ol’ fashion blunt force trauma marketing game

One movie I recommend to everyone I know in marketing is: “Rocky Balboa” It’s the 6th movie in the franchise. And Rocky is nearing 60 years old, gets the urge to do some amateur boxing to get the “stuff in the basement” out once and for all… and ends up getting a shot with the younger, faster, stronger current reigning champion. The best part is when Rocky's about to start training. It’d been literally two decades since his last professional fight. And his body & limitations had obviously changed. Thus, his trainer Duke tells him: “To beat this guy, you need speed - you don't have it. And your knees can't take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you've got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out. . .So, what we'll be calling on is good ol' fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they'll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it's gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. Yeah! Let's start building some hurtin' bombs!” i.e., Rocky needed to radically change his boxing game. He couldn't fight like he did against Drago, Clubber, Apollo, etc. Applies as much — even more — to business. For example: Over 20 years ago I got into business via the “gateway drug” to entrepreneurialism — MLM. And I sucked at it. It was not a game I was suited for. Even if I’d been successful I would have despised it. Luckily, I ran into direct response copywriting and marketing a few years later, which is a game I did and still do enjoy & play. But even then, I started as a freelancer who only worked for royalties (no up front fees). But I realized the realities of the business made that a hard row to hoe, and switched my game to regular freelancing mixed with selling my own offers. Eventually I got sick of working for clients altogether and changed my game again by making a plan to leave freelancing and just be my own client. When I did that (after launching Email Players in 2011), I played a very easy game where I literally would just wake up, write an email, and be done with my day — playing golf, walking my dog on the beach, having fun, whatever. Did that for 6 years. Then that got debilitatingly boring so I had another change of game plan. This time, I decided to take my business more seriously, make it more secure, and not just grow a business but start to work at creating my own info publishing empire. So I changed my game yet again. This time, quite radically. Like leaving all social media, switching from studying marketing books to biographies of great leaders and other men of accomplishment, writing print books (which I enjoy) instead of creating audio and video programs (which I hate), ditching my iTunes podcast, cutting out all travel & speaking unless it's driving distance... and many other things big and small. Not long after I got that dialed in I adjusted my game again. I wanted to own assets & businesses that transcended me and my time. In other words: Real businesses that grow whether I am directly involved or not. So I hopped into the software world and added that to my game plan. Then, another opportunity popped up and I switched my game slightly again by doing coaching (very limited) which I used to hate, but figured out a way to do it that I like. And that brings us to today. My marketing game is always in “flux.” Always being adjusted. And, in fact, my next project is to write my 9th novel, convert some of my other novels into comicbook format, and see if that goes anywhere (game plan for that was laid out in the entire November 2021 Email Players issue). If it does, that will require yet another adjustment to my marketing game, including doing things I will have to outsource, new skills learned, and figure out some other odds & ends. And so it goes. This is important info. And yet nobody wants to talk about it. If they did, they’d risk you playing another game and not buying their system/method, etc. I have no such fears. Because, for one, Email Players will work for all kinds of marketing game. I have multiple Email Players subscribers who stick around even though they don’t even use email due to the strategical info being applicable to nearly anything. And secondly: It’s Spring time. And a good ol Spring cleaning never hurt anyone. Clean out the dregs who do nothing, you make room for the quality play. That goes for cleaning a house, as well as it does curating a customer list. If you want to add some good, ol’ fashioned blunt force trauma to your marketing game, then the April issue can help with that by potentially helping you figure out what your game should even be. There is a good chance — I’d guess 90% or more — most people who read it will find they should either change/adjust their game or get into a whole new game altogether. Something that can be both exciting and annoying. (i.e., more possibility, but also lots more work to give yourself.) The deadline to get in on time for this issue is today. So if you want it, best hop to it, Pokey. Here’s the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2021 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. 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