The Maverick Marketer Blog

Which would you rather see me dressed up in… all leather, or an Italian suit?

How about both all at once?

I just found some photos from 1994 of me on my motorcycle and I scanned them for you to take a look at.

That’s me in a two piece Italian made Dainese motorcycle leathers, complete with gloves and nifty matching blue boots. This was my ’speed racer’ suit, as my non-rider friends would say.

This bike was one of my early ‘rewards’ to myself back when my first Info business started making serious money.

It’s one of the last toys that I literally dreamed and obsessed about. I’d go stare in the window of the showroom after hours and swear that one day that bike would be mine. As it so happened, I got it about a month later… brand new. It was a Kawasaki ZX9 and it’s main characteristic was the monster ram air assisted motor slapped in it which produced like 140 horsepower… and the faster you went, the more air was forced through the vents just under the headlight… and the more faster you could go.

How fast?

One day I got a little carried away on a deserted straight away and got up to between 160 and 170. I saw ‘about’ because I was going so fast that I dared not look at the speedo too long for fear of hitting a bottle cap or something and becoming a leather bag of spaghetti sauce. But a quick glance did show the needle in the 160+ territory… a feat I only attempted once.

Candidly, I was much more comfortable between 100 and 130mph (lol). Now I’m ‘wild’ if I go 80 in my truck… ah, how things change.

What wasn’t funny is that this bike took some of the fun out of driving the Porsche 911 I bought back then. The bike was SOOO much faster that it made the Porsche feel slow… in fact, I’ve hardly ‘dreamed’ about sports cars since because I know any $10k motorcycle will blow the doors off them. Anyway… I’ve mellowed a bit with age.

As a father of three boys who no longer even owns a motorcyle I can say this photo brings back old, old memories from a previous life.

Back then, I was single, I didn’t drink, and me and my buddies rode the twisty Vermont roads like we were invincible. Luckily, we all lived, though a few had some all too close calls. Oddly enough, I only got ONE speeding ticket in the whole 6 years I rode bikes… and it was for doing 50 in a 25 in a total small town speed trap. Again, I was lucky… though it does show that I chose my time and places to speed carefully, which probably helped me stay alive, too.

These shots were taken by a riding buddy of mine with a crappy camera at an industrial park with a great oval shaped road we used as our private race track on Sundays when all the businesses were closed. I used to go around the corners and try to get my knee as close as possible to dragging on the road like the racers (and some of my friends) did. This bike was a 900 and pretty hefty so I never actually got it over far enough to drag my knee… but I had fun trying.

I rode the heck out of that bike until a close call made me lose my nerve.

The dealer that did my last oil change left the drain plug loose and at the end of one ride it popped off, leaving my back tire with it’s own oil slick. I was going in to a corner on an Interstate exit after a long hard ride and the bike fishtailed back and forth like it was possessed. Luckily, I had enough skill and luck to keep myself upright and was able to recover.

While I was furious at the dealer I was also angry at myself for not checking the drain plug… and ignoring a suspicious drop of oil I’d seen hanging down from it. Mostly, though, I took the close call as a sign from above that the party was over.

At that point, I had become a father and the realization that I was not invincible made me hang up my helmet a few months later.

Here’s the thing…

Though that was 10 years ago now, I still consider myself a ‘motorcyclist’ at heart. Perhaps one day again I’ll ride another one (though I don’t advocate riding that fast on public roads like I did back in the day… save that for the track).

Funny thing is… I still have the leather suit… but I weighed 165 then… and I’m about 210 now, so I’d not even attempt to put it on now. If you saw the cartoon movie ‘The Incredibles’, when the retired superhero dad is trying to get the belt on his suit around his waist… I laughed extra hard. That would be ME if I tried to cram into those leathers today.

There are a few marketing lessons here…

First, I got you curious and that got your attention long enough to check this story out. You may not care a wit about bikes, in fact you may have lost all respect for me in revealing my former high speed ways… but the fact is that personal stories like this get people’s attention. Too many marketers rely on hype… when simple human interest usually works a whole lot better. But… many use stories incorrectly in marketing…

Second, if you’re going to tell stories in your marketing, they better do more than just generate curiosity. They should relate to your message in some way. In this case, I’m tying my motorcycle background into a marketing lesson… I don’t really recommend telling stories unless there is some kind of relevancy.

Third, I loved that motorcycle. It’s all I thought about before I met my wife. When I wasn’t riding it, I was detailing it or thinking about where I’d ride on my next time out. And, I spent a LOT of money on it. The bike itself was almost $10,000 and the goofy suit and helmet was like another $1,200. I also bought a course on riding and spent money on motorcycle magazines and related products. I was a target customer in the motorcycle niche.

As a marketer, I’m sure you’ve heard that you want to pick a niche where folks like me spend silly money on passions and hobbies.

Heck, I agree with that whole heartedly… to a point.

Yes, IF there is a valid, lucrative niche that YOU are passionate about, you should strongly consider having that be your niche.

In this case, I tried to do just that… but I never did come up with an Info product about motorcycles and riding. After a bit of research in the mid 90’s I decided that it wasn’t a good fit for me as a business.

Just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean it HAS to be your business.

All the elements have to be there for profit and passion.

If through creativity and research you can find a problem in your passionate niche that people are willing to spend money on… then great.

Fact is, a lot of people I see struggling online are ‘married’ to a niche that they don’t belong in. Either the niche is no good, or they don’t have a strong offer for that niche.

There’s no prize in going faster in the wrong direction

What may be holding you back, if you’re stuck, is that you’re not doing what you KNOW you should be doing. This will sap your self confidence because deep down you know you should be doing something else.

Passions can come and go. You may find, as I did, that something you were obsessed with suddenly becomes a fond memory and no longer holds your attention. These days, all I think about is my family… they trumped my former interest in bikes.

Now my business is about helping people gain freedom through Internet Marketing… as fast as possible

So I guess I’m still into speed, but these days it’s not likely to get me a ticket or send me to an early grave.

See, my core passion is FREEDOM… not speed. The bike was an expression of my desire to be free. Today, I’ve become free because I channeled that energy into my business.

So today I’ll leave you with a question: what is YOUR core passion?

What drives you throughout the different areas of your life? What’s ‘always been true’ about you?

Ask yourself that question. Sit in a quiet place for 5 minutes and I bet you’ll have an epiphany. Think back to all the things you’ve loved and hated.

What do they have in common?

What have you been really good at?

What have you truly desired above all else?

‘Know thyself’ is just as relevant in Internet Marketing as it is anywhere else in your life.

Maybe my best advice today is to slow down the pace of life and get to know yourself. As I did, you may discover it’s NOT the answer you thought it would be.

But I bet when you find the answer, you’ll see you knew it all along. It’s probably right in front of you.

Hey, whatever the answer you find… run with it. That’s where you’ll find success and your purpose in business and life.

And the best part is, I bet you’ll find things happen pretty fast for you once you’re headed in the right direction

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Maverick Marketer Insights, Internet Marketing, online marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.