Blog
“Leadership is…” 25 Leadership Quotes
“Leaders are the bridge between ideas and actions.” David Crowley - episode 49 “Fundamental to leadership is a sense of responsibility.” Belinda Rosenblum - episode 47 “I don’t think leader is a self-given title. You only are a leader if people choose to follow...
Boo! Networking doesn't have to be scary
Meeting strangers can be scary. Going into a room filled with people you don’t know with the expectation that you’ll chat with a few of them – not easy. It’s human nature to want to stick with what is familiar to us and stay within our comfort zones. The downside...
Leave them thinking you're fascinating
Each fall and spring, your calendar starts to fill up with lots of events to attend. Some will be dinners to raise money for charity, some will be networking events hosted by your business community, and others will be conferences both near and far from home....
New Definition of Networking
What do you think of when you hear the word “networking”? If you are most people, that word has a negative connotation based on your experience. If you keep going to networking events, have a bad experience and feel they are ineffective, than go out to another...
The ABCs of Business Cards
Over the last few months I’ve been working with an association to increase connections at their convention. In an age where information is found with one click and we count “likes” as engagement, conventions hold the promise of meaningful in-person connection with...
Stop Praying & Spraying
Whether you know the phrase “spray and pray” or not, you probably have experienced this phenomenon and possibly, like me, you have been guilty of doing it. When I first started promoting a group I founded over a decade ago, I whipped out a business card within...
Email Intro Etiquette
Networking isn’t about collecting business cards it’s about building relationships. One way to do that is to make introductions between two people who may benefit from knowing each other. Sometimes you come up with the idea to introduce two people. Sometimes you...
Are conferences worth it?
Over the last few months I’ve been working on a new book and in the process asking my network to share their problems networking at conferences. Over and over I received questions that could be boiled down to - How do I get more value out of the experience of going...
Communicating Across Disability
Creating a welcoming event is a multi-faceted endeavor and I would be remiss if I did not offer some guidance on how to communicate with a person with a disability. Unfortunately, the angst people have about networking gets amplified when given the opportunity to...
Extrovert Privilege
As I’ve mentioned, I’m an extrovert. If bonus points were awarded on the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, I’d test off the charts for extroversion. That means I get energy from being around people. I’m able to keep up a demanding schedule (while caring for a toddler)...
The Dirty Business of Networking
Are you resisting networking because you feel like it’s dirty business? Well, you are not alone. A study published in 2014 found that networking with the goal of career advancement made people feel icky. The study, co-authored by professors from Harvard Business...
How to Shift Your Body Language
If you have been listening to my podcast, you are clearly prioritizing networking and creating relationships that work for you and your career or business. That said, you probably also have some anxiety around doing all of this. For many, the idea of meeting with...
How to Follow-Up and Stay Connected
Exchanging business cards does not indicate that you are establishing a relationship. Evidence of that is when you make plans to reconnect. So, stop obsessing over collecting as many business cards as possible because you end up with a stack of business cards on...
Strategic Volunteering: Showing Up is Just the First Step
You probably already know that one of the best reasons to volunteer for your association is to build stronger connections with others in your field. This is true if you are new to the meetings industry, a recent transplant from another region of the country, or...
I’m a solopreneur. I’m not “out on my own.”
At the end of 2014, I left my career to go “out on my own” as a professional speaker, expanding a side business that began in 2009. I was passionate about teaching people how to build great professional networks and strong, welcoming communities. It wasn’t out of...
Small Networking Moments at Conferences
It’s early in the morning, and you’re on your way to a local conference – or it’s late at night, and you’re flying to a conference across the country. Knowing you would be out of the office at least one day, you stayed late several days in the last week to get work...
Now what? First 15 minutes at a networking event
You’ve gotten dressed up and ventured out to a networking event. With some advanced research, you are pretty confident that you’ll be able to make good connections at this event. You walk in, and now what? How do you jump in? The first question is, “Am I a guest or...
BOO! Networking doesn’t have to be scary
Meeting strangers can be scary. Going into a room filled with people you don’t know with the expectation that you’ll chat with a few of them – is not easy. It’s human nature to want to stick with what is familiar to us and stay within our comfort zones. The...
Networking for Introverts
Let’s face it. Networking means meeting people and if you’re reading this, you probably find that exhausting. Not to mention overwhelming. The worst part? It also often feels like a waste of time. Yet you know you have to network, because it is touted as being one...
are business cards dead?
You hit it off with someone at a networking event, and the conversation is going well. This person seems like a great person to stay in touch with. As the conversation winds down, you wonder whether you remember to bring business cards with you. But wait, are...
open letter to networking event hosts
I’m sure you would agree that not all networking events are equal. Too often, it feels like the decision to have a networking event resulted from not wanting to hire a speaker – and that’s the end of the discussion. What should a convener do to enhance their...
Graceful Exit Strategies
You’ve done it! You're in a conversation with someone at a networking event. You feel like it’s going well and you’ve enjoyed chatting with them. The whole time you’ve been a little nervous because you never know how to wrap up conversations and often feel like...
Networking Tip #1: Croissants vs Bagels
What I’m about to share is a tip from a very memorable section of my Art of the Schmooze (www.ArtoftheSchmooze.com) training. A year after attending my session, sometimes even two years later, I’ll run into a past attendee and they’ll excitedly point at their feet...
to be my best self even when I’m stressed
It’s 8:27 am and my anxiety level is rising because I need to get my kids into the car so we get to the bus stop on time. This is the moment I feel the most pressure to step up as a parent and not give in to the angst that makes me want to yell at them to hurry up....
The Downside to Being a Unicorn
Let’s say for a moment you could be a unicorn. What would your day be like? Are you picturing rainbows and sunny skies? More likely, you’d spend your day hearing, “Wow! A unicorn. I’ve never met a unicorn. What’s it like to...” followed by lots of curious...
free advice not leading to clients?
Raise your hand if you've ever given away an hour of free advice only to have that person hire someone else. Happens more often than you’d like? Yeah, that sucks. Let's paint the picture… Mary asks to "pick your brain" or meet for coffee - or maybe you scheduled a...
Stop Wasting Time Networking
Whether you’re looking for new clients, job hunting, or seeking donor support for your organization – everyone will tell you that networking is vital. But is it? In theory, yes, but in practice, networking has lost a lot of its magic and has become formulaic: 1....
When Will Women Win the Right to Pockets?
Every time I present my Art of the Schmooze - www.artoftheschmooze.com - session about increasing your networking success, I know there are women in the audience who think my strategy for keeping track of business cards is an impossible feat. I have (1) a pocket...
starting at square one
My kindergartner is learning sight words in school right now and the teachers sent home some worksheets to practice. I don’t remember what it was like to learn to read and hadn’t much thought about the process until this year. Each night, we practice after dinner...
make next year’s tax prep easier
We moved into our dream home last summer and felt quite fortunate that we didn’t need to do a lot of big home repairs right away. Since home improvement tasks aren’t my strong suit I searched for and found a handywoman to help me with odd jobs that came up as we...
8 Steps for Successful Networking
Forming and cultivating relationships is at the heart of any successful sales strategy, fundraising campaign, volunteer drive, committee effort, or community building activity. Foster and grow new networks with these practical tips and best practices to engage...
the hardest thing I’ve ever done
I recently wrote a LinkedIn recommendation for a friend and her response was “That is a great recommendation! Thank you! Is there anything you're not good at? : )” My response? “I generally avoid doing the things I'm not good at, LOL” In reality, we don’t always...
networking AT events – are you ready?
A few months ago, I attended my first in-person business event since the pandemic began. It was a 10-person mastermind in New York City that met six hours a day for three days. There was a kick-off dinner the night before it started. I organized networking dinners...
my philosophy of abundance
It’s early in the morning and I’m at a coffee shop a couple of blocks from where I work. I’m meeting with someone from my network who asked to “pick my brain” or have a “getting to know you” chat. This was a regular activity for me for many years - 10-15 years ago....
there’s always an exception to the rule
In April 2020, it seemed like everyone and their mother announced they were hosting a virtual summit. I get it, in-person events were canceled or postponed, and entrepreneurs needed to find a way to provide value in a disrupted world. Most of these summits...
book launch to $30,000
Is writing a book one of your New Year’s resolutions? Or did you recently publish one? Writing a book is not an easy task and I speak from experience having written two myself. For a book to be worth all that effort, it should be helping you meet your business...
Grrr. I found this quite frustrating.
In early 2015, right after I left my career to pursue entrepreneurship full-time, I was flummoxed by the question, “Who is your ideal client?” For five years, I had been presenting my signature Art of the Schmooze talk to non-profit boards of directors. I knew...
the benefits of pogo sticks
Welcome to 2022! Let’s make this an exciting year of profound personal and professional growth. As events (hopefully) begin to shift back to in-person we need to fortify ourselves against spammy networkers. You know, the guy (or woman) who after shaking our hand...
audacious enough to live big
12/7/2021 Back in the day, before cell phones were all we looked at while commuting, people used to read the newspaper on their way to work if they commuted via train. In New York City, this meant that all squooshed together on a crowded train you’d see people...
What’s stopping you from asking for help?
When I was sharing early drafts of “Small List, Big Results” with my assistant, Peya Robbins, she had quite the reaction. She realized that for years, she had been avoiding the one strategy that was guaranteed to help her figure out what her audience wanted. Asking...
