Is networking a part of your business strategy this year? If it’s never felt like the right move for your business, today’s episode may change your mind. Master connector, Mikki Wilson, joins us to explore the importance of relationship marketing in growing a creative business, as opposed to traditional networking. Listen in as she shares practical strategies for effective networking, both in-person and online, the essence of maintaining a supportive community, and the need to build authentic connections.
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Guest Bio:
Mikki Wilson, known as The Dot Connector, redefined networking by making it meaningful and intentional. During her 15-year marketing career, she ditched empty small talk and forced elevator pitches, opting instead to build strategic, authentic connections over genuine conversations. When life led her from corporate to caregiving, Mikki founded Dot Connector Consulting to stay true to her passion: amplifying the value, voice, and visibility of women in business.
Now, Mikki is a sought-after strategist and speaker who helps women connect with the right people. Her approach? Networking that goes beyond collecting contacts to creating a powerful community for collaboration, engagement, and growth. Through tailored coaching, she empowers ,mm,wl, omen to nurture networks that drive both personal and professional success.
Mikki’s story of balancing career, caregiving, and community-building has made her a trusted voice among ambitious women and entrepreneurs. When she’s not strategizing or connecting dots, you’ll find her embracing adventure—whether working from the beach, stand-up paddleboarding, or traveling across the country.
Today’s episode is brought to you by my Client Hub Template inside the DIY Systems Template Shop. Business owners often have their client information spread across a variety of different tools, making it hard to access the information they need to make critical decisions. That’s why I built the Client Hub Template for Airtable, to take the guesswork out of building your own!
Find it Quickly:
3:44 – The Importance of Support Networks
4:56 – Challenges and Benefits of Community Memberships
14:22 – Effective Networking Strategies
22:45 – Networking in Online Events
26:42 – Engaging in Virtual Networking
27:33 – Effective Use of Scheduling Tools
28:23 – Differentiating Coffee Chats from Sales Calls
30:18 – Building Genuine Connections
31:11 – The Importance of Follow-Ups
33:40 – Relationship Marketing Strategies
40:02 – The Power of Community
43:42 – The Future of Networking
Connect with Mikki
Website: dotconnectorconsulting.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mikkiwilson
Instagram: instagram.com/mikconnectsdots
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the business first creatives podcast. I have a treat for you today. My friend, Mikki Wilson is back on the podcast. You may or may not have remembered her episode from 20. It was CEO marketing mentality, but this is the first time that I’m ever going to tell you. If you haven’t listened to the episode, please don’t go back and listen to it.
The first time that I interviewed Mickey, Her audio was absolute trash. I’m talking, she used the microphone on her computer and you can completely tell in the episode. So just know that the things that were important from her first episode, we’re actually going to talk about a little bit today before we get into new territory.
And just so that you know. I don’t invite people on my podcast and then call them trash. Mikki is actually a very good friend. We are in a peer led mastermind together. We talk to each other every single week. And so I am allowed to tell her that the first time she was on my podcast, she sounded like trash.
Good morning, Mickey.
Mikki: Oh, I love that story though. Cause you were just like, do I need to send you a microphone? And I was like, no, I’ve got this.
Colie: I mean, she bought her own microphone, y’all. But after I interviewed her, I did offer to buy her one and send it to her. I sure did.
Mikki: the importance of being able to be heard. Right. So I love it. I’m glad to be back. This is going to be good stuff. People can hear me this time. It’s been a couple of years. I’m here to impart the wisdom.
Colie: yes. All right. So let’s get into today’s nitty gritty. So the last time that I had you on here, you called yourself a marketing specialist. Are you in the same business? And what is different now versus when I had you on the podcast before?
Mikki: So funny. Yes. What is different? Yeah, I was showing up as marketing specialist, marketing strategist. I was big on people having a marketing, uh, having a marketing plan, like really having it documented, where have I come now? Well, we are now have landed on, uh, in a realm between SuperConnector And Master Connector.
And that is because my superpower is I see, I have great pattern recognition, I see connections in lots of things, but where that’s showing up now is in networks, networking, and just helping people find the connections they really need. to support them in business. So still the chief energy officer behind connector consulting.
Um, I have a private network that I call connector and I’m really loving supporting solopreneur women, in any range, that are struggling. With growing the business, they feel alone. They may start to feel burnt out. They also feel like they don’t have the resources to get the people in place that they need to help them, build and grow this business.
And so I find for them. A supportive network is the best tool you can have, right? Who, who better than people you can count on in your corner that are trusted experts or collaborators, or can get you on whatever stage you want to be on. But for solopreneurs, if you don’t have the assets to invest in a team, if you’re tired of going at it alone, then we have to build a network that works for you.
