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I don’t know Carlton well. I’m one of his lowly students - since October ‘04. So here’s an unsolicited testimonial which may or may not belong on this blog - but what the hell.

I bought his course. Went through it…oh…about six times. And wrote a KILLER sales letter for this project. Took me 12 revisions - and I was proud as hell of my work.

Like I say - KILLER - or so I thought.

The ugly truth is: the thing was 22 pages of well organized and keenly reasoned BLATHER.

Lucky for me, I’m smart enough to know I’m DUMB - and because I am I signed up for Carlton’s INSIDER CLUB. It cost me WAY more than the course - but I got Carlton’s hairy eyeball on every draft.

He kept poking at the letter - and at me.

Sometimes it felt like I was getting a pummeling by Kung-Fu master. Sometimes like I was a rookie actor being directed by Scorcese. It was always challenging - sometimes fun - and sometimes just uncomfortable to be pushed past my comfort zone.

Even when I had no idea what I was doing - I was able to listen - to take direction.

So now - many drafts and several versions later - it’s FOUR TIGHT PAGES of CLARITY - and Carlton says “It’s GOOD”.

CLARITY - spoken in a true voice - while staying in the pocket of my customer.

Will my business idea WORK? We’re just launching it right now - so we don’t know YET.

But here’s what I do know: without Carlton’s hairy eyeball I wouldn’t have ever known just how bad my first version really was.

Without the hairy eyeball - this idea would have been stillborn - and I never would have known why.

So - if anyone is reading this blog - and wondering if plunking down the big dough for the Insider’s Club is worth it - I have a definite opinion.

You’d be crazy not to hook up to the one-on-one hairy eyeball of a guy who really is a master of the universe - in this particular domain.

Thanks for the clarity, John - and the insight - and your obvious passion for helping a rookie like me.

I’m amazed at your areas of expertise. Only uoi could tie John Cage, Laurie Anderson, The Smiths, and Studs Turkel together in the same post…

Incidently, Turkel’s WORKING is an obligatory read to a niche marketer who wants to market to someone profiled in the book. It sorely needs updating.

-P