You need credibility upfront. And one

way to think about this, and I I always

if I'm thinking about reaching out to

someone who's above my pay grade, and

trust me, there's I mean, there are

plenty of people who are way above my

pay grade. The first thing in the

subject line, I'll give a tip that I

sometimes use. So, let's just say that

who knows. All right, somebody knows,

you know, Mr. Beast or Tom Cruz or

whoever it might be. Now, practically

speaking, everything's going to have to

get routed through someone else for Tom

Cruz. And if you do get their personal

information, they're going to be very

annoyed. Um, so, but where I'll start

with the subject line is one of two

places or both. So, you mentioned like

the credibility indicator in the

subject, right?

>> I'll use that. But if we actually have

someone in common who actually

recommended I connect,

>> but they haven't made the intro, I will

say, for instance,

It would be again just to use the Tom

Cruz example who I think would make an

amazing interview but like for Tom Cruz

via

mutual connection.

>> Oo

>> Tim Ferris, whatever the credibility

indicator is, right? So I will mention

the mutual connection first because

subject lines often get truncated on

mobile or elsewhere.

>> So if they just see for Tom Cruz from

Tim Ferrris is going to be like who the

[ __ ] is Tim Ferrris archive.

>> They see the name they know. If it's for

Tom or for Tom Cruz via person who

actually made the suggestion and then my

name,

>> you have a huge advantage because

chances are it's going to get truncated.

>> I love the via I've done referral from

X. Yeah.

>> And then my stuff after. But I like the

via because it doesn't necessarily mean

that they're going to have to vet and

call that person up, you know.

>> Yeah. Exactly. Well, that brings up

another point, which is if you're going

to mention mutual connections. And I'm

shocked by how many people violate this,

you better actually know. Assume the

person you're emailing is going to

immediately text those people.

>> And they will,

>> and I certainly will. And I would say

nine times out of 10, that person's

like, "Either I have no idea who that

person is, or I met that person once and

we shook hands at a party. I don't know

them at all." And I'm like, "You're

gone. You just misrepresented implicitly

or explicitly. But when I'm writing an

email, right, I'll have that subject

line. If there is a via I'll include

that name and with and the subject line

I'll keep as short as possible. Then the

always default to Mr. or Mrs. or Ms.

something like something that I really

appreciate about you because it doesn't

cost anything is you are very default

polite. And even though it makes me feel

like an old bastard, you said you were

like, "Yes, sir." And you used sir with

me a couple times when we came in. And

it's no no but you're always better off

being on the safe side.

>> And I am consistently surprised and

maybe this just makes me a salty

crotchety

old bastard but when people are like hey

Tim yo bro yo Ferris or whatever. I'm

just like did we go to P?

>> Someone says yo Ferris. I've got so many

guys, it's always guys who think that

that

it could be anything, but think that

like shoulder slapping immediate

camaraderie is helpful. I will say

that's a very risky gambit. Maybe it

works one out of 10 times. In my case,

I'm just like

>> this is a liability, right? Because

here's how I think about it is I'm like,

well, even if it doesn't bother me, that

shows a general lack of awareness and if

they're going to ask me to connect them

with someone or they're going to work

with anyone who I care about and they

pull that

>> Mhm.

>> it's a reputational risk. And so most of

the time that's going to be an

autoarchchive. It's going to be like,

you know what, like the people you're

reaching out to, if they're really busy

and if they're wellknown enough that you

think to email them, have more

opportunities than they can even look

at.

>> So, your your job number one is don't do

anything stupid.

>> Don't don't do anything that's going to

disqualify your email.

>> And the yo ferris of it all emotionally

feels as if a stranger is coming up to

you at the airport and giving you a hug.

Whoa, wait, who are you? What? Like

that's what it feels like. Just another

pro tip, this because we're in Austin

and this is like kind of man bun baggy

pants slash like Bitcoin Iaskka CrossFit

central is like don't just walk up to

someone you don't know and say after

they offer a hand, oh I'm a hugger and

just go for the hug. Don't do that. Like

just really don't do that. Like assume

you're in Japan and they're going to

strike you down with a sword if you do

that. Like the person who wants the most

distance wins that conversation. It's

kind of like skiing in the back country

with avalanche risk or something.

Whoever's the most concerned gets to

veto. But let's come back to the cold

email. So we've got the subject line,

different subject lines for different

purposes. In the first line, it's going

to be credibility indicator. All right,

couple of points on this, right? So

you've got like your credibility

indicator in the subject line

potentially also which I will also do,

>> you know, be like for interview

parenthesis 1 billion plus downloads,

right? In the case of the podcast,

right? something like that,

>> right? And I'll note for if you don't

have a billion downloads or millions of

followers, in the beginning for me, it

was examples of the work. Yeah.

>> That would at least show I've I've done

my homework.

>> No one's watched this, but it looks

really really good and it's it's

beautifully edited.

>> Yeah. So, I am going to come back and

ask you about just to plant the seed,

the mentors in the very early days when

you didn't really have

>> much, right? Like what that email looked

like. We're going to come back to that.

>> I'll give my example. When I first got

to Silicon Valley, I volunteered for

organizations that had name cache. So, I

volunteered for, for instance, Tai, the

indis entrepreneur last time, I'm sure

people checked. I'm not Indian but Thai

super wellknown at the time maybe still

entrepreneurial organization like the

per capita density in the kind of Indian

diaspora in Silicon Valley with talent

is [ __ ] bananas

>> shout out those my people

>> exactly and uh so I volunteered there

and then I could say I'm emailing

someone in tech and it would be for so

and so via Tai or the indis entrepreneur

and I wouldn't even put my name cuz who

the hell am I and that gets the email

open. So, I would volunteer and then do

things on behalf of the nonprofit as a

way of establishing some kind of

relationship. Ideally, inviting them to

speak or something like that.

>> All for free, by the way. Right. Like

some of the highest paying jobs you'll

ever get, you don't get paid for in the

beginning in my opinion.

>> I love that.

>> It does pay in dividends ways you don't

expect.

>> Yeah. I did that and ultimately had for

instance Jack Canfield who co-created

Chicken Soup for the Soul which has sold

hundreds and hundreds of millions of

copies and then they ultimately sold as

a franchise. But I met him through an

email like that from the Silicon Valley

Association of Startup Entrepreneurs and

we are still friends to this day 25

years later or whatever it is. And he's

the one who introduced me to the agent

who ultimately sold the 4-hour work week

after like 26 rejections. So long-term

greedy, not short-term greedy, right?

Like you don't need to be paid upfront

for something that will ultimately be

very very

>> important to your life, right? To the

email for the credibility indicator. And

guys, we'll give some templates just so

you don't have to piece this together in

like a momento fashion, but I like to

and I suggest include some text that

establishes who you are. If someone

says, "Hey, here I am, Link, and like

sketchy attachment." I'm like, "I don't

have time to go on some scavenger hunt

to figure out who you are." Right? So,

include a line or two on who the hell

you are. Do you know what I mean?

>> Yes.

>> Don't require them to like click through

and find this, this, and this, and this,

and this, and this.

>> A hyperl here.

>> Uh-uh. It's not enough.

>> You know what I mean? When it's like

click here. No, it should be and I've

done this thing. Hyp hyperlink the and

I've done this thing.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> So, if I want to learn more

>> Yeah. And just to give people some intel

on that,

one reason for that is that it just

takes more time for someone and any you

need to remove the reasons for them to

say no. And you might think to yourself

like, who the hell doesn't have 30

seconds or a minute to click through?

And I'm like, somebody who gets a,000

email a day. That's answer number one.

Number two, anyone who is reasonably

wellknown has a lot of fishing attacks.

Like they have people from different

vectors who are trying to get them to

click on links that are very dangerous

>> and intended to to steal information or

set the team up for social engineering.

So

>> I have been a recipient of a false

you're invited to the Tim Ferrris

podcast email.

>> Oh yeah, those that's a very clever

scam. Do you know how that works?

>> No.

>> Okay. So how that works this is because

these are still going around. I think

the jig is up because people have

realized most of these are fake. But so

I'm guessing the email was like we place

people or we're inviting you on the

show. Either if they're not very

sophisticated they'll be like it costs

this much to go on the show and then

anyone who knows me should be like that

doesn't sound right. But there's there's

kind of like this payforplay thing which

most people will sniff out. The other

one is let's get on a Zoom call and

discuss. And what happens is you get on

a Zoom call and they somehow figure out

a way to get you to provide basically

screen access, not just sharing screen,

but screen access. And they'll take you

to your Facebook page or something like

that, and they will hijack your Facebook

page, then use it to promote like a

crypto scam on a large page and then

hold that for ransom also to get money

from you. So, this is just a way of

saying guys include some [ __ ] text.

Um, right. And then to your point again,

like be very clear about the ask.

>> The number of emails I get that is like

even if they establish, hey, I'm like

credible, but I'm not like, you know, a

president or the CEO of a Fortune50

company. It's like if if they're like,

okay, this might be kind of interesting,

right? If it's like Rick Rubin who's,

you know, I did his first interview on a

podcast ever in his sauna, but it's like

if you're like, "Oh, it's [ __ ] Rick

Rubin." And he's like, "Hey, let's jump

on the phone." You're like, "Yeah,

cool." Okay, fine. As long as I can

confirm that's who the person is,

>> right?

>> But otherwise, assuming that you, who's

called emailing, is not Rick Rubin,

which is likely, then be clear about

your ask, right? If it's like, "Would

love to discuss something vague. Let's

hop on the phone to discuss how's next

Tuesday at 2 p.m." I'm never going to

respond to that, right? Because if you

can't write a professional first cold

email, I'm skeptical of everything

that's going to follow. Right. Right.

You're not placing a value on the

recipient's time

that you've thought through. Does that

make sense? So, it's like be really

clear in the ask. And then when I close,

again, to your point, right, make your

cell phone, and by the way, you can use

a burner or you can use Google Voice.

You can spin up a Google Voice number

very easily from any G Suite, etc.,

etc., But have a number, right, where

somebody can reach you. Do not just bury

it in your signature. Make it explicitly

clear. Feel free to text me anytime.

>> Right. We can schedule or just feel free

to hop on the phone. I promise it will

not take more than 10 minutes. By the

way, if you say that, do not go over 10

minutes.

>> Yeah.

>> And then I'll almost always say,

if you've read this far, I really

appreciate it. And if you're too busy to

get back to me, I totally understand.

>> Okay, that's a great learning. I'm gonna

add that. Love that.

>> And by displaying as little or zero

entitlement as possible, you get a much

higher response rate. Why? Because your

cold email is an audition for everything

else to come. So, if you're like,

"Here's this vague email. How about next

Tuesday or Thursday at 2 p.m." It's

like, "Bro, slow down. Like, you're

humping my leg already. We haven't even

established who you are or what you

want." And that reflects a certain lack

of awareness and kind of business savvy

that is going to be a problem later,

right? That's kind of how the train of

thought goes. And that's it. Here's

another pro tip. If you send that email,

do not follow up two days later with

bumping this up and then do that two

days later, bumping this up. You get to

do that once.

>> I think it's got to be at least a week.

>> Yeah. You got to wait and you're allowed

to do it once and then just assume

they're not interested and that's okay.

move on. The world is full of great

people and if people are not responding

to your email, it's probably common

denominator a problem with the email.

You know what I mean?