Colie: I mean, and we spent a lot of time in that first episode talking about support. We talked about your core support. We talked about your CEO support. We jumped into the realm of like strategy support and like admin support because of me and what I do. But The bottom line is no matter where you are in this entrepreneurial journey, everybody needs support, whether you are making 0 and you are trying to get your business off the ground, or if you feel like you’re stuck at, like, that 5 figure ceiling.
And you just can’t, you just can’t go beyond that. It’s probably that you need to look at the kind of support that you currently have, or that the kind of support that you need to get in order to break that ceiling. And then, of course, once you get to six figures and beyond, it’s even more important. And I would say that.
You and I would probably be hard pressed to find one of our six figure entrepreneur friends that didn’t get there with like some really good support, whether that was in their network or some kind of paid support via contractors, um, mentoring, anything like that. Well,
Mikki: totally. And I find that there are really two paths of people, out there online streets, offline streets, right? You have the people that will be transparent and share the resources with you, right? This coach, I invested in this coach and they, they helped me turn it all around to be able to ask questions too.
I’m not into one size, fits all solutions, but then, I find community. Support is like really big right now and people are looking for community. And that’s kind of where I found these two tracks. You have people that are building communities, networks, memberships, where they are giving you access to resources that they’ve used or curated where that trust in credibility transfers over, but then hot take.
And I’m just going to call it what it is. Cause I see it in the online streets. There are communities. that just seem to have kind of layers. of gatekeeping. You have to kind of pay in to figure out how did this person do the thing that you’re trying to achieve. And in a community like that, you can get burnt out really quickly because you feel like you’re always kind of jumping a hurdle to like get the answer.
I find in a really well connected network, you are going to have people A, you’re doing the work. You’re checking in on people and not just in a transactional way for business, but you’re checking in. Ha, what are you excited about? What are you working on? How can I support you? Right? And in turn, people also share their stories.
Look, I’ve used this tool. I’ve seen that you’ve been struggling with this. This might be something you want to look into, but there’s just communities that help you move the needle forward. Forward in a way that doesn’t stretch you thin. And I’ve just been hearing from a lot of women that I’ve been talking to that, you know, there, there unfortunately is just a chance that if you don’t do your due diligence, if there isn’t an a deep amount of trust and credibility. You could buy into a community that you feel stuck in and maybe having more conversations than actually, you know, getting things done. So, so, uh, I always joke with the word community right now because when I use the word community, people are like, okay, but what am I really buying into?
And for me, that tells me like, oh, there’s a problem, with how people are seeing community and what, what kinds of support they’re actually trying to get from those communities.
Colie: you join a community like that, you don’t really know who’s in there. And even if there’s like a public directory of some kind. You’re still not quite sure, like, what level of support you can expect once you get into one of these communities. Like, is this just one where we’re all gonna, like, offer to go on each other’s podcasts?
Is it one where if I ask, like, if I have a question, that I’m gonna have to schedule a paid call with someone in order to get the answer? Or is it something that we have, you know, like, core calls? where we all come and we kind of mastermind together in that I bring my problem. Everybody around the room tries to.
You know, work the problem with me and give me what solutions have worked for them so that I can try, or is it that you’re just joining yet another community where you meet people and it’s like, hit or miss, like, Am I going to meet somebody in here that I drive with? Am I going to meet somebody in here that is going to be worth the price of admission?
I think these are all questions. And to be honest, it’s really hard. It’s hard for you to figure out if something’s going to work for you if you don’t actually join and try it out. Like I do feel like There is a certain level of you got to put your money where your mouth is for a lot of things and in some cases You can do your due diligence.
Like if you’re in a community and I’m wondering what I’m gonna get out of it Oh, you bet I’m gonna send you an email and be like, hey Mickey Like what are you getting out of the community? Like do you think it’s worth it? Should I join? And you can get that kind of anecdotal like Information from people that you trust but at the end of the day, you know You are not going to know if something is going to work for you unless you join the network, you join the community, and you participate,
Mikki: Yes.
Colie: I know you’re a big person on, like, you can’t just be in the room and like be in the corner, like taking notes.
Like, that’s not how you get something.
Mikki: in my network, I’m turning things on their head a little bit because I, we met inside of a community that I loved, right? That we both love. And when it was kind of time to graduate from that community, I was just like, Oh. There’s a feeling that I have that feels like it’s missing and I didn’t, know what it was.
And looking back, there are a couple things. So this is how I try to show up for people, in my community, based on what I’m seeing. There are some communities where I think people are investing in the community to meet other people, but they’re also investing in the figurehead. At some level, right?
They’re really trying to get close to that person. And now from again, just a few conversations that I’ve had is like, it feels like there’s paywalls to get to the figurehead or the figurehead kind of removes themselves and you get other coaches and this sort of thing. And the person feels like some expectation wasn’t met, right?
