How Can I Become Influential?

You’ve known the answer to this since first grade: One is greater than zero.

What does that mean? You should never pass up an opportunity to connect with someone, just because you’re holding out for something better.

Are you willing to play when the seats are empty?

The only way to be interviewed on CNN is to not be interviewed on CNN for a long, long time, yet still do interviews. Every. Single. Day.

1>0 means every chance you get to help someone, you take. Yes. Yes. Yes. The answer is always: Yes.

First, 3 people will hear the podcast. Then 7. Then 15. The interview gets 87 views. Then 113. Then 259.

That’s how you do it. One by one. Step by step.

If you eschew those, who think you’re influential already, why should you even deserve to influence more people?

Only those, who are happy to do the right thing when they influence an audience of one, will continue to do it long enough to go big.

Gary Vaynerchuk explained this idea perfectly two years ago:

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.