Almost Everything I Learned About Marketing I Learned in a Karate School!

For a little more than 10 years, from the mid-Eighties to late Nineties, I was in the karate business. I built one small school in San Marcos, California into a national chain of 400 schools, starting with just $5,000 in cash and big dreams.

Along the way I learned some very important marketing lessons. The kind you only learn firsthand, when every single penny you spend comes out of your own pocket and has to produce results for you to survive!

Later I published my own magazine, owned a catalog company and advertising agency, and built a world-leading soft- ware company. While my knowledge of marketing increased rapidly along the way, I never forgot the lessons learned in that first small karate school.

Nor did I ever forget that the real goal of marketing is to produce income!

But allow me to share with you how my passion for market- ing all started…

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But one small detail held me back from a career on the PGA Tour: lack of talent! I was good, but not nearly good…