Because even though they knew they were getting all these other benefits. The intention really was to maybe create a connection with the person running the community. So, uh, I saw that the other thing that I’m starting to see as people schedules are picking up, people are starting to kind of teeter totter towards burnout or in the holidays and everything is super structured communities.
Great. If you are a type a person and you need that level of structure, like, you know, in a good way, right? Because there are people that are like, look, I need the time blocks. I need, I need the things and all the sessions and I need part of it all. I am not like that. I’m kind of, I’m a CEO on the go, so I need to be able to like drop into things, but I kind of don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on things.
And I also don’t want to feel like I’m missing, like on a curriculum, like I’m behind the ball. And I’ve experienced this in communities and this is not the community’s fault. This is when I realized like, Oh, I’m looking for a more flexible community. So a couple, a couple of things that I kind of, that I infused right away into Dot Connector.
No courses. I’m not a course builder. I don’t have time to build the courses and I’ve tried it in much respect. I will hire out for that someday when we get to that part. But I said, you know what? We’re not going to do, we’re going to do a curriculum that’s like in my head that I bring, live to the sessions, but the, also the other very important part is I have to be part of it.
Like I’m the connector. So it’s my job to not only teach people the art of connection. But they’re really showing up for me too. So I put myself in like I’m a member, just like them. What I learned quickly from a couple of members, and I love the way they said it, and I’m going to just, I’m going to, I’m going to tweet the messaging and all of that, but the way I structured the network. Actually becomes very adaptable and flexible and they describe it like having an insurance policy. They’re like, Oh, this is no brainer. It’s like paying for an insurance policy and I can drop in whenever I want to. So you can actually pick whatever sessions work for the goals that you’re trying to achieve.
You can do it asynchronously by posting a question that you have and people in the community as well as I like will answer it. So I really just took. What I didn’t love or what didn’t feel relational or genuine to me and positioned it, particularly for the solopreneur, because look, okay, 49 a month. Okay.
I can’t get much lower and show all my value up like this in any other way. And I did that intentionally because solopreneurs just don’t have deep pockets. And here’s the thing I’ve worked with six and seven figure entrepreneurs. I have a whole career background. I’ve never really met any CEO. That’s like, I have a huge budget to spend on marketing.
Like let’s do all the things, unless it’s like a really good year. Right. So solopreneurs usually have to operate like leanly. And so again, Knowing what type of support you need will allow you to not waste time when you go to a networking event, when you meet people inside of communities, because you just need to know who are the right people you need right now to get you to that next point.
Colie: But, and I kind of mentioned this when I said, you know, when you go into these communities, when you go into these places where you are actively networking, you can’t just show up and expect things to happen. So, you and I have talked about, like, how you can prepare yourself to get the most out of, like, a specific in person event or even an online event.
But I do think that some of these things that we’ve talked about. Can be more generally used for like your networking in general. So why don’t you tell me a little bit about how you organize yourself when you meet a new person. And then when you are trying to figure out if there is something that you could potentially collaborate on, if there is something that you could offer them in support, or if there is something that you feel is appropriate for you to ask them for to get their support.
Mikki: Yeah, I have, so, it’s so funny because I always have to walk myself through this process, I think, because it becomes so natural. But there’s a lot of tips that people, I think, can take away if it aligns with just how I approach walking into any room. First, I may be an extrovert, but I don’t always like to start the conversation.
So I usually arrive for me. It looks like bright clothing, bright colors. There’s just something interesting because I’m actually always testing. If I can get people to start the conversation with me. because that’s my space. So I don’t, Colie, with you, it could be Mickey Mouse ears, Disney, anything, rainbows, right?
We all have like our unique, like little flavor. And so I tell people just like, really make sure you bring that flavor into any room you’re going because it could be a pair of earrings. And if somebody says, Oh my God, those earrings are like beautiful. Tell, tell them where you got the earrings, share the info.
And that just starts to ease us into the conversation. for me, the intention is I’m only really trying to connect with one to three people at an event. And so this is where, for me, the art of conversation is important. I’m not a person that really like works a list to see who’s going to be in the room.
If I know who’s going to be in the room, that is a bonus because sometimes I just know I just have to hit those one or two people I need to talk to for business and I’m done. But when I go into the room. Again, and I have a theory, I’ll come back to it because I actually think networking and connecting are much like help and support, in that they are the same, but they’re two different games.
But when I go into the room, it’s the art of connection. So I’m walking in. People will usually stop and say they like something I’m wearing or something like that. I scan the room also to see who’s having conversations. There’s usually people grouped in circles or sitting at tables. I actually look for the people that are standing alone to talk to. They’re my favorite. They’re usually introverts. And so I want to automatically make them feel comfortable, but I also find that the quietest people in the room have the most to say. So if you see people just hanging out on the sides, especially if you’re a person that doesn’t want to break into like the circle, we’ve all seen this, like you try to get into the circle, they’re either going to let you in or they’re not.
If you are not comfortable with that. Go with the people that are kind of off to the side because chances are they’re observing, they’re acclimating, but they always have something good to say. When I start the conversation with someone, we all do the who are you, you know, what do
Colie: What do you do?
Mikki: what do you do type of thing.
I usually have, three questions that I carry with me and. Depending on the person, the vibe, the situation, I’ll take out one of the questions. The most popular question usually is I just ask people like, tell me something like you’re passionate about. Tell me something, you know, the, what are you passionate about question, but, you know, wrapped up a little nice, nicer, right.
I’ll see something about them. I’ll make a comment and I’ll just say, is this something you’re passionate about? Or, you know, um, tell me more about you. Something I wouldn’t expect. Tell me something you do other than like your business or your nine to five. I’m actually trying to just get to know the person.
And I want them to talk about something that excites them instead of getting like the usual elevator pitch or, the things that we bring with us when we think we have to
Colie: That we’ve rehearsed and written down. Yes, girl.
Mikki: That part. And so the second question is, you know, if they tell me who they are, what they do about business, I’ll usually ask them like, what’s a challenge you’re experiencing right now?
Because I’m naturally curious. and I always want to like provide support of that connection. So people love to talk about the things they love, right? That’s why passion is important, but people also like, there’s not enough therapy out there right now. So if you ask people what their problem is and you have space to take it.
They’re going to kind of tell you like, Oh, you know, this part of the business, or, you know, I, not enough clients or 2024 has been terrible. And then there’s that, right? So depending on who you are, what you do, asking somebody what lights them up, that might be a way in to get to know them more, but also asking them what their struggles or their challenge is.
That’s a way to see if this person might be aligned for you for business. Right. And then I’m a connector. My favorite question is how can I support you? Like, who’s your person? It’s kind of a serious question, but it’s like, I always want to know who their person is because if you can tell me who your target market is, I will know when I meet that person and then I can connect them to you or I can refer them to you.
Right. So I usually want to know who your people are. And then I ask, you know, if. I could make one introduction for you. Who would that person be? Like, cause I’m looking now for a little bit more meat on like, who are you looking to meet right now that will really start to move the needle. So challenges, I mean, we see these in all the marketing stuff that we do, but I really stick to challenges.
Passions. I’m looking for the thing that lights you up, but that support question is like, what’s the next connection that like you would need in business to get to the goal that you want to work to? I am very intentional on having real conversations, meaning I’m not half listening. I’m not letting you answer the first question and then moving on to the next person.
That’s why I’m very intentional about, I’m only really trying to meet one to three people in the room, because if I only have an hour to 90 minutes, I’m definitely probably spending 20 to 30 minutes with a person, and this is just me personally, 20 to 30 minutes with a person, really gauging if I want to continue the conversation.
Pass this room. So curiosity, you know, be creative with what you enter the room with to start the conversation lead with curiosity and ask, people questions. If you’re comfortable with that, some people just love to answer the questions or they’ll start to ask you questions back. And that becomes your conversation.
The last thing that I bring with me all the time. Digital business card. I don’t really do the paper, cards because the app I use has my connection call link. So, I make sure that I have a way for them to book a call with me. They’ll usually book it before I leave the event, but if I want to continue the conversation, now I’ll learn even more.
I have exactly what I need to know about your life, your business, all the kind of core elements to make sure that we’re a good fit. Is there something going on that I could serve you with, right? Do I want to talk to you more and just hang out and maybe talk about collaborations? that you just said is very in person driven, which makes total sense for you, Mickey. You love going places. You love traveling. You love hugging people in person. How does this translate to like an online networking event? So, you know, usually. The ones that you and I have been to together, and I’m sure that you’ve been to other ones that might be run differently, but you and I have been to a bunch where there are some starter questions, very similar to the questions that you just mentioned.
Colie: Everybody answers them, or there’s like an introduction first, and then people get broken out into like smaller breakout rooms. And then everybody comes back together and then everybody gets shuffled. I mean, I feel like this was definitely the thing of 2024, because I went to networking events, I feel like with three or four different people. And they all had a very similar format. So how do we take your advice of, you know, if you know who’s in the room, identify those 1, 2, 3 people that you want to talk with, look for the people who are kind of the introverts standing on the outskirts of the room, um, and then making sure that you’re actually making a good 20 minute conversation with someone so that you can know if you want to take it to the next level, which is to have a conversation outside of the room.
How does that translate online?
Mikki: this is fun. Yeah. Cause I’ve been, this is great question. My advice for people in going into the online. Well, here’s the thing. You never know what you’re getting when you go into some rooms. It’s so funny. I felt my face do a thing when you said breakout rooms, but sometimes breakout rooms are totally necessary for what’s going on.
