Amberly Lago [00:00:00]: Welcome to the Amberly Lago show, where grit, grace, and joy connect you to unstoppable success. Hey. I am so happy that you are here. You are going to want to grab a notepad and pen because I have Devin Sizemore with us. He is amazing. He has spoken to my mastermind and I was like, would you come be on the podcast? He is the king of connection. I mean, this man, even his wearing a shirt saying, who can I connect you with? And he doesn’t just talk about networking, he lives it. He is truly somebody who embodies the power of connection. Amberly Lago [00:00:41]: We’re going to talk about how it’s so important, how meeting just one person can not only change your business, it can actually change your life. He is the founder of Aces Connection Group. We’ll talk about that. He is a leader. He’s a speaker. He is on the road all the time doing events. In fact, he’s got like three events going on this week. And he is so gracious to take time to be on the show. Amberly Lago [00:01:04]: But we’re going to talk about how authentic relationships, how they open doors, they spark new ideas and transform lives. So I can’t wait for you to meet Devin. Devin, welcome to the Amberly Lago Show. Devin Sizemore [00:01:17]: Thanks so much for having me. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation. We always have so much fun when we connect and so excited to provide value to anyone listening or watching. Amberly Lago [00:01:26]: Oh, my goodness, you’re amazing. And you really are the king of connection. Like, you literally make so many amazing connections for me in emails, and you have a whole system about how you do it. But what does being a connector mean to you and how has it shaped your life and your career as an entrepreneur? Devin Sizemore [00:01:48]: Yeah. I appreciate the kind words. Thank you so much. Being a connector is everything, right? It’s. It’s the thing that if I could advocate for anything, make more connections and meaningful, deep connections with people, because as I was dissecting what’s worked for me and my various companies across different industries, what I’ve done with clients over the years, the thing I kept coming back to is we’re building this system that flips the script. People come to you, you get inbound connections, your network grows itself. And that became the thing where I went, man, I have to scale this, because if we can help people generate a million connections, think about the ripple effect of that. The families impacted, the relationships formed, the new friendships, the revenue, the community impact, the good. Devin Sizemore [00:02:32]: Like, it’s such a valuable mission and it’s so impactful and everyone can participate. Amberly Lago [00:02:38]: Oh, well, is there one connection that you have made that was like what you consider like a life changing connection? Devin Sizemore [00:02:48]: Yeah, I like to answer this question in seasons, so I think in every season I have a connection that kind of benchmarked that season. And so, you know, even going all the way back to college, right. I was connected to a gentleman who had a digital marketing agency, and that led to my first job, which also laid the foundation for my first business. If I think about even before that, in high school, transitioning to college, I had a mentor who invited me to do network marketing, which was a blessing because it taught me sales and rejection and how to get out there and, you know, sell product and do the kitchen, dinner, you know, whatever, meetings and stuff. And so I think as far back as I go, I think there are these moments where I was connected to individuals or opportunities that just unlocked things. And now every day I’m connected to amazing people doing amazing things. And so I’m just blessed to play in that world. But there’s just so many amazing connections over the years. Amberly Lago [00:03:41]: Oh, yeah. Well, it’s unbelievable how just meeting someone and doing a podcast interview can lead to opportunities in business, friendships. Like, I just did a. I did a podcast interview with my friend Arjun Dangram, and if you don’t know him, I’ve got to introduce you to him. Do you know him? Devin Sizemore [00:04:06]: I don’t know him, but we, we are close to each other. Amberly Lago [00:04:09]: Yeah, well, I’ve got to introduce you to him because we did. I did his podcast and he came on mine, then we did a speaking event together, then another speaking event, and that led to him flying out from California. California. To come speak at my Mastermind retreat. And it was just that one meeting, that one time at an event. And he’s like, hey, can you be on my podcast? I’m like, yeah. And we literally went up to his hotel room and did an interview. And that led to, like, this friendship. Amberly Lago [00:04:39]: Like, he’s not getting rid of me now, but there. And you’re not getting rid of me either. There’s so many entrepreneurs that I think struggle with building those genuine relationships. And honestly, Devin, I think that it’s even more so for women. I think that a lot of times what I see, and this is maybe it’s my perspective, maybe it’s just some of the experiences that I’ve