How To: Make People Think You’re A Bigger Deal Than You Actually Are.

Get a fake assistant: I mean, who really knows if “your name + asst @gmail.com”
actually goes to your assistant or to you?
Have “your assistant” schedule with their
assistant. Or, even better than Gmail,
snag your own domain name and redirect
your mail through that account.
Make GoDaddy your friend: Okay
seriously — get your domain. Or a
variation of your name if that’s not
available. It’s usually around $10-$20 per
domain (assuming your name isn’t
Madonna) and about $10 for 5 email
addresses. That’s plenty for you and your
“assistant” @yourname.com.
Grasshopper: We love this service
because it makes any roaming cell phone
look like it’s connected to a big fancy
phone system. For around $10 per
month, you can link multiple cell phones
to the same “landline,” which is easily
managed online.
FedEx for business cards: Now that you
have your domain name and fancy phone
line, spring for business cards. It’s easy to
do with the plug-and-chug biz card
creator on FedEx’s website. Spring for the
slightly more expensive premium paper
ones — after all, your “faking it ’til you
make it” perception is so worth it.
Uber for car service: Once your
“assistant” has set up your meetings and
you’re armed with your business cards,
get this easy, text-on-the-go car service to
pick you up as you’re walking out. It’s
about the same price as a cab and gives
off a “big a*s deal” vibe without more
coin.
Meetings in hotel lobbies: Okay, so let’s
be serious, you don’t have a real assistant
or an office, but setting up meetings in
high-end hotel lobbies is a great way to
go for glam office space on the cheap.
Get a carafe of coffee in the lounge and
set up camp for meetings bootcamp —
it’s classier than Starbucks.
Self publicize!
Whatever you do, you’re an expert at
that. Get your name out there by pitching
yourself through free PR sites
like HARO and Muckrack, which allow
journalists to post queries for the stories
they are working on. Get a mention and a
quote out there and have your “assistant”
email it to the last meeting you had in
the lobby of the Four Seasons and
whamo! You become the bigger deal
people perceived you to be all along!