When I moved from 6th to 7th grade, which is the beginning of middle school in my neck of the woods, I had a sudden realization…
I do not have good friends.
You’ve heard the phrase, “Your network is your net worth.”
Well, I was bankrupt!
I moped around a bit, waiting to be invited to the party everyone else seemed to be having until it hit me one day…
Why don’t I invite myself?
So I made myself a strategic plan, or as best of one as I could as a 13 year old.
1. Identify my ideal crew.
2. Stand around at break and lunch near that circle.
3. Slowly begin entering the conversations until they see me as a peer.
It worked.
Within two weeks everyone knew my name and I knew theirs. And guess what, I’m still friends with Bobby, Gerald, Ronnie, etc.
The moral of the story…
Don’t wait around waiting to be invited to the party. Invite yourself.
A few years later I was reminded of this principle when I was sad I hadn’t been invited on a hike with some other teenagers my age while our families were camping in Yosemite together.
Upon their return one of them asked why I hadn’t gone on the hike and I said, “I wasn’t invited.” She thought that was ridiculous and said, “That’s dumb. You’re always invited.”
I needed a mindset shift: YOU’RE ALWAYS INVITED.
Don’t sit around waiting for an invitation or permission, invite yourself because you’re always invited.
So if you get an email or a DM from me… it’s because I invited myself to the party. And you know what?
I’m inviting you as well.
I like how Dan put it in this tweet…
In other words don’t wait for your time because your time is now.
How does this translate to working with an EA?
I’m glad you asked.
What if you could actually train your EA to network on your behalf?
Imagine them identifying your ideal prospects and making those first outreach efforts using templates based on your previous communications?
Maybe that’s not the specific need for you, either way, I hope you are inspired to invite yourself to the GET YOURSELF AN EA party.
-Micah Foster, Co-Owner