Posted by:
Daniel Levis
July 25, 2007
Issue #186
In this issue:
- Why perfectionism may be your worst enemy …
- How making a mess and then cleaning it up later can make you a whole lot richer …
- How faking it while you’re making it can turn regular "ho hum" customers into fiercely loyal product evangelists for life …
- And more!
Dear Business Builder,
When I was 13 years old I had a summer job working in my uncle’s plastics factory. My job was to spread sawdust all over the floor around the injection molding machines to clean up the oil that dripped out of them all day long.
There were about 10 machines as I recall, and most of them were attended by really large Italian women with moustaches whose job it was to package the plastic cups that came tumbling off the conveyor belts.
One of the machines however had a nubile young nymph in tight jeans in its charge and I was determined to make that one in particular, spotless. That’s where the trouble began …
I looked up to my boss, who was in his early twenties. I pretty much wanted to be like him when I grew up. So the dressing down he gave me the following day was memorable.
Years later, I still remember this young man’s words when I walked into the makeshift office on the plant floor. "Anything worth doing, is worth doing well!" he began. It seems my enthusiasm for oil absorption around one machine at the expense of the others was a problem. The words stung …
Being an impressionable young kid, the experience had an impact. And from that point forward, I was very careful about doing things right the first time. It became a habit with me.
Years later, I discovered it to be a very limiting one.
Why perfectionism
may be your worst enemy …
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with doing things well. I’m a big believer in that. It’s trying to do things well the first time that gets you in trouble.
Shall I give you an example?
Let’s suppose you’re a copywriter. Have you ever found yourself locked, hopelessly inefficient at moving your copy forward? You write a few words, and then go back and correct them because you think they’re no good. It’s called writer’s block, and it comes from this idea that any job worth doing is worth doing well.
The irony is you’ll write far better if you give yourself permission to write crap! And then come back and fix it up later.
Perfectionism is a huge block for people in business as well. It prevents them from seizing opportunities in which they could excel … it stymies them once they do take the plunge … and squashes their productivity at every turn.
As soon as you let go of the need to be perfect, wonderful things happen.
How making a mess
and then cleaning it up later
can make you a whole lot richer …
(more…)
Posted by:
Troy White
July 24, 2007
Issue #185
in this issue:
-
When Walt Disney headed up a cowboy parade … and how it applies to your business
-
How to get thousands of people working for FREE
-
The $2,000 a day secret that would make even Pamela Anderson proud
-
Challenging your customers to “step up to the plate”
-
Finding out who ELSE stands to gain from your success (and the financial repercussions to your business)
-
And Much More!
Fellow business builder,
I am fascinated with the strategies businesses are using to grow fast and consistently. Not the one-time magic pill solutions that are so prevalent on the Internet today – but long lasting, sustainable marketing practices that any and every business should be using.
You have heard me discuss the Wild West Wealth Summit before, but I have not dug in deep and shown you some of the reasoning behind this event and why the Wild West theme has worked so well for them.
It is an inspirational and educational story of a true showman who had a dream – and built that dream into a $300 million dollar empire.
Back in 1912, Guy Weadick had a dream … he wanted to out-do Buffalo Bill’s Traveling Wild West Road Show and make a new kind of event that could endure in the long run. He also wanted to showcase and celebrate the romance of the Old West.
At the time there was an annual event called the Calgary Exhibition that was starting to catch on and gain popularity among local city folk. But it wasn’t even close to the grand vision Guy Weadick had …
Today, the Calgary Stampede Lays Claim
to hosting the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.
And the numbers prove their claims. Every single year, this 10 day event brings in over $300 million dollars into the local economy. It is a world-renowned outdoor midway (with 1.2 million people passing through the turnstiles), has the second largest parade in the world (second only to the Rose Bowl parade), and has the largest rodeo purse in the world ($1.6 million is handed out to the top rodeo stars).
Having been born and raised in Calgary, Canada (with a short one year stint in Dallas, Texas) – I have attended near 38 Calgary Stampede events already – and now my twin daughters are being brought up in the "Stampede City."
I have always been fascinated with the Stampede and how they manage to convert a city of a million people the way they do (more on that later). There is nothing like this anywhere that I have ever seen.
