Are you struggling finding connections that last long term? Are you wondering how to make people like you? In this video you'll discover some high value strategies to create genuine relationships...
Full Transcript of The Video
Eric Siu: Hey, so today, we're going to talk about how you can build genuine relationships quickly. My name is Eric Siu. I'm the CEO of a digital marketing agency called Single Grain and if you like videos like this, keep watching and let's move forward.
I get this question a lot. When you think about going to networking events, people are handing cards to each other really quickly. It's really transactional, so how do you build genuine relationships when people are looking at their phone all the time? For example, I have this app called Moment on my iPhone and it showed me previously I was spending four to five hours on my phone all the time. That's where my attention is. We only have so much attention. You have so much stuff going on. There's Instagram, there's Facebook, there's YouTube. You're watching this video right now. I’m taking your attention but don’t worry. I'm going to give you value.
First, I think you need to think about what's in it for somebody else. You need to reach out to somebody else first. Let's say you reach out to somebody through email. How can you be helpful to them first? A question I always ask when I throw dinners, so dinner is building genuine relationships, you're breaking bread with people, you have them in person, I always ask people introduce yourself but also talk about one thing that you can use the most help with. What can you use some help with? Because people always need help, every single person I know needs help. Everybody's going through problems, so how can you help solve people's problems first and that's how you start to kick something off especially with somebody that's influential or somebody has hundreds of thousands of followers, for example.
Actually, I just met somebody last week and at a conference and he runs this company called Beardbrand and he has over 330,000 YouTube subscribers. I obviously, growing this YouTube channel, I know collaborations are going to help a lot. As of this video recording, we have about 4,000 subscribers or so. We want to get to 50. We want to get to 100,000. Collaborations are a big way of getting there. When I spoke to him about it, obviously, there's a big mismatch. If you're starting out, how do you build relationship with somebody that has … somebody that's a billionaire or a millionaire? In this case, he has a lot more followers than I do so it has to balance out somehow.
When I was talking to him, I was like, “Hey, so how do we do a collaboration?” and he's like, “Well, you know what, my audience has been asking how do you grow an Asian beard?” That's one of the things that I can actually do as an Asian. Not many Asians can do that, so he's like, “Yeah, why don't we do a collaboration on that?” That automatically adds value to something that his audience needs and it's helpful to him. At the same time, we're doing a collaboration, so now I have to grow beard.
If you're just reaching out to, let's say, a billionaire, let's say Mark Cuban, for example, how do you add value to him? Maybe you do some research first on what he's interested in. He's interested in Dallas Mavericks. Maybe there's a really good player that you've scouted and you happen to be in high school and you think he's going to be the next Michael Jordan or the next Kobe Bryant. I'm going a little out but think about what their interests are and then, that's how you can start to build relationships with people in the very beginning. Focus on giving before anything else. The secret to living is giving.
A final example I’ll give you is when I got to keynote at a conference, and this relationship that I built up was through a podcast initially. My friend's name is Noah Kagan and four years ago, I started my podcast Growth Everywhere. That's one. You can start your own podcast or whatever you have exactly. Try to amp them up or if you have like an email list, you can email their best content list. “Hey, what's your best content out there? Can I go ahead and promote it to my list? What's your best video? I just want to be helpful to you.”
That's how you do it. I have another friend. He's a nomad right now and he's offering to go cook for other people and then do all this other stuff and mentor them if he can go live in their homes in exchange. This guy's an entrepreneur, by the way. With Noah, just building on that story, we started first with the podcast and then we collaborated with him on something else. I would share some of his articles as well we went to some joint webinars and then got invited to speak at his conference. At the same time, I'm shooting a video in his office and they're promoted on YouTube talking about his business, talking about his story and promoting that. We're just constantly helping each other out and then he put me on his platform and that's continuing to build over and over.
