7 Comments

Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
May 12, 2008
Issue #415

Q: How Do You Wind Up With $1 Million
in Las Vegas?
A: Start With $2 Million.

Dear Business-Builder,

Actually, we only took $10,000 to gamble with – and after six straight days of playing blackjack from morning ‘til morning, returned with $10,500. So, no harm, no foul.

In truth, The Redhead and I had a fantastic time. She wants to find the guy who invented room service and give him a big hug. That’s OK by me. Because you know what happens after room service? CUDDLING, that’s what!

At any rate, I’ve now had my vacation and the inevitable “vacation from my vacation” – and I can now assure you from personal experience that Las Vegas is, indeed, still there – and despite all the scary news about the economy, the casinos are still packed to the rafters.

And I can also assure you that there is, indeed, more Ketel One in Vegas than any one person can possibly consume (although there does seem to be a serious shortage of Grey Goose!).

One of the best things about the trip was meeting fascinating folks at the tables:

The husband and wife who sell pharmaceuticals and who warn that Obama’s national health care scheme will kill both the quality and the availability of medical care in America …
The young Canadian commodities analyst who told everyone at the table that we can expect $300 oil, $15 gasoline and $3,000 gold next year …
The dozens of folks from the UK, Europe and Asia who have evidently found a new favorite hobby: Needling us Yanks about how worthless the dollar really has become (“Yay, I won! Wait – you’re only paying me in DOLLARS? Don’t you have any REAL money here? Yuk, yuk, yuk.) …
The marketing director for WebRoot software (SpySweeper, et. al.) who, I suspect, is even now reading this and making sure his underlings do, too …
And of course, the octogenarian who announced he was marrying the love of his life at 2:00 PM … and just wanted to get a few hands of blackjack under his belt before the big event (they dragged him away from the table at 1:45).

But the best part of the trip by far was completely disengaging from marketing and copywriting and allowing my mind to dwell on larger things. In short, backing away from the tactical trees and taking a good, long, hard look at the strategic forest of my life and career.

Mostly, I thought about my little marketing agency, ResponseInk. About how talented and dedicated our people are. And about how I could – should – best leverage their abilities in the year ahead to make them a ton of money (and create a tidy payday for the Makepeace household in the process).

Because no matter how great a company is, no matter how gifted or committed its people are, it really is all about the leadership they receive from the top. And no leader is worth a bucket of warm spit unless he or she has a specific vision – a dream – and the passion and focus to achieve it.

Easy to say. Not always so easy to do.

(more…)

6 Comments

Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
May 5, 2008
Issue #410

The Secret to Becoming
An “A” Level Copywriter

An Interview with Top Copywriter,
Kim Krause Schwalm

Kim Krause Schwalm is one of the hottest copywriters alive. She has had many red-hot controls – both in the health and wealth fields – and her insights are money in the bank for both writers and the folks who hire them.

So Clayton did a little digging. He got right inside her head and found out what makes this top copywriter such a huge success.

(more…)

26 Comments

Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
April 28, 2008
Issue #405

Do You Believe?

The Redhead says I need to do a little housekeeping this week — and what The Redhead wants, The Redhead gets …

First, If you haven’t yet watched The Secret of The Golden Ladder video — and discovered the strategy I used to multiply a client’s sales revenues 43 times over in a single year — you’re almost out of time. It’s going offline in just over 48 hours — on April 30. It’s only about eight minutes long, so why not watch it now?

Second, as I’ve mentioned here before, we’ve spent the last year building a great little direct response marketing agency here in Western North Carolina.

ResponseInk™ now boasts a top-notch product development manager, five excellent copywriters, four web designers, a world-class art director, two affiliate/new business managers, a crackerjack fulfillment/customer service department, an excellent traffic cop whose job it is to make sure every project moves through our pipeline quickly and efficiently, and other great support people.

We’re pretty much doing it all for our existing clients — product development, overall marketing strategy, copywriting, online and offline design, PPC, SEO, media selection — the whole shootin’ match. It’s a turn-key deal, all masterminded and directed by yours truly. Kind of like strapping a super-charger onto your marketing department.

And the great news is, we ARE finally — finally — ready to accept one new client or joint venture partner.

We are not accepting one-shot freelance assignments and our exclusive arrangement with Weiss Research means we cannot work with other investment newsletter publishers. Other than that if you’re willing to pay us a portion of the sales we generate for you, the sky’s the limit.

So if you’d like to explore the possibility of partnering with us, just click here and use the handy form to tell us about yourself and your company or product idea.

Or, if you prefer, click here to send us an e-mail.

Or, if you just want to check out the ResponseInk™ site and learn more about our agency, click here.

We can only accept ONE new client in 2008 and we hope to begin discussions with our new prospective client 14 days from today — on Monday, May 12th.

So if the thought of having my team and I working full-time to explode your business is appealing to you, I’d strongly suggest that you let us hear from you soon.

Third, I need a vacation. So Wednesday night, The Redhead and I are boarding a flight bound for Vegas — where, for seven glorious days, I vow to purge all thoughts about marketing and copywriting from my fevered brain.

As you can imagine, my head really isn’t in the whole “How to write a world-beating control” place today. In fact, pretty much all I can think about is climbing on that plane Wednesday night and having The Redhead’s undivided attention for a whole week.

But I do have a couple of insights I think could make you a bundle (while I lose one), so here goes …

(more…)

13 Comments

Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
April 21, 2008
Issue #400

The #1 Advantage of Geezerhood

Dear Business Builder,

I must say, suddenly finding myself just four years away from the big six-oh is a massive shock: Especially to a guy who still feels 18 and who never thought he’d live to see 30.

But on my birthday this month, I officially became a geezer. I don’t mind, really. Sure beats the alternative. And frankly, some of the life experiences I’ve had in my 56 years on this planet are beginning to come in pretty darned handy!

Fact is, I’m getting pretty excited about the business opportunities this new economic environment holds for us business owners, marketing folk and copywriters.

See, I’ve learned a few things in my two-score and 16 years – stuff that some other pretty smart fellas figured out a long, long time ago …

“There’s nothing new under the sun.”

– King Solomon

“What is past is prologue.”

– William Shakespeare

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

– George Santayana

“Those who CAN learn from history can get richer than Midas.”

– Clayton Makepeace

OK – you caught me. That last quote probably doesn’t belong on the list with the others. But frankly, I like seeing my name listed alongside those luminaries. My blog, my call. Right?

So … “nothing new under the sun” … “past is prologue” … “learn from history” … “get rich.” Got it? Great!

OK – keeping that in mind consider this …

Huge expenditures from a massively expensive war are coming home to roost.
The U.S. economy and stock market are stalling; unemployment is rising.
In an attempt to pull the economy out of its funk, Washington is printing money like there’s no tomorrow.
Inflation – our cost of living – has begun rising.
Oil and gasoline prices are at all-time highs.
Food and raw materials are in increasingly short supply and prices are soaring world-wide.
Gold and silver prices are on a tear.
Congress is already controlled by the Democrats and the voters are set to throw the Republicans out of the White House.

Have I left anything out?

(more…)

7 Comments

Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
April 14, 2008
Issue #395