Most people want to feel great, have lots of energy, increase their fitness, remain free of illness and so on.

Most people also agree that eating better and exercising more would help them with their health and wellness goals.

However, most people also find it challenging to develop the consistent habits that they know would be necessary to achieve their health goals.

One of the main reasons people engage personal trainers is to help them become more accountable to their goals.

In the end, most people want someone to help them do what they know they should.

However, as has been often said, you can’t push spaghetti, but you can pull it.

Having a pull rather than a push approach is part of developing your leadership skills.

Most people also see the value of developing a team of team-building advocates and interacting with others also building a team of team building advocates.

However, as with fitness goals, many people find it difficult to form the right consistent habits.

It is vital to identify when people in your team are ready to step up. As we know, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!”.

It’s also important to paint the vision for the willing and identify what barriers they may have.

Most people struggle with how they allocate their time. Help them think through their time allocation and become more organised and productive. For example, many people are continually held hostage to their urgent to-do list, leaving little or no time for important activities and projects. It is challenging to achieve your end goals if you leave no time to work on achieving those end goals.

It’s great to help others make a list of thanks that are important or urgent things or both and go through this list of to-dos with them.

One of the most fantastic favours you can do your team members is encouraging them to listen to the mini-habits video in our system. This video summarises the Mini-Habits book by Stephen Guise.

Helping your team members come to grip with these fundamentals is one way you can make a massive difference in their lives. But, more importantly, you can impact many others’ lives when your leaders make the same investment in their team members.

It’s also great to help people clarify what’s really important to them. In other words, to identify the essential things and work towards achieving them. You will find that most people rarely take the time to clarify their end goals when they can see no way of achieving them. In other words, they settle for mediocre rather than great. They choose to exist rather than live. Part of your job as a leader is to inspire team members to strive for more. Building a network makes so much more possible.

Let’s look at some leadership hints and tips:

• Always work on your personal development and develop your leadership skills.
  • One great way of doing this is to listen to the great podcasts that come as part of the CC.
  • Some of these are summaries of great books.
• Help your team members recognise the difference between pleasing methods and pleasing results.
  • Time flies when you are having a great time.
  • On the other hand, time typically drags when you do the boring stuff.
  • However, simple tasks that may be boring consistently repeated usually produce the most remarkable success.
• Show your team members that urgent tasks do not always have to be done before working on essential projects. 
  • Help them see that they can devote time to the important as well as the urgent. It’s not one or the other.
• Help your team members understand the difference between consistency and intensity.
• Show your team members how to avoid becoming prone to distraction.
  • In other words, how to avoid the shiny object syndrome. There will always be something new and exciting they can quickly become distracted by.
• Help those you are working with become more strategic and organised to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
• Many people allow themselves to become stressed and overwhelmed simply because they are not well organised. In other words, they are trying to carry too much in their brains rather than relying on systems and habits.
• Help those you are working with not fall victim to continually thinking, “I will when the current crisis is over”. There always seems to be a crisis with some people, doesn’t there?
• Help your team members avoid feeling like victims. In other words, it’s not what happens to us; it’s how we choose to react to what happens to us that most determine our strongly desired end result.
• In some cases, you may feel you are no longer having a significant impact with some people you are coaching. In such situations, you may be able to think of someone else in the CC that they can speak with who may have a more significant impact than you do. Also, in many cases, you can think of a book or a podcast episode that you can recommend to them. Such tools can be highly effective.
• Learn the skill of asking great questions that can lead people to their own penny-drop moments. For example, questions that reinforce the value of starting with mini-habits, so they don’t become overwhelmed or lose motivation.

According to motivational speaker Jeff Olson, success and failure are both a result of the Slight Edge (or the Success Over Time Philosophy, for clarity): the idea that success is built over time with small disciplines executed on a consistent basis.

The Success Over Time Principles for Success

According to Olson, there are a number of core principles to creating continual success that builds over time. Let’s explore each in detail.

Principle #1: Show Up to Take the First Step

Olson explains that showing up means determining a goal to pursue and taking the first step to pursuing it. For example, if you want to become a psychologist, you have to apply for school and show up to class. Olson argues that showing up is the first step to achieving your goal, as no progress can occur without it. After all, you can’t go on a journey if you don’t show up to the train station.

Why We Resist Taking the First Step

Showing up and taking the first step in pursuing a goal is arguably harder than Olson allows for. Most of us can probably remember a time when we delayed getting started on something (or chose not to start it altogether).

It’s possible that a large part of our resistance to getting started is a fear that if we try, we will fail. When we experience failure, we also experience shame, which is painful. As a result, we often choose not to put ourselves in the position to fail in the first place. However, while choosing not to try might protect us from failure, it also prevents us from experiencing the joy of success.

Keep these strategies in mind next time you want to overcome fear-based resistance to getting started on something:

• Remind yourself that people are more worried about their own failures than they are about yours. People are usually thinking about themselves, not about you. Remembering this allows you to release the fear of judgment that keeps you from taking action towards success.

• Don’t overthink. The more you overthink preparing to start your goal, the more overwhelmed you will feel, and the less likely you are to take action. Keeping your thoughts about your plans simple helps you to get out of your head and into action more quickly.

• Reframe your anxiety. Think of it as a muscle you’re training yourself to work through and work with, rather than a hindrance. This helps you to develop the confidence to pursue your goals even when you’re afraid.

Principle #2: Be Consistent and Stay Committed

Next, Olson suggests that you commit to showing up for your goals on a consistent basis. Taking the first step on its own isn’t enough—the more consistent you are with your efforts to achieve something, the more likely you are to achieve it. For instance, if you want strong arm muscles, you can’t just do one push-up. You have to do push-ups consistently.

Build Consistency Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

How can you build consistency in your efforts to grow? Olson doesn’t elaborate; so, let’s explore the strategy of Jerry Seinfeld, one of the most consistently successful comedians of all time.

Seinfeld has always produced his work at a steady, productive rate. (He may not always produce his best work, but he is at least consistent in his output.) According to young comedians who’ve discussed consistency with Seinfeld, his strategy is simple: He writes every single day, and every day that he writes, he marks an “x” on the corresponding day on a calendar. Overall, he follows one rule: Don’t break the chain of productive days.

You can follow this strategy with any goal using the following steps:

• Make a list of the consistent actions you need to take to get closer to your goal.

• Buy a calendar and a red marker.

• Mark an “x” on every day you complete those actions.

• Don’t break the chain of marks.

Principle #3: Maintain a Good Attitude

Olson argues that maintaining a good attitude is essential for success in the face of life’s ups and downs. For example, you might practice finding the humour in your failures or challenges.

Olson believes that positive energy benefits your ability to perform. Furthermore, studies show that if you maintain an optimistic outlook, you’ll live longer, be more productive, and have increased resilience.

Although you may not be conscious of them, you have powerful beliefs that affect what you want and whether you get it. In Mindset, psychologist and researcher Carol S. Dweck argues that your attitudes about how fixed your abilities and intelligence are can determine the course of much of your life, starting as early as your preschool years.

You learn one of two mindsets from your parents, teachers, and coaches: that personal qualities such as intelligence are innate and unchangeable (a “fixed” mindset) or that you and others can change and grow (a “growth” mindset). This view shapes your personality and helps or hinders you from reaching your potential.

Your mindset shapes how you learn, cope with setbacks, advance in your career, and relate to others. Here’s how the two mindsets compare.

Fixed mindset: When you have a fixed mindset, you believe your abilities are unchangeable. You were born with certain traits and a certain amount of intelligence and that’s that. Many people are trained in this mindset from an early age — for instance, by a teacher who believes your IQ determines everything: You’re either smart or you’re dumb; you can learn or you can’t. When you view your abilities as unchangeable, you feel you must constantly prove yourself. If people get a set amount of intelligence, you want to prove you have a lot, although you secretly worry you were shortchanged.

Growth mindset: When you have a growth mindset, you believe the abilities you’re born with are a starting point. You can get smarter and grow with hard work, persistence, and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn, and seek challenges so you can stretch.

The two different mindsets lead to different sets of thoughts and actions, and two different paths. They dictate people’s aspirations; how they see success, failure, and effort; and what that means in school, sports, work, and relationships. Here are some ways the mindsets shape your life.

Success and Failure

In the fixed mindset world, success is about proving to yourself and others that you’re smart and talented. If you fail, it means you’re not smart or talented, therefore failure is intolerable. Failure is any type of setback: a bad grade, losing a competition, not getting the job or promotion you want, being rejected. Effort is a negative — if you need it, that means you’re not smart.

In the growth mindset world where you can change, success is about stretching yourself, learning, and improving. Failure is not seizing an opportunity to learn, not striving for what’s important to you, not reaching for your potential. Effort is a positive — it helps you get smarter and increase your abilities.

Perfection Versus Learning

For people with fixed mindsets, perfection is essential. To feel smart, they not only have to “get it” right away, they have to be perfect at it.

When researchers asked students from grade school to college age when they felt smart, fixed-mindset students said it was when they could do something quickly without making any mistakes. For growth-minded people, it wasn’t about perfection. They said they felt smart when they tried hard and made progress or were able to do something they couldn’t do before. Feeling smart was about learning.

It’s also one of the defining characteristics of success in the workplace.

Why Is EQ important?

Reason #1: EQ helps you process your emotions. Your brain is designed to prioritize emotions. Therefore, before you can have rational thought, you have to process your feelings. Though many of your emotional responses may seem minor, they’re important because these reactions develop patterns of behaviour.

Reason #2: EQ helps you manage triggers. Triggers are events that produce a significant emotional response. Triggers can cloud your judgment and prevent your rational brain from informing your decisions. High EQ skills allow you to recognize your triggers and avoid or effectively handle them.

Reason #3: EQ helps you control your thoughts and develop healthy habits. You don’t have direct control over your emotions, especially when something triggers them. However, you do have control over your thoughts. You can calm yourself down and handle your emotions by thinking about perspective, timing, and other EQ skills.

Reason #4: EQ helps you succeed. High EQ develops skills that directly correlate to success, such as navigating complex situations and keeping calm under pressure. One study found that:

• EQ relates to 58% of skill sets in the workplace.
• People with high EQs make an average of $29,000 more per year than those with low EQs.
• 90% of high-achievers have a high EQ.

You can develop a high EQ by developing the four pillars of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is your ability to identify your emotions as they occur and recognize your tendencies during different scenarios.

People with high levels of self-awareness:

• Recognize the people or situations that upset them
• Notice patterns of behaviour in specific situations
  • For example, they may recognize that they get angry when someone wastes their time or are nervous when a particular person enters the room.
• Embrace emotional outbursts as learning opportunities
• Take time to decipher the reasons behind their emotional responses
• Know what they do well, and what they don’t
• Understand the things that motivate them

Tactics to Develop Self-Awareness

Explore Your Emotions

Tactic #1: Understand the physical effects of your emotions. Close your eyes and examine different physical factors such as your heartbeat, breath, and muscle tension. Then, recall a memory that elicits a strong emotional response. Notice the way your body changes based upon that emotion. Recognizing physical responses allows you to quickly identify your emotions in your day-to-day life.

Tactic #2: Find the reason behind your emotion. Emotions act as a guide, pointing out things in your psyche or surroundings that you may not recognize otherwise. Assess why you're feeling what you're feeling. This helps you resolve any problems or tensions that are causing unwanted feelings.

Tactic #3: Embrace discomfort. Avoiding painful feelings only creates a short-term solution and exacerbates problems further down the line. When an uncomfortable emotion emerges, dive into your feeling and work through it. Once you understand why you’re uncomfortable, you can handle the uncomfortable emotion more effectively.

For example, you feel unfulfilled in your career but don’t want to deal with that emotion, so you try to push your feelings away by relying on constant external validation to provide you with fulfillment. Though this validation may give you a temporary reprieve, it doesn’t get to the core of why you feel the way you do. It essentially puts a band-aid over a deeper emotional wound that you need to eventually deal with.

View Your Emotions and Triggers Objectively

Tactic #4: Don’t identify your emotions as “good” or “bad.” Emotions aren’t “good” or “bad.” Judging a feeling only puts more emotions (such as shame or pride) on top of that feeling. This keeps your original emotion from developing and muddies your current emotional state.

Tactic #5: Know your triggers. Everyone has people and behaviours that push their buttons. Knowing what triggers you allows you to strategize for those situations. Be specific when noting your triggers. Identify people, activities, and environments that irk you. Then, mentally prepare yourself for the situation.

Hold Yourself Accountable

Tactic #6: Be specific about the message you send to the world. The clothes you wear, your physical demeanour, and your facial expressions all send specific messages and usually reflect your internal emotions. Understand the message your demeanour and appearance sends. This will help you understand why people interact with you the way that they do.

For example, if you go to work wearing dirty clothes and unkempt hair, people may assume that you don’t take your job seriously. For another example, if you don’t talk to anyone in your office throughout the workday, people may assume that you don’t want to be there.

Tactic #7: Invite feedback. When it comes to examining your behaviour, you're inherently biased. Reach out to other people to get a truly objective picture of yourself and the ways you respond to certain situations or people.

He studied business IT and holds a master's degree in change management.

After a decade working in IT, he started to focus on organizational change and leadership development. 

Gabe's vision is that major change in personal life and in business requires small steps, especially when it comes down to people and their behaviour.

To succeed with these small steps is not easy in these times.

Times where everything has to go fast, in large steps and should be immediately plain and clear.

But you cannot take a shortcut or use autopilot when learning, developing new habits or building deep relationships.

These things, like most important things in life, require small steps, reflection and patience.

When you learn how to

• Prioritise better.
• Become more patient.
• Become more consistent.
• Become more resilient.

It can make a huge difference to your results in so many ways.

The following great talks are just a sample of the type of talks you can hear on our Classics Podcast.

If you want to improve your results massively, develop a consistent habit of listening to great Podcasts.

What do we mean by advocacy?

Following is a great relevant quote about advocacy:

Advocacy is more potent than a mere referral. It is the active support of an idea.

When you know, like and trust someone and another person in business raises a problem they would desperately like to solve, you feel confident in saying something like:

“I can’t believe you just said that! I know someone who specialises in solving precisely that problem.

It would be great for you to have a quick chat with them to gain their thoughts on your issue.

As you might expect, they always have a great deal of work on, but if you like, I’ll contact them and see how they are placed for a quick chat.”

When the person looking for a solution says, “thank you so much, it would be so great to speak with your contact”, you then contact the person you are advocating for and arrange a meeting between them and the person who may be able to use their services.

In other words, you proactively work to arrange the meeting (even though you have no immediate direct benefit).

Why does Advocacy work so well?

• Because you are not selling yourself!
• Instead, you are enthusiastically promoting someone else.
• And as we all know only too well:
  • Anyone can promote anyone except themselves!
• When you genuinely trust that someone you know can be of invaluable help to someone else, it is effortless ‘to go the extra mile’ to advocate for them.
• The payback for you putting in this effort is that you build enormous trust with the person you are advocating for; and
  • The law of reciprocity says they will advocate for you
  • And often, they reciprocate in a much bigger way than you could have possibly imagined!

What is trust, and how is it built?

When someone in business is considering a potential business partner, employee, supplier, consultant or customer, what do they most want to know about the candidates before them?

• Do they have integrity (in other words, will they do what they say they are going to)?
• Are they consistent?
• Are they good team players?
• Are they prepared to ‘go the extra mile’?
• Are they loyal?
• What is their emotional intelligence like?
• Do they have initiative and creativity?
• Do they have leadership potential?
• Do they have aligned values?

Many people “talk a good game” at the interview but turn out to be quite disappointing 6 months down the track.

When you are helping someone build their network, you will come to know the answers to the above all-important questions over time.

As time goes on, you begin to like and trust a few people because they continually demonstrate the right attributes. So, you will be genuinely excited about promoting such people to others. You know they will do their best to perform (short and long term) – just as they have demonstrated when building their network with you.

So, in effect, when you advocate for someone, you are doing two people a great favour:

• The person you are advocating for.
• The person you are advocating them to.

It is incredibly uplifting, inspiring and motivating to be working in a community of like-minded others.

It’s great to be associated with influential and experienced leaders who want to help aspiring others.

It feels great to know you are making a difference in someone’s life and the only condition is that they “Pay it forward”.

