I was chatting with an accomplished marketer, sales trainer, and home business owner the other day about why so many people who start a home business drop out so quickly.

“Most people are looking for the Easy Button,” was his quick response. Then he said something that surprised me.

“You probably don’t think there is such a thing, do you? But there is. It’s just that it’s so damn hard to find!

The Easy Button is out there, but you need a map to find it. You have to be ready to walk over hot coals, crawl over broken glass on your bare belly, and slay a dragon or two.”

He said, “Have you seen that commercial where all sorts of office problems are solved by pressing on the Easy Button?” “I have,” said I.

“What do you suppose it took to create that thing?” he asked.

I said, “Come on, Rick, it’s just an ad. That Easy Button isn’t real!”

“Oh, but it’s very real,” my friend retorted. “It just doesn’t look quite like it does in the TV commercial.

You see, that Easy Button is made of the wants, needs, and desires of the people who are looking for it. People who own or work in businesses. They require services and supplies to run the business smoothly. The company behind that commercial did its research–walked the red-hot coals, crawled over the broken glass, slew monsters–to find out exactly what its potential customers needed, wanted, and desired; and then positioned itself as the easy way to get those things.”

“So the Easy Button is a metaphor for a real solution,” I ventured.

“Exactly! It positions the advertiser as the expert in office solutions. It uses something unbelievable to convey a message in a memorable way. You may not believe in that Easy Button, but you can believe in the company.

The reason most people who start a home business don’t find the Easy Button is because they have a misconception about what it looks like. They’re thinking about money. Easy money. Their own needs.

But the genuine Easy Button is made of other people’s needs, not our own. That is the essence of the art and science of marketing.

That’s the map I was talking about. Learn the art and science of marketing. It will take you straight to the Easy Button.”

“By the way,” asked my friend, “do you know what’s stamped on the back of a genuine Easy Button?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me,” I said.

“Just three little words,” he smiled. ‘Simple but not.’”