Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
Here’s a thing I hate about business consultants: They always behave as if there is some big magic secret to being successful. And if you only HAD THIS SECRET THAT WE’VE PACKAGED INTO A $2,000 WEBINAR - you’d be successful.
That’s just not true.
In the last month, I’ve had several conversations with mentors, meetup participants and friends about the exact details of “how” my business went from solopreneur venture to a company with a few employees, vendors and contractors on the books. Perhaps more importantly, the real questions was how we built a client base and continue to work to build it to support that kind of infrastructure. It’s not something you’ll find in our business plan or an enterprise software I picked up. It was something quite simple.
It really just comes down to one big thing I always, always do: I put a great deal of thought into my follow-up.
We all do it. We set up countless networking meetings. We attend dozens of meetups and “get to know you” coffees every month. But have you ever thought about what comes out of those conversations? I am constantly amazed at how few people I meet with as a favor or for a casual conversation never reach out ever again. And you know, that bothers me. Because it communicates clearly that because I wasn’t immediately helpful to them - I wasn’t worth continuing a conversation with. I have put a ridiculous amount of thought into what I want to achieve out of these meet and greets. And here is what I’ve learned:
1. Have an internal agenda for every meeting, even if it’s just a casual coffee.
It is never stated out loud, but in my mind, I go into every networking event or meeting with a clear internal agenda about what I want to accomplish. Usually it’s that I want to talk to a specific person OR I want to make a connection with someone in a new industry or potential client space. If it’s a one-on-one meeting, my agenda is usually to figure out how we can help each other succeed. It’s not printed on paper, but it’s present in my mind.
2. Leave every meeting with a REASON to follow-up.
Sometimes I just want to make a new industry connection. Other times I am looking for a new client or partnership. Which is why people who have spent time with me in these settings know: I end every one of these meetings with a clear list of things I’m going to do after that meeting. Oftentimes it is something as simple as: I’m going to introduce you to another helpful person in the industry OR share an article with you that reminds me of our conversation. In the best case scenario, I am following up with a project proposal for future video work together. Whatever it is, I always say to that person: “I’m going to follow up with you about x, y or z.”
3. Follow up! Follow up! Follow up!
You know what my clients have told me again and again? That they have met with countless people who have never bothered to follow up with them. This actually amazes me. It takes 2 minutes to write a thoughtful email. Five minutes to put together a thank you card and throw a stamp on it. If you value people and the connections you’re making, you’ll show them with these simple gestures.
4. Be strategically helpful.
There is making introductions and connections because they are valuable and there is making introductions because you want to appear to be helpful. Be the first person. Find ways to add value and before you know it, you’ll have the reputation of being the kind of person that makes things happen.
5. Be open to change and feedback.
When a project doesn’t happen after we put together a proposal at Mighteor, I used to get frustrated. Now, I view it as a learning opportunity. I’m not afraid to follow up with our potential client and ask specifically what we failed to deliver in the proposal and what they would have liked to see that was different. Sometimes, people are too shy to be honest. But, I do think that it has made me better at personally developing plans for our future proposals that results in a higher success rate.
As we work to hire our summer interns, I’m shocked at how many people seem really excited about the job when they come in for the interview, but when I actually follow up with them with more questions or information - it takes days to get answers back. On top of that, so few people actually follow up with questions about why they didn’t get the job, that it’s actually disappointing to me. We can ALL be better about how we approach our lives and our business.
The most important part of all of this? Don’t treat business like it’s about some magic secret clue hidden in a temple behind a web server in TRON. We ALL want to succeed. Helping each other do that is the key to fruitful relationships inside and outside your business.
Have you ever wished that Being Geek Chic readers could all sit down together, eat veggie burgers, and talk about our lives, goals, struggles, and loves? I have. Meet our Lady Geek of the Week, Sarah Lamb, who had a similar idea.
Back in 2005, Lamb was at a dinner of geeks when she realized just how isolated women in the industry could feel. (The dinner guests were mostly men.) The summer of that year, she hosted a dinner for lady geeks and called it Girl Geek Dinners. 35 geeks attended.
Years later, Girl Geek Dinners has gone global to 53 different cities in 24 different counties, with over 28,000 geeks participating. Lamb has extended Girl Geek Dinners to include aspects like a mentorship program and a video series of inspirational women. Pretty neat, huh?
But that’s just Lamb’s night gig. By day, she’s a Consultant at TechNet & MSDN Editor at Microsoft. She also founded GirlyGeekdom, a news and reviews site for all things geeky from cartoons and comics to science, engineering, and technology.
So check out this British bombshell’s interview with Being Geek Chic and then pop over to Twitter and follow her at @geekylamb. You’ll adore her, I promise.
