How To Force Me To Personally Advise You On Your Business… For Cheap.
Friday 8:09pm
Reno, NV
“Just move on up now…” (Curtis Mayfield)
Howdy.
Quick post here to help you figure out when you should probably consider consulting with a respected, proven veteran marketing expert…
… and what your perfect consulting option is, once you’ve decided it’s time to kick your biz or career into high gear.
Step One: As a small business owner or entrepreneur (especially if you’ve been going at it alone, or mostly alone)… if you have any kind of success at all… there will come a time when you’re simply overwhelmed and need a little help. Or a lot of help.
For example:
[] It may be time for you to move up a level in your marketing… and you know that having a veteran marketing expert comb over your new plans can shortcut your path to increased wealth, while jumping over the unseen pitfalls that ruin so many other biz owners trying to expand. [] Or, you may have a problem that needs serious attention… like sales going into the toilet, or new competitors chewing you up, or sudden changes in the marketplace that crush your bottom line (like a Google slap, or adverse rule changes at Clickbank, or the obsolescence of your product, or technological left-turns that disrupt your sales process). Even worse, what was working before suddenly isn’t working anymore, and you don’t see a clear reason why. [] Or, you’re just working harder and harder, but sales are stagnant. Time, perhaps, to bring in an objective, experienced marketing whiz who can help you restructure your biz plan… so you maximize results, and get your life back (by working less, not more.) [] Or, you may want high-end professional advice on your current sales funnel… just to make sure you’re not hemorrhaging money somewhere, or murdering potential sales through marketing blunders you can’t even see. [] Or, you may be ready to start a new business adventure, and just want to be positive you’ve got your ducks lined up and you aren’t forgetting something critical. [] Or, you have copy that may or may not be working, which you know could jack up your bottom line if a professional copywriter helped you with a total make-over.Step Two: The best reasons to seek professional help from a veteran dude like me always have one main goal: To fix problems, and goose your bottom line into obscene levels of newfound wealth.
When your situation is urgent, the cost of hiring a consultant who can provide solutions is almost always “cheap”, because you’re extracting yourself out of a dangerous reality that threatens your business and peace-of-mind.
And it’s a screaming bargain when that consultant can offer you simple fixes inside of a plan you can put into action immediately…
… without radically changing who you are or what you offer.
The more experienced and successful the consultant, the greater the shift you can expect from following their advice. And the bigger the bargain for the small investment you make by tapping into that experience and success.
The world of business is roiling with ways your product or service can be ambushed, sucker-punched and even crushed… by market forces, shoddy previous advice from questionable sources, and your own gaps in skills or tools to deal with it all.
No matter how brilliant you are, and no matter how much success you were enjoying at one time…
… if the game has changed on you, and you’re struggling, your best first move will be to get help. Serious, experienced, proven professional help.
Step Three: Not only is there no “shame” in bringing in hired guns… it’s exactly what the best and most successful marketers do all the time. It’s often the most important resource they have, and they never make a move without consulting with the experts they trust.
I’ve been the “expert of choice” for a great number of successful entrepreneurs and small biz owners for three decades now. From my vast experience in the front trenches of the marketing world… I know where the most common problems are hiding, and how to fix them fast and simply.
I have yet to meet a business problem I can’t solve, using the deep toolkit of tactics and techniques for creating killer sales funnels I’ve developed while working successfully in nearly every situation a modern business can encounter.
I offer a unique form of consulting we call “Be John’s New Best Friend”… because, as a client, you will immediately get the same level of attention, advice and access that my closest colleagues and friends enjoy.
What’s more, since my biz partner Stan Dahl is usually involved in these sessions, you get his 25 years of experience, too.
He’s very hip to technology, software, and the structural problems that growing a biz creates (having run and consulted on multiple online businesses, including creating entire coaching programs… creating, filling and running large seminars… managing some of the most successful early launches ever… and created many virtual and real products. And before that, he was hired to consult with massive companies like Wells Fargo, Starbucks, and AM/PM mini-markets… to specifically improve their use of technology, streamline their biz procedures, and max-out profit funnels).
It’s a one-two punch. I’ve been creating products and ads and marketing campaigns for decades… and Stan has been advising businesses on how to find and fix the problems of making a biz work for nearly the same length of time.
You can get access to us…
[] For an hour on the phone… [] For a day, in person… [] For a month, via phone and email… [] And for a year, by joining our exclusive (and very small) mastermind.Here’s how to think about which option best fits your situation:
1. In an hour on the phone, I can go over your current marketing in astonishingly deep detail – including copy, websites, and sales funnels.
You can easily come away from this single hour with hot new headlines and sales angles you hadn’t thought of… fresh ways to make your website more user-friendly, so it brings in more sales… and fixes to your overall process that is killing sales.
We can go as specific as you want to go… or we can look at the “big picture”, helping you deal with growing your biz, encountering new markets and competition, and adapting to changing conditions.
It’s your hour, to use as you please. I am at your service, completely committed to solving every problem you bring up with all the tools and experience I have.
2. If you want the most intense kind of consulting, come meet with us for a full day. We can go deep into multiple issues, help you deconstruct entire biz plans (and restructure them as killer actionable plans with immediate results), make your copy explosively powerful, and solve all the problems now keeping you awake at night.
This one-day intensive includes email or phone exchanges prior to the meeting, where Stan and I will get completely up-to-speed on your business and situation…
… so there is zero time wasted before getting down to the nitty gritty of increasing your bottom line (for both profits, and your personal happiness).
3. The “Be John’s New Best Friend For A Month” option gives you weekly hour-long phone calls with me, plus unlimited email contact between calls.
This will be one of the most intense months of your life, since the way we consult includes specific, well-defined actionable solutions… using your current resources, in your current situation, aimed at fixing what’s broken, and kick-starting new results as fast as possible (with the least amount of work on your part).
The benefit of working with us for a month is that you have time to implement ideas and solutions, and see results as we go. It’s like a month-long workshop. You are, literally, getting the maximum level of attention we’re capable of providing.
4. Finally, when you’re ready to make your move on future wealth and happiness over the long haul, our Platinum Mastermind offers you a year-long exclusive seat alongside a handful of other biz owners and entrepreneurs…
… all committed to helping you grow your biz, and watch your back as you put things into motion.
The mastermind is very intense (in the best possible way). In every meeting you have a full session where the entire group is laser-focused on you… and we like to get specific, even offering “homework” items you can implement in order to grow and change and move in the time between meetings.
Plus, there is a dedicated Google Group just for members (unique to our mastermind)… so we’re all watching your back whenever you have something you’d like to get input from the group on.
We host four meetings a year, quarterly. This group is the fastest (and most raw entrepreneurial fun) way to go deep into our world.
Step Four: So, whatever your burning need is… from getting immediate help with a specific set of problems, or getting long-term advice on grand new ventures…
… we can help you. And if you’ve read this far, you are very likely in a position to profit from allowing us to do that.
It’s time for you to move up a level.
Here’s what to do now:
First Action Step: Figure out whether a one-hour consultation will meet your needs, or whether you’re a good candidate for any of the more intense and involved options here.
If you’re unsure, I highly recommend the one-hour consultation. We get a TREMENDOUS amount done in these hours — we can dedicate the time to finding solutions to specific problems you have…
… or we can explore, in great detail, your entire sales funnel (looking for leaks, sales-murdering problems, and other things you’re too close to the situation to see yourself) and come up with workable solutions…
… or we can critique and fix copy (for your webpage, emails, ads, VSLs, whatever marketing you’ve got copy for)…
… or just dive into your business and help you get clear on the Big Picture (how you fit in your niche, against competition, the changing market, and advancing technology)… so you can get moving more quickly, with more confidence and more proven info on your side.
The thing is, it’s YOUR hour. You control it, and we’re here to help however we can. Our combined 55 years of in-the-trenches experience with business, marketing, copywriting, advertising and problem-solving is a very effective tool for you to have on your side.
OR…
… if you’re already pretty sure you want more involved intensity, then the “Be John’s New Best Friend” options (for either a month of phone calls and email, or one super-intense day face-to-face)… or the Platinum Mastermind are your best choices.
Second Action Step: So, whether you’re positive of what you want, or you want to explore your options more fully, the next step is easy.
Just pop over to this page… take 5 minutes to fill out the quick questionnaire (which helps us direct you to the right decision on consulting)… and hit “send”.
There is zero obligation on your part, at this stage. You’re simply getting more info, based on your current situation.
