My Response to a Statist… (And my philosophy of business)
This post started off several years ago as a post in response to something someone posted on FB, on a friend's wall. I recently reread it and realized it nicely explains my theory about business and life and government. If you disagree with the general tone of this article, we likely shouldn't be doing business together…
Enjoy!
A friend posted an article on Facebook the other day about the plan our Good and Right Savior, the All Knowing All Powerful President O, the Lord of the Left and the Right, Protector of the Downtrodden, Presider over the Captains of Industry, and Darling of the Wall Street Fascists had proposed to raise the minimum wage…he is after all the protector of the down trodden.
Steve asked me to chime in, specifically, and so I Have tried for now on 3 days. The problem is all my responses just got too long for a FB comment. Sure they might show up but who wants to tread a 6 page response in a FB comment section, even if it is as entertaining as this post will be! So I have responded via this blog post. I hope, hope, hope, the people who have commented will read this and comment here, or back on FB. I hope those reading this, especially entrepreneurs, will seek our Steve Sipress on FB and friend him….it'd be a good idea for your business!
Some of you will see this post as an Ad Hominem attack. While I am not polite, I have also backed my points up with sound philosophic thought, basically the right of someone to use and dispose of their property (in this case their business) as they see fit and the right of people to enter a contract as they see fit. I am not polite because of the arrogance, the complete disregard for my rights, and the the presumption of the comments I am responding to. This guy is effectivly, by proxy, coming into my business with a gun, taking money from the till and giving it to my employees.
Since I make my money in trade, I don't abide by thieves, whether they operate by proxy or directly.
So here is the link to the original article Steve posted:
Here is a response from a FB friend of his:
“Given people's perceptions, you may or may not be phrasing the question correctly: it's not necessarily a question of helping or hurting their business, it's a matter of social policy: if free markets were left to themselves, many hard working people, even with 2 jobs, would be liviing close to the poverty line; so the question for many is how much should an individual working 60 hours over 2 jobs, or a couple working 3 jobs for 100 hours a week combined, earn, and what benefits should they have. Also, there is a belief that if the poorer earn more, they will also spend more – benefiting small businesses (how the plusses and minuses work out, I don't know). These added costs would not only apply to small businesses, but also to bigger businesses (eg, Walmart) that prefer to skimp on salaries and benefits. Seems to me that the more pressing problem for small businesses (at least in distribution) is the impact of the Internet: why should a brick and mortar store be at a structural disadvantage to an Amazon.com not only because Amazon pays lower rent per square foot of space, but also because it does not have to charge/pay sales taxes (although that advantage seems to be going away over time, as sales taxes are being imposed). If some of these structural issues were addressed, would small businesses be better able to survive paying higher wages?”
And:
“Steve, I don't know if I can address you and Jeff in a comprehensive manner, but here are bits and pieces:
The Ayn Rand article does not get into any specific details about Wal-Mart's pay practices. But see this article:
http://www.forbes.com/…/raising-the-minimum-wage-would…
Places like Costco thrive while paying significantly above minimum wage to even their lowest paid workers – and they have a motivated work force. The article I mention also makes the very important point that a higher minimum wage could result in a lesser need to feed at the government trough. You can't have it both ways – a low minimum wage and cutting benefits to the poor (which is what Paul Ryan seems to prefer).
You assert that many minimum wage people give minimal effort (I don't disagree, but there are many who don't) and I think Jeff says that if they don't like their wages they should find somewhere else to work. Of course, if a business does not like the attitude/effort of an employee, they should fire him/her and find someone else willing to provide more for the same wages. It works both ways. [Also, perhaps employees might be more motivated if you paid them more.]
Where I disagree with Jeff is his complete faith in free markets: let supply and demand set wages. Here's the problem: in pure theoretical capitalist economic models, you have perfect information (everyone knows what others are making/paying elsewhere, what the supply and demand is) and free transferability (it costs nothing to move to a place with better/higher paying jobs). That is not reality. Reality is that there is imperfect information – big companies know far better than small companies and individuals what is out there (although the Internet is lowering that gap) – and no free transferability (it costs lots of money to move from one location to the next). So supply and demand in the real world typically favors the employer (particularly in lower paying jobs), unless you have a unique situation as in fracking North Dakota, where there is massive disequilibrium (both in the labor market and in the housing market) – the advantages of employers in supply-demand equations created a basis for a goverment role to fix some of the perceived inequities. Hence, the welfare state, including the minimum wage.
