A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs: Why Joey Will Never Be A Success and How You Can Be

Joey is an old family friend with a great mind for inventions and such. He left his corporate IT job about five years ago to sell a specialty clothing item he created for skiers and other outdoor types. It’s a really good product and there is nothing else like it on the market. He even got a patent.

Joey’s first product brochure was really bad. No, make that horrible.

In my old corporate marketing job, I worked on product brochures all the time. So I tried to offer Joey some friendly pointers. When I did, he literally put his hands over his ears and said, “No, no, no.” I am not making this up.

Since then, he’s had some success traveling around the country selling his clothing at ski shows. But, when you calculate in the time and the cost of driving half way across the country and sitting at a booth for three days, it’s easy to see why Joey’s business barely breaks even.

Bad marketing aside, Joey consistently chooses the least customer friendly ways to do business. For example, he doesn’t take checks from his customers because one might bounce. He won’t accept American Express credit cards either because the fees are too high.

I’ve tried to tell him that out of many hundreds of customer orders I’ve received by check, in all that time maybe one was bad. And even if two out of 100 did bounce, he’d still come out ahead because he’d be making sales he wouldn’t have otherwise.

Like credit card fees, the occasional bounced check is just the price of doing business. Like any business expense they just come off your taxes. Joey won’t listen.

Over the years, I’ve tried to tell him that that he should be marketing his product on the internet. Joey resisted for a long time before finally throwing up do-it-yourself site. It’s ugly and not at all user friendly. Not surprisingly, he only gets a couple of orders a month at most.

Not one to give up easily, I’ve tried to talk to him about ways to drive traffic to his site, about building a list so he can keep in touch with his prospects and clients, about partnering with other companies to jointly sell his products – but Joey always comes back with some reason why “it will never work.”

Over the years, I’ve recommended different workshops or Web designers. But Joey doesn’t want to spend the money. Besides, one of them might rip off his ideas.

At one point, a major ski manufacturer was interested in licensing his product. As he prepared to talk numbers, I told him to focus on sales volume and not a per unit profit. After all it’s better make $2 on a million sales than to make $20 on 1000 sales. But Joey decided it was better to play hard ball on price instead. The deal never happened.

Why am I bothering to take time out of my weekend to tell you about a small business failure?

It’s simple. I know you want nothing more than to fire your boss and do your own thing. And, unlike Joey, I actually want you to make enough money so you can support yourself, take some nice vacations, and enjoy a good retirement.

But it’s never going to happen unless you bring the right mindset to your goal of changing course.

Case in point, compare Joey to a guy named Ted that I met last weekend at a seminar in Salt Lake City. Ted flew all the way from Florida, took three days out of his life, and spent several thousand dollars to learn a new way to drive more traffic to his Web site from an expert.

Ted is an airline pilot who was looking to start a side business in his spare time. He took a seminar on starting an online business, found a product he wanted to sell (a medical device), contracted with manufacturers and distributors, used everything he learned and made it happen. That was three years ago.

Now compare where Ted’s business is compared to Joey’s.

Ted works on his business part-time. Joey works on his full-time.

Despite spending more time on his business, Joey has made relatively little money, has a garage full of inventory, and has an increasingly impatient wife who just wants him to get a “real job.”

Ted’s business started out slowly, but today he is seeing monthly sales of about $50,000 and next year projects sales to top a million. Corporate headquarters is a spare bedroom in his condo.

“Information Will Set You Free”

There is one reason, and one reason only, why Joey’s business is not making it. He won’t listen to anyone.

Joey thinks he knows it all and sees no value in working with other business owners.

Ted on the other hand goes out of his way to find people who are more knowledgeable than he is and to learn from them. He also partnered with a parent’s organization devoted to helping young people impacted by the condition Ted’s product helps.

Joey doesn’t want to spend a dime on his business that he doesn’t have to, preferring instead to do everything himself. He thinks everyone is out to rip him off – the customer, marketing consultants, internet marketers, workshop leaders.

But like me, Ted invests heavily in his education. That’s because Ted knows for every $1 he puts in he will get $10 or $20 back in increased sales.

My changing course mantra has always been “information will set you free.” Ted gets this. Joey doesn’t.

Last week I shared some information with you about two very smart and very successful people whom I consider to be mentors of sorts – Yanik Silver and Jeff Walker.

Since purchasing their products and then getting a chance to meet and spend time continuing to learn from them, my own business has succeeded beyond my dreams. (One of the best things about making more money is it’s allowed me to give more money to my favorite international cause, www.TrickleUp.org and my favorite local cause, The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.)

Both Yanik and Jeff are experts at helping people like Joey (if he’d listen), or Ted, or me, or you to start with literally nothing more than a glimmer of an idea, to turn that idea into a viable product or service, and then to sit at home reaching out to people who would benefit from our idea by marketing it via the World Wide Web.

Neither of these guys is afraid that people are going to rip them off. Quite the opposite. In fact, right now Yanik and Jeff are both giving away a TON of information that is free for the taking.

For example, Yanik is giving away almost $300 worth of products to any current or aspiring entrepreneur who wants to learn from a true master. All just to get you to give a subscription to his new Maverick Insiders newsletter a fair try.

These are not digital products he’s giving away. This is a big box of stuff that Yanik is going to mail to your home for just the cost of postage and handling. Now compare that to Joey who is too afraid that a customer will rip him off that he won’t even take a check!

Then there’s Jeff Walker. Jeff’s whole philosophy is built on being generous with his knowledge. So, for the last week or so, he’s been letting people listen in to a series of training videos that others have paid thousands to see.

Is Jeff just being a “nice guy”? Yes and no. Jeff truly is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth guys you’ll ever meet. I’ve been at conferences with him where some “little guy” who used Jeff’s program will come up tell him that they went from making a few hundred of dollars a month to making anywhere from $5,000 to (and I am not exaggerating here) $100,000 in a week.

Jeff knows what it’s like to barely have enough money to keep his own kids in diapers. So when people come up to thank him like this, you would think he hit the lottery! I’m guessing no one has thanked Joey.

But Jeff is also savvy enough to know that being successful in business means establishing relationships. Relationships are all about trust and credibility. You gain trust by putting your customer’s needs above profits. Like me, I know for a fact that Jeff has walked away from sales or potential business partners if it didn’t feel right.

Jeff also knows that the best way to establish credibility with prospective customers is not to guard the palace, like Joey does but rather to “move the free line” as Eben Pagan says, and give away as much free information as possible.

What can you learn from how Jeff or Yanik do business? Are there ways you can be more generous in your own business? Or offer people what Yanik calls an “ethical bribe” to try your product or service?

The Question Is: Who Do You Want To Be Like?

Technically Joey and Ted are both small business owners. But they could not be more different. If you’re dreading going to work tomorrow, then you need to ask yourself some important questions:

Yes or no, are you really serious about succeeding in your own business? Or is it just one of those “someday-maybe” things you tell yourself to make yourself feel better about getting up and going to your mind-numbing job?

If the answer is yes, go to the next question…

You probably invested a lot of time and money in getting some kind of a degree, right? But what have you invested in your business? If the answer is nothing, then how much are you planning to invest? Or do you think that starting a business just happens?

What do you need to learn to get to the next level and who can you learn from? What is your plan for actively learning from people who are doing what you want to be doing? Is there a book, a workshop, an apprenticeship, a product that will help you get there faster?

My plan is to continue to invest a minimum of $10,000 a year in my own education (something that would have been unthinkable to my working class brain just a few years ago).

And I plan to continue to learn from people like Yanik and Jeff. Last week I shared some specifics about both of their programs. So I’m not going to get into all that again. Besides they both do a far better job explaining what they have to offer than I do so, if you’re interested, I invite you to go see what they have to say.

But, if you have been thinking about starting a business that you can operate online from anywhere, then what you DO need to know now is that there is a clock on all this generosity and that clock is tick, tick, ticking…

I honestly don’t know when Yanik plans to end the $298 in free products offer. All I know is a) it’s not going to be around forever, and b) he wrote to say he plans to kick in what he says is a “killer last minute bonus.” So, if you want to meet Yanik, to see photos with him and his pal Sir Richard Branson (talk about networking!) and how Yanik teamed up with Branson to raise money for some very good causes, and to learn more about grabbing your free products, go to:

http://ChangingCourse.com/recommends/yanik

So many people grabbed Jeff’s program that he stopped taking orders on Friday. But he’s re-opening the doors one last time on Monday, November 17th at noon Eastern Time. But just for a few hours or until he sells out.

To watch Jeff’s newest free informational video or just to get in line for this last chance to grab his program go to:

ChangingCourse.com/recommends/productlaunch

Being a Successful Entrepreneur is All In Your Mind

So much of being a successful entrepreneur has to do with your mindset. Do you want to be like Joey or do you want to be like Ted? Maybe you aren’t out to make millions. But imagine how nice it would be to make a good living on your own terms and not have to worry about money. Better yet, imagine being able to make enough to help other people too.

Sir Francis Bacon once said, “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” A wise woman will too. Change your thinking and it is amazing what opportunities you will invite into your life.