I contacted about half a dozen business owners expressing interest in hiring them for a future project. Yes, they were all in the same space. I was hoping to figure out the best one to do what I wanted to be done. I sent cold emails explaining what I was hoping to accomplish. I contacted 7 companies. Literally, I contacted 7 business owners.

Right away I heard back from one who offered to schedule a phone call within the next 2 weeks. A few back and forth emails resulted in him wanting a 9 am appointment. I offered to send a calendar invitation, which would include a note that he was to call me on my cell phone, which I listed in the invitation. He accepted the invitation. Now we'd wait.

The morning arrived. My wife joined me here inside the Yellow Studio as we awaited the business owner's phone call. I was going to run the call through my podcasting gear so my wife and I both had mics in front of us and each of us donned a pair of headphones. Nine o'clock arrived. Then 9:05 am. Then 9:10 am. Then 9:15 am. I told my wife, "He's not going to call." At 9:22 am I called him. No answer. Voice mail. I left him a voicemail saying, "I apologize if I got our time slot wrong, but you offered and accepted the calendar invitation for 9 am. Perhaps I misunderstand. I guess we can reschedule. Thank you."

At 9:33 am he called. I was in another meeting so my phone went straight to voicemail. He left a message that he was calling, acting as though he was showing up on time. When I got out of my meeting I returned his call. Rang and rang, then went to voicemail. I left another message, similar to the first one.

And I never heard from him again.

Let's get one thing out here upfront. Business requires marketing - getting the word out. Elevating visibility as much as possible. Being top of mind and all that. Nobody will have a successful business without customers. And to attract customers, you need not only a good or viable product or service, but you need to make sure folks know about your good or viable product or service. That's just the start. You also have to have your act together. Whenever I'm dealing with business owners or leaders over at the day job (GrowGreat.com) I'm focused on the trifecta of business building: a) getting new customers, b) serving existing customers better and c) not going crazy in the process!

So I'd love to tell you about the differences between a business and YOU, but then I realized that may be the foundation of the issue I'm talking about today. Maybe there is NO difference. Maybe we are all in business. Perhaps we're not selling products or services (or art, podcasts, or music) for money, but we're certainly vying for attention. And attention may be more difficult to get than money. As a business guy, I know this much - until you get their attention you won't get their money. So maybe there's no difference between your personal life and a business. For some reason, that notion depresses me though. And I’m a business kinda guy.

Why Don't The Best Blow Their Own Horn The Loudest? That was my original title, but the more I thought about it the less I liked it. So I changed it to what eventually was the published title - The Loudest Horn Blowers Never Are The Best Players.

The real point today is probably best summed up in the statement, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well."

Let's take it a step further. If it's worth doing well, then it's worth doing it as well as you possibly can. It's worth being great, remarkable, dazzling --- and if you've got the talent, it's worth being world-class.

So why don't those considered "world-class" toot their own horn the loudest? Well, there are exceptions. Muhammad Ali was an exception. Michael Jordan maybe. Tiger Woods in his prime. Maybe. What about a non-sports example? Can you think of one? Yes, me neither. I suppose there are some though. Outliers. There are always outliers.

Then I got to thinking - I'm able to do that every now ...