Social Capital w/Lori Highby 092: There's GOLD in your numbers with Rachel LaMantia

Can you give our listeners a tip about bookkeeping? (2:40)

“Keep your receipts first of all. I have a lot of people who surprisingly think that just their credit card or bank statement is enough and that is not…

Why Masterpiece for the name of your business? (4:15)

“It is actually a nod to my musical background… and I also really like the analogy between music and business, when you own a business there is so much going on and there’s obviously black and white parts of it. But its like your taking it all and trying to figure out how to orchestrate it to move together…”

Share with us one of your best networking stories (5:30)

“Some of my favorites are the ones you weren’t expecting… For example, I met one of my clients at a whiskey party…”

How do you stay in front of your network or community? (7:00)

“I believe in networking with integrity. And to me, that means that when I do something I’m really going to make the most of it. So, if I join a group I’m going to show up consistently, I’m going to get to know the people there, I’m really going to try and help them grow their businesses.”

What advice do you have for business professionals looking to grow their networks? (9:20)

“Practice… believe in the process, know what you want to get out of it and put in the time to learn it and figure out your own methodology and getting better at it.  Because it will get better with practice…”

Digital networking or traditional networking? (12:00)

“When I started this business, I decided that I really wanted to be a referral-based business. So, I hit the networking circles hard. You know the traditional face to face, I’m going to meet with people, I’m going to have coffee. I really believe relationships are big in business, and I really wanted to build that traditional network…”

If you could go back 20 years, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of regarding your career? (13:45)

“I think it was Jim Rhone that said, work on yourself harder then you do your job. And it took me a while to figure that out I think. That there’s this whole world of professional development and growth and so many things you can learn and do… So, I would have probably told myself to open my mind up to that world earlier than I did.”

What book are you reading right now? (15:30)

“…last month we just finished reading, The One Thing, by Gary Keller… right now we're reading, Three Feet from Gold.

Any final words of advice for our listeners? (17:45)

“Just talk to people, don’t be afraid of it. There’s a phrase in one of my groups right now that I like to use, we say, Yakety Yak. Talk to people, ask them what they do, get into conversations with people…”