Friday Target Practice

The Client Letter
March 1, 2013
Way North of Lake Wobegon
Cloudy 21 Degrees
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In the world of direct marketing, WHO you are talking to is everything.

Put the right offer in front of the wrong crowd and you’ll struggle.

Put the wrong offer in front of the right crowd and things might actually work.

Put the right offer in front of the right crowd and people will call you a genius.

The target is everything.

Just like in marketing, setting the right target is key in business and in life.

Over the years, I let the lives of others set my target. It was easy to read a book, watch a video, read a blog post and adopt the creator’s target as my own.

It’s hard work to do that. It’s tiring. And even though you might get somewhere, you don’t get where you’re supposed to be. You might not even know where that is.

For all of the examples we are given for how “success” is supposed to look, I’m afraid that a lot of them have created challenges for me. I saw those examples and I noticed how they shined and glimmered and promised of a great life.

And I started running towards those like a thirsty man runs towards a mirage in the desert.

These days, I have to realign myself every so often and remember that the only path I have to walk in life and business is my own.

I might get clues from others about that, but I’m not going to find answers. Not my answers.

Do I want to be a mega-gazillionaire? Frankly, it’s not that high on my list. I’m not interested in living a life that requires the sacrifices you need to make do it. It’s just not for me.

Do I want to be rubbing elbows with A-Players and be on the “inside?”

Again, not really exciting for me. I’d prefer to be alone thinking, reading or meditating. I find it energizing and being around crowds to be draining.

Do I want to go to bed at night knowing that I helped ignite LIFE in the heart or mind of someone I spoke with or wrote to?

Do I want to go to bed at night confident that I helped someone take their small beliefs and set them ablaze to make way for new, better and bigger beliefs?

Now we’re getting closer to what drives me.

There’s no right and no wrong answers here.

There is only your picture of success. At that point, all you need is the final (and most important) ingredient:

A strong commitment to pursuing that vision with zero regard for the opinions of others.

What is your vision of success?

Are you sure it’s yours?