This cold message got me $100k of work

(luckily, I love money more than I hate cold messaging)

A friend asked me recently how I’m so laissez-faire when it comes to sending outreach messages, because it’s something she finds pretty uncomfortable. The truth is, I run a business that relies on connecting with interesting people doing cool things, so I literally don’t have a choice. Luckily, I love money more than I hate sending cold messages. Plus, what’s the worst that can happen? They don’t reply, but I have adhd anyway so I’ll probably forget I ever sent the message in the first place.

So, in an attempt to chip away at networking’s sorry reputation, here are some of the ways that befriending and networking with the right people might actually change your life.

My spirit animal, via Cait Cavell

Career highlights and cool opportunities

If you’re looking for a job, networking is (or at least should be) one of the first things on your to do list. And if you’re not looking for a job, networking can help you pivot or move jobs later down the line, get hired as a speaker, give back through mentoring or volunteering, and get involved in cool projects more generally.

A few years ago, I saw an call for applications for the Berlin Youth Summit, a week-long event sponsored by the US government gathering young people for discussions about the future of media. I was a few months too old for the cut-off, so sent the following email to the contact person on the Google Form. As you can see, they replied 6 minutes later, and had a call booked in by the end of the week. Thanks to this one email that I fired off whilst standing in my building’s courtyard trying to wrestle my dog out for a walk (he is a professional chiller who hates the great outdoors), I was flown to Berlin to speak at the conference, and put up in a gorgeous hotel for 5 days. Even better, I referred two friends as speakers, both of whom got accepted too, and we all had the best time together. One of those friends was invited back the following year to another conference, and the other met someone who later became a very close friend of hers. All in all, a lot of wins from one casual email.

New friends around the world

If you scroll your LinkedIn feed, I’d bet you find it highly improbable that you’d want to be friends with any of those people. However, I’m happy to report than a good number of my closest friends today are people I met through LinkedIn and Instagram, and yes, it all started with a cold message.

In 2022, someone who’d booked a strategy session with me a year earlier sent me the following email.

By complete coincidence I had recently moved to Paris, and it turns out Cat and I were living 5 minutes apart. An initial coffee turned into walks and coworking, which turned into hanging out when I was in Sydney a few months later, which turned into Cat moving back to Paris in 2023, which turned into us become firm friends and going on holiday to Italy together, which turned into our families hanging out in Far North Queensland in April this year, which turned into Cat staying with me in Sydney for two weeks and sitting next to me on my couch at this very moment. See? All this from one little message.

To take things one step further, connecting your connections to other people helps to cement your network and influence, and build up a positive association in people’s minds. Example: let’s go back to the Berlin Youth Summit for a second. While I was there, I wanted to connect with some people in the startup world, so fired off the following message to Shanaz, who I came across on LinkedIn.

We ended up having (multiple) virtual coffees, IRL lunches, and she stayed at mine in Paris when she was visiting the city. Even better, she was in Bali a couple of years ago at the same time as another friend of mine, so I connected them. They hit it off, became great friends, and have since visited each other across the world. Now, when they think about how they met, they’ll (hopefully) associate me with their great friendship, and the name Phoebe Dodds will become synonymous with good vibes. It’s obviously not such a calculated operation, and I genuinely really like connecting great people to each other, but you can see how it benefits me too more generally.

Money 💸💸

Much as we might not want to admit it (not me! I am unashamed), money makes the world go round, and networking in the right way can unlock some pretty great money-making opportunities. Some people are very strategic with their outreach, especially if they’re a freelancer or entrepreneur, or work in sales and need to be ultra time-effective. My philosophy is to play the short game, play the medium game and play the long game at the same time, by mixing up who I’m reaching out to. Sometimes, you’ll reach out to someone with no agenda (as far as that’s possible on LinkedIn, let’s be real) and they’ll offer you a high paying project, and when that happens, you take the win. Usually, I find that opportunities come to fruition months or sometimes years after you make initial contact with someone.

Here is one of my very favourite examples. In early 2023, I sent the following message to someone I found on LinkedIn, who was living in the same city as me and who had had a really cool career.

We met for a coffee and clicked, and stayed in touch from then on, exchanging emails and introducing each other to interesting people. When she needed help with something, I pitched in without expecting anything in return — just because she’s a great person, and it’s nice to be nice. All this contributed to a good vibe relationship, and so it felt natural when about 18 months after our initial coffee, she called me with a life-changing career opportunity with a project she was working on. I said yes immediately, started pretty much on the spot, and later got to bring a bunch of great friends and collaborators on board, from Paris to Amsterdam to Berlin, at many different levels throughout the business. I was paid around $100k for my work on the project, and if you add up all the work my friends and I did together for the company, you’re looking at close to $500k… again, all from that ONE message.

When you put it like that, maybe sending that cold message on LinkedIn isn’t so bad after all.

One thing to try this week

So, if you’re keen to get networking this week, here’s one thing you can try: send five messages on LinkedIn complimenting someone on their work (NEVER compliment them on their looks! I can’t believe this needs to be said). Try “I love what your business is doing”, or “I downloaded your app and the UX is so good”, or “You’ve had such an interesting career”, or “I read your feature in Forbes and am excited to follow your journey.” It really is that simple.

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On the Social Currency Substack, we unpack the art (and science) of connection: from who to meet and how to meet them, to building your own ecosystem and creating those right-place-right-time moments that spark opportunity, whatever your goals in work of life. Expect interviews with people who do it best, practical hacks you can put to work immediately, and recommendations on tools, events, and strategies to grow your own network. In future editions, we’ll cover topics like who exactly to contact, what to say, and how to nurture the relationship over time.