The Education of Millionaires - Michael Ellsberg [69]
Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com)
I never, ever cease to be blown away by the brilliance and cutting-edge insight on display on this blog. Seth’s blog isn’t really about marketing, at least not as the word is usually used. It’s about changing the world. And to change the world, you’ve gotta market the change you want to create. Otherwise, no one’s buyin’ it! That’s the general vibe of Seth’s work, and you will do well to study everything he writes. The archives on his blog are an entire business education for free. I read it religiously.
Other Great Marketers
You can access a free archive of masterful sales letters by the late Gary Halbert, one of the greatest copywriters of all time (visit http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com). And you can get a very content-rich free course in copywriting from Gary Bencivenga, another legend of marketing and copywriting (visit http://www.marketingbullets.com).
I also recommend you get on the e-mail lists of the people we’ve been talking about in this chapter already (and, to add to their credibility, not one of them has a college degree): Dan Kennedy (http://www.dankennedy.com), Eben Pagan (http://www.gurumastermind.com), and Frank Kern (http://www.frankkern.com). Finally, gotta say it, get on my wife Jena’s list (visit http://www.pleasurableweightloss.com). Many of these other people I’ve mentioned are die-hard marketing trainers; with Jena, you’ll see the results of someone with a real-world off-line business, who taught herself marketing from the ground up in a short amount of time. She writes her own copy, and it rocks.
Step 3. When my father once asked the legendary Norman Mailer for writing advice, Mailer said the main secret was: “Apply Ass to Chair.” Meaning, in this case, sit down at your desk, in front of your computer, and start putting this stuff into action. Don’t wait for the time to be right. (It never will be.) Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. (It won’t be.) Don’t wait until you “learn just a little more.” (There’s always more to learn!)
Most of the marketing experts I’ve mentioned here offer free articles, online videos, teleseminars and webinars, and other free resources, which comprise a collective treasure trove for educating yourself in real-world marketing.
No matter what you’re up to, whether you’re trying to sell your own freelance services or trying to end world hunger, whether you work in a company of one or one hundred thousand, these skills will help you get your product or service or message, or your company’s product or service or message, in the hands of the people whose lives will benefit from it. (If no one’s life will benefit from it, then why are you marketing it? Time to find a different line of work!)
However, none of these teachings do you any good until you put them into action. You’re not going to get it perfect the first time you try. There will be bumps, bruises, slips, trips, and falls along the way. But your failures will themselves be a crucial part of your learning process.
The world needs your gift now. It can’t wait for you to keep it to yourself. The way for you to get your gift out into the world is to learn marketing, that is, learn the art of talking with people about their deepest needs and desires, and about why what you’re offering might help them meet those needs and desires.
The time to get started is now.
■ MARKETING SECRETS FROM THE POM QUEEN
My family friend Lynda Resnick wanted to go into advertising when she graduated high school, but the advertising agencies weren’t having any of it. “No one would hire me. I went in for junior art director jobs. They kept telling me I had promise, but I should go back to school. But that wasn’t an option. I had to work. Although my father had the money to send me to the college of my choice,