How To Build A List – How to Build A Buyers List

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Flailing? You need to hit bottom…

If your life isn’t going in the direction you planned, if you are trying and trying, with diminishing returns,

You need to hit bottom…

In alcoholism treatment they call it intervention.
In relationship counseling it may be called something similar…

In business they don’t call it anything because it is as if it didn’t exist, because it is counter intuitive.

The vortex

When I was barely 16, I liked to kayak on the Danube (a major river going from Germany, through 4 countries, to the Black Sea…)

You need to have a water license (much like a drivers license in the US) in Hungary to kayak, so I had to do a written and a practical test, lots of fun when you are 16.

One of the topics I learned was what to do when you encounter a vortex in the water.

Quote from wikipedia: A vortex (plural: vortices) is a spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex.

The instructions were simple: in case a vortex gets a hold of you and attempts to swallow you, allow it. Make sure you keep your limbs close to your body to decrease the resistance, so you can go down quickly: your air supply in your lungs will only support you for about 2 minutes max.

Stay calm and stay alert. When hitting bottom, allow your knees to collapse. Make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground. Look up and carefully choose the direction you want to go, away from the center of the vortex.

Now, kick off…

Providence: the real test

I passed the exams on Monday. On Thursday, early afternoon, a quick thunderstorm passed though while I was out kayaking. A lightening hit the water with a huge sharp crack about 15-20 feet from me. It promptly created a huge vortex and grabbed me and my kayak. My kayak broke in half as if it were a toothpick. I fell out of it and remembered to pull in my limbs and go down fast.

The water was twirling rapidly, I resisted the urge to fight for my life, and I descended… maybe 20 seconds later I hit bottom. I allowed my knees to buckle, looked above me, picked the direction away from the center and kicked off… another 20 or so seconds later I was on the surface, watching the big whirlpool not far from me. I swam to the shore without as much as a scratch. We found the two piees of my kayak next day downstream caught in the driftwood.

What does this story have to do with business?

It has everything to do with a very frequent situation where your current course of action is bankrupt and you seem unable to change directions, instead you keep on flailing.

If you listen tot he instructions in my 40+ year old example, your job is to go down as quickly as you can, so you can come up as quicky as you can.

There is no mention there resisting going down, flailing, or the like.

In the case of a vortex, everyone can see that that behavior, flailing will kill you… yet in life, in business, in relationships, in addiction, it is harder to see because you are one-step better than dead… but not much.

Maybe you are still able to pay your rent. Maybe you are still selling some of your stuff… But not much better than that. And your mood… it is an increasing amount of struggle to stay afloat…

Client study #1

Client is a nationally known speaker. Used to be a corporate trainer, spent most of his time on the road, raked it in.

Circumstances changed, and he decided to do it on his own… and become and information publisher.

Results: barely any money, little or no satisfaction, spinning his wheels… flailing.

Prognosis: homeless and miserable… it is happening.

Client study #2

Client is a high level internet marketing teacher, know their stuff, yet has been flailing for as long as I know them, 3-4 years minimum. Barely above poverty level, never any time to stop, to take a break and reevaluate.

Life style is more important, appearances are everything. Prognosis: unless generates hitting bottom, it can only lead to more struggle and less and less return on the investment.

Client study #3

Owner of a very popular magazine. The magazine is popular, but they work day and night, and the income is not paying even a decent salary to the owner. Year after year there is hope that it will get better… Prognosis: someone will put them out of business… unless they are willing to hit bottom at will.

Conclusion:

It is counter intuitive, and counter cultural to fail… and hitting bottom is closely associated with failing. But, in spite of how you feel, there is not going up, unless you get a solid foothold to kick off from.

Powerful people create hitting bottom regularly, so they can re-evaluate their business strategy…

They may not call it that way, but that is what they are doing. One of my past mentors is especially famous for that, and he is generating over 20 million dollars of sales with a handful of people, year in and year out.

His secret? He is not afraid to hit bottom. Everything he does is counter-cultural, by choice, so for him generating hitting bottom every 6 months or so is natural.

How about you? Are you due for a new direction?

Getting back to the drawing board…