So I would say as you’re going into virtual networking. Try to be aware of like the format because if you’re a person that doesn’t like breakout rooms and your plan is to just leave the networking event, once you get broken into smaller portions, then you just want to find virtual events, right?
Where people might be in the room or a community where people may stay in the room together. I think. You know, I hated networking at one point. That’s why I’m so good at it now because I absolutely hated talking about weather and sports. I networked with men primarily. And so that’s just a whole different thing.
But there was a day that I realized like, what if I could just do something where I start to bring the people to me? Right. And maybe I
Colie: laziness talking
Mikki: I know too, right? Well, I am, I’m a Capricorn and I’m a, I’m a projector for my human design people, but. When you’re going into the virtual space, it is what it is.
You have to be comfortable. I think the one thing that I always bring with me, I swear that connection call scheduler link. We know we’re going to have to answer the, the to do’s. It’s, it still translates for me on screen. I’ll wear a pop of color. I’ll have something in the background that somebody will inevitably like say something.
You know what I mean? We have, it tells a lot about us, this background. So I show up the same way, keep the backgrounds interesting. I try to. be, presentable. And I try to be on screen. There’s like a face muting thing because I know that we are multitasking and sometimes maybe you’re half, in it or whatever.
But I think the best way to network virtually is to definitely be on screen, take it kind of the same way that you would as if you’re going to an in person event. I don’t care what’s on like down here, but like, That
Colie: from the
Mikki: the trust from the waist up, just don’t get up by accident. But it builds into part of the trust and the credibility, but it also builds into the brand, right?
So I’m big on personal branding. The way that you meet me in person is still, for the most part, going to be the way you meet me online. I mentioned my connection call scheduler because I throw that thing in the chat box. left, right, and center. I DM people when I’m like, I love what you just said. Would you like to connect offline about this?
Right. I have no problem going through the format of the event. But again, if there are some people that I’m like, Oh my God, Colie looks really cool. Like we can have like a conversation. I’m sliding up in the DM. Like, Hey, do you want to have like a coffee chat or a connection call after this? Because.
That’s the work of networking when you’re in the room. So I would tell people use the chat box, feel free to introduce yourself. I don’t know. Don’t be afraid to. you know, the heart emojis, whatever it is in the chat box, that is engagement. And when we are in this two dimensional place, you have to engage some way.
So whether it’s using your scheduler, sliding up in the DM saying, Hey, I’d really love to chat one on one with you offline about anything. Uh, there’s that mechanism, but then also just using the chat box. Who has been in a networking event where the chat box is just like dead? That’s fine if the conversation on screen is really good, but if you don’t have both of those things working in tandem, you’re just kind of like, all right, what are we doing here?
What are we doing here?
Colie: Okay, the strategist in me wants to tell everyone, yes, um, you need to have a scheduler. It needs to be something that can be booked easily. You should probably be checking your availability every few weeks, every month, every two months to make sure that it is as accurate as possible.
You want follow up. reminders after they’ve booked the call. Please don’t think that someone is going to book a coffee chat with you in two weeks and then just show up if you have sent them one reminder. That is not how, that is not how it works in 2024 or 2025 people. So that’s just the things that I feel compelled to throw out there.
But Mickey, what are you doing, if anything, on the other side of the call, like you’re getting to know them, it’s connection, you have a call and by the way. I think you and I know this, but I want to make sure that everybody else knows this. Please do not confuse one of these coffee connection calls with a sales call. You are not getting on a call with someone so that you can pitch them your services. I mean, I would argue that in some cases, if they ask you about your services, you can talk about them, but in order to do like your normal sales pitch, your normal, like kind of conversation that you go through in order to see if they’re a good fit, you need to book a separate consultation call for that because the coffee chat is really to get to know them.
and to let them get to know you and to figure out if you guys can do something in business, whether it is paid or just a collaboration of sorts in the future. So please don’t try and confuse the calls and turn a coffee chat into a sales call because I have just seen that go, um, wrong in way too many ways where, and then people feel uncomfortable because they’re like, okay.
I know I asked you about your business, but I wasn’t asking you to pitch me your services. I need to know about your business in order to see if I have anybody in my network that I would feel comfortable suggesting your services to. Those are completely different conversations.
Mikki: Exactly. And I’m glad you pointed that out. You know, I’m laughing in my head because I used to kind of relate. My whole connection strategy to like dating. And it’s like, we are not one night standing people. Used to be my joke because, you’re right. One is very transactional. Sales call is very transactional.
Somebody needs your services or your solution. You’re getting on a call so they can engage with that one thing. Connection calls. Coffee chats, whatever you name them. These are two different types of marketing. Sales calls, selling, transactional marketing at its finest. We are trying to exchange goods and services for a price, uh, for a fee.
But relationship marketing, this is where the art of connection really comes in. It’s about walking into a room and you being comfortable being you, Connecting with people that you. feel good about connecting with outside of just a sale. So the way this looks actually, when I get on my calls, it’s a true connection call.
