Digital Door Knocking: The Right Kind of Hustle for Building Your Pipeline

Pua dives into a topic many business owners dread: outreach. Whether it’s sending cold emails or reconnecting with old clients, outreach often feels awkward, pushy, or even sleazy. But Pua flips that narrative on its head and makes a compelling case for why outreach—done right—is one of the most powerful tools you can use to build a consistent, aligned client pipeline.

She shares the personal mindset shift that finally got her out of the feast-or-famine cycle, and what happened when she started reaching out from a place of service rather than scarcity. You’ll hear how she approaches warm outreach with former clients and professional contacts, how she sends cold emails that don’t feel awkward, and why relationship-building—not pitching—is the key to turning conversations into opportunities.

You’ll also learn how to track your outreach efforts, use social media engagement as a light-touch follow-up, and keep yourself grounded when imposter syndrome or introversion kicks in before a call. If you've been hiding behind content and hoping clients magically appear, this episode is your call to take action—and do it in a way that feels good.

Contact Pua Pakele | RBL Media:

• Website: RBLMedia.co
• Facebook: RBL-Media
• Twitter: @RBLMedia_co
• Instagram: @RBL.Media

Transcript

Pualena  00:00

Entrepreneurs who master outreach are the ones who never have to worry about where their next client is coming from, and that kind of confidence changes everything.

Hello and welcome back to The Rebel Media podcast. I'm your host, Pua, and today we are talking about something that is going to make some of you uncomfortable, and that's exactly why we need to talk about it. We're talking about outreach, cold outreach, warm outreach. I kind of like to think about this as digital door knocking. If you think about going door knocking, I have friends who are financial planners, and one of the things that they had to do when they first joined the company is literally go in their neighborhood and go door to door, talking about what they do. If that is not my ultimate nightmare… so when I say digital door knocking, I come from that perspective of… please, anything but this. But listen, I know you're rolling your eyes. I know that you think, I'm not gonna do sleazy sales, so I'm just gonna stop listening to this podcast, but please, please, please, stay with me, because I'm about to share with you some strategies personal stories of recently doing this and really enjoying it and having really, really good business outcomes. 

I have to say, I did this recently from a place of desperation, and I was like—listen, this feast or famine in business… we can't be doing this anymore. I cannot be living like this. It is way too stressful, way too much anxiety, it's just if you, you know, right? Like, oh, I'm 100% referral-based. That means everybody loves me, that works with me. No, that means that you don't do any marketing, and you don't do any outreach, and so you don't ever have a wait list or a pipeline to draw from, and if you do, it's an accident, and you have three people coming to you at once, and then you have nobody for six months, and then you're living off of those three projects. You know what I mean, right? 

So this, to me, is like the forgotten hustle and the only hustle that I've done recently that actually made a difference, and I see the importance of it, and I see the benefit of it so much now. To be honest, I never, ever did this before because I was scared of it. I didn't want to do it. And when you come and show up on these calls from a place of building genuine relationships and allowing that to fill your pipeline with quality leads, you actually create a network of people who genuinely want to refer business to you. It's insane, I know. It sounds totally crazy, and I wouldn't have believed me, so if you're out there and you're like, I don't even want to listen to the rest of this, I know what you're going to say and I don't want to do it, please just hear me out, because I was you. And to be honest, sometimes I still am, and I know that you don't want to hear this, but sitting behind your computer hoping for clients to magically find you is not a strategy, and it's something that I did for years. So don't feel bad if that's what you're doing and you can't be passive. This is a very active experience, and an active activity, and it's, it's the only thing that really moved the needle for us when it came to filling our pipeline. Because for so long, I was like—Oh, if we post on social media regularly, people will come. If we start sending newsletters, we'll get referrals. We did all those things, and they're great. There is value to that. But those do not lead to leads. They just don't do it right away. And so we're going to talk about good outreach and ending the feast or famine cycles and the hoping and praying for referrals, and really talk about taking control of your lead generation, because this is what I've learned. 

Pualena 04:48

Entrepreneurs who master outreach are the ones who never have to worry about where their next client is coming from, and that kind of confidence changes everything. Okay, so we're going to talk about what outreach actually is and what it isn't. Because I think the reason why most entrepreneurs avoid it is because they have this image of being a sleazy salesperson, or car sales, no offense, car sales people. You know that there's a stigma, so I'm just going to throw that out there as a relatable piece. You don't want to sell to your friends, so warm outreach feels like it's not on the table, but unless you're doing like, copy and paste, pitches like a mass BCC to your entire contact list in email. That's not outreach. That's spam. 

Real outreach is about building relationships, and the sooner you understand that, the sooner you'll feel good about doing this activity. It's about offering value before you ask for anything. It's about asking questions and actively trying to listen to what they have to say, learn who they are as people, learn about their business. Just be a helpful human who happens to run a business, not be a walking sales pitch, and that is going to change everything for you. I promise. 

My biggest fear for warm outreach, actually for cold outreach too, but especially to people that already knew me, is I was afraid that they would see me as only reaching out when I wanted them to buy something. And I think that awareness, in and of itself can kind of help you to not show up that way. If you have that awareness, you're not going to show up with—What can I get from this person energy. But what I think you don't always realize is, that's not the only option. You don't have to just jump on a call and sell. You can jump on a call and say, What can I give this person? How can I serve this person? How can I help this person? And on so many of my calls recently where I actually sold something, people would say, “Oh my gosh, business is going great. I'm struggling with a couple things. But, you know, it's overall, it's, it's pretty good right now.” And I'm, like, “That's awesome.” I'm curious, and I promise and I'll even say, because I'm overly conscious of this, and it might even not be a great idea to say it, but I'm just going to be honest. I'll say, “I promise you, I'm not trying to sell any services to or anything. I'm just genuinely curious what, those things are that you're struggling with, and if I can give you advice or guidance or a referral or help you in any way, if you're willing to share with me, I'm just curious, what are those challenges you're having?” And a lot of times, people will be like, “Well, actually, that's why I was really excited to talk to you, because I looked at your website before the call, and I actually don't like my website.” And I'm like, “I swear I did not ask you to jump on this call to sell you a website.” And I'll even try not to sell them anything. I'll be like, “Oh my god, yeah, let's take a look at it, and if I can give you any tips on things that you can adjust that are probably really quick and easy and might make a big difference, I'm happy to share those with you.” And I swear to you, they're like, “Oh my god, yeah, you know what, I kind of just want to hand it off, though. I don't really want to do this myself.”

Pualena 08:23

So think about what it is that you offer, and how you can show up on that call from a place of service and helpfulness and kindness and genuine curiosity, and I think you would be surprised how often those calls actually turn into people who are already interested in your business. So I want to talk to you about this approach before I talk to you about sourcing the people for these calls, because I think that mindset alone cannot just shift you out of fear of showing up like a salesperson or feeling scammy, but actually shift you into a place of—I'm actually super excited to do these calls, and I have to remind myself of that constantly, because I'll wake up, I do my calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I'll see a, you know that happened this morning, I see a Tuesday full of calls, and I'm like—oh, I don't want to, but I have to remember and, like, remind myself of this, and then I get a little bit excited, but I will say before every single call, I'm anxious a little bit, and I'm a little bit nervous, and I'm a little bit praying that they don't show up. And I hate to admit that, because every person that shows up, with very few exceptions, I have a really fun and great conversation with, but there is just that, like, introverted part of me that's like, “Oh, I really don't want to talk to somebody today, you know.” So if you're feeling that, just know that you're normal. 

Pualena  09:56

Okay, so we're going to talk a little bit about the types of outreach, how to do them, some strategies that you might follow, anything that you glean from this that you're excited about, that you feel inspired to try, go for it, take it or leave it. I'm just going to share with you some things that worked for me. 

So we'll start with warm outreach, because this is really where you want to be spending most of your relationship building energy. There is already a relationship established, so it will be a little bit easier of an in these can come from past clients, colleagues at a job that you may still be at, or recently left if you know you left on good terms, people in your network, in your networking groups, your social media connections, even friends and family, but those I'm going to put in a different bucket for now, so we're just going to do warm professional contacts. 

Here's what most people get wrong about the warm outreach sphere. It's very common for people to reach out only when you need something, and I get it because you're probably listening to this and you really need your next client to come in the door, and so you're like—well, I'm already in that place, and I absolutely get that. But what you're going to have to do is pull back from that a little bit and show up on these calls knowing that this is long game relationship building. So warm outreach may not lead to immediate leads, although it might, but you can't really expect that. So I just want to make that clarification. And when you do set up your process for this, you want to think about doing this regularly. 

Pualena 11:47

So here's a strategic approach. You want to think about some kind of regular cadence to check in. So you could do it monthly, you could do it quarterly. And this is not your first touch point. And honestly, maybe none of your touch points should ever be to sell anything or to ask for referrals. This is about you, checking in to see how they're doing. Ask them about their business, their family, their travels, their latest projects, and celebrate their wins and offer support if they're going through challenges. Make it all about them on that first touch point. Trust me on this. If you want a template, here's an option. Feel free to jot this down. 

