GE 289: How Steve Sims Spends Rich People’s Money For a Living & Teaches Others Do The Same (podcast)

Hey everyone! In today’s interview, I share the mic with Steve Sims, CEO and speaker at Bluefish. Bluefish is a concierge firm that offers adventure and experiential services to executives, celebrities, and other high-end individuals.

Tune in to hear how Steve sets up one-of-a-kind experiences for wealthy people (i.e. going on stage with Journey, formula 1 racing experiences), how he teaches other entrepreneurs to get media coverage, and why he believes you pay to play.  

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• [00:36] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast!
• [01:55] Forbes called him the “Wizard of Oz”.
• [02:20] Steve thinks that if you bring value, the money will follow.
• [03:22] Bluefish sets up one-of-a-kind experiences for wealthy people (i.e. going on stage with Journey, a private concert with a big artist, formula 1 racing experiences).
• [04:35] Steve believes you pay to play.
• [05:30] Each experience and the workload involved costs different prices.
• [06:10] Steve’s team offered Journey a trade: they somehow “supported autism” in exchange for getting their client on stage during a show.
• [06:55] Each experience could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• [08:32] Everything that Steve has done came from a lot of work over twenty years.
• [09:15] He started small and everything snowballed.
• [11:05] Steve wrote Bluefishing about his business and how he accomplished everything.
• [13:05] Bluefish is the anti-promotional company. They don’t advertise and there is no phone number on their website.
• [17:08] Steve spend rich people’s money for a living.
• [17:22] He is now training other entrepreneurs.
• [18:25] Steve loved working with Simon & Schuster, but they were “shit” at marketing his books.
• [20:05] Steve teaches how to get media coverage in his courses.
• [21:55] Marketing and media you need to do yourself, because that is where the publishers fall short.
• [22:30] Reach out to smaller podcasts that relate to your field and reach out to them.
• [24:30] When sending out 130,000 emails, the open rate is usually 20%.
• [24:45] The open rate also includes auto-replies.
• [25:00] You’re lucky if people are actually reading your emails.
• [25:45] If someone comments on your work (via social media or podcast ratings), make sure to respond and provide feedback on whatever type of comment you get.
• [26:31] One tool that has added value to Steve’s life is texting. He likes to send video texts and finds that they break through the noise of email and phone calls.
• [27:36] He sends out 2000 video texts and people respond immediately.
• [29:18] Steve recommends the books Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and Mastermind Dinners

Resources from the interview:

• Bluefish
• Steve’s website
• Bluefishing
• Must-read books:
  •  Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
  • Mastermind Dinners
  • Tim Ferriss’s books

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