Marketing Is Essential

I occasionally attend meetings of entrepreneurial groups.  I have hosted these meetings and been a speaker, but sometimes just attend to observe.  They are attended by new and aspiring entrepreneurs, most of whom are making the same mistake.  They each have a product or service to offer and have little or not idea how to market that product or service.

        A major business myth is, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”  This myth leads to failure.  A business can’t be successful without marketing. 

        When most people think of marketing, they think of sales, advertising, or a web site.  The current in thing is having an app.   A web site or an app is not a marketing plan.  Unfortunately, any of these things used alone, will fail.   

        I define marketing as; “A total system of interacting business activities designed to plan, price, promote, and deliver want satisfying goods and services to present and potential customers.”  The key part of this definition is that it is a “total system of interacting business activities.”  This definition includes every aspect of business, including manufacturing. 

        Marketing is interesting because it is both time and location sensitive.  The market and competition are constantly changing. 

        Many people think marketing is simple.  I have a BBA and MBA in marketing, and have worked in marketing for over forty years, and I recognize that I still don’t have all the marketing answers. 

        Most innovating entrepreneurs never get rich from their ideas.  Some great innovators and inventors have died destitute.  The people that are the most successful are the ones that market the innovation properly.  The history of these inventors and innovators can teach us a lot.  There is not a lot new in business.

        Don’t ignore the marketing for your venture.   A good place to start is reading my book Business Fits.  As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”  Business Fits is available on Amazon as an e-Book or a paperback.

        Marketing is critical to any venture including politics.  Look at what Donald Trump has done in his Presidential campaign while spending less than any of the other candidates.  That is effective marketing. 

        http://BusinessFits.com

The Silent Majority

Politically, this country is divided into Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and several minor parties.  The Silent Majority is considered part of the Independents.  I hope the Silent Majority is starting to have a voice.

Many people are politically influenced by their family.  My parents said they voted for the man and not the party, they had the perception that the Democrats were for the “little guy” and the Republicans were for the rich.  I am not sure where this came from, because both parties were, and are, controlled by the rich, but it was a great propaganda job.

Until about ten years ago, I considered myself an Independent and part of the Silent Majority.  That was a cop-out on my part, because the truth is that I was just uninformed about what was happening politically in my country.  Like many people, I was too busy with my personal life to learn the facts and get involved politically. 

The Democratic Party is also considered the party that supports minorities and woman.  This is hard to comprehend for any student of history. 

History shows Democrats were the primary opposition to the woman’s suffrage movement.  So why do women lean toward the Democratic Party? 

I can understand labor unions’ loyalty to the Democrats based on history.  Remember the “Union Made” label?  The original label was “Union Made by White Men”.  I’m not sure how woman or any minority can support unions with that history. 

The response of many people is that this is all ancient history and no longer relevant today.  They are wrong.  History is vitally important because it repeats. 

The democrats are normally given credit for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law.  The facts are that it had been introduced by Republican President Eisenhower and blocked by Democrats in the Senate until 1964. Considering these facts, it is hard to comprehend the loyalty of minorities and woman for the Democratic Party. 

The Republican Party came to a position of prominence with Abraham Lincoln because the Democratic Party was pro slavery, and the Wig Party would not take a stand on slavery. 

Today, Republicans are considered conservatives and Democrats are considered liberal.  I find it a little hard to consider Republicans conservative when they are almost as bad as Democrats for promoting big government.   The fact is that both parties are run by big money and the political elite, making it easy to see why we have the partisan politics that divides this country today. 

Both SAY they are working for the greater good of working America, and NEITHER DOES.  Most people accept that politicians lie, but I hope the Silent Majority is getting fed up with it.  This is the reason candidates considered outsiders by the political elite are getting so much attention. 

The Silent Majority needs to make their voice heard.

Save the Children

For the first time in the history of this great country, the children today will have less opportunity than their parents.  We must reverse this trend now for the sake of our children.

Politicians often make political issues about “The Children.”  People can even be sold on gambling and/or prostitution if the issue can be spun to be good for the children. 

The solution to giving children the opportunities they deserve is not more government, but less government.  We have been on a slippery slope to socialism for decades and big government is keeping the slope greased. 

The new federal budget is 1.1 TRILLION dollars.  We have over 600 federal government departments.  Probably half of these departments could be eliminated and the other half cut by 50%.  This is insane.  Government debt and government regulations will reduce the quality of life for today’s children. 

Most of the politically informed public recognizes that the federal government is not only too large and expensive, but too powerful.  Government bureaucrats and regulations strangle the economy without the consent or approval of Congress.  

Our Founding Fathers recognized the dangers of an overly large and powerful federal government.  They formed this great republic in a way that protected against this danger, but we have ignored the Constitution and lost our way. 

Congress is becoming irrelevant.  The job of Congress is to make the laws and control the funding of the government, but their power is eroding.  They not only allow both the Executive and Judicial branches of government to legislate, they also allow various government departments to be self-funded and not controlled by Congress. 

I hope the voting public is getting fed up with big government.  There is a lot of support for political outsiders in the Presidential race.   The political establishment from both parties is very concerned with this because the political elite could lose their power.

The two parties are taking very different approaches to this problem.  The Republicans have the outsider candidates, but are trying to sell the benefit of political insider candidates.  The Democrats are doubling down on the move to socialism.  One candidate admits to being a Socialist.  Another cannot explain the difference between a Modern Progressive and a Socialist. 

Big government [ More debt & Regulations [ Less Freedom & Opportunity.

For the sake of the children, we must reverse the dangerous Progressive trend and throw out the political elite. 

Save the Children! 

Climate Change & God Complex

Is our climate changing?  Glaciers covered the area of Wisconsin where I live from 85,000 to 11,000 years ago.  These glaciers melted due to climate change.  What caused this climate change? It certainly was not man-made emissions, as there were not a lot of people and cars 11,000 years ago. 

            There has always been climate change and there always will be.  The predictions of catastrophic events caused by man-made climate change have all expired.  They did not happen.  In fact, temperatures have risen and the polar ice caps have expanded in the last 16 to 19 years.  Some people, with financial motives continue to promote climate change. This movements goal is world-wide wealth redistribution.  Obviously, all the third world countries are in favor of getting our money. 

There will continue to be warming and cooling trends as in the past.  There was a Medieval Warm period from 800AD to 1300AD, and a Little Ice Age from 1300AD to 1900AD.  I don’t know what caused these, but man was not a factor. 

Why do some people think this weak and vulnerable creature called MAN can control climate change?  This is truly a God complex that is totally unrealistic.  Man would have just as much chance of controlling the seasons, rain, snow, floods, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis.  We could change the earth’s orbit or rotation just as easy.  People must accept that climate change is NOT something man can control. 

I am not saying we should not be good stewards of the natural resources God has provided us.  We must cherish, protect, and responsibly use resources like air, water, and other gifts from the earth.  We should repair, reuse, and recycle.

Our earth is a very small and insignificant part of the universe.  It becomes quite clear to anyone without a God complex that there are many things, including climate change, that we cannot change.  We must trust in God to control them.

The following may help put the significance of MAN in perspective.

https://youtu.be/4gKoN4yPzy4

It is a big universe beyond our Earth and Sun. 

How big is Man?

Humbling, isn’t it.

How can anyone think that MAN can control climate change?