Don’t Let Your Ego Kill Your Success
There’s a new gal in my sketch comedy group. She’s smart, clever… and will probably not last 90 days.
Paul Lawrence is an entrepreneur who has made his living starting and running a series of profitable businesses. One day while cleaning his mother's pool for a few extra bucks, it dawned on Paul that he could perhaps start his own pool cleaning business. He carefully employed all the marketing techniques that he had learned in school and designed his first flyer. Immediately the business took off and within a week, Paul had his own little business. He quickly expanded, hired employees and then eventually sold it some relatives who made well over $250,000 in the next year before they eventually sold it for a six figure profit.
After finishing college, Paul did a brief stint in a management program for a national rental company, but he quickly realized that he was much happier running his own show. Paul left the rental company and launched one of the most financially successful independent ballroom dance instruction companies in the state of Florida where he received quite a bit of media attention for his revolutionary business practices that included front page features in the Life Style section of the Sun Sentinel, features in the Miami Herald, Boca News, Center Stage Entertainment and many others. With that business running profitably, Paul started several other businesses either individually or as partnerships that included a million dollar video production company, a mortgage brokerage, a home maintenance business, several mail order companies, a business consulting service among others.
With a love of movies, Paul began to work at breaking into Hollywood as a screenwriter where he's beaten the odds by becoming a produced writer. He is a credited writer for the film CRUEL WORLD, starring Jaime Presley and Eddie Furlong and has signed a development deal for a national television series with one of the world's largest producers of television and films among his half a dozen sales and options of movie scripts he wrote. Paul is the creator of the Quick & Easy Microbusiness program.
Read Paul Lawrence's previous newsletter articles below:
There’s a new gal in my sketch comedy group. She’s smart, clever… and will probably not last 90 days.
By Paul Lawrence | Tue, May 12, 2009
My good friend “Will” speaks fluent Japanese. He lived in Japan for more than 10 years and knows the culture inside out. When he visits, he supplements his income by giving English lessons to the local people.
By Paul Lawrence | Wed, Apr 29, 2009
You should be making it a habit to study your competitors’ advertising promotions. If they’re direct marketers, get on their mailing lists. If they use other channels to market their products, keep track of what they’re doing with those media.
By Paul Lawrence | Thu, Apr 16, 2009
Just the other day, I had a conversation with a television producer regarding a reality TV project of mine that his group is considering developing. “Rob” told me that they are moving into scripted programming in addition to reality TV. And he mentioned that they have a couple of projects they are excited about, but need rewrites.
By Paul Lawrence | Mon, Apr 13, 2009
Back when my wife Blanca began her first business - a housecleaning service - she was skeptical about including a photo of herself in her ads. So I told her I’d prove it would make her money.
By Paul Lawrence | Thu, Apr 2, 2009
When you buy advertising space in a newspaper/magazine or on TV/radio, the salesperson will almost always encourage you to buy a “package.” His argument will be that it’s going to take time for their readers/viewers/listeners to notice you.
By Paul Lawrence | Thu, Mar 26, 2009
Let’s say you’re a roofing salesman and you get a call from a homeowner who’s concerned about a leak in her ceiling. You do an inspection and realize that what she needs is a $500 repair. But $500 is a lot of money. So, to convince her to do it, you might use a persuasion technique called “perceptual contrasts.” You’ve probably read about it in ETR.
By Paul Lawrence | Tue, Mar 17, 2009
“Adam” seems like a nice guy. He subscribes to Early to Rise, and, in a recent e-mail, said he is especially interested in my articles about how to get into the movie business. He said that he doesn’t have time to try to get into the movie business himself, but he has tons of ideas. So he would like to offer his ideas to me - and, if I wanted to do something with them, he would get a percentage of whatever money they brought in.
By Paul Lawrence | Tue, Mar 3, 2009
“Elise” consults for nonprofit groups, and she’s great at her job. Most of her business has come from word of mouth. But Elise knew that if she could channelize her efforts, she could reach thousands - if not millions - of potential clients. So she began marketing her services with a website, e-mails, and postcards.
By Paul Lawrence | Tue, Feb 24, 2009
In this tough economy, you might be thinking that it’s impossible to find the capital to start a small business. If you’re hoping to get a business loan from a bank, you’re probably right. But if you’re thinking of getting money from a private investor, nothing is further from the truth.
By Paul Lawrence | Tue, May 26, 2009
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