 Ultimately, your attitude is the key to achieving outstanding results and enjoying the process.

 We encourage people to build their networks regardless of their current circumstances. 

• You don’t need to be currently in business.
  • When you build a trusted network before owning a business, you often discover ideas and mentors that will help you make a better business choice.
  • Many people fall into the trap of becoming a slave to their business because they did not choose the right business in the first place.
  • For example, you may discover a business that will help you live better because it can produce increasing amounts of income with decreasing amounts of effort required to earn that income.
• You may already have a great job or income stream
  • Dig the well before you need the water!
  • Enhance what you are currently doing and build the network for future endeavours
  • Engage with a great community of like-minded others
• You may lack confidence
  • In this case, you’ll find others will help you build your confidence
• You may have failed in several ventures
  • In this case, it’s possible you were lacking an advocating network and some good mentors.
• You may be time-poor.
  • In that case, an excellent question to ask is: what can I do to allocate my time differently?
• What are your options for setting up a better future?
  • Start by building a trust-based network and see what ideas you discover – you may be pleasantly surprised.

One of the best ways to simultaneously learn while building great relationships is by attending meetings.

The 4 meeting types we have are:

• Weekly workshops
• Weekly results accelerators
• Special Interest Groups (known in our jargon as SIGs)
• Our monthly leadership meetings for those who have achieved at least Core-5

You can see the times for these meetings by accessing the “What’s On” calendar from the Builders menu.

In addition to the above meetings, your team leader will often organise valuable meetings in which you can participate.

Our weekly workshops are our most important meetings. 

These workshops are great for learning and interacting with others.

When you Zoom in to the Workshop, you will be placed in a breakout room with a random group of 4 or 5 other people for 10 to 15 minutes. This gives you a chance to meet others.

After this, we welcome new people and encourage everyone to put Good News stories into the Zoom chat. These messages are simply prefixed with GNS. Good news stories are either about your network building success or breakthroughs or how you have been able to advocate for or build good business relationships with others in the CC.

Any quick announcements follow this.

Any guests you invite will go into a breakout room where one of our experienced CC builders will explain the CC in more detail.

If this is the first Workshop of the month, we split CC members into random groups of 4 or 5 people for about 40 minutes to get to know each other better and especially to learn more about the services provided by each person. This is a great way to build relationships and learn how to advocate for others.

If this is not the first workshop of the month, we provide a list of workshop breakout rooms. If this is the first workshop you are attending, you should choose Workshop number 1; “Welcome and orientation”. Then you should attend the Workshops in the following sequence:

• Workshop number 2; is simply called “Why”.
• Workshop number 3; “Who do you know”.
• Workshop number 4; “How to find great network-building partners”.
• Workshop number 5; “My Most Trusted”, searching and messaging.

Then we have 2 special workshops called Workshop 5a and Workshop 5b.

• Workshop 5;a is there to help with anything you may be struggling with so far.
• Workshop 5;b is there to help you achieve better results with various aspects of your process.
• Workshop 6 is all about creating consistent, productive habits
• Workshop 7 covers team-building basics
• Workshop 8 is about developing leadership skills
• Workshop 9 is there to help you make the best use of your network building time.
• Workshop 10 covers some great Productivity Tools.
• Workshop 11 has a different presenter covering professional and personal development topics every week.

As you attend each workshop, it’s a good idea to have the Workshops sheet of your Activity Workbook open in a separate tab of your web browser. This will enable you to record notes & reminders about each workshop conveniently.

Our Weekly Results Accelerators are top-rated.

The meetings are very popular and typically generate great results for the presenter.

The format of these meetings is as follows:

• People who have not previously attended a Results Accelerator are invited to introduce themselves briefly.
• This is followed by those attending talking about their CC-related good news stories. These Good news stories can be about network-building successes, breakthroughs, or advocacy.
• This is followed by a presentation from this week's featured presenter. The presenter is chosen from those that have consistently attended the Results Accelerator to support others.
• Typically the presenter will give some background on themselves, their family and why they are passionate about what they do.
• The final 10 minutes of the Results Accelerator meeting is the most critical 10 minutes as it allows the attendees to think about how they may best help the person who has just presented.

Once again, we recommend that you have your Activity Workbook open to make notes and reminders in the Advocacy sheet of this workbook.

Although there are multiple results accelerator meetings each week, we recommend only attending one of these meetings per week.

Many of our members benefit by using the Special Interest Groups meetings, otherwise known as SIGs.

SIG’s are led and organised by trusted CC members who have a passion for facilitating a group of members with a business interest in a particular industry.

An excellent example of a SIG would be the Tech enablement SIG.

Most businesses today depend heavily on tech. However, business owners often don’t have the time to understand what’s possible. The tech enablement group has many professionals willing to help guide business owners to make the best use of tech given their business size, rate of growth funds available, etc.

Business owners who attend and benefit from the Tech Enablement SIG will praise the professionals participating in that SIG. This, in turn, helps those professionals by providing business for them.

You can see what SIG meetings are being held, their Zoom link, and scheduled times from the What’s on Calendar. You can join one of these meetings, see what they are about and ask to be on any communication list provided by those organising the SIG.

If you attend a SIG meeting, don’t just be a passenger. Instead, contribute and be an active member and work hard to support the other members of the SIG.

Our Monthly leadership meetings for all those who have qualified Core at any time are massively inspiring.

These leadership meetings occur after the first Workshop of the month.

There is nothing like hearing pearls of wisdom from great speakers.

One of the many benefits of achieving Core-5 is qualifying to attend these leadership meetings.

Where possible, you should also attend any team meeting organised by the leader of a team you are part of.

If you want to maximise the benefits of building your network, it makes sense to participate in and contribute to team meetings.

Team meetings enable you to build close relationships and trust with others in the same team as you.

Team meetings typically have a great fun atmosphere.

One of the benefits of attending meetings is what you learn from others. Another great way of learning is to continually listen to the Podcasts you can access through the Builders menu.

Once you have mastered the basics of the NBS, we highly recommend that you establish a habit of listening to the great content available on the Classics Podcast.

The primary purpose of the CC is to help you build your team of team building advocates alongside others in the CC doing the same.

We believe that those with large networks of others actively advocating for them will benefit beyond their wildest imagination.

Duplication is a major key to building a large team of team building advocates.

We recommend you follow a duplicatable process; because that lightens the load for everyone.

By duplicatable, we mean:

Using an easy-to-follow system to do much of the heavy lifting for you.
As a result, there is no need for you to teach your team everything.

It is so exciting when you realise that you only need a small team of people who only need to apply a small amount of consistent activity to rapidly create their own team of team building advocates; made possible by an easy, comprehensive system everyone follows.

Typically you will develop a great relationship with a few people you have introduced to your team. You will also gradually build relationships with some of the people that your team members have introduced.

Even though the amount of time you spend with the team your team has introduced will be far less than the amount of time you spend developing relationships with those you have personally introduced, you will usually be held in high esteem by all members of your team and your extended team.

Our Network Building System

The NBS provides the tools, processes, learning material & meetings to help you with the following.

• Making a list of great potential network building partners
• Reaching out to see if these potential partners are available for a quick Zoom call with you
• Conducting “Discovery” Zoom calls with selected candidates
• Promoting a CC Experience so that they can meet some of the people you are working with and gain an idea of the way we go about building our networks
• Following-up after a CC Experience to determine the level of interest your attendee has in building their network using our Network Building System.
• Registering them on the NBS.
• Building a closer relationship with those you are onboarding by
  • Helping their progress through our Progressive Learning content
  • Providing weekly onboarding sessions
  • Encouraging them to attend our Workshops
  • Helping them progress to our Results Accelerator meetings
  • Helping them meet relevant others
  • As trust is built, advocating for them
  • Helping them reach out to others and onboard their first few candidates
  • Helping them improve their results over time
• Developing your skills and learning how to get better network building and commercial results
• Increasing your leadership skills

What is Core-5?

You are recognised as “Core-5” when you have found at least 3 people who are not yet part of the Connect Collaborative who now see the value of building their networks and have decided to take a trial of the NBS.

AND

You have at least 5 people in your team. You must have introduced at least 3 of these, but the others may be introduced through the others in your team.

