How to Network with Influential People

0:02
This is the digital nomad quest podcast with Sharon Tseung. teaching people how to build passive income, become financially free and design their best lives.

Hey guys, it’s Sharon from digital nomad quest. If you guys are new to this channel, welcome. I’m all about teaching you how to build passive income, become financially free and design your best lives. So if you guys are interested, make sure to subscribe to this channel. So let’s go ahead and get into today’s topic. This is going to be another episode of the Ask Sharon series and I received this question, I noticed that you are very good at networking with some of these pretty established folks. Can you share what you did to get them to want to mentor you? Alright, so first of all, I don’t know about if they’re like actually my mentors or anything. So I guess this person asked me this question because I’ve been able to get connected with folks like Pat Flynn. Gilliam, Perkins, Jessica Tor, Ryan Scribner, Johnny fd Chris de right Bennett. Like a lot of people in the day. digital nomad and entrepreneurial space. But yeah, now I want to talk about how I was able to get connected with some of these folks and my advice around that. I feel like being able to network and creating those awesome circles is very important to your success. So I thought about it and I have a few different tips towards building your network. So I’m going to give you those tips right now. So number one, start taking action on your own stuff and make sure you are kind of building a brand yourself. So the reason why I say that is that people kind of notice you even more when you are creating that brand. So I’ve been creating this blog and this YouTube channel on this podcast for some time now, especially my blog has been around for like four years now. And people have seen that people have seen I created a course people have done a lot with my brand, right? So having your own stuff going on makes you feel more I think validated to be able to speak with more established folks. If you have never done anything you haven’t gotten started yet. It’s a little bit harder to reach out to some of these people. But if you actually have studied their stuff, if you actually taken action on your own stuff and people see it, they’re more willing to help because you’re not just a complete newbie asking general questions. It’s better when you’re actually creating something yourself. And people can see that I was at this Pat Flynn workshop the other day. And one of the stories one of the students said, you know, she didn’t have a course up yet. And then when she reached out to someone that was more established, they kind of laughed her off at as like, oh, you’re, you’re cute, kind of like that was kind of the vibe she was getting. When she created that course and then reached out to that person again, that person was like, oh, let’s talk like, let’s get serious. So it’s kind of actually giving you more authority when you’re creating your own stuff. And then you’re reaching out to these people, right? You want to make sure you have something going on. And you want to make sure that when you get advice, you keep actually taking action on those and increasing your brand. You don’t want to just depend on other people. You also want to make sure you are somebody that people can turn to as well. Maybe not now but maybe in the future. Number two offer them value if you can. So I remember when I met Pat Flynn. I was trying to see How I could provide value. So I took pictures of when he was talking, and then I sent him those in email. They’re pretty crap pictures, but I wanted to show that I was trying. And I also talked about how go like I went to Berkeley to, like, whatever. He actually really resonated with that. So he basically ended up giving me his number and saying, like, I could hit him up whenever he been following me on my personal Instagram, and we just connected and vibe, right? We don’t want to be that person who’s like always asking for something and you actually want to give value in return, right? You want to see how you can help and try to be mindful of people, right? So that’s my advice. You want to make sure you are giving value to them as well versus just asking for stuff. Number three, I would say be supportive and like even buy their stuff, especially if you can really benefit from it. So I am now all about buying courses investing in myself. If you really like these established folks and you like the word They’re doing you should support them, they are giving out content to you. They’re teaching you guys stuff, right? So it’s important to buy their stuff, support them, engage with them, you know, like, be supportive of their achievements and their stuff. And I also, like, I think when you pay for their courses and pay for their material, it makes it seem less like I’m just this needy person that always wants you to give me free advice. Like you want to support these people. Right? So that is important. A lot of these people that I look up to, I’ve bought their material. Some of these people that I know like we we talked on a friendly basis doesn’t have to be like, I’m a huge fan or anything, you shouldn’t approach it that way. But if you really do like their stuff, it is cool to like purchase their stuff to show your support. Number four, I’d say go to conferences, go to meetups go to where you think that you would see them, right. So like pay for those expensive conferences. The people who invest again I it’s kind of like point number three that you should buy their stuff. It’s like when you pay for stuff then people know you’re serious. So the people who go to certain conferences like fin Conklin con and whatever, right, like if you’re paying for that stuff, you’re going to meet other people who’ve paid for those things. And they are more serious about their craft. It’s it kind of it kind of weeds out the newbies to right so it’s actually beneficial to go to paid conferences to meet some of these bigger people or even meet like minded new people that you’ve never met before. And then those types of connections matter a lot, right? So yeah, it is important to make sure you go to the places where you would find the people you want to meet, right? Like go to those places so that you can have the opportunity to talk with them. A lot of these people I’ve interviewed in my on my YouTube channel like are actually people I have met in person and I decided to interview them on the spot but who knows, you can also reach out to them over email and stuff and see if you can like get some help or whatever. It’s kind of like what Tim Ferriss says of, don’t be afraid to just email like some really exciting We establish person and see what happens. Tip number six though you should also know your own worth, okay? You don’t want to devalue yourself and like be this like fan when you’re approaching people. Okay, that’s another thing. I think I learned this like a long time ago with music and stuff because I would get connected with like really big producers and DJs and be super excited. But like, not treat that relationship in a way where like, I knew my own worth. And that’s very important, okay, it’s very important to know that you are actually pretty up there like my brand is like, decent, right? And it’s notable and people have discovered me and asked me questions like all this stuff. So like, I know my own worth and it makes it healthier when you’re approaching other people too, because when you know your own worth, they can see that as well. Okay, you don’t want to always approach people as if you’re just like this fan. This newbie, okay, you are actually someone that you can be like friends with them as well. Okay, so make sure you know your own worth Lastly, just make sure you are likable. Like be likable and don’t be a leech. Okay, I think that is very important advice because you want to be mindful of people’s time. Like even now I’m getting more inquiries, and I’m getting people who sometimes aren’t mindful of my time and they think they can just keep asking me and I owe something to them. So you never want to approach people like that. Okay? They aren’t doing you a favor by helping you out and you need to be mindful of that. And you also Yeah, you just don’t want to be a leech like constantly asking, asking, asking, you’re taking stuff out of the relationship bank. That’s what Ryan deiss called it at the traffic and conversion summit. He called it like a relationship bank so that you might deposit or withdraw. Every time you are withdrawing, you are going negative, right? You don’t want to keep asking for more. You want to also give them value. This kind of points to Vice number two, where I talked about offering them value. You just don’t want to be on the other side or they’re so annoyed with you that they don’t even want to talk to you, right you want to be That person that is likable is mindful of people’s time is ready to help them out as well. So they know that you’re not just like a selfish person who you want to also show appreciation to. So that’s like kind of normal social skills in my opinion, but it’s important to be mindful of. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, please make sure to rate review and subscribe. It really helps our podcast grow. And thanks again. I’ll see you guys in the next one.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai