Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!
Let me assure you that you ARE important in your child's life.
A mother and her child may share a very special bond, but make no mistake about it – your child is watching you.
- Your child is watching every decision you make.
- Your child is watching every time you do good, and every time you struggle to do the right thing.
- Your child is watching when you give money to the homeless on the street, or when you complain that they are a nuisance and in the way.
Whether you like it or not, you are a ROLE MODEL to your child.
That's how it was with my Dad and I. He's been gone 7 years now, but I'll tell you one thing about my Dad being a role model…..
He was a damn good one!
Let's get one thing straight. My Dad was not an entrepreneur or a business owner. Nope.
In fact, he was the opposite of an entrepreneur. He was, like so many in his day, a “lifer” at his job with AT&T Longlines, working for them just out of college until the day he retired at the age of 64 following a heart attack. He got his pension every month and settled in for a nice retirement.
So how did I learn anything from my Dad about being an entrepreneur?
It wasn't what he taught me.
It was the values he shared with me.
It was the way he lived his life that had the most impact on me as an adult.
What My Dad Taught Me That Made Me a Better Marketer
1. Care about Others
Everyone always told me how NICE my father was. He was always helping people out.
He took interest in others when no one else would.
He was, quite simply the most caring person I've ever known.
I like to think that I've made him proud in this regards, as people often compliment me on the very same thing.
As a Marketer, I strive to put my prospects first above anything else in my business.
I learned from my Dad that people are drawn (attracted) to those that truly care about them.
It's worked for me in my business.
2. Be Honest
I truly believe that my Dad was incapable of telling a lie.
Well, I'm sure he told his share of “little white lies” so as not to hurt other people's feelings, but other than that he was a honest as our 16th President of the United States (that's Lincoln, folks!). 
It's something that always amazed me about him, and I saw first hand how others trusted and admired him
It made a huge impression on me.
I have made honesty and transparency a cornerstone in my marketing business, and build it into my brand.
I do my best to never lie in business (or life), because if (and when) your lie is discovered you've gone down that slippery slope of lost credibility.
This was a valuable lesson my Dad instilled in me, simply by being a role model in his every day life.
3. Always Give Your Best Effort
My Dad never did anything half way.
He didn't always get things accomplished in the fastest time, but you can be darn sure that he did it right.
Take the flimsy TV center my parents bought later in life. Most would just put it together as fast as possible and plop down on the couch to watch their favorite show. Not my Dad.
My Dad went to the lumber yard and made a fortress out of that TV wall unit. He strengthened each cross bar and installed stronger brackets. He made that TV unit 100% better than when he bought it.
True, my Mom was a bit annoyed that it took so long, but man… it lasted a really long time!
I think I inherited this trait from my Dad, or more likely I adopted it because I watched him throughout my life as he sought to be the best he could be.
I don't do anything half way in my business. I won't win any awards for making the most money in the fastest time, but I have a business with a strong foundation that's growing daily.
Dad, you thought I wasn't watching, but I was!
4. Don't Give Up on Something Because It's Hard
My Dad loved to sing. He didn't have the most golden voice by any means, but he just loved belting out a tune. It was something he wanted to be really good at.
He wasn't born with a natural ability to sing, but sing he did, day after day anytime he had the chance.
He worked hard at being a good singer.
- He joined the local Church choir and never missed a practice.
- He bought one of those small organs so he could practice at home, and practice he did!
- And, very late in his life he was chosen to sing in one of our state's premier choirs, the Pro Arte Chorale.
This was an exclusive chorus that included the best of the best in the state, by invitation (and tryouts) only.
My Dad was thrilled with this accomplishment and seemed surprised to have been chosen.
We, his family weren't the least bit surprised.
We watch him work for it every day of his life.
When things get tough in our business, I remember my Dad's lifelong quest to be a great singer and I keep pushing forward. I learned from my Dad to never give up, to keep going and do what it takes to be the best.
Hard work and dedication was no stranger to my Dad, and so it is no stranger in my marketing business, either.
I won't stop until I'm recognized among the best at what I do.
Thanks, Dad.
Happy Fathers Day!
Your Turn
What fond memories do you have of YOUR FATHER? What did he teach you?
36 replies to "4 Things My Dad Taught Me About Being an Better Marketer | Happy Father’s Day!"
Like the other comments above me, I just want to share my thanks for sharing the memories of your father and the lessons he taught you about being a better marketer – and really, about being a better person because those four steps you outlined can apply to life in general as well. I consider my parents role models as well and it is always refreshing to see that I am not alone.
Hi Rosie,
It’s so great to hear that your parents are your role models. It’s so great when you can count on those closest to you to steer you in the right direction in times of trouble. And you are so right — they (our parents) make us better people before anything else.
Thanks for your comment, Rosie!
Hello Bob,
Thank you for sharing this post on Fathers. I had an amazing father and he taught us so many things. He owned a Sinclair gas station and he was a very giving man. Every winter he would haul fuel oil to the widow’s houses to make sure they would be warm. He did this all for free.
My dad taught us honesty is so important in life. He has been gone now for 11 years and it is nice to look back and remember some great memories.
Thanks for a great post.
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for sharing the great memories of your Dad… he sounds like he was an amazing man who taught his kids all the right things. I’ve found that it doesn’t really matter how long they’ve been gone… their legacy lives on!
Appreciate you stopping by, Barbara!
Hi Dr Bob,
Thanks for sharing this story about your father. I have to say that my father shares many of the same traits that yours had. The only difference is that I did inherit my entrepreneurial spirit from my father, as he has always owned his own businesses throughout my life.
Of course not all of his business ventures worked out, but that just made him strive harder the next time and it taught me many things.The most important being, to never give up on your dreams.
Another thing I learned from my father was, like you, To always be honest. Honesty is sometimes hard to find these days, especially online. I learned that you will be much more respected by your peers when you are honest.
Thanks for sharing Dr Bob and have a great day!
Hi Ian,
That’s great that you were able to use your dad’s entrepreneurial pursuits as a model for your own. That makes things a lot easier when trying to start your own business, I bet.
Thanks for sharing your stories about your Dad, Ian. Too often we forget to celebrate those that have such an impact in our lives. Kudos for sharing yours.
Great to see you again, Ian!
Bob,
Caring about others and not giving up are great lessons Dad taught me as well. They were great lessons he showed me since he lived by example. I’m sorry your Dad is no longer with you but you have fond memories which is nice.
My Dad also taught me to behave. I was a bit reckless as a youngin’ and he kept me grounded. Literally and figuratively 😉 He taught me respect for authority.
Hey Jon,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your Dad. I have to say, its hard to imagine you being reckless! 🙂
I can also relate to our Dads teaching us lessons literally AND figuratively! LOL.
Thanks for stopping by, Jon!
Hi Bob,
thanks for the tribute to your father, amazing. My dad is also the opposite of an entrepreneur, that’s why I harboured the thought that he didn’t teach me anything about entrepreneur. Chances are I am wrong here, am I not ? Your post induces me to sit down and think about that one thoroughly.
Take care
Oliver
Hi Oliver,
I think we can all learn from our elders, even if we didn’t follow in their footsteps. There is always something they can teach us, even if it is a negative, as in “don’t do what I did”. My Dad had many of those! 🙂
Glad that this post has caused you to reflect on your own life experiences, Oliver!
Thanks Bob, this is a touching and powerful post. Thankyou for sharing it.
I love all the qualities you emphasized there and you’re lucky to have had a father who embodied them so well.
One I’d like to pick out is the first – that he was a nice man. In my opinion, the world needs more nice people! On top of that, nice people are nice to do business with. Thinking of others works. Attraction marketing is not a game of selfishness.
One thing that I learned from my father comes to me now is this: Those who notice are the ones whom responsibility calls. Stand up and take action when you know it needs to be taken – don’t waiting for others to notice what has come to your attention before doing so…
Hi Jym,
Thanks for sharing your experience with your Dad! I love it — don’t wait for others to jump in but do what needs to be done. That’s a powerful lesson your Dad taught you. It’s great that you chose to listen… too many younger people don’t take the time to listen to the wisdom their elders have to offer! Kudos to you, Jym!
Hi Bob,
It’s certainly good to hear about a father son relationship that went so well. He taught you some pretty good things. I give my own father credit for teaching me to take care of my things, because he made me buy as many of those items as I could with my own money that I earned by caddying at the local country club. Thanks for a heartwarming post.
Lou
PS your comment luv is not working for me….same last time I was here. I’m not banned…it works for me on other sites
Hey Lou,
My Dad and I didn’t always see eye to eye or have a close relationship. It wasn’t until much later in his life that I realized what a gold mine I had right for the asking… his wisdom and knowledge was something I wish I had tapped many years ago. Perhaps I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes early on! But I guess young people are destined to make similar mistakes to their parents.
Thanks for sharing your experience with your Dad, Lou.
Great to see you here again.
Hey Bob,
I could not help but smile seeing the picture about you and your dad. 🙂 Great memories, in deed. Pictures are indeed great!
Though I dont have a very great relationship with my dad while growing up, and I’m still growing (lol) I appreciate every bit of energy, sweat and labour he’s poured into giving us the kind of life that we have at the moment.
I wholeheartedly agree that having time for the kids is not something to be ignored. In fact that’s one of the reasons I came into the network marketing business so I can live the life of my dream.
I believe time is gift and no amount of time spent with the children and spouse to foster relationship is ever a waste.
Happy belated father’s day, Bob!
~Tosin
Hi Tosin,
We can learn all kind of things from our elders in various ways — what they say, what they do, and how they act. And we can even learn what NOT to do, if that’s the case. Anyway, I know I was quite lucky to have my Dad in my life. I only wish I had taken the time to learn from him as a younger man. I would have made far fewer mistakes, I fear!
Time with your children is an awesome point, Tosin. We have responsibilities to our children and one of those is giving them time to learn from us, even if they don’t seem interested.
Thanks for your insights, Tosin!
What a awesome and touching post, bob. These are 4 important lessons and all of them are so true. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.
Thanks, Dev… it was a emotionally difficult piece to write, but it felt right.
We can all learn something from our parents or guardians. Experience in life is something not to be taken lightly or easily dismissed.
Thanks for stopping by, Dev.
Great photo of the generations. You should have been in there! Fathers are the root of the family(not just for the name)but because I believe with my father, he held the fort down. Stuck to his gut and always said my mother was right. I’ve definitely learned from mine and this is a great post.
Hi Bob,
What a great topic for a post, such a touching post and I love that picture of your dad with your son! I always wished that I had more time with my dad when I was growing up because my parents are divorced but I did get to spend time with him every other weekend I learned many things from him during those times.
One of the best things that I learned from him is that there is no point in yelling because all it does is make people feel bad.
Stacy
Hey Bob,
That is a wonderful tribute to your dad. I had a strange emotional feeling when I read through your post. I could relate the things you say to my dad. In addition he is a pastor and takes much much effort to manage his day job and conducting worships at two different places and doing outreach.
I learned most of organization and time management stuff from him; I used to admire him when I was little with the way he manages tasks and how disciplined he was even with all those little and unimportant things.
Great post. And Happy Father’s Day to all those wonderful dads out there 🙂
Jane.
Thanks, Jane.
Your dad seems like a great role model for you. It’s so important to have suitable role models in our lives, and even better when that person is a parent!
Thanks for sharing your reflections on your Dad.
And thank you for the Fathers Day wishes!
This brought tears to my eyes thinking about my Dad Bob. He’s been gone 8 years now and I miss him so much.
I wasn’t exactly a Daddy’s girl but he and I were extremely close. Like your Dad, mine was one of the most caring individuals you would ever meet. At his memorial it was standing room only in our huge church. My Dad was a giver so I’m sure that’s where I got that. It’s how I was raised so I take all those wonderful things my parents taught me that I cherish the most.
He was also a salesman so I watched him a lot and how he interacted with people. I learned at a young age about building relationships with your clients. Not that I followed in his footsteps in my career but that vibrated in my head when I entered this industry before I even learned what was important.
Thanks for sharing this and for acknowledging all those wonderful Father’s out there today. Enjoy them while you have them. They are truly precious human beings.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Thanks for sharing your personal reflections on your dad. I don’t know if this was the case with you, but I don’t think I fully appreciated my dad’s wisdom and the example he set until after he was gone from my life. That’s sad in a way, because it doesn’t allow me to thank him the way I’d like, but I’m sure he’s smiling down on me when I “get it right.”
Thanks for sharing about your Dad, Adrienne! Great to see you here again.
Great post! Happy Father’s Day to all those Dads out there 🙂 I remember my father telling me “Don’t keep changing your mind. When you made a decision, stick to it”. At first, I didn’t understand what he meant and why he was telling me that. But growing up, now I know. I don’t think it was so much about being indecisive, but just being a person who does what they say, and say what they do and someone who is confident in the choices they made. Great article.
Hi Diane,
I love that about Fathers! They give you advise and it seems its out of the blue and couldn’t possibly apply to your life. But lo and behold, somewhere down the road it all makes sense and that guidance kicks in and hopefully saves you from experiencing unnecessary pain.
Thanks for the comment, Diane!
Wonderful lessons, and inspirational article. You were very fortunate you were to have grown up with a Dad who had such values and strength of character.
Yes, I certainly was, Marquita. I know how fortunate I was to have the kind of Dad who cared enough to teach me. And there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss his guidance.
Thanks for the comment, Marquita!
Hi Bob, good to land into your blog post. I am impressed and I want to thank you for giving us these 4 life learning values. I know it’s hard but a marketer should never tell lies. Well, no one should, but we’re talking about marketing now. Sooner or later people will find out they were fooled by the promisquous marketer and will black list him.
Hey Steven,
Welcome to our blog. Always great to have new visitors who contribute!
Lying in marketing…. that would never happen, right? :-).
But you are spot on about that — eventually one is always found out, and you’ve lost a client for life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten new clients or team members from people who didn’t join or buy right away, but came back later when the timing was right for them, and remembered us as sincere and people they could trust.
That makes me feel really good, and also that we must be doing something right!
Great to see you here, Steven… see you again soon!
Hi there.
it’s a very interesting things you’ve explained here. I remembered that my dad also taught me alot of things when i was younger. Thanks for reminding that.
Glad this post has inspired you Andrew. In my case, it wasn’t until I was older that I realized the true value of my father’s teachings. Like most teenagers, I was too busy “living” to heed his words.
Thanks for the comment, Andrew. Great to see you here!
Hi Bob,
Thank for sharing this very heart warming tribute to your Dad. I love how you summarized each of the values you learned from your Dad, while also sharing with us how this has helped (and helping) you in your marketing business. I’ll be honest that this post has touched my heart so much, and I can feel how much you look up to your Dad. The picture you posted also made me smile 🙂
I am sure that your Dad is so proud of you. I want to also thank your Dad because you are as passionate and as helpful as you are now, because of what he has taught and shown you. The characters you outlined are indeed very important in building a strong foundation for your business.
Thanks again for this beautifully written post.
-Rowena
p.s. I can’t seem to find the share buttons, Bob.
Hi Rowena,
Thanks for the kind words. The truth is my Dad and I were not always that close, but towards the end of his life we connected very strongly, and this is when he taught me many of the life lessons I take with me today. The dignity with which he faced his death was something I will never forget.
Appreciate the feedback about the share buttons. I recently switched themes and some things are a bit quirky. I’ve added some backup buttons in case others are having issues until I can resolve the problem.
Thanks for stopping by, Rowena!
Strangely, I feel like I am becoming more like my Dad, and also appreciating some of his qualities evermore, although he died 13 years ago… and I can hardly believe it. My Dad worked for some 23 years (?) for Revlon Inc., but tried his hand at many entrepreneurial pursuits when he was younger. In any case, he carried the entrepreneurial idea and encouraged me frequently whenever the idea would roost in me.
I appreciate the idea that values play a huge role, as you so well describe, Bob.
That’s funny Richard, I feel the exact same way. It seems the older I get the more I get like my Dad. In my case, that’s a really good thing! But I also seem to have picked up many of his mannerisms, which is a bit weird after all this time.
Your Dad sounds like a cool guy and it seems like he served as a great role model for you growing up!
Thanks for sharing your story of your Dad, Richard!