For example, when you introduce 4 new members and one of those introduces someone. You are recognised as Core-5.

One of the benefits of going Core-5 is that you qualify to attend our monthly Core-plus meeting. These meetings have great speakers covering Leadership and personal development topics.

Many of our members comment on the great value they have received from such talks. 

What levels can you achieve beyond Core-5?

You are recognised as Core-50 when you have:

• 4 teams that have a minimum of 10 people subscribing to the NBS
• You have personally introduced a minimum of 5 people subscribing to the NBS
• You have a minimum of 50 people in your group subscribing to the NBS

The best way to visualise Core-50 is to imagine you have found 4 leaders keen to build their network (of team building advocates) and achieve Core-10. Then the task for you becomes mainly one of finding 4 other leaders rather than finding 50 on your own.

What’s Core-10 & Core-20?

You are recognised as Core-10 when you have 10 in your team, of which you have introduced at least 5 personally.

You are recognised as Core-20 when you have 20 in your team, of which you have introduced at least 5 personally.

As you build your network in this way, you build great know like and trust relationships with your team (especially through the initial onboarding and subsequent help sessions). 

Through the people in your team, you also get to know the people they onboard.

You can introduce (and potentially advocate for) those people (once trust has been established) to others in the CC who are building their networks.

The Connect Collaborative grows and thrives for the benefit of all because everyone contributes by (1) Building their networks using the CC system and culture (2) Advocating for and those they have come to know, like and trust.

What if you don’t have a business yet?

When you reach out to others, do you feel you don’t have anything to offer because you don’t yet own your own business? Maybe you a still an employee.

Have you considered that this is the very reason others will feel comfortable connecting with you – they know you are not going to try and sell them something – because you have no agenda!

So what do you have to offer?

You are part of a sizeable expanding network, and better yet, you are proactively building your own network.

This means that once you get to Know Like & Trust someone you are reaching out to, you can help them achieve the results they are seeking by advocating for them to others in your network.

Why would you help others when there is no immediate benefit for you?

Simply because, in general, people do business with people they know like and TRUST

It is so easy to build trust when you become an excellent connector and advocator.

When you help others first, they will usually feel that they want to return the favour – and often, they will return a much larger favour than the favour you did for them!

We call this: Return on Generosity!

Achieving Core-5 and beyond is all about forming small daily habits

Be determined to stick with building one of your most valuable assets – your network of Know Like and Trust relationships.

Anything worthwhile is going to require consistent effort.

The Good News?

• You can reach out online at times that work for you; we call it FTK; Fingers to Keyboard.
  • Results come from consistent FTK; lead your team by setting a personal example.
• There are many tools and ideas that will help you become more effective and efficient.
• Decide how much time you are going to invest
  • Most importantly, form Mini-Habits
  • Understand that it’s about investing a small amount of your time to massively multiply your time
• You only need a few great people, and when you decide to get good at it, it doesn’t take long to find them.
• You can find other leaders who will
  • Be self-starters
  • Build large teams
  • Advocate for you
    
    Don’t worry about being perfect – just get going – you’ll learn along the way.
    
    You’ll soon get the hang of it and enjoy meeting and helping new people and interacting with others in the CC.

Make sure you follow the system; it’s been well thought out to help you start simply and then gradually use more powerful, advanced tools.

There is a lot in the system, and it would be like trying to “drink from a fire hose” if you try to absorb it all too quickly.

The person helping you on board can be a great resource to help you get going.

The exact how-to’s will be discussed in the workshops and the content of our Progressive Learning program.

The secret to building a large network of people who will advocate for one another is to constantly:

• Search for good candidates on LinkedIn and invite them to meet you face-to-face on Zoom.
• Invite those interested in building a relationship-based network to experience the CC by attending a CC workshop.
• Onboard others that are keen to duplicate this process and build their networks.

You may be wondering why we focus so much on LinkedIn.

For example, you may already know many people and wonder why you should meet yet more on LinkedIn.

We highly encourage you to have conversations with those you already know to determine how important building their network is to them.

In many cases, you may already be sporadically interacting with these people. So it is perfect to have a platform like the CC where you can meet more regularly and help them meet like-minded others.

However:

• Research (especially by Professors Mark Granovetter, Adam Grant and Tanya Menon) has shown that most advocacy and referrals come from weak ties rather than those you know well.
• The list of people you already know will eventually run out. 
• Many of the people you know may be interested in networking rather than network-building
  • We are all about helping you build your network rather than facilitating “networking.”
  • LinkedIn is a perfect way of finding others who see the value of network-building rather than just the hard slog of networking.
• Most importantly, your new team members may not know as many people as you do. Therefore their team (and, thus, the number of people that can potentially advocate for you) will grow much faster when they know how to use LinkedIn to find great network-building candidates systematically.

 You may also believe that there are better ways of finding people than using LinkedIn.

 When you have learned about the great tools and processes we have developed to help you find great network-building candidates on LinkedIn, it will take around 200-250 outbound connection requests to introduce a team of 5 people (we call this Core-5).

• • At the rate of 4 connection requests sent every day, this would take you around 2 and half months.
    • All up, it would take you about 20-30 minutes per day
  • At the rate of 2 connections sent per day, this would take you roughly 5 months

That’s more than fast enough!

If the people you introduced duplicated this, you would have a very fast-growing team of team building advocates.

Success in almost any endeavour involves some degree of tedious activity.

As such, it’s good to evaluate whether you are engaging in activities that predictably produce great results or activities that, whilst enjoyable, produce much smaller results.

 In other words, are you engaged in pleasing activities or pleasing results?

 Duplication is vital.

 The people you introduce must have a system to help them learn rather than spending a lot of time teaching your team members everything. 

 Just imagine how easy it is to have your team members listening to Podcasts like these rather than you having to teach them everything.

 Using the CC system helps create a duplicatable process and keep the workload manageable for everyone.

 Using a great calendar booking system such as Calendly can save you a great deal of time and reduce the stress of juggling your diary to fit in with the schedule of those with whom you are booking Zoom meetings.

 At first glance, this may seem like others have control of your time.

It’s quite the opposite!

Using an app such as Calendly, you can decide when people can book into your calendar.

Also, apps such as Calendly integrate with your existing calendar apps (such as Google Calendars).

In other words, if you book a time in your Calendar, Calendly won’t double book you.

Here are some of the benefits of using an app (such as Calendly) to provide a link that others can use to schedule time in your calendar:

• First, it avoids the Calendar shuffle!
  • I propose a time that doesn’t work for you.
  • You suggest an alternative that doesn’t work for me
  • How long does this go on, and if done by messaging, how long is the delay before you actually get to Zoom?
  • Especially when you are working across international time zones
• People commit to a specific time and duration
  • When people commit to a time, it automatically goes into their calendar, and they are much more likely to show up.
• You receive an email when they book in
  • This tells you who has taken your request to meet seriously
• You can ask for their phone number for an automatic SMS reminder
• You can add questions for your attendees to answer when they book in (however, use this carefully – you don’t want to sound like you are setting the meeting as a way of selling something)
  
  

As more people use Zoom (or an equivalent), using a booking system is becoming respectful etiquette (you are grateful when others make it easy for you and send you a link to book into their calendar).

Here are some tips:

• Don’t procrastinate about setting up a booking system! 
• We all have “a million things” on our plates to deal with, and it’s easy to push off setting up a booking system till some time in the future.
  • Setting up a booking system is worth prioritising! 
  • You will see immediate time savings, reduced stress and wonder how you lived without it!
  • Don’t put it off too long, or it will become urgent!
• Don’t make your appointment times too long.
  • People will feel free to take the entire time – and sometimes you don’t want to spend too much time with some people.
  • For example, your meetings can have a 15-minute time slot. You can set up an automatic “buffer” on either side of your standard meeting type.
  • For example, you can set up a 15-minute event type that blocks out 15 minutes before and after the event. In other words, you are effectively reserving 45 minutes in your calendar even though your guest only sees it as a 15-minute event.

Using the My Most Trusted Chrome extension is a great way to save you time and help you manage your LinkedIn interactions.

 The best way to learn how to install, activate, and use the MMT Chrome extension is to click the “MMT in detail” item in Session 5 of the Progressive Learning mind map.

 A word of warning in advance; after you install MMT, don’t forget to click the link to activate the Connect Collaborative version.

We often find ourselves stuck in narrow social circles with similar people. What habits confine us, and how can we break them? Organizational psychologist Tanya Menon considers how we can be more intentional about expanding our social universes — and how it can lead to new ideas and opportunities.

This episode introduces the concept of creating a filtered list of candidates on LinkedIn, reaching out to those you select from this filtered list and sending them an invitation to meet with you face-to-face on Zoom.

However, before reaching out to others, it is important to recognise several vital points:

1. You will potentially be doing those you meet, a huge favour, because it is highly likely that you can introduce them to others who will be ideal contacts for them. Most importantly, you are not reaching out to others hoping that they will be interested in what you personally have to offer. On the contrary, they should be interested in connecting with you because of who you can introduce them to in your network. But, of course, you will not be introducing them to anyone until they have to some degree, earned your trust. In other words, until you have a better feeling about them.

Usual Thinking for most of us.

Most of us believe that if we have been “cold contacted”, it’s because the person attempting to contact us wants to sell us something or wants something from us. You are no different, and it’s why most people are wary of ‘the catch’!

We believe there is usually more value in making a great connection than making an immediate transaction.

But why would a stranger want to do this?

What’s in it for them?

Simply because they realise the value of developing a strong relationship with someone who has connections to many other great people!

2. Although you are not directly looking for customers on LinkedIn, like-minded others you meet on LinkedIn will most likely be interested in what you do and be thinking of people they could introduce you to.

3. If you set up your LinkedIn profile well, construct effectively filtered lists of candidates and construct good outbound messages on LinkedIn, it is unlikely that those you reach out to will be sceptical that your motive for reaching out to them is to try and sell them something.

4. Your goal is not to start a conversation with others on LinkedIn. Instead, your goal is to have a face-to-face conversation (via Zoom) with people whose profiles you have examined and believe are on the same page; especially regarding relationship-based network-building.

5. You will need to examine a lot of profiles from a great list of candidates to find a few that you consider relevant enough to send an invitation to connect and meet face-to-face for a Zoom Discovery call. In other words, be selective to be effective! We recommend that, on average, you should aim to send 2 connection requests for every 10 profiles examined. 

Consistency is the primary key to success. We know it takes about 200 connection requests to find 5 people who will join your team. 

If you spent 20-30 minutes a day examining 20 profiles and sent 4 connection requests a day, it would take you approximately 2 and a half months to build a team of 5.

With 10 minutes of consistent effort a day it would still only take about 5 months to develop a team of 5 network builders.

If you already have at least 500 connections on LinkedIn, we suggest a great place to start is with those who have already connected with you. In other words, your first-level connections. 

Soon you will learn about the My Most Trusted chrome browser extension. This is a fantastic tool to assist you to make and manage LinkedIn Connections. When you install this extension, it comes prefigured with a default message that you can use to send out to first-level LinkedIn connections.

The default message is as follows:

“Hi, First Name,

We’ve been connected on LinkedIn for a while. As I was reviewing your profile recently, I realised I have several close associates in my network who could also be good connections for you if you are like-minded.

I’m looking to build a community of like-minded professionals so that we can all advocate for each other.

My experience is that advocating for like-minded others is by far the most effective use of our time in producing tangible results.

It’s not about pitches, sales, offers or deals. For me, it’s definitely not about immediate transactions. It really is about building genuine pro-actively advocating relationships.

We all know how much business has been impacted by the events of the last few years. However, these events have made us realise that we all do better by working together.

My motto is; build trust by giving first.

If this resonates with you, click the following link and book a time for a quick Zoom to explore how we may be able to help one another.

There’s no point in just being connected on LinkedIn - let’s take it further.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better and seeing how I may best help.

Cheers

Fred”

This is just an example to give you an idea of the type of message you could convey to set up a Zoom with your 1st Level LinkedIn connections. It’s a starting point for you to personalise and improve upon.

How do you find great candidates on LinkedIn?

Sometimes you will discover great people on LinkedIn simply by interacting on your LinkedIn feed.

For example, you may find great people by reading their posts and commenting on them.

The other thing you can do that may be more effective and efficient is to search for specific attributes on LinkedIn profiles using the Boolean terms 

• AND 
• OR
• NOT

You can then capture the search results and further examine the list to see who you want to send a connection request to.

You can then consistently send such people a connection request.

Predictably this process will find you a few great network-building partners in a relatively short time. The beauty of this approach is that others can easily duplicate it so that your team can rapidly grow.

This means you can create momentum and excitement, and results through advocacy.

As a first step, filter your first-level connections to find ones that have words on their profile that indicate that they may be like-minded. The next step would be to examine that filtered list and only send the above message to those who have words and phrases on their profile that really resonate with you.

After you have invited your first-level connections to have a Zoom with you, it’s time to create relevant filtered lists of your second-level connections. Your second-level connections are the first level connections of your first-level connections.

Let’s say you have 500 first-level connections, and they each also have 500 connections. In that case, you would have 250,000 2nd-level connections through your first-level connections.

From 250,000 connections with careful filtering, you should be able to find at least 5 that see the value of building relationship-based networks as part of your team.

LinkedIn limits the length of the message that you can send your second-level connections to 300 characters. So, you need to think carefully about your connection request message.

Our “My Most Trusted” default connection request message is.

“Hi, First Name,

It looks like you have a great deal to offer that may be of interest to some of my contacts. Hopefully (like me), you also value stronger connections outside LinkedIn. If so, let’s connect to meet on Zoom or equivalent.

Cheers
Fred”

Typically, you will vary the first sentence in the invitation to personalise it as much as possible to reflect words or phrases on their profile. 

For example, for a particular profile, when you come to send the message, you could override your standard default first sentence with something like, “it’s great to see that we both believe in making a difference in partnership with others.” 

Regarding the messages you send.

1. You must personalise your defaults so that they sound like you
2. Ensure you over-ride your default messages depending on what you have observed on your candidate’s profile.
3. Note that all your messages suggest that you meet on Zoom (or equivalent platform). This indicates that you value what you have seen on their profile enough that you are prepared to invest 15-20 minutes of your time to have a Discovery Zoom with them.

When you send a message to someone on LinkedIn suggesting that you meet face-to-face on Zoom, what is the first thing they are likely to do?

That’s right! If they read your message and are curious about whether or not they should meet you on Zoom, they are most likely to look at your LinkedIn profile.

One of the first places they will typically look is the “About” section on your LinkedIn profile.

Therefore, leaving aside re-writing your entire LinkedIn profile, we suggest you add the following small paragraph to the top of your; “About”; section.

“Although we may not be able to do business together, it is highly likely that I will know people that could be great contacts for you. I enjoy connecting like-minded others for their mutual benefit.”

Over time, you can improve the look and feel of your profile. In the Progressive Learning mind map, you can see some great examples of appealing LinkedIn profiles.

When it comes to making a filtered list of suitable candidates that you’d like to partner with, what words come to mind?

• Integrity
• Willing to work
• Entrepreneurial
• Those who see the value of building relationships, collaboration, and partnership

On the other hand, what words, would you use to exclude profiles that you are not so interested in?

LinkedIn allows you to use the following boolean operators in your searches.

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Learning how to use these 3 operators is really very simple and can save you a lot of time examining many unsuitable profiles.

Many people have trouble distinguishing between the boolean 

• AND operator and the boolean 
• OR operator

You can quickly understand the difference by starting with the search term.

Tall OR Dark OR Handsome.

This search would cause LinkedIn to show all profiles with any of the words; Tall, Dark, Handsome on them.

Compare this with a search containing the same words separated by the boolean

• AND

So the search would be.

Tall AND Dark AND Handsome.

This search would only show profiles that have all 3 of these words. So, it would be a much shorter list than when these words are separated by the boolean OR.

Boolean searches can be quite complex and can contain brackets. As such, you really need to see such searches visually rather than just listening to a podcast like this.

The best way of doing this is to check out the relevant sections in Session 4 of the Progressive Learning mind map.

After a Discovery call, if your candidate is keen to experience a CC Workshop incorporating an introductory session, ask which workshop would be convenient for them to attend.

When you decide on a workshop time that works for them, let them know that you will use our booking system to reserve a spot in the introductory session.

Let them know that they should receive a confirmation email containing a 5-minute video explaining what to expect at the workshop. You can access this video from the progressive learning mind map.

It might also be worth giving your guest a quick overview of what to expect; in case they don’t get around to watching the video.

Ideally, your guest will:

• Participate in the magic waiting room;
  • In other words, if they join on time, they will be placed in a break-out room for 10 to 15 minutes to meet other members of the CC;
• After that, they will re-join the main room where they will hear from others who have taken a trial of the NBS in the last week, see the good news stories flow through the Zoom chat and hear about any updates or announcements.
• The workshop MC will then help them join the CC Intro session where they will;
  • Hear an explanation of what the CC is about from the Intro facilitator;
  • Have a chance to introduce themselves briefly;
  • Hear from other guests attending the same CC intro session;
  • Hear from the facilitator about the tools and meetings provided by the CC;
  • After the facilitator has finished their presentation, they will paste a link to a questionnaire into the Zoom chat. This questionnaire contains questions regarding your guest’s desire and willingness to commit to network building;
  • The system will email you the results of the questionnaire within about half an hour of your guest submitting it;
• You can easily find links to both the slides used by the CC Intro facilitator and the questionnaire in the progressive learning mind map.
• After attending the CC intro and filling out the questionnaire, your guest will return to the main room, where they will see how we wrap up.

Before booking your guest in for their CC workshop experience, make sure you book a follow-up time with them as soon as possible after the Workshop and make sure that both you and your guest have that time in your calendars. This will save you a lot of time chasing them up and trying to book a time with them after the workshop.

After you book your guest in for their workshop experience, it is essential to check that they received the details from the system. All kinds of odd things can happen, so it’s good to check.

If they can not find the email from the CC in their spam folder or bin, then simply send them an email with the details, including the Zoom link.

However, you must book them in through our Calendly booking system because:

1. We want to limit the CC Intro session to an absolute maximum of about 12 guests. So we need to know how many guests will be attending and, if necessary, open a second room with another facilitator;
2. One of the details you enter into our booking system is your guests LinkedIn profile link. This allows the facilitator to view your guests profile and potentially give them a more welcoming experience.

The details of booking your guest for a CC intro session are explained in the link, accessible from the progressive learning mind map.

You need to have a follow-up call with your guest as soon as possible after their CC experience.

The Intro questionnaire will do most of the “heavy lifting” for you by asking straightforward questions and leaving space for your guest to leave comments.

So, hopefully, your guest will have filled in the Questionnaire, and you will have an excellent idea about where they are at before you have your call with them.

Potentially you will be investing time to help your guest on board and become a successful network-building member of your team using the meetings and tools provided by the CC.

So, assuming your guest is keen to take a trial, you need to ask them a few questions to verify that they have understood the CC culture and that they are also clear that some consistent effort will be required to achieve the results that are possible from proactively building their network.

Some good questions to ask at this stage would be:

(1) What would you say is the main difference between networking and network-building?

(2) What would you say are the main benefits for you of building a relationship-based network?

(3) How much time do you believe you will be able to invest in network building each week outside attending the meetings?

Assuming your guest is ready to take a trial, you need to set a time to register them in the system and conduct their first on boarding session.

You should set aside at least half an hour and preferably 45 minutes to an hour for your first on boarding session.

If this is one of the first people you are on boarding, it is wise to ask your connector to on board them while you observe your Connector’s steps. Another advantage is that your new person can develop a relationship with your Connector. This can be advantageous because your Connector may be able to help your new member meet more relevant others in the CC than you can.

What should you aim to achieve in your first on boarding session?

In addition to adding and activating the My Most Trusted Chrome extension and then registering your new member, the ideal goal is to complete as many of the designated “First Steps” as possible. You will find these designated “First Steps” in Session 1 of the Progressive Learning mind map.

Remember that registering your new member is only the first step. You want to develop a great relationship with them and help them as much as possible during their 4-6 weeks on boarding process.

You will find a  link explaining how to add and activate the My Most Trusted Chrome extension in the Progressive Learning mind map. You will also find a link explaining how to register your new person in this mind map. 

Imagine for a moment that you do find 5 such people, and they find 5 such people. You would now have 25 in your team. It’s easy to see how rapidly your group will expand from there. It all boils down to finding a few network builders who will also commit to finding a few network builders.

Once your team starts to expand along with others in the CC, just imagine the immense possibilities for us to advocate for one another and potentially discover other business opportunities.

You may already know some people who you believe see the value of building their networks and are likely to be willing to commit a small amount of time each day to build their network proactively.

That’s a great place to start.

It’s worth doing a brainstorming session – just start by making a list of anyone you can think of.

The reason for doing this (without pre-judging) is that writing one name will often make you think of another.

Then examine the list and think about the value they may gain from learning how to build their network and working more closely with you.

Often you have people in your network that you’d like to collaborate more closely with, but until now, there has been no easy way of making that happen.

The next step is to have a ‘Discovery’ call with them (this could be by Zoom or phone). However, before making this call, you will have much more confidence when you learn how to have a great Discovery call.

What’s the objective of your Discovery Call?

Ultimately, you are looking to on board a few great network-building partners.

In other words, people who see the value of building their team and advocating for others.

Imagine you are starting a new business. Say, an accounting practice.

Would you be looking for partners that you believe are at least as committed and effective as you are?

Or would you be happy to invest a lot of time helping your partner develop to your level of commitment and expertise?

Obviously, you are looking for great team-building partners who will also look to rapidly develop their teams.

Remember that you are not looking to on board everyone – just the people who are excited about what we offer and who you are excited about being part of your team.

You are not looking for customers.

You are looking for people who could be great network-building partners.

So, the purpose of your Discovery Zoom call is to determine whether or not you want to offer your candidate the opportunity to experience the CC by attending one of our workshops. They would then also participate in a CC introductory session.

In some cases, after asking some questions, you may decide to end the call without inviting the person to an Introductory Zoom.

Following are some great questions to ask yourself as you progress through your Discovery call:

• Do you have a good feeling about them?
• Have they indicated that they see the value of building their network?
• Do you think they are “givers” by nature?
• Are they a good fit for the CC culture?
• Do you like them enough to give them the benefit of the doubt?

Note that you can quickly end the call with words such as:

“It’s been great chatting; if anything comes up, I’ll give you a call”.

There is so much we could talk about regarding the Discovery call. 

You will also learn some great tips about the Discovery Call when you attend Workshop 5b and also by watching a great video on the Discovery call.

Many of our members comment that the skills they learn by improving their Discovery call also help them achieve much better results in other areas of their business (and life).

With more experience, you will gradually improve. So relax! Don’t worry about ‘stuffing it up’ (there are plenty more fish in the ocean).

Following are some tips that will help you have great Discovery calls and manage your time.

1. Keep it brief

• You don’t have time for a long rambling conversation, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can connect with people (especially if you’ve selected well in the first place)
• One thing that will help you have a brief Discovery call and improve your overall efficiency is using a calendar booking system such as Calendly.
• Calendly is easy to set up.
• If you use an event type such as “A 15-minute chat with Me”, your invitees will know that it’s a short call (even though in practice, it may extend a bit longer)
• A booking system such as Calendly saves you having to engage in frustrating and time-consuming communication to try and find a time you are both free (it’s so much easier to offer them your diary of available times and let them choose a time that works for them)
• If you are not already using a booking system, it’s worth Googling Calendly.

2. Learn how to quickly connect with the person you believe may be interested in building their network

• It’s always worth remembering that many people communicate, but few connect.
• The ability to connect is an art you’ll develop over time.

3. Your energy and enthusiasm are vital

• As we say, it’s not the words you say but the music you play that matters
• Smile
• Ask ice-breaking relevant questions
• If you don’t know them very well, you must view their LinkedIn profile and comment about things such as where they live. For example, I notice you are in Melbourne – did you manage to get to the tennis?

4. Ask questions that lead the conversation where you want it to go. 

• For example, Mary, I love your profile. Especially the part about collaboration and building business relationships. I feel the same way very much, and it is really why I suggested we meet ‘face-to-face’ on Zoom. Could you explain a bit more about the value you see in collaborating with others?
• Always remember that questions are the answers.
  • The better you get at asking questions, the faster you will achieve your objectives (this also applies to most other things you do in business);
  • The person asking the questions is in control.

