Networking and Visibility for Introverted Entrepreneurs: How to Build Confidence and Connections - EP 240

You don’t have to be a natural extrovert to build a powerful network and grow your service business. Start with what feels authentic, expand your comfort zone one step at a time, and remember: every entrepreneur can learn to get visible and connect—your way. In this episode Maggie shares her own and client stories of overcoming shyness, fear of public speaking or social media to build visibility for their businesses and book clients their way. 

Episode Highlights:

• Why visibility and networking are essential for business growth—especially if you’re introverted or shy
• Maggie’s personal story: losing her network after divorce, starting from scratch as an immigrant, and overcoming the discomfort of networking
• The two main types of networking groups—and how to find the ones that fit your strengths
• Real-life examples of introverted business owners who built thriving networks and referral partnerships
• Mindset shifts that make “putting yourself out there” feel less scary (and more doable)
• How to layer new visibility strategies on top of your natural strengths for sustainable growth
• The science behind why video and personal branding matter for memorability and trust
• Actionable tips for building confidence, making connections, and becoming more visible—even if it feels impossible right now

Upcoming FREE Event:

Don’t miss Maggie’s “Back to Basics; Uncomplicate Your Way to $100K” - free online event on March 25th, 1–4pm EST

A hands-on experience to help you reach your first $100K with simple, actionable strategies and real networking opportunities. Register via the link in the show notes! Register via Eventbrite here - https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/back-to-basics-uncomplicate-your-road-to-100k-event-tickets-1982713233655?aff=oddtdtcreator

Special Invitation:
If you’re ready to break through your visibility blocks and want support mapping out your next level of business growth, book a complimentary consultation with Maggie here - https://www.stairwaytoleadership.com/

Transcript

EP 240 - How to get yourself out there

Audio Only - All Participants: [00:00:00] If you've been an entrepreneur for longer than five minutes, you know that entrepreneurship is a journey of growth. Growing your mindset as a business leader, CEO, and your beliefs of what's possible for you rather than what's not. Growing your emotional capacity and resilience to handle challenges, pressure, uncertainty that comes naturally with being an entrepreneur and growing your skillset, your business skillset, your, skillset as a service provider.

There is a lot of growth and it has to happen fast if you want your business to grow. And what that means for many entrepreneurs, myself included, and the clients that I. Is that you have to put yourself out there, not only in marketing and sales, but overall as an entrepreneur.

And that has [00:01:00] to happen regardless whether you are shy or introverted. Or you don't have certain skillset, you just need to develop them. So today I wanna talk about it, how to do it, especially when you're introverted and shy, because that's what I happen to be and many of my clients, and I wanna share their stories and give you certain perspective on mindset and certain coaching to help you to be able to put yourself out there and overcome maybe challenges that you.

You feel you are having now, and so because of them, you're not making your business as visible as you should. You're not taking the risk and chances that you need to take to grow and succeed.

So I'm a person who loves to learn and grow. Learning is one of my strengths. I thrive in growth, and I remember when I was in a corporate [00:02:00] environment and a corporate career, I've never stayed longer than about three years in a role because by then I knew so much of it that it became boring and I needed.

To learn something new. I needed something more challenging in order to feel motivated and really, in order to be motivated and invested in what I was doing and not become complacent. And yet when I. Became an entrepreneur. I can't still believe how much more you have to grow, how much faster you have to grow, and how much more you need to change, which sometimes can be tiring even if you love it.

Especially now in today's day and age with AI and technology changing so fast with our markets and the consumer behavior changing because of the economy and [00:03:00] things that are, happening in the world. So as entrepreneurs, we need to have our thumb on a pulse and understand what's going on and learn new skills.

That maybe we didn't think we would have to learn. And very often those skills are, a gateway to our survival, right? Our job is not guaranteed. If we don't learn, our businesses don't grow. If they don't grow. We don't have clients, we don't make income. We can't make an impact. We wanna make, but also we can't support ourselves, our families, and so on.

So learning, putting yourself out there and stretching your capability and capacity of doing new things. Is not optional. It's a must.

The silver lining of that is outside of business growth and growth of income, is that whenever you look back and how far you've [00:04:00] come and things that we've done and learned, you can be so proud of yourself. You can look, wow. I pushed myself and I've done things that I didn't think I could do that. Didn't think were possible for me, and yet I proved to myself that I can do impossible things 'cause I really believe that impossible.

It's just a state of our mind and we are capable of learning anything, of doing anything we want if we only try. So let me share some stories with you.

Because everything starts with a mindset. How you think about this challenge, this mountain in front of you matters. It can be.

Because how we think influences or drives how we feel about what we're facing and what do we do about it. [00:05:00] If our thoughts don't serve us, we will feel negative feelings towards, let's say, doing video, going lives, doing public speaking or whatever it is, and we won't do it, or we will procrastinate or we'll.

Create all kinds of excuses because the brain will want to confirm the thoughts we're thinking and the perspective we have, but if we intentionally shift that perspective to thoughts that are serving us that are more positive and a perspective that is more conducive to doing it will feel better about public speaking, going lives, going on video or whatever that is, and therefore, take.

More effective action towards learning the skillset, putting yourself out there and giving your business a chance to thrive.

So let me share a few stories from my own experience and my clients. When I started my business, I realized I had to build a network that I did not have, a network that could potentially help me, [00:06:00] get connected with other people and grow my business. And as they say, your network is your network worth.

And why didn't I have a network? Because. When I came to Canada as an immigrant with my first partner, we built our social network around his family and their friends, and then when we divorced and separated, I lost that network. And then as I was. Growing my corporate career. I had a network within the companies that I worked with, and I knew a lot of people there.

But first of all, they were core people, corporate people, not entrepreneurs. And also when I started my business, I did not want them to know I was too scared to share the fact that I had this business on the side. I also did a network march outside of the corporate world. I definitely have thoughts that did not serve me about networking, but I also was starting a new family with my current husband.

We [00:07:00] had little kids, so the last thing I wanted is be outside of the house in the evenings after coming back, after a long day of work in the office. Very quickly into my business, I realized oh, I don't know too many people. I need to build my net, my network. And at that time, I didn't know even how to network.

I was very self-conscious about that. As I said, I am rather introverted and shy and I don't like small talks. So like the. Prospect of me going out there and talking to strangers and starting with small talk was very draining, but because. My business and the goal of growing is, so it's much stronger than the fear of putting myself out there and starting to go.

I started going to networking and very quickly I realized there were two types of networking groups and I found myself gravitating towards one of them. [00:08:00] First, just because it aligned more with who I am and my strengths. And then as I kept putting myself out there and networking, I developed skillset of connecting with people over, let's see, small talk, or I've noticed the benefit of an initial small talk to then get to a deeper conversation.

So one type of group is more business driven, is more structured, where the members of those networking groups or participants are focused on referrals. They took business and as they are consistent, showing up in their groups, the relationships of friendship and something more of like more deeper relationship of friendships develop.

And then there are groups that are more social. First it's all about, building friendships and then through that referrals happen and that was harder for me to do as an introvert.

But because I kept going, [00:09:00] I kept challenging myself and I kept figuring out how to manage networking while also needing certain time to recharge myself as an introvert I figured out, a balanced approach and now I network in both type of groups, so groups that are very business results driven and groups that are more social at first.

And I get good results, but it, because my thinking about it. Helped me be successful, right? The way I thought about it is this is what my business needs. This is what I need to do. If I want my business to succeed and I'm willing to feel uncomfortable, I'm willing not to be great at it and very awkward in the beginning, and maybe not be successful for a certain amount of time until I figure it out and [00:10:00] let me know.

And I take the same approach when I coach my clients on whether it's marketing activities or sales activities that they're resisting and they're.

Or they try to refrain from doing because they feel uncomfortable or they don't have skill sets or they have some fear about it. So for example, very common in business owners is video marketing, right? If you are about my age, camera is not something that we were born with that we're used to and so on.

My kids, it's a whole different story. But if you're in your midlife, probably not. However, video in today's day and age and marketing and sales is really non-negotiable. And I've read this, marketing LinkedIn study not that long ago that, shows that sound movement and visual cues trigger far stronger [00:11:00] memory formation than like static content will ever do.

And in the. Today's day and age of this sea of content where our ideal clients, whether they're individuals, whether they're business people making decisions in their business, we are being bombarded by a ton of content every day. If we as business owners who are not memorable. How our potential clients will pass through that.

Their brain won't even register that we popped up in their feed or that we send them a message or we send them an email or whatever that is, right? So through video, you can be more memorable just because that particular format appeals more to us as human beings, right? We're seeing body language.

We're seeing other humans that we connect with and not some static graphics, right? There is sound, there is movement. There's all those things where it's a [00:12:00] multisensory experience to the viewer. So video generates actually. Almost one and a half times more engagement where people stop, watch and interact rather than scroll through and.

Most importantly, the viewers of the video can retain 95% of the message that it's delivered via video. Whereas static content could be maybe 50% and for 48 hours not longer. So as a business owner, you have way more chances to be remembered to. Be engaging and also really reach your target audience through video.

