You Never Know Who You Might Meet
I’ve never been thought of as a shy person. Ever since I was a youngster, I was the kid that talked to anyone. It didn’t matter whether it was at the grocery store, church, the bank or on vacation, I would simply walk up to strangers and introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Sean Carpenter. I’m seven. I’m from Ohio.”
Looking back, my parents probably knew I’d be in sales of some sort. Over the years, being the talkative kid has allowed me to develop my philosophy of building relationships, solving problems, and having fun. I always seek out opportunities to meet new people or find a way to connect with someone from whom I might be able to learn something.
Last week as I was getting ready to travel to Nashville for a real estate event, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and stories. One of the people I follow is a golfer named Zac Radford who lives outside of Nashville. He shares videos and images of his golf adventures, difficult golf shots, or other fun things he does around the game. I recognized the golf course he was playing from the images as the same course I played the last time I was in Nashville, so I sent Zac a few direct messages on Instagram, asking about the course and simply sharing my appreciation for his efforts to promote the game of golf and his awesome interaction with his followers.
I told Zac I was headed back to Nashville this week and asked if he’d like to grab a cup of coffee or cold beer while I was in town. Nothing was ever scheduled officially because both of our schedules were still sort of up in the air on where we would be and other potential commitments. Luckily, we were able to connect after my presentation and after Zac finished a video shoot on the golf course (the temperature in Nashville was in the low 30’s, by the way). We met up at a restaurant right near my hotel and close to Zac’s golf club.
What a treat it was to simply chat with a fellow golf enthusiast, a social media strategist, and a fellow SEC rival. (Zac graduated from Tennessee in Knoxville). We spoke for a few hours about his upbringing in Middle Tennessee, playing high school golf, working himself through college as a server, and the decision to commit himself to become an excellent golfer. The social media part of his story was almost an afterthought.
When Zac graduated from UT, he made a commitment to work on his golf game and see where it could go if he remained 100% focused. He said he practiced from sun up to sun down and then waited tables in the evenings. He went from “about a 12 handicap” out of college to a +6 in that first year. (A “plus” handicap means Zac was shooting in the mid 60’s almost every round he played. That’s really, really good.)
He began playing on various mini-tours around the Southeast and had some success, winning a few events and earning some top 5 finishes in others. He still continues to have the desire to seek opportunities to put his game up against the best in the world but along the way, Zac’s Instagram following has grown and suddenly, he is also realizing many more opportunities to help grow the game of golf through his social connections. Currently, his Instagram channel (@RealZacRadford) has over 59,000 followers. That’s almost enough people to fill Nissan Stadium in downtown Nashville – the home of the NFL Tennessee Titans. Zac is also focusing on growing his YouTube presence, creating more videos and “stories” for his fans to follow along.
In addition to his social skills, Zac and I discussed some of our favorite golf courses around the country, we chatted about last week’s Pay Per View “Match” between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods and how that format might evolve the game to reach a new audience, and some other personal aspects about future aspirations and directions.
At the end of our visit, I asked Zac if he would record a short video for my son Ryan. Ryan was named one of the co-captains for his Upper Arlington High School golf team next fall. I know he’s a huge fan/follower of Zac on the social channels so I thought it would be neat for him to get a message from someone who understands the challenges and pressures to become an excellent golfer.
Click here if you don’t see the video above
The greatest thing about connecting with Zac last night is that you see that when social media is done properly, the on-line persona and the offline person matches. My friend Peter Brewer likes to ask “Does your digital twin look just like you?”
As you continue to leverage social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and more to earn an audience and build relationships, solve problems, and have fun with a “digital community,” when someone reaches out to you, will you be as “real” as you are on the small screen they have been looking through to get to know you? I’m glad I reached out to Zac. I really had nothing to lose if he didn’t respond or we couldn’t connect, but I’m even happier that we did connect and he turned out to be an even better guy in real life…because that’s where we all live every day. I expect nothing but success for my new friend Zac in his adventures, both online and on the course.
So my question to you is, who are you going to reach out to today? You never know how it might turn out.