“a must-read for any entrepreneur”
In 2020, I reinvented myself and grew my business from zero to six figures in eight months. My new book, "Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List" answers the question, “Robbie, how did you do that?!?” More...
how do you guarantee success?
When you co-create your offer you guarantee success. Even before my book officially launched on Sunday, October 31 it had already achieved the metrics of success I was expecting. "Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email...
I didn’t keep my book a secret. [Launch Party Invite]
Unless you’re living under a rock (and I hope not because that sounds painful) you’ve heard that I have a new book out this fall, “Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List.” [Virtual Launch Party is on November 2 at...
Are YOU your ideal client?
The launch date for my new book “Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List” is in just a couple of weeks on Sunday, October 31. I started writing this book three years ago. I knew even then that I needed to connect...
why reviews are important
Let’s say you’re getting ready to buy a new printer. Do you buy the one that’s available at Target? Do you first check reviews on Amazon? Have you ever found yourself checking Amazon reviews while standing in Target? Then you already understand why reviews are...
“wisdom-filled gold nuggets”
Today’s the day! Launch Team members are receiving the advance copy of “Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List” later today. To encourage them to read the book this week, in preparation for writing an Amazon review,...
Letting go was not easy. But then, something happened.
Have you ever been enthusiastic about a new business idea only to realize you needed to let it go? That’s where I found myself in the summer of 2018, when I had to accept that it was not the right timing to launch a new podcast about parent inventors. I then...
It was unexpected.
It’s been so fun going down memory lane and sharing stories from a few years ago. I had forgotten this one, which in it’s own way is a lesson. Read on and see if you get what I mean… I did a thing. It pushed me way outside my comfort zone and now that it’s behind...
Of course, I said yes.
My first book, “Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences” was published in July 2018. I put a ton of effort into the book launch and was very pleased with the results - 150 Amazon reviews posted within one week of the...
Yes, THAT Seth Godin!
I remember it like it was yesterday, it was mid-2015 and I had left my career just six months earlier to pursue speaking as a business. I was feeling a bit unmoored. After having my days clearly defined by endless deadlines, I was the one who had to decide what was...
Truer words have never been spoken.
I left my career at the end of 2014 to pursue speaking and coaching full-time. Every course I purchased, and there were quite a few, stated how important it was that I identify my ideal client. The typical exercise proposed in these programs: Think about your...
I was winning the morning, until…
This email was originally written three years ago, but I remember the feeling all too well. I was winning the morning, until…the toilet overflowed. Now... Baby is crying in his crib. Toddler is whining in his bed. Breakfast is half made. And the bathroom is a mess....
it’s been three years since I came out…
Three years ago, I revealed a truth about myself that had slowly been coming into my consciousness. I remember how hard it felt to come to grips with my new identity. I finally spoke up because I needed to find my community - be around people who understood. My...
Don’t wait years to test out your theory.
Each time I kick off a new mastermind cohort, I start with a round of one-on-one calls with members. From my experience, this is a critical step that is often skipped - that’s been the case for the masterminds I’ve paid to join. It’s through these conversations...
“What’s stopping you from sharing your brilliance with the world?”
That was the question I wanted to ask my client. We had been discussing the logistics of her MVP (minimally-viable product) and I had helped her overcome every objection she could think of. We made the RSVP goal smaller. We figured out a free venue. We discussed...
I wonder if anyone is paying attention
I was raised by an avid golfer, whose age and best score lately is in the mid-70s. My dad taught me how to golf when I was “yea high.” I learned all the basics and hit a few rounds on the course with him as I got a bit older. Golf faded from my life in my teens. My...
I found your wallet
I pulled up to the restaurant and parked my car. As I got out, I nearly stepped on a wallet sitting on the ground just outside the driver’s door. This was about ten years ago and not the only time I found a wallet, but a memorable one. Immediately, I looked through...
our time horizon got really short
Time has been odd over the last year. Weekends and weekdays blurred. Annual events that normally would mark the passage of time were canceled or postponed to later in the year. For a while, it was hard to forecast plans more than a few weeks or possibly a few...
As my kids learn to take risks, so do I.
Last spring, I heard that our upstairs neighbors had added a trampoline to our shared backyard. It brought back memories. Remember when you were a kid and your friend had a trampoline in their backyard? Or maybe you were the family that had this set up for hours of...
I’m guessing I’m not alone in doing this
I remember the first time I was paid $5,000 to speak. What’s memorable is that a professional development opportunity that cost $5,000 had just appeared in my life and it seemed like fate that I was about to be paid that exact sum. I don’t even remember what the...
Are you a multi-hyphenate?
