Hi Peter, I know what you are saying here but you have to have some ego. Without some ego you would do nothing! By the way Winston, you have awakened the sleeping giant. See the "MLM - Full Metal Jacket" thread. Gary Simpson

Hello Gary, Yes some EGO might be okay, my point was more in line with when a person asks for help to find success because everything they have done to date has not worked. In providing guidance to the business owner that is a time for them to check the EGO at the door and start to listen. An example of this might be where a new venture starts out or even a current venture that is failing. The owner lacks the direction and guidance and the parties involved only know what they have done in the past, the things that saw no success. In advising or providing guidance they throw the EGO up and make claims such as, "This is my business and I will do what I am comfortable with, or what I know." They are not checking the EGO at the door they are looking to only do what they have done in the past and what did not already work for them. The EGO gets in way of progress and holds both the owner and the business back. In the past I have had clients that have come for help and in providing that help and telling them the path or direction they need to follow they have made such statements as; "Who are you to tell me what to do?" I thought I was the person they were looking to for guidance. Check the EGO and grow. If a business owner cannot make changes to themselves first, then they will never be able to make changes to the business and put it on track, it is only the EGO that prevents that. They are not willing to step out of their own comfort zone, which is where they house the EGO.

Hi! What excellent points here! ...looking to make a quick buck, but not prepared for the work (Mark's) ... want the results, but don't know how (Winston's) ... lack of knowledge (Angela's) And Michael - good to see you here! Usually you sneak in, grab articles for the Digest and sneak back out as quietly as Santa Claus. (ho ho) Good points, too... Poor choice of business is a great one!! Very often it's not that a business idea is flawed, but that it's not the right idea for that person. I'd like to highlight ONE particular word in Dave Cottrell's post, too; ========================================== I'm very happy to see that you have made it clear that "lack of money" is not the biggy. It's good to get that cleared up right away. ... What is the #1 reason the fail rates are so high? Lack of a mentor to teach you how to succeed in your business. ========================================== And yes - it's not money. There's an old saying that if you took all the money in the world and divided it up evenly, within 5 years all the rich people would have their money back and all the poor people would be poor again. I firmly believe that you will NOT be able to make money WITH money until you know how to make money WITHOUT money. As per Dave's post - YOUR business is the key word. That's a biggie. For the past 10 years, I have sold everything from coffee beans to diet products to renovating services to snoring remedies for my clients. One thing I can promise you is that what works in ONE industry does not necessarily work in another. A "sales letter" approach works for the "get rich quick" and "how to make money" crowd. That same approach will KILL a high class product. Use a cheesy approach for a high end product and you'll kill sales. Try to look high class when you sell cheap bargain basement stuff and you'll die just as fast. The key is knowing how to sell in YOUR industry. Not someone else's. And, in your market sector, too. You would not sell a Rolex the same way you'd sell a $10 watch or a Rolex knockoff. Peter's comment (not surprisingly) is spot on. The NUMBER ONE reason so many businesses fail is poor management on the part of the owner because of entrepreneurial ego. See, it takes a certain level of moxie to start a business in the first place. An "I can do it" attitude. And it's that very attitude that gets them in trouble. Because, while they "do" know their product, - They don't know advertising. - They don't know marketing. - They don't know when to use long vs short copy. - They don't know how to calculate ROI. - They don't know how to track response. and online, - They don't know search engine algorithms - They don't know website design - They don't know what works online - They don't know server issues - They don't know how to read stats And - what's worse - they don't know enough to know WHO to hire or who to follow. Choosing a mentor isn't enough. You need to choose one that knows YOUR industry. If you sell "how to get rich" schemes, you can learn from other people that sell them. If you sell $25/pound coffee, you do NOT want to follow the same advice. A classic example is a guy who sells a high ticket item. He sells great offline - but can't make a sale online. Why? He's using a sales letter. But, try tell him that and he'll defend his choice to the death. ALL the marketers KNOW a sales letter is the solution. He can spit out names of marketing gurus that say to use a sales letter. Sure... they all sell "how to make money" programs. Sales letters work great for that industry. They don't work in his. But human nature dictates that most of us will defend our choices, even when they are so obviously wrong. Entrepreneurial ego. The people with the highest odds of success are the ones that do their due diligence - and then listen with an open mind. Healthy ego, versus unhealthy ego. : ) Linda

I would like to make note of 1 very important fact. There is no shame in failure, it is after all failure that allows us to grow. Ever hear of WD1 or WD 39 but you probably have heard iof WD40.

Good point Peter. Did anybody ever year of 5-up and 6-up??? :-) Even when you are not failing at doing something, there's always room to improve! There's no end to the learning curve. It's an ongoing lifetime process. And one of the most direct routes is to learn from someone who's already been where you are trying to get.