Clean Your Office . . . Success Forces At Work!

Hi Marketing Friend,

I’m curious. Do you have a success system that you follow in your everyday business life? How about your personal life?

I’ve been very lucky . . . During most of my lifetime, the moon and stars have aligned themselves to help guide me in the successful ways of business, marketing and life.

Years ago I got into a routine of taking my lunch break at a local used book store. That short hour actually became an addiction . . .it was like a treasure hunt in many ways.

I’d anxiously scarf my food down and dart over to the book store for the remaining moments of my break time just knowing some special book would be calling my name. And it did . . .

I remember one particularly hot summer day when I’d learned about an especially hard to find marketing tomb called the Robert Collier Letter Book. A must read raved by some of the world’s greatest copywriters and marketers of the day. In fact it’s still considered one of the greatest books on writing direct response ad copy.

I too recommend you get your hands on this book if you are serious about writing (or judging) advertising that brings in the bacon!  

At the time this book was nearly impossible to find. And if you did get lucky to find it on eBay or by way of an antiquarian book dealer, you’d pay big, big money . . . upwards of a thousand dollars to get it. I kid you not!

So being a life long student of good marketing, I set my sights on getting this book and was prepared to pay anything within reason to lay my eager little hands on this manual.

Then BAM within a few weeks, the universe opened up. . . I’m in the book store perusing all the non fiction title when it leaps out at me like rattlesnake ready to strike. I can hardly believe my eyes. .  A 1954 hardback edition of the Robert Collier Letter Book complete with dust jacket in good condition.

Price? A whopping $5.97 . . . Sold! I quickly grab it and sprint to the cash register. I am leaping for joy with my newest treasure.

Lady Luck has been with me over the years finding marketing treasure after marketing treasure. I’ve found dozens and dozens of “hard to find” books, guides and manuals that’s help shape my marketing success.

Another such treasure is Success Forces written by the legendary Joseph Sugarman; considered to be one of America’s top mail order copywriters and entrepreneurs, Joe was the driving force behind the wildly successful Blue blocker sunglasses fame.

It’s funny how success sometimes shows up at the strangest times and places. This just happens to be a prime example with Success Forces.

Success Forces is part autobiography and part Sugarman’s personal success philosophy in six parts.

It’s an interesting read but one of the success forces in particular stuck with me.

While on summer vacation break from college Sugarman worked for his father’s printing equipment business. One of his assignments was to interview some of the business executives who owned his father’s printing equipment.

Sugarman noted a few traits that seemed to be true about each company president.

One was that each president had been told his idea would not work. This of course prompted a burning desire to find a way to make the idea work. And in nearly every case a solution was found and the idea proved successful.

The lesson here is if you are told that something won’t work, then it’s a good sign there’s a great opportunity hiding in the midst.

Second. Sugarman observed that each of the presidents kept a clean desk. The companies themselves were clean and well organized.

During the mid 1970s, Sugarman carried this success force forward when his company was rapidly growing.

He had just moved into a 6,000 square foot office building. This new home for the company was a sight to behold. As you entered  the building you were greeted with a spacious and smart design.

So to carry forward this image a clean looking operation was needed. So it was that the ‘clean desk’ policy was implemented.

All of Sugarman’s employees were required to clean off their desks before leaving for the evening. All papers were to be put away, desk top cleaned including inbox and outbox papers.

This caused quite a fuss among the employees. And rightly so. His 15 employees had no place to store their paperwork. So fast forward to the point of getting new storage cabinets and figuring out a system for his employees to clean, organize and put away their desk top stuff each evening. Soon things were running like a well oiled machine.

Everyone was happy and the company thrived and actually embraced this new clean desk policy.

I started thinking that if this ‘clean desk’ policy worked for so many companies then it might improve my business too. So I started implementing my own clean desk policy. And I’m happy to report that as I expected it’s working great.

I learned a lot from this living marketing legend . . . everything from success forces like keeping my desk clean to writing powerful, cash producing advertising copy and savvy marketing techniques that has produced buckets full of profits for my business.

This adaptation of Sugarman’s clean desk success force is something any business or individual could easily put into practice now. Why don’t you give it a try and see what kind of results you could get.

Until next time, I bid you peace and success!

Warmly,

Emette E. Massey

P.S. Want all of Sugarman’s Success Forces? Get this special report outlining all of Joe Sugarman’s Success Forces. It’s yours free by just emailing me at eemassey@yahoo.com . . . I’ll zip it right over to you.

Gimme Three Steps . . . To Profitable Advertising

Howdy  . . .

Lynyrd Skynyrd inspired me to write this article . . .

There I was just cruising along minding my own business with what I thought was a great ad . . . Just submitted it to my client a mere two day prior thinking he’ll love it. . . when all of the sudden in comes my  client with fire in his eyes!

“I can’t run this . . . it’s too damn outrageous. The board of directors will never go for it. We’re tearing it up. Start over. You’ll need to tone it waaay down, says big cheese client.”

“No way I won’t do it! You hired me to get results, right? Do you want advertising that puts cash in your bank account or something limp and ‘toned down’? I asked.

No you shouldn’t go in looking for a fight. But on the other hand if you know how to create profitable advertising based on solid salesmanship fundamental, you’ll have a serious leg to stand on when defending your copy. Plus, you’ll make your client a hero and you’ll come out smelling like a rose.

Here are three simple steps to profitable advertising

1. Learn how to sell. Go out and get yourself a good education in sales. Read and study good books and courses on salesmanship. Even better get into sales! It’s an education that will serve you well the rest of your life. Good copy writing has more to do with salesmanship than good writing. Years before I ever thought about writing copy I logged years of belly to belly selling. I’ve sold vacuum cleaners, cars, major appliances, real estate and more. It boils down to learning your product . . . all of the features and benefits it has to offer and explaining these benefits to your prospect. Learn what your prospect wants. Your prospect always comes first. Period!
2. Learn your customer. This applies to your prospects also. After all you gotta attract good prospects first, then turn them into clients. You must analyze, understand and connect with your customers. Find out as much as you can about them. Where do they live? What problems are they dealing with? What daily frustrations are they encountering? What worries keeps them up at night? And so on. The more you know about your customers, the better chance you have building rapport and connecting with me. Try walking ‘a mile in their shoes’ to really understand them as the old adage says.
3. Learn your product or service. This sounds logical doesn’t it? Well, it is. It’s very difficult to sell something you don’t know anything about, right? Take the time to everything you can about what you are offering. One very easy way to ground yourself into the product details is to buy the product and use it as a consumer would. If the product is a service then use the service just like a consumer would use it. Then after you’ve ‘kicked the tires’ make some notes. List all of the features about the product or service. Next make a list of all the advantages and benefits. Then translate all of the features into benefits. Not sure how to do that? Here are two words that will help: “You Get.” For example, let’s say you’re selling a simple No. 2 pencil. Feature: A wooden cylinder surrounding a graphite core . . . Benefit: Can be resharpened as long as you life, ensuring crisp writing. Feature: 71/2 inches long. Benefit: You get a long lasting writing life. Feature: One end has a rubber eraser. Benefit: You get a built in tool that lets you correct errors. And so on . . .

The next time you find yourself in a situation that requires you to persuade someone to do something, then follow this simple outline . . . you’ll be happy with the results!

Warmly,

Emette E. Massey

P.S. Want to see this outline in action? Here’s a great sales letter swipe you can use to model your letters after? Just email me at eemassey@yahoo.com . . . I’ll zip it right over to you.

Why You Should Be Using Free Advertising and How To Get It

Hey Marketing Friend,

There’s money in them thar pubs (a.k.a. publications, TV, Radio all sorts of media). . . and lots of it. Alls you got to do is get yer pick axe and go digging . . . publications that it.

