Networking is key to success in any field, but it’s especially true if you want to become a content creator or build an audience with the hopes of becoming an influencer.
If other influential people know who you are, they’ll be more likely to promote your content, channels, and profiles to their audience.
Most would-be influencers go about this the wrong way. They’re impatient. They lack the ability to delay their gratification to make meaningful connections down the road.
The Dream 100 strategy can help you build a highly influential network by playing the long game.
Russell Brunson popularized the Dream 100 strategy, and it helped him build a software company that nets him more than 100 million dollars each year. He used content marketing to promote his software, and the networking strategy he created helped him grow his content empire—which helped him grow his business.
Here’s how the strategy works:
You want to target 100 places where your dream audience hangs out and build relationships to eventually get your content, products, and services in front of them.
It’s difficult to be everywhere all at once, so choosing the right platform to promote your work is important. You can choose a popular social media platform, a popular set of websites, or any other collection of people or places with your desired audience.
It makes the most sense to start with the platform where you want to build your first content pillar. (This will also tie in with a strategy we’ll discuss later to ensure you’re someone worth working with down the road.)
There are many different considerations to make:
Your list should include potential collaborators who:
The category you put each person in will determine how to build the relationship:
I remember in one of his books, Russell talked about wanting to work with Tony Robbins. He waited years before making the ask, but it paid off big-time when he did.
Russell suggests committing to creating content daily on your chosen platform. This will help you grow an audience of your own. It’ll also help you get in front of other people’s audiences by using your show to bring on guests.
The more influential your show becomes, the easier to get bigger and higher-profile guests. Take Joe Rogan, for example. These days, he can reach out to a famous person he has no prior relationship with and ask them to be on the show. They’ll say yes because they know they will get millions of eyeballs on their brands.
The bigger your show gets, the easier it will be to make asks, and the more it will benefit both parties.
Here’s the beauty of the process: Once you get one name to come on your show, you have social proof to get more people on your show. When you make the next pitch, you can say that [insert influencer] has already been on your show. Influencers are aware of each other, so this will make the process easier.
Also, if you get one influencer to say yes and get them to like you, they will refer you to other influencers.
You can use the daily show strategy, or you can build a Dream 100 of people you want to collaborate with in other ways than having them come on as a guest to your show.
Examples:
There are tons of different outcomes you can achieve and strategies for harnessing the power of the Dream 100.
Some basic rules apply to all applications of the strategy:
Now, let’s talk about how to network with influencers in your Dream 100.
Related:
Gary Vaynerchuk has this concept for networking on social media called jab, jab, jab, right hook.
In short, you spend most of your time showing love and giving value. Then, every once in a while, you make an ask. He talks about using this strategy for making asks to your audience, but you can use this strategy to network, too.
Make sure you “throw a couple of jabs” before making an ask.
You will have to jab more when:
Take me, for example. I’ve successfully cold-pitched people to co-host webinars to sell my product. A cold pitch means I reached out to them without ever having a prior relationship.
This only works because:
Often, though, most of the people I reach out to are people I have communicated with at least a little bit over the years.
Here’s how you jab:
Proper jabs are thoughtful:
In short, the bar for being thoughtful is low. Most people are impatient and don’t take the time to build and nurture relationships. They spam tons of influencers instead of taking the time to write personalized messages.
Take the time to jab correctly, then you can make the ask.
Eventually, you can make an ask or a series of asks.
Sometimes it makes sense to go for a bigger ask right away like I sometimes do with my affiliate promotions.
Other times, it might make sense to make a smaller ask, like asking them to share a piece of content or throw you a retweet.
With bigger influencers, making small asks first is smart because of The Ben Franklin Effect:
In other words:
To build rapport, don’t do a favour, rather ask for one.
—Abhishek Chakraborty
This comes from a story where Ben Franklin asked someone who disliked him if he could borrow a book, which led to them becoming friends.
Now, this doesn’t mean that making an ask will work, but if it does work, they’ll be more likely to say yes to future asks because of commitment consistency bias:
If someone did you one favor, they’re likely to do another because you’re the type of person they give favors for. You can amplify this effect by making sure the outcomes are desirable.
An example of how this might work:
When it comes to making an ask, in general, always take these rules into consideration:
Read this article I wrote on how to pitch people and get them to say yes for a detailed look at the strategy.
Use the Dream 100 strategy over months and years, and you’ll have a huge network of influencers you can work with to build your audiences, make more money, and develop lifelong friendships.
When it comes to the influencer game, the rich get richer.
Once you reach a high enough level, you gain “insider status” into influencer networks. All the top influencers are in a tight-knit group where they help each other. They share each other’s work, exchange trade secrets, and help each other in all sorts of ways because combined effort works much better than going it alone.
You can break into these circles, but it takes patience, diligence, and dedication (which are traits most creators don’t exhibit).
Be different. Be patient. Then watch your influence and income grow exponentially.
