Powerful Women Rising - A Business Podcast for Female Entrepreneurs

How to Maximize Your Networking Experience w/Helena Baker

• Melissa Snow - Powerful Women Rising, LLC • Episode 88

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Networking isn't just about exchanging business cards - it's about building real, sustainable relationships that will help you business thrive.

In this episode, Helena Baker, founder of English Speaking Network, shares the  inspiring story of her move to Israel four years ago and how she couldn't find the community she was looking for, so she created it!

Fast-forward to today, Helena truly is a "Networking Queen" who understands what it means to network INTENTIONALLY without being a salesy weirdo.  In this epsiode, she shares practical strategies for maximizing your networking experiences - from setting the right goals and mastering follow-ups to crafting meaningful interactions at events, Helena lots of insights and some pro-tips you've probably never heard before!

This episode will leave you feeling empowered to up your networking game and integrate it seamlessly into your business growth strategy, while staying true to yourself.

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The Powerful Women Rising Virtual Speed Networking Event is the perfect place to put some of these tips into action!  Register for the next one here:   https://powerfulwomenrising.com/events/

Learn more about becoming a member of the Powerful Women Rising Community here:  https://powerfulwomenrising.com/community/

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To connect with Helena Baker or learn more about English Speaking Network:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenabaker/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/networkwithhelena/


Speaker 1:

Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the podcast where we ditch the rulebook and build businesses with authenticity, integrity and a whole lot of fun. Join host Melissa Snow, business relationship strategist and founder of the Powerful Women Rising community, as she interviews top experts and shares candid insights on business strategy, marketing, mindset and more. Let's get real, get inspired and rise together. This is Powerful Women Rising.

Speaker 2:

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Powerful Women Rising podcast. I'm your host, melissa Snow, super excited to be joining you on this lovely Monday morning. How are things going in your world? Did you know that when you are listening to a podcast this is for those of you who are impatient like me and like to listen to your podcasts on 1.5 speed and hit that little skip 30 second button? If you listen to this podcast regularly, that little intro is 30 seconds exactly, so as soon as you hear it, you can push the 30 second button and you'll be right where you need to be, here with me.

Speaker 2:

I am so excited to share today's episode with you. I know I say that all the time, like every single week, but this is one of the most fun interviews I've done in a while. If you've been listening to me for a bit, you know I think I'm pretty funny and today's guest is also very funny. So we had a great time talking about networking, which is in my wheelhouse and also in hers, and it was really fun because she shared some things that I had never thought about before and some tips for when to show up at a networking event, what to do before you go to a networking event, and it's just so fun to hear other people's perspectives. This is one of the reasons I get so bent out of shape about networking groups that are exclusive, where you can only have one person per industry, or networking groups that are exclusive in terms of if you're in this group, or networking groups that are exclusive in terms of if you're in this group, you can't be in any other groups. Because when you are with somebody who does the same or something similar to what you do as I was in this interview with Helena Baker you get to hear a different perspective. You get to hear other people's experiences. You get to talk about things that don't necessarily relate to everyone else, but when you guys talk about them, the other person is always like oh my gosh. Yes, I hate that, but if you're talking to somebody who's in a different industry, they are like I don't know what you're talking about. So that is my soapbox for the day and also my explanation of one of many reasons I enjoyed doing this interview with Helena Baker.

Speaker 2:

So she was born and raised in England. She started a copywriting business at the age of 21 with no contacts and no idea what she was doing. So she went out and started networking and attended pretty much all of the networking groups in London, and then four years ago, she moved to Israel and she found that in Israel, there was not much of a formal networking community for English speakers, and so she decided to create one. She is the founder of the English Speaking Network, which now has multiple in-person groups in Israel, and more recently saw demand for online meetings, and so last year she founded the International English Speaking Network, with a focus on helping business owners all over the world network and grow their business. So you can see why I love her and why I had so much fun chatting with her about networking strategies.

Speaker 2:

I am going to share this interview with you without further ado, but, as always, I would love to connect with you over on Instagram and hear your thoughts. I am certain you're going to hear something in this interview that you're like oh, I never thought about that before and I would love to know what it is. All right, here we go. This is my interview with Helena Baker. Hello, helena, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me, yeah, so excited for our chat today. We're talking about one of my favorite things networking, so let's talk a little bit about your background, like why are you the person to talk to us about networking and how did you get to this space?

