Our Classic Podcasts
Building Your Network by Connect Collaborative
Our Classic Podcasts
In this passionate and life-changing speech, Dr. Rick Rigsby — the former award-winning journalist and college professor at Texas A&M University turned motivational speaker –shares the three words that taught him how to enhance his life and make excellence a habit.
Rick Rigsby’s passionate speech on the “Lessons of a third-grade dropout” that his father had bestowed upon him was watched over 200 million times on our Facebook page alone, quickly becoming one of the most passionate inspirational speeches ever heard, mobilizing millions of people to follow his advice: to Make an Impact!
Watch the full speech to learn how you too can make an impact and to soak in the lessons of the wisest third grade dropout — Dr. Rick Rigsby’s father, whose outstanding life lessons can also be found in Rigsby’s now best-selling book, “Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout: How the Timeless Wisdom of One Man Can Impact an Entire Generation”.
Our Classic Podcasts
Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? In business, it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it. Start with Why analyses leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Steve Jobs and discovers that they all think in the same way – they all started with why. Simon Sinek explains the framework needed for businesses to move past knowing what they do to how they do it, and then to ask the more important question – Why? Why do we do what we do? Why do we exist? Learning to ask these questions can unlock the secret to inspirational business. Sinek explains what it truly takes to lead and inspire and how anyone can learn how to do it.
When you type “Text Blaze” into your Google search bar the following will be displayed:
When you click on either of these, a screen similar to the following will be displayed:
Click ‘’Go to Dashboard’ and sign up on TextBlaze (if your chrome browser is open using your Gmail / Google account, then you can ‘Sign-up with Google’.
The following Text Blaze icon will then be displayed to the right of the address browser:
Hint
When you create an account, you can use it across any number of Chrome profiles, and laptops/ PCs and all your messaging will be the same – so you only have to do it once!
There many resources on this site that cast the vision of why you would want an exponentially growing network of people who will pro-actively advocate for you.
But no one is showing us how
Networking is vital they say – and they are right – but how do you effectively build your network?
Most people see networking as the process of connecting with others in the hope of doing business with (or being hired by) those they reach out to.
It is typically very labour-intensive and does not multiply your time.
It typically goes something like this:
And what’s the process?
Do we engage in such activities consistently or just when we feel we need more business (because it is so unpleasant and unproductive we don’t enjoy it)?
This is where you join a networking group where the expectation is that you will refer business to others in the group (whether you like and trust them or not).
Often this is a static group consisting of local business owners whose vision is limited to gaining success for their current business.
Little thought is given to achieving personal end goals through leverage.
This is fine if that’s all you want and you enjoy the social aspect of regularly meeting with the same group of people.
However, if you decide to put the time into networking – why not expect the process to produce much greater results through the leverage that is possible?
The benefit here is that you learn how to find great potential partners with whom you can build Know Like and Trust relationships
It doesn’t matter what industry they are involved in because they are also consistently building their networks and meeting people who could be ideal business partners for you.
When they do find people that may be great contacts for you, they will do more than just refer you, they will actually advocate for you.
As your network expands you have a growing number of people who will advocate for you so that it becomes easier and easier to generate both short and long term results.
In most cases, the reason people will strongly advocate for you is usually that you have first advocated for them (the law of reciprocity is very powerful).
Exponentially growing results are achieved by following proven duplicatable processes to build Know Like & Trust relationships with others who also believe in advocacy and reciprocity.
Which means you can leverage your time and quickly progress towards you personally desired end goals
As with anything worthwhile, it will take a small amount of consistent effort.
Jodie Cook explores concepts in entrepreneurship, happiness and lifestyle design
There are far fewer applications for the huge, life-changing roles, contracts and grants than there are for the smaller ones. It’s lonely at the top.
People talk themselves out of aiming high. They settle for less, make excuses and rarely leave their comfort zone. They believe that someone else will be better qualified so they don’t submit an application.
Submit the application. Put your name in the hat and make the case for why it should be you. Back yourself. Dream big because no one else is daring to do it.
Picture hearing the best news you could ever hear, for your life or career.
Now imagine falling just short of that. Still good, right?
The bigger your plan A, by default, the better your plan B, C and D.
As Les Brown said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.”
If you truly believe you’re onto something amazing, that your product or service or invention can genuinely save lives or make people happy or solve a problem, go big with your plans.
Aim to surprise and delight as many people as possible, as fast as possible, and ride the word-of-mouth wave to reach higher heights. Unlock the opportunities that come from scale and magnify your impact.
As Marilyn Monroe put it: “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Make living an ordinary life your worse-case scenario, not your master plan. You can always opt out and take a step back in the future. It’s always possible to downsize, downgrade and take it slowly. You always have that fallback. I’d much rather say “I can’t believe I did that” than “I wish I’d done that”.
As Walt Disney said, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
If someone else is doing it, you can do it.
No matter the favourable circumstances or the head start they might have had, you can come up with the ideas to level the playing field.
For every person looking make cutbacks, there’s another looking to spend a budget.
For every person looking for experience, there’s another looking for fresh eyes and enthusiasm. Other people are accessing the opportunities that could be yours, so let that be proof that it’s possible for you.
As Daniel Burnham, Architect of Chicago, said: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work…”.
Big plans ignite the imagination of others.
You’re taken seriously, you’re thought of differently.
Your name becomes synonymous with big projects, big opportunities, big success.
You gather a tribe because others want to share in that success or cheer you on.
It’s aspirational, it’s inspirational and success breeds success.
Write down all of the goals you want to achieve in your whole life.
Stare at them and imagine them happening.
Now picture anyone else who is better placed to achieve those things.
Who has the skills, network, intention and belief to achieve those things?
It’s you. It’s you alone. No one on this planet is better placed to carry out the work that you were put here to do and the difference you were put here to make.
Possessing self-belief and courage is impressive to witness and can amass a crowd. As Harriet Tubman said, “Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Fear of failure holding you back?
Yes, failure is a possibility, but is that really the worst that could happen?
The worst case scenario is probably that you’ll die. One day that’s going to happen anyway, so you might as well dream big ahead of that.
Stop acting like you’re going to live forever.
From Erin Hanson, “What if I fail? But oh my darling, what if you fly?”
It could be you that gets that life-changing phone call or opportunity or that unexpected “yes”.
Dreaming, planning and putting the work in turns long odds into short ones.
Make the audacious plans, ask the giant questions and consider that every possibility could very well happen.
Are you interested in a better future for your business
***Or*** A better future for you?
Are you assuming better business results will automatically translate to
a better future for you?
Far too often we see people striving for success in their business only to find that this does not necessarily mean a better life them.
How often have we seen some work hard to create a successful business only to find that they feel their business owns them.
The risks they took, the sweat equity they put in did not result in fulfilling the dream they had when they started. They are stuck struggling to survive – feeling the burden of their debt and the need to put bread on the table – and asking: when is this going to change?
It’s like the story of the printer that a member of the CC helped obtain a very large contract which meant he ended up working huge hours for many months to fulfil. This ended up having a huge toll on his health and family relationships.
Too often, we consider business success without consider whether this is taking the owner of the business closer to the life they’d really like to be living.
Change is relentless. New technology constantly out dates existing industries while new industries are constantly being born. Unforeseen events such as COVID can decimate the wealth invested in industries such as travel and deprive many of the livelihood they previously enjoyed.
Who wants to take the risk of going into business? Especially with income tax rates as they are?
For those lucky enough to exit a successful business with cash in hand, what kind of safe return can be expected on that cash (compare that with the case that existed 20-30 years ago)?
So what is the answer?
Start with Why
Ask yourself WHY am I doing what I am doing?
And How could I set up the future I would like?
The Bottom Line
In order for you to live the way you would really like to live you need:
This strategy will give you the freedom to
Begin with the End in Mind
Assuming you do want to achieve this seemingly Utopian “better future”, in most cases you will be currently stuck struggling to put bread on the table and not completely confident about what the future holds – right?
The key here is not to let the short-term urgent prevent you from devoting a small part of your day working to your longer-term important.
So, what strategy will most predictably & safely
Result in you being able to lead the live you’d really like to lead a few years from now?
It’s tempting to think that it’s going to be a killer idea that you invent.
Or that you require some incredible talent to make it happen.
Experience has shown over and over that truly great ideas fail more often than they succeed – often after considerable investment of time and money.
The predictable way to make it happen?
Build a team of team building advocates
Say what? ‘A team of team building advocates’. That’s a big mouthful. What does it mean and why will investing your time safely here inevitably lead to achieving a better life?
When you build a team of team building advocates
Understand the difference between
Networking and Network Building
How do you see networking?