Real Connections-Meaningful Results One Conversation at a Time w/Ben Albert -15

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Shawna Rodrigues 0:00

Today's guest has an unlikely path of finding his way into his purpose in his current role as an entrepreneur. As you listen to his story, we'll enjoy seeing the breadcrumbs and glimpses of possibility that he set together to find his way. His approach to networking, keeps connection giving at his core, which is something I definitely find resonance with. My favorite part of our conversation, though, was actually his approach to self care, which is different than any other conversations we've had so far on the show. I think you'll like it as well. He also left us with a great collection of takeaways, and applications for your life that I think you'll enjoy. There's three of them. So be sure to stay to the very end.

Shawna Rodrigues 0:40

Welcome to The Grit Show. Growth on purpose. I'm so glad you found us. I'm Shawna Rodrigues, and I'm honored to be leading you on today's journey as part of this community growing together as seekers and thrivers. And now for a little more information about our guest.

Shawna Rodrigues 0:56

Ben is the owner of Balbert Marketing, LLC. He's also the curator of Real Business Connections Network, where he hosts five podcasts. Once an underdog, now a successful entrepreneur, Ben is passionate about helping other underdogs achieve their dreams. Ben is on a mission to move the needle on 1 million careers, one conversation at a time. And I got to have one of those conversations, which I'm thrilled about. And now all of you get to be part of a conversation too. Welcome, Ben. I am so glad you got to be here today.

Ben Albert 1:27

It's two sided, Shawna. I'm so excited to be here, humbled to be here and really excited for our conversation. I don't know where it's gonna go exactly.

Shawna Rodrigues 1:34

That's part of the fun.

Ben Albert 1:36

Yeah,

Shawna Rodrigues 1:37

yeah. Well, I'm excited to learn a few things from you. But I would love for us to just start a little bit more about your journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

Ben Albert 1:46

Yeah, I didn't have a single entrepreneur on my wall when I was a kid. Never anticipated I'd have a podcast or a business. I had photos of Michael Jordan and Vince Carter and all these basketball players because when I was a kid, I was obsessed with basketball like, obsessed. Jersey for every single day of the week. I don't think I ever remember washing any of them. But I'm pretty sure my mom took care of that for me.

Shawna Rodrigues 2:11

Oh, good,

Ben Albert 2:11

because I basically lived in a basketball jersey. At the same time, I was a very quiet kid. If anything, I was like reclusive. Like I barely spoke the first 13 years of my life. I was incredibly shy. And it was humorous because I was the smallest kid in school, the smallest boy, the only smaller person was a little girl, Olivia Lee. So it was the second smallest person in school. But I wanted to be a basketball player.

Shawna Rodrigues 2:11

Yeah, you want to break some rules.

Ben Albert 2:23

I wanted to break some rules. And I played all day, every day and was obsessed with it. But as I got older and everyone continued to get bigger and get a growth spurt, I of course, stayed the same height, was small, and actually started making myself smaller, Shawna. Like, I didn't want to be bullied. I wasn't like the kind of person that wanted to fight back. So I just wanted to do my own thing. And I kind of just stayed in the shadows, and really didn't focus on school, didn't really think I'd amount to anything. It was really kind of sad. And, you know, I don't want to put anyone on the spot but my father was an alcoholic and I really kind of felt disconnected at home. So I never saw myself as a media personality or starting a business. Like, I was just trying to figure out what my next step would be.

Shawna Rodrigues 3:26

Yeah.

Ben Albert 3:28

Now, high school comes and you know, it's legal in New York now so not that big of a deal. I started smoking pot in high school. And my friend, Brendan Gansemer, shout out to Brendan, introduced me to like the music scene. Like, took me to my first concert. And before you know it, I was obsessed with music. I feel like I'm a very obsessed person. So I was obsessed with basketball that didn't work out for me, became obsessed with the music industry. I had a guitar, drums, I took some cool pictures with it, but wasn't really the best guitar player. But where my sweet spot seemed to be was in the promotions. And I didn't understand what I was doing at the time. But I was just handing out flyers. I was setting up MySpace pages. I was like, the one selling merchandise. There's a local band from Rochester, New York where I'm from, weird band. They're called, Giant Panda Gorilla Dub Squad. No one's ever really heard of them.

