MaryEllen Tribby: The Fab Five – Men Who Changed My Course and Helped Me Achieve Business Success (Part II)

Last week MaryEllen introduced you to the first of five men who helped her achieve business success. Here are the other four…

Success Mentor #2: Jeff MacDonald

My career went along fantastically in NYC for years. But like many people I suffered a devastating personal loss; my father passed away.

Even though he had been ill for quite some time, I was still not prepared for the pain. My desire to escape New York was tremendous. So when an offer came my way to become Vice President of a large publishing company in Boca Raton, Florida, I grabbed it.

Little did I know that my new boss, Jeff McDonald, would have a huge impact on my career. He taught me about business. He introduced me to the works of Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, and Stephen Covey.

He showed me how the principles they taught applied to our business.

Each evening we would review a lesson one on one. And it was on one of those evenings that Jeff spoke one little sentence that has stayed with me all these years: “A good executive has the ability to face the facts.”

This is a mantra I’ve repeated to myself for years. Whether you have to face up to a partnership that’s not good for your business… Or you have to kill a product that’s not making money… Or you have to fire an employee you really like…

Jeff’s words have helped me cut my losses and save plenty of money. Once you live this statement, your business will change for the better – forever!

Success Mentor #3: Clayton Makepeace

It was master copywriter and direct response legend Clayton Makepeace who taught me the anatomy of advertising copy. It was Clayton who showed me the importance of digging deep to understand the emotional needs and desires of your prospective customers.

It was Clayton who taught me to concentrate on the end result and not get caught up with the reasons why something can’t get done.

And it was Clayton with whom I spent morning after morning on the phone, going through the needs of our company and how our marketing plans and advertising copy would exceed those needs.

Together, we made beautiful music and our company flourished.

Success Mentor #4: Michael Masterson (Mark Ford)

I’m one of the lucky ones. For nearly four years I spent time one-on-one with business builder extraordinaire and marketing expert Michael Masterson.

Michael is the person who helped me become a better thinker, a better writer, a better marketer, and a better business person. He was the one person who helped me put it all together. He is the person who taught me the concept of tipping point ideas. Not only how to recognize them, but how to develop them and implement them into your business.

Success Mentor #5: Richard Branson

Once I made the decision to start my first business Working Moms Only, my friend Joe Polish invited me to a private brainstorming session with Richard Branson. However, this invitation did not come cheap.

Even though I have read every book Sir Richard has written, I knew I needed to be at that private meeting. So I paid $10,000 to attend. Yes $10,000 for 60 minutes! And you know what? I would do it again!

There were about 10 of us around a table and we each got to ask Richard his advice about our businesses. When we spoke about my business, not only did he give me some great advice, he also asked that I send him some content for him to review.

Then he directed me to a few people who could help me go forward. I have since contacted these people and they have been of tremendous value.

The Push You Need to Succeed

As you can see, I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the top marketing and business minds in the world.

Each of these men helped contribute a critical piece of advice or information that helped skyrocket my business success.

That’s why I take mentorship and coaching so seriously. It is 100 percent worthwhile to have a phone conversation at 7:30 each morning or spend $10,000 to get advice from someone who can help you expand your knowledge… build your expertise… or grow your business.

The results I’ve gotten and my year of accomplishments are a direct result of having the right business mentors.