The Blue Fish
Steve Sims' journey into the luxury experience business started unconventionally. As a doorman at a nightclub in Hong Kong, he made a conscious decision early on: he would never lie to people. If he didn't want someone in the club, he'd tell them directly. This philosophy of radical honesty became the foundation of his entire business model. He realized people respected candor more than flattery, and they trusted those who kept their word above all else.
Steve didn't set out to build an "agency" in the traditional sense. Instead, he discovered he had a unique talent: he could get things done that seemed impossible. When clients came to him asking for experiences—singing with their favorite rock band, meeting influential figures, attending exclusive events—he didn't say no. Instead, he asked deep questions about their motivations, their dreams, and what would truly move them. He developed what he calls a "credibility chain"—a network-based approach where instead of cold-calling a celebrity or their management, he'd leverage relationships multiple degrees removed. He'd reach out to someone he knew who knew someone who knew the right person, passing through multiple credibility checkpoints until doors opened.
A perfect example: when CNBC commentator Dan Fitzpatrick came to him wanting to meet Journey (connected through Richard Branson), Steve didn't just buy access. He dug into Dan's story—how he'd once been the lead singer of a Journey cover band in college and never got to properly close that chapter. Steve then approached Journey's team through his network, telling them Dan's emotional story and tapping into his own credibility from past successes (mentioning clients he'd sent to space). He then arranged for Dan to sing four live songs on stage with Journey in San Diego, and turned the event into a fundraiser for Autism Speaks (the drummer's son has autism), selling meet-and-greets to other fans.
Steve's core insight: never approach business purely from a money-first perspective. When he focused on budgets as constraints, he made bad decisions. Instead, he focuses on passion and psychology. He asks clients what would truly fulfill them, then presents options that exceed expectations. Nine times out of ten, clients say yes when presented with something genuinely extraordinary rather than a predetermined price point.
He also makes sure everyone in his credibility chain gets compensated—even small favors receive payment (sometimes just $500 in an envelope). This prevents future "favors" from becoming expensive liabilities. He learned that people at the highest levels never want to feel "sold"—they want to be moved by a story and an emotional vision.
By 2015, Steve's business had grown to just under $10 million in annual revenue with 11 employees and just under 3,000 clients worldwide. His clientele is almost entirely self-made entrepreneurs and business owners—99% of his clients are not trust fund babies but people who've clawed their way to success and now want to experience the extraordinary. He manages these relationships with minimal technology, using a paper-based system: writing down 100 clients he hasn't connected with in a month, then methodically reaching out via notes, calls, or videos before ceremonially shredding the list and starting again.
- •Radical honesty and consistent integrity built unshakeable trust that made clients willing to pay premium prices and refer others without hesitation.
- •Focusing on emotional fulfillment and psychological insight rather than price constraints allowed Steve to deliver experiences that exceeded expectations, making word-of-mouth referrals inevitable.
- •The credibility chain approach—leveraging relationship networks rather than cold outreach—made seemingly impossible requests feasible while maintaining authentic connections that couldn't be bought.
- •Compensating everyone in the network, even for small favors, eliminated future obligation debt and prevented relationships from becoming liabilities that could undermine the business.
- •Starting from personal pain (his own desire to make impossible things happen) created deep empathy for clients' true motivations, allowing him to design solutions that moved people emotionally rather than just transactionally.
- 1.Establish and communicate a single non-negotiable principle (like radical honesty) that guides every client interaction and hiring decision, making trust your primary product differentiator.
- 2.For each client engagement, conduct discovery interviews focused on their emotional motivations and unfulfilled dreams rather than budget constraints, then design an offering that addresses the emotional goal.
- 3.Map out your existing relationships and practice leveraging them through 2-3 degrees of separation before attempting any cold outreach, documenting each successful credibility chain for future reference.
- 4.Create a policy of compensating every person who helps facilitate a deal—even nominally—to prevent future requests from becoming expensive obligations and to maintain authentic relationships.
- 5.Track and showcase past successes (particularly high-profile or unexpected wins) when approaching new network contacts, as social proof becomes your credibility asset in relationship-based negotiation.
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