May 16, 2025
Okanagan Valley -
Canada
“Good luck crossing the border coming back. Canadians are getting stopped and searched by US authorities you know.”
(Can’t read the full email – click here for the online
version.)
You gotta love the stories from main stream media. Particularly the ones about all the hassles even Canadians are receiving from US border authorities, upon entering or leaving the country.
Our experience these past 5-6 months has been the exact opposite. And we have crossed into and out of the US no fewer than 8 times.
In fact, we have flown into the US twice this winter, once from Panama and the other South Africa and both times the immigration procedure was the easiest, fastest and most pleasant we have ever experienced.
Early this week, we finally drove back to Canada. Friends and family warned us to be wary. US officials had been stopping traffic before the border. You could have long delays.
Once again, we had no issues. In fact, there was only 1 car ahead of us, so we didn’t even have a long wait. The questions were the usual perfunctory ones about alcohol, guns and total value of purchases. (These are asked, of course, because our government taxes everything so much, they want to be sure they are getting their share.)
Needless to say, we didn’t have anything over the “legal”
limit to declare and the interrogation was brief. After which, the Canadian official bade us a “welcome home” and we continued on our merry way.
The real story, of course, is that you can’t listen and believe everything you read and hear. Much of it is anecdotal and not indicative of the whole picture. Often, crucial bits of information are left out, usually so the author of the story can fit his or her opinion to the facts, rather
than let the facts dictate what is really going on.
This is true for your business as well.
Say you have an idea for a new product or service. Or you are creating a new promotion for what you are already doing. You aren’t sure if your idea will work. So you ask friends and family for their opinion.
Here you will get
all kinds of replies. Some supportive. Some negative. None will be worth the time spent.
Why not?
Let’s use the case of an ad or a promotion you are trying to do.
Most people, for one, have no idea what makes an ad or promotion work. And if the ad looks ugly or seems to be very plain or in their mind, too
wordy, they will tell you that.
For one, none of these people know the principles that go into any successful promotion. You may not know either and that is because there are so few examples in the real world – especially if you only see ads from large companies online or off.
The second reason is that the only true test of your promotion is whether or not your target
customer acts on it, and enough of them end up purchasing whatever it is you are selling, such that the ad or promotion earns a positive ROI.
There is no other way.
Likes or comments on your ad do not pay your bills. Sales do.
By the way, the key principle you need to know to ensure your ad or promotion
will work, before testing it, is the “Conversion Equation”. I have a free resource you can use to evaluate any promotion or ad you are considering running. Click here to use it.
Until next week,
Stay healthy and focus on profit!
- Hugh
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert
P.S: If you are getting prospects
to talk to you but not converting them into paying clients, AND you are serious about improving your closing ratio – then I recommend you grab your FREE copy of NO B.S. Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses, right now. Click here to get it.
★ BECOME A HIGHLY PAID BUSINESS COACH WITH #1 COACHING PLATFORM ★
I am looking for individuals to help handle the exploding global demand for
business
coaching services. I’m willing to train [at my expense] the right individual with a
passion for wanting to help small business owners become successful.
NO travel - work from home. $225,000 first year income. If you or someone you
know is interested, click here and an 8 minute video will explain it all.