Now, at this point you may be wondering… wait a second, did you say you worked at the White House? Like where the President lives – that White House?

(Yes, I worked at that White House.)

If you were curious how I got that gig, you aren’t alone. It’s one of the most common questions I get.

The answer may surprise you… and it’s an important lesson in the world of business.

I actually didn’t come from a well-connected family. My parents were not high-level donors. I didn’t have any Senators who were distant relatives.

In fact, for most of my life, my parents worked common, middle class jobs … my mother was a travel agent and my father a journalist.

And I was no stranger to what struggling felt like. Three separate times while I was growing up, my father got laid off. Our family struggled for months to make ends meet – my mother had to work as much as she could and we slashed expenses right and left.

Each time it happened, we had to move thousands of miles away in search of new work. Away from friends and family.

I didn’t go to any Ivy League school and I didn’t have the best grades.

In fact, I got a B.A. in English. From a party school.

So how did I end up at the White House – writing the President’s words? At 23 years old?

Well, simply put… I know how to build relationships with the right people.

After my father got laid off when I was 13 years old, it lit a fire under me. It inspired me to study successful people to figure out what made them “tick.”

During my teenage years, I devoured biographies and autobiographies… about Presidents… Actors… Athletes… Market-leading Entrepreneurs.

What I found was that successful people – particularly seasoned entrepreneurs – all did a great job of (a) identifying who were the influencers in their field who they should build relationships with, and (2) going out and building those relationships.

They ALL knew how to identify with precision WHO they needed to develop relationships with, and then they followed through on it.

Those relationships were always a big factor in each of their successes.

So I applied that to my life. I started focusing in on building key relationships with the right influencers and VIPs who could help me land amazing opportunities.

And by my late teens, I started seeing huge results.

After I spent a semester during college as a White House intern in the speechwriting office, I returned to college with my sights set on coming back as a writer. Even though the White House takes thousands of interns per year, few of those interns end up getting hired.

But I knew who my influencers were: the speechwriters.

So what did I do? I spent the time after returning to college continuing to deliver value to those speechwriters.

Did I email them once a week asking for a job? Absolutely not.

I would clip out newspaper and magazine articles and send them to the speechwriters. I would email them to ask about their interests and hobbies. I would find quotes from past speeches and mail them in. Whatever I could find to make their lives easier.

And what do you know… before long, I got an email from one of the speechwriters to tell me about the opening.

(By the way, you don’t see jobs like this on Craigslist. You need to know someone.)

If I hadn’t clearly identified who my influencers were, picked relevant ways to keep in touch and provide value, and implemented a follow up strategy, I never would have gotten that job.

This is a system I’ve been able to implement over and over again in different industries.

The lesson in all of this is that it’s critically important that you are clear on your goals. You need to know who your influencers are – whether they are world famous, or simply successful business owners in your local community. (If you don’t know, I can help.)

Second, you need to figure out your means of attack – what types of ways you want to deliver value. And third, you need to implement a follow up strategy.

So what stops us from doing all of this?