Hacks for Networking as an Entrepreneur with Arjun Rai

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Business Made Simple. Today, we'll be breaking down hacks for networking as an entrepreneur. To drop these value bombs, we are brought to Arjen Rai in the EO Fire Studios. Arjen is a four-time entrepreneur building civilization, advancing tech. He's a founder at Hello Woofie and Self Tact. And today, Fire Nation, we're going to talk about some pretty sweet negotiating hacks. We're also going to talk about how people spend money at events, how they spend their time, and how you can maximize your ROI, and so much more.

0:45And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to our Jen and our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business. Join my friend, Donna Miller, each week as he shares value bombs on topics like the secret to making better marketing decisions. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Belay has spent over a decade helping thousands of leaders increase efficiency and productivity by leveraging flexible staffing solutions.

1:20Download Belay's delegation guide and learn six specific things that busy leaders must start delegating today. text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E to 55123 to download the guide and get started. Arjun, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Great question. I think when you're in your initial phases of being an entrepreneur or building anything, there is no work-life balance. A lot of people, especially those in your family, in your friend circle that have never built anything, any company, any podcast, anything, they'll probably tell you, hey, you need work-life balance because they're used to the 9 to 5.

2:07But we're not only doing the 9 to 5, we're getting back at it from 5 to 9 and grinding away. Now, I do believe there needs to be work-life balance at some point down the road. But when you're competing with the biggest companies in your industry, the biggest podcasts in your industry, whatever you're doing, even if it's the coffee shop down the block, you've got to put the extra work in and have no work-life balance in the beginning. Fire Nation, today we're talking about hacks for networking as an entrepreneur. And we're going to talk about some pretty sweet networking hacks, if I must say so myself.

2:41So I want to start, Arjun, with a hack of getting into networking events via negotiations. One of the things that I would do when I was a kid in college was use the student card all the time. Hey, John, I'm a student. Can I volunteer at your event? Hey, John, I've got, you know, an amazing starter that I'm working on. can I present it at your stage or on your show for a few minutes as opposed to the 10 minutes that you're giving everyone else? Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate has always gotten me ahead. There's also the thing of showing up at the event last minute and talking to the manager and being like, hey, I'm a young entrepreneur.

3:29Is there any discounts you have available? And I've gotten into some pretty big conferences that were worth thousands of dollars as a result. And you just got to ask. I think the power of it is asking. That is pretty powerful because a lot of people just won't ask. And a lot of people won't use the opportunities that they have. For instance, I'm a veteran, so I love asking the question about any military discounts, any military opportunities. If you just kind of come forth and ask straight forward, a lot of times they won't have those opportunities, but they'll feel bad about not having those opportunities.

4:03So they'll be like, well, let me see what I can do for you. Now, something that's pretty interesting, Arjun, is that you believe there's power in a selfie when it comes to networking and cold calling post-event. Tell us more about this selfie power. We originally started our startup as a marketing platform called Hello Woofie. And then a couple of months ago, we started an app called SelfTac, S-E-L-F-T-A-C-T. And the only reason we did that, John, is because we were going to networking events, taking selfies, meeting people, taking group shots. And then after the event, when I got back to the hotel or, you know, back to the plane after, you know, several networking events, I was like, I have no idea who's in these photographs but I had the business card so I could kind of figure out oh, this is John's card and this is what John looked like and I took a photograph of him let me send it over and say hey, request for a meeting met at so and so conference let's link up and so I was doing this manually sending the selfies sending the group photographs and trying to get it out the door but it was very manual so then we built this very simple app which now is certainly taking off, which makes sense.

5:21In hindsight, it was like the most obvious idea ever, where you take a selfie, you get the person's information, and then it automatically will create a message for you. We'll type it out for you. We'll send them a message and text and email with the selfie attached, and then follow up for you a week later and be like, hey, this is John. We met at the conference. How's it going? Let's grab coffee. And that's the simple idea that we kind of ran with. And again, it just makes it so warm, empathetic to be like, hey, we met and here's the proof. And you're probably going to forget. But when the photograph is there, you're not.

5:58Now, I think a lot of people, Arjan, they spend money to go to events, to travel to the event, and then the hotels, the food, all this stuff. And then they just spend their time kind of wandering around aimlessly, like, you know, sitting in the back or just like kind of finding themselves, you know, just not really being that purposeful or intentional. So you have a hack of where to sit at an event to maximize our return on our investments, that ROI. What is that all about? I always like to break the rules. So if it says VIP and it says reserve, well, you could just move the piece of paper and just sit there.

6:39Unless you get, you know, someone says, hey, are you an actual VIP? Or are you, you know, is this reserved for you? Most of the time, people don't care, especially if you use that young entrepreneur card. The person sitting next to you that has paid a lot of money to be the diamond or the VIP or whatever, if they have any ounce of mentorship or humility or empathy in them, they're going to want to make sure that you're sitting next to them and that they can give you some advice. And who knows, that might be an investor for you, a client or a mentor that can help you. So I've done that all the time.

7:11I've always gone into the green rooms you know, minding my own business networking with people now I take selfies with them using self-tech and it just works out phenomenally the other thing I would say is also don't sit in the middle of the rows sit in the aisles so you can get in and get out and come back in and you can sit in different aisle seats so that you're always fluid if you will, you can go in and out and also standing in the back of the room gives you the opportunity to talk to people while the session is on. The reason I say that is because you don't want to be sitting for 60 minutes listening to Grant Cardone talk about real estate investing or Tai Lopez, blah, blah.

7:59You're not there for them. In fact, I've had a chance to talk to them. Trust me, you're not there to talk to them. You're there to talk to the people that they've attracted. and they're almost always talking in the back. They're almost always just outside in the hallways meeting people. And so I always go into the networking events with my, you know, self-tech or Hello Woofie shirt and it has a logo literally everywhere. It's not just on the front. It's also on the back. It's also on the side on the sleeves. If you go to customing, you can do a minimum order of six shirts and get it on the sleeves.

8:31Make sure every side of you is branded so that people coming at you from any angle will be like, oh, that's John. Isn't he the famous Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast owner? Let me talk to him. Because they see the logo on the shirt on the front, on the back, on the side. And I also have hats. I also have a bunch of other stickers and whatnot. So, it just, these are like little things that if you invest early, it can give you dividends. And so, I have like, I think like 25 shirts now at this point. So, I don't have to laundry them when I travel. I just put a new one on every other day or every day.

9:05And it can add up. I mean, we went really high, high quality with our, our swag, specifically our shirts. Like they're so comfortable. They're like slim fitting. They just feel great. And we were just like thrown for, you know, around to people at events. And then they would snap pictures of themselves in the gym that morning. Of course, they're wearing the shirt. They'd be wearing it, you know, the next day cause it's just a great fitting shirt. And then it had legs as well. Like, you know, but again, we didn't get those like scratchy, cottony, cheap shirts that everybody gets. Like you, you got to invest a little bit cause to me, it's like, should I spend 15 bucks on a shirt that no one's going to wear or 25 bucks on a shirt that someone might literally be sleeping in for the next couple of years, which we have people that have done that.

9:45And it's really crazy stuff. We have a lot of hacks to talk about when we get back Fire Nation from thanking our sponsors. Are you ready to close 2023 out strong by surpassing your revenue targets? Q4 is the time to make it happen. But in order to do that, you need the right tools to help you fill your pipeline, nurture prospects and close deals. Lucky for you, there's the new HubSpot Sales Hub. With HubSpot's Sales Hub, you're able to supercharge your sales process so you can find, track, and close deals all in one powerful, easy-to-use platform. Imagine having your data, tools, and team all in one place.

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12:37To see where you could benefit from delegating, Belay is offering a free download of their delegation guide. They outline six specific things that busy leaders must start delegating to take their leadership and results to the next level. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E-2-5-5-1-2-3 to download the guide and get started. Delegate to Belay so you can focus on what matters most. Arjun, you have a hack around eating to max our chances of getting a higher return on investment. So, you know, we've talked about the seeding. We've talked about some networking negotiations. What is the eating hack? I feel like you should get the brands that I'm talking about to sponsor you.

