Buy That Ticket.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about taking action.

I just love when fortune cookies have typos, don't you? If you listen very carefully early in the morning when everyone is still asleep and hugging their pillows, you could probably hear me chuckle when I read today's typo. Well anyway, I can still understand what the fortune meant to say, and it is talking directly to you. Oh yes. You know who you are. You've been talking about going to Paris since you were a little girl. Right? Well, when are you going to stop waiting and go on that special trip?

Does it cost too much to go to Paris? Perhaps it does. Just for fun, I've looked it up for you on Expedia. Okay... it says here that a non-stop, round-trip flight to Paris from Boston on September 1st is $1,015. Add in a nice hotel for one week, and the total goes up to $2,375. I simply picked the first flight and hotel that came up. If you searched, I'm sure you could find an even better deal. If you saved $6.50 per day for a year, you would have enough for your trip to Paris. If you brown-bagged your lunch or skipped the drive-through at the coffee shop and managed to save $10 per day for a year, you'd have an extra $1,275 left over for food and shopping.

That would be an entire trip paid for in cash, without using any credit cards. Can you speak French?

Is ten dollars a day too much of a sacrifice for you to have your dream come true and spend a whole week in the city of love? How many years have you been dreaming of being there? How many more years are you willing to wait? Will you put your dream on hold for another five, ten, maybe even twenty more years? What rationalization will you come up with to ensure that your dreams remain out of reach?

The way I see it, today, August 20th, 2012, will come but only once in your lifetime. Tomorrow only adds another day to the years that you've already waited. I'm not asking you to run out and buy airplane tickets today. Absolutely not! It would be irresponsible to do that and maybe even reckless. I am, however, asking that you do something to make this trip possible in your future. I give you permission to start today.

Please take ten dollars out of your wallet right now and place it into a jar. Go ahead. I'll wait. Good. Now, every time you look at the jar, I want you to remember that you are already ten dollars closer to France! Even if it takes two or three years to save up enough money, you'll be amazed at how good it feels to work toward your special goal. Who knows, perhaps tomorrow you will be motivated to put another ten dollars in the jar and double your chances of having your dream come true. Go for it. You're worth the effort!