5. Understand and progress smoothly and effectively through the following ‘phases’ of your conversation

• Gather information;
• Highlight the value of building a network with like-minded others;
• Gather information about your candidate’s current focus and attitude regarding network building;
• Ask enough questions to determine if they are a good candidate for your team;
• Over time, progressively build a list of questions that you find work well for you.

6. Highlight the value of building a network with like-minded others

• If (after asking some good questions) you believe they are interested in building their networks, consider taking some of the following steps.

8. Give a brief background on yourself – be sure to speak about how network building has helped you
   
   
9. Learn some key phrases that highlight the value of building a network with like-minded others. For example: 

• “For as long as I can remember, people have emphasised the value of networking. However, I feel we’ve actually reached a point in time where networking is no longer an optional extra – it’s really something we’ve got to become better at. Would you agree?”;
• “When you think about it, the reason networking is so effective in gaining business or other opportunities is simply that: Anyone can promote anyone but themselves. If we attempt to sell ourselves, it’s usually very ineffective, isn’t it?” (Watch them nod in agreement);
• “On the other hand, if we have many others genuinely advocating for us, we typically solve some of our biggest problems; for example, gaining high-quality business with minimal effort and cost; would you agree?”;
• “The real problem is that no one has taught us how to build a relationship-based network of like-minded others. I have found that the networking that has been available to date has often been transactional rather than relationship-based. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the transactional approach if you are up for it. Still, I find many people (myself included) find a relationship-based approach far more pleasant and effective. How about you?”;
• “I’m looking for people who believe in building relationships and trust through advocacy. How about you?”
• “That’s why I and a few others have put together a great online-based group of people who want to engage in relationship-based network building rather than transactional networking.”;
• “Looking at your profile and from our conversation so far, it seems you also see the value in building your relationship-based network of others who will actually advocate for you as well as you for them.”;
• “How important would you say it is for you to build your network?”

9. Suggest experiencing the CC

If your candidate seems to be excited about building a relationship-based network, suggest that they experience the Connect Collaborative first hand by attending one of our Workshops during which they would sit in on an introductory session.

You don’t need to go into more depth during your Discovery call; the CC Intro facilitator will handle that.

10. Be prepared for questions

In the end, there are just a few commonly asked questions.

This means it’s easy for you to learn how to handle them!

However, don’t feel the need to cover all possible questions before they ask them!

If they don’t ask you any questions, they may be keen to attend a CC intro session, knowing that it will probably answer most of their questions.

That’s why it’s good to let them know about our intro sessions reasonably early in your conversations.

Following are some frequently asked questions:

Question 1; I am keen to build my network, but what sort of time commitment would I be looking at?

“Well, the great news is that the time commitment is significantly less than that required to attend physical network meetings!

Because all our network-building is done online, you don’t have to travel to meetings, and our meetings tend to be shorter and more focused.

Typically that will save somewhere between 1 and 3 hours per week.

Perhaps even more importantly, because our meetings are all online, you have national and international reach.

It’s up to you how much time you invest.

In the beginning, we realise most people will need to make some adjustments to fit consistent network-building into their calendar.

It really comes down to how important you feel it is to build an advocating network in advance of when you need it.

Question 2; Is there a cost?

Yes, but I believe it is very reasonable compared with other options.

The first month is free as we only want people on board who have experienced and see the value.

Unlike most networking models, there is no upfront commitment; you don’t have to pay a year’s fees in advance; you pay as you go. 

Also, you can cancel your subscription at any time, so there is no risk at all.

The small amount of our subscription should not be a barrier to them checking it out further. However, if the subscription cost is a barrier, this may signify that the CC may not currently be a good choice for the person with whom you are conversing.

Question 3; I already have a great network – what is the point of expanding it further?

An excellent way to answer this is with another question such as: 

“How much does your existing network pro-actively advocate for you?”;

The conversation may then continue along the following lines:

“Not a great deal, but I know that if asked, they’d do anything for me.”;

Your reply might then be: “Do you really want to have to keep asking? Wouldn’t it be better if you built your network in a culture that continually reinforces the value of proactive advocacy?”;

The more Discovery Calls you do, the better you’ll get.

To start with, you may feel nervous and that you didn’t ‘flow’ very well.

Don’t worry – you’ll get better with consistent practice.

Make use of the other resources available.

There is so much to learn when it comes to interacting with others.

We hear a lot about the value of learning people skills and self-development.

And it’s true!

It’s so worth being committed to personal development; it makes all the difference!

Also, consider taking advantage of the following:

• Role-playing conversations with your Connector or someone they recommend;
• Ask your Connector questions about how you may have been better able to answer a question someone asked you during a Discovery call;
• Attend the Workshops, covering how to improve your conversations. These workshops are interactive, so you can ask questions and benefit from the questions asked by others in that workshop.

That said, going through your homework is vital because it helps you to clarify the incredible benefits building your network could provide for you.

Many people start building their networks to support their business. However, the Connect Collaborative was founded to help people like you achieve the things they truly desire in life.

If you gain more business, but that comes at the expense of eating up your free time, what have you really achieved?

We believe that having free time as well as increased income is essential.

If you are making a consistent effort to build your team and your network, undoubtedly, the result should be more than just increased business.

We encourage every network builder to start thinking about creating significantly increased ongoing income while decreasing the time required to earn that income.

What could you do with increased income and more free time?

Following are some of the topics in your Homework

1. A great questionnaire asking you to rate the importance of various things in your life

• You’ll find this Quiz fun to do, and it will help inspire you as to what is possible.

2. Your thoughts on your End Goals vs your Means Goals after watching the fantastic video by Vishen Lakliani on this subject
3. Your thoughts on the Go-Giver concept created by Bob Burg
4. A quiz designed to help you think about how network building can help you
5. Various questions designed to help you clarify your vision for your future and how network building can assist that vision.
6. More notes around how to best work with your connector during the first 4-6 weeks of your on boarding

• You can find the Workshop times and Zoom links in the “What's On” calendar;
• We kick-off the Workshop with a chance to spend time meeting others - so please join 10-15 minutes early

The next step in Session 1 is to gain a broad understanding of the options in the Builders menu.

The Builders menu is always your starting point for all network-building activities. It is accessed through the top menu after accessing the connectcollaborative dot net website. When you access this menu option, the Builders Menu will appear.

The Builders menu has the following Columns.

• Activity
• Meetings
• Podcasts
• Membership

Let’s have a look at the options in each of these columns.

The Activity column of the Builders menu has the following options.

• Start here & Progressive learning.
• Access your Activity Sheet
• Book guests into a CC Intro
• Start a new team member
• Up for a Challenge
• View your Team

Let’s take a quick look at each of these options.

