Are You a Clone or an Original?

Let’s Get Personal

Since building a deep trusting relationship is emotional, you can’t do without getting personal.

Now, this is, of course, the exact opposite of what “common business protocol” dictates.

Most people take their personality out of their businesses. They write dry memos, academic, institutional marketing pieces that doesn’t give the slightest hint that there are real people, with real feelings, struggling up against real problems on the other end.

The result?

No bond. Zero empathy. No trust. No real relationship.

Nadda. Zip. Ziltch.

What follows is an excerpt from one of my newsletters.

Look at how I let people into my life.

How does this differ from other newsletters and marketing you see?

How can you get real with people and deepen their trust that you are qualified to guide them?

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The casket was to my left.

I was smack in the middle of a heart-wrenching eulogy in honor of the loving woman who took me in when my mother died at 2 months old.

All of sudden some unplanned words of wisdom just leaped from my mouth. The message even surprised me. It was like God (or something outside me anyway) was whispering in my ear. Somehow it was exactly what the 300 plus people at the funeral (including me) desperately needed to hear at that moment.

It effortlessly poured from my heart.

It was very powerful. I KNOW it was because almost every one of those 300 plus people went out of their way to tell me so. But the most meaningful comment came from a successful entrepreneur and powerhouse speaker. She told me with glassy eyes and a slight quiver in her voice that my message was the answer to a personal crisis she faced.

Let me tell you, it could not have come at a better time for me. You see, the last 4 months have been bittersweet to say the least. Actually, among the toughest, most challenging – yet most exciting, passionate, joy-filled (not to mention absolutely the most lucrative – bar none) – of my life.

Here’s just a sample of what I’ve experienced…

In the last 4 months I was lucky enough to marry the most fantastic woman in the whole world. The bitter part? A week before our wedding her mother died very unexpectedly (actually, this deepened the love and bond between us more than I can ever explain).

Then I got the long awaited news I’m gonna be a daddy and had tears well up in my eyes as I heard her thundering heartbeat for the first time. I helplessly watched 3 grandparents pass away… But built a deep connection and strong friendship with my father-in-law while helping him through the shock and grief of losing his wife.

And in the midst of it all managed to squeeze a little business in between. (That’s a laugh… Business has NEVER been better or busier – which, as it turns out, presented an unexpected opportunity that a few of my subscribers might be interested in. More on this later.)

Life’s like that, isn’t it?

A mixture of stress, joy, disappointment, and triumph. Quite a paradox… often what you think is something really bad turns out to be a blessing in disguise (if you look for the hidden benefit and let it unfold).

Whatever.

It’s probably time I got off my soap box and got down to business…

What’s that you say?

Before we shift gears, you want to know what I said at the funeral? Hold your horses. I’ll get to it.

But first…

You pick’n up what I’mma lay’n down?