Want to know how to get influencers, famous entrepreneurs, celebrities to recognize you? Want them to promote your company?
Here’s how…
❌ Stop trying
✅ Start giving
Stop asking them for stuff. Stop asking them for a hookup. Stop asking them for a plug. Stop asking them for annnnything.
If you’re not familiar with Jeff J Hunter in the video, he has hundreds of thousands of followers online, and tens of millions of likes and engagements.
Not only did he wear a hat for my company, SEO National, in front of his audience… he even directly mentioned and promoted it. Not only did he promote it, he did so genuinely, which resonates more with viewers, making a greater impact on your brand’s credibility.
I didn’t pay him. I didn’t even ask him to do it. I didn’t ask for anything at all, ever.
Before that I gifted him.
- I sent a piñata, referring to an inside joke from one of his online posts.
- I sent him cookies when he posted his birthday was coming up.
- I offered my expertise, without asking for his.
Those little gestures opened the door for me to offer to pick him up from the airport when I saw he was in my town. Had I not planted those seeds prior to his flight, how weird would that be to have an internet random message “Need a ride?”
Relationship. Over. Weirdo.
But I gave. I gave countless times and asked never in return. I established trust.
The only reason why I’m posting Jeff’s video is because he already posted it first. And, I’m confident he can relate with the message of this post. Otherwise, I still don’t want anything from him, nor will I ask him for anything. Like many other pics and videos of me engaging with recognizable people, I’d keep it in my vault.
Same thing with a week-long conference I went to last week. I met digital marketing royalty. People that have made a million dollars … IN A DAY.
Sure I took pics, but I didn’t post them. I don’t tag these people. I don’t try to leverage them by proxy. I don’t do anything.
Instead, I plant relationship seeds. Before in-person seeds I planted online seeds. I engaged with their posts. I sent encouragement on their projects.
All of them I’ve offered value or gestures of encouragement for things I saw them celebrate online.
Giving first opened up doors to have private dinners with nearly a dozen of these online royals last week. Those intimate discussions blossomed the planted seeds now to flowering relationships.
Many “unreachable” figures I know do business with. More importantly, many I now call friends.
Right now, I could post dozens of pics with people I met just last week. Tag them. Flex about it. But then I’d be “asking.” I’d be “taking” from their credibility, trying to leverage it for myself.
I don’t blame others for posting and tagging people they’ve met. Completely get it. And there’s nothing wrong with it. If that’s where your level is, you being happy having met them one time… cool. Mission accomplished.
But I want to surround myself with success. Then level up. Then level up more. And you’ll get way further in a year with building your network by giving than you will in a lifetime of asking.
When you come at people further in life than you, stop asking for them to bring you up. Instead, give to level them up even further away from you. In that gesture, then they offer their hand.