Speaker 3:

I'm flattered that you think I'm the person to speak to. So very briefly, I'll explain. I grew up in England and at 22, which is very young to decide to be freelance. But I got made redundant. The company I was working at closed and I was at the time doing a bit of freelance writing and decided to kind of go all in, which I wouldn't recommend at 22. But my parents very kindly helped me. So when I first started my business, I was really networking. So I went to tons of groups in London that's what you could and over about five years I grew our business nicely, only exclusively through networking, which again, I wouldn't do. But at 22 to 26, that's what made the most sense for me.

Speaker 3:

I moved to Israel in 2019. I wanted to continue being a freelance writer and there was really a lack of networking groups for English speakers in the small business space. There was a lot, lot of high tech and a lot of Hebrew speaking, but nothing that kind of offered small business owners in English networking. So I decided to create my own group six months after moving here, which again I mean I would not move to a country and start a business six months after. I mean it was a pretty I think. It was very much like I really needed this. So I was like, well, everybody will surely need this. How could this business possibly fail? It was really hard. But then, six months after I started the business, covid hit as well. So it was a very interesting first year of living here. Thank God now we are doing very well, but it has obviously been a growth journey. But for me, networking what it really comes down to is offering people the opportunity to grow their business, and that's why it?

Speaker 3:

was so key for me when I lived in England and why I really felt that we needed it here in Israel.

Speaker 2:

I love that. Now I see why so many people were like you need to connect with her, because we have a lot of things in common in terms of like being able to see how we built our business. I was a dating coach for six years before this and I had a business doing contract paralegal work before that and during my dating coaching time I spent so much time and so much money on all the things that are like you need this If you're going to succeed. You need to hire this coach. You need to take this course about sales. You need to do this thing and, looking back on it, the one thing that consistently brought me sales, brought me clients, made me money, grew my business, was the relationships that I made, the connections that I built, and so that was when I kind of transitioned into my current business Powerful Women Rising to really help female entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2:

Get back to that. Like you don't need all this fancy stuff. Like let's get back to having actual conversations with humans and like telling people what we do in like a normal human way and not a weird salesy way, and just like being in community and offering to help each other without expecting anything return. Like they're these very novel ideas, but they're actually not at all.

Speaker 3:

I think with when starting a business. I think there's always like, obviously everyone's marketing their services. So the Facebook person will tell you you must do Facebook and Instagram and everyone's how you that their service is right for you. And I think it's very easy as a business owner to just feel very taught and to do lots of things. And I don't think networking is for everyone. I don't think it's for every business. I think it's really the model that works best for you. So your personality as a business owner was drawn to networking because you are communicative and friendly and warm and people feel that. So networking really works. You know, I think networking works for anyone. You have to have a strategy. But I just think with business owners, I think they get kind of stressed by all the different options. Ultimately you have to pick one and be consistent. It doesn't really matter which. I mean it does a little bit, but ultimately it doesn't matter that much what you choose. You have to choose one, you have to be consistent, you have to be strategic.

Speaker 2:

I think networking is one of the easiest and one of the lowest cost personally, but that for me is a really big challenge and I see all the time business owners that are getting like oh, choose one, that's it yeah, yeah, I think we get really focused on quantity over quality sometimes and like it's better to be in eight groups where I like know a hundred people five percent, rather than being in one group where I know 30 people 85%, and that's backwards.

Speaker 2:

But we're going to talk about that in a little bit. So I want to go back to a word that you used a couple of times strategy because I think sometimes when people hear the word strategy used in conjunction with networking like when I talk about networking, I talk a lot about like this is just about creating genuine relationships and, you know, having real connections and things like that and a lot of people like think strategy is the opposite of that, like strategy is the like manipulative, planned out, fake, transactional side of that. So how do you find that networking, like that strategy, fits into networking and how do you do that without being a salesy weirdo?

Speaker 3:

so another question. Firstly, I think it's really important, okay. So when I talk about networking and strategy, I think people like you think I mean sell to the room. The first thing I want to say and I'm sure that you say this to your members is networking is never about sales. When I've been thinking about sales it's so like not on the radar. So I know that's very hard for people and it does take time. But when you're going to any networking event you have to forget about selling like, otherwise it's not going to work, because nobody wants to be sold to, it's just icky, there's no better word for it.

Speaker 3:

But when we think about strategy in the same vein, you don't want to go to a networking event and just kind of schmooze and that kind of be a nice event and that'd be it, because that's a waste of your time. You're not going to get business. There is a happy medium. I think people like black and white. There's actually gray there when I talk about strategy. So I'm going to say that you're going this. Well, there's two ways to look at it. Let's say you're going to a big networking event. Your local chamber of commerce is doing an event for 150 people. You're turning up. You know two people. What are you going to do?

Speaker 3:

There's really clear strategies in place that can help me, that I'm more successful. And again, that will depend on how experienced you are. But the main ones would be arriving not hungry. Even if they say they're going to give you food, you make sure you arrive not hungry. You don't want to be the person at the networking event just to be trying to get to the food table and when it's in your talking to people, it's very hard to eat food. So you arrive satiated. You arrive early.

Speaker 3:

I think so many people arrive to networking events late because they kind of don't want to be the first. I disagree with that 100 percent. You want to be the second person to arrive. If you're there early, you can firstly speak to the organizer and make a relationship with them, and they're always good people to know and it's much easier to kind of shift yourself into a conversation with like three people than 120. It's much less daunting. Please don't arrive half an hour early, because people do that at my events and it's very stressful. I'm talking five, 10 minutes on time. I'm not talking anything beyond that. As an organizer, it's quite horrific.

Speaker 2:

I was totally thinking that, as you were talking.

Speaker 3:

I was about to jump in and be like, but not that early no, no, we do a big mega network human every year.

Speaker 3:

Last year we were 160 people and people arrived really early and we just didn't let them in. We did send out helpers with like food and wine and water for them, and it was inside. They weren't like outside in the cold or whatever, but we just didn't let them in because we weren't ready to accept them. There's a process in place and we need to kind of funnel them through. So, yeah, yeah, but five ten minutes. Please don't write before that. As an organizer, it's just very challenging, but five ten on time is perfect. So that's that. And then when you're at the event and again, this really depends on your experience I would go with a mission of speaking to x amounts of people. You say to yourself I'm going to speak to five people, I'm going to speak to 10 people, and then you go home. Why am I saying that again? I would never do that myself because I'm crazy, but for most people that's appropriate, because you're going to go with a clear mission in mind. You can tell yourself a pat on the back I've done what I came to do. And those five ten people you can actually follow up with because you'll remember the conversations with them, because that's the most important part of networking and it's the same for smaller groups as well is it's the follow-up that's key. It doesn't matter if you meet them once. That's irrelevant. I also want to add one thing that when you're talking to them, don't take up too much of their time. Speak to them for 10 minutes. You end the conversation politely. I'd love to follow up what's your LinkedIn, what's your number, what's your email, and then you follow up with that one-to-one, because that's where the money is going to happen. You build a relationship with them. So I'm saying you have five meaningful, exciting there was a click conversations, because you can have a few that are just like hi, hi and it doesn't work. That's for the strategy, for like a big event again, I can go more into details there, but those are the broad strokes. When you're going to events like I have, which are more like structured networking, where you're meeting the same person time and time again and you have the opportunity to give your 60 second pitch, you won in your 60 second pitch and again there's one-to-one, so there's chats outside.

Speaker 3:

So talk about referral partners, and what do I mean by that? You're not asking for the types of clients you want. You're asking the types of business owners that they're going to refer you to as clients, because it's very awkward for someone to be like to introduce you as a potential supplier. It's also awkward for them. What's very easy for them is if you're a web designer and a great referral part of you as graphic designers, because they will refer you work that they can't do.

Speaker 3:

Let's say it's very easy for your friends at networking who's met you time and time again and really likes you to be like. You know this is Charlie, charlie's great. I think the two of you would really get along. You have a lot in common. You overlap, but you don't do the same thing. Have a chat and your job is done. That's a really easy. That's a win for everybody. It's easy on the person you're meeting with because they've made a nice connection and it's not new to build that relationship.

Speaker 3:

That's the strategy of networking those those big events that have a very, very, very clear idea of how many people you're going to speak with and doing that follow-up. And then at the smaller events where the people you meet in time and time again, talking about those referral partners and saying it over and over again. And the last thing I want to say I've spoken a lot about it is it's so important to turn up to a networking event, whether they're big or small, with an idea of what you want to do. What do you, what types of people you're trying to build relationships with, what's your goal here, who do you want to be meeting with, understand what you're trying to do and do the follow-up. And please, I beg of you, you may get a member list after the event. Please don't add everyone's remaining list. Please don't send a blank email, even if you have the software to change the first name.

Speaker 3:

Everybody knows what you're doing. I get complaints about it often not often, like people are very good, but I do. I get the complaints, not the person that complained to me. Everybody knows you're doing it and it's so gross. There's a better word, but I'm going to use gross. It's so gross. So please, please, don't do that. I'm done now. That's all I have to say. I.

Speaker 2:

I love all of that especially the last part.

Speaker 2:

I do the same thing. I send out a contact list after I do my virtual speed networking events and I say on the event. I say before the event, I say in several emails after the event like this is the reason you're receiving this contact list. You should only use this information for this specific reason, and it's gotten better, but still every once in a while. My favorite is when they don't realize that I also am on the list. So they also send me the like hey, it was so great to meet you at that event, didn't you love melissa? And I'm like no, I, I am her.

Speaker 3:

You actually sent it to me a few crazy ones I've had, obviously, people emailing people who didn't come to the event and saying it was great to meet you but.

Speaker 3:

I had some you I've had people use my brand name in their. They don't they can't even want to send it to me, but in their marketing. Basically, just send out an email to my members. I'm basically saying I'm offering a special offer for esm as if, like, that's been approved, it is, if it's like the way that they worded it and people have told me about it, I'm like that has nothing to do with me. It's not okay to do that and that's happened a few times actually yeah, I don't know who's teaching this stuff, but it ain't us, no.

Speaker 2:

So one of the things that I picked up when you were talking about strategy is there is certainly some strategy involved in what you're doing at the networking event, and we could probably make this into like a nine part series between the two of us. There's certainly some strategy involved in what you're doing at the event, but what I heard you saying a lot is that there is some strategy involved in how you're preparing for the event as well, like being really clear about how you want to introduce yourself. How are you gonna balance, like introducing yourself as a person, but also making sure that people know what you do and what you're looking for. Taking the time to think about, like who do I want to connect with? And maybe it's different this month than it was last month.

Speaker 2:

Maybe now I'm looking for speaking opportunities, whereas last month I just really needed a copywriter, so being prepared to answer some of those questions people ask me all the time when I do one-to-ones in a specific group that I'm in, everybody asks at the end what can I do to support you? This month, and I used to never have an answer because I was always like oh, I don't know, but this was a great chat, bye. And of course you know we have all this mindset stuff to work through, right, like they don't actually mean it and they don't actually want to do the thing you're going to ask them to do and all the things. But even being prepared with an answer for something like that, I think the more preparation that you put in, the less anxious you're going to be and you're also probably going to have a better result in the conversations that you're having as well. Do you agree?

Speaker 3:

I agree a hundred percent and I think, like you said, so much, so much. But it's about the mindset. And I think people approach networking kind of two ways. One is like the extrovert who's like I love networking, I'm great at networking, I'm going to smash this, and does no work and it's just super cocky, which also is not ideal, by the way. And then there's a person who's like the introvert, who like really doesn't come, who was forced because they everyone's told them they have to do networking this. They really don't want to. They come like being dragged there and they're really not happy about it. Um and um, they talk to one person and leave like those are the two extremes and both of those extremes need that strategy. They need slightly different strategies to match their personalities.

Speaker 3:

But ultimately, loving networking isn't enough. You have to also work networking. It's not enough to just turn up. And the same for the, the introvert, who's like really scared. There's so many. I have introverts who, it's funny, I've been running my business for five years and I've had people who join now, who didn't join for a long time because they were so introverted and so scared. Um, it's all about that strategy piece. It's just I think people cause networking is essentially just talk. People think it's essentially just talking. It's not. There's a lot more there to it and I think people have like a bit of a a problem accepting that or understanding that fully, I guess.

Speaker 2:

Okay, not that it's sneaky, but it's just, yeah, it's just thought, it's thoughtful, intentional, that's a good word for it so can you give us an example, either from your own life or a story from like one of the things that you've seen at your events, of a time that you or someone else has gone into a networking event with a strategy and it's been successful? Oh my gosh, that's a very, very good question, it should be, you wrote it did I?

Speaker 3:

yeah, oh my gosh, you can keep this in.

Speaker 2:

I'm not embarrassed I love it when I ask people questions that they wrote and they're like that's such a good question. I'm like thank you a great question.

Speaker 3:

So actually I'm gonna look at my computer now. It's not because I'm ignoring you, but I did. I did a big, I did a women's event yesterday. We had almost 80 women, um, and somebody who joined ESN, who's a member of my groups anyway, came. I wrote a LinkedIn post about it, um, and she is a self-proclaimed introvert. I actually don't think she's. I don't think she's so introverted, but that's how she defines herself and and I respect that, and she didn't join ESN for a really long time because of that reason. Eventually she joined and of course, it's like no loves it, thank God. And she gave tips on how she handled the event to make sure that she wasn't overwhelmed by 80 people. So this is completely, dani, seriously, you're welcome to go check her out.

Speaker 3:

This is not coming from me, but these were her tips which I think actually some of them, I think, hopefully were inspired by my content, but some of them were not for me at all because it's not my. I'm not an introvert, it's not my uh, it's not my truth. Um, so, arriving early, which is something I always say, definitely get there early. This I really liked. It's not something I've thought about. If you start to feel overwhelmed. Look for someone you trust and just stand next to them, which I really liked. It's not something I've thought about. If you start to feel overwhelmed, look for someone you trust and just stand next to them, which I really liked, really loved that. This I loved. If you feel like a simulator, step outside, and I noticed that she did that and I didn't.

Speaker 3:

I wasn't bothered, I just didn't. I wasn't aware of the reason. I thought that was such a beautiful, um, and this I really liked. It's something my husband always tells me to do and I'm very bad at doing it because I'm a bit of a workaholic. She said after networking and that I just I sorry, after a networking event, I don't do anything, I just take a nap, and I really, really like that and it's something that I need to do more, because networking events take a lot from you, especially when you're running them, and I think and she really liked it, she really liked the event and I think that those tips that she went in having, I think, made the event so much more digestible because it was I mean, we're 80 women it was a lot. It was really a lot and I thought that was really beautiful and such helpful tips for any introvert, and again, some of those I wouldn't think about because it's not my truth.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what I love about those two is that it's very much about her giving herself permission to be herself and do it the way that works for her. She didn't feel like she needed to be pressured to like push through, or oh, if I go step outside, people are gonna think I'm weird, or you know, whatever it was. It was just like this is me, this is what I need, this is what's gonna give me the best experience, and that strategy worked for her as an organizer from my perspective.

Speaker 3:

At no point at all in the event did I think, oh, that's like I didn't even I noticed they were outside, but there was a few of them and I just thought it was nice. The room was a little bit small, like none of this came from, like none of it was noted by me, um, and I thought they were such lovely tips, um, and, like I said, most of them I hadn't thought about and I think it's it's really nice. I'm trying to think of other strategies in place for networking events that I've gone to. It's funny because obviously I don't do I don't keep to this with the strategy. Like I'm terrible for the strategy, of course, because that just makes sense. Um, because that that's how it works. I'll tell you the truth with my networking strategy, and this is really a terrible thing. The truth is, my networking strategy is I'm very active on LinkedIn and that's really the secret for me is I'm very active on LinkedIn and Israel is a very small business community. There is not that many of us. So once you know, you know, you know.

Speaker 3:

So, when I first moved to Israel, I remember going to a networking event in 2019. I traveled an hour and a half to get there. I arrived, was very overwhelmed and left after 15 minutes. It was super overwhelming and I'm an extrovert. I found it really hard and that was obviously no strategy in place. I just turned up hope for the best and it was a nightmare.

