A few weeks ago one of my emails really HACKED OFF one of my customers.
He replied back:
Perry,
I’m fed up of receiving emails like these. Actually I’m fed up of being on lists like these. Actually, what I’m really fed up with is still needing to be on lists like these..
I’ve done more things than I can even remember, including the Internet Marketing Advanced Mentoring program, being a Google Advertising Professional. I’ve been on Tellman and Shaun’s List Pro’s program, I’ve had a lame attempt at Frank Kern’s Mass Control, and yes, for a short while I was even on Perry Marshall’s Bobsled run, gladiator club etc.. [but whilst working for a company other respected people have interestingly described as utterly dysfunctional]
I’ve been a Royal Marines Commando, a computer technician, and IT manager, a Chief Technology Officer, and have run my own business moderately successfully – I LOVE technology, and LOVE the internet – it’s an amazing tool. I’m also a member of Mensa – but feel really dumb sometimes.
How can a relatively smart guy, still be getting it so wrong? How come I’m not rich? In fact, not only am I not rich, I’m flat broke now.
What can a broke bloke do – who won’t give up, but if he’s honest – can’t truthfully see what he’s getting wrong? Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent well over $100k pursuing Internet Marketing success. And failed.
Here’s the thing – of all the guys I’ve paid attention to, like Bob Proctor, Paul Martinelli, Frank Kern, Tellman Knudson, the Stomper.net guys, Rich Shefren, and some less well known ones.. – you seem to be the most sensible – kind of ‘real’. I’m not actually sure what it is, even though it’s recognizable.
Perry – is there a chance you would do a deal – something along the lines of ‘I promise to do *exactly* what you tell me – and pay you most of the money I earn until the cost of training is covered’. (This doesn’t mean I’m docile by any means – I’m relentlessly enthusiastic and love to create and do and learn.. and challenge.. and explore..)
You’re probably laughing – I know that sounds insane, and you probably get asked that all the time. But I’m really not your ordinary guy – you can ask my friends :^)
I will do whatever it takes – I just don’t know what that is right now.. but I do think you can help.
Well, hopefully this will reach you Perry. Hopefully you won’t laugh too hard..
Best regards,
[Mr. X]
Wow. I seldom get emails that honest.
Even so, this sort of thing is at least somewhat more common than most of us would like to admit.
I wanted to talk to him on the phone and see if I could figure out what the problem was. I had Denise set up a 15 minute appointment for us to talk.
And my, what a fascinating conversation we had.
You can click to listen to it here (12 minutes), or read the transcript below:
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Transcript of “$100,000 and nothing to show for it”
Perry: Hello Mr. X, how are you doing today?
Mr. X: I’m doing great, thank you. I hope you’re expecting my call?
Perry: Yes, I am.
Mr. X: Good.
Perry: So what would you like to accomplish today?
Mr. X: Well, actually I was really surprised to read the reply from you and Denise, that you were curious as to why I hadn’t achieved success, especially with my background.You’re very kind, which I really appreciate, by the way, Perry. I know you’re very, very busy, but your kind office talked to me and that kind of spurred me into figuring out exactly what was really going on.
Perry: Okay, that’s part of the goal, I guess.
Mr. X: Well, I think I’ve done it. I don’t think it’s anything more complicated than I just haven’t stuck with anything long enough for it to become successful. I realize that I love learning. I love exploring. Technology has always fascinated me, and I’ve done so many things.
I think that’s the problem. I just do so many things and I haven’t really focused on one thing and then disciplined myself to stick with it, because you know what it’s like on the internet. We can find things that in the moment is the best thing, but then you know a month later there’s going to be something that’s better.
I cannot keep glomming onto the latest and the greatest, and it’s just been killing me for years. So actually I’m being spurred on by this conversation. I looked around and then I just chose something that fitted all my kind of qualities and all my passions, and I just made a decision, and it was a huge relief to do that.
It’s kind of like all the problems just disappeared. It seems really, really good. I made up my mind that this is it and I’m just going to stick it. No changing until it works. I think that was it really, as crazy as it sounds.
Perry: Do you have this pattern in other areas of your life?
Mr. X: Yes.
Probably in all of them, including two marriages and lots of jobs.
It’s when the challenge isn’t there, when I’m not learning anymore and there’s nothing new, I kind of move on. It’s neat to learn, to be constantly stimulated. I love exploring stuff. I love learning new things, not because of the outcome, just because of the learning experience.
Of course that isn’t getting me what I want. It’s not getting me the results in terms of income and fulfillment and satisfaction, so I’m going to stop doing that, I think. I’m anxious to know what you think.
Perry: Well, obviously I don’t know you at all, but it sounds like a pretty coherent interpretation of what’s going on. I think driving your stake into the ground and being not just willing but even interested in driving that stake deeper and deeper and deeper is a really rewarding thing.
Maybe you could relate to something that I do. I mean I’m just like you and everybody else. I think that probably people who are on my email list and newsletters and different things are all like that. They’re curious. That might be one of the biggest things right there, curious, intellectually stimulated, active, thinking, exploring people, right?They’ve all got a touch of ADD. I mean that’s just normal. I’m the same way. That’s why we’re all attracted to each other.
The whole Google AdWords thing, that’s a stake that I’ve just pounded into the ground deeper and deeper and deeper.
Some of it’s admittedly even a certain degree of paranoia, like this is a good identify to have in the world and I don’t want to lose it, so let’s see what else can we do here? “Oh okay, I think I’ll publish a bookstore book.” Well, that took a year, more than that actually, and now we’re doing a second edition.
So that’s the stake, and I’m like married to it, right? I’m married to it. But on the other hand, I’m constantly exploring all kinds of other things and talking about all kinds of other things too. They all just eventually circle back around, so that it’s still consistent.
I mean if you go read my blog over the last three months, there’s some rabbit trails that go very, very far into all kinds of other areas, so I guess all I’m saying is you can do both.You can be completely committed to one thing and you can just make sure that all of the other things that you explore somehow connect or support the first thing.
I think that’s a pretty good success formula for building something long term, yet not getting bored.
Mr. X: Yeah, and I think that’s what’s been missing really, because I’ve done the exploring thing in widely different contexts. It’s not just technology, it’s been genetics and science and physics – because all these things fascinate me and I’m very fortunate to be pretty smart at a lot of these things – but there’s been no common connection.I’ve just been jumping all over the place, whereas like you said, with a commitment to like a central stake and hooking up these other things within the context of that and looking for that connection, that’s the thing that’s been missing, so I’ve just been all over the place really.
What I’ve really seen in the past couple of weeks is I’ve just sat back and really thought about what’s been going on – you know, looked back at my life really, looked for the patterns, like you said.
The first thing I thought is like, “Where is this happening in my life? It’s happening everywhere actually.”
Perry: I want to ask a favor of you. When the call started I turned on the MP3 recorder, because I’m just in the habit of doing that for consulting calls. How would you feel if I edited it such that nobody could tell your identity and use your email that you originally sent and this and post it, because I think a lot of people struggle with this.
Mr. X: Oh, I’m sure it’s a massive problem. It’s easy to see that.
Perry: Yeah, and it’s exacerbated by kind of the Hollywood values of the world. It’s like boy falls in love with girl, they live happily ever after, and it only took an hour and 43 minutes, right? And so life becomes this adrenaline addiction of sorts, and it’s just like one hit after another. It’s a form of addiction.
Mr. X: I think we get sucked into this, all this opportunity of the world, where we’re jumping from one opportunity to the next. Yeah, it’s a killer. It’s killed me.I actually came to see you, Perry, in Chicago. You did the boot camp thing the year before last. I was working for [employer] at the time. Of course he coaches a lot of people on success.
I built a very close relationship with him. I did all his programs and I think the biggest thing out of all the things that you can coach people on, the biggest thing is making that committed decision and sticking with it. It doesn’t matter what you do really, as long as it’s a smart sensible choice, it’s sticking with it.
It hit me between the eyes when I looked back. It’s exactly the one thing I haven’t been doing, because I get so excited with all this stuff because it just fascinates me. I love it, but there’s no longevity to it, you don’t get the option to become an expert or an authority or build a reputation. You’re just all over the place.
Perry: I think you’re right. When I was in high school, we read Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that book.
Mr. X: I know the book. I’ve never read it though.
Perry: Thoreau had a lot of great things to say about a lot of things. One of the things that he said was, “As long as possible, live free and uncommitted.”I was not brought up in that mindset. We were like writing papers about this and discussing it in class, and I decided – I remember this, I was 17 – I kind of flipped that around and what I decided that I believed was, “As soon as possible, commit yourself to worthwhile things.”You know, that has been a very good mindset.
I put a guest editorial in my newsletter this past month by Dan Kennedy, where he was talking about how every entrepreneur looks across the fence at the other entrepreneurs’ grass and it’s greener, and we wish we were in some other business.
He was talking specifically about how before the banking crash, a lot of people were looking at their friends in real estate or Wall Street or whatever and going, “Those guys are making a killing, and I’m sitting here turning this crank. Yeah, I’m making money but it’s not really good,” right?
He was like, “Dude, it’s always messier and uglier close up than it is from far away.”
If you are in a bad business, then find a way to get out, but if you’re in a decent business, then make the decent business great.
Mr. X: Absolutely, yeah.
Perry: Well, this is awesome material. I’m glad that we talked today. What I’d like to do is I’ll have it transcribed and we’ll edit it and I’d like to put it out there for people to listen to.
Mr. X: Absolutely, because I’m sure there are a lot of people – I know there are because I’ve met a lot of them – who are in the same position. I don’t know what it is, but for me it was the prospect of the conversation with you that kind of spurred me really to just take that little extra step, and that’s all it took really. Yeah, it’s brilliant, so I want to thank you for that.
Perry: Well, good. I want to encourage you in what you’re doing. I hope to hear from you in a few months or something and let me know how you’re doing. I’ll definitely use this I think, for lots of people.
Mr. X: It’s actually great, and would make a great blog post. I love your emails. They’re about the best I get actually. I did as you said and unsubscribed from a lot of others, but I keep yours because they’re great.
Perry: Well, thank you. I love to hear that. I hope it continues to be worthy of people’s time.
Mr. X: Thank you for your time. I know how valuable it is. I really appreciate it.
Perry: Okay, Mr. X, thank you.
Mr. X: You have a great day.
Perry: You too.
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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.
72 Comments on “$100,000 and nothing to show for it”
The beauty of the internet – not only is there much to gain from the original post, but there is so much wisdom in many of the follow up posts as well.
I’m itching to get this out to my subscriber-base.
