Got this comment Wednesday:
Hi Ben,
Just two quick things…
1) I was seriously impressed with your testimonial listings. I mean Mark Ford and Bob Bly saying your good counts for something, hah?
2) Referring to your “pain and suffering” email, was there anything in particular that turned out to be the catalyst in getting you back on track?
Re: #1 I was honored to get their attention.
They’re both GIANTS in the copywriting world.
And, in many ways, the reason many of us whippersnappers even got into this game in the first place. Personally, I think (and I’m right) everyone should study Bob Bly’s and Mark Ford’s products and ads and marketing philosophies.
As for your other question…
The stuff I talked about was TAME.
Especially compared to what others I know have endured.
Really, I got off lucky.
That said…
The thing that kept me going… even when I was depressed off my ass laying in bed all day feeling sorry for myself for an entire summer back in 2006… even when I was getting betrayed and screwed over by clients left and right (the danger of doing work on commission only, it was my bad for getting into those situations in the first place)… and even when I was on the verge of saying “to hell with it all” and just giving up on multiple occasions… was anger.
But not petty, pointless anger.
I’m talking about RIGHTEOUS anger.
Anger at myself, mostly.
(For making so many dumb decisions.)
But also at the naysayers.
Nobody… and I mean NOBODY, with the exception of my grandma on my dad’s side of the family, a couple of my uncles and the dude who recruited me into an MLM business out of college (MLM wasn’t ALL bad in that sense)… ever encouraged me to go forth and conquer in the business world.
Everyone else?
All I got was snickering.
And mockery.
Or, just rolled eyeballs.
That gave me a lot of righteous anger.
And that anger would keep me going even when I had only about $100 in the bank with rent, bills and loans due and it was “nut up or shut up” time.
And therein lies the lesson:
Forget what you hear about positive thinking.
Ignore the magic Facebook fairy dust quotes.
Pay no heed to the success “theorists”.
The strongest motivation is negativity.
As someone (I think it was John Carlton?) taught:
Embrace your “dirty” motivations!
I do this even today.
Something royally pisses me off?
I use the massive, near-limitless (although usually temporary) power that experience gives me to go forth and conquer and do great and profitable things I never would have done otherwise — both personally and professionally.
Anger.
Fear.
Frustration.
Pain.
Suffering.
Despite what that shriveled up green “nut sac” looking thing Yoda thinks — these things don’t lead to the dark side, necessarily.
They can also lead to prosperity.
To success.
And, paradoxically, to joy.
So don’t suppress your dirty motivations.
Embrace them.
Use them.
Even learn to love ’em a little.
Only then, a marketing jedi will you be…
Ben Settle
P.S. If you’re in business, I suggest pouring any righteous negativity you experience into being better at sales and marketing.
Hey, want to get better at sales?
At marketing?
And do it without spending hours going blind reading dry, dusty boring sales books packed with theory, outdated stories and fluff?
Then go ye here:
