I noticed her from across the bar. She stood out with her long legs and blond hair and would easily have fit in at Hugh’s house where the men wear pajamas.

When she walked up, I could barely hear what she said over the music. We were at The Rum Jungle. A nightclub, where unless you’re on the list, it’s a two-hour wait just to get in.

I will get to the marketing in a bit…but let me tell you this story…it’s good gossip, so don’t tell anyone.

“Will you buy me a drink,” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and turned towards my buddy.

She walked around and wedged herself between my friend and I, obviously annoyed by my attitude.

“Can you believe this girl?” I asked, loud enough that she would hear.

“What’s your problem?” She demanded, obviously used to being the center of male attention in Las Vegas.

“He doesn’t buy drinks for girls, they buy drinks for him,” my buddy interjected, feeding off of my attitude.

“Um…ok!? What do you guys want?” And then the lady resembling playmate, bought us a round of drinks. We spent the rest of the evening together and dated afterwards.

I did everything “wrong,” and it worked! This was my first lesson in marketing…I mean dating.

Sex is Marketing

Everyone has to learn and master marketing, no matter what field or position you’re in. Employees, business owners and entrepreneurs.

Everything you’ve been taught is wrong!

I’m going to dispel a myth and it may bother you, but that doesn’t mean it’s untrue.

There are things in life we wish were not true, but it’s foolish to bury our heads in the sand and wish they were not so. It is, what it is, and we can either learn and adapt, or be angry and do nothing. It’s your choice.

***

I was fresh off a divorce. Out on the “scene” for my very first time, ever.

I married my high-school sweetheart, so unless you consider copying her homework in class as dating, I had never really experienced the whole dating scene. At least not back then.

So after my divorce, I was out on the “prowl” with other young guys trying to figure this whole thing out. After being in a such long relationship, none of this dating stuff made much sense. And to be honest, girls still don’t make much sense to me, but that’s another subject

I did what we are supposed to. I did what every guy does. I was a nice, bought drinks, offered dinner, and even kept myself in great shape. And when none of that worked, I lifted more weights. I mean, every guy knows that if he can bench press 325 pounds everything will fall into place, right?

Doing what we’ve been told works occasionally, but rarely do ladies notice these things during first encounters. And it doesn’t matter which “type” of girl you’re trying to meet. If you’re doing what everyone else does, no one will notice.

People do what they were led to believe is the right in all areas of life. When that doesn’t work, they do more of the same stuff that isn’t working.

So what does a playmate have to do with your job or business?

It wasn’t until I was frustrated that I accidentally stumbled upon what really works. You see, I didn’t plan that little stunt with the “playmate” in the bar. The reality was that I had already been blown off a few times during that night by other girls.

In my naiveté, I discovered that some girls go to bars intending guys they don’t even know, or intend to talk to, to finance their evening—silly me. Annoyed by the whole thing, I reversed the roles by accident.

Without realizing it, I got her attention in a way none of the other guys had. Then with her attention, I sold her on my benefits. Usually we begin by selling our features before we have their attention. That always fails.

Good marketing connects someone with a need to someone who has the solution. It’s difficult for these two people to find each other. The market is cluttered with too many messages competing for the same attention. Good marketing solves this.

The Lie You Tell Your Kids

“If you are the best at what you do, you will get business, be promoted and be successful.”

Unfortunately, this is not true. Not even slightly, and it’s usually a disappointing discovery. How many times have you seen an extremely attractive woman with a less than desirable looking man. A guy with no future, not even a nice guy, and wondered, how in the world did he get together with her?

 It happens with both sexes, and it happens all the time. We refuse to believe the world does not operate in from the lens we think is should, so we demonize the action?

“Oh, he must have lots of money or something.” Occasionally that’s the case, but more often, it’s not that at all.

The truth is that that this guy did a better job of marketing. He was able to get through the clutter better than all the others and capture her attention better than the rest.

Products

Year after year, Coke out sells Pepsi, yet in test after test, people enjoy the taste of Pepsi more.

Services

Who do you think is the best, or most well known, financial advisor in the world?

Suzie Orman?

Is she the most skilled, knowledgeable or even most qualified? Does she have the most credentials? Frequently at a financial advisor conventions, she is cited as a negative example of the ideal financial advisor, but  she clearly is the best marketer in the industry.

If Coke sells better, Suze Orman is not the most qualified, and the best man does not always get the best girl, why do we believe that “If you are the best at what you do, you’ll be successful.”

Origins of a Myth

Our parents, and in my opinion, a failing education system, has taught us that success comes from good grades, degrees, and climbing ladders. The school wants you to believe the more degrees, credentials, and letters after your name, the more successful you’ll be.

The graph below depicts median lifetime earnings based on formal education. With these results taken in isolation, it appears there are huge benefits of education. On average, someone with a professional degree will earn more than a high-school dropout, but that does not mean pursuing higher formal education will result in more income or higher levels of success.

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There is truth to the data on education and income, but it is misleading. It leads you to believe that formal education is the path to greater income, which I argue it is NOT the most direct path. This data ignores study and training in areas outside of formal education; for my purposes here, marketing and sales.

The college = success myth is the result of fabulous marketing from the education system itself. It’s in the best interest of schools to indoctrinate students into this belief to keep the bureaucracies running.

It’s what we WANT to be true. It is easier to believe what we think is fair and just. Often when we discover things that are unfair, we refuse to accept them.

Frank Kern, a multi-millionaire consultant to coaches and experts, said “The people who are professing to be experts, telling you what you can and can’t do in life and how to do it, are a bunch of fucking jackasses. The model that society teaches you to become successful is highly flawed.”

Expertise

Becoming a master of marketing, and sales, which are really the same, are the most important skills you can learn. No other skill is more likely to result in your success—no matter how you measure it. That may be the perfect spouse, advancement at your job, or a lot of money.

I’ve testified in court many times as an expert witness. Interestingly the legal definition of an expert is “one who has knowledge on a subject beyond that of an ordinary lay person.” That degree of knowledge always seemed rather thin to me, but it’s what is necessary in a court of law.

When you apply that measure to your profession, whatever that may be, it doesn’t require all that much to provide your services. Just how much expertise does it require you to competently handle your clients’ needs? Have you ever considered this? Consider this chart below.

Knowledge level of your customer vs. all available knowledge

This chart is a visual depiction of the skill required in any given field. This chart is not based on real data, just arbitrary numbers to visually illustrate a point. Here is the break down.

1. Red bar depicts your customer’s knowledge level of your field
2. Blue is the minimum knowledge required to perform the job, or pass entrance exams (Bar exam for example)
3. Your present skill level
4. Purple is the leader in the industry. The top guy. Smartest in the field
5. The bottom turquoise colored bar represents all available knowledge in the field

Gardener

To bring this from abstract to real, let’s use your gardener for example. He is operating in the green bar in the gardening field. He mows your lawns, trims your trees, and pulls the weeds.

He even knows the right fertilizer to use, something you do not, and he has set the sprinkler timer after you tried and failed. He does a good job and you’re happy.

He could return to college and study the science of blending two plant species so that your red roses mixed with white ones turn pink. It would take him four years of college and a degree to become “certified” to do this, but you don’t care about this. You just want your lawns mowed. If you wanted pink roses you’d go to Home Depot and buy them.

If he planned to continue as a gardener, do you think his business and income would grow if he learned more about his field, or learned how to market and attract more customers?

Would you be happier if he learned how to attract your neighbor as a customer? The neighbor that doesn’t currently mow his own lawn often enough?

Lawyer

Maybe that example was too blue collar. What if the playmate in the bar bought you a drink, and simultaneously, in another bar, a Chippendale is buying your spouse a drink. You both decide it’s time to part ways and skip into the sunset with your new found lovers. It’s time to hire a lawyer. 

You and your spouse agree to a divorce and hire an attorney to make your fantasies legal. You agree to split everything 50/50 and just need it written up.

Do you need a lawyer with twelve different sets of three letter initials after his or her name? Do you care if he has a PhD, MBA, or all kinds of other fancy sounding titles?

Most would say no, but assume he is minimally qualified if he is in the business. Do you check the credentials of your doctor? Most do not.

Life and business always regress to Pareto’s 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, you will only need twenty percent of the available skills to handle most tasks.

Fraud

What about that other 20% of the time? What if your client needs help in that minority area that you are not an expert in; the skills that only the leader in your field has learned? The expert depicted in purple in the chart above.

You have two choices.

1. Study and become qualified
2. Refer him to someone who already is qualified

Claiming you can help someone beyond your level of expertise is fraud, and the appropriate thing to do is refer them to someone else.

Triple Your Income

Here is where all this comes together. If the gardener example seemed obvious to you, then why aren’t you spending more of your time and energy learning and implementing marketing?

The reason is because it’s fun to learn more about your field. It’s comfortable. You entered your profession because you enjoyed the subject matter, so you have a natural tendency to want to learn more about your craft.

Professionals in all fields spend more time perfecting their craft then they do becoming better marketing and sales people. This is a huge mistake for you and your clients. Stop doing that!

For the most part, after you reach a certain level of expertise, there are diminishing marginal returns for the clients’ benefit and your income. You have to keep up to date, but don’t spend more time than is necessary learning things you’ll likely never use.

Employees

It’s equally important for employees to learn this way of thinking. You need to learn how your bosses and customers think and you will advance faster than anyone else in your organization.

According to Michael Ellsberg, “There’s no better way to rise up the ranks of your organization than bringing in new business, or coming up with ideas that bring in new business. Not in your job description?” Too bad, learn it if you want to advance faster.

Marketing Mentality

By becoming a better marketer you will provide your prospects and customers with a better experience.

“Marketing is a mentality. It’s a worldview that puts customer’ emotional reality first, and inquires deeply about their needs, wants, and desires.” Michael Ellsberg, the author of Education of Millionaires.

The majority of the value that most service providers offer is not the in-depth technical know-how. That is a percentage of it, but the bulk is the ability to influence your clients to make good decisions. The core of understanding marketing is understanding human psychology and influence.

Why do you think most people hire personal trainers? Is it because of their knowledge of kinesiology, nutrition science, and exercise technique? I’ve been in that industry for a long time and I can tell you with certainty, the answer is no.

Everyone already knows they need to eat less, and exercise more. However, they don’t know how to motivate themselves to do it. That is what they need you for.

The financial planning industry is no different. Spend less, save more. Easy right? Wrong. It’s very hard to implement especially with competing psychological priorities for their money. In every industry, there are the technical details that people hire experts for advice on, but the overwhelming majority of the value service providers offer is influence.

Still don’t believe me? Schedule an appointment with your doctor. You know, the high paid guy that went to school for, like 500 years, or something. I bet before you leave, he will tell you to exercise more and watch your diet (now you owe me for an office visit).

When you become an expert at marketing, you will learn to shift the perspective of your business from your eyes, to your customer’s eyes. You will discover what it is that they want and need and you will be able to deliver your services to them even better.

You will be able to expand your reach and help more people. The majority of service providers enter a profession first out of a desire to help people; second to make money. If you’re not able to get their attention, and demonstrate the value you will add to their lives, they will not hire you, nor will they benefit from your services.

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BREAKING NEWS: My secret project finally revealed (important)

For about the past 6 years, I’ve been secretly working on and testing a new strategy: A repeatable formula to arranging your Time, Money, and Income on autopilot so You Can Live Life on Your Own Terms.

I’ve implemented, tested, tweaked, and revised it…

….and it WORKED FAR BETTER than I could have ever imagined.

I’m going to share the formula ONLY with my online community, on Wednesday, February 15, at 7:00 PM Pacific, during a Free 60 minute content rich online training.

I’ve never shared this before and it’s exclusively available to our online community from ChuckRylant.com. (So please don’t share this)

This is the most important and valuable work I’ve done to date, and I’m sharing it with you.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 15^th at 7:00 PM Pacific. Block out 60 minutes. Be sure to bring pen, paper and a calculator.

You’ll need a private password to get in the training and everyone that is a subscriber to my blog updates will receive the password by email. I will send you a reminder the day of the training. Click here for the training on February 15^th at 7:00 PM Pacific.

IMPORTANT: If you do NOT receive my blog updates by email already, add your name and email to the form on the hand right sidebar to make sure you receive the password and reminder for the training.

I promise this will blow the doors off anything you’ve ever learned before.

Big claim, I know.

Chuck

Photo: Taken Superbowl Sunday at Shell beach with my son on my iPhone

During the launch of my book, I tested a promotion that grew my Facebook fan page from nothing to over 1200 likes in five days for less than $150 in expenses. Here’s exactly how I did it and why you may, or may not, want to do it yourself.

I’ve had a Facebook page for a long time, but I pretty much ignored it. It sat there with about 30 fans and no interaction from me. Facebook requires your page have 25 “likes” before you can customize the URL, so long ago I got 25 friends to click like so I could lock in my own name as a domain name. You should do this immediately to claim your name.

