In this episode, I sit down with the dynamic Cara Steinmann, a relationship-building expert hailing from sunny California. Cara's passion lies in helping women entrepreneurs establish strategic, meaningful connections that go beyond traditional funnels in the business world. Discover why relationships matter more than ever in the digital age and gain insights into Cara's RAD Referrals Roadmap.
Explore the depths of relationship-building with Cara & me, and learn how to transform your approach to connections in the world of service entrepreneurship. Join the Literation Lab and embark on a journey of authentic networking to unlock collaboration, visibility, and, of course, plenty of fun!
You can reach Cara at: carasteinmann.com or https://ravelcollective.com/
Email at: hello@carasteinmann.com
Key Topics and Timestamps:
1. Introduction to Cara Steinmann (00:00 - 02:23)
2. Challenging the Funnel Myth (02:24 - 06:47)
3. The Radical Referrals Roadmap (06:48 - 10:02)
4. Building and Deepening Relationships (10:03 - 13:20)
5. Creating a Purposeful Community (13:21 - 17:44)
A little about me:
I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and then found my niche training & supporting business owners, entrepreneurs & sales professionals to network at a world-class level. My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (online & offline). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.
In appreciation for being here, I have a couple of gifts for you.
A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile: https://www.janiceporter.com/linkedin-training.html
An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by sending a FREE greeting card (on me): www.sendacardeverytime.com
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/
https://www.facebook.com/JanicePorterBiz
https://twitter.com/janiceporter
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Mentioned in this episode:
LinkedIn Ad
Hi, everyone, and welcome to relationships rule.
Janice Porter:My guest today is coming from sunny California. And I'm very
Janice Porter:excited to talk to her. Her name is Kara Steinman. And Kara and I
Janice Porter:were introduced through LinkedIn through a podcast agency. And
Janice Porter:often I'm not super impressed when that happens, but I got an
Janice Porter:inkling when I saw what Kara was all about. And I know you're
Janice Porter:gonna love it because she thinks just the way I do. So first of
Janice Porter:all, welcome to the show, Kara.
Cara Steinmann:Thank you. I'm
Janice Porter:happy to be here. My pleasure. So tell my audience
Janice Porter:please, what you do what your thing is what you're all about.
Janice Porter:And they'll know right away that why I said what I said, my
Cara Steinmann:jam, you want to know my jam. I help women
Cara Steinmann:entrepreneurs, build relationships, preferably
Cara Steinmann:professional relationships that make it easier for them to do
Cara Steinmann:business. So strategic relationships.
Janice Porter:And how do you do that?
Cara Steinmann:I do one to one consulting, I help women figure
Cara Steinmann:out who they are. So they can align with the right people and
Cara Steinmann:that sort of thing. But I primarily build communities
Cara Steinmann:online, that help women come together and build really deep
Cara Steinmann:meaningful relationships that keep them well connected. Yeah.
Janice Porter:Which is like music to my ears, because one of
Janice Porter:the things I saw in the information that was sent to me
Janice Porter:about you was that you believe that funnels are not necessary
Janice Porter:relationships are that's a different way that you said it.
Janice Porter:But it is essentially the same thing. And I couldn't agree
Janice Porter:more. And so, you know, we've been in a in a society lately
Janice Porter:where everything's online. And so everyone thinks that we have
Janice Porter:to have these funnels to bring in business. Talk to me about
Janice Porter:that myth in your eyes.
Cara Steinmann:Gosh, I think that, that it's really easy to
Cara Steinmann:feel like we can write some content and put it out there in
Cara Steinmann:this funnel, and that we won't have to do anything, we won't
Cara Steinmann:have to actually interact, but our words and our content and
Cara Steinmann:all of these things, all of these things that we put out,
Cara Steinmann:there they are. They're reflecting us, and they are
Cara Steinmann:going to build the relationships that we will eventually probably
Cara Steinmann:have in person. Yeah. And so so it's not like it's not as
Cara Steinmann:passive as we would like to think it is. And at one point I
Cara Steinmann:really liked. I really liked inbound marketing, the idea of
Cara Steinmann:inbound, because you weren't, it wasn't pushy, it was very
Cara Steinmann:magnetic. And we could put our stuff out there and just wait
Cara Steinmann:for people to want us and not have to engage in any way until
Cara Steinmann:till they got there. But I think that we're at a time when trust
Cara Steinmann:is so scarce, and people are lonely. And we visibility relies
Cara Steinmann:on us having allies, it really relies on us having deep
Cara Steinmann:meaningful connections that somebody wants to promote you
Cara Steinmann:through. And that requires investing in other people making
Cara Steinmann:the time to do that requires being invested in other people.
Janice Porter:And do you notice that and I couldn't agree more?
Janice Porter:And do you notice that? That they're still that you have to
Janice Porter:actually teach? Or train certain people that, that in building
Janice Porter:relationships, you really do need to focus on showing an
Janice Porter:interest in the other person, I believe that we still have to
Janice Porter:teach that to some people. Because for different reasons,
Janice Porter:like either they're nervous, or they're, they're unsure. So they
Janice Porter:start to talk about themselves, or they don't know what kind of
Janice Porter:questions to ask whether they're just not comfortable. And with
Janice Porter:that, with that process, but it does work. Yeah,
Cara Steinmann:I think you're absolutely right. There's a
Cara Steinmann:couple of things going on there too. You're probably right about
Cara Steinmann:the nervousness, people. But there's this business idea in
Cara Steinmann:business that we have to be busy that we can't talk about
Cara Steinmann:personal stuff, there's that kind of line that we've drawn,
Cara Steinmann:and I don't like it. I don't like that line at all. Because
Cara Steinmann:the people that I want to wreck I work with people I like and in
Cara Steinmann:order to know someone to get to like them, I have to know more
Cara Steinmann:about them than just the service they provide.
Janice Porter:And yes, so I actually when I'm working with
Janice Porter:LinkedIn clients, building their profile with them, I talk about
Janice Porter:trying to in not trying but by about infusing some subtle
Janice Porter:little things into their profile about their, their personal
Janice Porter:habits are their hobbies or their interests or some things
Janice Porter:that they do when they're not working. So that I can tell or
Janice Porter:they can tell if somebody has actually read their profile. If
Janice Porter:they find that little thing that maybe they're an avid hiker, or
Janice Porter:they play soccer in their spare time or whatever or they they
Janice Porter:you know, were a movie buff or whatever it is that maybe
Janice Porter:someone looking at their profile had connects to a As a starting
Janice Porter:point to build rapport, those are the best kinds of things to
Janice Porter:find out. And yet, I will say now you're, you're younger than
Janice Porter:I am. And your generation tends to put out more personal things
Janice Porter:on the other platforms as well. I have a hard time doing that.
Janice Porter:So there's that there is that fine line for me, but I find
Janice Porter:with LinkedIn, I can make it work. And and people pay
Janice Porter:attention if they pay attention, it makes for better starting
Janice Porter:points for relationships, I think.
Cara Steinmann:Yeah. And I think being true to who you are,
Cara Steinmann:that you know, you being less comfortable with the really
Cara Steinmann:personal open stuff in business, that's who you are and how you
Cara Steinmann:operate. And you're going to be more comfortable working with
Cara Steinmann:clients who are more aligned with that level of openness. But
Cara Steinmann:some people and this could be a temperament thing. There's, you
Cara Steinmann:know, the ocean ocean test personality tests that looks at
Cara Steinmann:openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
Cara Steinmann:neuroticism. These four
Janice Porter:traits know that one, yeah. Okay, ocean, that one
Janice Porter:that the extra
Cara Steinmann:the openness trait that might might correlate
Cara Steinmann:with how people act online. And so open, people are going to
Cara Steinmann:have an easier time working with other open people. And that's
Cara Steinmann:not to say you can't work with people who are different than
Cara Steinmann:you. But understanding that they're different from you, is
Cara Steinmann:different than like, really, you know, when you meet somebody,
Cara Steinmann:and you just click, it's usually because you've got something in
Cara Steinmann:common in that way and the way you operate? Right, right,
Janice Porter:exactly. So how do you do you do any training
Janice Porter:with your community? Or do you just allow them to, you know, or
Janice Porter:do you encourage them getting together? Or do you have events
Janice Porter:online or in person to, to have people network,
Cara Steinmann:I built the community, I structured it so
Cara Steinmann:that we would be in a container that felt very safe. And the
Cara Steinmann:guidelines explicitly say we are in a, we're in a safe container,
Cara Steinmann:where we need to be vulnerable if we're going to get to know
Cara Steinmann:each other. And so I do come right out and say that, but then
Cara Steinmann:we have connection calls and mastermind calls that are all
Cara Steinmann:very intimate and comfortable. And, and I really connect, I try
Cara Steinmann:really hard to connect with each new member, one on one at least
Cara Steinmann:once to help them get connected with other people who are alike
Cara Steinmann:to them. So that they start building that network quickly.
Cara Steinmann:And then we have we have the way that it's structured is
Cara Steinmann:structured is very casual. And we have very intimate
Cara Steinmann:conversations in there about things other than work. Ah,
Cara Steinmann:okay, family, and we have a channel called ADHD all day
Cara Steinmann:where the neurodivergent people are talking about challenges in
Cara Steinmann:life and work and family. And then I just launched a purpose
Cara Steinmann:play shop inside the community, which is a daily prompt to help
Cara Steinmann:us build emotional intelligence, self awareness and creative
Cara Steinmann:confidence.
Janice Porter:Hmm, interesting. Okay. So you have a framework
Janice Porter:that, and I think that's probably part of what you were
Janice Porter:just talking about, that you are maybe not that you use to
Janice Porter:generate referrals? And do you? So do you teach that in your
Janice Porter:community?
Cara Steinmann:I do. Yeah,
Janice Porter:it's a little bit about that.
Cara Steinmann:Yeah, I call it the radical referrals. roadmap.
Cara Steinmann:And part of that is because the acronym is read our ad. And part
Cara Steinmann:of it is because it's kind of a radical concept to prioritize
Cara Steinmann:relationships in business. That's not where we go with it
Cara Steinmann:naturally, it's very transactional. But I think it
Cara Steinmann:works really better if we're relational with it. And so the
Cara Steinmann:three parts of the framework are R stands for remember, we have
Cara Steinmann:to remember who we are, especially as women, we've been
Cara Steinmann:conditioned away from a lot of our natural tendencies. And we,
Cara Steinmann:we maybe compromise our values to be parents and work in
Cara Steinmann:certain situations. So we have to remember who we are. So that
Cara Steinmann:because, and there's a great quote, by Brene, brown, she
Cara Steinmann:says, our ability to connect with other people is only as
Cara Steinmann:great as our ability to connect with ourselves. So the next step
Cara Steinmann:in the framework is to align. So we have to remember who we are.
Cara Steinmann:And then we can align with the right people. And this is about
Cara Steinmann:values, a lot of it is about values. And you talk, you talked
Cara Steinmann:about putting little kind of easter eggs in your LinkedIn
Cara Steinmann:content, maybe on your website that hint at who you are and
Cara Steinmann:what you care about. And you can do that really easily with
Cara Steinmann:language. And I'm sure you do. That's what you do your clients
Cara Steinmann:probably, you know, I can put pictures of yourself on there
Cara Steinmann:too. But you can also say things like, you can use the words
Cara Steinmann:connection and freedom and whatever, those are part of my
Cara Steinmann:values. So use those. And then once you're aligned with those
Cara Steinmann:people, that's just not enough. I think a lot of people stop
Cara Steinmann:right there. And they stop with like meeting people and
Cara Steinmann:connecting with people and they end up with this giant Rolodex,
Cara Steinmann:that doesn't really benefit them because they haven't gotten to
Cara Steinmann:the last part, which is D, and that's to deepen the
Cara Steinmann:relationship. And it's iterative. It goes around and
Cara Steinmann:around because we're people and we evolve and we learn about
Cara Steinmann:ourselves. So we're constantly doing all three of these things
Cara Steinmann:in the, with the hope that we build a really strong strategic
Cara Steinmann:network of people that We enjoy spending time with and
Cara Steinmann:connecting with. And that's where we get visibility from.
Cara Steinmann:And
Janice Porter:that's also how we build our referral network.
Janice Porter:Yes, think
Cara Steinmann:about the word referrals, it just means
Cara Steinmann:someone's referring, referring to you or referring you, they're
Cara Steinmann:talking about you behind your back. And what they're saying is
Cara Steinmann:going to determine how somebody views you. So your visibility
Cara Steinmann:depends on what people are saying about you, behind your
Cara Steinmann:back.
Janice Porter:Yeah, it's an interesting way to say it, I
Janice Porter:find that that refer that, that referring people or being a
Janice Porter:connector and referring, bringing people together as part
Janice Porter:of your network, I think that is really what I love to do. But
Janice Porter:when I do it, and I don't know, if you do this in your network,
Janice Porter:maybe that you want to protect the people that you're that you
Janice Porter:already have that know like and trust with, that are already
Janice Porter:gone deep enough with it, that there's that trust factor, that
Janice Porter:before you bring that new person in and say, hey, I want you to
Janice Porter:to get together, you make sure that you have permission from
Janice Porter:the, you're a person that's already in your community,
Janice Porter:before you bring somebody else into them. So you ask them, so
Janice Porter:you're meeting this new person, either in person or online. And
Janice Porter:you're, and you're looking for a way to support them, because you
Janice Porter:like what you've seen and heard so far, but you're not there
Janice Porter:yet. So you might want to maybe offer something of your own, but
Janice Porter:you also know they're looking for help with whatever, so you
Janice Porter:know, someone who can help them. But before you connect them, you
Janice Porter:check with the other person. And
Cara Steinmann:I do that if I meet somebody outside of the
Cara Steinmann:community, and this wasn't intentional, I think this is
Cara Steinmann:just how it ended up working out for me. If I'm connecting
Cara Steinmann:someone from inside the rebel community, to someone outside
Cara Steinmann:the rebel community, I get both parties consent. If I'm
Cara Steinmann:connecting new members to or existing members who have been
Cara Steinmann:there for a while to someone else inside the community. Other
Cara Steinmann:members inside the community I don't I just make a direct
Cara Steinmann:connection inside the DMS in the community because they're
Cara Steinmann:everybody's operating with the same assumption that, that if
Cara Steinmann:I'm introducing you, there's a reason for it. Or, you know,
Cara Steinmann:there should there's just a feeling and I, I talk a lot
Cara Steinmann:about that too, because I don't have to have a reason sometimes
Cara Steinmann:why two people should meet. You just know, just know these. I
Cara Steinmann:don't know why you guys need to know each other. I just feel
Cara Steinmann:like you do. And I've had people introduce me before by saying
Cara Steinmann:that, and it cracks me up because it's always it often
Cara Steinmann:more often than not ends up being an amazing relationship.
Cara Steinmann:Yeah, but they couldn't really say why. And that's okay.
Janice Porter:Yeah, I love that too. Exactly. So tell me how you
Janice Porter:got into all this? What's your background? What, how did you
Janice Porter:come to be that entrepreneur that's doing all of this and
Janice Porter:building a community, I
Cara Steinmann:came into entrepreneurship, because I'm
Cara Steinmann:completely unemployable. If you look at my strengths profile,
Cara Steinmann:and my Colby, Mo, and all of these, you know, tests,
Cara Steinmann:personality tests and objective ways to look at ourselves, I am
Cara Steinmann:not a person who is easily fits in a box with a description that
Cara Steinmann:I keep doing over and over again. So a lot of it is I tried
Cara Steinmann:to work for other people, and it just didn't work. And so I went
Cara Steinmann:out on my own. And I did a lot of content writing for a long
Cara Steinmann:time and a lot of content strategy. And I was drawn to
Cara Steinmann:that, I think because of the strategy part. But there's also
Cara Steinmann:a lot of project management, and repent, there's a repetitive
Cara Steinmann:nature, in content when you're executing on a strategy over and
Cara Steinmann:over again. And that does not align with me very well. So I
Cara Steinmann:ended up going through kind of a meltdown during COVID. And had
Cara Steinmann:to stop working with clients doing retainer work like that,
Cara Steinmann:because it was really, really draining to me. And I had to
Cara Steinmann:figure out what I am good at. And that required looking at my
Cara Steinmann:core values and my personality and my like I said strengths and
Cara Steinmann:the Colby, Mo and all these tools to kind of objective
Cara Steinmann:objectively say, Well, what should I be doing? If I what am
Cara Steinmann:I doing without even being able to help it? And someone pointed
Cara Steinmann:out to me that I had always worked on referrals. For the
Cara Steinmann:first 10 years of my content marketing and strategy. career,
Cara Steinmann:I didn't even have a website, because I was networking and
Cara Steinmann:building relationships that were strategic, but I didn't realize
Cara Steinmann:I was doing it. So so the rabbit collective came to me because I
Cara Steinmann:was doing COVID I kind of start embracing that again. And I
Cara Steinmann:started connecting with all kinds of people like once you
Cara Steinmann:turn the fire on something you're good at, it kind of gets
Cara Steinmann:a little crazy. And so I was meeting all these women online,
Cara Steinmann:and I couldn't keep track of them. And I wanted them to meet
Cara Steinmann:each other. But it was really time consuming, making email
Cara Steinmann:introductions to everybody. So I just said, you guys, come on,
Cara Steinmann:let's all just get in the same place. Let's come in this
Cara Steinmann:community, let's all network with one another. And then one
Cara Steinmann:of the members asked me that how does it work? Like she asked me
Cara Steinmann:to kind of deconstruct the way that I operate. And so that was
Cara Steinmann:where the framework came from, was just sort of a reverse
Cara Steinmann:engineering of how I naturally operate. Interesting.
Janice Porter:So I'm curious when you were in school, were
Janice Porter:you an athlete
Cara Steinmann:I played intramurals. But I was an
Cara Steinmann:outlet. I did martial arts outside of school.
Janice Porter:Okay. Individual sports. Okay. Yeah. So that's
Janice Porter:why. Yeah, like, I think there's different skills that come from
Janice Porter:individual sports, obviously, to team sports. And I think it
Janice Porter:makes a huge difference. So you were very independent in lots of
Janice Porter:ways. Yeah.
Cara Steinmann:But very collaborative, too. I did end of
Cara Steinmann:individual sports, but I didn't like I was never very
Cara Steinmann:competitive. Yeah. So I think there's more of a,
Janice Porter:I see, what's that? I see guitars behind you
Janice Porter:play music.
Cara Steinmann:I learned to play the piano when I was
Cara Steinmann:growing up. And then I just picked up the guitar last year
Cara Steinmann:and started playing, which was sort of a bucket list item for
Cara Steinmann:me because I had, I had learned to play the ukulele in fourth
Cara Steinmann:grade. And I raised my hand to ask for a left handed ukulele on
Cara Steinmann:the teacher. I am Are you? Yes. Hey, fellow lefties. My
Cara Steinmann:husband's left handed too, but our son is right handed. So we
Cara Steinmann:like to joke that two wrongs make a right. I love it. Yeah.
Janice Porter:Yeah, sorry. I find left handed people that I
Janice Porter:was at a bridge table. Last week we play bridge and three out of
Janice Porter:the four of us were left handed. That is so unusual. Yeah. It is
Janice Porter:the most my family like I have an uncle and uncle who was very
Janice Porter:ambidextrous. And my mother was ambidextrous. And my one
Janice Porter:daughter is very ambidextrous. She played a lot of sports. And
Janice Porter:she can like, bat or hit it with a golf club. Either way, you
Janice Porter:know, so, but nobody's left handed my little granddaughters
Janice Porter:a little bit ambidextrous, but mostly right handed. But ya
Janice Porter:know, left
Cara Steinmann:hold. It's 50% ish genetic. And the other part
Cara Steinmann:is just what you environmental maybe
Janice Porter:that could be true, because back in the old
Janice Porter:days, you know, they used to beat it out. Yeah. Yeah. So sad
Janice Porter:to hear that anyway. Yeah, so I interrupted you, because I got
Cara Steinmann:it. I had? Well, in this, this kind of goes to
Cara Steinmann:like the belief systems and the things that layer on top of who
Cara Steinmann:we are, right, like, when I melted down during COVID, I
Cara Steinmann:realized I didn't really know who I was anymore, because of a
Cara Steinmann:lot of the messages that I had gotten about myself. Who am I,
Cara Steinmann:you know, the belief systems that we pick up, really, really
Cara Steinmann:get into our subconscious. And it was hard for me to even
Cara Steinmann:imagine that I could have a business other than the one I
Cara Steinmann:had, let alone, like the privilege of building
Cara Steinmann:relationships with people for a living, that's amazing. But just
Cara Steinmann:one of the beliefs that I picked up when I was young was that I,
Cara Steinmann:I put my hand up for a left handed ukulele and the teacher
Cara Steinmann:really embarrassed me in front of the class and shot me down
Cara Steinmann:and said, There's no such thing as a left handed ukulele, you
Cara Steinmann:just need to figure it out. And I was I would think I was
Cara Steinmann:embarrassed, you know, for getting in trouble. I was the
Cara Steinmann:way I perceived it. But also just, you know, being different
Cara Steinmann:and asking for what I needed. And then having that just like,
Cara Steinmann:How dare you ask for what you need? Well, so I kind of had
Cara Steinmann:always wanted to play the guitar. But because of that
Cara Steinmann:experience, I kind of just put it on the shelf and figured
Cara Steinmann:that's not going to be because I'm not ambidextrous, I can't do
Cara Steinmann:anything with my right hand, apparently, but discovered a
Cara Steinmann:little while ago that they totally have left handed guitars
Cara Steinmann:and left handed all kinds of left handed instruments
Janice Porter:you obviously didn't didn't grow up with the
Janice Porter:Beatles. Did they play left handed? Paul McCartney's left
Janice Porter:handed as he did so he has a left handed look at all the
Janice Porter:pictures. He's the one with the guitar. The No, I never noticed
Janice Porter:that. I
Cara Steinmann:mean, I love the Beatles, but I'm not like a
Cara Steinmann:Yeah, he's. I did not know that. Yeah. Well, she should have
Cara Steinmann:known that then. Now. I'm really mad.
Janice Porter:Oh, that's too funny. I know. But that's
Janice Porter:terrible. As a teacher, I was a teacher, so to hear you, you
Janice Porter:know,
Cara Steinmann:I've had a couple of teachers traumatize me
Cara Steinmann:because of, probably because I'm loud. I think I just realized
Cara Steinmann:recently that I have a triggering effect when someone
Cara Steinmann:says I'm a leader, like a leadership issue. And I kind of
Cara Steinmann:dug back and thought, you know, I did have that one teacher who
Cara Steinmann:kind of yelled at me in front of everybody and said, Scott, you
Cara Steinmann:can't always be in charge care. You have to let someone else be
Cara Steinmann:in charge. And like, stop being so bossy
Janice Porter:that I was the Bossy kid to me. I always I'm,
Janice Porter:I'm the oldest of four. I had to be bossy. But the other thing is
Janice Porter:like, I don't know, when's your birthday was
Cara Steinmann:April 17. Okay, so you're full on Aries, Aries,
Janice Porter:and my daughter is in Aries. Because I'm a
Janice Porter:Virgo, and I'm like I have to be in control. And okay, so. But
Janice Porter:one of the things in reading all that horoscope stuff, which is
Janice Porter:really kind of fun, but I kind of like it. It you can turn it
Janice Porter:one way or the other. Right. So you can be the Bossy one. Or you
Janice Porter:can be the one that organizes and be you know, yeah.
Cara Steinmann:Right. And I think that's something we learn
Cara Steinmann:when we all those tests are so there, you know, there's
Cara Steinmann:horoscopes, there's human design, there's all these
Cara Steinmann:different ways we can look at ourselves. And I think it's
Cara Steinmann:really valuable too, with a grain of salt, look at all those
Cara Steinmann:things. Because a lot of times some of our greatest strengths
Cara Steinmann:can become our weaknesses. If they're let loose. If they're
Cara Steinmann:not honed and moderated and I think I probably was really
Cara Steinmann:bossy, and I probably was, you know, out of control. But that
Cara Steinmann:doesn't mean that
Janice Porter:none of that you were out of control, you are
Janice Porter:probably just speaking your mind and being curious, which I want
Janice Porter:to come to in a second because that's the thing. You know, my
Janice Porter:one of my kids was the type a who would always push the
Janice Porter:teachers, you know, limits and ask questions, and why didn't I
Janice Porter:get an A plus? Why was it just an A, my other daughter,
Janice Porter:completely introverted? Don't ask me any questions. I want to
Janice Porter:sit back in my seat and not, you know, be noticed in the
Janice Porter:classroom because God forbid, you should ask me a question.
Janice Porter:Totally different. So, I don't know. It's just who you are.
Janice Porter:Right? And yeah, we're
Cara Steinmann:a lot of is just an aid. We're just different
Cara Steinmann:people. Exactly,
Janice Porter:exactly. So that being said, I'm guessing that
Janice Porter:you are a full on curious person, because quite often good
Janice Porter:Networkers are curious people, right
Cara Steinmann:to two of the top five strengths in my Clifton
Cara Steinmann:Strengths profile, are learner and input. And those are both
Cara Steinmann:like, give me all the information. Let me catalog it.
Cara Steinmann:And because of those, I tend to collect people apparently.
Janice Porter:Oh, okay. So it's interesting, I did this. I did
Janice Porter:this program once called your sacred gifts. And it was a woman
Janice Porter:here who's been doing this for years. And she's really
Janice Porter:interesting. And she says, there's 24 Sacred gifts. And
Janice Porter:that I trigger something. Oh, I can't hear you.
Cara Steinmann:Sorry, I'm laughing because I muted myself
Cara Steinmann:to write that down. Because I, the last couple of weeks, we had
Cara Steinmann:our little 30 minute strategy call, you know, and you
Cara Steinmann:mentioned that and I wrote it down. But of course, couldn't
Cara Steinmann:find the piece of paper. And I've been trying to remember
Cara Steinmann:last time you did it. I've been trying to remember what was that
Cara Steinmann:assessment?
Janice Porter:I'll send it. I'll send it to you. And it's
Janice Porter:not really an assessment. It's a it's a, but you can get an idea
Janice Porter:from? Yeah, the first part of it anyway. I might still have it.
Janice Porter:I'll see if I can find it. Yeah, super curious. Yeah. So yeah.
Janice Porter:Anyway, okay. So tell me this. I'm going to ask you my two part
Janice Porter:curiosity. Question. And before we before we ant here. Do you
Janice Porter:believe that curiosity is innate? Or learned? And part two
Janice Porter:is what are you most curious about these days? yourself?
Cara Steinmann:I think curiosity is absolutely innate,
Cara Steinmann:and that some of us probably develop it more throughout life.
Cara Steinmann:And some of us are probably maybe taught to tamp it down
Cara Steinmann:just a bit. Depending. And I think curiosity, we're all
Cara Steinmann:curious about things, just maybe such different things that we
Cara Steinmann:don't really notice. If someone's not curious about what
Cara Steinmann:we're curious about. We're like, why are they not curious?
Janice Porter:Right, right. Exactly. So it's, it can be
Janice Porter:interest based as well. Okay. And what are you curious about
Janice Porter:today?
Cara Steinmann:I am still most curious today, about the same
Cara Steinmann:thing. I've been curious about my entire life, which is like,
Cara Steinmann:why are people the way they are? And that, you know, that feeds
Cara Steinmann:into how Why does one person get along with one person and not
Cara Steinmann:with another person? And how do we interact with one another,
Cara Steinmann:and the, you know, foundations of a relationship and how they
Cara Steinmann:grow and build and just, I'm interested in people and how
Cara Steinmann:they relate to themselves and each other? That's great.
Janice Porter:Do you I see you as the kind of person that
Janice Porter:sometimes people will say to me, well, two things, one, that I
Janice Porter:can talk to someone for five minutes and come away and know
Janice Porter:their entire life history? And secondly, someone will say to
Janice Porter:me, Wow, no one's ever asked me that question before or, or, you
Janice Porter:know, I've never shared this with anyone before. So in other
Janice Porter:words, I can get to the core quite quickly with people. And I
Janice Porter:have a sense that you can too.
Cara Steinmann:That's funny, you mentioned that, because when
Cara Steinmann:I was going through this kind of meltdown, trying to figure out
Cara Steinmann:who am I, I felt like I wasn't really good at anything anymore.
Cara Steinmann:And looking back, that might partly be because so many of my
Cara Steinmann:really, like core strengths are softer skills. They're not
Cara Steinmann:execution related. You can't see something on the other end of
Cara Steinmann:it. But I asked my husband, Babe, what do you think my
Cara Steinmann:superpower is? Yeah. And he said, Oh, that's easy. You can
Cara Steinmann:talk to somebody for five minutes, and they're telling you
Cara Steinmann:stuff, they wouldn't even tell the therapist. Yeah. And I'm
Cara Steinmann:like, at that, that there again, though, that has been a
Cara Steinmann:liability at times, because people will tell me stuff. I
Cara Steinmann:don't really want to know. And you don't put it right. Yeah.
Cara Steinmann:And then and sometimes it's fine. And I've learned to, you
Cara Steinmann:know, just roll with it. And to be really non judgmental, I
Cara Steinmann:think because when people tell you stuff about themselves your
Cara Steinmann:whole life, you have to just learn to just let it be but
Cara Steinmann:people will some people will get a vulnerability hangover and
Cara Steinmann:avoid me after they've told me something very intimate. Okay,
Cara Steinmann:and I'm not judging but I think that there's some shame there
Cara Steinmann:that maybe it's misplaced.
Janice Porter:Well, then, then you would probably know how to
Janice Porter:bring them around.
Cara Steinmann:Yeah, usually it's okay but you know, Certain
Cara Steinmann:people are more more apt to let their shame control them than
Cara Steinmann:others. But yes, you're we're probably very much alike. Yeah,
Cara Steinmann:I
Janice Porter:think we are in so many ways. And so just before
Janice Porter:we wrap up, let's get back to business for a second. And, and
Janice Porter:you see how they are really so totally related. It's just
Janice Porter:crazy, right? And core values. That's where it all comes down
Janice Porter:to. I mean, when I meet someone on LinkedIn for the first time,
Janice Porter:and even just the questions that I asked if they answer them,
Janice Porter:don't answer them. If they ask a question, if they even care
Janice Porter:enough to ask a question, if they've read my profile, all of
Janice Porter:those things come into play for me, initially, until I can, you
Janice Porter:know, sort of peel back the first layer and see if they're
Janice Porter:interested in doing that. But I've met some really interesting
Janice Porter:people, just from being online, which is kind of fun. You have
Janice Porter:one thing I was curious about here that that you asked, what
Janice Porter:are some unconventional ways to build your network on LinkedIn?
