Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes
Hi,
It’s my birthday today.
I’ve been a bit inactive for a while in terms of emailing all my friends and subscribers. That doesn’t mean I’m not doing stuff – I’ve just been laying low, and in fact, laying plans for the coming months and years.
Together, I believe, we can achieve great things. Great things in terms of building authentic businesses using the power of the internet media, and great things in terms of leading the way towards making the world a better place in the future.
I’m turning 38 today – and a lot of things that I’ve been knocking about in my head for the last couple of years are starting to gel. I’m working on a lot of projects – and one thing that really interests me is the idea of a sort of video show about how you can succeed in the “reality marketplace” of today and tomorrow.
What that means is not holding back on the facts of life about the way business really works:
- that competition is really breathing down your neck and will bury you if you don’t stay on your toes…or at the very least prevent you from really prospering.
- that the quality of your marketing and your products are equally important, because people buy from companies and vendors who offer a cohesive and fulfilling experience.
- …and that your success, really, is a matter of your commitment.
This last point dawned on me a while back when I was reflecting on the success of artists; the way certain artists work becomes valuable and collectible while other equally talented artists don’t make nearly the same commercial or cultural impact.
The core factor in your success in the new economy is your ability to stand-out- to differentiate your company, product, or service in such a startling way from the competition that you win the game most business owners ultimately lose – the battle to get and keep sufficient numbers of customers and earn enough profit from sales to actually build wealth.
One aspect of why you need to really commit and choose your path – the way you are going to make a success of yourself – is because there are so many distracting forces at play these days. It’s a discipline to say “I’m going to be an information publisher and serve customers with x, y, and z needs”.
That sounds a little stiff – but realistically you cannot expect customers and prospects to want to buy your stuff if you don’t show a consistency in your direction. That means not leaping from opportunity to opportunity as if success were equivalent to having a winning lottery ticket.
See, I’ve never been a gambler. Seriously. I never make bets. I’ve been to Vegas and walked by the slot machines and poker tables and never been so much as tempted to gamble.
…Which is an underlying philosophy of what I do and what I teach in building a business or moving towards any goal. I’m not saying you shouldn’t take risks, because all reward comes from taking risks. What I mean to say is that you should strive and work to educated yourself about the realities of marketing in the real world so you don’t go charging around wasting your money and time trying to sell stuff people don’t really want.
The good news is there is lots of room for you to be selling stuff they DO want… and I sincerely hope this new video serves to illuminate you in some way.
Do please leave comments and feedback. I know what I don’t like about the video – things I wish I’d explained better and I would have preferred better lighting. What I would really like to know from you is what you learned, what you have further questions about.
In short, let me know how I can help you be better at what you do, and that will help me become better at what I do.
Just click on the (COMMENTS) link at the lower right and leave some feedback. Thank you.
The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.
Loren,
As usual, with information and training from you, this piece is of the highest quality as to content, thought and usefulness. The lighting is not that big a factor with me, as I could still see the white board material ok. I’m a huge fan of white board presentations and yours was simple and elegant, yet powerful. I recently began a new b to b calling affiliation with a company with huge goals in a gigantic, technical and revolutionary service for business brands. I am interested in augmenting my offline outreach to decision makers with an online instructive component to build my list, so, we have a lot to discuss. You’ve long been one of my favorite guides and I respect your depth of knowledge of buyer and market psychology. So, you’ll hear from me soon, I promise and keep up the good work.
Very well done, Loren, and a lot of good information presented in an easy to understand format. You are an excellent teacher and really connect well with the viewer.
I also want to wish you a Happy Birthday.
Lee
Thanks Loren for taking the time to make a video available to those of us that find ourselves in the non-income bracket at present. You are one of the few people that do this that I trust. I appreciate your thoughtful approach to your subject matter and your presentation style is genuine. The lighting, I don’t know how you’d get around that problem. Someone should be able to help you out, this is L.A. Isn’t there an unemployed film industry worker in the audience that can help?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Lisa
Very helpful. It cristalizes many things I have been groping towards for some time. Thank you.