I’m at the airport as I write this, sitting and staring out the big windows at the still-dark tarmac. Next to me, there are a bunch of people standing and waiting in queue at the gate, just because the gate is there to be queued at.
They’ve been at it for over 15 minutes now. I have better ways to use that time.
Besides jotting down my notes for this email, I want to buy a ticket for the Gatwick Express. When I land, that train will take me from London’s Gatwick airport to the heart of the city, in about 30 minutes, for about $20.
This will be drastically faster, cheaper, and more convenient than taking a cab.
It’s one of the luxuries of being me. Imagine on the other hand being poor Dan Kennedy, who has built up a marketing persona around a stable of race horses, $18k consulting days, and speaking on stage with Donald Trump.
Dan, if he ever would travel to London, could never take the quick, cheap, and easy Gatwick Express. In Dan’s own words:
“Even if there’s a free shuttle bus to take me from a hotel a short distance to a convention center, I can’t be seen riding it; I must arrive in luxury sedan, driven by a chauffer. Even if I am tempted to immediately jump on the phone and return a call to someone who has inquired about making a deal, someone I’m eager to do business with, I can’t. I must let our process do its work; I must have my assistant schedule a phone appointment. I can’t do such things any more than diet and exercise guru Richard Simmons dare be seen at McDonalds wolfing down a Big Mac and a super-sized mountain of fries or Martha Stewart be seen at the mall in cheap sweat pants with stains on them and dirty sneakers.”
There are undoubtedly advantages to a strong, recognizable, and unchanging public persona. But there are drawbacks too.
Whatever. That’s not the real reason why I bring up Dan Kennedy today.
The real reason is that Dan’s statment above ties very nicely into my Most Valuable Email course. The underlying idea in Dan’s quote above is the same as the core idea I’ve built the entire MVE course around.
And no, this core idea is not about building a showy and rigid public persona. It’s not about becoming restricted in what you can do, because people have come to expect that you only drive in luxury sedans and respond to business inquiries a week late.
The Most Valuable Email course is about something else entirely. In fact, it’s about something wonderfully useful in case building up a showy and rigid marketing persona doesn’t sit very well with you.
In case you are curious: