After meeting Gary Vaynerchuk twice and working with his team, convincing a startup company to hire me on as a founding team member, and leveling up my network exponentially over a year while being in my early 20s;

I figured I would write a post from my experiences building relationships with people you want to work with.

For me, I’m on a quest to be an expert marketer and would like to talk more about running your own business.

My findings suggest that among marketers and entrepreneurs, along with anyone in your industry of interest, if you can stick to a couple truths when building relationships: you can upgrade your network.

How?

Be Committed

Gary Vaynerchuk and I at last year’s Haste and Hustle in St. Catherines, Ontario

I’m assuming by this point you are committed to whatever you want to become, because if you are thinking short term you can possibly hurt your relationship with the people you want to meet.

By deciding that you are in a space to provide value, you will have plenty of opportunities to grow a relationship because it is your ecosystem to coexist in.

Don’t Make Too Much of Make A Spectacle of the First Encounter

Okay, with Gary last year I was lucky, he’s already a stand up guy.

I happened to be at a smaller event AND wearing a Gary V shirt.

Come on now, a “Put in the Work” t-shirt? I had to get it.

I can really identify.

But back to the point:

You are not going anywhere.

If you want to have a relationship with your heroes there has to be a purpose.

Acknowledge that you will have to try and make time to see them when they come to town.

Honestly, think about it:

The key is how are you going to be someone of value and give back to the community until you are recognized.

If you are actually in the long game of building a relationship, provide enough value consistently and the doors of communication will stay open.

Respect Their Time

You Have To Be Compelling, Don’t Make it a Drag When You Talk to Them!

For example, just because I have Brian Dean’s or Pat Flynn’s Personal Email Address (I don’t, but man would that be awesome, Backlinko is the one of the Best SEO Blogs Around and SPI got me started in entrepreneurship.) doesn’t mean I’m going to go out of my way to email them first chance I get.

You have to have a good reason, why not provide them value or do a service to them?

I hope your pitch is ready.

Grant Cardone’s Young Hustler Show on Youtube is My Go-To for that.

I got my mindset right after watching a good 10 hours of his Youtube Channel.

Literally, just scroll through that playlist and you can start making yourself a lot more persuasive.

But Don’t Rush This

If your pitch isn’t ready and you are inevitably going to encounter them, find a way to be memorable and try to make your company a pleasure.

Provide Them Value

Remember: Planned Encounters with Purpose and Meeting Them in Person When Possible.

You could give them testimonies, write an awesome blog post, thank them for their inspiration to your journey, you could hand them a client, etc.

As a marketer why would I hand one of them a client?

Well first off you can’t just do that for anyone, the person you hand off to them has to be monumental.

For me, if I met a “b” or “c” list celebrity / someone of big notoriety, who hasn’t really turned on their content marketing I could theoretically pass these people off to a Gary or a Brian or a Neil Patel.

If I met this person of notoriety, who am I to over promise and under-deliver when it comes to my craft?

Think of Others Before Yourself

A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way.

I could try to convince them to let me handle their marketing as a service to provide, but my resources probably wouldn’t let them grow to their fullest potential. To be brutally honest.

I mean I could definitely help, but consider this:

It’s a service to that person AND your heroes to make an introduction between them.

How you find the right way on contacting your hero however, is dependent on if you’ve met them before.

Get crafty if you do not have a direct line yet.

Maybe tweet them, dm them on instagram, contact form on their personal page.

Whatever it takes, right?

Just be sure if you are for real contacting these people, make it a good reason and they will think more fondly of you.

Do Good and Be Consistent With Who You Are

For Me, I Really Am Passionate About Sales, Marketing, and Startup Companies! I Build Them but I’ve Also Started From the Bottom too!

I hope this is becoming more clear as the bottom line is pretty simple.

The “secret sauce” is to be genuine and to be a good person. You have to think what’s socially acceptable when you interact with them, it isn’t always just about you and your agenda.