From the Rocking Chair...

[GordonJ]

My post covid recovery is slow, but from the rocking chair (maybe a new podcast), I can talk and type.
b?
So, a long, long, long time ago, before SowPub...I wrote about a way to create sustainable income, maybe even get rich.

The secret? Start your own cult. OOPS, hope that doesn't trigger anyone (actually I hope it does),

OR club if you prefer, or "association", although in some states there are regs and rules about what can be called an association.

So, a club of lottery players. A club of fantasy footballers. Millions in fantasy football leagues. A club, and isn't a forum like a club?

And many of us belong to forums where we have paid to be in it, right?

Now for the kicker, what takes you from a low six figure to a mid 7 figure, a big leap of income is: (and the archives has a lot of this stuff somewhere)

Build in a renewing LICENSE. This actually a Harvey Brody idea applied, where people get training, do workshops and seminars and have a REQUIREMENT to update that every so often, maybe every other year.

Give them a certificate, and them make them pay annually to keep it.

Comments or questions?

Gordon

[Dien Rice]

Hi Gordon,

I've been recently thinking about "cults"...

Not only "real" cults... Like NXIVM and Scientology... but also the "business" kind...

By the "business" kind of "cult" I mean... those businesses with "raving" fans, who are so passionate they could be called a "cult"...

Sports teams are an obvious choice... But outside of those special cases...

Some others are...

Apple - especially in the Steve Jobs days...

I'd say Disney is another... Disney "cult" members even have a name - "Disney adults"...

I dunno... Chick-Fil-A? They seem to have some passionate fans...

It's interesting to think about... what do these businesses have in common?

- Dien

Originally Posted by GordonJ

My post covid recovery is slow, but from the rocking chair (maybe a new podcast), I can talk and type.
b?
So, a long, long, long time ago, before SowPub...I wrote about a way to create sustainable income, maybe even get rich.

The secret? Start your own cult. OOPS, hope that doesn't trigger anyone (actually I hope it does),

OR club if you prefer, or "association", although in some states there are regs and rules about what can be called an association.

So, a club of lottery players. A club of fantasy footballers. Millions in fantasy football leagues. A club, and isn't a forum like a club?

And many of us belong to forums where we have paid to be in it, right?

Now for the kicker, what takes you from a low six figure to a mid 7 figure, a big leap of income is: (and the archives has a lot of this stuff somewhere)

Build in a renewing LICENSE. This actually a Harvey Brody idea applied, where people get training, do workshops and seminars and have a REQUIREMENT to update that every so often, maybe every other year.

Give them a certificate, and them make them pay annually to keep it.

Comments or questions?

Gordon

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Gordon,
I've been recently thinking about "cults"...
Not only "real" cults... Like NXIVM and Scientology... but also the "business" kind...
By the "business" kind of "cult" I mean... those businesses with "raving" fans, who are so passionate they could be called a "cult"...
Sports teams are an obvious choice... But outside of those special cases...
Some others are...
Apple - especially in the Steve Jobs days...
I'd say Disney is another... Disney "cult" members even have a name - "Disney adults"...
I dunno... Chick-Fil-A? They seem to have some passionate fans...
It's interesting to think about... what do these businesses have in common?

- Dien

Thanks Dien. I love Cialdini. Huberman. Neuroscience. Cialdini and Huberman are great researchers, and Cialdini an observer of human behavior.

Huberman tells us the brain activity for the Cialdini principles, albeit, neither are GOSPEL, as in being the end to how it works, there is still a lot to know.

As you know, I've been at it since 1960 SPIDERS, SNAKES AND MICE, OH MICE and "magic words".

One of my favorites; FORBIDDEN KEYS TO PERSUASION, the Blair Warren course, which by the way...

My opinion is those who got the course dripped originally, are better off than those with just the book or pdf. One week at a time, it gave us TIME to study, dive into the bibliography and digest. I reckon most readers just blast through it, maybe take notes, some even highlight and go from there.

So, as to learning, and this applies to NXIVM, as well as other "courses", they spread it out, after an intensive.

We've read Glenn Osborn's posts about how Disney uses hidden persuaders in their marketing and at the parks. Glenn probably uses his research as much anyone out there.

I try to.

One way is when we find something, either by rabbit hole diving as you and I did on the POD request or actually just stumble over it in the course of our day, is to put it up against BUSINESS. You noted the JOBS Apple cult, or the rabid, raving, dollar spending fans.

We discussed Nxivm when it first appeared on the scene, well, not here but me elsewhere. Anyhow, Blair Warren's FORBIDDEN KEYS came about because of a cult, and Blair gives a great introduction into WHY he studied them as intensely as he did...to look at the secrets of PERSUASION.

So, we can easily ascertain the commonality of these "cult like" businesses, but I like to take it from the Knowing to the EXPERIENCE.

