The Merry Go Round vs. The Roller Coaster

Which one do you prefer, the Merry-Go-Round or the Roller-Coaster? Do you like things that are simple, predictable and safe? Or do you like to get the thrill of your lifetime taking dips, turns and screaming at the top of your lungs for it to stop?

If you go to the amusement park, you’ll see there is a line for the Roller Coaster but not one for the Merry-Go-Round. If there is a line, it’s filled with infants and grandparents. No one ever runs to get back in line for the Merry-Go-Round, but they do for the Roller Coaster.

At the beginning of the year for the Parks, the owners make a big deal about the new Roller Coaster. How scary it is, how fast, how your heart will bust out of your chest cause you’ll pull so many G’s.

You never hear a park manager talking about the new Merry-Go-Round and pretty new horses, the smoothness of the ride or the state of the art circle.

Basically people like to live life on the edge. People don’t want to be bored. That’s why the Roller Coasters are the big deal and the Merry-Go-Round is not.

Why is it then, that people want the Merry-Go-Round in their everyday life? They want a good safe predictable church, quite Bible Study groups, kids who are well behaved, safe secure 401k’s, universal HealthCare, jobs that never change, perfect marriages and retirements spent waiting to die in Florida at phase 23 of Boca, Del Boca Vista condo development.

I’ll tell you why. Because advertising, marketing and the church (Yes, the church) tell us it should be that way. We should have safe, secure, predictable lives. Think about it you are the perfect Christian if….

• Your kids attend Bible Study, go on mission trips, don’t swear or watch MTV.
• You don’t have sex before marriage, never fight and the husband loves his wife as Christ loves the church.
• You attend Crown financial and live well below your budget. Never having any financial issues, because you tithe, manage your money and live well below your means.
• Your business or work is smooth stable and has an impecible reputation.

I don’t know about you, but none of that matches my life. Basically, I violate all of those above and more. My life is full of ups, downs, twists, turns and anxiety. Hey, I’m human… okay?

My life looks like a warp speed Roller Coaster ride, pulling 4 g’s on the hard turns, making my stomach lurch, thinking I’m gonna vomit. Only to have the ride end, catch my breath and run to get back in line to do it again.

Why? Why do we do this to ourselves?

I’ll tell you why. God made us to experience adventure. He never intended us to live simple, boring, predictable lives. At least not those of us who Renegade Christian Entrepreneurs.

Life as a believer is to be a wild haired ride, with the wind whipping in your hair and bugs splattered on your teeth from grinning too much.

It’s the thrill of the twists and turns that makes life so darn enjoyable.

Most entrepreneurs I know get bored easily. They like to live on the edge, pushing the envelope of life. Many of my entrepreneur friends would have made great apostles. They would have loved the thrill of living on the edge, not knowing where they were going to sleep that night, eat that morning or if they’d be in prison by sundown.

Yeah, the Merry-Go-Round is safe, but it’s boring. I’d rather hear the click clack of the roller coaster and the screams of utter joy and terror.

What about you?

Popularity: 30%

We All Have Something To Work On

Those were the words uttered to me by my wife this morning as she was walking out the door. Her words of encouragement to me in a difficult morning.

You see, last night I got ‘fired’ from a volunteer organization. It appears that many of the parents didn’t like my ‘style’. They felt I was unapproachable, difficult, opinionated and not receptive.

All of that is true, I recognize it and don’t deny it one iota.

I am that way in business as well. With clients, staff members and even with Bob. I have been known to tell them the truth. Some like it, other don’t.

Take my business partnership with Bob. I’ve been known to spout off. I am sure I’ve pissed him off many times, with my crap. But to Bob’s credit he lets me be me. He let’s me spout off, get pissed off and be me. He doesn’t try to fix me. He gently guides me or coaches me in particular spots.

Bob exhibits a community of grace with me. As a friend, a business partner and a buddy. (So does my wife Sarah as well… for the record.)

What I experienced last night was a community of legalism. A group of parents, upset with me, went behind my back and talked to the leader to have me removed. An ‘us or him’ ultimatum. It was an easy decision for me. I stepped down. Not because they were right, because, I don’t want that kind of grief in my life.  I have reached a point at the age of 43, that I no longer want to be around or associated with groups of people who won’t love me in the process I’m in.

That sounds a bit humanistic. “Love me as I am.” But the reality of this grace, communities of grace, allows people to flush out the process they are experiencing.  People like my wife, Bob, my buddy Gunnar, Victor and others, allow me to be in that process.

They see me as I am and not as they want me to be. And they love me anyway.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a bit of a hot head. Opinionated, who tells people what I think and I don’t care if they like it or not. I know it’s not socially acceptable and that it needs to change. But instead of looking at all my short comings, or how far short I am of being the ‘Christian’ I’m supposed to be. Jesus puts his arm around me and shows me how far I’ve come with him at my side. He doesn’t point out everything I still have to do. He accepts me as he made me. Loves me in the process and allows me to come to him when I’m good and ready to work on the stuff.

Because everyone has something to work on.

Popularity: 51%

Love Is More Powerful Than Fear In Your Marketing

Have you ever seen fear based marketing?

This is easy to spot, because it uses things like; scarcity, fear of loss, missing out, fake deadlines and language that makes you think that if you don’t make this decision today, you are damned to burn in hell.

I won’t mention names of marketers who use this approach, but you’ve seen this method.

Then there is the direct opposite. This approach uses things such as; education, serving the customers needs, sharing information freely without expectation of sale.

Famous copywriters like: Gary Bencivenga, Ted Nicholas use this method. Marketers like Gary and Ted have been around for 30, to 50 years and have sold hundreds of millions of dollars in products and services.

I call it ‘love based marketing’.

Of the two groups, my marketing is more like that of Gary and Ted. There is a reason, which I will explain and it’s based on experience.

For years I was a hired gun, front of the room pitch man for a number of famous speakers. Traveling around the country, city after city, selling from the front of the room.

Usually you had 90 minutes, not a second more, to sell your stuff. You were graded based on your success rate of selling.

In those environments, I sold about $250 per person in the room.

However, when I did a half day or full day selling, I usually doubled or even tripled my dollars per head in the room. Because I was given more time to bond with the prospect. They could see I was real. Having their best interests in mind.

Furthermore, my return rate from full days was drastically lower than the 90 minute presentations.

At first, as a marketer, I fell into the trap of being a hype oriented type sales person. It didn’t matter if it was online or offline. My goal was to get you to buy and buy fast. I hammered my list with offer after offer, after offer. Using hype language. “Last Chance” offers.

In retrospect, this was a ‘scorched earth’ marketing process. In this method, you burn through your leads as quickly as possible. Throwing caution to the wind.

Then I started taking my time. I built a relationship with my list first. In many cases, you can’t buy anything from me until day 14 or 30. Just like Gary and Ted.

Guess what happened.

My sales steadily increased and my list has longer life.

I can sum up my process as simple as:

“Love is more powerful than fear in marketing.”

Love is the most powerful thing on earth. People long to be loved. They will move mountains to experience love.

When you, as a marketer, come at your clients with nothing but respect and love, when you truly care about them as business owners, you’ll see amazing changes in your business. Positive changes.

If you use FEAR in your selling, your customers won’t stick around for very long. They’ll see through the ruse. They realize the FEAR is being used to manipulate their response.

Granted, taking an approach of love, education and sharing, takes more time to experience sales results. In the end, it creates a better environment for you and your business. And your customers.

In end you get greater satisfaction and a more enjoyable business.

Have a great day,

Matthew Gillogly

PS> If you’d like to see how we’ve applied “LOVE” in our work with clients, check out our latest FREE Report on our main company site: WWW.CapstoneStrategicPartners.com Love is the main ingredient to our successful case studies and our latest white paper: How To Grow Your Revenues By 30% Or More Using The Customer Conversion System For Big Ticket E-Commerce.

Popularity: 46%

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