You’ve probably heard the famous quote by Zig Ziglar: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”   

Success is all about building great relationships and serving other people well. But what if you’re an introverted writer? How can you succeed in a world that is so relationship-driven?  

That was a struggle of mine for most of my life. Back when I was a pastor, this was a real problem. When you’re in ministry, you’re around people all the time. Church work is obviously people-centric. I was a worship pastor, and we had three services on Sunday morning, plus a Sunday night service.     

I was so emotionally drained by the time Sunday night church was over that many times, as soon as the service was done, I would put my guitar away, walk behind the stage, and take a side exit so nobody would see me leave. I was so drained that I literally could not form the words to have a conversation with one more person. (I’m going to offer a blanket apology to anybody at that church in Streator, Illinois.)  

If you’re listening to this episode, there is a high probability you can relate to this since I believe most writers are introverts. Most writers write because that’s the way we love to communicate. We love people, but quite honestly, they sometimes drain us.  

So how can you be successful in a hyper-connected world, or in a business or leadership environment that depends so much on networking and relationships? How do you successfully engage as an introvert without losing your mind?  

I’m not the world’s networking expert. In fact, I’m no expert on this at all. But over the last few years, I have found a few strategies that have worked pretty well for me. In many ways, these strategies are designed for introverts because they involve things where introverts excel: writing, creating content, planning, and paying attention to detail. 

Certainly, there are many extroverts who are great in those areas as well — don’t get me wrong! But, in my experience, introverts are uniquely suited to use these specific strategies for networking.  

Now before I share these five tactics, let’s establish a little context with a very important question: what is the purpose of networking and building these relationships? It’s quite simple and it goes back to the Ziglar quote: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”  

This all comes down to helping people. This is all rooted in service and generosity. If you don’t have those two elements as fundamental ways of living, it won’t work. Please keep that in mind.   

Our success is a by-product of serving other people. We serve and give because we value other people, first and foremost. That means we need to be at the top of our game when we’re serving others. That means we’re excellent and we’re always improving. If we do those things, we will reap the fruit of success.  

Now, let’s dive into five specific networking strategies for introverted writers.    

1. Post reviews for books and podcasts.

An important principle to keep in mind is that people’s #1 need is to feel affirmed and valued. A great way to meet this need is to leave a review for someone’s podcast on iTunes, or leave a review for their book on Amazon and Goodreads. Then, you take a screenshot of your review and send it to the person, or better yet, post it on social media and tag the person. It’s simple, it encourages others, and it establishes a connection.  

Make it a goal to do this for one or two people every day. If you challenge yourself and include this as a part of your social media routine, it’s easy.  

2. Send gifts and handwritten cards to people.

I do this all the time for my podcast guests and many others who I want to thank for any reason. Now, sending a card does take some time and a little bit of money because there’s postage, but the return you get is amazing. People really love getting stuff in the mail.     

Often, I also include a little key in the card — a skeleton key. I write something like: “Here is a little reminder of your power to unlock other people’s creative potential.” People go nuts for it. We all love trinkets and little reminders of important truths.  

I also send out books to people. In fact, I just sent out a bunch of books to podcast guests a few weeks ago. One of the benefits of doing this is that people sometimes post a picture of the book on social media. I don’t do it to get the pics, but it’s great marketing.   

There are all kinds of other gifts you can send, as well. Check out John Ruhlin’s book, Giftology, for lots of great ideas.  

Sending cards and gifts might seem like a hassle, but that’s precisely why you should do it: hardly anybody else is doing it. Your thoughtfulness and intentionality will stand out. 

3. Send personalized videos.

This strategy is something I learned from my friend Aaron Hunt, who is a personal branding expert. He and my friend Andy Storch are masters at sending short, personalized videos to people. 

When you want to forge a deeper connection with someone, use an app like Loom to record a short video where you say what you appreciate about the person, something special you noticed, or some kind of mutual connection you have. Then make sure and title it with their name — i.e. Video for Steven, etc. That way it shows up as a personalized video. Be sure to make it short — just a minute or two.  

