Just got back from five days at the MGM Grand in Vegas… I love Vegas, it’s a total escape from my businesses and allows me to relax, eat, get pampered, do some shopping, see cool shows and have a killer time. I’m not a big drinker ( at least not these days anyhow ) and I don’t really gamble ( I always lose ) so we basically just kinda hang out and have a good time.

My wife Sarah and myself love to go there a few times a year, but since our daughters were born it’s been a little bit tougher to get away.

On the way home we stopped at a little Mexican dive place and had some tacos… when I was eating one it occurred to me that they didn’t really taste right or look right, but I ate em’ anyway.

Well, I’ve been paying for it the last few days… man I’ve been on the floor, curled up next to a bucket and moaning like some beached whale that’s been possessed by the Devil-God of food poisoning.

Anyhow, I’m getting ready to take the next two weeks off and wanted to bust out one last blog post for the year before I go. It’s time hang out with the "fam" if ya know what I mean, but I wanted to get this post out to you guys…

I’ve been thinking lately a lot about what separates ordinary marketers and entrepreneurs from extraordinary ones. One guy that keeps coming to mind is Bill Phillips. Bill’s an interesting character cuz he started out as "steroid guru" and went on to becoming worth around a half-billion dollars ( at least that’s what I heard)

His first book "The Anabolic Reference Guide" along with the early issues of his magazine were basically "how to" bibles on steroids… how to smuggle them, how the inject them, how to minimize side effects and so on.

He featured a column in his magazine with THE Steroid Guru himself Dan Duchaine… ( Dan was one sick and twisted Mofo… RIP Dan)

When he first started his magazine "Muscle Media 2000" he was the straight talking guy who gave bodybuilders the real scoop on steroids, and then a few years later he pretty much owned the supplement industry.

Here’s a few places where Bill definitely went right…

1. He made you feel like you had the inside scoop just by reading his magazine – His magazine ( especially when it was ‘Muscle Media 2000′ ) made you a feel like you were part of a select group of a few people who had stumbled onto some real secrets and short-cuts that no one else knew about. You definitely felt "part of" an exclusive club.

2. He made you feel like you could trust him – Bill made you feel like you were his friend and that you were doing business with him personally, not just his company. He made you feel like he ALWAYS had your best interest in mind ( even when he was telling you how to smuggle drugs over the Mexican border).

3. He maximized "before and after"  marketing – Bill created in-depth before and after picture contests that broke people down into groups of like competitors ( like age and gender )

Part of the contest was that you had to take his supplements.

4. He had the best copywriters in the world writing his copy – I remember getting direct mail pieces from Bill that were so good I I would send away for his supplements in bulk and eagerly await the Fed-Ex guy like some long-timer upstate waits for a conjugal visit.

5. He listened to his audience -Bill saw that his audience was not very interested in the latest placing in bodybuilding shows, which is what almost all the bodybuilding magazines at the time covered.

He found out that they were mostly people with average genetics who just wanted to lose some fat, build some muscle and look good. He found this out by doing surveys and ASKING them what they wanted.

Turns out there was a lot more money in the general health and fitness niche than the competitive bodybuilding niche anyway

6. He created marketing that was highly informational and valuable – Most of the articles in MM ( Muscle Media ) were actually advertisements disguised as high quality content. The article would be "10 Ways to _________" and one through nine were always high quality tips, and then number ten would usually be about one of his supplements.

He also created a book that was titled something like "The Sport Supplement Review" ( I think that’s what it was) which basically reviewed and evaluated various types of supplements and then would usually position his brand as the best.

7. He kept his eye open for opportunity – Bill was responsible for the huge success of MRP’s ( meal replacement powders ) and Creatine.

He pretty made Met-Rx a household name ( along with Scott Connelly) and then literally built an empire around creatine ( I still have no idea whether that stuff works or not, but Bill sure know how to sell that stuff, cuz I kept buying it.)

8. He leveraged other peoples authority and celebrity status – Bill was a master at getting positioning himself with and getting endorsed by celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and John Elway ( even having a whole bunch of Denver Broncos wearing EAS baseball hats on tv during a game) as well as bringing in expert scientists and chemists to help add credibility to his products.

9. He had an exit strategy – Bill sold his business EAS and retired with enough money for a small country to live on til’ the end of time

Whether you love him or can’t stand him, we can learn a lot from Bill Phillips, the guy’s by far the biggest fitness Guru ever to walk our Earth ( along with Arnold) and he really knew what the hell he was doing.

And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to opt-in for my free Kick Back Life Fitness Marketing and health club marketing updates… I’ll also send you a link to a secret video that shows how you can make a lot more money and work a lot less hours from using little known underground Internet marketing tactics.

I’ll send you fitness marketing updates on a regular basis and I promise NOT to spam ya…

 Let me know what you think…

( if you enjoyed this article, you migh enjoy this one as well How To Build a Personal Training Business )