In the interest of checking out new ways to network virtually, I signed up for LunchClub a couple of months ago. This is a website that uses AI to match you one-on-one with someone based on your responses to a few open-ended questions. That has led to a lot of...
Why the webinar should be history
“Do you know anyone with experience working on a dairy farm?” That’s not a question I expect to be asked anytime soon, but after doing a quick LinkedIn search I know the answer is “Yes, yes I do.” A decade ago, that was not the case. I knew a lot of people, but...
a ridiculously simple and effective idea
In 2006, I founded a Meetup group, Socializing for Justice (SoJust), that grew to thousands of members and hosted hundreds of events over the next 11 years. We got so big that I ordered branded BIC pens to give out at our events with the bingo ice-breaker sheets....
A Burst of Willpower
For years, I struggled to take a simple step that would improve my health. I tried a lot of different hacks to make it a daily habit. I knew that it would not take more than a minute of my time but somehow could not get into a rhythm around doing it. Of course,...
This Surprised My Wife
My wife is sitting at our kitchen table scrolling through Facebook when something catches her eye and she starts to laugh out loud. A moment later she calls me over to read the post and when I do, I’m confused. I had never heard about the #TargetDressChallenge and...
I Had Finally Given in to Full on FOMO
Two weeks ago, on a random Thursday morning, I found myself driving around the Boston area for over an hour. I was on a quest. After keeping temptation at bay for nearly two months, I had finally given in to full on FOMO. At first, I told myself it was a good thing...
it’s your job to be politely persistent
Four years ago, in February 2017, I started to actually write my book, “Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences.” I had been “writing” it for years but making no real progress. Finally, I committed to a writing program...
I haven’t been a very good boss
It was about 1 pm in the afternoon on a Monday in mid-January and I was sitting with my wife on the outside deck of a restaurant. A heat lamp hovered over us casting warm air down towards our table. This allowed me to wear just a heavy sweatshirt and still be...
Adulting my business
After my wife and I got married we realized it would be smart to meet with a financial planner. At our first meeting, I asked to see a list of all the “adult” documents we’re supposed to have - our financial planner laughed. But when she handed us a long intake...
Lesson finally learned
Our family is moving later this week - that’s a story for another email. There is a lesson I learned the hard way during this process though that I wanted to share. Although, truth be told, I doubt you’ll learn this lesson simply by reading about it. That’s because...
My 5 fave productivity tech tools
Are all the emails in your inbox about New Year’s resolutions? This one isn’t. Instead, I’m sharing five of my favorite productivity tech tools to help you get your year started in the right direction. Canned Responses - I’m listing these in alphabetical order, but...
It’s definitely not business as usual
It’s that time of year again. When I get the itch to make unrealistic lists of what I want to accomplish in the final days of the year. These lists never seem to take into account how many distractions there are in December. It’s definitely not business as usual...
it was worth it
“Do you want to be filmed discussing gender over dinner?” That may not be the exact quote, but it’s essentially what I gleaned from the email I was reading. I had a million questions and a few reasons I almost said no before reading any further. For starters, the...
Yes, I sleep.
Sleep. I think a lot about sleep. Mainly, I think about whether my kids are getting enough sleep. And whether I’m getting enough sleep because of my kids. When I’m feeling a bit run down, overwhelmed, or lacking focus - I start to get myself back on track by making...
I wear a lot of hats.
It’s true, I do wear a lot of hats in my business. A quick review of all that I do would take at least 20 minutes and you’d still miss some of the pieces of the puzzle. I wrote “Croissants vs. Bagels” an Amazon bestseller which has nearly 200 reviews worldwide. I...
Don't wait years.
The next cohort of The M.O.R.E. Program for Entrepreneurial Women just got underway, which is quite exciting. When I was having my first one-on-one coaching calls with each of the participants, I started to see a pattern. They had really, really big ideas of what...
It's time to come out.
It’s time to come out. I haven't been able to come to grips with my new identity, but it's time I share so I can find my community. It's been years of trying and failing. I kept going back to my old ways. I was being stubborn or at least going with what was...
You make the topic sexy.
I just had a very interesting conversation with my friend Jeffrey Shaw, host of the very popular podcast Creative Warriors. Jeffrey had recently heard me being interviewed on The Profit First Podcast hosted by Mike Michalowicz. While Jeffrey has known me through...
Empowering Introverts
5/8/2018 Have you ever been voluntold to do a task that ends up being an amazing opportunity? That happened to Susan, one of my clients. I had encouraged her to get involved with her industry’s association. Not to just show up to a few events over the year, but to...
Women are not good at networking.
That’s what a client told me. She had hired me to come speak about networking at a women’s leadership conference. “Men,” she said, “naturally gravitate to talking about business and always exchange business cards.” These were her examples to back up her statement....