(more…)
Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
July 23, 2007
Issue #184
In this issue:
- The 5 most effective techniques to boost credibility – and the one mistake to avoid …
- The single most important thing you MUST have right – or you may as well toss your promotion in the trash …
- How this powerful format transforms colder prospects into eager buyers …
- The quickest, easiest way to breathe butt-kicking, response-rocketing life into a dying control …
- The two troubling trends in financial marketing that you need to avoid like the plague …
- How to succeed big as a copywriter – with these two important attributes …
- And much MORE!
AWAI: In your opinion, what’s the most important part of a financial promotion? You may have just stated it … it needs to be alive with emotion. Are there any other elements critical to its success?
Clayton: I think anyone who has done any testing at all would agree that the headline and deck copy and the first few paragraphs of the main sales copy have a greater impact on response than any other part of a sales promotion. On countless occasions, I’ve taken a package that was pulling at, say, 120% of cost, tested new headline and deck copy and pushed response up to 150% or 170% of cost.
(more…)
Posted by:
John Newtson
July 21, 2007
Issue #183
The Tree That Would Not Die …
Sunken Treasure …
And a Field Trip to the Bastille!
- Multiply your market universe: How the right sales stories create entirely new markets for your products. Meet Bob who turned a great American story into cold hard cash …
- How stories create “monopolies” your competition can’t match! The right story will obliterate your competition and make buying your product the only possible choice for your market …
- How the French Government can make you millions in 2 weeks or less! The true story of how Jim Blanchard and Clayton Makepeace turned a trip to the Bastille into millions, with a little help from the French …
- And much, Much MORE!
Dear Business Builder,
Today’s first marketing story is about
the Tree That Would Not Die.
This is a picture of the towering tulip-poplar known as the Liberty Tree that once stood proudly on the grounds of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.
Photo from stjohnscollege.com
It was the last of 13 Liberty Trees – one in each of the original 13 colonies – which served as a gathering place for American patriots to spread their ideals leading up to, and to strategize during, the Revolutionary War.
In 1961 it was featured in an episode of ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not’ as ‘The Tree That Would Not Die’ because it survived:
- Being struck by a bolt of lightning …
- An explosion of gunpowder from inside its trunk set by pranksters …
- And 400 years of wind, war and weather …
Sadly, it finally sustained fatal injuries from Hurricane Floyd on September 16th, 1999.
This is where Bob Taylor comes in.
(more…)
Posted by:
Julie McManus
July 20, 2007
Issue #182
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday and welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches.
Over the last two issues, I’ve outlined my step-by-step process for getting started creating your very own joint venture teleseminar series. To re-cap – in part one of Creating JV Info Products for Profit and Fun, we discussed creating a theme or umbrella for the overall series, how to determine the individual call topics and select the experts that can speak to those topics. Plus, what you should consider offering your guest experts in exchange for participating, how to go about inviting them to join and how to get started scheduling your series.
Then in last weeks issue (part two), we discussed how setting an overall goal for your teleseminar series can help you determine how to structure and price your offer.
So, now that we that we’ve invited our guest experts, established a schedule and we’ve structured our offer – it’s time to start pulling it all together into a real live product. Here’s a timeline that will keep you on track to the big day …
Four to six weeks prior to the first call …
In the four to six weeks prior to the start of your call series you’re going to need to write your sales copy … or hire a copywriter. Without going into the specific details of writing copy, you’ll need to include the following in your sales promotion:
- Benefits participants can expect to receive for attending the call …
- Specific information about each of the guest experts and what they bring to the table …
- Dates and times for each of the calls …
- Offer and price for attendance …
- What to expect after they place their order …
For an example of what this type of sales promotion might look like Click Here:
You’ll also need to write several versions of shorter e-mail copy that you can use to promote the call series as well as give to your JV partners. This is simply teaser copy that will get prospects interested enough to click through to your sales landing page.
Here’s an example of what these e-mails might look like:
Subject Line: (name), 2007 your best year ever?
Info-Marketing-Biz Bazillions!
Hi {name}, XX here!
Whether you’re already selling your own newsletters, reports, books, e-books or other information products …
Or if you’re a copywriter creating promotions to sell newsletters, white papers, books or e-books for your clients …
Or even if you’re just looking for the ideal way to make great money in your spare time at home …
I’ve arranged a unique opportunity for you to listen in as 9 of the world’s most successful infopreneurs give you the secrets you need to make 2007 your best year ever …
… Listen in as they reveal everything you need to break into the info-marketing business … or grow an established information publisher like crazy – and the best part – it’s less than 10 bucks!
(more…)
