Can you recall the controversial “Mission Statement” that Jerry McGuire (played by Tom Cruise) stayed up all night writing in the beginning of the movie Jerry McGuire?

It was the core of the entire movie, and it contains a powerful (and proven) business secret that can successfully be applied to any kind of company or business out there…including fishing guides.

More on that in one second…

First you must understand one quick piece of the puzzle that Jerry McGuire left out of his mission statement (only to painfully fall flat on his face and finally discover at the end of the movie).

I need you to look at this $1 bill below.

And study it closely.

Now look at this $100 bill.

Study it closely, look for anything different on this compared to the $1 bill.

So can you tell me what is the difference between the two (besides the obvious that one of them has $1 and the other has $100, and that they have two different presidents)?

In particular, can you tell me why one is worth 100 times more than the other?

Because if you think about it, they are the exact same size…

And each bill is made from the exact same colors, the exact same ink, the exact same paper, and they are even the exact same in weight.

In fact, from 75 feet away, most people couldn’t tell the two apart if they were laid side by side.

Yet, one of them is worth 100 times more than the other!

The answer…

It is all about the message printed on the bill.

(this was courtesy of marketing guru Joe Polish)

Here is what this means for you as a fishing guide.

This same “message” that you are sending out to the public applies to how much you are worth (and how much you make, and how hard you have to work) as a fishing guide or fishing expert.

Let me ask you a personal question.

Do you know of any other fishing guide that makes and/or charges more money than you?

Or perhaps their brand or company is worth more than yours?

Unless you are Guy Harvey reading this, almost every fishing guide or fishing expert should be nodding your head “yes“.

For illustrative purposes, let’s say the fishing guide that you have in your mind right now is making/charging, or has a brand worth 3 times more than you.

Well do you think they know 3 times (300%) more than you about fishing?

Of course not!

In most cases, I have found that some of the highest paid people in any industry do not know the absolute most about the subject at hand.

However, they know one critical piece of information that has enabled them to charge more, to be able to work smarter, and to have a more profitable company and brand…

It is all about how you frame your message, how you frame your brand, and how you frame your specialties.

And when your message gets combined with the “Jerry McGuire” secret that I will discuss below, the magic can really happen for any fishing guide like you (big or small).

So just what did Jerry McGuire write in his bold mission statement to all sports agents?

Simply stated, Jerry wrote that if sports agents had fewer clients and concentrated on providing better service, everybody would be better in the end…

That by giving more attention, love, respect, and time with fewer clients, everyone actually comes out on top.

(If you never saw the movie Jerry McGuire, Jerry is a sports agent that works with pro athletes)

And in the case of Jerry McGuire, his players get more attention and focus from Jerry (and thus more chances for higher contracts), which in turn helps Jerry make more money, which in turn means he has to deal with fewer clients, fewer headaches…which means he has more time to give back, spend time with family, etc.

In the movie, he only needed a couple clients like Cuba Gooding, Jr. to make an incredible living… and to give each of his players boatloads of more time and attention compared to most sports agents.

And you can do the same as a fishing guide!

I know it might sound counterintuitive to work with fewer clients at first, but this really does work (and is currently working for some of the highest paid fishing experts in the country).

Let me explain below.

How Jerry McGuire Can Help Fishing Guides

Here are the quick bullet points on what you can learn from Jerry McGuire as a fishing guide (that we will cover more in depth below):

• Specialize (riches are made in niches)
• Create better experiences for your clients
• Work with fewer clients
• Charge more for that experience (Don’t forget this – People will pay more money for an amazing experience…ALWAYS)

What Jerry McGuire Discovered Later in the Movie

Jerry nailed one of the two ingredients to maximizing a business right off the bat in this Mission Statement.

Jerry correctly understood from day 1 that the most profitable, the most sharable, and the most desirable businesses work with fewer clients by creating over the top experiences for those exclusive clients.

And that by building a business like this, it will enable any business owner to attract the absolute most ideal clients out there (thus avoiding the tire kickers, the unappreciative clients, etc.)

But the one thing that Jerry missed was the messaging.

He knew what the business plan was.

In fact, most of the people did respect him for having the courage to reveal his mission statement (as you will see in the video at the end of this article that his peers and fellow sports agents had respect for what he said…but they didn’t buy in to the message).

Why?

Well what Jerry said was exactly what everyone else was thinking in the sport’s agent industry.

And it even made sense on paper…

But the problem was that he didn’t deliver the message correctly.

He unloaded it all without any plan or thought to how the message would be perceived.

In particular, he never expressed what kind of specialist or ideal client he was best to work with. He just said he wanted fewer clients.

And if you have seen the movie, the lack of presenting the message kind of backfires on him…

But keep in mind, this wasn’t entirely his fault.

His business thinking was sound (just like yours is as a fishing guide), it just wasn’t fine tuned yet.

At the end of the day, it was just part of the learning curve.

The great news is that you can learn from what Jerry McGuire painfully had to go through to help you make more money and create better experiences for your clients.

The “Jerry McGuire” Takeaways for Fishing Guides

To begin, remember that Riches are made in Niches.

It is very important that you emphasize and focus only on what you are the absolute best at.

Today’s consumers want to work with experts and specialists, not “generalists”.

Just like if you have a serious injury, cancer, or scary health issue, you don’t go to your general doctor…you go to a specialist.

And it is the same with fishing guides.

When your ideal clients are looking to spend money, they want to know they are with an specialist or an expert that can help them with their specific fishing goals, not just a general angler that can catch everything.

I will repeat…Become a specialist. 

In today’s world, the specialists are in demand (and thus get paid more for less work).

This is true for doctors, for lawyers, for plumbers, for mechanics, and for fishing guides.

And by becoming a specialist, this enables you to start charging more (and working with fewer clients like Jerry McGuire did), and to start creating more personalized experiences for your fishing clients.

Some examples of being a specialist as a fishing guide.

• You could be a specialist for a certain type of fish (example: you are the premier expert for catching bluefin tuna)
• You could be a specialist for a certain type of client (example: you are the go-to fishing guide for doctors)
• You could be a specialist for a certain area (example: you the expert in the Boca Grande Pass)
• You could be a specialist for a certain type of fishing (example: you are the expert for fly fishing for 200lb+ fish)

The worst thing you could possibly do is have a message that says something like this, “I fish all over the state of Florida and can catch pretty much anything that has gills“.

I will leave you with this final and very important thought that ties into the sentence above, as it is a marketing lesson that I will never forget.

By ignoring it for years, it cost me a lot of money.

But by remembering it and obeying it, it altered my previous business in amazing ways.

“If you are trying to be something to everyone, then you are nothing to no one”.

Specialize, and make it known.

And don’t be afraid to turn some people away.

For instance, if you are an expert at kite fishing for sailfish, then you don’t want the clients that only want to stay inshore and catch redfish.

Let someone else have them.

Focus on what you are good at, as it will attract the ideal prospects to you…and just as importantly, repel the wrong clients.

And it will help you be on your way to building “Jerry McGuire” book of business where you have fewer clients paying you more money for an over the top experience.

An example of creating an over the top experience (and charging more for it)

Back when I was in the financial services industry, I had a couple of clients that really loved deep sea fishing.

So during one of the trips we took to the Caribbean, we chartered a very nice (private) boat for the day to take us trolling for some big fish.

And since these clients were our biggest, we hired the most expensive charter we could find (because we wanted to create an over the top experience for them).

Here is a list of what we saw when we walked into the cabin:

• Two bottles of Rose Champagne
• A huge platter of aged cheese and other finger food
• A deli selection that looked it came from the Four Seasons
• A stainless steel cooler with a couple dozen premium beers
• And even some whiskey on the bar ready for any takers

Now all of these “Extras” probably cost the owner of the boat $300-$400 from what I can tell.

However, it enabled him to charge well over $1,000 more than his competitors (and we gladly paid it to have the very best for our clients).

And even though we ironically didn’t catch much that day (just 1 sailfish), we had one of the best experiences on a boat as they made us feel like we were celebrities (and we left the boat hugging and high-fiving from all of the booze)

And here I am, years later, still talking about it…all because it was an over the top customer experience that I had never seen on a charter boat before.

The lesson here: People will always pay more for an over the top experience.

So don’t be the $1 bill fishing guide…

Be the $100 bill fishing guide.

And remember, the only thing separating the $1 fishing guides from the $100 fishing guides is the message.

Finally, here is the Jerry McGuire Mission Statement from the movie:

P.S. – Stay tuned next week for my in-depth Case Study on the exact steps I would take to build an extremely profitable, fun, and long lasting fishing guide business.

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