Outcome

When you plan any marketing, it’s important to be clear of your desired result. Most business owners and beginning marketers aim too broadly and usually fail in their marketing. This is the weakness of most branding advertising and why it’s common to hear, “I ran an ad and it didn’t do anything.” You’ll be more successful with smaller, more refined goals.

This Facebook promotion was a small phase of a strategically timed book launch. From the 10,000 foot view, the goal was to saturate my market with news of my new personal finance and investing book from multiple fronts with a tiny budget. The Facebook page was one small piece of a multi-phase online sequence.

Here were the goals with the Facebook Page test:

1. Get likes to my Facebook page
2. Get opt-ins to my email list
3. Expose a new audience to and sell books

I often catch my new business or advisor marketing clients following what they see other successful entrepreneurs doing without understanding the strategy behind the scenes. This is often a huge mistake because if you follow what’s observable, you may be missing the key details that can make it work.

For example, if you followed this little Facebook campaign to sell books, you’d be disappointed to see the results. It sold very few books, but that was third on the list of objectives. The focus was to get “likes,” and everything after that was a bonus. It’s impossible to pursue multiple goals with equal energy—all three will fail. Instead focus on one outcome, with others secondary.

Prior to this test, the bulk of my Facebook marketing had been using a personal profile or paid advertising. I wanted to experiment with the Facebook Page because the marketing tools for pages are becoming more powerful.

I wanted to get “likes” to the page for credibility because getting your first 1000 plus followers on a page helps build social proof that others look for when meeting you for the first time online. Building a new following on Facebook enables me to continue the relationship until the time they may need one of my products or services.

The second goal was to get people to opt-into my email list. Again, this is another way to continue the relationship over time by providing lots of free training and information.

Last on the priority list was to introduce the right people to my new book.

Facebook Reveal Tab

The first thing we did was create a custom landing tab on my Facebook Page. I have several pages, but this one is in my name as opposed to a business name. It also uses my photo as opposed to a logo. Here is a discussion about why you should consider a personal presence on Facebook instead of a company or logo.

There are many ways to create your page. You should consider a graphic designer to create your images and text. You’ll also need someone to set up and do the programming for the custom tab. Each page can have several tabs. A tab is the Wall, Photos, or in this case, a custom designed one. Consider a tab like a page on your website.  

I’ve tried doing everything myself to hiring a service that sets it all up and charges a monthly “maintenance” fee. If you’re running a lean home based business, these monthly fees will quickly add up. Unless you’re sophisticated and making money through your page, these fees will probably not be worth it.

What some of my clients and I are using now is simple software called DoubleYourLikes. It helps you create the graphics and uses a very simple editor to quickly create Facebook tabs that look professional. The software is fast and easy, and it has a low one-time fee WITHOUT a recurring subscription.

DoubleYourLikes creates a reveal page which allows you to display one tab to new visitors and then show something different after they click “Like.” People are more likely to click “like” than enter an email address, so it’s a less obtrusive way to build a prospect list.

“What’s in it for Me?”

The key to success on a Facebook page is to give something of value to everyone that clicks “like” on your page. Always remember “What’s in it for me?” Give someone a good reason to click “like” on your page. That reason should be the answer to one of their problems that your business provides the solution. This can be in a video, a downloadable report, or anything that provides helpful content—not a brochure.

Once you get that set up, send an invite to about 30 of your friends. Once you get 25 “likes,” name your Facebook URL so that it is set in stone. (Do this right away to lock in your name). Instead of an obscure domain name like www.facebook.com4847309%$#$#, instead it can look like http://www.facebook.com/ChuckRylant

Get First Visitors

After everything was functioning properly, I began inviting my existing Facebook friends to the page. My assistant did this manual process nightly until everyone had been invited. Facebook only allowed us to invite a limited number of people each twenty-four period. A lot of your friends will click like just to be nice.

Simultaneously we posted links to my personal page as status updates once a day for a week with an ethical bribe to influence them to take action. Each day we posted something different:

• “Get a free sample of Chuck’s new book at (link)”
• “5 Steps to Getting out of Debt – free video training series (link)”
• “Nine chapters of Chuck’s book Free (link)”

When I posting links, I use a trackable link shortener like goo.gl to measure how many people click the links. This helps me measure what captures peoples’ interest to later use in email subject lines.

I also posted the same links in Twitter and Linked.

Facebook Contest

Running a contest on Facebook can be very effective but I found there are pros and cons to it. I will cover the downside later, but first let me explain how the contest works.