Not to mention that the chance of being acted on, right? So if your video has call to action, the chance of being acted on is much higher because attention is scarce and then remembering what we've [00:13:00] seen is even harder for people to do. So I always. Encourage my clients to do video in their marketing and even in their sales.

So I was coaching one of my current clients that is a bit shy and resisting and offering them that data, that information, and saying that. And also perspective is okay, would you rather avoid the discomfort that is coming with you, learning how to talk to camera or preparing for it, or being a bit fearful in the beginning.

So would you rather just sit in the fear and be uncomfortable or. Stay there and then not have the sales and results in your business? Or would you prefer to have the business grow to have more [00:14:00] sales and just for a beginning, for a short period of time? Feel uncomfortable, not be good at something, and keep trying until you get.

A skill that allows you to be pretty good at video and also not feel the fear that you're feeling in the beginning.

I can tell you that when you lean into the fear and you start taking small but consistent steps towards. Doing the thing you're scared of that will help you, your business, that will allow you to put yourself out there in a bigger and bolder way. Not only you'll get a better result, but you'll be so proud of yourself.

So I had another client who did not like social media at all. Now they knew that being present on social media can help them, but they were so scared of it that they wouldn't even put their picture onto their profile, where the services that they [00:15:00] provide are very personal and they work with their clients one-on-one.

So I, when I was coaching them, I was saying like, it's hard for a potential client to trust you from your social media, even if they find you there, if they don't know how you look, because you'll have to interact with them. You have to see them. So slowly but surely she, she took the coaching and applied the strategies that we worked on, and within a few months, not only she was visible on social media and put her their picture on the profile, but also she actually started booking clients.

So people found there and through the content that we were creating, she started booking clients.

So only because something feels impossible, Jesus. Okay. Only because something feels [00:16:00] impossible right now does not mean it has to be impossible forever. We make impossible possible for ourselves. Another story from my own journey, when I just started the business and just like with networking, I realized that social media would be very beneficial for me.

I was. Working full-time, I could not go to too many networking events, because of my work. And also I knew I wanted to coach clients internationally. So the only way to reach international clients, or even within Canada that weren't too close to me. Was through social media.

And at first I wasn't putting my pictures on, I was hiding before, behind the quotes, or some static posts. But I quickly realized as a coach, I represent the service that I deliver. And in order for clients to trust me, to help them, and to be [00:17:00] comfortable being vulnerable, they need to meet me. Ahead of time, not right at the coaching experience or at the consultation level, right?

They have to understand who I am as a person, as a coach, ahead of time to even start trusting me. So again, that type of thinking shift from. I don't wanna be in front of camera. So focusing on me and what I want to do and not want to do, or what I'm comfortable with doing or not, to focusing on my clients, what does my clients need in order to ask for help from me?

Completely changed how I started thinking about social media and showing up on it. And then gradually I expanded my emotional capacity to be doing bolder and bolder things. I didn't go from. Okay. I'm scared to post a photo to Let's be live for three hours on [00:18:00] internet, right? I went from not posting photos to posting photos more and more from not doing videos to doing short videos or first lives and so on. And then to going and doing public speaking or podcast recordings, whether it's guesting podcasts or the podcast you're listening to right now. And from being very nervous and uncomfortable every single time and needing a lot of preparation to now not being nervous, most of the time, being really comfortable in front of the camera most of the time, not a hundred percent of the time yet, but most of the time, and depending on what I'm doing, that's not necessarily needing preparation every single time.

So when you push yourself and challenge yourself outside of your comfort zone in a way that still feels doable and you're able to take. One step [00:19:00] at a time, you will expand your capacity of doing more because your fear will get reduced. Your brain will see that if you go on video, you are not dying. It's all fine, and your skillset will grow.

So from maybe not knowing what to say. In front of the video or how to behave. Then you just develop a skillset set the same way you're learning how to swim or ride a bike, and then you are more and more comfortable with that.

And then ultimately what happens is you going from. I will never do it. I hate it. I'd rather close my business. Like I've seen, I've heard all of those excuses from my clients to, you know what, it's not that bad. I can do it. I actually like it. I have a client who, when they started coaching with me, they hated marketing and sales, and they [00:20:00] heated it because truly they didn't understand.

The role of marketing and sales and how you can market and sell in a way that feels natural, that's very valuable for the client. Once they learn that skillset, they understood the psychology behind marketing and sales, and they learn how to do it in a way that feels natural and aligned with their values.

