The playwright Oscar Wilde summed up a huge secret to success:
“Everything popular is wrong.”
Somehow… some way… even from the very early age of 7, I’ve always known that was true.
You see, I always knew in my gut something wasn’t right about this strange reality where I’ve been exiled to live this current life.
Because everybody around me — and I do mean everybody – has always all conformed to random, self-appointed “authority.”
And this “authority” is pretty darn crafty.
Evil crafty… but crafty nonetheless
Because the enforcement method “they” have in place to ensure conformity is to let the sheeple police themselves into conformity.
In other words, everyone all around me has always blindly conformed to each other… without ever questioning it.
When I started my entrepreneurial journey, I discovered it’s the exact same.
Actually, in a lot of ways it’s worse.
My first direct marketing/copywriting mentor (and now personal friend) Dan Kennedy coined a funny (but accurate) phrase for this:
“Marketing incest.”
Everybody doing the exact same things — in the exact same way — as everybody else. And just like real incest… everybody winds up stupid.
It’s no wonder that 95 percent of businesses fail within the first 5 years. That’s the result of “marketing incest”… when people conform to each other out of ignorance, laziness, and fear.
The business owners who succeed march to the beat of their own drum.
And that means this:
Yes, you too can find “success,” however you define that. And financial freedom and the good life can be yours. But if that’s what you really want… and you’re willing to pay the price… the only way to get it is by not following the herd.
If that scares you, maybe a business ain’t for you.
Starting and running your own business is only for the person who has a relentless desire for financial independence. And making more money in a single year than most of your friends will make in 10 to 20 years.
It’s for someone who’s willing to make the legion of sacrifices that a successful business demands. (Rght off the bat this requirement disqualifies more than 99% of the population.)
It’s for the guy or gal willing to roll the dice… take the risks… while enduring the stress and anxiety often caused by those actions.
It’s for the brave dude or dudette with the gonads to fight the battles within your own mind… the little voice that always says stuff like, “What makes you think a person like you can be successful?”
Believe me… there are so few people like that nowadays (sadly) the number is infinitesimal.
Listen… once you understand all this, then you’ll understand why I don’t understand all of the whining and complaining about how this marketing/copywriting thang is so complicated, befuddling and tough to learn.
I’ll tell ya why…
’Cuz it’s supposed to be!
That’s how the Universe weeds out the legion of people who only say they want success… but aren’t willing to pay the price and stay the course.
“I’ve been at this for three months and have run two tests but it’s still not working! Waaa waaa waaa!”
Look, millions of sheeple go six-figures into debt and waste 4 to 6 years of their life to get a business degree at college… which teaches you virtually nothing about marketing that works in the real world.
Yet I see people who work at this online marketing thang for only 4 to 6 weeks and expect fortunes to miraculously fall from the sky.
How can they be so delusional?
Because that’s what they were promised by the sellers of those delusional dreams.
You sure don’t hear that stuff from me, do ya?
In fact, I’ve been told that I talk too much about the difficulty of it all… and how, although almost anyone can succeed, very, very few will.
Listen, if you insist on believing that this entrepreneur/marketing thang be easy… you better go get your name tag and hair net ready. Because I see nothing but 40+ hour a week drudgery in your future, endlessly repeating “You want fries with that?”
Speaking of fast food, it took Colonel Sanders his entire frickin’ life to figure out how to be successful in business. He was, for all intents and purposes, constantly struggling and broke until he finally achieved success at ripe old age of 65.
But he wouldn’t give up until he achieved the success he desired… or died first.
Important question for ya:
Do you have the huevos to stumble around frustrated and confused… not making a single cent (and actually losing lots of money) for 10 years if that’s the price you have to pay for success?
I ask you that because that was exactly the price I had to pay for success.
And I’d never ask you to do anything that I’m not willing to do… or haven’t already done.
All the best,
Doberman Dan
P.S. For the very, very few intelligent people willing to listen to me — in spite of what I just babbled about — yes, there are a few shortcuts.
But as you’ll soon see in that letter, even with this shortcut, I’m still not promising it’s gonna be easy.
P.P.S. I could probably 50x my sales literally overnight if I did just one thing:
Lie to you.
Just like many of the “gurus” offering you “make money online” products.
But I won’t. Because I really… truly… from-the-bottom-of-my-heart sincerely desire you to achieve the success you say you want.
Because, for many, if not most people, that’s the only way you’re ever gonna finally get to what’s really important.
Pax vobiscum.
