Here’s an article I wrote a few years ago – I think the lessons here about freedom and independence are still incredibly timely so I’m reprinting it.

And in other exciting news – it’s Zoe 1st Birthday on Sunday so we’re getting ready around here for a crazy horde of hopped-up-on-too-much-sugar-kids to swarm our house! Wish me luck! (BTW – I’m thinking we’re going to do a sale on her actual birthday for a day or two – so keep your eyes peeled if I decide to.)

* Update: I decided to do it. It’s a 48-hour sale. Here’s the link *

========================

July 4th for Americans is a chance to celebrate our independence. Trust me, I’m not going to get on a soapbox and start waving the flag – but I do think it’s important no matter what country you live in to really think about that word “independence” and its meaning for you.

My father reminded me that July 3, 1976 was his “Independence day” since that’s the date my family came over to the United States from Russia. (Pretty cool since it was right before the bi-centennial celebration.)

For me, my independence day was on July 1, 1999.

That’s the date I left my father’s business to work on my own. It was by far one of the hardest decisions of my life. You see, I had worked for my dad since I was 12 and he thought I was going to take over the company. I had that same thought as well until I got the “bug”. In fact, my wife, Missy, and I were talking about this recently. She was talking about how when she met me 11 years ago, I had only one thought: “how to grow my father’s business”. I would stay late working on new ads and marketing pieces. I was in early calling my accounts trying to make sales, etc. etc.

Now I had been studying direct marketing, and results were really paying off for my dad’s business. (Actually they still use a lot of the ads I wrote in 1998 because they still work today.) But with every ad I wrote I was getting more and more aggravated. Not because the ads weren’t producing sales – they were – but because of the grief and politics I had to deal with. Everybody seemed to be an advertising expert even though they’ve never studied or read anything on the subject. People mistakenly believe that if they wouldn’t “read all that copy” then nobody will. Or if the ad is “ugly” and has no pictures or pretty graphics it won’t work.

Complete and total crap.

For every ad I wrote I had to fight to get it out there. I got sick of it and decided I would create my own product so I could write ads for myself. My first product was to help dermatologists who wanted new cosmetic patients. It was a big kit (manual, tapes, reports, diskette, etc) based around some marketing consulting I was doing on the side for some of my customers.

I ran my first ad in April 1998 in Dermatologic Surgery magazine. I got 10 responses so I sent them the 20-page sales letter I’d written selling this $900 kit. Not one order.

I waited…

Sent out a 2nd notice to those 10 respondents.

Nothing…

Then I sent a 3rd notice telling them the expiration date to get all the free bonuses was only 10 days away. Finally on the very last day of the expiration date I got one order over the fax machine.

Yipeee!!

I still remember that doctor’s name in Flushing, NY. What an incredible feeling. That was the start of my independence. I realized I now had the power to chart my course as I wanted. That first sale. That’s one of the greatest feelings in the world – when something you’ve created is sold. It took me a little over a year after that first order to realize I wanted my freedom and I finally quit on July 1, 1999. Maybe it’s the new confidence you get when you realize you’ve created something that people want and are willing to exchange money for. That first sale is usually the hardest (but also the most rewarding).

It’s wonderful when I help turn on that light in people. I’ve seen it first-hand working my Apprentices and seeing them launch their products. How amazed they are by the money pouring from around the globe. I love it!

So when will your independence day be?

If you’ve already achieved it – I bet you can remember it perfectly. Sometimes the bleakest times that we believe are terrible actually turn into a perfect opportunity.

Take my good friend, Jim Edwards, for example. His independence day came because he got fired. To him that wasn’t a blessing at first but as he looks back on it – it’s the best thing that ever happened.

I remember the conversation we had right after it happened. I was drinking a Maker’s Mark & Ginger and Jim was having a beer. We were talking about different projects he could try and pursue and do now. We were throwing around some ideas and we came up with “33 Days to Online Profits“. It was right there during that call that we outlined each of the days and moved forward from there. And “33 Days” has been a tremendous six-figure income earner for both of us and it hasn’t stopped yet.

So what can you do to achieve your independence?

I’ll give you a couple things to take to heart. I can’t remember the author who said this but he said, “If you show me what a man does in his spare time I’ll show you the type of man he’ll become.” What are doing with your spare time?

- Watching TV or reading?

- Napping or practicing your copywriting?

- Yakking to your friends or studying direct marketing?

It all comes down to the choices we make every single day.

In fact, you shouldn’t let one day go by without making sure you are taking at least one proactive step towards your own independence. Just because the thought of you doing what you want when you want may seem so far away – don’t let that stop you from taking those baby steps each and every day. That’s one of my rules and I hope you’ll
adopt it.

What else?

Learn to be different. The truth is you need to become extraordinary to achieve extraordinary results. You can’t be like everyone else (and why would you want to). That means doing the things other don’t (or won’t) do. That also means NOT listening to their advice (unless they are doing what you want to do). Frankly, if you simply did the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing you’d turn out okay.

Why? If only 5% of people are truly successful and the 95% are the mediocre majority – doesn’t that mean the majority is wrong? Don’t engage in their thinking. Don’t follow their lead. Don’t adhere to the same values and standards the “95-percenters” do.

Two people who really helped me clarify my thinking on this was Earl Nightingale and also Dan Kennedy.

Please don’t get me wrong – in no way am I trying to be elitist. I’m not. But it is tremendously important to go through your day with your eyes wide open. The truth is most of your friends (right now) probably don’t want you to change and succeed. That would imply that they are losers. That would mean they are failures. Nobody is going to propel you to succeed except yourself.

So get on it and proclaim your own Independence Day starting, as Neil Diamond sings, “T-O-D-A-Y!”

*

Quick side note: My buddy, John Reese, just released some very cool videos for his upcoming Traffic Secrets 2.0 release. Check it out – he’s giving up some good info to expand your thinking about generating traffic to your sites. It’s yours without jumping through hoops or giving up your email.

Have a great 4th of July!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 10:43 am and is filed under Financial Independence, Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.