An Unexpected Meeting with Ben Greenfield | Starting a Kickstarter Day #7

I have a number of new updates for you and I am really excited. This one big update just happened so maybe I will start with that.  If you have been following this series, you know that I have been reaching out to influencers. I have been sending emails to them trying to interview them on my podcast as a way of building relationships well.

That is a great way of doing it but an even better way is meeting people in person. I just met Ben Greenfield in person. If you do not know who that is, suffice it to say that he is a big deal in the fitness industry, in the health industry. Let me tell you the story of how I met him because I think it is really cool. It was totally, just almost by accident. A coincidence you could say. I am still actually smiling from this experience.

It is kind of funny how it all came full circle through the How to do Your 20’s podcast. I initially interviewed a guy named Dr. Andrew Hill who owns a supplement company that helps with brain performance. He is a PhD in neuroscience and also owns what is called Peak Brain Institute over in Culver City, California and is a great influencer in that sphere. The interview was awesome.

As a result of my interview of Dr. Hill, he invited me to go the Institute and train for free. This has been one of the highlights of my year so far. On top of that, I had my brain scanned about a week ago. Since then I have been playing basically video games with my brain to help train my brain, make my brain stronger. You could say it is a little more complicated than that, obviously, but as I was playing the game, I heard outside talking about Ben Greenfield, someone that was actually there for Ben Greenfield talking about setting up the camera or whatever. After I was done I walked out and I Ben Greenfield there. I thought to myself that “he is an important guy and I do not want to bother him. He is busy.” So I ended up scheduling an appointment and I walked out. You know, I did not want to bother him. Then, as I was walking away, I thought “screw it.” What is the worst that can happen? I am going to go say hi to him. I am going to at least, at the very least, say, “Hey! I am a big fan of your work” and maybe see if something organically happens.

So, I went back in there. I realized he was in the middle of a conversation so I just held back for a bit. While I am waiting, I am talking with Dr. Andrew Hill. He is a great guy. Check out his website. He has a podcast you could check out or you could check out my How to do Your 20’s podcast with him. So, I am talking with him a little bit, kind of waiting for Ben Greenfield over there to finish his conversation so I do not interrupt. But, finally it got to the point where I am just kind of have to stand by Ben. I am like, “Hey, I do not want to interrupt, but I would like to meet you.” It was kind of awkward because right as I said that he was talking on his phone leaving a memo. So, we talked for probably a minute or two after I said, “Hey, you know I am a big fan of your work.” Deep in my heart I am thinking, as is typical, “Hey, you know what – I know he is busy. Get out of here.” But I think to myself, “No just stay there. Well, just relax,” and as you can see, I am still hyped up about it – “just relax and eventually maybe he will, you know, maybe I will strike up a conversation.” Eventually, his body language starts changing and he starts including me in the conversation. I am like, okay. I am in this. This is awesome and then the conversation continues. The guy he was originally talking to leaves and another guy comes in and we are all just talking. Funny enough, the other guy asked me about my podcast and if I do it full time. I respond that no, I do ecommerce full time. The podcast is not the main thing and I explain that I am working on an online dance clothing company. Then I mention that I have a new project. I tell him, “Well, I am working on this new project. It is actually going to be a performance nut butter. It is going to be a cashew, coconut, macadamia nut blend. Then, I look over at Ben’ face and Ben says, “That sounds really delicious!” I think to myself, “I got it! This is awesome!” This is exactly what I was hoping for and as we were talking some more, it gets to the point where it I ask Ben if he would mind if I send him a sample. He’s says, “Oh, you know cashews, macadamia . . . I think “Oh, shoot, I must have missed something.” I say, “Oh, yeah. I just thought I would ask.” And he says, “No, I am kidding. Definitely send that to me.” So, he totally had me fooled.

There are a lot of morals in the story and I do not want to be on my high horse here because I almost walked away from this opportunity. But, that is why it is such a big moral to the story for me which is “Don’t.” Don’t be weird about it. Don’t be awkward about it. But when you see people of influence, take a shot. I think the same holds true all throughout life. I think the number one thing, at least for guys, is dating. A lot of the time they see an attractive girl across the room and they do not walk up because of whatever excuse they have. But for me, currently, it is influencers. Those are the people that kind of get my heart beating a little bit faster because it is a little bit scary. You do not want to go up to them. You do not want to interrupt them.  But, the truth is you have to put yourself out there. That is the big takeaway message. You really have to have the uncomfortable moment. There is a quote that I read, I think it is essentially, “Life expands by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.” So, basically, your life will be better the more you learn to have uncomfortable conversations. If you just sweep something under the rug, your life will not be better for it. So, that is the big story. There might be a chance that nothing happens from this but I feel good in this moment. But either way, I am happy that I did it. And who knows how many other doors this will open up. This brings me to another point. If you are watching this and you do not know what kind of a business you want to start, you do not know anything, start a podcast. Start a YouTube channel. Start something like that because the only reason I med Ben Greenfield was because I had a podcast and I interviewed Dr. Andrew Hale who let me come in and use his facilities.

It is funny how this all kind of snowballs and I am becoming a lot more aware of just how much  this success thing snowballs because you meet certain people and they are able to help you out and you meet more people that are able to help you out and come up with new ideas and new business ventures. So that is the big story. I could probably talk for another 30 minutes about who has been cool to me. But, let’s go on instead and let’s talk about what else I have been doing.

So, the other big thing is I have been continuing working on the podcast. I have interviewed a few more podcasts and if you want to see those podcasts, go to the How to do Your 20’s website or go to ITunes and choose How to do Your 20’s. You can listen to all of them from, let’s say, January, actually probably late November to probably June, all the podcasts during that time for How to Do Your 20’s are in some ways related to me trying to advertise my business. If you want, you can see the way that I interact with these influencers by going to that podcast. The other thing I am going to say is I started Instagram accounts for my two businesses. I still do not have the name  just yet for my second company. But, basically I am going to follow likers, following people and liking their pictures to try to build those instagram accounts. I will have links in the bios that will say, “Hey, I am coming out with this product soon. Click here and put in your email to find out more information” or I will come up with something better than that. Maybe it is “win a free one when it comes in.” I do not know yet. I am also going to do the same thing with my personal account. If you are not following me yet, I think it is travis.marziani or something like that. Type in Travis Marziani into Instagram and you will find me. Also, I will put a link down below here or up here so that is the other thing.  Basically, I am going to try to grow my Instagram following both as a personal brand and for the company brand and I am going to try to start gathering emails. That is what I have got for you today.

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