Somebody replied to me that he had the perfect shoes for me and would “hook me up.” I just thought this was another person talking big online about his or her connections and what he could do for people. He later sent me a DM mentioning that he would send me what he wears because he does a lot of walking. This is where the relationships online can get a wee bit weird. I had to wonder if this guy was about to send me a pair of his used sandals. However, my desire for free stuff trumped my concern for hygiene. I said, “Ah, what the hell, why not,” and sent him my home address and shoe size. He replied saying he was going away for a few weeks and would take care of it when he got home. Besides the fact that I just gave my address out to a total stranger, not to mention my shoe size, I was feeling quite good about it. I then proceeded to forget all about it.

A few weeks later the buzzer went off at my condo and it was a delivery guy! Thankfully not the guy I was talking to online. . . . He was dropping off a huge box. I opened the box and there were three boxes, all from Rockport.

Understand that up to that very moment Rockport shoes to me represented shoes for old people and those with foot problems and then I opened the boxes . . . .

Inside was a pair of wicked, classy, running-style shoes, a pair of fancy loafers, and a pair of black leather boots with buckles on them that may have well said “badass” on them—they were that good! Instantly, not only did my view of the Rockport brand change, but I fell in love with them.

However, now I had to reply to this guy who I then discovered was one of the designers for Rockport. Since this was my first bribe, I sent him a DM to thank him and to ask what I should do next. Was I supposed to blog about it, or tweet about them? There was no letter in the box requesting that I review them. He replied, “Just enjoy the shoes” and that’s it. ☺ He just pulled some triple reverse mind screw on me. I knew he wanted me to talk about the shoes. He knew he wanted me to talk about the shoes. I wanted to talk about the shoes. Well played, sir. What do you think I did next? I talked about the shoes to anybody who would listen. I wear them in presentations. I talk about them in presentations. I even runway model them in presentations. And look what happened here, I even talked about them in my book. Well played again Rockport mind ninja, well played.

I am not saying to just send out free products to everybody on Twitter.⁹⁸ I know I was sent the shoes because even at that time I had a good presence, I had a big mouth, and he was a nice guy and thought he would help out. The cool thing about him was the fact that he didn’t even mention Rockport in his profile. He is there for his own personal account and thought it would be fun to help out. But it shows what happens if you have confidence in your product and can send it out to the right people.