I recently went through a very bad spell with my health. I honestly thought I was going to die.
This went on for about two or three weeks and, when I finally got over it, I sat down and thought about the reasons.
I was going to write a long rambling post about why I thought I got to that stage, but then I saw this article. It was written by Bruce Barton in the 1920s.
What stuck me are the lines I’ve highlighted, and realised this is what’s been happening to me… or rather… not happening. I was ruining my health in the pursuit of my business.
Take a look and see if it rings any bells. Let me know what you think, and how it affects you, in the comments.
About Making Money
It is easy to be hypocritical on the subject of money.
We have formed a habit of pretending publicly to despise money, while actually working our heads off to get more of it.
We make speeches to young men advising them to “seek the higher good,” and hurry straightway to our offices to make up for lost time.
Let us have done with such hypocrisy.
We are all out to make money; nor is there anything reprehensible in that fact.
Wise old Sam Johnson said: “There are few occupations in which men can be more harmlessly employed than in making money.”
It is not “money” that is the “root of all evil,” as we often misquote, but “the love of money.”
How much of yourself are you willing to sell for money?
The answer to that question is none of my business. It is a personal question – a question for you to ask yourself.
But if you are the sort of person I think you are, your answer to it will be something like this : There are some things I am not willing to sell for money.
I will not sell my health.
Not for all the money in the world will I die twenty years before my time, as Harriman did; nor spend my old age drinking hot water,
like John D. Rockefeller.
I will not sell my home.
I will forget my business when I leave my office.
My home shall be a place of rest and high thinking and peace not a mere annex to my factory or office, where the talk is of nothing but gains and loss.
I will not sell my honor.
I will not engage in any business, no matter what the profit, that does not contribute something to the happiness and progress of the
world.
King Midas, in a fit of covetousness, prayed that everything he touched might turn to gold.
And his prayer was granted.
The food he was lifting to his mouth turned to gold. His wife, if he had touched her, would have turned to gold.
There are too many King Midases loose in the world.
They do not have the Midas touch: they have the Midas look: They see nothing but money.
A beautiful garden to them is merely something that “must have cost a thousand dollars.”
They look on their homes and they see, not a home, but an expense of so much a month.
They look on their wives, and figure how much less it cost them to live when they lived alone.
The universe, to them, is a balancesheet: their minds are adding-machines: their hearts beat in tune with the ticker.
God pity them the men with the Midas look!
Get money but stop once in a while to figure what it is costing you to get it.
No man gets it without giving something in return.
The wise man gives his labor and ability.
The fool gives his life.
Best,
Rezbi
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com
Filed under business, John D Rockefeller, King Midas, make money, Midas Touch, Money, Success by on Feb 6th, 2011. Comment. 
There’s a shed load of guru bashing on the internet with no end in sight. And it seems to be getting worse.
To be honest, I’ve even gotten swept along with it once or twice?
Why is it we love to bash the gurus? Because it’s in people’s nature to want others to fail.
Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is like that.
Personally, while I may get swept into a little bashing myself once in a while, I do it because it is a little fun… isn’t it?
However, I love it when people succeed. And when they do, I go out and get their product to see how they succeeded.
Of course, there was a time when I’d get the product and let it sit on the shelf, ‘looking pretty’.
Not any more. I make use of everything I get. And it’s showing in my work and business.
But I digress, yet again.
Okay, I’ll just say it, like me or hate me for it…
Dudes… leave the gurus alone!
All they’re doing is finding out what people want, and giving it to them. If you could make money doing the same, chances are you would.
They are giving you something you want, the way you want it and in the packaging you want it in. Now it’s up to you to make use of it.
If you don’t, and you feel you’ve wasted your money – and you want someone to blame – look in the mirror.
I’ve got quite a few packages sitting on my shelves, but I use them.
In fact, as I look at them now, here’s a few of what I have:
- Dotcomsecrets – Russell Brunson
- The 7 figure code – Mike Filsaime
- Mass control – Frank Kern
- The copywriter protege program – Carl Galletti
- Stomping the search engines – Stompernet
- License to steal – John Carlton
- Stomper – Stompernet
- Internet marketing protege program – Terry Dean
Those are just a few of what I have.
I also have a ton of books and a load more audio and video courses. And I make use of them all the time. Even if it’s to just dip into them for reference.
Have they been of any use to me? You bet they have. But it’s only because I make use of them.
Every single book and course I have has served its purpose. But it’s been up to me to make use of them to ensure the purposed is served.
