199 How A Cold DM Can Change An Accounting Firm

Today we are talking about the art of writing a great cold dm. Gang. I don't know about you, I build a lot of relationships online these days. And that's just like, it's kind of how we meet people. Like, we meet people in real life, but we also meet a lot of people online, especially around work stuff, because it's easier online to find people that do what you do when there's not going to be very many people like in real life that do what you do. But if you're going out to conferences especially, you're now meeting these people in real life, like building real, real relationships. And like, it's not a, I don't know, overblown statement to say, like, literally one cold DM can change your life. Like, we forget about just how much opportunity there is on the other side of social media and making those relationships. But how do you write a good cold dm? Right? We all get a lot of really bad ones these days. So let's go through how to write cold DMs in a way that's not scummy. To actually like build a connection with another human being ultimately with the goal of profiting and becoming wildly rich and finding financial freedom. Okay, that's it. Come on in. I mean, I was pretty much joking. Fun thing. Honestly, one of the most fun things about like business ownership to me is making other business owner friends and the fact that you can do business together with people that you super enjoy spending time with. So, like that person, that could be a great business connection. I mean, you also have a ton in common with them. And if you are a man like me and you enjoy other people strictly based on whether their interests align with yours, then you've already got a lot in common. Right? Business things. Okay, I think we're all getting pretty sick of cold DMs these days because we get so darn many. It's easier than ever to automate massive volumes of cold DMs. We saw this first with cold email. We're now seeing it with cold DMs. Interestingly, communication channels, I feel like go through like a life cycle of being, oh cool, this is a fun place to be to. Okay, well the think. The think people have gotten here and the ads and all that stuff and eventually, I mean, every, almost every communication platform just goes to crap when people, people figure out how to automate it. I mean, you look at mail, I mean, mail is garbage these days because 90% of the stuff that you receive is just promotional, not something that you actually want to look at. And if you do open something, it's probably because they tricked you into thinking it was something real. When I was a kid, I used to have pen pals. I used to write my great grandmother every week. And we would write back and forth. She's so wholesome. Imagine that being a thing these days. Now, when somebody writes a letter, it's like, this is quaint. It is impressive because of how quaint it is, but also like, wow, you took down, you took the time to write something for me. But I'll be honest, if I were to mail somebody something tomorrow, I'd be like, there's a 50, 50 chance they ever actually open this because it's the mail. Now the phone, one could argue, has like totally fallen victim of the same thing. We get so much spam here. Like, I don't answer my phone unless it's from somebody who I know. Email especially. I mean, how's your personal email inbox looking? What is the ratio of things you wanted to see there versus stuff that you're not interested in? It's just getting worse. Text messaging. Oh, election season. So many automated political texts. Go, vote for this person or that person. Social media. The reality is, like, we're on this inevitable path towards it just kind of being this, I don't know, advertising cesspool. And on every single channel you have, you know, people who have built business around mass volume, you know, a thousand DMs a day. I mean, there's all sorts of Twitter, thank people that'll tell you how to do this to cold calls, Google Ads, whatever it is. Like, you have experts on doing this stuff at huge scale. And it's not to say that there isn't value and you can't find work this way. But the more interesting thing to me is the opposite is the like, lo fi. I just built a human relationship that's actually enriching to me, may lead to some new, like, networking opportunities, that sort of thing. So how do we send dms that are, that, that are like actual, like, hey, like, just so you know, I'm an actual person. Meanwhile, you have all these other cold DMs and emails saying, hey, actual person here that isn't really an actual person. How do we do that to make new connections and open new doors? So some, some guidelines to help you write better cold dms, and then a whole bunch of scenarios where a cold DM could set your world on fire tomorrow. So first thing to be thinking about, and this is if you're getting to A writing a cold dm, then you've already. You're like, you probably have something in mind that you want from that person, be it a lifelong friendship, be it a business opportunity, whatever it is. I'm assuming you've already got that. I'll give you ideas for that at the end of the pod. But we're sitting down to write this cold dm. What is the best tactical approach here? First off, do you have a way to get an intro, go back through their Rolodex? There's some platforms make this really easy, like LinkedIn. You can see if you're like a second connection and. And what connections you have in common. But, you know, if they run a podcast, like, go back through past podcast episodes. Do you know any of those people? Like, comb through that Rolodex, see if there's any connections that you have to this person so that that individual that you know can give you, like, an intro to that person. That goes a long ways towards immediately bumping you up above all the cold DMs. Like, you just broke through that. If you have a connection now, you don't want to abuse this, because asking people for intros can also be kind of annoying for the person you are asking that of. So be mindful of not putting too much on the person who you're asking to make that connection of. It also feels kind of scummy when you, like, haven't talked to them in three years and you're like, hey, Bill, Hi, how are the kids? Hey, while we're here, could you go ahead and connect me with Tina? People can see through that. So on the one hand, be mindful of not, like, abusing those relationships. On the other hand, everybody's playing the same game, and so, like, they can also understand. In fact, even if you put in that intro, like, hey, trying to get this private air charter accounting from off the ground, I see you're connected to this person. Would you mind making an intro? And most of the time, they're gonna be like, yeah, totally fine. So if somebody can get you an intro, start there. Second, consider if this person that you're sending the cold DM to, have they seen you before? If they've already seen you in the wild, that also rockets you up, like, to the top of the list, past all the cold stuff. You know, in a perfect world, you are somebody that they mutually respect. Like, you have content online and they see it and they like your stuff just like you like their stuff. I want to diatribe on this a couple weeks back. But there's a lot of people in our lives that we look up to, and we're like, oh, my gosh, I have so much respect for those people, and you want to be their friends or their pals or. Or you may want to send them a cold DM just to be like, oh, I love you so much. And so my wife is super into Blake Lively, and she's like, I could see us being great friends. I'll be the a hole. That's like, really? Do you. What do you. What do you have in common? What do you have something to offer this person? Oftentimes, you'll find that you actually don't have anything to offer this person, and that puts you in, like, a difficult spot where it's pretty hard to ask something of them if you don't have something to offer them. I'll give you some ideas for what that could be. But just to bring it back to my wife and Blake Lively, this is what I tell her. The way you make friends with Blake Lively is you become Blake Lively. You do what she does. You do the things that she thinks is interesting. And at that point, your peers and if you don't have anything in common, then you're kind of just. I don't know, there's, like, that. There's, like, an imbalance in that relationship. Like, you know a ton about them, but they don't know a ton about you. And that's a hard place to, like, build a relationship with somebody. So has this person seen you out in the wild before? Doesn't have to be like, are they. Are you an even bigger celeb than they are in the, you know, private air charter space or whatever it is? Did they read about you and Beekeeping Weekly? At the very least, have they seen you engage in their content? Like, that's a really easy way in if you're part of the community of, you know, folks that are obviously hanging out and looking at the content or turning up at the events or something like that, like, just if they've ever seen you in the wild before, that puts you a long ways ahead. And I would argue if you. If you want to ask something of someone and you're not willing to even, like, play in the universe where they are, then, like, that's asking a lot. Like, it may be that you're just. You're not, like, adding much value to those spaces and are instead just trying to extract rather than, like, contribute, you know? Now biggest problem that most cool DMs have is it's it's an ask. Like, they're not offering anything of value. They're just asking something of you. And the most common, you know, most common example of this is, hey, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Can we. Would you be interested in hopping on a call for. It could be 30 seconds. It seems like people get shorter and shorter with the length of call they're now asking you to do. As if that's going to make me more likely to say yes. But, yeah, asking to pick your brain, asking to do this and that. And there's so many situations in life where you'll run into these scenarios where you can very obviously see that it's good for them if they're asking something of you, why is it good for me? And it has to be more than flattery. Oftentimes you can be flattered by the opportunity to do this or that, because maybe it's, you know, an event you look up to or a person you look up to or something like that. But that can sometimes blind you to do something in the best interest of somebody else that may not be in the best interest of you. I mean, I think this comes up a lot when it comes to events and the economics, especially of accounting events, just, they're not great. And a lot of events will say, like, well, it's worth it just for you to be on the stage. So focus on, you know, like, it's totally okay to be transparent about why you're getting in touch, but also, you need to have something to offer. Otherwise, that person's just doing you a favor. It's enough to ask my mom the favor of, yeah, can you watch the kids tomorrow night? And, like, I don't like doing that. I don't want to impose on a friend, but for it to be a total stranger, why is a stranger going to do a favor for you? So you got to, like, come at that cold DM as, like, you know, you have something to offer. Now there are times where it's just like, I vibe with this person so much, and we would be buddies and we're super into the same things, and maybe we've already out on social a little bit, like, hey, you want to just, like, hang out sometime? That stuff is gold. Absolutely do that. If you've been reading somebody's tweets for a year or talking with them on Twitter for a long time or just stuff like that, and you hit it off, there's a very adult thing that is, like, not wanting to be the one to make the first move. Just Know, all adults have that same problem. I'm especially looking at you dudes. All adults have that problem of making the first move. Just make the first move. Like, the worst thing that they can do is say no. And it's going to be uncomfortable briefly. No big deal. Like, if you think about doing that over the course of your entire life, the net positive is going to be so much more than the net negative. I frequently share the first dm, cold DM that I sent Logan Graff and how he then catfished me into thinking that he ran a cast practice and had something to offer me, which, frankly, he didn't. But we still hopped on a call and we remain adversaries to this day. Okay, so the DM itself, three things every DM ought to have a bit of flattery didn't hurt anyone. I know that. I just, I know I just told you, don't be bamboozled into doing something just because they, they make you feel good. And that's you on the receiving end. On the outgoing end. I got no shame. No shame in my game. Also, like, that's kind of just a nice person thing to do. Like, this video was super helpful to me for this reason. This, this post was super helpful. This podcast. I super appreciate that you're doing this and that. No, like, no shame in that. Second, some context. If all you do is offer something to someone, they're also going to be suspicious because they're going to be like, why is. Like, why is this person just randomly offering to do this thing for me? There's got to be something more going on here. And that is then their reason to not reply. Like, every time we come into a cold DM that we receive, we're thinking, oh, what are all the reasons why I shouldn't reply to this? Give me a decent one so that I can move on with my life and not have to deal with this. So you still have to give them some context as to, like, why are you getting in touch with them? And honestly, this ought to be like one sentence. So this whole DM needs to be three or four sentences or less. So the context for me, you know, it's going to be, I'm building an accounting practice for xyz. I see you've put a lot of thought into building the same audience. You know, if it's a podcast or something like that. And then third, like, what is the offer to give, not to receive? The context is where you allude to, like, ultimately what you can receive from working with them. But third, the offer is like here's how I can help you or here's an offer to help you. Because every DM has to have a compelling reason for them to reply. Like you have to give them a reason to not want to move on with their day and to stop and to engage with this. And oftentimes you'll get DMs and emails that may be missing this offer altogether. It's probably the most common thing, but also make it hard to reply or hard to do that thing like you're at. Like you have to then go do several steps and if it's complicated for them to reply or if they have to think hard to do this or that, you're also adding friction that's going to make it less likely that they reply. So third, for the dm, there has to be an offer there to to give them or give them something or be helpful. And it has to be like a clear, straightforward thing that is easy for them to reply to. This episode is sponsored in part by Cloud Cloud Accountant staffing. You all know I'm a big advocate of hiring offshore. One of the biggest changes I've made in my firm, we transitioned a Legacy firm from 100% onshore local hiring to 100% distributed US and then 100% distributed globally hiring and honestly is the best thing we did. It virtually alleviated all of our hiring pains, completely changed how we thought about staffing projects and the type of work that we wanted to bring on. Because you know what, the folks we hired offshore really freaking good. A lot of misconceptions around the type of people that you hire offshore because your enterprises will oftentimes use offshore folks for like menial work. Absolutely not the case. There are tens of thousands of people working for big four accounting firms. You know, offshore outside the US you can get folks that can do anything from tax to junior level stuff to super senior level stuff. But try to do that yourself, figure it all out yourself. That's going to be hard. It's going to be scary. Really good place to start cloud accountant staffing. They will hold your hand through that process. Their story is super simple. At accounting firm in the US hired a bunch of people in the Philippines, fell in love with them, but didn't fall in love with the fees they were having to pay to the staffing companies that were managing these employees. So they built their own solution and now they're starting to pull other accountants in. I'd encourage you. A big tipping point for me was when I was like I'm going to stop being opinionated on this and just try to learn. And so I talked to the other practitioners, I talked to some of the vendors that would like help you get into offshoring. That really opened things things up for me. So if you've been on the fence, I'd encourage you to at least learn about it and start heading down that path. Consider cloud accountant staffing step. So to sponsor in part by Live Flow. If you've ever thought about selling better paying advisory projects folks who will pay a top dollar to do a bit of coaching with them each month, maybe this is a thing that you're already doing. I think one of the most common blockers is not knowing where to start and being overwhelmed by the tools that are out there to do the job. And when a client comes to you for advising, I don't know that what they have front of mind is what kind of wildly complex reporting package do you have to put in front of me? Old friend, I think they just want to talk to you. I think that's probably what they want. That's why people use Live Flow for advising. It gives your spreadsheets brains. It connects your spreadsheet to QuickBooks. It'll auto sync data back and forth to Google sheets. Because sometimes a spreadsheet friends, sometimes it's all you need. Now liveflow's got a whole pile of advisory templates on their site. If you haven't sold advisory before, these things are a great place to start. Literally spin it up, connect it with Live Flow and Bob's your uncle, it's pushing that data in. You've got some really good talking points to go through with your client. And because it is a spreadsheet, it's totally customizable. You can add stuff, remove stuff. You can even move cells around and they will continue syncing. You can reference the syncing cells, the sunk cells, reference the sinkers from like another sheet. If you're building your own sort of summary report, if you're layering advisory on top of bookkeeping work kind of puts that advisory reporting on autopilot for you. Now they recently kicked off a consolidations functionality makes it super easy to roll up a bunch of different companies. If you work with company groups as I once did, that is a massive pain in my hiney at the end of each month. Of course when we got to roll all that stuff up together, LifeFlow now makes that super easy whether those companies have matching chart of accounts or not. So if you're thinking advisory opportunities, think about LifeFlow. It's a way to build all that stuff right into a spreadsheet where you're probably already pretty comfortable. Learn more about that one. Check out the link in the show notes. Now yesterday we ran through the process of like, how would you go out and find, like build a network online to build a new niche from scratch. Whether you're starting a firm from scratch or whether you have an existing firm but, but you want to get more specialized to find a better paying type of client. Talked about, you know, social media, YouTube, Google searches, like who are having those conversations online? Eight examples of cold DMs we could send for that niche. We discussed yesterday, people that run small private charter businesses, either they have planes that are flown around on or they manage planes of others within the context of like a charter service. So that you could go to a website and say I got to fly from A to B and this charter service gets the plane where it needs to go and gets you to the destination. Talked about, you know, social media, YouTube, Google searches, like who are having those conversations online? I'm going to run you through. Let's see eight examples of cold DMs we could send for that niche. We discussed yesterday, people that run small private charter businesses, either they have planes that are, are flown around on or they manage planes of others within the context of like a charter service. So that you could go to a website and say I gotta fly from A to B. And this charter service gets the plane where it needs to go and gets you to the destination. So eight examples of DMs that we could write to help make some new connections in this space. There's an organization within this specialization that we stumbled into, the mbaa. It's kind of like what the AICPA is for accounting, but for like business aviation. They do a whole bunch of different stuff. Way wider than just the specialization that I'm looking for in my accounting firm. But they do have specific spaces within that association for like folks running their own charter businesses. Much like the AICPA has like, you know, small firm chapters. Like they have spaces special built for the folks I'm trying to get in front of. They also have on their website a whole section around tax. They have an actual tax committee. So I like looked in that tax committee, like all the names on that committee, there's like killer connections to make. I learned that one of those people is on a NBAA 40 under 40 list. So they have their own 40 under 40 list. Of course they do. This is like, I don't know, it's a great example of how the things that we do that we have a deep understanding of, we know every little nook and cranny of it and all the adjacent businesses and all that. But when you look at another industry, it looks very simplistic and small from the outside and, and you're like, can I really go into that like specialization? Is there really enough there to build a business around? And it's like yes, because once you get in there, you look around and you're like, oh, there's an entire conference for like air traffic controlling type people and for software platforms that services space and like all these different little spaces within the space. And I'm convinced every level of specialization you go deep. So if dental is you know, the first level deep, but then dental lab equipment is the next level deep, like I'm convinced every level of depth you go, you find more specificity and folks who will pay more for the same work. And there is a little wrapping of what about accounting and taxes and compliance is unique to them or like vcfo if that's what you do. But that, that like nougat core, like it is the same for all of them and the investment that you've already put into learning the core stuff, that's great, you've got what you need. Now we just gotta like dress it up in a way that's gonna work for a specific type of course person. So anyways, this whole MBAA thing took me down a whole rabbit hole of all these different events and all that that they do. But they have an entire section on their website around tax and the most recent post in there and this is a very active organization where they're running like 10 plus events a year, good number of members. The most recent article in their tax section was about the Tax Cut and Jobs act which was like 2017 or 2018. If I'm accounting from the desk tax, I want the next post in that tax section. So I'm going to propose, hey, I would love to do an article a month for you here. An article a quarter, whatever it is. Doesn't have to be all that much. I've got the expertise to do it. I work with folks in the industry and I can make this section of your website like fundamentally better. So where do you start with that? First step is finding the person who can, who can make that decision. And the larger the org that you're working with, the harder that's going to be because you'll get passed around to all these different people. And inside of our Organizations like, there's oftentimes there is more to be lost by saying a wrong yes than there is to be gained by saying a great yes. So people will sooner let things slip through the cracks than run the risk of being blamed for something that wasn't great. They don't want to be on the hook for it. So one way to start, like, how do I get in to help them with this tax stuff? Is like, via the general channels. So, like, you can message this group on social media channels. They have like, general support email addresses and all that, and that's okay. And you might. They might get you through the old, like, phone tree to the right person eventually, if possible, see if you can find a person who is closer to, like, the part of the organization that you would be working with. And so a good example here is on that 40 under 40 list was that person who was part of the tax committee. I found them via the 40v40 list and then found this tax section of the website. So you could either try going like to the association as a whole or the people on this tax committee. And there's four public people that are on this tax committee. And if I send them a DM offering to do this, I'm genuinely doing them a favor. I'm raising the bar of their content making it better. And I'm not asking really anything of them in return besides, like, the fact that it will give me some exposure. So what's this DM gonna look like? Let's just think through this real quick. Three things. Flattery, context, and then the offer for flattery. Steve, love that you're helping an MBA get good tax information out for, you know, X type of professional or an accounting firm that does this for aviation businesses or for X number of aviation business, if you can put a number to it, that's even better. I've been doing tax for, you know, 15 years, whatever. I mean, literally this concise. Third, the offer. I noticed this. I noticed these posts haven't been updated in a while. Happy to write you an updated post. No cost, just with my name and, you know, the name of my firm at the bottom or something like that. Would even be happy to do this on a monthly basis or if there's some sort of blog writing that would be helpful here, would love to contribute to what y' all are doing now. That's pretty good. But what's the easy response? And that's probably just as it is. It's probably gonna get an easy response. But what I do as like, kind of the cherry on top there is probably give them what is the easiest path or the easiest couple options. So I'd probably end that one with Happy to hop on a call if you want to discuss. Here's my calendar. Give them that calendar invite so you don't have to do the back and forth. That's a big source of friction. They can literally click a button and book with you. But I also say, or I've already got a blog post fairly similar that I can tailor to this. About XYZ Happy to shoot that over for you if you want and you can publish it literally. It can be as simple as that. So I'm letting them pick from one of two options. Maybe I'll say like I'll draft this one for you and you can tell me what you think or you can see what you think. So he's not even committing to publishing it. So it's like he's making no commitments. Second option there is like I've just sent it to him to give him an idea of what that would look like. Those options are book with me or I'll send you an example. That's pretty hard thing to say no to. Second example, to do a webinar for a software platform. So another thing I found with this little private aviation space, there's a magazine called Business Aviation Monthly or something like that and I flipped through one of the issues and I looked at all the sponsors and the folks that they're doing write ups on and man like just got so many ideas from that. I don't really think of magazines as new media, but if you are looking at an industry like this one that's probably going to be a little bit more old money because it's like pretty capital intensive and all, that magazine could be a good place to poke around and find some folks that you could connect with. But there are a number of ads from software platforms. So every little space is going to have niche software providers who are constantly pumping out content to attract people to the content and then ultimately to that software tool, one that was all over that. That magazine, Baryon Tracking, it's a flight tracking platform. If you're running a private charter business, you're going to need some sort of flight tracking system. If I'm in a perfect world, the software company aligns very well with the profile of the client you're trying to attract, right? But these people do a bunch of webinars, they have white papers and I've got a ton of expertise that people pay a lot of money for and I could give them like a taste of that expertise and a webinar and a white paper, whatever it is, at no cost. So who do you get in touch with? Well, you can get in touch with like the software company, like just in their general channels. The reality is with software companies, the people manning those channels are probably going to be more sales driven. So they may not be that excited about like you helping them with education content. But I just put this company's name and education into a LinkedIn search and I found some folks that looked like they were like associated with, you know, the people putting content together. Education is a good phrasing content or marketing and the brand name. And that'll usually get you to somebody within the group that at least knows, at least is like one degree of Kevin Bacon away from being able to be like, oh no, that's what Tina does. Let me connect you with Tina. So that's how I'm going to find who to reach out to for this dm. If I'm thinking about flattery, context and the offer, I'm going to say love the content you're putting out on X channel. I'm an accounting professional that's been serving this space for X number of years. We talked tax previously. But all this holds up for like accounting back office stuff too, or like especially consulting vcfo. That's going to be the context, literally just that, the offer. You know, I've done a number of webinars around this, these topics specific to business aviation. If you can get really explicit about the offer, like, like title ideas, like, you know, nine ways the potential new tax bill impacts business aviation, stuff like that. You're genuinely doing them a favor by giving them something they can use in the content machine. Because it is work for them to come up with more content. And if you can spoon feed this to them and come on and do the interview, they're gonna be thrilled. The only question is like, do they trust that you actually know what you're saying? Are you going to be brand safe and all of that. And if you've got a LinkedIn post or something like that here, you can even point them to that. Say like we could do something like this. Here's an idea of the subject matter, like a reference to it over here. But then still at the end, maybe this ought to actually be a fourth component of the dm, the off ramp or the call to action. I guess the easy call to action. I'm going to end that with here's my calendar. If you want to chat, talk through ideas, just looking to contribute or let me know the better person within the org to talk to because that may not be them. Usually it's not them. Like usually don't get it on the first try, but doing that in a really concise, conscientious way. Don't forget for people like this, you have a ton to offer. Like you're freaking pro in this stuff. You run a business doing this stuff. You have experience, degrees, whatever it is that these people don't have. So of course you have something to offer. In this context, that's a much easier bar to clear than the Blake Lively conundrum, you know. Okay, third example, super common to go on a podcast. Niche podcasts are absolute gold. We talked a lot about podcasting, how they're kind of the final frontier of content where people will build a deep relationship with the host because they spend so much time listening to the podcast as opposed to video online, which is just increasingly cracked out in short form. We're going to pitch that that host on some episode ideas just like we did on the webinar for the software platform nine ways that proposed new Tax bill impacts Business Aviation. You know, and then when the bill pass, passes, they're going to want to have you back become the de facto pro for this space. If you don't do tax, if you're more on the accounting side, you can still get into compliance. You know, oftentimes accounting firms think, well, I don't do tax, so I'm not going to touch compliance at all. The reality is tax firms, if you're working with a specific type of company, tax firms usually aren't going to wade into any compliance but income tax for that domain. So don't be afraid to like understand what payroll compliance and you know, like licensing for that type of business. Don't be afraid to look into that stuff because you're in the driver's seat of understanding it better than any of your clients because you're, you see all the dirty details behind the scenes of what each of these businesses are getting right and wrong. So if you're not helping people with that, who will? Like, they're in a tough spot. They have the, the tunnel vision experience of just them, just one. And oftentimes compliance is not a sexy thing that other people are sharing when they get it wrong. Right? So don't be afraid to wade into compliance stuff. Don't wait in income tax if you don't do tax, but there's a lot of compliance beyond that that you can Help folks with so the pitch to this podcast host. Love what you're building with you know, X podcast particularly, you know, if you can call out something specific that shows that you actually engage with it a lot or make an inside joke or something from it that helps the context. I run an accounting firm that supports, you know, the same folks that are your listeners. Some sort of social proof in there is is helpful. I've been doing it for X number of years. I, you know I've done X for this other person that they may know. I mean if you're like if you're the accountant of a person they've had on in the past, like that would go a really long ways and then the offer would love to come on, you know, do Q and A, do an episode with you, few title ideas, types of concepts that you could cover there and then give them an easy call to action. Happy to hop on a call to discuss. Here's a link to my calendar or if there's anything else that you think we could talk about. Happy to jam on ideas. So they could just reply to that message. They could just reply via email if they want to jam on ideas. Or they can schedule a call. One thing I often get in DMs is people asking to take it to a different channel. Don't ask this person unless you think they're going to want to talk there more. For some reason. Don't say send me an email over at this address. You're adding friction for them. They're now having and it's not hard to go to the email and then put your email in and do that. But like you are asking something of them unnecessarily when they're already in that dm. They could just pound out a six word response. Great, let's do it next week. Just don't ask them to go to a different place unnecessarily. Also, don't give them too many CTAs. Don't give them too many options like give them two. And if they really want to do something else, they will propose something else. This episode is brought to you in part by Team up, helping you recruit top Filipino accountants without any ongoing monthly fees. The difference between Team up and all the other offshoring options is that Team up helps you hire staff directly. No middleman. You work directly with your new hire in the Philippines. Hire the person, not the company. Guys, Gals gang. Here's just a few reasons to hire directly. You have access to higher level talent. Makes sense. You have complete Control over team culture and training. They keep 100% of what you pay. Pay them and it's a lot more affordable for you so you can retain your team for the long term. Team. Open source accountants with experience working at US or Australian firms familiar with tools like Zero, QBO and DeX also recruit specialist roles, team leaders, tax specialists, administrative assistants. Thought experiment. What if you had an executive assistant for the first time this tax season? Just throwing it out there. What would they do? Start at that email video I did on the main channel recently. Get help with that stanky ol inbox. I digress. Team up recruits these talented folks for a flat one time fee of 4,000 US American dollars. That's it. 4K one time. Somebody at Robert Half just did a spit take. Robert Half reference. We ever gonna get Robert Half to sponsor this pod? Not anymore. And they can connect you with an affordable employer of record if you need help with payroll and compliance once you hire that person. Big fan of hiring in the Philippines. You know, I did a bunch of that. Check out the link in the description to learn more about Team Up. Okay, the flip side of that, to have someone on a podcast. We talked yesterday about the value of like being the one to create the niche podcast if there isn't one there already. You're kind of the king maker because you get to put people on a pedestal and they're flattered and they're like, oh wow, thanks. Little do they know that seven people tune into that podcast every week. This one's going to be a little easier because people, this is where like flattery, you know, really comes into play. People like talking about themselves and you're giving them a opportunity to just sit there and blather on about their accomplishments to make this really useful. Try to make it contextual to them and not feel generalized. Increasingly, there's a lot of PR firms out there that are just doing a really low effort, like want to come be a guest on this thing. And it's basically the same as like the scummy cold DMS that you get. Like if you have a, if you have a following, like they'll basically do cold DMS to folks that have a following beyond a certain threshold. Just saying, do you want to come on this podcast? And you can tell that it's automated, it's not personalized to them at all. If you can contextualize this for the person and help them understand why you think they're a great fit for this, that'll increase the likelihood that they'll say yes. So the dm bit of flattery. Tell em what you saw him and why you liked it. Say this interview and the YouTube video is really good. I like this about it. Specifically context. I run podcasts for these types of folks. Literally can be as simple as that. The offer would love to have you on to dive deeper into this or that. If you've got anything to promote right now. Happy to talk about that as well. Now three harder things. These are like challenge DMs to do a talk