Posted on Saturday, 24th September 2011 by Mark Chambers
By Madeleine Miehls, owner of the Write Side of Business LLC
Well, I just watched Never Say Never, the Justin Bieber biography – ordered it from Netflix. Though not a “Bieber Fever” family, as a business owner I saw lessons we can all learn from this musically gifted young man and his manager — marketing methods that anyone can apply, whether a gifted musician, a recent graduate from medical school just starting out or the owner of a mid-sized business ready to reach new heights. First and foremost, I want to share that I found great comfort in seeing a young man not afraid to pray — in public. Far too often lately, anything “Christian-based” has been ridiculed or avoided completely on the big screen and I found it refreshing that the movie included prayer before a concert, prayer before a meal and at other times. The movie showcased a person who looks like he has it all, but is smart enough to rely on something bigger than himself – he knows his gifts are there because of grace given by a higher being — God. As I watched the movie, I found myself saying over and over…what a great idea! What a great idea. The phenomenon of Justin Bieber obviously started with raw talent — talent not yet discovered. Enter Scooter Braun who became Bieber’s manager and along with Usher nurtured the talent over the course of 3-4 years — producing the product we see today. It looks easy on screen. It looks like anyone can be a superstar given the right circumstances and mix. What is your mix? What are your circumstances? What needs to come together for you to be a success? Watching the movie I mulled these questions — and many more over in my mind. And then I hit that aha moment, when it all seemed clear. No, odds are we won’t all be able to earn $53 million in a year — as Bieber did, but what are we capable of? There were valuable lessons in the movie that we can all benefit from. What are they? 1) Hard work. Show up at the plate every day and work to perfect your skill. Maybe you can’t practice an instrument 4 hours a day or work on public speaking if that’s your “thing” 4 hours a day, but you can do something. Tenacity is the key. Are you tenacious enough — persistent enough to never give up, or in Bieber’s own words, to “Never Say Never.” Are you? 2) Work simple. It doesn’t have to be fancy. The Bieber movie wasn’t fancy. Much of the footage looked amateurish and that was part of its appeal. It stayed organic for the audience, not filled with special effects. The website www.kahnacademy.org teaches math, science and a host of other subjects to youth in 10 minute snipets — with simply a blackboard set-up and voice but no fancy graphics or “human” video content and has been a great success, in part I believe because it sells you on simple. The content matters, not how fancy the graphics are. Yes, it’s true people do make snap judgments when they see a report or visit a website and decide whether you or your firm have the ”professional look” — but you can pack a lot of professionalism in being simple — on target, and to the point. 3) Connect with your audience. A few words here. Bieber is a pro at using social marketing to the ultimate advantage to grow his brand — through Twitter by announcing to fans which radio station he’d be at when he first got started marketing his content, then through Facebook, YouTube and other portals. And he did a lot of ground work — hitting up every radio station around, turning nobody down if they would listen to him, interview him and talk to him, regardless of whether they played his songs on their radio station or not. He planted seeds of success and it took about 4 years before it really paid off. It looks easy. We see the success story — the guy makes millions, plays to huge crowds and enjoys fame and all it brings. But it didn’t start out that way. And people forget about the humble beginnings. And his beginnings were very humble. But they were nurtured. 4) Get Nurtured. Find someone or a group that can support you in what you are trying to accomplish, whatever the profession. If there isn’t a group you can find — start one! If it doesn’t work out, start another. It’s how you become successful, by finding the right groups and professionals who can nurture you along your career path and help promote you and your business — hopefully while you promote theirs in return. 5) Don’t give up! It only takes one success. It might be preceeded by 50 or 500 or 5000 failures. It doesn’t matter. Bieber’s manager Braun said something in a blog post along the lines of …”What would have happened if I hadn’t found Justin’s videos online or his mom didn’t post them online on YouTube? Where would he have ended up? Where would he be now?” Good questions — and I think most of us know the answer — probably in high school like most teens his age. But he’s not. Yes, he has talent, very special skills, but so do you and I and we need to cultivate them and continue to find our own audience for them. Like Braun said, ”It only takes one success, but to get it you have to be willing to fail.” Are you willing?
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Tags: Bieber, Justin Bieber
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