We’re about to make some moves that are going to hurt the other players in our industry.

I expect blowback and hostility before I expect a “warm reception” to this. I saw other people trying to organize the market – folks like 50 grove and other places like Startup-Videos.com.

Everyone’s trying to be the one that organizes explainer-type videos.  Because that’s where the power is.

But nobody’s bold enough to say that there are some crappy ones getting made.

And there are. And they are getting made by some “Brand-Name” studios.

Time to call it out.

So, recently…really…

I’ve discovered the secret to success. It’s not easy, and I don’t yet have the vocabulary to properly describe it.

I don’t really plan to, keeping the tension and magic within me is more important than describing it to you all.

I think that this is the way with most things. You learn something that’s sacred and a part of you, and you can’t break it down into a step by step format – nor would you want to.  You can only live it.

I used to be kind of obsessed with the idea of personal analytics. This blog originally was meant as a place where I’d (A) get popular and famous with Realtors and (B) a place to share my progress.

I would track things, use Jott to record my notes and  stuff. I would try hard to have accountability kludges.

I never kept it up very well. I never stayed on the horse, despite “setting myself up to.”

Because I hated my job.

The analytics was a coverup of sorts for the fact that almost everyone with sanity hates the job of being a Realtor.

So I self destructed time and time again.  Boom and bust.

Because who wants to be a Relator?  Even Realtors don’t.  It’s an easy, shitty, stressful job.

I had the ability to make it, but I knew that if I made it, the life I had was trapped.  didn’t want to be like Delena Ciamacco, aging fast with a 12 year old picture (and a city full of rumors) that she can’t get away from.  So I blew it up.  Great month, shitty month.

The IRS hounding me was a symptom, nothing more. I had no goal I was working towards with the extra cold call, the extra effort I was spending.

So it didn’t matter what was next.

I became delusional. Tried to use “easy money internet BS” as an escape hatch.  I did OK at some affiliate marketing–but that was a scam.

So despite the fact that I had big ass Google Forms to track the crap out of everything, none of it mattered.  Because I was in a job that I hated. I saw that the future was bleak.  Every Realtor had 3-4 years to go. It was a trap.

Anyway, that said, I love my job.  I know that it’s not going to look like the same job in 3-4 more years.  I know I’ll have to evolve, but I love it now.

I am increasing my fitness as fast as I can.  And the tools are much better than they were 5 years ago.

So I’ll give another go to personal analytics.  I’m doing a job I care about, I’m working with people I respect and admire.  More coming.

I’ve almost quit this blog about 30 times.

I hate most of the content on it.  Most of the thoughts are insipid and pabulum.

Hardly necessary.  The most popular – and searched – posts have little to do with where I’m at now.

Most of the ideas are embarrassing, the grand announcements I’ve made simply boring (and worse).  The bold proclamations I never stuck with.

I’ve had dumb idea.

I’ve somehow hung in there, grinding out a living as something of a journeyman marketer.

But – I just went through my old comments – 700 different bloggers linked or commented here over the years of my on-again, off-again relationship with this blog.

What do I learn?

Well, simply put, most of my commentors are nowhere to be found.  Either they don’t post, or the links are now broken.   Or something.

They are gone.  Emails at dead domains.  Gone, daddy, gone.

I’ve nearly quit and hung on by a thread.  But the quitters all convinced me to get better, stick with it.

I’ve quit too many things.  Nobody likes a quitter.

There are two irritants in my life as a salesperson. Neither of which quite merits an entire blog post and all that hat entails, but since I made this a personal blog, I have the space to get this off my chest.

First: That cold calling is somehow the last ditch effort of a bad business.  I’ve heard it a million times, even from good people “I’d never resort to cold calling,” or some such.  ”IT sucks, we all know it.”   Even Chris Garret misapprehends what it’s about.   It’s not an act of aggression of despair.

It’s instigating and solving a problem.

When we look at places – like Facebook, Twitter, wherever, and follow the keywords: “know anyone wordpress”  we find people struggling with WordPress:

This person is all but asking for help.  They need to be engaged somehow, by any means necessary.  We engage on Twitter, we call on the phone.  After people are initially taken aback, they are grateful.  Because I am calling to help.

Yes, ultimately we have to make business arrangements.  But I’m  calling to help them out.  I’m calling with their best interests at heart.

Social media should have made cold calling different- there’s no need to call a street/phonebook/whatever anymore.   You just call the people that need help.  End of story.

Second: That the target of a targeted call is somehow special.  I call 20 people a day.  One of my clients believed that I was lucky to get him.  That somehow, he was my meal ticket.  Like I’m not calling another 99 people every week.

Calling 99 people a week builds a business.  It does, no question about it.  Especially if about half are follow up calls.  However in the our narcissistic society, people fall for the Yossarian Fallacy (or the Narrative Fallacy).  A certain class of person that may be a good customer believes I’m now in bondage to their whim because I had to call them.  They don’t get that as soon as I hang up my phone my CRM will inform me of the other 95 or so people I’m due to call, and that they are no more than a fraction of my time.

