One of the best ways to be successful is to hang out with people who already are.

But there’s a slight problem. How do you get connected to influential people? They’re busy. Their lives are crowded with wannabes and sycophants. As much as you want to hang with them, they don’t want to hang with you.

So goes the thinking, flawed as it is. This type of attitude grows into resentment against successful people. Resentment turns into fear. And fear drives us away from the very people whom we admire.

If that’s the case, then we’re stuck.

Thankfully, there are ways to get connected to powerful and influential people. Follow this advice, and you’ll succeed.

1. Recognize your own value.

The worst attitude you can take towards a famous person is one of trembling fear and fawning reverence. They aren’t gods. They’re people.

The more you recognize your own value, the less you will be starstruck by someone who is influential.

Michael Ellsberg described this well in his keynote at the Awesomeness Fest:

Often when we meet a rich or famous person, or someone who is very powerful, we tend to cower in front of them like they are a god or goddess. We think, “This person is so powerful. I’m not worthy.” And that’s about the worst attitude you can have if you want to be good at this. They get it ALL the time. I’ve hung out with these people. I’ve been in café’s with them. People walk up with that kind of “Oh my gosh, can I have your autograph?” approach. And I can tell you right now that attitude isn’t going to get you very far.

When you recognize your own value, you can bring something to the VIP. You can bring your value and offer it in a quid pro quo.

Where are your strengths? Offer them.

2. Be a giver.

In his masterful book, Give and Take, author Adam Grant makes the case that givers win. People who freely, openly, and sacrificially give to others are the people who are most likely to succeed in life and business.

“The more I help out,“ he writes, “the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade.”

This is counterintuitive to the idea of getting connected to influential people. After all, we want to connect with powerful people because of what they can give us, right? But that’s the wrong approach.

Grant explains it like this: “If we create networks with the sole intention of getting something, we won’t succeed. We can’t pursue the benefits of networks; the benefits ensue from investments in meaningful activities and relationships.”

Getting isn’t the first right step. Getting is a happy consequence of a giving life. Giving is more important than getting, always, and that should be your first approach in angling for success.

3. Ask.

The blogger Jeff Goins has two words of advice for getting connected with influential people:  “Ask them.”

Remember what I mentioned in the introduction? A lot of people don’t become friends with powerful people because they’re scared. But why? There’s no reason for fear. They’re people, and they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us mere mortals.

You’re not going to get to know anyone unless you can be assertive in the right way.

How do you ask them?

• Request an interview
• Ask for a one-off mentoring session.

Get over your fear, and just ask.

4. Blog.

Writing a blog gives anyone the opportunity to grow their influence and become well-known. Even if you're the quietest and shyest person on the planet, you can wield enormous influence through a blog.

A well-written blog with content in the right niche will gain traffic and a following. Plus, the more you blog, the more your name gets recognized. When you ask an influential person for a meeting, they’re likely to have heard of you and accede to your requests.

If your blog is good enough, some famous people might start asking you to meet. This happened with Jeff Goins. He wrote about the experience on his blog:

A year later, that same author — a guy named Seth Godin — emailed me, offering to do an interview for my blog about his next book. When the book launched, he linked to me and sent more traffic than my little blog had ever seen.

Goins was a normal guy with a nice blog. His blog good enough to warrant the attention of a rather influential person.

Now look who’s doing the asking.

5. Become an influencer (Hint:  Grow your personal brand.)

The only thing better than being BFFs with influencers is to actually be an influential person yourself.

Is it even possible?

Yes. You can be ugly as heck, rude as a snake, totally uneducated, and have horrible writing skills, but you can still become a highly-respected and influential person.

How in the world? It’s called growing your personal brand. As long as you have the right plan and a die-hard devotion to doing it, you can become a major influencer in the niche of your choosing.

If you know that you’re rude, ask a friend to tone down your abrasive blog posts. If you can’t write to save your life, hire a writer for a few bucks to create blog posts for you.

There are ways to overcome virtually every obstacle and become an influential person.

Once you do reach a level of renown, you’re going to get a “yes” from any influential person you ask. Influential people like to hang out with other influential people.

6. Be brief and respectful.

When connecting with a VIP, you’ve got to demonstrate that you respect their time. You don’t have to fawn all over them. You simply need to state your request, and leave it at that.

Short and sweet is always best.

7. Build your connection online first.

The more you connect online, the better your odds of connecting in person. I recommend that you get connected on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and any other forum where the individual has a public and active profile.

8. Get to know anyone and everyone.

“Networking” has become such a slimy word that I almost hesitate to use it. Nonetheless, there is a lot of value in getting connected to as many people as possible. Don’t just seek out the rich and famous. Get to know everyone.

The more people you get to know, the more people you get to know. You may not have a direct connection to an influencer, but your growing list of friends and acquaintances may. Who knows?

According to the “six degrees of separation,” a networking principle, you are only six people away from virtually anyone on the planet. You have a friend of a friend (etc.) whose name is Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Kanye West, or whoever else you want to get to know.

There’s always value in meeting more people. Not only can you meet new people, but you can introduce your network to other people. As Derek Halpern wrote, “the people who introduce get introduced.”

You have something to learn from everyone. Why close yourself off from some of life’s most valuable lessons?

Conclusion

Hobnobbing with VIPs isn’t the end goal of life, nor should it be a standalone goal. The goal is to give something, to learn something, and to add mutual value.

We’ve all heard the truism that “It’s not what  you know; it’s who you know.” That is so true. In my decade plus of entrepreneurship, it’s been my personal connections that have propelled me to success.

I’m always eager to meet more people, grow my network, and help those whom I can.

How have you connected with influential people?