Today I’m coming to you with an important strategy tip about creating authentic connections with your tribe. As a leader in your business, it’s vital that you connect with your audience.

It’s essential that you don’t just put out lots of content with no plan. Of course, you hope people are reading what you share or are buying your stuff; the key here is making sure you’re connecting with them. When you show up as an authority, and as a thought leader, that connection is crucial.

You want to make sure that you are leading people in a way that is aligned with what your audience needs. If you’re presenting them with information that they don’t care much about, then it isn’t serving them.

We are in business not only to support ourselves but to support our current and prospective clients.

Today’s strategy for Hustle Monday is about events. I have been doing a variation of live events since mid to late 2016. My first event was hosting a five-day women’s only retreat in Virginia Beach. Ever since that retreat, I was able to see the power of hosting events.

Since then I have done meet ups, a workshop here in San Diego, and a live event in Chicago.

I even hosted a podcast launch party for starting this particular podcast. I really love the authentic connection in being able to have that in-person feeling with my tribe. It’s easy for us to get lost in that “Facebook world” where all we see from people are the highlights.

It doesn’t matter who you’re working with, often a part of their marketing strategy or how they’re showing up is talking about their highlights. What they’re sharing is their wins, success, and all of the positive things. You’re probably doing the same thing; I know I am.

But, our life isn’t all unicorns and rainbows ALL of the time.

These live events help open a door into understanding what people need, how they interact, and what’s really going on in their business. Even if you are doing sales or connection calls all of the time with prospective clients, it’s still challenging to dig deep into their expectations.

In-person interaction makes it so much easier to break down how you can best serve someone’s needs. Something that I talk about is the pyramid of connection. On the very top of the pyramid, something that few entrepreneurs apply, is being live and in person with an audience. Hosting live events, whether it’s basic networking or luxury retreats, can be extremely helpful for you.

When I was living in New York City, on the Upper East Side a friend of mine hosted a meet-up. She invited some of her tribe members from her Facebook group to join. Some people ordered food and drinks, and we all talked and hung out. She didn’t have to prepare anything besides telling this audience that she created where and when to meet her.

Now, there are a couple of things I want you to consider when hosting an event.

 

#1  Be clear on the objective

Don’t host an event just for the sake of doing so. Be really intentional with whatever your reason is. What is the objective? Is it to get sales for a particular program? Is it to show up and see who’s in your tribe and connect with them in person? Or, is it something else? That intention is key, so be clear on your objective and the purpose of your event.

 

#2  Plan how you will show up

Are you planning on showing up as someone who’s just there to hang out with people, say hi, and maybe party with them? Or, is your intention to show up as someone that is an authority and an expert who’s giving support, advice, and teaching them during this event? Be very clear on your intentions. There is no right or wrong answer.

With a clear goal in mind, it’s much easier to determine if your event was a success. There are many variables to look at regarding a successful event. Even if you didn’t meet your goal of 100 people attending the event, it could still be a win from different areas when you’re looking at key performance indicators.

 

#3  In-person connection increases leads

Something to keep in mind is that connecting with an audience face to face will increase your chance of sales and enrollments.

 

#4  Events lead to new opportunities

Depending on the objective and how you’re structuring the event, there is also a potential for creating partnerships. Events can create so much opportunity regarding community, deep connection, and fun!

I highly encourage you to start thinking about how you can incorporate live events or meet-ups into your business if it’s something you’ve been considering.

This might not necessarily be what you want to do in your business right now, and that’s okay. Just keep in mind that it could be really beneficial for you and doesn’t have to be a huge elaborate plan. It could simply be a free meet-up that you do at a bar inviting people from your local network to come and join you.

Let me know what you think about hosting events and how they could potentially benefit you and your business. If you have done an event in the past, I would love to hear how it went and if you had a specific objective before hosting it. Did you achieve what you planned, and were there any benefits or side effects that came as a result of doing this event?

I am super curious to hear how it went for you!

(Thanks for listening to this Hustle Monday episode. Please join me for another episode next week!)