An entry in the book.

And because I initiated the calls, they presume they have leverage that doesn’t exist.  That somehow, i’ll say or do anything to get them to buy.  That I’m desperate.  It’s funny, even some CEOs figure that this is my one shot, and I’ll say whatever to get the sale.  I’m no more emotionally invested in them than I am in say, paying my electric bill.  It’s a simple negotiation, an entry in a book.  Nothing more.  I’m happy to help, eager to help, but I’m no more bound to take shit from them than I am from the rest of the people on the call.

When you generate, you needn’t tolerate.

The second principle is the purpose of the cold call/prospect.  It’s only to gauge interest and raise awareness.  Nothing more.  I’m calling to see if this is a fit.  I’m no more offended if it’s not than if you wear a different pants size or have a different color.  If it is something you’re interested in, then yes, I’ll tell you we’re booked till October and that you should get something working now.  But otherwise?    Let it go.

The less I talk during a cold call, the better they are.

Ruby Johnson Loves Her Routines

Putting my daughter, Ruby, to bed takes effort. Each night, she must have a hug and a kiss, she must be prayed for, she must have the Sitta-ma-rink song sung (with the ending).  She must have her drink of water, she must have something to cuddle with.  She then has to have the sound machine turned on, and the sheep projecteed on her celling.  If this standard isn’t achieved, then the natural law is broken: we have let her down and she cries instantly.

I don’t resist this, it’s kind of fun, and it’s good for me, too.   She expects things to go down in a certain manner, and feels loved when this happens.  Sometimes it feels weird to be waiting on a two year old, but I get the point.  This is just the way things are to her.

The natural law, you know, this is how bedtimes are, and why fight it.

Now, if I had the same commitment to my schedule, to my objectives that Ruby does, life would be better for me.  I would get more done – truly.   I would help more people – truly.  She’s committed to doing what she believes matters. For me, I need to be producing, finishing all day.

More blogging, less skype, less email.

More planning – and next actions.  Less other stuff.

More screenflow.  More public use of “rescue time”.

Try to spend less than -50 – total – hours a week in front of a screen.

More doing things to make Heather/etc have an easier life.  Less nonsense.

Less recreational internet surfing.  More work.

Like Page.Ly says: Work More, Talk Less.  We like that.

—

A routine would include a 6am or so wakeup/coffee/prayer/meditation, some writing, a trip to the gym around 7, a return around 8:30.  We have to really want the routine – for its own sake.  Desire the aching muscle mass – for its own sake.

It doesn’t mean doing more useless tasks better and more efficiently (though that’s a help).

It doesn’t mean being a better widget maker (that, too, is a help).

It means doing the right things, the ones that matter and not getting sucked into distractionland.

It means setting priorities and saying no to stuff that isn’t a fit with your life, your goals, your tribe.

It means simply doing things, and not adding weight to what’s hard: you don’t have to think about doing something, stress about doing something, get ready to do something, do it (for a moment), then report to your boss and your neighbor, Twitter and Facebook to take the victory lap for one small task being done.

Do the work.  Shut your mouth.  Help others.  Head down, shoulder to the wheel, and go.  Be slow to speak, quick to listen.

…or moron personal branding. I know, I came out hating it.  Still do, kinda.  But it’s a useful shorthand if done right.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea lately. Inc Magazine talks a little bit about it, too.  It’s been on my head lately, and maybe for good reason.

Maybe I’m wrong about it.  Meaning this: I don’t understand–and may never understand “life coaching.”  I am a creditor to many life coaches, and pity has kept me from pursuing my interests.  (Full disclosure, as you’d expect nothing less: I myself am a debtor to a couple of ‘dull normal’ businesses at the time this is written.) I don’t get long term or lifelong coaching engagements.  I understand full-well hiring an expert to understand a particular problem: to get a job, to quit a job, to quit quitting jobs.  Hiring a coach to beat back general malaise isn’t something I get.

Personal branding–as a means to prop someone up–is vacuous and stupid.

Personal branding as a short hand for others-focused ideas isn’t stupid: “Dave Ramsey” style debt reduction, or Martha Stewart quality home dec can matter.  Those two–and many others we can name–made their personal brands about something else. Was it self serving?  Surely.  Was it worth it?

I’ve run from it because I think that part of me wants to be faceless.  Some part of me wants to remain an underground troll, oscillating in suffering from and rejoicing in some low grade sociopathic personality disorder.  I run from branding because if it’s about me then I have to engage emotionally, and care.  If it’s about flat rate, then I can leave it alone and let it go.

If it’s about me, I can be rejected,or hurt, or called out.  If it’s about a company it’s all a mere business decision.  If it’s about me there’s some connection.

Personal branding can be done without being a flake.

