I get asked a lot for networking advice. “Jill, how do I meet people in the industry?” or “How can I get my message out in a bigger way?” or “How can I connect with people who can help me?”
Networking is important, like Tim Ferriss says, “Your network is your net worth.” But it can feel scary and downright impossible. I get
that.
But I always give the same advice:
If you want to connect with people or be noticed, just be someone who does stuff.
Be someone who shows up consistently.
Think about it, practically no one does! And we all want to be around people who are making moves, doing bigger things and taking action constantly in the direction of their passion. It’s irresistible to watch. You
want in.
Moreover, showing up is trust-building! If I see you doing something daily, I am more likely to think you’re someone who is hard-working and driven. And hard-working and driven equates to “someone to know” because it’s pretty evident that success is right around the corner.
What you know isn’t nearly as important as what you do.
I know plenty of people who are experts in their field on
paper—degrees and certifications—but they don’t ever make strides because they are too scared to take action. They don’t have the kind of hours in the trenches that makes them trustworthy, wise or vetted. And on the other hand, I know plenty of people who you might judge as “not qualified” but they’re crushing because they have simply decided to act, even in the face of their fears and uncertainty.
The latter is extremely powerful.
When I started
JillFit in the fall of 2010, I was a full-time personal trainer on top of working 35 hours a week running a university fitness facility. I’d get home brain dead around 8pm, only to wake up the next morning at 4:15am to do it all over again.
I had zero time and zero mental energy to come up with groundbreaking ideas. I didn’t have money and I definitely didn’t have a host of certifications, but I DID have the knowledge in my head.
So instead of
waiting for things to be perfect, I just did what I could with where I was. I took what I had in my head and wrote it out.
And below is what it looked like. This is the original “schedule” of blog posts that I launched my site with in 2011, the first 30 days of blogging. I wrote this out in Excel and then published them one at a time, often staying up until midnight to have the post ready for the next
morning:
