This 19-minute call changed how I think about networking forever

I won a 5-minute call with Gary Vaynerchuk's right hand man — his VP of Relationships.

This conversation completely revived how I think about relationship building.

​Nick Dio is a guy who's been working with Gary Vee for 10+ years as he built his following to 18M and net worth to $220M.

Stick with me and you'll find a bunch of networking nuggets to apply to your career transition.

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I won this call in a giveaway on LinkedIn. Nick posted that he'd set up a 5-minute call with the first 300 people to share his post. Why? He likes to do things that don't make sense to others — and wanted to give back to his audience and identify the next wave of people he should meet.

I had no idea who he was tbh but I have a ton of respect for Gary Vee. I knew this would be a good opportunity to learn from a master relationship builder who knows hundreds of people I'd be lucky to meet.

The agenda of the call: Whatever you want to discuss.

It took 2 months to get on his calendar. I thought... How can I BEST use 5 minutes with Nick?

I didn't want to pitch him on anything, so I decided to build an authentic relationship and be as memorable as possible.

The best way I know to do that:

Be interested, not interesting.

Here's what I did to prepare:

1. I dove into his Medium articles, podcasts, anything I could find. I noticed he talked a lot about purpose and having majorly big goals. I didn't spend hours, it took 20 minutes.
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2. I wrote out specific questions that I'd ask him, in priority order. Used AI as a brainstorm partner but I wanted to be original and specific, not generic. So I ended up using my own questions.
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3. I wrote out my "elevator pitch" and how I'd set the agenda from the top. I only had 5 minutes! Last thing I wanted to do was blabber on about myself, so it needed to be succinct.

During my preparation, I found this quote in his Medium article:

That stuck with me and was a clear representation of his values. I mentioned the quote live on the call to take the conversation deeper. I shared my BIG vision (the one I haven't shared publicly) as part of my elevator pitch.

I purposely let him in on my vision in the hopes that he would want to be part of it.

His eyes lit up. He could tell I'd done my homework and that we had similar values.

Talking to him felt different than every other coffee chat I've had.

In the first few minutes, he took careful note of my name, spelling, hometown — and then repeated it back to me. He wasn’t just actively listening; he was intentionally remembering.

I wasn't just another rando on his calendar... I became "Katy with a Y from Michigan who's about to travel to Argentina and Costa Rica — who wants to build a career like Mel Robbins."

Throughout the conversation, he added to this mental frame. He noted I was introspective, prepared, and thoughtful.

He repeated this back to remember me better... but also, to make me feel good.

It worked. I felt like he really knew me though we'd been talking for only a few minutes.

We like people who make us feel seen.

Here's some of the relationship-building advice he gave me:

After sharing my vision, I asked, "If you were in my shoes, who are 3 people that I should try to build relationships with to leap in my career?"

He didn't give specific names. He immediately pointed me to two types of people I need in my circle:

• Those 10 years ahead of you — “get close to the sun” as he put it
• A 20-24 year old to bring up with me as I build my business (love this idea)

We also talked about maintaining relationships in this new AI era where we are craving humanness more than ever.

His take: Use AI as your second brain to maximize those human relationships.

What if you could upload all of your conversations & create word clouds to remember the most interesting people you meet? And then query that database at any time to rediscover past connections... pretty powerful.

The 5 minute mark came up fast.

I began wrapping up the call and thanking him for his time.

I was surprised when he said, “I’m not booting you.”

Then, he flipped the script and started asking ME questions.

15 minutes later, he offered to introduce me to a friend in Costa Rica who he thought I'd get along with as we wrapped up.

It was one of the most energizing conversations I'd ever had with a stranger.

Afterward, I sent a thank you note (of course!).

I knew I'd never forget this conversation, so I did my best to ensure he'd remember it too.

I created a word cloud and sent it to him:

This experience lit a fire under me.

I’m challenging myself to do more outreach to those living out my 10-year vision, people I have “no business" reaching out to.

Why? Because relationships compound.

Playing long-term games with long-term people isn’t just a saying — it’s how opportunities unfold.

What’s one relationship you could invest in this week that seems just a little out of reach?

Shoot your shot. You might just get 19 minutes instead of 5 ;)

Let's win together,

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P.S. The best part about networking? The right energy attracts the right people. Bring your authentic self, lay out a clear vision, and watch what happens. You can apply this to your networking chats AND to interviews. If you want to land more of those >> I got you.​

Thanks Nick for being the best & offering 5+ min of your time to me (Yes, of course I'm sending him this newsletter!)