Start small first. Just give value, and don't think about how you have nothing to offer. Everybody has something to offer. The fact that you're watching this video right now means that you're unique, you're trying to learn, you're trying to get better and you have something unique to offer. If you like videos around entrepreneurship, productivity, stuff like this, just hit subscribe and we'll see you in the next video.
I get this question a lot. When you think about going to networking events, people are handing cards to each other really quickly. It's really transactional, so how do you build genuine relationships when people are looking at their phone all the time? For example, I have this app called Moment on my iPhone and it showed me previously I was spending four to five hours on my phone all the time. That's where my attention is. We only have so much attention. You have so much stuff going on. There's Instagram, there's Facebook, there's YouTube. You're watching this video right now. I’m taking your attention but don’t worry. I'm going to give you value.
First, I think you need to think about what's in it for somebody else. You need to reach out to somebody else first. Let's say you reach out to somebody through email. How can you be helpful to them first? A question I always ask when I throw dinners, so dinner is building genuine relationships, you're breaking bread with people, you have them in person, I always ask people introduce yourself but also talk about one thing that you can use the most help with. What can you use some help with? Because people always need help, every single person I know needs help. Everybody's going through problems, so how can you help solve people's problems first and that's how you start to kick something off especially with somebody that's influential or somebody has hundreds of thousands of followers, for example.
Actually, I just met somebody last week and at a conference and he runs this company called Beardbrand and he has over 330,000 YouTube subscribers. I obviously, growing this YouTube channel, I know collaborations are going to help a lot. As of this video recording, we have about 4,000 subscribers or so. We want to get to 50. We want to get to 100,000. Collaborations are a big way of getting there. When I spoke to him about it, obviously, there's a big mismatch. If you're starting out, how do you build relationship with somebody that has … somebody that's a billionaire or a millionaire? In this case, he has a lot more followers than I do so it has to balance out somehow.
When I was talking to him, I was like, “Hey, so how do we do a collaboration?” and he's like, “Well, you know what, my audience has been asking how do you grow an Asian beard?” That's one of the things that I can actually do as an Asian. Not many Asians can do that, so he's like, “Yeah, why don't we do a collaboration on that?” That automatically adds value to something that his audience needs and it's helpful to him. At the same time, we're doing a collaboration, so now I have to grow beard.
If you're just reaching out to, let's say, a billionaire, let's say Mark Cuban, for example, how do you add value to him? Maybe you do some research first on what he's interested in. He's interested in Dallas Mavericks. Maybe there's a really good player that you've scouted and you happen to be in high school and you think he's going to be the next Michael Jordan or the next Kobe Bryant. I'm going a little out but think about what their interests are and then, that's how you can start to build relationships with people in the very beginning. Focus on giving before anything else. The secret to living is giving.
A final example I’ll give you is when I got to keynote at a conference, and this relationship that I built up was through a podcast initially. My friend's name is Noah Kagan and four years ago, I started my podcast Growth Everywhere. That's one. You can start your own podcast or whatever you have exactly. Try to amp them up or if you have like an email list, you can email their best content list. “Hey, what's your best content out there? Can I go ahead and promote it to my list? What's your best video? I just want to be helpful to you.”
That's how you do it. I have another friend. He's a nomad right now and he's offering to go cook for other people and then do all this other stuff and mentor them if he can go live in their homes in exchange. This guy's an entrepreneur, by the way. With Noah, just building on that story, we started first with the podcast and then we collaborated with him on something else. I would share some of his articles as well we went to some joint webinars and then got invited to speak at his conference. At the same time, I'm shooting a video in his office and they're promoted on YouTube talking about his business, talking about his story and promoting that. We're just constantly helping each other out and then he put me on his platform and that's continuing to build over and over.
Start small first. Just give value, and don't think about how you have nothing to offer. Everybody has something to offer. The fact that you're watching this video right now means that you're unique, you're trying to learn, you're trying to get better and you have something unique to offer. If you like videos around entrepreneurship, productivity, stuff like this, just hit subscribe and we'll see you in the next video.
