Mentors Magazine: Issue 3

84 | MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 3

tomers.

So, one of the things that we have at our
company is we are a customer service com-
pany that does business in professional
growth. We are not a business in profes-
sional growth company that has customer
service. And having that as our mantra that
I have said until... I've repeated it ten thou-
sand times, my team is sick of me saying it,
but they know it’s ingrained in them, and
so it goes to all parts of our business and
our culture.

And so just that one sort of rallying cry,
that one mantra that we have, I think
keeps us really focused, so our refund rate
is about 2-3%. You know, and it’s stayed
that way this entire time that I have been
online. 2-3% as opposed to 40-50%. So, I
think it’s working and so I think culture is
very, very important, even if it’s just you
running the show.

Neil: Absolutely.

Neil: Knowing what you know now, is
there anything that if you had known it
when you started out, that would have
helped you to shortcut the learning curve?

Noah: I think basically how to market
properly. How to market properly. And
what I mean by that is... as I said a moment
ago, the marketing gurus tend to be sucky
teachers and they leave all the good stuff
out, and I call it the marketing black box.
There is the black box and they are like 'I
will tell you what is in the black box if you
give me a lot more money.' And I am like,

'oh my god, I am going to kill you.' You

know, so that’s really, really aggravating,

and so I have had to spend over a quarter

of million dollars just to understand what is

in the black box. Now that I have opened it

up, I am like 'oh alright well that was pretty

easy really' There is a lot to it, don't get me

wrong, marketing is a moving target, that’s

one of the annoying things about it, is that

what worked in 2007, and even 18 months

ago, probably does not work at all right

now, especially with Google and changes

and all that stuff.

So, the point is that I think no. 1) under-

standing just the basic principles of mar-

keting. And then 2) also realising that we

are here to serve our customers. And I

have always done that second part, but the

first part, that was the really hard part. So,

I mean it took a long time to be able to get

that in my brain. Just to how do you posi-

tion? How do you package your stuff? How

do you monetise it? I mean I did not even

know what the word monetize meant back

then. So that was for me the longest part.

So, I guess for folks starting out, I mean if

you can really focus on... I just say ethical

marketing. I know that sounds kind of silly

or maybe even like a cliché but one of the

things that always annoy me about mar-

keting and marketers, was I hate lying and I

hate liars. I hate people who just do not tell

the truth. And I thought I had to become

that guy, I thought I had to become some-

one who was always hyping things up and

just making things up. And I am like it took

me a long time to realise, I hate that so

much. And I am not going to be that guy.