Introduction
What’s the most valuable thing in churning and manufactured spend?
Breakfast(oh I thought you meant of the things you eat)- Networking
Networking comes in many forms, but typically we have three groupings: chat, video, and in-person. You’re going to get something different out of each and the information shared in each is different. If you’re not doing all three, consider changing.
The Groups
I’m sure that there’s a churner out there who talks to his buddy over Motorola radios, but generally there are three main groups for information exchange:
- Chat (Telegram, Slack, Discord, ICQ?): Information exchanges happen quickly, things are in writing so data tables work really well, lots of people can share, and you can catch up after you’ve “been on vacation for the last three months”.
Unfortunately in chat, nuance gets lost, complex topics are hard, and trust might be difficult when you’re talking toGiftCardDestroyer420. - Video calls (Zoom, Meet): Information exchange is slower, but complicated ideas are easier to deal with, and a question and answer clarification phase is generally automatic. These are also ideal places for distilling months of knowledge into a few nuggets.
There’s a downside though, right? Yeah. Scheduling calls often requires fitting an elephant into a hole the size of an aardvark (quick, how big is an aardvark? Idk but sounds smaller than an elephant), it’s easy to get distracted, and it’s hard to have a natural conversation and topic change. - In-person (meetups, conferences, dinners): Churners, as a group, are a diverse people both geographically and socially, and our chief export isn’t actually corn despite popular opinion. When you meet churners in-person, you’ll see body language, be able to sidebar a conversation with whispers, bond over drinks, and also occasionally make life-long friendships with “Rob from Telegram”. Information is often the most nuanced and high-valued, but you’ll occasionally have to read between the lines or develop trust before that value shows itself.
Downsides? Youbetcha. Unless you live next door to your churning bestie, you’re probably driving for a long time, possibly traveling across time zones, and maybe even catching an intercontinental flight to meet. Also, sometimes there’s a guy who doesn’t shower.
Cool Story Bro
Diversification makes sense in a lot of places, this isn’t any different. Chat provides breadth and speed, video provides depth, and in-person builds trust and creates opportunities for serendipity. Obviously each can reinforce the others too. If you’re not doing all three, you’re probably not operating at peak efficiency.
Happy Tuesday friends!
Next time: Reconsidering free hotel breakfast.