The fastest path to 10,000 hour Jedi Master
Last week I blogged about becoming a 10,000 hour master. Getting in the 10,000 hours that makes you a world-class, bad-ass, 6-7 figures Marketing Jedi Master.
A guy asked: “Doing some figuring here, estimating. At 40 hrs/week and 50 weeks a year, 10,000 hours is 5 years! My credit card isn’t that big!!! Are there any shortcuts?”
I replied:
Yes. Get a client.
You don’t have to be a 10,000 hour master to do comparatively outstanding marketing for a flower shop, a restaurant, or a manufacturer of rubber gaskets.
Everybody has a friend who is a business owner who knows his marketing sucks and needs help.
In MOST industries, a mere “500 hour master” is considerably above average. You can get 500 hours just by dabbling part-time for a year! I bet MOST people reading this already have 500 hours. Even the newbies.
Remember:
“In the land of the blind, the man with one eye gets to be king.”
In just about any endeavor, the secret is getting PAID a living wage to log your 10,000 hours. If you have a flower shop client, a restaurant client and a rubber gasket manufacturer, you can pay your bills working 20 hours a week and you can spend the other 20 hours tackling whatever kind of advanced marketing project or pie-in-the-sky endeavor you want.
You’ll never become a Jedi marketing master just by working for a local flower shop. Just like you’ll never become Eddie Van Halen playing guitar for radio jingles.
But if you’re “in the business” and playing your guitar every single day you inevitably find opportunities to try your hand at the tough assignments. Some of which fall in your lap “by accident.”
By the way… one of the ways to acquire advanced marketing skills is to simply hone your chops discovering how to attract clients in the first place.
Personally I think the best thing about working with clients is the range of experiences you acquire and the number of situations you see.
Eddie Van Halen is a rock guitarist but he’s probably performed just about everything: Classical, Flamenco, Blues, Jazz, Eastern music. And, I betcha a dollar, even Country.
Doing just one thing gets b-o-r-i-n-g. Dabbling in all kinds of other things, that’s fun. Perfect for the addictive ADHD personality, doncha think? Perfect preparation for life as a Serial Entrepreneur.
As I was writing, it just occurred to me:
Every single person who’s presenting at my Maui AdWords Summit is a Jedi master because they’ve had a bunch of clients.
-Jonathan Mizel has personally worked with over 100 companies, doing both consulting and hands-on marketing projects.
-Richard Stokes has direct access to more Google data than any other person or company besides Google themselves. I guarantee he knows more about Google than any Google employee most of us have ever talked to.
-Bryan Todd has personally been in and out of more than 300 AdWords accounts and worked on everything from “learning Chinese” to the insides of my own business.
-Glenn Livingston did corporate market research for AT&T, American Express, Chase Bank, Citibank, Colgate-Palmolive, Hallmark, Whirlpool, Exxon, Ford, General Mills, Kodak, Kraft, Lipton, M & M Mars, Master Card, Merck, Panasonic, Novartis, P & G, Pfizer, Pillsbury, Sara Lee, Unilever and Nextel.
Then he went on to build his own profitable websites in 20 different niches.
Then he founded Rocket Clicks which is one of the world’s premier PPC companies. He just launched a profitable, brand-new website in the weight loss market – BRUTAL.
-Donovan Kovar has done work for dozens of companies from Real Estate to computer hardware.
-Shelley Ellis has had at least 50 clients and maybe more. She keeps a running log book of “experiments I want to try on the Content Network.” Last night on our Content Network Boot Camp call I mentioned something and she said, “I’m adding that to my list right now.”
-Amit Mehta has experimented in hundreds of markets, built multiple, multi-million dollar affiliate campaigns and now is a coach to thousands of affiliates. He has access to REAMS of data few people would ever be privy to.
Perhaps the best thing about the Summit is you get to literally “Hang Out” with these folks in warm, verdant Maui Hawaii. I really do mean “hang out.” As in sit on the patio with Glenn or Richard with a glass of iced tea and pick their brain.
It is also priced to be a small seminar. And a no-brainer investment for anyone who’s spending more than five grand a month on traffic. Max 100 people.
If you’re a marketing maniac and if you want to be so talented, so in-demand that you could never be without a lucrative opportunity… if you want to be in the top 2% income bracket of all consultants – walk in the footsteps of these guys. Do what they did.
Your journey to 10,000 hour Jedi Master will be more fun and adventure than anything else.
Perry Marshall
About the Author
Entrepreneur Magazine says: "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax."
He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.
Last 5 Posts by Perry
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You know, Perry… you used to talk a lot about drinking pink coolaid.
I’m curious to see if you’ll admit to doling out your own brand of pink coolaid – this right here being a stiff dose of it.
Of course, I don’t really mind drinking it, since it resonates with every fiber of my being. And, of course, that is the whole point, right?
We joke about this sort of thing in our office actually. “The Perry Kool-aid.”
Am I saying, “Study under these people and do similar things they do and you’ll be successful?”
Yes, I am.
If your passions and your giftedness make you fascinated in this and equipped to do this kind of work, then I think that’s a pretty safe thing to say.
Note that I am not giving you a 17 step system and saying it’s a Yellow Brick Road That Cannot Fail. You have to find the clients, manage the client relationships, and build your chops. You need to choose the markets that make sense for you and there’s a lot of self discovery in that.
I am extremely wary of the dangers of giving people alleged “Yellow Brick Roads” because I well know, that’s what people want and I am ALWAYS suspect of cookie-cutter businesses. I think you’ll agree, I don’t really do that. I say, ‘here are some tools you’ll need and I’ll teach you how to use them. But you have to put together the big picture yourself.’
Thanks for the “diggs” Perry.
I do have 10,000 hours under my belt online, and I tell my students and clients this.
My friend, who is master-craftsman, says, “that’s what happens when you give your life to something.”
But would you expect anything less from the airplane pilot that flies your plane, or the surgeon that operates on you, or the guy who packs your shoot? I think not!
Being excellent at something requires sacrifice, time and discipline – and from my perspective, it’s all worth it.
I’ll see you all in Maui!
Donovan
Thanks, Perry. That distinction actually does make me feel better.
Every time I read one of your emails about winning at being an entrepreneur and becoming a consultant, I’m eating it up with one half of my mind, while the other half is going “He’s doing it again! Telling me exactly what I want to hear! Look away!”
You’re right – that is a difference between you and the biz ops.
And honestly, your emails really are helpful and encouraging. Nearly none of my friends understand why I’m working so much harder at starting a business – even the ones who are unemployed or unhappy with their jobs.
By the way, my mom got involved in a new MLM called Nu-Skin against my strong advice to the contrary. They sell some kind of electronic galvanic spa or somesuch. She’s going to conventions once a month and they sell their product via Mary Kay-style parties. Much to my surprise, she’s really enjoying herself and says she’s making money at it. In fact, she’s mentioned, more than once, being pleased with the amount of her commission checks.
Ok, then. If she’s happy, then all’s well.
Thanks again, Perry. Merry Christmas!
Patrick,
WHEN the MLM company collapses in upon itself, your mother will be having less fun.
Remind her that it’s 99% a WHEN it will fail and not IF.
Unless your Mom is at the top top top of the company, she is constantly in danger of the home company doing something dirt stupid and killing her income. And making a lot of money does not count as being at the top.