From Classroom Ceiling to Six Pillars: How Stacy Harris Turned Relationships Into a Business

From Classroom Ceiling to Six Pillars: How Stacy Harris Turned Relationships Into a Business

Nobody hands you a recipe and then asks you to bake the cake. Yet that is exactly what happens every time a manager tells a team to go out and network. Stacy Harris spent years watching capable people sit in rooms full of opportunity and walk out with nothing but a stack of business cards. Her own path there ran through an elementary school classroom, a church staff job, a two-year illness that stopped her career cold, and a part-time job in a boutique she found because of a Help Wanted sign in a window. Somewhere in that detour she discovered she had a head for business — and that the thing she was best at was something most people were never taught how to do.

My special guest is Stacy Harris

Stacy Harris is a networking strategist, speaker and consultant based in The Woodlands, Texas. She began her career as an elementary school teacher, moved into a children’s ministry role overseeing more than a hundred volunteers, and left the workforce entirely for two years after a stress-induced systemic infection put her into multi-system failure. Her return to work started part-time in a women’s boutique, where a group of experienced businesswomen taught her merchandising, buying and bookkeeping alongside sales. That foundation led to an image consulting and event business, then to a decade owning five in-person networking franchise groups. Three years ago she launched her own consulting practice, built around a teachable framework she calls the Six Pillars of Networking. She also hosts Coffee Connection, a free Friday morning gathering she started with a Facebook invitation during the pandemic that now draws fifty to sixty people a week.

“Be a connector, not a collector.”

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Trace how an unplanned health crisis and a career reset opened the door to business ownership.
• Understand why introverts often make stronger networkers than extroverts, and what each personality type needs to correct.
• Tell the difference between a one-time referral and a long-term referral partner, and name the five or six partners you actually want.
• Earn the right to make a big ask by building relationship collateral first.
• Set up a simple two-week follow-up rhythm so the people you meet do not go cold.
• Turn virtual introductions into real friendships and real business without ever meeting in person.

Why Networking Fails Without a System

Stacy’s core argument is that networking is treated as an instinct when it is really a skill with steps. Extroverts leave events energized but with aimless conversations that never turn into anything; introverts assume they are unsuited to it when their instinct to listen is the exact advantage the room rewards. Her Six Pillars framework is designed to reign in one and draw out the other, and it starts with a mindset shift — walking in asking who you can help rather than who can help you. From there it becomes practical: know your specific referral partners before someone asks what they can do for you, pour into a relationship before you draw from it, and keep a follow-up cadence tight enough that the connection never has a chance to go stale. She points to a twenty-year friendship that recently produced a corporate speaking introduction as proof of the model. The ask was large, but two decades of showing up made it feel natural rather than transactional.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:

• Read The Go-Giver, the book Stacy credits with changing how she approaches relationships and business.
• Join Coffee Connection, the free, come-and-go Friday morning networking breakfast Stacy hosts in The Woodlands, Texas.
• Book Stacy for a keynote, workshop or seminar on the Six Pillars of Networking system.
• Attend her webinar on the difference between a referral and a referral partner.
• Add a personal bio page to your website alongside your professional one, as Stacy has done, so people can see the whole person.
• Reach out to Meg Schmitz through FranChoice to explore franchise ownership and long-term exit strategy.
• Listen to the Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz for real stories of self-employment and business ownership.
• Contact Meg Schmitz to schedule a free, no-obligation call for insights into entrepreneurship and franchise opportunities.
• Use the form on the Free Agent Podcast page if you’d like to be considered as a guest on the show.

Subscribe now to our FREE Franchise Insights to get every new podcast episode delivered to your inbox! Free Subscription. No spam. Not sold to others. Unsubscribe anytime.

Click to Take the Leap into the full interview transcript of the Free Agent Podcast, Episode 8.24 with Meg Schmitz and her guest, Stacy Harris

 

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guest: Stacy Harris, Networking Strategist, Speaker & Consultant, Creator of the Six Pillars of Networking

Meg Schmitz: Hello, everyone, and welcome to, or welcome back to, my podcast. It’s called The Free Agent with Meg Schmitz, that’s me. The discussion, if you’ve been here before, this is all about free agency and taking control over your future. The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap. Into self-employment, business ownership. Franchising and freedom. My guest today has covered, like, all of that. It’s going to be so much fun. From corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job, to entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey. My podcast aims to spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown to control over their destiny and became their own boss. And today, I have the pleasure of welcoming Stacy Harris, who was a teacher, an employee, a franchise owner, and now self-employed And doing what you… I try really carefully with my people not to put them into a business that they’re passionate about, because I don’t want people to ruin their passion, but you’re the epitome of somebody who’s passionate about networking.

Stacy Harris: Thank you.

Meg: And created a successful enterprise around what you’re truly passionate about. So welcome to my podcast, and I can’t wait to jump in.

Stacy: Thank you, I know, I know. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited about being here with ya.

Meg: And so you and I had a great conversation last week, and I was just so struck, number one, by how red your personality is. You are… you are so… perfect for what you are doing. It’s like you’re following you’re following the light from God to show you exactly who you’re meant to be, and so take… take us back in time, and we’ll get to who you are now. Sure. But you’ve… you’ve been… you’ve had so many great life lessons. As I say, the flight of the bumblebee and where you stop to pollinate, what you enjoyed and what you did not like. So, take me back in time to… To build the… build the picture of how you became who you are.

Stacy: Sure, yeah, so I, you know, my dad is a preacher, and he has been for 56 years, and so we moved around, you know, every few years, really, when I was a kid. And, I was very… I was very shy as a kid, because, you know, when you’re a preacher’s kid, you’re in the spotlight.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: And I didn’t want to be in the spotlight, because I was the preacher’s kid. So, I really didn’t step into my personality that you see now until I was in college. And in college, I was like, okay, I’m now in control of my life. You know, I can… I’m not the preacher’s kid, I can do what I want to do, and not in a rebellious way, but just in a… everybody’s not staring at me, you know, I’m not under that pressure, so… I really had not been… I was very sheltered. I mean, my mom and dad, they are amazing, and… but I lived a very sheltered life, and so I went into teaching because I really didn’t know what else to do. You know, I like kids, and so I thought. I’ll be a teacher. So, I got my elementary education degree, and, I did… I loved the children, and I really had fun with it, but there were aspects of teaching that drove me crazy from day one. And, you know, the biggest one was the ceiling, the income ceiling. Like, it didn’t matter how good of a teacher I was, I was never gonna make more than a first-year teacher could make, or a fifth-year, or a 20-year, you know? I mean, it was… there was just such a ceiling on it. And then there was the administration, and the parents that you had to deal with, and a lot of crazy, and so about year 5, I started thinking, I need to find something else to do, you know? And so, I, I eventually became a children’s minister at my church. So, I was at a large church in Dallas, and I did that for about 3 years, and I really learned, like, administration in that job. I had over 100 volunteer teachers that were under me. I acted as a liaison between the preschool and the church itself, and so I just learned… I look back, I was, like, 27 years old, Meg, and I’m like, I cannot believe they gave this much responsibility to a 27-year-old. But I learned so much from that, and I went through some bumps in the road. I went through a divorce, when I was 30. I, ended up with the stress of the divorce and the things that happened leading up to it. I became really ill. And, I had to quit working for about 2 years. I developed… Oh! Yeah, I developed a systemic infection that, I went into multi-system failure from it. And I was terribly, terribly ill, and I ended up having to go through a treatment similar to an oral chemotherapy to kill out the infection. And it was really just brought on by stress. I mean, that was what it boiled down to, so… During that time, I, you know, I had a lot of time to think and do a lot of soul-searching. After about 2 years, the doctor said, you can go back to work. Part-time, but it has to be stress-free. And I’m like… well, what kind of job is that? Because wouldn’t everybody be doing it, you know? So, I ended up… I was out on a walk one day, and I walked past the strip center, and there was this cute little boutique with great clothes and shoes and jewelry, and it had a Help Wanted sign. So, I went in there, I thought, I can dress myself, I think I could probably dress other people, and it was a sales position, it was part-time, it was, like, 15 hours a week, you know, it was perfect. And so. They offered me the position, and it was a female-owned business. There were 4 very strong women that worked there that, like, took me under their wing, but the owner and the manager in particular, they started teaching me the business side, and I found there… I mean, my first day, the first hour, I had a $2,000 sale. Which, I didn’t know it at the time, but, like, that was, like, a whole day. Usually. And so, at the end of my first day, the lady who owned the shop came up and said, I’m gonna give you a dollar an hour raise. Like, you’re really good at this. You haven’t done this before, you’re sure? I was like, nope, I haven’t. So, I just fell into, like, sales was just really easy, but it was because I like to talk to people. I asked questions, I found out what was important to them, and what was their lifestyle, and what kind of trip were they going on, and, you know, just those kinds of things, and… So, you know, the sales part of things is pretty easy, but they started teaching me the merchandising, and the buying, and the balancing the books, and, you know, all that stuff, and I found out I was a businesswoman, like, I had a head for business, and I didn’t realize it. So, that led to some other opportunities. I started producing fashion shows for this boutique, and I got the other stores that were in the strip center. We would do these huge events together, and, you know, big promotions, like, once a quarter, and things like that, and… So, we were… my husband and I, were both from Texas, but we met in Virginia, and that’s where we both were, and this is where I was working at the boutique. And but we wanted to come back to Texas, that was home. And so he got a job, finally, down here, and we transferred back here. And at that point, I had decided, I really want to be my own boss. I just, you know, so I took that leap of faith that you talk about. I mean, I just… You know, these are crazy entrepreneurs that we are, we chuck everything to the side, all stability and security of a paycheck and insurance and benefits and all those good things, and we bet on ourselves.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: And my husband did not understand that at all. He was supportive, but he is a 9-to-fiver corporate insurance and benefits, and thank God, because we needed that. And like I said, he was very supportive of me starting my business. He didn’t really understand it. And the first… I got invited to a networking event. And I walked into this event, and I was like, oh my goodness, these are my people. They were other entrepreneurs, they were people who were crazy like I was, you know, and decided that… they were gonna take that big leap of faith, and most of the… I was so new in business, most of them were way… you know, they were ahead of me.

