There’s an expression I heard years and years ago that I really liked and have held onto all this time. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” It kind of goes hand-in-hand with treating other people the way you’d want to be treated. Those both also play into what I wrote about on this site last week.
But while people in entertainment cling tightly to “you never know who might be in the audience,” the above two complementary approaches also fit nicely with not looking down on people because they could someday be the person or the people who have something for you.
On my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast (and in this weekly blog) I am always carrying the flag for the importance of forming relationships. I’m often heard saying, “You can never have too many contacts.” And from the category of ‘practice what you preach,’ I’m here to tell you this week that I’m living proof of all of the above.
Today I will be having lunch with someone who I worked with (at the same full-time job) "in a past life," as the saying goes. And let’s just say that if the company we were with had an organizational chart, my name would’ve been higher up since I was a director. Yet today we are meeting to discuss the possibility of him hiring me to provide some of the services that fall under the Now Hear This umbrella. It’s probably because I always treated him equally, not as someone below me.
At that same company, there was once a college student who I brought in as an intern. She did good work and was a help to me in the work that I otherwise would’ve had to have done myself and had been doing on my own until she came along. I was grateful for that. We worked nicely together. And we’ve stayed in touch. And now she lives in Nashville. Yup, amazing how these things come around. We have come back around to each other a time or two (or three) on something music related.
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Then there are all the people who have been guests on the weekly podcast. Not only do I spend time keeping up with everything they’re up to via the “Now Hear This Entertainment” official Instagram account, but I see whoever I can wherever I can whenever I can. On my trip to Nashville ten days ago I saw some of them and on my trip back there next week I’ll see more of them. And when I was just up in Music City, one of them had an opportunity for me that we are now rolling our sleeves up with.
But over the weekend I was responding to an email from a past guest who had posted on Instagram that they’re planning a tour that will come through Florida (among other locations), on which I commented, “Contact me. I can put you in touch with some venues.” So yesterday (or Saturday?) I was replying with those details. Because, you see, we’re all in this together and we all should be helping each other out.
Back to the unlikely angle, though, is someone who a client of mine once tried to do a co-write session with. The two of them didn’t really find any magic together. However, I hung onto the contact and we’ve not only stayed in touch all these years, but I’ve done a couple podcast interviews with this person, they started a podcast and had me on as a guest, and, that person has come to me for advice/opinion help here and there. We also make sure to see each other when we’re in the same town and/or at the same event.
I always even hang onto the example of finding someone on LinkedIn, looking up who they are and what they do, being quite intrigued by it all, and turning it into a sit down, get-to-know-each-other the next time I was in Hollywood. And that in-person visit ended up turning into this opportunity for me.
So never think, “This person can’t help me” or “I’m better than this person” because you just might be surprised someday when he or she is the one you’re going to for something in such a way that you’re now looking up to them with your hand out.
Have you had an experience like this? Who were you surprised to get an opportunity from that, admittedly, you’d previously discounted? Share it with me on Twitter via @NHT_tweets or in a post on either Facebook or LinkedIn. Alternatively, you can write it to me in an email. And, if you’re struggling and need my help, take advantage of my well over 15 years of running Now Hear This and schedule a private, one-on-one video consultation with me so we can get you moving forward.