What makes a marketing message strategy powerful?    What can you say in your advertising to make buyers remember you, trust you, and even feel excited about the idea of working with you?   I’ll give you a hint: you won’t find the answer on your competitor’s website.   When my own team proved to be really strong in the area of marketing, we created our own marketing company. That enterprise gave me the unique opportunity to discuss messaging strategy with a lot of entrepreneurs.   ... Read more

The other day, I had a conversation with an entrepreneur who was eager to boost his revenue from $400,000 to $1,000,000.   Like many business owners—including my younger self—he was stuck on the idea of “going wide”—creating a new income stream by opening a second business.    This was not the first time I’ve talked through this idea with a fellow entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs have a strong instinct to grow their revenue through new businesses instead of doing more with the business th... Read more

  Do you know what most aspiring entrepreneurs worry about when deciding whether or not to start their own business?   It’s not the cost of getting started.    It’s not the market.    It’s themselves.   I know this. I have worked with many prospective franchisees and new franchisees who have struggled to trust their own readiness. And as a fellow human being, I know this:   It’s hard to trust ourselves to succeed at things we’ve never tried.   But I’... Read more

  If you are among the millions of people who consider Kevin Hart one of the funniest men alive today, you probably know his life has hardly been struggle-free.   A drug-addicted father. Devastating relationship challenges. He was even the last to know of his mother's terminal illness because she concealed it from him, fearing he’d give up opportunities to focus on her.    Why am I talking about Kevin Hart's painful past on the Get Out of the Truck blog?   Because Hart is a perfect example of how tightly... Read more

  You knew life as an entrepreneur wouldn’t be easy. You knew there would be failures and disappointments. You knew every client complaint and employee conflict and financial setback would land on your shoulders.   But even though you were prepared to not have it easy, no one could have prepared you for how hard it actually is. There is no way to fully understand the many, many ways entrepreneurial life forces a peson well beyond their comfort zone until you have lived that experience yourself.   The hardest part? Ou... Read more

  “How can my business avoid flatlining?”   I’m running into this question all the time lately. An even more common question is, “My business has been stuck on the same plateau for a year. Does this mean I’ve reached my limit? Is this the best I can do?”   You know how I feel about limits.    Limits are lies our mind creates out of fear. They’re not real. Human beings are creative, imaginative creatures, capable of ongoing growth and improvement.   The only thing... Read more