Here’s a lesson I found in nature that helps me with my copywriting and marketing.
Everyday I get up, walk outside and check out my bamboo trees. I look for new shoots. I observe the growth of the shoots that have already broken through the soil, and measure how tall they have grown overnight.
Then I begin watering the bamboo that needs it.
One of the bamboo species I grow will eventually max out at 90 feet. They’re not there yet. In fact, they’re not even close. But if I don’t water them everyday with the vision of seeing them growing bigger and taller and more abundant, they never will.
It’s going to take five to seven years for this species of bamboo to reach 80 or 90 feet. Somedays I have doubts about whether they will ever grow that tall. I wonder if I have the ideal soil, the perfect temperature (they originate in Burma and Thailand).
Last year, I spoke with the head-honcho at the nursery I bought these bamboo from. I asked her, “How long is it going to take for them to grow 90 feet?”
She replied, “That’s a good question. It will take at least five years. It takes time for the rhizomes to gather enough strength for the culms to grow that tall. If the rhizomes aren’t strong enough, if there’s not a strong enough foundation, they won’t make it.”
Now, some of my other bamboo trees grow to their full height within one year, and they put out new shoots really fast. Recently I bought four new bamboo plants from Chiangmai, Thailand, and they are already delivering the goods. I am happy to see them growing so quickly.
And then I look at the so-called giant bamboo that is hovering around the 25 foot mark. Why can’t they grow to their maximum height just as fast?
Well, I already know the answer. Even so, it still sucks.
That’s the way it is with marketing. Some of the things you do, such as emailing, give you immediate and instantaneous results. You start making money, sometimes so fast it’s shocking.
But then there’s that other goal you have, and you’re not there yet. You’re not even close.
So what do you do? You keep watering and fertilizing. You continue to do the work. And before you know it, five to seven years have passed, and you can now stand back in awe, looking up in wonder.
Five to seven years is going to come and go whether or not I water the future giants. So the best thing I can do is keep watering them, one day at a time. And once these 25-footers have turned into giants, I need to keep watering them.
That’s the lesson.
But there’s more to the story because there’s these pesky little creatures called spiders, who want to disrupt what I’m doing. Believe it or not, these spiders have given me even more insights into marketing, into growing the business. Even more insights than the bamboo.
And I cover six of these vitally important lessons in the July issue of my Zen Mastery Newsletter. These lessons are game changers you can put to use immediately, if you’re willing to do the work and have both a short and long-term vision of what you want to create.
You can still get the July issue, but the doors will be closing soon.
Read all about these lessons, and many more, by clicking here.
Matt Furey