at a conference. So this NBA group, they do a whole bunch of events and most conferences or most events will have like a pretty on rails process for how you propose talks. And then they've got like a group of people that decide which ones to do. If you can go through the side door, that's always the best door. Like who is it that has that? I think there's a whole book about that. I got into that one day and it was just kind of blowing my mind. Like that is so smart. But like what is the analogy? Like every nightclub has a front door and a side door. There might even be a back door. But it's like basically you're dumb if you're trying to go in the front door because there's always a side door. Now if you don't have a side door yet, sometimes the only chance, the only way in you have is the front door. That doesn't mean don't be thinking about how to influence the people who are on the panel to make that decision. Inside of groups like that, like there's just, there's a lot of lobbying like it's this person strongly wants this or that. Like it's just humans like making that decision. So fine to go through the normal channels for proposing a talk but see also how you could influence that further if they don't have a formal process. See if you can figure out who does the programming. So that cold dm, it's, it's you know, super excited to be at whatever conference, you know, saying that you're going to be there no matter what, you're part of the community. The context. I've been doing X for however many years to support however many people. If you don't have that experience number of years or a big client base yet, just say this is what I do as tax and accounting for this. Believe it or not, you have something to offer and then the pitch, the offer is a killer session. Like why are people going to be excited about this? So that could be something current events related. The new tax bill or the new proposed tax bill. You know, I like, what are people going to engage with that's probably going to engage better. And like, don't lose perspective of just what a snowflake you are. Having accounting and, or tax expertise coming into this space, that can be enough. But it's also okay to like lean into a bit of clickbait there. Up next, a DM to do their work. This is a real hard one. You're basically soliciting somebody at this point, but in a, as personal a way as possible. So I told you about that, that magazine, Business Aviation Monthly or whatever it was, man, 80% of that, of that magazine is actually just interviewing people who run these little charter services or airlines or whatever they want to call themselves and showing off their successes. It's not actually, it's not too much unlike accounting magazines or it's a lot of talking to firm owners about stuff they're excited about and stuff they got right and stuff they got wrong. And it's a great way to find like who are the people who are interested in promoting themselves. You know, as you may suspect, the folks that are presented in magazines are not like a realistic representation of the entire space. And oftentimes those people actually suck at what they're doing. They're just the loudest ones talking about it or the ones willing to take time out of their day to do a photo shoot and an interview, that's just how these things work, you know. But to be the advisor of high profile people that others respect, that's great. Like that's exactly where you want to be. And then they can connect you with a bunch of people too. Or even better, like get you a, get you a magazine write up also. But how are we going to solicit someone to like get them to let us do their work? And so somebody that we see in this magazine, the ideal fit for us is like if we're just starting out, it's probably an early stage or not humongous company within this space. And if you don't have any legs to stand on, like everybody's got to start somewhere. I am not above doing free work for somebody who is an influencer in the space and in this industry. Influencer is not dancing on TikTok. It is somebody in a business suit that likes being interviewed. So if I were going to send a cold DM to that end, it's going to be something like, hey Tina, love the write up in whatever magazine. Super exciting to see what you're building. I'm building an accounting firm for pretty much exactly your type of business. We're looking to get some connections in the space and really make sure. We're looking to make some connections in this space and then the offer would love to support, you know, all your needs on the accounting and tax side. Would even do it, you know, at no cost or it's deeply discounted. Because I super appreciate the opportunity to network with folks like you. Run unsuccessful. For some folks, this will work great. You know, online creators, like, they may be all over that. This is more like on the executive, executive end of the spectrum where they're like, somebody going to give me something for free or at a discount. Is it really going to be any good? So this is probably like the hardest hole to dig yourself out of as you have like no leg up. It's not to say you can't do it. You can't try it. Try to find those legs up if you can. Is there anybody in their network who can vouch for you, who can make an intro? Is there a roundabout way to get there? Like this is sometimes the value of a podcast or a blog or a newsletter or some other where you could first meet them that way to then lead to something else. Like going back to the tax section of the NBAA newsletter if I'm like. Or the magazine if I'm like. I want to have a column in that every single time. Don't ask for the column. That's not where you start. Let me do this post for you. I'm not going to charge you a thing. It's going to be super valuable. I think people will like it and start there and you're actually going to learn about the people involved and whether this is, you know, you'll find a little more about whether this is something you would actually want to do on an ongoing basis. But don't start there because that's a huge thing that you're asking of someone. Am I going to let you be a permanent writer, like as part of our publication? Well, I don't know anything about you, so start simple. So the full, like YOLO solicitation of this person, it's going to feel more like some of the cold DMS that we're getting where it's like, sorry, but I don't, I don't even know you. But this person, they love being talked about because they just spent the time to be in this magazine. So would they go on a podcast? Would they answer four questions for your newsletter in a web form where they can just sit down and do it anytime. That's kind of the value of of owning media in this space. Like I get you don't want to sit down and take the time to write a newsletter or podcast oftentimes, but that's also the value of having that is it can create a connection with that person that you wouldn't otherwise have. Now, last one I got here, the very hardest one to make a friend because we're adults and making friends when you're an adult is just hard and uncomfortable because oh my gosh, what if they say no or don't reciprocate? I would say even in my experience, oftentimes if it feels like they're saying no or if it feels like they're not reciprocating, it's just because they like you are also awkward adults. It's very rarely because they don't like you Person I got as an example of this, there was a write up in that magazine that was super cool about a lady who is an interior designer and has now specialized in interior design on small aircraft like private jets. And it was a super cool story about how she was an interior designer and knew that the path towards building a better business was going to be found in specificity and so she just started doing it for private jets and that's all she does now. And this lady got a four page write up in this magazine is a great example of how the people that run these media businesses need content. You want to talk about phenomenal advertising? I bet this lady has been busy since this magazine came out. But if I'm starting an accounting firm and specializing in the same place, that's just cool. Like you are kindred spirits in a way that's really unique. Where I'm like, that's so cool. I'm glad that they shared their story, but I'm going to send this person a DM that may not lead to anything but just to say that I appreciate them and them sharing their journey. Because you're doing the same thing too, right? Not for something as cool as interior design, it's just accounting or tax. But I'm going to shoot this person a dm. Like hey Autumn, love this write up and super resonated with me. I'm doing xyz which is very similar to you and like I'm not asking anything of that person but like don't be surprised when that person comes back and is like oh my gosh, yes, we need this, we need accounting and tax support or oh my gosh, you need to talk with this person or that person. Like, don't be surprised when that happens because most people are generally totally open to being helpful, especially if you're doing something similar, kind of on a similar journey. And. But like, the whole thing with cold DMs, here is if you make a habit of doing this, send a cold DM every week and do it for the rest of the year, over the course of three years. I mean, over the course of a month. But over that time horizon, whatever it is, the net positive of this is a whole lot more than the net negative. Because how, like, how can this go wrong for you? How can it blow up in your face? You're making friends like you're building relationships. And if you're doing that in an authentic way, it's not going to feel scummy. That's where this all goes sideways, is how can I do this a thousand times in a week? Well, at that point, like, you've lost touch. You're not actually building relationships. I don't know about you. For me, like, finding people that I enjoy doing stuff with is what makes all of this sustainable. Be it employees, be it clients. And just like the best clients aren't just going to stumble into your life. Like, the friendships, like, the most meaningful relationships that you have in your life, the likelihood that you build those increases exponentially the more visible you are and the more you're willing to put yourself out there. Send those cool DMs, make new connections that can lead to other connections and things that you could never imagine in today's circumstances, but are made possible by this connection to that connection that, like the serendipity of making relationships, showing up at events, meeting people, getting on calls with folks that you enjoy. Good stuff just happens that way. And the best part is it can lead to a more profitable firm, too. That'll get you home in time for dinner. So there you go. People ask me, how in the world do you talk about running accounting firms every single day? And there you have it. Somehow we just managed to spend an entire episode on writing cold DMs. But it's such a superpower. I like. Not enough attention is paid to what's happening on the Internet and social media right now. Like, people are sleeping on this stuff still. They still think of social media as what it was in, like, 2008. It's like, no real human relationships are being built here every single day. And real human relationships are what drive accounting firms. It's just, this is where things are getting built these days. Rather than the chamber meeting or that breakfast social. Oh my gosh. I went to a few those things early in my careers. First of all, they're all 80% realtors, so you know exactly how that went. But also it's just so scummy and so low resolution. Like what is the qualifying factor of what gets people into those local, regional like little groups? Oh, they weren't busy enough with other stuff so they made time to come to this thing. Whereas you look on the Internet, it's such a bigger, like infinitely bigger pool that there can be so much more specificity and that means it's more relevant to your business towards like the next person who could be a great friend that understands what you do. If I were only going to be friends or talk with accounting firm owners, by me, that I mean I go from tens of thousands of people right down to like 40 or less, you know, within a 30 mile radius from me. And most of those people are going to be old white dudes, legacy style accounting firms. Like not folks that I'm really going to hit it off with, you know, but the fact that I do this stuff online instead of it's all able to be much higher context. And the same thing applies to the ways that we attract client store firms. Thanks for coming and hanging today. You got any great cold DM stories? Pop them in the comments. I've got some wild ones actually that have led to things I could have never imagined. Maybe I'll share that. That was pretty good tease, wasn't it? Maybe I'll share that someday. You got any good stories? We'd love to hear them. I'll see you in the next.