Network like a Hollywood pro

Posted Dec.11, 2008 by Joseph Bridges in social networking

Network like a Hollywood Star How do things get done in Hollywood? In Hollywood it is all who you know. In fact who you know is almost more important than what you know in many cases. It can mean the difference between working on a regular basis or having to move back home with mom and dad and giving up on the dream.

So networking is really about who you know that can help you right? It is but if you don’t help them first no one is going to be helping you get to where you want to be. You have to be able to add value to people’s lives so that they know you aren’t just there to further yourself.

This can all be done offline as well as online with social networking sites like we discuss such as linkedin, facebook, plaxo, etc.

What the Hollywood pros do

A great buddy of my brother and I is a long time Hollywood actor, real estate broker, real estate investor, and entrepreneur. He makes a living good times or bad because of his network and his ability to help people in even the smallest ways. He is always keeping in touch with people and checking in on them just to see how things are going.

In other words he doesn’t just call just to ask for something for himself. If people call asking for help on his expertise (which includes car negotiation, real estate, and marketing) he is happy to lend a hand and help. He does this to help and then when he needs something people are more than willing to help.

He started this practice early on in his career by always sending “Thank you’s” to the people who decided on the actors that were to be used on projects. He has been a long time member due paying member of SAG (screen actors guild) because of this practice.

How you can network like a Hollywood pro

So how can you act just like our friend and have an endless supply of people willing to help you? Well let’s cover some steps that you can take with your network, your clients, your friends and family to make sure you have a network that just keeps giving.

Call for absolutely no reason other than to say hi - that’s right call and say hi, hello, how are you to your past clients, friends, & former coworkers just to check in on them. On this call don’t ask for anything other than to see how they are doing.
Be helpful - Sometimes it may be real estate related other times it might be passing on a resume for a client to another one of your clients but help out. If you can connect people you will be a valuable resource for others.
Say Thank you (sometimes with gifts) - sometimes someone goes out of the way to help you and make sure you get a referral, lead, etc. Make sure you say thanks and send them something (preferable to their work) to let them know that you appreciate their effort. Whether something works out or not say thanks and let them know you are grateful. They will remember that and go out of their way.
Take time to go to lunch or dinner - Networking online is great but building offline relationships is amazing. Take someone to lunch and see how they are doing and see if there is something you can do for them that might help them in some small way.

Act like your life depends on it because it might

You never know who is in your network who might be able to help you one day when you need it. Helping others in your network with even the smallest of things can pay dividends for you years down the road. When you are in need of a referral for a doctor, lawyer, or even in need of just 1 transaction to help you out your network will help if you have taken the time nurture the relationships within your network. Combined with it is a whole lot more fun when you know more people from different walks of life.

Learn from a Hollywood pro

We have a special live call coming up where we are going to be covering more details, more information, and more real life examples of networking from Hollywood pro Marc Jannone. Just to give you an idea for initial funding of one of his latest ventures he raised $60,000 with two phone calls and 100% of those calls gave him money. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

There is no registration for this call just go directly to: