Introvert Builds Networking Experience to Help Women

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hey there friends and listeners. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Did you know that today is National Read-A-Book Day? Well, indeed it is.

I hope you have a book by your nightstand or perhaps one on a mobile device or tablet. And it's also National 13 Days to Go until the Side Hustle Book Comes Out Day. How about that? Can't wait to share it with you soon. Now, as we begin today, I want to give a shout out to my fellow introverts.

Sometimes people are surprised when they hear that I identify that way, but I very much do and always have. I do a lot of work on my own. I need a lot of time to recharge. Even though I can handle and enjoy social situations, afterwards I usually need to get back to my room or my space or somewhere where it's just me. So if that's you, you're not the only one.

And today's story is about introvert networking. Or at least it's about an introvert who builds a networking experience. Also, people are always telling you to start something for free and then charge for it. Have you heard that before? Maybe I've even told you that before.

Well, the thing is sometimes that can work. Like it can be a good strategy, but it can also be a challenge as you'll hear in this story. Because people who sign up for something that's free can be a lot different from people who are willing to pay. So maybe sometimes it's better to be intentional about your price from the beginning. Anyway, there's more than one way to do these things.

I'll tell you the whole story of how one woman did it right after this. [Music]

Crystal Covington is an introvert, but you wouldn't necessarily assume that considering the networking empire she's building for women in business. By day, she's the director of public relations and customer service for a regional grocery chain. By night, she's the founder of Women in Denver, a social enterprise association for women. It strives to help them increase their income.

A pretty good thing. The group hosts three to five events each month to help women develop their skills and build a strong network. Crystal provides educational resources such as eBooks, webinars, workshops, and video interviews with high level experts addressing career and business topics. This came about when Crystal moved to Denver from Detroit in 2013. She had no local connections, but recognized the need for a network that could help support her in her life and career.

She tried visiting a variety of networking groups, but none of them felt right. She couldn't find one that filled her need. So naturally she set out to create it herself. Just prior to launch, Crystal began a blog where she discussed women's leadership and started building the brand. She then ran it as a free meetup group for about a year, but as it grew, it created a growing demand on Crystal's time and also contributed to her feeling overextended.

So it was at this point that she realized she had to make it an income generating project or she had to shut it down. And transitioning to a paid membership was not an instant success. Crystal actually lost a majority of her group, those women who had attended the meetups in year one, and she now had to recruit new members who were willing to pay. To promote the events, Crystal used tools including meetup.com, Eventbrite, and LinkedIn. In the first year of charging, Women of Denver made $7,000.

The second year increased to $15,000. This is year three and Crystal is expecting net income to exceed $30,000 by the end of the year. Now that's awesome, but one of the other valuable aspects of her side hustle, according to Crystal, is the growth she can see in herself. She started out afraid of standing in front of a crowd, but because she had to do it, she learned to. It also ended up getting her an invitation to do a TEDx talk, something she was initially scared of, but then very glad she did.

Women of Denver still has the meetups and events, but Crystal has also added a podcast and this month, a new magazine. She's hoping that with her spare time dedicated to growing the project, the growth can be tremendous for herself, for women in business, and the greater community. Also, it's bringing in $30,000. That's pretty great too. [Music]

So congratulations to my fellow introvert in Denver.

I have learned some of those same lessons myself about speaking in front of groups and pushing yourself in a good way, and it's great that she was able to successfully retool the whole group from that free meetup model to a paid membership model. As I said, people who sign up for free stuff are not always the same as people who will pay, so that is something to consider as you plan your project. Well, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/249. Remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better.

Wherever you are out there, I hope you're doing something today to create more freedom and options for yourself. I'll be back tomorrow cheering you on. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]