24. How to build a world class network in the digital age - Rayson Choo

Are you looking to build a world class network in the digital age? Perhaps you want to learn how you can harness the power of social media to build new relationships with public figures or learn how you can nurture relationships with high-value people. If so, you will love today’s interview with Rayson Choo!

Rayson is known by his followers as The Celebrity Whisperer having personally connected with several high-profile celebrities and public figures such as Gary Vaynerchuck and Grant Cardone. His work has also been covered in the media by The Straits Times and on 93.8 Live.

By day, Rayson is a psychiatric nurse. By night, he helps millennial entrepreneurs connect and network with their dream idols. He is also the host of his podcast, The Raygacy Show, in which he picks the brains of some of the world’s best entrepreneurs sharing simple and effective steps that millennials can take to become successful.

So, if your goal is to connect with your idols and build a word class network in the digital age like a pro without sounding desperate or self-serving, this is the interview for you!

Listen out for Rayson's answers to the following questions:

• You are a psychiatric nurse by day. Have you always been a nurse? Is it a dream profession for you? – 2:15
• What do you think is the biggest fulfilment in being a nurse? – 3:56
• What is one of the scariest things you’ve seen in the mental hospital? – 4:46
• How has the nursing profession made you more unique and different? – 5:53
• You have already interviewed 109 people and your podcast was in the top 1% on Listen Notes. I’m curious, what motivated you to start your own podcast? - 7:47
• Would you say you interviewing these speakers, coaches and entrepreneurs was for your personal learning? – 13:23
• What gives you your resilience from your past struggles?  - 15:23
• You’ve interviewed a lot of people. Who is your favourite and why? - 19:44
• Why do you think networking is so important in today’s digital age? – 22:10
• Networking is becoming more of a digital thing. What’s the difference of networking in person vs. online? - 26:08
• What can we take note of so we can increase our chances of building relationships with high profile figures? - 29:25
• What are some of the things you say to high profile figures that compel them to say yes to an interview with you? - 35:48
• Could you give us a summary of how you got Grant Cardone on your show? – 49:00
• What sort of mindset should we have when we meet up with these high-profile figures? - 53:45
• What are some good questions to ask when we have a chance to meet a high value or high-profile individual? - 54:51
• Tell us about your new book, The Newly Self Letters - 1:00:14
• What’s the one advice you’ve received from a podcast guest that has made a huge impact to your life? - 1:04:24

If you want to keep in touch with Rayson, you can reach him on Instagram @raygacy, or his podcast, The Raygacy Show, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Listen Notes.

Read these books to become highly sought after in your own industry -> www.pickericsbrain.com

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Transcript

Are you looking to build a world class network in the digital age? Perhaps you want to learn how you can harness the power of social media to build new relationships with public figures or learn how you can nurture relationships with high-value people. If so, you will love today's interview with Rayson Choo. Rayson is known by his followers as "The Celebrity Whisperer", having personally connected with several high-profile celebrities and public figures such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone.

His work has also been covered in the media by "The Straits Times" and "93.8 Live". By day, Rayson is a psychiatric nurse. By night, he helps millennial entrepreneurs connect and network with their dream idols. Rayson also helps business professionals build high-level networks by helping them to achieve clarity on their personal brands. He is also the host of his podcast, "The Raygacy Show", in which he picks the brains of some of the world's best entrepreneurs sharing simple and effective steps that millennials can take to become successful. So, if your goal is to connect with your idols and build a word class network in the digital age like a pro without sounding desperate or self-serving, this is the interview for you. All right, Rayson. Thank you so much for being here. I heard today's your birthday, yesterday was your birthday. So happy birthday to you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for doing this. It's the best present that you can give to all of us.

Oh, thank you. And it's my real honor and pleasure to be here as well, because I've looked up to you and now it's my turn to add value.

Thank you.

Really, really grateful for it.

All right, so let's make sure we do a good episode for everyone today, okay? Now, for those of you listening, right? We titled this episode as, you know, how to build a world-class network in the digital age. And I like you guys to think about a person that you truly want to connect with on a social media platform. Somebody that you idolize, someone that you really admire, that you want to learn from, because Rayson's about to teach you how to reach out to that person and increase your chances of getting the person to say yes to you, all right? So look, think about that person, okay. Now, first up, I like to ask Rayson, right? You are a psychiatric nurse by day, you know, have you always thought of being a nurse? Is that a dream profession for you?

Well, unfortunately, no, it wasn't a dream profession for me because I always wanted to be part of psychology, in fact. And then of course I chose to be a psychiatric nurse because of this very special person in my life that actually was diagnosed with this mental condition called schizophrenia. And this person is my mom. So that's why I decided to actually join nursing and to learn how to look after my parents, because I do not want to be someone that just depends on the nurses to look after, I would learn, I would love to learn how I can actually give back to them and care for them as well.

So how's your mom doing right now?

On and off, I would say, on and off. She's well, on and off, she's not so well, so it's a day-to-day challenge, I would say, for me, and I would love that she is compliant with the meds and all, but then again, she still has a freewill. We know that she loves to not have all this medications and all this other stuff because of the side effects and all, but still I will still go out with her. I will still go and bring her to the doctors every month for her depo injection.

My God. That's amazing that you know how you chose a profession because of your mom, or for your loved one, what do you think is the biggest fulfillment of being a nurse?

Oh, well that there's a lot of fulfillment, but for me, the biggest fulfillment is to see my patients recover and they actually become better and they are able to talk to you more sensibly. And once they are for discharge, they will tell you a lot of good things and they will tell you a lot of, I would say, things that they would love to actually experience outside. And they will say that, hey, I will never want to come back to this hospital again, because, you know, the place that I'm working in is not a general hospital. It is actually a hospital for the mentally unwell. So it is something quite challenging and quite, I would say stigmatizing for these patients. So that's why they would rather stay outside rather than stay inside this hospital.

What is the, one of the scariest things that you have seen in the mental hospital?

Definitely the violence.

Tell us, tell us more, what do you mean?

So meaning to say, when patients are really aggressive, they are not well, they will go berserk like Hulk. So they will be very aggressive and you need at least four or five, six people to actually put him onto the bed and restrain him with a restrainer. But of course it's not the same as what you see on TV. It's not like the old straitjacket and all this other stuff, we don't use this. Yeah.

Then how do you restrain a person?

We use a cloth restrainer.

I see.

Yeah, so it's more, it's more user-friendly for us and for them as well. So friendly in a sense, whereby for them, it is not gonna be hurting. And for us, we do not need to use a lot of force to tie and all these other stuff, we don't need other equipments as well. So yeah.

We know that you are entrepreneur too, right? I mean, you help young people connect with their idols and you help people build their personal brand. I'm just curious, how has the nursing profession actually help increase that ability of yours? How did that make you a lot more unique and different?

Definitely in terms of the area of empathy, the area of getting know these people, right? To actually understand the person's point of view, rather than just thinking about, oh, I want to earn more money in a sense. So I want to be more unique in a sense, whereby I am helping these people to connect with all these celebrities or these podcasters or speakers for, per se, and let them know that, hey, you know, I, as a nurse, can actually reach out to all these kind of people. I can reach out to people, I can reach out to you. I can reach out to so many other people with a click on a phone, or probably a laptop, or just whatever device that we're using or whatever social media apps that we are using. And if I can do it without the best set of teeth as well, I do not have the straightest teeth of all, I do not have the best looks as well. And yet I can still network with this, you guys, it means something. And then I can actually tell them, hey, if I can do it, so can you.