Of course I’m talking about getting free publicity and lots of it . . . with a little help from your new media friends!

Consider for just a second the power of the press! I’m talking about getting tons of leads, write ups and contacts like these folks have gotten:

Sharon Holmlund receive over 400 inquires when here business was mentioned in Home Office Computing magazine.

Janice Guthrie got a plug in Reader’s Digest and instantly got 740 calls!

Friend and marketing mentor Joe Vitale was promoting the autograph party for his book The AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising, the Houston Post newspaper ran his press release on the front page of the business section.

It’s not as difficult as you may think. In fact if you follow along here you'll see just how easy it can be to get thousands of dollars worth of free press exposure. And in these tough times this kind of exposure may be just the cure you need for your company.

For starters understand this is a goldmine waiting to be tapped. Here’s why. The media is starving for stories. There are waaay too many stories, too many businesses, too many people and too few reporters. The media can’t possibly go and get all the stories. This is where you can help out by telling them your story.

Now I want you put on your “think outside the box” hat for a moment. Cuz even though the media is starving for stories you gotta know how to present your story so editors will be interested and able to use it.

With this in mind, understand that editors and reporters work under very tight deadlines and are under pressure to get the stories out—on strict schedule. There’s no exception. So more you understand this little known fact, the better your chances are in getting the editor to accept your press release.

Writing Your Press Release

First let me explain what a press release is. Very simply it’s a single sheet of paper that tips an idea for a story to the media source. You don’t have to be a great writer to write a press release. In fact you are not writing a complete article or story—just enticing a reporter to publish it.

Again writing your press release doesn’t have to be difficult. I like to think of it as more of a telegraph. You are telegraphing your story idea in a compelling way as to benefit the reader and get the editor’s attention.

At the top of your page is your letterhead which is your name or your company name. Then you have the words “News Release” so that it’s clear that you’re sending a news bulletin. Next put the date so the editor knows that it’s current and timely. And of course you’ll want to put in your contact information that will include your name, phone number and email address.

Next just like any other marketing piece your press release should have a headline. The headline should telegraph what it’s all about.

A great headline writing technique is to use a question as your headline. For example: “Do You Eat Under Stress?” “Botox For Breasts?” “Barbecuing? The burger mix-in that Prevents Cancer!”

Notice how these headlines pull you into the first paragraph of the story to find the answer. That’s exactly what you want when writing your headline.

Let the first paragraph answer the basic questions the reporter or editor wants to know. And that is who, what, when, where, how and why.  Give them that basic information. Tell them who you are, what you are doing, when you are doing it, where you’re doing it, how you’re doing, and why you’re doing it.

Basically you’re saying, “Hey here’s what I’m doing, here’s how it’s done. Here’s more information on it and if you want more information you can reach me at blah, blah, blah (insert email and phone info).

Pretty simple, wouldn’t you agree?. Again you don’t need to be a great writer to put a press release together. Just grab the report’s attention and give ‘em the facts on one page. That’s it.

Remember it’s a focused effort. You want to get your message across in a matter of seconds otherwise you’re landfill fodder!

Now even though I’m suggesting your news release be tightly written, I still like to expand the topic a bit and include a quote. This quote can be from you or someone else, perhaps one of your fans. You never know if the editor will read your entire release or not. So you won't lose anything by including this element in your release.

Using a quote will help draw readers in to your release. It’s dialogue and that means someone is saying something. And saying it now. Folks are used to seeing dialogue in novels.

That’s basically it regarding putting your press release together. Now let’s talk about where to send these babies.

Getting The Word Out

I like using the targeted approach best. Think about who will most likely benefit from what your offering. To help pin point media outlets turn to Google and search for “news release bureaus” or “news release services.”

In the past I’ve used PRWEB with decent success.

Below is the actual press release I wrote several years ago to publicize a new ebook I wrote about real estate investing:

Dahill Press releases free real estate investing mini-course based on new ebook "Real Estate Wealth" 

Dahill Press Announces Free Real Estate Investing Mini-Course 

Contact: Emette Massey
Ph. 828-757-2984 

For Immediate Release

Lenoir, NC
 
Most people are aware of real estate investing but have trouble getting started due cash or credit problems. A free mini-course based on the newly published ebook entitled Real Estate Riches" helps to solve this problem by showing proven strategies to getting over the cash and credit hurdle.

According to the author Emette Massey, when I started in the investing business by in 1987, I had little credit or cash. This made me think real estate investing was reserved only for the 'high rollers. But I realize this was not true after discovering a few simple techniques that didnt require cash or credit."

This mini-course is published for anyone looking for viable ways to earn extra cash, moonlight, or get into a new profitable career without a huge investment bankroll.

Many people are in dead-end jobs, living from paycheck to paycheck and are looking for simple, low cost ways to get ahead. They are familiar with real estate investing but have trouble getting started due to cash or credit problems. 

The free mini-course is taken right from the new ebook Real Estate Wealth" and shows people how to profit without cash or credit", says Massey.

A few of the techniques you will learn by taking the free real estate investing mini-course are:

·    Learn at least 10 ways to buy profitable property
·    How to negotiate your best deal
·    Unusual low cost ways to self promote ideas
·    How to get started without cash or credit
·    How to earn huge profits even before you buy

By reading and applying the strategies outlined in this new mini-course, anyone can quickly add an extra $2000 or more per month to their present income, depending on how well they follow this advice," says Massey.

To receive the free mini-course, visit http://www.emettemassey.bravehost.com or if you prefer, a hard copy is available by sending $2 to: Dahill Press, Attention Emette Massey, 317 Eastover Circle, NE, Lenoir, NC 28645  

Several media outlets picked up this release and it proved to be fairly successful.

You’ll notice this release contained several of the elements I discussed earlier. You could model this example and use it to write your own press release.

Other PR outlets can be found by going to www.sendtopress.com or www.IMediafax.com

If you are after local publicity then check out your local Chamber of Commerce. Just ask for their media directory and you can get one for about 50 bones. Soon you’ll possess a directory that lists every media contact, newspaper, radio station and television station in your neck of the woods.

This will give you something to chew on for a while. Follow these basic guidelines and get your news release in the hands of as many editors as possible and see magical things happen!

In the meantime if you have any questions regarding this topic, I’d be happy to answer them. Just send me an email to eemassey@yahoo.com with PR Question in the subject line.

Peace,

Emette E. Massey

P.S. Want more leads, prospects, sales? Give me a call. I’ll be happy to share some profitable strategies—the first 30 minutes are on me—at no charge or obligation whatsoever! The number is 828-313-0694.

How to Write Attention Getting, Eyeball Grabbing Headlines

Dear Marketing Friend,

Could I Have Your Attention Please!

Damn—my mind is absolutely blank. Completely frozen! What to write about?

Well this site is supposed to be about advertising, marketing and self-improvement. Soooo, this should give me some clues what to put down?

I’ve practically pissed away the evening surfing, checking my eBay bid standings and other totally useless activities! Can I blame anyone other than ME? . . . Well . . .

Hell NO!

So here’s the point: If your headlines can’t grab people by the eyeballs, you’re DOOMED! You gotta get folks to not only see your ad but pull em into your copy.

Here’s a trick I learned about writing great headlines: Write great headlines. No really. Go down to your local grocery story and pick up a copy of Cosmo, National Enquirer, or any other tabloid you see displayed at the checkout.

And when you return write so suckers down. That’s how you “write great headlines.” And if you copy out enough of those killer headliners your brain will create a neurological imprint of what it’s like to write great headlines.

Pretty cool, huh?

Yes, I know. This sounds “beneath” your otherwise good reading taste. I have just one thing to say about it: Get Over It! Those guys who write those cover headlines are paid huge bucks. Why? Because those outrageous headlines sell copies so quick you can hardly count them. That’s why!