13:21So I already talked about the shirts, right? So I love custom ink. The next thing I'm going to talk about is Uber Eats or GitHub. Not GitHub, Grubhub. And you can tell I'm a techie, GitHub. Grubhub or Seamless or what have you in terms of delivery services in your area. So here's what I do. Let's say John is hosting a conference and his lunch hour on his schedule of the conference says 12 to 2 o 'clock. You know, lunch is catered, it's free. The thing is, nothing to say about John, but most conferences, and I've only come across one conference in the last 12 months, that was, they had great catering, but most catering is really bad.

14:02It's cold, it's pre-made, pre-packaged, but people are still sitting there eating and munching away, and it's very hard to talk. So what I do is if 12 o 'clock is the lunch hour, I'll have Uber Eats deliver at 1130 my lunch so that I can eat, and then while everyone is chewing, including the VIPs and the dinners, and, you know, members or what have you, or in the green room, I am pitching. I am talking to you, not with food, you know, in my mouth, but with a pitch in my mouth. And you're listening, you're giving me your contact, you're saying yes, no, you know, things of that nature. If I'm asking you, hey, can you give me your contact information so we can continue?

14:44I don't want to bother you with your lunch right now. You're most likely going to say yes, give me your phone and enter your information. So that's my hack when it comes to not doing what everyone else is doing, but kind of zagging away. If everyone's zigzag, you know, you want to do different. And I actually do the same thing with breakfast too. I'm not a morning person, but, you know, I always have snacks ready to go in my backpack or in my pocket so that I'm not starving. And of course, have those mint breath mints, you know, those from Simply Mint is really good. because they're natural. There's no artificial colors or preservatives in there.

15:24Because if you are starving, you need to make sure your breath is really fresh. I have actually a good story about that. There was a time when I needed a mint, and there was a guy there, I'll never forget his name. His name is Aaron, and he's had mints. And I said, brother, you'll be a lifesaver. Can I have a couple? And he gave me a couple. And then I went on my way, and I was very appreciative. And guess what? The next event that we were both at, he walked up to me, and he gave me a full pack of the mints. He's like, we're just thinking you might need this. And it's kind of become the thing that he's done every time I've seen him now.

15:53And let's be honest, every time I see him, it's like we now have a relationship because he's kept up on it by doing just something small that really matters. Now, Arjun, I love real world stories and also examples of success at networking events. So give us a couple of your faves, like the one that I just gave. Well, I was actually meeting this guy named Rudy. He always wears red. He's very iconic. and he was speaking at the Grand Cardone Conference, GrowthCon, about a year ago. And I actually have a story about how I ended up at that conference, too. But anyway, Rudy had just walked into the bathroom, and I was actually on my way out.

16:32And he went over to the urinal, and I recognized him immediately, but I was like, I'm not going to be weird and say, hey, Rudy. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. Yeah, I was going to do that. So what I did was I waited outside the bathroom until he was done, and he walked out and I was like, oh my God, you're Rudy from Instagram. You're the famous Rudy. And he was like, yeah, man, what's up? And so we took a selfie, he used self-taught, he gave me his contact information, I got on a call with his team, and the rest is history. I mean, the point is that you can literally network anywhere, in the bathroom, in the conference, you know, in the conference room, you have no idea.

17:10Now, the story of how I ended up at growth con is is pretty funny um the the girl i was dating uh she and i flew out on a friday for the bruno mars concert and then saturday that was that was on a friday then on saturday i was talking to a couple of my investors just catching up with them at the grand the plaza things called the grand plaza or some hotel in las vegas and i was walking him out one of my investors to the to the front lobby and i see these two people coming up to me with the 10x logo and I'm like, isn't that Grant Cardone's logo? They were like, yeah, about 200 people are flying in from Miami.

17:46Didn't you know? They're hosting a conference at this hotel. And I was like, what? So I was about to fly out that night and I extended my trip and one thing led to the other and I met a ton of investors, a ton of friends and we took a ton, probably like 40 selfies at that conference and it turned out to be really, it was just about putting yourself out there, right? And the universe will throw opportunities at you. had I missed that sign or had I missed that logo in the lobby I would not have met Rudy in the bathroom or any of the other amazing things that happened that week Fire Nation I want you to have stories like this like I shared like Arjun shared because it's just putting yourself in the right place and just letting things happen they say luck is where effort meets opportunity the opportunities gotta be there you gotta put yourself in a place where opportunities can be abound.

