An Introvert's Structured Approach to Networking - Part 2

Welcome to the "The Catalyst," Kevin Noble's weekly newsletter about becoming a more effective leader.

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Quick Note

I don’t know if it’s because I'm in the middle of writing newsletters about networking that this is on my mind, but there are two things going on this week that made me thankful for my experience in networking, and highlighted how helpful it is to know people.

Financial Modeling

Doing financial modeling is where I got my first revenue in Group 18, but over time Fractional COO work took over, and financial modeling slowed. I want to push harder and grow this work again.

My first hypothesis is that accounting firms who don’t have this skill in house would be a good demand channel. But - and this is where networking first shows up - I don’t know people in this industry, and all of my cold outreach was ignored. It makes sense - I ignore all the cold email I get, too!

Next I thought, “Is there a better overlap in my network and need for this service?” And I came up with Fractional CFOs. They probably know how to do the modeling themselves, but it’s also not likely the best use of their time. Could they scale their own services by outsourcing this work to me?

And, unlike accountants firms, I know lots of CFOs! So - and here’s where networking shows up again - I contacted several to ask if they’d be wiling to chat through my hypothesis. Many didn’t respond, but just as many did. This upcoming week I have calls scheduled to chat through this live. One already offered to brainstorm how to help market this. So nice!

I don’t know if my hypothesis is right, but I’m thankful to know people who are willing to help me on the path.

Brand New Business

I’m building a brand new business with a partner, and it’s moving because of networking, and my newfound willingness to reach out to people.

First, my partner is someone I met decades ago, but haven’t talked to since. I reached out to reconnect and started cultivating a working relationship.

In my Fractional COO work I’m also paying attention to business ideas. In deploying new software, I got really excited about the impact it would have on the business. I also noticed all the surrounding services that would be needed to really make the software sing - there's a business opportunity there.

I shared this idea with my partner, and we started working on it. After discussing it for a while, we decided to reach out to someone at the software company to see about a partnership. They loved our email and asked for a call.

There’s nothing for me to announce, but the call went great! Old Kevin would not have reached out to an old friend, and certainly would not have reached out to a leader at the actual software company.

But new Kevin did, and business is moving forward because of it. Amazing!

Kevin

A Quote

“ Let me offer you a potentially transformative perspective: you are not your inner voice. — Julian Treasure in "How to be Heard"

Three Things

1 - 🏃‍♂️ Garmin HRM Pro for Additional Running Data
I’ve been using this accessory for my Garmin watch for a couple years now. It gives more accurate heart rate information than from the wrist, and it has “running dynamics” that captures all sorts of additional running info, like vertical oscillation and ground contact time. It’s a really good tool if you’re trying to improve your running - or just like seeing fancy charts!

2 - 🦬 The White Buffalo
I just discovered this artist by listening to Tim Ferriss interview Jocko Willink - from 2009! Jocko said this was one of his two favorite artists ever. I haven’t picked a favorite song yet, but I like listening to it play while I work. If you’ve never heard of him, check him out!

3 - 📚 Bobby Power's Website and Book Reviews
I met Bobby recently and he’s a really thoughtful person. He’s a fellow reader and learner, and he’s been writing online for something like 15 years! Check out his website for his newsletter and book reviews. He’s got a lot of curated “best of” book lists here.

(please enjoy this 8️⃣ minute read)

Deep Dive on the Tactics of Networking

Looking back on when I started networking, it's so funny how mysterious it was.

I had spent 20 years NOT networking. How do you go from wanting to network to actually networking?

How do you find people? How do you contact them? What do you say? What do you do on the call?

At each stage, I was awkward. I would write out multiple drafts of my outreach message trying to get them juuuuust right.

If you’re worried about how to get started with networking, the first lesson is that you’re probably overthinking it, and whatever you do is fine.

As with most things, getting started is half the battle. From there you can adjust and your skill will improve quickly.

I’ve learned a few things that may make your life easier. Today I’ll cover how to find people and how to reach out!

Finding People

Remember, networking is essentially just talking to people. It’s not that complicated, but it does mean that step one is finding them.

You could reach out to people “cold,” meaning you don’t have any existing connection or relationship. Many people do this (see all the LinkedIn connection requests you might get), but the ROI on your time is low. Emailing or contacting someone on LinkedIn is going to be a lot of work and a low percentage of people will respond.

Instead, work on warm connections. Create commonality with larger groups of people. Below I'll share the techniques I used as I started my journey of 308 meetings.

The goal of this phase is to generate a list of people to contact. You can use a CRM (things like Clay.earth are built for this), a Google Sheet, or just a piece of paper - just build a list. In later steps you’ll be reaching out to them.

Join Communities

One way to create a connection is to be part of shared community. You may already have this from a church, hobby, or civic organization and could start there. What I did was join professional groups - several - to find other people that were ostensibly interested in networking as well.

One reason a community works is that you’ve got a built-in connection to others. Most communities have a member directory, or people will show it on their LinkedIn profile (mine shows two communities inside my professional experience), which allows you to know who is available to talk to.

Most communities are going to be a paid membership; from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars per year or more. This allows the community to continue existing, and increases the likelihood that members will take it seriously.

I’ve been part of the following communities:
▪︎Sidebar - Expensive, and the ROI isn’t there for me anymore, but it was really helpful for me when I got started.
▪︎Operator’s Guild - My favorite group. This is for senior ops and finance folks.
▪︎Lunchclub - VERY random connections. It’s a scheduled 1-1 (you control how many per week). Here’s my invite code.
▪︎Fractionals United - This is for people exploring fractional work. I’m not part of this anymore.