Amazing and, first of all, I beg to differ about your looks and your teeth, you know, but it's your perception of yourself, but it's amazing that I think your biggest value to your mentees and your coaches is your, and your results, that even for yourself, I mean, I don't know how many followers you have on Instagram. Do you mind sharing how many followers you have?

It's about 16K. 16.5-

We have a 16K following. You were able to reach out to people in millions, right? And it's possible, right? And you're a nurse by day, which means this is not even your full-time job. So if Rayson can do it then so can anyone else.

Yes.

Right? And we're gonna dive deep and unpack on how you do that. Okay?

Definitely.

Now, so I went to do some research and I found out that you have already interviewed 109 people, all right? That's contrasting with me, you're my 24th guests.

Okay.

So what, and by the way, and your podcast was also top 1% in listen notes, right? So I'm just curious what motivated you to start your own podcast?

Oh, it all happened in the year 2014 when I actually ORD'd from the army. And then I thought I could-

Explain what's ORD?

Okay, so basically ORD means I graduated from the army in a sense.

I like how you say you graduated.

So we are operation ready, right? In a sense, so we graduated from the army, we are able to do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want in terms our set. So my set was diploma in nursing, so I thought, oh, okay, I do not want to go to the traditional route of going to the hospital first, I want to go to a clinic. So I went to a Japanese clinic and then somehow or other I went there and I worked for about few months because of my poor performances I was being fired, okay? So that was a time when I decided to tell myself, hey, you know, I got fired because my poor performances and I had a very bad toxic relationship my ex-girlfriend back then. And also at the same time, I broke up after the whole saga of being fired. And I told myself, hey, I want to be more successful than who I was in five years time. And then that's where I started on my self development journey. I started to read, I started to watch YouTube videos and not WWE, NBA kind of stuff. I watch people like Ty Lopez, Gary V, Grant Cardone. I started to watch and follow all these US influential entrepreneurs, or they call themselves as a celebrity entrepreneurs kind of stuff. So I started to watch them and learn. And then I chanced upon this podcast called "Addicted to Success" by Joel Brown. So he has already interviewed Gary V, Tony Robbins and also happened to watch Lewis Howes. He also interviewed Tony Robbins on his private jet. So I was like, yeah, so I was like, wow, if they can do it, why can't I? And I thought like, hey, these guys are real newbies, they are real newbies in their own industry at that point of time. So I thought, hey, why not just give it a shot? But that was just a thought, an idea. And I only executed it on 2017. So 2014 to 2017, I was just busy with work because I joined, IMH, I joined the hospital and the-

Institute Mental Hospital.

Institute of Mental Health. So I joined there and then I got a lot of opportunities over there as well. So I really sidetracked myself from that original idea that I wanted. So from there, I got a lot of opportunities on "Straits Times" on "93.8 Live" and all the other, .

Because of the reason why you joined.

Yes. Because of my life story, so that's why I thought, hey, wow, I'm getting a lot of opportunities over here. So I just concentrated on that opportunity alone. And I forgot about the original puff that I thought of. So in 2017, after I graduated from my advanced diploma in nursing, I decided to actually give it a shot, I just give it a shot, give it a try. So that's where I decided to come up with "The Raygacy Show". All thanks to my, all thanks to my advanced diploma classmates, who actually, we actually had a project. And then our project was to start a show, in a sense. And we decided to do something. And they, my colleagues, my-

Classmates.

Classmates, they like to tease me on Raygacy, right? So hey, why not you call this "The Raygacy Show"? And then I was like, okay, let's try it. And then from there, the project went well. And then when we came out, we graduated from the advanced dip. I decided to come up with "The Raygacy Show" full time, full on, this podcast. And at first that podcast I thought was just to interview storytellers, interview authors, because I went for a book launch from, by this guy called Andrew Chow. So he actually had this book and it's called "Social Media 24 7", or something like that. And then I thought, hey, why not just interview authors and recommend their books?

Yeah.

Right? So I thought, hey, that's gonna be awesome. So that's my first episode. So the first episode I interviewed him, and then after that, I thought, hey, I looked through my Facebook lists and I realized that, hey, I have so many entrepreneur speakers and probably, like, a celebrity in a sense, kind of a Facebook friends. So I thought, why not just go in depth in terms of like entrepreneurship? So that's where I decided, hey, let's change the whole ballgame. Let's start to interview more people. And then that's where I got people like Eugene Seah, I got people on to talk about other topics as well. And we also had relationship coaches and I thought, hey, why not just talk about relationships? Since at that point of time, I taught like, you know, it's not something that we're gonna just be so entrepreneurial, after all entrepreneurs also have to face certain issues, relationship, dating issues, phase kind of a building the whole branding kind of issue. So I thought like, why not just give it a shot?

So would you say that you interviewing all these entrepreneurs and speakers and coaches was actually for your personal learning? 'Cause-

It was for my personal learning as well, yeah. It was for my personal learning. And then at the same time, I also wanted to give nurses an idea of a different option. Like you can actually learn something, you can learn something that's different from what you learned from nursing.

Oh, so you at the beginning, your audience were nurses.

Yeah, my nursing friends. That's why a lot of nurses were actually watching this, "The Raygacy Show", my nursing friends, my nursing colleagues and classmates. They were-

So it was like personal development for nurses.

Yeah, in a sense, in a sense.

You kind of remind me of Chris Do. Cause Chris Do's future was actually business for designers.

Oh.

Yeah, all for that, it was to help designers build their own business. And, but obviously I'm sure "Raygacy" has kind of evolved, right?

Yeah, it has evolved.

Evolved-

Ever since from there, I decided to go and go all out into entrepreneurship because I love entrepreneurship in a sense, because I see business people winning the game in business, I was like, wow, this is so interesting. It's so different from nine to five or shift what guy and girl just, you know, doing their work and then going back home and just watch some YouTube. And that's it. I want it to be more educational, more purposeful as well. So that's where I decided, hey, I want to go in depth into entrepreneurship because I myself want to be an entrepreneur full-time entrepreneur in the future. So why not use this as a platform for my own learning and at the same time, creating content for other people to watch as well?

You know, it's very interesting how, like you had a lot of setbacks, you know, in your career, right? You had a setback with your toxic relationship with your girlfriend. You have a mom that's, sorry, how do you pronounce it?

Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia. And then you also was fired from a job, right? So you kind of lost a job at a very young age, and these are things that we don't really experience or at least not majority of us experienced, but somehow the way you explained to me your backstory, it felt like, it's just a blip in my life. And I, you know, it's okay.

Yeah.

How do you have that kind of resilience, Rayson?

I would say that it's because of all these issues or these problems that I learn how to be more stronger because I myself, I actually had some issues at the start when I was like pretty young, like when I was in secondary school, I had to go through a lot of counseling. So I was bullied in a sense when I was younger and especially in primary school, secondary school a bit here and there, but still I was low self-esteem, had to go through counseling. And then there was time where I actually wanted to die. I actually had thoughts of suicide, but then I do not know how and why there's this inner voice in me that tell me, hey, if you were to commit suicide, right? What would happen to your family? What would be happening to your dad who took the role of dad and mom at the age of seven, when my mom left, right? And he was the one who took care of me. So if I were to die, his purpose would be gone because his purpose was to raise me up to be a great person. But yet, if I were to really commit suicide, bam, I don't think he will be filling that purpose already. He will be more depressed. And I thought to myself, you know what, I need to work on myself. I need to really work on myself. So that's why I decided to really work on myself. But of course there are times where, because I was still, I would say immature, I love to have fun. And that's where certain things happened along the way. Like not so good grades in, poorly, not so good grades in, I would say in my O-levels, but of course it's average, but it's not like I have a, Fs and all.

Yeah, but something click because you were like that, you were struggling, but something clicked as you were growing up. What was that? Because the Rayson I know right now is super hard working. Guys you must understand, he's a psychiatric nurse. You know, you guys work long hours and then in your off hours you have a side hustle, right? You have people to take care of, your family take care of, you have a show to run. Like, you're not lazy. You're not the lazy Rayson that you talk about, like, what change you have to tell us, like, something must have happened.

It's all in the mindset.

Okay.

That actually grew from 2014, I decided to work on myself-

So it was a decision.

It's a decision. So every time a lot of, I would say a lot of times, all these successful people, how come they can become so successful is because of decisions. It's always because of the choices that they have made for themselves. So if a psychiatric nurse can be featured here and there, can be featured on this highly sought after show as well and also it seemed time to be adding value to your audiences, then there must be a reason. And that reason should be because of the value that I can give to the people around. And I know that I can not just give to psychiatric patients. I can't be telling them, hey, you need to be a personal branding. You need to improve a mindset. They won't care, 100%. But I believe that I have so much value that I can give, which I told Gary V at Brand Minds Asia, which we went for. And he was telling me about, hey, you want to, you can, you gonna do your own stuff rather than, you know, being interviewing people and all this other stuff. And that's where I decided, hey, I still want to interview, but I still want to give value to people like, you know, appearing on podcasts and all this other stuff. And all this is because of the decisions that I made to improve on myself. And so that I can, I would say, radiate this positive vibe and this value to be-

- A person of value?

- Yeah, to the people around me. And it's not just in the hospital, but outside of hospital.

- Wow, guys, listening to this, right? Think about what decisions have you been making, guess your actions with, you know, show us the kind of decision you have already made. So you have interviewed a lot of people, right?

- Yes.

- All your entrepreneurs that you mentioned, Grant Cardone, Gary Vaynerchuk, Carrie Anne Yu, Melody Garcia, right? So who is your favorite?

- Well-

- And why?

- My favorite in the whole 100 people, 100 plus people that I have interviewed, right? The one that I really love is Grant Cardone.

- Grant Cardone, okay.

- Yeah.

- For those people do not know him, give us a little quick intro of who he is.

- So Grant Cardone is a property tycoon in a sense. And also at same time, he is coaching people how to leverage on property, how to invest, how to, I would say, to build your income through property. So this is the guy that you actually should be looking at, especially when he has his own private jet and all this other stuff. But if you do not want that kind of lifestyle, but you still want to learn more about property investment and all, especially in US, yeah, you can check this guy out. He's the real deal. He's the real deal.

- And why was he your favorite guy?

- Because he was very personable. Not seeing that the rest aren't and not saying that you aren't-

- Yeah 'cause I was also on the show.

- Yeah, but I would say that for Grant he was really special in the sense where he brought me, he allowed me to interview him in his suite and MBS. So I met not just Grant Cardone-

- You met his wife, Elena?

- Yes, I met the Cardones. I met Sabrina, I met Elena. I met his other daughter. I certainly can't think of a name and then also met his wife's best friend, Bobby. And not just that, we also met Jarrod Glandt. We also met Johnny the camera guy, which is the camera guy for him, yeah? So he's, they were all there. And we were all having great chat before and after the whole conversation, the whole podcast, so.

- Well, okay. So for those of you who are very curious, right? Like how do you manage to get such a big shot to be on the show and to even be invited to his suite to meet his entire family, none of us have had that opportunity yet. You know? I have a question for you that you're gotta walk us through how you get Grant Cardone, okay?

- Okay, sure.

- But Before that, let's go back to the main topic today, which is on networking in the digital age, right? So why do you think, Rayson, networking is so fricking important in today's digital age?

- It's the basic bread and butter, the fundamentals of business, you need this kind of, I would say networking kind of communication and all this other stuff to actually work things out in place. Meaning to say that for example, right, I want to actually build a startup, right? I want to build a startup with Eric, okay? And this is a tech startup, right? And I need to get investors in, right? How am I gonna get investors if I'm not gonna network with all these investors, how am I not, how am I going to get more money into this startup? It has to be networking. It has to be a communication kind of stuff. And this is the reason why networking is so important in this digital era. And it's not just in the Babylonian days, but here, it's also very important. That's why there's all this Facebook, all this Instagram, LinkedIn for you to network. And because of this networking, it can help you to not just exchange contacts but also exchange value for your businesses, your products and services.

- Very nice, so would you say that, so the main thing of networking is essentially building relationships so that you can access money? You can access their resources, which is you can access their network. And perhaps you can even access their brand to be able to build trust, right? 'Cause people judge you based on your associations.

- Yes, your network, it goes to your net worth, right? Like what Jim Rohn has famously said. So if you want to actually talk to Tony Robbins, for example, and you want to be on the stage with him, you need his networks, you need his contacts to actually-

- Refer you.

- Discuss, refer and all this other stuff, same goes with if you want to meet LeBron James, if you want to meet Tiger Woods, for example, right? Or anyone, you need references. And it's not just, oh, I have to go to one gatekeeper. Some people have to go through many gatekeepers, right?

- Especially the more high profile you are, the more gatekeepers you have.

- Yeah. If you know the wife of Grant Cardone, man-

- You win.

- You win.

- Done.

- Yeah, because-

- And actually I think I can get access to Grant Cardone. How? 'Cause I'm friends with Melody Garcia, whom you get a chance to interview. And Melody Garcia is very good friends with Elena Cardone.

- Yeah and also at the same time, she is very good friend. Or I would say her boyfriend is a God son of Les brown. So if you want Les brown, then you can get him to actually-

- So that you, I think that's why we network, right? 'Cause there's a saying, right, we are only what maximum, what six hop away or four hops away, six degrees.

- Six degrees.

- Yes, there's this book Called "Six Degrees of Separation" that anybody that you want to know, you're just essentially six people away from that person.

- Correct.

- All right? And social media kind of actually shorten that gap as well.

- Yeah, social media shorten that gap so much so that you can actually use-

- Reach out directly.

- Yeah, you can use social media apps or you can use websites such as RocketReach to go and reach out to all these people, which you have to pay, right? I can't remember the monthly subscription, but you got to pay for certain things so that you can get hold of certain people. But of course it doesn't mean it's a sure win kind of guarantee kind of stuff that you can actually get it. But somehow or other, if you have access to certain tools, which certain people, like, probably in Africa and India, they are very unfortunately poor, then, yeah, you can't get access unless you need to meet people face to face.

