Episode 66 Transcript

Hello, you guys. Welcome to episode 66. About 20 years ago, I was entering into a nightclub in San Diego called Forth and B. It was a nightclub that my partner at the time and I used to run events. So we basically had this company called 911 Art, and we would produce and promote art, fashion and music events throughout San Diego and sometimes San Francisco as well. And this was gonna be one of our many events. So we're using this venue, forth and be gearing up for the night ahead. Now, why am I telling you this? Because recently I interviewed someone named Kevin Thompson for a future podcast episode, which you'll meet coming up. And it was an amazing episode. And he reminded me of the fact that in life and business, there's nothing more valuable than the relationships that you have. And it got me reflecting on my past and where I sort of nurtured relationships and how I treated people in my business. So yeah, I went way back. We're talking about 25 years ago at least. So there I was at 4th and B in San Diego. I had just entered the venue and I was setting up the art. So this night was gonna be more around art rather than the fashion side. Yeah, we were going to have a DJ coming a little bit later as well. So we had the art, we were hanging it up on the walls. My partner and I were getting prepped and ready to go. And we were really hoping, of course, that we were going to sell some of the art that night. That's what we were doing in a lot of these nightclubs or events that we would do. So we're setting up and as people started entering, I would ask them about themselves, just the guests that were coming into the nightclub. 

 

And basically what I do is then try and introduce them with other people who weren't in attendance. If of course I saw a reason that would make sense for me to introduce them. So what I realized is this really helped to spark up conversation as we were waiting for the venue to fill. And on a side note, you guys, producing an event is so nerve wracking because you might have RSVPs, but even if you don't, like in our case, we didn't have RSVPs. We would never actually know how many people would actually attend or we're going to attend. So I was always sort of thinking of ways to make people feel really welcome as they walked in, but also getting a lot of value from the event, not just through looking at beautiful art on the wall, but potentially meeting people that could change their lives, which is why I would get to know them. And I would be constantly thinking, oh, you know, you should go talk to so-and-so across the room that just came in, they own this business or they have these interests. And I think you guys could, you know, connect.

 

I also remember something else. I was thinking through this and at the time it kind of flashed me back to my days in San Diego when I had this company. And I remember something else that we did in the business as well. We had these girls, we'll say young women in their twenties that we called the primary girls, basically the primary girls, right? So each one of them was a primary color. Art shows, of course, colors, et cetera. That's kind of how we came up with the name. So basically what we do is we bought them these sort of outfits and the outfits were like a bobbed wig and sort of a dress or funky looking outfit. And they would wear these outfits and they were in the primary colors. So each girl was either one was red, one was blue, or one was yellow. 

 

Therefore the primary girls. Now what we would do is we'd hit the streets of San Diego to pass out postcards that promoted our upcoming events. Cause back in the day, this was literally on the edge, sort of the internet up and coming. And we didn't have at all, not even close social media. So it was very much, you know, you'd come up with a concept, we'd go to a printer, we had our favorite printer, and we'd print out these postcards. And each postcard would promote a specific event we were doing. So we'd arm the girls with these postcards and get them to hit the streets. A lot of times it'd be down in the gas lamp district of San Diego. And if you know San Diego, this is where a lot of the conventions are, it's where.

 

It's kind of like a New Orleans sort of vibe. Like it's, you know, lots of restaurants and clubs and music and stuff like that. So that's, they would cruise around in the gas lamp and hand out these postcards. By doing that, we were basically building a brand to make ourselves more memorable. But more importantly, we'd have the girls attend our events as well and help to welcome people when they walked in the door.

 

Heather (04:53.042)

I really think how you welcome somebody is everything. It sets the stage on what it's going to be like to be in your presence at your event or to do business with you. And what's funny is that by nature, I'm actually kind of more of an introvert. Yeah. I do loads of speaking and stuff, but I definitely need my downtime and my alone time. So for me setting up this sort of system helped me to welcome people into our experiences better. So we had the girls that were helping us out, but also sort of understanding that this is what I do when somebody comes into the door, this is my sort of system or my process. And then I know I could support people even when it didn't come naturally to me as well. And one last story for you guys. So outside of the 911 art days, and I'm sure I'll tell you more of that in future episodes, but there's another thing that I did I've told you about before as well.

 

And I used to run a club called the Billionaire Adventure Club, or we used to call it the BAC. And we would take entrepreneurs to developing countries to share our resources, whether these were networks or financial, basically to assist with a core project that we were focused on in that particular country. Most of the people of the members would come to these trips by themselves. Maybe some would have a business partner, but it was normally just solo people coming by themselves across the world to these adventures or these sort of trips that we'd go on collectively as a group. Now, I used to have each member fill out a questionnaire prior to attending so I could get to know more about them, their business, what they needed help with. It's like flashing back in my mind right now. I remember the questions. It was like, what are you good at? What do you need help with? What can you offer other people? That sort of stuff, right? So they'd fill this out and then on the very first day, the adventure of the trip, I would facilitate introductions between members that I think could be really valuable relationships. And I remember being specifically in South Africa on one of our trips. And we were in this really, really dimly lit room. I remember it was so dodgy. It was like kind of this little tiny room on the hotel that we were at. And they set up a spotlight for us because we were trying to film this particular part of the event. And I remember it was just so bad. Like I had the people sit up one by one and introduce themselves and everyone's faces were just blinded by the spotlight. But anyway, to continue on with the story. So they're there in the room, each of the members and sort of standing up and introducing themselves just so every single person could get to see who is there and a little bit about them. But if you think about networking, that's not good enough, right? Still, you're not gonna approach the person. You kind of see who they are, but you don't really know, like how do I, how should I connect with them?

 

So that's where I came in with the questionnaire. I would basically go, okay, you should meet so-and-so and you should meet so-and-so and I'd start to pair them up to have conversations. And it was really, really fun to see the deals that came out of it. Like there were business deals, there were property deals, but it also formed a lot of lifelong friendships as well, which was quite amazing. And all that just because of facilitating relationships. Now in our businesses,

 

We've heard that referrals are so, so important. And for me and my business, absolutely. And my business is my past one as well. Um, gosh, they are everything that they're, how I've grown my business is having referrals and what's behind a good referral. It's the relationship you built with a person that referred you, of course, right? Whether indirectly through your marketing or your emails or directly through working with them.

 

You've done something good where they want to refer business to you. And in life, think about in life as well. Sometimes all it takes is one introduction to improve your health. Um, I think of somebody who helped to cure their cancer because of the introduction that they had, um, maybe you meet your partner through an introduction, heal trauma, find your new best friend. Just never underestimate the power of treating people well. And sharing your network with others. Because relationships are everything. So hopefully you guys got a few interesting ideas, maybe to think about definitely life and how you treat your people and take care of those around you, but certainly in your business. Are you welcoming people in the best way possible and making them feel comfortable? Are you introducing people in your business to each other where it makes sense to do so. I think sharing our networks is one of the most powerful, powerful things that we can do because we work hard to build them. All right, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in as always. And let me know what you guys think. Let me know what you think. If you're watching this on the socials or YouTube, leave me a comment and let me know. I love hearing your feedback. And also, um, if you know, you're listening,

 

Give me a review. I would love a review. It would be very helpful. It helps me to get the word out there to more people and continue bringing you guys excellent guests. So thank you. Thank you for your support and we'll talk soon.