Here’s another interesting article from Bruce Barton.

It might sound familiar to you, especially if you’ve read the Wall Street Journal’s story of the Two Young Men. Not surprising, really, since Barton wrote the original that was based upon: The story of two young men who returned from the war. (I’ll put that up sometime).

As with all Bruce Barton articles I’ve published, this was written in the 1920s.

Here’s the article:

A man named Brown and a man named Black graduated from high school and entered business in New York at the same time. Both made rapid progress. At twenty five each of them was drawing $2,500 a year.

“Coming men,” said their friends.”If they are so far along at twenty-five, where will they be at fifty?”

Black went on.

At fifty he is president of his company, with an income of $25,000 a year.

But something happened to Brown.

He never fulfilled the large promise of his youth: at fifty he had hardly advanced beyond his thirty mark.

What was it that happened to these two men, of equal education and so far as the world could judge equal ability?

I will tell you.

Brown became satisfied.

He ceased to study: which means that he ceased to grow.

Black has told me that when he reached $5,000 a year he said to himself: “I have made a good start. Nothing can stop me if I keep my health and keep growing. I must study, study, study: I must be the best informed man on our business in the United States.”

There is the difference. One stayed in school: one did not.

The position you attain before you are twenty-five years old is of no particular credit to you. You gained that simply on the education your parents gave you education that cost you no sacrifice.

But the progress you make in the world after twenty-five that is progress that you must make by educating yourself. It will be in proportion to the amount of study you give to your work in excess of the amount the other man gives.

Analyze any successful man and you will find these three great facts:

He had an aim:

Lord Campbell wrote to his father, as an excuse for not coming home over the holidays: “To have any chance of success, I must be more steady than other men. I must be in chambers when they are at the theater: I must study when they are asleep: I must, above all, remain in town when they are in the country.”

He worked: 

“I have worked,” said Daniel Webster,” for more than twelve hours a day for fifty years.”

He studied: 

Vice-President Henry Wilson was born in the direst poverty.

“Want sat by my cradle,” he says. “I know what it is to ask my mother for bread when she had none to give. I left home when ten years of age, and served an apprenticeship of eleven years, receiving one month’s schooling each year, and at the end of eleven years of hard work a yoke of oxen and six sheep, which brought me $84.”

Yet in those eleven years of grueling labor he found time to read and study more than one hundred books.

Really big men check themselves up each autumn, at the beginning of a new business year.

“This year,” they say, “I am going to master one new subject. I am going to pursue such and such studies, which will increase my ability and earning power.”

The bigger they are, the longer they keep themselves in school. Gladstone took up a new language after he had passed seventy.

Have you left school?

As a matter of fact, did you grow mentally last year at all? What definite subject are you planning to devote your evenings to this year?

“As a rule,” said Disraeli, “the most successful man in life is the man who has the most information.”

How much will you increase your stock of useful information in the next business year?

Good question.

If you want to increase your stock of useful information… the type that could bring loads more moola into your business… click here and check out what Drayton Bird has to offer.

I did that in 2009. And I haven’t looked back since.

Best,
Rezbi
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

If you’re looking for something that could change the way your entire biz future plays out, then I urge you to look into this.

Here’s the story: There’s a guy out there in the big bad copywriting world who has the kind of credibility that makes other guru’s nervous.  If you’re into copywriting at all, you may have heard of him. His name’s John Carlton.

John is an outrageously-respected copywriting and marketing go-to-guy who’s had a legendary career spanning 30 years.

And he’s taught the art and science of crafting notoriously-good sales messages to many of the top (and most famous) online entrepreneurs in the game.

So, yeah, when Carlton has something I think you’ll benefit from, I want you to know about it.

Now, imagine this: A swarm of respected experts and Web wizards guide you in creating a proven, step-by-step, fits-your-biz-like-a-glove, super-simple PLAN…

… that you can easily and quickly put into action…

… to demolish the obstacles holding you back and generate massive new results and momentum.  All while transforming your biz into something monstrously successful and more fun than you probably deserve.

It’s not a dream.