18:38Let's bring this home, brother. Self-Tact, you talked a little bit about this, but I want to hear a little bit more. How does it help bring people together with smart selfies? We've been working on Self-Tact for a few months now. And again, we built it for me, and I was the only one with the app. Well, I guess my developer had the prototype as well. So it was just the two of us in the whole world. And all of a sudden, when we were at masterminds and conferences and meeting people. People are like, you know, Hello Wolfie is really cool, our AI marketing platform, but this thing I need it now. And I was like, well, we don't have it available anywhere.

19:14What would you pay for it? How would you use it? And lo and behold, a lot of people wanted it. So we have just under 1 ,000 members today with no marketing whatsoever. And, you know, it's great. So the way, and also two weeks ago, probably three weeks ago, I saw on TikTok this video that said David Rockefeller, you know, world-renowned billionaire entrepreneur, when he passed away, they found 100 ,000 almost like index cards in his Rolodex. This is like an actual Rolodex, the thing that you spin to get contact details. And he would actually get photographs and contact details and little things like, oh, John's shoe size is 10 and a half.

19:55or he has two daughters, Nicole and Lisa, that just started private school. He would just write all these pieces of information down and when he would meet these people again, he would know exactly what to say and they would be like, oh, that person really paid attention. They know everything about what I said before and they actually paid attention. So we built Celltech to essentially do that in a digital way. You take a selfie, you use that information, the contact details to automatically email them, text them. But the vision for the self-tech is essentially to build a social media network behind it for networking professionals, power networkers.

20:34And you can see a feed of people meeting each other across the world, virtually or in person. You know, Lisa took a selfie with Bob and Mark at the same time. And you can see the selfie there. And you can start meeting people that could be great business partners, you know, finding leads for yourself. But more importantly, then you can see on a map where you're taking selfies, who you're meeting. And then eventually it might become your CRM. The top five clients in your cell tech, one click, send them a chocolate. On your anniversary with them as a business partner. Or send them flowers if they're going through something and you know they're your top client.

21:09They might need a thank you or thinking about you, kind of a card. That's what we're thinking about cell tech could be. It's a CRM, but more of an empathetic, warm CRM where memories are created and then those turn into leads and turn into revenue. Fire Nation, great concept, great idea, great execution. And I want one key takeaway, Arjan, that you can give to Fire Nation from our entire chat today. In-person events are back, especially in San Francisco, in the Bay Area where we're based most of the time. and in order to maximize in-person events you have to make sure that you're you always have a a center of conversation what that center of conversation could be something you're wearing the energy you're bringing a joke you shared when you were at the mic something that you know stands you apart where when it comes down to networking it comes down to you know meeting each other people can come up to you and be like, oh, John, you're the person that has that shirt, you know, that says this funny quote, or you're the one who just made that joke earlier on the mic.

22:19You know, I relate so much. Then you don't have to work the room. The room is working already for you. And then, of course, take selfies. You have no idea in 10 years or 20 years or 100 years where you and that person might be. You know, I'm a bit of a romantic when it comes to photography. I have people that were nobodies 10 years ago that now are on the covers of magazines or on podcasts or whatnot. They're super famous, but those are memories that you can hold onto forever. So take smart selfies. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and you've been hanging out with AR and JLD today.

22:58So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Arjen in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And I want to say thank you, Arjen, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value of Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Arjen for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs are great at three things. productivity, discipline, focus. That is why I created the Mastery Journal so that you can master productivity, discipline, and focus in 100 days.

23:35And we're talking step-by-step. Visit themasteryjournal.com and I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business. Join my friend, Donna Miller. each week as he shares value bombs on topics like the secret to making better marketing decisions. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Belay has spent over a decade helping thousands of leaders increase efficiency and productivity by leveraging flexible staffing solutions.

24:15Download Belay's delegation guide and learn six specific things that busy leaders must start delegating today. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to download the guide and get started.