Dumber than a doornail - that's what he was - one of the richest home-based
businessmen I have ever had the opportunity to know personally.
For purposes of anonymity, lets call him Jack. Jack wasn't your typical
sharp-as-a-tack businessman, nor was he what you might term a master marketer.
Actually, he wasn't really even all that bright. He was one of those types
that, though he dressed nicely, when he opened his mouth, you would grit
your teeth hoping he wouldn't say something terribly foolish or offensive.
About seven years ago, Jack approached my husband and me about providing
a certain service for his expansive downline in a network marketing company.
While we were not interested in network marketing, nor did we believe we
would gain a significant number of customers through this business relationship,
Jack convinced us to provide this service for his organization.
What followed blew our minds.
Once we had all things set up and customized to begin taking orders,
Jack made an announcement to his downline. The orders immediately began
to trickle in. Jack sent out reminders for several weeks. The orders came
by the thousands. We had to hire more employees to take Jack's orders.
Every month, orders increased and business was booming.
Through many meetings over the next few months, we got to know Jack.
One of his associates had put together a fairly unattractive executive
summary for all distributors to use. We offered to redo it free of charge.
Jack declined and said he wanted it up right away... as is. Surely, even
not-so-bright Jack could see the importance of reworking this document
that thousands of distributors would be using.
Nevertheless, the executive summary went out "as is." We felt sure it
would backfire. But, do you know that things actually picked up faster
soon after it was distributed?
My husband and I scratched our heads as we wondered what in the world
Jack knew that we didn't. What was so fantastic about Jack that he could
have such influence over so many people. He said, "Jump," and thousands
of people asked, "How high?"
Why?
Jack invited us to accompany him to a conference he was putting together.
We were to present our services to his audience. My husband and I went
and took a small sales force with us. During Jack's lectures, we left our
booth to peek in every so often.
Throughout that whole three-day conference, I never heard Jack say anything
of real consequence. Yes, there was a lot of hype, but there wasn't anything
truly solid to the information he presented. In fact, Jack would inevitably
say something, quite frankly, stupid right in the middle of his lectures.
Yet, at Jack's suggestion, people continued to sign up for our services
in droves.
It wasn't until the end of the conference that we figured out what it
was that made Jack so successful.
Do you know what the secret to his success was?
He actually practiced what he preached. You see, Jack understood two
things quite well.
1) He knew that to get a desired outcome, he had to actually DO something
to get there.
2) He understood the exponential power of leveraging. Each person in
that room that he could get to DO something to work toward his goal would
exponentially get him there that much faster.
For purposes of this article, we're only going to take a look at the
first item above... doing something.
During those three days, Jack must have used the phrase, "Doin' It,
Doin' It, Doin' It," several dozen times. It really was quite annoying.
But, it didn't sink in until the end of the conference what he was trying
to teach his audience... That if they would just do something - anything
- every day toward their goals, they would get there.
It's so simple, it sounds ridiculous. Yet, that is exactly what not-so-bright
Jack did to get to his millions. He just started doing something. He didn't
wait until he had enough money to start his business (he started flat broke
with a young family). He didn't wait until the executive summary was perfect,
nor did he wait until his company had a whole slew of products to sell.
He knew where he wanted to be, simply started with what he had and DID
SOMETHING - every day.
How does the saying go? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
How about this one, "You can't wish your way into heaven." This is equally
true of business dreams. A dream is nothing more than a dream until you
do something to make it a reality. The plain and simple truth is that you
can't wish your way to riches. You've got to do something about it.
The problem most of us face is that, though we have an idea of what
ultimate outcome we want, the process of getting there seems overwhelming.
Taking off bite-size pieces each day is a much better way of getting there.
And... it works! Not-so-bright Jack is living proof of this principle.
Trust me, my saying that if Jack can do it, anyone can, is not just some
trite phrase.
Okay, let's take a break for a short quiz.
Q: Do you know what's worse than a bad sales aid?
A: No sales aid at all.
You know, my husband and I feel like we really missed out on something
at that conference. What did we miss out on?
Opportunity.
Sure, we took in plenty of orders. But, on our way home in the plane,
we both realized that if we had taken one sales aid (a piece of equipment
that would help those people with the service we were offering), we would
have sold 100's of them at a $100 profit each. We wouldn't have had to
stock any inventory or purchase the equipment up front. We just needed
to provide the sample piece of equipment, an order form for taking orders,
and then have them drop-shipped in order for us to have pocketed an additional
$10,000 to $20,000 in those three days.
It wouldn't have made a huge difference how perfectly formatted our
order forms were. Simply having an order form - any order form - would
have sold plenty.
This is a concept that not-so-bright Jack understood very well. He was
anxiously engaged in "doin' it, doin' it, doin' it," and in the process
made his millions.
We have tried to take Jack's advice over the years. It takes time and
experience to come to understand the significance of this simple concept...
doing something every day. His advice has made and is making a difference
in our own business.
Now, ask yourself if there is something you have thought about doing
but have put off, a wish you would like... no... NEED to make a reality.
Do you have an eBook you have been wanting to write but are afraid you
won't have the time to finish before the market is saturated? Perhaps you
are waiting to perfect it before releasing it? Are you afraid you won't
know how to market it?
Have you joined a company as a distributor, read over the materials,
but just haven't brought yourself to making a call or two?
Have you wanted to put up a website for your products or services, but
the task seems too daunting or too expensive?
Is there a business you would really like to start but are afraid of
failure? Perhaps you feel you don't have the capital to get it going?
If so, I challenge you to start now, today, to write down your desired
outcome and make it a goal. Then, do something - anything toward that goal
every day. Don't wait for perfect circumstances. Don't wait for the ideal
sales aid. Don't wait for the money.
Don't let self-doubt, fear, time-wasters or money keep you from doing
some little thing each day. You may still have your doubts and fears, but
by doing something every day and seeing your progress over time, you will
soon find your doubts and fears fading away.
Whether it be a simple phone call, an email, trading links, writing
a few words, sketching an idea; do something every day. You will be surprised
at the results.
And, if you've got a few more smarts than not-so-bright Jack, you might
just make an extra million or two.
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About the Author...
Heidi Perry, the author of this article and a successful entrepreneur,
is editor of HomeBizBytes and co-founder of HomeBusinessOnline.com.
Sign up for her popular newsletter at
http://www.HomeBusinessOnline.com/nsl.htm
