Best networking advice: your network is your net worth – Michelle Goodall
Michelle Goodall at MAD//Fest for the series "Best Networking Advice I Ever Got".
If you know networking matters and still can't make yourself work the room, start here.
You already know your network matters. You've heard "it's who you know" a hundred times. And you still stand at the edge of the room, phone in hand, working up to saying hello. If that's you, you're in the right place. At MAD//Fest I asked Michelle Goodall – a fractional CMO who lives and breathes this – for her best networking advice. Her answer was simple and true. The reason it's hard to act on is the whole reason this series exists.
"My network is my net worth."
Michelle's rule is generosity first: "put as much credit in the bank as you can" long before you need to draw on it, and treat your network as your net worth. She's right. But "just be generous, just have a chat" is not a technique – it's the thing you can't quite do yet when your nervous system is telling you to leave. Knowing was never the block. Doing it, in the room, on the night, is. You don't get past that by understanding it better. You get past it by practising it, on purpose, somewhere built for it. That's what I run – and it's what these 21 interviews quietly make the case for.
“My network is my net worth.”
Michelle's rule is generosity first: "put as much credit in the bank as you can" long before you need to draw on it, and treat your network as your net worth. She's right.
But "just be generous, just have a chat" is not a technique – it's the thing you can't quite do yet when your nerves are telling you to leave. Or when they won’t even let you book a ticket in the first place.
Knowing isn’t the block. Doing it, in the room, on the night, is. You don't get past that by understanding it better. You get past it by practising it, on purpose, somewhere built for it. That's what I run, and what my interviews with 21 brilliant MAD//Fest attendees prove.
Check out Michelle Goodall and the brilliant Damn Fine Greetings if you’re looking for your next independent business gift. You can find the their luxurious, rebellious, rude, funny, beautiful, hand drawn lettering greeting cards and other seasonal sweary gifts, including their world famous sweary advent calendars at https://damnfinegreetings.co.uk/
Full transcript of Video 1 – Interview with Michelle Goodall · Fractional CMO · Damn Fine Greetings
Susi: Tell me your name and what do you do?
Michelle: Hi, I'm Michelle Goodall. I wear lots of hats, but today I'm with my Damn Fine Greetings hat. I'm a consultant, a fractional CMO, a cabaret performer, and a parent as well. I think you might have just interviewed my daughter.
Susi: What's the best piece of networking advice you've ever received?
Michelle: I could probably say three things, but I would say that it's really important to network with other people. Choose a wing person to go with. I'm naturally a very extroverted person and I don't have any issues with that, but I've got friends who are introverts or ambiverts and they really struggle with networking. Having somebody who you can stand with and then introduce is a really nice technique.
Susi: Why is learning to network so important?
Michelle: Networking is everything. I tell my daughters: my network is my net worth. It really is. In tough times, when I've had to draw down on my network and ask for help and support, they've been really helpful – but I always try and put as much credit in the bank as I can, and help people out as well. Networking is absolutely critical.
Susi: And you're very good at it!
Michelle: Thank you!