How I Got Conor McGregor as a client

I was watching UFC with my dad one Sunday when he told me I should reach out to Conor McGregor.

I told him he was mad. McGregor's one of the most famous people on the planet. There's no way someone like me gets through to someone like him.

He bet me I couldn't do it.

So I tried.

I spent days going through every email address and phone number I could find connected to McGregor or anyone around him. I sent messages everywhere. Nothing came back. Not even a reply telling me to get lost.

I was about to give up when I had one last idea.

I called his pub.

The Black Forge Inn in Dublin. I rang the number, a bartender answered, and I explained what I did and why I was calling. They gave me a Dougs name, who might be able to help.

I emailed Doug. No reply.

I looked Doug up on Instagram. We had ten mutual friends. I grew up in Ireland and the world is smaller than it looks. I sent a DM and he got back to me within a few hours.

I knew I had one shot so I didn't send a pitch. I made a render, a custom ring concept built around the Black Forge Inn branding and sent it over.

That same day, McGregor saw it. He loved it.

I made the ring and sent it out to Dublin.

A few weeks later his photo was all over the news. He'd just won best pub in Ireland and there he was in every picture with the ring on his finger. I found out about it the same way everyone else did scrolling my phone in Bangkok.

A few months after that they placed an order for almost 5,000 units. A custom sword pendant for the Black Forge Inn, sold and given away across Ireland and America.

The thing I took from all of it, the official channels are rarely the right ones. Everyone big has walls built around them. Sometimes the way in is a phone call to a pub. Sometimes it's a mutual friend on Instagram. Sometimes it's just being willing to try one more thing.

And don't pitch with words if you can show something real instead. I didn't tell McGregor's team what I could make. I showed them something made specifically for them before they'd even asked for it.

That's still how we work today.

My dad won the bet by the way. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.