Archive for July, 2010

Honest business sometimes means not doing business

July 27th, 2010

Because of the nature of my business, I sometimes talk to startup entrepreneurs with a dollar and a dream. Which is fine. But sometimes, these dreams seem a little far-fetched to me. Usually when that happens, MLM or Network Marketing is involved.

Let me be plain up front – I am not a fan of MLM. Not at all. I think it’s a sleazy way of doing business, because the basic premise isn’t honest. The focus of the business is not on the products and services, despite what anyone says – the focus is on building a network.

Every now and again, I get asked to write sales copy for network marketers. I’m not one to turn down paying work, so if you want to hire me and take your shot with your MLM company, I’ll be happy to help (although if you ask, I’ll give you my opinion of MLM).  

But, I *do* have to feel good about it. That wasn’t the case today.

Two weeks ago, a woman gave me a deposit of $750 to write a few sales pages. We were going to do a typical site – Home | About | Products | The Opportunity | FAQ | Contact.  

This kind of thing I can get behind – we’ll sell product, we’ll have a page talking about “the opportunity”, etc – it seemed pretty close to a normal business. I was scheduled to start the project this week.

Then today, she e-mails me “the rules”, as laid down by the company. One of the products she’s selling is Sprint wireless service… but I’m not allowed to use the name Sprint. She’s also selling something called Clear4G, and I can’t mention that name either.

Huh? How am I supposed to sell a product online when I can’t mention the name? Sorry, no dice – I’m not doing it. I can’t in good conscience say to her “ok, here are your sales pages” when I *know* they aren’t going to sell squat.

So I call her and explain my point – she says “ok, how about just writing a lead capture page for the opportunity?”. We discussed it, but the same rules apply – I can’t use any names. I could just talk about “National Companies”, “Wireless” “4G” etc etc. 

Yea, that’s do-able to a point, but you know, it’s not do-able by me. I don’t like pie-in-the-sky BS, and I don’t write for it. I also felt bad for my client – she was a bit bummed at these rules herself. The whole thing just didn’t feel right.

So I did the only thing I felt I could: I refunded her money. Even though I booked time for her, I could not keep this person’s money and do work I didn’t believe in. I’ll eat the time loss – I’ll be fine.

I may be $750 poorer, but I’ll sleep tonight. And I believe in Karma and stuff (that’s fodder for another post) – that $750 will come back to me.

Posted in Copywriting, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Success | 1 Comment »

Cigars and Scotch

July 17th, 2010

Yes, despite the title, this post is about work. Or more importantly, recreation related to work. Or maybe it’s just so I can say I wrote about cigars and scotch in my blog in a feeble attempt to claim a tax deduction on my latest vice purchases.

I just got back from the cigar store, having purchased two smokes – one for later tonight, and one for next week. I really like cigars a lot, but I also realize they aren’t that good for you, so I limit my intake to about one a week from April-November (once it gets cold out, I don’t smoke, as I smoke outside.)

Anyway, after tax, I spent 20-something dollars total for these two smokes. Got a Pardron 4000 Maduro that I can’t wait to try (that’s tonight’s smoke), and one of my old favorites, a Romeo Y Julieta Cedaro #2 (this is my go-to stick). Combined with this cigar burning will be a bottle of Glenlivit 18 year-old, simply one of the finest single malt scotches out there. The bottle retailed for about $90 here in NY.

This post isn’t to impress you about what I smoke/drink. To start, you likely don’t care, and I’m sure many people would say I’m stupid for spending $90 on scotch when the same size bottle of Johnny Walker Red is $15. And that’s fine. I do admit I have developed expensive tastes in this regard (I also drink fairly expensive beer and coffee), but really, I mention the prices to more or less make a point about work.

And that point is I noticed my tastes for this stuff rose along with the income I produced. Yea, there was a time in my life when I bought the Walker Red and convenience store cigars (MSRP $5 for 6). And that time was when I was working one of my many jobs, making $30-$40k. I also drove a used Nissan Altima during this time, and bought cheap “Skil” tools, a far cry from the nice truck and DeWalt drill I now have.

Now, let me tell you – the “top end” stuff is worth the money. It simply tastes/performs/drives better. It’s unlikely there are many scotch drinkers out there that actually prefer the Red to the Glenlivit 18 y/o. And there are likely no cigar aficionados that, given the choice where money was no object, would light up a Dutch Masters over that Padron that’s sitting in my garage. But when you bring price into the equation, things change. A 28 y/o Dan would have never, ever spent $90 on a bottle of scotch, no matter how good it was. Because 28 y/o Dan didn’t have that kind of money to throw around. Truthfully, 28 y/o Dan was pretty broke (good looking, but broke). Part of the problem was I was working for money, and not success.

In the end, when you boil it right down, technically, we all work for money. But it’s deeper than that for me and people like me (other entrepreneurs, etc). I don’t want just money. I can get money working at WalMart. I want success. For some people, success is millions. For others, it’s just a roof. And for others, it’s working at home with freedom while being able to afford some of “the finer things” (like nice scotch) without killing yourself workwise. Either of these are valid. For me, part of the taste of that cigar and scotch is the taste of success. And it tastes really good.

Stop working for money. Start working for success, however you want to define it.

Posted in Fun Stuff, Misc / Personal Stuff, Success | 2 Comments »