How to Work with a Leader in Your Industry

First, what’s your industry?

I know, you’d think I wouldn’t have to ask that, but a lot of people don’t know what kind of work they’re in, or they hate what they do.

This post is geared toward you who are pursuing your dream work, but it’s a recipe that will work in any industry.

I have used this technique to meet famous people on movie and tv sets as an extra, and I now teach acting classes.

Another “coincidence” happened a couple years ago when I was deep into writing – I had been blogging for years before that, but I was definitely feeling more confident in my writing around this time(although looking back at it, it wasn’t that great). But I was confident in it! And it was pretty good.

Anyway! Ryan Holiday was and still is a writer I look up to. I was scrolling through his book recommendations in early April of 2018 I believe it was. I came across the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, it piqued my interest so I got it and read it in like a day or two, it was so good, one of my favorite books of all time. But then a few days later an intuitive thought led me to checking out Tattered Cover book store’s website, to see if any authors I knew were coming to Denver for a book signing. I hadn’t checked that site in months, literally, and guess who was coming to a book signing two days from that day? Ryan Holiday. I felt a strange sensation go through my whole body.

So, point two — After you know your industry, who do you look up to in it? Who are the leaders you’d love to work with?

A lot of people never think it can happen to them, but it can! Part of this technique is just thinking about who you’d like to work with, because the mind is an extremely powerful thing. So think about it.

Next — I saw an opportunity in this book signing. Opportunities surround us more than we know — they are like objects in the background, we don’t pay attention to them because well, there’s more convenient things to focus on. But they are there.

So I took time to hand write a letter for Ryan, giving my appreciation to him, the work he’s done, and the influence it has had in my life. I included my email toward the end of it and mentioned that I had been writing for some years now and would love to work with him if there were any openings. A few weeks later I get an email from him with a trial assignment if I was interested in the position. If that’s not magic then I don’t know what is. Who knows, but I was really fucking excited. I did the assignment, got the position, did the work, and learned so much. I’m still learning from him, and am grateful for that opportunity. Him being a best selling author and world speaker definitely didn’t need me, and although I wrote a good amount of content, he did so much more for me by giving me that opportunity. 

So that’s another thing — if you do get an opportunity with a leader in your industry, stay humble. They’re doing you a favor, not the other way around.

Then from there, do the work. 

Put in the time. 

Never stop learning.

But remember that it all begins with an idea.