Jazz Improvisation and The Magic Gumball Machine

Mel,   When the Dilbert cube faded in my review mirror for the last time, I had to replace my income FAST.   My plan was simple:   Land 2-3 consulting clients on retainer and buy myself the breathing room to start building my information business.    And so I started making the rounds, decked out in the brand new suit that Laura and the clerk at Nordstrom swore looked fantastic.   One of my first meetings was with the president of a company that sold large industrial equipment.   Now these days I'm pretty good at the whole "jazz improvisation" side of consulting. I can sit just about any business owner down in the hotseat, poke and prod, and within 5 minutes I've found the festering, gangrenous wound in his business.   But as a newly minted consultant my skills weren't that finely tuned yet.   So I danced and jived, throwing everything I could think of at him, looking for the crack that would let me get my fingers under the edges of his business.   This went on for a couple of hours, and I wasn't making much progress.   Then it hit me. I had it—the ONE final question that would sell this guy on hiring me.   Today I call this the "magic gumball" question, and it's one of the most valuable questions any consultant can have in their arsenal.   It goes like this:   "Mr. Business Owner, if I had a magic gumball machine, and all you had to do was put in enough quarters and out pops a customer... How much money would you put in before it wasn't worth it anymore?"   That stopped him cold. He'd never thought about it before.   You'll find that MOST business owners don't have a ready answer to this question.   I watched abacus beads slide back and forth behind his eyes.   On one hand, a customer in his biz was easily worth hundreds of thousands—even millions. On the other, locking up a new contract usually meant multiple plane tickets to wine and dine a whole committee of C-level suits.   Finally, he ventured a guess. "I'd say about $50,000."   "I can get you customers for $15,000."   SOLD.   The right question cuts straight to the bone—it's more powerful than any advice you can possibly give.   Right now in Mastermind Club we're having a conversation about this.   Because questions—specifically the RIGHT question—are the heart of item #6 in the "Planet Perry Manifesto."   For years Mastermind Club members have asked me to lay out the core tenants that set Planet Perry apart from 99% of the kool-aid sipping biz opp cults that litter the Internet.   So for the next couple of months, I'm doing just that in the Mastermind Club newsletter.   The 12 principles in the Manifesto are the foundation of everything I teach.   They're BIG ideas—blades in your "Swiss army knife" that'll unlock your trickiest business problems while your competition is still fumbling for the latest social media "hack."   The December newsletter spells out Manifesto items #4-8. I'm putting the finishing touches on the final draft right now, and then it's off to the printer.   Should hit your mailbox right around Christmas.   Not a Mastermind Club member?   Join the conversation here.   Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall       ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email: support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Will You Be Thunderclap Newman or Bob Dylan?