If you want to minimize the scope of government, then you can't have so many people at or below the poverty line. Leaving it to the goodwill of people to give to charities is not enough; people do not give enough to charities. So, a boost in the minimum wage is one way to address the problem while spreading the burden across the entire population, including small businesses.”
First, I am going to leave this guys name a mystery. If you go find the post you can read it there, but I'm getting ready to tear him apart here on the blog, and I see no reason to point out who made this ridiculous statements.
You see, there are just so many mind-numbed (read brainwashed) assumptions and unsubstantiated leaps in logic in this guys response I hardly know where to start. So I will just go through and address each thing on a point by point basis. Enjoy!
Given people's perceptions, you may or may not be phrasing the question correctly: it's not necessarily a question of helping or hurting their business, it's a matter of social policy:
********* No it's not you collectivist twit! It's a matter of their business and ONLY their business! When the government sets wages, etc. for GOVERNMENT employees it is, arguably, a matter of social policy (although it shouldn't be.) The government, representing the people in a society, arguably has other things to consider when it sets wages for it's workers and contractors. (BTW, that is one of the most important reasons why Government should do as little as possible. Things like ROI, efficiency and long term cost/benefit analysis give way to 'buying votes' for the next election.)
If the idiots pushing for a minimum wage increase, or a minimum wage at all, want to help people make more money, let them open up a business and pay the workers more. Once they get big enough the wages around that business will go up as a result of natural market competition. Of course, they don't want to do that, they just want to use guns to force others who have worked their asses of to give away more money…and it is giving away more money, make no mistake. If I'm an employer and I have a job to do and that job is worth $5/hour, but you force me to pay someone $7-8/hr plus take 15% on top of that, and force me to comply with a whole host of regulations, all of which have a cost, guess what…that job is left unfilled or I just make someone else in my business do it. If you'd like to see more people employed at higher wages, stop using your fucking guns to force me to overpay and stop making it so expensive to have employees.
If you want to give employees all those protections and all that good pay, start a business and do it! Stop acting like a coward and using guns, by proxy, to force others to do it, just because you think it's “the right thing to do.”
BTW, the using guns statements are the reality of government. If you don't do what the government tells you to do, eventually men with guns come and take you or your stuff. Each and every law you encourage the government to pass, each and every dictate from any level of government, is backed up by a gun! If that makes you feel uncomfortable you should reconsider your position, not ignore me for pointing it out. You are no better than a common thief…worse really, at least the thief has the courage to use the gun himself.
if free markets were left to themselves, many hard working people, even with 2 jobs, would be liviing close to the poverty line;
***********This is one of those brainwashed assumptions I told you about. It's simply NOT true. We didn't have a minimum wage in the US until 1938 and believe it or not, employees weren't dying in the streets of starvation. As a matter of fact the market was improving conditions for workers rapidly! Sure it started off pretty bad, but the market corrects all problems…including employee mistreatment or underpayment.
The numbers are clear, employee conditions, wages, etc were rapidly improving. The minimum wage, among other things, just allowed the government to take credit for something that was happening already.
so the question for many is how much should an individual working 60 hours over 2 jobs, or a couple working 3 jobs for 100 hours a week combined, earn, and what benefits should they have.
************And the answer is: They deserve to be paid some percentage of the money their skills produce for the business they work for. If their employer is willing to pay $1 an hour for those skills, and the employee can't find anyone willing to pay more, they deserve $1/hr. If they want more, find someone for whom their skills are more valuable OR get new skills.
The entirety of your comments on this point suggest workers and their value are static, immovable, and they can't make themselves more valuable. If that were true, you might (MIGHT) have a point. However, just because someone refuses to make themselves more valuable by going to school, or the library, or Google, or finding a mentor or any other of a 1000 ways to lean new skills, doesn't mean I am obligated as a business owner to pay them more. This is about personal responsibility, period. You either believe adults are responsible for themselves for you believe they are incapable of taking care of themselves. There is no middle ground. Either the ball is in their court, or you believe they are helpless without you, which is pretty damned arrogant of you as far as I'm concerned.
Also, there is a belief that if the poorer earn more, they will also spend more – benefiting small businesses (how the plusses and minuses work out, I don't know).
************* Maybe true or maybe not (I suspect not) but irrelevant either way. This is not a matter of collective well being, it is a philosophic matter of the right someone has to dispose of their property and handle their affairs in the way they see fit. You don't have the right to tell someone what kind of car to drive or how much to pay for it. Telling them how much to pay their employees is the same kind of intrusion. Their business, their property (a business is property), their rules. If no one will work for the business, they'll have to change the rules or go out of business. If they offer terms that are too 'skinny' the best workers will go elsewhere and their business will not survive, or thrive. On the other hand, the folks paying the most for the skills they need, have an advantage over the rest of the market. These are business decisions that should be left to business owners and prospective employees…not decided by idiots with guns in ivory towers!
