I was on a Live Cast a few years ago where the host asked one question of each of the 30+ guests she had on it and we had to respond in 5 minutes or less:
“What is one shift you made in your business that allowed you to multiply your wealth without sacrificing you?”
Good question. I encourage you to answer it for yourself and feel free to share your response with me.
I purposely did not prepare my answer in advance…I thought spontaneity would be my friend…and I was right.
Pro tip: Sometimes no preparation can be an asset, especially on live interviews where you are speaking from your heart and you are not making make or break decisions…and anything you say can be reversed. It can lead to new and profound truths rather than old and tired scripts.
On the other hand, the credo of “dare to prepare” is still dominant when running your business.
I came up with TWO shifts, on the spot and live.
One from each of my two careers…at Boardroom Inc (where I spent 34 years) and Titans Marketing (where I have spent close to 11).
They were different shifts, as you might imagine.
Boardroom was a $100 million plus company for most of the time I was there, running all the marketing and being involved with all aspects of running a company with 80+ employees.
Including making payroll, hiring and firing, inventory (we sold physical products believe it or not) and much more (both in my wheelhouse and not in my wheelhouse).
I thrived when I was working within my “unique ability” (a term “owned” by entrepreneur coach Dan Sullivan); and I persevered when I was not as comfortable.
Titans Marketing has never been more than a $2 million company with a staff of 3…with everything else outsourced.
But with all the differences, there is one constant with both shifts: People.
How I look for them, find them, and treat them in the context of work…and play.
There are always positive results when you surround yourself with greatness; and there will be many more pitfalls when you settle for mediocrity or do things you aren’t equipped (or enjoy) doing yourself.
Below, in written form, is what I shared on the Live Cast.
I talked without taking a breath (not unusual for me), almost keeping to time constraints.
It was kind of like accepting an Academy Award while music played in the background, telling me to get off the stage (i.e., screen) …without receiving an award, of course 🙂
My biggest shift at Boardroom to adding wealth without sacrifice
This one happened early on…and got more developed as the years went on…and it relates to how I hired marketing people to fill all positions.
They had to have the ability to be “doublers” (and looking back, I was really looking for “triplers” or “quadruplers,” those two latter terms I think I have I made up).
The formal definition of a “doubler”:
“An electronic device that doubles the voltage or the frequency of an input signal”
Not exactly what I had in mind when I was hiring my future staff…but closer than I ever would have imagined.
What I had in mind was another definition I heard for a “doubler” …that is, someone who could play two instruments (or more) in the pit of an orchestra for a Broadway musical, due to space limitations…while still being world’s best on all the instruments they play.
And if they double voltage or frequency, all the better.
Digging into The Google further, I found my preferred definition of doublers sourced to orchestras in 16th century Vienna…so it’s not slang.
What I had in mind during the interview process for new members of the Boardroom orchestra/marketing team was whether they could pivot easily (“pivot” being the word of the year for marketers and other workers during the pandemic…I was ahead of my time). 🙂
“Pivot” defined in this case is how they could move seamlessly and be able to market, oversee creative, buy media, in completely different arenas…with different kinds of copy and design, in diversified media, online and offline.
Before there was an Internet, “doubling” was satisfactory…but as advertising opportunities went from finite to infinite, just having two skill sets was not enough…and I was looking for skill sets that didn’t even exist yet.
I guess that is what led me to the words “triplers” and “quadruplers”…whether I invented them or not… and invention is overrated anyway.
But attribution is not overrated, so if you know who invented those words, please let me know and I will give them their due.
Looking back, I didn’t even realize the exponential shift I ended up experiencing…and it has stayed with me for decades.
Or maybe I just didn’t know what I was doing.
But it worked.
By using the 7 things to look for when hiring a copywriter (which I realized were also the 7 things to look for when hiring a marketer)—and seeing how candidates could combine many of the “magnificent 7″—ended up doubling our revenue and tripled our profit once we began marketing online and on TV with infomercials.
Click on any of the links above for the backstory on infinite advertising opportunities/the dangers of one-stop shopping, the “7 traits,” and the story of how we mastered infomercials (for 3 glorious years).
Here is how hiring quadruplers paid off when we got into the infomercial business:
- Our direct mail planners moved to buying TV media easily and quickly under the direction of outside TV media buyers
- Our creative team (and copywriters) figured out the most efficient ways to convert printed content into scripts
- Our analytic (and finance) teams learned the language of infomercials faster than you can say M.E.R. (Media Efficiency Ratio). ROI and ROAS are the same thing…only different. 🙂
It wasn’t a simple pivot, but the orchestra pit we built was ready for anything, anytime…and the company not only doubled in revenue and tripled in profit, but we achieved that with no additions to staff.
Gotta love those doublers, triplers and quadruplers.
My biggest shift at Titans Marketing to adding wealth without sacrifice
As I began my second career…to follow Jay Abraham’s sage advice to begin teaching what I had learned (and done) over 34 years…I shifted into “retirement mode while working full time,” working smarter rather than harder…and using additional sage advice from the aforementioned Dan Sullivan, the top coach for entrepreneurs in the world.
The shift was not solely about going from a company with lots of staff and complexities to one with little staff and simplicity.
Nor was the key shift going from a business-to-consumer model (i.e., Boardroom sold to and reached tens of millions of consumers with its products) to a business-to-business model (i.e., Titans Marketing coaches and educates a select number companies run by blue chip marketing and copywriting entrepreneurs).
Those are still both significant shifts…but the umbrella which encompassed both was “creating non-negotiables” which I have talked about before.
The first thing I did when I incorporated Titans Marketing LLC, was to make three columns on a piece of paper…actually it was on a white board at a WeWork location in New York City, with a brilliant and trusted confidant of mine at the time.
- Column One: What are the things I don’t like to do when I am “working?”
- Column Two: What are the things that I am not good at? (i.e., “Things I suck at” if you want to say it with gusto)
- Column Three: Who do I not want to hang around with (staff and clients) in my new business? This included specific people (sorry…no names mentioned here); and types of people (e.g., those who cross over my red line, moving from confidence to arrogance).
Basically, these three columns mirror Dan Sullivan’s definition of retirement…while working as a full-time entrepreneur.
While I am not 100% “free” of everything covered in those three columns, I am most of the time.
And having a copy of that whiteboard in my office staring me in the face every day, I know when I am out of integrity on any one of those non-negotiables…and then I must think about it…with the goal of getting out of jail quickly.
That’s what I have defined as, “Giving a sh*t about my shifts.”
And I did not invent that play on words…it’s been used many times in the past…but it fit nicely into the premise of this post.
One thing I will never shift from is giving attribution rather than taking credit.
Reminder: I’m still looking for who I can attribute “triplers” and “quadruplers” to…
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. Another unexpected shift that was exceptionally “shi*ty” was experiencing a near fatal stroke in April of 2019.
I don’t mention this for you to feel sorry for me…but rather as inspiration to keep on keeping on…and it’s not over until it’s over.
And it so happens that this past week and weekend is “The Day of the Dead” (in Mexico), a not-morbid celebration of remembrance I celebrate every day of the year.
The bottom line is that I’m still here…to entertain you every Sunday morning…and if not, know that I am still entertaining myself. 🙂
By the end of 2019 I was back in the saddle with my “Back from the Dead Tour” culminating when I appeared on an all-star panel at the Genius Network Annual Event (where I am headed this week once again so it is top of mind).
Billed as “The Greatest Copywriting Panel Ever Assembled” (or whatever hyperbole was put on it), all I know is that it was an honor to participate (despite not being a copywriter myself).
I’m no longer a copywriter wannabe but compared to who was on the panel with, I was a lightweight.
Here is a link to that presentation/panel…no opt in, no charge…courtesy of the genius behind Genius Network (and my friend for a quarter of a century), Joe Polish.
Hmmm…maybe it was a form of nepotism that got me on this panel.
You can decide for yourself.
But I know you will learn a lot by watching it.
Click here.
And enjoy.