Monday, Dec. 4th

🐝 The Business Buzz ☕️

December 04, 2023

Happy Monday!

Here’s the Business Buzz with A Helpful Trend, Tip, Tool, and

a Hot Take from HiveThink to help you this week… but before that we have an exciting announcement.

This Friday, Dec. 8th will be our first ever community building event! We originally had the name of Gig City Networking for it, but we’ll be rebranding that here soon. We’re considering this a soft launch while we have the awesome team from the Chattanooga Chapter of Creative Mornings come out to speak on how to build community.

Event Details

Friday, December 8th from 8:30am - 10:00am

Somerville Ave Society of Work

110 Somerville Ave Suite 266

Coffee and baked goods from (Be)Caffeinated.

Awesome conversation provided by you and any friends you want to bring. 😉

What’s the Big Idea? 💡

The idea is to have a community-focused monthly meetup where we can create a space for awesome people across business, nonprofits, and the arts to meet each other and see what kind of wonderful things get sparked because of that.

What can you expect when you show up?

01 First, hang out and get to know people while drinking (Be)Caffeinated coffee.

02 Next, we’ll spotlight a monthly non-profit, artist, and community resource.

03 Last, but not least, a speaker will teach you something short and practical that you can apply to your life right away.

Are you just doing this once?

We’ll actually be doing one of these every month on the 2nd Friday of the month. The location will likely change around, but we’ll keep you up to date on the location and times here in The Business Buzz! 😉

01 HiveTrend - The Hybrid Approach

🛜 According to a paper published in Nature Communications, “nearly 70% of people feel there's something "missing" when meetings (and the relationships they have with coworkers) are exclusively online.

✋ This means people are actively looking to connect in person, even if part of the interaction is digital. This can look like connecting online first, then moving to in-person. Or meeting in person, and then following up later online.

☕️ For instance, if you come to our first community building event, I bet you’ll meet some awesome people, exchange info and probably start connecting with each other on Instagram/Facebook/LinkedIn. 😉😉😉

02 HiveTip - Ways To Gracefully Break Away From A Conversation

Sometimes when meeting new people at an event, you can find yourself in a conversation that you can’t seem to leave without feeling really rude by stopping the conversational flow. Here are some tips to help you gracefully break away so you can recharge, say hi to your old friend that just walked in, or do whatever else you are hoping to do. 🫶

Bathroom Break 💦: Need a breather? Politely excuse yourself for a quick bathroom break—it's the universal escape route that never fails to buy you a bit of solo time.

Coffee Run ☕: Running low on caffeine? A casual "I ran out coffee, gonna go get a refill." can smoothly transition you from the conversation without missing a beat.
Introduce and Exit 🤝: Ever tried the classic intro trick? "Hey, have you met ___? No? You two should definitely chat. Let me make the connection!" It's a seamless way to gracefully bow out while fostering new connections.

Mastering these moves will make your exits smooth, leaving a positive impression on your networking game. After all, a graceful exit is just as important as a confident entrance!

03 HiveTool - Digital Business Cards

Physical business cards are still great to have, but it’s great to always have a digital business card just in case you run out or don’t have them with you. Plus, if you use one, you’re bound to impress anyone that isn’t as comfortable with technology, creating a real “wow factor” for your first impression.

Here are some 2 free options and 1 paid one to get your own digital business card.

Free Method 01 - Sharing your Contact Card

I know this works for Apple users, and I believe Android users can do this, too, but it’s slightly different.

01 One-Time Set Up

Go to your contacts, click on “My Card” (or I believe on Android you may have to create yourself like a regular contact), fill out all your information.

02 Share To Your Heart’s Content

Once you do this, you should be good to go to “My Card” (or your contact of yourself you made if Android), then scroll down until you see “Share Contact”, and then you can message it to the other person’s number, or even AirDrop it from iPhone to iPhone, or any other sharing method.

Free Method 02 - Virtual Business Card Option With A QR Code:

This video explains the full process of how to do this, and also shows how if you want to add your virtual business card QR code to your physical business card you can make it easier for people to import your contact to their phone as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_uyS09MdQ

Paid Method - NFC physical cards with tap functionality

Paid NFC (Near Field Communication) physical cards with tap functionality to make sharing your virtual business card as easy as tapping your card to their device.

Here’s an article that compares some different companies you can use while also explaining more about what all these cards can do.

https://www.misaias.com/best-business-cards-with-nfc/

04 HiveTake - Forget Networking, Focus On Friend Making

🤢 At it’s worst, the term “networking” can have a bit of a reputation for being transactional, social anxiety inducing, and uncomfortable.

🥷👩🏻‍🚀 At it’s best, it’s cool people meeting cool people and becoming friends, building real relationships.

📢 See, even if you know part of why you come to events is to get more people to know about you and your business, there’s a weird thing that all of us as humans have developed over time; the fakeness radar.

😒 We can tell when all you are looking for is a sale.

There’s a weird Jedi mind trick that helps when “networking”.

Forget all about the sale.

Only focus on “friend making”. Be curious about people. Really get to know people around shared interests and passions.

⭐️ I guarantee that in the long run it’s going to result in not only a better life and network of people that you actually enjoy knowing, but it will also lead to more sales.

Why?

😊 Well, people like doing business with (and referring business to) people that they know, like, and trust.

Between being super salesy and being super chill and friendly, which method do you think will result in more knowing, liking, and trusting?

Exactly.

Forget networking, focus on friend making.

Until next time,

The HiveThink Team

P.S. We’re taking the week off with the podcast, but let me remind you to come out to our first community building event this Friday, Dec. 8th!