You should start a headline swipe file. All excellent “Grade-A” professional direct response copywriters maintain such a file.  Get yourself some of those 3x5 index cards and start writing. Any time you see a compelling headline, stop whatever you’re doing and write it down. And that’s where the popular women’s magazines and tabloids come into play. So I’m begging you to do this—it’s for your well-being.

Capture all of these headlines and keep doing it. You should have 1000’s of great headlines to stimulate your thinking. Then when the next ad assignment comes up you’ll be on top of your game.

The purpose of the headline is to get you read subhead. The subhead’s purpose is to get you to read the next line and so on. The idea is that the main headline should grab you and literally pull you into the copy.

Just how important is your headline? Oh, my God! I can’t believe you’re asking me such a question! Here’s a little clue:

IT IS ALL IMPORTANT!

Consider this: If your ad or marketing message does not get read, guess what? You don’t stand an inkling of a chance in making the sale! To put it another way—your headline carries more than 80% of the effectiveness of your entire ad.

If you don’t believe what I’m saying nearly any top gun copywriter would agree with me on the important of your headline.

Most recently direct response pro Dan Kennedy said in his excellent book The Ultimate Sales Letter: “What your headline says and how it says it are absolutely critical.”

The late John Caples devoted 1/5 of his most excellent book “Tested Advertising Methods” on headlines. In fact he said, “The success of an entire advertising campaign may stand or fall on what is said in the headlines of the individual advertisement.”

Now that’s heavy!

So take it from the pros: Spend time on developing great headlines and watch your sales soar!

Peace!

Emette E. Massey

P.S. If you’d like to jump-start your headline swipe file, then email with the words HEADLINE SWIPE FILE in the subject line and I’ll fix you up! I can be reached at: eemassey@yahoo.com

Hate Cold Calling? No worries. Proven Remedy For Ending That Nauseous Marketing Activity . . . For Good!

Howdy Friend,

Cold calling. I remember it all too well. The year was 1986. I was a freshly minted real estate salesman armed with a brand new license, lots of enthusiasm and big dreams of making my millions.

I arrive at my agency ready to start writing up contracts and counting my commissions. But I quickly found out it didn’t quite work that way.

They make the biz sound so glamorous in real estate school. Your phone is ringing off the hook with prospects eager to list their property with you. You’re looking good, smellin’ good  ready to meet new clients and writing up sales contracts. Hell, I’ll probably need a secretary just to help handle all the calls . . . life doesn’t get any better than this . . . or so I thought!

What? Where are all the prospects? Heck, my phone isn’t even ringing. The sales manager tosses me the local phone book. “Start calling and introduce yourself. Offer a free market analysis. It’s how I got started, says she.

All of the sudden, I get this sick feeling in my gut. I begin to think I made a terrible career decision. What was thinking? Calling complete stranger out of the phone book? That’s nuts! There’s got to be a better way to get business!

Yuck!! I hated it and bet you do to! Geez . . . the mere sound of that word makes me queasy, feeling like I’m going to pass out cold . . . damn there’s that word again!

Luckily I got over the nauseous feeling and found a better way to get top quality prospects and turn them into customers fast!  The beauty of it all . . . this simple little lead generating method works in all businesses, any industry and will work for you too!

Enter the lead generation letter . . .

That’s right! A well written lead letter is awesome. Once you understand how to put one together you’ll be scratching your head in amazement at the sear power and efficiency it brings. You’ll never ever make a cold call again.

Before I get into the basics of creating a lead letter keep this in mind. There are numerous ways to get good quality leads . . . without cold calling. These include writing articles, using effective PR, putting on free seminars, public speaking, teaching classes and lots more.

I’ve done a number of these with great success. But creating successful lead letters is one of my favorite ways to get high quality leads. Once you get a good letter developed and proved effective you have the most reliable, controllable lead generator available.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

For starters writing a lead generating letter follows the same principles as writing a good sales letter.