Shawna Rodrigues 4:24

But if you had, if you had, you would not forget that name.

Ben Albert 4:26

I'll say that again. Giant Panda Gorilla Dub Squad. They have these shirts that just had pandas all over them. And I swear to God, 15% of my high school had these shirts just because of me and a couple people promoting the living heck out of this band. Now, I know this now, I didn't realize it at the time. But I was born or meant to be a promoter and advocate. I wasn't the loudest person. I wasn't the leader in most cases. But I got really good at amplifying other people's voices at a young age. And the music industry it's kind of funny because you're quite literally amplifying other people's voices, musicians. So, lots happen. I skip a lot. I went to school basically joked around the entire time, didn't have like the perfect journey, didn't know what I was going to be when I was in school, I went to communication studies because it's not always going to be easy. You got to go to school, you should go to this kind of school, you need an education. When I was younger, I was so misaligned with what I wanted to be that I was really just doing what everyone told me I should do.

Shawna Rodrigues 5:30

Yeah,

Ben Albert 5:30

but I don't really know what Ben wanted. I did know that Ben loves having fun. Ben love connecting and like helping out underdogs. But most of my life, I feel like it was just kind of in a haze, just kind of doing the next best thing in front of my nose and not really knowing where my North Star was or what direction to walk in, etc, etc. The reason I tell this story is because you asked about entrepreneurship.

Shawna Rodrigues 5:53

Yeah.

Ben Albert 5:54

I didn't see myself as an entrepreneur, marketer. But over time, I realized my gift was, and again, elevating other people's voices, and not always being the one on the mic. Not being the Steve Jobs, per se, but being the person that allows that Steve Jobs, the prestige of getting on that mic. So what I get to do in my profession nowadays, is amplifying credible business people, incredible thought leaders with my podcast, give them an opportunity to speak, amplify everything they do. And what's beautiful is I can make a living, doing just what, in essence, I felt like I was lacking. Like, when I was younger, I was lacking the belonging. I was lacking the voice. And nowadays, people joke in psychology that people get into psychology, because they're trying to figure themselves out. I feel like that's me. I got into marketing, because I was a quiet kid. And I didn't want anyone to feel muted. And nowadays, I get to with again, the podcasts and the marketing, elevate awesome people. And yeah, I guess entrepreneurship just lended well, to my purpose in life, but five years ago, I wouldn't have seen myself here. 10 years ago, I would have saw myself, like hosting a bar or something. In 15 years, I thought it'd be a basketball player. So I'm just blessed to be here. And I'm curious where we'll be in another 10 years, but I really feel like I finally started to find a purpose in life.

Shawna Rodrigues 7:26

No, it definitely sounds like you found your purpose, and you define it so well as what it is. And so it's your job, but it's your purpose. You put more into it with elevating the voices and amplifying those around you instead of just, No, I do marketing. That's incredible. So what was the impetus? What was the final thing that switched you over to being an entrepreneur and launching your business? Because that's not a small achievement. Like, that takes a lot to make that transition.

Ben Albert 7:51

s kind of like a side gig. In: 2016

Shawna Rodrigues 8:23

you're safe. You're secure. Yeah,

Ben Albert 8:24

I was safe, I was secured. And I feel blessed because nine times out of 10, I feel like, this furlough would have wrecked me. And for a few months it did. Like I had been working one to two jobs like, over 40 hours a week plus school before that my entire life.

Shawna Rodrigues 8:44

Yeah.

Ben Albert 8:44

And now I have no jobs. And I come from a family with drinking problems.

Shawna Rodrigues 8:51

Yeah, that's not a good recipe.

Ben Albert 8:53

irst and then in September of: 2020

Shawna Rodrigues: 11:19

Hmm,

Ben Albert: 11:19

I feel really lucky. And it wasn't as simple as it sounds. It wasn't pretty,

Shawna Rodrigues: 11:24

yeah.

Ben Albert: 11:25

But I'm, I'm really blessed to be where we are today.

Shawna Rodrigues: 11:27

I love your sense of gratitude and your ability to see like how great that is. But I also really loved your point about that connection factor and obviously, Real Business Connections Network, you've built into the title of your business. And so, can you talk more about your concept of connecting and networking and how you do that one person at a time and that intentionality you put into it because it's obviously made a difference for you. And I think that it's hard to envision your next step and your next chapter and realize what your purpose is, and the stacking that you did, and putting joy in doing that. It's a hard step. But even once you get that, like, then what and your skill, the skill you have is connecting that you built things is amazing. And I would love for you to talk a little more about that.

Ben Albert: 12:12

Yeah, I learned a lot of it just through sales and marketing and human psychology. Just how to make a good intro and little things like that. But I had never done it for myself, I had only done it for businesses. But they say that confidence comes from memories of winning. And you just need to get the smallest win and the smallest win and the smallest win. And then you start stacking those wins and you start getting confidence and get better and better at what you're doing. So what I did is, I started on LinkedIn, because I knew people I want to connect with are going to likely be on LinkedIn. I didn't know what I was doing on LinkedIn. I hadn't been on there in 10 years. But I started revamping the profile. And I didn't have a name when I first started my podcast, I was kind of just like asking people what they thought. But I decided on Rochester business connections again, simply put, I'm from Rochester, New York, I'm looking for business connections. And this is the secret sauce that was brilliant. I didn't realized how brilliant it was. On LinkedIn, a friend request is called a connection.

Shawna Rodrigues: 13:15

Oh, nice. I didn't realize that.

Ben Albert: 13:17

I was sticking to common elements. Let's reach out to SUNY Brockport alumni. I'm from SUNY Brockport alumni, that's the school I went to, in Rochester, New York, that are business owners, that are looking to connect. So very, very specific purpose here. And then the messages were really, really simple and they weren't perfect in the front. But it's, Hey, I'm brand new to business. Or hey, I went to SUNY Brockport as well, brand new to business but wanting to connect with other business owners. Congrats on making it big time. Something as simple as that. And then, if they connected with me, it would be, hey, I'm starting, you know, a business related podcast to highlight some of the most outstanding business people in our area here. Would you be interested on being on that show?

Shawna Rodrigues: 14:08

That's amazing. It's like you we're offering them something that could benefit them as well as could benefit if you're making those connections.

Ben Albert: 14:15

And Shawna, I had no audience. I had no podcast yet. I had not that much. I mean, I had better skills when I started the music podcast, but I was new to this. And it was so humbling to see people that would become mentors, and nowadays, like friends and partners, they would put their chips on the little guy, not all their chips, but they would put their chips on the little guy thinking, maybe we get 25 listens, and that's enough. Or maybe this will be something or I've never been on a podcast. This is cool. As people started saying, yes, a lot more people than you would have actually anticipated, you get more confident you get better in the first 20, 30 episodes of the podcast. So your podcast is amazing. You're like the exception to the rule. Like from episode one, you started kicking butt.

Shawna Rodrigues: 15:08

Thank you.

Ben Albert: 15:08

My early podcasts weren't very good. But I got better by doing it. And I realized in telling the story, Shawna, were talking a lot about me and what I did. But I kind of want to like look through like the systems here, because whether it's finding a new job, whether it's starting your business, whether it's finding a business partner, whether it's finding a friend, you can incorporate something similar, maybe look to connect with an alumni just because it's a warmer way to connect with somebody, I believe that people are attracted and want to support someone with a big vision. So if you come to the table with a vision, people are going to want to jump on board and support you. Especially if they like you. And if you over deliver with them, then they're gonna want to like be your best friend and cheerleader frickin ever.

Shawna Rodrigues: 16:01

Hey, we like best friends and cheerleaders. I really think that vision piece is huge. Knowing what you want, and letting that be a piece of it. I think it applies to more than just launching businesses. At our very first episode of The Grit Show, we talked about aligning your strengths to your job. And if your job is actually utilizing your gifts and strengths in getting that big vision, and getting other people behind you as cheerleaders might be the way they can help you find other opportunities for you to look to where you might belong, and start to have those conversations about other jobs that might be adjecent. And then using the other pieces, you're talking about, those other ideas Ben has around collaboration, and things that are mutually beneficial to start opening doors. A secret for everyone listening, I have, I make snowflakes, I make needed snowflakes.

Ben Albert: 16:51

I like it.

Shawna Rodrigues: 16:51

Yes, this is crazy thing. And I have a bunch of them. And someday I will sell them somewhere. But if I want to do that, like doing a collaboration with somebody else who does other ornaments, like so we design something together, sell something together, like that would be a step like you're saying like where we work together or contribute to each other as a good way if I ever wanted to get that off of the ground. So finding ways to connect and contribute to each other kind of what you're saying, like you were offering something to these business folks to get them on your podcast was giving them something as well as them giving you mentorship and support and connecting and supporting your business too.

Ben Albert: 17:23

It's a win-win. I love the snowflake example. Because let's say it's Christmas time, and you want to raise money for a specific charity, you can actually donate your time. And they would actually have you on the sponsor list. People pay thousands of dollars to be on that sponsor list. You actually have your product and your name. They're alive as someone donating their time. And that's actually a sexier proposition than the person trying to sell a product.

Shawna Rodrigues: 17:51

Yes.

Ben Albert: 17:51

But it's through that collaboration and that the building of relationships that are mutually valuable. I know one thing that, I was late to the game my entire life, I was taught to help people and to help charities and I was raised Jewish we call it mitzvahs. A mitzvah is basically a good deed. And the greatest mitzvahs are the ones that can't be repaid. So I was raised this way. And then I stopped doing it because I got lost in this whole world of craziness of life and adulthood. And then one day someone reached out and said, Hey, do you want to help with this, you know, sponsorship for cystic fibrosis. And at that time, I had started doing my networking and connecting with people and didn't have a bunch of clients. But I did have a network of people that was starting a podcast, who was growing.

Shawna Rodrigues: 18:42

Yeah.

Ben Albert: 18:42

So then when I aligned with cystic fibrosis, I used my network to help raise several $1,000.

Shawna Rodrigues: 18:50

That's amazing.

Ben Albert: 18:51

It's not like just using my network and my connections, oh, let's just put money in my pocket. It actually allows you to, God forbid someone in your life gets sick. That's a great time to have an army of supporters that you've given, given, given. And the moment you have an ass, you get flooded with love, because you're a giver first.

Shawna Rodrigues: 19:15

No, that's beautiful. So finding ways that you can give and give back and have this piece that starts with you giving, and it plays out very well. But you get it, right?

Ben Albert: 19:23

The thing I've said before is, these are just arbitrary numbers. Let's say you give 100 times, and you get back 30. Someone who's very selfish, it's like I gave 100, minus 30, does that mean I'm losing by 70? No, you received 30 and you got to give 100. Now imagine the person that gave zero and received five. They might be like, I didn't have to give anything and I got five. I'm winning. You didn't put any love out in the world and those five that gave back to you or gave to you might not want to ever do it again, you know? So you give, you give, you give, not for the reciprocal, not to keep count, not to keep a checklist, you give, and you just know in your heart that it'll come back around. And it actually does.

Shawna Rodrigues: 20:14

Yeah,

Ben Albert: 20:14

it actually does come back around. But you can't keep count because sometimes it's not equal. But it doesn't have to be, really doesn't have to be.

Shawna Rodrigues: 20:22

Yes. So finding those ways and getting creative about the ways you can give, because I think that you did an excellent example of feeling like, well, I don't have the money to give right now. Because I'm just building this business, or just building what I'm doing. But I can give my connections to give their support. Or I can give my snowflakes or I can give whatever pieces, I have to find ways that you can still give if you just get creative about it. You're gonna outside the box thinking, Ben, I think that's one of your other skills.

Ben Albert: 20:47

Yeah, I was a curious kid, I was a quiet kid. I was obsessed with that growth, potential mindset.

Shawna Rodrigues: 20:54

Mm hmm.

Ben Albert: 20:55

Like some people coming from a place of lack, like just trying to figure out why I'm struggling. And I think that curiosity, like many creatives, you find creative solutions to typical problems. And in a world of ads on every single tshirt and paywalls, not to see the ads. And if you're on LinkedIn, everybody's always pitching you. And if you're on Facebook, the only way to actually have an ad is to pay, it's like, everything's just like information, ads overload. If you do things the exact opposite way, you immediately stand out from the noise. And you can create a tension simply by being different. And we all have our own unique different. So there's nothing more normal than to embrace that unique different, because you'll stand out and you'll attract the right people into your life.

