Bill came to a 4-Man Intensive in 2008, having just recently purchased the domain www.Coffee.org for a significant amount of money. Bill had considered many approaches to this market. One option had been to buy an existing company.

One firm he almost bought was living almost exclusively on Free SEO traffic. Their position was so fragile they were afraid to edit the website. Thankfully he was way too smart to buy them so he bought a great domain name instead.

At 4-Man I suggested that he build his brand around a “Southern Belle” since his Arkansas company was the only player from the south. The idea stuck, and his mascot is Miss Ellie – who is actually his daughter.

6 Key Takeaways from Coffee.org:

1. In 2009, Bill got Google slapped. It happened because years before, he had promoted an affiliate product that somebody at Google later decided they didn’t like.

At the time, AdWords was a MAJOR source of traffic and the slap almost took the company down. They frantically diversified into all kinds of traffic sources – even local Yellow Pages listings – and saved the day. “I’ll never let myself get dependent on just one source of traffic again,” he vowed.

Ultimately this was to his benefit as he now enjoys a very diverse source of new customers. Later, Google did let him back in the fold, as they often do.

2. The www.Coffee.org domain name is a huge asset. This alone paid for itself in a just a few months, based on boosting Click Thru Rates in all online advertising.

3. Ellie does a *fantastic* job with Facebook. 160,000 fans and counting. Since coffee is the beverage of choice for conversations, talking about coffee and conversations on their Facebook fan page is totally natural. You should subscribe to their Facebook feed to see the contests and discussions they start.

4. Even though as direct marketers we scorn “branding” type advertising as promoted by ad agencies, in the long run, the most valuable asset you build in the long run is a brand.
The Miss Ellie brand is a huge asset. It was inspired by a copy of “Oxford American” magazine, which is published in Arkansas. Coffee can be urban and sophisticated, but it can also be elegant, warm and hospitable.

5. Coffee.org pays great attention to photographs, product presentation and image. Image is everything in Ecommerce. Bill says the precise way in which they present Miss Ellie was essential, and he hired a world class photographer to do this critical job.

6. They sell a wide portfolio of coffee related products, machines and snacks. Once you’ve got a foothold, you must diversify. At the same time, they’re hyper-aware of what’s the 20% of product line that generates 80% of the business. You don’t have to perfect everything – just the important stuff.

For a deeper look at Coffee.org, read the interview I did with Bill in 2009:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/1955/coffee-dot-org/

4-Man intensive price goes up after August 1-2.

http://www.4ManIntensive.com

“How Can You Succeed, Let Alone Help Anybody Else, If You Hate Yourself?”

There is a false, insidious belief that has crept into Christian belief that we are all ‘worms’ and God just sort of puts up with us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Listen up:

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Ian is a long-time friend and mentor and in this message he calls mediocrity what it is, and summons you and me to receive a gospel that celebrates us instead of grinding us down.

Other messages by Ian

Subscribe to “Dysfunctions, Addictions, and the Financial Burning Bus”:

My friend Tony and I decided to play a prank on the Omaha office. We sent them this fax:

TO: ALL BRANCH MANAGERS
FROM: RICHARD KEYSER, CEO
SUBJECT: STOCK PRICE FLUCTUATION

TODAY, GRAINGER’S STOCK HAS SUDDENLY AND INEXPLICABLY PLUMMETED FROM $63 PER SHARE TO $17 PER SHARE. WE WILL BE CLOSING ALL BRANCHES EFFECTIVE FRIDAY.

I WISH TO THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR YEARS OF HARD WORK AND DEDICATION, AND WE WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO COMPLETE PAYROLL FOR THE CURRENT WEEK.

Tony pressed the SEND button and waited for them to call us back. We hoped they’d say “Ha ha ha, very funny.”

But that phone call never came.

We waited and waited.

Finally we couldn’t stand it anymore. We called them.

“Oh, that was YOU? Brenda pulled that off the Fax machine and immediately went into hysterics. She started calling all her friends and relatives, sobbing – ‘I just lost my job after 12 years and I don’t know what I’m going to do….!’

“We didn’t know what to think, so we faxed it to Des Moines.

“They didn’t know what to think, so they faxed it to Sioux City Iowa.

“They didn’t know what to think, so they faxed it to Fort Smith Arkansas…”

As hard as it is to believe, I got fired for sending that fax. My very first firing. A shameful, traumatic experience for me… at first.

It wasn’t until 20 years later that I realized: This was my first experiment in electronic viral marketing. “Dang. This is pretty much what I do every day. People PAY me to do this now!”

In fact, until Paul Hartunian pointed it out to me in a speaking class, I hadn’t even realized the story all by itself was a huge asset! Now I tell it when I speak at seminars.

QUESTION FOR YOU TODAY:

What thing got YOU in trouble, which was actually a clue to your greatness, and you never realized it until just now?

The 10 best answers get an unreleased product, a presentation I gave at Dream Chicago last year called “Navigating the Business Startup Mine Field.” $50 value.

