šŸ¤ How To Contact ANYBODY Online

Double your response rate

šŸ¤ How To Contact ANYBODY Online

Hola amigos,

Todayā€™s topic is a skill that will change your life.

Last weekā€™s newsletter was about my experience reaching out to Ali Abdaal, and how this led to me working as his social media strategist back in 2019.

Since then, Iā€™ve had a ton of DMs from people asking how to get noticed by their favourite creators and even how to land a dream job.

So, hereā€™s my playbook on how to get your foot in the door.

šŸ’­ Thought of the week

You are just one message away from a whole new chapter.

Visual credit: @QuotedVisually

Window-openers vs. Door-knockers

I first heard this concept in 2019 on the My First Million podcast. Window-openers vs. door-knockers describes two options for how we choose to live our lives.

We can take the passive approach of waiting for ā€œopen windowsā€, the clear-cut opportunities that are obvious and in plain sight.

Or, we can take the ā€œdoor-knockersā€ approach. This is scarier to do, as we donā€™t know whatā€™s on the other side, but we knock on different doors because we feel optimistic about reaching a positive outcome.

Iā€™ve unexpectedly become somebody who leans towards door-knocking, but it wasnā€™t always that way.

When you door-knock and try your luck itā€™s frightening. But, after multiple failed attempts, by the law of averages youā€™ll eventually get a win.

When you do, the positive reinforcement will make it easier the next time, and the next time, until soon the discomfort you feel is small enough to overcome.

Letā€™s walk through an example: youā€™re reaching out to your list of dream companies who youā€™d love to work for, to come up with a plan to contact them directly.

We can break down the process of contacting people into 3 stages:

1. Upfront research

2. Perfecting the message

3. Crafting your irresistible offer

Take the time to research šŸ”Ž 

How many of us have contacted an influencer or a celebrity in our lifetimes? I know I have.

You have to do the research upfront for your message to be worth a response.

Iā€™m not putting anybody on a pedestal here.

Itā€™s just that I can share from working with large creators that your ā€œHey, I love your work!ā€ doesnā€™t stand out. In fact, they receive that exact message 50+ times per day.

Is it better to spend 30 minutes writing an email for a chance of a reply, or to spend 5 minutes writing an email that has no chance at all?

Most of the time, the reason youā€™re reaching out to somebody is because YOU want something from them.

Letā€™s say you are a graphic design student looking for work experience and thereā€™s a firm in London that you would love to work for. Well, an example of research here would be to find out the structure of the company.

Whoā€™s the Head of Design? Are they the hiring manager? How many people work in their team? (This information is all available on LinkedIn by searching for the company name and then clicking on ā€˜Peopleā€™)

Why not connect with a graphic designer already working there? Ask them about their role and what they enjoy most about it. Once a relationship is established, you can mention their name when you contact the Head of Design. Your chance of a reply will double.

Canā€™t find an email address? Just find the general format of their company email. Most email formats are [email protected] and free tools like Hunter can help with this.

Write the perfect message āœļø 

Your message should be all of the below:

  • Personalised

  • Interesting

  • Concise

  • About them, not you

  • Sent at the right time

  • Clear in purpose

Consider the messages you receive that you donā€™t reply to. A great way to check personalisation is to hide the personā€™s name with your hand. Is it clear who the message is for, or could it be sent to anyone?

Donā€™t send the first message you write either. I believe that the average cold message should take around 20 minutes to create. If itā€™s an email, the subject line is important, too.

ā° Sponsor Time - Pipedrive

Speaking of sending messages coldā€¦ there are five main tools I use in my business: Notion, Slack, Google Drive, Canva and Pipedrive. I reached out to Pipedriveā€™s partnership team using these exact tips to see if theyā€™d sponsor Creatorā€™s Compass.

The result? They said yes and now I have an exclusive link to share with my newsletter readers. Thatā€™s what I call a win-win šŸ’Ŗ So if youā€™re on the lookout for a CRM tool to help grow your business look no further than Pipedrive.

Craft your irresistible offer šŸ¤ 

When contacting somebody cold, you must know what your desired outcome is. Is it to get them on the phone? Is it to do a trial period of work? This has to be clear so that they can easily reply.

One of my favourite examples of not making a clear ask

If you email somebody saying: ā€œHey, Iā€™d love to work for you, Iā€™m a huge fan. If thereā€™s anything I can do just let me know.ā€ Youā€™re essentially asking them to do work for you.

This message is basically saying: ā€œHi, Iā€™m a stranger. You donā€™t know me, but could you please spend your valuable time, that you wonā€™t get back, to think and create a list, of all the tasks you might need help with? When youā€™re done please message me.ā€

This will be seen as a chore and will be rightfully ignored.

ā

Donā€™t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.

Say you wanted to write a guest blog post for your favourite website. Go ahead and write the blog and then email the owner a link to the work.

If that feels too much effort, Iā€™m sorry to be tough here but youā€™re simply waiting for opportunities to fall in your lap. Nobody is coming to save you.

Show people that youā€™re serious. Spend the time upfront to improve your chances and do the work.

You never know what could happen, and remember, the goal here is to aim high for dream scenarios so that just one yes could change your life.

šŸ’” A perspective to consider

I find the whole debate between ā€˜early birdsā€™ and ā€˜night owlsā€™ fascinating.

I love being in flow and Iā€™m sure youā€™re the same. The state of being present in the moment is bliss and I want more of it. Zero mental chatterā€¦ feeling fully focused on the task at hand and no pressure or stress šŸ˜Œ 

Iā€™ve realised that working late into the night allows me to hit flow but thereā€™s a consequence: I usually feel bad the next day which then reverses the benefits. It seems like getting up earlier is the only solution left. Iā€™ve failed at this many times before, but Iā€™ll report back if anything sticks.

ā¤ļø Content I LOVED

- The realisation that thereā€™s an optimal way to sequence our experiences blew me away. As an example, there are things that youā€™re more likely to do in your 20s than you are in your 30s. Make a list of what those things are and ask yourself if youā€™d be comfortable to miss out.

šŸ“šļø Book - Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield

- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is my favourite book. My friend Chris Williamson credits Turning Pro as the book that made him take Modern Wisdom seriously. I had to read it and it didnā€™t disappoint!

- I love Jordan Petersonā€™s old lectures and feel very lucky to have edited some of this content when we worked with him last year. This is a must-watch!

āœļø Quote of the week

ā€œOften people wonā€™t specify their goals because they donā€™t like to specify conditions for failure.ā€

Jordan B. Peterson

Thatā€™s a wrap. I hope you found this newsletter valuable.

Iā€™ll see you next week!

Joe

P.S. Weā€™re hiring! šŸ„³ If you want to create content for a living then this role could be for you. Amplify is growing fast and weā€™re looking for a Content Executive to join us full-time. If this sounds like a perfect fit apply here.