Either Stan or I will get back to you as soon as possible — often, the same day. We are notified immediately when a new questionnaire hits the inbox. You will not be shuttled off to underlings, or put into “auto responder hell”. We treat every request for our help seriously and professionally.
Special Note: If you decide to start with an hour consultation, and afterward decide to expand your consulting to the month- or day-long options… or you decide to join the Mastermind…
… then we’ll apply the cost of that first hour’s consultation. So you’ve got a bargain (and special treatment) going on right off the bat.
The details of signing up for any of our options are on this page. Including your costs.
For any entrepreneur or biz owner looking to solve the problems holding you back… or looking to solidify your biz plan and move to the next level up… or to maximize the sales-producing power of your marketing…
… the price of a consultation with us is simply a very small investment in short-cutting your time, money and energy spent in getting a solution.
If higher profits, less stress and more time off… plus the sheer joy of crushing your competition… is something that would please you, then getting personal attention from us should be an immediate priority.
Again… go here for the next step. It’s a 5-minute questionnaire that simply helps us help you decide what your best next action will be.
We’re not everybody’s cup of tea. We’re proven professionals, who take enormous delight in succeeding, and we devour life’s opportunities with gusto, humor and serious skill. We do not tolerate bullshit or delusion, and our advice is based on real world solutions and time-tested tactics.
Go fill out the no-obligation questionnaire right now, while you’re thinking about it. It will take you just a few minutes, and you can expect to hear from either Stan or me very, very soon.
It’s the best next step you could ever take in your quest for wealth and happiness.
Stay frosty,
John
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Highly recommended!! And I would suggest noticing two extra things as you go through your experiences with John.
Notice and embrace the attitude he has about about marketing and business, and other subjects as well (sports and beer choice is definitely optional 🙂
And then also notice not only what he pays attention to when he gives out advice, but also just as much what he doesn’t pay attention to.
I think on a weekly basis about those very two things I’ve gotten from hanging around John throughout the years.
Thanks for the note, Michael. And that’s great advice for anyone seeking advice from any so-called “expert” — there is so many variables in any biz, and so many ways to get sidetracked on tangents, that figuring out what the truly important elements are is crucial. And learning to let the irrelevant stuff slide opens up enormous time for you to focus on what will bring you wealth and happiness.
Great point, from a guy who figured it out.
Why do people overcomplicate?
1) I think this happens because of “kinaesthic matching” whereby someone feels something is difficult, so they find a way of thinking about a challenge that roughly matches their core feeling. It’s a default unconscious use of kinaesthetic lead” where you generate a feeling and find solutions that match that.
2) Its because they have too many open loops that they haven’t reduced to an elegant view. If you look at a challenge with a 100 questions in your mind about everything, the answers to which are unmanaged and feature too much uncertaintly, you end up with miscalibrated hesitation, which feeds no 1)
Why do people oversimplify?
They might do it because it’s stressful to go through the journey of reducing complexity to simple, so they cheat. They might do it because they are lazy or irresponsible, and because the people around them aren’t calibrating. They might do it because they are not deeply commited enough to their outcomes to really care and be thorough in their judgements. They might have used so much BS in their lives and kindof got away with it that they believe their own.
Why is this so important?
Nowadays we live in a complex World of intertwined systems that overlap with irrational drives and relatively new social dynamics. If someone doesn’t perceive complexity, either they are overestimating how they get it (big risk and likely due to cognitive biases) or they have reduced perceived complexity into a simpler more elegant way of thinking.
The latter is the only safe route, so you should guard against overcomplexity or oversimplicity, and forever strive for the sweet spot of elegant thinking. Nice though this sounds, it can be a full on adventure to get there.
How can you achieve elegant thinking?
If you strive to do so, and only if you’re up for such an adventure, then you need to become the ostrich who has finally decided to pull their head out of the sand, and ask:
– Does your way of “getting it” include all the things you should be doing to maximise profit, business growth and customer satisfaction?
– How can you proactively manage your blindspots, that have emerged because of ignorance (in your lifetime you’ve only been exposed to and been able to figure out so much) and out-dated thinking (our World is changing so fast, what you once proved worked, may no longer apply!) and issues (those things we struggle to face, we often deny, and can’t gain mastery over).
– Are you BSing yourself in you answer to these two questions and if so, what can you do about it?
To make your thinking more elegant, and to become fundamentally smarter, the strongest approach I know is to input more information from people who’s “inner map” and way of “getting it” is superior to yours, who can make your own blindspots and BS visible to you, and what to do instead.
