When I discovered my client ran marathons and triathlons, it shocked me. He's even done an Iron Man Triathlon. This starts with a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a full 26-mile marathon run! 

It makes we tired just thinking about it. 

I wasn't just shocked by the fact of the physical endurance of doing these kind of races. I was surprised that his business currently had very little motivation right now. 

It doesn't make sense, does it? How can you do marathon and triathlon races and not be motivated in other areas of your life? 

In our discussion we discovered something interesting. 

He told me that if he was preparing for a race over a period of several months, he was motivated to go out and practice. He'd swim, bike and run frequently and regularly. But if he didn't have a race coming up, he lost his motivation and slowed down his pace. 

What we realized is that he had very little motivation to do various marketing activities because he didn't have a clear goal for his business. He was aimless and struggling. 

So I gave him the task of coming up with a goal that could excite and motivate him. 

All of this seems so obvious, but we had missed the fact that he was only motivated when he had a clear and measurable goal that required a certain amount of effort to achieve. 

Does this mean that clear goals are important for everyone? 

Well, in my experience, they almost always help, but more important is to discover what we are already good at - where our talents and passions lie and then borrow those for other areas of your life such as your business and marketing. 

In a new book by Peter Bregman, "18 Minutes - Find your Focus, Maser Distraction and Get the Right Things Done" he talks at length about our passions and obsessions and how they can lead us to where we want to go. 

I interviewed him for the Marketing Club last week and we discussed how obsessions are clues to what we are best at. 

I told him that listening to and collection jazz was my obsession. Over the past 25 years I've collected aver 3,000 albums, listened to all of them and also spent a lot of time organizing my music. I can find any CD in my collection in about 15 seconds and all of it is also on my laptop, where I have dozens of playlists on iTunes. 

What I realized is that there are a lot of skills I've developed through this obsession. 

1. I'm a good listener. I can discern subtle shades of meaning which really helps me as a marketing coach and consultant. 

2. I'm systematic and organized. I love to create models and systems that make things clearer and more effective. I organize ideas, projects and time very easily. 

3. I have an appreciation for excellence. I know what is high quality or poor quality. I have an eye and an ear for things that don't fit or connect well. And I know what works. 

4. I have an interest in people. After all, I don't just listen to and organize jazz, I know the biographies of most of the major jazz musicians. I've read five biographies of Miles Davis!

5. I'm good at improvising. In jazz there are no bad notes, it's just a matter how you combine those notes. I love live interactions that are spontaneous. 

Those five things have contributed to my success in big ways. When I'm involved in my business and having the most fun and the most success, I'm tapping in to all those skills automatically and effortlessly. 

So what does this mean to your marketing?

Discover your obsessions and see where those talents and passions can be used in marketing. You don't want to market like me, you want to market like you!

For instance:

If you love sports, make a game out of marketing that you can win. 

If you're a big reader, make your marketing writing engaging and dramatic.

If you like the visual arts, make your web site beautiful.

If you're a movie buff, find ways to plot your marketing strategies with great story lines and scripts. 

Any one of these approaches can be successful for you. Yes, you need to understand the basics of marketing. That's what I'm here to teach you. But for it to be interesting, engaging and fun for you, you need to channel it through your obsessions, talents and passions. 

I once had a client who had a Siberian Husky named Mutombo. She was obsessed with this dog. And when I met with her to discuss her marketing, she told me she would not do networking or calling or most other marketing activities. 

But she did have an idea of doing mailings with pictures of Mutombo on them. Dumb idea? Not really. I helped her put her ideas together and do monthly mailings with pictures of her dog. And they were wildly successful. She got major corporate clients by marketing this way. 

So in the case of my client, he needs to find a goal that fits in with his obsession about fitness. I'm not sure exactly what it will be yet, but I'm certain that it will be motivating. 

The More Clients Bottom Line: Take a close look at your current interests, talents, passions and obsessions. These have been the path to developing the valuable skills you now possess. Now figure out how you can utilize those skills in your marketing. It's going to be a lot more fun. 

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