5 Marketing Lessons I Learned Working For Jim Rohn

I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn many marketing lessons from my mentor, Jim Rohn. During the nearly 3 years that I built seminars for this exceptional man, I sold thousands of seats to his events and hundreds of thousands of dollars of his audio and video products to attendees.

I am proud to say that in the years I worked for him, he became my friend, even inviting me to private functions. And I learned some significant  marketing lessons from the time we spent together as I represented his work in the marketplace.

While there were in all probability, many dozens of lessons learned – I want to share with you just five; the ones that changed the direction of my life.

Here’s Five HUGE marketing lessons

First, if you are not familiar with Jim Rohn, you really should take time to study this man and his work. He’s been called America’s foremost business philosopher and there’s a reason for that. His wisdom, expressed in words has shifted the thinking of thousands of people like me, thereby affecting the trajectory of our lives.

In fact, that shift is at the root of the first lesson I want you to get. It is to have your goals clearly defined. He said “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there”. That is an indisputable truth. This is not simply a business lesson, but a life lesson as well. Take time to decide – to define – to know where you’re headed.

If you have a difficult time with goals and goal setting, consider enrolling in the 100 Day Challenge, which my client Gary Ryan Blair is kicking off in a couple of weeks. Grab a powerful free report and see for yourself if this will help you with your goals.

The next thing he asked me to always be mindful of was to be accountable for my actions. He taught me that “part of success is preparation on purpose.” How does that apply to your marketing?

One example was that many experts today consider blogging to be an excellent form of marketing. And as I typically do, I scripted out what I was going to say in this piece. I researched it and prepared because I refuse (to the best of my ability) to present you with ideas and information that wastes your time.

Have a marketing plan – it’s going to serve you well. Should you decide on social media as a marketing strategy, create a broadcast schedule so you know when to blog, when to tweet, when to release your next podcast, etc. Don’t wake up today and say “ok – what’re we doing here?”

Third, he taught me to take responsibility for my results. His oft-uttered phrase was that “at harvest time, we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big.” So when you don’t have the engagements you hoped for – don’t blame someone else. (even if you have a staffer whose job it is to get you engagements. It’s your fault in the end)

After you write a book – If you sell lots of them, celebrate without making apologies to anyone. Why? Because something you did led to that success. If you only sold a few – try to understand what you did that caused that. It’s mature to do so.

When it comes to this lesson, I can guarantee you one thing, the economy did not greatly affect your results. Believing so will only hamper your success. Find the real reason. When I was unhappy with my results and went searching for reasons, I discovered it was ME!

Next, Jim Rohn asked me to learn from others. From their successes – from their failures.  Here’s a big lesson I learned; “let the views of other educate and inform you, but let your decisions be a product of your own conclusions.” So watch what successful people do, but don’t blindly follow them. Pay attention to people who have messed up too – so you can see what didn’t work.  In my work with private clients, I try to build the entire program around this one essential lesson.

Finally, the largest lesson I learned about marketing from Jim Rohn is that attraction is better than pursuit. His famous phrase was that “success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person we become.”

When it comes to marketing your speaking business or your books – there are people looking for YOUR perspective on YOUR niche topic right this very second. You must do enough research to find them and then follow a handful of Internet marketing ‘best practices’ to build relationships with them. Then offer them ways to grow in their relationship with you, and you’ll do well.

On the contrary, when you simply place your book on Amazon or some other site – or on the home page of your own website and don’t sell very many – only you are to blame, because that pursuit of sales is contrary to the needs of the very people you want to buy from you. Always remember – people buy from people. More importantly, they buy from people that they know, like and trust.

But as always these are my thoughts; my opinions. Perhaps you have a different and better way. So comment back and let me know how you approach marketing.

Related posts:

1. Speakers Marketing Services – Success Update
2. Speakers Marketing Questions (and some answers)
3. Speakers Marketing Case Study
4. Speakers Marketing Case Study 2
5. The “New Rules” of Speaker Training And Speaker Marketing – Part Two

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