Crippled CEO Blog #055: The Host Advantage

Crippled CEO Blog #55:

When I was younger, both as a kid and in early adulthood, I wasn’t nearly as cool as I am now. I know. It’s hard to believe. 

I was in a wheelchair. I was nerdy. I had terrible hair and awful acne. I also somehow had a huge superiority complex. Hardly the best recipe for social success.

But I figured something out that tipped the scales in my favor. 

I gave myself the host advantage.

The host gets immediate authority, credibility, and cool points. The host has clout. People want to befriend the host. 

When I was very young, my friends came over to my house to play. 

In early adulthood, my house was the party house. I bought my first house at age 18, and for the next few years, almost every night was a get together featuring all manners of indiscretions. 

By being the host, I was popular, well liked, respected, and even in charge, despite being rather uncool. 

This works as a teenager, but it also works in business.

You might not be very well-known in your field, but if you start a podcast and start inviting guests, you now have instant credibility, and the contacts you so desperately want to make are hitting YOU up to be on your show. 

It doesn’t have to be a podcast. It can be a monthly industry luncheon. It can be an annual banquet that gives out awards. It can be a Facebook live stream. It can be a blog where you interview key industry figures. It can be a club or Facebook group. 

What better way to connect with that dream client than to invite him on your podcast or give him an award at your banquet?

Being the host makes you a leader. It makes you an authority. You might be thinking that it sounds like a lot of work, but is it more work than slowly building your reputation over years, over calling on prospective clients over and over again the traditional way? 

No way. 

Give yourself the host advantage. It worked for me after I dropped out of high school. It works for me now. And it could definitely work for you as well.

(Was this the third coolest thing you read this week? Is there a specific person that you know you should definitely give herself the host advantage? You should send it to her. Also, if you want to make sure that you never, ever miss my next post, pick up your phone, open your favorite text messaging app, enter the phone number 484848, type just the word CRIP as the message, and hit send. That single text message will permanently make me your humble servant, and I will personally send you a link to the latest blog each and every Sunday at absolutely no charge.)