What might get in the way?
If you demonstrate uncertainty or even vulnerability and ask random unqualified associates for advice, a lot of people will jump at the chance, and act certain (with no accountability!). This seems to happen because us humans somehow reckon ourselves as advisors on subjects we barely understand, and we give advice wherever we can because doing so lets us secretly derive a feeling of power and maybe the illusion of helping people. All that childhood play leaves us *brilliant* at pretending we know while simultaneously not realising we don’t. If you try to gain elegant thinking by inputting information from the wrong people, you’ll waste your time, because their pretend confidence might fool you and distract you, and at worst totally mislead you. So remember to be careful who you learn from because bullshitters often bullshit themselves without realising and if you act on their BS advice, it might work worse than your own.
What should you do instead?
**Instead** you *ought* to judge someones inner map and way of “getting it” based upon their repeated successes and their ability to decode and convey that – based upon the repeated success of others who used their advice. If they can get good results repeatedly and their students can too, they are either remarkable lucky or understand something you don’t.
If their way of getting it lends them to be able to repeatedly “calculate” what do do, and guide others to “calculate” what what to do, they *must* have valuable understandings to share. Just maybe, what they share will light up your understandings and like a treasure map, because you might only be missing a couple of the right distinctions that you don’t know you need. Those distinctions might be the difference between being you and your business being held back or propelled forward.
While I’ve never personally hired John (yet) I have bought a lot of things from people who have, some of which have featured him, and inputed a lot of information from him, which has been positively challenging and illuminating. I think of him as a kind of philosopher-hacker-mental-map-maker who has shared some very valuable distinctions.
Us humans tend to be poor at appraising our own competency, and good at overestimating anything we don’t formally calibrate. Almost everyone thinks they are a good driver. If you’ve made a serious of misjudgements in your business and now need the help of someone like John, maybe he holds the key to that “elusive-obvious” that could unlock the success you know in your gut is available to you, yet have thus far, struggled to realise.
Based upon his effect on me, I can attest that John is elite at “seeing” the nuances that affect business owners and customers alike, and via a consultation with him, he’ll blend valuable distinctions (that help you codify your awareness) and simple elegant solutions that can put to use and learn from. I *think* of getting a consult with him would be like a new pair of glasses that gives you near 20-20 vision of current business and marketing challenges, matched with a to-do list that expedites the arrival of money. I can say this based upon things I’ve learned from people who quoted him!
I strongly suspect he is a good fit for businesses that can afford him and who are flexible and committed to success enough to implement his advice, because:
– As John has dedicated 30 years to understanding the relationship between business systems and rrational human behaviours and decision making, and calibrated his thinking over and over as an OCD data-driven direct marketer, his way of “getting it” when overlayed with yours will upgrade yours, and may spawn streams of money that flow downhill towards you.
– If John can upgrade your perceptions, such that you can add more value to your customers (deeply) *and* do so in a way that means your customers naturally pay you more, because you’re better navigating and facilitating their decision making processes, how much is that worth?
If you can’t afford him or don’t need a consult right now, reading his blog and listening to interviews that feature him are worth it, and inputing information from people like him is worth it, and will upgrade your thinking.
Now the choice is yours… are you happy to BS yourself and live the future that leads to, or proactively upgrade your perceptions?
Do you want to take your head out of the sand, or run along the beach vying for a life that involves regular sun holidays and even beach houses?
It’s your life: You can stay ignorant via overcomplicating or oversimplifying, and in that decision, ingest a time release BLUE PILL that limits your whole life, or do you *dare* take the red pill, input elite distinctions, hack your reality and live a FULL-ON learning adventure?
(Hint: Red Pills are more fun)
Good stuff, Thomas. Thanks for posting…
100% recommended
I’m very lucky to have been exposed to some awesome advice from this man that is slowly carving me in to someone that may survive the battered shipwreck of sailing the stormy seas of start up business…
Finally someone that knows what he is doing and somewhat more. I’m sure that John Will make a man of me yet!
Just do it! You won’t regret it I promise 🙂
cheers Carl
Always good to hear from folks getting traction on their goals, Carl. Thanks.
One day I will take a picture with John Carlton. Man… this guy help and still help me (even writing in Portuguese Brazilian).
Thanks for all — really !