Kimanzi Constable is an author of four books and a freelance writer whose articles have been published in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Insider, SUCCESS Magazine, NBC, CBS, FOX, and 80 other publications and magazines. He's a global traveler and digital nomad that has been to 83 countries and counting. He started his first business at just 19 years old, after having been previously homeless, dropping out of high school, and living in a shelter for 18 months. In 2011, Kimanzi discovered business podcasts and dove into writing his first book.

In this episode, Kimanzi shares all about the lessons he learned along the way, and everything you need to know about paid publications vs. pay-to-play PR. He explains just how he built an audience and took his business to the next level through writing articles. He walks you through how to pitch yourself to publications, and what being published can do for you and your credibility. Kimanzi also reveals how you can ruin your credibility by taking shortcuts and playing into the fake media influence games.

Quote from the episode:

• "Be the person that goes out and finds the information, the scoops, the stories, and brings it to the people. And you'll get the same notoriety over time and hopefully some success behind that."

Key highlights:

• Kimanzi's background that led to being an author and freelance writer
• How he built an audience by guest posting
• Tony's experience with getting published in magazines
• Pay to play vs. getting paid to write
• Tips on how to pitch yourself to publications
• What a good article contains: it's not about you, it's about what you can provide
• His thoughts on HARO (Help a reporter out)
• How to pitch to a contributor and why you should pitch to them to feature you
• Tony's tips on pitching yourself a podcast guest
• What editors look for when vetting you
• Recommendations for cleaning up your Linkedin
• How social proof relates to your ideal client
• Should you care about social proof?
• Does being verified on IG matter?
• Why you should want to be published and what it does for you and your credibility

For more information about this episode, visit: 365driven.com/episode249