Wizard of Ads Clay Campbell

Do you have enough margin in your life?

I copied this below from Rick Warren’s daily devotional email.  It’s always a good read, and helps me keep perspective in my life. Even if you have read it before; I recommend you read it again. It is one of the reasons Americans have so many heart attacks. It’s another reason for a 50% divorce rate.

It is also another reason why consumers are oblivious to the unending, constant barrage, of advertising they are subjected to.

“A lot of people are on overload and headed for a crash. Consider these statistics among U.S. citizens:

• People now sleep 2 1/2 fewer hours each night compared to people from one hundred years ago.

• The average work week is longer now than it was in the 1960s.

• The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his or her desk. It takes three hours a week just to sort through it and find what we need.

• We spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail, two years of our lives playing phone tag with people who are too busy to answer, and five years waiting for people who are trying to do too much and are late for meetings.

We're a piled-on, stretched-to-the limit society; chronically rushed, chronically late, chronically exhausted. Many of us feel like Job did when he said, "I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming" (Job 3:26 GWT).

Overload comes when we have too much activity in our lives, too much change, too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure.

Dr. Richard Swenson says, "The conditions of modern day living devour margin. If you're homeless we direct you to a shelter. If you're penniless we offer you food stamps. If you're breathless we connect you to oxygen. But if you're marginless we give you one more thing to do. Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from a gas station and you forgot your purse. That's marginless."

You need margin in your life. When you're not hurrying and worrying all the time, you have time to think. Time to relax. Time to enjoy life. Time to be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46:10).
by Rick Warren

I am putting some margin in my life right now. I am making reservations at a nice hotel and kidnapping my bride of 30 years for a 3 day get away. What about you? Are you just going to say, “Well that’s a nice idea” or are you going to do something about it?

13 Golden Rules to help you grow in a poor economy

"The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it."

-- Jean Paul

I have been thinking this morning, about a speech I am giving today to a packed house of business owners. They are gathered to hear me speak about how they can get big results from their small ad budget by doing certain things and avoiding others.

I am speaking to Chamber of Commerce in Murray Kentucky. I am going to show them many ways  to grow a business even in a poor economy such as we are in now. And I will offer several case studies. But nothing I can say is more relevant than Ole Norman Lambert's 13 Golden Rules of doing business. The sign out front says the restaurant is “The Only Home of Throwed Rolls.”

This is a portion of a chapter in an upcoming book with the working title: Marketing 101 Rich Ideas to Help Your Business in a Poor Economy.

Here are the 13 Golden Rules from Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston Missouri.

1.    As the Bible says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2.    "Always offer our guest at least one service they can't receive anywhere else."
3.    "You, our guest, are very important, you are the reason we are here! THANK YOU!"
4.    "We need you, our guest, much more than we need ourselves."
5.    "You, our guest, are always right."
6.    "It's our job to take care of you, if we don't someone else will."
7.    "If we make a mistake, we will correct it immediately!"
8.    "Our simple but powerful rule: Always give you, our guest, more than you expect to get."
9.    "You are our guest; guests in our home, not clients or customers, but guests."
10.    "Good enough for some is not good enough for us."
11.    "The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary, is: give that little extra."
12.    "Quality rather than quantity matters, we offer BOTH."
13.    "We do simple things, but in exceptional ways!"

I challenge you to implement these in your business. We have adopted these 13 as our own, as well as a few more ideas besides. As a result, ( business owners are always wanting to see the results)  in an industry that is down 25% our tourism attraction in Kentucky is up about 20% over last year.

Do you have the discipline to succeed?

A friend of mine said to me in an email:

 

 “Clay… have you got any tips for me, on how to be diligent enough to finish a book? I’ve started, but have allowed myself to get sidetracked for long periods of time.” 

 

I wrote this response and thought it worthy enough to pass on to everyone:

 

“I don’t know if it will work for you; but here’s what I know to be true and what I have found out personally.

 

·         If a person can just have the discipline to develop a habit of eating an apple each day, they can do anything!!  (I try to eat an apple every day some days I miss but almost every day!)

·         If you determine that come hell or high water, you will eat the apple each day, then you would have the discipline to eat healthy that day. (I eat healthy every day.  I am 5ft 9in tall and weigh 170 lbs and have 33 inch waist and I take no medications of any kind; at 58 that’s pretty good results from that good habit I started 30 years ago)

·         If you can eat healthy and make it a habit then you could/would have the fortitude to add another habit (or discipline) to that first one. I added saving money. If you can eat an apple a day, you can make yourself save 10% of your income. (We save 10% every month. That’s where the money came from to start the Kentucky Opry; this month is our 21^st anniversary.)

·         If you can eat the apple, and save 10%, you can add another discipline. I added a daily morning devotion.  (I have been doing the morning prayer-time, and Bible reading for several years now…and it has changed my life.)

·         I you can make yourself eat the apple, save the 10%, and do your daily devotion, then you can add another discipline; I added exercise. (I try to exercise 3-4 days per week about 20-30 minutes at a time. I use an Ab Lounge 2, an Ab Doer Pro model,  A Nordic Track Ski Machine,  a Nordic Elliptical, and also 10 lb weights)

·         If you eat the apple, save 10%, do a daily devotion and exercise, then that would give you the confidence to add another discipline, I added writing. After going to my first writing class at the Wizard Academy 7 years ago, I read the book Bird by Bird. It’s all about the discipline of daily writing.

·         Next I had a story. I had a story I really wanted to tell. The story of my extreme poverty as a child and how I overcome the odds to become almost famous. And how I used to be sinner and God changed my life. The story of me hitch hiking from Missouri to California when I was just 16.  The story of a bankruptcy and two divorces and on and on…

 

Now here is my point: one good discipline leads to another, and also…one lack of discipline leads to another.

Now, I just wrote to you about 480 words (not counting these added words) and if you would just write 480 words each day, for 45-50 days,  you will have your book!!  It all starts with an apple a day. You can do it! I’ve never seen a determined woman that could not get done what she disciplined herself to do. You can do it. (I will help you through if you want”   

 

Clay Campbell

Benton Kentucky

270-703-2700

 

 

"Let's Lead the Recovery!"

"Let's Lead the Recovery!"
by Clay Campbell

I have said, and have heard other business owners say "We're Not Participating in the Recession" and I understand what we all mean by that. But this past week at Toastmasters, our “Table Topics” discussion was “being positive” when you are surrounded with negative. This morning I received an email from a client with an attached newsletter from a guy named Doug Fleenor. He said that using that phrase "We're Not Participating in the Recession" could do harm instead of good. I agree.

He said:
“Late last fall I used the same line in a presentation. Afterwards, a woman came up to me and reminded me that a lot of people don't want to participate in the recession but that hasn't kept them from losing their jobs. While she didn't say so directly I could sense that maybe the recession was hitting home for her whether she wanted it to or not.”
A better way to state that would be: "Let's Lead the Recovery!" That is so much better! That’s much more Positive!

10 Ways to Lead the Recovery.

1. Read an inspiring motivational book. Take a look at my list
2. Listen to some positive, CD’s ( Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, and my favorite Jim Rohn)
3. Hang around with positive people; avoid the negative ones.
4. Pray (statistics show people who pray are happier and more positive than those who don’t)
5. Do something for someone who can’t do anything back for you in return.
6. Write out your goals on a piece of paper and stick it on the fridge. Have some goals that are short term, (this month) mid range, (6 months) and long term (2-3 years)
7. Tithe. Give some money away to Scouts, the Red Cross, missionaries, etc. It always makes feel you better to give than to receive. Clean out the stuff from your closets you don’t use, and take it to the Salvation Army.
8. No matter how hard it is to do it, you must save some money; even if it’s only $5 a week. Having a little stash of cash makes you more optimistic that you could make it through a difficult time. Strive for a goal of saving $1000 in cash.
9. Plan to go to either a motivational, or fun/educational, or inspirational seminar in the next six months. It would be great to go to find one that would have all three in one meeting; but that may be difficult to find. But go find a seminar that inspires and motivates you.
10. Start a “thank you file”. I have a sizable thank you file now, that I started a few years ago. You should start one that has thank you notes from people who appreciate you, like you, and love you. (If you don’t get notes like that refer to item #5)

