Regardless of what industry we are involved in on a daily basis, we all share something in common. We are all in the business of making money.
We often envy the lives of superstars, rock stars, celebrities, and famous athletes for their seemingly God-given talents that have put them in the limelight and given them the means to earn millions each and every year. However, we fail to recognize the percentage of these talented individuals who are caught behind bars, file for bankruptcy, or worse, die of various alcohol or other drug-related addictions.
This leads me to a story of how Billy Joel, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, has come to declare bankruptcy not once, but multiple times during his career. Dedicating his entire life and career to song-writing and composing, he became a victim of purported mismanagement by his ex-brother-in-law, Frank Weber. Involved in unauthorized loans and risky business ventures, Weber allegedly defrauded Joel out of $30 million. With his attention now shifted from his passion for music to a lawsuit against Weber for his misappropriation of funds, he’s left with nothing to sing about.
Who ever said that being a famous rock star automatically exempts you from financial troubles? As this happens all too often, we can certainly take something from this.
Rarely do we encounter a job that involves becoming an expert in one thing. We often have to put on many different hats in an effort to become the best at what we do. I bet Billy Joel never envisioned fighting a 90 million dollar lawsuit against his longtime friend and brother-in-law. I bet all he ever envisioned was himself on stage, singing Piano Man to an audience of his most devoted fans.
Joel is a pianist, a singer-songwriter, and a composer. Notice that I didn’t include “businessman” in his job title. Given that he is no expert in managing his financial portfolio, he became a victim of this alleged fraud. His poor judgment led him to suffer the sting of a 30 million dollar loss.
We all have our unique set of talents, skills, and abilities. However, in an effort to capitalize on these abilities, we must become specialists in other fields as well. For instance, say you consider yourself great at architecture. How do you intend to land architecture-related jobs without being great at marketing?
I deal with clients on a daily basis who are involved in many different fields of business, but all share the need for a cost-effective method of outreach to build brand awareness and promote their products and services. They realize that while a word of mouth marketing approach is highly valuable and has the potential to cut through the noise of traditional marketing methods, it is far limited in its outreach potential. They seek out email marketing for its ability to reach those anywhere in the world with an email address. When you take into consideration that there were over 3 billion email accounts in existence worldwide in 2011, that’s a lot more people you can reach than simply having your friends tell their friends in your small hometown.
If you are passionate about your product and committed to getting all eyes and ears on your message, then you are more likely willing to take on a new trade and become an expert in the field of email marketing. Rather than taking on this responsibility yourself, it is a better use of your time to find an Email Service Provider with years of experience under their belt who will walk you through the process and educate you on the best tips and tricks of the trade. In the process of Choosing the Right Email Service Provider, you must do your homework and find one that’s not in it only for your business. Rather, pick up the phone and make phone calls. Ask friends and business associates for referrals to a company that they have worked with or currently work with and are happy with the results. Just because a company might offer the lowest price available doesn’t mean they are a reputable and reliable company to deal with.
It’s all about finding a compatible match – one who is willing to work with you every step of the way rather than one simply waiting for your check to clear.
The last thing you want is to suffer the same fate as one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters and composers.