All Successful Marketers Have This in Common!

10 replies
In my former working life (pre-retirement) I associated with business owners and entrepreneurs very closely every day. The essence of my "job" was to help them become successful and expand their businesses thus creating jobs in the local economy. I guess you could say I was a "small business job developer."

I'd like to share something that I learned (over a period of 35 years or so) that was a common trait or characteristic of all those business men and ladies that successfully grew their businesses. I hope this little thought will help you. I'll tell you what trait that was in a second, but first . . .

During my time as a member of this forum, I've noticed that it's very common among members here that they don't (or won't) recognize there is a direct correlation between what they do and the results they get.

It seems so elementary and obvious; yet evidently it's not!
  • Maybe society is changing and people don't believe they are accountable for their behavior any more.
  • Maybe their parents never taught them to work in order to get something they wanted.
  • Maybe it's the entitlement mentality we hear so much about.
  • Maybe it's the fact that it's easier to rationalize why the world is conspiring against them - so they blame others for their lack - instead of going out and working for what they want.
  • Maybe our society has gone haywire and focuses too heavily on idolizing the rich and famous without nearly enough emphasis on planning, goal setting, hard work, persistence, and personal accountability.
New Warriors love to come to the forum asking how to make large sums of money quickly. But do they typically want to hear that they are the ones that will determine their own level of prosperity? That it will be totally up to them how much money they make and how fast it comes? No.

It's much more convenient to blame others, or courses, or ebooks, or shyster coaches for the lack of results in marketing that they experience. Incredibly, many never even begin the entrepreneurial process yet linger here for years seeking "the perfect opportunity" to dive in!

The trait that I mentioned I saw time after time - in fact, every time - in successful business owners is this: they know they are totally responsible for the results they get.

Their business results are the direct consequence of the choices they made and the actions they took. If they didn't like the results they got, they modified, or scrapped the things they were doing and chose to try something else. The buck stopped on their desk.

Of course, this can be a painful lesson to learn - and apparently, some never learn it.

If you're a parent, teach the principle to your little children when their consequences don't bear them down. Keep helping them to learn the correlation (between behavior and consequences) during their teenage years - you'll have lots of meaningful opportunities during that time.

Hopefully, when your children become adults, they will have the behavioral foundation that seems to be lacking in so many people today - people that show up here at the forum looking for wealth in push-buttons, hacks, courses, short-cuts, secrets and back door schemes.

Thanks for listening . . . and if you're a grandpa like I am and your children are already grown, there are always grand kids that you can influence! What better lesson can you "arm" children with as a foundational principle in their character? The correlation between behavior and results shows up in every aspect of a person's life, doesn't it?

The very best to all of you,

Steve
#common #marketers #successful
  • Profile picture of the author BradKasten
    Well done Steve,

    That is a fantastic post and there's a lot of wisdom in there for those who are open and willing to learn it.

    Your main point of "being responsible for all of your results" is a super powerful and freeing realization. Many people will look at that as a negative statement, but the smart ones will realize that statement leads to limitless opportunity.

    I think most people are drawn to internet marketing because they see it as such an amazing opportunity. Work from home? Make money from your computer? When I learned you could make money online it almost felt like magic.

    Then you're hit with the instant riches and done-for-you push button products. I'll admit I bought into that in the beginning. Looking back it's almost like an initiation. You have to go through that phase and take a few lumps. Then you learn the truth. It takes a lot of learning, work, and dedication to become successful online.

    Lot's of people just want push button riches. That's why so many people play the lottery and go to the casinos. And buy the "make $1000 before you even leave the webinar" course. And guess what...the guy running the webinar is making $1000 before the webinar is over. Isn't that interesting?

    The ones who can pass the initiation, learn the truth and commit themselves to doing it the right way - the hard way - are the ones who will take responsibility for their results and be successful.

    I think every new person to the Warrior Forum should read your post Steve. It should be required reading.

    All the best,
    Brad
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    • Profile picture of the author SARubin
      This thread reminds me of a book, by a guy named Larry Winget (he's a rather gruff, in your face kind of guy. So he's not for everyone... but I've learned to respect him for his straight shooting, no B.S style)

      Anyway, the book is titled...

      "It's Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault."
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Originally Posted by SARubin View Post

        Anyway, the book is titled...

        "It's Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault."

        SARubin,

        Thanks for the suggestion - sounds like something I would enjoy reading. We all live and work in an environment that sometimes throws up obstacles and roadblocks in our path - it happens to everyone. In fact, my career has been filled with little "speed bumps" that tend to slow us down - sometimes even daily.

        True entrepreneurs understand that business execution generally happens on this bumpy road - very rarely is the pathway smooth and straight. But because these successful business owners accept the fact that they are responsible for pushing forward in spite of the terrain, they figure out ways to move over or around each rough spot.

        Entrepreneurs very much are problem solvers. They don't blame others for their bad luck in having problems; they accept the challenge that there will be problems to overcome and they see to it that their business keeps moving forward while they figure out how to smash through one problem, then the next, then the next!

        Great comments, thanks.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Great post all newbies should take to heart.

    I hope it doesn't get moved to the wrong section like my 5000th post, something else every newbie ought to see.

    The stats say that most small businesses fail within 90 days...I say it's within three.

    Three days is the typical duration a newbie is able to put in effort into their idea before they give up. Often they switch to something else, meaning their results go back to zero.

    The reason this happens is the newbie has based their hopes of success and belief of what works on something external: a program they bought, a magic bullet. Where that faith needs to be is in themselves. Your ability to solve problems on your own is where success come from...which leads straight back to Steve's post here.
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  • Profile picture of the author posinfo1
    I think that successful marketers have and do put in a considerable amount of effort. They have done the hard yards and have almost certainly at the beginning of their IM career bought into the "get rich quick systems."

