Dan Kennedy, Frank Kern, myself (Mara Glazer), and my father (Bill Glazer)

Marketing In The Family And What Was It Like Growing Up With Bill Glazer

By: Mara Glazer

The #1 question I get asked most either via e-mail, on social media, when I speak or attend events, what have you, is, “What was it like growing up with Bill Glazer?”

Most people assume that because my father is a great marketer and bleeds business building with every ounce of his body, that I began learning these strategies from a young age.  People assume that my father must have rigorously schooled me in direct marketing and sales, well, because he’s Bill Glazer… what else would he do.  Plus, I have taken such a liking to my dad’s gifts, that there could possibly be no other way that I came to be groomed to be the person I am today.

When asked this question, I’d usually smile and share a few memories I had as a very little girl. For instance, my dad used to make my ponytails in elementary school because he did a better job than my mom, or when I was 5 years old I began working for him at his mens’ clothing store, and my job was to take inventory of the men’s boxer briefs (which made me turn bright red in embarrassment). All of this is accurate, but all very distant.

Today I want to share the truth, and for a few reasons really.

1) I think as subject matter experts and mentors it is our responsibility to share our past struggles, challenges, and victories with our following to help them overcome and conquer their own challenges.  I think that it is my duty.

2) I want to teach and inspire my followers that they need to face and conquer their past demons and struggles in order to truly live their best life. 

And…

3) I believe it is important to stand in our own truth, and today I hope to inspire you to stand in yours.

So, here we go.  Here’s the truth.  Here’s what it was really like growing up with Bill Glazer (and I can guarantee you it is not nearly what you expected).

The truth is that my father and I didn’t always have the great relationship that we have today. The reason why isn’t important.

It’s obvious now that the relationship is different.  I worked alongside my father, Bill Glazer, at the company he founded, Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, for almost three years, and they were some of the best years of my life, not to mention what catapulted my career.

Instead of focusing on the why of how this happened, let’s focus on the turning point, as this is where the real lesson lies.  I am going to share the lesson with you before I share the story, because it is so important that I want to make sure you don’t miss it.  The Lesson: Without change there is no different result.

Starting in 2003, during my freshman year of college at Drexel University, a series of events took place that changed the relationship between my dad and me.

EVENT 1:   My father’s father (Grandpa Harry Glazer) passed away in the fall of 2003.

A little fun history before we move on.  My Grandfather, Harry, was the first entrepreneurial spirit in the Glazer family.  Clearly his legacy has trickled down.  When my grandfather got back from fighting in World War II he wanted to open a clothing store, a plan he thought would help him create the best life for his family (and it did!).  Harry had no money when he returned from the war.  In fact, I remember him telling this story as a young girl, and to quote him exactly, “I had just enough money in my pocket to buy a bagel and a herring.”  That did not deter Harry one bit.  He opened a small custom clothing business shortly thereafter with a model that allowed him to be paid up front for purchases so that he could afford to deliver the goods.  That model in turn lead my family to open 2 mens’ clothing stores that, at any one time, had over 1 million dollars of merchandise on the floor.

Soon after my dad graduated from college he began to work at the family store.  For 29 years he and my grandfather worked side by side, running and operating Gage Menswear until just a short amount of time before my grandfather passed.

As you can imagine, Bill and Harry were extremely close, and the passing of my grandfather was very hard on my father.

I have never asked my dad about this, really because I don’t need to, but I began to notice a change in my father after Harry was gone.  My dad had such a great relationship with his dad, and I believe the passing made him realize that life was too short to not have a great relationship with his daughter.  This was the trigger point for my father that made him make a change and this was when he began reaching out to me. 

This is when the second event occurred, just a few weeks later.

EVENT 2:  Shortly after my grandfather passed, one of my close college buddies unexpectedly lost her father.

I watched as my friend went into depression, gained serious amounts of weight, lost her impressive GPA… and ultimately it destroyed her.

She would have given anything, ANYTHING, to see her dad again.  To look at him once more.  To give him one last hug.  To tell him she loved him just one last time.

I had my dad here, reaching out, and I couldn’t even pick up the phone when he called to say hello.

This was the trigger point for me. I knew the responsibility was on me to make a change and make the next move, and I began talking to my father little by little, but the conversations were hard.  We had nothing in common (at least it felt that way), and many times we sat on the phone in silence.

The third event in the sequence is when the major shift happened.

EVENT 3: In 2006 I received an e-mail from Mike Capuzzi, creator of Copydoodles and a Glazer-Kennedy Independent Business Advisor.   Mike had just bought the GKIC chapter in Philly and was inviting me out to his very first chapter meeting.

I decided to attend as I wanted to learn more about what my father did… at the time I really had no idea.

A funny thing happened there… the marketing strategies I learned at that meeting made more sense to me than the ones I was learning at my university.  I continued to go back each and every month because I enjoyed so much what I was learning.  

What I learned at these meetings gave me something to talk about with my father again.  It gave us a connection.  That connection eventually lead me to join the family business (Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle) in 2009, three years later.

Working with my father, while some days challenging, has been one of the best, most awesome times of my life. 

And it were those times I spent with my father at Glazer-Kennedy, and the marketing education that he shared with me, that was one of the sources of inspiration that fueled me to create thebizzybuzz.com, the #1 online community for bizzy women entrepreneurs who want to grow their business and live their best life.

When I first got started working with my father, I was out there looking for something that would provide me, the woman entrepreneur, with easily understandable, actionable, and proven strategies that would help me to make more money and make my life easier, without eating up all of my time.  I searched and searched, and couldn’t find anything.  So….I created it myself!

Through thebizzybuzz.com, I bring my TOP SECRET rolodex of business, mindset, and lifestyle experts who I personally know and trust into my special online community where we share daily, bite sized, easily digestible, actionable, and proven strategies for women entrepreneurs to help them build stronger more profitable businesses, get their lives back, and love the life they live as women, particularly women entrepreneurs.

It wasn’t until my dad and I both made a change that we were able to mend our relationship.  It wasn’t until I made the change, in my life, relationships, mindset, schedule, habits…that I was able to create my dream, thebizzybuzz.com. 

What is your dream?  What is holding you back?  Without change there is no different result.  What change can you make TODAY to get you one step closer to where you want to be tomorrow?

So there you have it.  That is the truth.  Marketing is more to me than a job.  I am a marketer and I teach marketing because it is what I love and it allows me to create my best life, but I am grateful for marketing because it is what saved my relationship with my dad.

Mara Glazer is a marketing and social media strategist, public speaker, and like many of her fans, followers, and friends, highly successful woman entrepreneur.  Get super charged “kick-booty strategies" and awesomely energizing ideas delivered to your e-mail inbox every single day via an insider’s subscription to http://thebizzybuzz.com daily e-mail list at www.thebizzybuzz.com