Meg: Damn.

Stacy: But they became my friends and my mentors, my cheerleaders, my clients eventually. And, the first business I started was an image consulting business. I did PR events for businesses, open houses and client appreciation and, you know, different things like that. And, So anyway, I just, so I started networking, and I just loved it. I didn’t have a lot of money to start the business, but I did have a lot of time, and so I spent that time into relationships. We had… been transferred to the Houston area. I live in a place called the Woodlands, Texas, and it’s a very close-knit community, but we moved here, my husband and I, neither one of us knew one single person. I mean, not a soul.

Meg: It probably didn’t take you very long to fix.

Stacy: And started, yeah, you know, once I started networking, I started meeting people and making friends, and, you know, but I also observed there were people who were networking, and they were filling their pipeline. Their businesses were booming, the phone was ringing all the time. There were other people who, like me at first. They made a lot of friends. But business was stagnant. Or, you know, they just weren’t turning those networking opportunities into business for them, so I really started studying these more mature networkers and what they were doing. I started reading books, The Go Giver changed my life. I start, you know, and I really became a student of networking, and so eventually, I stepped into owning my 5 franchises with, a networking organization. So it was 5 in-person groups that I ran for 10 years. And, I launched my consulting business about 3 years ago in anticipation of my exit from the franchise. I never intended to, go past 10 years with it. So, and now, what I am doing, I just see this huge need, you know, because I think… Business owners and sales managers and VP of sales, we tell people, you need to network. But nobody tells them how to do it. And the example I always give people is if I said, Meg, tomorrow’s my birthday, and I want you to make this chocolate cake, but I’m not going to give you the recipe. And that’s what we do when we tell people you need to network. Okay, what does that mean? just show up and hope you meet in… you run into somebody, just, you know, I mean, it’s… we… there’s just… there’s been no system. So, when I created my business, my… my workshops and seminars, my keynote speaking that I do, I teach people a system that I have come up with, that it doesn’t matter if you’re introvert or extrovert. It is a system that you can intentionally implement that teaches you how to network in a way that builds deep relationships, because to me, it is always about the people first. You build deep relationships, but it also ensures that your time spent networking turns into profits.

Meg: Fascinating, all of that. The… something you just said, introvert versus extrovert.

People who are introverted think that extroverts have an easier time, but extrovert… it doesn’t… it doesn’t make you a better networker.

Stacy: It does not. – you’re right.

Meg: me, my definition of… and I’m an extrovert, my batteries are recharged. The more people I meet and I get to talk to. my cup is full. Introverts re-energize by doing solo, reading a book, going swimming is a very singular activity, not a team sport. The people I talk to about networking think, oh, extroverts have an easier time with it. So, can you identify a bit about who… who needs this the most, and… and what the skills are? Introvert, extrovert, what do you need to know about doing this successfully?

Stacy: Yeah, so I think a lot of times introverts tell themselves, I’m not going to be good at this, because my battery drains quickly when I’m around a lot of people, but their batteries drain quickly, I believe, because they feel like they have to talk, they have to almost, like, perform and carry the conversation. But actually, introverts are… they are amazing networkers because they’re great listeners.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: They would rather listen than talk. And people love to talk about themselves, they just need somebody to listen. So, introverts can be amazing networkers because of that. So, I really, emphasize to the introvert, don’t discount yourself that you are not good at this. because you’re not an extrovert, you are good at this because you are a great listener. And you ask the questions that evoke conversation, pull the information from people, they’re going to tell you the things that they need that you can help them with to create value and to create a foundation of a relationship. When you do that, it takes all the pressure. off of you. And so, I always tell people, go into networking with the mindset of, who can I help, instead of who can help me? And just determine, every person I talk to, I’m gonna do something that is helpful to them. No matter what. For the extroverts, they do recharge from being around people, they get, like, higher and higher. It’s almost like a drug, you know, being in a big crowd. And you want to talk to as many people as you can, but the problem is that conversations tend to be aimless. Instead of being strategic, and you just kind of talk, but you never turn the conversation into business. You meet a lot of people, you have a lot of friends, but it never actually turns into something, you know? And it doesn’t always have to be they become a client, but maybe they’ll become a referral partner. You collaborate on a project, they become a resource to you. a mentor, but if you’re just busy talking and not listening, then that never happens. So, it really is… that’s why this system that I teach, I call it the Six Pillars of Networking, it… it reigns in the extrovert, and it brings out the introvert.

Meg: Perfect. There’s so much to learn about networking for people who’ve never done it before. They’ve been in a career for a long time.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: How… how… Let me ask you this about your franchise experience. Sure. Did that teach you… Because you were already on to networking.

Stacy: I was, yes. I had been networking for, let’s see, for about… 12 years at that point.

Meg: Go to the franchise. that teach you new skills that… that opened your eyes to then create this program that you have?

Stacy: It did, it really did, because I, You know, I became good at networking for my business. I knew what to say and how to… how to, direct the conversation and things like that, but in… with my networking franchises, you know, it was based on a membership. So, I was… I was pulling in members into these groups. And my responsibility, was to make those people successful. You know, I mean, they had to do their part, but I needed to put the right mix of people together. And I realized very quickly, you know, watching them, how many of them struggled with… I mean, they were in a room that could have been a gold mine. Of resources and referral partners for them, but they were not taking advantage of the people who were right there in front of them. you know, they were… and they were still at networking, networking, networking, like, they were… I always say, like, be a connector, not a collector. They were collecting business cards, they were collecting contacts, but they weren’t going deep with the relationship. So, I really did, in observing. the networking habits of my members, and the things that they did right, and the things that needed to be tweaked, you know, that really helped me a lot in putting this together, and making this a system that it applies to whatever industry you’re in. It doesn’t matter.

Meg: Are there some tidbits of wisdom that you can share That would help People crystallize in their head what the ask is. People are uncomfortable asking for business. They’re uncomfortable talking about what… you know, I don’t want to sell anything, I don’t want to sound like it’s all about me, but are there some little gems that you can share for people to get comfortable with being uncomfortable?

Stacy: Yeah. Yeah, I think, it becomes… Well, number one, it’s a few things. Number one, you have to be prepared with your answer. You have to know when people ask you, because good people, good networkers, people who genuinely are wanting to help you, they’re gonna ask you that question, Meg, what can I do for you? What is your biggest need right now? What’s your biggest challenge? Who can I introduce you to? You know, that’s a great one to ask. And if we don’t have that answer ready, and no, who, you know, we can’t say, oh, anybody who, you know, you’re a realtor, anybody that wants to buy a house, you know, anybody that wants to sell a house, so we have to be very specific in our minds who our referral partners are. And I just, really quick, I want to make sure everybody understands, like, I do a whole webinar about this, what is the difference between a referral and a referral partner. So, a referral, you know, is a one-time… it’s a, Meg, you’re a realtor, my mom is buying a house, I’m sending her to you, but my mom probably isn’t gonna buy a house for the rest of her life. Like, it’s a one-shot deal. You know, she might tell people about you and that kind of thing, but… but that’s it. Right? So, but if I connect you with a… you’re a residential realtor, and I connect you with a commercial realtor. who gets calls all the time about residential real estate, but he doesn’t do residential real estate. I’m gonna connect you two so that you can… and you get calls about commercial real estate. So I’m going to connect you two so that you can send business back and forth to each other. So a referral partner is somebody who is talking to the same audience. The same clientele that you want to be in front of, but they don’t do the same thing that you do. So, we need a list of 5 or 6 referral partners, so when we are asked that question, what can I do for you?

You can introduce me to the best attorneys that you know. You can introduce me to the best business coach that you know. That would be great. You know, so we have to be ready with our answer, as far, you know, as that. The other thing is, we need to make sure that we have That we deserve. the right to ask. We need to have filled somebody’s bucket first, before we ask to take anything from them. And so we need to have poured into them. There needs to be a relationship there, before we really put that big ask out there, in front of people. And sometimes people will just say, you know, hey, tell me what you need. But I have found those opportunities don’t come along very often. People tend to be guarded, and… well, you know, there’s good reason for it. You need to build that visibility and credibility and trust with people, and so you need to be sure that you have done all of those things to really earn the respect and the trust of the person that you’re asking this, this favor, this request, you know, that you have.

So, I, I mean, just last week, I… I have a friend who… we have been friends for… I met her when she was 19. She used to do hair and makeup for my models when I was producing fashion shows. She was started… just graduated from cosmetology school. I knew her before husband and babies and all this stuff. She just turned 40 years old. Makes me feel so old. But her husband has worked for a multi-billion dollar corporation for over 20 years. And his is a corporation, it’s in the top 50 in the world. And his is a corporation that I would love to get my foot in the door. I’ve… I’ve never asked, you know, I mean, we have been through so many ups and downs together through life, but she and I were having lunch last week, and she was like, Stacy, what can I do to help you? And I said, well, it’s not really what you can do. But do you think that your husband would be willing, this is what I want, I want speaking opportunities for big corporations.

Do you think he’d be willing to coach me a little bit? Maybe help me get my foot in the door there, just give me some ideas? She was like, of course he loves you, he would do anything for you. Look at all you’ve done for us, you know? So, you’ve babysit our kids, you’ve done this and that, you’re their godmother. So, she picks up the phone and calls him right then, and he said, Stacy, call me after 5. I’m getting ready to walk into a meeting, I am happy to help you. The next day, he had already sent my information to his superior for their conference that they’re having in the fall in Atlanta. He put my name in the hat. So, you know, this is a 20-year relationship. It’s a big ask, you know, because he’s putting his neck on the line with a big company. But we had 20 years that of supporting each other and loving each other, that I could ask that, and I didn’t feel icky doing it. So, you know, we really have to… we have to build up the collateral, the relationship collateral that we have.

Meg: The relationship collateral is… is super important. There’s also… I think people don’t realize how important, also, your visibility on the internet is.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: your visibility on LinkedIn with your picture. And having it be an authentic portrayal of who you are today. Yeah. And you’ve been working on… you’ve been working on your website recently.

Stacy: I have, yeah.

Meg: So, what are some, again, tidbits or golden nuggets that you have for people to… and then we’ll circle back around to what you were just saying, but.

Stacy: Hmm.

Meg: You have to have the internet visibility as well as the ability to build relationships in real time.

Stacy: Yeah, you do. You know, it’s… It’s just the world that we live in now. I mean, it’s the social media, you know, your LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, people… the more visibility you have there, and the more that you can share on there about who you are and what you do, how you can help them, the problems that you solve. You may never have met someone face-to-face, but they feel like they know you already, and when they see that consistently, they see that you’re doing this as a business. This isn’t a hobby, it’s not a side gig, it’s not a, you know, that this is who you are, and this is what you do. And you become top of mind when that… when that topic comes up. You know, I’m thinking of buying a franchise. I’m gonna retire at 55 and buy a franchise, and you want them to think, Meg. I gotta connect them with Meg, you know? So, that’s… That’s what we, you know, that’s what’s behind the social media, and just being… who you are, talking about what you love, and, being generous. Be generous with the information that you put out there. I always say, like, there’s no such thing as competition, because there’s only one you.

Meg: Oh, I love that. Thank you for bringing that up.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: One of my most hated phrases is imposter syndrome. we’ve… we’ve all been faking it till we make it. First day you bring home that kitten, or that puppy, or that baby, they don’t know that you’ve never done this before.

Stacy: Right.

Meg: He’s coming home from the hospital to a home that’s never had a baby wolf.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: We’ve all been… pastors at some point.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: Thank you for bringing that up. The… And what I have learned over the years… I remember when I first got divorced, and I’d sold my businesses, and I had jumped into this consulting role. I hated buying leads, and I knew that I could get on a soapbox and talk about owning your own business, because I’d owned my own business with great clips. Now I’m wearing this different hat, and I wasn’t good at it in the beginning. And so I’ve learned over the years People connect to people who are real, multidimensional, interesting human beings.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: People are always surprised. I’m not quite 5’4″, 105 pounds. I have 3 chainsaws. I love getting out there. I feel like…

Stacy: What’s all that Pilates that you do?

Meg: It’s all that Pilates that I do, and so my branding person said, will you please just take your phone out with you when you’re walking the prairie, when you’re doing a class, when you’re… Doing the things that make you interesting, and don’t. Hesitate to turn personal, tangential experiences into something that’s relatable in business.

Stacy: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, because people really, you know, they… they want to know who you are, and they want to, they want to see that you struggle, too. They do. I mean, they… because we all… if everything is perfect, then, you know, they’re think… they’re looking at it and thinking, she has no clue. what it is like to have a troubled marriage, a sick kid, a parent that’s ill, business cash flow is down, the phone isn’t ringing, you know, I mean, there’s so many stresses that we have in life, and when we just try to look perfect all the time, it doesn’t… people can’t relate. They can’t relate, and they just think, this isn’t somebody who can help me because they don’t understand where I’m coming from. So, it’s, yeah, I mean, that is… our visibility on social media is so important. I even… I don’t know if you saw my website, but I have… I have a professional bio, and I have a personal bio. And my personal bio is… this is who I am. You know, this is… how I was raised, here are my three cats, here’s my husband, I love to vacation on the beach and the mountains, and I like to walk, and I love to cook and feed people good food, and, you know, those kinds of things, because I want people to know who I am. Because it… I’m not just my business.

Meg: That’s a really good idea, and I know my, my, branding and, personal stylist is who produces these podcasts, so note to self, maybe that’s another page to put on my own website. Yeah. The pictures… I had a great time working with a photographer, doing not just my headshot, but a whole… photo shoot. I brought multiple changes of clothes, I brought a chainsaw, all of my… all of my…

Stacy: I love it!

Meg: Steel-toed boots, and I… my husband and I were in New York a bunch of years ago. At Christmas time, we were walking through Bergdorf Goodman, the shoe department. beautiful Louis Vuitton booties.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: on sale, which was still an arm and a leg, but, like, whatever, it’s Christmas in New York.

Stacy: They were on sale, you were saving money! Yeah.

