WakeUpLive.com presents: The Power of Restroom Networking

Have you ever reflected on your success and reminisced about how you arrived where you are today? Did you recognize that there were key individuals or organizations that helped you during your success journey?

Maybe an individual said a simple encouraging word: they believed in you. Perhaps someone referred you and that person became an important and lucrative client. Or possibly it was meeting a future business partner in the men’s restroom during a conference. You never know what or where opportunities will arise. It just so happens the men’s restroom was where a business friendship began.

We received an email from Tom Antion inviting us to Maximizing Success Wealth Building event in Scottsdale, Arizona. Despite our busy schedules, we made a decision to attend the event. Our objective was to make contact with some of the very impressive speakers at the event and arrange personal interviews as part of our doctoral research studies in Entrepreneurship. We were also seeking networking opportunities with subject matter experts for our upcoming Success Mastery. The conference exceeded our expectations.

Maria’s story:

At the event, Ray, my husband and business partner, approached me as I was sitting in a presentation and handed me a business card without saying a word. The card read, “Authors Wanted! Wake Up...Live the Life You Love book series” and the contact name was Lee Beard. I wasn’t sure what Ray had in mind.

I was pulled out of the session and led down the hallway towards a gentleman. Ray introduced me to Lee Beard and informed me we were meeting with him and his wife, Linda, for lunch. I still had no clue why we were meeting with him or who he was.

At lunch, while we waited for the Beards to arrive, Ray began to explain how he met Lee in the men’s restroom where Lee inquired about our business. I found this hilarious! Oh, the images that ran through my mind. Networking in the restroom—what a concept! Before Ray could go on, the couple arrived. At one point during our meeting, Lee turned to me and asked for more information on our projects. I looked in his eyes and said, “I have no idea why we are meeting.” He laughed, understanding that Ray did not have the chance to fill me in.

As it turned out, Lee and Steven E from Wake Up…Live the Life You Love had a network of authors, speakers, trainers, entrepreneurs and business owners, who would be ideal for our interviews and also for our network as subject matter experts. This was a match.

Ray’s story:

I felt sorry for Maria during our meeting. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t have a chance to brief her (no pun intended) about our restroom meeting. I took over following Lee’s inquiries to allow Maria to connect the dots.

Lee wanted to know who we are and what we do. I responded, “We are the ‘Entrepreneur Doctors’.”

Lee picked up instantly on the branding strategy and meaning behind the title. He clarified, “Entrepreneurs tell you what hurts in their business, and you lead them to resources that can fix their ailments.”

Exactly! So now, our new slogan is “Tell us where it hurts.” From there, the conversation led to our proposed Las Vegas professional development events.

I explained to Lee that a very small percentage of participants who attend presentations, seminars, or purchase personal development products actually see significant measurable results. I attribute this to being a passive consumer of information rather that an active creator of results.

Lee seemed very interested in our unique methodology that has its roots in the studies of Accelerated Learning and Active Training principles. I explained that by using a system that involves pre-event eCoaching in combination with a series of customizable active training onsite workshops along with post-event follow-up email and telephone coaching, we are able to track performance and guarantee results. Participants will walk away with their own personalized action plan for their success outcomes.

Lee really liked the concept and wondered if our event would serve as a valuable follow-up to the many seminar-style Wake Up events. We agreed that an event of this nature would need to be limited to a small elite group with a strong focus on personalized individual coaching and performance tracking.

Since that initial meeting, we decided to join forces—creating amazing possibilities.

On that day, a simple greeting in the men’s restroom transformed into a venture of like-minded individuals—individuals who have created a team with the same vision and values on a mission to help create positive change in others.

Success begins with a decision to be successful! We attribute attracting the right opportunities by making clear decisions. You will attract what you put out in the universe.

Success is much easier when you take the “I” out of the equation and insert “we.” You do not need to do it all yourself to be successful. Success is so much more satisfying when others benefit.

We now have a team made up of amazing people who share the efforts to help those who are willing to accept the challenge to wake up…live the life they love!

*** This article was republished with permission from the best-selling Wake Up...Live the Life You Love book series. To hear more information on this book and the book series, go to http://wakeupteleclass.com/.