Do you have someone in your life that is really good at introducing you to the right people? If you don’t you need to find a super connector like Paul McNeal. He’s a serial entrepreneur. He’s a former Navy petty officer turned entrepreneur.

Currently, he’s a partner at a commercial real estate firm in northern Virginia. He has lots of side hustles including being a brand advocate for Inigo, a digital business card app.

I actually met Paul through Twitter a couple of years ago, which by the way happens to be the social media platform where I meet the most interesting people! He regularly introduces me to people on Twitter he thinks I should meet, even if he doesn’t know them! He’s awesome!

Here are some highlights of Paul’s entrepreneurial journey:

Worked for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency before becoming self-employed.
Co-founded a news clipping service that generated 2 million dollars annually.
Just got his real estate license as he embarks on the next phase of his career.

Some lessons in this episode include:

Calculating risk.
SMART Goals.
How to be open to opportunity.

The secret of Paul’s career success has been his willingness to be open to new opportunities.

Life Skills That Matter In This Episode

Self-reflection
Building community
Planning
Risk tolerance
Be a super connector

How Paul Works and Thinks

Ideal work environment: Enjoys working around lots of other people.
Wake up time: 5:30am
Self-reflection practice: He constantly talks to himself.
Wants to meet: Lisa Nichols Motivating the Masses
Book recommendation: Do the Work by Stephen Pressfield
Purpose: Inspire others to be their best.
Favorite productivity tool: Google Apps for Business
Unproductive habit: Wants to spend less time on social media.
90-day goal: Build network for commercial real estate industry.

Inspirational Quotes

“Just meeting new people is fun.”

“How can I help you?” (Question Paul has indoctrinated himself to say when meeting someone for the first time.)

“I’m a volunteer cheerleader. I love cheering other people on.”

Coaching Advice

As you consider becoming self-employed, here are the first few steps Paul recommends taking . . .

1) First, decide. Decide you really want to do something different than the work you are doing right now. Commit to making a change in your work.

2) Prepare and plan. Imagine a path of rocks you need to hop on from one to another to get across a pond toward your goal. Some are closer to together and some a further apart.