210 Coffees in 2021! ☕️

(AD)

210!

That is the number of coffee meetings I had last year.

I scrolled through my calendar week by week to reflect on all the coffee meetings I had in 2021. Mostly virtually of course, or walk & talk in parks. 30 minutes of dedicated face-to-face time in a casual environment, with many of them being absolutely life (and business) changing.

Earlier last year, I wrote a few articles for Business Insider in which I explained, among other things, networking habits and strategies. I believe it's beneficial to build our social capital, making sure our networks are both deep and broad.

Your deep network brings you support - critical to maintaining your mood through the ups and downs of startup life. You can activate your deep network when you need to make a call to get the scoop on something or you need a quick favor.

Having a broad network gives you the potential to harness the expertise and experience of many different individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Additionally, their different perspective is very valuable, since we humans tend to mostly stick with people that are like us. Your broad network will introduce you to people who might mentor you with new ideas and insights.

However, I also realized how many unproductive “let’s grab a coffee” meet-ups I had or others asking to “pick my brain” or “see if there is any potential”.

So here are my learnings from 2021 and what I will take with me into 2022:

1️⃣ Preparation is key. When you are always on the go like me, you need the right equipment to jump on a quick coffee call. When I am abroad I use my LG gram (thank you LG for always keeping me organized). The camera is not only top-notch but the battery life really does last a lifetime, meaning I don't have to worry about those "just give me a minute, I need to find my charger" moments. Between the great screen quality and crystal clear sounds, it feels that meeting virtually is just as good as meeting in person if not better as I don't have to splurge on 210 coffees. For meetings that take longer, I like to use my second LG monitor. My LG Ergo monitor is easily connected to my LG gram using my USB-C cable.

Tip: When you receive too many coffee meeting requests, it's important to find a systematic way to separate the posers from the operators.

If there's one thing I've discovered over the years is that asking someone to do the tiniest bit of real work before a meeting is a very effective way of finding out who believes our conversation will actually be valuable.

Say something like "I'd love to meet with you but I don't want to waste your time so I'd like you to send me X first so I can look it over and come up with Y suggestions before we meet". Make sure X is something that needs to be generated rather than something they might already have at hand.

2️⃣24 hours after your meeting

Make it a habit to send that person an email, text or voice message the same day or that very evening. Or when you attend an event, make it a habit to gather all the business cards you collected and, within 24 hours, connect with them on LinkedIn with a personal message to remind them about what you chatted about and how you’d like to meet up with them again soon.

3️⃣Set a calendar alert 2-3 weeks later to follow up

If there's one thing I've learned about networking, it's that you should build a network before you actually need it. It’s easy to get into networking when the need comes up. I am not focused on what it could immediately mean for me or my business, and instead focus on what I can learn and what value I can offer them, whether that’s an introduction, a recommendation or a service. It's truly amazing how much value this has brought me. Aside from the shout-outs and introductions, I particularly appreciate a conversation with someone I had met with last week, where they helped me get unstuck about something I’d been needing clarity on for months.

4️⃣Have fun.

People will know if you are driven by your own ulterior motives, or if you’re just feeling obligated. Take networking seriously, but also have fun. People will find you more engaging and approachable, but only if you make the effort to do so.

5️⃣Shoot for the stars: invite someone you've always wanted to meet

My livestream (which is sponsored by LG) helped me a lot in being able to talk with high-impact individuals, conscious business leaders and driven creators. It has enabled me to interview them in-depth, which has allowed me to come to the realization that my role models are also human beings.

So there you have it, my 2021 coffee meetings and learnings. It has been a great journey and I have met amazing people along the way! Networking is really the best gift of all of them. What is your rule when it comes to coffee meetings? Let me know in the comments!