Shawna Rodrigues: 21:43

Yes. And I think it's good to be tracking the right people into our lives, we definitely, definitely want to be doing that. So what is your favorite part about your business and getting to connect with all these different people?

Ben Albert: 21:54

You just answered the question.

Shawna Rodrigues: 22:00

Darn, I hate it when I do that. I just took the words out of your mouth. Okay, your second favorite part?

Ben Albert: 22:05

If anything, I have been in a place where I'm analysis paralysis, I listen to every single podcast, I read all the books, I intake all the information. And I forget most of it six, six weeks in, because I'm consumed, consumed, consumed. And still to this day, I'm like an information, education consumer, like I just love learning. Really, what I love most about my business and running the podcast, is I get to have these conversations on a daily basis. With the podcast, and sometimes the chip on your shoulder of having it recorded, and the chip on your shoulder of having a baby, which is my business, but something I really care about. I no longer feel as much an analysis paralysis. And I'm actually taking the information and I'm implementing it as much as I can. So I encourage anybody listening, like if there's something that you know, you should do or not even should, like, you just want to do, and it feels right, go do it.

Shawna Rodrigues: 23:09

Just go do it.

Ben Albert: 23:10

Permission to go do it. Every conversation is going to have a new thing that will spark something interesting. And I just love that I get to have conversations all the time. And it sparks all these ideas. You mentioned like you know, creative thinking or like just doing things differently. The way I gain that was from learning from really brilliant people. So the best part about what I do is learning something new every single day. And even when I feel like, I like know the answer. I talked to someone who also knows the answer. And then they'll give me a nuanced perspective on the same answer. They actually found the same answer from a different formula.

Shawna Rodrigues: 23:54

Yeah.

Ben Albert: 23:55

And then it's like, oh, what are we missing? If we can get to the same answer in different ways. What else can we accomplish? You have this calming personality, Shawna, that I'm saying things that I don't know if I've ever said before, I feel like, I'm like, at the top of the mountains, staring at the sunset, just like thinking about the meaning of life. You know?

Shawna Rodrigues: 24:19

I love it. I love it. That's great. But that's what you're here for to share the meaning of life with other listeners. That's what they love. That's perfect. I definitely appreciate that. No, this is wonderful. This is very helpful. I think you have a lot to offer Ben, and I really am glad that you took the time today to come on to this. I think that for our listeners as much as marketing is part of what Ben does, he has this natural knack for it. He stood out for me because for those of you that aren't in podcasting, which is probably most of my listeners, you can get inundated with people trying to come on to your show. And Ben is somebody stood out above and beyond a lot of people that that reach out and he just has that way of connecting and I think it's a gift that he has and it's so incredible that he works with businesses, marketing. And I think he's a gift to them, because he does have the skill and the fact that he can share that is amazing. That's part of why I wanted him here. And I think his gift of being able to give first and the way he approaches things is effective. It definitely were to cut through the noise of the list of people that I've tried to connect with, or tried to connect with me to get onto this podcast because of that. So he is a gift. And we are lucky that he came to share with us today and you have a great story Ben.

Ben Albert: 25:28

Thanks, Shawna. I want to say, Oh, first off, I received that, thank you. But I genuinely believe all the listeners have a similar or if not their own version of that same gift, the issue we run into is we follow what everyone tells us we should do, and how it worked. Oftentimes how it worked 30 years ago, four years ago, this is not an ageism thing, this is just a thing. Like, there could be someone who's done something the same way for 30 years. And now there's someone new to a role, and what worked for Person A might not work for Person B. We're taught to follow the common narrative. All I like to do is go against it. And everyone knows what feels right. But sometimes we're trained to do things that go against human behavior, rather than with it. So like when someone's sending you a ton of pitches, and all this, me, me, me, I want to be on your podcast because I want to use your platform. They're going against human behavior, but someone taught them more equals more. And since they were taught that way, and it worked one time out of 50, they're like, if I can do one out of 50, let's keep doing it. So I want to challenge people to think, how am I different? What feels right and let's do what feels like, genuine, authentic to me.

Shawna Rodrigues: 26:54

Mm hmm.

Ben Albert: 26:55

I just tried to do things differently. I actually really don't think that's a gift. I think the real gift is realizing that you don't need to be exactly what everybody told you you should be. You can be authentically you. And people will receive it. And I don't think I have a gift. I think I've just discovered that gift. And I think we all have the capacity to discover that same gift.