had is there are guys that want to make those introductions and they want to do things for each other and they want to build. And I feel like a lot of times with women, it’s more almost like cutthroat, like, oh, I’m not going to introduce you to that person. And it’s, it’s not as much of a mindset of abundance. And I’m not trying to put women in, you know, a box or anything like that, but when I was in the dance industry, it was definitely like that. Amberly Lago [00:05:36]: And I think I would even annoy people sometimes when I would walk into an audition and, and start talking to everybody or, you know, I’ve had people say to me, like now, wow, you really do give everything to us. Like, and I’m like, well, yeah, the more I can give, the more we all grow. What do you do or how would you suggest to somebody who is having a hard making those connections, what’s one thing that they can start doing that will change that? Devin Sizemore [00:06:11]: Yeah, typically it’s because we’re playing the wrong game. And it’s really important to talk about this. If we talk about referrals and connections, so often we default to this world of a referral being an introduction to a prospect that’s positioned to buy a product. Right. And that’s the world we play in. And so when people think about referral networks or connections, they tend to default to this revenue focused conversation, which is where they default to sales and marketing too. Right. Everything’s sales, everything’s, you know, pushy. Amberly Lago [00:06:40]: Yeah. Devin Sizemore [00:06:41]: For people that creates a lot of friction. So if I say, hey, Joe, this is who I want to connect with and I give you my ideal client profile, Joe has to sit there and narrow down his network to that perfect person. Then he has to decide are they qualified to work with me? Meaning budget, alignment, attitude, timing. Right. There’s a lot of barriers there. Then is he willing to endorse me to that person so that that person will take a meeting so I can sell? Like, there’s so much friction in what I just said. And so women, what I find is that trust factor is so critical. And so because the trust factor is critical, it’s really hard to want to make introductions. Devin Sizemore [00:07:20]: And it’s hard to trust that when you’re getting one, it is aligned and it’s qualified and there’s not a weird motive. And so we get rid of all of that. And so my recommendation is stop asking for clients. Stop asking for the, the, the client focus. And so what I tell people is, I want you to build your network targeting zero clients. And I want you to sit on that for a second. I want you to build your network targeting zero clients. And then you go, oh, Devin. Devin Sizemore [00:07:42]: Well, how do I make money? Well, we make money because we go after the six buckets that have access to our ideal clients and we’ll just reference one. So one bucket is vendors. There are vendors who are selling products and services to your ideal client. And so if we go back to Joe’s conversation and I can tell Joe, hey, Joe, you know what? I want to meet Mastermind hosts, because Mastermind hosts, we can collaborate and create amazing content. I can bring value to their group, and the more I get to know them, the easier it is for me to refer people to them. It’s a win, win for everybody. That’s what I want to meet. Now all of a sudden, Joe goes, oh, I know. Devin Sizemore [00:08:13]: If you Mastermind host, there’s no friction. It’s all collaborative in nature. It’s all value focused. And so if we shift our ask to the bigger connection, ask with people who have access to our clients, the stages, the podcast, the opportunities, we eliminate all this friction. And what it actually does is it unlocks our network and it empowers other people to refer you. And it makes it so much easier for you to refer others because now you’re building strategic relationships. You don’t have that pressure of, I gotta find the prospect for this person and they gotta get a deal done. No, no, we just have to help people build networks that at some point will lead to stages, podcasts, and deals. Amberly Lago [00:08:49]: Oh, that’s so amazing. Taking the friction out of it. And yeah, I think that there are so often that people are so used to trying somebody trying to sell them something, you know, and their email, their inbox is like, full of. I know. Mine is of people trying to sell me something. Their product, their service, their. But when I think when you start by offering value, and you are, Devin, you are so incredible at that. You offer so much value and you are so generous. Amberly Lago [00:09:23]: Like, to speak to my mastermind. Everybody loved you. You’re so generous to be with us here today. And you’re so generous in the emails that you. Introductions that you make as well. And so every time I see your name pop up in my inbox, it’s an immediate, like, feeling of just good. Like, oh, it’s Devin. Like, oh, good. Amberly Lago [00:09:45]: What does he have to say? Instead of somebody who’s just constantly, like you said, looking for that client, looking for that prospect, they want something with you. I know that you make this email introduction and you do it so beautifully, and you also do it in a way where, like, I can easily go look up that person. You give their info their, their LinkedIn profile, their website. And you tell about them, then you tell about me. And so it’s like, oh, it’s a win, win for, for everyone. And so I just appreciate how you make email introductions. What is a mistake that people make when they’re making an email int. Devin Sizemore [00:10:28]: Yeah, I appreciate that and it’s so good that you get to experience it too, because you can relate to what I’ll explain. So I call it the three E’s. Anytime you’re making an email introduction, you want to edify, endorse and explain. And so you need to be able to edify the person and both parties. Actually edify both parties. Why are they rock stars, right? What makes them amazing humans? Then you need to endorse them. You need to validate their expertise in the thing and reason why you’re connecting. And then you need to explain typically one quick sentence why you’re connecting. Devin Sizemore [00:10:58]: Connecting both parties. I’m connecting you because you target similar clients. I’m connecting you because you’re both podcast hosts. Maybe you can create some content together. I’m connecting you because one of you hosts an event, the other is looking for sponsors. Maybe you guys could find sponsors like whatever the motive is that makes both parties understand the reason to meet. And then again edify and endorse. And to your point, the perfect framework should have their LinkedIn or their website link right after their name. Devin Sizemore [00:11:23]: Hey, I want to introduce you to Amberly Lago. Here’s the LinkedIn. Oh, by the way, here’s a link to the book, right? So give the information so that people can one get them in their CRM quicker to follow up. And then a quick little nugget on the follow up side, make sure you have a calendar link like it is 2025. If you are not making it easy for people to book meetings, like stop it. Like you’ve got to be able to reply. Amberly Lago [00:11:49]: I know it is. It’s so important to have that calendar. And you know what, sometimes it takes time to get those systems in place. Like I definitely have a calendly, but it also takes time to go through and make sure your calendly link like your schedule is up to date. Because like I just sent a calendly link out to a new client and I just booked a speaking gig and they found a time, but it’s on my calendar exactly when I’m speaking in an event. So then it’s more work. So when you do the hard thing first, life gets easier. And when you do the easy thing, life Gets hard. Amberly Lago [00:12:27]: But I agree it’s so important to have those links in place because you’re going to lose that connection. Or you could possibly lose that connection if you’re going back and forth trying to figure out time times through, you know, 10 emails of what works for you, what works for me. So, yes, you. Thank you for bringing that up. You are so good about that. So wait, I want to ask you, how often do you go in and edit your calendar links or times schedule? Devin Sizemore [00:12:59]: Yeah, so I’ll share some best practices that work for me. And I do a really high volume of meetings and so these things had to get put in place just to make sure I didn’t break this. So obviously you want to sync with your core calendar, whatever your main calendar is. The other things you want to do if you’re going to use a booking link like that is get really good at time blocking. So I typically time block Mondays and Fridays for either no meetings or clients and podcasts where I’m scheduling, not letting other people schedule on my calendar. And then the other thing I do is I have a limit. So once a certain number of meetings are booked a day, one, my booking platform won’t let you book. But two, I go in and I block that day out and say no meetings on my calendar. Devin Sizemore [00:13:42]: The other thing I do is I don’t let people book meetings. It’s a week out. So if you book a meeting with me, even if I have time tomorrow, the earliest little show is a week, although it’s typically two or three. Those are just some best practices that buffer your time because there’s nothing worse than your calendar not being set up properly and someone sneaks on your calendar in this weird time slot you had today. And now all of a sudden that time you thought you’re going to be catching up, you’re stuck on a meeting. And it’s not a bad thing because you do want to meet the person, but it just messes up your flow and your agenda and your rhythm. So create those time blocks, create the buffers, Block your calendar out when you don’t want to have meetings and go way out. Like, I’ve already blocked off holidays, trips, events, things I’m speaking at. Devin Sizemore [00:14:24]: I also block off office weeks. So typically every 66 to seven weeks, I’ll block a whole week off so that my calendar won’t let you book that week again. I may book people that week manually, but I won’t let people fill up my calendar. So just some best practices on the. Amberly Lago [00:14:38]: Calendar side that is so Helpful. And yeah, I remember when I first started this show, I was like, people could book at any time. Like, I was, you know, seven days a week. If you can find a time, let’s do it. And then I was like, wait a minute, I got to get more. I got to block this out and only have podcast interviews on certain days. And that way I know what to expect and I can set up and be my best. And so that’s so helpful to do that. Amberly Lago [00:15:09]: Now I want to kind of switch over back to the networking and ask you a question because you explained this very well when you spoke to the mastermind about networking. Can you share what people get wrong about networking? Because networking is huge here in Dallas. But I went to a networking event and Devin, it was just like I was getting just a handful of business cards with everybody trying to sell me something. I never went back to that networking event. So that’s kind of how I feel about, like networking events where you’re just being sold to nonstop. What is something that you think that people are getting wrong about networking? Devin Sizemore [00:15:55]: Yeah, the first thing, and we could probably circle back to this on a follow up question is you probably don’t need to network. You probably have enough opportunity in your current phone, social network, CRM database, email list, you probably have enough. You’re just approaching it wrong. And so for those of you who are introverts or just get burnt out from going to these events that are positioned incorrectly, just know that there’s a better way. So that’s a teaser. But to directly answer the question, when you go networking, I have a core principle. We have five of them. But the second core principle is control what you can control when you’re networking. Devin Sizemore [00:16:29]: Make sure you do everything you can do properly. So did you show up? Great. Do you gather people’s contact information so that you can control the follow up? Because if anyone follows up with you, they’re just trying to sell you something. So you want to get people’s contact info so that you can control the follow up. That’ll help you set the foundation for how you follow up. Have some set questions. This is where people go wrong too. You just kind of stumble into the event and you’re like, I’m a seasoned pro at this. Devin Sizemore [00:16:54]: I’ll just ask questions and stumble through the room. No, no, no. Like, have a set. Like, I asked these three questions, then I move on, I ask them for their card and I go about my day. Now, other people, yes, they’re going to try to sell you. They’re going to be positioning and asking where questions. Great. You can go along with it. Devin Sizemore [00:17:08]: But again, you just want to get their contact. The goal of going to an event is just to meet as many people as you can and get their information. So I don’t mind if people want to sell and hard push business cards at me because it just helps me get more contact info. Amberly Lago [00:17:21]: Oh, that’s a good way to look at it. Yeah. Devin Sizemore [00:17:24]: Well, that’s why I said you got to change the way you look at the mindset. Hey, if all these people want to sell to me, great. Are you going to give me your card? Fantastic. Because what will happen is they’re not going to follow up. And in fact, I don’t even carry business cards to events because what I tell people is, hey, I’ll shoot you an email and follow up with you. Because I want to make sure I control the follow up. And by controlling the follow up, I can send a message that sounds like this. Hey, Brittany, it was great meeting you at the Dallas networking event last night. Devin Sizemore [00:17:51]: I enjoy briefly learning about you and what you do. I’d love to schedule a time to learn more about you and what you do so that I can better connect people to you. Here’s a link to my calendar. I look forward to connecting with you. What we’ve done, no matter how the conversation went at the networking event, is we have disarmed all of it. It I am reaching out to learn about you, to connect you. I’m not reaching out to sell you anything. And I do not expect to be sold. Devin Sizemore [00:18:16]: Although you may show up to the meeting, they may try, but then we just disarm them in the meeting too. So those are some tips there, right? Have some set questions, kind of laugh at the game. Because if your games to get the most contact info, great. Let them shove business cards at you. Fantastic. Well, and then make sure you buffer time to follow up. Amberly Lago [00:18:32]: Yeah, I love that you give this specific formula on how to shoot an email over to them, but what you said was pure gold. That have a set of questions to ask. Because I think a lot of times in networking events people just want to go and talk about themselves, but you’re saying something diff. Totally different. And you’re like, have questions to ask that person. That’s brilliant. And also, I actually don’t prefer business cards. I mean, I usually get a stack of them and I need. Amberly Lago [00:19:03]: I have them on my desk right now and I need to follow up with these people. So you’ve inspired me to shoot them an email. But If I don’t do that right away, a lot of times I’m like, who’s this person? How did I get their card? Which event did I meet them at? Because you and I both do a lot of events. So how soon do you follow up with them? Do you do it like the next day, that night? Like how soon do you follow up with them? Devin Sizemore [00:19:31]: Yeah, let me give you two answers because I want to address old business cards. Because everyone listening, 99% of people have old business cards sitting somewhere. So best practice is if you go to an event the next day, time block, one hour to follow up. It’s about all you need. Especially if you’re dropping them in a CRM and sending a templated email. That way at least you’re getting them in the process. One tip I can give you for this, and this is what we have is we have an intake form. And so I literally don’t even go to my CRM, I just go to, to a form that we’ve built and I just put your name in. Devin Sizemore [00:20:05]: I put the event name in. I type some notes about you that I remember. I grab your LinkedIn connect with you, hit go. It automatically drops you into a funnel that sends you all the follow up messaging and then it moves you to our nurture campaign, does everything for you. So I want to tease that because I think people are serious. Amberly Lago [00:20:21]: Like that’s, that’s brilliant. Devin Sizemore [00:20:24]: Well, that’s what. Yeah, because I do too much of it. Like I, I’m at. We have two networking events this week. I’ll probably meet 60 to 70 new people. I can’t, there’s no time for that. But I can give the business card to my va. My VA can send the template of email. Devin Sizemore [00:20:37]: The other part of this is you can templatize everything. It doesn’t have to be custom. And this is where a lot of people put so much pressure on themselves. Is to your point, what event did I meet you at? What do I remember about. You actually don’t need to remember anything because the email I send people is identical and it never changes. And then you’re going to get a follow up email in seven days that says, hey, just bumping the previous email. Would love to connect with you there. You know, seven days later that says, hey, we’re still trying to connect with you. Devin Sizemore [00:21:03]: Here’s a link, my calendar. And seven days later another one. And then after that we drop you into the nurture cycle. We bug you for six weeks. Now if you have old business cards, here’s A secret. You can use the nurture checking email to reignite those business cards. So let me explain. You have a stack of business cards or maybe you even scraped. Devin Sizemore [00:21:22]: I was on a webinar a few weeks ago and I got guilty of this. I grabbed everyone’s names and then I just totally dropped the ball on following up. Well, three weeks later I was able to email everyone and this is what the email sounds like. Hey, it’s been a while since we last connected. I wanted to check in with you and see what’s new and exciting. Are there any new challenges in your world? We also haven’t connected in a while. Would love to get back together. Here’s a link to my calendar so that I can better learn who to connect you with. Devin Sizemore [00:21:46]: So same language there and then that’s it. Then we drop them in a six week follow up cycle so we can at least take these dead contacts, get them a touch that invites them to a meeting in a very aligned way, gets them into our CRM so we can nurture them every six to eight weeks and then it sounds like a normal touch because it has been a while since we connected. Right now you don’t have to say I suck at life and drop the ball following up. Although sometimes I do send that email too. Like hey, I gotta apologize for being so late and following up with you. I’ve spoke at six events, I’ve been traveling like it’s been crazy but I still would love to get together with you. So sometimes I’ll add that sentence or two at the beginning and then use the rest of the email template and just send that out because guess what? Everybody’s busy. Amberly Lago [00:22:26]: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Man, you are giving us so much gold. Now you have built a community. Tell us about your. And I love that your background shows your. Your connection group and real people, real conversations, real connections. Amberly Lago [00:22:43]: Tell us a little bit about that so people can maybe join your community and get to know you. You more and get to know these systems even more because I just think you’re brilliant at how you connect, how you follow up and how you word your emails and how you make introductions. But what, how, what was the reason you started this group and how, how can people get more involved with you in the group? Devin Sizemore [00:23:09]: Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. So you can go to connectionexpansion.com that will take you to my website, to the page of ACEs or devinsizemore.com Click the ACEs link. The name of the group is Aces Connection Group. So if you’re on School or go to school. Just search ACES connection, it’ll pop up. The group was formed because I wanted to provide as much value as possible. And what I realized is that I needed to bring people that