Creating Your Marketing Mindset Part 1

Is your B.S. getting in the way of your marketing success?

Think about your role in the marketing process?

Are you an Executive, Marketing Director, Entrepreneur, business owner, or sales person? … Regardless, “The Profit Rich Marketing Show” will help you increase your sales and profits!

Here are some Keys get you on track.

Check your (BS). Belief System. Is your BS supporting you or getting in your way?

What about your Self-Talk… That constant voice in your head… Is it mostly optimistic or pessimistic?

You’ll also want to Overcome F.U.D.(Fear, uncertainty and doubt-that can keep you stuck-in-a-rut of inaction or analysis paralysis.

My mindset as a marketer started at age 15 when I started my first business. It was a painting company and you can imagine the challenges I faced, especially since I was earning minimum wage, living on my own in the “projects-paying $17 a month for government housing.

I still remember my first customer lead. A prospect called asking for a quote to paint the interior of their home…I was so excited… whoo hoo!

One little problem. I didn’t even own a paint brush!

So I went to the local paint store and asked for help from the manager. I said “if you help me, I’ll buy all my paint and supplies from you forever.” At first, he was reluctant and didn’t take me seriously. I suppose I wasn’t the model businessman. Age 15… long hair… army jacket. He went over to the shelf and opened a can of paint, dipped a new brush and then started spackling me with paint.. He said, “If you want to be a painter-you’ll have to look like one!” He gave me a clipboard, calculator and instructions. I was set…or at least I thought I was…

I drove to the prospect’s house, walked up to the door and was about to knock… when that little voice in my head said, “Hey, what are you doing? You don’t have the skills, experience… You aren’t old enough, Smart enough…”

That self-talk wasn’t helping much. Then my other voice kicked in! “What have you got to lose? Go for it !” So I knocked on the door.

A man answered and we went through his house room by room, with him telling me what he wanted. “Oil based here. Semi-gloss there, Fix the cracks in the ceilings, Glaze the windows…”

My mind was racing… “Oh my god, What am I doing now”-but I just wrote it all down. I told the man I’d have to go back to my office to prepare the quote and that I’d be back in 30 minutes. My Office… Right.. J

I returned to the paint store and the manager helped me prepare the quote. Back to the prospects house I went. Walked up to the door again and just as I was ready to knock… that little voice said, “just go home… forget about it…” F. U. D!

Something possessed my hand, and I knocked! The door opened and this time the man’s wife was home too. Great!

She took one look at me and stepped behind right her husband.

I handed him the quote and said…, “The total for the painting job is $1,025. I need 50% up front… and 50% on completion”

There was the longest pause in my life. He took a look at me, took a look at the quote, and said, “Do you have any experience?” Being a street-smart kid, I replied “Here’s how we work… if you’re not 100% satisfied with the work we perform, then you don’t have pay!”

The wife said, “Honey… Write the boy the check!… And he did!”

I got to my car and sat there staring at this check for $525. That was more than I earned in a month… and I’d done it in about an hour. I thought, This is so cool! I’ve got to learn more about marketing and making money! By the end of the first year, I was making $35,000 with three crews with an average age 40 years old. This was 1976 – That was a lot of money for a teenager!

The main point is that it’s not your circumstances, experience, marketplace, competition, or products that determine you’re overall marketing success…. It’s your mindset!

This brings us to the next point…

There’s really no such thing as Money Problems… only a lack of ideas. If you want to increase your profits, then increase your creativity to generate more money-making ideas. Subscribe to the RSS feed to be automatically notified for Part 2.