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Whatever business you’re in, you’re really in the marketing business.

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For years I thought I created this quote, and maybe we both did independent of each other. 

I have to give the benefit of the doubt to Mr. Kennedy, though, as he has spent a lifetime producing genius-level marketing advice that should be required reading for anyone who gets within 50 feet their company’s advertising budget — whether it’s their own small business or a Fortune 500 company.

In Business:

This should be the golden rule of any small business.  It really doesn’t matter what your product or service is (Dan Kennedy calls them “deliverables”): dental work, a pizza, even a sermon.

In any business, the marketer of the thing is much more valuable than the doer of the thing, since you can’t do anything until someone walks through the door and buys.

In Life:

Even in everyday life, this quote is useful because it serves to remind you to put the “experience” people have with you above whatever it is you’re ultimately trying to accomplish.  You can be pleasant and still get your point across.  You can differ without rubbing the other person’s nose in how wrong they are.

Your personal reputation is your own personal “brand.”  Do things that build trust and confidence in your brand and you’ll have loyal friends for life.

So remember…

Whatever business you’re in, you’re really in the marketing business.

— Dan Kennedy

Often the rules for success are so simple and so obvious they aren’t even seen.

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You’ve undoubtedly heard the old saying, “Behind every great man, there’s a great woman.” 

Well, here’s a variation for you: “Behind every great success, there’s a great system.”

Though both the great woman and the great system go unnoticed, their presence makes all the difference in the world.

Success is all around you.  If want to create more success in both your professional and personal life (notice I did not say “attract more success”), you need to identify and emulate the system that’s producing it.

In Business:

They’ve had some struggles recently, but McDonald’s is one of the greatest business success stories of our time.

Since most of their employees are just starting out, they have an extremely high turnover rate.  It’s an incredible 300% annually. 

Let’s do the math on that.  For a business to have a 100% annual turnover rate, they have a totally new group of employees every year.  So a 300% rate means when you walk into your local McDonald’s, the faces you see today will be replaced with new faces four months from now.  And, in eight months, a completely different crew will have replaced those faces.

Wow.  How can McDonald’s maintain their consistency across all those thousands of locations around the world when they have to plug in new employees at such a rapid rate?  They have a system!  To be more accurate, they have a system for everything.

My first job out of college was a copywriter at a local ad agency, and our local McDonald’s franchise was a client.  I can tell you first-hand that they have systemized every aspect of their business.  We had a whole wall of bookshelves filled with 3-ring binders from McDonald’s corporate headquarters (they call it Hamburger University), and that was just for their advertising and marketing.

One of the big takeaways from Michael Gerber’s excellent book, The E-Myth Revisited, is to systematize your small business so there’s a procedure for everything.  Even if you have no plans to ever sell your business, pretend you are going to sell it and document all the step-by-step procedures for the “new owner.”

Yes, behind every great success is a great system. 

In Life:

A more informal word for “system” is “habit.”  Habits are our personal systems.  But why are the successful ones, as Mr. Stone says, often so hard to see?

Many times, we choose not to recognize the successful habits of others because doing so would lead to us having to do the one thing we dislike most: change.

I’m comfortable and familiar with my current habits.  I don’t want to abandon them because they’re actually working for me.  People only do what works for them. 

You may see a friend or family member engaging in what you think is a bad habit.  But, to them, it’s a positive.  On some level, it’s absolutely working for them, just as your current habits are absolutely working for you.

If you have a habit you’d like to change, there’s a conflict inside you.  You’re obviously getting something you perceive as positive from the habit.  However, another part of you senses a negative aspect to it.

Focus exclusively on the positive.  Be honest with yourself, and figure out the benefit you’re getting from the habit.  This may take some soul-searching, or it may come to you in a flash.

Once you’ve identified the positive, you can then try replacing the current habit with another one that delivers the same benefit, but doesn’t cause the inner conflict.

For instance, smoking may be a stress-relieving positive, but you know it’s unhealthy.  Is there something else that would give you similar stress-relief, without the downside of the health risks?

As Og Mandino said so well in his classic book, The Greatest Salesman In The World, “In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is — I will form good habits and become their slave.”

Of course, the irony in that passage is that becoming a slave to good habits results in the ultimate freedom of success.

Change your habits; change your life.

So remember…

Often the rules for success are so simple and so obvious they aren’t even seen.

— W. Clement Stone

Maybe so; maybe not.

