Robert Kiyosaki says unless something makes you money when you’re NOT doing it, it’s not an asset, it’s a liability.
Have you ever walked away from short-term money because you knew it would cause long-term problems?
When I was slaving away in my Dilbert cube, $ was tight. One of my friends in the business offered me a job in Pennsylvania. Taking that job would mean six figures instead of five and PA is a lot cheaper than Chicago.
I decided to stay where it was at, and simply enjoy the offer as a nice compliment. I drilled my roots deeper.
A couple of years later I did a consulting gig for that company, and saw how things were on the inside. Man am I ever glad I did not take that job! That company was a MESS.
Imagine what it would be like to move 600 miles, then later, realize you’ve made a massive mistake?
All that glitters is not gold. And one thing I’ve never regretted is consistently betting on the long-distance runners over the sprinters. Eventually you get tired of constantly “chasing deals” and you just want to do something that builds the equity in your business.
I can’t think of anything less glamorous than improving your connection with customers via email. But I also can’t think of any asset more lucrative long-term than an open invitation from those on your list to enter their email box any time you have something to say.
Autoresponder Boot Camp kicks off tomorrow: http://www.perrymarshall.com/arbc
*There’s a vital magic ingredient that you need to make AR’s work*
I always admonish people to build AR sequences. But there’s a big “IF” that you have to be aware of.
Last year at our Maui summit, Jonathan Mizel said, “The common advice everyone gives you is to offer a free report, but most people don’t want to read most peoples’ free report. It’s BORING. If you don’t write something that people WANT to read, it’s worthless.”
BINGO. Likewise, a string of 10 boring AR messages just trains your readers to ignore you.
A string of 10 emotionally provocative messages peppered with surprises trains your readers to sit up and pay attention.
AR’s aren’t really all that valuable until they have that magic ingredient that makes people want to sit up and read.
In the last AR Boot Camp, one member had started out as a refugee from Cuba years ago. In fact he almost died on the way to Florida. This story sort of tumbled out in one of the group coaching sessions.
Prior to this he had never perceived this story as a business asset. He’d just been talking to his customers about buying Cuban dress shirts.
Man, what an incredible asset! He increased the equity of his business 10% just by working that story into his funnel.
The first session of AR Boot Camp starts tomorrow, and the most important thing we’ll show you is how to create that magic:
http://www.perrymarshall.com/arbc
Perry
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
2 Comments on “Fast money vs. Building Assets”
cuban dress shirts… reminds me of my all time favorite ad copy:
“The Otavalo Mountain shirt.
What’s so good about this shirt is what it is not.
It’s not this week’s fashion statement.
It’s the real thing: the actual cotton workshirt actually worn (and actually made) by the actual mountain people of Otavalo, Ecuador. For about the past four centuries.
The tiny wrinkles and creases in the fabric guarantee that you will look neither starched nor disheveled. You will look merely at ease.
You will also look just a tiny bit interesting; a little more so for every mile more distant from Otavalo you happen to find yourself.
(Seven pintucks on either side of the four-button front placket, gathers at the back yoke, shoulders and cuffs. Faintly swashbuckling.)
Men will look broad-shouldered, brave, and secretly kind. Their female friends will encourage them to go without shaving for a few days.
Women will look narrow-waisted, innocent (but with a hint of wildness) when wearing it with trousers. Worn with a soft skirt and a wide belt? That’s another matter entirely. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Otavalo Mountain Shirt (No. 1003).”
Lessons I take from this and try to put in my autoresponders:
1) The reason most people can’t think of anything to write about is because there’s nothing interesting about their product. Dangit.
2) Creating something interesting in your product almost always starts with learning your craft at a masterful level. Double Dangit! (Don’t fret – you only have to do three things right to be in the top 1% – three wacks of 80/20 right?)
3) Once a master, the interest from your clients will be equal to your ability to show to them – by living example, not adjectives – what will be true about their lives after having purchased your product that isn’t true now.
Men will look broad shouldered, brave, and secretly kind? My wife will encourage me to go without shaving for a few days?
My wife is going to look narrow-waisted and innocent with a hint of wildness?
He doesn’t want to spoil the surprise of what it does when she wears it with a skirt????????!!!!!!!
Gutsy & Detailed. And the whole thing exudes authority because in your lizard brain you’re thinking “how in the world would he know this stuff if he really didn’t know all this stuff?” = Lizard Brain Authority Figure.
But, how to apply to businesses that sell stuff that isn’t so easily romanticized??? 64K Question.
Here’s my go-to answer:
Brainstorm, write, define, refine, and perfect your core syllogism. (Syllogism means deductive reasoning rather than inductive… a factual discussion that ends with “and thus we see that…”
Hall of Fame Example from “The Spark Plug Ad”:
Your car runs because gasoline is fed into the cylinders where a spark causes it to fire. This action causes the gas to explode – this explosion pushes down the piston.
The larger this spark is, the more powerful the explosion. The more powerful the explosion, the more power you get from a given amount of gasoline.
Poor explosion means wasted gas – loss of power, poor getaway, bad starting, a sluggish car.
Good explosion means more miles per gallon, more horsepower, blazing pickup, instant starting, an exciting car to drive!”
Anyone imagining the transition to begin selling his spark plug – that oh by the way just so happens to have the biggest spark around – is going to be a problem?
Anyway… autoresponders are your main source of Lizard Brain Authority – “How would this guy know all this stuff, if he really doesn’t know all this stuff?”.
Master your craft, cherish the details. And for heaven’s sake – man up and tell them exactly how their life will be different once they’ve bought what you’re selling!
And on a personal and completely unaffiliated note – I think you’re exactly 116 times more likely to get somewhere meaningful with your follow up if you sign up for Perry & John’s autoresponder bootcamp.
Good Night and will the last person leaving Seattle – Please Turn Out The Lights!
~Nick
bravo!