How To Grow Your Business Relationships With Effective Networking Strategies With Frank Agin

Frank: (00:00)
Well, networking is about building relationships. That's really what it is at its core. And I'll, I'll go in. I'll do I do some professional speaking? I'll go in and I'll ask people who does think they're a good networker and most people will say, I'm not a good networker. They'll raise their hand and I'll start to ask questions. I'm like, okay, how did you meet your wife or your, or, or your husband? How do you guys find a babysitter? And they start talking about it. It's like, you know what? You are a good networker.

Stephanie: (00:28)
Hey guys, it's Stephanie. And welcome to another episode at the glam line of real estate podcast. Thanks for joining me today. We are talking all about growing your business by networking, skirt, skirt. I know don't turn me off yet. I promise I dread networking as well. I think, uh, donuts and those lovely name badges, and people trying to sell you something as they shake your hand and introduce themselves. We're not talking about that kind of networking today. So don't turn me off. Stay tuned. I have an awesome guest. So let's get to the show.

Speaker 3: (01:02)
You're listening to the glam life of real estate podcast, where we talk about everything from productivity tips, social media strategies, business hacks, and more to get ahead of the curve and crush it as a real estate sales professional. Whether you office out of a model home or your car where leopard print and high heels never go out of style. Here's your host top producing real estate agent, social media strategist, and her baby mama, Stephanie Linda mood. All right, guys.

Stephanie: (01:34)
So on the show today, I am super excited to bring to you a topic that we have not really talked that much about. We're going to talk all about networking today. I've got professional networking expert, Frank Aiken on the show today. He is a fellow podcast, host. He is a speaker and author. He's a husband, he's a dad, he's a fur baby daddy. So we are going to talk all things networking today to how you can grow your business, grow your brand, really figure out how to get yourself out there. So welcome Frank to the show today. Thanks for being here.

Frank: (02:06)
Hey, thanks for having me.

Stephanie: (02:08)
Absolutely. So before we get started, let's do our due diligence dive in and just kind of get a feel for your background, understand what you do, how you help people, and then we'll get into the topic.

Frank: (02:20)
Okay. Uh, I guess just quickly give you the nickel tour. I, uh, I grew up in Michigan. I came to, uh, I came to Ohio years ago to go to law school. Um, and I have a law degree and an MBA from the Ohio state university that led me into a job with a really big accounting firm, being a tax consultant. I didn't really enjoy it. I left and went into private practice. And when I went into private practice, I tell people a funny thing happened. And the funny thing was that nothing happened. I had no idea how to get clients. Um, I mean, I'm literally on my hands and knees, not praying, but jiggling the phone cord, wondering why my phone's not ringing. Um, and I'm sure most people can kind of relate to that started out, but through a series of introductions, somebody connected me to an organization that helped entrepreneurs, sales, reps, and professionals get business by networking with each other and they would pass referrals. Um, I went to this meeting and immediately Stephanie had made so much sense because you can lift your, you can lift your whole life up by helping other people. Mmm. And it's so exhausting to self promote. And so I really doubled down on that organization. I became its first franchisee and then six years into that. I bought the business out and stopped the practice of law. This all dates back to the early two thousands. Wow. Um, so I help entrepreneurs, sales reps, and professionals, [inaudible] that better relationships and get referrals from those relationships.

Stephanie: (03:47)
Well, and I think this is such an important topic because especially entrepreneurs in general, but especially real estate agents. I think people think, Oh, I'm really good at X. I'm going to go into business for myself. And then they don't realize that not only do they have to do X, which is whatever it is, the sales, whatever they have to, like you said, do the marketing and get the clients and do the admin and wear all these hats. And they're kind of like, Oh, because when you come from a company, when you're an employee, you don't have to do any of that usually. Right. You've got a team or an organization behind the scenes doing that for you. So, so talk to me about what that looks like. As far as when we hear the word networking, I'm not going to lie. Like, what I think about is like joining the chamber of commerce and physically going to like random meetings and talking about what you do and that kind of doesn't, I'm like, Ooh, I don't know if I want to go do that. So talk to me about how this networking works and what it looks like.

Frank: (04:40)
Well, I mean, I guess let's, let's just dive into that real quick. Going to events is networking, right? Going to tailgate. Parties is networking, going to parties is networking, hanging out with well, networking is about building relationships. That's really what it is at its core. And I'll, I'll go in. I'll do I do some professional speaking? I'll go in and I'll ask people who does think they're a good networker. And most people will say, I'm not a good networker. They'll raise their hand and I'll start to ask questions. I'm like, okay, how did you meet your wife or your, or, or your husband? How do you guys find a babysitter? And they start talking about, it's like, you know what? You are a good networker.

Stephanie: (05:25)
It's like this thing in their head where it's like, people don't think they're a good public speaker or something. It's like, they think this means this thing on a pedestal that they have to have like this badge of. Okay. Yes. You pass the test.

Frank: (05:36)
Yeah. I mean, networking. Doesn't have to be going to events and I'll be honest with you. I don't really like it.

Stephanie: (05:41)
Yeah. I don't either.

Frank: (05:43)
Well it's mean if our ancestors millennia go tens of thousands of years ago, we lived in tribes. We lived in tribes about 150 people. This is all well-documented and chances are that your tribe never saw another tribe. Right. So you spent your entire life, which wasn't a long life, but you spent your entire life with that same tribe. And if you saw a stranger, that wasn't good because they were either coming to take something or w it wasn't good. Um, and so we are hardwired to have an aversion to strangers and what our networking events you're going out to be with strangers. So it's perfectly natural that we have these yeah. These anxieties about being out amongst people. And I certainly do it. I do feel that anxiety, I think everybody does, but I don't think there's anything wrong with, it's just, one-on-one networking, calling somebody up and saying, let's have a cup of coffee.

Stephanie: (06:43)
Yeah. Because I think a lot of people think of it as kind of the old school MLMs where, Oh, let's go to Walmart and see a girl and go, Oh, I love your makeup. Hey, you want to buy my makeup? Let's talk about makeup. Like, come look at my inventory. Or they think of it kind of scammy. Like the only reason they're going is to get a sale. And so I think it's a good, what you're saying is good. So I, in my mind, when you're talking about networking, I think of it almost like being a connector.

Frank: (07:09)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, you know, people ask me, people ask me about, you know, trips or tips and tricks for networking. And you know, my number one, my number one advice to people looking to get started networking is simply this find something you're really passionate about. You're passionate about dogs, right. Um, and find a charity to volunteer. And that sounds crazy because I, no your time is strapped. But when you go out to volunteer with that animal charity, whatever it is, and I'm not, you know, you determine for yourself what makes sense. But when you go out there, you're going to do that. Oh, the elbow with other people who really care. And so the whole notion of trying to solve myself, or I'm going to be sold right out the window, everybody's there for a common cause. But immediately you've branded yourself as somebody who cares.

Frank: (08:02)
And so you're out there working side by side with somebody helping with the pet park or whatever it might be. People are going to find out about you. So, Stephanie, what do you do? This is great. We're having fun. We're taking a break here. We're having a bottle of water. What do you do? Well, you know, I'm a realtor, you know, this is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, you know, well, they know you, right? Because you're there with them. They can't help it like you because you're, you're taking on a mission. That's, that's passionate to them as well. And from that, they're going to trust you. And those are the key elements to kind of building that relationship. So that's, you know, that's the first piece of advice I give people. The other piece of advice I give them is when you're out in groups or when you're out, w when you're meeting with anybody focused on other people, what can I do to help that person? Okay. Because if you help them, they are, we're hardwired to somebody in return,

Stephanie: (08:56)
like the law of reciprocity.

Frank: (08:58)
Exactly. That's exactly it.

Stephanie: (09:01)
So when you're talking to people do, or, and kind of coaching them through this, are there, I feel like because we're so virtual nowadays, there's a little bit, and I'll admit it for myself. If anyone else is sitting there thinking, no, I'm great. From a social skill standpoint, I feel like there's a lot of opportunity there for people when they meet somebody new, whether it's eye contact, whether it's learning, how to just, you know, talk about things and not be self serving or control the conversation. Like, what are some ways that you recommend people go about networking when they don't know somebody, they don't want to come across too direct, but they also, frankly, at some point, want this to start paying off for them. So that they're, they feel like they're investing their time wisely. And this could also be in person or social, like social media from the standpoint of, yeah. If you're putting out content, whether it's, Hey, I'm at the, for me, it would be like going to the SPCA or whatever, and volunteering, or doing something fitness related. How do you do it in a way where you build that connection and that you're kind of building a personal brand, but then ultimately you are trying to, at some point, grow your business.

Frank: (10:10)
Yeah. You, you know, it really is a leap of faith because you're out there and you're helping other people and you want it to come back to you and you just have to trust that it will. And sometimes it comes back faster, uh, in faster situated, faster one situation than another, you know, you really have to be patient with it. It's, you know, let's put it in these terms. Let's put it in. Let's put it in the dating terms. Right. You're meeting somebody at the bar. Um, when you meet somebody for the first time at the bar, if they're a little too forward, they're done. Right. Exactly. Right. The wall goes up and you kind of need in, and the same applies in the professional sense as well. You need to keep it casual, um, and keep it casual, you know, until, I mean, for example, like you, you could let people know, let's get back to my volunteering example. You let people know. Yeah. I help people by, you know, I help people buy and sell real estate or you're, you're mainly a listing agent. Um, you just let people know that and they might have questions, you know, at no point, do you need to press that at all? They'll bring it up,

Stephanie: (11:23)
right. Here's my number when you need to list your home.

Frank: (11:25)
Yeah. If I, if I could ever help, if you ever have questions, let me know. You know, I think that's all you need to do. Throw it out there, but you do that enough. I'm not, you know, every person it's not going to work out, but if you do it with a hundred people, right, 25 will come through or 10 will come through, but it'll be worth your while. Just need to be patient with it. Same thing online. I get, I get LinkedIn requests and then I'll accept them. And then immediately it's a barrage of people trying to sell me. It's literally no different. I don't mean to be crass here, but it's no different than a guy walking to the bar, making eye contact with you, smiling and saying, Hey, you know, you want to leave with me? It's like, no, of course.

Stephanie: (12:05)
Yeah, exactly.

Frank: (12:06)
That's so offense, so offensive. Um, and it's, you know, it's really all the same thing. If you stop and think about it, we have one brain, right? There's there's one little brain in our head. It doesn't have a special compartment for personal or professional. It's one brain. And so I tell people when you, when you network think about how you would treat people personally, um, because that vet, that should be your guide, that should do that.

Stephanie: (12:36)
I love that. And I think it's more relevant today than it was 20 years ago. Because with the advent of technology and social media, my clients tell me all the time when I meet with them, with their listings, Hey, we've already checked you out online. I love your blog. I love this. Saw your videos. They already think they know me. They know me like me and trust me at that point. And it is hard to just, it would be hard if I was only projecting a professional image online in shine to have personal on just Facebook, behind a wall or something. Right. So I think because of social media, more of our personalities are shining through. And one of the things that we talk about a lot on the show is building your personal brand because some people think, well, I'm an employee, or I'm a professional.