I’m trying to connect with you. I’m trying to figure out if you would be in my realm of friends, clients, peers, uh, whatever. I’m just trying to bring you into my network. So I don’t structure connection calls. Actually. I find that people usually have something they want to talk about. specifically with me.
So we go there. It touches again a lot on like, you know, uh, what are you working on? What’s the challenge? You know, what connections are you looking for? It’s funny. I dialed this down. I no longer really do. introductions, personal introductions outside of my community, because I just realized everybody’s looking to meet somebody and I just can’t be that person for everyone.
So sometimes I’ll make connections or I’ll say, Hey, you should follow this person and do that. But the call is 30 minutes. I am offering value. I am actively listening to you. I act, I care what you’re talking about. I may offer my vantage point of what you’re presenting me. So I tell people, right, I’m not telling you what to do.
I don’t even think that I’m necessarily giving you advice. You are just talking in such a way, and I’m asking critical thinking questions that all the answers you’re really putting up on the board for me. And I might just say, Hey, you’re doing all these connection calls, but do you actually have like, like a well, like a, like a welcome sequence or a followup sequence for when you then get them into your world.
And it’s as simple as like, I never, I thought of that, but I didn’t think that you’ve done an epiphany call with me way back in the day. That’s what I figured it out. If you give people space. where they feel safe and they have just enough time to sound bored or talk about the thing that they’ve been carrying around inside of their head alone.
Nine out of 10 times, they’re just giving you the recipe and you’re just like, just add salt. It’s going to be phenomenal.
Colie: giving people the seasoning? Is that what you’re doing? I mean,
Mikki: Giving people the seasoning, giving people a
Colie: going to go here with that call.
Mikki: So I do that. So we do that for 30 minutes. And, I used to give people recordings of the call. They found that hugely valuable.
People are a little bit more pressed for time. So I’m kind of just doing summaries. These are your action steps after our call. I always put in a reconnection call link. It books that they, so 30 days from when we talk or beyond, they can just. Schedule another, uh, call with me so we stay connected. We continue the conversation.
The more you get to learn about somebody, the more, you know, if they’re a good fit to collaborate with, right? The deep that you get to know more, not about the services they provide, but what makes them unique to the services they
Colie: would you want to refer them versus somebody else that you know offers the same service? Absolutely. And I’m glad that you called it like relationship marketing because that’s, that is what it is. You, this is still a form of marketing. And so I know. When you were on the podcast the first time, your thing was everyone should have a marketing plan and Instagram ain’t it.
Everyone should have a marketing plan and it should be documented somewhere so that not only do you know what it is and you can like Check your progress and make sure that you’re doing all of the things, but so that if you end up hiring support and they come into your business, they know what is expected of you for your marketing plan.
Where does this relationship marketing land on your marketing plan? Like. Like a circle, like, does it take up 90%? Does it take up 50%? I’m just curious for you because I can see this part. Cause I mean, I can, I can literally feel somebody in the audience. That’s like, wait, so you gave them a free 30 minute coffee chat and then you’re going to give them another one.
Like I can feel someone doing this. And so. I feel compelled to say that if I had one of these coffee chats with someone and we weren’t a good fit, let’s say that, I mean, I can name a lot of things now that we just came out of political season, but let’s just say. That it was just, we’re not a good fit. No, I’m not going to send them a sequence that offers them another chat.
Like that’s a hard no, you don’t do it for everyone, but this is someone that you want to continue to follow up with because I know for myself, I’m not going to speak for Mickey, but there have been a few times where I have been in a room with someone. We have connected. And then I have simply forgotten to follow up again, or we had a coffee chat and it was like, Oh, you know, we should talk about this again next quarter when I’m planning my emails and or, you know, whatever it is.
And that it’s just fallen through the crack. And so I just want to make sure that just like everyone is planning out. their social media content and what they’re going to post and what emails they’re going to send out, like making sure that you’re doing the relationship marketing and following up with that person.
If they were a good fit for you, if you see something that you guys could do in the future, like that is just as important as scheduling your social media content for Q2.
Mikki: Oh my God, so important. And here’s the thing. I’ll bring it to them for social media. Spend time commenting on things. Sending DMs. Uh, like, look, I know we’re in like the era of many chat and I’m not against it, but I actually, you know, big pie. What I didn’t say is I actually believe in, having a, I don’t want to say smaller because the, you know, we see a lot of people that have very large audiences in that will dictate a very large like network or whatever.
I actually like to keep my circle small. I do believe in like the 80 20 rule, right? That it’s really that 20 percent of your clients that are pushing like business your way. And I think about that when I think about the network. outside of our clients too. Who are your top three people that send you opportunities constantly?
