Estimated read time: 6 mins

REWIND: the year is 1999, my mother is hosting yet another ‘Weekenders’ shopping party in our home.

I am uninterested in the magenta shoulder pad laden blazers, but there’s a cheese and cracker tray so I’m there…. subconsciously taking it allllll in.

I would go on to experience other versions of this party many times throughout my youth — Tupperware, Amway, adult toys (my granny hosted that one 😅), you name it. 

Despite their reputation for shady ass tactics, multi-level marketing companies have always gotten one thing right… 

People buy from people they trust. 

^^A little spiked punch doesn’t hurt either. 

These companies essentially piggy-back on  the trust the shopping party host has with their friends and family so they don’t have to earn it themselves. 

According to the Global Trust in Advertising survey (30,000 participants) More than eight-in-ten global respondents (83%) say they completely or somewhat trust the recommendations of friends and family. 

Relationships drive decision making for most personality types (unless you’re a 5 on the enneagram like my husband who would never purchase anything meaningful without researching himself into 12 Reddit rabbit holes). 

This reality around how powerful referrals and relationships are can feel really defeating. 

After all, you have almost no control over whether someone endorses or recommends your work, right?

Relationships are 50/50. 

You have more pull than you think when it comes to building and leveraging relationships that lead to results that rival even my mom’s Weekender parties.

What you’ll learn in this article:

🍵💲The mindset shifts that have to happen if you’re going to prioritize relationship building 

🍵💲The 3 relationships that changed my business for-ev-er (+ how I built them) 

🍵💲Details on a free live training about all of the above that I’m co-hosting with a special guest this Thursday!

The tea: the power of borrowing other people’s audiences (+ what this looks like in action)

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” ⇐ what a punch to the stomach that one is. So much of the advice we get around relationship building feels kinda gross, doesn’t it? 

Here’s what we’re NOT gonna do, %FIRSTNAME%: 

❌ Attempt to build one sided, extractive relationships 
❌ Assume that anyone owes us anything
❌ Give up before we even start because “nobody knows who I am” 

& one that might not apply to everyone but that definitely applies to me… 

❌ Believe everyone needs to be your friend and you theirs 

Instead, can we agree that relationships in all forms make life and business way richer and more exciting? 

That the network effect that makes MLM engines so mighty, can help us reach more people in our businesses too? 

That finding cool partners who believe in your work and want to see you shine (+ vice versa) is like dating, you’ve gotta kiss some frogs and take some Ls. 

I can trace so much of my success to a handful of relationships… 

⇒ Years ago when I was struggling to get clients, I reached out personally to a very popular online tantra teacher. 

I made her a video of the top 10 reasons she should hire me. She hired me a few months later. I learned SO much from this experience and I’m a little scared of getting sued if I talk about it too loudly so, moving on… 

⇒ One of the first podcasts I was ever on was Entrepreneur On Fire. 

I pitched John Lee Dumas directly and he hired me after our interview which led to more opportunities than I can put into words. 

⇒ AppSumo let me borrow their audience of hundreds of thousands of business owners to talk about quizzes after I connected with their head of partnerships leading to thousands of new subscribers. 

“So what does any of this have to do with me?”

You have everything you need at your fingertips to do what I did. 

You can build relationships with brands you want to work with. Get on podcasts. Borrow someone else’s audience. 

You just have to make a habit of not just asking — but demonstrating what you have to offer. 

BOPA (borrowing other people’s audiences) expert, Bryan Harris and yours truly are hosting a free training this week (for my audience only 🥰 pinky promise it’ll be super intimate) that covers this and so much more, including: 

• How to get a $10k client in the next 14 days without building a new funnel

• 3-steps to getting large Influencers promoting you

• 5 simple ways to bring in new clients without “doing marketing” 

• The weird psychological strategy to build instant, massive trust in your work

• 1 underrated method to ditch socials, ads, and blogging while staying profitable

It’s happening Thursday at 9 am PT // 12 pm ET and you can grab a spot right here. 

I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret — we are spilling the tea after all… 

This collab between Bryan and I is an example of exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to relationship driven marketing. 

Bryan asked if I’d be interested in hosting him for a completely free (+ super helpful, I’ve watched it!) training and I said yes and asked if I could do the same for his audience. 

His approach was personalized, professional without sounding stuffy, and specific to how he could help my audience. 

It can be this simple. 

(Yep, even if you think: “I have no audience/social proof/connections/etc., this wouldn’t work for me”)

If you’re curious about HOW, don’t hesitate to register for Thursday’s training.

Sip on this…  

🧋Just your average Tuesday…

🧋Looove this framework from @jayclouse to illustrate just how powerful trust is in relation to your content quality