“There are three ways of doing things: good, bad, and how I do them.” ~ Pablo Escobar
Dear subscriber,
Much has been said about the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, hasn’t there?
There are documentaries, movies, and TV shows about the man aplenty.
Escobar is now more entrenched in pop culture than Lizzo in a hammock.
However, few people talk about Escobar’s business savvy.
That’s understandable I guess.
I’m sure if Jeff Bezos killed 4,000 people while building Amazon, people wouldn’t be talking about his business acumen either. The only thing Bezos could be guilty of killing is his employees’ aspirations and will to live.
Now think about this: do you really think anyone can build a $30 billion dollar empire in the 80s by just being a bloodthirsty killer?
Sure, in Escobar’s line of work, being a stone-cold killer is a helpful attribute, but make no mistake, the man had a business acumen to match his ruthlessness.
Now, just because I like you, I’m going to share with you a few business lessons from the King of Cocaine that any righteous business owner could use to help their business.
Sound good?
Great.
But before I do, I think it would be fun to give you a few little-known facts about Pablo Escobar.
Little-Known Facts About The King of Cocaine
*Pablo didn’t break that many laws himself. He got others to break them for him! When it came to being in Pablo Escobar’s pocket, the police, politicians, journalists, attorneys, and judges were more in the pocket than John Bonham playing When The Levee Breaks.
*Escobar’s modus operandi was this: “plata o plomo”, meaning: silver or lead?
In other words, take the bribe or take a bullet.
Pablo sure did have a way with words, didn’t he?
*Obviously, Escobar was making “backstroking Scrooge McDuck” amounts of money. But how much money was that really?
Well, get this:
At the height of his powers, he was dragging in a cool $420 million dollars per week! At that time he was spending $2,500 a month just on rubber bands to hold his mountains of cash.
One time while on the run, he burned $200 million dollars in cash to keep his daughter warm.
*Escobar’s biggest business headache was his money. Simply put, he had too much of it! And because his money was dirtier than a nursing home’s toilet floor, he had to launder it. But poor old Escobar couldn’t launder it quickly enough. So, he had to try and hide it. Now, obviously, he couldn’t just stuff it under his mattress, right? Even if Pablo owned all the mattress factories in the world he couldn’t hide that money. So, where did he hide it? He hid it in the walls of buildings, in warehouses, and buried much of it in fields.
*Nobody found his money buried in the fields, but the rodents sure did! And boy oh boy, did they like it! The rats chewed on Escobar’s money like a nervous redneck chews tobacco. Rats do this (chew stuff) to sharpen their teeth.
Get this: Escobar lost about 10% of his money ($2.1 billion dollars) each year due to those pesky rats gnawing on his cash.
Poor Pablo.
Okay, enough with the fun facts, let’s get down to brass tacks.
5 Biz Lesson From Escobar:
(1) Escobar understood human psychology. The single best way to get people to like you (or at least tolerate you) is to give them something they like. He gave the Colombian people soccer fields, houses, hospitals, and he housed the poor. Escobar understood the “Robin Hood” phenomenon – if you’re gonna be a crook, at least be a likable one. Escobar made sure journalists took pictures and wrote about all his charity work. The cat knew how to brand himself.
Sometimes bad people are perceived as good and sometimes good people are perceived as bad.
In any case, one thing remains true: perception is reality.
How do people perceive your brand? Hm?
(2) He understood the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Escobar knew his product needed to be truly superior so people would recommend it to others. And recommend it they did. Reports say that in the 80s, 4 out of 5 Wall Street yuppies were snorting Escobar’s product.
What do your customers say about your product after they use it?
(3) He understood how to pick a market. Not all markets are created equal. At first, Pablo was selling his product for $10 bucks a gram to Colombians. It wasn’t long before his product was being snorted up by America’s celebrities in Miami nightclubs for $500 bucks a gram.
Same product – different market.
Are you sure you’re in the right market? Is there another market you could tap into? Often you don’t need to change your product, but rather… who you sell to!
(4) There are three ways of doing things: good, bad and how I do them” ~ Pablo Escobar
Are you a copycat or do you have your unique ways of creating and delivering your product or service, huh?
(5) “I don’t want to be good. I want to be great.” ~ Pablo Escobar
Are you settling for good when you could be great?
Your friend,
Kelvin
Email Marketing Maverick
P.S. Want my secrets to selling with email? Then looketh here: https://kelvindorsey.com/email-mavericks-playbook/
P.S.S. Are you getting value from these emails? If so, don’t forget to spread the word about my wonderfulness.
I’d really appreciate it.
Peace.
