The karate master learns everything necessary to slam his hand through the wooden boards. He doesn't even think about the boards, only about seeing his hand on the other side of them. Their being shattered is not part of his vision. The board is merely an illusion. His hand beneath the cracked boards is the only reality the karate master will accept. Theory is what helped him earn his black belt, but he never would have earned it if he had not taken action.

Any obstacles that he encountered on his way to mastery were merely illusions. All the successes he achieved were reality. As a master, he is aware of the illusion but focused upon the reality. And he realises that his insights into karate and energy, into force and concentration, are the power behind his action. Insight plus action equals success.

Mastering guerrilla marketing is not merely learning without doing. For the mastery of guerrilla marketing has action at its very core. Without action, there can be no mastery. Without action, there is only the illusion of mastery but never the results, never the fruits of having mastered what others only flail at.

Guerrillas understand that there are two realities in life. The major one is illusion. The minor one is reality. The closer the two are in your own life, the wiser you are, the better primed for success.

A key to mastery is to recognise each reality for what it is. Buying into illusion and mistaking it for reality is delusion. That delusion is no illusion. Now that you have the insights to master guerrilla marketing, you can change the illusion of mastering it into the reality of mastering it. Taking concrete action is how to do it. Guerrillas know they can change reality just as they can change illusion. To most people on earth – illusion is reality. Shall I repeat that because it is so pivotal to your understanding? Because so few people understand it? Then I will: to the majority of earth's citizens, illusion is reality, the only reality.

But guerrillas who have mastered marketing are blessed with the perception to know illusion from reality and the wisdom to control both. Unless there is action, there can be no control. Ask the karate master.

Both karate master and guerrilla will tell you that karate and marketing exist first as a state of mind. Guerrilla marketing begins at the end, at the goals towards which guerrilla strive. Their minds upon those goals, the rest of their actions are foretold by the clarity of their focus on that goal.

Although guerrillas are famed for their patience, they never wait too long, harking back to General George Patton's words: "A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow." They know that perfection is merely the object of their quest and not something they will attain – at least not for very long. Rather than beginning with perfection, they perfect their activities as they attack.

Metamorphasising yourself into a guerrilla may seem to be a daunting task, but it really isn't. Mastering guerrilla marketing isn't something that you do overnight, though the decision to do so happens in a flashing instant. Mastery of marketing is something so seemingly complex that you may not be sure where to start. Many business owners know the steps to follow, each one in order, but even the thought of taking all those steps sets some of them back on their heels. Not to worry.

Just realise that your task can easily be broken down into several small parts, each one simple enough for you to handle gracefully. Guerrilla entrepreneurs have learned that you should divide big tasks into smaller tasks, that you should never underestimate the power of your own gut reaction, and that your most valuable aid in hitting paydirt with guerrilla marketing is your ability to prioritise the actions you must take.

You've also got to be able to dream, then to breathe life into those dreams. Henry David Thoreau said: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now, put the foundations under them."

The foundations begin with words. Guerrillas know well the enormous power of written words. The ancient Egyptians thought that words were magic. They believed that if you write it, surely it will happen.

That's why a guerrilla marketing attack, a guerrilla marketing mindset, begins with you putting your plan into words. Success is not something that will happen to you. It will flow through you – to your staff, your customers, to future generations, and to the body of knowledge that comprises our small business wisdom of today.

 

- The writer is author of the Guerrilla Marketing series of books. The views expressed are his own