- So before we go into the how, right, because as you rightfully pointed out, we got Rocket Mail, right? Rocket Mail, right?

- RocketReach.

- RocketReach, we have social media that allow you to reach out to almost anyone. But doesn't mean that you send a text message over the person will respond. So you're gonna tell us later on, how do we turn that around right?

- Yup.

- Now, but networking is increasingly becoming more of a digital thing, right? It's very online as you rightfully pointed out. So what do you think is the difference between networking in person and networking online?

- Definitely in-person would be more personable. Like I, and you, we can feel, we can feel it. Like, literally we can feel the vibes, but if you are talking about, oh, we can do it online as well, we can Zoom, right? Yeah, we can Zoom. We can do whatsoever, WhatsApp call, video call kind of stuff. But you can't sense it. You can't sense 100% of vibe in a sense, even though you can, wow, you can still chat. You can laugh and all this other stuff. But if you are doing it offline, face-to-face, you can build trust even more. You can be not just known by the person in front of you. You can be liked and you can be respected.

- Yeah, wow, nice. But all the in-person, you're saying?

- In-person. But online also, you can, right?

- Okay.

- Yeah, you can.

- How?

- But the thing is this, it's not a sure win thing, like, you, if you get to meet someone, like, if I were to know Robert Kiyosaki online doesn't mean offline he's the same, right? Because people with online presence, they want to stay on the top. They won't show their flaws. They won't show their insecurities in front of you.

- True.

- Right? They won't tell you their past. They will only tell you a certain bit of past, but their wife know their full past, right? Their parents know the full past. They themselves know the full past. But you and I, who respect, who love these people, who really admire these people won't know 100% because they only want you to know a facade of them so that you can buy their clauses or whatsoever, right? But when we are speaking face to face and when we are asking certain questions, like what, like right now we are doing an interview, right? And when I asked you certain questions or when you asked me certain questions and I start to, you know, fiddle around, start to feel so, showing my insecurities and all this other stuff, you can tell.

- There's the body language aspect.

- Yeah, the body language aspect is there. And even though video, yeah, you can do a bit of here and there, but still you can do your best to control because environment is your own environment. You're at home. You are in probably in a cafe that you love, right? Then you can, oh, I'm gonna be on a podcast. I'm gonna be, you know, confident. I'm going to be strong in front of Eric, right? But those people, when you are in front of the camera itself, and just behind the camera itself in front of camera as well, you will, it will, you will see a different facade of the person.

- But you see, with COVID right now, all right, so what I'm hearing from you is that you would have prefer face-to-face.

- Yes.

- Networking face-to-face would be perfect 'cause you get to see a person facial expression, you get to feel the person, all right?

- Yeah, correct.

- And it's a lot more, you can connect with the person deeper.

- Yes.

- But the fact of the matter is that right now we are all kind of stuck at home, you know, here in Singapore, we are stuck. So what, so we have no choice, right? We have no choice but to reach out to that person digitally.

- Yep.

 Podcast Audio Hook for IGS Story Video (in yellow, see if you can stitch this so it’s clean)

LinkedIn Video #1
1. Title - This is how you can network with high profile individuals
2. Hook - “when you want to connect with high-profile individuals, you got to be authentic. You got to be true to yourself in your message. And you cannot be boot licking.”
3. Copy - TBC

- So give us some tips on what can we take note also that we can increase our chances of being able to build a connection with those high-profile individuals.

- So the thing is this, when you want to connect with high-profile individuals, you got to be authentic. You got to be true to yourself in your message. And you cannot be boot licking. Meaning to say that, like, for example, I want, I wanted you to be on my podcast, right? Remember that was a few years back, and then I told you that, hey, I've been watching you. I've been, I really love your content. And believe that you can actually give a really good kind of value to my audience. And probably even your audience who hasn't heard certain stories from you before you can actually share. And that's where I got pretty much personable with you. And when you want to reach out to these people, it's best if you are being personable, right. Rather than you copy the whole damn script that you learned from someone, or probably you saw from "Forbes" or whichever magazine, they have certain people that actually share certain things that you can share or whatsoever certain tips. And then you just copy and paste and send to the person. Then it won't be really so personable to that individual-

- So you got to do your homework.

- So you got to do your research, you got to go and find out who is this person. What do they love? What have they been sharing on social media? What have they been sharing on the offline world? Or probably like newspapers or the traditional media per se. So you got to actually go and figure out what is this person doing? What has he been doing? You got to follow, and then you're gonna share. And if you really love certain things that he has been doing recently on certain shows or said certain things on and whatsoever, you got to actually be writing it down and sending it to the person.

- Because it's so easy to say, oh, I'm a big fan, right?

- Yes.

- But prove it.

- Yeah, right?

- So I get you, so step number one is to be authentic. And to really show the person that you know that person that you truly are a fan and you've been following the person, right?

- Uh-huh.

- Okay, got it. Then number two, what are the tips?

- So number two is that you got to actually go and I would say, find out their friends, make friends with their friends if possible, like literally make friends with their friends. Like, for example, for me, I get to know this few digital marketers, like, I'm pretty sure you should know them. People like Gabriel Wong, Melvin Soh, and all these other people. So I got a so-called, built acquaintanceship with them. And then from there they actually refer some people or they actually are hey, you know, this guy, Rayson, has been doing this podcast, he wants to be appearing on the show and all this other stuff. So they will start to refer for example, or they will start to actually recommend people to listen, for example.

- So in other words, if I can't reach directly to that person, I can first make friends with the friends of those people?

- Yeah. Yeah. And if let's say you have mutual friends who know their friends, for example, it's a six degrees, right?

- Yeah, we just said that, yeah.

- Yeah, so you can actually make friends with these people.

- And it's so true because these days, right? Especially if you're a high profile, you're high value person, you will not take direct interactions, but you won't mind word-of-mouth recommendation.

- Yes, word-of-mouth-

- Introduction.

- Yeah, it's just like network marketing, word of mouth introduction works superbly well. That's why you buy all those Amway, Jeunesse, and Nu Skin and all the other products, right? That's why you go into it and even offline as well. I mean, not really network marketing stuff. Like, oh, this is superbly good. Where is it, okay. You use a word-of-mouth-

- You trust what people-

- You trust what people say. Yeah. And especially when they are your friends and when you are friends with their friends and they find that you have no arterial motives, then all the more they will-

- Yeah, but, okay. So that's the thing, could that be point number three, that when you reach out to these people, you cannot have ulterior motive?

- Yes.

- But what if people are reaching out for business purposes, isn't that ulterior motive?

- No, I mean like, business purposes is not ulterior motive in a sense if you have something that you feel that both of you can actually connect to get certain things done, then go ahead. Because this person might also have been thinking of doing something similar, right? Something, probably a business, or maybe at that point of time, he's totally free. He wants to do something already and just nice your idea, pop in and he likes it, go. You can work things out together. But if let's say he is really, you know, busy, cropped up with their own work and all, and you want to do business, of course the chances of you doing business will be zero, right? But of course, I wouldn't want you to go straight down to talking about business first because I want you to build relationship first. And it might take some time, yes, but if you say that, oh, by this month I have to. But my goal is by this month, I have to build a business with this guy. Then you can't control what's outside of you. You can only control what's inside. So you gotta be patient and you've got to go and connect, network, understand the person more. And you find out whether ultimately do you want to really do business with this person? Because what if you realize at home, like what I mentioned earlier, the person has been a facade, portraying a facade on social media, right? And then behind the scenes is different-

- Person that you thought he is-

- Yes, and then probably he's doing a lot of under the table stuff. And then you're like, oh shit, I realized, man, this guy is not fit for my brand or fit for my stuff, then you wouldn't want to go and do a business with this person.

- So point number three, it's about finding ways to add value to the person?

- Finding ways to add value and also at same time finding ways to actually make sure that this person is the right one to network and to do business together, for example.

LinkedIn Video #2
1. Title - This is how @Rayson met Gary Vee! (#networking)
2. Hook - “But this time round, it was totally different. I didn't expect Nicholas to suddenly Facebook message me and say, hey, will you be available on this certain date? And then I was like, yeah, I think I'll be available. And then after that, he actually told me that, you know, I've been watching your podcast and all this other stuff you've been really consistent. And I thought I would give you an opportunity to have a business meeting with Gary V.”
3. Copy - 
 
- Got it. And I mean, give us a sense, right, like, you have interviewed 100 plus people. What is all the usual things you say to them that make them want to meet up with you and do an interview with you? Because you must have been a person of value, otherwise, they will not want to spend time with you, right?

- Oh.

- What would that be for you?

- For me, right, it's very simple. I just tell them that, hey, I have a podcast. I have this podcast called "The Raygacy Show" and I have been interviewing this so-and-so, I name drop a few people-

- So that builds credibility.

- That builds credibility. And also at the same time, I told them that, hey, I really love what you have been saying.

- That shows authenticity and sincerity.

- And then after that, I told them, hey, I would like you to appear on my podcast and then will you be available for it or will you be interested to appear on it. And then that's where they make a decision, yes or no.

- But don't you need to sell them or pitch to them, like why they need to be on your show?

- No. So I don't think you need to really sell people because when you feel like you are being sold, you don't want to do business with the person because the person is pressurizing you to come. So I treat it like I am talking to a friend like, hey, you know, I have this podcast I want you to appear on. I really like what you been doing. I have this person, this person, this person, and then would you be interested? And then usually they will say, yes. People like John Lee Dumas, people like Gary V, Gary V was a different case, a different case from Grant Cardone, John Lee Dumas, Steve Seams and all the other people. So certain people, yes, it was true. Me connecting with them via their post comments. So when they post something, for example, they post like probably a quote or something like that, I'll add value, right? I'll type my perception. And then I told them, hey, I have a podcast, I would like to interview you, would you be interested? And then usually they will revert me to their email or whatever, I'll PM you and things like that. And then certain people, pretty different, whereby for example, Gary was because I know one guy by the name of Nicholas Gerard. So he happens to help this, I would say Asian team for Gary. And he was helping Peat, he's working for Peatix. And then he was helping raise, to help bring him around and things like that. And he was also part of this Gary V group in a sense. And then he has been watching my podcast, not Gary, but this Nicholas Gerard-

- Because you've been connecting with him.

- Yes.

- Or you've been-

- On my Facebook, on my Facebook. And I don't really like take a lot of time to actually message him and all this other stuff. We don't always ding dong ding dong all the time, but we still keep in contact once in a while. And then comes a time when Gary is coming on 2018 for this Success Resources Event and then I taught like, hey, I really want to interview Gary but I was like, thinking, like, maybe I can go behind the scenes. I have some people who have the VIP pass. And then, you know, like they bought the, I would say they bought the emerald or whatever, whichever the highest tier thing or they are given because they used to be a speaker for them. So I thought I could just ask them for a small favor and see whether can it work. But this time round, it was totally different. I didn't expect Nicholas to suddenly Facebook message me and say, hey, will you be available on this certain date? And then I was like, yeah, I think I'll be available. And then after that, he actually told me that, you know, I've been watching your podcast and all this other stuff you've been really consistent. And I thought I would give you an opportunity to have a business meeting with Gary V.

- Gosh.

- And that's where I got to meet him in person at his hotel, which was just directly opposite the Suntec, right? So I was like, wow, we got to meet him.

- And were you the only Singapore podcaster to meet him?

- No, there were, there, we were having a business meeting. So there were Ming Bridges, there were a lot of, I would say local influencers, even this night, I was cinematic. There's one lady, Sylvia.

- Sylvia was there?

- Sylvia was there, yeah. So I was like, oh wow. I got to meet these people. And then we sat in different groups, right? So different groups have different timing. And then they sat down and we chatted with Gary. And then that's where he still remembered me because I met him in 2017. He met me-

- Brand Minds Asia.

- Yeah, Brand Minds Asia. And then after that-

- Gosh, her remembered you.

- Yeah, he remembered me.

- What?

- Yeah, so I was like, whoa, we did a podcast together. So I asked him, so during the business meeting, I asked him, will you be interested to be on the podcast? And then he immediately said, yes.

- Gosh, and it was an online podcast or gonna be offline podcast?

- That one was a Facebook Live. So my podcasts usually was Facebook Live. And then after that-

- And then on the spot you did your interview with him or?

- Yeah, so, oh, no. So basically he had another group to meet. And then after that meeting, then he actually-

- Stayed back.

- Stayed back to do a interview. So Razor asked me to wait first. And then he was like talking a lot and Sylvia has a lot of questions for him. And I would say the others as well. So it took a long time. I was given 30 minutes at first then after that, everything was shortened with just five minutes, because they took a lot of time-

- Five minutes of gold.

- But five minutes of gold, yeah.

- All on your podcast.

- And not just on my podcast, I was, I appeared on "Daily V" for about three to five times. And then I appeared on his podcast as well, not he interviewing me, but he is a whatever that has appeared on "Daily V"-

- Repurposing the content.

- Was repurposed to audio as well, so I was like, wow, and not just that, I got to meet him again in 2019. Yeah.

- One year later.

- One year later. And when he saw me, we hug it out. And-

- You hugged Gary V.

- Yeah, yeah, he was like, hey, it's been long time-

- We need a photo.

- Yeah. So I took a photo with him and I'm thankful that that time I had my, I would say the people that I interviewed that actually were there as well. And they were the emerald and ruby kind of stuff.

- They helped you film.

- They helped me to, they lent me their pass and let me go in to talk to Gary V because they knew that, hey, I always wanted to talk to Gary for after a while. And they said, hey, Rayson here, you just take my pass. Don't let the security guard know. Oh, no Success Resources CEO please don't see this. Just kidding.

- I don't think they listen to us.

- Just kidding. Anyway. Yeah, so it happened. And then, and we hug it out. And when D-Rock phoned me, right, he was like, hey-

- D-Rock is the guy that takes all the videos for Gary?

- Yeah. Just like Johnny the camera guy who did it for Grant. So he actually gave me a wink and he smiled at me. And I, okay, I, he, I think he remembers me as well. So on and off, we will still comment on the-

- The content.

