#stevesims

Sims is the founder of Bluefish, a luxury concierge company that delivers personalized travel, transportation, and entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, and professional athletes. Sims, who has been invited to speak at Harvard, the Pentagon, and has been featured in major media all around the world (from The Sunday Times and China Post to The Wall Street Journal) has just released a new book, BLUEFISHING: The Art of Making Things Happen. 

Sims has been able to make his clients’ wildest dreams come true, from a wedding at the Vatican to being serenaded by Andrea Bocelli, to powerful business introductions to moguls like Elon Musk. In his book, Sims opens up his personal playbook and shares his fool-proof tips, techniques, and strategies to help readers break down any obstacle and turn their dreams into reality (North Star Way; October 17; Hardcover; $24.99). Whether it’s climbing Mount Everest, launching a new business, or applying for a dream job, Sims insists you can make incredible things happen for yourself by applying his insightful strategies. We snagged an interview with Sims below and you can learn more at stevedsims.com. 

Q: Steve, you had a long list of odd jobs before you started your concierge service Bluefish. How did you go from making insurance calls to founding one of the most unique luxury companies in the world?

SS: My mentality never changed. I always believed you focus on the positives and not the negatives. Whenever I had to do a report sheet how many “no’s” or rejections I got, I would always leave it blank and just celebrate the victories. So therefore my success always outweighed my losses.

I was always the Irish kid that asked “why?” and I don’t think that ever changed, even now. Someone says, “Oh, we can do this!” and I’ll ask back, “Great, but can we do that?” If I then get the answer “Oh, I don’t think so,” I still immediately ask “Why?” So I’m still interested in asking that question.

Q: Can you give us some examples of the “impossible” things you’ve made happen with your work?

SS: A few are: In a closed academia museum in Florence, I set-up a table of six at the feet of Michelangelo’s David where no food or drink were even allowed in the museum. I kicked everyone out and set up a table, and had Andrea Bocelli come in and serenade.

I’ve also sent people down to see the ruin of the Titanic. I have put people on the back of a Moto GP demo bike for a 200-mile an hour motorcycle ride, and I’ve sent people up to the edge of space out of a Russian military station, and have had people do unarmed combat training with Navy Seals. That’s to name a few things there.

Q: Why did you think BLUEFISHING should finally be a book out in the world?

SS: I am tired of how people think they can get along without communicating. It is still the only thing we have no “out” for. People don’t care about relationships. They have 20 business cards for people and they have no relationship with any of them. So I’m all about the relationship, and all about standing out: Branding, marketing, being your own person, keeping your own word. I believe it’s time to use the technology we have to reinforce the old-school values we should keep.

Q: Where and in what ways do you think new entrepreneurs are misallocating their time and money these days?

SS: Following the crowd. If everyone’s doing emailing they’re doing campaigns, then they’re doing email campaigns, if everyone’s doing Twitter campaigns, they’re doing Twitter campaigns. If everyone’s got a pretty advert, they’re doing pretty adverts. It’s always the newbie that gets the most attention. If everyone’s doing pretty adverts, do an ugly one. If everyone’s doing great videos, do a hand-held one with your handycam. Go the opposite way every single time. You’ll aggravate, you’ll fail, but when you get it right, you only have to get it right once.

Q: You always say “ugly” works. Can you explain that a little more? What’s so great about ugly?

SS: Yeah, keep it rough around the edges! We’ve seen too much Photoshop now. People don’t believe what they see. They literally don’t believe it. They see a pretty girl walking on a beach in some photograph in a magazine, knowing full well they’ve made her slimmer and taller (even though she was probably hot to start with). So keep it raw and impossible to misunderstand. That’s where the ugliness comes in.

Q: What’s one of your favorite secrets from the Bluefish playbook you included in your new book here?

SS: There are quite a few! I’ve become quote proud of this little baby. I would have to say: 1.) Using SMS texting, video texting is brilliant; 2.) I also really believe in asking “Why” three times, and 3.) I am a fond believer in clearing out the vampires.

Q: And finally: What’s the most “impossible” achievement you ever made possible? (Even if for your own life?)

SS: I don’t do anything impossible. They say it’s only impossible until somebody does it. As soon as you label something “impossible” you put yourself behind an eight ball. Don’t even do that to yourself! You want to do something? Brilliant! Let’s do it.