Before you write a single word, you must know who you are writing to. So the process starts by learning about your prospect. Learn everything you can about your prospect. What problems are they dealing with now? What are they afraid of? What do they secretly desire?

Once you’ve gotten a handle on who is your prospect, get into your offer. Here’s where you’ll list all the features and benefits of your product or service. Once you written a long list of features and benefits put them in order of importance.

By the way, if you are not completely sure of the difference between features and benefits, here’s a hint:

A feature is something that describes the product like “a strong-running 365 horsepower V-8 engine.”

A benefit is the advantage or what the prospect gets by using or owning the product. Using the above example: The Duramax 400 V-8 lets you haul bigger payloads in its class and still getting and unbeatable 20 miles per gallon.

See the difference? Good!

Let me derail here and talk about sales formulas. Now before you get all starry eyed let me just say again there is no magic bullets or shortcuts for anything you do in life.

I will say, however, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel either. With that said, a popular sales formula is my friend AIDA . . .

The AIDA formula has been around for years and used as a successful selling guideline for just about any selling situation you could image. It is a great guideline for writing sales message . . . i.e. the sales letter.

Just keep in mind writing a great sales letter has more to do with good old fashion door-to-door salesmanship than ‘good writing’ you learned in school.

This stands for . . .

A- attention

I- interest

D- desire

A- action

Let’s briefly look at each part, shall we?

Attention- Simply put, get the attention of your customer or prospect. Usually the headline is used to flag down your prospect and grab ‘em by the eyeballs.

Interest – Raise interest by showing or demonstrating the advantages of the product or service and focusing on the benefits.

Desire – Convince the prospect they want and desire the product and that it will satisfy their needs and wants.

Action – Asking the prospect for action (making a purchase, visiting your store, website, etc.)

So there you have it in a nutshell. A complete selling formula in four easy words along with a proven marketing method for ending your pain of cold calling. This by no means the only selling formula around but an awfully good one. Just keep in mind the key to remember is advertising is nothing more than salesmanship in print.

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. Want a great sales letter swipe you can use to model your letters after? Just email me at eemassey@yahoo.com . . . I’ll zip it right over to you.

Advertising Secrets Your Momma Tried To Tell You About! But You Didn’t Listen . . .

Howdy Friend,

Boy the lessons I learned as a young’n. And I might add, most of these lessons were quite painful. My Mom wasn’t afraid of grabbing any sort of *learnin’ stick* she could lay hands on and properly connecting it to ramdom parts of my body.

Here’s a good example . . .

A Sunday family tradition was going to my Grandparents after church and eating lunch with them. This was always a treat as my Grandmother prided herself in cooking up a delectable meal that included all of trimmings . . . homemade yeast rolls, fried chicken, garden fresh veggies and lovingly handmade dessert.

Well, this Sunday was no exception. I guess I was about 12 years old at the time. As usual my family arrived at the old home place right on time. Everyone’s belly growling out loud and we’re eager to get some awesome food in our bodies.

So, out of the car I jump racing to get inside the house. I said something sassy (not really sure what it was) but Mom thought it was a “bad word” aka curse word and proceeded to slap the *potty* right out of my mouth. I mean this slap left an impressive hand imprint that lasted what seemed to be eternity.

I scurry in the house embarrassed, hurt and still hungry hoping my grand parents didn’t see what was going on or me. Oh, it was ugly to say the least!

You probably wondering what this has do with advertising? Well . . . actually everything.

Profitable advertising in its most basic form is a marketing triangle:

1. Right Message
2. Right Market
3. Right Media

Common sense, right? Right! Or is it? You’d be amazed at how many businesses go about it all wrong! And pay the price by leaving lots of moola on the table.

The above example is exactly how not to do it. I delivered the wrong message (or a confusing message) to the wrong market (my message wasn’t meant to be heard by my Mom) using the wrong media (mouthing off inappropriately). And guess what? I failed the test. Yeah, and I got 

slapped . . . and slapped hard!

Of course you won’t get slapped literally by the marketplace (well, actually if you violate Google’s rule, you will get slapped) and yes it’s painful not in bodily harm but in lost revenues! 

So, how do you avoid getting slapped? Easy . . .

Start with your market first. If you’ve been in business for a while, this will be your current customers. If you’re just starting out this could be your prospects.

Find out what these people want and craft your marketing message with their wants, their needs and their unique problems in mind. In others words talk directly to your prospects and customers. Take in account what these needs and wants are and offer a solid solution that will fix those problems. Make them an irresistible offer and you'll be on solid ground.

Learn all you can about your existing customers what their pains are, what they read and watch on TV, their buying habits. Then position your company uniquely. This separates you from the competition.

By identifying your market place you’ve nearly got the first two items in the marketing triangle taken care of. Just make sure you are crafting direct response advertising messages. This is polar opposite of brand or institutional type advertising. This is what most big companies do and it wasteful and just plain dumb. So please, please do not copy their advertising (unless you like dumping lots and lots of money into a bottomless pit).

As far as media is concerned there is really no good or bad media. It just depends on it’s used for and the way it is used. And these days there’s no short supply on where you can spend your advertising dollars . . . websites, newspapers, val-pak, post cards, direct mail, magazines, baseball caps and other imprinted specialty items . . . you name it and it’s available. Just keep in mind there are no “magic bullets” here. Match your media to your market and you'll be on the right track.

So there you go . . . just remember your market first, choose your words wisely and pick your marketing media that fits your style and budget.

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. Want more results from your advertising efforts? I can help! Why not give me a call? I’ll be glad to answer any questions, share a few ideas that will help grow your business! Call me at 828-313-0694. Or if you prefer send me an email at eemassey@yahoo.com There’s no cost or obligation at all!

Water Heaters and Murphy

Howdy Friend,

We all kick up our heals and rejoice when Saturday rolls around. ‘Saturday’ could be any old day of the week—as long as it’s your designated day away from the grindstone.

Often times my day off is spent tackling the usual “honey do” list my wife carefully places in my lap. And this particular Saturday was no different.

I cheerfully looked over the list and noticed ‘fix water heater’—the nerve of her putting water heater repair on top of the list. I mean really ‘hot water’? Who needs a device that will heat water automatically—without having to light a fire.

Seems my baby likes those small conveniences like hot water, air conditioning, and other modern-day comforts.

Ok, ok I have a big confession to make here—I like all those small, trivial modern day conveniences too! And if I were a betting man, I’d bet you like them too, no?

You see, for several weeks now our water heater has been the silent partner, quietly purring along in the background doing its fair share helping my family with all the dish washing, laundry, and ensuring there’s plenty of hot water for bathing.

Despite this, the old water heater was giving us something else too: puddles of water in the basement.

At first the puddle was about the size of dinner plate. But as time went on the plate got bigger and bigger.

I tried all of the usual remedies: flushing the tank to rid itself of impurities, rust and the like—thinking that couldn’t hurt!

Boy was I wrong. Flushing the tank actually made it worse. I came home from work the next day and found the puddle the size of a small trampoline and water spewing like Yosemite.  Not good!

Luckily this was on a Friday and I could tackle my newest home project over the weekend.

As an X- HVAC guy, I knew my way around plumbing fixtures, propane torches, and the usual hand tools.

I was up for the challenge of tackling the replacement myself—plus I could save a buck or two by cutting out the contractor’s labor.

Saturday. Off to Lowes Home Improvement I go armed with a shopping list and a pocket full of change.

300 bucks later I’m back home with a brand spanking new water heater, various plumping fittings, pipe glue, a torch and few other accessories and I’ll ready to get started.

The old heater had been draining for several hours so it was near empty. With the help of my trusty pipe cutter and the flip of an electrical breaker, the old unit comes out pretty easy.