It is, in fact, exactly what John and his crew are gearing up to do… with a select group of attendees at an utterly unique LIVE event dedicated to mapping out the coolest, fastest and most easy-to-pull-off ways to make 2011 your best year ever.

John Carlton’s Action Seminar Event

Entrepreneurs, small biz owners, rookies… anyone lusting after the rewards heaped upon marketers armed with a clear plan to meet every goal… this is tailor-made for you.

You’re invited to grab one of the coveted spots at this live event, too… if you don’t fool around and miss your shot.

(Very limited space.  The last time John hosted an event like this, it filled up fast.)

Here’s what’s up: John has assembled a jaw-dropping faculty of brilliant (sometimes feared) and utterly hard-core masters of the entrepreneur/small biz world…

… and they’re gathering down in sunny San Diego at the end of February…

… with one outrageous goal: To empower you to…

1. Assemble a simple plan to dominate your market and obliterate your competition….

2. And understand precisely how to put that simple plan into ACTION.

That’s the two fastest ways to get out of the gate ahead of everyone else, and crush it in 2011.

This event is called The Action Seminar… and you’ve likely never encountered anything like this before.

It is interactive, content-rich, and focused on getting something DONE.

Get more details here:

John Carlton’s Action Seminar Event

You need to see what’s up with this live event… especially if you’re freaked out by the economy, or (worse) thinking you can maybe just wing it through 2011 and be okay.

Don’t do that.

Do this instead: Just see what the fuss is all about with this totally unique, interactive live gathering:

John Carlton’s Action Seminar Event

You’ll be among entrepreneurs and biz owners in your same situation, no matter where you

are now in your career.  Beginner, veteran needing help, or classic kitchen table entrepreneur.

This event is focused on doing what I wished all events did (but don’t):  Deliver the goods, and help guide you in creating your own plan to make this year your best ever.

Spots are already being gobbled up.  You’ve still got time to act, but things are happening fast.

Do not miss this one-time shot at hanging with experts dedicated to helping you get your own action plan together.

Best,
Rezbi

He who knows how to manage the media often wins the game. The BP crisis is on everyone’s mind. And before that, Toyota got into a mess. What should you know about public relations?

When clients come to me I often suggest that good PR may be even more important than anything I can do. And I strongly believe that relying on one marketing weapon alone is very short sighted.

Modern public relations – PR – began about a hundred years ago with the world’s richest man, John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller had a problem.

He had built up Standard Oil very ruthlessly, treating his workers appallingly – though probably no worse than most businessmen at the time. He was so hideously unpopular he could barely go outside without embarrassment. He asked a newsman called Ivy Lee for advice.

I do not know what Lee charged Mr. Rockefeller, but his solution brilliantly demonstrated how to create and manage news. He told Rockefeller to stop hiding away, go out regularly, and always carry with him a supply of 5 cent coins to give to small children.

Lee, no doubt, ensured these generous acts were reported. In no time the ogre Rockefeller was replaced in the public’s mind by the kindly old fellow who loved children.

Was this clever idea an influence for good or bad? It has certainly been much copied. All politicians know it’s a good idea to be photographed with babies, but among the century’s leading experts have been Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler and Mao Tse Tung.

Advice from a top expert

When young, I worked in public relations for long enough to know I am no good at it. However a friend, Quentin Bell, was long one of Britain’s leading PR men. He gave me a list of points for good PR, which I have put at the end.

The difference between advertising and public relations is that you pay for advertising space or time; in public relations you only pay for the advice you get. The media print or broadcast what they want about you.

Advertising was once called “the truth well told”. The same applies to good PR. The trouble is, as we all know, the truth can be seen in many ways. If your version of the truth prevails, it is a powerful ally; if not, it can be a disaster. Which it is depends on you.

Public relations are vital when there are problems. The launch of the Toyota Lexus in America was nearly a disaster, because thousands of the first cars delivered had faults. A few years later the Mercedes A-Class was reported to be unreliable on sharp corners. On another occasion a madman poisoned some of the packs of the leading US analgesic, Tylenol.

All three firms acted promptly and managed the news. Toyota recalled every car they had sold and gave owners free replacements while the problem was fixed. Mercedes immediately installed in their A class the same braking system fitted in their most expensive cars and wrote to all prospective and existing buyers explaining the facts. Tylenol replaced every bottle of Tylenol in every store in America.

So none of these firms denied the problem: they admitted there was one and solved it. They told the truth. Moral: don’t lie, don’t hide. Act and be open. I do not think that Toyota and BP, more recently, have managed their PR very well. So what should you do?

Start by asking questions

Good PR – like all good marketing – starts with the truth. First, ask three questions. Who are we? Where are we? Where do we want be or go? If you haven’t asked them, you now know your first – maybe your most important – task.

You must know what you are – not what you hope you are. This calls for research, both inside and outside your organisation. Only then you can work to become what you want to be.

Unlike advertising, PR doesn’t directly promote a product, service or brand. It deals with issues raised by, and surrounding them. They benefit indirectly.

PR is about “our way of doing things” – corporate culture. It takes your special (though not necessarily unique) attitudes and viewpoints and turns them to commercial advantage.

Internal PR comes before external PR. It conveys these messages so well that everyone you work with understands and eventually “owns” them. They become company ambassadors. You know you’ve succeeded when they talk of colleagues as “we” instead of “them”.

Your message must embrace all those groups your success depends on. Not just your people, but suppliers and distributors, communities, investors, regulators, and the media.

One of my partners once told me the best advice his father ever gave him. It was, “If you’re talking, you can’t be listening. And if you’re not listening, you can’t be learning”. PR only succeeds if it is a dialogue – not a one way “top down” monologue. Listening is vital if you wish to respond.

PR is not about slogans and slick phrases. It’s about style plus substance: 90% is about improving the reality, only 10% about promoting it. Image and reality must match. You cannot pretend to be what you’re not – for long.

Don’t rely entirely on the PR agency or marketing department. Your message must course through the veins of the company – inspired by those at the top. Your top PR person is the CEO – the public ambassador. PR should be an important part of his or her job.

Good PR is consistent and continual: inspiration, consistency and dogged determination differentiate the winners from the losers.

Top ten tips for dealing with the media

What if you have to face the media? It can be frightening – unless you’re prepared. Here is Quentin’s advice:

• Know your message: identify your three key points; stick to them; don’t be afraid of repeating them; don’t get sidetracked.

• Be the victor not the victim. You know more about your subject than they do; an interview is an opportunity, not a threat; you can turn their negative into your positive, or at least paint a balanced picture; be businesslike – it’s better to be respected than liked.

• Prepare and rehearse: think of all likely difficult questions for a requested interview – and know your answers.

• Send out all your bad news at once, not bit by bit. Release it with bigger news of the day as a smokescreen. If it’s good news, check the next day’s media agenda for a slow news day.

• Know what the media want: ask them for their angle – they’ll willingly tell you; don’t “answer” but “respond”; use the question as a chance to say what you want to say.

• Admit your mistakes: others will forgive you. Don’t cover up; but always “regret” rather than being “sorry” – that implies guilt. Never speak “off the record”. Assume all you say will be broadcast or published.

• Be humble: be confident but not arrogant; stay calm and “smile” (if only inwardly, because it shows on TV). Remember, an aggressive interviewer gains you public sympathy; don’t lie (you’ll be found out and make matters worse). If you don’t know the answer, say so.

• Speak in headlines: talk about benefits, not features. Think in pictures, not words; keep it simple; listen to questions carefully; don’t fill silences – it puts the onus upon the interviewer.

• Don’t refuse to take difficult phone calls. But give yourself thinking time (“I’ll phone you back in ten minutes”); never say “no comment” – it implies guilt; it provides a vacuum to allow the media to invent their own “truth”.

• Never pretend to be what you’re not, personally or corporately. If the public perception is false, make the truth clear; get the endorsement of your top PR person – the CEO.

Best,
Drayton
www.eadim.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com