“When you promote yourself, they doubt it. When others do it for you, it is more believable.”
Business-Building Action from Terry Brock
I love reading Aesop’s fables! I find the container a lot of wisdom and I learned profound lessons for today from these ancient texts.
One that I want to share with you today is what about the monkey and the cat, which you might have heard of before.
Thanx to the good folks at Project Gutenberg, I can share the entire (short) story here. The audio below, is from from a monthly audio that I produced for Winston Marsh and his Business Marketing series over in Melbourne, Australia.
Aesop for Children (1919)
THE MONKEY AND THE CAT
Once upon a time a Cat and a Monkey lived as pets in the same house. They were great friends and were constantly in all sorts of mischief together. What they seemed to think of more than anything else was to get something to eat, and it did not matter much to them how they got it.
One day they were sitting by the fire, watching some chestnuts roasting on the hearth. How to get them was the question.
“I would gladly get them,” said the cunning Monkey, “but you are much more skillful at such things than I am. Pull them out and I’ll divide them between us.”
Pussy stretched out her paw very carefully, pushed aside some of the cinders, and drew back her paw very quickly. Then she tried it again, this time pulling a chestnut half out of the fire. A third time and she drew out the chestnut. This performance she went through several times, each time singeing her paw severely. As fast as she pulled the chestnuts out of the fire, the Monkey ate them up.
Now the master came in, and away scampered the rascals, Mistress Cat with a burnt paw and no chestnuts. From that time on, they say, she contented herself with mice and rats and had little to do with Sir Monkey.
The flatterer seeks some benefit at your expense.
Project Gutenberg
The French poet and writer Jean de la Fontaine (1621 – 1695) wrote a version of this also called “The Monkey And The Cat”. In his version, he called the monkey Bernard and the cat Raton.
The monkey was deceitful and the cat gullible. After persuading the cat to get the chestnuts, the monkey quickly, and without the cat knowing it, ate all the chestnuts. From that point forward, I’m guessing that ole Raton, the cat, didn’t have much to do with the monkey!
The principle that you and I can use, however, is to work in a win-win situation with others — something Mr. Bertrand the Monkey didn’t understand. The cat would spread the word that the monkey should be avoided. If we work with others to promote us and what we’re doing, we will be much better off.
Listen to the audio where I describe it differently and you’ll get the idea of how this can work for you in marketing. Have others talk about you and how wonderful you are.
When you promote yourself, they doubt it. When others do it for you, it is more believable. Notice in the audio how we build from one level of “Intro Marketing” to an advanced level of “Ninja Marketing” that is way ahead of the competition.
I look forward to hearing from you and getting your feedback. Visit me over on Twitter – @TerryBrock or on Facebook – www.Facebook.com/MarketerTerryBrock.
Terry
Terry Brock, MBA, CSP, CPAE
www.TerryBrock.com, Terry@TerryBrock.com, @TerryBrock
