When I was a teenager, I got a frantic phone call from my neighbor.

“Get out of your house!" he said. “Don't ask questions -- just go!”

I quickly obeyed. Running outside, a loud and strange buzz filled the air. Looking up, my jaw dropped.

Above my house, circling the chimney in a slow churn, was the largest cloud of bees I’d ever seen. Thousands and thousands of them.

They were slowly descending into the chimney and entering my house. I was officially freaked.

With my neighbor’s help, we quickly called a beekeeper. He arrived in twenty minutes, and I watched in amazement at how he operated.

With complete calm, the beekeeper:

• Slipped on a bee suit and grabbed his equipment

• Climbed a ladder to the roof

• Fished around in the chimney

• Descended the ladder

• Officially proclaimed, “It’s taken care of!”

“How?” I asked.

“I caught the queen bee.” He smiled, adjusting his hat. “Once you catch her, it’s over. All the other ones leave.”

Sure enough, the bees disappeared in minutes. The beekeeper had a proven process — and it worked.

Wherever you see success, you’ll find a process. Winning results aren’t a product of whim or chance.

This principle is true in family, in sports, and in business.

Do you have a proven process for generating leads? Without leads there are no sales.

We’re constantly asked, “What kind of marketing should I be doing?”

No matter your industry, here’s a minimum checklist for most small-to-midsize businesses:

1) A high-resolution logo

2) An updated, streamlined, and action-oriented website

3) An active and growing Facebook business page

4) An email list-building strategy

5) Communicating weekly to your email list

6) Doing something your competitors DON’T do

7) Designing an online sales funnel (even if you don’t sell online!)

8) Driving traffic through targeted advertising

Thirty years ago, you could renew a yellow pages ad and call it a day. But in today’s Wild West of advertising, you need a step-by-step system.

The good news: once you build your marketing process, it works day and night, never taking a break.

It’s a beautiful sight to behold. And definitely better than a cloud of bees.