So I say let’s lead the recovery; let’s stay positive; let’s stay at it and persist. This famous quote of President Calvin Coolidge, “press on” is the attitude for us to adopt.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Calvin Coolidge

The Missing Bowl

My wife Barbie, came to me this week and said, “Honey, have you seen my crystal bowl; the one that was my Mother’s ?” I said that I had not seen that bowl. Well my sweet wife went a bit frantic looking for it. She called our children. She looked all over for it at our place of business. She asked her Dad about it. No Bowl. She was frustrated.

The next day she took everything out of every cupboard where she thought it could be. No luck. She called the housekeeper; and she had not seen the elusive crystal bowl. She said that it was her favorite bowl and was so distraught that it was gone.

After several days of searching, we got up and were getting ready for the day and we “discovered” the lost bowl sitting right there in the middle of the kitchen table with plastic fruit in it. It was right there in front of us all week long and we didn’t even see it. She said, “Don’t tell anyone about this, they will think I’ve really lost it” But we both have been telling our friends and laughing about it. The same kind of thing has probably happened to everyone at some time or another.

Business Owners are you searching and looking everywhere for some way you can advertise or promote your business that will bring people through your doors in this troubled economy? It’s could be right there in front of you! An idea that you have over looked. A virtue or core value that you could “find” that could mean the difference between success and failure this year.

If you can’t find it by yourself I have some brilliant Partners that specialize in finding that thing, or idea that will help you. Each one has a different specialty. I offer a free complimentary meeting or phone call to help you get pointed in the right direction. We'll ask questions and listen before we make recommendations. We will never try to sell you.

2009 your best year ever? Dont you wish you had a crystal ball ...

I talked with a good friend that owns an Outback Steakhouse. He told me that 2008 was his best year ever and that he was expecting to see an increase in business in 2009. I talked to a car dealer client of mine and he said he was very optimistic about 2009 and that his January was very good, except for the last week when the ice storm hit.  In my own business; we just had a big concert and had a full house with a major called The Elvis Connection.  We sold 1600 seats in an 1800 seat venue and made an outstanding profit over our expenses.

People are going to spend money in 2009 on what they want; but what do they really want? Buying things to satisfy ones ego will be less, and buying that you legitimately want, that you realistically can justify, will be more.

Buying things to lavish yourself with the appearance of being wealthy will diminish and giving money to help the poor will increase. Don’t you wish you had a crystal ball that could look into the future and tell you how things would go with your business? I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can recommend something much more certain and realistic…the Wizards on the Road Small Business Advertising Seminar in Denver.  Find out how your business might grow and prosper in 2009.

Are you Expecting Instant Results?

Take the time. Plan ahead. Do an Uncovery

Precious ad dollars are wasted when you expect your advertising to work instantly. So many times a business will advertise on TV, radio, newspaper or billboards in an effort to “get more people in here.” During and just after the campaign they ask, “Why aren’t people coming in?” In my article, Unrealistic Expectations, I address this in more detail.

Take the time. Plan ahead. Do an Uncovery first. What is an Uncovery?

In an Uncovery the decision makers of the business to come together. Ask questions to find out:

• The short and long term goals for your business. Is everyone on the same page? What direction shall you go?
• Find out what the branding strategy and Image Building would be for any advertising
• Discover where to start, where to end up, and what to leave out
• Gather information to build a campaign around your strategy
• Discover the strengths and weakness of your business as well as your competitors
• Determine how success will be measured
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• What will you consider a happy ending at the end of a year one, two, three?
• Find out what your core values are, what you stand for, the things you will never quit on.

