Jalen Hurts and the Instagram DM

Days after his college football career ended in a blowout loss, Jalen Hurts checked his Instagram and saw he had a direct message.

But it wasn’t from a fan bashing his Peach Bowl performance or telling him he’d never make it in the NFL.

“Hey, have you picked an agent? If not, I’d love to link,” someone named Nicole Lynn had written.

It was a shot in the dark, “a total Hail Mary,” as Lynn would later put it, but Hurts decided to hear her out. Over the coming months, the two found a unique synergy stemming from the fact they’d both been dismissed. 

Nearly three years later, Hurts has the Philadelphia Eagles at 6-0 and is the frontrunner for NFL MVP — and Lynn has been by his side throughout.

The 12 words she typed that day have some key lessons.

Just about all of us at some point or another will have a lofty dream. Attend a prestigious school, work for a big-name company, get a meeting with someone of serious influence.

Many will dismiss their chances and essentially capitulate to being rejected before they’re ever actually told “No.” But a select few will fight the odds and go out of their way to get in contact with a person who has major pull.

There’s an art to the cold call or “Hail Mary” message.

1. Be brief

Realize the person likely isn’t holding his/her breath to hear from us. Express who we are and what our interest is concisely. Try to genuinely compliment something you saw he/she had done recently (interview, new strategy you observed, etc.).

2. Personalize

Lynn actually didn’t do this in her message, but we’d be wise to call the person by his/her name or use a courtesy title when appropriate so it doesn’t appear that we’re copying and pasting our message to 200 people.

3. Use relatable words

People aren’t robots or algorithms. No typos, but avoid showy language and don't think twice about using contractions (“I’d” and “Link” made Lynn appear real).

4. Humble proof

No promises of what we can do, but explaining a credential or two that makes us different from a random person on the street may go a long way toward increasing our profile.

5. Get over creepiness

Sure, it’s a little unnatural to message someone we don’t know on social media or via email, but it’s essential if we’re serious about improving our long-shot odds. The worst that happens is we don't get a response.

“You've got to be willing to crash and burn with people on the phone, with starting a company, with whatever,” Steve Jobs, who famously used a cold call to land an internship at Hewlett Packard as a kid, once said. "If you’re afraid of failing, you don’t get very far."

Lynn wasn't a total nobody at the time — already representing several NFL players. But Hurts ultimately chose her because he felt she was more prepared than any of her competitors and had a similar inner fire to prove herself. 

The partnership may never have come about, though, had it not been for her direct message.

The best way to get our foot in the door is rarely to wait for it to open. Most of the time, we have to knock hard.