8 Strategies To Grow Your Network, The Latest Business News, Celebrity Chefs And More!........

Today I am going to give you 8 networking strategies that are not only simple but can be used by anyone, no matter what your budget.

Author

Matt Haycox
August 04, 2023

That’s me!

Welcome to your Friday morning dose of everything that matters in the world of business, finance, entrepreneurship and my life! If you want ‘agenda free’ news, top tips, tried and tested strategies and a bit of my banter, then you’re in the right place!

This week you’ll find:

🤔 MATT’S CHAT’S: 8 ways to grow your network that EVERYONE can implement TODAY.

🗞️ NEWS ROUND-UP: All the latest business news fresh from the Matt Haycox Daily website including Tips for making Big money in e-commerce, Next profits climb to £10 million, & UK house prices are down 25%.

💬 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Wise words that change your perspective and help you SUCCEED.

🎙️PODCAST: This week on The Matt Haycox Show, Matt sits down with Multi Award Winning French Chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

🔨 COOL TOOLS: Discover this week’s cool tool, an app that could teleport anywhere!

📸 BIG PICTURE: A picture that teaches us more than 1000 words.

❓ASK ME ANYTHING: Go on, I dare you!

🤝 SHARING IS CARING: Tell your friends and we will be your friend! Oh, and there are rewards in it too.

🧏‍♀️ THE LAST WORD: One last thing before we go…..

Want more from Matt? Matt Haycox Daily is now available as a podcast. From getting this Friday newsletter in audio form, to hearing quick daily tips or the latest news stories, make sure you check it out and subscribe. (PS. It's a different podcast to The Matt Haycox Show so make sure you have both!)

🤔MATT’S CHAT’S

Welcome to another week on my newsletter, which means it’s Friday already. Where do these weeks go?! Friday seems to keep coming round quicker and quicker each week!

Any business owner will tell you that the quickest thing that seems to come around for them is making payroll. You know what I am talking about! It always seems like 3 sleeps and a couple of blinks and then BOOM! Another payroll is due. And in my group we have investor interest payments that come round just as quickly too. (If you want to chat to me about investing your lazy capital then request a call back).

Well if the payment dates are going to keep coming around quicker and quicker, we need to make sure that income is coming in more and more frequently too right?

More deals means you need more people to deal with. Needing more people means you need to be growing your network. So you need to be improving your networking skills, and as promised last week that’s what I’ll be talking about today.

I am going to give you 8 ways to grow your network (well 7 new ones and a reminder!) that EVERYONE can implement TODAY, no matter your business or financial situation.

Do Something To Draw People To You

A lot of people people hate networking because they are too shy (or lazy!) to outreach. What if you could do something to kill 2 birds with 1 stone? Rather than you having to go out on a 1-to-1 basis to others, is there a way you can get many to come directly to you?

Content creation is your silver bullet here. What content you create and how you create it is down to you, your individual style and your industry, but concepts that can work for anyone are things like growing a social media profile, running a blog, writing a book and having a podcast. (Oh, I’ve mentioned podcasts again!) But there are many other ideas I am sure you can think of too that can suit you. Maybe hosting events or being a guest on other people’s podcasts. (2 more for you there, and the word podcast came up again!)

Help People Already In Your Network

Giving and helping is at the core of building great relationships and making yourself valuable. You already have people in your network so make sure you are creating enough value for them. Don’t tell me you don’t have anyone in your network! You do! It may not be as big as you would like but everyone has as a minimum some friends, family members or work colleagues which is somewhere to start.

As you start to make yourself valuable to these people they will naturally want to reciprocate - and they can do that by making further introductions to people that they know which will get your network growing.

Surround Yourself With Great Networkers

Some people are better at networking than others and then there are people who are in the networking Premier League! (Yes, that’s me!). These people have a never ending supply of great connections and their network is always expanding further because they apply all these strategies, and more, as well as being master relationship builders too so their best connections are DEEP.

If you aren’t one of these people yourself, then you need to get close to them, because their network will rub off on you and it is an easy way to make great connections. My friends constantly tell me how many great connections and interesting people they meet when they spend time with me. Find yourself your own ‘Matt’ to fast-track you to network growth!

Say Yes!

Don’t be a negative, selfish little bitch! Stop saying no, start saying yes! Do things. Go places. Help people. Be a positive force. You will find it is like a magic trick to meeting new people and them wanting to build a relationship with you.

Expand Your Network Beyond Your Niche

Most people only network with people in their industry or in their direct peer groups. You should be going far and wide. Not just with random people, obviously. But with great characters, successful people, interesting and inspiring individuals - whatever niche or sector they are in. Great people know other great people - and people like this have a never ending supply of opportunities and deals around them.

What’s your worst case? You don’t do a deal, but you have met a cool person and made a new friend! Sounds like a success to me!

Have Something To Talk About

You are never going to grow your network if people don’t want to spend time with you. So you better be interesting! If you are shy and you struggle to go with the flow and be a centre of attention, then at least make sure you have 2 or 3 prepared topics, fun stories, areas of interest that you can engage with people on.

Great networking is about great relationships, and you can only build a relationship if you can communicate and have something to talk about. But that doesn't mean you should be a bullshitter and pretend you know about things that you don’t, or that you have done things that you haven’t. Successful people can smell bullshit a mile off, so being genuine and authentic is key - there is nothing wrong with admitting your faults or that you don’t know something.