    The reality is that an IM business is a business. You have to put in the investment and effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author kilgore
    Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

    The trait that I mentioned I saw time after time - in fact, every time - in successful business owners is this: [B]they know they are totally responsible for the results they get.
    I know that this is a myth that we as entrepreneurs -- and just as regular human beings -- want to believe. That success (or failure) is completely up to us. That if we just strive high enough, work hard enough, be smart of us we will succeed. (And by the same token those that don't succeed are either unambitious, lazy or stupid.)

    But it's just not true.

    There are far too many variables that are outside of our control, changes in the competitive landscape, new technologies, new laws or new policy. Even something simple as the weather can have dire consequences if your business is a farm, a ski resort or a tourist attraction. Are all the failed businesses left in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria "totally responsible" for their failures? Are any of us totally responsible for our successes? I know I'm not. Where would I be without the support of our friends, family, colleagues and community? I certainly am not responsible that I was born in a country that values education and entrepreneurism, that my native tongue has become the lingua franca in my chosen field. I'm not responsible for my genetic inheritance nor that my genetic inheritance is particularly valuable in this very unusual age where intelligence and creativity reign supreme over physical strength. Timing is huge in business -- and it's also something that we are able to control the least.

    The important thing is not to believe that we are "totally responsible" for our results but rather we need to take responsibility for our actions. The difference between being totally responsible for results and taking responsibility for actions is subtle, but crucial.

    The doctrine of total responsibility says that there should be no difference between someone born to a billionaire in a stable democracy and someone who is born a penniless orphan in a war-torn refugee camp. The doctrine of total responsibility suggests that there should be no difference between someone who was born with 175 IQ and someone who was born with a mental handicap. The doctrine of total responsibility says that if you were successful it was because of you and you alone and if you fail it is because you yourself are a failure.

    Taking responsibility for our actions is different. When we take responsibility for our actions we recognize that life is in many ways unfair. We recognize that there are many things that our outside of our control, that changes will occur that no reasonable person could ever predict, that disaster will sometimes strike the righteous and that fortune will sometimes follow the wicked. We also recognize that we alone are not responsible for our success or failure, that we always stand on the backs of giants, whether those giants are the technological innovators who invented the tools we base our businesses on now; the political giants who created systems of government and economy that allow us to innovate in our own right; or all the little giants in our own lives to whom we owe so much, our family, our friends, our teachers, our neighbors.

    But even as we recognize the fundamental unfairnesses and capriciousness in life, when we take responsibility for our actions we also recognize that while we may not be able to control everything that has happened or will happen to us, what we can control are our own responses to what happens. And so in that sense, Steve is absolutely right. The buck absolute does stop with us. Even if life is unfair, it's no more useful to spend our time blame others or blaming circumstances than it does yelling at the sky because it's raining.

    Instead, we focus on the things that we can control. So we take whatever hand life deals to us and play it to the best of our abilities. In some cases we may succeed and in other cases we may fail. In many cases our success or failure will be influenced strongly by our own actions and in other cases other outside factors may strike the decisive blow, whether for good or for ill. And as we go into business, we are grateful for whatever advantages we may have been given and realistic about whatever our disadvantages might be. But we also strive our hardest, work our smartest and do everything we can to give ourselves the best shot at success. In the end, we may not be able to control the result of our efforts, but we can at least control the efforts themselves.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

      The doctrine of total responsibility says that there should be no difference between someone born to a billionaire in a stable democracy and someone who is born a penniless orphan in a war-torn refugee camp.

      Kilgore,

      Thank you for voicing your opinion. I don't happen to agree with it but certainly you are entitled to share it and this thread is better because you have.

      In response to your comments: I think you're splitting hairs so finely that you end up with nothing that makes sense in the real world. I'm not talking about some "doctrine of total responsibility" as you've outlined it above. Your example of being born into wealth as opposed to poverty has nothing to do with my claim that business owners need to be responsible for their own results.

      I never said that there would be no environmental or extraneous factors influencing the results a marketer gets for his efforts. Sure there are always variables beyond our control that crop up in a business that impact results. Why argue that point - it's a given?

      My stance was simply that the business owner needs to push beyond every obstacle in his path, self-induced or not, and keep moving forward toward his goals.

      To be honest, I think you and I believe the same things really - maybe you just didn't like the way I expressed myself. Every successful business owner I know feels that he is responsible for his own actions, directions, and results. He understands that there will be hurricanes in his path and that some of his ideas, products and campaigns will flop (by things he did or otherwise). But he doesn't let those temporary failures stop his forward progress completely.

      I believe if you adopt the mindset that you've suggested (the owner is not totally responsible for his own results) it will lead to the business owner finding it too easy to blame others, his competition, outside market changes, or the weather for his own lack of success.

      Regardless, thank you Kilgore for contributing to the discussion of this important topic.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author M0J0
    Outstanding post and spot on.

    "they know they are totally responsible for the results they get."

    I'll go a step further, when things go right, successful people will attribute that success to the people that work for them. On the other hand, when things go wrong, they take full responsibility.

    At least his has been my experience as a somewhat successful business owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author gcbmark20
    That's why COACHING/MENTORING is vital!!!

    It's SO EASY to allow your current mind set/programming to force
    you to make a bad decision/distinction about "XYZ" etc.

    Having someone there holding you accountable helps you stay
    focused, on track and heading where you actually want to go.
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