What does Jimmy Buffet really do all day?

So much for just “hanging out” in the Sunshine State – I thought it sounded like a great idea – and idea I knew I could actually “take action” on. But then I got the “bad news”.

Success and wealth are attracted to “action”.

I’ll credit one of my mentors, Dan Kennedy for that tip – even though it totally screws up any ideas I had about just “hanging out” around the pool and palm trees now that Kate and I have relocated to Punta Gorda, Florida.

In the article by Robert Skrob below you’ll get an inside look at Jimmy Buffet’s real lifestyle and how “lying around all day in a hammock” with a Margarita in hand just isn’t in the equation for him – yet he has marketed and sold that lifestyle masterfully for decades now.

The “take away” I got from the story below is that money is NOT attracted to “ideas” – money IS attracted to “action”.

How many great ideas have we all had and not acted on, only to see someone else, usually not unusually brilliant or smarter than we are act on that very same idea with great success, sometimes leading to a small or large fortune – for them?

After you read Jimmy Buffet’s story below why not make a list of all of the great ideas you have had over the years and then make a commitment to act on just one – or maybe even two?

In most cases, simply getting started gets us more than halfway to the finish line!

Here is Jimmy’s story as told by Robert Skrob – another one of my mentors. I recommend that you read it in its entirety. It’s got several great messages about sales, marketing and the value of “taking action”.

By Robert Skrob – President, Information Marketing Association

Few musical artists have made more money or had as long a career as Jimmy Buffet. I went “undercover” at Jimmy’s concert this month to uncover his secrets for you.

By 11:00 a.m. the parking lot was slammed. It was impossible to find a parking place ... for an 8:00 p.m. show! Don’t worry about me; I was deep undercover, so I was there by 7:00 a.m. with the gas powered blender. To battle the cold weather, we mixed coffee drinks until 10:00 a.m. I brought the cigarette lighter plug-in coffee pot I bought at the truck stop.

O.K., so I was deep undercover. I looked like a crazy Parrot Head, as Jimmy’s fans call themselves. But, it was all for you. Here is what I learned:

One of the most profound choices Jimmy has made in his business is to give his fans exactly what they want. Every album follows the same template: a couple of party songs, a sad story, a ballad and a couple of middle of the road songs. With rare exception, every song tells a story. About the 4th album he discovered the formula, and the template was cast. His concerts for the last 15 years always include eight specific songs, because those are the songs his fans want to hear.

Many artists get bored with what works. Certainly the music critics have blasted Jimmy’s simpleminded style. But that is the entire point—it isn’t simpleminded. It’s a deliberate choice to provide a target market with exactly what that market wants.

About his restaurants, Jimmy has said, “All people want is a good hamburger and a great margarita, and that’s what we give them.” Yes, it would have been a lot more interesting to create a restaurant with fancy dishes and gourmet meals; however, he understands what his market wants, and he provides it.

Jimmy became the leader of his first band because he was the only one responsible enough to have credit. With that credit he could buy the equipment, so that made him the leader. From then on, he understood that business smarts are required to make money at anything, including playing music.

After his records became popular, he noticed other people selling T-shirts with quotes from his songs on them. His copyrighted song lyrics. While he did make efforts to stop them, he figured if others were making and selling shirts, maybe he should create shirts, too. That’s how Jimmy’s current merchandising empire was born.

Now he manufactures, sells and licenses his song lyrics, images and Margaritaville trademarks and sells thousands of products. These include flip flops, frozen shrimp, blenders, glassware, auto accessories, plush toys—you name it. That’s not all. In the last year, he released a studio album, a live concert album and a live concert DVD; opened a resort hotel, had a 40-show concert schedule; and ran his restaurants.

Jimmy has proven there is no end to customers’ willingness to buy, once they have bought into you. How can you leverage your relationship with your customers? Are there additional ways you can recruit others to create products and services for your customers that you can license and make a profit from? Your customers are buying products from someone; it might as well be you.

I asked Parrot Heads at the concert what Jimmy’s life was like. They told me he flies his planes around, lies in a hammock at the beach and parties every night. I asked where his main home is, and I got answers from Fort Myers to Key West to St. Barts.

Jimmy actually lives in Long Island, N.Y. Fact is, Jimmy is busy working. He puts in a ton of hours behind a desk, on the phone with show promoters, working with restaurant managers and selling every manner of product. However, all of these sales depend on him perpetuating the myth that he lives at the beach and sleeps in a hammock.

Of course, Jimmy did live in Key West and had his share of fun. But, while he lived there he supported himself by working as a first mate on a fishing boat. Every day, at the dock at 6:30 a.m. so he could spend his day in the sun cutting bait, baiting hooks for tourists, taking their fish off the hooks and cleaning fish for tips. Then, to build his music career, he sang in local bar until 2:00 a.m., grabbed some sleep and started all over again. His experience was not as romantic as it is publicly portrayed.

The myth is Jimmy enjoys a life of leisure. He does enjoy his life, but it’s because he’s working hard at something he loves. When you are giving people what they want and they praise you for it, it makes work a lot of fun.

Take time to enjoy the fruits of your business, but more importantly, enjoy the work. You have the opportunity to positively impact thousands of people with the information you possess. Thousands of people who will gladly support you in style if you do it right. You have a rare opportunity to escape to the good life of information marketing.

- Robert Skrob

At least Kate and I can go to a Jimmy Buffet concert now with a totally clear conscience – we’ll call it marketing research. Maybe our accountant will even let us write it off as a business expense!

Dedicated to helping you get more clients, keep more clients and generate more sales and profits,
Rob Oliver
P.S. It would

be great to here any story’s about how “taking action” on one of your ideas has paid off for you!