I have a lot of theories as to why I get done what I get done or why certain things happen to me, but I will say that I fearlessly approach a lot of people.

I am not afraid of someone’s title, status, or reputation.

I am not afraid to speak my mind to someone, regardless of the aforementioned things because I know that I bring value to the table.

This can sometimes be hard to accomplish, especially if the person you want to approach is high status, so I’m going to give the same piece of advice a good friend of mine told me.

Walk up to the person like you have a million dollar check in your pocket and its addressed to them.

So now picture this:  You are at a networking event and you want to approach a potential new client who can bring huge business to your company.  This guy is well known, successful, and has the reputation of being pretty brutal with those who approach him.  You wait until the small group of people surrounding him has left and then you walk up to him, introduce yourself, and start pitching your company.

How did you approach him?  Were you confident?  Were you meek?  Were you afraid he would reject you?  Would you care if he did?

Now imagine that you were approaching him because you were about to hand him a cheque for one million dollars. Would you approach him differently?  With more confidence, more enthusiasm?  If he rejected you and walked away, who would you feel lost out on more, you or him?

You would probably feel sorry for the poor guy, wouldn’t you?  He just lost out on a million bucks!

So going back to my fearlessly approaching people, sure, I don’t actually have a million dollars for them but I have value.  So I act as such.  And, I’ve gotten some pretty good results.  See how it works for you.