Think that ‘confidence’ is something you’re born with? Think again!
Even Andrew Warner, uber successful founder of Mixergy, used to be shy and awkward – but, he managed to LEARN and DEVELOP confidence. Listen to this interview to find out how.
Andrew has interviewed over a thousand successful entrepreneurs, including the founders of Groupon, Wikipedia and Pixar, on the hugely popular Mixergy podcast.
In this interview, Andrew shares how he built confidence to talk to women, how his interviews have helped his communication skills, and why you should be doing interviews to build relationships and find greater success in your job or business.
Notes from the episode:
- Andrew’s ‘Two Things’ about being confident talking to women:
1. Do it consistently every day
2. Don’t worry about what you’re saying. Just say something. - “We feel like there’s a glass wall between us [and the other person]. The glass wall is built by us.”
- His thoughts on approaching women – all you need to do is walk over and say hello. You don’t need the perfect pickup line. You don’t need to be ‘ready’. Just do it.
- You often meet people whom you find interesting. If you don’t talk to them – what a massive shame!
- Before, Andrew felt like he failed with making connections with people. He was too shy to speak to people he was interested in. So – “I channeled my sense of failure into work…and that’s how I built my first company.”
- When he sold his company, he went out 6 nights a week to just meet and talk to women. He was determined to break down the “glass wall”.
- Was he perfect at it? Of course not! “Even though I felt like a loser I had to go out again and fix [my mistakes].”
- Andrew’s top tip for reducing your nerves when interviewing someone: Ask yourself before an interview – “What do I really want to learn? What is my issue?”
- Why you, yes YOU, should do interviews. Think about “Who do I admire right now?” and do an interview with them right now.
- Schedule appointments with people high up in your company who you admire and want to learn from. If you do a formal interview, you can post it on your Facebook or Tumblr or blog. Then, you build a relationship with that person.
- Venture capitalist Heidi Roizen created success using interviews to build relationships. She used to interview her boss and post it on the company newsletter. Doing something like this shows you’re an “active player”. You don’t just sit back and be passive.
- Doing interviews consistently helps you become better at speaking and having conversations. Andrew schedules lots of interviews, one after another – this way, you don’t have time to feel bad about yourself, or second guess yourself or think about how much you suck! You just keep pushing on.
- Making small talk at work: if it’s a Monday: “How was your weekend, what did you do?”
- If it’s a Friday: “What are you up to this weekend?” (The weekend gives you something interesting to talk to them about outside their boring job.)
- “How do you spend your day?” instead of “What do you do for a living?”
- We also chat about what Andrew thought of my video, and why he said ‘yes’ when he was saying ‘no’ to everyone else!
Get in touch with Andrew:
- Check out his amazing interviews on Mixergy
- Say hi to the Mixergy team or Andrew himself on Twitter
- Follow the cool stuff he shares on Facebook
The invite video I sent to Andrew:
Watch the video version of the interview below!
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