| Friend,
I've been reading Trust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday, and it's one heck of an interesting read. Ryan was the guy who manipulated the media in order to get American Apparel all sorts of free publicity, mainly by manufacturing scandals over the images in their catalogs.
In the book, he explains how the majority of the online news cycle (and to a great extent, the news cycle as a whole) consists of similar manufactured stories and scandals.
(Note: Holiday describes how this is mostly done through blogs and feeding the clickbait monster, because blogs need ad revenue, and whatever gets clicks makes it into digital print. None of this is germane to this discussion, but it's fascinating nonetheless.)
There's an old saying in public relations that "any press is good press," and to a great extent, that's very true. And, that's why public relations pros like Holiday are able to manipulate the media in order to get a specific message about their clients in front of the masses.
All it takes is a lot of money, and you can virtually own the media. And the person who owns the media, dictates the message.
So why am I bringing this up? Because you have to be very careful about believing things you read online. Large corporations are practiced manipulators of media information, and they have no compunctions about distorting the message to suit their own interests.
Also, individuals with influence are not beyond distorting facts and telling half-truths in order to spread their version of the "truth." I've seen it time and again in this industry. The version of the story you hear online and the events that actually happened are often so far from the truth that I am amazed some people don't drown in their own bullshit.
Look, I'm not saying everyone out there in the industry is out to mislead you so they can get their hands in your pockets. But, I am saying that you should take what you read online with a grain of salt. Remember that anyone can say anything about anyone online, and any fool with a website, social media account, or a forum membership can say pretty much anything they want.
The moral of the story is, be wary of the merchants of bullshit. Trust nothing, verify everything, and be aware that 90% of the stuff being sold to you is absolutely not necessary to building a financially successful school.
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
Quick-start Guide to My Books and Resources: - Looking for a list of books and resources I've written? Click here! - Looking for one-on-one coaching to grow your dojo? Click here...
P.S. - Yes, I realize that I could also be altering the facts to inflate my own image as well. But if I was, wouldn't I make my accomplishments seem a bit more impressive? I mean, who else is going to tell you that they never ran a dojo with more than 200 active students, or that they nearly went under during the recession because they didn't follow their own advice, or that they can't tell you how to run a school with 500 or 1,000 students, because they've never done it?
P.S.S. - Sure, I could hide the mistakes I've made over the years, but I prefer to share them. Why? Because I'd rather that you learned from my mistakes than make them yourself. And I've said many times that if I was less honest I'd make a helluva lot more money. But I sleep very well at night, so there's that too.
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