Meg: I took those on the photoshoot as well. So I had this whole spectrum of different boots that I wear. What do I wear for the fashionista self? It’s totally different than what I wear for my weekend outdoorsy self.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: Play, people! If you’re still listening, play with who you are, so that As you’re creating relationships, people can see just how human and interesting you really are.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And honestly, that’s something I’m… I’m working with a new social media company, and that was the first thing he told me, is we need to see more of, like, just your day-to-day life, you know? And I’m very genuine, I’m very real with the people that I interact in my world, you know, the people face-to-face on Zoom, I mean, we share… what’s going on, the struggles, the, you know, the this and that, but I have not been as good about that on social media as I need to. Probably. So, it’s a good reminder for me, too.

Meg: Well, and so in the notes that you provided before we started recording, one of the tips that resonated very strongly with me is to go back through your calendar. for the week, for the month. You said it to me, and I felt the same way about you. You were a highlight of my week last week, so every Friday, I go back through my week and say, who are the people who rocked my world, who are noteworthy and I need to keep in touch with? And to make that a priority so that Good networking doesn’t grow stale, and those relationships need to come to fruition, but they need to be nurtured.

Stacy: Yes, yeah. So, I go back, yeah, every… about every… well, I’ll have my VA put a list together about every two weeks, all the people that I have met with. And then we go back and we send a very personalized email to them, you know, hey Meg, I hope you had a great trip, it was so good to talk to you, let’s get together in a couple of weeks and just check in, see what’s going on. See how we might be able to help each other, you know, that kind of thing. So, I go through, I make notes after I talk to them about what we talked about, specific things. Because I always want people to know that I remember them. They’re not just getting a template email that I send out to everybody. So, I put in, you know, something personal that we talked about, and then when I want to follow up with them, and do they fall into the client category, the referral partner category? it’s a not right now, but put them in my, you know, nurture campaign, add them to my newsletter list, that kind of thing. Are they a friend? Like, we just connected, don’t really see anything right now that… that we can do, but we just really liked each other. So, you know, we just… I categorize them that way, and then Send reminders, it sends reminders to me when to send the emails out, and it’s very quick and easy, and if you do it every week or two, it doesn’t get backed up.

Meg: Yeah, and in my networking groups, one of the groups that I participate in is called Centers of Influence. And one of the gentlemen who’s there religiously wouldn’t miss it for the world, and neither would I, but he’s so vocal in saying, listen, if you’re not gonna show up, I’m gonna forget you.

Stacy: That’s right.

Meg: You, you might make a great impression on me today.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: But I… I need that tickler, I need that reminder, and if you don’t show up, and you don’t know what to say, or you talk my ear off, if there are people who are… who really don’t get it. who… will talk and talk and talk, and not read the room virtually or in person.

Stacy: Right.

Meg: You’ve lost them already, and you may as well write that one off, because you’re not going to get any business out of it.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: Have you, to your point, have your answers, be specific. Respect other people’s time.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: And then shut up and listen.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: And be intentional about that takeaway. Stacy equals red. Stacy equals… you were so specific last week when we were talking. I know exactly who you want to work with and who you can help. Lawyers, accountants, engineers, need to reach out to Stacy to work with her in order to get your, whether you’re networking for a new job. entrepreneur who’s networking to build your business, get with Stacy, because she’s going to help you.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah.

Meg: Such a great listener.

Stacy: Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Yeah, it’s…

Meg: We had a great conversation, and…

Stacy: We did.

Meg: I know exactly who you’re looking for, and you know exactly what I’m looking for, and it only took me half an hour to.

Stacy: I know! And now we’re back to, like, friends for life, so…

Meg: And people said at the beginning of the pandemic, you can’t create real relationships virtually, it’s gotta be in person.

Stacy: No, no, no, no, no, no. I know, I know, and honestly, I was one of those. I mean, I was like, how is this going to work? Because I am just such an in-person, I want to hug you and talk to you and hold your hand and, you know, and but it’s… it’s funny, I was laughing with some of my friends about this not too long ago, you know, because I am on Zoom calls at least a few hours every day doing stuff like this, and my girlfriend, she was like, did you ever think back in 2020 that you would be on Zoom all the time? I’m like, no. But I have… I have friends all over the world that I have made. We have never met in person, but, like, we genuinely love and care about each other, so it really is… it’s an amazing time that we live in. To be able… To do business anywhere, with anyone, you know?

Meg: So important to… to take those virtual relationships, and here’s a really excellent case in point. There’s a gal in Madison. It’s only about 45 minutes away from me, it’s really not that far. There’s another gal who’s about an hour away. He’s just north of Madison. Two of the best networkers I’ve ever met in my life, and they’re virtual. Now, I have the time and ability to get out to Madison. But we’ve… we’ve had this great relationship. There’s another gal up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Okay, that’s two and a half hours away.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: She and I connected at the beginning of the year. We’ve done virtual cocktails once. Her father-in-law just passed away. It was a beautiful LinkedIn post that she made reference to him, and what a wonderful entrepreneur. All this outpouring. Sarah is her name, and she wrote back to me and said, Dear friend, thank you so much for the comments that I had put on LinkedIn acknowledging her obvious love for this man. Dear friend, I met her at the beginning of the year. We’ve… virtually. We’ve had cocktails together. So, believe it, people, you can make the most of…

It’s virtual world we’re in. You need to get comfortable with who you are and how you represent.

Stacy: You do, and you have to just be consistent. You have to continue to reach out, because it’s not like you’re going to run into them. somewhere, at a networking meeting, or, you know, something like that, like you do in person. So, you really do have to be intentional about the people that you are meeting virtually, but I am amazed at the relationships I’ve been able to build over the last few years. Just doing… doing the virtual stuff.

Meg: Another excellent case in point that if you… I’m telling you, if you put it out there, the universe will deliver. There’s one of the people I was referencing in Mel… in Madison. She and I stayed in touch. I invited her to the podcast. We actually met in person at a grand opening of a franchise in Madison, like. Of course, I knew exactly who she was as soon as I saw her. She said that she is co-chair of an in-person networking event.

Stacy: Hmm.

Meg: And she just lost her co-chair. And I said, Karen, I’m… I would love to do that.

Stacy: Oh, wow!

Meg: The Women’s Franchise Network, it’s an IFA offshoot.

Stacy: Yeah, what a.

Meg: I don’t…

Stacy: theme.

Meg: I got approved yesterday to be the new co-chair. Yay! I get to be in person with.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: be in person. If that virtual relationship hadn’t turned into a happenstance meeting in person. Yeah. Then, that door might never have opened.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah, so don’t… Yes, it is… it just… it takes a little getting used to, but it’s so worth it. It really is. It really is. To be able to, you know, to be able to be in contact with anybody, anywhere in the world is just so incredible when you really think about it. And it… it takes the lid off of the possibilities.

You can do business and who you can do it with. So, yeah, yeah, it’s a huge part of what I do. I spent, like I said, at least 2 or 3 hours a day, on Zoom calls, meeting new people. I have done over 100 Zoom calls since January. Yeah. Yeah. pretty… that’s pretty much just Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Monday’s my admin day, Fridays I host an in-person event, so pretty much all those have been done on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the week.

Meg: Good for you, and every week you have an in-person event.

Stacy: I do.

Meg: Tell me about that, I might even copy that.

Stacy: This is so funny, I was in a business coaching group, it was during COVID, it was early 2021, and I was so frustrated, because people were still not getting out and meeting in person. So we’re in Texas, and Texas, we kind of ignored it, you know, for the most part. We just kind of did our own thing, but… So, it wasn’t that you couldn’t get out, but people were afraid of offending other people who didn’t want to get out. You know, I mean, it’s just such a weird time. So anyway, I told my business coach, I was like, business is cratering for me, getting members, because the way I’d gotten numbers before was. Meeting people in person, and… inviting them to be a part of the group, and I’m down 50%, my membership, and… which meant my income was down 50%. And he goes, well, what are you going to do to fix that? And I went, well, I was hoping you would tell me, you know? So, he goes, well, if you need to get people together, maybe you need to… you’re good at events, maybe you need to get people together. And I was like, huh, okay, so thought about it a little bit. I went onto Facebook and said, if you are tired of not networking, not meeting in person, meet me Friday morning for breakfast. There’s a restaurant we have here called The Kitchen. Meet me at the kitchen at 9 o’clock. It’s for anybody who wants to come. So I had about 8 people that showed up. We were the only people in the restaurant, okay? The restaurant was so happy for us to be there. And it has just grown. We just had our 5-year anniversary 2 weeks ago, and we now average 50 to 60 people a week.

Meg: Whoa.

Stacy: So, it’s just become a huge… community… it’s a community outreach that I do. I don’t charge for it, there’s no membership, there’s no required attendance requirements. It is casual come and go. Come anytime between 9 and 10.30, grab a cup of coffee, eat breakfast if you want to, talk to a few people, stay in the whole time if you want to. It is just super informal, and I have people from all walks of life that come. I have entrepreneurs, I have salespeople who… from multiple industries, I have retirees who come, you know, people that I’ve known over the years. I’m like, come and have coffee, like, you have all this experience, come and share it with these people. I have people who are looking for jobs, we’ve helped a lot… we’ve helped a lot of people find jobs. From them coming to their coffee, so it’s just become a… we do it every Friday morning, you know, religiously, and even if I’m out of town, I have a couple of people that will step in and run it for me, and it’s… it’s just be… it’s… I call it Coffee Connection, and it’s just, like, taken on this life of its own. It’s, like, just a whole… its own entity.

Meg: What an amazing… What an amazing group. what an amazing story. I’m so glad we could find the time to do this podcast now. Everything that we’ve talked about is so inspiring for me. And I love the network already. I think I was born… my mother will say that I was born with a stranger as a friend I haven’t met yet kind of an attitude.

Stacy: Yes, and so.

Meg: So, you’re my new friend, and I’ve loved every… you’ve given us so many great insights and nuggets of gold to take away from this interview, and so I just want to thank you once again, Stacy Harris.

Stacy: Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much.

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guest: Stacy Harris, Networking Strategist, Speaker & Consultant, Creator of the Six Pillars of Networking

Meg Schmitz: Hello, everyone, and welcome to, or welcome back to, my podcast. It’s called The Free Agent with Meg Schmitz, that’s me. The discussion, if you’ve been here before, this is all about free agency and taking control over your future. The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap. Into self-employment, business ownership. Franchising and freedom. My guest today has covered, like, all of that. It’s going to be so much fun. From corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job, to entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey. My podcast aims to spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown to control over their destiny and became their own boss. And today, I have the pleasure of welcoming Stacy Harris, who was a teacher, an employee, a franchise owner, and now self-employed And doing what you… I try really carefully with my people not to put them into a business that they’re passionate about, because I don’t want people to ruin their passion, but you’re the epitome of somebody who’s passionate about networking.

Stacy Harris: Thank you.

Meg: And created a successful enterprise around what you’re truly passionate about. So welcome to my podcast, and I can’t wait to jump in.

Stacy: Thank you, I know, I know. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited about being here with ya.

Meg: And so you and I had a great conversation last week, and I was just so struck, number one, by how red your personality is. You are… you are so… perfect for what you are doing. It’s like you’re following you’re following the light from God to show you exactly who you’re meant to be, and so take… take us back in time, and we’ll get to who you are now. Sure. But you’ve… you’ve been… you’ve had so many great life lessons. As I say, the flight of the bumblebee and where you stop to pollinate, what you enjoyed and what you did not like. So, take me back in time to… To build the… build the picture of how you became who you are.

Stacy: Sure, yeah, so I, you know, my dad is a preacher, and he has been for 56 years, and so we moved around, you know, every few years, really, when I was a kid. And, I was very… I was very shy as a kid, because, you know, when you’re a preacher’s kid, you’re in the spotlight.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: And I didn’t want to be in the spotlight, because I was the preacher’s kid. So, I really didn’t step into my personality that you see now until I was in college. And in college, I was like, okay, I’m now in control of my life. You know, I can… I’m not the preacher’s kid, I can do what I want to do, and not in a rebellious way, but just in a… everybody’s not staring at me, you know, I’m not under that pressure, so… I really had not been… I was very sheltered. I mean, my mom and dad, they are amazing, and… but I lived a very sheltered life, and so I went into teaching because I really didn’t know what else to do. You know, I like kids, and so I thought. I’ll be a teacher. So, I got my elementary education degree, and, I did… I loved the children, and I really had fun with it, but there were aspects of teaching that drove me crazy from day one. And, you know, the biggest one was the ceiling, the income ceiling. Like, it didn’t matter how good of a teacher I was, I was never gonna make more than a first-year teacher could make, or a fifth-year, or a 20-year, you know? I mean, it was… there was just such a ceiling on it. And then there was the administration, and the parents that you had to deal with, and a lot of crazy, and so about year 5, I started thinking, I need to find something else to do, you know? And so, I, I eventually became a children’s minister at my church. So, I was at a large church in Dallas, and I did that for about 3 years, and I really learned, like, administration in that job. I had over 100 volunteer teachers that were under me. I acted as a liaison between the preschool and the church itself, and so I just learned… I look back, I was, like, 27 years old, Meg, and I’m like, I cannot believe they gave this much responsibility to a 27-year-old. But I learned so much from that, and I went through some bumps in the road. I went through a divorce, when I was 30. I, ended up with the stress of the divorce and the things that happened leading up to it. I became really ill. And, I had to quit working for about 2 years. I developed… Oh! Yeah, I developed a systemic infection that, I went into multi-system failure from it. And I was terribly, terribly ill, and I ended up having to go through a treatment similar to an oral chemotherapy to kill out the infection. And it was really just brought on by stress. I mean, that was what it boiled down to, so… During that time, I, you know, I had a lot of time to think and do a lot of soul-searching. After about 2 years, the doctor said, you can go back to work. Part-time, but it has to be stress-free. And I’m like… well, what kind of job is that? Because wouldn’t everybody be doing it, you know? So, I ended up… I was out on a walk one day, and I walked past the strip center, and there was this cute little boutique with great clothes and shoes and jewelry, and it had a Help Wanted sign. So, I went in there, I thought, I can dress myself, I think I could probably dress other people, and it was a sales position, it was part-time, it was, like, 15 hours a week, you know, it was perfect. And so. They offered me the position, and it was a female-owned business. There were 4 very strong women that worked there that, like, took me under their wing, but the owner and the manager in particular, they started teaching me the business side, and I found there… I mean, my first day, the first hour, I had a $2,000 sale. Which, I didn’t know it at the time, but, like, that was, like, a whole day. Usually. And so, at the end of my first day, the lady who owned the shop came up and said, I’m gonna give you a dollar an hour raise. Like, you’re really good at this. You haven’t done this before, you’re sure? I was like, nope, I haven’t. So, I just fell into, like, sales was just really easy, but it was because I like to talk to people. I asked questions, I found out what was important to them, and what was their lifestyle, and what kind of trip were they going on, and, you know, just those kinds of things, and… So, you know, the sales part of things is pretty easy, but they started teaching me the merchandising, and the buying, and the balancing the books, and, you know, all that stuff, and I found out I was a businesswoman, like, I had a head for business, and I didn’t realize it. So, that led to some other opportunities. I started producing fashion shows for this boutique, and I got the other stores that were in the strip center. We would do these huge events together, and, you know, big promotions, like, once a quarter, and things like that, and… So, we were… my husband and I, were both from Texas, but we met in Virginia, and that’s where we both were, and this is where I was working at the boutique. And but we wanted to come back to Texas, that was home. And so he got a job, finally, down here, and we transferred back here. And at that point, I had decided, I really want to be my own boss. I just, you know, so I took that leap of faith that you talk about. I mean, I just… You know, these are crazy entrepreneurs that we are, we chuck everything to the side, all stability and security of a paycheck and insurance and benefits and all those good things, and we bet on ourselves.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: And my husband did not understand that at all. He was supportive, but he is a 9-to-fiver corporate insurance and benefits, and thank God, because we needed that. And like I said, he was very supportive of me starting my business. He didn’t really understand it. And the first… I got invited to a networking event. And I walked into this event, and I was like, oh my goodness, these are my people. They were other entrepreneurs, they were people who were crazy like I was, you know, and decided that… they were gonna take that big leap of faith, and most of the… I was so new in business, most of them were way… you know, they were ahead of me.

Meg: Damn.

Stacy: But they became my friends and my mentors, my cheerleaders, my clients eventually. And, the first business I started was an image consulting business. I did PR events for businesses, open houses and client appreciation and, you know, different things like that. And, So anyway, I just, so I started networking, and I just loved it. I didn’t have a lot of money to start the business, but I did have a lot of time, and so I spent that time into relationships. We had… been transferred to the Houston area. I live in a place called the Woodlands, Texas, and it’s a very close-knit community, but we moved here, my husband and I, neither one of us knew one single person. I mean, not a soul.

Meg: It probably didn’t take you very long to fix.

Stacy: And started, yeah, you know, once I started networking, I started meeting people and making friends, and, you know, but I also observed there were people who were networking, and they were filling their pipeline. Their businesses were booming, the phone was ringing all the time. There were other people who, like me at first. They made a lot of friends. But business was stagnant. Or, you know, they just weren’t turning those networking opportunities into business for them, so I really started studying these more mature networkers and what they were doing. I started reading books, The Go Giver changed my life. I start, you know, and I really became a student of networking, and so eventually, I stepped into owning my 5 franchises with, a networking organization. So it was 5 in-person groups that I ran for 10 years. And, I launched my consulting business about 3 years ago in anticipation of my exit from the franchise. I never intended to, go past 10 years with it. So, and now, what I am doing, I just see this huge need, you know, because I think… Business owners and sales managers and VP of sales, we tell people, you need to network. But nobody tells them how to do it. And the example I always give people is if I said, Meg, tomorrow’s my birthday, and I want you to make this chocolate cake, but I’m not going to give you the recipe. And that’s what we do when we tell people you need to network. Okay, what does that mean? just show up and hope you meet in… you run into somebody, just, you know, I mean, it’s… we… there’s just… there’s been no system. So, when I created my business, my… my workshops and seminars, my keynote speaking that I do, I teach people a system that I have come up with, that it doesn’t matter if you’re introvert or extrovert. It is a system that you can intentionally implement that teaches you how to network in a way that builds deep relationships, because to me, it is always about the people first. You build deep relationships, but it also ensures that your time spent networking turns into profits.

Meg: Fascinating, all of that. The… something you just said, introvert versus extrovert.

People who are introverted think that extroverts have an easier time, but extrovert… it doesn’t… it doesn’t make you a better networker.

Stacy: It does not. – you’re right.

Meg: me, my definition of… and I’m an extrovert, my batteries are recharged. The more people I meet and I get to talk to. my cup is full. Introverts re-energize by doing solo, reading a book, going swimming is a very singular activity, not a team sport. The people I talk to about networking think, oh, extroverts have an easier time with it. So, can you identify a bit about who… who needs this the most, and… and what the skills are? Introvert, extrovert, what do you need to know about doing this successfully?

Stacy: Yeah, so I think a lot of times introverts tell themselves, I’m not going to be good at this, because my battery drains quickly when I’m around a lot of people, but their batteries drain quickly, I believe, because they feel like they have to talk, they have to almost, like, perform and carry the conversation. But actually, introverts are… they are amazing networkers because they’re great listeners.

Meg: Yeah.

Stacy: They would rather listen than talk. And people love to talk about themselves, they just need somebody to listen. So, introverts can be amazing networkers because of that. So, I really, emphasize to the introvert, don’t discount yourself that you are not good at this. because you’re not an extrovert, you are good at this because you are a great listener. And you ask the questions that evoke conversation, pull the information from people, they’re going to tell you the things that they need that you can help them with to create value and to create a foundation of a relationship. When you do that, it takes all the pressure. off of you. And so, I always tell people, go into networking with the mindset of, who can I help, instead of who can help me? And just determine, every person I talk to, I’m gonna do something that is helpful to them. No matter what. For the extroverts, they do recharge from being around people, they get, like, higher and higher. It’s almost like a drug, you know, being in a big crowd. And you want to talk to as many people as you can, but the problem is that conversations tend to be aimless. Instead of being strategic, and you just kind of talk, but you never turn the conversation into business. You meet a lot of people, you have a lot of friends, but it never actually turns into something, you know? And it doesn’t always have to be they become a client, but maybe they’ll become a referral partner. You collaborate on a project, they become a resource to you. a mentor, but if you’re just busy talking and not listening, then that never happens. So, it really is… that’s why this system that I teach, I call it the Six Pillars of Networking, it… it reigns in the extrovert, and it brings out the introvert.

Meg: Perfect. There’s so much to learn about networking for people who’ve never done it before. They’ve been in a career for a long time.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: How… how… Let me ask you this about your franchise experience. Sure. Did that teach you… Because you were already on to networking.

Stacy: I was, yes. I had been networking for, let’s see, for about… 12 years at that point.

Meg: Go to the franchise. that teach you new skills that… that opened your eyes to then create this program that you have?

Stacy: It did, it really did, because I, You know, I became good at networking for my business. I knew what to say and how to… how to, direct the conversation and things like that, but in… with my networking franchises, you know, it was based on a membership. So, I was… I was pulling in members into these groups. And my responsibility, was to make those people successful. You know, I mean, they had to do their part, but I needed to put the right mix of people together. And I realized very quickly, you know, watching them, how many of them struggled with… I mean, they were in a room that could have been a gold mine. Of resources and referral partners for them, but they were not taking advantage of the people who were right there in front of them. you know, they were… and they were still at networking, networking, networking, like, they were… I always say, like, be a connector, not a collector. They were collecting business cards, they were collecting contacts, but they weren’t going deep with the relationship. So, I really did, in observing. the networking habits of my members, and the things that they did right, and the things that needed to be tweaked, you know, that really helped me a lot in putting this together, and making this a system that it applies to whatever industry you’re in. It doesn’t matter.

Meg: Are there some tidbits of wisdom that you can share That would help People crystallize in their head what the ask is. People are uncomfortable asking for business. They’re uncomfortable talking about what… you know, I don’t want to sell anything, I don’t want to sound like it’s all about me, but are there some little gems that you can share for people to get comfortable with being uncomfortable?

Stacy: Yeah. Yeah, I think, it becomes… Well, number one, it’s a few things. Number one, you have to be prepared with your answer. You have to know when people ask you, because good people, good networkers, people who genuinely are wanting to help you, they’re gonna ask you that question, Meg, what can I do for you? What is your biggest need right now? What’s your biggest challenge? Who can I introduce you to? You know, that’s a great one to ask. And if we don’t have that answer ready, and no, who, you know, we can’t say, oh, anybody who, you know, you’re a realtor, anybody that wants to buy a house, you know, anybody that wants to sell a house, so we have to be very specific in our minds who our referral partners are. And I just, really quick, I want to make sure everybody understands, like, I do a whole webinar about this, what is the difference between a referral and a referral partner. So, a referral, you know, is a one-time… it’s a, Meg, you’re a realtor, my mom is buying a house, I’m sending her to you, but my mom probably isn’t gonna buy a house for the rest of her life. Like, it’s a one-shot deal. You know, she might tell people about you and that kind of thing, but… but that’s it. Right? So, but if I connect you with a… you’re a residential realtor, and I connect you with a commercial realtor. who gets calls all the time about residential real estate, but he doesn’t do residential real estate. I’m gonna connect you two so that you can… and you get calls about commercial real estate. So I’m going to connect you two so that you can send business back and forth to each other. So a referral partner is somebody who is talking to the same audience. The same clientele that you want to be in front of, but they don’t do the same thing that you do. So, we need a list of 5 or 6 referral partners, so when we are asked that question, what can I do for you?

You can introduce me to the best attorneys that you know. You can introduce me to the best business coach that you know. That would be great. You know, so we have to be ready with our answer, as far, you know, as that. The other thing is, we need to make sure that we have That we deserve. the right to ask. We need to have filled somebody’s bucket first, before we ask to take anything from them. And so we need to have poured into them. There needs to be a relationship there, before we really put that big ask out there, in front of people. And sometimes people will just say, you know, hey, tell me what you need. But I have found those opportunities don’t come along very often. People tend to be guarded, and… well, you know, there’s good reason for it. You need to build that visibility and credibility and trust with people, and so you need to be sure that you have done all of those things to really earn the respect and the trust of the person that you’re asking this, this favor, this request, you know, that you have.

