If you’ve got a service business, you probably know you need to brand. Your coaches and mentors may tell you it’s complicated and time-consuming. I got frustrated myself when I started looking at my own branding. It’s not rocket science: it’s simple! Here’s my video on the topic:
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Intro note: Perry Marshall, the Google Adwords guru, writes frankly and wisely on many topics. This recent article sent a message that contradicts a lot of what we hear. It’s so important that I got permission to use it here, with my affiliate link to Perry’s site. I own several of his materials and he’s the real deal.
“Anyone Can Do It” by Perry Marshall
Any time someone says to you, “Absolutely anybody can do this” you need to hang on to your pocketbook.
I do not believe that “anybody can do…” any specific thing. At least not to a level that the world is going to richly reward.
Let’s take some of the stuff I teach. Can anyone build a Google campaign, write ads that get clicks and make their CTR’s get better and better with testing?
Sure they can.
Can anyone and everyone expertly build and manage $20,000 of clicks each month?
No. At least I don’t think so.
The extraordinarily successful people in the Adwords game are the ones who somehow ‘crawl inside’ of the campaign and feel what all those numbers and columns mean… who are able to sense what those visitors are clicking on and why. They can look at somebody’s ad campaign and in 10 seconds know whether it’s put together right, or not. Those are the ones who manage $10,000 or $100,000 of clicks every month and make it profitable.
There’s the doing of the thing, and then there’s the Art Factor. The Art Factor comes into play when your heart and soul get connected to it, when you are able to crawl inside the thing and live in it and breathe it. If you can do that, you can pick up the art factor. Then you can master it.
One of my favorite scientists is Barbara McClintock. McClintock was a biologist who made startling discoveries that scientists are still ignoring today, 50 years later.
McClintock discovered that DNA, the helix that contains the instructions for assembling your body, is intelligent. It has the ability to re-engineer itself on the fly – in fact it’s literally pre-programmed to re-program itself. This discovery was so radical that they thought she was crazy at the time and her insights are mostly dismissed even now. But McClintock was perhaps the first to understand that living things are organized by information.
The title of her biography “A Feeling for the Organism” refers to her ability to seemingly crawl down through her microscope and get inside the cell – not just observing what was visible, but what was implied.
Forty years later she claimed the Nobel Prize for science.
What world are YOU able to crawl inside of? Can you crawl inside your customers’ minds that way? Can you imagine you’re a web page, readers listening as you talk to them and you know how they’re answering back? Can you become so absorbed with your customers that you become one with them?
Whatever microscope is so fascinating to you that you can crawl down inside it and imagine yourself living down there – if it’s an audience that has money to give – that’s the way you’re gonna make a million dollars.
Will “absolutely anybody” be able to do what you do? Not on your life. You can’t buy marketing for your business on a showroom floor the way you buy a car. USP’s don’t just roll off assembly lines every 45 seconds. There will be few who can rival you. And nobody will be able to sell somebody a road map to your pot of gold for $49.95 either.
If I could encourage you in any way possible, it would be this: To be patient with yourself as you explore and unfold the unique giftings that you alone possess, and to wrap those gifts and talents into your products, the services you offer, and your marketing, so that NO ONE can knock you off.
The world will richly reward you for fulfilling that vision.
There are plenty of cubicle drones and paint-by-numbers people in the world… I hope you’ll aspire to put out some of your own original pizzazz, put your own fingerprints on what you do. Do the thing that you alone can do.
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone definitely is inspiring and worth reading.
The author’s main point deserves recognition: Most success comes after a LOT more investment of energy, time and resources than we expect at the outset. I’m reminded of Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols basketball coach; in one of her books she wrote something to the effect of, “We will win because we will out-work you.”
In my experience, an equally big question is, “How will you spend your time?”
You can work ten times as hard as your competition, but you can still suffer mediocrity when you (a) choose a goal that’s not in line with your strengths and values, (b) take action that will not lead you to your goal or (c) take actions that *would* lead you to a realistic goal but botch the execution.
The late Lynn Grabhorn, author of Excuse Me Your Life Is Waiting, warned against the danger of what she called “heigh-ho silvering,” dashing around taking action without reflecting on the purpose of all that activity. It is all to easy to mistake “keeping busy” for “accomplishing actions that lead to goals.”
I’d have expected Cardone to talk more about focus and setting priorities *before* entering into massive activity. Cardone hints at the need for identifying appropriate goals but focuses more on numbers and action.
In all fairness, this focus is reasonable. I’ve heard several coaches say, “Most people know *what* to do and how to do it, but they won’t take the actions they know they need.” Still, I’ve seen people fail because they’re totally inexperienced or naive about the “how” as well as the “what.”
Cardone points out that commitment to success includes a “whatever it takes” clause, but not everyone understands what that means. He suggests cutting out television, oversleeping, and similar activities, but there’s a finer line when it comes to working out or spending time on recreational activities to recharge your batteries. Some people work best as distance runners while others get there as sprinters.
Finally, Cardone emphasizes taking control of one’s environment. I strongly agree with his response to challenging situations. Ask, “What could I do to keep this from happening again?” and focus on how to respond. He offers some good suggestions for writing down goals – nothing really new, but requires some determination.
Some readers will be disturbed by Cardone’s approach to marketing. Do an excellent job of increasing your customer volume and good customer service will follow naturally. We all know companies and services that market themselves brilliantly but fail to deliver at the same level. Sadly, some inferior products and services succeed because they were marketed so well; Cardone cites the common example of Apple vs Microsoft.
I definitely agree with Cardone’s suggestion to spend time with successful people, as it’s easy to get deflected by criticism and disparaging remarks. However, I was amused by his suggestion to ignore criticism.
Despite these comments, I am actively recommending this book to colleagues and Facebook friends. The author’s energy is contagious. His “take no prisoners” attitude to success will inspire many readers. Click here to order via my Amazon link.