Interviews- Your Pathway to your Clients
My mentor, Raven Blair Davis (Raven the Talkshow Maven) has a concept she calls an Interviewpreneur (Interview + Entrepreneur). Her plan covers multiple levels but here's my take on the concept she first introduced to me.
Different Forms of Interviewing
1. Interviewing other people positions you as an expert. When you interview an expert, people see you as an expert because you're the person who has to know enough to come up with the questions that pertain to the interviewee.
You can find a platform to interview others right on your social media, your blog, your Facebook page, etc. You can give back by highlighting other people and you can do so in a way and on a platform where your followers and listeners already live. Interviewing people will show your level of expertise as well as the person you're interviewing.
You can do an audio interview and host the audio file on your website, and/or you can have the audio transcribed and have the written content on your site. You can also have the interview summarized, that's what I do on this blog, I take my radio shows and interviews and have them summarized and the result is the blog posts you read here each week. One interview can yield you 5 blog posts if you break the posts down to one question and answer per post. You've just created valuable content for your readers and you've given the person you're talking to some exposure.
You can use freeconferencecall.com or any free conference calling software and edit it in software called audacity. You can always do a video version of your interview, I use Firetalk and blab. Skype, GoToMeeting, and many others will allow you to record and conduct video conferences that you can save to your desktop. It's not hard at all to interview experts.
Be Interviewed
Be on other people's platforms- you being interviewed also makes you an expert. I'm on BiggerPockets.com, it's a real estate forum and I answer questions on there. I do what's called seeding; as I talk about things I mention my blog, my radio show, etc. When people see me there answering questions and they're able to further inquire about me by looking to my website or listening to my show, they see me as an expert and ask to interview me.
You can always find people in your industry or field and utilize their contact form to let them know that you are available to be interviewed. Make clear to them the benefit and value you can offer to their listeners or readers. Webinars are a great way to talk on someone else's stage. The person hosting the webinar or convention already has an audience, a location, and all the details taken care of and you just have to show up.
The Process:
1. Find a meeting using meetup.com, join them where they are at their local meeting.
2. Attend the meeting 4 times.
3. Seed- plant a seed in the minds of the people there who you are, what you do, what you enjoy about their group and meeting, and that you are an expert and these are the platforms and topics you have. Place the seeds when you go and when you're ready to ask, they know who you are and what you do.
4. Around visit #4 approach the facilitator and say "I'm an expert in __" and that you'd like to present to the group.
Being an expert gives you permission to make a difference in other people's lives. Be findable and be generous; share your content. If you're interested in touching people's lives and not just making money, position yourself as an expert and give people the opportunity to see you as an expert.