How to Get Opportunities to Come to You (Part 1)
There is an audio version below.
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I was taught that the first paragraph of an article is the most important—it tells you whether you want to keep reading or click off. I realize the title feels a little “Internet Marketery,” but it’s not going to be. By the way, I made up that word. This series is because of you.
Every day, I get several emails, social media messages, and even phone calls asking about making money from a “Lifestyle business.” You want to know how you can sell books, you want to book paid speaking/consulting, and you want to make enough money to support your family. That’s why I’m writing this series, so stick around.
Last week some cool things happened. I booked two international speaking gigs that paid $5,000 each. I picked up $3,600 in new coaching business, and I sold 176 books. It was a killer week in my business. I don’t tell you this to brag. I believe in transparency and showing you exactly what it takes, and what’s possible. A week like this doesn’t happen every week, but business this year is good.
The cool thing is the event organizer’s found me. The new coaching clients found me. A lot of times you will have to seek out and create opportunities, but there are ways to make them come to you. The way that you can get opportunities to come to you is by getting and scaling exposure. By getting your name and work on the largest podcasts and websites in the world. You will get noticed and hired.
How Exposure Works
I remember my first big guest post, it was for one of my heroes, Michael Hyatt. I was so excited that I told everyone. I told all my online friends, and they understood what a huge opportunity it was. I told my mom and brother—who aren’t in the online space—and they had no clue who Michael Hyatt was.
Last year, I had my first article published in the Huffington Post. When I told my mother, she went crazy. She printed the article out; she told all her friends because the Huffington Post is a name almost everyone recognizes. In the online space, we have heroes and places we love and look up to. They don’t, however, translate into the non-online world. They aren’t mainstream and might not be able to help you reach your goals fully. My friends Bernie and Amber say you can get “Internet famous.”
There’s nothing wrong with guest posting for blogs, being a guest on podcasts or using social media to grow your audience. In fact, you should be doing all of those things. However, you should also be going after mainstream exposure. You should be going after traditional media and large name-recognizable publications. The two event organizers found me through an Entrepreneur Magazine article and hired me to speak on what I wrote about. The coaching clients found me through my Fox News article. The book sales came from my Huffington Post article. I think you get what I’m trying to say.
How to Get Exposure
I have talked about this a lot, but I think it’s worth repeating. You first start by looking for the mainstream opportunities that would be right for your dream. Make a list of six places. I want you to mix it up: three large publications and three big podcasts or YouTube shows. For those who will say, “I’m not a writer,” you can be.
Writing is refined thinking, according to Stephen King. If you can form the thought, you can use a speech-to-text program to get the “words” on paper. You can hire an editor on Fiverr or through a Facebook group to make the thought sound compelling. Anyone can write well enough to land these big opportunities. I want to repeat that, anyone can land these chances to get your dream out there in a bigger way, and that leads to more opportunities.
Once you have identified your targets, do the research. What style of content do they like? What tone is it in? What do they talk about and why? A lot of times, these opportunities are missed because we want to pitch what we think works. While you may have created some killer content, it might not work for that place and their audience. You have to research what works–THERE.
After the research, specifically create content for that place. If you look on their website, you should be able to see where your content would fit. If you can’t, chances are you won’t get accepted. Next, make connections if possible. The Internet world functions like the real world sometimes. If you don’t have a relationship, you may not be able to ask.
If it’s editors at a publication, connect with them on social media, or on their articles in that publication. If it’s a podcaster, connect with them on social and through their show notes. If it’s a YouTuber, connect in the comments of their videos. You’re not trying to be best friends; you’re attempting to build name recognition.
By now, you have what you need to pitch. Below are pitch emails I’ve sent out that worked. You can use them or a format you come up with, but keep the email as short as possible.
We’ll dive deeper in part two. I wanted to lay the groundwork and show you exactly how I’m growing my business this year. Realize that this takes time and focused effort. It takes beating self-limiting beliefs because going after bigger opportunities is scary. You got this. See you Friday.
Audio version:
What bigger opportunities would you like to land that you think will help your business?
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P.S. This is the kind of stuff we go in-depth on in the Transition Club. Registration closes for good on Sunday the 23rd.
Photo: Flickr/ David Kracht