Communities like these are full of people trying to meet other people, so take advantage of it!

Start Something

If you don’t find a community you want to join, start your own community! These can take many forms. If you have an interest, the chances are that other people will, too.

For example, I love exercise and talking business. So, I combined those two things and started a monthly ruck here in Austin. I’ve done these for over a year. I’ve had as few as one person attend, and I’ve had as many as nine. It’s small, but I’d be going for a ruck by myself anyway, so I might as well invite others!

Another interesting idea, that I haven’t started yet, is a dinner series. Most people like to eat! You can bring people to your house, or you can get a small group together somewhere in town. This is a really great option because you can spend a focused two hours with people and really get to know them.

Leverage Your Existing Network

You may not feel like it, but you do have an existing network.

In your life you’ve met and worked with many people; you’ve probably just lost touch.

One of the things I did was reach out to people from my high school. This may not be for everyone, but I loved my high school, made good friends, and many people went on to do interesting things.

These folks are probably interested in hearing what you’re up to, so send them a message to connect. I used LinkedIn to help here. I searched for people who went to my school, then subset by my city.

I got a list of people who went to my high school and live here in Austin. There were like 20 people - some who graduated 20 years after me - and I reached out to them.

Your old jobs are other places to mine for connection. Even if you haven’t stayed in touch, they’re going to be interested in hearing what you’re up to. They may be doing something really cool as well.

Whatever experiences you’ve had, use that as a starting point for kickstarting your networking.

Conferences

Lots of people go to conferences, and I went to two as an experiment. The ROI was too low for me. Considering the cost of the ticket, then travel - plus intangibles like being away from family - and the costs are pretty high. Anything you travel to will cost a few thousand dollars.

And since this is a guide for introverts, conferences are really hard! I had a reasonable time striking up conversation at meals, but outside of that it was much more difficult. Also, those connections are usually fleeting. Chatting about the conference and brief introductions over a quick meal doesn’t tend to create a lasting relationship.

Feel free to experiment, but if networking is your goal, I'd skip conferences.

Once you’ve found people and generated a list of who to reach out to, the next step is actually contacting them. This is when networking starts to get real! 🤣

The goal in reaching out to people is to meet them. I like to drive people toward a 1-1 call with me, or face-to-face coffee if we’re in the same city. This 1-1 time with someone is how you get to know them well.

Reaching Out - My Sidebar Member Directory Example

Sidebar was the first community I joined. I went to the member directory, which contained just under 1000 people. The directory contained information on what people could help with, and what they needed help with.

There are probably more elegant methods, but I literally copied the web-based directory - profile images and all - and pasted it into Obsidian.

From there, I exported to PDF, and stored it on Google Drive.

Then I imported that into Notability on my iPad. This gave me a version of the member directory I could mark up.

I scrolled through the list, reading what each person needed help with, looking for a match with things I was skilled in (remember from last week, in networking the goal is to be helpful first). I would drag my pen over their name to highlight it for later reference.

I typed the highlighted names into a Google Sheet. I ended with 138 names.

I could not meet with 138 people in any reasonable time, so I had to build a prioritization strategy. I decided to focus on people who also had shared interests or connections, who mentioned being interested in networking, or were active on LinkedIn. I figured each of these things would increase the acceptance rate.

So, I got onto LinkedIn and started flagging names in my sheet as high priority.

Then I started contacting them.

My message was simple. I would mention our shared community, shared interest, or something else we had in common. Some examples are below.

Despite all that pre-work (which I enjoyed, btw), 50% of people would still ignore my message.

It was helpful to get those little micro-rejections. I got comfortable with being ignored, and it made me more relaxed in reaching out to people in the future.

I realized at some level this is a numbers game. Focus on the habit of reaching out to people each week, and the outcome will take care of itself.

Reaching Out - General Tactics

You will not likely have people’s email addresses when you start (although that’s a goal, so you’re not dependent on a community or platform). You’ll need to either message them inside the community, or on something like LinkedIn.

Everyone does LinkedIn differently, but I ignore any connection request without a message unless it’s really obvious why we’re connecting (e.g. we just met in person). When you’re reaching out to someone on LinkedIn, the 300 characters LinkedIn allows you IS your outreach message.

Give the person a reason to accept your connection request. Are you interested in similar things? Do you have shared connections? Can you offer value?

If you know how to help, offer it. I've said, “Hey, I saw you’re interested in OKRs. I’ve driven OKRs for a decade at Atlassian. Interested in a chat?”

LOTS of people will ignore you. That’s okay. They may not be active on LinkedIn. They may have a policy not to connect with people they don’t know. Just stick with the habit of outreach, keep your messages short and helpful, and start building momentum.

We're not done with networking, but we're done for this week! Next week I'll close with Part 3, where I'll go over intro etiquette, how to conduct the meeting, and how to nurture your network.

Call to Action

Networking isn’t complex - it’s simply finding people you’re genuinely curious about and starting a conversation.

Build a list, send the message, and remember that every “ignore” just clears the path to the next “yes.” The systems and scripts above will keep you focused on progress, not perfection. Momentum compounds.

Your 5-Minute Challenge ​
1 - Open your notes and write down three names who’ve crossed your mind while reading.
2 - Pick one of them and fire off a short, helpful outreach message today. No excessive drafts, no second-guessing.
3 - Hit reply and tell me you did it (or share what tripped you up). I read every response and love hearing the wins and the wobbles.

If a friend could use a nudge to start networking, forward this issue or share The Catalyst with them. Let’s help people grow their network!

Kevin