…make us blind.

I was doing some consulting a few days ago and my client came to me with a business idea. I really love this guy because he is sticking his neck out in a big time way, I am sure he will eventually be successful with his idea because he is do determined. Its mostly a matter of playing his cards right in the early phases.

Ive been consulting with him for a while, and we had an original plan which was amazing, and recently, on his own, he changed it, from a national launch to a local, at about 3 times the expense, for about 20 times a shorter period. I tried to ascertain as to why he did this, and the only answers I could get were vague, mostly that he wanted to and felt it was best- his mind was set on it. I even related to him that I had tried the very same marketing stratgey which met with disasterous results….it didnt matter. I told him the rate of return I got on that marketing plan (resulted in zero customers) the amount of money I spent ($1200) and the experience I had with the company doing it (worst ever). It didnt matter. It was at this point I decided there was nothing I could say to him that would change his mind and that he might need to go through this experience to learn. I feel horrible because I can see the danger he is walking into, he cannot. Its dang tough for me to watch someone I care about walk straight into something I know he might regret.

When it comes to marketing, the best kind is the kind that sticks and will be around for months or years after you launch. TV, Newspapers, radio ads are not sticky, but work for deep pocket companies. Magazines, websites, magnets, etc ARE. Ive seen it so many times where people start businesses and they think a single ad will bring lots of business. An absolutely amazing return is about a half percent of the target market responding positively to an ad. Anything over 2 percent is a pipedream. The funny thing is, I learned this lesson when I made the same mistake. There is a powerful relationship between painful mistakes and memory.

Pride has to do with who is right. Truth has to do with what is right. Pride and Ego are inefficient. They impede our vision to what the truth is when we see things through “me” colored glasses.

We are always better if we can think in terms of what is right, not who.