Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 28, 2008
Issue #15
- 3 Golden Rules for avoiding most legal nightmares …
- 4 MORE secrets for KEEPING the millions you're going to make as a savvy business owner, marketing exec or copywriter …
- And MORE!
Dear Business-Builder,
One year before 9/11 – almost to the day – I was cooling my heels on the 86th floor of Manhattan's World Trade Center, waiting to be grilled by a team of government investigators and wondering how IN THE HELL I'd ever wound up there …
I flashed back to the moment, two years earlier, when a FedEx truck had rolled up to my office and disgorged an innocent-looking box. Inside the box, I found a bunch of investment newsletters written by a guy I'd never heard of – and a letter from my agent asking me to "take a look."
As I read the first issue, I felt like somebody had just poured ice water down the front of my shorts. What the editor was saying shocked me … chilled me – and ultimately, electrified me!
This guy was saying truly outrageous things about President Clinton's past and making extreme, negative predictions about the future of the economy and the stock market.
In short, his audacious, uniquely powerful message was in stark contrast to the Pollyanna pabulum I was seeing from other financial publishers.
The fact that I disagreed with most of the editor's views was immaterial to me at the time. If ad agencies and copywriters only worked with clients and media whose opinions we agree with, there wouldn't BE any ad agencies or copywriters!
To me, the editor was simply …
- A U.S. citizen, expressing his (admittedly outrageous) opinions, and …
- An American businessman, attempting to attract new customers.
Now I feel it's only fair to remind you: I did NOT graduate Harvard Law School – or any other attorney assembly line for that matter.
… But I am a proud graduate of McKinley Elementary School in Tremonton Utah. And when Mr. Walden tested my sixth-grade class on the U.S. Bill of Rights and Constitution back in 1962, I passed with flying colors (OK – so maybe it was just a "C+").
I distinctly remember those dusty documents saying – and I'm quoting from memory here …
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 15, 2008
Issue #482
Fellow Business-Builder,
Can you believe August is almost gone?
Yeesh! That kinda flew by.
In between dealing with the insurance companies, estimators and police with our recent break-in, I found myself knee-deep in a brand new project for an exciting new client.
She has a program being released in a highly competitive field and hired me to help her find ways to grow her sales as fast as humanly possible.
Now a few details on the project:
- She is in Canada – and wants to focus on Canadian buyers (but the content applies to those who live pretty well anywhere).
- She has an amazing story (she went from $0 to $3 million in her first 6 months), and then another $3 million in the next 12.
- She is selling training in a field that is oversaturated with “gurus” – but she has no goal to be one. All she wants is to share the formula she used to create speed wealth like she did … rather than feeding people a little here – then upsell them to a little more – another upsell – a little more content, etc. She wants to give it all at once – for a sizable premium.
- She is the real deal and has proven to me time and time again she over-delivers.
- She is only offering the program three more times and then is out of it.
So, the foundation is set and I need to find out how to market her services, and who to market to.
We had discussed using online and offline media for maximum results in the timeline we set … and I think she really needs print materials mixed in to stand out from all the others.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
August 6, 2008
Issue #475
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Despite all the doom and gloom we’re hearing these days about corporate bankruptcies … recession … collapsing currencies … skyrocketing fuel costs and inflation … and the wholesale slashing and burning of thousands of jobs in America today … not everyone is feeling the crunch.
More kitchen-table millionaires are emerging from the carnage than at any other period in history …
For those who understand the true nature of the gut-wrenching change our world is struggling through … there has never been a better time to enter the entrepreneurial fray with both guns blazing.
A whole new, Internet-enabled way of doing business is emerging … while the old-guard, industrial-age way of doing business is cracking at the seams.
You see it happening all around you. And nowhere is it more apparent than at the customer touch points of commerce … where consumers are rebelling against the old guard in ever increasing numbers.
Sales and profits at such companies will be pummeled into oblivion. Many will simply cease to exist as their customers go running to a whole new breed of business that beats to an entirely different drummer.
One of the driving forces behind this consumer revolt is the fact that the world has become astonishingly more competitive.
Rapid advancements in communications and computing technology are making vertical integration unnecessary, thereby toppling barriers to business entry.
The trend is toward smaller, nimbler, horizontally-integrated businesses.
Where in the past, transactional fiction meant a company sought to control as many of the elements of production and distribution as it possibly could … centralizing command … standardizing products … concentrating resources … and gobbling up capital to acquire other companies in an eternal quest for “economies of scale” … these things are in many cases no longer an advantage.
Now a guy in his basement can create a virtual corporation based almost entirely on outsourcing, often with little or no outside funding.
Invariably these small, horizontally-integrated businesses find it much easier to stay focused on what really matters — finding and keeping customers. While the large, vertically-integrated dinosaurs worry about such things as shareholder value, mergers and acquisitions, and frantically struggle to rescue the bottom line.
Is it just me, or have you noticed the flagrant disregard for customers displayed by these old guard companies lately?
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Posted by:
Troy White
July 25, 2008
Issue #467
Fellow Business-Builder,
Thanks for all the great comments from last week.
Actually, as you read this, I am sitting on the beach in beautiful Shuswap Country in British Columbia.
In an hour, we are headed out on the water on Sparkles (the affectionate name my twin 7-year-old daughters have given our boat).
One thing I learned last year, that continues to benefit me and my family, is that sometimes you just have to take the plunge and do something you have always wanted to do, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Living in Calgary, I am land-locked.
There are no real lakes or water around here for a boat.
Which explains why I have always wanted a boat – the “grass is greener” thing applies everywhere.
So last year we bit the bullet and bought a ski boat.
Most people thought I was CRAZY owning a boat in a city not even remotely close to water.
Thanks to my purchase, I took more time off last summer (three weeks) than I took in the previous three years combined. Buying my toy forced me to get out and enjoy it more …. And I loved every second of it along the way.
I am not alone either …
Get this … Calgary, a city of 1 million people with no water to be found, has the highest boat sales per capita than any other city in – are you ready - - NORTH AMERICA.
We buy more boats here than those who live ON the water!
Crazy.
But understandable.
There is a lot of money in Calgary (big oil town – and you know what is happening with the price of oil) … and people here like to spend their money on toys … boats being the #1 choice.
My point here is …
… Find that motivation … then take the plunge and just do it!
… Second, NEVER think you know a market, until you have done the research. Imagine a boat dealer never researching Calgary as a place to hang up their shingle … because there is no water. Meanwhile, their smaller competitor does the research, sees the proof, moves to Calgary and HAS THEIR BEST YEAR EVER.
All with knowing the truth.
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Posted by:
Troy White
July 18, 2008
Issue #462
Fellow Business-Builder,
Having just wrapped up my Wild West Marketing and Wealth Summit, I have been reflecting on what made it good – and what needs improvement.
I host two seminars a year of my own, and I usually attend two others, hosted by others.
On top of that, I run a local monthly marketing group that meets once a month in Calgary.
Why would I do all this?
To me, it is the quickest and most effective way to enhance my knowledge and grow my revenues.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded, success-driven entrepreneurs is a MUST.
Constantly learning and evolving is also just as important.
That said, I have been reflecting back on some of my greatest lessons learned from both hosting and attending business building conferences.
For the next two weeks, I am going to share with you some of my greatest lessons, condensed into some bite-sized nuggets you can use.
On with it …
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