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E-ssential
Message # 041:
One step toward your Essential Message
This story starts 15 years and 700,000 steps ago.
At that time, I was the runner in my family, and after years of trying to convince my wife to take up running too, she finally agreed to give it a shot.
Barbara left the house and her only goal was to run around the block. I'll never forget what happened next. In ten minutes she came back huffing and puffing and totally out of breath. I tried to encourage her by saying, 'don't worry, soon you'll be running 5k and this will seem like nothing.'
Unfortunately, the only thing my encouragement got me was a dirty look. She brushed past me up the stairs, infuriated that I could even hint at such ridiculously high expectations.
But she persisted anyway.
The next day, she ran around the block again. Then about six months later she entered a 5 kilometer run. Two years after that, she whizzed past me at the 7k mark in a 10 kilometer run. Fast forward to a few years later: in 1997, she ran a half-marathon, and in the same year she entered a full marathon.
A marathon is 42 kilometers, or 26.2 miles, and I read somewhere that the average runner takes about 30,000 steps to complete it. But standing 5 feet tall, we figure that Barbara takes about 50,000 steps to cover the same distance.
Last month, Barbara completed her 14th marathon in Boston, having qualified for this prestigious event in the fall by running the Toronto marathon in under four hours.
Fourteen marathons -- that's 700,000 steps, not even counting her almost daily training runs in both the heat of summer and the icy cold of winter.
Barbara didn't always make the time she had hoped for, but she completed every single run she entered.
These days, it seems as though everyone is conditioned to expect instant results. But some things -- like running a marathon (or fourteen!), building your business, branding yourself and discovering your Essential Message -- take persistence.
You absolutely and positively can do it if you want to... and if you take it one step at a time.
Cheers!
Who is Michel Neray and What's The Essential Message?
The Essential Message is about discovering your true differentiation and then learning how to communicate it in the most compelling way. But higher sales, greater alignment of sales and marketing and a stronger brand position aren't the only reasons why so many independent professionals, entrepreneurs and emerging companies rave about The Essential Message.
Clients also say that one of the biggest advantages of the Essential Message approach is how it helps them gain the confidence, momentum and resilience that can only come from being absolutely clear about their strengths and unique difference – as companies and as individuals.
The Essential Message was created by Michel Neray based on 25 years as an award-winning copywriter, an entrepreneur, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. (He also rides motorcycles, does whitewater canoeing, and has his 2nd degree black belt in karate.)
For information about our corporate facilitation, copywriting and consulting services, or booking Michel to speak at your conference, please call 416 534-4766 or link to www.EssentialMessage.com.
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