The Top 10 Entrepreneurs Who've Inspired Marketing Star Joe Polish

I became aware of Joe Polish just this year after hearing his name come up from several of my entrepreneurial friends. Polish is a marketer and bestselling author whos consulted many of the industrys best: Sir Richard Branson, Body for Lifes Bill Phillips, Tim Ferriss and many more. Hes co-creator of the10Xtalk.com podcast and founder of Genius Network that brings together renowned executives (including Forbes own Steve Forbes) every year.

However, heres what interested me most as I interviewed Polish: He is the embodiment of authentic PR and marketing, which is my own biggest theme. In essence, Polish was thought leadership before the term had ever been coined.

I was a troubled kid struggled with drugs, and my efforts to get past those issues pushed me towards the path of personal development, he said in our interview.

Marketing guru Joe Polish is an advocate of authentic marketing (image courtesy of JoePolish.com)

In his early 20s (circa 1990), he started a carpet cleaning business. Intuitively, he determined that sharing value-add information would be a better way to market his service than filling the airwaves with marketing hype. Well before the era of social media and online marketing he shared his messages through direct mail, recorded messages and email. He developed Education-Based Marketing tools he distributed in print, video and free recorded messages. His material included a Consumers Guide To Carpet Cleaning, with entries such as How To Avoid Four Carpet Cleaning Rip-offs, 8 Mistakes To Avoid When Choosing A Carpet Cleaner, and 7 Questions To Ask A Carpet Cleaner Before You Invite Them Into Your Home.

In short, he followed (maybe even pioneered) the Golden Rule of Content Ive covered before: Great content provides information people need and are genuinely eager to hear. His business thrived. He quickly became the voice of marketing advice to other carpeting cleaners. So he developed marketing services for others. He opened advisory services to additional sectors. He launched podcasts. Conferences. Daily dial-in tips. From there he became a high-end consultant to many of the worlds best authorities in business (as well as at least a few of my entrepreneurial friends).

Joe Polish is co-founder of the popular podcast I Love Marketing

You can find Joe Polishs podcasts including 10XTalk.com and I Love Marketing on iTunes, and you can find his events and marketing resources at JoePolish.com. Today I invited Polish to share with Forbes readers a list of the top 10 inspiring (and even surprising) entrepreneurs hes consulted and interviewed whove been the most personally inspiring to him.

Here they are.

1. Dan Sullivan. Sullivan is co-founder and co-host with Polish on the 10XTalk.com podcast series. Dan Sullivan has coached more successful entrepreneurs than almost anyone, Polish says. Hes one of the smartest entrepreneurial thinkers alive. He also has an amazing partnership with his partner in life and business, Babs Smith. What would it take to make your business 10x larger in the future than it is today? When you learn to put each of your decisions (even your daily decisions and actions) through this filter, your business becomes much stronger, Sullivan says.

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The Top 10 Entrepreneurs Who've Inspired Marketing Star Joe Polish