Stephanie: (13:17)
Why do I need that? They don't need to know that I like dogs, or I like going to the gym or whatever, but they actually do because people want to buy it from those they know, like, and trust. And so when you're building that relationship, and I think it's really key for anybody in real estate, because whether they're an agent, whether they work for a home builder, because I know sometimes builders, for example, or even us, if we do a client event, you'll do an event and you do, and let's be real from a business standpoint, if you spent $20,000 on an event, you kind of want to see some return at some point, so that you know that you should do that again. Or was that a waste of time or money? That kind of thing, because you've got to put, you've only got a finite amount of money and time, right? And so I think understanding that some of those events and some of those things that you do with your past clients, with maybe potential clients, those are to, those are seeds that you're planning. You don't always know exactly how those are going to come back to you are also key. Not only just with building the network with colleagues or people in your field, it has to be a great, a great Avenue with past clients and potential clients to grow the real estate business.

Frank: (14:22)
Yeah. You know, whenever we meet people we're always searching for, we're always searching for things that we have in common, common ground. Absolutely. Yeah. We're always searching for those things and we're looking for things. And when you post about your dogs, you know, maybe there's cat lovers out there. People don't like dogs, who are you alienate? So what, there's plenty of people who love dogs.

Stephanie: (14:46)
Well, does our brain have like a filter? That's trying to filter stuff out. Cause there's so much information coming here. So it's trying to filter out anything that doesn't apply. And so when it does find something that does connect it like hooks onto it.

Frank: (14:59)
Yep. It's good. It's called the reticular activation system. Yeah. I mean, your brain takes in all sorts of information, you know, that's why, when you hear a word, you know, you learn a word, then all of a sudden you hear it all the time. Well, it's always been there. People always said it. You just, you just listen. Yeah. Now you're aware exactly like cars, um, you know, are you buy that? I got a, one of a kind person, you know, no, it's one of a hundred people at the same place with the purse. Um, but yeah, it's just that filter in our brain that does it. But it does that with respect to, well, with all sorts of things. Oh, she likes dogs. I like dogs. Here's your iPhone. I like, you know, that's really great. Um, you know, where are you from? You know, if, if I came down to Dallas and I had a Washington red skin shirt on, it probably wouldn't go over well. Right. Um, I don't know if you're a Cowboys fan, but

Stephanie: (15:55)
I'm a packer fan, which is kind of weird. My husband's he, I mean, I'll watch the Cowboys, but I'm a green Bay packer fan through and through. Yeah. Random. I know I'm from here.

Frank: (16:04)
High five. No, I grew up, I grew up, I grew up North of green Bay, but you get what I'm saying? Right. Even more. Cause you're like, I know.

Stephanie: (16:14)
Yeah. I spent my honeymoon in green Bay. My husband could have died. He's like what? We had to go see far play before I thought he was going to retire back in Oh five. And you played another like five years, but we didn't know that.

Frank: (16:25)
Oh, that's great. Um, no, but that's, but those things are, those things are huge. And they've had done studies on that where people have things in common and um, they'll, they'll do a whole lot more when they find out people have things in common. Right. And you go to Chicago and say, I'm a Packers fan. I'm originally from Chicago. And all my relatives are like, what? Um, but that's, but those, you know, it seems petty, but it's, it's really important. Right. You know, so you know, the people who are listening when you're out, talking to clients, what I recommend doing is going and looking at the house and find things that you have in common. You don't need to make comments, fake comments about all. I really like this. I really like that, but just, Oh wow. You know, you're, you're kids play baseball, my kids play baseball. And to have any conversation around that though, that really warms up the relationship, um, more than shallow comments about, Oh, the carpet is great. This house is nice. And everybody, everybody makes those comments.

Stephanie: (17:23)
Yep. Yep. More of the superficial stuff. So if you had a favorite way of, of networking, would it be in stuff in person or would it be online or a makes the both?

Frank: (17:33)
Well, I I'm pretty much, well a mix of both. I love to talk to people. Um, I think I know my kids because we'll be out at a restaurant and I'll chit chat with the server, you know, try. And I just, I like to find out people's stories where they're from, you know, look again, looking for commonalities. Um, but I do a lot of I'm growing my business nationally. And so I have to spend a lot of time on calls on zoom and um, you know, but it, but it all works the same way. You know? You know, you talk about, you talk about, we talked about building relationships and having one brain. What I tell people is when you network online, LinkedIn, Facebook operate by the same rules you would in the real world right now, if you were walking into it, you're going to a tailgate party. You're not showing up saying, Oh, buy my stuff, buy my stuff. Right. You're coming in and you're do, you know, you're just being, you, you're being friendly. You're talking to people, you're not yanking your cards out and throwing them at people don't do that online either it's off putting. Um, but people do. And they just, you know, they don't realize that they think, well, this is my opportunity. This is a, this is a sales venue. It might be, but it doesn't mean you need to be salesy.

Stephanie: (18:54)
So do you recommend creating like a group or, or do you recommend just joining groups and being an active participant? How do you feel about that?

Frank: (19:04)
Mmm, yeah. I mean, you certainly can. I mean, if you're going to do it certainly be active. Okay. I don't know that LinkedIn groups are as productive as they once were because it, it kind of brings in the riff Raff. I had a group for a while it was working well, and then you let the wrong people in. And you know, it's three times a day, they're posting stuff and they're not commenting on, everybody's just posting. Nobody's commenting. I haven't been in, been back in two years, the manner of what's happening in the group. Um, but I'm, I'm partial to, I will, I will connect with people on LinkedIn. Um, and a lot of times then I'll reach back out and say, would you be willing to have a 15, 20 minutes get acquainted call, usually do it over zoom. Not everybody takes me up on it, but I'll have a call with them and just I'll learn about them and see how I can help them, who I can introduce them to, you know, what they're trying to accomplish. Uh, and in return, they'll listen to what I'm looking for and they'll try and help me, you know, and not all those things work out, but enough of them do to make it worthwhile. I've got some really great relationships, just, you know, one person at a time.

Stephanie: (20:13)
I think that's really key about what you just said about asking people what's important to them and how you can help with the first thing I asked somebody, when I sit down at a listing appointment after we've toured the home is what's on your mind? What goals are you trying to accomplish before I even start telling them all the things they need to know about listing a home, we talk about, they get out of their mind, what are they trying to accomplish? Because one they feel heard. And then two, it lets me know where to go with the conversation, right? Because there's so many different ways we can have it depending on if they've never sold a home versus this is our 15th home to sell. So I think it helps to realize, like it's not a cookie cutter approach as far as what the script is. Right. It's going to change depending on who you're talking to. But a lot of people don't take the time to understand who they're talking to.

Frank: (20:58)
Yeah. I had a conversation last week with a financial advisor, high end financial advisor. And she was kind of talking about how to nav, how she was navigating the whole COVID situation. Um, and you know, kind of afraid to call up clients. And I said, you know what? You need to call every one of your client it's up and not bring up what you do. Just see how they're doing right, right.

Stephanie: (21:25)
With the whole, Oh, by the way, I, cause then they're gonna realize that the whole last 30 minutes was for some reason.

Frank: (21:33)
Yeah. Well, what I told her to do is find a way to help your client and you don't have to find it in that moment, but just kind of take mental notes, write some notes. Okay. You know, kids going off to college, really nervous about whatever, find a way to help the client that has nothing to do with what you sell. So your, your situation is, yeah, we need to sell. And you know, we need to find a good carpet cleaner or, you know, we need, if we're, you know, we're trying to find information on school districts or maybe it's something totally different, you know? Um, here's a, here's a great mechanic. I would recommend, you know, um, you know, there's, our car is leaking oil, you know? Well, here's a great mechanic. I would recommend just as something, you know, clearly you're not getting paid on it.

Frank: (22:18)
Right. Just helping them just be helpful. Yeah. Just being helpful. People remember that. But if it's always just kind of part of a veiled sales pitch, you know, then you're always kind of on guard, you know, again, back to my example of being at the bar, you know, if the guys just buy you a drink and always complimenting, it's like, okay, get off of this. You know, I know, I know what you're trying to do. I'm not dumb. Right. But if it's a conversation about truly interested in, okay, you know, Oh, you're a realtor. Right. Um, you know, I know you're married, but you know, Oh, you're a realtor. That's interesting. You know, and being genuinely interested. Right. You know, so I could introduce you to, so, and so you're going to be more interested in that person. So maybe not romantically, but still he's got a better chance.

Stephanie: (23:02)
Exactly. Right. Yeah. I had that same situation happen a few months ago. I had a, uh, somebody that was very interested in the podcast and the business and this and that. And then at the end of the day, they wanted to pitch me on joining a different team. And I was like, I know I'm good. But yeah. It just feels weird when people do that because you realize they have an agenda, I'm not opposed to somebody talking about new opportunities, but it's the way in which they go about it.

Frank: (23:29)
Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, there'll be nothing wrong with them. Just letting you know that they're on a different team and you know, Hey, they're part of your network. And if something's not working with your team, you know who to reach out to. Um, but yeah, when it starts to get to that pitch, then it's just, then it becomes, it becomes offensive.

Stephanie: (23:46)
I don't, I think people are done being pitched and sold to, I think it's a different approach. If you, if you get to know somebody and then say to them, Hey, I've gotten to know you. I really think he'd be great. Yeah. This, can I share with you something versus it feeling like something sly or yeah. That you didn't count on? I think that totally changes the conversation.

Frank: (24:07)
Yep.

Stephanie: (24:09)
But, um,

Frank: (24:11)
so

Stephanie: (24:13)
networking in a virtual world, we've got the groups we've got online, we've got different platforms. What do you feel like? I have a feeling, I know what you're going to say. If you were to tell somebody listening right now that you know, a lot of business owners, a lot of people in real estate, they're busy folks, right? Whether they work for a builder, whether they are in real estate, they're just selling their rear ends off, they're managing their business and they're listening to this going, Oh my gosh, I got to do something else because we could always use more business. Right. Like we can't just wait around. Especially if the market turns, we want to have all that going on in the pipeline. So if you were to pick a platform, whether it's YouTube, podcasting, blogging, social media, all of the above to start building relationships, start growing your network, what would you select? Or, and it could, you know, what would, as far as priority because I've done a lot of it, but I know most people can't do all of it or nor do they want to. So if you had to kind of give some advice on that, where would you, what would be your, um, advice on 2020 going into 2021 kind of where you see the market going, as far as the building, the authority and the network.

