Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Stop Networking Wrong: Become a Connector & Unlock Hidden Opportunities | Robert Butwin (Ep 61)
Transcript
- Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Your next big business opportunity isn't waiting for you online, but sitting inside your network. Welcome to the Glovisor Podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through real conversations with people that make an impact. Our guest is an entrepreneur, speaker, best-selling author, elite networker who has spent decades helping people turn entrepreneurial dreams into reality through strategic networking, mentorship, and personal growth. Glovisor welcomes Robert Butwin. Robert Butwin: Hey Joe, very glad, grateful to be here and I'm looking forward to our conversation. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: likewise, I've been waiting for a couple of weeks now to get this going. All right, could you share with us a little bit more about what you do? Robert Butwin: You know, it goes back into the leading lead in to your introduction of today's conversation. It's developing meaningful conversations. It's developing that right connection. You know, I talk to a lot of people and it's understanding no matter what it is that you do, is what is your purpose for why you do what you're doing. When I started off it was about chasing money, but then I had this, you know, aha moment. And my purpose now is to make, you know, a difference. Make you know, make a make sure that my life is meaning. I've made a lot of money. I don't have to worry about making money anymore. But there's an old parable about the starfish thrower. I made a difference to this one if you don't if you're not familiar with the parable. But in the meantime, it's what is the meaning of your life? And really it it gets down to making that connection with an another human being. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Hmm, I like that. Now, what inspired you to pursue this path? Robert Butwin: Well, it started in nineteen eighty-four, dating back, and I grew, you know, I came out of Minnesota. I graduated for graduated from the University of Minnesota. And our the Gophers, college I graduated in 1983, and you can look it up, they had zero wins, absolutely no wins, and they lost all the rest of the games in their football team. And ultimately, why was this significant? But through the ability to network, a gentleman by the name of Harvey McKay. And I look at Harvey as the grandfather of networking. You know, I sat and I wanted to model myself. You know, I s I looked at his ability to have the kind of impact and influence he had from networking. And so I said, this is my way up. This is the way that I can create the kind of success that I'm really want to accomplish. By understanding and how to become a superconnector. Now I didn't start off as a superconnector, but the key in part of your journey is the two magic words you are I am. I am a connector. The more I became efficient and proficient at that, ultimately now I change it to I am a superconnector because the information supported me saying that. So but again, Part of everything that I wanted to do and how I saw myself le living a life of meaning, because every time I go into a conversation, I understand three Cs. Most people are confused. All you have to do is take a look at what's going on in the world. I don't have to say anything about that. Most people are challenged for a variety of different reasons. And the third C, which is the most important, is certainty that I can be of value. So it's understanding in essence. you know, and and how I start every conversation, tell me what you do and more importantly than what you do is what are you doing to take what you do to the next level? Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: So that's interesting because you mentioned networking, then you mentioned superconnector. So that sounds to me like that's the next course into the next level. But one of the questions that I think a lot of people have is that they don't understand what networking and superconnecting or connecting people, where's the real value? How do some people monetize this? Robert Butwin: Well, there's multiple different ways to monetize it. Early on, and let me tell you another story, because I've got a lot of stories. Obviously I've been doing this for a long time. But I was at an in-person event, and I only go to two in-person events, and I met and I was watching this guy. His name was Larry Bonet, and he was a major networker also. Because I part of it is modeling other people and then I'll get into the income. And so, you know, I heard him over say to somebody, I gotta go to the airport. And I had a car there, and I says, Hey, why don't I and I didn't know this person at all, but I said, Let me drive you to the airport. It was five minutes away, ten minutes away from where we were staying. So he said, Fine. And on the way to the airport, he said, he mentioned to me he's gonna be interviewing Larry King next week. And so I asked him the question. I says, you know, or he I think he might have mentioned, I don't know what to get this guy is. So I responded, Well, what is Larry King like? He says he's a big Jackie Robinson. baseball fan. Great. You know, it just so happens I do sports I collect a little bit of sports memorabilia. And so I sent him a Jackie Robinson baseball card, which he gave to Larry King. Now it's a way there's different ways to take that connection and develop it into a relationship. But again I sort of modeled him and so I know he's made a lot of money from networking by putting the right people together. Now I've got a slightly different methodology model as far as what I do, but I believe in multiple streams of income. And everything that I'm talking about, and I love acronyms, and my acronym for multiple streams of income is scalp, S C A L P. And I'll talk about that in a minute, but it all depends upon your strategies. You know, d w do you have a long or