All’s well except one tiny, weenie little problem. Water was still flowing out of the cold pipe so I go back to the main cutoff valve located in the basement and wrench down and *snap* off comes the stem and handle to the valve.

This sucks. If you’ll recall I mention the word “Murphy” boldly in the title to this letter. At one time or another we all have been introduced to Murphy’s Law that broadly states—anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Well, it gets better. Seems Murphy can also become a bit greedy—wants to claim Saturday—and the rest of the weekend all for himself!

Here’s what I mean.

Being that there’s water pouring all over the basement floor, I scramble to locate the shutoff at the meter. It’s getting dark and dirt covering the meter doesn’t help the matter. So armed with my little flash light I commence to digging desperately trying to find the dang shutoff valve.

Sadly it’s not where they are usually installed—towards the house. So it’s more digging. Finally I see a semblance of what appears to be a shutoff valve on the far side of the meter box.

And to be all I can barely reach it with my T-wrench. With a wing and a prayer I get the water shut off and pick up where I left off in the basement.

I start removing fittings off the old water heater hoping I can reuse them. No good. These fittings are so corroded you can hardly see though them. So it’s off to Lowes, trip number two.

When I get back home I realize that I didn’t get everything I needed—namely ¾” pipe. Sheesh! By this time it’s too late to make another trip to the building supply and I’m beginning to burn out.

Sunday. You learn to appreciate the simple pleasures of life—good food, good friends, and a hot bath! And boy was I needin’ one, not to mention the rest of my family.

I keep telling myself, “Mush on. You gotta keep going. Finish the job.”  You know how important it is to become you own cheer leader. A little encouragement goes a loooong way.

By now I’m becoming a “regular” at Lowes Home Improvement. The clerks are calling me by name, giving me home improvement tips, asking me if I’d like a job—you know like I’m one of the gang.

Heck, after all of that, it became pretty tempting. These folks are really nice!

Anyway, I decide to keep moving forward, get my parts and get the water turned back on.

Yippee! Everything is in place, final inspection, yes, yes it all looks good and no signs of any potential water leaks. I give it a while for the pipe cement to set and crank open the valves for a final leak test. So far, so good I take another look around all the joints—all’s well! No leaks.

I go upstairs and my son grabs me to help him find a toy on the second floor. It was then when I heard a psssss . . . pop . . . spew . . . it’s sounding like serious water flow.

Like an Olympic sprinter I zoom down to the basement, hoping what I’m hearing wasn’t true!

Damn! It’s Murphy! He’s struck again. Boy what a sight—water spraying like a geyser.

Working quickly, I shut the water off, and shook my head in disgust!

It’s back to the drawing board.

Muttering under my breath, dreading going and recounting how many times to the building supply I’ve endured I realize I have spare fittings.

Could it be that the tables are turning now? Maybe I’ll kick Murphy’s ass for a change? Maybe short turn.

I redo the piping once again but this time give extra time to for the cement to cure before cranking on the electricity and water.

Elapsed time approximately 45 to 50 minutes, I anxiously fire up the water heater hoping for the best.

Shower time is finally here! Big smiles coming from the entire family.

So what does this story have to do with marketing? I can tell you in just one word: Persistence.

That’s right, persistence. Keep working till you get it right. Successful marketing is about planning your work and working your plan.

Successful marketing isn’t about having all the latest, greatest website bells and whistles. It’s not about looking the flashiest or dumping a ton of money on all the latest software programs.

No! Successfully marketing is about learning what your target market wants, what pains they’re having, what problems they want solved and letting them know you’re the go to guy or gal who can help them.

Don’t quit. Don’t give up. I have seen oftentimes successful comes to those who are absolutely committed to staying in the game.

Are you willing to do this?

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. What problems are you having in your business today? I very well may have just the solution you want to get where you want to be. Why not give me a call? I’ll be glad to answer any questions, share a few ideas that will help grow your business! Call me at 828-313-0694. Or if you prefer send me an email at eemassey@yahoo.com There’s no cost or obligation at all!