The SPARK 142 ~ Flipping The Dream 100

You’ve probably heard the term or phrase: Dream 100.

If you haven’t, a quick Google search returned this explanation:

“The Dream 100 Strategy is a powerful marketing and sales approach that aims to identify, target, and build relationships with high-value prospects. Popularized by Chet Holmes in his book “The Ultimate Sales Machine,” this strategy has since been widely adopted by businesses across various industries.”

It’s very popular in the ClickFunnels community and has been a key strategy Russell Brunson used to grow and scale his company.

The Dream 100 is a great strategy, but I think it’s missing something incredibly important that can help you achieve your goals faster.

Because of the way it’s been taught, the perception of the Dream 100 is to swing for the fences.

And why not?

I’m a big believer in having a ‘BIG’ goal.

For example, Brené Brown is someone I’d put on my Dream 100 list ( to interview). Not impossible, but would definitely take a solid strategy to get there.

The problem with this strategy is we can get so focused on ‘BIG’ names that we miss the opportunities along the way.

Here’s what I mean:

Instead of focusing only on your Dream 100, what if you created a plan to connect and collaborate with people along the way?

You could look for people to collaborate with for email swaps, newsletter sponsorships, podcast interviews, affiliates, joint ventures, etc.

Start with:

Your current list of subscribers. Ask if anyone on your list would like to do an email swap or promotion.
Ask for referrals: Simply ask for connections or introductions to people who would be a good fit for a collaboration.
Social media: Put out the request that you’re looking for people to support, collaborate with, swap with, etc.
Communities you’re in: Are you in any communities that allow this type of post or request?
Newsletters you subscribe to: Look for classified or sponsorship opportunities in other newsletters or reply to the creator and ask if that’s something they offer.
Podcasts you listen to: It could be the host or their guest. Reach out for an interview or support the show.

The easiest way to start with all of this is with a “give” instead of an “ask.”

Share someone else’s content, leave a review, reply to an email, or comment on a social post.

These are all elements that will help you get on someone else’s radar.

That being said, the magic starts happening when you do this without expectation.

Make sure you’re very clear on why you’re doing this to begin with.

You don’t need to be overly altruistic, but you do need to be doing it for the right reasons.

And yes, one of those reasons can and should be to grow your own business.

As the late, great Zig Ziglar said, “You can have anything in life that you want if you just help enough other people get what they want.”

This also makes it way easier to develop a consistent habit of posting and sharing for those of us who are a wee bit challenged with self-promotion.

When you’re willing to share and highlight other people, you become more trustworthy.

This is the starting point of the law of reciprocity.

It also gets you out of your head.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like things take longer than I’d like them to.

When I get out of that headspace and put my energy into doing something nice for someone else, my mood shifts, and I get out of my own way.

My last suggestion with all of this is to let go of things being “equal.”

Someone may approach you with a smaller list, audience, etc.

Let that go.

If the value is there and you feel good about the content and context, do it.

Think of a time someone has given you a boost… and how good that made you feel.

Remember, what comes around goes around.

The Spark Spotlight

I haven’t been this excited about a book launch in a long time!

Alex Hormozi has his new book, 100M Leads, coming out on August 19th, and he’s hosting a live virtual event.

I love his $100M Offers book and have no doubt this will be as good.

Featured Articles

Looking for a feel-good story and the positive power of social media? Read ”Former Engineer Now Top-Selling Author on Amazon Due to Selfless Act of Kindness.”

Great suggestions with instructions and plenty of case studies. ”52 Ways to Grow Your Email List.”

Pretty soon, every platform will offer everything. Read ”TikTok is Adding Support for Text Posts.”

This issue is brought to you by The Events Calendar Pro

Tool Time

WordPress Newsletters: Write your newsletter in WordPress and send it directly as a newsletter with Jetpack.
Video: An alternative to Loom that also allows you to create step-by-step guides and videos. Check out Floik here.
Copywriting: A free course from Neville Medhora on copywriting. Read & watch the course here.
Headshots: I just need to break down and test this out. Use AI to create professional headshots. Try ProShots here.

Haha…pretty “punny”