short tail? Meaning a short tail, if I do something today, I've got to make sure that I monetize that and next week, next month, short period of time. Long tail, which is how I operate, is I'll allow the relationship to evolve. So as is your s speaking, I do speaking. I've spoken on stages with some iconic speakers. I don't travel anymore to do any speaking. you know first of all part of the reason why is I got a plaque from United Airlines telling me I went through two million miles. My wife doesn't want to travel for business purposes anymore. And part of the key of having a happy relationship, no matter who it is, your wife or other people, is understanding what's going on. So I do very little business traveling. So anyhow, S is your speaking, C is your coaching, consulting, or collaboration kind of relationship, A is your affiliate. So you're talking about different ways of making money. I'm I do have some affiliate income, but again, it everything is related to you know your strategy, the person's strategy. L where I've made millions and why I'm a millionaire today is leveraging resources. one, you know, the one that I've made most of my money, which is totally misunderstood for a variety of different reasons, is what they call network marketing MLM, but that's where you you've got to learn how to be a networker and a marketer and put them together. And the P and scope is passive. I invested heavily in silver, gold, and dividend paying blue chip stocks. So my money's working for me to make money. So anyhow, that's where I make money and that's why I can focus more on purpose and developing that what I call relationship currency. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: That's great. I mean, this is like an explanation of behind the scenes of how someone puts it together. But one of the things is he I've had some of those of part of your scalp, which I like I like that. I'm gonna use that for myself if you don't mind that I borrow it. I'll give you credit though. Robert Butwin: If you're you know yeah, you know the saying. The first time I get credit after that it's my research or whatever. It doesn't matter. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: But you know, one of the things that I have logistically is how do you keep all this going? How how do you know all the affiliate relationships you have, all of the other agreements that you have for referrals? How do you keep that all in line? Robert Butwin: You keep the key ones, but there's everything is a system. And my acronym for system is shape your strategies to execute and multiply. So the key as it relates to, you know, and today with technology and everything else, there's engagepro dot com. It's a guy that I met through networking. It's E N G A E N G A G E P R O dot com. And so the people that if I know what they're looking for, I mean I know where I can find it at my fingertips. I know who I've spoken to and when I've spoken to. They've got a whole systematic way of taking that connection and develop it into more of a meaningful relationship. But to me, part of my system and when I meet somebody wherever I meet them, because usually they book on my calendar and they're gonna get a follow-up. And so in the first conversation with somebody, everything is about understanding what they do and what they're doing. And so I Give them resources. Most people are not talking to enough people. And so, you know, part of what I do is if I'm gonna t tell that to other people, even though I don't have to worry about making money, I've got to do what I'm telling other people to do. Most people are not gonna do the numbers that I'm doing. But part of the system is they're gonna get a follow-up email saying that if they want to have a follow-up conversation with me. Most people don't even do it. And I tell them the follow-up conversation is gonna be based on two things. reciprocity and collaboration. Now I don't charge, but you know, again, you know, it's gotta be you you've got to get clarity in your communication if you want to take that relationship to the next level because not everybody y you've got to be selective. Otherwise people c will take advantage of your generosity. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: I I agree with you a hundred percent. I I love the building of relationships, getting to know people, not just the business side of it, but a little bit of their personal side because you get a better understanding where they are and where they want to go. do you have a success story that you could share with us of someone you've worked with in the past? Robert Butwin: you said, Do I have a success story? I've got success stories. You know, is it just one? What just happened the other day? He has something that I think's got a lot of viability and he was looking for funding. Well, I know three or four different people that are funders. you know, that that's just one. Another one, I remember a guy that I when I originally met him, you know, he you know, ultimately and he came up like a out of a family business like myself. And, you know, I could see the potential, so I opened them up to a lot of networking. I've watched him blossom. You know, a lot of what I do in I've got two aspects of what I do. I'm fine behind the curtain, behind this, you know, before I became an entrepreneur trying to get out of our family business, I ended up running a nightclub in the Twin Cities called the Oz, OZ, like the Wizard of Oz. You know, so I'm fine behind the scene and I'm fine in front of the you know, in f on stage one way or the other. So I've got so many d success stories that I could continually go, you know, continually talk about because I you know, I don't even it I'd have to rack my brain to Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Mm. Robert Butwin: think about all the ones. You know, I I just had one right before here and you know, I mean, you know, I it's part of my DNA is just focus on it's not about me. never will be about me. It's always about making a difference. Going back to that parable of the starfish thrower. You know, that's how I live my life. That's how I know I'm living a life of meaning. so the answer is yeah, I've got lots of them. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: now you introduced these individuals, let's just say if they're looking to raise capital for their own business. Are you then hoping to be part of that new venture that takes off, or are you more of working with the individual who's providing the capital? Robert Butwin: it depends. You know, I don't you know, this particular case, the one that just happened a couple of days ago, you know, I've guided him to three or four people that he's helped and I know it I've just done a good thing. but it's like when I speak because I've done a lot of good things, and part of the key in getting on other people's stages and when I send them something and I ask them to promote it for me, they promote it. I'm using the number one or number two person. you know, because part of the key to getting on stages is you've got to be able to bring other people to listen to besides yourself, some of the other speakers. So i i it it varies. I mean, Larry Bonet that I mentioned beforehand, who's an amazing person now living in Bali and done very well, that was part of his business model. So everything goes back to your strategy as it relates to what you're doing. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: I wanna go back to what you had mentioned earlier of networking or networker and then being a superconnector. What in essence, what is the difference between the two? Robert Butwin: You know, I think for the you know, part of the biggest mistake that people make when they're networking is they're too singular focus. They're just thinking about transactions rat rather than collaborations. But ultimately, really what the difference is is the results that you're able to help other people accomplish or attain. And that's where I look at myself as a super connector. Everybody results, yeah, but they've got to I've got to know that it's the right person. You know, part of the key, you know, and part of my methodology and strategy, you know, I was you know, there are certain people that I met and I could talk about them, you know, one of them is Tom Gay, he's got engaged pro he's got an amazing system. Another one is, you know, James Feldman. You know, he's his website is shifthappens dot com. He's helped some very large companies increase sales three billion dollars. When I first met him, He told me one of his many key speeches. I become very close to him. And it was his boxcar story. And for those of for anybody that listens to this and wants to hear about that, I'm happy to share that with them if they ask me to do it. But a super connector knows when it's right. Like, for example, let me give you the the app the opposite of what just happened to me like last week. One of the guys somebody referred me to, a person that they referred to me to him. And all he did is he s showed up and pitched me and I knew that ultimately you know he needed some help. So I you know suggested that he reach out to a person, you know, that lived fairly close to him, who's you know, a guy named Michael, a good friend of mine, the guy who knows a guy, and I got the feedback. He said, This guy, you know, whatever was I mean, he he was off base. So I mean you've got to be careful of who you suggest. And part of it goes back to how you suggest them. There's certain people that I'll write a three-way introduction for. You know, not necessarily the first time. Other people I just say, because I've got the kind of relationship with the other person, I say, all you need to do is use my name and these two key magical words. Possible collaborations. You know, it's exploring who the other person is because really it's not who is in front of you. It's who that person knows. And unless you develop that kind of connection on a human level with that person in front of you, you're never going to get to the people that person knows, which is where the gold is. So I I think that gives you more of the my mindset of what a superconnector is and compared to just a connector. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Sure. Yeah. So it's a little bit more strategic and long term. It's it's really Robert Butwin: Yes. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: what a super connector is. and I think it goes back to what you were saying, the short tail and the long tail. What kind of relationships do you really want to have? that's what I'm equating it to right now. now can you tell us a little bit about your latest book? 'Cause Robert Butwin: I'm very open, and you know, ultimately, you know, I stay in my highest income producing activities, even though I'm not necessarily looking, which is developing that human connection. So why am I saying this? It's because I had ghostwriters that wrote wrote the book with me. My first ghostwriter was John David Mann, who's one of the top ghostwriters, and the second one is a business partner that you know, typically if you were gonna you know write a book but he collaborated with me would charge somebody a lot of money and that's James Fellman who's you know one of the sharpest guys that I've met. You know, I mean I've met some other really sharp people that I you know will recommend and promote, but the books were basically taking my insight and wisdom because I believe in a part of my history is you want to digitize your messaging. Once you've got it in a form that you like, it's how to get that message into the right pe the right audience. And part of the story I didn't talk about is how I was instrumental in and this is more of a deep question of getting 65 million cassette tapes for those of you that remember a cassette what a cassette is. But that goes back to the marketing. It's networking and it's marketing. It's understanding and staying, you know, it's staying what works today not what worked in the past. I mean some of the foundations of what worked in the past will work today, but you know, we're in an ever changing world today. You never know. I mean, that's going back to the one of my first see is confused. There's a lot of confusion. So the only thing that you can control is what you can do and how you can work effectively through other people. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Now staying within that that you just mentioned, the changes of time. How do you foresee the MLM business? Is that increasing, decreasing? Do you think that is making it a comeback? Robert Butwin: first of all, I believe if people really understood MLM, everybody would be involved. It's not about trying to sell product. If nothing else, because of the tax benefits that go along with MLM. You know, base you know you know, when I started with MLM and without you know, I haven't a I'm having answered the question, I was watching Sixty Minutes and the guy gets on sixty minutes and said, I work for a food company and my job is to make Food's addictive. So part of the key to success, my formula of success is become more conscious and aware of the negative things you put in your mind and body and do less along with your right actions. And that's right relationships. so MLM, if people understood it, they'd be involved. it, I mean, there's so many different pieces of that equation, but a lot of it is the support system, the people around you that really will take the time and listen and understand. and help guide you in a way that makes sense. So if people understand MOM to be involved in it, it will always be part of my DNA, but my the things that I'm doing go beyond MLM. So, but that will always be it. So is it making a comeback? you know there will always be certain companies that are formed for the wrong reasons that won't be around. There's other companies that have got, you know, that understand How to create a successful company that will continue be in existence. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Yeah, unfortunately there's some bad apples that sometimes gives a bad name to the rest of the industry. And a lot of these industries, I mean, they're fantastic and they're helpful to some individuals who can get into the market for very little barrier. Now, if listeners remember only one thing from our conversation today, what do you hope that message is? Robert Butwin: You know, part I'll give you a couple of different things. You know, part of the key to success is luck. Now, as I say that, and I I'm sure I'm not gonna surprise you, I've got an acronym for luck, which is Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Yeah. Robert Butwin: laboring under correct knowledge. But the key, no matter what it is that you do, Because I remember when I started in and I had I was dating the lady that I've you know, been happily married to in for over forty years. I turned to her as we were walking and I said, There's nothing or nobody that's gonna stop me from being for s being successful. It's understanding your intention, having a vision that there's something better than what exists in your life today. And having the vision, having the intention, having the proper action, having a strategy and having a system. But the key to success, if you want to reach the next level, whatever that means to you, the key to reaching the next level, and again I've got an acronym for your listeners there, which is R is your reputation. Now, can you overcome a bad reputation? Yeah, but you know, it's better off just to keep a good reputation. E is the experience that people have when they're in your presence. A is authenticity. I think it's more important today to be authentic because there's you know, people are tired of being hyped one way or the other. C is clarity. Were you able to help the other person get more clarity and is your messaging to them clear? And H, were you helpful and did you get did you Help the other person have hope. And the acronym for hope is helping other people elevate. So the point as it relates to the question, you know, if other people can do it, so can you. It's just having that intention, having that vision, and realizing whatever you really want to accomplish, no matter what it is, that you can create a better life than the life you're living if that's what your choice is. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Great advice. Now, who would be the most ideal person that should get in contact with you today? Robert Butwin: People that are serious and committed about wanting to take whatever they're doing to the next level. Real simple. I just want to deal with people that really want success. You know, I've coined the word wanted. I think there's a lot of wanted in the marketplace. They say they want something, but they're not willing to do the things necessary. That's why I've got to lead by example. I know what my numbers are, because if I want to create the kind of impact that I want. It's developing the right relationships. So anybody that's serious and committed, that really wants to take what they're doing to the next level, they owe it to themselves to have a conversation with me. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Now, where can the audience connect with you, find out more about your work, and continue this conversation? Robert Butwin: there's three places they can connect with me. Number one is LinkedIn. Number two is my email. It's just Butwin, my last name, at Gmail. Or number three on my Calendly, which is calendly.com forward slash Butwin. Typically when I'm in a networking event, my tagline is my name is Robert Butwin. What I really want you to remember is when you connect with Robert, you'll do nothing but win. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR: Robert, thank you so much for joining us. And we really appreciate your time and all of the value shared. Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to sign up for the Glovisor Podcast for more conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.