From that research, determine your untold story and the amount of money you can spend. Spread that money out for a year in a media you can dominate. Be very shrewd in your media buy. Decline any other advertising until you do your advertising and marketing planning session for the next year.

Every successful business owner does those things. Small business owners that search for a magic ad or some gimmick to “get the people in here” will always fail. They fail to get the best bang for their buck and sometimes the business fails too.

“Hype doesn’t sell anymore.
The effectiveness of artificial urgency is in sharp decline. People are no longer naive. Companies that were built on high-impact ads are finding their dwindling, traditional customer base won’t respond to anything but high-impact offers and new customers won’t take them seriously. These stores are closing their doors and no one is noticing.”
~Roy Williams Monday Morning Memo on 5-21-07

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with multi-millionaire Jim Rohn on several occasions. In the year 2000, we were talking at a conference in Louisville Kentucky, on the subject of becoming wealthy in America. Jim said, “Clay, the best way to get rich quick, is to get rich slow.” That’s the best way to woo potential clients and grow your business too. Read Sam Walton’s book, Made in America, and you’ll see he started off slow in the early years. With a great deal of thinking and planning, Wal-Mart slowly grew into a giant.

One of my favorite quotes is by Willie Nelson. He said, “It takes about 20 years to become an overnight success.” Successful wealthy small business owners will say the same thing. Try to avoid that very strong desire for instant gratification with your advertising. You’ll get a much bigger bang for your buck.

My Prediction for 2009

I have read that as many as 8 out of 10 Americans are nervous and a bit afraid of the economic times we are in. I own a business and have 30 some people depending on my company to pay them. I don’t believe any of them feel like they are going to lose their jobs, still many of them are apprehensive of the future because of all the bad reports from the media.

Here is an example of the typical story that is reported everywhere!

"Economically difficult times are here. Worst economy since the depression.
Times are tough. We are now “officially” in a recession. A survey shows that more than 8 out of every 10 Americans are frightened about the state of the economy. Anxiety is at an all time high. You are probably suffering from the financial crises."

How’s that for a story to get your day started off right! Doesn’t that make you feel like going out and being productive? If you’re a salesperson, don’t that inspire you to go out and sell something today?? If you are a business owner, doesn’t that make you feel better about having gone in to business for yourself?

Newspapers, TV, and magazines are looking for a story to report. The worse the news is the more importance they seem put on it. The fact that they can report the coming gloom and doom, recession and depression, I believe makes them think they are doing us a great service by imparting all this important bad news to us.

They will report that an arsonist burned down a church building, but will never report that a group of people just built a new church building. Bad news sells. Good news does not.

The media will report that two guys raped a girl scout while she was out selling cookies. They would never report that my wife and I have been happily married for 29 years, that we give money to the boy scouts and girls scouts, or that we support a missionary in South America and that I help deliver free meals to poor people on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because that is not news. Millions of people in America are happily married, and do volunteer work, and help people, but that all goes unreported.

My Prediction

I predict in the coming year 2009 it will be about like it’s always been. Opportunity mixed with difficulty. Some will prosper others will go bankrupt. Some will lose jobs others will get new jobs. Some will get married, some will get a divorce. Bad crap will happen to some good people. Some evil people will commit murder and get away with it.

According to the "CIA Factbook," there are approximately 6,744 deaths in the USA every day. The Associated Press reports on July 18th 2008, that about 11,821 new babies are born every day in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It has always been like this. Warm soft breezes blow and Hurricanes come over the same ocean.

Shall all of America look to the government to bail them out? Heaven forbid. Not me. I say right with Teddy Roosevelt, “To whom much is given, much is expected!”

