The Dos and Donts of admiring work
There's admiring someone's work. And then there’s some other level entirely.
Image: The Dos and Donts of admiring work
The DO version of admiring work
“I really admire the work you do and I wanted to…”
Talk to you like a normal human being
Work with you
Buy some of your work product
Share your story with my audience
Sponsor your work
Kick into your crowdfunding
Back your latest initiative
Invite you on my podcast
Pay for an outreach campaign with your community
Arrange a blog swap between our websites
Find out more about how I can help
Have you speak at my event
Invite you to present your work at my company
Offer you a scholarship
Promote what you do on my social media
Collaborate in a mutually beneficial way
Find out how we can support each other
Offer you access to something I have
Work out an in-kind resource relationship
Help you achieve a goal you’ve talked about
Support you in a tangible way
Get some coaching from you
Hire you to consult or advise
Share why I value your contribution to this world
Fund some of your early stage ideas
Introduce you to some people that could help you
See if I could volunteer
Add value to the experience with my own time
Strike up a conversation and share experiences
The DONT version of admiring work
“I really admire the work you do and I wanted to…”
Whack your open like an information piñata
Pick your expensive brain
Ask you to do more than you already do
Request free work
Query why you don’t already offer a specific yet unpaid task I need doing
Tell you how to do your job better
Treat you like a novice or a renovation project
Belittle what you do while sharing why it works on *some* levels
Offer exposure dollar (and get defensive when you reject it)
Bail you up so you could review my idea and give free advice
Be introduced to all your networks
Brainstorm my new idea with you over coffee
Test your knowledge with my working scenario
Listen to me solve a problem you never mentioned you had
Compare your contribution with other people
Judge it at a distance and give some five minute expertise
Let my insecurities leak out all over you in conversation form
Demand you protest issues I care about
Highlight all the threats and problems I see on the horizon for you
Use your understanding of the market to inform my ideas without paying for you to consult, research, or share your insights
Ask intrusive questions to satiate my curiosity
Figure out how I can make money off your work
Talk you through my competing idea
Any you’d add?