I have been and still am in Mr. X’s shoes. Not focused on one or two things and jumping from one latest and greatest product to another.
However after many years of online marketing I’m finally able to focus on selling my domains (120) because they require too much work!
So I’m building them up in traffic, revenue and email subscribers with lots of time, effort and money.
So that’s it. Focus, commit and plan. Mr. X is a doer, but you need to make absolutely sure you aren’t going down a dead end alley.
You need to know what people want enough that they will pull out their wallet and then work it till it screams stop!
I find most newbies not willing to work or spend any money and then they cry or yell that this is a scam or internet marketing doesn’t work. Planned failure.
My two cents worth. Thanks for the honest conversation!
Perry,
The study-everything-and-do-nothing is akin to throwing 1000 keywords into a google account and hopping you’ll make a million bucks from doing it. When the truth is you gotta find your 20% (or 5% as Rocketclicks says) and build a while conversion system around that.
Find a niche, and go deep, deep, deep with it. That’s what Perry’s done.
Regarding internet courses, my rule is that I don’t buy a course unless I can act on it within the next 7 days. It’s silly and a complete time waster to buy the launch of the month. Use that time and money to go deeper with your niche.
Of course this whole conversation is a great reason to pick up the course by Terry Dean and Glenn Livingston that Perry recommends. That really does a great job of taking you from 0 to 60 in about 8 hours.
Hi, I can really resonate with Mr X, for the first three years of my own business I thought I could apply the *dumb* big branding ideas of my former company *20 years service* I invested all the money I made on Executive Coaching in advertising, expecting an explosion of new revenue! Of course it didn’t happen. I can look back at my adwords account, even now *shameful* and see the crazy mistakes I made and the bid prices would turn me redder than a trek through Nevada.
Thankfully I was able to swallow my British pride *my partner said- are you sure you want to keep putting yourself through this?* and learn business again a different way *that MBA from 10 years ago- was way off track* But, despite the recession i will have increased my sales and profit X4 this year!!!
It’s strange how certain folks connect with certain people- my 30 minute chat with Perry last week led me to the most productive 24 hours I have had in months!
I think we should not be ashamed to ask for help, admit we are wrong and then move on.
:-))
Great lesson. In my opinion, success is a balance between learning and doing. I think that learning can be intoxicating. And the more we learn about any subject, the more we realize there is to learn. But learning does not make money or create success measured by any other yardstick. Success comes from doing. We need to learn enough to be proficient in our field … but then we must focus our attention on doing. As Perry said, “Drive the stake deeper.”
The more we learn, the more opportunities we can see. But we must be diligent about being strategic rather than opportunistic. We must quit chasing every opportunity that comes along. Pick a niche and get damn good in that niche.
I love what Emerson said, “Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.” We must be intelligent enough to recognize when we have accumulated enough knowledge and turn our efforts to doing – putting that knowledge to work.
HI!
Perry today I have been sent to the Mr ‘X’ conversation by no less than Mr’X’.
I have to admit it has really picked me up, knowing him for nigh 27 years. The thought of him concentrating on either one thing or at least a few things which would suggest that ‘all roads lead to Rome’ is to say the least an anomaly. He is harder to hold down to one thing, than it is to hold an eel in an oil slick. joking apart he is a very genuine guy who would do almost anything for you. He is currently assistng me with on-line stuff and would that he practiced what he preaches. Cut to the quick my point is to any readers who feel he (Mr ‘X’) is either holding something back or has made his story or predicament embelished in any way is really not true. Good luck (if you believe in it )with him. Ralph
Perry,
This is great… thanks for posting this.
Lucas
YOGABODY
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
~ Calvin Coolidge ~
Unfortunately online, you’ve also got the issue of having to sift through mounds of BS to find something or someone who resembles the truth, but once you do, hammer a stake in the ground and then persist to the point where success is the only inevitability.
I can definitely identify with this one.
Great Interview, Perry! it shows what a great communicator you are!
the problem that the guy has is more than common and doesn’t even need to be addressed to deeply I think. for mr. Dan Kennedy and others have spoken on the “Sticktoitevness” topic many different times.
Its obvious, the guys does not have a reason to be successful. If he would he would become that. which later ties in into personal motivation, inner game, overcoming fears and so forth.
Bottom line – if he really wants to succeed he will. him questioning it alone is a nice start. many people live in fear-based inner world and don’t even come out to ask why they can’t achieve anything. so I think he’s on the right path and when the suffering of not being able to achieve something will become enormous, he will either quit or find his way out. that simple.
Thats besides the point though. What was really amazing about this conversation is:
its interesting how people build this circle of the gurus they follow and at that moment it means the world for them. like for instance he mentioned people like:
Tellman and Shaun’s
Frank Kern’s Mass Control,
Perry Marshall’s
gladiator club, etc. –
people I never heard of and for others it means the whole world. It’s amazing.
Cause Everybody has that sort of top of the list mentors who are the wisest so to speak, like Dan Kennedy or (since im in real estate) Ron Legrand for me. :-) They’re like these old wise people on the top of the mountain people go seek advice from.
with that in mind, no disrespect to any younger teachers, but if I was that guy, that’s to who’s list I would be subscribing first(I am).
thank you
Hi Perry and Mr X,
Thank you both so much for sharing so openly and candidly. Judging from the comments here, you’ve really struck a chord with many so people. I know it certainly did with me.
Mr X, could I suggest something for you to have a look at something that has made a MASSIVE difference in my life?
The Wealth Dynamics Profiling system has helped me understand why I enjoy what I’m good at and why it comes so easy to me, as well as understand why the things I suck at (and hate doing) are also that way. Once I understood this, it became REAL easy to know what I SHOULD be doing and, most importantly, what I SHOULD NOT be doing. It makes it ABSOLUTELY clear the 20% of things I should be doing with 80% of my time.
For instance, spending time creating sales copy or trying to find partners and negotiating contracts is something I no longer do. Whilst I COULD do these things, there are people out there who are FAR better at it than me and are going to out create and out negotiate me everytime; because that is what comes NATURALLY to them.
And that’s the key!! Doing what comes naturally to YOU.
I now know the greatest use of my time is in analysing stats and numbers, looking for where small incremental improvements can be made, and then implementing the systems and processes to deliver those improvements; because THAT is what comes naturally to ME (actually it is what I have been doing all my life!!). And guess what?? There are people out there who suck at analysing numbers and implementing systems who are looking for someone to do that for them. It’s win/win and you end up not having to do it all yourself!!
Time is our ONLY limited resource so who knows what spending another day trying to figure all this out on my own would have cost me! The $100 for the profile test is really a small price to pay when you consider the cost you have already paid (and I don’t just mean financially!).
Wishing you every success for the future.
Kindest regards,
Charles
[email protected]
From what I know of Laura, most of her friends think she’s a pretty awesome mom, but are only ‘jealous’ of her 4 amazing kids.
I agree with that. I guess, since the original post was more about financial success, I was more referring to how many years until the friends of your wife were starting to get jealous of her. :)
Perry,
Question:
When you started driving that Adwords Stake deeper and deeper, how long did it take for you to be really getting to the point where you got “there”?
Peter,
I’d say it took at least a couple of years. Job not ‘done’ till the bookstore book was out, and even then…. job’s never truly done :^>
Perry
Great story.
Mr X thanks for sharing and Perry great stuff as always.
I would am curious to hear what will happen 6mo from now for Mr. X.
Thank you for sharing this.
This is really powerful stuff. My hat’s off to both of you!
Perry hits another home run. I have a configurable software that should have made me very rich that i have worked on since 1985 in hundreds of companies. Instead of commercializing it over the years i have been going to the next challenge and making it better. the game was my fun not packaging it..
I am now focused and throwing away deals all over the place and will turn out a vertical product, get it going into a market with partners that generates royalties for me then move to my next product.
Also know when you are rolling the rock up the hill and quit. I used to have sales cycles of 6-12-18-24 months and close 50% – now i have complex sales down to 1-30 days.. We either do business or we walk away and it’s amazing as qualified seriously interested business is signing up. previous sales cycles were people who needed help but were not in a buying mood even if i could save them 10-100 or 1000x the investment. They did not want to disrupt a disfunctional company and/or the people working there wanted to pick my brain for free to try to do it themselves.
Best market currently is Medical by far..
I can agree with many here. My brother and I were just talking about “accountability” and having our calls with Perry and the group and how they keep you moving forward.
What we also were talking about how often one is scared that they picked the “wrong” guru to follow. I think to be a guru one has to tell the truth that it isn’t always easy. My brother and I believe that you do that Perry which is why we follow you and stick to the plan.
Just like in school or anywhere else, sometimes we need to hear it multiple times before it clicks and we “get it.” Thanks for the reminder Perry. I needed it. I get myself into lots of “projects” and most go unfinished. But I find that I flesh out other people’s ideas and execute for others very well. Anyway, thanks Perry and Paul (oops).
Hi Perry
Great posting. My coaching brain was engaged right from the outset. In the work we do with clients around money the first two steps are always to work on the psychology – behaviours and beliefs, and relationship with money, followed by the passion and purpose and making sure this is part of any future money making activity/venture. Sounds from the call that Mr X made progress in both areas. Congrats!
Always good to see people starting to move forwards again when they’ve been in that stuck place.
Happy Tuesday!
Kyle
Well here we are 11.15 pm French time, and instead of doing the work I set out to do, i find myself hopelessly drawn into your blog Perry, again. Yes its another great blog (like the pink koolaid one). So im just a prime example of what you and Mr X were talking about, but the difference is,
1. I think to some degree it is necessary. I love going off on a tangent, this is probably the most stimulating thing for me about the internet, and the tangent can be limitless it can take you practically anywhere. But its all a question of priorities. You gotta shift your work at the end of the day and achieve your work goals, or you wont get anywhere.But you’ve also got feed the spirit and let the mouse go where it wants, sometimes.
2. So on the one hand Im very much like mr X and the other folks who’ve written on this blog, BUT Im no Mensa guy. I’ve got my fair share of qualifications, but Im a slogger. All through my college days I saw other students much brighter than me fall by the wayside, while I achieved – you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball, it has little to do with IQ, but more to do with making quality decisions, and for me one of the ways of attaining these quality decisions is by monitoring and participating in these excellent blogs.
Back to work now…….
Hmmm. Some people (most techies) have the same kind of personality or predisposition to learning new things as Mr. X.
I do. A lot of people do not. One of best friends is a CPA – he loves doing the same thing over and over again, only picking up something new when he has to or when the IRS changes the rules.
The real question here is whether or not a person with the personality type of Mr. X should be in the internet marketing business.
