Most of us feel like successful people are completely inaccessible.
You’re allowed to view their success from afar – but never truly up close. There’s a disconnect between where you are, who the successful people are, and what they did to get there that you won’t ever be able to learn.
This causes you to give up before you even try to reach out and make a connection. You’ll get all excited and want to send an email, before thinking something like
“I’m nobody. Why would they waste their time reading an email from me? They’ll probably have their assistant handle it and never directly read it themselves anyway.”
(I’m assuming that you’re looking to email someone so successful that they have an assistant here…)
Reality, generally, couldn’t be further from your thoughts in this case.
Saying Thanks
I’m writing this simply because I reached out and made a connection earlier this week. I had those thoughts that I wrote above, and I know you do too.
I know you read things, or watch YouTube videos, and you get inspired. Once you get inspired, you bust your ass and maybe even your life is changed!
If you’re anything like me, after that you really want to say thank you. You want to get time with the person who inspired you and just pour out your undying appreciation for them (it’s the first step to true fanboyism).
But then you halt – for the reasons I indicated above, or your own.
Earlier this week, I didn’t halt. I executed, and emailed an individual way out of my league (a multi-millionaire, successful author, speaker, businessman).
My story was short and to the point – I’d read a single chapter of one of his books and the content hit me like a ton of bricks personally. It’s was wildly inspirational and motivating. After reading it, I felt that not only is my definition of success attainable – but someone else just like me had already done it! I had proof!
So I wanted, needed to thank him for being that living illustration – and I did.
I never expected an email back, due to all of my negative thoughts (and honestly, he has to be a super busy man), but I received a reply back in 30 minutes.
Now, was the content of that reply earth shattering? No! Of course not! In fact, as exciting as the exchange was for me, the whole purpose of it was more for him than me.
Wait, what?
Read that again. The exchange – as much as I get out of it (and I plan to get a lot out of it in the future) – was more for him immediately than it was for me.
Your Graciousness is Needed
Do you know why most people quit really quickly after starting to chase their dreams of creating wonderful, awesome things?
Because nobody cares.
Reading that might sound harsh – but I’m serious! I bet you’ve run into this scenario before:
You come up with an idea for something extremely brilliant and you tell a bunch of people – all of those people agree with its brilliance! Perhaps you get so far as to even make the brilliant thing! Everyone loves it, this is amazing! Wow!
Then what?
Then tomorrow comes and nobody cares as much as they did yesterday. It’s old news. You’re old news. Your next idea? Not as cool.
Ouch, right?
What’s even more crazy is that all of those people who loved your original thing – they’re not even half of the people who actually love it! They’re just the people who talked to you. Most people don’t actually reach out.
Do you know one incredibly easy way to stand out to people that you admire?
Reach out.
You don’t need to impress them. You don’t need to have a long story (it’s better if you don’t). You don’t need to ask a question. You don’t need to slather them with compliments.
My email earlier this week was essentially this:
Famous super successful person –
I just started <name of your book> yesterday. Thank you so much for sharing <story from the book>. I have a similar story, and identified very deeply with what you shared.
You’ve pumped me up tremendously and given me a lot of hope in myself by being a living illustration of success.
Thank you, very much. Have a fantastic day!
Do you see how to the point and genuine that is? I know I redacted detail – but it’s personal and doesn’t matter here. I had a specific example I was fired up about, shared that in a sentence, and told him I’m going to kick some ass because of it.
You should do this too.
Why?
Because that famous multimillionaire that I contacted could be having a bad day, a rough hour – he could be frustrated with someone in his office. I don’t know.
But I do know that these types of emails are the most rare. They’re also the ones that people who create appreciate the most.
What do you like? When someone judges your sound, music, or game and complains about it? Or do you prefer when you get
Your music literally changed my life. Thank you.
Right.
Your words, thoughts, and emotions have tremendous power – share them.
Building Further
But this isn’t all about my generosity.
To an extent – the multimillionaire doesn’t need my email to feel better about himself. I hope he’s built a solid foundation apart from his money that he’s having a great life (it certainly seems like it).
For me, this is about building the foundations of a relationship.
This might take me decades to build – but I started this week. It might grow when I buy another one of his books, or other material and reach out again. It could be another thank you, or a quick question.
One way, or another, this will only continue to grow unless I quit.
He won’t remember me from this email, unless I email more. If I make an effort to be a part of what he is doing, then I build a relationship with him.
If we’re talking about audio people here, or game developers – this is mindblowingly easy.
Email someone, tweet them, DM, whatever. Tell them that you appreciate their work and what specifically about it affects you to your core. Then do it again. Maybe eventually ask a single question. Get familiar, and over time people you once admired and felt so distant from will suddenly be closer than you ever could have imagined.
Now you’re done reading – go message someone, right now.
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