Category Archives for entrepreneur
Intelligent, Educated Savvy
Wednesday, 11:56am
New York, New York
“Truckin’, like the Doo Dah man…” (Grateful Dead)
Howdy…
Sorry for the little vacation here from the blog. I’ve been hunkered down in “launch mode”, on the road, and ministering to various biz projects…
… all of which have messed with my “sit down and write, dammit” time.
I’m actually handwriting the first part of this post in a hotel room, just before heading to La Guardia to fly home after a week in the Big Apple. (Those of you following me on Facebook may have seen pics of the dispicable weather display we braved to watch the Jets b-slap the Vikings on Monday Night Football. We spent 4 solid days in meetings, while the city basked in perfect Fall splendor… and the one time we ventured outside, thunder and lightning and a deluge of biblical size dumped on our sorry asses.)
(Still, it was worth the drenching. Great story to tell whenever anyone needs one-upping on weather disasters…)
By the time you read this, I’ll be back in exciting Reno, catching my breath.
I am one bone-tired road dog, I’ll tell you what.
And I can’t wait to be sitting back at my cluttered desk, writing. Dammit.
So…
… quick post here, just to get the blood moving again.
I was thinking about this subject while reading up on the gossip whirling around the online entrepreneurial community. It’s starting to jive with the blistering political attacks dominating the mainstream news cycles…
… and it’s scary.
The details of the gossip don’t really matter. Rumors come, rumors go… same as political movements and all other fads and moments of temporary insanity.
But there is an overriding theme here that will never go away: Read more…
Congratulations, And Now Stop Being A Wuss
Monday, 7:55pm
Reno, NV
“But it’s all right… in fact it’s a gas…” (The Stones, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash“)
Howdy…
Nobody’s ever asked me to give the commencement speech for a graduating class.
That’s probably a good thing. I’m pretty pissed off at the education system these days, and I might cause a small riot with the rant I’d surely deliver.
See, I have a university “education”. A BA in psychology. (The BA stands for, I believe, “bullshit amassed”.) I earned it several decades ago…
… and while I had a good time in college (height of the sex revolution, you know, with a soundtrack that is now called “classic rock”), made some lifelong friends, and got a good look at higher learning from the inside…
… that degree provided zilch preparation for the real world. Didn’t beef me up for any job, didn’t give me insight to how things worked, didn’t do squat for me as an adult.
I waltzed off-campus and straight into the teeth of the worst recession since the Depression (Nixon’s post-Vietnam wage-freeze, record unemployment, gas-lines, near-total economic turmoil)…
… so, hey, I should have a little empathy for today’s grads, right?
Naw.Read more…
Night Of The Living-Dead Sales Letter…
Thursday, 8:06pm
Reno, NV
“Here come Johnny Yen again…” (Iggy Pop, “Lust For Life”)
Howdy…
Oh, my God!
They killed the sales letter again!
Will this horror never stop?
Actually, you can relax. Just like Kenny in South Park, the traditional sales letter is on some kind of perverse “Permanent Hit List”…
… where every marketer trying to claim he just invented a new fad stands astride the image of a quaking letter…
… and slays it.
Huzzah! Death to you, vile long-copy sales letter! Take that… and that…
… and that.
This latest round is clever as hell, too. The new trend is putting your sales letter in a video, and reading along with it.
The irony: The dude selling you the “Magic Box” product that kills the sales letter forever…
… uses a sales letter to do the killing.
Hey — don’t get me wrong. I love video. Been using it in marketing since… well, since it was actual videotape on reels. (Yeah, shocking, I know. We were so backward in the last century.)
In fact, the “Magic Box” product I’m talking about is, I’m guessing, an excellent solution for many marketers who can’t figure out how to make a video sales letter work.
And all’s fair in love, war and advertising. So all the dudes out there telling you the sales letter is dead, and you can sell without selling, and the Web has changed everything…Read more…
Who’s Watching Your Back?
Thursday, 7:41pm
Reno, NV
“Please allow me to introduce myself…” (Stones, Sympathy For The Devil)
Howdy…
This is one of those lessons that arrived accidentally…
… and I had to stop and ruminate about it for a while before it made sense.
I’m lucky I learned it early, too.
It’s provided me with a home base of sanity when the chaos has reached shuddering crescendos and it was hard to think straight (let alone make snap decisions when crisis loomed).
You may find it obvious.
That’s fine. Just don’t go thinking it’s obvious to the rest of the mean ol’ world out there… cuz it ain’t.
Here’s the story: One of my first jobs working for Gary Halbert was to fly to Detroit… and interview a guy who’d just lost 750 pounds.
Yeah, you read that right.Read more…
Love Stinks
Monday, 2:33pm
San Diego, CA
“If you see my little red rooster, please send him home…” (Howling Wolf, master of innuendo)
Howdy…
I’m actually starting this blog in longhand, sitting in the Southwest terminal in San Diego…
… finally dragging my exhausted butt homeward after logging a full week here putting on the now-fabled Action Seminar.
It was a spectacular success, if you’re keeping score.
We directly challenged every seminar model out there… and delivered two frighteningly-on-target days of specific advice, techniques and life-transforming revelations.
Both the roomful of attendees, and the small army of Big Dog experts we assembled, loved the experience. If you’re following the social media threads of folks like James “Schrak” Schramko, Mary Ellen Tribby, Big Jason Henderson, the Halbert boys, Harlan Kilstein, Brian Johnson, Kevin Rogers, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero, and the other stellar names who participated…
… then you’re already hip to how the event went.
Excellent buzz.
Shame on you for missing it.
Anyway…
I haven’t got a lot of time here, so I need to focus on what I wanted to share with you here in this post.
There was a ton of practical info for everyone’s “To Do List” at the seminar…
… but there was also a very intriguing element of spirituality, too.
I wasn’t planning to go down that road.
However… Read more…
A Big Steaming Cup Of Hysteria
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…Read more…
More Free Goodies Than You Probably Deserve…
Sunday, 7:57pm
Reno, NV
“It’s alive!” (Baron Von Frankenstein, kickstarting the Monster)
Howdy…
We’ve just fired up the Simple Writing System blog (www.simplewritingsystem.com/blog)…
… which means a stunning (and unprecedented) pile of free tools, tactics, advice and insight can be yours…
… just for the grabbing.
This is an all-out assault on reason and logic. We’re just GIVING AWAY stuff that — not too long ago — would have cost you a pretty penny just to get a quick glimpse of.
We’ve created a beast here, and it’s name is FREE.
Here’s just a small taste of what’s piling up over there (that you’re missing out on if you haven’t signed in):
- A free swipe file of “home run” ads I’ve written (which few folks outside the target markets have ever seen)… can be in your tool kit tonight. This swipe file, alone, is causing hearts to skip a beat among marketers and freelance writers who love to rip juicy headlines and sales angles from proven ads. (Removes any guesswork on who/what to rip.)
- A short (but frightenly powerful) series of special reports channeling the best “how to make the sale” secrets I’ve ever used. (I used to keep this stuff classified, only bringing it out during high-paid consultations… and here we are giving it away.)
- The actual video (torn directly from the masters hidden in Frank’s inner sanctum) of my “How to persuade, influence and sell the shit out of anything… using the simplest stories you can create” presentation at Mass Control.
What? You didn’t see that presentation?
It’s marketing theater at its finest… Read more…
Need A Damn Good Copywriter To Save Your Butt?
Monday, 9:21pm
Reno, NV
“Stop sniveling…” (Pretenders, “Tatooed Love Boys”)
Howdy…
Quick note here for those in need.
I’ve been almost completely retired from freelancing for some time now. I still indulge a few long-time clients…
… but I haven’t taken on a new gig in over a year.
I’m devoting my time to teaching, and writing stuff for myself.
This makes me happy.
But it bums out business owners and entrepreneurs in a major way. Because, often, someone will realize they need copy written…
… and they know, deep down, that I’m the guy who needs to write it to squeeze out max results…
… and… here’s the sad part… they cannot bribe, cajole, threaten or offer me enough money to come out of this semi-retirement to do the gig.
Man, that’s frustrating.
Here’s the good news, though: I can now offer you… the next best thing.
If you need a writer who meets my strict, Operation MoneySuck, no-BS-allowed requirements for professionalism and quality…
… I now have a small “stable” full of them.
And we’ve just released a simple program that gives you immediate access.Read more…
Thieving Bastards
Sunday, 7:36pm
Reno, NV
“A thief believes everybody steals.” (E.W. Howe)
Howdy…
For those of you bugging me about the next Quiz…
… it’s coming, it’s coming.
Soon.
Tonight, though, I’ve gotta get something off my chest.
And so, a Rant. By little Johnny Carlton:
Ahem.
There seems to be a parasite bug infecting the brains of many marketers out there.
Let’s call this bug… “Theft“.
It’s not going away anytime soon.
In fact, the very word has been mutating for a long time now… so that what would have easily been labeled “stealing” in the bad-old pre-Web days…Read more…
The Secret To Real Success
Friday, 1:04pm
San Diego, CA
“First, learn your craft. It won’t stop you from being a genius later.”
Howdy.
Quick little note today, to take you through the weekend (while I’m down here in Baja La-La Land speaking at the star-studded “Paid For Life” seminar).
If you — like me in my mis-spent youth, and like the vast majority of folks out there who “can’t get started” — feel a sense of satisfaction over your ability to Think Deep on Big Thoughts…
… you’d be doing yourself a favor by murdering that satisfaction right now.
The best quote I’ve ever seen on this was by biz legend Peter Drucker:
“Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual. They fail to realize that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement. They never have learned that insights become effectiveness only through hard systematic work.”
In other words…
… you will never get shit done — no matter how smart you are (or think you are) — until you get MOVING on your ideas.
I, too, was a lost and wandering soul… until I discovered (by accident) the concept of goal-setting and — just as important — the trick to actually putting your goal-achievement plans into action.
That trick?Read more…