Telling him to stick with 1 or 2 things will not last long, nor will he be happy doing it – unless learning new ways to do the 1 or 2 things is a possibility.
My current opinion is that the critical skills for success are 20% creativity, 30% technical ability and 50% marketing savvy.
A lot of techies, myself included, struggle with that last 50%.
I think I’ve posted this on Perry’s site once before, but I keep coming back to it time and time again.
This is an excerpt from a CNN article by Pen Gillette – Las Vegas Magician (Pen & Teller).
It comes from an article about President Obama and the economy, but its principles I feel strike a balance to the questions of whether it’s really “all in the mind.”
“I’m a fire-eater. There is some technique to fire-eating, but most of the practice goes into learning that one’s mouth is wet enough, most of the heat goes up enough, and cutting the oxygen leg off the fire triangle (it’s now a fire tetrahedron, but I learned fire-eating a long time ago) with one’s mouth really does put the fire out.”
“It took watching a professional whom I trusted do it — a lot of trust and a lot of practice — before my first reaction, when my mouth started to burn from the lit torch in my mouth, was to put the torch deeper in my mouth, close my mouth around the torch and put it out.”
“Handling fire seems like a superpower. There are whole seminars and self-help jive centered on fire-walking, which is hustled as “mind over matter,” or “empowerment” but it is really just counterintuitive physics.”
“As long as the fire walk is set up right and you keep moving, you can even hope and pray to be burned, while yelling counter-self-help slogans such as “I do not have any power to do this” and “universe, please burn my little piggies,” and you’ll be fine.”
“I trusted my Dad that turning into a skid would work. I trusted my carny mentor, Doc Swan, that closing my mouth around a burning torch would put it out. They were right.”
“Whether it’s fire walking or knowing that the Earth is round, everyone seems to dig counterintuitive thinking.”
“But there are some things that are just intuitive. Did you know, that if you’re going 100 mph, directly at a very, very thick, reinforced concrete wall, and you speed up, so you’re accelerating right when you hit the wall that the accident you have is going to be much worse than if you’d jammed on the brakes as soon as you saw the wall at the end of the street?”
“Did you know that? It’s exactly what everything you know and feel would tell you, and it’s exactly true. Most times when you’re driving, or playing with fire, or handling money, the thing that makes sense to you is also true.” – Pen Gillette
I can’t summarize what that means in 30 seconds or less, but even with the proper mindset, the focus, the desire, the persistence – there needs to be a yin to that yang – which is a responsive market, a carefully tested and improved upon business model, an effective offer, a USP Guarantee (as brilliantly expressed in one of Perry’s very recent posts), etc.
You notice that even in the self-help firewalk sessions, they’re still very carefully monitoring the temperature of the coals and they’re using a very specific type of wood, and they’re letting it burn down for a very specific amount of time.
The lack of any of the primary marketing and sales principles could make your firewalk disastrous despite any mindset you’re in.
Wow, that was powerful. It was inspiration to a very bright “light bulb moment”, for both my personal and professional life.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Perry
Your Mr X certainly isn’t alone and I for one was in the same boat. Some much advice out there, a lot of it crap, a lot of it good but poorly presented and a lot of it pointing in different directions.
I owe my success (modest at this stage) to some great advice I got from an interview that you did Perry, for a local business site.
Go through the Yellow Pages and find the business classes which spend up large in there AND have little Adwords competition. There are plenty – at least in my location. The next stage was tough – even trying to explain Adwords to local businessmen was tough.
So what I do is build an Adwords tuned site and run an Adwords campaign AT MY COST and sell the leads – phone calls to an 0800 number usually.
A far easier sale than trying to get someone to pay a fee for a site and campaign.
It’s early days but I’m earning $10 – $20 per day from a few sites – that’s profit and there’s heaps of potential.
Mr X, you’ve got the Adwords skills, you’ve got the bricks and mortar business skills and if you have the site building skills, you might like to try it. If you can’t build sites go here http://www.xsitepro.com/index_r.html?p=Adwriter&w=home). Give yourself a wet weekend with XSitePro and you’ll knock out small sites in a few hours.
Sorry about the commercial plug Perry, you can delete that if you like.
But thanks, not only for that specific advice, but for all your brilliant ideas on Adwords and marketing – and your great feel for language.
Cheers
Tim
Great audio Perry. I love the fact that you were sincere all the time and gave Mr X the comfort of anonymity all the way through – right up until the last 5 seconds when you said “Okay Paul, thank you” and there it was…..Mr X revealed :)
Made me laugh anyway – great comic timing at work there Perry :)
In all seriousness though, he was a brave chap to put his hands up and say – “look I’ve wasted boat-loads of cash, I need help and it was mighty decent of you to spend some time with him. Seemed to sort him out.
Kudos to you both.
In reading this I saw a lot of the things that I have been doing – on a smaller scale and with less money being spent – I also am not as smart as the writer. This was very insightful and has given me a lot to think about. I have been thinking along these same lines and now to have it reinforced by someone I respect as much as you, Perry, verifies that I may be starting to go in the right direction. Thanks for sharing.
Perry,
Great post! Based on the number of comments, I can see that this particular message has struck a chord with many, including myself.
