The other morning, I heard the kids waking up downstairs. "So far so good," I thought. "They're not coming up. Maybe they'll watch TV for a while and let me sleep."

No such luck. A few seconds later, up they came, asking for breakfast. Another short night's sleep interrupted too soon.

And it was my own fault.

All I have to do to get all the sleep I could ever want is go to bed a little earlier.

Just like a sleepy parent wishing in vain for their kids to sleep late, in marketing, we can wish all we want for our customers to do what we want. But they're going to do what they're going to do. If we want to sell, we've got to do things their way.

Does your sales letter explain all the clever little features you've created for your product, when what your prospects want is to know about benefits -- whether it'll solve a specific problem? If they don't buy, whose fault is that?

Are you adding a bunch of snazzy new features to your product, when what your prospects want is for you to fix bugs or improve the features that you've already got? If they don't buy, whose fault is that?

Are you charging $997 for your product, when your prospects are only willing to spend $97? (Or are you offering a product for $97 to prospects who won't trust a product that costs less than $997?) If they don't buy, whose fault is that?

Are you baiting the search engines with an "easy button" content spinner, when what they want is quality? If they don't rank you high, whose fault is that?

Are you implementing the fun or easy half of a strategy, when what the market demands is for you to implement all of it? If your business flops, whose fault is that?

Are you winging it against well educated, experienced competition, rather than putting in the work to learn the same things they know? If you can't beat them, whose fault is that?

Business isn't very forgiving to people who run their lives on wishful thinking. When you try to bend the universe to your own will, rather than learning how it works and building your business to thrive on reality, you're creating your own headaches.

My kids didn't wake me up early this morning. I woke them up for school. But I had to drag myself out of bed earlier than I wanted to to do it.

Yeah. My own fault.