- The content-

- But this is a brilliant story, this is a brilliant story of how you get to know Gary V. I mean, everybody wants to get a piece of him, but let's summarize it and see what I've learned from you. Okay, so number one is you were very clear who you want to connect with. I think that's very important, right? We need to know who we want to connect with. Number two, do your homework.

- Yes.

- Go research as much as you can about the person, because if you truly want to interview that person, or you want to reach out to the person, you jolly well better know something about a person otherwise, what do you have to talk about?

- Yeah, can you imagine if you, if I talk to Eric Feng about probably like-

- Basketball.

- Basketball, or probably like tennis or whatsoever, then it's not, it doesn't sink. But if I talk to you about badminton, hey.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- We have a lot to talk about, right?

- We have a lot to talk about.

- So very cool, and then number three, start hanging out at their socials.

- Yes, start hanging out at their social place. Like, for example, if you know that they always go to this restaurant, go ahead, but of course I do not want you to be a stalker. I don't want you to invade their privacy, but when time appears, right, when there's a chance that allows you to talk to him even, or her even more, then go ahead.

- Otherwise, I was actually referring to even online, social media, right? Drop by at their comment section, that'll be great.

- Drop by on their comments section, or even private message them. Or even like RocketReach, for example, you can actually use that as well. Or even like, there's this app, there's this website that people came to me. So it's called PodMatch. So it's for podcasters. So all these guests, they will look for podcasts to appear on.

- Okay, how do you spell it? P-O-D?

- M-A-T-C-H. M-A-T-C-H.

- And then these people, can we, as a podcaster, even request who you want to, we can set criteria?

- You can't set criteria like who, but you can actually set criteria on what genre do you want to-

- Got it.

- It's a little bit niche.

- Like Tinder for podcasters.

- Yes, correct, it's a Tinder for podcasters.

- Oh my God, I've got to go check it out, PodMatch.

- Yes.

- And then, okay. So we were at point number three earlier on, which is hanging out at their socials, right?

- Correct.

- And then number four is make friends with the people around them.

- Yeah, correct.

- Right. 'Cause you need a recommendation.

- Yeah, like, for example, if I want to interview then, oh, who's the go-to guy? You, probably and then if I want Preston, for example, then you, right?

- Got it. So you also need to find people that you can reach out to, right? Then the fifth one I thought was important is that you showed up on your own social media platform because people need to know you before they want to meet you. So if you are non-existent on social media, you don't post any piece of content, then we have no idea who you are, then it's very scary to meet you, right?

- Yeah, it's like, as if you are, you are some-

- Weirdo or stalker.

- Weirdo, yeah, or stalker that suddenly come up and hey, I want to take a, I want to do a podcast with you or I want to do a video with you. And then people will think that hey, who is this person? I've not heard about him. I've not seen him before. I've not really seen this person on social media before. And that will kind of lose your credibility.

IG Story Video (Eric, highlighted bits)
 
- I have a bonus point, which I've also learned from you, which is at the end of the day it's about figuring out how to add value to that person. I remember Chatri, do you know Chatri? Chatri is the CEO of Evolve. One of the top entrepreneurs here in Asia. And he's also the host for "Apprentice Asia".

- Yes, yes, yes, yes.

- Right? And I remember he said this, you know, he said that Eric, I received, I was talking to you in club house. And he said to me, Eric, I received 100 plus DMs every single day, requesting for meetups, requesting for help, for money, for interviews. But he said that 99% of this people are all asking me for something. But only that 1% was coming from an angle of, hey, I want to help you in this area 'cause I know you need help in this area. Can we meet up for coffee so I can share that with you? And those are the people that he meet up. And I find that to be so actually, so common sense, but so powerful, right? That we are very selfish in that sense. We constantly think about, you know, how to get an interview with a person, how to reach out a person for our purpose. But we are not thinking from another point of view of why should he even spend 20 minutes with you?

- Correct, that's why like, for example, sorry to cut you off.

- No, go ahead.

- So for example, like when you are, when you are requesting, you can add on certain things like mine was usually like that, right? Whereby I just tell them, oh, who and what I want from you in the sense. But there are people who actually added in something different, they say that, oh, my podcast is the top 1%, right? And then also at same time it has how many listeners, for example, per episode and per how many downloads, for example, right? And then that's where that person will get even more aha, because, hey, you have so many people, I want more people to watch Evolve. And then that's where, so many of them.

- But that also assumes that that person want more reach, which goes back to your first point, second point, which is that you need to know that person, what he wants, what are his goals, his aspiration? What are his challenges? Only then we will know how to position ourselves. Like, you know, if I know that you want more reach, for example, another story was Chris Do, right? Chris Do has more than a million followers on YouTube, obviously, you know, why would he say yes to me, right? But eventually I found out that he wanted to be in Asia. He wants to come to Asia to do work. And so I told him that, hey, I'll be your gatekeeper. I'll be, actually not gatekeeper, I'll be your connector. And that was why we did an interview because he said to me that at some point I want to come to Asia. I would love you to introduce me to some people, I said, by all means, I stayed in Asia my whole life. I'll link you up 'cause I'm a big fan. I truly believe in the things you teach. So you're absolutely right. And for those of you listening, you know, if you're thinking, what can I add value? Well, there are three things you can add value immediately. Number one, you can add value through your insights, right? You can add value through your own network and you can add value by contributing revenue through those businesses, right? So we all can add value.
 
 
 Facebook Video #1
1. Title - This is how Rayson met Grant Cardone! (emoji)
2. Hook - “And then that's where I went to meet Grant and then his family. And I was like, all right, okay, hey man, nice to meet you and just make it as friendly and as if like we knew one another for many years kind of stuff.”
3. Copy - TBC
 
Now I got a final question for you, nah, I've actually got a few more following up questions, okay? We haven't really talk about Grant Cardone yet. So could you maybe give us a summary, right? Like we heard it, the blow by blow encounter of how you did with Gary V, how do you got Gary V on your show.

- Yeah.

- Right? What about Grant Cardone, do you do it any differently?

- Differently, definitely. Because it wasn't a referral. It was through my own effort.

- Tell us how you do it.

- So what happened was this, I actually knew that he's coming to Singapore, right? So I thought, hey, I always wanted to meet this person. And I thought having a podcast with him will be cool. So I decided to use the same stuff that I told you earlier, like, hey, you know, Grant, uncle G, I call him uncle G, right?

- Which also shows that you know him because that's how the fans call him, right?

- Yes, yes, yes. So I actually say that, hey, I would love to, I knew that you're coming to Singapore for this event, at this date, what time, rough gauge, right? And then after that, I told him that hey, I have a podcast, I have interviewed Gary V, I've interviewed this person, that person.

- Gain credibility.

- Credibility, right, and then after that, I would love to have you on my podcast as well. Will you be interested? I just leave it. Leave it there. Right?

- On social. Instagram or LinkedIn?

- LinkedIn.

- Okay.

- Yeah. So from there he actually said, we'll love to, and then it just, it just a simple, and then-

- He replied on LinkedIn?

- On LinkedIn.

- See you guys, we all have immediate access. I think if there's one answer to your question earlier on, what's the difference between offline and online is that online, you can reach out to anybody.

