About 12 years ago, I was speaking at a live event in Los Angeles. The speaker after me was the one and only celebrity PR expert and author of 19 books, Michael Levine. Michael gave an incredible oratory on what he calls, “The Three O’s of Super Successful People.” Michael is a very dramatic and impactful speaker. He uses powerful language and real-life lessons to make his points. However, what I was most impressed with when Michael spoke was how he answered one very specific question following his talk. The question from the crowd was, “How did you get your first A-list client?” Michael’s elegant and eloquent answer was simply, “Somehow.” Michael said, "Somehow, I got that A-list client. Every front door, every back door, every side door, every window... I was there. They couldn't avoid me." He continued: "The great one’s always find a way…somehow." Brilliant answer! It affected me profoundly. I thought, “No excuses. I must always find a way somehow to make things happen.” After the event, I reached out to Michael via Facebook and he friended me. We started a dialogue that went back-and-forth, back-and-forth, until one day, he gave me his home and office phone numbers and invited me for coffee anytime I was in the area of his home or office in Beverly Hills. Well, my perception of Michael was (and I think rightfully so) that since he’s a high-level Hollywood publicist, he probably didn’t have time to answer the phone to speak with me. To take advantage of the invitation he offered me, I "decided" that I was going to be in his home city one day the following week. I reached out to him on Facebook again, and we went back and forth, back and forth until something very powerful happened. All of a sudden, I got a call from him. With great excitement, I answered the phone and said, “Hi, Michael!” In a very frustrated tone, Michael said: “Craig, if you want to talk to me, I gave you my home phone number. I gave you my office number. CALL ME! Okay, buddy. Goodbye.” And then he hung up.

Story and a question: Did you know I'm known as "The [Former] Struggling Consultant"? For a long time (when I got started as a consultant), I struggled to get clients (the RIGHT clients). I was good at offering advice to businesses that almost always (when implemented) produced results immediately. However, I was not good at two critical things: 1. Attracting ideal clients that would pay me what I was worth to them, and 2. Consulting in a way that positioned me as the authority where my clients would actually take what I had to say seriously. I struggled financially for the first few years as a consultant. I took on jobs that were many times outside the scope of my expertise, thus minimizing my authority and expertise. I was unhappy, depressed at times, and felt shame for not succeeding as I believed I could. One day, after figuring it out (and paying thousands of dollars in the process), things changed for me. Clients sought me out. They pay me what I'm worth. And, clients work around my schedule, and not the other way around. I have autonomy in my business; meaning, I do business on my own terms, or I don't do it at all. I have bent my rules a few times and have been burned because of it. QUESTION: What are some of the rules you run your business by that are unwavering? (Meaning, you won't bend the rules for anyone) And, if you don't have any rules at this moment, WHAT rules would you like to make in doing business with clients? I'm excited to hear your answers.

You may not know this, but I'm a Past President of the California Junior Chamber of Commerce (aka "Jaycees"). If you're not familiar with the organization, it's a member-service organization whose purpose is "leadership training through community service." In other words, the organization creates and improves leaders through leadership training and community involvement. One of the biggest challenges the Jaycees have always faced, around the world, is attracting new members. For many years, I have noticed a damaging flaw in many of the membership teams who were responsible for getting prospects to join. They would invite guests to meetings and functions, and if they didn't join that night, they never contacted them again! They didn't keep on keepin' on with their sales and marketing efforts, and thus, potentially lost these prospects forever. Isn’t that crazy? I hated seeing this, mainly because I once held a membership position in the Pasadena Jaycees for a one-year term… and during that year we recruited over 171 new members! That was huge! Want to know how my team did it? We constantly worked on our list of prospects until they said, "Yes!" or "Stop calling me!" We literally kept on calling until they said “Stop!” Every function we held to attract new members had a guest sign-in sheet. They had to put their name, address, phone, and how they heard about the Jaycees. The more information we had on them and their interests made it easy to invite them to the function that would be most beneficial to them. Then, once they had a great experience, we followed up with them and invited them to join. We constantly worked on our list. But, that's not my main point here. The main point is: Sometimes the opportunity you're offering your prospects IS RIGHT FOR THEM, but the timing isn't. Your prospects' desires and circumstances constantly change. ==> Sometimes, it's a money issue. ==> Sometimes, it's a timing issue. ==> Sometimes, it's a priority issue. ==> Sometimes, it's a "I don't have enough information issue"