Janice Porter:What do you have, because I teaching people all the time. So
Janice Porter:I'm just curious what you do that works, or that you show
Janice Porter:people,
Cara Steinmann:I think that probably comes from not starting
Cara Steinmann:my search on LinkedIn. And I don't focus a lot on, on posting
Cara Steinmann:and starting the conversation myself, I like to jump into
Cara Steinmann:other people's conversations, I like to get into the comments of
Cara Steinmann:posts that I find interesting, and talk to people who are
Cara Steinmann:already in that conversation. So it doesn't have to be me
Cara Steinmann:starting the conversation. Yeah, and I'm also not afraid to take
Cara Steinmann:it to the DMS like right away, because I don't have an agenda
Cara Steinmann:right away, like I don't have anything I need from you or want
Cara Steinmann:from you. I just want to connect. And usually to tell
Cara Steinmann:them that I really liked what they had to say or that I think
Cara Steinmann:they're really interesting, or probably because I'm curious. So
Cara Steinmann:I guess that's where it comes from, is just like a very innate
Cara Steinmann:curiosity about people and what they're all about and what
Cara Steinmann:they're doing. Yeah,
Janice Porter:that's, that's interesting, because that is a
Janice Porter:strategy that I show people sometimes, but I'm more about
Janice Porter:hanging out in the mailbox in the private messaging. And so I
Janice Porter:will do is show people a way to, you don't even have to go to the
Janice Porter:content, you can just do a strategic search to find some
Janice Porter:people in either a category or a location or whatever filters you
Janice Porter:want to use to find some prospects or some referral
Janice Porter:partners or strategic collaborators that you want to
Janice Porter:find on LinkedIn. And then start looking at those profiles. And
Janice Porter:from there, go in and ask to connect with them, or follow
Janice Porter:them for a bit if you prefer, I go right to connect with a
Janice Porter:message and try to get them into a one on one. And, and it works.
Janice Porter:And I have a few messages that I that I like to ask them to see
Janice Porter:if I can get them talking about themselves. So it's kind of fun.
Janice Porter:So that works, too. So
Cara Steinmann:that sounds like it's interesting, because you
Cara Steinmann:have a slightly different approach than I do to kind of
Cara Steinmann:get to the same end, I'd be curious to know what your what
Cara Steinmann:your Colby Mo is because it sounds like you have some
Cara Steinmann:structure and some rep like repetitive systems that sort of
Cara Steinmann:work
Janice Porter:for why it didn't study my Colby that closely. So
Janice Porter:I'll have to go back and look at it and see well,
Cara Steinmann:I'm super curious, because I'm the
Cara Steinmann:opposite of you. I don't have a structure or a system that I can
Cara Steinmann:like really repeat. But which is why I start outside of LinkedIn
Cara Steinmann:and just in the real world, then I go because it's so easy to
Cara Steinmann:connect directly with people, I go find them and talk to them on
Cara Steinmann:LinkedIn just directly.
Janice Porter:We'll have a conversation about that one.
Janice Porter:Yeah, definitely. Okay, thank you. That's awesome. Well, this
Janice Porter:has been amazing. And I appreciate your time. And I love
Janice Porter:that we have so much in common and and that we're both left
Janice Porter:handed it couldn't have gotten it before we end, I wonder if
Janice Porter:you have any final words for my audience and where people can
Janice Porter:find you. And I will, of course put it in the show notes as
Janice Porter:well. But over to you. You
Cara Steinmann:know, I think I would just piggyback again, on
Cara Steinmann:what you said earlier about letting yourself come through in
Cara Steinmann:your marketing and your content and your, you know, interactions
Cara Steinmann:online. I think if you are willing to let yourself be seen,
Cara Steinmann:it'll be a lot more easy to it'll be a lot easier to build
Cara Steinmann:your reputation and become visible and have success because
Cara Steinmann:people have to see you to appreciate you and want to work
Cara Steinmann:with you.
Janice Porter:Very cool. Thank you. Where can they find you?
Cara Steinmann:I just like to connect on LinkedIn. So LinkedIn
Janice Porter:it is and I have that. So I will put that in the
Janice Porter:show notes. Thank you so much, Kara, for being here and for
Janice Porter:sharing your expertise and personality with us and I've
Cara Steinmann:enjoyed it so much. Thank you.
Janice Porter:You're very welcome. And to my audience,
Janice Porter:thank you so much, and we will see you on the other side.