This is actually how I got my second ghostwriting book. I sent a personalized video to the person, just to say what I appreciated about their work and how it impacted me. That video led to a phone call to further connect, and the rest is history.  

Now as an introvert, you probably don’t like video, and it’s not my medium of choice, either. But it’s just like a handwritten card — hardly anybody does it. It’s powerful and effective because it’s RARE. I would challenge you to get comfortable on video. Learn to make it your friend. People don’t care if you don’t have a perfectly smooth delivery — the fact that it’s from you and is authentic, makes it powerful.  

This personalized video strategy is very, very, very valuable. It blows people away.  

4. Join a paid community or mastermind.

As with most things, the more you invest, the more you will get out of it.  

Here’s the thing with paid groups, in general — the fact that people are paying to be there means they are more serious about growing and learning. Because payment is a barrier to entry, the quality of the people in the group will likely be higher than in free groups.   

I’m not saying free groups are bad by any means, but if you really want to accelerate your progress, a paid community or mastermind is the way to go.  

I’m currently part of several paid communities. Each of these groups is different in the way we interact with each other, as well as what’s included in the group. But they are all very powerful and beneficial.  

And, of course, I’m also going to take this opportunity to share about our Daily Writer Community. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about it before. This is the writing community I created because I could not find a group with all the features I wanted.  

The Daily Writer Community is literally the group I would join.  

I cannot even begin to tell you how this community has impacted people in the few short months it has existed. We have members connecting with each other, publishing books, shooting for big goals, getting more engaged in their writing, and so many other cool things. It’s really, really inspiring. 

I would highly encourage you to check it out at https://dailywriterlife.com/community.  

5. Start a podcast and interview people in your niche.

This is one of the strategies I have focused on in the last few years. Podcasting is absolutely perfect for introverts because you can do it in your own home or studio, on your time, and in your own way.   

The awesome thing about having your own podcast is that you can invite basically anyone you want onto your show — within reason, of course, but you would be very surprised at the caliber of people who will agree to come on your podcast if you extend an engaging, thought out invitation. Just look at the caliber of guests I’ve had on my show, and you’ll see what I mean. They are some truly stunning achievers, leaders, business people, authors, and creative thinkers.  

But here’s the thing about a podcast — and please hear me very, very clearly on this — IT TAKES TIME. It takes energy. It takes commitment. I dedicated 4-6 hours to my podcast every single week. Sometimes, it’s much more if I’m batch-producing episodes.   

The place where people get hung up podcasting is in the production and editing. Podcasting sounds like a lot of fun until you’ve done a few episodes, and then the reality of the workload sets in. But if you’re willing to commit to it, it’s extremely powerful. I can’t even begin to tell you how this podcast has led to some really cool results and allowed me to meet awesome people.   

OBJECTIONS:  

Now that I’ve covered these strategies, I want to address a few objections you might have that will prevent you from taking action. 

Ready? Here we go.  

Objection #1: I don’t have the time to mess with all this network-building stuff.  

Yes, networking can be time-consuming, but relationships are the most important thing you have in life. The very reason why you must do it is because so few people are putting the time into it. There is virtually no competition because most people are not willing to do the hard work of building a great network over time.  

Objection #2: I don’t have the money to join a paid group or community.  

I get this. I totally do. I was there for a very long time. But then I realized that relationships are the key to success in life. So my question is: what can you do to scrape together a little bit of money to engage in a community of high achievers?   

If that is a stretch, what can you do right now that would give you the money? What can you sell? What freelance work could you do? 

Do whatever it takes because those paid communities are high leverage. This means, if you engage in those groups and use the knowledge you gain correctly, you will get a far bigger return on your investment. 

Here is my challenge: choose one of the strategies I’ve shared above and put it into practice in the next 48 hours.  

When you utilize one of the five strategies I’ve shared, shoot me an email at kent@dailywriterlife.com. I’d love to hear how you use these networking methods in your own life.