Would they have been any use if I just left them on the shelves without making use of them. Heck no.
Would that have been the gurus’ fault? It seems a lot of people like to think so.
Do I think it’s been money well spent on all those courses? I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this article if I didn’t learn what to do and how to do it otherwise.
And yes, I like watching Fank Kern strutting his stuff on stage, cursing and blinding his way through his talks. I don’t know about you, but I quite like the idea of being enterained while I’m learning, something Frank – and Drayton Bird – do very well. If I wanted boring lectures I’d go to university.
And yes, I like watching Mike Filsaime talking about Butterfly Marketing in his care sales-mansy way. If we all hate car sales-men so much, how come there’s so many cars on the road?
And yes, I like watching Russell Brunson talking about his attempt to go to the Olympics to wrestle for his country. Want to know why? I’m a martial arts instructor myself and I enjoy things like that.
And I like watching John Carlton go into his story selling mode – my father was the same. He had a story for everything – not that he was a salesman.
(I have to say, John could have picked up a few things about copywriting from my father, as could plenty of others. I wish I had taken much more notice of what he used to say. These guys have no idea what life experience is compared him.)
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Best,
Rezbi
Filed under Guru, Gurus, internet business, marketing, Money by on Apr 28th, 2010. Comment.
I was in London last week, visiting my mum.
While lounging around and watching a little TeeVee (I don’t have one at home), I couldn’t help but criticise the vast majority of what’s supposed to pass for advertising.
My younger brother, a lawyer and much more intellingent than I could hope to be, couldn’t understand why.
You see, like too many people, my brothers have the notion that if an advert looks good and wins awards, then it’s a success.
So I asked my brother one simple question…
“Assume you’ve just paid an agency to create an ad for you. It’s looks good; it entertains its audience; and it even wins awards. But… it fails to get you any sales. You make no money from it. Basically, that agency has just used your money to improve its own profile. How would you feel?”
He replied he wouldn’t be too pleased.
Then I asked him if he understood the difference between a good ad and a bad one. And he replied he did.
A good ad is one which makes money for the advertiser. A bad ad is one which doesn’t.
End of story.
Filed under Advert, Advertiser, advertising, Money, Success by on Apr 10th, 2010. Comment.
What I am about to suggest to you is so basic I’m almost ashamed. But it’s utterly essential – and too often ignored.
What’s more, checking on it may do you more immediate good than all sorts of grander things like strategy and positioning.
Forgive me if you think it’s beneath you – but I hope it isn’t.
***
Here’s a question for you.
What’s the most powerful word in selling communications?
Would you say “free”?
I used to – but I suspect it’s not, really. I think it is “you” – and derivations, like “yours” and “your”.
Here’s why.
1. You are what you’re interested in most of all – sad but true.
2. The more time you use “you” words in your messages, the more they get read.
3. Conversely, the more you use “we” words – like us, our and ours – the less interested people are.
Marketing is like real life. In real life don’t you hate people who boast and talk about themselves? In real life don’t you prefer people who talk to you about your interests? Same in selling.
So, even if this sounds a bit basic, go through your messages – in whatever medium – and do a “me/you” count.
If the “you” words don’t outgun the “me” words two to one – change things.
I just looked at the welcome page of one leading marketer. In less than 150 words – there was not one “you” word”. But there were seventeen selfish “we” words, starting with that old friend “About us”.
“Drayton,” you may ask, “How can such trivia be important?”
Well, people often compare marketing to war – and use similar words, like “strategy”, “territory”, “conquest”, “attrition” and so on. So here’s some advice for you from a famous general.
Towards the end of his life, the Duke of Wellington was asked to what he owed his victories. “Attention to detail,” he replied.
Pay attention to this little detail. Count how many times your messages talk about your customers – and how much they’re about you. And get the balance right.
Best,
Drayton
P.S. This is number 11 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas. You can sign up on the link below for the rest.
—————————————–
Website: www.draytonbird.com / www.eadim.com
Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.
Well for a change, here’s a genuine example.
Many of you have asked me to carry on with these ideas and not finish on the next one – so, as I said last week, I shall.
And I’d really like your advice, Ghulam – but first, here’s Jean Cocteau, who once began a speech by saying:
“I have said this many times before, but nobody listened, so I will say it again.”
Well, I thought that this was a good time to mention three of the things I’ve covered in this series – then give you my helpful idea No 50. First, let me tell you what the three most opened ideas were.
They were:
No 2, which offered a PDF of Claude Hopkins book Scientific Advertising.
No 1, which suggested you take 5 minutes a day to think up reasons to talk to your prospects and customers.
No 17, which offered creative work at half-price to the first five people who replied.
Did you notice that two of the three featured incentives, reinforcing the truth in the old phrase “What’s in it for me”? That’s especially interesting as the other was the very first, which I guess people would naturally open more keenly than later ones.
But the very first one was about something I consider so important that I’m going to repeat it. And it was about the need to do things rather than sit around thinking about them.
In that piece I told a true story of two firms we did some work for. After we wrote a mailing for one, they took 6 months to do nothing except have meetings. Who knows, maybe they’re still yacking away.
The other gets on with things. I’ve seen them get mailings out in under a week. They are the leaders in the field. The others, the slothful one, are big – but they won’t stay that way.
People waffle on about the “entrepreneur” society.
They idolise people like Richard Branson – with whom I had some contact, with a few lessons I’ll talk about in another piece.
But they don’t act like Richard Branson.
Most people prefer talking rather than doing. And the bigger the firm, the more they talk and the less they do.
I think this is because nobody can be fired for something that never happened. That’s why most businesses don’t improve. It’s also why most people are employees, not employers.
 |
If you do one significant thing better each year you have a fair chance of outdoing your competitors. If you do two, you almost certainly will. If you do three, you’ll wipe the floor with them. |
So here is a cartoon I use sometimes in seminars just to remind you of that fact.
I use the Three Blind Mice from the nursery rhyme to emphasise what I just said.
You don’t have to be a genius to beat the competition. You have to act.
I have no idea which three of the suggestions I’ve sent so far made the deepest impression on you. But please do me a favour. Take them and act on them.
And tomorrow…
PLEASE TAKE 3 MINUTES TO ADVISE ME
Many ideas have been suggested to me in the last ten weeks. I’d like to know which interest you. Tomorrow, I’ll ask what you think.
Thank you – I have had so many thank you messages and kind comments, I’ve been genuinely astonished. I appreciate every one of them.
Filed under advertising, Attention To Detail, Drayton Bird, Duke Of Wellington, Marketer, Money by on Apr 7th, 2010. Comment.
Out of all the 101 helpful ideas I send out, one gets the biggest reaction – by far.
Yet it is the easiest to follow, and every single person who reads it has the same reaction. “I know that – but I’m not doing it”.
The idea says, in effect, “Don’t just sit there thinking about it, get on with it.”
When I gave introductory talks to my agency trainees I used to say the world is divided into two types of people. Those who make things happen, and those to whom things happen.
When David Ogilvy wanted to get the Shell account, he didn’t just sit there thinking. He got on a plane.
I know you want to do better because so many of you open my emails.
Why not start by giving yourself a 28-day free trial of one of my programmes?
Frankly, I’m a bit puzzled that you haven’t – because if you decide to go ahead at the end of the 28 days, the worse that can happen under the terms of my guarantee is that you will double your money.
But why am I criticising you when I can’t even count properly. That was pointed out to me by Al, who sends my emails out.
I told you I was stopping registration today – because I was counting 5 days from Monday – but all my emails this week went out a day late because Al had man-flu.
So you have over the weekend, till the next working day, to decide whether you prefer thinking about things to doing them.
The Gold group has only one place left, and the others are filling up.
Until then, if you missed it yesterday, here’s me taking apart a mailing that was hugely successful.
Best,
Drayton
—————————————–
Website: www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com
Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.
The Drayton Bird Blog – please do not visit if you are easily offended.
Yet it is the easiest to follow, and every single person who reads it has the same reaction. “I know that – but I’m not doing it”.
The idea says, in effect, “Don’t just sit there thinking about it, get on with it.”
When I gave introductory talks to my agency trainees I used to say the world is divided into two types of people. Those who make things happen, and those to whom things happen.
When David Ogilvy wanted to get the Shell account, he didn’t just sit there thinking. He got on a plane.
I know you want to do better because so many of you open my emails.
Why not start by giving yourself a 28-day free trial of one of my programmes?
Frankly, I’m a bit puzzled that you haven’t – because if you decide to go ahead at the end of the 28 days, the worse that can happen under the terms of my guarantee is that you will double your money.
But why am I criticising you when I can’t even count properly. That was pointed out to me by Al, who sends my emails out.
I told you I was stopping registration today – because I was counting 5 days from Monday – but all my emails this week went out a day late because Al had man-flu.
So you have over the weekend, till the next working day, to decide whether you prefer thinking about things to doing them.
The Gold group has only one place left, and the others are filling up.
Until then, if you missed it yesterday, here’s me taking apart a mailing that was hugely successfulOut of all the 101 helpful ideas I send out, one gets the biggest reaction – by far.
Yet it is the easiest to follow, and every single person who reads it has the same reaction. “I know that – but I’m not doing it”.
The idea says, in effect, “Don’t just sit there thinking about it, get on with it.”
When I gave introductory talks to my agency trainees I used to say the world is divided into two types of people. Those who make things happen, and those to whom things happen.
When David Ogilvy wanted to get the Shell account, he didn’t just sit there thinking. He got on a plane.
I know you want to do better because so many of you open my emails.
Why not start by giving yourself a 28-day free trial of one of my programmes?
Frankly, I’m a bit puzzled that you haven’t – because if you decide to go ahead at the end of the 28 days, the worse that can happen under the terms of my guarantee is that you will double your money.
But why am I criticising you when I can’t even count properly. That was pointed out to me by Al, who sends my emails out.
I told you I was stopping registration today – because I was counting 5 days from Monday – but all my emails this week went out a day late because Al had man-flu.
So you have over the weekend, till the next working day, to decide whether you prefer thinking about things to doing them.
The Gold group has only one place left, and the others are filling up.
Until then, if you missed it yesterday, here’s me taking apart a mailing that was hugely successful.
.
Filed under advertising, David Ogilvy, Drayton Bird, Emails, Free Trial, marketing, Money, Shell Account by on Mar 5th, 2010. Comment.
How responsible is the headline for the success of any piece of copy?
At least 90%!
I have proven over and over again the indispensible role a headline plays. How? By testing every style headline I could possibly create.
I’ve also invested over $100,000,000 of my own money on refining copy strategies along the way. Besides headlines, these include sub-headlines, opening sentences, closing sentences, the all-important P.S., and the offer.
But headlines are in a special category of their own. The fact is, without a strong headline, the copy simply will not work.
I have run numerous split tests, testing one headline against another. And it’s so important, presently I continue to run comparative headline tests.
Powerful headlines are, in fact, a big reason why I’ve sold over 6 Billion Dollars worth of products and services online and offline.
The fact is, I never “roll out” with an offer without several headline tests. Reason? With exactly the same body copy, the winning headline alone can pull 8 to 15 times compared to the losing headline.
But, in spite of all the evidence and proof demonstrating the crucial importance of a powerful headline, most completely miss the mark.
The majority of headlines are woefully inadequate. And, most surprising, many are written by experienced marketers and copywriters.
Like shortcuts? This article is about a real shortcut to creating perhaps the most powerful headline you could prepare.
I call it “the fill-in-the-blank method.”
I believe if you apply the simple steps which follow, you will increase your sales many fold.
There are 11 major headline types which I’ve identified. Each type, properly implemented, is extremely potent.
They are:
1. How to (Blank)
2. Secrets of (Blank)
3. Stacked Benefits
4. Problem/Solution
5. How to/Guaranteed
6. Get Benefit Fast, Regardless…
7. Solve a Problem…
8. Visualize it…
9. Ways To/Reasons Why
10. Problem Solver…
11. If…Then
Today I’m focusing on Problem/Solution. This method surprisingly is seldom used. But as you’ll see, it is extremely effective.
Here are several examples of a Problem/Solution headline:
*****
No More Butterflies! No More Fear! Learn the Tricks Pros Use to Speak with Ease to Any Size Audience!
*****
No More Wet Beds! An Amazing Technique from Europe for Training Your Child in Just One Week! Try it Risk Free – a 98.7% Success Rate!
*****
No More Bad Hair Days! Here’s a Proven Way to Maintain the Perfect Look Any Day of the Week!
*****
No More Lost Sales! Here is an Automatic System for an Effective and Timely Follow-Up
with Every Prospect!
*****
No More Job Worries! Here is a Proven Guaranteed No-Risk System to Earn Big Money in Your Spare Time Beginning Without Capital!
*****
No More Confusion About Vitamins! Here is a Proven Doctor Approved System that Provides an Individualized Program Just for You!
*****
Tired of Small or Sagging Breasts? Finally, a Natural Remedy for Stimulating and Tightening the Bust – Guaranteed!
*****
Are you beginning to get the idea?
The strategy behind the Problem/Solution technique is this.
No more (major pain or anxiety.) Here’s a quick and easy (remarkably simple, little-known etc.) way to (achieve the ultimate benefit.)
Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas
—————
“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/
Filed under Copywriters, copywriting, Headlines, Marketers, Money, Success, Ted Nicholas by on Jan 31st, 2010. Comment.
I’m sitting here tired and falling asleep. Too tired to write but, here goes nothing…
When you write a headline, make sure it’s alive.
Give the reader a reason to feel restless… stir his emotions… pique his interest till he can’t bear it, and he just has to read on to see what’s coming next.
A headline, of course, is… AN AD FOR YOUR AD! Gary Halbert
Your headline should demand to be read. It should stop your reader in his tracks and create an irresistible desire to read further and find out more.
On the average, 5 times as many people read the headlines as the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells, you’ve wasted 90% of your money. David Ogilvy
The right headline can mean the difference between doubling your readership, and more. According to John Caples, one headline increased sales by 19 times against another.
When one advert brings in twice as many responses as another, despite the only difference being the headline, it stands to reason one headline is alive and the other is dead. And, when something is alive it can go to work and get results. If it’s dead, it can’t do anything.
…Your headline is the most important part of your website Michel Fortin
This is a fact regardless of where your advertising is – whether it’s online, in a magazine or a newspaper, or anywhere else. The principles of advertising are the same everywhere. There may be minor changes required from one medium to another, as in print or on television, but the principles will remain the same.
What your headline must do is to grab your prospect by the eyeballs and keep them glued to your advert. And, by the law of averages, if more people read your ad, then more will respond.
When writing your headline you always need to keep in mind that everyone is busy. Especially with the internet, no one really wants to read any more as they used to.
So you will have to ensure your headline is like the proverbial arrow that hits your reader right between the eyes. It’s got to be so interesting to your reader he can’t tear his eyes away. When you can manage that, you know you’ve hit the bullseye.
And you don’t get a second chance to hit that bullseye. Once your prospect loses interest and leaves – that’s it, end of story.
So here’s what you need to do – according to John Caples there are three types of headlines you should be looking to write if you want it to be successful:
- Self-interest – This type of headline is the best as it involves something that appeals to his interest, his desires. Remember that all he cares about is what he gets out of it.
- News – This can be something that is new, or a new angle on something old. Combine this one with something which is of interest to your reader and you could have a home run.
- Curiosity – As the name suggest, this is the type of headline which piques the interest of your reader. This type of headline, while it can work, is more of a gamble. If the reader is curious he may or may not bother to read it as it does not appeal to his selfish wants.
Remember that the headline needs to make a big promise. You can’t afford to mess around here by trying to be funny — or clever — or arrogant – and you certainly should not make any assumptions of your reader. He doesn’t have to read your copy at all. So you need to give him a bloody good reason to take time out of his busy day to read your ad.
Take a look at these headlines (taken from John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods)
- “NO… NO… DON’T CALL ON ME!”
- THE ODDS ARE 9 TO 1 AGAINST YOU
- “I’LL NEVER GIVE ANOTHER PARTY,” SHE SOBBED
- A TEST OF HOW “WELL READ” YOU ARE
- IS WORRYING ROBBING YOU OF THE GOOD THINGS OF LIFE?
And how about Yahoo!’s latest offering:
This time it’s personal. It’s y!ou
Now, I don’t know about you, but the only thing to go through my mind when I saw that was, “What!?“
When you think that this excuse for an ad is actually competing with successful one’s it makes you wonder how long this company will stay in business with advertising like that.
I’ll bet the advertising agency has made enough to survive for some time, though.
What it boils down to is this, if these adverts fail to capture the attention of the intended audience, then the ad has failed. That’s all there is to it.
Not one of these headlines makes any big promises. None contains anything that promises any benefit to the reader, nor do they offer any news.
So keep that in mind – if you want your headline to succeed, make sure it promises something to the reader. Make sure it works on his emotions – his wants and his desires.
Oh, one last thing, unlike with my blog, when I write a sales letter I take a heck of a lot longer to come up with a healined. Not a few minutes, or even a few hours. It can take days… and involve a LOT of writing.
Best,
Rezbi
Filed under Advert, advertising, copywriting, David Ogilvy, Emotions, Gary Halbert, Headlines, Irresistible Desire, John Caples, Michel Fortin, Money by on Nov 14th, 2009. 4 Comments.
