Hi, my name is Isaiah Gardner. Every day, I sell myself to other people.

I approach strangers on the streets and in establishments - bars, clubs, restaurants, malls, shopping centers, insurance agencies, anywhere you can think of - in the hopes of building a new relationship with them.

At this point, you're likely thinking that I'm in a line of work that is entirely separate from the one I'm thinking about, but in all honesty, both use the key component of sales. As a salesman, the top priority is to build rapport and a relationship between yourself and the person with whom you are interacting.

Being in sales is probably one of the most difficult, yet also the most enjoyable, occupations I've held. People inherently hate salesmen - when I stroll into an establishment with my suit and a sly grin, leather-bound notepad in hand, I immediately receive cold looks and narrowed eyes. Dressed head to toe in black, it's no wonder that my presence is ominous, but I don that outfit in the name of professionalism and utmost seriousness. Simply put, I mean business when I enter a room.

I'm one of two people to the receiver of the aforementioned sly grin: An agent of some party that they really don't want to have to interact with, either because I'm there on official business that they'd like to extract themselves from, meaning that they need to turn tail and get out of there as soon as possible. Or, a salesman, here to pitch them a product or service that they don't necessarily need, but which I'm going to pitch to them anyways in the hope that I can advertise myself and the commodity that I bear as one of necessity and utmost quality.

While my demeanor and outfit may be off-putting, my alarming presence is the first thing that I aim to dispel. Not only am I there to sell my product; I'm there to sell myself as a personable, charming, amicable partner with whom a business owner should wish to do business. The foundation of all relationship-building, regardless of the situation, is based upon building rapport and earning the trust of the person or people before you.

Think back to your days in preschool. You were guided there by your parents to an establishment filled with complete strangers, all of which struggled with advanced linguistic mechanics, had just learned the fundamentals of coloring within the lines, and had an attention span of maybe five minutes, provided they weren't staring intently into the relatively fuzzy image produced by a VHS tape displayed on a boxed screen before them.

And yet, somehow, you made friends with these strangers. How'd you do it? I'll bet it was through finding common interests, perhaps through miniature race cars, small constructive blocks, dolls of the plastic or cloth variety, or similar hobbies. Even today as an adult, essentially nothing has changed. In order to sell yourself to others, whether it's to make a sale, make new friends, connect with your new love interest, or to reach any sort of audience, you have to appeal to them in some way - identify what they like, see if you can match that up with something you like, and boom, there's your connection.

People can be very complex, but they can also be very simple. Everybody likes something, and if you come bearing something that they like - in my case, that's money, savings, and the newest promotions - it's rather easy to reach through to them. Connecting with others is a simple process in the sense that you only have to find common ground; the complexity arises as you work around their suspicions and resistance to something new. I'm not preaching anything groundbreaking, but if you stay tuned, I'll give you the tips and tricks needed to connect with literally anybody - yes, anybody, from your friends to business executives - and sell your personality and trust to them.