These added costs would not only apply to small businesses, but also to bigger businesses (eg, Walmart) that prefer to skimp on salaries and benefits.
**************** The yearly revenue number doesn't effect the moral implications of your argument. And, arguably, large businesses should pay less than small business. There's much clearer opportunity for advancement, your job is far safer, etc. If you work for Best Buy you're less worried about the company going out of business and you're more likely to have advancement opportunities than if you work for the local computer shop. There is value to that and that value means it might be worth taking less money in your envelope today.
Seems to me that the more pressing problem for small businesses (at least in distribution) is the impact of the Internet: why should a brick and mortar store be at a structural disadvantage to an Amazon.com not only because Amazon pays lower rent per square foot of space, but also because it does not have to charge/pay sales taxes (although that advantage seems to be going away over time, as sales taxes are being imposed). If some of these structural issues were addressed, would small businesses be better able to survive paying higher wages?
************* You are now going way afield of the discussion. I will point out though, the buggy whip manufacturers would agree with you. Business advances and the marketplace advances and when it does it leaves behind those who will not keep up. Just like the employee who has been outsourced or his job replaced by a robot and he was fired for his lack of skills in other areas of the business…the company that will not adjust to trends will die, and deserves to die. The marketplace is only interested in people and companies who serve it. Changing laws and interfering in that evolution only, ever, hurts the consumer.
“Places like Costco thrive while paying significantly above minimum wage to even their lowest paid workers – and they have a motivated work force.
***************** So what?! Wal-Mart should pay more because Costco does? You are truly proud of your ignorance aren't you! How dare you start making sweeping decisions for a business you don't own and have no in depth knowledge about because a completely different business has a different pay scale, at least based on what some reporter in one magazine article told you. Piss off! If you're so damned smart, why aren't you a Wal-Mart exec fighting for high pay for the employees? Or, you could put YOUR money where YOUR mouth is and open a business and pay YOUR employees anything you want. Of course you won't do that, because like most statist pigs, you'd rather just take from those who produce in order to see your theories tested (by the way they have been tested over and over and they have failed again and again. Of course that doesn't fit into your narrative of the world, so you ignore the failures and just keep using guns to impose your beliefs on ME!)
The article I mention also makes the very important point that a higher minimum wage could result in a lesser need to feed at the government trough. You can't have it both ways – a low minimum wage and cutting benefits to the poor (which is what Paul Ryan seems to prefer).
*********** False choice! I call bullshit!!!!! This is a favorite technique of you statist assholes who want to control every part of my life. Your suggestions that the government is the ONLY entity that can help the poor is complete and utter bullshit! And your implication that if the minimum wage was done away with all the poor would lose everything is bullshit!!!!
The truth is ONLY 4.7% of the workforce are paid minimum wage. If the minimum wage was raised, even with the ripple effect, it wouldn't effect that many of the workers. To the businesses it effected, it would be devastating, but it isn't that many businesses.
The issue is an issue of the right to use and dispose of your private property…it is an issue of philosophy. It is your philosophy that has torn down every great nation and is killing our right now.
You assert that many minimum wage people give minimal effort (I don't disagree, but there are many who don't) and I think Jeff says that if they don't like their wages they should find somewhere else to work. Of course, if a business does not like the attitude/effort of an employee, they should fire him/her and find someone else willing to provide more for the same wages. It works both ways. [Also, perhaps employees might be more motivated if you paid them more.]
Where I disagree with Jeff is his complete faith in free markets: let supply and demand set wages. Here's the problem: in pure theoretical capitalist economic models, you have perfect information (everyone knows what others are making/paying elsewhere, what the supply and demand is) and free transferability (it costs nothing to move to a place with better/higher paying jobs). That is not reality. Reality is that there is imperfect information – big companies know far better than small companies and individuals what is out there (although the Internet is lowering that gap) – and no free transferability (it costs lots of money to move from one location to the next). So supply and demand in the real world typically favors the employer (particularly in lower paying jobs), unless you have a unique situation as in fracking North Dakota, where there is massive disequilibrium (both in the labor market and in the housing market) – the advantages of employers in supply-demand equations created a basis for a goverment role to fix some of the perceived inequities. Hence, the welfare state, including the minimum wage.
************* Nonsense! The truth is supply and demand is often tilted in favor of the worker. It's just a matter of a worker approaching his skill set the same way a business approaches it's products and services. Sure, if you're only skill is flipping burgers then supply is far greater than the demand and it's tilted in favor of the employers. However, if you have taken control of your destiny and learned to be a truly skilled chef, the balance flips in your favor.
I happen to know a 22 year old high school drop out who trained himself as a DR Copywriter who makes min $150,000 a year and is a up and coming star in the niche business he works in. The same is true for a whole slew of skills, but if someone refuse to find out what those skills are and then learn them…that's their fault. And I should not be made to pay them more then they are worth because of it.
Someone unskilled workers need to a “living wage” doesn't put a lien on the profits of my business….period!
Your statement above shows a dramatic lack of understanding of the marketplace. It saddens me that you get to elect people who use guns to make producers pay unskilled idiots more than their menial jobs are worth because you're too ignorant about the functioning of the marketplace to understand how wrong you are. You have no business sticking your nose into employer employee relationships!
If you want to minimize the scope of government, then you can't have so many people at or below the poverty line.
****************** The truth is, even Bono from U2 admits (Who is not known as the most business friendly chap in the world) nothing – not subsidies, not government, not giveaways – comes close to raising people out of poverty like entrepreneurial capitalism. By definition, the MORE government involvement, the LESS entrepreneurial capitalism…which translates to more poor people. More government interference means more poor people, which, according to you, means more need for government interference!
Your ignorance is painful!!!!
Leaving it to the goodwill of people to give to charities is not enough; people do not give enough to charities.
****** That's because they're taxed to goddamned much you Statist PIG!!
So, a boost in the minimum wage is one way to address the problem while spreading the burden across the entire population, including small businesses.
******* You're an idiot, and your blind confidence in your ignorant talking points is offensive. If you want to pay people more, start a business and stop using guns to impose your theories on me…ASSHOLE!!!
The laws you beg your politicians to pass (and enforce at the point of a gun) effect my children, and that pisses me off! I'm the one who worked 70, 80, 100 hours a week to build this, you didn't! I'm the one who spent in excess of $100,000.00 on mentors, education material, travel to business seminars, coaching groups, masterminds, etc to learn how to build a business, not you and not my employees! I'm the one who has laid awake at night worried about how I was going to cover my bills because revenue wasn't what we projected, not you and not my employees…who get their money whether I get any or not!
Who do you think you are to suggest you have the right to decide how much I pay MY employees in MY business that I BUILT (no matter President O things), you arrogant, ignorant fuck!!!
Tax me all you want…it doesn’t matter!
I know you're likely confused by that title,
especially considering my rabid hatred of the
government sponsored theft that is taxation.
I happen to agree with Ayn Rand on this point, and
many others, if the government is so good, let it get
it's funding my user fees and donations. That'd
solve most of the insanity in Washington because
people could keep them in line directly by just giving
or retracting donations.
Don't like the war, don't donate to the government this
year.
Don't like the police abuses, don't give the local
government any money.
You want more government involvement, give more
and encourage others to do the same.
HA! Can you imagine?
You're likely wondering how I can reconcile the subject
line of this email with what you just read… it's easy!
They are completely unrelated. The fact is I do think
running all the levels of government based on user
fees and donations would be wonderful…I also know
it doesn't matter how much they tax us, and by us I
mean those of us who are committed to Money Getting
and entrepreneurialism.
The idea gelled for me a few days ago when I was
listening to Porter Stansberry's podcast. Porter is that
“End of America” guy. You likely saw his video salesletter
a few years ago. He owns and runs a financial newsletter
publisher, Stansberry and Associates, which is the largest
and most successful financial publisher in the country…
maybe the world.
Porter knows his shit when it comes to investing, and he
is a very smart man politically. I know he's smart because
his political ideas are almost exactly the same as my
political ideas! Lol
Even though we hold VERY similar ideas about taxation,
he commented the other day that it doesn't matter how
much the government taxes him because he'll go get it
all back plus some.
Interesting!
After I noodled it for a while, I must admit, I agree. I agree
because I've seen how the successful behave and I've
seen how the poor behave. And I've seen what happens
when the poor start acting like the rich…and what happens
when the rich start acting like the poor.
And indeed, Porter is correct…it doesn't matter how much
the thieving bastards steal from you…there's always a way
to get it back plus some!
So get to it, like Daymond John, of FUBU and Shark Tank
fame, says…Rise and Grind!
If you're going to out earn the bastards you'll have to…
Keep On Hustlin'
Everte
One of the Three Most Powerful Sales Tools Brilliantly Demonstrated!
