I recently had an opportunity, by special invitation, to attend Joe Polish’s Superconference in Phoenix, Arizona. Though this event was attended mostly by smart marketing-savvy carpet cleaners (because Joe Polish is the marketing guru to the carpet cleaning niche) there were numerous other entrepreneurs and marketers there in all types of online and offline businesses networking with each other.

For many years I have heard from folks in real estate and in Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle what a smart, cool and fun guy Joe Polish is, and that I must attend one of his events; but I never got past the fact that he is ‘just’ the carpet cleaners’ guru. Many recommend attending his events simply because he is a master marketer and promoter, is always doing something quirky and fun, and somehow manages to attract prominent and influential superstar entrepreneurs.

I have seen him at several gatherings and he is always the life of the party with a permanent mischievous, big smile. He always manages to command attention and have his name mentioned by the host. It is never a secret that Joe Polish is in the house! He is always offering something for free like his Kekich Credos mini-trifold (which consists of 100 Success Secrets written by his friend Dave Kekich - which I keep in my nightstand and read occasionally for inspiration) or free downloads of his priceless Genius Network Interviews. His latest coup being his interview with Billionaire, Sir Richard Branson! Joe Polish is just that fun, loveable guy and a magnet for attention. Always pleasant and approachable!

Well, was I in for an awesome surprise finally attending his Superconference! This was one of the best run events I have ever attended. The pre-event activities included numerous in-depth interviews and calls with his guest speakers, informational calls, and voice-blasts to get you geared up for the event. By the way, his guest speakers included Sir Richard Branson (yes, Mr. Virgin himself), Tim Ferriss (4 Hour Work Week), Dr. Ned Hallowell (Crazy Busy), Bill Phillips (Body for Life) Cameron Johnson (Young Millionaire), John Carlton (world famous copywriter) and Joe Sugarman (Multimillionaire Marketer & Copywriter). Hmm, what do they have to do with carpet cleaning???

You see, Joe is not just a guru to the carpet cleaning niche, he is a master direct response marketer, a connector, an influencer, a philanthropist, an absolutely brilliant entrepreneur and self-made millionaire. He is also Founder of the Genius Network which consists of extremely informative and entertaining interviews he has done with some of the smartest and most successful people on the planet in business, marketing, psychology, physical fitness and education.

My observation from afar is that he is well-read, a thinker, and a serious student of life, marketing, business, psychology and entrepreneurship. What makes him stand out is that he is just a regular guy who knows how to have fun while learning. The other thing that strikes me about him is that he loves to teach. Whenever he speaks he is always quoting someone, referring to a book, or explaining some concept in-depth to make his point. Frankly, I have never heard him speak without quoting someone or making reference to a book! Whenever he speaks you need to have pen and paper ready because it’s not going to be fluff.

The other thing about Joe Polish’s event that struck me was the ubiquitous element of FUN. Joe preaches having an ELF business, i.e. a business that is Easy, Lucrative and Fun, versus a HALF business, i.e. Hard, Annoying, Lame, and Frustrating. His staff was having fun, his stage setup with really quirky props and conversation pieces was fun, and he was fun throughout the entire event. Heck, I had FUN observing the audience, the guest speakers, the staff and the entire flow of the event. Hmm, awesome guest speakers, great crowd, die-hard carpet cleaning business owners, an ‘ELFing’ environment, there is so much more to this Joe Polish guy….

So, I had to return to Arizona the following week for my vacation and thought I would ask Gina Delong, Piranha Marketing’s Director of Online Services to give me a tour of their office. Because I am into real estate and generally nosy, I am always curious about seeing successful people’s work environments, their staff, and their operations. Again, what a pleasant surprise! Joe Polish and the Piranha Marketing Team are the Real Deal…they really do have an ELF business and their physical work environment reflects that.

First of all, their 2-story office building is an absolutely gorgeous free standing building in a first class commercial office park that looks like a Tuscan Villa with large, beautiful arched windows and tiles and just a warm vibe from the outside. On opening the door I was greeted by a huge statue of a piranha and an eclectic collection of artwork that says: “Marlene you are not in some stodgy corporate office, this is a fun place to work and an ELF business operates here!”

I was warmly greeted by Gina and the receptionist who were such PHENOMENAL AMBASSADORS for Joe Polish, I thought that anyone who has Team Members who represent their organization in such a stellar way – in their absence - must be a Gem and Truly Special. Everyone I met was pleasant and genuinely seemed happy to be at Piranha Marketing. The well-decorated physical space was totally open (no walls) with sofas placed in the center in a circular fashion and modern, spacious offices with large, arched windows around the perimeter. In the sofa area, they have staff meetings, presentations, social gatherings and numerous shelves showing off all of their educational resources.

I toured the rest of the office building which housed a conference/media room with a humongous library of marketing and business books. The highlight of this room contains that which Joe and his Team are most proud of: 2 large circular shelved towers with giant-sized binders from each of their coaching clients (carpet cleaners) who have entered Piranha Marketing’s Better Your Best Contest (Winner gets a Luxury Vehicle). Joe says “that which gets measured and reported improves.” In these binders, there is overwhelming evidence and documented proof that Joe Polish and Piranha Marketing are the Real Deal. There exist countless examples of how businesses all over the globe have taken Joe’s marketing pieces and marketing strategies and implemented them into their businesses, consistently tracked the results for a year, and saw dramatic changes in their business and personal lives. Pretty Impressive Proof!

On my tour, I saw no clutter and everything was so well-organized I had to ask how they did it. Turns out that they have an in-house professional organizer on staff and they use Paper Tiger to track all of their files and paperwork. Everything was labeled. No clutter, No piles, No stacks!

Another room that impressed me was Joe’s work area on the upper floor of the building. Again, a huge, bright, totally open space with white boards, multiple workstations, lots of fun props, humorous and eclectic art pieces and artwork….not your typical stodgy corporate office. An extension of this room is what’s called the Focus Room where there are no bookshelves, papers or distractions. Got the feeling of being in a really hip, dimly lit New York nightclub with shag carpeting on the wall (to muffle sound) and more art pieces…I was told this is where Joe does conference calls and comes to think without distractions. Finally, there is the bedroom and shower. Your typical bachelor pad with the bed built out of the front grille of a 50’s car, all sorts of props and lots of artwork of KISS and Madonna. Why KISS and Madonna? Because they are constantly reinventing themselves and they are smart entrepreneurs.

Having just come off of Frank McKinney’s Palm Beach Experience where I had a chance to visit numerous multi-million dollar mansions in Palm Beach along with a yacht ride on the Intracoastal Waterway where I got to savor those mansions from the water, my eyes and brain were on overload in Joe’s office building. There was so much to see in so little time and I enjoyed getting visual confirmation that Joe Polish really did run an ELF business. Definitely worth modeling.

One other key observation is the passion Joe’s staff has for taking care of their members, clients. From how the phone is answered, to their voicemail messages and the Coaching Members’ Binders, you have much evidence that this is a GREAT enterprise of people who really care about their members/clients. In Gina’s office she actually has a chart of with a listing of the Dangers, Opportunities and Strengths (DOS) of their members. This DOS chart is one of the many tools the Piranha Team uses from Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach who Joe Polish credits with much of his success. As she explained the chart she relayed how important it is for them to empathize with their members. It’s all about the taking care of the relationship with their Piranha members.

I was quite satisfied with my tour with Gina and the staff and my next big surprise was that Joe showed up and offered to speak with me for a couple of minutes. This was unexpected. He was absolutely gracious with his big permanent smile and immediately led me to their library to show off the binders of their coaching clients. He was kind enough to share some words of wisdom and advice about the evolution of entrepreneurs.

Specifically, he shared with me that when things don’t work out and we face adversity, there comes about the raw materials for great opportunities for us to pursue. When you have failures and setbacks that is a great time for discovering new opportunities, a time to learn, and regroup and evolve into something greater. As I listened to him, he struck me as an absolutely brilliant and profound modern day philosopher. He then gave me his personal tour of his office (along with what’s in his refrigerator) and shared some of the projects he is working on. All FUN stuff!

Our time was short but quite insightful for me to see the behind the scenes operations of this Person of Influence. I enjoyed my visit and he just got a new member in the Joe Polish Fan Club. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of Piranha Marketing’s events or to listen to any of his interviews, do so. I also recommend you check out his site at www.JoePolish.com. To get your FREE copy of the Kekich Credos and hear Joe’s Interview with Dave Kekich, go to www.GeniusNetwork.com/Kekich. Username: kekich Password: credo.

I know just from speaking with Joe that he will be doing even more great things to positively impact the lives of many businesses (not only carpet cleaners) so keep him on your radar!