580: (Solo) The Step-by-Step Method to Reach Anyone — Even Billionaires

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0:39Just head to omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. Hey guys, Nathan here. Welcome back to another episode of the Founder to Founder solo podcast episode where I share lessons, experiences. These are 10-minute episodes where I'd really go deep on one lesson or story, something that changed my entrepreneurial journey. So if this episode sparks anything for you, really enjoyed it, just email me at nathanatfounder.com or send me a note on Instagram at Nathan Chan. I'd love to hear from you. So today I want to talk about how I got an interview with Richard Branson in the first four months of starting Founder.

1:20Hear the stories, learn the proven methods, and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder Podcast with Nathan Chan.

1:34So a bit of a backstory. When I started Founder, it was my first business. I had no experience in media, no experience in publishing, no experience in interviewing, no experience even in entrepreneurship. But I was somehow able to convince one of the most well-known founders and entrepreneurs in the world to be on the front cover of Founder and interview him. Now, here's the thing. I never forget thinking to myself, wow, if I could get an interview with Richard Branson, that would change the game for founder. If I could get an interview with Richard Branson, that would legitimize what I was building.

2:06If I get an interview with Richard Branson, maybe I'd be onto something. Maybe this wasn't just a pipe dream of a business. So the question I'm going to answer for you is how do you interview a billionaire? How do you get in touch with somebody that's super famous or super successful when nobody knows who you are and you're just starting? So there was a couple of things that I did. The first thing was I found somebody that had actually interviewed Sir Richard Branson. So it was really, really cool. When I first started Founder, there was a community of other magazine publishers and owners and I met somebody that was able to get an interview and she taught me this really cool framework that I'm going to share with you.

2:43So first and foremost, I had a publication. So you have to have a platform where you can give back to people. So I had a platform, even though it was a small platform and it was a starting magazine, I played on the fact that Richard Branson's first business venture was a student magazine. So I was able to tackle that. So you've got to look for an angle. You've got to look for leverage. But once you have something where it's actually worth that person's time, you can give something. There's some form of an exchange in value. Even if it's unweighted, there's something. You can't just go to someone.

3:14the worst thing you can do is ask someone for their time and ask to pick their brain and not give anything back. You want to lead with value in some way, shape or form. And once you know what that value is, the first thing you want to do to get in touch with hard to reach people is find their gatekeeper. Every single successful person, they have a personal assistant, they have a PR team, they have people protecting their time. So for me with Richard Branson, I knew that he has many different books and publishers always want to get press for their books. So at first, what I tackled was how do I contact Penguin Random House?

3:50Because they want to get interviews. They want to get press for their books. The second thing I did was start to really get on the phone, really track down that person. Don't just send emails. Emails is the lazy way with things like AI introduced now. You want to stand out. The way you stand out is getting on the phone, constantly reaching out to somebody. It took me at least five separate phone calls to get onto Richard Branson's head of PR, a virgin at the time. And I never forget, I sent her many emails, many phone calls. Don't give up. It's very, very important. Be persistent. The third thing you want to do is make it about them and not you.

4:29Leverage your platform. Leverage how you can exchange that value. And that's what I was able to do with Founder. And you might be thinking, well, oh, hey, actually, well, I don't have a magazine, Nathan, or I don't have a podcast, that's okay. Maybe you can build somebody's website using the power of AI. Maybe you can find some problems with their website. Maybe you can create some incredible content. What are your skills? What can you lead with? What can you do to reach out to that person and go above and beyond? I'll tell you this right now. If somebody said to me, if someone wanted to get in touch with me and they created a crazy AI tool for our members of Founder Plus, our e-commerce founders, and they say, Nathan, you got to use this, I'd speak to them.

5:08So what can you do? What can you do with your skills to find a way to help that person? I never forget, a mentor taught me this really powerful concept, serve first and ask later. So that's the game plan. If you can follow that game plan, I promise you, you can find and get in touch with hard to reach people. And as long as you're persistent, you don't give up. And it could take you years. It's taken me years to get certain interviews for the Founder Podcast. It's crazy. So I never forget, I followed the game plan that I shared with you. I called up Richard Branson's head of PR and she said to me, Nathan, please understand we get like 10 of these pitches every single day.

5:45I've got like two minutes, like give me a pitch. And then I was all over the place. It was like 11 PM at night. I was telling my housemates to just be quiet because I was pitching Richard Branson's head of PR and they were laughing at me. I was just starting the magazine. It was a crazy time. And then she said, you know what, Nathan, shoot me an email. I promise I will get back to you, but it might take me a while. And I sent an email and played on the fact that his first business venture was a student magazine and he agreed to it. And the best thing that I ever did was take that interview and make it free and run with it in the magazine.

6:23I didn't charge for that magazine edition. I made it free and I put it out everywhere. And that was a very, very pivotal part of really, really growing the founder brand. So this was like 10 years ago, guys, which is crazy. And because of the power of AI now, there's so many more things that you can do and you can make this process even faster. You can use AI to write pictures for you. You can use AI to go out and find the contacts and the gatekeepers. You can use AI to consistently follow up. You can use AI to consistently remind you to follow up. You can use AI to summarize, do research for you, to find out.

7:01You can use AI to help you come up with what that mutually beneficial exchange in value would be. So if you're trying to build authority right now with your brand, you want to get in touch with somebody that's hard to reach, this is my playbook. Serve first and ask later. Find the gatekeeper and make sure you have a mutually beneficial exchange in value. It's what's in it for them. I hope you found this podcast episode really, really helpful. As I shared, shoot me a note on Instagram, Nathan Chan. I'd love to hear from you. Just want to remind you, you don't need permission to go out and get in touch with hard to reach people.

7:40All right, I'll speak to you soon.