Quality Over Quantity

Like most things in life, quality matters more than quantity. You are better off knowing 25 killer people than 100 morons who are good for nothing. Don’t use this as an excuse to be shy or lazy though - it is still the more the merrier, but just concentrate on great people and great opportunities.

Have A Podcast

And here is that word again! If you are a new subscriber this week then you won’t have seen that last week’s letter was all about why having a podcast could be one of the best moves you make. So I am going to quickly include it again here - because even if you did read about it last week I can’t overstate the importance and value of it as a networking tool.

Having a podcast hits multiple angles for you at once. It gives you the opportunity to meet and sit down with people you wouldn't normally get the chance to do so with. It builds you an audience of people who want to know you and will reach out to you. When people google you and see you as a podcast host with your great guests, they immediately have an elevated perception of you. See how you can tick multiple networking tactic boxes all at once with this one thing. And by the way, it’s great fun too!

Please don’t tell me you haven’t got multiple strategies that you can't immediately implement. Any business. Any business. You got this!

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter. And please please don’t forget to send it on to your friends and refer them as subscribers if you think they'll benefit.

Matt x

PS. I got a LinkedIn request from my eldest daughter, Harlie, a couple of days ago. Given that she never likes to listen to a word I say about business or careers (bloody kids!) I was pleased to see that someone else had talked her into the importance of LinkedIn and networking to get the internships and career opportunities she is interested in. She’s 17 next month - you are NEVER TOO YOUNG to start networking, and I would actually have a few strong arguments why you will get greater success at a young age too. So get on with it NOW!

🗞️ NEWS ROUND-UP:

💬 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Whatever stage in life you are at, learning new skills or entering a new field can be utterly overwhelming when you think there are so many things that you need to learn and take in. This quote from John Reed is an exert from his book ‘Succeeding’ and may be what you need to destress yourself.

Without trying to trivialise or oversimplify any area - understand that pretty much every field and skill in life (business, sport, language, games) have a set of core or foundational principals that are usually the building blocks for everything else. Master those smaller number of foundational principles and everything else builds upon them as a variation on a theme.

🎙️PODCAST:

My usual experience of chefs is that they are arrogant, primadonna bell-ends but I am pleased to say I can't use any of those words for my guest on this week's podcast, Jean-Christophe Novelli!

I sat down with with JC in London a few weeks ago and we had a fantastic and fascinating few hours together. And you have all the best bits here!

🍲 Get ready to uncover the sizzling origin story as he embraced his culinary calling!

🍽️ From 0 to 7 restaurants – his journey to Michelin stardom, a taste of triumph!

📸 Star-studded encounters alert! Madonna, Arnold Schwarzenegger and more!

💵 High life to £200,000 bailout from celebrity chef and pal, Marco Pierre White, a captivating twist!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Brace yourself for an emotional ride: his 5-month old son's battle with cancer, a story of courage.

And much much more!

If you haven’t subscribed yet then please do and leave a 5* review. The better your reviews the better the future guests. Win : Win!

🔨COOL TOOLS:

This week i came across a great app: www.remove.bg

It’s an online tool that allows you to remove the background from an image AND replace the background with something else if your want. You don’t have to replace the background, you may just use the tool to cut out the foreground image. iPhone users have probably seen something like this built in to the photo app on their phone, but this is a slick tool to do things at scale.

You get 1 free download and then you have to purchase packs of images. I used my free one to test it out and transport Nele and I from Leeds to Tokyo in seconds!

 📸BIG PICTURE:

Do your customers love your business so much they will take a sick day and wear a disguise to buy it?! Taylor Swift’s do!

Yes, this picture really is a Swiftie (that’s what Tay-Tay fans are called!) who took the day off work to attend one of the singer’s concerts and had to wear a disguise on national tv so she didn’t get caught!

You may not see the immediate relevance to Taylor and business, but she has created an insanely loyal fan base over the years who will spend their last penny with here - and pull a sick day too! A deep dive in to her marketing principles may be around the corner for this newsletter………

❓ ASK ME ANYTHING:

I love answering questions, solving problems, and interacting with my subscribers and followers - so this is a Win:Win:Win for me! And for you guys too.

Every week now I will be including a section where I answer a question or solve a problem that you have. Hopefully about business, but I will try with whatever you throw at me!

Here is a video I made recently when asked about how to stand out online and get your business noticed. (ps. If you don’t already follow me on Instagram then make sure you add me when you watch this video!)

So ask away, and hopefully I will feature you in a coming newsletter. (It will be anonymous if you prefer so don’t be afraid to ask what is really on your mind.)

 🤝SHARING IS CARING:

TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND GET REWARDED! 💰 🛥

When I love something I always share it with my friends! And if you do too then this newsletter has got you covered! Share it with your mates and wider connections and get access to exciting rewards. Even though our full reward programme is still in the works, any referrals you make now count towards it. Plus, one of the rewards is a weekend in Dubai with me for an incredible business immersion experience and yacht dinner. Spread the word and join us in Dubai!

(PS my current biggest refer is Elena, can you beat her?! She does have 108 cousins though so plenty of people to go at!)

 🧏‍♀️THE LAST WORD:

I love writing this letter every week. Honestly it is one of my favourite parts of my job, so it was very humbling to read some of the comments you guys sent me over the last week or so.

I got many comments of support, ideas for content, and a few people just saying ‘hello’ too! I reply to as much as I can, and always try and apply your feedback so do keep it coming.

If you haven’t updated your preferences yet and filled in the survey form I would really appreciate it if you did. Knowing more about you really helps this letter improve.

Until next week……. Keep learning!