- Yes, you can reach out to anybody. But one thing is not always they will reply.

- But he did for you, why? Is it you're lucky or-

- Probably, probably luck.

- But you did your homework too, right?

- Yes.

- You know he's coming to Singapore so he pay attention to that.

- Yeah and then also at same time, I told him that hey, I want to interview you, I've interviewed this person, that person, right? So from there, he'd say, hey, you've interviewed my counterparts before, in a sense, or maybe my rivals before, right? So I also would like to appear on probably he had that mindset and hey-

- Credibility.

- I want to add value as well. So that's where he actually appeared. But one thing is, he only replied to me that sentence and then leave it hanging after that. It was left hanging until the next day I saw him did a YouTube video saying, hey guys, I'm coming to this Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, blah, blah. And I am going to be able to get interviews with you. And if you want to interview me, you go to this person's email and email to them. And then I was like, I was trying to grab hold of what he was saying, that person's name because it's not easy because if it's slang, I was like, thinking, is it this? I even know when I turned on caption, it doesn't show the real name, the full name. So I was like thinking, okay, let me give you a try, give it a shot, I think should be this name. And then after that, I sent it over. And within a few hours later, she replied and it said, Grant is really, you know, wanting to appear on your podcast. And then he's willing. And then they gave me a timing. And one thing was, I was having a night shift on that day.

- Oh God.

- And it was post night shift. And I thought like, hey, I told them, hey, I actually need to sleep. I still manage a bargain a bit of time with them. I told him I want to sleep probably in the evening. Would that be better, like around late afternoon-

- Oh, you took a risk, huh?

- I told them 4:00 PM, I negotiated the timing because they told me about 10:00 or 12:00 PM around at 10:00 AM or 12:00 PM around then. I was like, oh man, I ended work at 7:30. I need to go back and get ready and then goes, rush there. I was like, oh man, I think it will be very tiring for me. And I thought, I should give it a try, give it a shot. And they agreed. And they was okay, cool. All right. And the ironic part was I couldn't sleep still because there was road, I was, they were doing some things, with the road, they were drilling and all this and oh man, I wanted to sleep and then now all these things are happening. And thankfully I have a friend. I think you should know him. His name is David King.

- Ah, yes, of course.

- Yes, yes. So he was there to help me out because he wanted to meet. So I told him, hey, why don't you be my camera guy? And then let's go. And then was like, okay, cool, let's go, and then we went and that's where, you know, all the magic happens like meeting uncle G and all the other family members and his-

- Now, followup question.

- Yup.

- We spend so much time talking about, you know, getting their attention and reaching out to them, right? Now you are granted an interview. Now you're granted that lunch or dinner, right? But while I've got to be very nervous, teach us, right, number one, what kind of mindset must we have where we meet up with all these people?

- Well, I was very excited, damn excited, and I just told myself, okay, we're gonna just go through it and let nature take its course, right? And just tell myself that, okay, I need to calm down, calm my nerves because I don't want to ruin it because if I ruin it, it will ruin him in a sense-

- Golden opportunity.

- Yeah. I wouldn't want to miss this golden opportunity, so I will meditate a bit, I will go and relax myself. And I'll talk to my friends at that point of time and then I'll tell myself, okay, let's go and enjoy the show. And then that's where I went to meet Grant and then his family. And I was like, all right, okay, hey man, nice to meet you and just make it as friendly and as if like we knew one another for many years kind of stuff.

- And it's not difficult to feel that was 'cause you've been consuming his content. You see?

- Correct.

- That goes back down to point number two, again, right?

- Yes.
 
 

- Now, questions. Give us, what are some good questions to ask where we have a chance to meet a high value person or a high-profile person?

- Wow.

- Two to three questions you can keep it in the pocket.

- So basically, for questions-wise you can actually ask them, for example, like, if let's say, like, usually this will be like my last question for all my guests. So usually I will ask them if, let's say today's your last day on Earth, what you gonna do for that day, right? And then they will start to think, and they will say, hey, well, this is something that is not so usual that people will ask because people will always ask, hey, so how do you make money? Hey, how do you grow your wealth, right? I want to go even deeper and I want to go even deeper in knowing this person more. I want to know his characteristics in a sense, probably with these few questions like that one that I mentioned earlier-

- So if today is the last day of your life, which, I think you asked me that question too.

- Yes.

- Also I broke down your show.

- Yes, you broke down my show.

- We need to have a recap of that one, but, oh my God, so if today is the last day of your life or you can extend it to, if you know, you only have one year left to live.

- Yep.

- What would you do with your life?

- Yes, correct. And then also at same time you can even ask them like even simple questions like, so what do you love to do with your family on the weekends and things like that. This shows that I want to know you more, rather than asking that person to add value to you immediately, because we will know whether this guy is a freeloader or not. Because if a person keeps asking, hey, how do you earn more money? How do you grow another source of income? How do you do this and that? Then people would think that, oh my God, what the hell? Are you trying to, like, get as much info from me for free? And then what do I gain in return? What if the person were to, you know, get all this information and then put it out somewhere and then they mistyped certain things or they misinterpreted certain things and it will dampen their image.

- So don't ask the tactical kind of how-to questions.

- Don't ask the tactical questions, unless if you're doing a podcast, but if you are meeting a person face-to-face just for a chit chat or whatsoever, keep it as light as possible, as friendly and as personable as possible.

- So get to know the person and not get to know the person's strategies.

- Yes.

- At the first meeting.

- Correct, unless if you have already messaged one another, like a while already, like few weeks or few months, you have been talking to one another, you have been, I would say-

- Ask the how to?

- Yes, you can ask the how to, but if you just get to know the person for the first time and you ask how to, then they will get a step back or maybe a few steps back because they will be thinking, hey, who is this guy, man? Who is this girl?

- Got it.

- I do not know who is this person and they are asking me all this strategy, right? I mean, like, can you imagine financial advisors or whosoever just come to you and, hey, Eric, how do you actually grow your business to MDRT or COT, just suddenly just tell you through personal, through your social media, for example. And then you'll be like, why should I share with you so fast? I do not know who is this-

- That's why the relationship building is-

- Yeah, because what if this person is a black sheep in their industry and then you start sharing and then they use your strategy and they misuse it? And then what happens when they get to know, when these people get to know who's their mentor and that's you, and then what will happen?

- Get in trouble.

- Yes.

IG Story Video (Eric)
 
- I never thought of it that way. You know for me, right? Whenever I meet a high value person or a celebrity, I will always remember what Jack Ma said. He said that when you meet a person, right, don't ask them how to be successful because there are multiple ways to be successful, infinite ways. But there are only that many mistakes that a human being can make. So therefore don't ask about success, ask about failure. So whenever I meet a high-profile person, I always ask them, tell me about your biggest epic failure or the biggest mistake that you made. I don't care how old you, but tell me that mistake, analyze that mistake, why you made a mistake, and what you've learned from it, because then I can avoid that mistake and I can get to my goals faster without having to suffer the pain.

- Yep, correct. And not just you, you can also help others to prevent themselves from having this kind of mistakes as well.

- Another type of question I love, which you can try, and I think maybe you try it for those of you listening you can try this. It's, think about all the problems that you're facing. All right, relationship problem, business problem, personal problems, right? Think about all these problems that you have, right? And ask them your top three problems. Go to them and say, hey, if you were to face this problem, what would you do different? Because you see, I mean, all of us are human beings. We have faced the same similar problems, right? We have heartbreaks, we have money, bankruptcy failures. We have disappointment, self-doubt, all the same things. But what sets them apart from us is about how they respond to those circumstances. So I'm always very curious to know how they respond. And therefore I would, whenever I meet a person, I will always think about the latest problem I'm facing. And then I'll ask the person, I'll say, have you ever faced that problem before and what do you do? And then I'll ask myself, did that guy do it differently? Oh yeah, he did. No wonder he's getting a different result. I'm gonna give it a try.

- Yeah.

- So for those of you who do not know what to ask, now you've got Rayson gave you some ideas. I've given some ideas. Right, now, let's close today's session with this, you, I was taught that you have a newly coauthored book called "The Younger Self Letters" right? So tell us a little bit about that.

- Okay, so basically this book was actually a collaboration with one of my podcast guests. So she actually gave me this opportunity, which I shouldn't be, by right, shouldn't be sharing, but I just shared with you.

- Okay, but it's gonna be recorded though.

- It's okay, nevermind, it's okay. Nevermind, because I don't think she'll be listening to it.

- Are you sure? I don't want you to break your trust with that person.

- No worries, no worries.

- Don't have to tell us the name.

- So basically this lady, she actually told me, hey, you know, after this podcast interview, she actually gave me this opportunity to write a book with her and a few other coauthors as well. And then she said that hey, usually people have to pay to join, to be a coauthor. But for me, she wanted me to write for free.

- Wow.

- So I said, okay, let's go for it, man. Because if I were to sell the books-

But why, what was so different about you? You know, like, you must have done something right.

Because I built the trust with her from the start. And also at same time, the podcast that we had was so enjoyable and she felt personally that, wow, this guy is somebody that she can trust and she can actually, you know, collaborate with. That's where she realized that, hey, I want your story to be there because she, when she heard about my story, she realized that wow-

Compelling story.

I have a compelling story, so she wants me to actually join in, to join in the bandwagon with them.

So when's this book gonna be out?

It's actually out. So it's actually out on Amazon.

First of all, what's this book about?

Okay, so basically, okay, so this book is about us writing letters to our younger self. So we wrote letters to our younger self based on what we have learned over the past 30, 40 years of our lives. And then that's where we actually wrote down the things that we have learned in terms of business, in terms of heartbreaks, for example, or some other, other kind challenges that they have faced. And then we wrote it and we share it with our younger self in a sense.

So brilliant.

So that's where, you know, we actually coauthored together with a group of, I would say, 10 to 15 people, right? And then we actually wrote about all this things that we had and we actually wrote. So for mine, I actually wrote a motivational kind of a letter to my younger self because I went through so much, so much shit. So I told myself, hey, I do not want to, you know, I do not want you to go through that same thing again. And I want readers who are reading this book not to go through this again. So I want myself to know that, hey, I've been through so much. I'm giving myself a pat on the back that say that I might not be a millionaire right now, but it doesn't mean that I won't be in the future, but still I want to keep hustling. I want to keep growing because without growth I'll be dead, in a sense, physically, mentally, right? So I kept myself there and there. And that's why I told myself that this book is something unique, something that I actually am able to, you know, work on my creativity skills in writing and give it all out. And at that period of time, while I was writing I had a fracture in my right knee.

Ouch.

So I was like, man, I was like all the way on a bed and chair and I was like telling myself, okay, I learned something about my knee fracture as well. 

Let me write it down. 

Yeah, let me write it down. And that's where I was able to, you know, have a lot of time to write.

So this is a book essentially consolidating all the wisdom from all the different speakers, right?

Correct.

Which is very similar to what I just shared which is, learning all the mistakes that you guys make so that we can save the trouble and the pain and tears.

Yes.

So how do we get this book?

Okay, you can go to Amazon, you can go to Amazon and find out "The Younger Self Letters". Okay, and then you can purchase it and it will ship to you within, I would say two to three weeks time.

Sweet, okay.

Yes.

Check out the book. Now, final question. You have interviewed hundreds of people, they have gave you so much advice and wisdom. Could you please share with us the one advice that you have received that has made a huge impact to your life even till today?

Wow, I would say-

We'll finish off with that.

I would say that Gary V gave me a very, very great advice.

Ooh.

Yes. So he gave me this advice during a podcast as well. And that is everyone always thought that you're gonna post a post on LinkedIn, Instagram, and you're gonna be famous or you're gonna be rich, right? Or you're gonna be enjoying your life on a yacht, but it's not. You're gonna be taking 21 years to success.

21, he said.

So he said 21 years and I asked him 21 years? Yeah, because it's all in the mindset. If you think that it's gonna be just one year and then what happens after the first year after you've got the success, you will be complacent. You will want, you wouldn't even want to achieve another goal. You might just be complacent and oh, I've already gotten this person for interview. I've gotten my millions of dollars, time to shake, lick and lay back, right? And, but one thing is, if you have the idea of 21 years to success, you are actually giving yourself more time. And also at the same time, not just more time, but also at the same time, giving yourself more creativity, more time to actually go and work on your craft and not just working on your craft, but also be patient with yourself. Because if you expect success instantly you'll fall, you will fail. If you expect success in a longer period of time, it's like, as if you are investing money, then you will have that longer time to actually get it. But you will reach there as well.

Macro patience, micro focus.

Yes.

Gary V, you're amazing. And Rayson, thank you so much for being a conduit, to all these amazing people. And you make us feel like we can reach out to anyone on social media, as long as we remember the five things that you taught us. All right, so thank you so much, Rayson, for being here. And I wish you success in everything that you do, and I hope your mom's gonna get better and keep doing what you do, okay? And leave a Raygacy, yeah?

Thank you so much, man, appreciate it.

All right, there you go. This is Rayson and I hope that you guys enjoyed this interview. My biggest takeaway from Rayson is this, is that five step approach of how you can reach out to people. I mean, if there's one thing that I got in a way is that you can literally reach out to anyone in this world simply because of social media, but that's not good enough because you need to make sure they respond so here are the five things I got away. Number one, be very clear about who you truly want to connect with. Don't connect just because that person can bring you more money or more resources because anybody can do that. But you've got to pick someone that you're truly, genuinely excited to be a friend with, right? Then that leads to number two, do your homework, do your research, get to know as much as you can about the person, their interests, their values, their aspirations, because this will come in handy later on when you interact with them. Number three, make sure that you hang out at their social media accounts, all right? Leave comments, engage their content, consume so that, consume their content so that they already familiarized with you. So that later on, when you reach out to them, the chances will be higher. Number four, get to know their friends as well, right? Look for people who are mutual connections, get those mutual connections to introduce you to them. It's a lot faster and a lot higher, the higher chance of you getting success. And finally be a person of value, right? By you knowing what they want, their values, their aspirations, you will know exactly how you can position yourself so that you are a person of value. So that's my takeaway. If you love today's podcast, we post these podcast interviews once a week on YouTube. And if you like it, remember to hit the subscribe button, switch on notification and I'll see you at the next video.