The Art of Leveraging: How to Turn Every Opportunity into the Next One

SPECIAL WORKSHOP OFFER (EXPIRES JUNE 1ST!)Get paid for what you already know, even if you have never called yourself a consultant before. Join me here: justtavia.com/workshop USE the code: BECOMEACONSULTANTIn this episode of Pivot to Profit, TaVia unpacks the one habit that has quietly built every level of her career and the one thing she sees most professionals, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders completely miss: leveraging.Inspired by Emma Grede's new book and the online discourse surrounding it, TaVia breaks down what it actually means to leverage an opportunity, why most people walk away from rooms with nothing, and how to find the golden thread inside every assignment, internship, board seat, or introduction. She shares real stories from junior high to social work to managerial promotions to show exactly how leveraging compounds over time when you do it on purpose.WHAT TAVIA COVERS(0:10) The Emma Grede online discourse, why TaVia bought the book before forming an opinion, and the one chapter one moment that stopped her cold(1:55) The thing Emma does that almost no one TaVia knows is doing: leveraging every single opportunity(2:08) What leveraging actually means: finding the golden thread or breadcrumb that connects today's opportunity to the next one(2:41) The pattern TaVia sees in her peers and colleagues: the opportunity comes, the opportunity goes, and they end it asking what's next(3:53) The junior high school site council story and how one student leadership role created a relationship, a recommendation, and a resume line that compounded for years(7:20) Why how you introduce yourself in any room is part of leveraging and the connection back to the positioning episode(9:01) Element one of leveraging: build relationships with everyone in the room or at minimum the key person(10:34) Why authentic relationships are the only relationships that leverage and how to find genuine common ground(11:27) How to prepare one to three thoughtful questions for high level people instead of wasting their time with surface level asks(12:33) The most important thing to communicate inside every relationship you build: your goal, your gap, and what you are working toward(13:02) The Santa Monica College story: how a one hour phone call with a complete stranger turned into a $4,000 scholarship weeks later(15:31) Element two of leveraging: skill and capacity building, and the specific moment unpaid work is actually the right move(16:31) The social services story: how volunteering for out of class work and a Toastmasters leadership role led to a managerial promotion in two months without a master's degree(19:53) The boundary on unpaid work: have a 90 day to six month exit plan, never an indefinite one(20:26) Element three of leveraging: sweat equity inside your community and circle of influence(21:21) Why you give freely without expectation and the truth about who is always watching when you do(22:46) The challenge for anyone who does not believe this happens to people like them: you have to be in motion for the opportunities to find you(23:34) Why TaVia may do a part two on Emma Grede's book and the bigger principle underneath all of it: you are in charge of how your life unfoldsKEY TAKEAWAYThe opportunity in front of you is rarely the actual opportunity. The actual opportunity is the relationship, the skill, the rapport, the visibility, and the proof point you can build inside of it. Most people do the work and walk away. The people who win identify the power players, build authentic relationships, ask thoughtful questions, communicate their goals out loud, volunteer for the experience that gets them to the next level, and pour into other people