Martial Arts Professional Magazine

This is a brief excerpt of my in-depth Inter-view with Dan Kennedy. You can read the entire interview and participate in a live call, with Dan Kennedy and me, on July 15. Visit NAPMA.com/DanKennedy to register.Stephen Oliver: Let’s start with the so-called elephant in the room: the economy and the dreaded “R” word. Economists recession for months. People do seem troubled by gas and grocery prices. What’s your take on it all?

Dan Kennedy: First, you always have to temper what people say with objective reality. For example, if you listened to all the wailing about gas prices, you’d presume everyone’s cars were up on blocks, and people were huddled in their homes. During the recent Memorial Day weekend, however, there was only a 1% reduction in people driving 50 miles or farther from home, according to AAA.

No doubt, there are segments of the population adversely affected by this very specific inflation of gas and groceries. In big-ticket spending, slow-to-adapt companies have been whacked by the inevitable: consumers hitting the wall, using appreciating home equity as an ATM.
Even more telling, commercial real estate transactions increased during 2007, as compared to 2006, and are apace to grow again in 2008. There are more new investments in significant developments in and around the city of Cleveland than during the past seven years. In short, using the word, “recession,” is a big, fat, over-broad and over-simplified generalization. There are plenty of consumers, investors and business owners spending money. Further, there’s no profit in buying into this concept of a giant black cloud of doom over the entire land. Every business owner must constantly be asking himself or herself “Where’s the PROFIT in that?”- with regard to his or her thinking, analysis and actions.
Dan Kennedy: This is  a presidential election year, during which more than a half-billion dollars has been spent. Candidates, parties, and independent groups called 527-c’ s will spend another billion dollars,  most of it aimed at convincing voters that we are in crisis. One side cries, “Crisis and change.” The other side threatens, “Crisis requires steady, experienced hand.” Everyone’s selling crisis.

There is also a profound media bias, even what I call “media mental illness,” an unbalanced emphasis on reporting bad news, and ignoring good news. On CNN, you find good economic news only in the little type crawl across the bottom of the screen. You have to go to Fox Financial News, CNBC or The Wall Street Journal for a fully balanced presentation; and, of course, most people don’t. The gloom ‘n’ doom sales machine is cranked to high.

To quote one of the success authorities I studied, Earl Nightingale, “We become what we think about most.” If you DON’T actually MANAGE your thinking about the economy…if you let yourself accept the mainstream media and politicians’ selling of crisis, if you think about it, regurgitate it in conversation with others…then you’ll undoubtedly find yourself upside down in it.

It’s up to you to seek better, more complete information; and, incidentally, provide that same information to your customers <insert “parents” in place of  “customers,” if appropriate>. You’d better  be what I call a “good  news merchant,” influencing your students and parents’ thinking about this-yours may very well be the only such voice they hear, and being that lone voice of reason and encouragement can be very magnetic.

Receive the rest of this interview free and listen in to this month’s teleconference by registering at NAPMA.com/DanKennedy