Speaker 3:

I guess that my strategy these days is that I'm really active on LinkedIn. This sounds really pompous and it's not mental. It's just the truth that if I go to networking event, people know me not always, but mostly know me and so there's a conversation starter. I recently did a spoken networking event in the states and it was very humbling because people there less knew me and it was a real reminder that you do need a strategy in place for those events because and I did, I the truth is I did that I didn't know that would happen and I did have a very clear strategy of bringing people in for a certain service I offered that's relevant to people outside of israel and I did get a client through that strategy because I went in with that specific strategy, knowing exactly how I could. There's only really one way I could offer to American clients. There's only really one offering I have for them and I really went in with that focus and it did pay off.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I love that, because what it's showing is that you don't necessarily use the same strategy for every single event. Every single group. Right, there's very different. There's the more transactional groups there are, the more relationship focused groups. There are groups where you know most everybody. There are groups where you don't know anybody, and so you may have different strategies for different ones.

Speaker 3:

I think, the more I'm thinking about it, like as we're talking, I do think I go with strategies. I don't think I like I should think about it a lot more than I do, but I do go with strategies thinking don't think I like I should think about it a lot more than I do, but I do go with strategies thinking okay, this is an event case, it's an X market, what offerings do I have for that market? And again, I'm not going in salesy at all, but I will bring that up, I will discuss that. I will kind of like have a chat with someone. Feel the vibes want a better word. So I do each event thinking okay, what offerings do I have for this sort of event? That's the most relevant.

Speaker 3:

Now I'm kind of going into a different sector of high tech which I don't have experience with at all. I want to go to those events. I'm really just trying to build relationships because I don't really have as much experience there as I would like. And so those events, I'm like I'm here to build relationships, I'm here to grow, so it's. It is different depending, you're right. So different depending what the event is. Um, and I do, the truth is that you're right, I do have strategies. It's just not something that I'm like, so I'm not writing it down before how much really you should. You should be much more intentional about it, but I've been doing this for a long time yeah, it's a lot of.

Speaker 2:

Your strategy is probably not as conscious as it used to be because, yeah, I'm not using it right, exactly. So you mentioned LinkedIn and I want to talk about that a little bit, although this is a whole rabbit hole we could go down. Yeah, but one of the things that I talk about a lot is that networking doesn't just happen at networking events. You don't just network at networking events and networking groups.

Speaker 3:

You can't just have a networking event Like that's just not possible.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly, oh, I just have no humans Like that's just not possible. Right Exactly. And and for me, I think networking is and can happen anywhere that you're creating a connection with another human being, and for a lot of people, that social media. A lot of people love social media. They're really good at it. They're good at connecting with people on a human level on social media. There are people who despise it and don't want anything to do with it, and so that's fine too. But for the people who do like social media and you mentioned you do a lot on LinkedIn how does social media play into your networking strategy?

Speaker 3:

They're intertwined. There's no way to separate them whatsoever. For me personally, I actually think it's very hard to network in this day and age without having someone with social media presence. It can be be done. I think it makes. I think it makes life much, much harder.

Speaker 3:

Um, for me, like I said, I can now go to events and people will know me, which just makes life more pleasant and easier. To be honest, like I have to say, there's just no two ways about it. Um, I think it means I'll meet someone at an event and I can never speak to them again, but they'll. They see me on LinkedIn because I always connect on LinkedIn. I should say I'll connect with everyone on LinkedIn, which you can do after an event. You can connect with everyone on LinkedIn. That's completely acceptable. I would never write a no or anything. I'll just maybe I'd say it was great to meet you at the event, but I'll probably just send a request and that's it.

Speaker 3:

Um, so they see me time and time again and it's just again with marketing. It's so boring, it's such a cliche, but it takes time and people have to be exposed to you. They say seven touch points to say four. Whatever it is, it's rarely, just once I mean it should be, but it's not always so for me. They're just so intertwined in like helping each other and supporting each other. I truly don't know how people really succeed in networking without it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, I agree, I use, uh Facebook a lot. I want to be more on LinkedIn, but I'm just not, and so that's a truth about myself that I'm accepting right now. I don't think you need to be on LinkedIn at all.

