How To Connect With Anyone

Zack Arnold spent the first two decades of his career as an award-winning Hollywood filmmaker, editor, and producer (notable credits include Cobra Kai, Empire, Burn Notice, and GO FAR: The Christopher Rush Story). He has now transitioned to spending his days as a creative career coach (or as his students jokingly refer to him, a “career therapist”) at The Arnold Academy, talking to fascinating people on The Zack Arnold Podcast, and writing on Substack about the intersection of living as analog humans in a world being overrun by the robots.

As you'll read below, I met Zack through a cold email! And I'm glad I did. He's a generous teacher and a genuine cold-email artist. After booking one of the most impressive conference lineups I've ever seen, I convinced him to share his secrets.

It feels like the only way to thrive as a content creator anymore is to please the algorithms. Follow the data. Post EVERYWHERE. Yet no matter what you try, it seems like everyone’s stats are skyrocketing but yours. 😔

While you’re treading water, the people you follow and admire are killing it! You scroll their feeds. You devour their podcasts. You binge their TED Talks. And you’d love to know how they got where they are so you can, too. Yet despite your desire to connect, you’re instead frozen in place with a raging case of FORO.

Fear. Of. Reaching. Out.

Who are you to think you can reach out cold and connect with this person?! Clearly your work isn’t good enough. You don’t have enough subscribers. Or revenue. Or book sales. Or you’re horribly introverted and don’t know what to say. And no way you are going to bother someone that important.

But here’s the thing…there is a much simpler way to connect with people you consider “unreachable” that doesn’t require pitching yourself, spamming via LinkedIn DM’s, or using the robots to do your outreach for you. And on the other end of that cold outreach will be someone delighted to hear from you, eager to connect, and potentially even collaborate with you!

Because I still believe in the power of genuine human connection, I'm launching The Connection Conference, a 5-day virtual event (Oct 19-23) that brings together the world's top thought leaders—like Adam Grant, Will Guidara, Angela Duckworth, David Epstein, Susan Cain, Ethan Mollick, Priya Parker, and even THE Jay Clouse!—to teach us how to reach out and expand our networks in a more authentic way...without the algorithms (or the robots).

You might be asking...how did an under-the-radar creative career coach with no social following, no YouTube channel, and an email list under 5k book TEN New York Times bestselling authors with a combined 115 million TED Talk views?

Simple. Cold emails.

I've spent the last ten years working with hundreds of students and clients developing a cold outreach formula (read: NOT a template) that has a 70% response rate. When done well, your outreach will not only receive responses but also enthusiastic responses, helpful responses, and most importantly human responses.

I call it → The VSA Outreach Formula™

• V - Value.
• S - Story.
• A - Ask.

This cold outreach formula (coupled with warm introductions from other speakers) helped me book every single guest for this conference with no formal pitch, no proposal, and no webpage. Two cold emails landed me NINE YEARS of editing work (on the shows Cobra Kai and Burn Notice) in the most difficult industry to break into, Hollywood.

I’ve had students use cold outreach to secure Zoom calls and lunches with Oscar winners, connect with future mentors, and even land dream jobs from a single email.

And if you don't believe me, ask Adam Grant himself!

I didn't reach out to Adam Grant because he's sold millions of books or his TED Talks have millions of views. I reached out to Adam because I genuinely admired the way he writes and what he writes about. But more importantly, I admired Adam's mission: The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.

Outreach is not about optimizing CRM’s or doing anything “scalable.”

Human outreach requires following your intuition. Putting in real effort. And then taking a few big swings.

Begin by thinking of someone you genuinely admire that you’d love to ask a few questions–or even someone you'd kill to collaborate with–and then think about why.

For example, you’re reading this newsletter because upon discovering Creator Science, I just knew I had to connect with Jay! Not because he had more podcast downloads than me (which did help), and not because Jay has a much larger email list than me (also helped), but because Jay and I share so many of the same values. Authenticity. Trust. Playing the long game. Treating every customer with respect.

To help you identify someone you really want to connect with, begin by finding a shared mission and shared values. Then ask yourself:

• Where do you want your creator business to be in the next few years?
• What's stopping you from getting there?
• Who can help you overcome your obstacles and achieve your goals?

Once you've identified someone you genuinely want to connect with—and ideally even collaborate with in the future—it's time to draft that outreach!

Step #1: Open your message delivering VALUE.

Value doesn't mean offering your services for free or showering someone with empty flattery. Delivering value is so much simpler than you think: Just make this person and their work feel seen.

This requires doing your homework. Actually watching their videos. Actually reading their books or posts. Then not only sharing what resonated with you but also why it resonated. Sure, the robots could summarize their content for you, but they can't summarize the feelings this person's content created inside of you.

Here’s the VALUE paragraph of my initial outreach to Jay:

As is customary for the majority of my cold outreach, I didn’t just get a response, I got an enthusiastic response that delivered joy to Jay’s inbox!

Human connection? Check!

Step #2: Tell a clear and compelling STORY.

Which story you tell largely depends on the context of your outreach. Are you seeking guidance and expertise? Requesting a referral? Or making the direct approach to collaborate?

If you’re seeking guidance and expertise from someone further down the same path, your story paragraph needs to make the following clear:

• Where are you now?
• Where are you going next?
• What's stopping you from getting there?

Here’s a condensed version of my STORY paragraph to Jay:

It's not that people don't want to help you; it's that people don't know how to help you. A well-written story paragraph gives someone a clear and compelling opportunity to be helpful.

If instead of seeking guidance or expertise you’re hoping to collaborate, your story is no longer about you but instead about them and should clarify:

• Where are you now that’s relevant to them?
• How can you help them get where they want to go next?
• How can you help them overcome what’s stopping them?

Be of genuine service to this person and their communities rather than trying to sell yourself from your first outreach. 

With a clear story in place…

Step #3: Make your ASK.

This is where so many drop the ball (don't worry, I have too!). The ask is the hardest part, but it's also the most important.

According to psychologist Vanessa Bohns (another guest at The Connection Conference), people are more than twice as likely to help you than you think they are! So before FORO stops you dead in your tracks, keep in mind that people want a reason to matter. Your request for help might just be that reason.

Your ask needs to be clear, direct, and require less than five minutes to respond to.

Ideally they should be able to read your entire message and respond to it while they're waiting in line for their Starbucks fix. But DO NOT ask them for their time so you can "pick their brain."

While not in my original message (but in the same conversation), this was my ASK to Jay:

Let’s just say, the rest is history. 😉

Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of asking for it.

Done well, the VSA Outreach Formula™ makes your recipient and their work feel seen. Giving this person an opportunity to talk about themselves allows this person to feel heard. Offering them a reason to help you that’s aligned with their values allows them to feel useful. And if you can also help them achieve their goals? Slam. Dunk.

Sounds too good to be true?

There is one catch: My outreach formula only works if you actually care.

Human connection requires humans. 

If you'd like to dive deeper into the psychology, the art, and the science of great outreach that can lead to amazing connections and meaningful collaborations, come join me and the world's experts in my Circle community at The Connection Conference, Oct 19-23rd, featuring a Live Q&A with THE Jay Clouse!

You could be one relationship away from changing your entire business.

Come join me Oct 19-23, and I'll show you how.

Join Us At The Connection Conference (Oct. 19-23)

I'll be speaking at The Connection Conference, a free 5-day virtual event connecting artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs with the ideas of the world’s experts–including #1 NYT bestselling authors Adam Grant, Susan Cain, Will Guidara, Charles Duhigg, Angela Duckworth, Ethan Mollick, Priya Parker, and many more–to help us learn a more thoughtful and authentic way to build meaningful relationships and expand our networks of fellow humans.

If you’re afraid to reach out to people (and you don’t know what to say when you do), you’ll learn how to turn outreach and networking into an act of service where you provide genuine value to others and connect based on shared goals and shared values. You’ll learn how to build a strong support network of peers, experts, mentors, advocates, and future collaborators so you can navigate this next uncertain phase of your work and life with confidence and get back to making things that matter

Register for free