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This quote doesn’t mean anything unless you know the classic Zen story behind it.  I heard Dr. Dyer tell it years ago, and here’s how I remember it:

A farmer walking into town passes The Buddha and says, “Buddha, please help me.  Something terrible has happened.  My ox just died and now I have no way to plow my fields.  Isn’t that the worst thing that could have happened to me?”

The Buddha replies, “Maybe so; maybe not.”

The farmer walks away shaking his head, thinking The Buddha has obviously gone mad.  On his way home, he spots a huge, strong, wild horse and ropes him.  This horse will do even more work than the ox.

Next week, the farmer sees The Buddha and says, “You were right!  I now have a horse that can do twice the work of my old ox.  Isn’t that wonderful news?”

“Maybe so; maybe not,” says The Buddha.

Again, the farmer walks home thinking The Buddha has lost touch with reality.  When he arrives, he finds his son lying on the ground with a broken leg.  He had been thrown while riding the new horse.

On his next trip into town, the farmer spots The Buddha and says, “You were right again.  The horse broke my son’s leg.  Now he won’t be able to help me at harvest time.  Surely, Buddha, don’t you see this is the worst news imaginable?”

“Maybe so; maybe not,” the Buddha calmly replied.

That was the last straw.  The farmer walked away telling himself he had wasted enough time seeking advice from this old, senile man.

Just then, word spread throughout town that war had broken out against a bigger, stronger village.  Troops were going to every house and farm to round up all the able-bodied young men to fight.  They would be outnumbered and outmatched, and would most likely die.

The farmer rushed home.  The troops had come, but since his son had a broken leg, he was not taken and his life was spared.

And from that day forward, the farmer never doubted the wisdom of The Buddha again.

In Business:

Use this story and particularly the “maybe so; maybe not” quote to help you see business opportunities where others only see obstacles.

Remember, the greatest private fortunes in American history were made during The Great Depression, America’s worst financial crisis. 

Did Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt think, “What’s the point?  We’ll wait until economic conditions are better.  No use trying to do anything now.” 

They adopted the maybe-so-maybe-not attitude, dreaming up innovations that changed the world and created limitless opportunities for themselves and others.

In Life:

“Maybe so; maybe not” is the perfect mantra to maintain perspective in your life.

It’s best not to go through life ruled by your emotions.  I’m not saying don’t have emotions; I’m saying don’t be a slave to them.  Too many people are.

So remember…

Maybe so; maybe not.

— Wayne Dyer

Always make your future bigger than your past.

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Mr. Sullivan has also said this in a similar way you may like even better: “We remain young to the degree that our ambitions are greater than our memories.”

In Business:

Having a plan for your business is a lot different than just having a business plan.

A business plan is something you implement, but an ambitious plan for your business is a destination — a beacon you can use to keep your business headed in the right direction.

It also keeps your business young and innovative because, to reach that destination, you have to stay creative.

In Life:

I remember when the movie The Bucket List came out, and everybody started making their own personal bucket lists.

The list will definitely keep you looking forward, and forward is where all ambitions reside.

You don’t have to abandon your memories, by any means.  Instead, use them to create the future you’re dreaming of.

So remember…

Always make your future bigger than your past. 

— Dan Sullivan

A mouse survives by being a mouse, and a lion survives by being a lion. If one tries to be the other, it fails.

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Some sports have you pitted against an opponent.  In others, it seems you’re really just trying to beat your “personal best.”

For most people, I think life is a personal best type of sport.

In Business:

Pick one thing, make that your core strength, and then play to that strength constantly in your marketing.  This will set you apart from all the other “pretender” businesses that dare to compete on this particular battlefield.

Let them win on other battlefields where you have no interest engaging.  Let them be the low-price leader, for example.  Let them enjoy looking over their shoulder all the time, too, waiting to be undercut.

Stake your claim in one area, and be so good that it would be foolish to try and take you on.

In Life:

There’s a difference between saying, “that’s just a fact of life,” and, “that’s just the way I am.”

Accepting a truly unchangeable attribute is a good thing.  It allows you to move forward and focus exclusively on playing to your strengths.

The second one shuts you down.  It’s another way of saying, “Leave me alone.  I give up.  Nothing’s going to change here, so forget it.”

Develop the talents and strengths you do have to become the best version of yourself.

So remember…

A mouse survives by being a mouse, and a lion survives by being a lion. If one tries to be the other, it fails.

— Unknown

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