Who Called Me from This Number?

Welcome to "Who Called Me from This Number?" - the show that unravels the mysteries of life's unexpected connections. In this episode, we're about to embark on a fascinating journey into the realm of networking, where the power of connecting with others can reshape your world.

Today, we'll reveal the secrets of effective networking. First, we'll discuss the art of being a connector - how forging meaningful relationships can lead to incredible opportunities. Then, we'll dive into a surprising revelation: how hard work itself can serve as a potent networking tool.

But that's not all! We'll also explore the dynamics of modern-day networking versus the traditional approach of attending network events. Is there a better way to build your network in today's digital age? We'll find out.

So, whether you're a seasoned networker or someone looking to tap into the surprising benefits of connecting with others, this episode is your key. Tune in now and unlock the secrets of networking, and discover how it can come full circle to enrich your life in ways you never imagined.

Transcript

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[Music]

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welcome to two minds today with your

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host Charlene Authority and leadership

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development and Hala an expert Community

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Builder the Pod all about best practices

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to get you noticed and ahead in your

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professional life

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hello hello

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hi Charlene how was your week it was

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good it's a good week it's

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um yeah I feel like back to school both

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kids are in school now excellent so that

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is pretty good back to school is always

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exciting I think even if you don't have

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kids there's something about that

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heartbeat of summertime school time that

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like you carry with you through your

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entire life like even though like you

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don't work you don't operate like that

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anymore as an adult you still think

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about oh it's back to school time yeah

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there's like a seasonal there's a

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seasonal flow we finished Labor Day and

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absolutely some people I guess call this

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fall it's 100 degrees by me uh 108

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actually as I look at my computer

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um

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but I'm actually really intrigued by our

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title for today it is who called me from

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this number because I am like you know

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the queen of not answering phone calls

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even now my iPhone actually has like

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slipped in who it is so like American

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Red Cross I'm a blood donor calls me

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every three and a half seconds

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um and so it'll be like American Red

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Cross and I'm like oh okay thank you

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I'll I'll schedule um I don't answer the

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call I'm like and reject and I'll

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schedule on my own time so in this day

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of like where we know networking is so

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important and I I'm not answering my

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phone to people I don't know or even

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people I do know

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um we thought we would dive into

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networking and and I know this is just

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full disclaimer on this episode this is

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your Zone you're such a great Community

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Builder

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um and um I'm excited to learn from you

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today

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thanks so much Charlene yeah it's so

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true I agree with you like we're so

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reticent these days not just to answer

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the phone even to like respond to emails

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or text any form of communication yeah

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unless I know beforehand who it is we

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don't want to we don't want to connect

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with that person but you know okay so

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we're talking about networking and the

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reason we call this who called me from

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this number because because I think one

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of the biggest secrets to being a

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networker to having a good network is to

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be a connector and normally when you

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think about networking you think about

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going to an event where you get to meet

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a lot of people that's called networking

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I think the ultimate networking though

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is in being a great connector meaning

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that you hear of somebody who wants a

2:42

florist and you introduce them to a

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florist you hear of somebody who wants

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this kind of product and you introduce

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them to somebody else who you know is

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selling that kind of product or thinking

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about a business with that kind of

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product and even though that doesn't

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seem like your network working the

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reality is that that people see you as

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the epicenter of someone who knows

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people and who can be who who knows

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everybody and can connect you to

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everybody so all of a sudden you'll get

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a phone call from someone and you're

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like uh who is this I I have no idea but

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meanwhile somebody else connected you

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now because they know that you know

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everyone and their mother yeah and I

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think it's it's and I've seen you do

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this by the way many times of of

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connecting other people and that I just

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want to say I've heard a tip of if

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you're actually in a room and you're

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socially awkward this is a great thing

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to do uh when like if Helen and I were

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standing around talking and like I feel

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like I don't I'm awkward and I don't

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know I haven't run out of conversation I

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turn to another person and be like oh

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John have you met Heller and um so a

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little tip for our introverts out there

