This morning I got an email from a friend in New York before I was half way finished with my coffee. He witnessed the the NYPD dealing with a big drunken lout, and felt sorry for the cops.

Here’s his note.

“Yoyo Mikey,

Was walking East on W 46th after eating some din din at an Eye Talian place called Esca on 9th and 43rd. The grub was FAN Tastic. While walking rather slowly home on 46th we heard a really loud drunk who was in the middle of the street annoying everybody. Then he drops trow, and starts doing his best impression of a fire hydrant right in front of us. While he was gushing forth he kept up his harangue with enough foul language for a meat packing plant.

A couple of young cops showed up, and they tried very nicely to get Mr Pizzpot to get his pants up and move it along. They even tried just standing in front of him so everybody on the street didn’t have to get a gander at his goose. Then Mr Pizzpot went Code Red, stunning everybody including the police. The two cops tried to physically restrain the loon, but he was a big sumbitch, and not feeling any pain.

Now I was carrying The Runt, but since it’s illegal in NYC, I couldn’t offer it to them. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to carry, it just means that I’m not getting it out unless I’m threatened. But it did surprise me that the cops don’t carry one, because it would have ended this melee right quick. The two young cops took quite a few blows before one of them used his billy club deftly, and they handcuffed the bum. But if they had one, (The Runt), on them, they wouldn’t have had to take any punishment.”

Just checkin in,

Rhino

It is very strange isn’t it?

85 New Yorkers have been killed with baseball bats, and hundreds more with 2 x 4′s, pipes, bricks, rocks, and all manner of accoutremonts, but the state of NY outlawed stun guns. Go figure. And their gun law, supposedly the toughest in the nation after Washington, D.C., hasn’t stopped anybody who wants a gun from getting one.

Oh…you can get pepper spray…from a licensced pharmacist. That is the law and it has to be one of the weirdest ever. New Yorkers have to do the same thing as Canadians, buy while on vacation.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette

If I twas going to put together a list for why distributors fail this would be at the top.

Didn’t get a mailing list.

Or, got a list, but didn’t mail them. Or mailed them, and then stopped. Or any of a hundred different combinations.

As the legendary marketing whiz Dan Kennedy has said umpteen times, “The Money is in list.” To quote him exactly, he says, “The money is in the herd.” It’s exactly the same thing.

When Dan wanted something he said, “Send a letter to the herd.” That meant sending a sales letter or sales notice, or email sales letter, or whatever name you want to call it to his list. In the beginning he believed that you should only send once a week, but one of his students proved him wrong, and he admitted it. He then told everyone that they should email as often as possible, and their sales would go up.

That’s exactly what happened.

Most people have trouble sending out a message everyday, but if you do, and you do it consistently, your sales will grow. Guaranteed. Of all the successful marketers out there, the most successful are the ones who follow the protocol of mailing their list every day.

Now you need to know a few things about how to do this, which I’ll share with you later, but the most important thing you must do first is make a committment to market each and every day.

If you don’t do this…the only road is down, down, down.

Start with this one committment.

I am going to build a list and mail them every day.

That’s the cornerstone of how to make this work.

If you’re prepared you’ll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette 

Over the years a good number of women have taken issue with my business, which is selling personal protection products. In twenty some years I have never once advocated starting a fight, or using any products to go after anyone in an offensive way. I have always talked about using the products defensively.

Nevertheless, many women have attacked me for being a purveyor of violence, and a thug.

It stings, but it doesn’t hurt. For the most part, they don’t have any idea of what they are talking about. That have bought into the “Give Peace a Chance” hokem that has been around for all the years I have been standing upright. It will go on after I take my leave too.

It’s a powerful theory, just like Marxism, and it is easy to believe, even though any sane person can see the obvious flaws in the fabric. But I have hope that the landscape may be changing, and there are signs that it is.

Years ago men bought 95% of all the products sold. Today it is about 60/40, and more and more women are buying every day. I would venture to say that if things continue at the same pace, by this time next year the buying ratio will be 50/50.

That’s an amazing statistical change in a relatively short period of time.

Many of the emails and letters from women today are very apologetic.

Here’s what I say to that:

Don’t apologize…Evangelize! Don’t write me to say that you’re sorry you didn’t get the message earlier…tell a friend, family member, or business associate how to get themselves tooled up.

The learning curve is different for everyone. It doesn’t matter what you did before, or how you felt before. When you hit paydirt, enter the zone, or have an epiphany, what matters is what you do then.

We will never stop all the crime or violence. That isn’t possible. Nobody can do that job. But we can save tens of thousands of people from being victimized, and the numbers bear that out in a big way.

Tell a friend. You don’t have to be a big mouth, or browbeat anyone. Just tell your story. It will get the job done. You won’t necessarily know when or where, but that doesn’t matter.

That’s just the way it works.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised.

Michael Gravette