A barista in Austin made me rethink my whole networking routine

I was killing time between gigs at this coworking place on East 6th, and the barista recognized me from three different meetups in one week. She said, 'You keep showing up but you never actually talk to anyone past the coffee line.' Hit me weird because she was right, I was just circling the room collecting business cards. Now I'm trying the opposite, one real conversation per visit, and I already landed a referral for a patio cleanup job. Anyone else ever get called out by someone outside the freelancer bubble?

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the_rowan14d ago

Bet on it, that's the exact kind of wake-up call I got from a barber in Portland. I was doing the same thing, shaking hands and never remembering a single face, until he told me I was the most social guy he'd never met. Now I stick to one solid conversation, ask about their actual life, and I've picked up more work in two months than in the whole year of card collecting.