Remember Gary Halbert and Ben Suarez on his speedboat? Ben KNEW it was fast, Gary said, "NO you don't." Then opened it up skipping like a rock across the ocean. Then, turning to White Knuckled Ben, "NOW you know its fast."

Look at Nxivm as an IM funnel, a front end piece, ESP, Executive SUCCESS Program...and what Rainere did was quickly create a many pathed way, so instead of having one size fits all (AMWAY), at the first resistance point, there was another, better suited (custom tailored) offer. One of the reasons why so many kept with it for several years. A brilliant business model.

So how do we apply all this in an ethical, morally responsible manner? First adopt the DO NO HARM from old time doctors, I don't think modern docs really follow that these days.

But if that is a foundation, and most biz are built on it, then we look to human behavior, see where the crowd with money is going, and get in front of them and let them stampede us to the bank.

APPLICATION has always been my question, HOW can I use it, sure, awareness and careful thought is important but get to the hearts and minds, because guys like Jay, Rich (Amway) and Keith Rainere and Walt Disney did.

Gordon

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

from the rocking chair
Gordon

subject; AKRON OH, as a hotbed for marketers. Theory here. Name dropping: Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, Ben Suarez, Bud Weckesser, Rich DeVos, Jay Van Andel, and many names you never heard of.

Why does mid size city Akron have such a rich history of MARKETERS?

From the rocking chair, a bit of history content and context mixed in with some Gordonesque theories, eh?

Newer members should know, I am an amateur historian, specializing in the history of REMOTE direct marketing, and direct marketing. Ample posts in the archives. Anywhoo...

I included the Amway founders, albeit they came down from Michigan, but two of their first 9 super recruits lived in Akron, and it has been estimated these first two, Joe/Helyne Victor and Fred/Bernice Hansen, Nutralite dealers at the time, are on the all time DOUBLE DIAMOND wall of Amway Fame, may account for as much as 55% of the original growth, although disputable.

So, why Akron

Lets go back to the civil war, (lets DON'T)...THE war between the states left Northeast Ohio pretty unscathed, uninvolved with land fighting, although many served. Because Akron is about half way between Chicago and New York City, and the rails to the west, and the local grains, PLUS the Lake Erie freight were supply routes.

A lot of food came this way, but the staple of both sides, was OATMEAL. Rather oats, which were first fed to the horses, then discovered to be a very handy hot meal for the troops. The OATS industry thrived during the American Civil War, and Akron was at or near the center. What would become the Quaker Oats company, started in the area and by War's end, had become the dominant player in the game, consolidating several local firms into the giant player.

Quaker Oats, was an early player in the Direct Marketing game, and they had some early innovations, like gifts, and stamps, and got more from their boxes, containers than just a thing to hold product. They tested a lot of promotions.

Also, because Akron was so keenly located, with the Great Lakes and expanding railroads across America, companies found it an ideal location to sell to the West (Chi town/St. Louis) and to the East (NYC and between).

So the decades following the Civil War saw Akron become a trade center, and from here, shipping became an industry...at one time, not only was Akron the home to the Rubber Industry, but also the TRUCKING industry, because it was central and both of those were HUUUUGGEEE markets.

OK< OK fast forward...briefly...

Cars meant tires. WWI meant tires. Roaring 20's, high times...Depression...not so many tires but plenty...WWII LOTS of tires, women workers. Post WWII- HAPPY DAYS---men working, women having babies, THE BOOMERS, let the good times roll.

Vietnam, and GLOBALIZATION, DECLINE of Rubber.

However, post WWII, saw direct and remote direct marketing GROW, AND so enter Halbert, Suarez, Kennedy etc.

Akron was the ideal test center for offers, high % of wealth, big middle class with getting less enthralled with working 30 years at Goodyear, et al. And a surge of "escaping the rat race".

And enter, stage left, HOPE. Gary, Dan, Ben, Bud, Chase, Melvin, Joe and thousands of others had home based publishing businesses (some left the home into their offices) but for the most part, the Direct Marketing Industry sold a ton of BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, AND/OR paper and ink as well as specialty items and trinkets.

Ant farms, spud guns, shrunken heads...and The LAZY MAN'S WAY TO RICHES...so much so, these guys got rich.

Because for most of the 60's and 70's, the Akron Beacon Journal offered cheap remnant space, marketers across America advertised here. If it could be sold in Akron, you had a winner. It was one of the TOP cities that marketers could test their offers on, at the lowest prices.

So, after all this history and the rest of the story, now you know...and today as it has changed from an industrial city to services and tech, it is easy to see and document what is hot, what is not, what and where your attention should go to, if you want to make the moolah.

Many of those guys are no longer with us, but the lessons they have left behind, coupled with the TODAY'S masters (Alen Sultanic), any SowPubber who knows what she wants, and why she wants it...has all the tools at the ready to build as big or as small as a business as desired.

Any questions or comments will get answered as I rock away staring at the banks of the Crooked river as it flows by.

Gordon