Many old jokes and sayings are funny because there’s usually some element of truth to them. There’s an old joke that comes from the speaking and consulting industry – “The definition of a consultant is a guy who knows 365 ways to make love to a woman but can’t get a date for Friday night.” The takeaway: be careful from whom you take advice.
Most “experts” who teach or sell their products and services do so either from theory they read in a book somewhere or from a very distant memory of something they did 20 years ago. You want your expert to be like your airplane pilot … someone who does it very well, does it a lot and has done it recently. Just because you can fly an airplane in a video game doesn’t mean you’re qualified to fly a real plane with a bunch of real people in it!
The other bad person to take advice from is one who generally is worse off than you are. If they’re so smart, how come they’re not rich? Typically, if my bank account is bigger than the “expert’s”, I’m not drinking their Kool-Aid. Often times, too, your family and friends, although they may genuinely have good intentions, aren’t much help, either.
When you own a business, it’s often hard to talk and share your problems or successes with non-business owners; they just don’t get it. A guy punching a clock and working 8-4 really doesn’t understand the types of things you deal with every day in your business. Kind of like when “you-know-who” said, “If you’ve got a successful business, you didn’t build it on your own.” I’ve got news for you: our industry has been hanging on despite most everyone else being against us. But the average Joe-six-pack and your brother-in-law don’t get it, nor should we expect them to get it. That’s why they’re trading hours for dollars at some dead-end job and aren’t growing income and equity like we are.
The great personal development speaker and author, Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” It’s so true. Hang with a bunch of losers, whiners and complainers and you’ll be the sixth one. Now more than ever, you need to surround yourself with real experts, people who are already where you want to be. The advice of someone who is worse off than you or a guy in a broken down car trying to sell you self-improvement or success is not good advice. Just like it’s not a good idea to eat in a dirty restaurant or hang out with a one-eyed, one-legged, thrice divorced guy named Lucky.
Make sure your expert actually does or uses what they are promoting. The best franchise companies, for example, are the ones that are actually in the business of what they franchise and not just selling franchises. McDonalds owns and operates 20 percent of their restaurants, so they are in the hamburger business, not just the franchise business. They do what they sell.
It’s been said that Abe Lincoln’s productivity secret was to use sharper tools to get the job done more efficiently. He said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”
Pretty soon now, we will be heading back into tanning’s busy season. This is an excellent time to sharpen your axe before the end of the year. Seek out real experts, learn how to maximize the value of each client walking through your door and get ready to grow your bank account.
If you want a free copy of my special report which will show you what you need to do in order to make your salon highly profitable and to earn what you deserve, this is the perfect time for you to do so. After October 31st, I will no longer be providing this report for free. Use the same systems, strategies and techniques I used to grow my salon chain from four tanning booths inside a video store to a regional sun center powerhouse. I actually teach you what I use and do.
No theory, no fluff and no bull. Go to TanningSalonMarketing.com and ask for you free report today.