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is like it's also like an easier segue

3:55

conversation and then you're gonna have

3:57

to carry the conversation as much so

4:00

interesting I didn't know that that was

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a trick but I have recently started to

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think that I'm actually an introvert

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that has thought I was an extrovert my

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whole life because I have always done

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that and I do always feel very awkward

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in these major networking situations so

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like maybe I found the trick without

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even knowing it but I am always

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connecting to I'm like oh let me

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introduce you to someone so let's come

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and let's talk to each other but yep I

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agree with everything everything you

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said so this one I can speak to because

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I

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um I I am socially awkward

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um and I'm a weird extroverted introvert

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which we can get into at one time

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absolutely

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um but I feel like um hard work equals

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networking right it's like the idea that

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you know you can't get further if you're

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not really good at what you're doing so

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like just and that's really about

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building your brand brand unless in a

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showy Flash marketing way but in a more

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of how people can rely on you way

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it's so interesting that you said when I

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first started as an attorney my

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um the head of our department he was

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like fabulous attorney everybody knew

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him incredibly like you know the whole

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town I was in Philadelphia and he was

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like be it Philadelphia real estate

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attorney and he said the heck with

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networking forget about going out there

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and being in the bar association and

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meeting so and so and connecting with

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the other one just do your job and do it

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well and when you're the top at what you

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do everybody will come to you so it

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might not happen day one or two you

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might not seem like you've got everyone

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around you but over five to ten years

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all of a sudden like you've established

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how great you are what you do everyone

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else comes I think it's the real deal

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it's authentic Charlene yeah I think I

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wanna I 100 feel that way and then I

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want a flag that this only works if you

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if you're using that in combination with

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telling your own story telling your

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successes if you're the kind of person

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we've talked about this on a few other

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episodes that never ever and takes the

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credit never you're never gonna that's

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never gonna work right yeah so I think

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it works really well in tandem with

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accurately you know taking credit not

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taking more or less or you know and

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really being able to stand up for

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yourself and and also this really works

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when you're past imposter syndrome

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because I I think I think those are

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things that impede people's perception

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of you and your hard work

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um but that's gonna be putting down what

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you do you can't be apologizing you

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can't be you know taking more of a blame

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when there's a mistake when it's

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actually not yours 100 I agree with you

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that's a really bad one Charlene yeah

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um so I'm excited by this okay so

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someone recently shared with me

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essentially LinkedIn is your modern day

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networking like the LinkedIn page

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um and post page is is like the

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equivalent of when we used to go and I

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think maybe some people still do go into

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big rooms and and meet in chat and I

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find this um terrifying from like a oh

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my gosh I have to put myself out there

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on social media

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um perspective and also like oh yeah

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that is probably accurate

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um from so many from so many ways I

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don't know have you thought about this

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at all Helen well I could tell you that

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um I have a very interesting comeback to

7:36

law story I worked in the big law world

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for a number of years and then I left

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for about 15 years to do other things I

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wrote a book I worked in the non-profit

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world and then I tried to come back into

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big law Charlene that's almost an

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impossible Trek back it just really very

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rarely happens and I was able to do it

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and be the reason I was able to do it

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was because of LinkedIn would it happen

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was when I originally got into LinkedIn

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I connected with everybody that I knew

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from my previous life so I'd gotten into

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LinkedIn you know this is 10 years right

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at least 10 years before I'm looking to

8:14

get back into law I had gone into

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LinkedIn and I linked with people that I

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knew in my you know from my days and not

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in my Law Firm days right yeah I wasn't

8:24

looking to do law I wasn't interested in

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it I was like all right you know if

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LinkedIn is it's the world of people I

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know I'm going to connect with everyone

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professionally meanwhile I I had

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connected at that time with the head of

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my department uh who was and linked you

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know so he had seen over these seven

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years the fact that I'd written a book

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he saw that uh that I was like involved

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and out in the world he saw that I

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started going back into law and so when

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I applied in the big firm world to come

