Dan Fleischman (60:57)
You said the perfect few words. They're waiting for ad deals. It's not just going to show up in their bank account. They're not just going to knock on the door from Coca Cola or Gatorade or Fiji Water. It doesn't just happen like that. Unless you're a big, big, big name to stand out as a social media influencer. A Podcaster or anyone that makes money from brands, you have to actively reach out to them. It is free to do. You have access to them through social media, LinkedIn, Twitter, email, carrier pigeon. I don't care how you get a hold of them. You actively reaching out as an influencer, you will make some money. You actively reach out because you want a podcast deal or you want people to endorse your podcast. You can get people to do that. I'm not saying you're gonna go get millions of dollars, but can you ask for 500 bucks an episode when you first start out? Yes. And you might get three or four people do that. Well, if you put up four podcasts a month, two grand episode, and you're making eight grand a month, that's 100 grand a year. And you're outpacing most people in our society to do a podcast an hour a week. People don't reach out in the influencer game. I've been preaching this for the last 15 years. If you want to get with a clothing brand, DM them, message them, tag them. If you want to get with the beverage brand, message them, DM them, tag them. It's easy to find the executives of every brand in the world. If you go to LinkedIn, go through Twitter, search online, you can get a hold of anybody you want. You can get a hold of any buyer, any brand, et cetera. Most people do exactly what you said. They're just waiting. They're waiting and expecting it to work out. It literally doesn't work like that. The influencers that go out and make money are the ones that just go after it. They go, they want to get a fashion deal. They go message 40 different fashion brands and four of them respond, how much does it cost you? Nothing. You just copy and paste it. If you want to go out there, I'll also say this very practically make a one page PDF about you. Here's your Instagram, your Facebook, your LinkedIn, your Twitter, your Snapchat, your TikTok, your YouTube. You put all your major platforms on one page. I've got 12,000 followers here, 100,000 followers here, 3,000 followers here. You put all your platforms, there a one paragraph about your story, your phone number, your email, how to get a hold of you and what your three rates are. One post, one month, one year. If you send out to brands and you send out to 50 brands, some of them will respond. If they don't, it costs you nothing. But what if they do? And I've watched it work so many times and if you just send those out on a daily basis. So the brands that you want and next thing I'll say is also practicality. Think of yourself, of what you eat, what you drink and what you wear, what you use on your phone. Those are the brands you should reach out to. You like certain brand of shoes, go get a hold of them. You like certain types of pants, there's eight brands that you like. Message those eight brands repeatedly. I'm not saying to annoy them every single day, but every single week or month. Keep messaging those brands and look at yourself as what you eat, drink and wear and use. That should be your categories. Try to get a hold of Cash app, Wells Fargo or Stripe. Try to get a hold of Gatorade, Fiji Water, etc. Try to get a hold of this brand, that brand or that brand. Try to get a hold of the brands of every category for sunglasses or earrings or hats or shoes or socks. You like to wear socks a lot. Everybody wears socks. Is there certain brands you like? Go get hold of the Bombas from Dayon John, Go get a hold of Nike, because you like Nike. Look at yourself at every category and try to get someone to sponsor your food, your beverage, your protein, your credit cards, whatever the things you use. You like Robinhood. Get a hold of Robinhood. You don't like Robinhood. You like Polymarket. Go message and tweet at Polymarket. The downside is zero. But what if two of those brands hit you up and say yes and they pay you two grand or five grand a month? Too often people are just waiting and hoping that it's going to come to them. Waiting and hoping is not a strategy. It's not work.