Hola amigos,

Today’s topic is a skill that will change your life.

Last week’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, I’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, here’s my playbook on how to get your foot in the door.

💭 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 “open windows”, the clear-cut opportunities that are obvious and in plain sight.

Or, we can take the “door-knockers” approach. This is scarier to do, as we don’t know what’s on the other side, but we knock on different doors because we feel optimistic about reaching a positive outcome.

I’ve unexpectedly become somebody who leans towards door-knocking, but it wasn’t always that way.

When you door-knock and try your luck it’s frightening. But, after multiple failed attempts, by the law of averages you’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.

Let’s walk through an example: you’re reaching out to your list of dream companies who you’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 🔎

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.

I’m not putting anybody on a pedestal here.

It’s just that I can share from working with large creators that your “Hey, I love your work!” doesn’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 you’re reaching out to somebody is because YOU want something from them.

Let’s say you are a graphic design student looking for work experience and there’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.

Who’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 ‘People’)

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.

Can’t find an email address? Just find the general format of their company email. Most email formats are firstname@company.com and free tools like Hunter can help with this.

Write the perfect message ✍️

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 don’t reply to. A great way to check personalisation is to hide the person’s name with your hand. Is it clear who the message is for, or could it be sent to anyone?

Don’t send the first message you write either. I believe that the average cold message should take around 20 minutes to create. If it’s an email, the subject line is important, too.

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Craft your irresistible offer 🤝

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: “Hey, I’d love to work for you, I’m a huge fan. If there’s anything I can do just let me know.” You’re essentially asking them to do work for you.

This message is basically saying: “Hi, I’m a stranger. You don’t know me, but could you please spend your valuable time, that you won’t get back, to think and create a list, of all the tasks you might need help with? When you’re done please message me.”

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

❝

Don’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, I’m sorry to be tough here but you’re simply waiting for opportunities to fall in your lap. Nobody is coming to save you.

Show people that you’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.

💡 A perspective to consider

I find the whole debate between ‘early birds’ and ‘night owls’ fascinating.

I love being in flow and I’m sure you’re the same. The state of being present in the moment is bliss and I want more of it. Zero mental chatter… feeling fully focused on the task at hand and no pressure or stress 😌

I’ve realised that working late into the night allows me to hit flow but there’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. I’ve failed at this many times before, but I’ll report back if anything sticks.

❤️ Content I LOVED

🎙 Podcast - Bill Perkins author of Die With Zero on Modern Wisdom

- The realisation that there’s an optimal way to sequence our experiences blew me away. As an example, there are things that you’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 you’d be comfortable to miss out.

📚️ 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 didn’t disappoint!

📽️ YouTube - Jordan Peterson - How To Stop Procrastinating

- I love Jordan Peterson’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!

✍️ Quote of the week

“Often people won’t specify their goals because they don’t like to specify conditions for failure.”

Jordan B. Peterson

That’s a wrap. I hope you found this newsletter valuable.

I’ll see you next week!

Joe

P.S. We’re hiring! 🥳 If you want to create content for a living then this role could be for you. Amplify is growing fast and we’re looking for a Content Executive to join us full-time. If this sounds like a perfect fit apply here.

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