Last Friday, I was invited to give a talk to Social Media Day Denver. There was almost 250 paid attendees, and they were an amazing group of social media enthusiasts and bloggers. I was surprised by how many people already had their blogs up and how many used Wordpress (I recommend Weebly).
But I definitely got everyone’s wheels turning on interviewing influencers to accelerate your career and current goals…
If you’d rather skim through my slides, they’re at the bottom, but I’ll share my presentation with you even if you weren’t able to hear me in person.
1. Why Meet Influencers?
Inspiration- helps you find the motivation and ambition you want to access more often.
Expertise- learn the exact steps your mentor took in order to accomplish a specific feat.
Mentorship- ask for feedback on the specific next steps your mentor recommends for your entrepreneurial career.
2. World Record
If you read my blog, my breaking of a world record in January of 2016 may not be exciting news, but for many of the attendees it was. I had everyone in the audience shake hands for almost 1 minute, so that they could image what my 2160 minute handshake (43.5 hour) felt like.
Here, check out this snapchat I took live during my presentation for your enjoyment:
[video:https://youtu.be/gYCZrj8GoKc align:center autoplay:0]
3. My cold meeting request with billionaire Jeff Hoffman
The presentation shifted from my world record to the audience in a quick story I experienced with the entrepreneur and minds behind priceline.com.
I asked the audience if they knew why the billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman agreed to meet with me in person from a cold LinkedIn message.
They stared like deer in the headlights ?
Jeff said, “Because you have a strong personal brand, Matt.” He told me my blogs on LinkedIn were interesting topics and that he could see what I was like right away from my video series.
This was my aha moment!
I instantly knew that I had to start helping other entrepreneurs blow up their personal brand so they could get cold meetings with billionaires, too! This helps with mentorship, closing high-net worth clients, raising investment, and more!
4. Benefits of Blogging v. Instagram
But, the entire audience was not ready to dive straight into investing $1, $10, or $100 per month into their personal brand. So I went into two of the most easy ways to start growing your brand: A) a blog and personal website, and B) a free Instagram profile.
See the slides below for a checklist at the end.
And PS, personal brands like Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone are spending well over $1,000/mo. So don’t be afraid to start investing in your credibility, network, and future today.
5. Resources and Checklist
I only mentioned 3 resources during my presentation, but I’ll save you the hassle, you can go to www.handshakin.com/smdayden to see all of them.
6. Keala Kanae’s story on personal branding
It was so ironic that a PR agency I work with paired me with Keala Kanae for an article I’m writing for Entrepreneur.
He had the perfect story of reaping huge monetary benefits after spending time on his personal brand for a few years.
Keala was a struggling barista when he got into affiliate marketing. Yes, he was like me and many other internet entrepreneurs trying to beat a salary, in our boxers, behind a computer screen.
Well, after catching some traction he first did $100k one year, and then $260k the following. He even partnered up with another sharp affilliate marketer to almost break $1m in 2015.
But today in 2017 none of that mattered.
Keala is on track to make $30M this year, selling courses to the followers of his personal brand. He abandoned his familiar affilliate marketing model and stopped selling to those customers because he noticed so many people who had been following him wanted education on how to become affiliates!
So, in conclusion: start interviewing your rolemodels and launch your personal brand today! Email us to share your goals with your personal brand!
Originally posted at www.handshakin.com.