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back and I said to him hey do you mind

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pulling my resume out of the pile like I

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did Reach Out to him he's like of course

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I've been watching you over the years I

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saw that you wrote this book I was

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shocked I was shocked that he even like

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but I guess I came up on a stream

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occasionally right and so it reminded

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him of who I was and I was actually in

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that so 100 Network and I got back in I

9:22

got back in because of LinkedIn I've

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heard social presence so now you know

9:27

all these reality shows so even the

9:30

cooking ones so there was somebody who

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um was posting about they went on one of

9:34

the I think it was a cookie insert

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whatever the reality show is about here

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and now they're casting based on your

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Instagram and influencers or whatever it

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is so if you do not have a social

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presence you are probably not gonna get

9:48

cast on One of These reality TV shows

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and and I think it is you know it's just

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sort of this world we're living in and I

9:56

smell tip I think you need to have 500

9:58

connections connects with us on LinkedIn

10:02

um but it's and then and then they said

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it's you know 500 plus is all the same

10:07

but

10:08

um it's yeah I think it's just sort of a

10:11

matter of of fact of of how we Network

10:14

it this is just a part of it in 2023 and

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I and I and I wonder if there's like

10:19

just a little bit of like social norming

10:21

around what I would think are really

10:24

cringy posts like oh my gosh

10:25

congratulations but like I think that

10:27

that's you know that social Norm is is

10:30

when you're there

10:32

here's what I would say and he'll tell

10:34

me if you disagree great there's

10:35

different rules of engagement when you

10:37

are at a networking event then what you

10:38

would probably do in your own social

10:40

life right you know you're going in to

10:42

this room in real life in real person to

10:45

person you're going to and people are

10:46

going to be pitching themselves and it's

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sort of like this acceptability and

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versus like when you're you know

10:52

standing in line at your kids soccer

10:54

game it's a little bit different and I

10:57

think LinkedIn is that place where

10:58

people know you are going and you're

11:00

putting your best foot forward and and

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you're presenting yourself a little bit

11:04

so I just I wonder that I do think that

11:06

there is an industry-specific Behavior

11:09

with this and also generational specific

11:12

behavior so

11:14

um and so that makes it a little bit

11:16

tricky right and I my advice is always

11:20

try and keep it as professional as

11:21

possible when you're on LinkedIn and try

11:24

and have some kind of a presence but not

11:25

too much you have to be careful because

11:28

certain industries would find certain

11:30

posts not really classy and professional

11:33

and so it's it's a little bit tricky

11:38

um I assume everybody knows everything

11:40

because like random people I barely know

11:42

will like something and it'll flash up

11:44

this person liked this so just be super

11:46

conscious of that all right all right

11:50

our net ring who called me from this

11:52

member so let's talk about how we feel

11:54

networking is coming around in 2023 so

11:58

hello take us uh for the wrap up

12:01

all right so hey be a connector yourself

12:04

do the good deed connect people to each

12:06

other it's a round World it'll come back

12:08

and you'll see that that's become a form

12:10

of networking for you

12:11

be authentic as always I think this is

12:14

Charlene's like go-to line I like I try

12:16

and like internalize it and bring my

12:18

inner Charlene to everything hard work

12:20

really at the end of the day is the most

12:23

authentic form of networking it might

12:25

take a little bit longer to build but it

12:27

really does pay off and the last modern

12:29

day networking get on LinkedIn get on

12:32

social media have a presence it's you

12:34

know it is the equivalent of sitting

12:36

around in a big conference you know at a

12:39

meeting and bringing lots of people

12:40

together so

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you could do it even from your own home

12:44

I know well thank you everyone for

12:47

joining us and as always we share that

12:50

try and learn a little bit more every

12:52

day and we'll see you next time we hope

12:55

you found our discussion in formative

12:57

and thought-provoking be sure to

12:59

subscribe to our podcast to stay up to

13:01

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episode with colleagues and friends who

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13:09

in we'll see you next time bye bye bye