How Bob Burg Turned ‘Giving’ Into a Wildly Profitable Brand …because you’re doing the same thing. You’re still meeting someone, you’re focusing on how you can bring value to them and you’re involved in a relationship developing whether it’s offline, online, what have you. And so I think it’s very, very important certainly in the promotion of the books my network has just been a huge boom to me. Neither John nor I could have sold this many books on our own, it was always because we had great people, great friends all over who—with whom we have great relationships based on a lot of mutual respect—have gotten behind it.
And so I really think that the networking—even though it’s not the same focus, like going to events and so forth, a lot more of it being online—I still think it is absolutely so important. But again it’s all in the definition, and if networking was defined as the cultivating of mutually beneficial give and take or give and receive win/win relationships, that really says it all. It says that you’re trying to bring value to the table for someone else at the same time ple will do business you’re creating these —people they know, relationships that are going to be very help-Bob Burg full to you as well. Million Dollar Brand: If you were going to get in a time machine and you could go back to when you first started your business, are there things that you would do differently? If you could go back, what would be one or two of those things that you would change, looking from the perspective of knowing what you know now? Bob Burg: Yeah, that’s a great question. I would have to say that I would have embraced technology a lot quicker than I did. We all make major decisions based on limited information—that’s pretty wellknown—but I think when people see someone who is onstage they assume that we’re on the cuttingedge of things. I’ve got to tell you I’m very rarely on the cutting-edge of anything! Remember Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point? I’m very rarely an early adapter, so I don’t necessarily have the kind of foresight that I wish I had. I think sometime in the mid-90’s I made the brilliant statement that this internet thing was never actually going to take off, and really did believe that, but then again there’s people who can envision things and there’s people who that’s not their main strength,
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and that’s not mine, so I resisted. I resisted everything from email to the internet, as any kind of marketing and communication. I totally resisted Facebook and Twitter; it took me a long time to get on these. Once I did, and once I got it, yeah, I felt they were great and were things I should have embraced earlier, so that would be a big thing for me. I also think I would have learned early on how to be a good copywriter, which of course would have helped with in terms of direct response within any kind of internet strategies. I do a lot of that now and I’ve worked hard at getting proficient at it, I still have a long, long way to go, but that’s another one of those things where I wish 20 years ago I would have studied; you know, Dan Kennedy and others that are such great guys, because it’s so valuable. Million Dollar Brand: If somebody came to you today and said they were getting into the speaking/training/coaching/writing business and wanted to develop a brand, what would be the one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who was just starting out? Bob Burg: Do what you do best, what you really enjoy, because otherwise it’s just not going to be fun and it’s probably not going to be profitable. Aside from that, I’d say to be focused on the end result for your prospects, customers, clients, buyers, what have you. It’s not enough that you’re good at something or have a particular strength; it’s always about the result you bring to that person who wants to in some way do business with you. The other thing I would say in this regard is that as you’re developing your brand, be you. Don’t try to be someone else. Don’t take on a persona just because someone whose success you admire does a certain thing a certain way. I know it’s tempting, but don’t fall into that trap. Be you. Million Dollar Brand: That was some very, very good advice. If somebody wanted to track you down and get a peek at your work and what you do, where do they visit? Bob Burg: They’re welcome to visit me at: www.Burg.com -MDB