I guess I really pissed a lot of people off the other day with my sympathy email…oh well! Such is life. If you were offended this email will make up for it, promise. If you weren’t offended, good for you…you’re one of the smart folks on the list!
A couple of days ago I was reading through some back issues of newsletters I receive, highlighter in hand, and note pad by my side in order to take the important information out and put it into an implementation plan.
The boobtube was on in the background when a commercial came on that grabbed my attention.
(BTW, do you remember when TV’s actually had tubes, and yes the commercials grab my attention, the mindless dribble going on during most shows is easily ignored. I often watch for the commercials. It’s the only reason to watch the Superbowl, although I’ve been disappointed lately.)
It was a fund raising commercial for a charity called Child Fund, used to be Christian Children’s Fund. Watching it a tear came to my eye…
…not for the pitiful little urchins they showed, although I did feel for them, but a tear came to my eye because I was moved at how ruthlessly this kind and gentle charity was using guilt to sell the viewer on donating.
It was FABULOUS!! I laughed out loud at the end when….well see for yourself, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1sHd3SHLNU.
Notice the little girl wiping a tear out of her eye at just the right moment. Chin up little soldier!
Notice the script, gentle and caring but the underlying message…you should be ashamed of yourself living and raising your children in such opulence while these poor children live in filth and poverty and disease and pain!
And when the little urchin at the end asks, in a different language..translated in a child’s voice, “Will you be my sponsor?”
Notice it wasn’t translated in a man’s voice, or an adult woman’s voice. Undoubtedly an adult, whether man or woman, translated what she said, but they had a little girl do the voice over. Why? Not nearly as effective in an adult’s voice! They did it to drive MORE donations…to make more sales.
Everything in this commercial was done for one purpose and one purpose only, to maximize sales/donations…period!
Now, before you call me a heartless jerk, remember, I’m not the one who exploited these children’s hardships for money…Child Fund is. Their motivations might be noble, but their CEO still gets a salary, as does everyone in the marketing department….and their tactics are nothing less than hard core, take no prisoners, close the prospect, direct response marketing to get sales.
You gain nothing by refusing to learn from their ruthless, “unwavering from mission” approach.
If most entrepreneurs sold this hard, everyday, and didn’t piss their money away, they could retire in 5 years…period.
The problem is too many people pull their punches, maybe they they don’t believe 100% in their product or service, maybe they feel sympathy (you know where to find that…if not look at yesterday’s email) for their prospect, or maybe they have a problem with having too much.
No matter, whatever the problem, they don’t sell this hard, and they should be….you should be!!
Whatever problems with selling you have, get over them! You need to foster and develop that killer closing instinct, especially in our current marketplace. Used to be you could make money despite yourself, but those days have been gone for 6 years now.
Time to get to work, and time go after the sale with the same ruthless determination Child Fund goes after it!!
To your Success!
Everte Farnell
www.CopywriterInAKilt.com
“You’re either ALL IN or ALL OUT on everything aren’t you!” She said.
Just about an hour ago, while writing this I had a conversation with my beloved, Her Majesty Queen Rachel.
We are seriously planning on immigrating to Ireland in the reasonably near future…likely within 2 years. Before we go, we thought it would be nice to go see some folks we’d like to reconnect with and see some sites here in the States.
Rach has wanted a camper FOREVER and it made sense to combine the 2 visions.
She proposed we spend some time on the road, traveling….RV’ing really.
Now that I’ve shed my “real” business and can be mobile, it seemed like a good idea, so after some thought, I agreed wholeheartedly, excitedly…I flat got fired up about the idea!
Now when I agree to something like that, I’m all in. I’m like, “Let’s go! Sixty days and we’re on the road. Find a pull behind camper and let’s get started!”
Rach on the other hand, is more on the plan for every contingency program.
If it were up to me we’d be hitting the road next week!
At the end of our conversation she said to me, “You’re either all in or all out about EVERYTHING, aren’t you!”
To which I answered, “YES!”
Let em tell ya, life’s too damned short!!
My father died when he was just 54 years old…hel, that’s middle age by today’s standards.
For a long time I forgot how short life can be. I forgot to do what I loved. I had a family and I fell for the ol’, “you gotta do what you gotta do” bullshit!
For years I walked with one foot on the practical side..the side where I was good at what I hated and did it because it paid the bills. I made forays, dabbles into the other world…the world in which my dreams reside, but I was scared to make the leap because “I gots responsibilities!”
I made the leap in January and it cost me everything I had work to build for years.
It all collapsed. The business I built, all my net worth, everything…gone!
And I can’t remember when I’ve felt more free and happier!
I am solidly in the place my dreams reside now, doing what I love with the people I like working with.
There’s one or two more things for me to shed, but that’s just around the corner. When I was “dipping my toe in,” I never found success in this world, now that I’m committed…opportunities are opening up left and right.
For years I called it sucker speak, the whole “do what you love” thing. I was wrong!
I was blind but now I see!
If there’s part of your life you don’t like…you don’t love, shed it! It might take some planning or maybe not.
No matter what, if you’re not “All In!” then get hel out!!
To your success!
Everte Farnell
PS. Make sure to go to CopywriterInAKilt.com and like my Facebook page. This URL is redirected to Facebook, so you’ll show up there when you click it.
Until tomorrow my vinr (friend!)
Dig a well? I’m not a well digger!!
I’ve gotten a ton of emails the last few days asking where I’ve been the last coupla months.
Well, I guess not a ton, since emails are technically electrons and it would take a seemingly infinite number of electrons to weight a ton…so I don’t really mean a ton but a whole lot of them.
Well, honestly I’ve been very busy…you folks very wonderfully responsive when I started taking on clients again at the beginning of the year, and at the same time I landed some large contract jobs with significant financial publishers.
So I did what everyone does, which is a stone cold rookie mistake…I had a ton of busness so I stopped marketing.
I know, I know…D-U-M-B!
It was dumb, and I know it was dumb, and know it was dumb, and everyday I didn’t contact you I told myself I was being dumb, and I still was “too busy” to make sure I continued to dig the well before I needed water.
I know some business owners who don’t think thy’re in the well digging business….I can assure you we all are!!! And if you don’t dig BEFORE you’re thirsty, you might be able to dig when you are.
So why am I starting again? Am I thirsty? Do I need water all of a sudden?
No, not yet, but I havenoticed some of my influx of new business slowing.
Luckily, I was aware enough of my mistake that when I noticed my current reserve of business dwindle I started digging, well before crisis time.
Unfortunately, I see far too many business owners make this mistake and them drink every drop of water they have before they start digging again.
It’s easy to do…I council against it in businesses and therefore I should know better, but I still made the mistake.
Imagine how easy it is for someone who’s business isn’t to teach this stuff!
And recovery from the mistake can destroy the business, or keep you in a cycle of constant catch up which never allows you to really sp[read your wings and fly to the clouds.
The comfort of some money in the bank and lots of business rolling in today has been the sirens song for a business owner.
So if things are going well right now for you, and business is in an upswing, good! Grab a shovela nd spend and hour or two a day digging another well.
If things are slow, start digging FAST!! Right now!!
And don’t stop until you have several wells all producing water.
I remembered before I hit the wall…let’s make sure you don’t hit the wall either!
Until tomorrow!
Everte Farnell
PS. Make sure to shoot over to Click Here and like my brand new Facebook page for some exclusive content and some substantial interaction!
Your Long Lost Marketing Guru!
How’s things been going? Well here. I apologize it’s been so long since I said hi, seems like I’m here today and gone tomorrow sometimes.
I sincerely hope things have been going well for you!
I was thinking yesterday about something that happened to me about 13 years ago…right around the time I was divorcing my first wife (the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell) and before I met my current wife, the love of my life.
I had a friend named Michael. Michael and I were about the same age and spent a lot of time running around in bars, etc before we were married.
We got married about the same time, and the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell became close friends with Mike and his wife. So much so that we spent New Years Eve of 2000, you remember Y2K, at their house.
A few months later the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell and I were going our separate ways, and I dropped off the face of the Earth with virtually everyone I knew, including Mike
He tried to call me, left me messages, emailed me, even sent me a letter via snail mail. I was too much in a funk to respond. His life was wonderful and mine was falling apart…I wasn’t jealous, I just didn’t want to bring him down.
Once I shook off my funk, I was, honestly, too embarrassed to call Mike. He had been a good friend and I treated him like a leper. He didn’t deserve it, clearly. I was just too broken at the time to stay in touch.
Years later, I ran into Mike at a restaurant. It was good to see him. We were past being close friends but I had a chance to apologize and explain. He understood, and there were no hard feelings.
By that time our lives were too divergent for us to remain close friends…I was single and trying to build a business, he was married and established in his life. We talked a few more times on the phone, but it was clear we were just in different places.
The important thing to note is, if we weren’t in such dramatically different places in our lives, we’d have been just as good of friends when we ran into each other in that restaurant as we before I disappeared. He understood and there truly were no hard feelings.
Same thing happens in marketing. Sometimes you get busy, side tracked and you don’t stay in touch with your people as often as you should…(my face is a little red right now!)
I find folks understand, and if you reach out, they’ll be there to hear.
Thanks for giving me a minute and don’t forget, there’s a customer or prospect you haven’t talked to in a while, so pick up the phone or send an email right now!
Talk to you soon!
Everte Farnell
The Copywriter in a Kilt!
My Wife’ll Make You $100K This Year
The other day my wife got a piece of direct mail from Travel Magazine. It had some of the standard gimmicks, like “Free Gift Enclosed Do Not Bend.”
That’s one of the mistakes they made, by the way. They said “Free Gift,” then the Free Gift was a bonus with purchase. Made my wife feel like they lied to her!
My wife was talking to me about her experience with the letter, and you better believe people have experiences with letters they get in the mail. That’s why direct mail is so good, because it involves a multi-sensory experience, at the very least touch and sight…sometimes more.
The big thing was the envelope. She is pretty harsh on ads and especially direct mail pieces…being married to a master and all… so they have to work to get her to even open the envelope.
She opened the envelope because it “felt” important. The envelope was thick and made from a good paper stock and it felt like an important piece of of correspondence.
I’m giving you gold right now so don’t you dare ignore this because it’s not as entertaining as my emails usually are.
The feel of the envelope was that of an important piece of correspondence, so she opened the letter when normally she never would.
She was not fooled by the envelope, she knew this was a salesletter. She just realized in retrospect she had unconsciously “felt” the letter was important because of the feel of the stock the envelope was made out of.
Here’s the thing, she’s 1 in a 1000 people who could articulate this like she did. Most people wouldn’t give a second thought to the envelope or the contents or why they opened it, and if you asked them why they opened it they’d say, “I don’t know, I just wanted to see what was inside.”
But my wife explained to me, “It felt important and I felt important reviewing it!”
She told me, “If we did any traveling at all, I’d have bought!”
This is an incredibly important piece of information, and one I’m afraid too many people will ignore. It was a damned salesletter and the stock of the envelope sold the product…she’d have bought because they made her feel important by sending her a salesletter which was in an envelope made with a premium paper stock. It was a damned salesletter!! And it made her feel important for a few seconds or a minute.
Now, in case your “Thick as a Brick” I will write that again, the stock the envelope was made out of made my wife feel important and so she opened and would have bought if she could’ve made even the flimsiest of excuses to herself.
This was not a conscious feeling on her part, like I said most people wouldn’t be able to articulate it. This was a brief, but extremely powerful and important subconscious feeling she got when she picked up the envelope!
They fell short of the sale, but it wouldn’t take much to make up that ground!
If you’re not thinking about the experience your prospect is getting when they get your mail, you’re losing sales. They’re not opening it, they’re not seeing your message and they’re not buying.
Micromanage each and every detail of your mailing process, and if you can’t or won’t… find someone to do it for you!
To your Success
Everte Farnell
PS.Tick Tock, Everte, on the last few days of embarrassingly low consulting day investments. 70% off the price after the bump. Make sure to hop over here and sign up for your day. I know $1500 for a day isn’t peanuts, but the day’s guaranteed and if you wait you’ll find $5000.00 or more is even more expensive.
PPS. People have asked my why I keep saying “Embarrassingly inexpensive.” Because I used to get upwards of $25,000.00 for a salesletter sequence, so when I started taking clients again the thought of spending a day with someone for just $1500 I was a bit embarrassed. I know it sounds silly, but it’s all perspective
“I don’t know why I did it…”
Several weeks ago I was attending a PR summit held by a local business group (Tampa Bay Business Owners -TBBO.Org). There were some fantastic speakers scheduled and they all delivered wonderfully.
One of the speakers was talking about how to use Facebook, and mentioned some very cool new business applications the Facebook management team has implemented, and a question came from the crowd…
“I don’t have a personal page, I have a corporate page. Can I still do this stuff?”
The speakers replies, “A corporate page? Oh, you mean a page for corporate branding?”
And the attendee answered, “I don’t know why I have it, I was just told I should have one so I set it up.”
And therein is the problem with doing things by yourself…or worse yet listen to some Guru tell you half the story and and go off half-cocked.
What business owners really need is someone who can sit down with them, go over the tools available, pick a few tools that’ll work, and help them implement those tools in their business. A few tools this quarter, a few tools next quarter, and before you know it you have a business that’s growing by leaps and bounds.
It’s not really rocket science…when you caught up in the day to day, however, it can seem impossible.
That’s why it’s so important to hire consultants. I sure as heck did when I was running a “real” bricks and mortar business. I knew my strong point was NOT operations, so I asked some folks to help with it.
Of course, most business owners strong point IS operations. I just came from a marketing background, so mine is marketing.
It’s funny, I listened to Guru’s about hiring, listen to Guru’s about procedures, listened to Gurus’ about how to motivate people…but until I hired a consultant to help with some of these things I never saw any real progress.
Getting customers wasn’t any problem for me at all.
I know the opposite is true with most of my clients…most of them can easily fulfill the sales they make, it’s getting the customers that’s the problem.
Although I did drop a mailing for a Domino’s Pizza guy years ago and he went nuts (in a bad way) because the response was too good…it caused a flood of business he couldn’t handle. He called the office yelling at us because he was swamped! Not the worst problem to have, is it?
So, in order to help you solve your marketing problems, I am offering, for a few more days, to come in and do a day of consulting for you at a ridiculously low investment. When these last few days are done, the investment for a day of consulting will be in the neighborhood of $5K…which is still a bargain if you look at the rate many Direct Marketing Consultants get.
For the next few days, however, you will get a 70% discount! You’ll only need to invest $1500 for a day, and you have up to a year to use the day. We can schedule right away, or you can wait a few months so we can work on something more relevant at that time.
If you wait to book the day, it’ll cost you more like $5K.
Make sure to shoot over to the order page and secure your day right now…I have even included a 3 pay option if funds a little tight for you just now. Trust me, I bootstrapped 3 businesses to success, I understand the need to fit things in cashflow, so I made it brain dead easy for you to say “Yes!”.
To your success!
Everte Farnell
PS. Remember, when the rate jumps later this week that’s it…period. No exceptions. If you’ve been thinking about a consulting day, NOW is the time to secure it!
PPS. I know the order form isn’t fancy…I created it real quick just so I could have a way of easily processing charge It’s by no means a form I’ll be using for more few days, so don’t worry about how plain the form is, think about the increases to your bottom line you’ll get by using it!
PPPS. Yes the payment option runs a little more…Don’t let that dissuade you…secure your day right now!
Someone Breaking into my Home
The other night I was lying in bed, almost asleep when I heard a loud bang.
I jumped out of bed, not got up, but jumped! It sounded like someone banged into the glass doors on the back of our home.
I grabbed my .45 cal, stuck in the magazine, pulled the slide to load a round and started clearing the house like they taught in the police academy all those years ago.
It’s funny how training never leaves. I noticed I was holding the weapon without my finger the trigger. Rather it was laying on the side of the pistol, about .1 seconds away from the trigger, but far enough to avoid an accidental discharge.
I walked out of my bedroom slowly, and scanned the open area in front of me for an intruder. Nothing!
Then I took a slow step and scanned my right, in the sitting room, which has a sliding glass door.
Keep in mind all this happened in a matter of seconds. I jumped our of bed, grabbed my weapon and got out to the sitting room in maybe 6 or 7 seconds.
And there was Rocky, our Rottie/Aussie mix, a bit dazed in the sitting room and one of our cats, Lilly, on the other side of the glass door, calmly walking around in front of the glass door. And the reality of the situation occurred to me and started to laugh uproariously!
Rocky saw Lilly and sprinted after her…only to find the sliding glass door shut. BANG! Lilly was prancing around like she knew it the entire time.
Rocky was made to seem a fool because he didn’t look where he was going, and lots and lots of business owners do the same thing…regularly.
They see a new marketing widget and BANG, they buy it. They see a new wiz bang piece of technology which will solve all their ills and BANG! they shell out a ton of dough to get it/use it.
They see a speaker at a seminar and he sounds good so BANG! out comes the credit card so they can grab some of what the speaker’s got.
And all the while, over and over again they are made to look like fools. At least Rocky only did it once!!
Here’s the truth, solid fundamentals will grow your business like nothing else. Integrating new media, technology, etc. into those basics can be wonderful and powerful, but without the basics….BANG! head into glass door.
So get your basics down, then all the wiz bang stuff can pay HUGE dividends…but not until.
To your success
Everte Farnell
PS. If you’re having trouble getting your basics down you should book your consulting day now. Things have been going VERY well, and the ridiculously small sum of $1500 for day is going up very very soon. I set the day fee so low to help make it brain-dead easy to hire me for the day when I first started taking on clients again. The last 75 days have been Amazing, and I am longer willing to sell my self for such a paltry sum.
So the price of a day of consulting is going up very soon! If you’ve been on the fence about consulting time to get off and book your day now, because once the investment goes up, no one gets in for less…unless you’re already booked.