I’ve had 100+ phone calls or Zooms with strangers.

I’ve made friends, gotten jobs, and learned how really smart people think.

The Problem: These calls can be awkward AF.

Here are 5 steps to avoid screwing it up:

1) The Preparation

Before the call, you need to research the person's background:

• College
• Career path
• Content they create

I read through Linkedin, Twitter, and/or their personal website.

Do your homework!

This shows you genuinely care and want to have a good convo.

Ok, so your hands are sweating.

You’re about to talk to some big shot named Steve.

You’re sweating bullets but trying to act cool.

You give yourself a pep talk.

"You’ve talked to another human before right? Sheesh this should be easy.”

But in the back of your head:

You join the Zoom.

Of course they aren't on yet.

You start to get worried. You double check your hair.

You wait 2 more minutes.

You frantically re-check the gcal invite 10 times.

As you start to give up hope, Steve joins.

This is your big chance!

2) The Ice Breaker

Your Goal: show this person as quick as possible that you are “cool” and also smart.

Cool doesn’t mean you went to parties in high school.

Cool means you aren’t a robot.

And you can have a real conversation.

Here's how I break the ice:

“Hey Steve, How’s it going”

*this is more informal than how are you. It encourages a less generic answer.

Now, here's the important part:

When it's your turn, give TOO much detail.

Example:

Steve will likely be like:

"Oh yea, that awesome... I went to Florida blah blah blah"

You get the point.

You just achieved your first objective

@chrishlad is not a robot

(3) The Context

Now you’ve made it past the intro.

The next step is you need to tell this person who you are.

They probably saw your random DM and agreed to meet

then totally forgot until 2 minutes before the call.

So your job is to fill in the blanks…

Give your “story”.

This is a few minutes on who you are

Make sure to chuck in a few highlights and maybe a low light

Here's mine:

Here's the translation:

"I AM an interesting person who does cool things."

Impress them without sounding like a guy reading off his resume.

Find the balance between self-deprecating and being proud of the cool stuff you're working on.

Now, our boy Steve may ask questions about anything you mention.

Or he might say his background.

Go with the flow. Try to find commonalities anywhere you can.

One weird one I’ve gotten often is other people who went to all guys catholic high schools.

go figure.

(4) The Fun Part

Come prepared with a few topics/questions.

Your Goal: Learn something!

The point of this is to meet an interesting person.

Take advantage of that!

Stop trying to “network”.

Ask stuff you want to know.

Be interested in them and their story.

(5) The Closing

You’re 28 minutes into the 30 minute call.

You’ve asked a few questions and built some rapport.

Now, it’s time to close up.

BE MINDFUL OF THEIR TIME.

Your mindset: My time is less important because I asked for this call!

Just because you can talk for an hour, doesn’t mean you should assume they can.

Example of how to handle it:

If it’s going really well, they may not care and you'll blow through the 30 minute limit.

Or they are busy and you don’t.

Don’t read too much into it either way.

Ok, you hang up.

You kinda sweated through your shirt.

You feel either super energized or kinda tired.

But you did it!

Your guy steve finished the call with,

“hey this was awesome, definitely stay in touch.”

Mission accomplished!

if you want the world to get a bit less awkward, retweet the first tweet: https://twitter.com/chrishlad/status/1377724246793801730?s=20

Follow me @chrishlad for more fun stories and frameworks you can learn from them.

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