:28

till next time.

Shawna: 36:30

Yes. Until next time, and for all of you out there, thank you for taking the time to be with us today. We appreciate it. I look forward to getting your dms and reading your. If you want to post a snapshot of a review, don't forget to tag us or even DM it to me. There's enough listening platforms. We may not see it otherwise, and I really care about what you have to say. In case you haven't heard it quite enough. You're the only one of you that this world has got and that means something. I look forward to connecting with you next week.