1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Thank you so much for having me. 3 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Yeah, my vision is to make one million connections, 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000 either facilitate it, be a part of it, or impact it in some way, shape, or form. 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Wow, that's awesome. Tell me more about that. 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 What does that look like to you in your head? 7 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,000 And what does it feel like doing that? 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Yeah, so I've been on this mission to be open to meeting anyone 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,000 and truly believing that there's value in every conversation and relationship that you form. 10 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,000 And with that mission in mind, I love one-to-one, very specific, very edified and affirmed connections. 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:45,000 And so when I say a million connections, we're talking a million people being connected with a million other people 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 so that they can grow their vision, whatever that looks like. 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,000 So whether that's business or finding an internship, landing a job, maybe new friendships, 14 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:59,000 insider circle, mastermind events, speaking podcasts, it doesn't matter what the results of the connection are. 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:05,000 What matters is we get back to this core human philosophy of just meeting people 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000 without a real agenda other than adding value and impacting the world. 17 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Wow, that's awesome. I'm a firm believer in the statement, your network is your net worth. 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:23,000 But the connection you mentioned is a little different than what I thought. 19 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000 You have a million people connected to a million people. 20 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000 That could be one-on-one, it could be one to a million. 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:37,000 How did you come up to this statement and how did you come about this vision? 22 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Yeah, so in my book, I talk about how we actively build a network in a strategic, predictable, duplicatable way. 23 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:50,000 And I think there's a lot of things that are backwards in how we should do it versus how people currently do it. 24 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 But I do totally love that quote. I reference it in the book as well, because I think over time, 25 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:03,000 you build a network that will respond to your ask, that will provide value to you, that will be something that is valuable. 26 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:08,000 But you have to put the time into it and you have to do it in a way where you're adding value to others 27 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,000 and you're building real, deep, meaningful relationships. 28 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 And that takes work, takes a system, and takes a process. 29 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And so if we do that correctly, again, then you get back to the quote you referenced 30 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000 because now your network is actually producing, right? 31 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:30,000 So if I were to do that for a million people, I would just die trying to do it. 32 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 How would I accomplish that part? Then how would you get to a million people 33 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:42,000 if you try to create meaningful connections with strategy where my network actually becomes my net worth? 34 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000 So what are your thoughts on that? 35 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Yeah, so the reason the goal is so big is I personally make thousands of connections per year outbound myself. 36 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,000 And so I'm purposely and intentionally moving towards it. 37 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:03,000 I also host a connection group where every week we are trading dozens of connections. 38 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 So that's adding to the thousand that I'm already doing. 39 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:13,000 And then the thought is if I positively make one connection between two people, 40 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000 or we'll use the exponential theory, right? 41 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 So if I meet with one person, I always will make two to three connections. 42 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,000 So that's now four people impacted. 43 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,000 If one of those people leans into the idea of making connections, 44 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 that one person is now impacting two or three more people. 45 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Plus, they're connecting me to two or three more people. 46 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 And if you start to look at this web of connections, 47 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,000 when I can be the first person that shows how we make positive connections, 48 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 how to add value, and how to do it strategically, 49 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,000 and one of the people I'm connecting goes, you know what? I like that. 50 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,000 And I'm going to either make some connections back to Devin, 51 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:50,000 or I'm going to make connections to some of the other people he's connected me to or other people, 52 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:56,000 it starts to create this ripple effect where one person impacts three, one person impacts three. 53 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,000 And I think that that's where we'll never know when the million happens. 54 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:07,000 All we can do is each player our part in participating and adding and being part of those connections. 55 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 Wow. Thank you for sharing that. 56 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 I'm going to kick you with a very, very hard question here. 57 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 How do you measure impact? 58 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Yeah, so you can statistically measure it. 59 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000 This is a question that I get asked a lot. 60 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And when we talk about a system for doing connections, 61 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 you know, part of the thing is like, oh, it's going to be a lot of work. 62 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 And what do I do with it? So I answer this question in two ways. 63 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000 One, there's a metric like you can put dollar signs and activity to it. 64 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 And then the other is outcome. 65 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,000 And so if we look at metrics, we'll share that first. 66 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 These are real metrics from January. I just pulled my report up on the other screen. 67 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:50,000 So for myself, I had 52 first meetings in January with people that I didn't know. 68 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Those all came from connections and referrals. 