The Meeting You Can't Have Online

You can run your existing network from your phone. Message a dormant connection, make an introduction, check in on a key connection all of it happens without leaving your desk.

Except one thing. Knowing what's actually happening in your own backyard right now.

The Core Insight

Your local market changes constantly, and almost none of it gets posted anywhere. A referral partner quietly picks up more capacity than they can handle. A business three blocks away that could become your best source of leads opens its doors. Someone you'd never connected with turns out to be sitting on exactly the resource you've been missing. None of that shows up in a feed. It shows up in a hallway conversation, before or after an event, when someone mentions something in passing that they'd never think to post.

Allie can tell you a lot about the network you already have, who's gone quiet, who's aligned, who's worth reaching. What it can't do is surface the business that hasn't connected with you yet, or the shift that happened last week and hasn't made it onto anyone's profile. That's not a data problem. It's a presence problem. The only fix is showing up somewhere in person, on a schedule, not "when it works out."

Owners who stay plugged into their local market aren't the ones networking constantly, they're the ones who treat one in-person session a quarter as non-negotiable. Not to pitch. Just to listen.

The Playbook Move

This isn't a call to network harder. It's the opposite: one deliberate touchpoint a quarter, not an open-ended commitment that quietly turns into burnout and then into nothing.

Go in with one job: open up conversations with people by asking them about: “the types of business owners they most enjoy working with in the community and why?”  Your goal is to gain an understanding for how business moves around the community and who the people are at the core of it all. Be sure to jot down names so you can work on adding these people to your network.  

Your Action This Week

Open the Events tab on Alignable and filter for in-person events near you. Find one happening in the next 90 days and RSVP right now — actually on the calendar, not a maybe.

If nothing jumps out, ask Allie: "What in-person events are happening near me this quarter that make sense for my business?"

Then, before you go, ask Allie one more thing: "Who else is registered for this event that I should try to meet?" Walking in with one or two names beats walking in cold — you'll know exactly who to find in the room instead of hoping the right conversation happens by accident.

A Question for You

When's the last time you left a local event with a name or a piece of information you wouldn't have found any other way? What was it?

Reply and tell me. I read every response, and the best ones shape what I write about next.

— Eric