I’ll actually use, um, a very live example. I am going to see Oprah tomorrow on stage live bucket list. She’s going to be with Gail. So this is a, women’s conference in Massachusetts, right? So down in Boston. And. This event was sold out like back in March.
I actually have a client that’s going and she asked me if I was going and that’s how I found out about it. And so right that conversation dies. I’m just like, I’m not gonna be able to get the ticket. It’s totally fine. I had met someone in, June or July at a pitch competition I did, and she works for a very popular bank and, and we just connected.
Summer goes by, I’ve been traveling, right? So this is to your point about follow ups, Colie. I have like a follow up, like this 24 to 48 hour thing. It doesn’t do it for a connector of my kind. And I just do believe in timing too. So when I got back from travel, I said, Oh, let me follow up with like Nancy.
Cause I really wanted to connect with her. We seemed to hit it off. So I followed up with Nancy. We had an amazing conversation. She asked me if I was going to this conference and I was like, Oh no, I know it’s sold out. Oprah’s going to be there. I keep hearing about it. It’s fine. And she was like, what if I could get you like a ticket?
And I was like, well, Nancy, if you could get me a ticket, Hey, I’d be super grateful. I said, but please, if it, if you have to like jump any hurdles, like if this is going to take away from your time and energy, I’ll be totally fine. I’ll meet Oprah another day. Right. Uh, and so that’s it. We just left it. It’s been probably two weeks since I talked to Nancy.
I get an email yesterday and it’s like, you’ve been invited not only to the conference for free, mind you for free, because I’m big on getting free things because I’m a solopreneur, right? So, so, uh, not only do I get into this event, 12, 000 people are going to be there, to get all this great content about modern business, modern workforces, and all that.
I also get invited to the special, breakfast from said big bank. Right. So if that wasn’t enough for me, I was like, all right, I’m in, I got in at this event. I can see my client. We could do some content together already. I’m starting to put the connections together for how I can bring this, you know, to the people, what I’m going to learn and experience.
I check the seating chart. And when I tell you, like, I could do this to Oprah, like, like if she needs a volunteer, I’m on stage, like nobody’s business. But that’s when I realized, like, I’m, I can, uh, it’s so close that I’m going to get great content. Right. And that’s when I was like, I’m going to share this with my audience, my community.
Like when I go there, I see myself as bringing like literally a network of people with me and being able to bring back that diamond. But the big point is if I didn’t follow up with Nancy, right, those things that fall through the cracks after you meet people at in person events, I gave her my, scheduler so she could book the connection, call all the things that we talked about.
Colie: You wouldn’t be seeing Oprah
Mikki: Nancy came back and offered me, right? I didn’t know just, yeah, if you could do it or not. So when I tell people like having a network that works for you, it’s literally just. building and maintaining relationships with people that you like. Look, I’m not an advocate of hanging around with people you can’t stand.
So with people, with people that you like, you know, what’s going to happen is they trust you, they believe in you. They want to support you. So even going back to when we had the conversation about like, what is support? What does support look like for you in the season of business? But being able to articulate drives me nuts.
Every time I hear a woman be asked, or when I ask a woman, how can I support you in this season of business? And they go, Oh, I don’t know. And I’m like, so now you need to definitely book a connection call with me so that we’re able to help you answer that question. And that’s the value offer. I can’t. We all are too busy to spend 20 and 30 minutes on the, on the phone, just talking shit.
Right. So it’s like, it’s very intentional and like, if you can’t ask, answer, how can I support you? I already know that you don’t know all the supports available to you. All the things. And so now we have to have a conversation at the very best after our connection call, you’re going to be able to identify what kind of support you need, go out and find the people to ask it for.
But I just tell people, you don’t have to be the super networker or the super connector, but you do have to be very intentional about people you’re adding I’m going to take the word network out for a second. For people that you’re adding into your life and business, this is your livelihood. You need to be able to trust these people, not just on your best day, like on your worst day.
And I’ll, I’ll kind of cap it off with this story. The day I knew that I’d actually built a network was the day that I actually built a network. Um, my mother’s funeral service. My mom had passed away and, I think everybody, anybody that has ever had gone, to a funeral, or maybe it’s just me, I’m just like, I hope a lot of people show up, that’s like, that was my big thing that day.
I hope a lot of people show up. Cause my mom was a great person and da, da, da, da, da. I was in that room and when I tell you the place was packed, packed full, but it wasn’t packed with like all my mother’s friends, there were some friends there, there were some family. The place was packed with people that I went to college with, to people that I’d served on boards with, people I worked with at different jobs.
They were, it was literally like my network walked into the room. The hysterical part, people kept asking to meet my dad. My dad is not an extrovert like me. He’s more the strong silent type. Right. And so there was a certain after like the 10th person, he said, what do you keep bringing all these people up to me for Mickey?