69 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,000 I made 98 connections in January. 70 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:04,000 I received 27 in seven of the 27 I received were perfectly ideal clients for my core product and service. 71 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Three of those people signed up. 72 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:13,000 I booked six events, 14 podcasts and two JV partnerships all from the network. 73 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000 So there's real statistics that are trackable. 74 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:22,000 If we then look in the book, I've got a bullet point list in there of getting your ideal internship, 75 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 finding a spouse, landing a six figure job with no competition, 76 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 getting free housing or hotel in a market you're at because of someone you know, 77 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 saving money on events or travel, 78 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 getting food experiences with places you can't get invited. 79 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:44,000 All of these are the other outcomes of just having meaningful relationships in a real network. 80 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:50,000 And there's a list in the book. And so it doesn't matter if you're a college student or a billionaire. 81 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Good connections can unlock so much for you in your life. 82 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,000 I completely agree with that. 83 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,000 But let me give you a little bit of my side of the story. 84 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:10,000 I see you as an expert in that field. Maybe you can help me through this. 85 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:19,000 So I meet about six to eight people a week on podcasts that I'm talking to and that I'm hosting. 86 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:26,000 And almost every one of them is a client for us who would be that we can help. 87 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000 And are they ideal clients? Most likely not. 88 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,000 Because most likely there's a lot of criteria they don't miss. 89 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:39,000 But in order for me to get through that and not just extract value out of it, but also give them value, 90 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,000 there's a lot of energy, effort, and things that need to be done. 91 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:48,000 There needs to be a relation that needs to be mature to a point where people are more vulnerable sharing things with me. 92 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:54,000 And I cannot for the life of me do that with everyone I meet. It's impossible for me to do. 93 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:03,000 So how will I do that? How will I get through that part with your analogy of a million connections and value added to it? 94 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Yes, it really depends on what part of that equation you're trying to solve. 95 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:15,000 So by being a podcast host, you're already adding value by giving a platform for people to co-create content. 96 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 So that's great. So we can check the add value part of the equation off the list. 97 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:25,000 The next part where people tend to get stuck is there's an ask. 98 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,000 And the ask is usually around your product, service, or offering. 99 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:35,000 But with the ask, we have to hope it's right time, right person, right message, and that everything is perfect. 100 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,000 And it creates this really small percent of chance of success. 101 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:46,000 And so we end up with this imbalanced ratio of like, yes, I'm doing a lot of activity. I'm meeting a lot of people. 102 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:56,000 So whether that's a podcast host or just meetings in general, but because your ask is so hyper specific around an ideal client prospect or service, 103 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,000 only a small percent of people can participate. 104 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:07,000 Plus, the chance of them referring you people for that product or service are so small because of a quote that I like to reference, which is everybody wants to buy. 105 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:15,000 Nobody wants to be sold. And so in the world of asking for referrals, if you're only teaching me how to send you perfect prospects, 106 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:21,000 I have to find people who are have a need and I'm willing to position them to you so that they can be sold. 107 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:29,000 Like there's so many barriers to that problem. Instead, if we unlock and I call this the connection expansion exercise in the book, 108 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:36,000 if we really think through who has access to lots of our ideal clients, that's where we start to shift our ask. 109 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:46,000 And so if we're looking at a world and I say, hey, I want to know business CPAs because I can work well with business CPAs, 110 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:52,000 you can instantly go through and be like, yeah, I know a few CPAs or accountants I could connect you with. 111 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,000 And then it's not a hey, go talk to Devin because he's going to sell you. 112 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000 It's like, hey, go talk to Devin because there's amazing collaboration because you're probably working with similar clients. 113 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,000 Maybe there's an opportunity to impact people in the same way. 114 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,000 So now what's happening is it's easier to get connections and referrals, 115 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,000 which means everyone you're meeting has a better chance of actually introducing you to more impactful people. 116 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:22,000 And then the quality of the people you're meeting with starts to hone in on these really specific areas where they have access to a lot of your clients. 117 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:27,000 And that's where we can co-create. Right. We can sponsor events, do JV partnerships. 118 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,000 They become really good referral partners. You become good referral partners for them. 119 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:37,000 But so often none of that's available because we're only focused on selling the product or service on the front end, 120 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:44,000 which takes all of this amazing network you're building and pushes it into this really small success rate. 121 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:49,000 Even in the client referral game, the best client referral systems have a 5% success rate. 122 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,000 And I don't know about you, but 5% is horrible. 123 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:57,000 So we have to shift the ask and we have to think about building our network different. 124 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:04,000 And then we have to educate our network on who's a perfect introduction for us that has the biggest impact. 125 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Wow. You know, everything you said in that, I agree with. 126 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,000 And the reason I say that is because that's what we follow. 127 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,000 And it kind of confirms the thing that we have been working towards and establishing. 128 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,000 So thank you for sharing that. That was very impactful. 129 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:32,000 For people who didn't understand that, if all you try to do in a relationship and in a connection is extract value out of it, 130 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,000 you're not going to get farther. But if you give value, 131 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:45,000 and there's so many times that we just send people referrals just to see what they do with the referrals and how they treat the referrals. 132 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,000 If they do a good job with the referral and if the follow up is good, we send them more referrals. 133 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,000 And then maybe they realize, oh, my gosh, there's a great network here that they want to be connected and part of. 134 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 So they join forces and a lot of times they don't realize the value and they go away. 135 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,000 So I agree with what you just said, and thank you for sharing that. 136 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Thank you. It's great to hear your feedback. 137 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,000 I know you're active in this world, so it's nice to hear that. Yeah. 138 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:17,000 So, Devin, the next part of let's go behind and find the where did your vision come from? 139 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,000 Like how did you come up on this idea of a million connections? Why a million connections? 140 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,000 Why not a billion connections? Why not 100,000? 141 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,000 And why did you choose that part? And how what's the story behind that? 142 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,000 I love to hear it. Yeah. 143 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,000 So I'm a serial entrepreneur and one of my first big businesses was a marketing agency. 144 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,000 And as I was scaling that agency, I realized that it's a crowded space. 145 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,000 There's a lot of noise and you have to compete, right? 146 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Like you've got to stand out and you can go about that all the traditional marketing sales ways. 147 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,000 But what I realized is most of the people I was competing against, 148 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:57,000 I don't like using that word because I think there's more than enough potential clients in the world. 149 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:02,000 But let's just use that. So the people I was competing against, we're all doing similar things. 150 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,000 And so I started to look at what can I control? 151 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,000 Like how can I network? How can I follow up? How can I add value? 152 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,000 How can I control everything in the process? What metrics can I control? 153 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,000 How can I use language different? And how can I do things that my competition won't do? 154 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 So I am willing to meet more people where there may not be a perception of value in the first meeting. 155 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:30,000 I am willing to add value to them and follow up in a systematic way to nurture the relationship forever. 156 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:36,000 I am willing to go on this mission to generate the long term metrics that I know will show up. 157 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:43,000 And my competition is not because in every industry I've ever worked with and all the clients I've ever consulted with, 158 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,000 everyone else around them is so focused on changing prospects and the quick dollar 159 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,000 that they're not focusing on actually building a network of nurtured relationships. 160 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 So that started 15 years ago, the process to how does this become a system? How do we optimize it? 161 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:05,000 How do we duplicate it? And then as you go every year and I'm making a thousand, two thousand outbound connections 162 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:12,000 and receiving three to four hundred inbound connections, you start to go, man, what is possible if we reach further? 163 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:19,000 And so that's where the million is great, because I was thinking about, you know, if 10 people meet 10 people, 164 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:25,000 meet 10 people, meet 10 people, and we start scaling that, it becomes this kind of vision where like it is attainable, 165 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,000 but it's going to force me to optimize and perfect how we're doing it. 166 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And I'm going to have to attract a lot of the right people who also want to build these meaningful, impactful networks. 167 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,000 And again, want to play the long game, not the short game. 168 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,000 And if you play that game, you'll be willing to take more meetings. 169 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,000 You'll be willing to meet people where you see no perceived value. 170 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:50,000 You'll be willing to have the conversations that your competitors aren't. 171 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:57,000 And because you're willing to do that, you will get access to value and opportunities your competitors will never see. 172 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:07,000 And so one of the biggest outcomes of this approach and kind of why I'm on this mission is I want everyone I talk to to become the authority in a room where no one else is competing. 173 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,000 And if we can push you as the authority in a room where no one else is competing, 174 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:17,000 whether that's a college student looking for the perfect internship and they find that internship without having to compete for it, 175 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:26,000 whether it's you shifting careers and finding the perfect position again with not having to compete for it or whether we're talking to billionaires who are finding the next business they're going to acquire again 176 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:39,000 without competing, that's where we know we're building the right relationships in the right way because we are the authority and the people we're talking to see value in our relationship because we are giving value to them first. 177 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 178 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:48,000 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 179 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,000 This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 180 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,000 I want to invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention. 181 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:26,000 I hope you have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.