Sometimes all it takes is a conversation and a few beers

[Shane Woods]

Will Barnard, as a fellow beer drinker, you'll appreciate this.

At some point this week I'm going to write a blog post about this, but I wanted to put it here too. This community is just simply amazing.

I was reading through forums one day & saw someone local that I wanted to approach with a few questions. So I added the person & we started a dialogue (what it is isn't relevant). I had my questions answered and on we went. Few days later, that person contacted me about something personal he noticed from my profile picture...the sound mixer. He had AV questions. so I answered them. Moving right along, a few days later, I got a wild hair up my a** and sent a message offering some free AV services for some mentoring & services he might provide. Well, I was flat denied the free stuff, BUT, it was a conversation starter. He knew I was motivated to learn, and willing to work for the services. Few days later he msgs me with an offer I couldn't turn down, so I spend a little money ($400) and got what I needed (no, I didn't pay $400 for mentoring). I know this is all very vague, but I'm not sure the other parties want to be called out.

Fast forward...

So Greg B. held another DFW meetup recently, and I decided I was going to go. And I went. So did lots of other folks, and it was great to see everyone there. Towards the end of the evening, some folks left and there were just a few of us there drinking (and drinking) and chatting.

Fast Forward...

I'm now partnering with two of those people. In addition to having my own website & my own leads coming in from CraigsList (not that many yet), I am now doing all the marketing followup for a particular campaign that was launched in June by these fellow BP'ers. See, I'm good with people, great on the phone, and pretty "likable" I guess. And neither of these people like the phone work, especially that initial call.

Simply from a few conversations on BP, and several beers & some real conversation, I was asked to take over the returning calls from their marketing. Qualifying sellers, throwing out the bad, chasing the good, looking at houses, running comps, etc. And, to top it all off, they're even paying me for phone time. When a deal closes, I get paid. The only thing better than a GREAT education from people in the industry you want to be in, is that education being PAID FOR.

We have calls coming in every day, and I take/return calls as my work schedule permits. Several of these calls have already turned into real leads. That means real money. I'm finally done just reading about this stuff.

Moral of the story:

FIND SOMEONE LOCAL, AND FIGURE OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP THEM!!!!!!

Once you can do this, you'll be fine.