Got a couple questions about yesterday’s email.
Specifically, about #’s 5 & 6 of the “financial blunders” list — giving up too soon and clinging to bad ideas.
One was how to discern between the two?
And the other was about whether they’re in conflict?
Let’s tackle the discernment one first.
Check out these grapes:
When I was in MLM, I HATED every second of it. But I was drinking the company kool-aid (see #4 on yesterday’s list), thought there was nothing else to do, and stuck with it through sheer force of will. Eventually, after a prayer while sleeping on the floor of an office I lived in (ugh!), it dawned on me what I SHOULD do (direct marketing and copywriting) and I never looked back.
The point?
I KNEW something was rotten in Denmark.
But I stubbornly clung to MLM anyway, despite the obvious signs I should have bailed long before.
So my advice?
When you just know something’s wrong, let it go.
Walk away.
And don’t even think about it.
Now, for the second question:
Are #5 and #6 in conflict?
Well, let’s take the example above. I never would have been truly successful in MLM because, even if I had a bunch of money fall in my lap, I still hated doing the business.
Not so with copywriting, though.
No, I didn’t see quick success with that, either.
But I LOVED doing it.
I enjoyed every second while learning it (yes, even while tediously copying out sales letters, ads, and, in one case, an entire book, by hand).
And it just felt “right.”
But you know what?
I almost quit that about 4 years ago, too, after a particularly bad year where NOTHING went right.
It’s like I was cursed!
And I still don’t know how we made it that year.
But then something strange happened.
Literally a week or two later a project I’d slaved over on pure commission that I thought was a dead deal sprang to life (I’d had a falling out with the client). I also did a profitable JV around that time, and even landed a big client, too.
All within 45 days of wanting to quit!
I was millimeters from success and didn’t know it.
Anyway, that’s all I know today.
For more marketing ideas, check out:
Ben Settle