Shawna Rodrigues: 27:19

Yes, so everyone can stand out from the other voices if they stopped trying to follow the rules and start following the formulas and start being genuine to themselves. And following their own instincts and way of connecting a little bit more.

Ben Albert: 27:32

Yeah,

Shawna Rodrigues: 27:32

I like that. I like that a lot. I love that. We also talked about self care on each of our episodes. Would you mind sharing with us and do a little spotlight on self care about what you do to take care of yourself, Ben?

Ben Albert: 27:44

Yeah, we kind of teased this when I was talking about doing all these things that were great for me, and then all these things that were in direct misalignment. And I think, that's one thing that's important about self care, sometimes it's actually, the getting rid of things. That's self care. It's not always adding, like, you can add meditation, you can add a gratitude journal, I'm going to just name things I do, meditation, visualization exercises, make introductions, drink a lot of water, inotropic medicine, have a gratitude journal, these are all things I do. And implementing just one or two of them can really be helpful for people. But in a lot of cases, like I was doing all these things, but then I was drinking and eating myself to death. So, what I learned about self care is I could do all these things that sounded great in a book. But if I was doing all these things that actually almost counteracted the positives, I felt better from myself care, but then all these negative things are actually making the things that were good, almost like muted or suppressed. Like, pushing it in the corner, making like the self care not work.

Shawna Rodrigues: 28:59

Yeah.

Ben Albert: 28:59

So my thoughts on self care today is actually the opposite of what I used to need. It used to be, let's implement a meditation routine. Nowadays, it's like what is toxic in my life? And self care can be as simple as just stepping away from that.

Shawna Rodrigues: 29:16

Oh, I love that. And that is actually very unique. No one has brought that up. And so finding the toxic things and removing the toxic things as your way of empathy, self care, I love that.

Ben Albert: 29:29

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues: 29:30

Very profound. I'm glad we got to the mountaintop. There's beautiful things here.

Ben Albert: 29:33

Yeah, I would, I would hang out on this mountain for days. I didn't bring any supplies.

Shawna Rodrigues: 29:40

Yes, unfortunately, I didn't either. So we have a limited time. But it's lovely up here. I love that concept. I think it's a good thing for us to just spend some time for folks reflecting. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute about what we take away from this episode. And there's so many good things to take away. It'll be kind of fun to see what we want to try to implement. But as part of our spotlight, the one thing that we do here at The Grit Show because we do like to give back to our guests, we actually have a line of coloring books called Color of Grit. And we give each of our guests a coloring book, as a thank you for taking your time to be here on the show with us. And so you have your option, there's one that is out already. And there's one that's coming out. And the one that is out is Vintage Mermaid and Magnificent Ocean. And the one that is coming out is You've Got This, which is funny and inspirational quotes. So, which of those two coloring books can I send you a copy of, Ben?

Ben Albert: 30:33

I like the idea of You've Got This.

Shawna Rodrigues: 30:35

You've Got This. I'm glad you like it.

Ben Albert: 30:38

What's funny is I actually love that you've got this inspirational quotes, when I kind of already decided to choose that one when you said it wasn't out yet. Because I'm like, such a late adopter, like, I'm nervous to try something new. And you're like, it doesn't even exist yet. Or it's not even available yet. And I'm like, give me that one. I want the brand new one, I want to be one of the first people to be blessed with this new book.

Shawna Rodrigues: 31:00

I love it, you will definitely one of the first people to get that book when it comes out. But you will be on the top of the list, we will definitely get you one of the debut copies of You've Got This.

Ben Albert: 31:10

Oh, can I, can have it signed?

Shawna Rodrigues: 31:14

Oh, you are the first person to ask for that Ben. But because you ask, you shall receive. We will make that happen for you. You will get a signed copy of You've Got This on the front. For you.

Ben Albert: 31:26

Love it.

Shawna Rodrigues: 31:26

Yes, you definitely got it. That's awesome. So what should we offer people because we've lost something that they can take like just in the next couple of days to implement in their life. And I'm kind of taken with this concept of self care of removing things. I'm also taking with the concepts about, you know, the way of finding ways to give back and they're networking and connecting and examining their life and what they want. What should we give them as their takeaway?

