What Can Dogs Teach You About Marketing?

You already know that at 1 point in my life I started a Dog Walking and Training Company in New York City…

Since then I have gone onto create very successful businesses for myself and others — but I have to tell you a secret…

The best lesson I EVER learned about marketing was back with the dog walking company, when I knew NOTHING about marketing and business…

Here’s the deal…

No matter what you are doing, you need to know about marketing…

I can just hear some of you yelling at me that you are employees so I must be crazy…

I’m not kidding…

No matter what you are doing you have to know about marketing…

If you are an:

• Entrepreneur
• Artist
• Athlete
• Employee
• Business Owner
• Real Estate Investor
• Actor
• Singer
• Coach
• Consultant

etc. etc. etc.

We can talk about why at another time — BUT — right now, let me share with you that first and best lesson I learned from my Dog Walking Business…

Here’s the lesson…

Know your target market and go directly to them and forget about the rest!

Seriously…

Get efficient and stop wasting your time on people who don’t care about what you are doing because it doesn’t solve a problem or need they have…

Here’s how I learned this lesson…

When I got started, I knew I wanted to walk and train dogs in my East Village area of NYC…

• There were dogs everywhere, so I realized there was a market…
• I made up some flyers, recruited 2 AMAZING friends…
• And we set up outside the Astor Place Subway station at rush hour…
• In 19 Degree weather…

19 Degrees is COLD and in New York City, the wind whips around the buildings and feels like it is slapping you in the face…

So here’s what happened…

After 2 days of doing this, I was disheartened, didn’t have a single person that had called me, had spent more on flyers than I could afford at the time and I was unwilling to ask my friends to continue helping me – for OBVIOUS reasons.

I wasn’t ready to give up…

So I had to get creative…

I only had about 100 flyers left (of the 2000 that I started with) and I needed money coming in FAST…

So this is what I did…

The next night I waited until 6 pm and I took my 100 flyers and I hit all the parks and dog parks in my immediate area…

I watched the OWNERS who had come home to walk their dogs to see which ones weren’t crazy…

Then I walked up to them, introduced myself, and asked them if they had a dog walker…

If they said “No” I gave them a flyer –

If they said “Yes” I asked them if I could give them a flyer in case they were looking in the future –

What do you think happened?

I got clients!

By the end of the week I had 5 clients and by the end of the month I had 15…

Within 3 months I was working by word of mouth only and never had to hand out a flyer again…

Did I get rich from Dog Walking?

NO

Did I learn the best marketing lesson of my life from Dog Walking?

YES!!

How can you use this lesson to make your marketing efforts better?

Leave me a comment — I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Go Big!

Kristen

When You Are Almost to the Finish Line Be Careful!

I love ‘Expedition Africa’!  It’s a show on the discovery channel and is about 4 ‘Modern Day Explorers’ who are retracing the steps of an historic expedition in Africa.

Anyway…

The 2 hour finale was on Sunday night and at one point, Benedict (one of the expeditioners) said something that made me run to my notepad so I would remember to write a blog post about it.

Before I tell you what he said, let me give you a little background on what these 4 people had already endured in the quest for their goal…

They spent 30 days and covered almost 1000 miles, most of it on foot.  They crossed the dessert in 120+ degree weather, endure malaria and successfully warded off Hyenas, Snakes, Hippos, Crocodiles and Lions.  They conquered lack of water, lack of communication and lack of food and about 100 other obstacles that could have stopped them from achieving their goal of finishing this historic expedition…

And yet…

Not finishing was never an option…

They had a singular focus for 30 days and it was absolutely inspiring what they were able to achieve.

Okay…now let’s get back to it…

In the last episode, they were 3/4 of the way to their goal.  They could taste success and see the proverbial finish line and THAT is when Benedict said something to the effect of this…

“This is when we have to be the most careful, on expeditions like this, the last 25% is when everything can go wrong because it gets easy to look at the finish line and lose focus on what is happening in the present.  When you lose that focus and settle into feeling like you have already succesfully finished before you have, that is when 1 thing can go wrong and take away the 75% you have achieved.”

WOW!

Seriously…that is so powerful!

Remember that as you go after your goals…

You have to STAY FOCUSED for 100% of the journey!

This is true whether you are:

• Trying to attract money fast
• Trying to find your purpose
• Trying to make money from your purpose and passion
• Following inspired action
• Trying to lose weight
• Trying to improve your relationships

etc. etc. etc.

When you start to feel like you are almost there and that you have successfully endured everything that was thrown at you for the bulk of your journey to a goal…

REFOCUS and remind yourself to stay present!

I would love to hear examples of how this exact thing has played out in your life…leave me a comment and let me know your story!

Go Big!

Kristen