So, I, I mean, just last week, I… I have a friend who… we have been friends for… I met her when she was 19. She used to do hair and makeup for my models when I was producing fashion shows. She was started… just graduated from cosmetology school. I knew her before husband and babies and all this stuff. She just turned 40 years old. Makes me feel so old. But her husband has worked for a multi-billion dollar corporation for over 20 years. And his is a corporation, it’s in the top 50 in the world. And his is a corporation that I would love to get my foot in the door. I’ve… I’ve never asked, you know, I mean, we have been through so many ups and downs together through life, but she and I were having lunch last week, and she was like, Stacy, what can I do to help you? And I said, well, it’s not really what you can do. But do you think that your husband would be willing, this is what I want, I want speaking opportunities for big corporations.

Do you think he’d be willing to coach me a little bit? Maybe help me get my foot in the door there, just give me some ideas? She was like, of course he loves you, he would do anything for you. Look at all you’ve done for us, you know? So, you’ve babysit our kids, you’ve done this and that, you’re their godmother. So, she picks up the phone and calls him right then, and he said, Stacy, call me after 5. I’m getting ready to walk into a meeting, I am happy to help you. The next day, he had already sent my information to his superior for their conference that they’re having in the fall in Atlanta. He put my name in the hat. So, you know, this is a 20-year relationship. It’s a big ask, you know, because he’s putting his neck on the line with a big company. But we had 20 years that of supporting each other and loving each other, that I could ask that, and I didn’t feel icky doing it. So, you know, we really have to… we have to build up the collateral, the relationship collateral that we have.

Meg: The relationship collateral is… is super important. There’s also… I think people don’t realize how important, also, your visibility on the internet is.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: your visibility on LinkedIn with your picture. And having it be an authentic portrayal of who you are today. Yeah. And you’ve been working on… you’ve been working on your website recently.

Stacy: I have, yeah.

Meg: So, what are some, again, tidbits or golden nuggets that you have for people to… and then we’ll circle back around to what you were just saying, but.

Stacy: Hmm.

Meg: You have to have the internet visibility as well as the ability to build relationships in real time.

Stacy: Yeah, you do. You know, it’s… It’s just the world that we live in now. I mean, it’s the social media, you know, your LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, people… the more visibility you have there, and the more that you can share on there about who you are and what you do, how you can help them, the problems that you solve. You may never have met someone face-to-face, but they feel like they know you already, and when they see that consistently, they see that you’re doing this as a business. This isn’t a hobby, it’s not a side gig, it’s not a, you know, that this is who you are, and this is what you do. And you become top of mind when that… when that topic comes up. You know, I’m thinking of buying a franchise. I’m gonna retire at 55 and buy a franchise, and you want them to think, Meg. I gotta connect them with Meg, you know? So, that’s… That’s what we, you know, that’s what’s behind the social media, and just being… who you are, talking about what you love, and, being generous. Be generous with the information that you put out there. I always say, like, there’s no such thing as competition, because there’s only one you.

Meg: Oh, I love that. Thank you for bringing that up.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: One of my most hated phrases is imposter syndrome. we’ve… we’ve all been faking it till we make it. First day you bring home that kitten, or that puppy, or that baby, they don’t know that you’ve never done this before.

Stacy: Right.

Meg: He’s coming home from the hospital to a home that’s never had a baby wolf.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: We’ve all been… pastors at some point.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: Thank you for bringing that up. The… And what I have learned over the years… I remember when I first got divorced, and I’d sold my businesses, and I had jumped into this consulting role. I hated buying leads, and I knew that I could get on a soapbox and talk about owning your own business, because I’d owned my own business with great clips. Now I’m wearing this different hat, and I wasn’t good at it in the beginning. And so I’ve learned over the years People connect to people who are real, multidimensional, interesting human beings.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: People are always surprised. I’m not quite 5’4″, 105 pounds. I have 3 chainsaws. I love getting out there. I feel like…

Stacy: What’s all that Pilates that you do?

Meg: It’s all that Pilates that I do, and so my branding person said, will you please just take your phone out with you when you’re walking the prairie, when you’re doing a class, when you’re… Doing the things that make you interesting, and don’t. Hesitate to turn personal, tangential experiences into something that’s relatable in business.

Stacy: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, because people really, you know, they… they want to know who you are, and they want to, they want to see that you struggle, too. They do. I mean, they… because we all… if everything is perfect, then, you know, they’re think… they’re looking at it and thinking, she has no clue. what it is like to have a troubled marriage, a sick kid, a parent that’s ill, business cash flow is down, the phone isn’t ringing, you know, I mean, there’s so many stresses that we have in life, and when we just try to look perfect all the time, it doesn’t… people can’t relate. They can’t relate, and they just think, this isn’t somebody who can help me because they don’t understand where I’m coming from. So, it’s, yeah, I mean, that is… our visibility on social media is so important. I even… I don’t know if you saw my website, but I have… I have a professional bio, and I have a personal bio. And my personal bio is… this is who I am. You know, this is… how I was raised, here are my three cats, here’s my husband, I love to vacation on the beach and the mountains, and I like to walk, and I love to cook and feed people good food, and, you know, those kinds of things, because I want people to know who I am. Because it… I’m not just my business.

Meg: That’s a really good idea, and I know my, my, branding and, personal stylist is who produces these podcasts, so note to self, maybe that’s another page to put on my own website. Yeah. The pictures… I had a great time working with a photographer, doing not just my headshot, but a whole… photo shoot. I brought multiple changes of clothes, I brought a chainsaw, all of my… all of my…

Stacy: I love it!

Meg: Steel-toed boots, and I… my husband and I were in New York a bunch of years ago. At Christmas time, we were walking through Bergdorf Goodman, the shoe department. beautiful Louis Vuitton booties.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: on sale, which was still an arm and a leg, but, like, whatever, it’s Christmas in New York.

Stacy: They were on sale, you were saving money! Yeah.

Meg: I took those on the photoshoot as well. So I had this whole spectrum of different boots that I wear. What do I wear for the fashionista self? It’s totally different than what I wear for my weekend outdoorsy self.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: Play, people! If you’re still listening, play with who you are, so that As you’re creating relationships, people can see just how human and interesting you really are.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And honestly, that’s something I’m… I’m working with a new social media company, and that was the first thing he told me, is we need to see more of, like, just your day-to-day life, you know? And I’m very genuine, I’m very real with the people that I interact in my world, you know, the people face-to-face on Zoom, I mean, we share… what’s going on, the struggles, the, you know, the this and that, but I have not been as good about that on social media as I need to. Probably. So, it’s a good reminder for me, too.

Meg: Well, and so in the notes that you provided before we started recording, one of the tips that resonated very strongly with me is to go back through your calendar. for the week, for the month. You said it to me, and I felt the same way about you. You were a highlight of my week last week, so every Friday, I go back through my week and say, who are the people who rocked my world, who are noteworthy and I need to keep in touch with? And to make that a priority so that Good networking doesn’t grow stale, and those relationships need to come to fruition, but they need to be nurtured.

Stacy: Yes, yeah. So, I go back, yeah, every… about every… well, I’ll have my VA put a list together about every two weeks, all the people that I have met with. And then we go back and we send a very personalized email to them, you know, hey Meg, I hope you had a great trip, it was so good to talk to you, let’s get together in a couple of weeks and just check in, see what’s going on. See how we might be able to help each other, you know, that kind of thing. So, I go through, I make notes after I talk to them about what we talked about, specific things. Because I always want people to know that I remember them. They’re not just getting a template email that I send out to everybody. So, I put in, you know, something personal that we talked about, and then when I want to follow up with them, and do they fall into the client category, the referral partner category? it’s a not right now, but put them in my, you know, nurture campaign, add them to my newsletter list, that kind of thing. Are they a friend? Like, we just connected, don’t really see anything right now that… that we can do, but we just really liked each other. So, you know, we just… I categorize them that way, and then Send reminders, it sends reminders to me when to send the emails out, and it’s very quick and easy, and if you do it every week or two, it doesn’t get backed up.

