The Importance of Meeting Someone New Everyday
In the last episode of the vlog, I had my very first guests on the show. Everybody seemed to love the new format and I received a lot of great feedback in the days since.
It got me thinking about a very precious resource we all seem to take for granted sometimes: people.
You can’t get anywhere in life without people. People are at the center of everything you ever hope to achieve. That company you want to work for. That celebrity you want to interview. That blog you want to write for. That podcast you want to be featured on. Pull the curtain aside and you’ll find people behind all of them.
When I rattled off my New Year’s resolutions this year, I mentioned that I wanted to challenge myself in new and interesting ways, creatively and otherwise. One thing that I left off the original list (but am adding now) is this important line item: MEET SOMEONE NEW EVERYDAY.
I can’t overstress the importance of meeting new people. It’s the reason I’ve experienced success here at VaynerMedia, the reason The Ascent publication’s following has taken off in recent months, and the reason I will achieve any level of success with growing my personal brand.
This year, when I’m busy traveling cool, new places and experiencing and creating cool, new things, I want to meet cool, new people as well.
Thinking about this takes me back a few years to the very first fireside chat we ever had at VaynerMedia. Our guest at the time was Ashton Kutcher, and he recited an important quote to us all from his then new movie, Jobs:
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you’re life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” — Steve Jobs
Now, when I first heard that powerful quote, the underlying meaning behind it — that the world is yours for the taking and you can achieve anything you put your mind to if you work hard and are good enough — moved me. Upon reflecting back on it now, though, I was able to pull a new meaning out of it: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people…
It takes me to the distribution strategy I’m operating under now with the vlog. The strategy involves identifying the 50, 100, or 150 top podcasts, other vlogs, publications, writers— the people — who most fit The Ascent’s audience and core values, proactively reaching out to them, and asking two simple questions:
- Is there anything I can do for you?
- If there is, can you help me out in exchange?
No matter what you’re creating or trying to find success in, I would bet you that you’ll have much greater luck if you’re open to having others help you along the way. No one ever said you had to take this journey alone, and you’d be surprised what your “extended network” could do for you as a simple starting point. Investigate those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-level connections and branch out from there.
And above all, put people at the center of whatever you’re doing.
