5 lessons from Social Chain's 26-year-old CEO Steven Bartlett

How do I meet him?

As the co-founder of a marketing start up, there are very few business personalities that inspire me.

But Steven Bartlett does.

Most 'entrepreneurs' and business leaders that you find online these days offer little more than generic tips, pretend business is easier than it is and seem to secretly be selling something, rather than providing value.

The founder of Social Chain and Media Chain, he operates a similar business to the one I do, helping brands win through creative, disruptive, storytelling-based campaigns. 

His company's valuation is soon expected to be floated at $0.5 billion.

Media Chain is now the 7th biggest global online media company. 

Impressive, especially considering the dude is 26 years old. 

His come up story, his understanding of culture within the workplace and the way he is using his platform to help others deeply resonates with me. 

He's not the easiest person to get a hold of, though - his emails are guarded by a PA, and he's constantly traveling. He's a busy guy and can't give his time to everyone. 

So how do I meet him? 

My previous two emails didn't get a reply so I knew trying to meet him in person was the only way. 

But when I found out he would be speaking in London, my home city, I immediately bought a ticket, re-arranged my plans for the week and within 24 hours got a pocket-sized brochure about my company designed and printed that I could hand to him (I knew if I gave him anything bigger, he'd probably give it to his PA and may not ever read it). 

During his talk at Vue West End, Leicester Square, he offered the following solid advice to the audience:

1. Be Weird

He gave the example of how sending a personalized, handwritten golden letter is much more likely to catch someone's attention, rather than just an email (noted, Steve, [you won’t see me in your inbox anymore!])

Spend time 'sharpening your axe' before striking. In other words, give some thought to your approach and strategy rather than just hacking away at something which may prove fruitless.

2. You are a result of your habits

One of the most powerful comments he made on Wednesday night was 'If you tell me your daily habits, I can tell you where you will be in your life in 3 years.'

Now, he’s obviously not implying that he’s Mystic Meg, but what he meant was that by noting your habits, he could assess whether you’re working for yourself or against yourself.

And it's true.

We are what we repeatedly do. Atomic Habits by James Clear is a good place to start if you want to discover how your daily habits piece together your future.

We can't expect to see great success if we aren't willing to do the small things every day over a prolonged period of time. 

It's these small habits that, when done enough, produce results down the line. Be patient, focused and consistent. There is no other way to success. 

3. You will be great only once you push past the limit

He gave the example of a time when he was running on a treadmill and the dial which told him how many kilometers he was running was broken. 

Every day, he would run 4km, but on this occasion, there was no way of knowing except by gauging how tired he was. 

After a long run, and starting to feel sick, he hit the STOP button and the treadmill told him he had run an incredible 10km. 

He was shocked, but this was a turning moment in his life where he realized that we set ourselves mental limits, but we are capable of so much more.

You will believe in yourself when you see evidence of it. 

I remember once interviewing Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former Press Secretary in the days I was a journalist, and he defined two types of confidence.

Self Confidence, the way you project yourself socially in front of people, and Inner Confidence, which is how much you actually believe in yourself. 

The first is an outward reality and the second is an inward one. 

To gain the confidence you need in life, you need to push past your limits, to tell your mind that you are capable of going further than what we tell ourselves.

4. Be like Netflix, rather than Instagram

If I was to ask you what the last thing you liked on Instagram was, most of us would struggle to remember. 

But if I asked you ‘what was the last thing you watched on Netflix?’ you would probably remember. 

This speaks to something important: in a world where there is so much noise you need to stand out by producing longer, more meaningful content that can touch people emotionally. 

How else will they ever remember you? 

5. Keep up with the latest online trends

If you don't already, sign up to Social Chain's Whatsapp group, it's a great resource for finding out regular trends related to online and social media.

But Steven gave some handy, practical tips about how you can win online in 2019.

• 95% of your posts should be providing value, 'giving' rather than trying to 'take' from your customers. Educate, inspire and entertain them, and very occasionally sell to them.
• Facebook is heading towards becoming a place for 'groups, so if you're a small brand, an artist or an Influencer, now is the time to create a group and build a loyal audience there.
• We live in a time of automation, so it's essential that you download a Facebook Messenger bot. 
• Reply to all of your comments on Instagram, it tells Instagram's algorithms that you have a relationship with those people and you'll therefore more likely appear in their feed again. 
• Instagram wants to compete with Youtube and are trying to push Instagram TV. Use it as much as possible, in fact, almost all of your video content should be adapted for IGTV. You'll see much greater view rates.
• Subtitle all of your videos. According to studies, people will stick around 40% longer, especially because a lot of people watch, rather than listen. 
• Write longer captions. One of the ways that Instagram assesses whether your content is good is how longer people spend on your piece of content. A longer, interesting caption forces people to spend more time looking at your content. 
• Linkedin is growing, fast. And your organic reach is great, especially with the right content that should convey emotion. Experiment with what types of content is working and then go hard on Linkedin while the reach is still great.
• Finally, podcasts are a must for everyone trying to build a brand. Spotify and Apple are investing a lot of time and effort into podcasts. While last year would have been the perfect time to start, start a podcast that provides value and you can be consistent with. 

I was fortunate to meet him at the end of the event and in fact, he was willing to give his time to every single person who wanted to meet him, without making anyone feel rushed. 

That, for me, is the sign of a true leader - the ability to treat everyone as a unique human being and make people feel special. 

Steven is an example that hard work, self-belief and the ability to think differently can get you much further than you think. 

It was a pleasure meeting you, Steven. Look out for my 'gold envelope'.