Perry Marshall: Dishonest [art] [storytelling] [salesmanship]

There’s a cable TV show called “Storage Wars.” It’s about self-storage units where the owner didn’t pay his bill. The manager saws the padlock off the door and buyers bid on the contents without being able to rummage through the pile.

Once the bidder pays for the contents, he gets to sift through and see what he actually got.

One guy tore brown paper off a stack of pictures and moaned, “Awww, this is hospital art!”

Why is it that every picture you see in a hospital looks like it was painted by some person who’s high on Novocain?

It’s cuz the decorators who decorate hospitals are high on Novocain too. That’s my theory, anyway. It’s DISHONEST ART. It’s everywhere:

-Ad agencies squeeze out corporate websites with stock photos of photogenic multi-racial people gleefully pointing at computer monitors

-Amateur copywriters churn headlines like “How an illiterate soccer mom made $114,283.67 in her spare time on a public computer at her local library!”

-People hold hands at church and sing “Jesus is my boyfriend, we skip through the meadow and pick daisies together, la la la.”

-People at national political conventions stomp their feet and applaud the newly appointed candidate who is going to finally save us from ourselves

Truth is, most people prefer dishonest art. Cuz they’re not ready to deal with reality yet. And guess what, people who are high on Novocain like to buy stuff from people who are… high on Novocain.

Here’s the real deal:

When you’re an actual-factual, in-the-trenches entrepreneur, you cannot afford to indulge in this. Regardless of whatever fantasies your customers entertain, YOU have to live in the IS world, not the Velveeta cheese world.

Once you’re hip to the Pink Koolaid machine, you become allergic to it. Every time you get the slightest taste, you want to vomit.

You’ve come to relish REAL war stories. You recognize them because nobody could have ever made ‘em up. Vince Berland said, “Somehow or another the pro boxer learns to like getting hit.”

When you look back on the best times of your entrepreneurial life, you’ll realize it was right in the midst of the fight, blows and clanking armored suits and whirling machetes and crossfire. That was when you were having the most fun.

Holding hands and singing God Bless America at the Pink Koolaid rally was only the prelude. Purgatory for those who weren’t quite ready to play the real game.

The thing I’ve found from meeting Planet Perry peeps at seminars is, most of them have made not one but two trips through the Pink Koolaid machine. Now they’re ready for the REAL game and they know it.

That’s the only game we play around here. And you know what? It’s exhilarating when you find other people who play the real game too.