I'd never been what you would call confident.
In fact, due to a visual disability, I had the reading speed of a sixth grader in late high school. That, combined with braces and chronic acne, eroded my self-confidence to nearly nothing.
Sure, I've gone on to be responsible for five multimillion dollar business success stories since then. But that success came after a lot of failure, many lessons learned, and painstaking confidence-building through the systems and processes I created for myself as an introvert.
So I have to admit, my first few attemps to network didn't go well.
No matter what I said, I found myself feeling salesy.
No matter what I said, no one seemed to be interested in hearing more.
Everything about networking just felt uncomfortable. It felt forced. It felt wrong!
So I set out on a journey of discovery to make networking easy, fun, and profitable.
More than that, I set upon discovering a system that would leverage my introverted strengths, allow me to feel authentic, and give me an edge over my extroverted counterparts.
Along the way, I learned something profound:
Networking is a system that can be learned and improved upon, by anyone, anywhere.
Better yet, done well, you can change the balance.
Instead of feeling like you're forcing something on people, you can get them asking questions because they're genuinely interested.
Going from push to pull was everything for me.
With the right system and process, I didn't need to be funny, competitive, or gregarious.
I focused on strategy and preparation, not on trying to be charismatic and energetic.
And it worked.
Within less than year of moving to Austin, I was named one of the most well-connected people in the city.
My new network included tech company CEOs, bestselling authors, wildly popular podcast hosts, and even the city mayor.
And what of my childhood heroes?
Imagine my absolute shock when a connection of mine offered to introduce me to Ivan Misner.
Imagine my delight when, a few years later, my online networking strategy resulted in a connection with Michael E. Gerber.
To go from hearing about these titans of small business across the kitchen table, to having them in my network (not just as contacts but now as friends)...
Amazing. Astounding, really.
And I’m here to tell you it's possible for you, too.
It happened because I created a system that leveraged my natural abilities.
You have these same natural abilities inside of you, and I want to show you the system to unleash them.
But if you still see your introversion as a disadvantage...
Tell me this…