One question – what if the person you want to connect with isn’t living in the same city or country. How do you recommend best connecting with them? Ask them to skype? Appreciate your feedback!

Thanks

The dollar amount is besides the point!

The most effective purchases are investments. The $20 lunch with someone who can help you achieve results is an investment.

Just like buying a book for $10 that will accelerate your growth will give you a 1,000,000x return on investment, taking a value-giving person out to lunch is a huge ROI.

The personal tips and direction you’ll get (as well as what NOT to do) is invaluable. Why try to guess? Just talk to somebody who’s doing what you’d want to do, and find out EXACTLY what to do. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

And what better way to talk to someone than over lunch? People love to eat.

Great tip. Simple yet so effective,
Oleg

I’m meeting sponsors and in dire need for content. the book may or may not make money. Is this article copyable?

The beauty of reaching out is that your mentors will have already been through some of the challenges you are about to face and so their advice can prove to be quite meaningful. Their input can save you time, money and even propel you forward faster than you could move on your own.

Cheers,

Eff Jay

This happened to me recently. I meet with a mentor over lunch on a regular basis, and in talking about various things, it just so happens that he knows someone who used to be in a similar position to me. He offered to set up a meeting so we could talk, because he thought we might be able to learn something from one another.

It’s unlikely that I would have discovered this third party on my own, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can learn from them.

Being a woman makes things slightly different, but you just have to adjust accordingly. Most of my role models have been men who didn’t have to worry about childbearing and rearing, while successful women in my field generally have a personal life (or lack thereof) that wouldn’t work for me. I think you can glean a lot from everyone, but realize that not every piece of advice is going to be applicable to your particular situation.

Next: Good post – there is no substitute for networking and learning from experts.

Last: @Nima – spot on. Contact one of those speakers. As one who has addressed classes like yours, I can tell you it’s VERY rare to have anyone follow-up… and frankly I’d hire such a student, circumstances permitting.

Good post.

The best tip I remember is to keep overhead ruthlessly down, especially at first. Work at home or rent a single office in a complex, not right downtown. Don’t hire anyone permanent until you really need to. Make do with your current computer. You can afford a *lot* more bad months with practically no overhead.

Actually, this reminds me: When I was in San Francisco last spring, Ramit and I put this principle into practice when we met for dinner one night. We picked each other’s brains, just as he says to do in this post.