Mel,   What’s your favorite Thunderclap Newman song?   You’re probably thinking, “Who?”   You know, Thunderclap Newman! They had the big hit “Something in the Air” back in 1970!   It was #1 for three whole weeks that year in the UK. (Not ringing any bells?)   Well, in 1973, their lead singer and songwriter, Speedy Keen, launched his solo career based on the “massive influence” he gained from writing that hit.   What? You don’t know Speedy either?   Well, in the June 1973 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine there was a full-page ad announcing his new album.   My friend John has these old Rolling Stone annuals and we were flipping through them one night as we sipped adult beverages at his house and listened to Scandinavian jazz on a pair of speakers I built.   We were amazed at how few of the be-bell-bottomed acts glorified on those pages anyone would still recognize today.   To wit…   They reviewed 18 albums that month.   Three of them are by bands that stood the test of time…Led Zeppelin, Yes and the Jackson 5.   A couple others had decent runs of a few years…Seals & Croft and Canned Heat.   The other 13? Well…   Nicky Hopkins? Garland Jeffreys? The Strawbs? Andy Pratt? Flo & Eddie? Jo Jo Gunne? David Blue? Bloodstone? Wet Willie? The Groundhogs? The Sufi Choir? Lee Michaels? The Intruders?   That’s 80/20 in action when it comes to longevity and influence.   Three influential successes out of 18.   Then there’s another guy who shows up in the pages of every issue that year.   Bob Dylan.   I don’t have to ask if you’re heard of him.   He’s the most influential songwriter of the rock and roll era. Ever heard of Tom Petty? Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits? Bruce Springsteen? All cut from the Bob Dylan cloth.   A few years ago when he turned 70, Rolling Stone released a special issue, “The 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs.”   Imagine having written so many great songs that narrowing them down to the “100 Greatest” would be something people thought long and hard about!   That’s a legacy. That’s longevity.   You only achieve that by changing the way people see the world.   When your aim is to change the way people see the world, you say, sing, create, and write things TODAY that will earn you fans, followers, clients and customers 10 years from now.   What did you do TODAY that will earn YOU customers 10 years from now?   If you’re relying on swipe files, templates, launch formulas, click-bait, copywriting strategies and persuasion tactics, you’re Speedy Keen.   You can get a “#1 hit” that way…heck, if you pay the right gurus enough money, they can manufacture a hit for you.   Once.   But the next time you need a hit, it’s fork over the dough again!   Rinse and repeat and repeat and repeat.   With dramatically diminishing returns every time.   No legacy, no foundation, no influence…a house of cards, a house built on sand.   But if you have a reputation of INFLUENCE, like Bob Dylan, you can even put out a “dud” album (he’s done it many times) and still sell out arenas at your next gig.   So, which do you want to be?   A quickly-forgotten pop star with a bubble gum pop hit or two?   Or a legend with bankable influence that pays you for years, maybe even decades?   If you want long-term legacy, you need to write for INFLUENCE.   Click below to find out how…   Influential Writers Lab starts TODAY   Will You Be a Speedy Keen flash-in-the-pan or a legend like Bob Dylan?   Carpe diem,   Perry Marshall     ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email: support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Last Call: 12 Mistakes Non-Influential Marketers Make

Mel,   We’re about to get started with...   “12 Mistakes Non-Influential Writers (and Marketers) Make”   If you want to build a long-lasting legacy of influence ONE time…rather than a flimsy house of cards you have to build over and over and over again…you must avoid these mistakes.   Join us today at 11AM Eastern.   Carpe diem,   Perry Marshall       ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email: support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

What You’ve Been Taught about Copywriting Has Sown the Seeds of Your Destruction

Mel,   Most marketing courses teach you to think like an automaton, treating customers like walking ATM machines, pulling levers and pushing buttons like the Wizard of Oz.    Which is why most marketers secretly dread being found out.   That is why it’s a huge mistake to believe that simply converting or selling is the real answer to your question.    Toto tugs on drapes and an insecure man bellows into the microphone: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. I am the great and powerful OZ! It eventually stops working. Influence is lost. You have to start over with new peeps. Ugh.    Hustling and starting over and doing things over and over again might seem normal when you’re 30. You’ll be friggin’ weary of it by the time you’re 50.    It’s like getting remarried after divorce #4. Or starting all over playing dive bars late after you’ve played arenas. Lugging drums and equipment up and down rickety flights of stairs, trying one more time to kindle an eager following.   Have you ever asked yourself why some authors, speakers and thought leaders’ legacies extend long beyond the physical span of their life? Stephen Covey, Napoleon Hill, Peter Drucker, Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar all possess influence that extends for decades.   Let me ask you a question:   Did these men achieve their tremendous influence by being…    Copywriters?    Was it because they knew how to write punchy headlines and sensational bullets?    No. And, honestly, you can hire a copywriter to write you…    Juicy, click bait bullets A catchy, pop-hook headline Eyeball-grabbing subject lines   But all that “attention” profits you nothing. You will be quickly forgotten. You will be yesterday’s news before yesterday even rolls around.   Unless you can cement yourself in your reader’s brain. Unless you can buy valuable real estate in his head. Unless you can change the way she sees the world.   Click here to register for “12 Mistakes Non-Influential Writers Make”   Or continue to build your house of cards and have to start all over again every time it gets blown down by the wind.   Carpe diem,   Perry Marshall     ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email: support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Update subscriber options   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here