TheWorldJournal.com

Back in Business
By Mark Joyner
CEO, Aesop.com

A Motivation letter for all those who suffered and still suffer after that 11th September.

Yesterday's attack was not just an attack on physical buildings - it was an attack on your business. It doesn't matter where you live - businesses around the world were attacked yesterday - make no mistake.

Some fear this attack will be "the straw that broke the camel's back" and send us spinning into a new depression.

I have to admit that yesterday, my first reaction was a poor one. Frankly, I was ready for war and even told people to protect themselves for such. Some people mistook my advice to mean, "Take guns to the streets and riot." Yikes.

After the fact, I realized that the most important thing was to remain calm. I quickly began urging everyone to do so.

However, now that we're all calm and collected, should we allow this to lower our spirits?

Demoralizing our people and paralyzing our country is exactly what the terrorists want. Does it have to be so?

Yesterday evening I realized it was time to get back to business. I gave a friend of mine that advice and it was met with great resistance. My friend said, "Have some respect for the victims of the bombings! This needs to be a time of mourning."

Hmmm... I wonder. Is that really the best thing? I had to respectfully disagree with my friend.

I told him that the worst thing we can do is to do nothing. Yes we need to mourn, we need to grieve, but we also need to move forward. I pray that those who lost their lives, their friends and their families will not take this the wrong way. They truly have my deepest sympathies, and every fiber of my being screams out for justice, resolution, and peace.

We all feel this way, but we need to pick up the pace of commerce and industry again with a renewed sense of resolve. I don't know about you, but I refuse to let this cowardly attack change my way of life or destroy my business - the business I have sacrificed so much for in the last 7 years.

My business will move forward. Next week we will release a new product right on schedule. Do not think for a second that moving forward with your business is disrespectful of the victims of this attack.

YOU were a victim of this attack. This was an attack on your freedom, with the aim of paralyzing your way of life and the way you conduct your business.

Conducting business as usual is disrespectful of no one - except the cowards who are responsible for these acts.

Here is my plan. If you join me in this, you'll be doing your part to get the economy - and our spirits - roaring back:

1. Market your products today with no sense of shame. Do so with pride. As an act of defiance, engage in your marketing as you normally would... Better - do so with renewed enthusiasm.

2. There is a purchase you've been putting off... Put it off no longer. Make that purchase today.

3. Buy one product from one of your competitors.

4. Buy one thing that you don't need, but have wanted for a long time.

5. When the markets open, buy a few shares with "going long" in mind.

I urge you to begin again today with a renewed resolve. Let's show these cowards we will not be stopped.

Forward this message to all of your friends. Join with me to stop the virus of terrorism and spread the news of prosperity and hope.

Let's do this. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today. Right now.

All the best,

Mark

Mark Joyner
CEO, Aesop.com

© September 17, 2001