It can be done without being a narcissistic asshole (note: I tend towards narcissistic asshole and I make little-to-no effort at personal branding, so you don’t have to develop a personal brand to become a narcissistic asshole)

There are people that are involved with personal branding that I seriously admire.

I can hide behind some fatuous made-up company because it’s easier to do.  It’s just me shirking the responsibility to be amazing.

Hiding diminishes both me and my voice.  It takes away from what I can and am here to give.

I can help dudes like my buddy Tim Blakenship get results like this:

?  Last week I actually had 6 calls.  2 out of area that are in progress and 4 locally.  I got pretty busy this week, but am going to maintain the level of posts to my blog as that seems to dictate my level of business.  I received an awesome client testimonial that i put on my site as well.   Today i was interviewed by the Las Vegas Business Journal regarding my expertise in short sales.  ( The reporter found my blog)  My Blog is my only advertising.  Im your biggest fan. 

That’s not unusual–we do good work, when we get clients that actually work.  Which is about half of them.

But if I’m not a real connection, but some faceless service, then I can’t do that, can I?  Companies that build websites are a dime a dozen.   Amazing people that helped YOU are rare.  I want to be the second.  I want my voice to be everywhere.

I am depriving people of good work by being hidden.  By being anonymous.  People want to believe.  People want to be a “Dave Ramsey Debt Free” fan or a “Ron Paul Libertarian.”  No Drama Obama was a cool and calm meme that got him elected.   They want people, not corporations.  They want voice.  For all the shit that I’ve thought about personal branding, for all the disdain that I have for pablum peddling soft skill e-book writers, the crux is this: they want to believe.  Fathertongue/Mothertongue stuff.

So I have to come out from behind and maybe create some fame. And use my powers for good.

I help “dull-normal” small businesses get online, one inch at a time.

I  ”wal-mart” proof businesses.

To make sales, one on one and connect with people.

My discomfort with what I was doing was spiritual: what does it matter how famous I get?  (And some “famous” success stories owed me money, which hurt me this year).  Well, if I am not truly about me, if I don’t really love my fame, but want to help others, and that’s my “calling card,” and I do what i

??The people I admire that are practitioners have something more to give than “look at me,” r even “kumbaya community” and it’s clear in everything that they do and say.  There’s a “take it-or-leave-it” approach to the way they are that gets beyond the generation Y “look at me” addiction.  Some of my heroes (Boomer, X and Y).  They are dependent  on talking, maybe.  Thing is, so am I.  Thing is, running from reality is stupid.  Pretending that I am a corporation is one of my dumbest pretenses.

Gary Vee – used video to sell a shit ton of wine.  Did it with authenticity.  Did it daily, when nobody was watching.  Caught on slow and killed it.  He’s a little more “vague” than I’d like at times, but the idea is that you work your ass off at communicating and connecting.  He’s a salesman that leveraged a hard-to-leverage business by putting his soul into getting…a little better all the time.

Nametag Scott Ginsberg –  I know Scott fairly well these days.  I consider myself fortunate to be able to skype with him and chat occasionally.  His schtick is about writing.  That’s what he is at the core of his being.  That’s what he lives and who he is.  He’ll say it’s about approachability, but look between the lines at the example he sets.  I know of no better living example of pursuing perfection.

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein gets specific.  She says that she’s about Living Your Truth.  Even though it might be a sconch touchy-feely for me, she’s not hiding what she’s about.   She talks about business, smarts and stuff right away.

.:.

A personal brand–if it’s to have any meaning–has to be a symbol for a standard of care, excellence and esprit de corps.   As energetic as Gary Vee.  As Approachable as Nametag Scott.  As direct as  Elizabeth Potts Weinsten. A Nordstrom, an institution.

Excellent, but the same for others.  Like Naomi no clue what she’ll say next.  None.  But we know why she’ll say it, what the purpose is and everything else.

What this means for me (and you, eventually) is this:

• I’m going to admit that I do what I already do. That is to coach (and oh, I used to hate that word) “normal” businesses unreal results on the internet.  No more hiding from it.
• I’m going to be everywhere. Guest posting, making videos, making people get things?  I’m there.  You want me guest hosting on your webinar?  I’m your huckleberry.  You got a blog with 8 readers?  You want mine in? You betcha.
• I’m going to give sound, rock solid, business building advice that doesn’t depend on social media or search to work
• I’m not half assing it. I’m already a cartoon charachter for those that know me.  In the next 3-4 days, I’ll have a symbol for how I help and the value  I ad..  Gitomer took the mechanic’s role.  Housechick was super-girl.  Neither goes far enough.
• I’m not waiting: The time will pass anyway, I need to be in, personally, and I’ve to my ideas as it stands.

This isn’t an announcement of the “someday-maybe” kind, it’s overdue.  I can’t stand by and watch salesmen suffer.  I’ve had–no denial–a great year.   There are things that will be better, but I’m on pace.

Watch this space for some radical things.

If you liked this post, you’ll like:

• Potential Aint Shit
• Intense
• Focus

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