You need to use a software application designed specifically for contests to make it efficient and to stay within Facebook’s rules. You don’t want violate their terms of service. They are the dictator of their regime with no phone number, email, or way to contact their overseas slave labor if they ban your account. It’s not that they’re incredibly difficult to deal with, I’m just sayin.

I used a product called Wildfire, which I’m reluctant to mention, but there are others on the market. It kind of did what it was supposed to do, but not completely, and their customer service was disappointing. Their software helps you create a custom Facebook tab and manages your contest. I offered a sweepstakes for a free Kindle with my book installed to a randomly drawn winner. The software will even draw a winner for you.

The way the process was supposed to work was when a visitor landed on the contest tab in Facebook, they were given instructions to enter the contest.

1. Click like
2. Enter name and email

After they entered, they were supposed to be sent to a feature allowing them to share the contest by posting a link on Facebook so their friends could also enter the contest.

Here is where the viral power of this type of software could be powerful. If one friend shares this on their page and/or with five of their friends, this process repeated over and over can become viral. The problem was the software was temperamental. It worked sometimes, but most of the time I tested it, or during feedback from friends, it froze up during the share feature.

If the contestant entrant successfully shared it, only then would then be kicked over to another page where they would be offered the option to enter their name and email for free training videos and a sample of my book. The structure of your contest should vary depending on the order of you priorities.

Facebook Event

I used the Kindle contest as a reason to create a Facebook event. Facebook events are very effective because it’s one of the few ways you can send your entire friend list a private message. Use this with discretion, but it works VERY well. Most people think a chance to win an Amazon Kindle is pretty cool, and I hadn’t used an event to promote for a couple of years, so I didn’t get any complaints.

I also used this same opportunity to send a message my other email subscribers. Everyone received an invitation to enter my contest and this drove my email subscribers to my Facebook page.

Results

1659 people visited my contest page. 1,105 people entered the contest. A total of about 1200 new people clicked “like” on my new Facebook page. There is no accurate data how many people shared the contest application and the number of people that entered my email list and/or bought my book was very, small.

From the perspective of getting new Facebook “likes,” it was a success. Getting email subscribers and books sales—It was a complete failure.

However, the contest was designed with likes as the top priority, so the other two goals were bound to be less successful. Because of the software technical issues, I suspect only a very tiny percentage of contest entrants were ever exposed to my email list or the free book sample.

It’s hard to determine with this first test if the software is solely to blame for the low book sales, but there is an important psychographic that should be considered.

You Get What You Pay For

After talking with other authors and marketers, I’ve found similar sales results from Facebook contests. What you offer as an incentive will largely determine the success of your contest. Let me ask you which would be a success:

1. 10,000 Facebook page likes / 10 book sales
2. 100 Facebook page likes / 90 book sales

There is no right or wrong answer because it depends on your goals, but who you attract will largely be determined by what you offer and the hoops entrants have to go through to enter. Free and easy is not always better.

I assumed a free kindle would attract a mass audience of readers. Presumably, that would at least weed out those who couldn’t read. If you’re pursuing CEO’s of Fortune 500 corporations, they’re highly unlikely to spend time entering a sweepstakes for a drawing for a $100 give-away. It was obvious in hindsight, but initially, I got caught up in how easy and inexpensive it was to attract a high number of “likes” quickly.

After the contest, I deleted the names and email addresses from the entrants because it attracted the wrong people. I’ve spent thousands of dollars building similar sized lists in the past, so deleting that list was hard. But during the contest, I assembled a group of people who the majority had no relationship with me and were only interested in getting something for free; many had no jobs, money, or interest in the services I provide. It was a cheap lesson.

If I were to do this again, I would focus on getting smaller numbers, but better qualified leads. Giving away something more specific to my business would have attracted fewer numbers, but the people that clicked “like” on my page, would be far more interested in the type of content I provide on my page and it would be mutually more valuable.

P.S. While you’re here, if this type of info is helpful, please click the “Like” box on the menu bar on the right to get new articles on Facebook.

Please share your contest experiences or questions below.

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Let’s be honest about these first of the year resolutions. According to a study,

But I do think you should set strategic goals. Semantics? Perhaps, but one is 88% likely to fail; the other has a very high probability of success. Here’s the difference.

So many resolutions fail because they’re not aligned with a burning desire to accomplish them. For example, these are common resolutions:

• Lose weight
• Save money
• Take a family vacation
• Quit smoking

None of these is specific, nor are there any action steps. But, the real problem is they’re derived almost out of thin air.

 There isn’t a deep and compelling reason to put in the hard work necessary to accomplish those goals. The mistake in traditional goal setting, or New Year resolutions, is that the focus is on the end goal, not the reasons why you want to accomplish them.

When focus shifts from the goal, to the motivation behind the goal, things change. Instead of making an arbitrary resolution to lose weight, instead evaluate your life for all things that cause you stress or prevent you from doing want you want. The stuff that keeps you up at night.

Frustration List

One way to discover these things is to write a list of everything you dislike or are frustrated by. Get a pen and paper, or use your computer, and just start writing. Write every little thing that annoys or causes you stress; everything you’d change if you could wave a magic wand and make it disappear.

When you do this exercise, it’s important not to limit yourself by thinking it’s impossible to change something. Write those things down too. Make the list long—hundreds of things—everything.

You’ll be amazed what you will discover with this quick exercise.

Clarity

When you get clear about what you really want to change, your true goals will emerge along with powerful motives. It’s impossible to set goals that you’ll stick to without clarity.

Brian Tracy, an expert author and speaker, says only three percent of the population writes their goals. According to research, those three percent are one thousand times more likely to accomplish their goals. 

The reason writing works so well is twofold. Before you can write something down, you first have to become crystal clear about it in your own mind. The act of writing your goals forces you to think things through.

Secondly, after you write your goals, you can review them daily. It’s much easier to focus and manage your time when your priorities are clear and in writing.

Implementation

Every year I leave town for a couple of days to plan and write my goals for the upcoming year. I just returned from San Francisco where I spent a couple of days working through this process.

At one point during my trip, I sat overlooking the harbor with a pen and paper and just wrote for a few hours. There is something about being away from your normal distractions with time to think and jot down notes. It’s amazing how much comes to you with a little solitude. Later during my trip, I organized my random notes into a plan for the year.

Perfect Life Manifesto

I recently revised my workbook that outlines how I do this entire goal setting process. I’ve never promoted this little book, but if you’d like to check out, I’m happy to send you a free copy, if you would just help me out with the shipping and handling. I would love feedback in case I ever promote the workbook in the future. You can enter your shipping details here. I think I will send you some cool videos I’m working on too.

You can take that 88% chance of failing and flip it to an 88% chance of success with a little focused effort. What are your goals for 2012 that you will achieve? Sharing them publicly increases your chances of accomplishing them.

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When I received an advance copy of Carl Richard’s book The Behavior Gap, I read it cover to cover in one day. It’s rare that I come across original thinking in the personal finance world and I wanted to bring some of that original thinking to you.

I was fortunate to spend some time with Carl and we recorded our conversation about money its impact on our lives. Carl is known for taking complex financial issues and breaking them down into simple to understand drawings that could fit on the back of a napkin.

One of my favorite drawings from Carl depicts the relationship between money and happiness. Carl explained how we face this contradiction in life where we feel that if we can make just a little more money we’ll be happy, but we’re also told that money doesn’t buy happiness. According to Carl, there is truth in both statements. Be sure to listen to his explanation.

The Financial Planning Industry

We talked about the personal finance industry in general and Carl and I share very similar philosophies. “We’ve fallen prey to this idea that complexity is some sort of intellectual gift,” Carl said.

The industry tends to over complicate the financial planning process by focusing on a product called the “Plan.” When I asked Carl about these plans, he was very clear. “Financial planning is a process…not a 2” binder. A Financial plan is worthless, the process of planning is vital.” I couldn’t agree more.

When I asked him to sum up the message of the book, Carl told me, “If you’re trying to make sense of all these important decisions. The reality is financial planning is about making incredibly important decisions under an extreme uncertainty.”

Free Offer

Carl has been generous enough to offer the first 20 of my readers an 8” x 10” print of his Fear/Greed drawing that is perfect for framing in your office for client discussions.

To get your copy of the print, simply order The Behavior Gap at Amazon and forward a copy of the book receipt to the email address: book(AT)behaviorgap.com (replace AT with @)and be sure to include “Offer from Chuck Rylant” in the subject line. Include your shipping address in the email for delivery of the print.

You can learn more about Carl at behaviorgap.com and also sign up for his free newsletter.

All images included here are owned by and used with permission of Carls Richards.