He is the president of AmSpirit Business Connections, which empowers entrepreneurs and professionals to become more successful via networking. In addition, he works with companies and organizations with their professional relationships. He's also the host of Networking Rx Podcast, which has ideas, insights, and interviews on business networking. Finally, Frank is the author of several books, including Foundational Networking: Building Know, Like and Trust to Create a Lifetime of Extraordinary Success.
“Find someplace to volunteer. It just makes it really easy. Figure out what you're passionate about.”
“There's a science behind it. We're humans, and much of what happens in human interaction is predictable. It's not perfectly predictable, right? Temperature falls below 32 degrees, water freezes. I mean, that's perfectly predictable. But with human interactions, things aren't necessarily predictable, but they become really likely. For example, when you smile at somebody, they will smile back.”
“They're focused in on what's in it for them. And what you need to remember is that what networking is really about is about helping others and just kind of trusting that it'll come back to you.”
“Years ago, I got a referral from somebody in a meeting and said, I've got a referral for you, and in one of our AmSpirit meetings, and I was excited. I've got a referral. I don't know what it is. It's like, you know, it's like that present under the tree Christmas morning. I can hardly wait, and so after the meeting, a guy came up to me and he essentially said, you know, I want you to come speak at my group. And in the moment...”
“It's a discipline. You have to have a very disciplined approach to it. And what I mean by having a disciplined approach is, you know, I will systematically reach out to people in my network and just see how they're doing.”
“Certainly get started…I wouldn't get caught up in trying to make it happen overnight. And I tell people, you can have a big, big network, you’re just not going to do it overnight. Focus on one person at a time.”
“Traditional is where the value’s at, but you a lot of times can't have one without the other.”
“Well, it certainly has to do with networking. My 20-year-old self, I was in college. I played college football. I lived with my teammates, and that was my world. And I look at my daughter who plays college soccer, and she rooms with other women with other sports. And she is much better networked than I am. She interacts with people who don't play sports. I didn't do a lot of that.”
“My wife really likes Jon Bon Jovi. I would love to connect with him for her.”
“The one I'm looking at right now is Lewis Howes’ book, The School of Greatness, which is an awesome book. The Go-Giver by Bob Burg is another great book. The Power of Optimism by a psychologist out of Indianapolis, Tim Shurr…so, I've got a series of books that I'm kind of picking through.”
“Where it really starts with is a mindset. And the mindset is you have to believe in networking, you have to believe that it works.”
“Life is a networking event. Every moment is a networking event.”
You can get in contact with Frank at:
Website: www.frankagin.com
LinkedIn: Click Here
Serving as a business consultant, executive coach, and life coach, Gary Loop has been transforming businesses and guiding leaders for over six years as President of Loop Group, LLC. For the last 12 years (of his 20+ year business career), he has been repeatedly entering new organizations facing various challenges. With his unique ability to develop deep levels of trust, from CEO to the front line, he rapidly gains a sense of the company landscape to deliver efficient and transformative results.
“I spent 14 years at We Energies, and We Energies at one point about a decade ago was last in the Midwest in customer satisfaction. And so, I had the opportunity, it was through the work of hundreds and thousands of employees to get it done. But to be in the front lines of watching an organization go from last in the Midwest, to one of the best in the country was outstanding.”
“I'm a big fan of being a historian, rather than me coming in to find out what's going on now in a plan for the future, I spend a great deal of my time finding out what happened in the past. Where have you been? How did you get there? What worked well? What didn't work well?”
“The people is the big difference. Most of the payroll is people. And it's also in the planning. You know, if we can go through, one thing that I always say is, I'm not a firefighter. I’m a fire preventer. And so, we can go in and work with people that we have there.”
“I actually wrote a letter to Jay Leno back about 20 years ago, you know, and pretty much because I wasn't sure if I wanted to go into standup comedy. It was a letter that basically said, Dear Jay, thinking about standup comedy. I have no idea. I'm not even sure if I'm funny. You know, here's the deal. You know, I was commuting to community college, I was living at home with time. And, you know, I'm like, here's our home phone number. And 20 years ago, a phone call came in...”
“Mine is more sense and feel. And it's also based on opportunity. So, when I meet with folks, I want to know what I can do to help them… the other piece I would say is rather than being interesting, be interested.”
“It's overcoming that fear. You know, if there's an event that's coming up with a lot of folks and you may not know anybody, it’s just walking in the door. You know, the hardest thing is walking into the door. I call it eating your vegetables. There are things that we don't always enjoy doing. And sometimes we have to eat our vegetables before we get to enjoy the steak.”
“it's a mix. We are in five generations, as you know, and everyone has their different flavor and style. And so depending on which industry that I'm in, I will try to mirror where they're at.”
“Lots of moisturizer. My wife uses moisturizer, and she looks like she's 20. I look like I'm 90. So that’s number one. And number two is, you know, what's interesting is enjoy the ride.”
“I think like a Richard Branson kind of thing comes to mind. So, for me, I believe it's, you know, finding the ways to get in the door to reach out to those folks. I think the biggest hurdle is just not doing anything at all.”
“I've been reading Give and Take by Adam Grant.”
“Go back to the give and take philosophy.”
You can get in contact with Gary at:
Email: gary.loop@loopgroupllc.com(link sends e-mail)
LinkedIn: Click Here
Twitter: Click Here