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“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” 

In today’s work world, who you know is even more important to creating the momentum around what you may want to pursue.

That means networking needs to be a priority as you work towards your personal and professional goals, but unfortunately, many people see networking inevitably as a four letter word. They see it as being incredibly transactional and me-centered, especially in our digital world. So what are the keys to building relationships that are meaningful? How do you create that operational path to move you along your journey?

For Bryan Wish, entrepreneur and founder of a mission-driven brand agency, having a roadmap of where you want to go helps you identify those relationships worth investing time in.  Bryan the founder and CEO of BW Missions, an agency that helps transform experts into thought leaders. He’s helped mission-driven entrepreneurs and CEOs develop and execute digital strategies behind their book, product, and business launches. Bryan pursues life with a dedicated resiliency to discover, build, and grow missions that matter.

In this episode, Bryan shares his career journey and his approach to aligning passion and purpose to build the necessary network to help you get there, but doing it fundamentally in an authentic way. And that path started with this feeling that he didn’t fit the common mold, no matter how hard he worked. 

From Not Fitting the Mold to Carving Out His Own

Bryan always had an innate need to do something different. From an early age, he never felt like he fit the mold, but he also didn’t necessarily want to conform. From his early experiences with sports, school, and his family, he learned that he wanted to set out to do this his own way, or at least in a way that felt right to him.

That led him to parallel pathing an entrepreneurial journey in college, which started with his internships in the sports industry. Yet after acquiring breadth and depth of experience he knew the potential trajectory wasn’t going to be the right fit. After introspection and personal evaluation to determine who he wanted to be and how that could be helpful to others, Bryan began to build out his passion project, a writing platform for young people to connect and express themselves, called The Wish Dish. It was a transformational period in which he had to figure out what his why and take risks to make his dreams a reality. But he followed his intuition, which acted as his internal compass. And that was only the beginning.

He might not have known exactly what his end-goal was, but he knew that he wanted to build something meaningful and not just connect with people, but connect them with each other. He had spotted trends by seeing what was happening around him and he had created his compass.  Simultaneously he was preparing for change, embracing fear and leaning into it, and building his village.  

Building a Business Based on Passion and a Mission

Bryan eventually decided to pivot from running The Wish Dish while working for an organization called Kairos Society. There, Bryan was part of an initiative that gathered together the brightest young minds and connected them with leaders who were grappling global issues. Kairos is a mission-driven organization that invests in young entrepreneurs bringing high-impact innovations to market and rooted in advancing the world in meaningful ways. Bryan relished being a part of that community to do good.  

But he realized again that he was ready for another pivot which ultimately led to creating his unique career mashup. He began working in content development, which would eventually lead to the establishment of BW Missions. 

“I didn't feel ready to start my own thing yet. It led to me running a book launch in a brand for a successful CEO in DC named Allen Gannett. And was able to really work on his content and his community and his brand and his product, and really kind of see everything come together.” 

And that’s where Bryan saw an opportunity:  “I saw a gap in the market for Allen. How do I work with 20, 40, a hundred Allens at a time and really help them find their next path and something they're passionate about scale their community, their content, and their brand?”

So, Bryan created BW Missions to do just that. Since its launch, BW Missions has helped mission-driven entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, and CEOs — including Nir Eyal (Author of Hooked & Indistractable), Rick Smith (CEO Axon/ formerly TASER), Denise Gosnell (Chief Data Officer at DataStax), Dan Berger (Former CEO of Social Tables, acquired by CVENT), and many more — to develop and execute digital strategies behind book, product, and business launches.

Building a Village to Help Get You There via Authenticity and Networking 

Bryan’s innate ability to connect with people is really what helped him get BW Missions off the ground. But that didn’t mean he was an expert at networking right off the bat. He had to do a lot of testing and learning as he built his village, but those lessons in the end helped shape his philosophy about riding the line between selfishness and selflessness when it comes to pursuing a passion.

To ride that line, his networking activities always began with a strategic plan: “I think it's been this constant process of, okay, where am I? Where do I need to go based on the vision at hand, who's done it and how do I get in front of them and how do I use content, writing stories, sharing content, or doing things in a purposeful way, to showcase those people or to get in touch with those people? It's always about thinking about where are you trying to go and why, and then finding the right people to do it.

For Bryan, doing your homework is a major part in building your network. Know about the people you want to connect with, know where they “hang out,” and prepare thoughtful questions to ask. Then follow up with something valuable to them. You don’t always have to keep the conversation going through a series of questions — you can simply send them tips and recommendations based on things you know about them.

One of the most important lessons Bryan shared is learning to balance those selfish motivations with selfless actions. You need to stay true to your path and do what’s best for yourself, but you can’t get there without a village. So you have to network meaningfully. 

The way to determine new opportunities, both in your personal and professional lives, is knowing the key people who have insight into areas you want to explore. Just remember to be authentic, find commonality, and most importantly, do your homework, because, as the 7 Ps tell us, prior proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.

Key Takeaways:

• Doing your homework and being prepared is the best way to make a good impression when you’re meeting someone new for the first time. It’s also key to keeping up with people you are already close with and maintaining those relationships.

  • This is how you can plan to add value to your current and potential new contacts. Your intention is to find and cultivate commonality to create an authentic connection. That means building solid rapport and drawing these new connections into your circle.

• Many people underestimate how hard it is to build a really authentic relationship. And then once they do have an initial touch point, they don't understand the questions to ask.

  • Rather than focus on questions to ask them, after that touch point, just show up and be valuable in that person's life, based on the questions they ask you.

  • You can follow-up with articles or resources valuable to that person based on something they mentioned or were struggling with. 

• When building your network, you need to know where you want to go first. Especially for people who are younger, you need to understand, “What's something I really want to do for myself and what am I going to be relentless to get there?”

• Time is valuable and you should spend it with the people who you can help and who can help you. Embrace some spontaneity along the way, but remember the compass you’ve created for yourself. 

• LinkedIn is a very powerful tool when used correctly. Just remember: why are you reaching out to someone? Is it just to add a follower or connection to your inbox or is it to intentionally get in touch with someone? In the end, make sure you have a very clear purpose and tailored message to them.

• Your roadmap doesn't need to be exact. Initially plot out a vision for your life and then identify people who have gone down those roads to help you get there.

• As your network grows, treat people with respect and let the serendipitous nature of the world ride you on its course. Also trust your internal voice even when it's hard and let it guide you to the decisions that you're supposed to take.

Resources:

• Connect with Bryan on LinkedIn | Twitter

• Email Bryan at bryan@bryanwish.com

• Visit BW Missions

• Learn more about Networking in Building the Business of You

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