In last week's blog, I touched on the topic of building out your DREAM 15 influencers that you want to meet. People that can help you elevate your career, business, leadership presence, make an introduction, or potentially partner with you. I had so many responses in relation to this topic that I decided to dedicate an entire newsletter to it.

I find that this type of initiative only works if it is sustainable and fun. So approach the below with that attitude as you build your Dream 15 Influencers.

Here is the basic strategy behind your Dream 15:

1. Make a list of 15 people that you would like to connect with that can help you in your quest to grow your business or elevate your career. You don’t have to know them or have any idea of how you will connect at this point. All you need to do now is identify the 15 people you would like to connect with

2. Do some research on those people. I am in no way telling you to stalk the person you want to meet, but I am telling you to do your research. Get to know them and what’s important to them. So that when you do connect,you are able to do so in a way that is meaningful to them. By doing this work you may also find that they are not someone you want to have on your Dream 15.

Go to their online profiles and see what they are posting:

• What are they talking about or focusing on?
• Who have they aligned themselves with?
• Who are they following?
• Do they talk about the same things on their other platforms or is one personal and another business?
• This will tell you where to connect with them and what to say where.

3. Calendar time: 5 days per week, set aside 10-15 minutes on your calendar for your Dream 15 building.

• Connect with three people on your list every day for 5 days. By the end of the week, you will have touched each person on your list once. You can always do more than that, but remember we want to make this sustainable. Don’t overload in the beginning or you will not follow through. 
• DO NOT reach out to them directly if you have never spoken with them before. These steps will help you to establish a meaningful relationship with them, prior to meeting them.
• Leave a comment on something they have written. Because of the research you have done on them you will be able to comment on topics that are truly meaningful to them. You could even reference a previous article they wrote.
• Take the time to build a real connection rather than a transactional one!

4. Impact:

• The first time they see your name they will think: ‘oh, nice someone commented’.
• The second or third time, there will be a slight recognition of your name.
• The fourth or fifth time, they will begin looking for your comment.
• After there has been some interaction between the two of you, you can move to direct messaging (DM) them with questions, resources and meeting them in a more formal way.