Meg: Yeah, and in my networking groups, one of the groups that I participate in is called Centers of Influence. And one of the gentlemen who’s there religiously wouldn’t miss it for the world, and neither would I, but he’s so vocal in saying, listen, if you’re not gonna show up, I’m gonna forget you.

Stacy: That’s right.

Meg: You, you might make a great impression on me today.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: But I… I need that tickler, I need that reminder, and if you don’t show up, and you don’t know what to say, or you talk my ear off, if there are people who are… who really don’t get it. who… will talk and talk and talk, and not read the room virtually or in person.

Stacy: Right.

Meg: You’ve lost them already, and you may as well write that one off, because you’re not going to get any business out of it.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: Have you, to your point, have your answers, be specific. Respect other people’s time.

Stacy: Yes.

Meg: And then shut up and listen.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: And be intentional about that takeaway. Stacy equals red. Stacy equals… you were so specific last week when we were talking. I know exactly who you want to work with and who you can help. Lawyers, accountants, engineers, need to reach out to Stacy to work with her in order to get your, whether you’re networking for a new job. entrepreneur who’s networking to build your business, get with Stacy, because she’s going to help you.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah.

Meg: Such a great listener.

Stacy: Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Yeah, it’s…

Meg: We had a great conversation, and…

Stacy: We did.

Meg: I know exactly who you’re looking for, and you know exactly what I’m looking for, and it only took me half an hour to.

Stacy: I know! And now we’re back to, like, friends for life, so…

Meg: And people said at the beginning of the pandemic, you can’t create real relationships virtually, it’s gotta be in person.

Stacy: No, no, no, no, no, no. I know, I know, and honestly, I was one of those. I mean, I was like, how is this going to work? Because I am just such an in-person, I want to hug you and talk to you and hold your hand and, you know, and but it’s… it’s funny, I was laughing with some of my friends about this not too long ago, you know, because I am on Zoom calls at least a few hours every day doing stuff like this, and my girlfriend, she was like, did you ever think back in 2020 that you would be on Zoom all the time? I’m like, no. But I have… I have friends all over the world that I have made. We have never met in person, but, like, we genuinely love and care about each other, so it really is… it’s an amazing time that we live in. To be able… To do business anywhere, with anyone, you know?

Meg: So important to… to take those virtual relationships, and here’s a really excellent case in point. There’s a gal in Madison. It’s only about 45 minutes away from me, it’s really not that far. There’s another gal who’s about an hour away. He’s just north of Madison. Two of the best networkers I’ve ever met in my life, and they’re virtual. Now, I have the time and ability to get out to Madison. But we’ve… we’ve had this great relationship. There’s another gal up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Okay, that’s two and a half hours away.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: She and I connected at the beginning of the year. We’ve done virtual cocktails once. Her father-in-law just passed away. It was a beautiful LinkedIn post that she made reference to him, and what a wonderful entrepreneur. All this outpouring. Sarah is her name, and she wrote back to me and said, Dear friend, thank you so much for the comments that I had put on LinkedIn acknowledging her obvious love for this man. Dear friend, I met her at the beginning of the year. We’ve… virtually. We’ve had cocktails together. So, believe it, people, you can make the most of…

It’s virtual world we’re in. You need to get comfortable with who you are and how you represent.

Stacy: You do, and you have to just be consistent. You have to continue to reach out, because it’s not like you’re going to run into them. somewhere, at a networking meeting, or, you know, something like that, like you do in person. So, you really do have to be intentional about the people that you are meeting virtually, but I am amazed at the relationships I’ve been able to build over the last few years. Just doing… doing the virtual stuff.

Meg: Another excellent case in point that if you… I’m telling you, if you put it out there, the universe will deliver. There’s one of the people I was referencing in Mel… in Madison. She and I stayed in touch. I invited her to the podcast. We actually met in person at a grand opening of a franchise in Madison, like. Of course, I knew exactly who she was as soon as I saw her. She said that she is co-chair of an in-person networking event.

Stacy: Hmm.

Meg: And she just lost her co-chair. And I said, Karen, I’m… I would love to do that.

Stacy: Oh, wow!

Meg: The Women’s Franchise Network, it’s an IFA offshoot.

Stacy: Yeah, what a.

Meg: I don’t…

Stacy: theme.

Meg: I got approved yesterday to be the new co-chair. Yay! I get to be in person with.

Stacy: Yeah.

Meg: be in person. If that virtual relationship hadn’t turned into a happenstance meeting in person. Yeah. Then, that door might never have opened.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah, so don’t… Yes, it is… it just… it takes a little getting used to, but it’s so worth it. It really is. It really is. To be able to, you know, to be able to be in contact with anybody, anywhere in the world is just so incredible when you really think about it. And it… it takes the lid off of the possibilities.

You can do business and who you can do it with. So, yeah, yeah, it’s a huge part of what I do. I spent, like I said, at least 2 or 3 hours a day, on Zoom calls, meeting new people. I have done over 100 Zoom calls since January. Yeah. Yeah. pretty… that’s pretty much just Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Monday’s my admin day, Fridays I host an in-person event, so pretty much all those have been done on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the week.

Meg: Good for you, and every week you have an in-person event.

Stacy: I do.

Meg: Tell me about that, I might even copy that.

Stacy: This is so funny, I was in a business coaching group, it was during COVID, it was early 2021, and I was so frustrated, because people were still not getting out and meeting in person. So we’re in Texas, and Texas, we kind of ignored it, you know, for the most part. We just kind of did our own thing, but… So, it wasn’t that you couldn’t get out, but people were afraid of offending other people who didn’t want to get out. You know, I mean, it’s just such a weird time. So anyway, I told my business coach, I was like, business is cratering for me, getting members, because the way I’d gotten numbers before was. Meeting people in person, and… inviting them to be a part of the group, and I’m down 50%, my membership, and… which meant my income was down 50%. And he goes, well, what are you going to do to fix that? And I went, well, I was hoping you would tell me, you know? So, he goes, well, if you need to get people together, maybe you need to… you’re good at events, maybe you need to get people together. And I was like, huh, okay, so thought about it a little bit. I went onto Facebook and said, if you are tired of not networking, not meeting in person, meet me Friday morning for breakfast. There’s a restaurant we have here called The Kitchen. Meet me at the kitchen at 9 o’clock. It’s for anybody who wants to come. So I had about 8 people that showed up. We were the only people in the restaurant, okay? The restaurant was so happy for us to be there. And it has just grown. We just had our 5-year anniversary 2 weeks ago, and we now average 50 to 60 people a week.

Meg: Whoa.

Stacy: So, it’s just become a huge… community… it’s a community outreach that I do. I don’t charge for it, there’s no membership, there’s no required attendance requirements. It is casual come and go. Come anytime between 9 and 10.30, grab a cup of coffee, eat breakfast if you want to, talk to a few people, stay in the whole time if you want to. It is just super informal, and I have people from all walks of life that come. I have entrepreneurs, I have salespeople who… from multiple industries, I have retirees who come, you know, people that I’ve known over the years. I’m like, come and have coffee, like, you have all this experience, come and share it with these people. I have people who are looking for jobs, we’ve helped a lot… we’ve helped a lot of people find jobs. From them coming to their coffee, so it’s just become a… we do it every Friday morning, you know, religiously, and even if I’m out of town, I have a couple of people that will step in and run it for me, and it’s… it’s just be… it’s… I call it Coffee Connection, and it’s just, like, taken on this life of its own. It’s, like, just a whole… its own entity.

Meg: What an amazing… What an amazing group. what an amazing story. I’m so glad we could find the time to do this podcast now. Everything that we’ve talked about is so inspiring for me. And I love the network already. I think I was born… my mother will say that I was born with a stranger as a friend I haven’t met yet kind of an attitude.

Stacy: Yes, and so.

Meg: So, you’re my new friend, and I’ve loved every… you’ve given us so many great insights and nuggets of gold to take away from this interview, and so I just want to thank you once again, Stacy Harris.

Stacy: Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much.

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