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“Millionaires don't believe
in astrology. Billionaires do.”
- Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
I took my 10 year old son
Evan to his karate school last Friday night, for a special
“Board Breaking Class.”
Although I don't
know of many people who have ever actually been attacked by a
board, his instructor thought it would be good for the kids to put
some of their skills to the test, so we signed up.
We got there early, and Evan
ran right over to pick up his allotted 10 pieces of one foot
square, one inch thick, pine. After a brief demonstration by
the instructor (who apparently was using trick wood, based on the
way it crumbled with just the slightest touch of his hand), Evan
got in line with the other kids.
One by one they broke the wood,
and I have to admit that by the time it came to be Evan's turn, I
was as excited as he was. He walked over, knelt down,
positioned the wood between the two cinder blocks provided, and
raised his hand high over his head.
Then, with one
quick focused movement, he brought his hand down on the wood as
hard as he could.
Nothing happened. The
wood just sat there looking at him. So he tried it again.
Nothing. And again, and again, AND AGAIN. Nothing,
nothing, NOTHING. From 20 feet away I could see how red his
hand was getting, and I finally had to stop him so that he
wouldn't hurt himself. Needless to say, we went home that
night very disappointed.
Later that weekend, and now
wondering what to do with 10 pieces of one foot square, one inch
thick pine, I set the wood up in the basement between two cinder
blocks. Then I
went upstairs to find Evan.
Once again, he knelt down,
raised his hand, and brought his fist down on the wood. This
time - BOOM! - the wood snapped in half as his hand reached the
floor. After a quick celebration filled with the usual
idiotic hooting and hollering that we American males are famous
for, I put another board down for him to break. Boom,
broken. And another, same thing. He broke five boards
in a row in about two minutes, and I suddenly began fearing for
the lives of all the cutting boards in our kitchen.
You know the point of the
story. When
you believe that you can do something, it's easy. When you
don't, it's impossible.
January is the most popular
month of the year for launching new E-Newsletters, and I know that
for the many of you who began back then - as you now face your
fourth or fifth issue - you're having some doubts.
You've spent time,
effort and money getting your E-Newsletter set up and out the
door, and you've yet to see any clear return on your investment
(the boards haven't broken yet and your hand is getting pretty
sore).
The purpose of this week's
newsletter is to encourage you to have faith and keep going, even
in the face of no measurable results. Because
once your “board breaks,” and you get that first call from a
complete stranger who says, “We've been reading your newsletter
for 6 months, and we'd like you to come in and talk with us about
doing some work,” you'll find that the calls come more
frequently and more predictably.
Relationship marketing (of
which, E-Newsletters are a tool) takes longer to get started than
its cousin, Direct Marketing. And
even when it does, you often can't make an airtight link between
the cause (consistently marketing to your existing relationships)
and the effect (profits).
That said, it's easier, more
cost effective and ultimately more profitable to have prospects
find you than it is for you to go looking for them.
By the way, I'm well aware that
there are people who would argue that words like "faith"
and "belief" don't have a measurable impact on results,
and therefore don't deserve a place in serious business. I
disagree, and Evan and I are willing to bet that none of those
people have ever broken a piece of wood with their bare hands.
Keep writing and see you next
time!
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Michael
J. Katz is Founder and Chief Penguin of Blue Penguin Development,
Inc., (www.BluePenguinDevelopment.com)
a Boston area consulting firm that helps clients increase sales by
showing them how to nurture their
existing relationships, and that specializes in the development of
electronic newsletters. He
is the author of the book, E-Newsletters That Work.
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