How He Built a Multi-Million $ Marketing Company.

The turning-point 'domino' (from a rich stranger at a lake): if others make money in your industry and you don't, there's nothing wrong with the business — there's something wrong with you. Learn fundamental business skills and you can take them anywhere; chase a new industry and you just repeat the same bad habits.

There's no relationship between being good and getting paid — but a huge one between being a good marketer and getting paid. Selling is what you do face-to-face; marketing is what you do to get someone pre-interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified and predisposed before you ever talk.

Sell relationships, not transactions — it takes the same effort to win a one-time sale as recurring business, and (per Jay Abraham) you can't know what you can afford to spend to acquire a client until you know their lifetime value.

Education-based marketing built Joe's fortune: a black-and-white 'Consumer's Guide to Carpet Cleaning' plus 24-hour free-recorded-message ads answered the #1 question in every buyer's mind — 'Who can I trust?' — so callers asked 'when can you do the job?' not 'how much?' (the model tracked $800M+ in member revenue by 1999).

Reverse risk and lead with reciprocity: he made more money giving away a free room of carpet cleaning than discounting, and if you'd refund an unhappy customer you already offer a guarantee — you're just not broadcasting it. Remove fear and people buy.

You don't have to be the king or the queen — be the chessboard. Define whether you want to be an industry transformer, then bring on the kings, queens and specialists; if you spend life getting strong at your weaknesses you end up with a lot of strong weaknesses.

Connect with the ultra-successful by giving first: research what matters to them (Harvey Mackay's Mackay 66), make your give equal to or greater than your want, and be a persistent GIVER not a persistent taker — you build reputation by doing, not by talking about what you'll do.

About 5% of people are 'hunters' (the DRD4-driven, restless, ADD-leaning entrepreneurs) who need a pack; farmers and hunters need each other. Treat a driven person like a million-dollar racehorse — keep the track clear and protect them.

Almost all money is made turning other people's bad news into good news — business is solving problems for a profit — and breakthroughs require breaking something: audit your life for the 'ELF' (easy, lucrative, fun) vs. 'HALF' people and projects, and sometimes the best way to finish a project (or relationship) is to drop it.