Actually enjoying marketing because they see how it connects them with their ideal clients, how they can reach more people, and through that, how they can help more people. Was the same with another one of my clients, Jennifer, who. Did not want to go out there and speak in public in person, that she told me that she would rather close her business.

But then through coaching and showing her that it's not that much different than doing a social media video that she was already [00:21:00] doing and with preparation and with shifts and how she was thinking about it. She started accepting invitations to speak publicly and grow her business this way, and now she's at the point where she knows that she needs to get to the next level and do more and more of it, because that's the way for her to scale her business and she's willing to do it, and that's the most important thing, rather than resisting completely.

I often see, I often hear many business owners having such erving. Beliefs about sales or about marketing or about sales with direct reach out sales who are cold calling or just regular consultation where they're like, I don't wanna be salesy, or I would never do this, or I don't wanna bother people, or, there's [00:22:00] so many things to where.

A simple shift in thinking can could help them reach so many more. People, help so many more people with their gifts and their services

if they only wanted to try. So one more example in how shift in thinking can help you actually. Thrive is, let's say you would like to your sales flow When you're thinking, okay, what else can I do? And you are thinking about cold reach out, whether it is messaging on social media like LinkedIn reaching out or whether it is.

Picking up the phone or going door to door or whatever it is, and you have all those thoughts about people don't want it, they'll be upset with me. They will, I don't wanna be salesy and so on. And what I wanna [00:23:00] challenge you is ask you what are your thoughts about paid advertising?

So what if instead of reaching out directly to people, what if you, let's say you have a budget and you start doing paid advertising. So your ad pops up, whether it's in their feed or on their YouTube channel or whatever they're doing right? You would be more willing to do paid advertising because it doesn't require you to feel uncomfortable and directly connect with the other person.

You're just removed from there rather than, do a cold reach out. But ultimately. It's actually exactly the same thing, meaning you are reaching people where they are, right? Not knowing if they are ready to buy your service or not, but just making certain assumption on qualification based on your ideal client and so on, knowing that some [00:24:00] of them will need your services and then reaching them called one way.

By messaging them. The other way is by popping a message in front of them by done by algorithms one, right? So like technically it's the same thing, it's just the format is a little bit different, and yet you probably have two very different perspectives on it. And what I want to even coach you on is that direct messaging, not paid advertising.

If you do it well, could be actually. More personal and create more connection between you and the ideal clients, and therefore they would trust you much faster and better so it can convert in and the ones that are ready would convert for you much faster.

And if you were taking one thing, one golden nugget out of this podcast [00:25:00] today is do not discount a strategy to help your business grow just because of your thoughts about the strategy or about your ability to do it, we're always capable of doing way more things that we give ourself credit for.

We're always capable of learning new skills, and we're capable of making what we think is impossible. Possible. Yes. It sometimes takes external help. A coach like me to help you with figuring out how to approach it and coach you through your mindset, help you build some emotional capacity to be able to face the discomfort and fear.

But when you do it, the results can surprise you, and then how much pride you can feel in achieving it is [00:26:00] priceless.

Let me share a testimonial that actually Jennifer wrote for me not that long ago. "Working with Maggie as my business coach has been a transformative experience from very start. From the very start, she guided me through every stage of my journey, always showing me what's possible, even when I couldn't see it myself.

Maggie set me up with thoughtful homework and challenges that not only pushed me outta my comfort zone, but also held me accountable in all the right ways. The structure and encouragement were. Exactly what I needed, and I genuinely attribute my growth and progress to Maggie's unwavering support, insights, and believe in me.

I'm so grateful for her guidance and can't recommend her enough."

And Jennifer had amazing results. She probably tripled her business over that time, grew her team, got a truck branded and is really [00:27:00] positioned to keep scaling to.

So with this episode, I want you to believe in yourself and be willing and courageous to put yourself out there even if you're introverted, even if you're shy. You decided to start the business because you're passionate about what you do. You're passionate about helping people.

Don't let your fear or limiting belief stop you from that.

And one more thing, if you are in. Stage of your business where you feel that reaching your first hundred thousand dollars of income feels impossible for whatever reason. I wanna invite you to join me for my free back to Basics online event.

It's gonna be on March 25th, one to 4:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. [00:28:00] Online. It's a whole experience of me showing you how to get to your first a hundred thousand dollars in a simple way uncomplicating the road for it where you'll also be able to network and meet with amazing. Service-based business owners,

it's all free. All I ask for is commitment for you to show up and participate. It's a live event. There's not gonna be replaced. I'm gonna leave a registration link in the show notes. I hope to see you there.