Conrey is for Closers

This is reposted from my post to the actual Refresh Phoenix group – for other people to see, and since no one goes there anymore:

Refreshers -

First let me remind you of what Refresh was intended to do: “Refresh is a
community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative,
technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in the Phoenix
Metro Area. ”

It has grown increasingly clear that the Refresh Phoenix we all remember is
no longer. When I first became an active member of the local community the
monthly Refresh meeting was WHERE to go to meet up with people and see and
be seen. I first met many of you at a Refresh meeting. At the time,
there weren’t many other meetings or local groups where people in the web
space, and tech world would be able to get together and meet up. This
mailing list was THE place to get the latest news and announcements that
were relevant to the community.

Over time this has started to change – primarily evidenced by the fact that
this is the first email many of you will see come across the Refresh list in
over a month. There are now so many various group meetings that any of us
can be busy 3 – 4 nights a week, plus the multitude of *fn meetings on
Friday nights now. The community in Phoenix has grown into a self
sustaining entity now – with enough niches and pieces for us all to be as
active as we choose. Gangplank has grown up as a place to support meetings
and events. Collablab and ThriveCo are starting to reach into this space as
well. Social Media Club, Phoenix Design Week, GeekWeekAZ, Creative
Connect, etc…. All aiming to help the community – to grow the culture.

The Refresh meetings themselves have been poorly attended, with little to no
publicity, and seemingly less and less planning as time has gone on. Is
this the fault of some person or persons, or more the fault of Refresh
itself for being too good at actually building the “creative, technical and
professional culture … in the Phoenix Metro Area”?

I say it is the latter and we should all be proud for whatever role we
played in helping to make Refresh no longer necessary for the local culture.

It is time to kill off Refresh, and to celebrate what it did and how it
has gotten us all to where we are.

-Chris

It is easy to give up. Walk away and say that you’re just not going to be able to do it:

“The economy is too bad”
“People just aren’t spending money right now”
“There are no leads”
“No one is answering the phone”
“blah blah blah whine”

Those are all bullshit excuses for giving up. Take the challenge, make the extra effort to be successful when it is hard and most of your competition is busy throwing lines like that out.

So what that most people aren’t buying – some people still are so find them.
So what that the economy is bad – then really amp up your value proposition.
So what that no one is answering the phone – then you need to call more often and at different times.

Don’t back down from the challenge now, because anyone can be a good salesman when times are easy – but great salesman are made when times are hard.

Do you find yourself giving real information, real interaction with people on Twitter? Are you able to really convey things in 140 characters or less? Can you have a meaningful conversation in that amount of space?

Certainly, but most people don’t. I’m not condemning Twitter, in fact I find it to be a fascinating tool for communication and monitoring. But are most people aren’t building real relationships on Twitter because of the format or because they suck at building relationships?

I’m going to argue that most people are only building the superficial relationships that we all hate in real life as a default. How well do you know your neighbor, or the guy in the next cubicle over, or the barista that hands you your overpriced coffee every morning? Admittedly you’re not going to be BFF’s with every one of these people – but you should at least have more than a grunt for them when you pass them on the street or in the hallway. Most people are very insulated observers these days – watching from their living rooms, or from Tweetdeck and not having any real depth to their interaction.

Your challenge for today is to reach out to two people – one online and one out in that sunny place that exists once you turn off your monitor – and find out something new about them. Get a little deeper in your relationship with them and open yourself up in the same way. Yes it will make your more vulnerable and you may get mocked or upset – but you may just really meet someone you’ve grunted at and build a real relationship.  Post back in comments if you are really brave.