A Brief Tribute to Dan Kennedy for Truths Revealed
Note: At the time I wrote this originally, Dan was in hospice. I am very happy to report that as of this update, he is now out and back to work.
Dear Dan,
I hope you’ll accept my deepest and most profound thanks for the example you’ve set in your life, and how it’s benefited me along with so many others I like to think and hope I’ve helped out in turn.
Okay, so with that out of the way…
Please tell me that, like Lazarus, you’ll make a stunning recovery…
Or you’ll make another near-miraculous come-bake, like the time you appeared on stage shortly after a tumble on the racetrack — demonstrating a level of integrity and ability to overcome adversity far beyond that of the “ordinary”…
Or that this is all just a Houdini-like stunt, in which, before our eyes, you’ll astonish us with an incredibly narrow escape…
Like the super-hero you truly are.
That said, and to accept whatever reality comes to pass, no matter how harsh, as you’ve so often taught…
I’d like to recount seven powerful truths you shared this past July at your Business of Copywriting Academy 2.0 that I feel so fortunate to have attended.
Of course, they’re just a microscopic fraction of all I’ve learned from you over the years, but one needs to start somewhere.
And they were meant for strategist/copywriters aspiring to be like you…
But, as I think you’ll agree, they can apply to anyone in business.
Powerful Truth #1
Level of compensation does not rain down from the heavens like manna… It must be engineered.
I’ve known this.
But hearing again in a different context really drove it home.
Transactions begin at the very first point of contact with a prospect, extend through nurturing and gestation and continue through fulfillment of promises made.
Powerful Truth #2
Ranching (or farming, if you prefer) beats hunting. Having to start over each day, going out to track down, kill and bring back your prey is no road to wealth.
Best to create your own media platform and marketing funnel that nurtures a steady flow of clients one can “harvest” almost at will.
Powerful Truth #3
Never confuse deliverables with the business you are in. You are not in the (fill in your product or service here) business… You’re in the (your name here) business.
You earn more for WHO you are and not WHAT you do.
Powerful Truth #4
If your goal is $1,000,000, it takes a million dollar one-dollar deals — or just a single one million dollar deal — to get there. Obviously, the latter is easier.
Powerful Truth #5
Strategy trumps media, and it trumps copy. It takes a general to lead the troops. In order to achieve outsized success in business, one needs to have a solid grasp of direct marketing principles and strategies.
Powerful Truth #6
READ.
BOOKS.
Like The 48 Laws of Power (Greene), Successful Direct Marketing Methods (Stone), No BS Sales Success (Kennedy), To Be, Or Not To Be Intimidated (Ringer)…
And so many more.
Powerful Truth #7
Multiplying your income by multiplying your perceived value to clients, customers or patients, and likewise their actual value to you de-links you from the most difficult part of any business — acquiring valuable new clients, customers or patients.
Hmm… did I get these about right? Am I missing anything crucial?
Profound as they are, Dan, I think they’re just a fraction of all I’ve learned from you over the years.
And there’s one more truth I would like to share that I learned the hard way…
It was from a time in my life before I had the benefit of your teaching, and arose out of a failed business that didn’t have to be a failure, except that I let myself be intimidated by “circumstances”…
And that lesson is…
Never, EVER give up.
In any case, my commitment to you is to never give up applying all that I’ve learned from you, and to carry on your work to the best of my ability.
Thanks again Dan. And please know that I appreciate all you’ve done for me and for so many others far more than words can say.
******
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