HALF vs ELF Businesses

I was going through some of my notes from the Big Seminar two weekends ago. There was a lot of good information presented (and a lot of stuff that was fluff), and I just wanted to write about one thing that Joe Polish said.

Joe presented his Stick Strategy Secrets – Offline Robotic Marketing Secrets for Online Marketers, which was amazingly good. He shared about 5 tips with the crowd that he uses to increase repeat buying and to decrease returns. It was good info.

At the beginning of his presentation he talked about two kinds of businesses:

HALF businesses and ELF businesses.

Hard
Annoying
Lame
Frustrating

and

Easy
Lucrative
Fun

Over the past month I’ve been trying to make decisions in the things I do to make sure I have an ELF business, not a HALF business. Luckily, I’ve never had a HALF business, which I’m sure I will some day. However, I know a lot of people out there do have HALF businesses. I’m sorry. I wish I could help you.

One of things I’ve learned about myself is that I recognize pretty quickly what I’m good at and what I’m not, what I like and what I don’t, and what I can and can’t do. I’ve learned that if I stick to the things I enjoy, am good at, and know how to do, I normally have an ELF business.