Saturday, 2:48pm
Tampa, FL
“Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?” (Monty Python)

Howdy…

Special treat today on the blog.

Another guest post by our good friend, colleague and former stand-up comic (before his new career as killer copywriter), Kevin Rogers.

(Kevin is also the head writer for my Stable O’ Copywriters project, where you can find a recommended freelancer who meets my strict standards of professionalism — and who has my ear for consultations: www.carlton-copywriting.com.)

This cat is funny.  And every time Kevin and I hang out, I’m reminded of two things:

1. Nearly every top marketer and writer I know personally… has a shockingly-acute high-end sense of humor. (This explains the comraderie you see among the best in the biz.  We make each other laugh.)

2. And… there are awesomely valuable insights to life and success available in studying lessons in tales from the “vice squad”. (Meaning, that part of living well which includes hanging out, challenging the boundaries of sobriety, and squandering time laughing as hard as you can for as long as you can.)

Being funny won’t make you smarter.  And it doesn’t bestow an automatic deeper understanding of human behavior.

However… if you pay attention…

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Saturday, 12:17pm
Reno, NV
“So what?” (Miles Davis)

Howdy…

Okay, I know I’m a few hours late delivering the answer to the very excellent Quiz #8.

I had writer’s block.  Just couldn’t think of what to write…

Kidding!  I’m joshing with you.

I apologize for the delay.  Simple matter of being abducted by friends and whisked off to an enjoyable Friday adventure.  I earned it, and knew you’d forgive me for being a tad late with the solution to the Quiz.  (You know it takes me several hours to concoct these posts, right?)

Let’s get down to it, then.

First: I want to thank, and congratulate, everyone who posted for the Quiz.  The threads on this blog are always energizing mini-riots of good critical thinking…

… along with a smattering of cleverness, sheer brilliance, pontificating idiocy, and (always) one or two utterly outraged comments from folks who wandered into the fray by accident.

I love it all.

As many have noted… the comment threads at this blog rival the actual posts for being fascinating reading.

There’s some smokin’-hot wisdom out there, for anyone paying attention.

Second:  Here is the answer to the Quiz question…

“Writer’s block is…

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Monday, 8:34pm
Reno, NV
“The horror… the horror…” (Brando, “Apocalypse Now”)

Howdy…

Let’s do another quiz, what d’ya say?

With TWO prizes.

This one is very simple.  Or not, depending on how much you’ve been paying attention.

Let’s start with the good stuff. 

Here’s what the winners will get: A twin package of Extreme Special Reports that have only been available as bonuses before…

Extreme Report #1. The super-potent (and much sought-after) “Power Words” collection…

Extreme Report #2. And the mind-altering “11 Quick Marketing Fixes” checklist.

These are easily among the most valuable reports a marketer could ever get your hands on.

Though they come as bonuses with our larger packages (there is no other way to get them)… these little treasures are often cited as “major game changers” when past customers tell me which piece of advice or tactic fundamentally impacted their life.

The first report is a thick compendium crammed with specific words and phrases I’ve plucked from successful ads I’ve penned over the years.

These words and phrases are the building blocks of explosive hooks and “drive ‘em to tears” emotionally-compelling writing…

… the stuff that can turn a lame-ass, boring ad…

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Saturday, 4:14pm
Reno, NV
“He’s not the messiah.  He’s a very naughty boy…” (Terry Jones, Monty Python’s “Life Of Brian”)

Howdy…

Quick post here… but it’s important.

I’m relaying something here that I just shared in the Simple Writing System mentoring program.  (The entire program is sizzling with action, by the way.  Mucho fun… and this is yet another “taste” of the kind of stuff we’re getting into.)

It’s about using and abusing “intuition” when there’s money on the line.

I had a little saying I’d rely on, back when I was a freelancer: “It’s a mess to guess.”

I used that saying as a reminder not to go off half-cocked when trying to persuade prospects to part with money.

In the SWS training, I mention that most people’s intuition is just dead wrong.  It was amended, during discussion, to “untrained intuition is almost always dead wrong.”

There’s a difference, you see, between good intuition and bad intuition.

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Saturday, 8:53pm
Reno, NV
“It’s the end of the world as we know, and I feel fine…” (REM)

Howdy…

Nice big glob of seemingly-nasty news hit the grid this week.

The FTC (brrr, even the name causes Halloween-style chills, doesn’t it) fired a shot across the bow of the good ship Capitalism with their “final guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials”.

In case you’ve been in a coma or something, here’s the Fed-sponsored link:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

What immediately followed was a lot of hair-on-fire screaming and rending of clothes by both online and offline business owners who use testimonials or endorsements in their marketing.

It was kinda fun to watch, actually.

A lot of entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed over the decades, are skittish enough already about the whole “provide a product to customers in exchange for money” model of doing business.

They’re like “Are you sure we can do this?  Actually accept moolah just for giving people this thing of value we created?”

It’s understandable to be a little paranoid.  Business is part of the grown-up world, all full of consequences and responsibilities and risks…

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