The most important thing I want to do for my last post of 2014 is to wish you a happy and healthy New Year…one filled with love all around you…one that has endless opportunities for you to learn and grow…and a year where you will never put gratefulness on a back burner.
Whether you have been on my list from the beginning (Valentine’s Day) or if you have just opted in, I love that you are here…I appreciate the opportunity to connect with you through meaningful posts (almost weekly!)…and I am grateful to learn from all of you as I share the lessons I’ve learned over the past three decades in the “marketing wars.”
My plan is to take all of my posts since the beginning…once we hit Valentine’s Day 2015…and put them into a book that I will make available for free. Looking forward to getting that to all of you in the first half of 2015.
And in a couple of weeks, I will have the full “package” created so you can purchase the DVD’s from “the event of the decade” (according to Dan Kennedy), “Titans of Direct Response.”
The package will include many of the best giveaways from the event…giveaways that I spent in excess of $50,000 to create.
And you, as my loyal readers, will get the absolute best price…before I take it to the outside world.
I also want to tell you how incredible it’s been to interact with many of you over the past year.
Your feedback and the lessons you have sent back to me is what has made this endeavor so rewarding.
And the best is yet to come in 2015.
One quick story to end the year with an important theme:
I had the honor of spending a week in Paris earlier this month (that’s Paris, France, not Texas)…I was asked to speak to a group of up-and-coming French entrepreneurs…and as I took the stage with a translator at my side, 400 people waiting for this ugly American to say something of substance, I asked the group three questions:
1) “How many of you have a huge mission or vision you want to fulfill on in your life?”
Most of the folks in the room raised their hands…
2) “How many of you never raise your hands at a seminar?”
I think those who didn’t raise their hand to the first question raised it here…well, most of them…
3) “How many of you would like to reach millions with that mission or vision?”
Now I think I got them ALL to raise their hands…finally…
I then told them when I was planning my speech, I didn’t know whether I should speak about “personal development” or if I should simply talk about direct marketing.
But I told them that I quickly realized I needed to talk about BOTH…because no matter how big their mission is and how much passion they have for that mission, if they don’t spend time focusing on marketing, they won’t be able to make as big a difference in world.
I think most of these French entrepreneurs knew this…but I would be doing them a disservice if I didn’t focus on it.
This seems fairly obvious…but unfortunately there are heart-based entrepreneurs everywhere who believe that their mission is so pure and so important, it’s only a matter of time before everyone will hear about it…and them…
And some of those same entrepreneurs even see marketing as “evil” or something that can never be consistent with their mission.
I never want anyone to sell or position their product or service in a way that makes them uncomfortable or makes them feel they are marketing without integrity. But I also don’t want them waiting around for something to happen when I know it’s up to them to make it happen.
Since I have so many new people on this list, I want to share an earlier post I did after speaking to a group of entrepreneurs who are NOT experienced marketers…
I called it, “Graduating Last at Harvard Medical School” and it goes into more detail regarding why marketing is critical to every mission even if you don’t want to do the marketing yourself.
Knowing that I receive a lot more feedback on these posts when they are about softer topics other than marketing, I intentionally merge the woo-woo stuff with more hands-on marketing advice to make sure we never lose sight of the fact that without marketing, nothing happens.
And while I am pretty sure that folks come to blogs like mine for the “information,” I’m also pretty sure they stay for the “inspiration.”
I hope I have inspired you in some way over the past year; and please know that you have all inspired me so much.
I can’t thank you enough.
As we move into 2015, I am so excited about the possibilities…there has never been a more exciting time to be in marketing.
In addition, I never thought I would meet so many amazing new friends as a result of this weekly e-mail and from organizing the “Titans of Direct Response” event…my limiting belief was that I was too old to make new friends.
I won’t make that mistake again…
Until next week/next year,
Brian
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