Hey, [name of person] I was just thinking about you and wondering how… maybe you need to talk about their business or their services, how whatever is going, or I saw your post about (if they posted something on social media), or I saw you were in maybe you went to Japan. We went to Japan in January. We had such a good time. I'd love to hear how you… like something that shows that you're interested in something that they are up to, and personalize it. They might feel like this is a little bit random, but it can also feel really high touch. And if it helps, always put yourself in their shoes. And let's say, you bought a house, and you have a realtor, and you haven't been in touch for a little while, and then all of a sudden, they reach out, and they're like, “Hey, I hope you're doing well. How's little Jimmy doing? I saw your post. I can't believe he’s starting kindergarten. That's so crazy. It's been so long since I've seen you guys. I hope everything's well. I just wanted to check in and say—Hi, I'm here,” you know, something like that. 

And even if they're like, “Oh, that's random, I bet they need clients.” It's still really nice to hear from them, honestly, and that first touch point, making it all about them is such an important first step, okay. 

Pualena 14:06

The next touch point I call the value first follow up. When you follow up with past clients or connections, you have to lead with value. And this really only works for warm, but distant contacts if you've sent that first message first. Maybe there's like, an article that you saw that's related to their business or this group of people, right? Like, if I have my past clients, they all have websites that were built by us. So maybe it's something about AI in the website world, or a new way of doing email newsletters, or why email newsletter letters and blogs are so important to do regularly, or something. So find something of value and share it… “Hey, it's been a while since we worked together. I saw this article. I thought it might really be beneficial for you, or I thought it might be helpful. Feel free to check it out. I really geeked out on it. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me back an email, or here's my calendar. We can even book a time to chat. That'd be cool.” 

Next the strategic social engagement. Most people don't do this. I don't even do it regularly, even though I know it's important. But if you can keep a little like just, just a little social touch on people that you maybe follow on social media, give them a like, give them a comment, “Oh my gosh. I can't believe little Emma won first place in her Judo tournament. She's so big now,” you know these little things, congratulate people when they're sharing wins on social media. It's that, that little touch. It's not an important one and if you want to not do it, it's not going to break this process, but it can absolutely help. Okay, it's like a little sub. It's like we did one, two, and this is like 2.3 and now we're going to go number three. 

Pualena 16:04

Okay, so when you get them on a call, what we want to do is come at this from a place of … you're not and you like, catch up, ask them all the questions, don't, don't make it all about you, but around the end of the call, if it does get to you, the “ask” should not be, “Let me know if you need anything.” The “ask” should be, “Here's what I'm here's what I'm up to now, we've kind of changed some services. We're really excited about it. If you ever hear of anybody that might need a new website, I'd love an introduction.” That's it. And you know what? If they want to hire you, they're going to ask you right then and there. You're like, “Actually, I was wondering, if you … I've been thinking about launching this new thing. I need a new page built. Like, what would it look like for you to help me with that?” So if they want something from you, they're going to find a way to ask for it. But they're curious, right? They're not if, if they feel like you're trying to sell them something right away, they might back off. But if you ask about them, you give them value, you offer to help, and then they ask, you never have to ask for the sale. If they don't ask, they might give you an introduction right away. “Hey, actually, I know this woman who just opened a food truck, and she was telling me that she needs a website, or she built it herself, and she hates it and she's having a lot of trouble. Do you mind if I group text you guys and introduce you?” And if not, again, this is a long game, “Hey, yeah, definitely. I'll let you know if I hear of anybody, but it was really great catching up. 

Okay, three great outcomes. I'll let you know, not right now, but maybe later, an immediate introduction or an immediate sale, because they themselves need something. 

Pualena 17:58

Okay, all right, let's go to cold outreach. I like to call this cold outreach that doesn't suck. Okay, reaching out to people you don't know. Honestly, this one is easier for me, and I do, like the first touch point is by email. I'm not calling them. I feel like I would not be able to do that. That's just a whole other level of scary… email is fine if they ignore me, I don't care, but you can still be strategic about it, and I've had quite a few responses from cold outreach emails, because when it's done right, it's one of the fastest ways to grow your business. It's one of the only ways that you can, for free, expand beyond your current network and leverage people's networks that you are not a part of yet. And the key is, even though it's called cold outreach, you can't make it feel cold. You have to warm it up right away. Okay? And one of the most important parts of this is research. Before you reach out to anybody, you must do your homework and like, five to ten minutes of research per person or per group, or, you know, however you're filtering through these people and however you're finding them. I found mine through a networking group that I'm a part of, which, thankfully, I'm able to kind of leverage that as a resource and reach out to people from an industry specific standpoint. So I'm reaching out to other designers because they're great referral partners or trades or specific industries I personally am able to help really well—coaches, life coaches, business coaches, fitness coaches, fitness facilities, martial arts, schools, trades, right? So some of these are some of the industries that I was personally doing some cold outreach to. 

