“Success is always temporary. When all is said and done, the only thing you’ll have left is your character.”
–Vince Gill

Today, when one is considered “successful,” that person is usually labeled as such according to some external criterion. This is only natural, for along with the majority of the human race you have the tendency to judge a book by its cover. What you perceive or observe through any of your five senses is oftentimes interpreted as reality or truth. And the problem, however, is that when you distinguish that which is success to you, you are only scratching the surface.

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I couldn’t talk about this when I first learned about it, but now that it’s public I wanted to pass the info along.

You may or may not know Julie Perry.

She’s a very dear friend of mine, a well-known Internet marketer, and an entrepreneur. We constantly see each other at seminars and always have a great time. She’s always laughing, fun to be with, and a great person.

If you can’t picture her, to help you here’s a photo of the both of us — you might have seen her at Internet marketing seminars, yourself:

She’s known for her love of boats. She’s written a book on yachting, and she’s also the host of TheBoaters.tv, a website for yachters and boat lovers.

Now, the sad news…

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The most common mistake newcomers to business make is to think that by expanding their portfolio they will secure more business. Conversely, they think that by narrowing their market they will also narrow their chances of getting more business. In either case, nothing can be further from the truth.

A management consultant who I believe had a knack for human resources also offered bookkeeping services, thinking that having more to offer will keep her busier — she then wondered why she wasn’t getting any work!

The truth of the matter is the fact that specializing and narrowing your focus as much as possible will increase your likelihood of getting more business.

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A mistake businesspeople often make is when they try to sell their company directly in every communication they produce. (I’m referring to the idea that they try to sell their company as being merely open for business, also called “institutional advertising,” and not direct marketing, which is different.)

Institutional advertising (or what I call “blind branding”) will draw up immediate clients. When advertising, they spend hoards of cash on repeated, slick and entertaining ads. When marketing to people for the first time, they blab on until the cows come home. When sending out information, they send beautifully designed packages that make shipping crates look like a joke!

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