A few years ago a friend of the family, a retired school teacher, needed someone to help with the yard work and maintainence on her small farm. She had 3 llamas, a donkey, and 8 goats. And she also had 5 dogs and at least a dozen cats.
The pasture ran beside the house and stretched from the road down past the house to the barn yard. Most days, the llamas, donkey and goats would wander past the house on the way towards the road, and spend the day grazing and wandering around.
Towards evening, they would make their way past the house on the way to the barn yard. If the dogs were out, sometimes they would notice and not react.
Sometimes they would run up to the fence and start barking and running back and forth. The barn animals just ignored them and kept going. The dogs seemed to be happy and all was well.
One day, the owner was outside when the llamas and crew were making their way to the barn yard when one of the younger dogs decided to start barking and chasing them. The owner started yelling at the dog to stop. The dog wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just having a good time and making a lot of noise.
Every time the owner called the dog's name, he would come to where we were standing, panting and wagging his tail. I would call him over, pet and hug him, tell him what a good job he was doing, and told him to go get them!
The dog ran back to the animals and started barking and chasing them. The owner wasn't pleased, but I told her to relax. He wasn't hurting a thing, and he was just doing what dogs do. Dogs like to bark and chase things...
Of course, I didn't want the dog in the pasture chasing the animals. He was on the other side of the fence. He was spending a lot of energy and getting some good exercise.
I would not encourage him to chase other people or cars either. But I didn't see the harm in him doing what dogs do. And it made me happy to see him having fun.
You might wonder what this story has to do with Internet marketing. Why would a dog barking and running after farm animals have to do with anything at all?
To me the point is very clear. It is natural for the dog to chase and bark. That's what they do. And what I really appreciate about all of the dogs I've met or owned is that they come to you as they are. They are natural and I don't think they even have the ability to try to be something they aren't.
That's the same way I look at business. It's good for us to look at what other successful business owners are doing. How they craft their offer. How they compose their email messages.
What I believe is the most important thing to take away from this story is to just be yourself. Don't be afraid to let your personality show in your emails and marketing content. Don't ever believe that what you have to offer isn't good enough, or that you should try to be like someone else.
Be who you are. Don't be afraid, and don't apologize. Even our pets can be good examples of how we run our business.