This isn't stalking, mind you. This is preparation, okay, very different. Please don't stalk your leads. So again for this, never, ever, ever, ever ever ever, ever lead with what you want, just like warm outreach, you are leading with what you can give. Okay, so when you send these emails, you'll want to include, maybe a compliment about their compliment about their recent work, a valuable resource related to something that they've shared, an introduction to someone who could help them. I don't know that one. It might be case by case, but I found that to actually be really helpful. Like, “Hey, you want to start a podcast? I actually have a really great podcast editor. You know, I saw that you shared a social media post saying that you are one of your goals for the year starting a podcast. I found you through this networking group, and I actually know of a really great podcast editor. Let me know if you want an introduction, and at the very least, I'd love to know when your show launches, because I'm really interested in what you do?” Like something you know, and I will say, okay, so people have mastered this to the point where, if it's not really genuine, it's very obvious. Think about the last time you logged into LinkedIn and you got this like, “Hey, I saw your profile. I think it's really great that you're helping three to four person businesses help build their websites,” or, you know, whatever that is. 

So really take the time to make this feel genuine and authentic. And I will also say it won't always feel that way, and it's okay send the email. Don't try to make it perfect. You can ask your friends or your colleague or your assistant, like, “Does this feel warm and genuine?” And they might give you some feedback, but don't overthink it… like the point of this, and this is a numbers game. Hey, we reached out to over 100 contacts, and I got 23 calls, which they continue to roll in. So it's not like, it's, that's like the be all, end all metric, but it's, it's a numbers game. You're gonna get ignored. So do your best. Lead with value, but don't overthink it. Send the emails. 

Pualena 22:32

Here's what’s really important? Do not pitch your services in this email. Do not ask for anything. Just be genuinely helpful and show that you did some research to learn who they are. You're not just copy and pasting the same template over and over and over again. Yes, you want to do some follow up. Okay? Follow up. Maybe a week later, maybe a month later, maybe maybe two months later, and then end it. Okay. If they have ignored you three times over two months they don't want to talk to you. Leave them alone. Do not keep hounding them. Okay. So that's email, and I like to get people on a call. I don't really like to keep it in email. I don't think that's the best way to build relationships or get to know someone, but that is totally up to you. 

So one of the calls to action in my first email, and I know I said, don't ask for anything, but the one thing I will ask for is to just book a quick like, virtual coffee chat to get to know each other. And again, I come from a place of like, “I'd love to learn more about your business, to see how I might be able to refer business to you,” and just to see what other people are up to and again, most people who respond, actually, I think everybody that responded booked a call, and a lot of people didn't respond at all to the email, but they booked the call, so either way, I talked to them. 

Okay, so here's something that I… you might be wondering about social media outreach, and somebody, actually, not somebody, many people have said, over the course of the last couple of years, “Oh my gosh, you really need to be on LinkedIn. That's a gold mine.” I'm going to be honest with you, I have yet to figure out LinkedIn. Kelly is helping me to… we'll post articles, and we'll engage with people, and I think my LinkedIn has been dead for so long that it might take some time for us to see any traction or engagement. But people swear by LinkedIn. I get a lot of spam, so anybody that sends me a message on LinkedIn, it's really hard for me to not want to ignore it, but I think maybe after a while of fixing our algorithm, maybe that'll change. Anyway, same rules apply if you're doing any kind of social media outreach. Lead with value. 

I just think DMs in general can feel just a little spammy, but do you, and I would say, follow this framework, ask about them, give them something of value, don't pitch your services and try to build a genuine relationship. Okay? 

Pualena 25:23

And there are some things that actually… like, if you ask someone a question that we want people… and this actually works for, like, if you're if you're crafting an email sequence, like a welcome sequence, if somebody opts into your email list, and you can ask a question that solicits a response, that is a great indication that it has gone from a cold to a warm relationship, because if somebody's taking the time to respond, they either appreciated your message and and value that you had to share and genuinely want to connect, and especially on LinkedIn or email, they are feeling compelled to reciprocate that relationship, and you don't want to let that go stale, because that does not last forever. It's like somebody reaching out and wanting to shake your hand, and you can reach out and shake it back, and then they're like, “Cool. They see me.” It's like at a concert, if, let's say you're I was just watching the Backstreet Boys in Vegas at the sphere. And, I mean, I wasn't, but I was watching videos of it, and, like, there's a video where they are close to the audience, and they're kind of like, making eye contact with people in the audience and sort of having that engaging moment. That's something that if you're sitting in the front row, and I don't go up to you and say “hi,” or put my hand out for you to shake it, or, like, make eye contact and say, “Hey, thanks for coming,” like, that's going to make your day. But if you don't capitalize on that engagement, it's not going to be back again, right? Like the Backstreet Boys can't go up to the edge of the stage two hours after the show's done and make that same connection with that person that's not even there anymore, right? So timing is everything, 

Pualena 27:21

All right. I am looking at the messy notes that I jotted down. Okay, here's something about outreach that a lot of people don't think about until after the fact. And while that's not going to totally kill your business, it's a lot easier to set this up before you start doing this, and that is a CRM—a Customer Relationship Manager. 

You want to track your outreach efforts, and it does not have to be fancy. There are actual CRM platforms. I recommend you get one eventually. But if you're just starting out, and if you're just starting your outreach, a spreadsheet works. Okay, here's what to track. 

Who you reached out to, where you found them, when you reached out to them, obviously their contact information, what type of outreach, warm, cold, their response, if any, next follow up date and any notes about their business, their interests, anything that would be helpful for when you contact that person next, or when that that communication back and forth starts to happen, because if you start doing this a lot, unless you're like a superhuman, you're going to forget things. And it's really meaningful when you reach out to somebody again and you're like, “Hey, it's been a while since we last chatted, I was wondering how your puppy's doing? He must be getting so big now.” And they're like, ”Oh my god, you remembered that I had a puppy?” Those little things are so key to helping people to feel like you actually care. And the other thing is like you actually have to care. Okay? So you can write all these things down, and you can fake it all you want, but people feel whether you're genuine or not, so please actually care or don't do it. 

Okay. So you have homework, and this is going to be the first step in your outreach. If you haven't done this before, please be open-minded. Please give it a try. I think you'll really love it. And, yeah, okay.

Pualena  29:30

Step one, make a list of 20 people in your network, 20 that is so small, like after doing this for so long, I would say start with 50. But I want it to be like super approachable. So start with 20. But if you're an overachiever, go to 50 of people in your network, whatever that means for you, who you haven't talked to in a while, past clients, former colleagues, people you met at events, social media connections, anybody who engages with your content, your email list subscribers. Just make a list of 20 people, choose five of them and send five personalized check in messages. Do not pitch, do not ask, just genuine interest in how they're doing. Okay, just do that. 

Now, your next challenge, should you choose to accept it, is then identify 10 potential cold outreach prospects. These should be businesses or individuals who fit your ideal client profile. Okay? And a lot of times that's the difference between warm and cold. Cold—you want to be more targeted with your outreach because you have less, you have nothing to kind of ride on when you're sending that first message. Spend five to ten minutes researching each one. Look at their website, their social media posts your recent their recent achievements, challenges that they've posted about, their articles on LinkedIn, whatever. For each of those ten prospects, identify one specific way you could add value, articles, recommendations, potential referrals or connections, compliments about their work, whatever that is, okay and send your first five cold outreach messages. Don't forget, lead with value, reference your research and keep it conversational. You can use AI, but to be quite honest, people recognize that really quickly. So have ChatGPT draft your outreach, but you need to go in and heavily edit it to make it sound like you. Okay. 

Pualena 31:41

Now when you're doing your bathroom activities or when you're scrolling on social media, start to get in a habit of engaging with accounts that match your target audience. Spend 15 minutes at minimum, but no more than 30. Get off the scroll and do meaningful engagement again, make it, make it genuine and not a copy and paste. Okay. 

Finally, think about setting up your tracking system, even if it's just a simple spreadsheet, it's so important, and truly, if you are ready to build a pipeline and you're not ready to invest in ads yet, this is where you need to start. Believe me, I did not want to do it. I am here to give you a little nudge to tell you that if I can do it, you can do it. And please let me know how it goes. Reach out, shoot me a message. Go to our website, fill out the contact form. Find us on Instagram, RBL Media, let me know if this was valuable for you, how it's going. Please, please, please, we want to celebrate all of your wins with you, and we will talk to you again soon.