Frank: (25:25)
Yeah. You know, um, I guess my advice to somebody else would be double up double down on the thing you are going to commit to doing, right. I'm partial to podcasting. You are as well. I've done a lot of podcasting. I think I released my 180 ninth episode. Um, aye. You know, I've done a lot of it. And, um, it's, it's opened doors that I didn't know were there, but that's me and not everybody is me. And there are other people out there, I think who do a really wonderful job. Well, one of my franchisees, Matt ward, he's up in the Boston area. He had a podcast, um, he's a professional speaker. He had a podcast, but what he found is, is that it was better for him to be producing four or five minute videos and getting them up on a consistent basis. That that's what he was willing to commit to. And he puts out a lot of great content. Um, and that works for him. Um, podcasting, I don't want to say it didn't work for him, but it wasn't, it didn't play to his skillset as much. You know, we can, we can kind of talk, we talk about the Packers, whatnot. He's just more about, Hey, this is my message. It's very educational. It's entertaining. I'm done. Um, work on the next one.

Stephanie: (26:45)
It'd be like, if you said Stephanie, would your other podcast or write a blog post now that I've done podcasting, I'm like, I'm apparently way more verbal than I realized, because sitting down and just write five or 10 paragraphs is not appeal to me at all. I would rather have everything that we're talking about transcribed. And that becomes the post.

Frank: (27:01)
Yeah, no, yeah. That's, that's, that's absolutely it. Um, and that plays to your strengths, but not everybody, not everybody likes to hit record and feel like they have something to say. I struggled for the first 10 episodes day. I literally had to write everything and pretend like I wasn't reading. It was, it was horrible.

Stephanie: (27:22)
My first intro, that was four minutes. Not only I did it in December because I launched the podcast in January. I had, we had, I don't know really about allergies in Dallas. I completely lost my voice for three weeks. So I'm sitting here trying to record and I think it took me literally six hours to record a four minute intro. I'm like, this is going to be horrible, but you just get better. But let me ask you,

Frank: (27:44)
when did you start podcasting? Do you remember? Um, my first episode came out in September of 2018. So what,

Stephanie: (27:54)
what prompted you to one start a podcast. And then what was the, like, what was the, maybe not the void in your business, but what were you hoping to gain from it?

Frank: (28:06)
Well, I'm growing my organization through franchising. I'm looking for, I'm looking to expand. I'm looking for, um, expanding into the cities. I'm looking for operators and managers all across the country. And so I've tried a number of different things with respect to that. Somebody was pitching me on the notion of creating a sales funnel to try and, and I'm like, kind of, okay, I'm going to go along. It doesn't really, you know, they were basically doing a grossest, you know, Hey, I'll just walk you through it. I like you, you helped me. And we were kind of going through it and it just didn't feel right. And fortunately, Stephanie, fortunately we did a recording and it didn't work out. And he said, Hey, Frank, the work recording didn't work out. But if you could just use your phone over the weekend and record it and get it to me, we'll be fine. Okay. So I just procrastinated and that is not me. I'm not a procrastinator. And so I came to Monday morning, I was supposed to have this to them. I've just, I told them, I said, listen, I didn't do it. And I'm sorry, but this just doesn't feel right. And he and I, and he said, well, what do you want to do? And I said, you know what? I've written books on networking. I've written books on professional development. I've taught, I write articles. I want to just be able to share

Stephanie: (29:22)
what's in my heart. Right. You're really wanting to like, if you, you obviously want to grow your business, we're all here to make money in the end, but you want to do it a certain way.

Frank: (29:31)
Right. I want to add value to people and let them know that I'm looking for these things. And he says, well, you're talking about a podcast. Then this was like June. Um, and I said, you know what? You're probably right. My daughter was interning with me that summer. And I told her, I said, Logan. I said, uh, I want to look into a podcast. Can you kind of, and she's a communication major. She just graduated. But she's a communication major is right up her alley. And she had it all out. She got it all set up, you know, this is what we need to do. We need to get a microphone. We need to do this. We need to do this. Okay, great. Um, and I just started putting stuff together and I had, I think I had 12, 12 episodes before I, you know, released it.

Frank: (30:14)
And, um, that's, that's really how I got started in, in originally. It was just me talking once a week, your different concepts of networking. And then somebody asked me about interviewing, would you be open to interviewing? And my initial reaction honestly was I was mad because like, Oh, you want me to, you know, I just got up this learning curve now I gotta go up another learning curve. Cause it's a whole another dynamic. Right. Zoom and editing two people. Um, but yeah, I went from doing one episode, two episodes and you know, that's really kind of where I started meeting lots and lots of people.

Stephanie: (30:49)
I love the, I thought I would initially like just the one, like the solo shows. Cause I do a lot of YouTube videos and I can just talk to the camera and talk, talk to the wall. And um, what I realized was I love the interaction. I love the interaction. I love the interview process. I love being able to share an expert in their field with the audience because I don't, I have a finite amount of information. So unless I go out and learn something every single week, I can't bring my audience something new after a period of time. Right. So I think it's a win, win for everybody because the audience gets something new and better. The person I'm talking to gets a different audience to be exposed to. And then I learned something and get to, you know, just facilitate it basically, but then learn and grow and all that good stuff. So

Frank: (31:35)
yeah, I've had people on and they've talked about something. Um, Oh, I had this, I had this researcher on it. He was talking about our cognitive biases. You know, we have a bias towards things, you know, right back to our packer conversation. If I see somebody with the bears outfit, I'm going to have a cognitive bias, it's unconscious, but I'm gonna have a bias. And so he was talking about these things and you talked about the halo effect and the horns effect. We like people we tend to, Oh, you know, blah, blah, blah. We like him. Um, or we don't like him in the same thing drives us crazy. And so he just mentioned it and that allowed me then to, I did some research I wanted, I spent a whole episode then talking just about that. And we touched on it last week, but I really want to just expand on this. This is really fascinating to me. Um, so yeah, it's just, it's, it's kind of neat. Originally. I thought I would run out of material now. It's like, I don't, there's not,

Stephanie: (32:28)
there's not enough hours in the day. Yeah, no, I totally agree. I totally agree. I think too, if somebody is struggling to figure out if their version or way of networking is putting out there to kind of build an audience or at least that's our starting point. One thing I try to recommend is think about the 10 or 20 questions that you're asked every single day by your clients or in your industry. And it doesn't have to be super big, crazy. It could be the small questions. Like I give the example of when somebody asks me, Hey, how do I show a home with pets? Or, you know, what happens once my home goes under contract? Do I still show the house? Like those little things that you think are so just my new, that don't mean that well, that makes you an expert, but because it's natural to you, you don't give yourself credit for knowing that knowledge.

Stephanie: (33:18)
Right. But to somebody that doesn't know, that's asking the question, that's building a crazy amount of value that you're educating them and then you're growing your authority and then you're growing your network. So I think that's a good place to start if someone's sitting there thinking, Oh, I don't know if I'm going to have a podcast, Stephanie, but how can I incorporate what Frank's talking about with networking? One way is go, go live on Facebook or, you know, have a blog or YouTube or whatever, where you're sharing tips once a week or twice a week or whatever it is and incorporate things about your personal life into it. And then continue to just try to build, I think, I think you have to be intentional about it, right? Because if not, you just look up and it's kind of, you're that old school employee that you go to work, punch the clock, come home, but you're not really focusing on again, your personal brand or your influence because I'm really a big believer that even if you're an employee, even if you have plenty of business as an entrepreneur, you've got to continue to build your personal brand because it's your reputation online.

Stephanie: (34:21)
And if you're not, you're, you're shooting yourself in the foot. As far as people aren't going to take you as seriously. I have clients that I know if, if they couldn't find me online, they probably would be skeptical about my validity in the market.

Frank: (34:34)
Right. Well, especially doing what you do because I don't know how many realtors there are in.

Stephanie: (34:40)
Oh, do you, you walk down to the grocery store and you meet about 10 of them. I mean, it's a very low barrier. Unfortunately it's a very low barrier to entry. And so not like attorneys, but we also have people don't like us like attorneys. Do you know what I mean? Like you have to go to school for a long time to be an attorney and pass the bar. But for us you go pass the license exam and get background checked.

Frank: (35:02)
Yeah. And so there are a lot. And so if you want to separate yourself from the thousands and thousands of realtors, you do need to do something too, you know, to separate yourself, right. You know, podcasting writing a blog, you know, volunteering. Those are all things that kind of put you out there.

Stephanie: (35:22)
Right? Build your brand. One last thing I want to talk about, and then I have five questions that I asked each guest, wrap up, tell me what your thoughts are on,

Stephanie: (35:33)
on when you build a network. And you're trying to get into, maybe what I'm trying to say is like, if you're in your own little world on your Island, whether you work from home, whether you go to your job every day, there's a certain circle you're going to be surrounded by. Right. And they say that you're the average of the five people you spend the most time around. Right? So many of us want more out of our life. And so talk to me about how networking can help you Uplevel and other areas of your life that were, maybe you don't have those people just around you, organically in your network that you create, whether it's your family, your friends, your coworkers, how that helps you professionally and personally Uplevel to be a better person and accomplish higher goals.

Frank: (36:14)
You know, it's interesting, you mentioned, you know, we're the average of the five people that we hang around with most. And, and, uh, you know, I don't know if that's true or it's not true, but I, I have seen studies, um, that talks about it's really more than those five people. Um, because the five people are generally are our family, you know, it's my wife and it's my three kids, you know, that's my, that's my five people. Um, you know, but there's also lots of other people. There's, you know, the franchisees in my organization, there's my assistant and that's kind of a different layer. And then there's another layer of people and we, we really have three or four different layers. Um, and all totaled in that sphere is about 150 people. I used that number before, and there's actually science behind why it's 150 people.

Frank: (37:00)
It has to do with the scientist size of the human brain. And we really can only handle about 150 people in our lives, whether it's online or, um, and, uh, I won't get into all the science, listen to my podcast. I have a whole episode on it. But, um, and so it's a lot of those things, but what networking helps us do is it helps us doesn't. I mean, I'm not going to change my I'm not going to change out my daughter. I'm not going to change out my wife, but these other rings, I can certainly change out, you know, and I can help them and they can help me. Those are easier to kind of substitute out in those really have an impact as to, um, who we are and, and, and, and, and how we are. Right. Um, so networking will really kind of, you know, open up, open up avenues to allow you to kind of move on from people, um, in those outer rings.

Stephanie: (37:52)
Are you a participant in any kind of masterminds or anything like that that maybe you pay to play, but you definitely are in a group where goals are big, whether they're the same goals, but you definitely are upleveling and being very intentional about it.

Frank: (38:07)
Um, well, I mean, in my organization, I, you know, I have 17 franchisees and so we're constantly going back and forth. So that's really kind of my mastermind anymore. I have been in masterminds, um, you know, where we'll, we'll set goals and those have been very, those have been very productive for me. Um, now it's at a point where I spent so much time on the phone with like yesterday, I was on a call with all the franchisees, you know, we're on there for an hour and a half, you know, and then after that, it might be one on one calls or group calls. And so I just, I just don't have the time to be in a mastermind per se, but that's kind of build my own mastermind.

Stephanie: (38:47)
Absolutely. So let's talk real quick. Before we get into that, the five questions I ask each guest, talk to us about your franchise. Mmm. Opportunity. It's with AMS spirit, business connections. Talk to us about that. So the audience kind of knows, cause you referred to that a few times. I want to make sure they understand what that looks like.