One thing I continue to see is that those who truly succeed have three necessary qualities:
1) the ability to commit to something
2) the ability to stay focused on what is most important
3) the ability to not give up (perseverance)
Thanks,
Steve
Nick your post was an eye opener. I really appreciate your disclaimer and I did not find it offensive in any way. I am not a Mormon and in fact living in Los Angeles, CA– in fact living right behind the Mormon Church and witnessing the protests and demonstrations against Prop 8 b/c of the MOrmon Church involvement in Prop 8. I still appreciate the high art of humanity to engage in a civilized and helpful dialogue, even if I don’t believe in the beliefs of your Church.
It all goes back to figuring out what your “One Thing” is.
Thanks, Perry. I needed that reminder.
– John
If you become my Chevrutah Partner, You’ll get Your 10K Hours 3x Faster, or Your Favorite Box of Cigars is on ME!
=================================
Please Kick My Ass! I’ll kick Yours In Return
=================================
I’m the guy who needs a personal trainer. Who needs tutors. Who needs
a personal assistant.
My mom always jokes that if my balls weren’t attached to me, I would
of lost them by now. Honestly. She really said that.
I need somebody to hold me accountable. I wish I had self
discipline. To be able to say, “this is my list, and I’m getting it
done today” or “I’m sticking with this project through the rough
patches”
Nope. Not the ME of today.
What I need is somebody to push me. Hold me accountable!
Do you have this same problem?
If you do, then let’s kick each other asses!
Because when somebody does kick my ass, I get great results. And when
I let those internal controls fade a bit, so does my performance.
======================================
Be My Chevrutah; Lets Push Each Others Boundries
======================================
So, here’s my proposal:
Let’s be a Chevrutah (see link if you don’t know what one is like) http://www.reclaimingjudaism.org/torah/
hevruta.htm for each other.
We can talk daily or even twice a day. In the morning, and in the
evening. For maybe 2-6 mintues. Just a “did you do this”, “did you
do that.” Maybe a “hang in there” or a “I don’t care that your tired”
or “Hmmm, Maybe consider this…..”
And maybe once a week a little conversation, maybe like 30 minutes.
To share our frustrations, angry, and eventual breakthrough moments!
I think it will be a mutually beneficial situation for both of us!
===============================
The New Project I Need A Chevrutah For
===============================
I’m about to start a new project that uses direct marketing, web 2.0
principles for getting people job offers. I’ve helped a couple of
people now, and want to create a systemic approach. My targets are
professionals with an emphasis in accounting, legal, and engineering.
I’m currently in the research phase. Doing my Livingston surveys, and
will be doing phone calls soon.
Once the research phase is little more solid, I’ll do a couple of
webinars to get feedback.
I’ve got about 200 emails from people who’ve done one opt-in, and
about 40 of those 200 who opted in again. I’ve also recieved over
400+ resumes and cover letters, so I got a good idea what the bell
curve looks like.
I think and feel there could be something here. But, once the buzz of
starting something new fades I need a Chevrutah to help me stay of
track.
I also like this approach because we’d be equal with the common goal
of keeping each other on track. Of respectfully challenging each
other.
====================================
Next Step: Call Email me @ [email protected]
====================================
Please email me and see if there is a vibe there.
I’d consider this long term commitment on both our parts.
Your skill level is *NOT* important to me.
Important= Committment to excellence AND a willingness to go into the
struggle and stick with it till a breakthrough happens.
Adam
Adam,
I’ll approve that until you’ve gotten a few replies, then I’ll take it down.
Perry
That is happening to me all time!
as you say, “That’s why we’re all attracted to each other.”
Until now, I understand that I need a base, a territory, and then , and only then, I can explore new territory, new adventures, new knowledge.
Thanks for sharing that!
I think you really hit an important point here.
One of the most powerful things you can do is admit that you don’t know anything…and that’s OK.
Most people never find their way in life because they never admit they’re lost.
And btw… all of this jumping around has only gotten me a shelf or hard drive full of stuff that I am not using. I have committed myself to 6 months of “2 things” to see if I can get some real traction.
This is a very good conversation. I am still struggling with this myself. I am still working on the “2 things” that Perry talks about. I am trying to get focused on one way of getting traffic and one way to convert the traffic. I have also spent so much money trying to get a business that is sustainable by jumping around between the gurus.
Very Interesting, Perry.
As You know, I built my first online business around Positive Thinking,
and then Spoke at Your Chicago Conference …
only to see EVERYTHING CHANGE overnight for me.
I was compelled to abandon that STAKE in the Ground. http://www.SunnyThoughts.com
It’s been on autopilot, and growing steadily, automatically for more than a couple of years now, but I’M NOT INVOLVED. My heart isn’t in it.
As soon as I gave my speech at Your Chicago Conference, I was suddenly massively in demand as a Google AdWords Coach & Google Account Manager for multiple clients.
There was no looking back.
Reading Your Blog Post Today –
It made me wonder if there might be a way to tie the two completely different stakes together somehow.
I feel bad, abandoning my Positive Thinking Followers.
But, I don’t know what else to do.
It’s just so far in the past, and I really DO enjoy helping people with AdWords.
Just Thinking Out Loud Here.
No Answers.
Thank You for Your Thought-Provoking Blog Post!
You’re Really Something!
Nice to see You Reach Out to Mr. X this way.
Thanks for Sharing!
~Sunny :)
Perry,
Thank you and Mr. X for sharing this candid exchange. Focus is tantamount. There’s just too much cool stuff to look and get involved with. It’s really important to pick one thing and stick with it and then have other things that connect to it as auxiliary items. Just like you said. Great post. Thanks again.
Allen
I can fully relate to all that you both are saying. I am a techy and love learning new things. I may eventually give in to outsourcing content production, but if there is a technical item to do such as building a blog, there is no way someone else will get to do it.
As you pointed out though, when there are too many new things all queued at once, nothing is gained from any of them. Its a bit like looking in one of those kaleidoscope mirrors. Although still whittling things down at this time, I am resolved to master one thing at a time, even though that may appear to longer. In the end I believe is will save time.
I think one of the biggest problems with being a newbie in online sales is you don’t know the questions to ask or more specifically, you don’t know what you don’t know if that makes any sense. A lot of time is lost sorting through the mountain of information out there to bring the pieces together to the point where you begin to know what it is you don’t know and need to learn. Until that point you are vulnerable to every guru and pulled in numerous directions.
Hi Perry, good call on posting this one, I suspect many of your readers will relate to it as I sure do!
Although I have managed to turn my adwords qualification and experience into a reasonably regular income stream, I still haven’t got anywhere near where I need to be.
But I’m working diligently on it.
The key is *focus*.
As Sean D’Souza says in his analogy with a camera – when you focus on one thing, everything else is *out of focus* (I may be paraphrasing, but you get the point!).
DISCLAIMER: Religious material contained below. Skip this post if you’re going to be offended.
I think there’s something here that is very “typical” – typical as in archetype, not the snarky “oh that’s typical” roll your eyebrows gesture.
Personal Story Time:
I’m one of those weird, cultish Mormons. I’m just joking about that but I am Mormon and like many Mormon males, I served a mission for the Church at the age of 19.
I really wanted to do it, but the first 3 months almost killed me off. Just total homesickness, and this awful feeling of just being in a place where I didn’t know anybody or anything. Didn’t know what I was doing, wasn’t having success, and definitely wasn’t having any fun.
So, this all builds up to this kind of fever pitch as I’m getting ready to go do my quarterly interview with the Mission President. A Mission President is usually a 50+ year old successful well respected Church Leader who gets called to leave his career and go and basically run both the operational and spiritual aspects of the mission for 3 years.
So, I’m getting ready for this interview. I’m all emotional inside and I’m just going to shoot it straight and tell him how I feel. He’s my spiritual guru so he’s got to be able to help me right?
So I go in to the interview. He asks me how I’m doing. And then, just blah…. tears, emotional statements that don’t make any sense, just letting loose with “I don’t know what I’m doing here…” and mainly the idea that…
“It’s just not the way I thought it would be!”
In all honestly I felt like I kind of got fleeced as to what the experience was all about and was wondering why nobody told me how it was really going to be.
So, he listens patiently until I’ve stumbled and stammered and finally stopped.
Then he just looked straight at me and asked, “What did you think it was going be like?”
He didn’t say I’m so sorry, or how can I help, or hang in there. And he definitely didn’t give me any lofty promises or quick solutions. That’s all he said. “What did you think it was going to be like?”
I sat there for about 15 seconds and then said, “I don’t know. Sort of the like the missionary movies I saw when I was kid… I guess.”
He then asked me if I believed in the work I was doing. Despite my concerns, I did. He asked me if I wanted to be successful at it. Despite my concerns, I did.
He then stoically encouraged me to deepen my commitment to the basic fundamentals of the work.
This is the elusive part for me. I don’t understand why it happens. But, as soon as I said the words “I don’t know,” it was like all the heaviness started going away. Perhaps it’s just acceptance or something.
It was that strange “quiet master” experience. At first you’re thinking “that’s it?” “I came all this way to see you and that’s all you’ve got to say?”
But I remembered my answers – I did still want to do it and I did still believe in it. So, over the next 3 months I committed myself to those fundamentals. Time went by and things improved dramatically. And in the end, it was pretty much like the videos I saw when I was a kid.
I always hesitate to make any business to religion comparisons, but there is something “typical” about going through the process of actualizing a desired experience or result in any facet of our lives.
I go back to that every time I find myself blaming “the system” for struggles I’m experiencing in trying to master something. I picture Frederick Froerer staring at me and asking – “What do you think it would be like?”
My answer is usually, “I don’t know. Sort of like the movie… I guess.”
I think sometimes it just takes the freak-out, I can’t take it anymore, this can’t be the way it is supposed to be… type of moment to get past it.
It’s evident in this transcript. The guy is going off in the email and then the first thing he says when he gets on the phone is “I think I got it figured out. It was me all a long.”
I realize there’s like a 50/50 chance this is going to be totally out of place and unappreciated by a big group of folks. So I apologize in advance if anyone feels that way. The point is not to goad or defend missionary work, religion as a whole or any specific belief or denomination.
It’s just simply to point out that in some sense we build things up with certain experience expectations and think things are going to be “just like the movie.”
Then it actually begins and it’s nothing like the movie. So we stop, become bitter, and spew hate on everyone who we feel told us it was going to be like the movie. We brand them as a cult and write up a bad review on RipOffReport or we go warn our friends about them.
Or we reflect on whether or not this really is what we want to be doing, and if we truly believe that the work is worthwhile. If the answers are yes, then we firmly commit ourselves to the fundamentals of what makes it work and we begin the process of becoming a master craftsman of those principles.
As many disappointments and false starts as it may lead to, my experience has taught me that the “just like the movie” moments in life – whether in business, family, personal, religious, sports, whatever – are very real… but they’re reserved for the craftsman.
