The man, the myth, the Titan...

The man, the myth, the Titan…

I’ve stolen more than one thing from Dan Kennedy.

I try to be honest about it Rainmaker.  I try to give credit where credit is due.  But when Brian Kurtz told me I was going to have to write in Dan Kennedy as the headliner for his Titans of Direct Response event last year, I wasn’t surprised.

After all, the guy is a marketing and business-building genius.

He claims no genius.  He will readily tell you that what he knows and does can be learned.  That his expertise is the result of reading (literally) thousands of books, and applying what he’s learned over more than three decades.

(This only reinforces the premise of Breakthrough Marketing Secrets — that if you focus on a mere 1% improvement every week for your entire career, you will eventually become pretty much untouchable.)

In fact, at one point I was having a discussion with Mark Ford (who then went under the pen name of Michael Masterson).

This was shortly after Dan Kennedy had started working with AWAI and Mark’s other company at the time, Early To Rise.

Mark admitted that when seen from afar, he wasn’t so sure about Dan.  Like many aren’t.

Speaking for myself, his style appears schlocky.  His claims brash and bold.  Channeling my inner Yoda, “Universally liked, he is not.”  (This is a well-known — even, embraced — fact to Dan.)

But the more Mark, me, and so many other have gotten to know Dan and his work, the more respect and admiration he demands.

What he recommends, more often than not, just works.

Love him or loathe him, he’s worth paying attention to for his strategic thinking and tactical recommendations.

This is one of those things that I once heard Dan say,  “I do this…” and I think it has infinite applications in growing every size business…

I once heard Dan say that he doesn’t go to bed without doing at least one thing every day to bring new money into his business.

What specifically he does can change from day to day to day.

It can be as big as sending out a giant box of stuff to a potential client, to establish his credibility and authority.

It can be as small as sending a fax to someone to iron out the details of an upcoming deal.

Every single day.

For 30+ years.

Doing something, anything to keep his pipeline full and moving toward creating income in his pocket.

This constant mode of “business development” has multiple benefits…

Short-term and at a very superficial level, it keeps your calendar booked and sales coming in the door.  It’s hard to be doing something every single day and not be busy.

In fact, it can be the secret to booking your time out months in advance, so clients’ biggest challenge is getting on your schedule.

(For product-based businesses it’s even better — when your capacity to fulfill orders is effectively unlimited, this constant state of business generation leads to ever-increasing order volumes!)

But there’s a deeper benefit here.

What that also does is it sets up supply and demand firmly in your favor.

In service businesses — including copywriting — there’s a very common “feast or famine” cycle.

This month, you’re slammed with client work.  You’re so focused on fulfilling on your current projects, that you’re not generating new business.

So next month, suddenly you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs.  At which point you start chasing clients so your cash flow doesn’t dry up.

It can be brutal.

By constantly tending to your business — making it an every day habit — you increase the feast periods and decrease the famine.  Until suddenly there’s very little famine at all.

But wait, there’s even more!  A deeper, deeper benefit.

My friend Alex Charfen likes to say that entrepreneurs are “momentum-based beings.”

We measure our happiness by whether we’re moving forward, moving backward, or standing still.

Standing still — going nowhere — is the worst.  And that’s where you are in the famine part of the feast-famine cycle.

Moving backward happens, but your goal is to turn it around.

But when you’re constantly moving forward, that’s momentum.  That’s the sweet spot for entrepreneurs.  Where you’re “in the zone.”  “On fire!”

And by following the daily habit of doing at least one thing to bring in new business, you’re ensuring future momentum.  You’re driving yourself forward.  You’re keeping yourself in the zone.

The benefits compound.  Your income is steadier, and pressure and noise drop.  You’re constantly doing work that excites you, because you worked to attract your ideal clients.  Because the work you do excites you, you put more passion and purpose into it.  As a result, your level of performance is more constantly near its peak.

Then, your peak performance justifies ever-higher fees and compensation for the same amount of work.

You’re constantly moving in the direction you want to go, with ever-greater momentum, performing at superstar levels, and earning an income and getting accolades to match.

The entire cycle feeds back on itself, to push you to ever-higher levels of achievement.

All due to that one good habit that you do every day.

Here’s the very tactical takeaway for you, from this…

Make a commitment to yourself that you will do one thing — no matter how small — every day to create new business for yourself.

One thing.

You can do more.

But never do less.

Make it a daily ritual, a habit, a discipline you do.  Build a system to implement, if you need it — I strongly recommend a CRM like Insightly.

Don’t go to bed without doing your one thing.

This is baby steps.  The smallest possible thing you need to do to make progress toward your goals.

Each day, it may not seem like much.

But it adds up.

Just like 1% improvement in your marketing and business-building skills and abilities adds up every week, and compounds.

And it starts with today…

You’re not asleep yet…

What one thing have you done today to keep new money coming in the door?

If you don’t have an answer to that question, what are you going to do right now?

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr

Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets