Do you network? Are you an aspiring creator or influencer? Do you Yelp? If the answer was no, then why not? But if the answer was yes to any of those questions hopefully something here resonates with you. Some people call me chatty, I call myself resourceful. You have to put yourself out there to get anywhere in life. With this mindset comes a lot of questions, strange looks, and at times, some jealously.

Questions I often get asked:

“How do you know so many NFL players?”

“How do you get invited to so many media events?”  

“How do you know all of the new spots to eat?”

“Wait, you know that person how?”

“How are you so cool?” (Okay, no one has asked me this…hoping the time comes soon!)

If you are interested in any of the answers to the above questions, keep on reading. If not, I will let you know you will be disappointed with this blog, but hey, keep reading anyway, it’ll boost my site’s average session duration.

To start off, as a 30 year old female who has never played a sport in her life, I surely know a lot of NFL players. In college I was a Resident Assistant for the athletes. Once they graduated I knew they had two options, it was either go pro or find something else to do. If they went pro, I wanted to be cheering for them. So what did I do? I got to know all of my residents on a personal level. Made good connections, enforced rules, but was also playful. This made them not only respect me, but want to be my friend. I built good relationships and I am proud to know that almost 10 years later I can still send a text to wish them luck on their games.

Media events. This is something I have gone to since Youtube was established. Because of connections I made, I found myself at a Playlist Live party in 2011 with Youtube’s “hottest” stars. Instead of being in aw of them, I introduced myself, told them I enjoyed their content and asked for advice. This sparked some strong friendships and introduced me to the world of influencers. While I use to live a private life, I now embrace going to events. Whether this is with friends as a plus 1, or being invited myself, I use my platform for fun and supporting local businesses. Once you create engaging content, the events and brand deals will come.

The newest spots to eat are easily found and are actually available to everyone. This little app called Yelp is really helpful and if you use it enough you get to join the Elite Squad. Yelp Elites are invited to curated events to promote, review, and get the name out of new and established businesses. Anyone can join and it really builds a community. More info here!

I have met some really interesting people all because I can’t keep my mouth shut. The lead engineer who created Amazon’s Alexa? I sat next to him on a flight from Orlando to San Fran. I never would have known who this man was if I didn’t start talking to him. The founder of Disney Online Studios? Well, you see I was waiting in line for a limited edition cookie (Gideons really has a choke hold over Orlando) and neither one of us could get over how the line wrapped around the building. An hour and a half later, we have cookies, we’re connected on LinkedIn, and he’s texting his buddy to get me some swag from Slack. Networking opportunities are everywhere, you just have to be able to speak up and not be afraid to talk to people.

The moral of the story is, if you don’t try you never succeed. The worst someone is going to say is no, so speak up. You look silly talking to someone new? Oh well. You never know who you will meet and you could miss so many opportunities in life for not putting yourself out there. Everything you do defines you. Make your relationships, jobs, conversations, and outlook on life count.