For the record, that is NOT a typo.

Yup, I’m talking about the disco Bee Gees. Maurice, Barry and the other guy. (I can never remember his name.) Here are some interesting facts about the Bee Gees:

• They’ve sold over 220 million records worldwide.
• Won 9 Grammys.
• They have just as many hits they’ve written for other artist as they have written for themselves. (See “Islands in the stream”  and others.. for a full list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Gees )
• The Saturday Night Fever Record is second only to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller” album.

This is just a small sample of their success track record.  It is frankly amazing in today’s day and age. To top it off, they were a band from 1967 to 2003. An eternity in the music industry.

While watching a documentary on the Bee Gees a few night ago, something really stood out.

After all their massive success with Saturday Night Fever, there was a huge back lash against the Bee Gees. They released one more album and then didn’t release an album for almost 10 years.

In the interim, want to know what they did?

They wrote a song everyday.

I’m paraphrasing a bit, but this is the gist of what they said: “Even with all the success, we never stopped doing what got us there in the first place. Everyday, every morning, we would write a song. Sometimes together, sometimes separately, but we always wrote a song everyday.”

If you add up the number of years they were a band. That’s 37 years. Let’s say they took off weekends and holidays. That’s 250 days a year of writing. Multiply that by 37 and you get…

… 9,250 songs.

Selling 220 million albums and winning 9 Grammys doesn’t seem like such a big deal after all.

I would imagine there were some days they felt awful, tired, hungover, jet lagged, sick with the flu.. you name it. Yet, they still wrote everyday.

And look at the success.

Most people would put all their efforts into the excuses why they can’t do the basics everyday. In fact, in the time it would take them to hone their craft in the morning, they use that time to create excuses.

I’ve personally mentored under some very successful marketers and copywriters. They all, first thing in the morning, practice their craft. They write copy, send out an email to the list, they do something to serve their market everyday.

Then 30 years later they’re an overnight success.

Whether you like the Bee Gees or not (I personally think the music is outstanding) the lesson is very clear.

Your success in whatever you do; business, raising kids, being a great spouse, lie the ability to do the fundamentals day in and day out that bring that success.