• Option 1; Start here & Progressive learning.
  • This option in the Builders menu gives you access to the progressive learning mind map on which the podcast you are listening to right now is based.
  • It’s is essential to become familiar with the mind map and not just rely on this audio. Some things require you to see and interact with
• Option 2; Access your Activity sheet
  • If you have created and saved an Activity workbook, you can access your Activity workbook through this option.
• Option 3;  Book guests into a CC Intro
  • You can book your guests in for a CC Intro session using this option in the Builders menu.
  • This menu option will take you to a mind map that explains in detail how to book your guests in for an Intro session using our Calendly booking system.
  • It’s important to note that you are booking the intro session on your guest’s behalf. Therefore, they should receive a confirmation email, a reminder email and a reminder SMS. The confirmation email also contains a 5-minute video on what to expect when they attend the CC workshop and the Zoom link to attend the meeting. Nevertheless, it is wise to contact your guest and ensure that they have received the confirmation email.
  • All of our Workshops have an introductory session that you can invite potential new members to attend.
  • Your guests will attend the entire workshop to gain a great experience of the CC. However, while you are attending one of our Workshop sessions, they will attend a CC introductory session that explains the vision of the CC and the meetings and tools we provide.
  • Each guest will also have the opportunity to introduce and give a brief background about themselves. 
  • At the end of the session, each guest is encouraged to fill in a Questionnaire about their intentions regarding network-building. This Questionnaire will be emailed to you within about half an hour of your guest submitting the form.
  • This CC experience for guests is highly effective. Approximately 70% of the guests who attend indicate on their Questionnaire that they are ready to take a trial.
  • However, it is essential to realise that this high success rate is mainly due to CC members inviting qualified candidates. In other words, invite others that you have qualified as being willing to put in a consistent effort to build their network. Don’t just invite anyone to take a look.
  • It’s great to set a goal to invite a guest every week or every second week. This is easily achieved when you commit to 15-20 minutes of proactive network building effort using LinkedIn every day.
• Option 4; The next item in the Activity column of the Builders menu is; “Start a new team member.”
  • This option allows you to register a new member or to restart someone who has been a member of the CC in the past.
• Option 5; Up for a challenge?
  • It is crucial to develop consistent network building habits. Setting daily activity goals that you can easily stick with, really helps. This menu option suggests some inspiring challenges which will give you a predictable path to build a team of 5 network building advocates.
• Option 6; View your team
  • This option allows you to view your team and their progress so far.
  • When your team is small, it’s easy to keep track of everyone. However, let’s say you have introduced 5 people who have also introduced 5 people. Now you have 25 in your team, and it’s easy to see this quickly expanding to 125. That’s the aim of the game - a few people introducing a few people who introduce a few people. When this happens, the “View your team” option in the Activity column of the Builders menu can be very handy.

The Meetings column of the Builders menu has the following options.

Option 1; What’s On

Option 2; Workshops

Option 3; Meet fellow collaborators

Option 4; Results Accelerators

Option 5; Special Interest Groups

Let’s have a look at the options in each of these columns.

• Option 1; What’s On
  • This menu option takes you to a calendar of all CC events, including details such as Zoom links to access meetings.
  • Note that the times on this calendar are displayed in the timezone where you are logged in.
• Option 2; Workshops
  • When you access this menu option, a grid of all our workshops is displayed
  • At the top of the grid, there is a search bar. Use this bar to quickly find anything you are looking for in the Workshop content. For example, if you want to see the details of how to set up the My Most Trusted chrome extension, you could simply enter “MMT.”
  • You will be asked to choose which Workshop breakout room you want to attend at our weekly workshop. Each week choose the next workshop in sequence. So at your first workshop, you would choose Workshop 1 (Welcome and orientation). At the next workshop you attend you would choose Workshop 2 ( named “Why” in the workshop grid) and so on.
  • You can re-attend any workshop.
  • Workshops 5a & 5b are exceptional cases in that they are designed to provide you with individual help.
  • Workshop 5 explains how to reach out to others on LinkedIn using the My Most Trusted Chrome extension. In addition, workshop 5a is there to help answer any questions you may have with this process.
  • Workshop 5b is designed to help you achieve better results with your LinkedIn process. It covers topics such as how to construct better search criteria.
• Option 2; Meet fellow collaborators
  • This option allows you to access a list of all the other collaborators who are current members of the CC.
  • Initially, a mind map is displayed. This explains features such as filtering options. Once you have learned these features, you can click the “Access Now” button to access the list of fellow collaborators.
• Option 3; Results Accelerators
  • This menu option explains our weekly Results Accelerator meetings
  • Once you have mastered the fundamentals, it’s time to check out just how great our Results Accelerator meetings are.
  • The Results Accelerator meetings can be highly effective in speeding up your tangible results.
  • These meetings go for about an hour and are currently held twice a week with the same person giving us some background on themselves and what business problems they help solve.
  • Anyone is welcome to attend these meetings at any time (you do not have to register).
  • However, we suggest new people spend the first 4-6 weeks absorbing the basics of the system so that they don’t become overwhelmed by trying to do too much too quickly (as we say, it can be like trying to take a drink from a fire hose!).
  • We also suggest you choose one of the Results Accelerator meetings that you plan to regularly attend. This can be achieved by clicking the link provided when you access this option. Then, you’ll receive a weekly email and an SMS with information about who is presenting this week.
  • The format for the Results Accelerator meetings is as follows:
    • For the first 15 minutes or so, various people contribute good news stories relating to
    • Building their network
    • How they have been able to help or advocate for others and how others have been able to advocate for them
    • This is followed by a 20-minute presentation from one of our contributors. Their presentation usually covers their background, the services they provide and what differentiates them from others providing similar services.
    • The most important part of the meeting is the final 15 minutes or so, where we all contribute by thinking about how we may help the person who has just given their presentation – especially which contacts we have that we may be able to advocate them to
  • The Results Accelerators are especially great as they are usually highly relaxed, entertaining & most importantly, we get to know the presenter far better than we possibly could from a mere “elevator pitch”.
• Option 4; The final option in the Meetings column is “Special Interest Groups” of SIGs for short.
  • Special Interest groups allow people in a similar industry to collaborate;
  • For example, we have a small business SIG where those who provide services for small businesses can collaborate (even those providing similar services);
  • Someone with a passion for forming such a group usually asks the CC to consider facilitating the formation of such a group. They will then offer to lead the group, organise and administer Zoom meetings etc;
  • If you believe you could contribute to such a group, you can apply to become a member;
  • Similarly, if you have someone you know in a small business who needs help, you may be able to refer them to the Small Business Group;
  • Often the members of a SIG will be helping clients who express the need for a service that is outside their area of expertise. That member can often enthusiastically and authentically advocate for another member of the SIG whom they trust and may help provide that service to their client;
  • Members of SIG actively listen for opportunities for other members of the SIG as they provide services to their clients. On many occasions, significant business needs are discovered in casual conversations;

The Podcasts column of the Builders menu has the following options.

• Option 1; Classics
• Option 2; Workshop
• Option 3; Progressive Learning
• Option 4; How to invest your time

These podcasts are GOLD!

It is great to listen to audios while doing other activities such as driving, walking the dog or cleaning the house.

We highly recommend that you save the Builders menu to your phone’s home screen so that you can access these Podcasts easily from your phone. There are 4 simple steps to follow to save the Builders menu to your phone. These steps are described in detail using screenshots in the Progressive Learning mind map.

We are continually adding great talks to our Classics podcast. These talks are often TED talks or spoken articles carefully selected for their inspiring content. We highly recommend that you work your way through all the episodes in the Classics.

All the written material in our Workshops is also available in spoken form. This is incredibly useful so that you can:

• Listen to the content of a workshop before attending the actual workshop, where you can ask questions and interact with the facilitator and others attending that workshop.
• There is a great deal of material that a workshop facilitator could cover in each workshop, and it is unlikely that workshop facilitators will have the time to cover everything. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you listen to the podcast for each Workshop after attending it. That way, you’ll know you have everything covered.

All the material you will be covering during your weekly on boarding sessions with your Connector is available in a spoken format as well as on the Progressive Learning mind map. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you listen in advance of your upcoming session with your Connector to the content that you will be covering in that session. This will enable you to ask questions and make faster progress.

In addition to the Classics, Workshop and Progressive Learning podcasts, we also have relevant common interest podcasts such as “How to invest your time”. We all struggle with how best to allocate our time, and these talks can help a great deal.

The options in the Membership column of the Builders menu are pretty straightforward.

They are

• Option 1; Update your profile
  • Access this option to change details such as your phone number or email address
• Option 2; Display and print your CC invoices
• Option 3; Update your payment details
  • Remember to use this option to update the expiry date of your credit card at the appropriate time.
• Option 4; Cancel your membership
  • It is important that you point this option out to people when they join your team.
  • We expect people will love and want to be part of the CC, but we also know that life happens.
  • You and your team members must know that the CC is a no-risk option. There is a one-month free trial, no yearly lock-in fee, and memberships can be immediately cancelled should the need arise.

The next step in the Progressive Learning series is to learn the best process for finding the information you need when you need it.

We all have many things competing for our time. So if you have a question, rather than contacting your Connector outside of your weekly onboarding session or emailing CC, first try the following.

• Try the Search bar at the top of the Workshop grid
• Try the Search bar at the top of the Builders menu
• This will give you access to all pages, courses, lessons, topics, quizzes and podcast episodes in the system
• If appropriate, as your questions during the next workshop - especially Workshop 5a & 5b
• As a last resort, email the CC