Fifteen Minutes with...John North
This ‘Fifteen Minutes With…’ features John North. He is the author of ‘Everything You Know About Marketing is Wrong’, a bestselling business book and ‘the bible’ for many marketers and business owners around the world. He is also CEO and Publisher at Evolve Global Publishing. He’s a fascinating entrepreneur and also someone who has been on an amazing business journey. You can find his latest project here. We caught up with him for fifteen minutes.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in business, and how did you deal with it?
I had a business once that got attacked by my own supplier who set up someone against me despite having exclusive rights. It was 7 years of hell to fight the competitor and supplier to stay in business.
Whilst a lot of dirty tricks were played on us we kept the high moral ground and used business tactics to fight them. In the end we sold the business, looking back we should have downsized earlier and become more nimble .
What's the best thing about being an entrepreneur?
Having independence to be able to choose my own journey. Being able to change my products or services to suit my lifestyle and availability
What's your elevator pitch?
“Help Entrepreneurs write a book in as little as 90 days, without writing a single word and be a best seller.” www.evolveoinstantauthor.com
Which business quote has had the biggest influence on your career?
“People will wait 24 hours longer and pay 10% More”
To what single personality trait do you attribute your success?
Being honest and to the point with my clients. As well as always putting my clients needs at top of mind when doing work for them.
How do you select employees? What process do you go through and what questions do you ask yourself?
We always ask them to do tasks through the interview process that they would do when they are employed. We also have them come in on a trial day to see what the job was like and the other staff have input into whether they should join the team.
What was your first ever business idea?
I started a computer consulting company in early 1990’s We bundled PC’s, software and services together and created a monthly finance package. We would “rollover” these packages every 2 years so they had the latest equipment. It allowed us to create a $1.2M recurring business within 2 years.
What is the weirdest (or bravest) marketing tactic you have used?
We held a conference and had various speakers invited. We went big on the marketing including TV. One the of ads we ran showed top frontal nudity (very tastefully done)
We had so many people show up that we got overrun. We expected 8-100 and got 300 show up .
We suffered from being too successful because we weren’t ready for that many people. It went well in the end and generated a lot of business.
What is your favourite business book? Why?
“The E-myth” would have to be it ! It is a great book from a systems concept as well as a template for marketing books.
Oh also my own book “Everything You Know About Marketing is Wrong” www.johnnorth.com.au
Who would you most like to have dinner with?
I think Tony Robbins, if he isn’t available then Sharon Stone.
You can catch John’s latest groundbreaking work here with The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Focus.