Guy Kawasaki is the blogger behind How To Change The World. According to Technorati, his blog is ranked #55 most popular of all blogs online and he gives practical advice on how to succeed as an entrepreneur.
I was first introduced to Guy a few years ago by a mutual acquaintance, Neal. Neal had brought Guy to Toronto for an event and knew that I was starting a website for entrepreneurs. He set up an email intro with Guy and within an hour I had a response.
I wanted to use some of Guy’s work and promote it on my site. I was looking for some brand name recognition as I was just getting started and Guy had one of the most popular books on the market for entrepreneurs at the time, “The Art of the Start.” Despite not knowing me he gave me his blessing to use his work and said that he “trusted me.”
I was able to use the fact that Guy Kawasaki said yes to recruit other celebrity experts who didn’t want to be the first on board. They wanted proof that what I had was something more than an idea – they wanted to see others agreeing first. It was a tremendous help to my site and I appreciate Guy’s help to this day.
What surprised me was how quickly Guy responded and how genuinely nice he was. I’m sure Guy gets bombarded with emails on a daily basis with all the ventures he has on the go as well as being a Top 100 Blogger. Everyone these days has “getting popular bloggers on board” on their list of marketing ideas so it’s all the more impressive that Guy would even bother writing back. I’ve written to a number of other top experts only to get handed off to their juniors, put off for months, or ignored completely! Luckily my site has now grown to the point where it’s easier to get a yes because I can bring some tangible value.
I’ve connected with Guy a few times over the past couple of years to suggest a few partnership ideas that I had. Each time he has said he was too busy because of other things he is working on, but I got a reply the same day, he never put down the idea that I came to him with, and he always tried to help out by recommending someone I should speak with or giving me a site with information that might help.
One of his recent replies was:
Evan,
Honestly, I’m just too jammed to do this right now. Alltop is all consuming! How about partnering with my friends at MyVenturepad.com?
Thanks!
Guy
From all the blogger’s I’ve dealt with over the years, Guy is definitely the world’s most gentlemanly. Along with the fact that he’s got great content on his blog, it’s no wonder that Guy has quickly become one of my favorite bloggers and I check in daily to see what new content he has created. If you’re wondering what Alltop is, it’s a new service that Guy has come out with. You can check out the section on Small Business for more details.
Thank you Guy for being a wonderful resource and keep up the great work!
