For some reason I got to thinking today about a certain episode of The Sopranos. I’m not a big TV watcher in general but I got hooked on that show and ended up watching the entire series on DVD.
Yes, even something from pop culture can have implications for your internet marketing business if you open your mind a little bit.
One of the common themes in the show was Leadership. What it means to be a leader, how to be a leader, how to train your soldiers, etc. Of course the stakes for those characters were a little bit higher than our stakes – or were they really?
In the world of The Sopranos if you were a successful leader your crew got bigger, you established fierce loyalty among your followers, and of course you got paid more and more cash. Not really too different from network marketing if you stop and think about it!
If you were a bad leader you ended up dead or in jail and your family would suffer. Well it sounds extreme to say that if you fail in your business today you will end up dead or in jail, but in another sense that’s true too! How many failed businessmen have we heard of over the last few years who ended up in jail? Some of them have ended up dead too!
In a more general sense though it is unlikely that your business failures will actually kill you. It is more likely that it may kill your dreams, your hopes, your aspirations, your lifestyle. Don’t let that happen.
Being a successful entrepreneur is kind of like being a mob boss in that way.
You have time freedom, the risks and rewards of being in business for yourself, and a lifestyle that others only dare dream about. You escape the Rat Race of trading hours for dollars week after week and desperately trying to make ends meet between paychecks. You develop a team of people working together for a common goal, and everyone gets rich together.
Once you have a taste of that lifestyle, that freedom, you will never want to go back. Trust me on that.
My wife and I have been studying and applying some of the principles of attraction marketing lately, which is really just a new term for relationship marketing. I was talking with one of my team mates about this yesterday, and I couldn’t help but use the old adage about pigs who get fed being smarter than hogs who get slaughtered.
I guess that’s what got me to thinking about The Sopranos today, because one of my favorite scenes from the series is about just this topic.
See, when I structure my business and concentrate my marketing efforts I have to decide: Do I want to be a hog who gets slaughtered or a pig who gets fed?
I can concentrate all of my efforts on generating quick sales for big bucks, but that kind of marketing is a grind. It ultimately doesn’t add up to much but an endless chase for dollars.
I prefer to generate steady income over time, by building relationships with my colleagues, team mates, partners, and customers, so we will do business together again next week, next month, and next year.
Going back to The Sopranos, when the old man Junior Soprano became mob boss he was greedy and many of his followers became disgruntled. Tony Soprano had to talk some sense into him by relating a story about Augustus Ceasar. Unfortunately that tale went right over Junior’s head, so Tony had to give a better example for Junior to understand. He related a barnyard tale involving bulls and cows, which I won’t repeat here….
The upshot of it was – take care of your people, and they will take care of you.
Think long term, and the actions you take today can benefit you for years to come.
Have fun, and good luck!
Recent Comments