When you’re first getting started as a solopreneur one of the most powerful things you can do is cultivate relationships with powerful people. In fact, it’s one of the most important things you can do at any point during the life of your business. Relationships are everything.

Here to share with us how to build those relationships in a genuine way is Selena Soo of S2 Groupe. She gives us practical advice on what to do, and what not to do to, to build relationships with powerful influencers. All of that and more on the 208th episode of The Solopreneur Hour.

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One of the things Selena has always loved to do is to connect and help people. Today she’s translated those traits into a thriving business; she calls people like Ramit Sethi, Derek Halpern and others her friends. And because she loves to help others build their own powerful networks like she has done she’s found a way to coach people on how to do this through her mastermind groups and one on one private coaching.

But Selena didn’t always see herself as an entrepreneur or solopreneur. While in business school she organized a conference to empower women and she made lots of great connections in the media by doing so. After she graduated and went into the workforce, she stayed in touch with those contacts and continued to do what she did naturally: bring people together who could help each other.

As her discontent with her career options grew and her social connections did too, she realized she could run her own public relations and publicity firm. At first she tried the traditional route of having clients on retainer, but that wasn’t a natural fit for the way she did business. She felt she was having to put pressure on her media contacts to make things happen for her clients, and she had never done business that way before and didn’t want to start.

More About This Show:

What is re-negotiation and how does it apply to your business?

When did she begin seeing herself as an entrepreneur?

The one thing you must do before making an introduction.

How to identify the key figures at major publications: Selena explains.

Why the shotgun approach is dead.

And SO much more!

 

So she invested a significant amount of money and hired a coach. Her coach helped her create the coaching practice she has today, and to develop and build her mastermind groups. She also hosts events where her clients mingle and create connections with people of influence.

On today’s show she shares with us some of the tips she gives her clients on how to make those initial connections and build on them until they become thriving relationships that help both parties.

One of the most powerful actions you can take according to Selena is to be at events where your contacts are going to be. So get to the conferences, the meet ups, the one-day masterminds and meet the people you admire and want to learn from and be like.

The first step in doing so is to identify your key influences. Just pick a handful of people you most want to get to know. These are generally people who fall into two categories: the first group is people you consider mentors and you want to learn from, and the second category is the super connectors (the people who know everyone and can introduce you to others).

Your next step is to do research on this small list of people you want to meet and build relationships with. Get to know them, both personally and professionally. Find out what’s most important to them so you can add value when you connect with them.

And that’s the third step: connect.