| I just got back from driving through the
| |
| | exhausting, amazing experience.
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| hill country and listening to Dan Kennedy
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| | At this point in my life, I was probably
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| interview Gene Landrum. As a "gold"
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| | the best educated high-school dropout
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| member of Dan Kennedy's mentoring
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| | rock star on the planet.
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| service, I get CDs every few weeks of
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| | What's this got to do with internet
|
| Dan, or his partner Bill Glazer,
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| | marketing, writing e-books, and running
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| interviewing a mega-successful
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| | an international online business?
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| entrepreneur.
| |
| | EVERYTHING!!!
|
| Lundrum gave Dan a delightful interview
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| | I think the most valuable benefit of my
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| full of amazing stories taken from his
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| | internet marketing lifestyle is the
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| books. And he made me feel like I
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| | people I get to hang out with. After
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| belonged to a group, which is a feeling I
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| | years of being a loner, I've got a "peer
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| don't get much- even when I'm hanging out
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| | group!"
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| with musicians. You'd be amazed at how
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| | I get to hang out with Joe Vitale, who
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| many artists and musicians are just
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| | broke all the rules in the book
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| sitting around waiting to be discovered
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| | publishing business, and went to number
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| while they continue to do the same thing
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| | one twice on the national best-seller
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| all the other musicians and artists are
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| | charts- while the authors who played by
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| doing.
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| | the rules sat around and complained.
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| Losers, losing by following losers. Not
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| | I get to hang out with Cindy Cashman, who
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| much of a plan, but it's pretty popular.
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| | made a million bucks by "writing" and
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| Until I discovered the internet marketing
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| | promoting a blank book with a great
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| world, I felt like the only square peg in
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| | title.
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| a world of round holes. Listening to
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| | I get to hang out with Craig Perrine, who
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| Dan's interviews makes me realize that
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| | has achieved amazing success by breaking
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| I'm actually in good company- I'm a
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| | the rules in the internet list-building
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| member of a group of entrepreneurs who
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| | business.
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| follow Sam Walton's Rule #1.
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| | And there are many others- the internet
|
| Do you know Sam's "Rule #1?" He used it
| |
| | marketing is world populated with wild,
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| to build the most successful retail
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| | intelligent, brave, and interesting
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| business in history.
| |
| | people.
|
| Do you want to know the secret that he
| |
| | These are the mavericks- the square pegs-
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| used to make WalMart unstoppable?
| |
| | I'm honored to know them.
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| Keep reading.
| |
| | All my life, I've heard "get a REAL job!"
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| His "rule #1" has been my credo all my
| |
| | The miserable, gray people- the ones
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| life, and I've caught a great deal of
| |
| | trapped in the job they hate (which,
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| shit for it- it turns out that Ayn Rand,
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| | according to Dan Kennedy's research, is
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| Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry
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| | at least 2/3 of the population) wanted
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| Ford, H. Ross Perot, Donald Trump,
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| | me to join them in their misery.
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| Richard Branson, and most of my other
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| | Parents. Teachers. Unsuccessful
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| heroes had the same credo.
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| | musicians. Bosses (musicians have lots of
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| Want to hear a story?
| |
| | bosses- because we keep a day-job just
|
| Due to a bizarre and surreal series of
| |
| | long enough to book gigs, then we move
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| circumstances, I found myself living the
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| | on).
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| life of a high-school drop-out street
| |
| | Television- Trump and Branson have TV
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| hippie in 1973. I'd tell you the story,
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| | shows, and that's a good start... but
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| but you wouldn't believe me.
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| | they're about hiring employees! The
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| Kafka's an amateur compared to East Texas
| |
| | winners get a JOB!
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| wingnuts- and I got on the wrong side of
| |
| | You can bet your momma's egg money that
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| a town full of East Texas wingnuts and
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| | Donald Trump doesn't want a job. Richard
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| had to quit high-school at 17.
| |
| | Branson doesn't want a job. They didn't
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| My best option at the time was to move in
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| | get where they are by working for someone
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| with a house full of hippie musicians in
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| | else.
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| the Montrose area of Houston. It was
| |
| | I think they should award prize money to
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| shelter, and we usually could scrounge
| |
| | the contestant that tells Donald Trump to
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| food- Anderson Fair, a spaghetti
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| | take a flying f**k at the moon, and
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| restaurant that featured folk music,
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| | starts his own business.
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| would feed us in return for a few hours
| |
| | The education factories- imagine what
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| of music, but only the zucchini
| |
| | would happen if schools taught
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| spaghetti.
| |
| | entrepreneurship instead of wage-slavery?
|
| You can live on zucchini spaghetti if you
| |
| | Our whole education system sucks lemons
|
| have to.
| |
| | because it's based on a 19th century
|
| We played strip clubs and gay bars. We
| |
| | model, and designed to turn out workers-
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| played for peanuts- literally.
| |
| | for jobs that haven't been available in
|
| After a year or so of this, on a hot and
| |
| | decades! Factories that turn out waves
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| humid night, I accidentally drank a quart
| |
| | of miserable, gray people- suffering
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| of mysterious tea, which caused me to
| |
| | through the week and living for the
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| take a psychic time-out. When I came
| |
| | weekend.
|
| back from visiting the red queen, I
| |
| | What would happen if they taught people
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| realized I needed to go to college.
| |
| | how to think, instead?
|
| So, I walked, in the early morning hours,
| |
| | Family- here's the big one. Anytime my
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| through the darkest, most dangerous part
| |
| | family gets together, I get to hear about
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| of Houston, to the bus station and took
| |
| | how I'm the one who's always "coloring
|
| the bus home. I walked into the house as
| |
| | outside the lines" from one of my
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| my father was drinking his morning coffee
| |
| | relatives- he thinks he's insulting me!
|
| and announced that I was ready to go to
| |
| | That's the thing I'm proudest of, and the
|
| college.
| |
| | key to my success. Nobody ever
|
| Skeptical, he suggested I get a job.
| |
| | accomplished anything important, or
|
| After a year or so of manual labor, I
| |
| | grand, or OUTRAGEOUS by coloring inside
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| finally made my way to North Texas
| |
| | the lines.
|
| University- on the strength of a good SAT
| |
| | Following the rules is for losers.
|
| score and a better audition with the
| |
| | Did you notice the list of heroes I put
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| piano faculty.
| |
| | at the top of this article? They have a
|
| After a year of cutting down trees, I was
| |
| | lot of things in common:
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| probably the "buffest" piano major on the
| |
| | 1. They didn't wait for permission to be
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| campus. While I was there, I designed
| |
| | great- they just went ahead and did it.
|
| and -with the help of a physics major
| |
| | 2. They didn't worry about credentials
|
| buddy of mine- created the first laser
| |
| | or diplomas. Richard Branson has an
|
| light show in the southwest. We had a
| |
| | eighth grade education. Frank Lloyd
|
| running engagement at the Fort-Worth
| |
| | Wright had about three months of formal
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| Museum of Science and History.
| |
| | schooling. All educated successful
|
| After three years at NTSU, I sent an
| |
| | people, regardless of how much
|
| audition tape to the University of Texas,
| |
| | "schooling" they have, are self-educated.
|
| and got accepted in their graduate
| |
| | You can't trust the educators to educate
|
| composition program.
| |
| | you.
|
| I still hadn't gotten my high-school
| |
| | 3. They were OUTRAGEOUS! Branson and
|
| diploma, technically, I was a high-school
| |
| | his hot-air balloons, and now space
|
| drop-out going to grad school.
| |
| | flights. Thomas Edison announcing the
|
| I loved college. I ended up with music
| |
| | light bulb long before he actually had
|
| and English minors, but that only tells
| |
| | created one. Everybody on that list
|
| part of the story. I was a photography
| |
| | listened to sage advice from the gray
|
| major, studying under Gary Winnogrand. I
| |
| | people and called bullshit on it. Then
|
| studied journalism. I took art classes.
| |
| | they went on to create a better world.
|
| I was in heaven. My degree plan was to
| |
| | 4. They made their own rules. And then
|
| not worry about getting a degree. I was
| |
| | broke them.
|
| getting an education.
| |
| | 5. They had grand failures, followed by
|
| After a few years, I got a glimpse of the
| |
| | grand successes.
|
| naked under-belly of the modern classical
| |
| | I tell my clients at the Your Portable
|
| music world and didn't like what I saw.
| |
| | Empire University, and I'll tell you-
|
| A showdown with a famous composer during
| |
| | there ain't no such thing as failure.
|
| a seminar was the final straw.
| |
| | It's all data. To succeed BIG you may
|
| He accused me of prostituting my art by
| |
| | have to fail big. It's just a stretch of
|
| making money writing commercials. What a
| |
| | highway- you may have to go through some
|
| crock! This was the same guy who
| |
| | bad road to get where you're going.
|
| financed his studio by doing
| |
| | The odds that we will be as successful as
|
| sound-effects for shampoo commercials.
| |
| | Thomas Edison or Richard Branson are
|
| And some of the other ways he prostituted
| |
| | small, even if we try... but if we don't
|
| didn't have anything to do with his art.
| |
| | try, there's no chance at all.
|
| I bailed on college, and joined a rock
| |
| | I'd rather fail big than live small,
|
| band.
| |
| | wouldn't you? Especially knowing that
|
| Wouldn't you?
| |
| | "failing big" is just a stop on the way
|
| A short time later, we were touring with
| |
| | to "living large."
|
| Cheap Trick, Heart, ZZ Top, The Climax
| |
| | And what was Sam's "Rule #1?"
|
| Blues Band- it was a wonderful,
| |
| | Here it is: "Break the rules.
|
