Larry Winget, "The Pitbull of Personal Development", told me a story years ago that has always stuck with me:
In 2013, Larry wrote a book called "Grow a Pair", which had a cover of him holding two big watermelons.
As the book was nearing completion, the publisher got cold feet about the hard-hitting title. It worried that it could make it difficult to get the book onto store shelves, and started nagging him to change it to a less-offensive one.
Larry thought about it, and told them “no”.
He said that if he backed down he would be demonstrating a lack of “watermelons”, and he threatened to take the book to another publisher if they didn’t back off with their demand.
The publisher did back off, Larry’s book got into the bookstores with the original title, and it was a hit.
The big lesson from this story is to be willing to put yourself out there unapologetically and to speak your mind without the fear of offending. It's impossible to avoid offending everyone, and with book titles like "Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life", "You're Broke Because You Want To Be", and "The Idiot Factor", Larry's clearly not afraid to ruffle some feathers!
As you build your business you'll be pressured to water-down your message, but at the end of the day it's your business and you have the final say.
One of the things that I'm starting to do inside my Secret Coach Club newsletter is channel my "Inner Larry" and include a section called "Marc's Musings", where I'll share unfiltered opinions on subjects that might not fit neatly into the other sections of the newsletter.
My goal is to get SCC subscribers thinking differently about things and not tip-toe around what has to be said.
The first "Marc's Musings" will be in the February issue, and will include my thoughts on the impeachment trial going on in Washington and how your approach to it will help (or hurt) your business.
The issue goes to the printer tonight, so you have until midnight EST to subscribe:
Marc Mawhinney