were like minded together in order to facilitate my mission, to facilitate a million connections. Devin Sizemore [00:23:37]: And the only way I can do that is to educate more people. And so in the group we’ve got a few pillars of success. The first pillar, and this is all free. So let’s get that clear too, right? ACES is free, everything inside of it is free. So there’s so much value. The first is networking done different. So we do connection Blitz meetings. My guarantee is every connection Blitz meeting you get on, you’re going to meet someone new. Devin Sizemore [00:23:58]: And I guarantee you’ve never sat on a virtual networking meeting that is that efficient and will generate as many results. I just got an email since we’ve been on from someone, I said, hey, how was the blitz last week? He had four meetings, already talked to one, has two referrals out of it. Like this is a real time email, just came in. Like that’s one meeting he attended. So come network and hang out with us. It’s totally different if you’re burnt out with networking. It’s a different way to do it. The second thing is the connection expansion system masterclass is fully inside the inside school. Devin Sizemore [00:24:28]: So my whole system, everything I teach, all the email templates, the GPT, it’s all available. The third pillar is we do expert interviews. I’ve interviewed over 25amazing thought leaders and experts on all topics from family office, talking about managing your wealth, from a billionaire to styling consultants to AI to SEO to whatever the topic is. We’ve probably interviewed someone. And so all of those pillars are available, all free. Come hang out with us. We’re just about to cross 300 members. By the time you listen to this, we’ll probably be well above that, but we’re growing. Amberly Lago [00:25:03]: How long have you had the community? Devin Sizemore [00:25:06]: I launched it in a paid version, January of this year and then we reopened it free with all of the new pillars and everything in June. Amberly Lago [00:25:15]: So what was your decision in going from a paid version to a free? Because most people go free to paid. Devin Sizemore [00:25:24]: Yeah. I think that communities, free communities, are the future of email lists. And so what email lists used to be or what Facebook communities used to be, I think that school Circle, some of these other platforms, a free community where people raise their hand and opt in to participate, I think creates this amazing group that you can create momentum inside of. And so we’re seeing that people, you know, ability to fill webinars for myself and others and all sorts of other stuff. So by going free, we eliminated the friction. I didn’t want to have to negotiate or try to prove the value because what I know is true is if you come to a networking meeting, come to a connection blitz meeting, my guarantee is I’ll make three connections for you. So every new member, every person that comes to a meeting that’s new is going to get three connections. I know for a matter of fact that if you come, you’re going to be blown away. Devin Sizemore [00:26:12]: If you get three connections from me, you’re going to be blown away and at some point we’ll find a way to play more. That’s great. I don’t need to rush the sale because that’s so against what we teach. And so I realized that trying to sell super high ticket offers or trying to sell a paid community just fundamentally didn’t align with what we’re building. And so now we just attract amazing people. We’ve added three members this morning already and they’re just amazing. Like, I love connecting with people and helping facilitate and yes, over time we are going to generate revenue, do amazing things, create content together. But that’s my recommendation. Devin Sizemore [00:26:47]: Have some sort of free community offer, get your people together and have a great conversation. Amberly Lago [00:26:51]: I love that. And I’m joining, by the way, and gonna find you on school. What? Tell people what school. Some people might not even not know what school is. But I think. Devin Sizemore [00:27:04]: Yeah, school is an amazing community management platform. And if you’re looking to manage a community, I would say it’s probably the easiest to use as a host. There are other great ones out there from Circle to, you know, high levels of CRM we use, they’ve got a community builder. The reason I like school is what we find with all of our members. They average, they’re in three and a half to four communities, right? So three to four communities. And so when people go to sign up, there’s not a lot of friction because they’re probably already on the platform, even if they’re on the platform from some super old group they forgot about. I’m currently in like nine or ten groups now, which is amazing. Like, I love being in other people’s communities. Devin Sizemore [00:27:43]: One, because I can see what’s working and see what questions they’re asking. And two, there’s communities on every topic from AI to the one that one of my friends just launched is just on profit, right? How do you build a business on profit? I Love it. I love what she’s doing. And so I was like, yeah, let me come support that. So that’s what Skool is. It’s an amazing platform. Check it out. The other thing I’ll tell you, especially in our group, is check out the map tab. Devin Sizemore [00:28:07]: If you go to the map, you can see where all of our members are. I don’t know how many countries we’re in now, but it’s probably 20, 25. And almost every city in the US there’s probably someone. So what I do is when I travel, I go to Aces, I go to the map, I zoom in on the area I’m traveling to and then I can start messaging other members and say, hey, I’m going to be in the. In the group or in your city. Do you want to get together? And so it’s a great way to continue to get some face time instead of just virtual time. So other reasons about why to use that platform too. Amberly Lago [00:28:39]: Oh my gosh, that is so good. I mean, I literally, I’m taking notes here. This is so amazing. Devin Sizemore [00:28:44]: I. Amberly Lago [00:28:45]: Another question about your community. So are you on a Facebook group with it at all or is it just through school? Devin Sizemore [00:28:52]: Yeah, just school. So I decided I didn’t want to force people onto a lot of platforms. So we don’t have a Slack channel, we don’t have a Facebook chat group. Everything’s inside a school. I use a different platform for our brand partners because we share revenue. So there’s a better platform for that. But no, all inside a school. We just keep it there. Amberly Lago [00:29:11]: Okay, that’s awesome. So you. I’ve got to look that up. That’s amazing. And then tell us about your book. How many books do you have? Devin Sizemore [00:29:19]: Just one myself, but I have worked. Amberly Lago [00:29:21]: With a lot of. You had just the one that. Well, no, I don’t like to say just because having a book is a big deal, but I see so many books behind you, so I just wondered about that. Devin Sizemore [00:29:33]: Yeah. So my book’s connection expansion, you can find it on Amazon in all formats audiobook if you want to listen to me talk for an hour and 54 minutes. Or you can go to my website, devonsizemore.com at the top you’ll find the book tab. There’s an opt in. You can get a free PDF copy if you don’t want to pay. No worries, I’ve got you covered. So you can opt in for the book. That way the book covers the full connection expansion system per my first principal, which is always add value. Devin Sizemore [00:29:59]: Everything’s in the book, everything’s in the class, everything’s in school. There’s nothing hidden. So every email template, follow a process. Best practice. Yes. There’s more and more we create, so we just capture that. But, yeah, grab the book. And then the reason there’s a lot of books behind me is I’ve been working with Million Dollar Author for years. Devin Sizemore [00:30:15]: They’re one of our trusted brand partners. And so these are some of the clients I’ve either worked with or I just think their content’s amazing. So I want to feature it. Amberly Lago [00:30:23]: And I do see Chris Jarvis. I see Chris Jarvis’s name up there. Devin Sizemore [00:30:29]: Yeah, Chris is a trusted brand partner. We do a lot of work together. And I was actually episode two on his new TV show. Amberly Lago [00:30:36]: Yeah. Actually, he just texted me to ask me to be on his show, and I’m like, yes, I’d be honored. And. And you know what? He dropped the ball. So I’m going to reach out to him because he had. He hasn’t texted me back. But no, he’s one of the most giving people. I. Amberly Lago [00:30:50]: I mean, he gave. He came on my show and he gave everybody a copy in my mastermind, a copy of his book. He’s amazing. He’s amazing. So I know we’ve got. We’re wrapping up, but I just have a few more questions for you. I just wondered, has there ever been a season, because you talk so much about connection, the importance of it, building the community, has there ever been a time when you felt a little disconnected or even lonely? Devin Sizemore [00:31:22]: Yeah, I think on the entrepreneurial journey, I think it is normal to feel alone. You know, the more successful you get to, you’re going to outgrow friendships, you’re going to outgrow relationships. The good news about always making connections is there’s always new people coming into your world. And when those new people come into your world, it gives you opportunities to redo your inner circle and your friend circle. And so I share that because as you grow, you’re going to need new people. And so I’ll go through seasons where I’m like, man, I haven’t heard from some of my friends in a while. That’s interesting. So either I need to take initiative and reach out, or I need to reevaluate who is actively communicating with me and maybe adjust my inner circle or adjust the friend circle a little bit. Devin Sizemore [00:32:09]: But word of advice, plug into a community. I don’t care how many or where, plug into a mastermind. Like, you need to get out of your stuff and Be very careful plugging into industry only masterminds. I don’t mind it because you can learn best practices from people that are ahead of you. But if you’re going to do that, plug into a community, an event or a group that is outside of your industry. Because what I find, having worked with hundreds and hundreds of clients across every industry is typically the solution to your problem is already done in another industry. You just don’t know it. So you’ve got to plug into other people, you’ve got to have a mentor or coach you’re working with. Devin Sizemore [00:32:48]: Like you’ve got to check these boxes. They’re must dos if you’re going to run a business and they will accelerate your growth and they’ll help keep you off that kind of feeling. Lonely moment. Amberly Lago [00:32:58]: Oh, that’s so important. That’s the power of connection and community. And I will tell you like I just had my in person mastermind retreat and in the middle of it had a kidney stone that was not fun and ended up having to go to the hospital. And luckily I had people and connections that I was like, hey, you got this, can you take over the rest of this for me? And it’s like when you have those true connection, it’s just powerful and you’ve got somebody that’s got your back. And so I think that’s so important. If there’s, if somebody listening today who wants to really level up their connections immediately, what’s a simple step they could take in 24 hours? Like let’s say they don’t have a group. Well, I know they can go reach out and find you on school. That’s one thing they can do. Amberly Lago [00:33:53]: But what’s something they can do today so they don’t feel lonely on the. Because it can get lonely on the entrepreneurial journey and you can outgrow friendships of people that aren’t. They don’t understand the things that you’re doing. So what’s one thing somebody can do today? Devin Sizemore [00:34:09]: Yeah, I tell people the answer is always the same. Go to your network and find someone or two or three people you haven’t talked to recently. Recently is open but maybe six months or old, older and just send them a message that says hey, it’s been a while, let’s catch up, get them into a meeting and be curious and ask a bunch of questions. Because without re engaging your network and having curious conversations and getting to know them and then again changing your ask so they can refer and connect people to you, why are they in your network? Right. You actually Have a dad database, a dead database that is doing nothing. It’s a vanity metric, right? Oh, I have 10,000 emails. Fantastic. How many referrals are you getting? None. Devin Sizemore [00:34:51]: Well, then who cares about your 10,000, right? Why don’t you just go get three, four or five and have meaningful relationships? So just go catch up with someone and be open to the possibilities in the conversation. You don’t need to go sell them. So stop, stop trying to sell and close a deal with that person and just be open to the conversation. Amberly Lago [00:35:08]: Oh, that’s amazing. And can you tell us one more time and I’ll make sure you guys, if you’re driving or you’re jogging or whatever you’re doing and you can’t look at this right now, it’s going to be in the show notes. Can you give us where people can find you? Tell us the most important links for people to get your. Your book, but really the best place for people to find you and so they can join your community. Devin Sizemore [00:35:33]: Yeah. So connectionexpansion.com will take you to the community page on the website. Then you can join or devinsize more.com d e v I n sizethenmore.com everything’s linked on there. So the school community, my books linked on there, info on me as a speaker, testimonials, whatever you could want. It’s all on the website. All my social links are there as well on every social platform. My handle is DP Sizemore. Connect with me, send me a message, Say you heard me on the show. Devin Sizemore [00:36:02]: I’d love to connect with you and invite you to Connection Blitz so we can build connections together. Amberly Lago [00:36:06]: Oh, thank you so much for being on the show. Devin Sizemore [00:36:09]: Wow. Amberly Lago [00:36:09]: I mean, I just love how you remind us that one authentic connection can shift everything. Not just in business, but in life. You have just given us so much gold and a new way of thinking about networking and building relationships and building your business. So thank you. I’ll make sure to drop all these links in the show notes for you. And Devin, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for the. All that you give to my community and all that you do for everybody else and all these amazing connections that you have made for me throughout the time that I’ve known. Amberly Lago [00:36:44]: Gosh, how long have we known each other now? Maybe a couple of years, I would say. Devin Sizemore [00:36:48]: Yeah, it might be a couple years now. Amberly Lago [00:36:50]: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you’re amazing. Thank you for being here. And you guys, please, you know, if you, if you really got some, you know, good wisdom out of this share it with somebody that, you know, who needs to make more connection, who needs to. To have a bit of Devin in their life so they can join his community and make sure to subscribe to the show. And thank you for being here, and we’ll see you next week.