Last week Bob Proctor, one of the giants of the personal development world, passed away (RIP).
When he was just 26 years old Proctor was gifted a copy of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and he credited it for his success …
Speaking of that book, one of my favourite stories in it is about an “enchanted kettle”.
Hill included the story of a young drug clerk named Asa Candler who spent his life savings ($500) buying an old-fashioned kettle, a wooden paddle, and a secret formula written on a slip of paper.
500 bucks might not seem like much nowadays, but this was back in 1888 when $500 was a large chunk of change.
So what was so special about that kettle and its contents? What magic words were written on the slip of paper???
(I’m not sure if a spoiler alert is needed since the book was written about 85 years ago, but you’ve been warned just in case…)
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The paper contained the recipe for Coca-Cola, which would go on to make billions of dollars, become the world’s most popular drink and a cultural icon.
The words on paper, by themselves, weren’t magic. If Candler had just installed some soda fountains in his drug stores and stuck to his neck of the woods (Atlanta), Coca-Cola would probably be dead today.
But Candler was a marketing genius. From Inc Magazine:
“Under Candler’s watch the Coca-Cola name was plastered on everything—calendars, clocks, fans, and even urns. Pharmacists selling the drink had apothecary scales emblazoned with the name. A team of traveling Coca-Cola syrup salesmen was sent out to ensure that pharmacists were mixing the beverage correctly with carbonated water, and that their stores were properly adorned with Coca-Cola logos and signs. Candler even contracted actress and singer Hilda Clark to be the face of Coca-Cola, initiating one of the first-ever celebrity endorsements …”
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The lesson: even if you have something good, you have to work your tail off to let people know about it!
Steve Love came across something that works extremely well to get coaching clients, and he calls it the “Soul Conversation” system …
He’s released an automated training around it available this week and you can watch it before he takes it down by going here:
