Growing your network is an essential aspect of personal and professional development. Having a strong network can help you expand your reach, gain new opportunities, and unlock doors to success.

One of the most common questions I hear from young professionals is, "How do you know so many people? How did you build your network?"

And normally I answer with something like, "Say yes to requests, smile while you're at events and make sure you follow up! Remember your best friend was once a stranger to you…"

And now I have a great real time example that I thought might help give traction to this question.

Enter Joe Mull.

I first met Joe while working in Atlanta. My team and I were photographing and filming a conference for 3 days. Joe was one of the keynote speakers. I'd never heard his name nor did I know what he was going to talk about.

But that was soon going to change.

Joe's topic was how to create a workplace employees actually want to go to everyday. He crushed the myths of "No one wants to work" and "I can't find anyone for my company" in the first 8 minutes of his talk and I was fully engaged while taking photos.

The audience was engaged, enjoyed his content like I did and at the end I wanted to tell him "Great job!"

As we were chatting for a couple of minutes after he was off stage I was able to provide some praise and also ask if any of the photos I took would be valuable for him. He replied yes and I took his email address for us to connect after the event (one of my greatest business hacks ever).

I followed up after the event with edited images that were approved by the conference to share with him. He was nothing but thankful and when sharing to his social platforms he made sure to give me a great shout out.

He asked about the video we had recorded as well. I told him we would send over the recording as we were editing it for the conference client. I sent him the recording and he was so very thankful. Our team did a great job providing an engaging edit and it was at no cost to him.

Then a gift card showed up in the mail from Joe.

It wasn't expected at all and I was happy to send it to the video team because they did all the heavy lifting. They were very thankful.

I sent a "Thank You" email and as I usually do, I included, "If you have anything coming up that I can help with, please let me know. I'm here to make your life easier and your business better."

And he replied that he would take me up on that offer.

He was writing a book.

He asked if I would be willing to help once he knew what he was in need of. He wasn't sure at that exact moment but he knew releasing a book would be a large undertaking.

I was happy to agree and told him I looked forward to hearing from him.

Fast forward a few months and I received an email about his new book, "Employalty", and what he was most excited about.

He also had an ask of, "I'm looking to do a media blitz. Do you know anyone in the media world, TV, radio or podcasts?"

I may not be a powerhouse media broker but I do know some folks who have created successful podcasts the past few years.

I was happy to introduce Joe to my friends Brian Bosley of The Bamboo Lab and Ken Trupke of Clarity Advisors.

A couple of email introductions followed and little did I know that a few weeks later I would see new episodes featuring Joe and his book content on both their shows!

Hopefully I've been able to help Joe sell a few more books and reach a larger audience simply through a couple of email introductions.

But how does this affect me and my business?

Between my email introductions and podcast episode releases, Joe emailed me about a photo project.

It is an opportunity through a board he is part of, the National Speakers Association and their annual conference in 2023.

He introduced me to their leadership team planning the conference and asked if I was interested and willing to travel to Orlando to capture photos the same way I captured them when he and I first met?

I jumped at the opportunity to discuss their event needs and we are about to confirm the details and scope of the overall project.

So as I hopefully helped Joe with his book and small business, Joe has helped my small business as a photographer.

Following the introduction to the National Speakers Association I also received a box in the mail. The box included a pre-release copy of his new book "Employalty" as well as a note and other tools he will be sharing with his larger audience soon.

So what's the pattern?

I met Joe.

We connected after an event.

I was able to provide value with photos and video.

Joe said THANK YOU with a letter and gift card.

Joe asked if I'd be interested in helping. I said yes, of course.

Joe provided a referral to an organization he felt I could provide value for.

I am thankful for the referral.

Joe asked for referrals for his new book.

I was happy to provide referrals.

Joe shows up in my podcast feed having connected with the people I referred him to.

Later this year Joe and I will work together again at a conference he is supporting as a board member.

If neither one of us had followed up or followed through during any of these steps, most likely the pattern would have been broken.

And it makes me think about all the times I said, "I'll follow up..." and didn't.

Imagine what that cost my business and me personally?

Nonetheless, I am thankful for the follow up I have done with people like Joe and others in my circle over the past 20 years.

It's because of the relationships I've built that I've been able to call myself a "photographer" for nearly 2 decades.

Hopefully this real time, real world example of what it takes to build professional relationships in business is helpful.

If you’d like to connect, I would love to hear from you.

Be sure to reach out.