Frank: (39:05)
Yeah. What we do is we bring together entrepreneurs, sales, reps, and professionals into weekly meeting where they learn about each other and exchange referrals. If people are familiar with the organization, BNI where a competitor of BNI just makes it real easy. Uh, but we are expanding, uh, w w you know, we're expanding across the country. We're looking for, uh, organizers managers, franchisees in various markets. Um, the reality is this to be successful, you need to network, you need to have relationships. Um, and if you're in a position where you drive a bottom line where you need sales, referrals are just the best way to get business, it just is, um, I'd rather get a referral than any other way. And one of the best ways to get referrals is to join a chamber or maybe join an organization like amp spirit or BNI, or are there other groups that are out there. But what I always ask people is, you know, you're a real estate person. You can, would you, would you rather be

Stephanie: (40:06)
a tenant

Frank: (40:07)
or would you rather be the landlord,

Stephanie: (40:08)
right.

Frank: (40:10)
You'd rather be the landlord. You're smart. You want to be the, you want to be the person who owns the building, right. So why would you just want to be in a chamber or be in a networking group when you could own the networking group? And that's really what our franchise opportunities about. It gives people an opportunity. We teach them how to build these groups, how to make them strong, how to get people consistently paying, uh, monies to you through the organization. Right.

Stephanie: (40:36)
And I think if any managers are listening, I think it's, or entrepreneurs that have a team, I think the networking is key also for hiring, right. And building that pipeline of, Hey, these are other successful people. Maybe they're not in the exact same industry. Are you guys organized by industry or is it, is it to my location or how do you guys organize the groups?

Frank: (40:55)
Um, well, it's by location. Um, but then in the groups, it's one person in each category. So they'll only be one realtor. They'll only be one mortgage lender. They'll um, so the realtors just talking, you know, the realtor can talk about his or her strategy, um, and mortgage lender, and so on and so forth.

Stephanie: (41:14)
Okay. And then talk to us about your podcast. So they know when they can tune into that and kind of what you cover in those episodes.

Frank: (41:20)
Yeah. I have a, I actually have two podcasts. I have the, the first one is called networking RX. And that's the short conversations, short interviews, uh, with people about professional networking, um, professional referrals. And then I have another one called, uh, networking RX Minot, which is a minute, every day, just inspiration or insight on things that help you motivate and self develop. Awesome.

Stephanie: (41:50)
Awesome. Okay. So I'm going to get into five questions that I asked each guest. So the first one is, what's one thing that most people don't know about you.

Frank: (41:58)
What's one thing that most people don't know about me. Well, I've written books, but people don't know that two of my books are novels.

Stephanie: (42:05)
Oh, wow. What subject? What topic?

Frank: (42:07)
Well, you know, I w they're love stories. Um, but, but, well, they're love stories, but the, the backdrop is football. One's about small college football. I played college, small college football and Wisconsin. Um, and then the other one's about a high school football rivalry, but it's, you know, football is just kind of the backdrop. Um, but it really involves, you know, romance and well romance and, and our parents and things like that. So I call them love stories and they are so

Stephanie: (42:34)
awesome. I didn't expect that. So the second question is two part, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received,

Frank: (42:41)
best piece of advice I've ever received. Um, well, it's, it certainly, it's not what, you know, it's who, you know. Yeah. And I, I wish I would have, I wish I would. I picked up on that a lot sooner than I did.

Stephanie: (42:54)
That's very fitting for the conversation. What's the best piece of advice you'd like to give the audience today.

Frank: (43:00)
Mmm. Yeah, you can, you can get all you want in life by helping other people just find a way to help other people trust me. It will come back to you. Trust me,

Stephanie: (43:10)
Zig Ziglar. Um, third question is what's one of your favorite books. The one that's had the greatest impact on you.

Frank: (43:17)
Wow. You know, that's always a hard question cause I read so much. If you can see behind me, it just so many books, um, you know, well, let me just talk about a recent one. Um, she was just telling my podcast, the resilient leader, it's, uh, Christine, uh, practice. Um, she spent, uh, she was in two category, five hurricanes over the course of two weeks and the bridge Virgin or the American Virgin islands or the British Virgin islands, um, and survived. Obviously she wrote a book, but she talks about, she talks about that experience and relates it back to relationships and leadership. Um, in essence, what she says in here is, you know, what she has hundreds of, you know, LinkedIn and Facebook contacts. Um, but when you're in a storm like that, and we're all in a storm right now, Cove, it's a storm. You know, racial unrest is a storm. You really need to have people that you can rely on. And I just, to me, that was very, very insightful.

Stephanie: (44:17)
Nope. Love it. What's your current morning routine?

Frank: (44:22)
Oh boy. The many weird things about Frank egg. And, um, I get up at four 45 in the morning and I take the dog for a walk with my wife. It's I mean, it's nice. Cause we have an opportunity. We walk for about four miles. Um, and we have, we have a set path. We rain shine snow. We just, we do it. Dog needs to be walked. Right. Um, I got to pick up dog poop, like, eh, everybody else there's nothing special about me. Um, but it gives us an opportunity to connect and then we get back home probably a little after six, um, pushup core exercises, lift weights, and then I'm off I'm out of the house by seven o'clock.

Stephanie: (44:59)
That's awesome. Okay. So how, what time do, y'all go to bed to get up that early?

Frank: (45:03)
Um, not early enough. Um, you know, sometime between I try and get seven hours of sleep, so right around nine 45. Yeah. I mean bed.

Stephanie: (45:12)
And then how do you guys get at, like, do you have an alarm across the room? Do you have two alarms? Like how do you get up every morning? Like be real. How do you,

Frank: (45:18)
um, well I have an alarm that goes off, but I'm usually up before it, even on the weekends I wake up, it's just kind of ingrained and I've always been an early riser growing up in Michigan. I was an early riser. Um, it's just that my kids are that way. You know, my wife's become that way. Um, but yeah, we just, you know, I w we've I've never slept through, I've never slept through it.

Stephanie: (45:43)
Wow. Okay. That's awesome. I've been trying to get up earlier. I just finished the 5:00 AM club, which is a book it's great. And I'm, it's inspiring. I haven't hit the 5:00 AM Mark yet, but it's trying to,

Frank: (45:57)
well, you know, when I was in college, I would, I got out of bed at seven o'clock and I would go I've I've always worked out as long as I can remember, I've worked out and um, when, when we started having kids and then them having to get up and go off to school, it just got pushed earlier and earlier. And so to get it in, I won't work out if it's after work. I just won't.

Stephanie: (46:18)
Yeah. I hear you. Yeah. Know yourself. No, it's that's awesome. Last question is how do you unplug and unwind?

Frank: (46:25)
Oh, that's a great question. Um, I love, I love movies. I love movies. I love to go to the movies. I go to the movies by myself. I'm not very good with vacation. I'll tell my assistant Mary I'm going on vacation for two hours. And she knows I'm going to the movies in me in the middle of the day. And I'll go watch a movie and I wear a Fitbit. Um, and I get so relaxed. My Fitbit thinks I'm asleep.

Stephanie: (46:52)
Oh, it's like, you get to reset and check out for a little bit.

Frank: (46:56)
Yeah. And it's, you know, Stephanie is so amazing because I'll come out of there. It might be totally hectic going in. I'll come out of there and everything's reset. I've got answers to things I was working on. Um, but yeah, I love to go to the movies.

Stephanie: (47:09)
Well, your brain, your subconscious is working on problems. They say, if you can, as long as you can fall asleep with a question on your mind, like some people can't, if you can fall asleep while you sleep, your brain will work on that problem. And a lot of times you'll have that answer when you wake up. Yeah. Cause that's how that's program. All right. Cool. So somebody wants to get ahold of you reach out to you. What's the best way. Is it email, social, your website?

Frank: (47:33)
You know, the, um, people like to communicate all different ways. And I try to respect that. Uh, what I would recommend they do is they go to Frank aiken.com because it lists my business. It lists all my podcasts shows all my books. Mmm. It will, you know, my LinkedIn, Facebook, my emails there reach out to me through whatever you're most comfortable with. I try to monitor it all. I prefer email. Okay. I'm totally okay with talking with people on the phone. I just prefer to schedule it, having somebody call me.

Stephanie: (48:07)
Sure. Sure. And then if somebody is wanting to start some kind of a group, maybe franchisee opportunities, and that's certainly something they can also reach out to you about talk about options there. All right. Anything else you want to add before we wrap up the show?

Frank: (48:22)
Other than thank you for having me. This has been fun. My packer buddy.

Stephanie: (48:26)
Yeah. Right. I know. So what do you think about Rogers? How's that I'm not liking him very much the last few years,

Frank: (48:35)
you know, it's, it's hard. Um, yeah. And he's getting older.

Stephanie: (48:40)
Yeah. He just seems to have a little bit more attitude. I mean, I was fine with him for a while, but it just seems like the outbursts and the attitude is I'm kind of like, Whoa, like,

Frank: (48:52)
well, you know, again, yeah. You know, it it's, again, it gets back to this halo and horns effect. It's like, you know, the attitude was great when he was winning, but when things are not going well, we kind of take that. We look at those things in a different light. Um, and he's probably the same person. We're just kind of taking it in differently. So you wanna hear if I hold out hope

Stephanie: (49:15)
you want to hear that story. Yeah. So Donald driver lives about probably about 10 miles away from us. And we were in a restaurant maybe two years ago, two and a half years ago for breakfast one day, one Sunday. And my husband's like, Hey, cause we've been kind of like trying to figure out where he's at. If we could sock them, you know, see him. He's like, Hey, there's a driver over there. And I'm like, sweet. So I went over to him and I'm like, Hey, you know, can I, do you mind if I take a picture with you? And he's like, yeah, absolutely. So we're posing for the picture. And my husband's taken the picture. He has a cell phone up and my husband's a cowboy fan. And my husband's camera case is a cowboy case. Driver's looking at it going, are you kidding me?

Stephanie: (49:55)
And of course I have no idea what he's talking about. Cause I'm just focused on getting a picture with him and I'm looking at the camera, like, what are you talking about? And he's like your husband's camera case. And I just started laughing. It was great. But yeah, he was awesome. He's awesome. Yeah. That's great. All right. Yes. I hope you enjoy this episode with Frank agan. Check him out online. If you are curious about how to network, if you're looking for any opportunities with that and you can contact him on social. If you want to go to the show notes page, you can find that on the glam girl, boss.com forward slash podcast. Don't forget we have the branding quiz. You can also go on the glam girl, boss.com for slash branding quiz. If you want to go take that, if you are curious about your personal branding style, if you're trying to Uplevel that, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. You can join us on the Facebook group. You can DM me on Instagram, subscribe to the show, send inner reviews. So many wonderful things you can do to connect with us. So I hope you guys have a wonderful week talk soon and we'll see you later. Bye.