This is a great post, Perry. Mr. X is definitely not alone – I know I, personally, have been in his shoes. Seeing all these opportunities, and wanting to get a taste of each of them.
But the problem with that is that you can’t really dive into any of them if you aren’t willing to commit fully to it. It’s like trying to plant something. You can see what the final result looks like, a beautiful flower, and say, “I *want* that!” So you plant it. But then you see another flower, and it also looks great, but you only have enough space for one plant at a time. So you pull it up and put down the new plant. And it happens again and again.
You never see the full flower, because it takes time and commitment to get to that point. You have to just shrug off all the temptations from the other good-looking flowers and work on the one you’ve chosen to plant. Take care of it, tend to it, and it will grow.
I’m working on my own flower now, but I still get hit with the latest and greatest approach to internet marketing from other angles, and it still tempts me. But I have to just shrug it off and keep going with my own, because I know that if I don’t, it’ll just be starting all over again, pulling up what roots I’ve planted and going to the beginning.
Hopefully a lot of people can get inspired from your post, Perry, and it was great to be able to hear Mr. X and his excitement about finding this realization for the need to commit. It’s motivated me to continue moving forward with my own efforts for my business, and I hope it does the same for others.
Ouch…
That could just as well have been a conversation between me and you, nearly word-for-word.
Thanks for sharing that!
Hi Perry,
Thank you for sharing your conversation with Mr. X, and thank you Mr. X for having this conversation.
Perry, in what ways might we break this pattern with behavioral changes once we discover it?
In other words, how do we gain the leverage on ourselves deeper than simply saying, “ok, I”m sticking to this one thing, and that’s it”
Awhile back in 2005-ish or so you did an interview with Tom Hoobyar about knowing thyself, will have to look for that cd.
Thanks again and be well
Sincerely,
Matt
Perry: you always doing great things, and the best thing of all, sharing with us. Thank you very much.
THAT was a superb conversation and for me just shows the value of coaching.
Just by having an appointment the wannabee entrepreneur was triggered into personal insight and a turn around.
I’d love to know what happens over the next 2 or 3 months…
:-)
Thanks for publishing this Perry and thanks also to Mr X – there’s quite a big chunk of him in so many of us!
All The Best
Alex
Wow,you are *so* powerful Perry. The mere prospect of talking to you on the phone got this guy to straighten out his life before you guys even talked!
What he says is true, of course. Except it gets complicated when they say “Fail quickly.”
Excellent interview, Perry. Related to driving a stake into the ground is this concept of consistency. Daniel Levis and I were talking about this a few months ago.
Basically, being consistently average is way better than being inconsistently great. It’s ultimately the consistency over time that adds up and creates something.
And if you’re consistent, you won’t be average for very long.
Ryan
This is a great post and I love how you have it available as an audio and print. This frustration of trying new ideas, routes, businesses and learning what not to do, while burning up limited time and money. I am on my fourth ‘entrepreneurial seizure’ as coined by Michael Gerber in “The E-Myth Revisited”. This last one is doing moderately well, but what’s killing me is the five years and $140k debt of the previous ventures. This last one was my first foray into not cold calling and selling B2B from a website and google adwords. This is my 3rd website redesign. 1st on got 84% bounce rate because it was an ugly templated thing. Then it went down to 74% with an addition of a blog and testimonials. Then almost a year later (slow learner) redesigned site and bounce rate dropped to 48%. Kept that design for a few months and did a 3rd and bouncerate is not below 30% for paid traffic. This journey is exhausting. I just want to make it to ZERO one day. Thanks for this post, it connected.
Dear Mr. X… a few points to share:
1). I know how you feel. I got married at age 19, when I was still in college, to an awesome (and incredibly patient) girl. She has stuck with me for the past 8 years through my various business (mis?)adventures. Be it “zero down” real estate investing, a brief spat in internet marketing, multi-level marketing (oh the horror), and a pretty lousy sales job. I now have a moderately successful software development business and am learning internet marketing again…
2). I’m still pretty young, but I’ve learned that the road to success is mired in fear, defeat, failure, self-doubt, and disappointment. To be perfectly honest, You’re on the right path… I mean, things could probably be better, but you’re closer than you think to achieving your goals. It’s people like you that make big things happen.
Seth Godin was asked if he could have a superpower, what would it be? He said:
“I’d release a pheremone that increases the fear that people have about doing great things. It would only increase it by 3%, but that would be enough to wipe out most competition. I’m convinced someone is already doing this, by the way.”
You are one of the few that are pushing through fear and failure. DON’T STOP!
3). Have you ever seen the Matrix or the Wizard of Oz? In both stories, the main characters think that some guru will give them (the Wizard or Morpheus/Oracle) some special power. The truth is, they always had it. They never needed someone outside to give them power. They just needed someone to INCITE them. To INSTIGATE them. To PROVOKE them to acheiving their potential. That’s the main reason I read Perry Marshall. It’s not the tips, the tricks, the techniques, etc. It’s the feeling of invincibility, the confidence, the energy I get when reading his posts. That is worth everything to me.
You’re on the right track Mr. X. A lot of people feel like you do, “Memo from a Pink Kool Aid Drinker” is another example. Keep it up, you’re almost there.
So, now the question becomes “To what should I be committed?”
Or, perhaps more importantly “To what should I become uncommitted?”
Both are very difficult to answer for me.
Rod