What the heck is Clubhouse? You may have seen that it has gained popularity these days. This app is still in beta. Clubhouse is an audio kind of chat room format where it gives such a great opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs and business-minded people. 

I'm generally not an early adopter of these things, especially when these platforms come and go. But, this one got my attention because the way you enter is through an invite. 

How Clubhouse Works 

Invites 

When one person joins, it gets an invite so you can invite someone that's outside of Clubhouse. The more you participate, the more invites you can gain for you to invite others. The thing is that you don’t know when you are getting them or how many you’re going to get. 

If you see people selling invites, do not pay. 

Also, you need to be choosy about who you invite. Because if someone who you invited gets in trouble on the platform and gets banned, your account will also be banned, because you're the one that referred them. So, that is another way that clubhouse keeps it more of a safe space by making sure that anyone who you are recommending for this platform is someone who you can vet and who you don't think is going to be doing anything crazy worthy of getting banned. 

Live Audio-based 

The thing about Clubhouse is that it is audio-based. So, you can literally be wearing whatever you want, you could wear your birthday suit for all it matters, and no one can see. You don't have to worry about cleaning up the background of your video or anything like that. I think it is a pretty safe space and people are not supposed to be recording it. 

Plus, it gets really powerful because it is LIVE. It’s not recorded. People are just saying what's on their heart and saying what comes to mind, which I think leads to really powerful conversations. 

Rooms 

I've hosted a few rooms where I do more generally teaching format, or an open forum discussion format. Those are the two that I've seen the most. 

I love the open communication and the open forum style, because even if people might come up to ask me questions about my area of expertise, I love welcoming in and lifting up other leaders, especially other women to come and share their views as well and allow it to be a place where we can amplify voices of individuals from different industries and different backgrounds.

Before I get into some tips and tricks and stuff with Clubhouse I did want to highlight that there have been some incidents in the clubhouse of some questionable things happening. But, you can protect your energy and based on the people you follow. You can watch for their rooms. So just to be careful, protect your energy, read the title and description of a room. But even then, some titles are clickbait. So just be careful with what you're jumping in on. Because even if you pop into something for a second, people can see that you're popping in. So just kind of keep that in mind. 

For whom is Clubhouse?? 

• The entrepreneur that is craving connection. If you are craving connection, craving collaboration, I think clubhouse is a really great use of your time to really fill that energetic need. 
• The individual who wants to get comfortable speaking in front of other people. I think if you are looking to step outside of your comfort zone, speak in front of people who you maybe normally wouldn't have an opportunity to talk to or speak in front of. I think that's really powerful. There are a lot of big names in the game that pops into rooms. 

How you can use Clubhouse for your business

While I've been participating, it hasn't really been as a business strategy, I'm not going to lie. However, there are some important things when it comes to a business strategy that you can do at Clubhouse. 

The biggest thing is networking and meeting people, and you are going to if you show up to different clubhouse rooms and kind of get outside of your bubble. You're going to meet people from different industries who may need their services, and they need yours. it's a great opportunity to get your brand and business in front of other people. 

However, my priority right now in Clubhouse are relationships, collaboration, and just getting outside of my comfort zone and meeting new people. I'm not in there searching and hunting down clients. If you are someone who is looking to grow your following, and you want to grow your following with people who can appreciate what you do, I think clubhouse is a great way to do that. 

Tips, tricks, and tactics for just being a good person in Clubhouse. 

• Don't go up to the stage just to pitch your offer. I've seen that so many times where there's a discussion and instead of adding to the discussion or asking a question, someone comes up and says “hey, so I got this ebook, go to the link in my Instagram and get it now”. If you want to share what you do, share where it's applicable. But always give value. Give value first and then add where people can find you if they want to learn more. 
• Give value without expectations. The people that need you will know how to click on your profile and find your Instagram. What's so cool about Clubhouse is you can link your Twitter and your Instagram, and you have unlimited characters to put in a bio. So you can tell everyone who you are, what you do, and how they can work with you. Just from me showing up, giving tips, and sharing my area of expertise, I've gained about 100 Instagram followers, and I'm hoping that there are people who are genuinely interested in what I do. Hopefully, they might know someone to refer to me, or maybe there'll be a client someday. But if not, that's okay, too. 
• A lot of the time when there's a panel, the moderators will go in order with sharing. When you come up to the stage, it might not be your turn right away. So, before you speak or unmute your microphone, is to kind of get a feel for how the moderator is running the room. Then, if you have something to add, I recommend just waiting for your moment to pop in and say, “Oh, I had a little something to add to what Sally was saying”.  
• One of my biggest concerns personally was I didn't want to be the person taking up all the time in the room, basically, I didn't want to be that person. Even if you have something to add or maybe if you've just spoken or given someone else, some tips, let someone else speak first. And if they didn't say what you were going to say, then added on. 

How to Host a Room on Clubhouse 

To host a room, all you need to do is start a room. You can host it with someone or do it by yourself. While you're in a room, the moderators in the audience can ping, which is send a notification to people who you follow and invite them to join your room. When you're a speaker, everyone who follows you will also be notified that you're speaking in a room. It's a great way to easily get people together. 

But, the power is making sure that you're following people whose content, voice, and insight that you enjoy on Clubhouse, so you can be notified when they're in a room. Because you never know that room might be one where you're getting up on the stage and getting to talk to and get your questions answered by some powerful people in the industry. 

Unless you’re speaking or hosting a room, I recommend you to listen while you're doing some other things so that you can still get stuff done. Give yourself a timer of how long you're going to be in Clubhouse. 

It's easy to get sucked in. You will get an invite!! 

Are you on Clubhouse? Follow me at @Kaylaybanez 

Also, listen to the FULL podcast episode on Apple Podcast & Spotify to get all of the tips and tricks to have a good time, learn, and give value in Clubhouse. 

Make sure that, while you’re at it, take a screenshot and tag us on Instagram.