Post your story on the blog below —

Perry Marshall

I held a 4-Man Intensive last week. In attendance was a certain Dave Frees, a Pennsylvania attorney who’s also expert in communication and persuasion. A marketing ninja in his own right.

Dave was talking to another member of the 4-man about selling and he went into this awesome rip about “selling to the reptilian brain.”

Enjoy this! 4 minutes long:

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Note: After the next 4-Man Intensive, which is being held August 1-2, 4-Man is being pulled off the market and will be revamped, upgraded and re-introduced later at a higher price. If you’d like 4-Man at the current price of $7500, grab your seat now.

I’m taking a full load of courses in engineering school.

I have a part-time job tutoring students at a nearby public school.

I’m on the Engineering Executive Board at the university. I’m also editor of the college engineering magazine.

A guy comes over once a week, usually around 10-11 at night. He pays me seven bucks an hour to tutor him on his homework.

I manage an apartment complex for a discount on my rent. I’m collecting rent checks from tenants and fixing broken stuff.

My wife has a full time job.

I’m in Amway too. Evenings and weekends and between classes I’m “drawing circles.” Every month we go to a rally. Sometimes I go on road trips to help my downline recruit people and I’m gone many weekend. Often getting home at 3am from some meeting 3 hours from home, sleeping for awhile and heading back to school.

I’m incessantly checking my voice messages, making phone calls. Yammering to my wife constantly about ‘the business.’

I’ve also dabbled in MLM #2 and MLM #3.

ALL our money is getting spent and more. We’re spiraling deeper into debt. We discover that a baked potato makes for a REALLY CHEAP breakfast and lunch.

I’ve got my hand in a couple of things at church.

I’m surviving on about 5 hours of sleep every night.

Some people pay me money to refurbish their stereo equipment.

I’m building my senior project in the engineering lab.

I’m sending out resumes to companies, because I’m about to graduate with my EE degree. A few of those companies fly me in to interview.

Laura hears a program on the radio about taking Sundays off, not working on the “Sabbath.” She says “Perry I think you should take Sundays off.”

“Laura, that’s crazy! I’ll never get my homework done. I’ll get bad grades and that’ll hurt my GPA. Sorry, that’s just unrealistic.”

So that was the end of that conversation.

We NEVER take vacations. We only go to business seminars.

I’m discovering that if you work 100 hours per week, you can do a LOT of stuff. I mean a LOT. Everything I just rattled off, I was doing in 1992.

If working hard keeps you from being a “bad guy” then I am fairly sure I’m not one of the bad guys.

I’m discovering that if you’re boiling with dissatisfaction and self condemnation and feelings of inadequacy and failure, you can just BURY those feelings in constant BUSYNESS. Ear to the ground, nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel.

Well guess what:

All that frenetic activity exacted a HEAVY price on my relationships, my marriage, my finances and my sanity.

In fact it all just made me feel worse, because when you’re striving and your needle is running 140% in the red, what you get is just more frustration that it’s not working.

Stephen DeSilva, at my Financial Head Trash seminar said: “You’re going to take that day off sooner or later. You’ll either take that day off every week like you’re supposed to. Or you’ll take that day off in a hospital somewhere when you get sick and your body shuts down.”

One of my customers chimed in: “Dude, that is SOOO true. My dad worked seven days a week for YEARS as a CPA. He was paddling like crazy. Then he got into some gray areas and did some questionable stuff and he went to white-collar jail for a year. He took his days off in a prison cell.”

Inspiration never comes when your fists are clenched.

It’s Memorial Day in the US, a holiday. This afternoon friends are coming over but like MANY entrepreneurs, like you, this morning I’m finishing up some stuff.

Suddenly this story came to mind.

So I’m going to finish working and enjoy the rest of the day.

Yesterday was Sunday and I was OFF.

You should do the same.

I offer my apologies to my long-suffering wife and all the other people who I barely saw for years.

The entrepreneurial life is going to be frenetic sometimes, but it doesn’t have to be insane.

If you are so bound by a sense of obligation, holding yourself to some impossible standard… if you for some reason believe that you are not allowed to enjoy life until you “become successful” … I must tell you right now that you’re making a big mistake.

YES it is fantastic to pursue a dream and to work hard for the future. YES hard work has its rewards.

But don’t make yourself and everyone else miserable on the way there.

It is not worth it.

Jeff Paul said, “You meet the same people on the way down as you met on the way up.”

If you’re on your way up – or if you’re just TRYING to move up – make sure you enjoy and appreciate the people who are around you.

Especially your family. You know, those people in your house who put up with you.

If you love working hard, you need to play hard.

You can’t play unless you STOP working hard every now and then. And enjoy yourself.

The WORST thing you can do on a holiday is make yourself miserable and stew about your failures because you haven’t attained some goal that you falsely believe will make you worthy.

A very wise person once said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

Carpe Diem, seize the day… you can seize it tomorrow. Don’t seize today, cuz it’s a holiday. Stop and just enjoy it.

Perry Marshall