I have to hand it to this guy, he has gotten his marketing company exposure on HN twice now in as many weeks, and his other accomplishments are quite notable. The thing that rubs me the wrong way about his articles is they always seem to be predicated on the notion that being really incredibly outgoing to the point of recklessness is the road to success. For example, this post should probably have been titled 'How to bum-rush the Russian Prime Minister and live to tell the tale'. The last one could have been 'How to screw over your competitors and an innocent event organizer to further your startup'.<p>He is very accomplished, but one wonders if there isn't a way to accomplish the same things without bending the rules so hard.
I interviewed Kate Bush a long time ago. This may or may not impress you, but since she's a notorious recluse, it's quite impressive to anyone who is a Kate Bush fan.<p>Q. How did I do this? A. I made it my life's goal for a couple of years.<p>So, I'd agree with the OP that you can accomplish all sorts of crazy things if you are obsessive enough about it. In retrospect, however, I might have put those years to better use, and I'm not sure that all that obsession was particularly healthy. I.e., it didn't make me happy.<p>On the other hand, it's pretty cool to have interviewed Kate Bush, so no regrets.
I've had the pleasure to meet a couple President's and a VP of the United States, Governors, hit golf balls with a Hall of Fame running back, drink with Mark Cuban and more just because I saw an opportunity and took advantage of it. As an example, I found out the President was going to a bar near me for a surprise visit so I got there quickly and placed myself where I knew he'd have to pass. Managed to get a hand shake and exchange a few words. You'd be amazed at how easy it is to meet people if you have a can-do attitude and use a little bit of creativity.
meta: This is the second time in several weeks that we've seen a virool post at the top of HN with loads of votes within just an hour of its posting. It sure isn't suspicious that a company based around viral marketing just happens to have excellent luck getting their HN posts in the top spot on the front page.<p>If all of their marketing tactics are this transparent, I don't think I would be very inclined to do business with them.
Want to find anyone's e-mail? There's an app for that: <a href="http://linksy.me/find-email" rel="nofollow">http://linksy.me/find-email</a>. Pretty useful.
When I was living in North Carolina, I was reading 'The Mythical Man-Month' and decided to check the wiki page for Fred P. Brooks Jr. (the author). I was surprised to find that he actually worked for UNC Chapel Hill. I found a faculty email address and I was sitting in his living room the following week!
"- If you do come in close contact with someone you would like to meet, don’t be intimidated, approach them!"<p>This line pretty much sums up the entire article for me. It takes a "all about my wants" kind of approach. It never takes into account how the target of the meeting would feel. I for one, would be pissed if I was at a charity event and people came up to me asking about their own thing. Just doing what you want with blatant disregard to people's feelings is definitely a way to meet any person you want, but I just don't think the outcome would be the same as in this article.
Very nice article, reminds me this from Tim Ferris:<p><a href="http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/12/10/how-to-get-george-bush-or-the-ceo-of-google-on-the-phone/" rel="nofollow">http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/12/10/how-to-get-g...</a>