Ben Albert: 31:52

Let's do three so they can choose.

Shawna Rodrigues: 31:55

Oh. All right, let's do it.

Ben Albert: 31:57

Any more than three is psychologically sometimes too many options. But I think you can do three.

Shawna Rodrigues: 32:01

We'll do three.

Ben Albert: 32:02

So one, this is really simple. What toxic thing in your life doesn't deserve to be there?

Shawna Rodrigues: 32:12

All right.

Ben Albert: 32:13

Write it down and implement a strategy to reduce it, maybe not get rid of it entirely, but reduce that toxic thing. Take a step away from it, maybe if needed. Idea number two, this is one of my favorite ones. You just pick up your phone, and go to whatever platform you chat on the most. Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, you go to your messages, you scroll to the very, very bottom. And you'll start seeing names of people you haven't spoken to in years that you love, you maybe shared an Airbnb with one time, long lost relative, who knows? Go to their ping, click on their profile, take a look at something new, and send them a message, hey, oh my gosh, I had no clue you're engaged. I haven't been present, I haven't been as present as I could be. Just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you. Anything like that. It'll, it'll tell itself by scrolling to the bottom. And if you did that, once a day, your entire life, think about how strong your connections would be. Just once a day you scroll to the bottom, message someone, scroll to the bottom, message someone then eventually you're messaging the same people, that's fine, too. So that's option number two. Option number three is business oriented. If you're ever going to a business oriented networking, connection, an event, have something tangible that you're looking to accomplish, that you need help with to accomplish not accomplishing more sales. But I want to start a blog or I want to start a photo gallery. Or I want to like start a podcast or I'm looking for someone to cross promoted event or I'm looking for someone to partner with at a charity. Come with that intention and then you can actually wear glasses where you can sift through and find great collaborators to tackle that endeavor with you become with the idea, for me it was start a podcast. Come with the idea, and then you're good to go.

Shawna Rodrigues: 34:23

That sounds like an excellent fit. All three of those are good. So one, look for something in your life that's toxic and make a plan to reduce it and address it. Two, start scrolling through someone you have not been into contact with in some time and find a reason to connect with them, see what they're up to and find that connection. Or three when you're going into a situation for networking to have a very specific lens to look through a project you're working on and how people can filter in and work with you on that and connect and be support for that.

Ben Albert: 34:56

Way more concise than I said. I love it. Perfect.

Shawna Rodrigues: 34:59

People need to hear it more than once, Ben. You know how we are.

Ben Albert: 35:02

I love it. I love it.

Shawna Rodrigues: 35:04

That's amazing. And so I know people are gonna want to connect with you, because you are a wonderful, wonderful connection to have. So what is the best place for people to find you?

Ben Albert: 35:13

Yeah, well give them one. But then a prompt if they want more. So go to realbusinessconnections.com. It's really simple, because you can just type in into Google, Real Business Connections, that's the name of the podcast. And on the website, you'll see my social links, you'll see my marketing firm, but if you Google or type in Real Business Connections, you might take 15 seconds of research, but I'm on all social platforms. And I'm all about meeting you where you're most comfortable. So whether it's Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., send me a DM, send me a, I'd love if you sent me a DM with just like one takeaway. Even better. Even better, leave a review for Shawna, The Grit Show. If you do two things, you leave a review for Shawna, three things, leave her a review, send her a DM, send me a DM, you'll actually create a ripple of joy. You'll make our day, and maybe we'll be friends. We'll see.

Shawna Rodrigues: 36:12

Listen to all of this. I love this. This is great. We'll also have it in the show notes as well. Ben, you have been such an incredible joy. I have enjoyed you being here. And I'm sure my listeners have gotten so much out of it as well.

Ben Albert: 36:24

It's been so fun. We got to get to the bottom of this mountain. So, till next time.

Shawna Rodrigues: 36:31

Until next time, and for all of you out there, thank you for taking the time to be with us today. We appreciate it. I look forward to getting your DMs and reading your reviews. If you want to post a Snapchat of your review, don't forget to tag us or even DM it to me. There's enough listening platforms we may not see it otherwise. And we really care about what you have to say. In case you haven't heard it quite enough, you're the only one of you that this world has got and that means something. I look forward to connecting with you next week.