I am going to leave my cave, I’m going out and kill something, and drag it home, and my wife of 29 years is going to cook it, and we are going to sit down and give thanks to God for it, and eat it. And as Walter Cronkite always said, “And that’s they way it is; Good night.”

Are you becoming Internet savvy?

Are you becoming Internet savvy? (Savvy: Well informed and perceptive, practical understanding or shrewdness.)

We may have to do some things we’ve never done before. We are becoming a more and more Internet accessing people. Read Jane Frazier’s Is Your Website Up to Snuff?  I am a good example of what Jane is talking about.

I just went to the AT&T store and bought an iPhone. It is an amazing piece of equipment. At the slight touch of my finger in the palm of my hand, is access to my emails, my contact list of friends and clients, pictures of my kids, calculator, Yahoo, Google, any newspaper in the world, any movie I want to watch, a camera that takes great pictures, any songs I want to hear, a GPS System, I have access to my home computer and my laptop, my calendar and appointment book are in sync right there, and I can even make phone calls on the darn thing.

 

I am going online today to purchase Microsoft Office Professional so I can sync up my emails and calendar with my laptop and iPhone. I’m a guy who just 8 years ago couldn’t type a letter, use Microsoft Word, or even do a simple email. (I had quit school in the 9^th grade to go to Nashville and become a big country music star. I got my GED in 1990.) I didn’t even know what email or the Internet was. Today my company builds websites and do we email newsletters.  It’s just amazing what a person can do if they are willing to change.

 

Now in 2008, who knew, besides Jesus, that the stock market would crash and gas would be over $5 a gallon? Even when gas was so high this summer, the Internet was booming.

 

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced on Nov 19^th 2008 that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for July, August, and Sept of 2008, was $34.4 billion

 

The third quarter 2008 e-commerce estimate increased 5.7 percent (±1.5%) from the third quarter of 2007

 

The third quarter 2007 e commerce estimate increased 19.3 percent (±2.6%) from the third quarter of 2006

 

This may be a down time in the economy, the stock market maybe on a Six Flags roller coaster ride, and the auto makers, car sales people and dealers may be in trouble, but the use of the Internet is anything but down. I ran into a woman last week and she told me she lost her job a year ago, because her company got bought out.  I asked her what she was doing now. She said, “Ebay”. I said, “How is it going?” She said she was making just as much and sometimes more, as she was before. As the media stokes the fires of fear, in the mind of the folks in our country, the self-sufficient, pioneering, hard-working, can do attitudes of some people will move them ahead and they will do very well; even if they have to do something they have never done before.

 

Are you willing to do something you have never done before? Many business owners today need to go back and re-read the little book from a few years ago that sold 21 million copies, Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson. Read about it.

 
Perhaps now would be a good time to have a complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at www.americansmallbusiness.com  2009 would be a great year to attend a class at the Wizard Academy 21^st Century Business School in Austin Texas. What is the Wizard Academy?

 

Ask Good Questions

I remember one time when I was six years old riding in a pickup truck up to my brother's small farm with my Dad and my oldest brother. I must have been blabbering too much cause older brother said, "Hey why don't you hush up for a while? You ask way too many questions."

To which my Dad promptly said, "Hey, leave the boy alone. How's he ever gonna learn anything if he don't ask questions?"

When a salesperson asks good questions it helps them make the sale. When a Christian asks good questions of more mature Christians it helps them see where they could avoid pitfalls, see more clearly the the possibilities that lay ahead.

Every person has a reservoir of knowledge, skills, and experience to share and you’re wise if you learn to draw them out.

Here is a list of some great questions to ask:

• How do you handle stress?
• What have been the greatest successes in your life?
• What do you think contributed to that success?
• What did you learn from the greatest failure of your life?
• What would you do differently if you could start over?
• What kind of books do you read?
• How do you manage your time?
• How do you manage your money?
• What have been the greatest lessons you’ve learned?
• What have been the greatest surprises in your life?

Now, go ask some good questions!