And I said, you gotta, you gotta know the Wilson family. What do you keep bringing all these people up to me for Mickey? And I said, dad, I said, like, all these people think I’m pretty cool, which means they think you’re
Colie: You’re pretty cool by default.
Mikki: So it just is like a signature of like, if I’m a great person, you did a good job and these people are here to support us on our worst day.
And that’s when I understood, you know, the power of, let me, Colie, I’m going to give you one last thing to really leave, to leave off with. That’s when I understood the power of not just the network. But community. That’s when I understood how important support was. And here is my prediction. I want to leave you with a prediction that I think I’m going with for 2025 and beyond. A lot of people hate networking. We try to do the play on the word, make your network work for you, make networking not feel like working, and all of this. But I just went to a networking event and I went into the room and I said, I hate this event. I hate these events. It was just, it was an early morning event.
I’m not an early morning person. Everybody decided to sit down, which to me, observation says, nobody wants to network because when you take a seat, you’re, you’re already saying something like, I’m gonna sit here. Either my people are sitting with me or you’re a risk taker. You’re going to end up with some random people at your table.
And that could be a thing too. I decided to sit back in the room and I said, you know what? I’m just going to be here. I’m just going to be comfortable and confident being in this room and the right people will come to me. I got a speaking opportunity before I left within like 30 minutes of having that thought.
I got a speaking opportunity from having a random conversation. This is my prediction. I actually think networking is a men’s game. I think networking, because business is masculine traditionally and was a men’s game, networking and you know, your network and your net worth and all that, it’s very valid.
But what I find now is that I don’t have male clients that hate networking. I don’t have male clients that have a problem with networking whatsoever. I have women that are trying to figure out how to network naturally. Uh, how do I find the right people? How do I create authentic, uh, conversations and everything?
And I said, so, so odd to me, it wasn’t until I built a private network that I’ve realized none of the women in the network realize that they’re connectors. They don’t even identify it. They think I’m the connector. That’s it. So everybody comes up to me, Mickey, I made a connection today. And I’m like, I don’t, I don’t own a stock on connections.
Of course you made a connection today. Like I’m just, I just took the dot connector, but I didn’t
Colie: gave you a place.
Mikki: yeah, I just, It’s like when you ask people like, um, cause I saw the same thing happen. Like some women don’t identify themselves as leaders, right? They’re like, Oh, I’m not, you know, I don’t see myself as a leader.
I’m like, you get up every day, you manage a whole household. You’re running a business yet. You don’t see yourself as a leader. So I think part of this is just like personal branding and some other stuff, but I actually think. Relationship marketing. We can call it formally, but this art of connection. I think that’s the woman’s version of networking.
It takes a little longer, you know, the village. I just call my network, the village. Remember when you’re growing up and you had the village, like, you know, couldn’t get in, couldn’t get away. We couldn’t get away.
Colie: raise a family. It takes a village to, to build a business.
Mikki: And so for us, yeah, so for us, the village is simply the network. And so I won’t harp on this too much, but like when women start to take just a little shift in perspective, we’re natural connectors. We’re caregivers. We manage relationships day in and day out. If we can just apply this to our business and not feel the need to walk into a room, shake the hands, Give the elevator pitch, corner somebody into the sale, like, don’t do that.
That’s not going to work for us. You know, some elements of that can work, but I actually think if we just take time, if we need, if the support I’m seeing a lot of us need now is community. Be the community, be the bridge. If you’re not in the community, build the community. The community could be five people, could be 50 people, be 500 people, but just be in touch with the community.
So that’s, that’s my prediction. We’re going into the age of connection. Networking has officially died.
Colie: right, Mikki, feel like that’s a fantastic place to wrap up this episode. If people want to hear more about you and your network and your business, and they’re not going to go back and listen to episode 20, where can they find you?
Mikki: they can find me. Where can you find me? You can find me in these online streets. You can find me on LinkedIn, Mikki Wilson, right? Follow connect with me there. You can find me at Mick connects dots on Instagram streets or just go to my website dot connector consulting Dot com and here’s the thing about dot connector network If it sounds appealing to you if it’s something that you need it is an invitation only I am very particular to make sure that I keep the space safe, that I’m curating it with what people inside the community need, not just what I want.
So if you are interested, connect with me so that I can talk to you first and perhaps offer you the invitation that you need.
Colie: Everyone, I hope that you are feeling just a tiny bit more inspired to include a relationship marketing inside of your marketing plan for 2025. Because of course we are in Q1 when you should be roughly planning what you are going to do marketing for the rest of the year. It doesn’t mean that you need a detailed plan.
That’s going to say what week you’re going to send what email. That is not what this is about, but when you are putting down what events you’re going to have, what sales you’re going to have, I want you to be thinking about events, both in person and virtual, where you can take some of these things that Mickey and I have talked about today and put them into practice.
All right, y’all, that’s it for this episode. See you next time.
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