Clayton Makepeace has released the latest issue of ‘Total Package’. The featured article by Troy White is titled “Finding something that fires you up”. [Article]


Clayton Makepeace has released the latest issue of ‘Total Package’.

The featured article:

Finding something that fires you up

by Troy White

Happy New Year!

My wife Kari and I took our twin, 8-year-old daughters down to Phoenix for a couple weeks to visit the families over Christmas.

We left Calgary at minus 25 (C) and it pretty well stayed that way the entire time we were gone … warming up just as we got back.

Perfect timing!

During our break, I got to thinking about what one thing I personally think is key to making 2009 a great year in business.

Of course there are more than one, but there is one thing that I think is right up near the top for those of us running our own show … passion.

And your ability to tap into that passion to fuel your business.

I am the first to admit … I am a pretty laid-back guy.

Always have been … probably always will be. Part of it is being a typical Canadian and a little more humble than is good for me. Another part is my upbringing (calm, cool and collected parents kinda rubs off on ya). The other is probably from some wasted brain cells from a youthful love for parties.

But when I find a new passion though, look out.

All parts of my laid-back personality disappear. I go all out and love everything that I do. Sleep doesn’t matter. Cost doesn’t matter. I will learn anything and everything I can about the subject and lose myself in a whole new world.

The passionate side takes over and rules my every waking moment.

It has done me good in my personal life and in my business life.

So, what does this have to do with your marketing to kick-start 2009?

It is critically important right now that you get fired up and ready to hit the streets running in ’09. Your customers are scared, and are not sure what to think about the year ahead. And they want to see some excitement from you.

Now is your time to stand up, take charge and show them you are in control moving forward in an unstable world.

Now is the time for you to get really passionate about your writing: Your blog posts, your e-zine articles, your newsletters, your promotions, and whatever else you can do to show them you care and are there for them.

Here is the challenge for you though …

Right now, there are a whole bunch of product launches going on out there. Each of them is put together by exceptional marketers with ample proof that their system will make you a bundle. The copy is top-notch. The offers very enticing. The big picture dream, they promise, is hard to say no to.

But, if you were to take on just three or four of those launches, how on earth can you focus and get passionate about growing your business?

Trying to become a master copywriter at the same time as you are mastering product launches, search engine optimization and pay per click … you are setting yourself up for failure.

I am not saying those products don’t work … rather the opposite!

Each of them is a masterpiece.

Each of them is very well thought out and will get you incredible results.

But when you take on a bunch of them at once, you will not do any of them properly.

And you need to remain focused and passionate about one new skill at a time going into the New Year.

You know from past experience that taking on too many things at once doesn’t work … so what would be different about it this year?

Rather than taking on SEO, PPC, copywriting, video marketing, blogging, social networking, article distribution, (and so on) all at once …

… Find one that fires you up right here and now.

… Immerse yourself in it.

… Learn about it and (most importantly) get testing and applying what you learn.

… And stick with that one thing until you are seeing consistent results.

Only then, should you move on and start researching and implementing some other new skill.

Here is how I would recommend you move forward in 2009 with a newfound passion and vigor to double or triple your business.

1. Pick one thing you want to master for the first quarter of 2009. Maybe you want to learn how to write better sales letters and promotional materials … so you invest in The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach (which is exceptional and the best on the market, in my own opinion).

2. Put together a quick and dirty plan on what you are committing to. Let’s say your plan is to go through the course material at least twice, making notes along the way on how you will implement it immediately upon completion.

Part of your plan needs to include how much time per day you will invest. To do this properly, I am recommending you invest two-three hours a day minimum. Not only how much, but when you will dedicate that time. An hour in the morning before doing anything else. And two hours at night when people have gone to bed. Or whatever works best for your schedule.

Schedule this out on your calendar for the next three months.

(This, by far, is where most people go wrong. They don’t commit to actually doing it! They buy all the courses and pile them up on a shelf, thinking they will get to them “one day”)

3. Follow the fast-track formula that is in the course you bought. Most of the courses have some form of recommended plan you take ““ follow it! The reason it is there is that the person who put it together got where they are by doing it the slower, more difficult way. Now that they have mastered it the slow way, they are giving you their own fast-track to getting good fast … so listen to them.

4. Track every hour you invest in your new passion. When I first got serious about writing, I put together an Excel spreadsheet with 1,000 squares on it (to fit on one page). I kept that sheet of paper in a plastic cover right there on top of my desk as a reminder.

Every time I invested an hour into writing (not reading … writing) I marked off an X on one of the squares. It kept me very motivated, as I really wanted to fill that sheet up as fast as humanly possible.

Having it there in front of me was a good reminder to get busy every spare chance I had. The first sheet (of 1,000 hours) took me much longer than I wanted. So I did another sheet ““ it took me about 30% less time. The next sheet about the same … 30% less than the previous.

If the 1,000 squares are too intimidating to you … use 100 squares to see the sheet fill up faster.

The point is you need to track your progress and keep consistent at your practice.

If you are aiming for one new skill to learn and implement per quarter this year, that is approximately 270 hours per quarter so you will need to invest three hours per day.

If it is copywriting you want to get better at, take the late, great, Gary Halbert’s advice and hand-write out a winning sales letter multiple times. This is the BEST thing you can do to improve your skills quickly. Many people in the marketing circles have heard this, few have actually done it. It made a HUGE difference in my writing when I did this for two hours a day for six months straight, every single day of the week.

5. Find an accountability partner (or hire a coach).

Someone who you can mastermind with and talk to at least once a week for 15 minutes minimum. The goal is to have someone to bounce your progress off and to kick you in the butt if you start slacking. This is KEY to your success. Entrepreneurs typically are on their own most of the time, and have no one to keep them accountable for their actions.

6. Get implementing what you are learning.

Don’t be that person who is a master of book knowledge and has never implemented a thing in their life. It is one thing to be proficient at talking the talk … but walking the walk and actually putting your knowledge into actual money-making use is an entirely different thing! Get out there and do it.

7. Don’t expect miracles at first.

Don’t expect to become the next Clayton Makepeace after three months of reading and writing … it took him a long time to get where he is. Many, many thousands of hours of writing, applying, testing and rewriting. You will be no different … you just have a lot more incredible learning tools at your disposal than Clayton did when he began.

8. When you start seeing consistent results in Passion #1, only then should you consider investing in the next passion. And when you do, find a new one that not only compliments what you just did, but one that can be done in parallel with passion #1.

9. If you master four new complementary skills in 2009 and consistently implement each of them into your business, you will see an amazing change in yourself, and your bank account. Don’t fall for the ADD stuff going on around you … you only need to invest in, and focus on, one skill at a time.

Which one fires you up the most right now?

Businesses, that are passionate about their marketing in the coming year, will not only be one of the few in their industry investing in their growth, they will also emerge on the other end of this recession bigger, better and much more profitable

Get passionate about getting to know your customers much more intimately. Get to know what they buy, what they read, what they watch on TV and on the Internet. Get to know them like you know your best friend.

Get passionate about giving out more good, solid content in your marketing materials, especially within your sales materials so they are not just seen as sales pitches, but to contain real, solid content as well.

Now, there will be people who read this and say, “Troy … I know that! That’s basic information.” But I challenge you to think back over the years about all the things you bought that you never implemented. All the money you wasted on things that went nowhere because they sat on a shelf. All the missed opportunities gone by, because you were too busy trying to master 14 things at once.

And then question yourself … if it is so basic … why haven’t you done it? Consistently? And if you have … good for you! Keep at it. If you haven’t … now is the time to start. A fresh year is upon us … and a fresh start for you is possible. But you have to take that first step and choose what one thing you are going to become passionate about FIRST.

Hope that helps.

To your success,

Troy White

Editor, Small Business Mastery

Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

*IMNewsWatch would like to thank Clayton Makepeace for granting permission to reprint this article.

Sharing is caring