Success in Sweatpants

Can I be grumpy? I have gotten so cynical with all these internet marketing…um…no, I refuse to call them gurus…internet marketing hype artists (yeah, that’s the ticket!).

Every one of them seems to have some kind of “miracle story” about how the law of attraction worked to make them multimillionaires. I am sure that every one of these stories has some basis in reality. For example, there’s a guy who says that just a few short decades ago he was living in his car on the streets of a southern city. I have no doubt that this is true…but I can’t help but wonder for how long he did that. A day? A week? A couple of hours?

And I’m sorry, but I am so not impressed with the guys who tell stories about how the law of attraction got them their BMW, Porsche, or whatever piece of rolling testosterone they had been lusting after in their “poor”days. I quickly move on when I run across a sales page that has the millionaire-expert-who-will-tell-you-how-to-get-rich-too-if-you-pay-him-a-bunch-of-money leaning against his sparkling $100k+ wheels. Please.

I’ve got a story too, and maybe I’m a dummy for not waving it on the internet like a big old flag, but I don't want you hiring my coaching services because of some hype I've laid on you.

Here are the facts of my story… 

In 1994, I returned to the States from the Caribbean, ending a sailboat cruising life with my second husband (and ending the marriage as well). I arrived in San Diego with two duffel bags and $1,000 in cash—the sum total of my portfolio. I was four months shy of my 40th birthday.

For the first six months, I didn’t own a car (a difficult thing to be without in Southern California), I bought overripe vegetables at steep discounts from the neighborhood produce stand (I had lots of home canned veggies for a while there), and I used my decrepit laptop computer with a sloooow dial up line to figure out what had happened in cyberspace while I’d been sailing in the tropics.

In 1995, I declared bankruptcy because of outstanding debts left over from my first marriage.

Then things turned around…..

In 2004, after ten years of corporate gigs, I had a decent sized IRA, savings in a money marketing account, and I bought my very first house.

In 2005, I started 4R Marketing. It was a stretch financially, but I went for it.

In 2006, with the support of a great team, I broke into six figures in company revenue, and in 2007 I increased revenues by another 50%.

This year, I rented my house out and bought a new home in the Texas hill country—my own evidence that the law of attraction works. I’m living the life I used to dream about, and now I’m spinning new dreams to reach for.

Yes, I have a story too…one that can stand toe to toe, or maybe even above, the stories the hype artists use to reel in the wallets of novice internet business owners. And yes, I do use the tips and insights I’ve gained as I went from zero to solid financial security on my own as part of my coaching practice.

But one thing I will not do…and I make you this promise right now…I will not overhype my story to dazzle you into paying me for services that don’t add value to your business or to your life.