Speaker 3:

I just think, like, if Facebook's working for you, great, just focus on that. Like I really want to be on Instagram. That is not my reality, so yeah exactly.

Speaker 2:

We're just.

Speaker 3:

We're just accepting the truths about ourselves today, but I think, as business owners we have, you don't have to do anything, you have to make money for making money and you can grow your business.

Speaker 2:

Then that makes it. Yeah, that that's certainly helpful. Uh, but one of the things that I find people ask me a lot about with networking and you probably find this too is the follow-up, and this is like people's biggest complaint is like I don't have time to follow up. I don't know how to follow up, I don't know how to keep track of all these people. When do I follow up with them, what do I do? And I find that social media makes the follow-up much easier. Do you think so too?

Speaker 3:

I think it makes it easier. You can also email. I think people are looking for excuses. Also email. I think people are looking for excuses. Excuse me for saying there's always an excuse not to do the follow-up. It doesn't take that long. Like I'm the organizer of events, so when I'm in a like I'm a women's event yesterday, so I did a special offer that if you join this week, you know we offer we're going to offer this like a like a very small set period of free membership.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I had a few people who are interested.

Speaker 3:

So I followed up with them them. I sent them WhatsApps, which in Israel we WhatsApp in business. I don't know if it's so acceptable in America, but that's how we do it here. I sent them WhatsApps. My baby was home. She was not well. My baby was home all the time. I was able to do it, even just with her home the whole time, which, like it, doesn't take that at quite a bit of trading.

Speaker 3:

I do think with networking, people have a lot of excuses. You find the time for what's important and if growing your business is important, you'll find the time for it. That's number one. If you have LinkedIn or Facebook, it is easier to send LinkedIn messages, for sure. But I also think an email seems a bit more sometimes, can feel a bit more professional and I think it's very easy. I mean, when I do events, I write down very clearly a list of like a heading this person's interested in this and then I write the list of that and then the next heading and then the list just cross them off when I've heard to them, chase them.

Speaker 3:

I would chase people myself only twice. I would like I would send an email and then a follow-up email. I personally would never go beyond that. Everyone does what they would like. That's my way of doing it, and when you're doing a follow-up or you're asking for I mean, it really depends. It's organized. It's different.

Speaker 3:

But if you're just asking for a chat, I'd just love to meet with you. Hi, it was so. I mean you can write templates. Hi, it was so great to meet you. I love talking about insert topic how is your cat doing? I hope they feel better. Like you speak from the conversation and then say, listen, I would love to have a chat with you. What I, what I personally think is really helpful for people is if you give them don't send them a calendar link. Give them five dates, give them five options of dates. People are really lazy and they don't want to give you options. They don't necessarily want to go through a link. Just say I'm available on these five dates. Do any of these work for you? If not, please send me dates. You're available and, of course, work. Make it as easy as possible for people. I just think that's the key.

Speaker 2:

I don't think it's that challenging. I really don't. No, I don't think it is either. I mean, it's not hard and it's not um, it doesn't take a long time, but you do have to be intentional about, like, setting aside the time to do it and making that a priority, like you said but like we have to take responsibility for our actions, like we have to say that we are business owners and we've come here to show up and this is part of my networking.

Speaker 3:

And if you're going to a networking event, I'm going to tell you a secret there's no point going if you're not following up. If you don't have the time, then just don't go. It's also okay, you don't have to go to every event, but if you're going to get this occasionally, of course I've also had it where you go to the event and it happens to be that person needs your service and you get really lucky and you get business from that. It does happen, for sure, and it's beautiful and it's lovely, but it's very rare. That's the exception to the rule. You are the rule. It happens in the follow up.

Speaker 2:

So just be aware of that Love, that Great points. I feel like we're going to need a part two and a part three, so we'll have to come back for more of this. I could tell you these are topics I could talk about all day long and there's so much that goes into all of them, because we're all such different people, right Like we're going to approach it differently. If we're introverts, everyone is surprised. When I say I'm an introvert, I'm like, no, you just think I'm not an introvert Cause I'm like super awkward. But also, when I get really nervous, I just like say whatever's in my brain and somehow it comes out funny and you guys all think I'm funny and like this outgoing comedian person people think of introverts as socially awkward and it's not the same thing at all.

Speaker 3:

Like you can be introverted and be incredibly friendly and warm. Yeah, and confident. Yeah, 100%. Like I think I come across as extremely extroverted. I think you do come across as more introverted, but we're both warm, friendly, like I think there's a lot of confusion around what introvertism, introverted really means. I like introvertism. Again, it is not my, I'm definitely not an introvert.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I think it's more clear. I think it's harder to tell in a networking event, like when you're interacting with someone, as opposed to like what happens after the event. Right, like do you leave there feeling like so jazzed and excited and like what are we doing now? Who are we talking to now? What's next Versus? I leave and I'm like I don't even want to turn the radio on, like let's just drive home in silence.

Speaker 3:

So I love. I really do love my networking events and events I go to. It really depends, but I really thrive on problems, like if there's an issue, like that's when my adrenaline really hits and that's when I'm really ready to rock and roll. I had an event a while ago it was our big mega event and it went beyond smoothly, there was no issues. I'm not saying this to brag, like we do it for four years, like we're making it bigger next year, like because it was too smooth, you need to improve every year. There was really no issues. It was so, so smooth and that's mostly due to my husband who helps with everything and he's very good at logistics.

Speaker 3:

Um, and I left feeling a bit flat, actually, because I need yesterday we had a bit too much drama. There's needs to be a happy medium, but I need a little bit of, like a fizz, like I need that. That kind of gets me going, that adrenaline, and it was so smooth. Like it was really a bit scary, but we made up for yesterday, where we had, like you know, key people who didn't show up, like there was a lot more issues yesterday, which you know, gave me that adrenaline buzz that I so desperately crave, but that's when my therapist to work out. I suppose it's funny.

Speaker 3:

It's also funny because I wore my no drama shirt for you today, but your shirt says yes, drama, please, please more drama yeah, I watch a lot of reality tv, which I think, yeah, my husband like tell me things happening in his office. I'm like I need more. He's like have like he has the basic facts.

Speaker 2:

No, they never ask the right questions give me more.

Speaker 3:

Invite them around to our house now, let's get drinks and let's get this information out. I need to know why they got broke up like yeah, yeah, um, yeah, it's not my best quality, I wouldn't say, but it is intrinsic to who I am. I want to say I really like gossip about people I don't know, obviously about people I know it's very sad to know it must sound like a terrible person. I'm generally very lovely, but I do love reality too. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Same, I do too Okay. So if people want to connect with you more, if they want to learn more about English speaking network, if they want to just follow you for your awesome networking tips, if they just want to hear your accents more, what's the best way for them to connect with you? We get really excited about accents here in Colorado.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm like a scumbag, like I'm from the North of England, so my accent is so lovely If you, if you're British, it's nice.

Speaker 3:

No, it's so lovely if you, if you're british, it's nice. You say that, but it's not london. I don't sound posh, um, so thank you so much. So, um, linkedin, the name is helena baker, which I'm sure we spelled beautifully in the show notes. Instagram, if you'd like to follow me there. It's network with helena.

Speaker 3:

There's always a very good intention around posting. I can't pretend I always do, and I'm actually launching my own podcast um on the October the 29th, which is the fifth year birthday of English speaking networking um, and we're speaking to five business owners in Israel with more than five employees who've been going for more than five years to celebrate Arthur's birthday and about three families they've had a business. So that is being launched October 29th and it'll be on all where you get your podcasts at failing our way to success. It's a lot of work, so I very much respect what you're doing. I did not appreciate. That is being launched on October 29th and it will be on all where you get your podcasts at Failing Our Way to Success. It's super exciting. It's a lot of work of podcasts, so I very much respect what you're doing. I do not appreciate the level of work that goes into these. I have to say, that's about it. I'm really excited.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a guest. I loved our conversation. You and I are very much on, so we will definitely have you back on the show again, so much.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to Powerful Women Rising. We hope today's episode inspired you to keep rising. If you love the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review. It's like giving us a virtual hug and helps more awesome women like you find the show. Click the link in the show notes to get your free list of top virtual networking events for female entrepreneurs. It's time to make real connections and grow your business with integrity and authenticity. Until next time, keep rising and stay powerful.

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Melissa Snow

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