Live in a Wealthy Area--How Do I Reach These People?

basspig

basspig

Veteran
Driving along the lake, it hit me like a ton of bricks as I passed one home after another, valued at over $2M each, that within 1.7 miles of my address, there are lots of VERY wealthy people. Robin Leach lives just at the bottom of the hill. The CEO of CBS Records lives 1/4 mile from there. The president of one of the world's largest toy companies lives here too. There are 10,000 sq ft homes here with all sorts of rich and reclusive owners.

I am certain these people could afford my services. The problem is that they don't know I exist.

How can I reach the super-wealthy that are living in my own neighborhood?
 
The wealthy folks I'm talking about live about 1.7 miles from me. I'm on the top of the mountain and they're all living in private enclaves with gates, down along the lake shore. It's not like I can just go up to the front door, knock, and say "Hi, I'm your neighbor for the last 43 years!"

I'm thinking the way to reach them might be some sort of targeted mailing. First I have to find out who's who, obtain the addresses, names and do a mailing. At least that's my initial idea.

Any folks living in a place like Beverly Hills, CA may have already had this idea. But wherever you run your business, if you have made a specific effort to get your message out to the upper echelons of society, how have you gone about it? Mailing campaign? Online? Other?

I'm literally sitting on a gold mine here, but I don't have a clue as to how to effectively reach these people. Good grief, Henry Kissinger lives 20 minutes north of me. Many famous movie stars live in these hills in the immediate viscinity. I can't believe that the only people I can reach are too poor to afford videography!
 
Well

Well

I can tell you being the son of someone in that type of situation, direct mailing won't work, haha. It has been probably twenty years since my dad last sorted his own mail. He has multiple employees at the house, even though it's just him living there, who take care of the house and its various needs and details. One of those is getting the mail each day, throwing out the junk mail and SPAM, and giving him anything important, but rarely does much actually reach him. He doesn't look at or deal with bills, those are just paid by his assistant, so it would have to be specifically addressed to him and contain something valuable -- all mail is opened on his behalf by the assistant or someone else at the house. If it was of a personal nature I'm sure it would be received, so if you're going to try that you may even want to mark something like "Personal and Confidential" or something along those lines to deter that.

Even I got mad a lot of times when I was still at home that they would open my mail accidentally sometimes, or packages that arrived for me were always opened, and I told my mom at one point, "Look, I'm not saying I'd do this, but WHAT IF I had just ordered a bunch of porn DVDs or something, would you really want to have someone else open those or you open them?" She was like, "Well, that's a good point..." I personally don't want anyone else touching my mail at this time. Maybe down the road if I had so much of it I couldn't or didn't want to deal with it.

The best way to reach people like that is in a more personal setting, like a gathering or party, where you can introduce yourself, or have someone else introduce you (even better), etc. My dad got the idea he wanted to do virtual tour videos from a friend of a friend who he talked with at a party and the guy convinced him that was a great new marketing tool to have professional videos on the sites to promote his properties, etc.

I would think anything like direct mail will be thrown away before it reaches your intended recipients. If you do try, though, definitely mark it.
 
Jonathan, thank you for a detailed and well thought out reply from 'the inside'.

Outside of mail, I have no idea how to get into their social circles. Those people make in the range of $35M/year and they shuttle off to NYC and other places to socialize/do business. I, as an old-timer living on the mountain behind them, have no 'in', other than the good ol' US Mail.

Interestingly, 30 years ago, I did meet the president of CBS Records at his home at the bottom of the hill, through a mutual friend who since left the area and, being a Lowell grad, now abandoned all his former friends and hangs out with only wealthy upper-crust folks. I made an effort to reconnect with this fella recently and he ignored me. I learned through a mutual friend about his 'exclusionary attitude change', so getting back to my 30 year-ago meeting, which was for a completely different purpose, I can say that was the one time I met anyone in a position of money, through a mutual friend. I know no other influentual, powerful money people, nor have any mutual friends who know these types. They do a pretty good job of keeping their 'caste system' clean of us low-class working slobs. Other than going to one of those $50,000/plate fundraiser dinners, it's a complete mystery how to get into these circles.

I once tried contacting a very exclusive inn just a few miles north of me, on a tip from a wedding planner who used to work at that inn--the cottages they rent are close to $2,000 a night to rent, and many weddings with $250K budgets are held there for celebreties. I called them several times, but they never return my calls, despite my having the name of some VIP on the inside to ask for.

Other than "chance" meetings, there must be other ways to accomplish this. I'm sitting on a resource here that could make me self-sufficient if I were able to tap a few of them as clients.
 
I hate to say it but where you live in no way gains or loses gigs. It's not as if the CBS Racords dude is gonna throw a music video your way cuz you see his house twice a day. Network as you normally do. Utilize all strengths but don't get swayed by geography. Location means little in this high bandwidth world. Heck, I'm in the armpit of America. Still, I do gigs for folks in pretty sunny places all the time. They don't send work my way because it's convenient... or do thay? I'm just an email away and require no direction. This sells. So far, My Neighbor Bob has gotten me no gigs. lol
http://youtube.com/BobsCorner1
 
While I'm inclined to want to agree with you Grinner, the thing is that geographic regions do make a difference. There is more work in Burbank, CA than in Podunk, AK--unless the guy in Podunk is willing to foot the bill for air travel to every gig.

Connecticut, I am reading, contains some of the highest densities of super-wealthy people in all the US. And it so happens that I live overlooking the largest lake in the state, and that lakefront property is some of the most expensive in the state and maybe the country. There's a large number of wealthy, powerful people here. It would seem logical that I should have a better market than the guy living in Arkansas, surrounded by trailer parks full of hillbillies. (Incidentally, that is how MY neighborhood was 43 years ago when I bought my land and started to build my home here.)

I see the population of wealthy as opportunity. I think the question is how to tap into that opportunity. I think things would be much more bleak if I lived in Arkansas, with a totally economically-depressed population with no discretionary income. CT may be tax hell, but I think there HAS to be opportunity here.
 
I think the best thing is not to make money off what they want you to film, but to make money off what they DON'T want you to film! Like mistresses, various affairs, illegal activities, etc. Just gets lots of spy equipment and you're set. ;)
 
While I can appreciate the levity, believe it or not, I was asking the question in earnest sincerity. I personally don't want to have anything to do with papparazzi-style shooting, which would involve illegal/immoral trespass onto private, fenced-in properties. You know the old saying, "What goes around, comes around."? I live by that motto.
 
LOL, I didn't say to go on their property, just friendly from-the-street type of stuff. ;)

Making an honest living is for suckers, just look at Madoff. Well, before he got caught, but you get the idea. haha
 
There is nothing to see from the street in most cases. You have to drive up long, secluded and PRIVATE driveways to get to these homes, but to do that, you first have to get past the gates out at the road. The wealthy here place themselves behind gates. If you have business with them, the open the gate; if they don't know you, then go away.

I know it seems like 2/3 of the wealthy obtained it by immoral or deceitful means, but many did in fact have a first idea that turned into a patent and made them their fortunes. The wealthy people I have seen are people with a lot of energy, no time for joking around, and little tolerance for any topic that isn't about making more money. It's easy for us working stiffs to feel jealous--even resentful of the rich--lord knows we vote in the politicians who will crucify the rich--and when Atlas Shrugs, we're all in for dark times, as who will manufacture our cars, generate our electricity, perform open-heart surgery on us, etc. But that's larger problem. I can only deal with the close-at-hand problem, which is how to I tap into the gold mine of the wealthy business owners/CEOs that are in my back yard?
 
Haha, oh I don't think most "rich people" got it by immoral means, not at all. I come from a wealthy family. My dad earned all of his money the good old-fashioned way -- a lot of hard work, a lot of long weeks and long work-days, and a bit of luck. You can't do it without luck, though, no matter what business you are in. I think we all wish that luck played no role, because it's so silly in some ways, we all wish that JUST pure hard work was always rewarded, so that if I work harder than you than I'm going to do better, or even that if I'm smarter than you, and I work harder than you, then I will do better than you. Unfortunately even that's not true. If you don't get the right breaks, you still won't make it. I know my dad put it all on the line in a few big deals, and those gambles paid off and he won. But he was nervous the whole time and at times on the brink of bankruptcy. The line between success and failure is often razor thin.
 
I hear ya, Jonathan. Luck, or circumstances, do seem to play a huge role. It's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know holds true. And as for luck, I've had a long life of misfortunes and tragedies. I grew up dirt poor. My family lost their first home to a tax foreclosure (sewer assessment was a year's pay at my dad's income level). I remember living my younger years with no indoor plumbing and no central heat. On top of that, I was an ugly son of ***** and that made certain I'd have no friends throughout my school years and no romantic relationships until I reached middle age. Despite all that, damn it, I finally found a field where I enjoy all aspects of the work. I'm sticking with it 'cause I'm too old to work in McD's or Wal•Mart!
 
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