Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
June 19, 2009
Originally Posted On: January 8, 2007

How Big Can You Dream?

Three ways to unleash the hair-on-fire entrepreneur inside you:

• Why the $3 million a year us top copywriters can make is really just chump change …
• How the world’s second-best business could make you a bloody fortune …
• The single most profitable way you could spend an hour this week …
• And much, MUCH MORE!

Dear Business-Builder,

In Joe VS. The Volcano – one of my all-time favorite movies – a character says something I’ve never forgotten. It goes something like this …

“Nearly everyone on Earth sleepwalks through their lives.

“The handful of folks who are truly awake live in a state of perpetual amazement and wonder.”

Actually the truth is, most of us do both. We sleepwalk through most of every day – automatically performing mundane daily tasks … digging the ruts in which we live our lives … and fighting it out day-to-day in those self-made trenches …

And every once-in-a-while – usually at key turning points of the year or in our lives — we take a few moments to examine where we are, how far we’ve come and where we might want to go next.

Call it “Periodic Introspection.” And since we’re mid-year – one of those “turning points” I just mentioned – what better time to step back and take stock?

See, I’m a big believer in multiple streams of income – of NOT keeping all my eggs in one basket.

My agency, ResponseInk has multiple clients, each paying us a percentage of sales in return for the marketing strategy, copy, media and design work we do for them. Each client represents a separate stream of income for us, so after spending time staffing up, we’re considering adding maybe one new “stream” in the year ahead.

Then, of course, there’s The Total Package – but it is definitely NOT a stream of income for us, yet.

I founded this e-letter back in 2005 as a way to give back to the industry that’s been so good to me – to help the next generation of copywriters, designers and marketers along. Every dollar you spend with us is re-invested to keep The Total Package coming, to develop even more helpful products for you, and to invite more folks to join us. But someday – probably in my dotage – I’m hoping it’ll be an income stream I can count on.

So now, as I take time for my “periodic introspection” mid-year, I’m thinking hard about what other streams of income I want to add going forward – and I’m hoping my ruminations could be a source of inspiration for you …

The World’s Single Greatest
Income Opportunity

First, I’m pretty sure that whatever new streams of income I add this year will be closely tied to this direct response marketing thing.

Why? Because it’s still the greatest thing going.

I mean – can you name another career that lets you earn more than the average medical doctor … with far less than one-tenth the time in training … and for a tiny fraction of what medical students have to pay for tuition (not to mention what they’ll have to pay later on to equip their offices)?

That’s what direct response marketers and freelance copywriters do every day!

• You can pick up the basic skills in a couple of months – just by studying a few books, reading a few free e-letters like this one, maybe taking a course or attending a conference or two …
• You can go straight from “school” to earning at least five figures while you serve your “internship” … and then quickly jump to six figures as you apply what you’ve learned in the real world …
• And if you like, you can even take the next step – establish a direct response business of your own, with the potential of paying you $20 million … $50 million … up to $100 million a year (or even more) in profits!

And just think about the flexibility these direct response and copywriting skills give you …

• You can decide to keep your day job in a separate field and use your direct marketing skills to pad your income, working in your spare time at home …
• You can go for job security by putting your skills to work as a highly valued employee at an established direct response marketing firm …
• You can hang out your own shingle as a full-time copy or graphics freelancer – or, if you’re in the nuts-and-bolts side of things, establish your own agency or service bureau …
• You can develop and promote your own products – and instead of settling for the 5% to 10% of sales most copywriters get, keep ALL the profits!

Is this direct response biz easy? No – it takes intense study and practice, and the discipline to keep going when the going gets tough.

Does success come overnight? Almost never. For most folks who’ve made it big in this biz, it took patience, persistence and time.

Do 100% of all direct response copywriters, designers and marketers succeed? Nope. Many are just dreamers who never apply what they learn. Others give it their best shot, but find they just don’t have the temperament or the aptitude for it.

Still others will never know if they could have made it because they gave up at the first sign of adversity. And for many others who stick with it, it’s just a matter of time; their greatest successes are still ahead of them.

But the fact is, for the thousands of us who are making fantastic money in direct response – probably more like tens of thousands of us – this business has proven to be the greatest opportunity going – by far!

 … And so, whatever new stream of income I add this year, it’s a slam-dunk that it’s going to be direct-response related!

The Second-Best Business Going

Second question: Name a business where product development costs you zero dollars … product manufacturing costs you zero … product delivery costs you zero … advertising and marketing cost you zero … and where 100% of every sale (or darned close too it) is 100% PROFIT.

Only one business I can think of fits that bill, and they call it “information publishing!”

Really, though, the phrase “Information Publishing” is a misnomer. Nobody wants to pay for information. Why would we? Information is passive – and we can get all we want free on the World Wide Web!

What all of us really want – and what we’re all willing, even eager to pay for — is for someone to take us by the hand and help us do something we dearly or desperately want to do.

Show me – step-by-step — how I can do something better, faster, or with less effort … make me believe you can really deliver … show me vivid mental images of how much better my life will be after I’ve benefited from the help you’re offering me … and you’ve got my money!

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get started …

• You create a “How-To” newsletter, report, book, course or live event …
• You create the promo literature you’ll need – e-mail blasts, banner ads and a website with a shopping cart …
• You offer affiliates the opportunity to make a bundle on your new product by promoting it to their customers in return for a nice commission on each sale …
• You deliver your product on-line with a page that lets customers download it instantly …
• You follow up with additional products to further help your new customers along …

… And voila! Before you know it, your little “stream of income” has turned into a tsunami of samoleans!

Sound easy? It’s not. There are a bazillion little details and challenges to making it happen – and a gazillion more to making it big. But it IS a viable way to make truly huge money. A friend of mine now pulls in a couple million a month marketing his how-to info online. Another does well over $100 million a year.

Now, this is a real no-brainer for me. Since I’ve already sold more than one billion dollars-worth of information products both online and off, I know this info-marketing biz inside and out – so there’s no contest: My first choice for an additional stream of income is to establishing my own online publishing company.

I can’t really say what we’re going to be publishing yet; but suffice it to say, it will NOT be about copywriting or marketing. We handle that through The Total Package. No, our plan is to explore some entirely new areas in the years ahead.

And here’s yet another way to open the financial floodgates in the years ahead …

Leveraging What You Already Know
Can Be Explosively Profitable

OK – so here I sit.

I’m a copywriter and marketing strategist.

The Redhead is an organizer and expediter par-excellence.

I’ve also got a brilliant Web department and more copy cubs than I know what to do with.

Hmmm … wonder what I could do with that?

Well, this one’s a long shot – and you’re going to think I’m loopy – but

I’m going for $1.6 billion.

That’s right: $1,600,000,000.

That’s what Google paid the two young computer geeks who created YouTube.

See, those guys understood something that few people do.

Despite all our pretense, the Internet is NOT about research. Or getting the latest stock quotes. Or anything else serious or even practical, for that matter.

The most explosive online successes have come to folks who see the ‘Net for what it is – and who understand that millions of us jump on-line so many times a day for three, simple reasons:

1. We’re bored; we need stimulation.
2. We’re lonely; we crave interaction with others.
3. We feel insignificant; we long to feel more important.

Look at Facebook.com … or YouTube.com … or for that matter, Michel Fortin’s copywriting forum … and you’ll see: When it comes to generating traffic, the most successful sites give users ways to assuage their boredom … their loneliness … and their feelings of insignificance.

And so, I’ve decided to give the masses what they want: websites that do all that and more.

Right now, we’re still in the market research phase – I’ll keep you posted as we move along.

And yes, it’s a long-shot. But hey – if we only do one-tenth as well as YouTube, that’s $160 million in my account. Only one-one-hundredth as well, and I get $16 million.

The bottom line is …

$3 Million a Year is Chump Change!

Almost every day, I hear from copywriters who are obsessed with this whole freelance thing. They have decided that they’re going to be the next $3 million a year freelancer.

Good for them. And if you’re one of them, good for YOU.

But beware of tunnel vision! While you’re focused on your #1 priority, don’t forget that the skills you’ve picked up give you many more ways to skin this success kitty.

Many years ago – just after I hung out my own shingle as a freelancer – things weren’t going all that well for me. I was long on monthly bills and short on clients – in a real financial pinch.

So I sat back with my then-partner, and we indulged in a few minutes of “Periodic Introspection.”

I had just had an assignment in which I created a full-page ad for a small, politically oriented tabloid. Its readers were so conservative, they made Rush Limbaugh look like Joseph Stalin. A full-page ad in that tabloid cost only a couple grand, and it had quadrupled my client’s money in less than 30 days.

I asked my partner at the time, “What could we sell those folks?”

Our best idea: A special report offering to reveal the lyrics to the most outrageous rock and roll hits of the day.

See, subscribers to that rag hated rock and roll. They thought it was the devil’s music. Worse, they believed it was a tool the commies were using to convert American youth to socialism.

What’s more, since none of these ultra-right-wingers could understand a word those songs said – only kids understood the lyrics — many believed the whole thing was a vast, left-wing conspiracy.

And of course, since our ad would be addressed to some of the most sexually repressed people on the face of the Planet, we figured they’d be happy to pay $24.95 to actually see the naughty lyrics themselves – so long as they could reasonably claim they were only doing it to “save America.”

And so, we wrote our full-page ad. At the top, we had a huge picture of the rock band KISS jumping through a torn page with the headline in 120-point type …

They’re Out To Steal Your Children!

The ad copy went on to validate every suspicion and every fear our prospects had about that “evil” rock & roll music. We quoted parts of the most outrageous lyrics with blanks where the naughty words were, and invited our readers to use their imagination to fill them in.

We said how they had a moral duty to know what their kids were listening to … and painted horrifying mental images of what happens to parents and grandparents who failed to regulate what their offspring listen to.

That $2,000 ad sold $30,000-worth of those 24-page reports in less than a month.

Shameless. Right?

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Thinking outside the box for an hour or two generated enough money for us to feed our families for several months, until our regular freelancing business kicked in again!

More importantly, the point is, you only have six months left to maximize your income this year.

THIS is the time to ask yourself …

• What could I do to add multiple streams of income in the year ahead?
• What new clients should I pursue in the year ahead and what kinds of deals could I structure that would make it nearly impossible for them to refuse me?
• What kinds of information products could I develop to sell myself this year?
• How else could I leverage my skills and experience to add extra income and make 2007 my best year ever?

My advice: Pour yourself a cup of coffee, turn off the phone, shut the door and give yourself an hour to think about it. That hour may well turn out to be the most profitable one you’ll have all year!

Hope this helps …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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15 Comments »

1. Comment by Doberman Dan — June 19, 2009 @ 11:00 am

   Hey Clayton,

   As a serial direct response “kitchen table entrepreneur” I was really excited to read this article.

   I’ve done freelance work and have also started numerous direct response businesses in a plethora of niches.

   In my most humble (but accurate) opinion, running your own direct response business is way more fun and profitable than doing freelance work.

   I encourage all the copywriters on your list to take this message to heart and start their own DR projects.

   WORST case scenario… they have some steady income coming in to tide them over when they’re in between clients.

   Best,
   Dan

   P.S. Any chance you would post that “evil rock music lyrics” ad? I’d LOVE to see it.

2. Comment by Caleb Osborne — June 19, 2009 @ 11:31 am

   Hey Clayton!

   Love this “oldie but goodie” article and I too would LOOOOOOOOVVVEEE (Did I mention Love?) To see the rock n roll ad!

   I’ve heard you talk about it many times and would love to see it!

   LAter
   Caleb

3. Comment by Clarke Echols (Resident scientist and rabble-rouser) — June 19, 2009 @ 11:43 am

   I’ve told people for years that your income is a reflection of the value *other people* put on what you do *for them*.

   If you want more money, you have two choices:

   Make yourself more valuable to one person (your employer),
   hoping they’ll pay you more, or…

   Make yourself valuable to a *lot more people*. The problem is finding the *lot more people*. And nothing can match direct response for accomplishing that.

   You’re spot-on, as always.

   Clarke

4. Comment by Sean — June 19, 2009 @ 11:44 am

   Clayton,

   Straight out of Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret.

   He tells the story of two kids who went out to California to live their dream only to find out that “no one would give them a job”. Then earl says, “If they had only taken out a pad of paper and a pen and set down a few ideas about what they could do for others then they would have come up with a whole host of ideas. Wash boats, run an errand service, etc..”

   Just take an hour and think.

   But the greatest line in The Strangest Secret for me was this, It’s also the next step:

   “Act as if you cannot fail”

   I made the decision last October to be a great copywriter…now I work as a staff copywriter at Agora’s best division and I am doing my “apprenticeship” for which I get paid to learn the ins and outs of a top notch publisher.

   But, you have inspired me to add another income stream and start my own info-pub business in addition to my regular gig.

   Thanks.

   Sean

5. Comment by Jane — June 19, 2009 @ 11:59 am

   Great article Clayton. Just some inspiration I needed.

   Thanks,
   Jane

6. Comment by Brian — June 19, 2009 @ 12:05 pm

   Clayton,

   I was in a place a few days ago called the ‘Heavy Metal Shop’ here is Salt Lake City.

   The owner of this place has got to be in his late fifties and is covered in tattoos and heavy metal garb.

   Interestingly enough, this place has absolutely thrived in a marketplace that is highly conservative. He has been in business for over twenty years just selling tee-shirts and cd’s - but people love his ‘Heavy Metal Shop’ brand.

   He’s so different than any other tee-shirt seller.

   It’s an example of how thinking outside the box can separate you from the competition.

   Best,

   Brian

7. Comment by Fred — June 19, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

   Clayton,

   Making 8 & 9 figures is a real turn on,go for it! you can do it!you’ve been making all these other companies big bucks, do it for yourself!
   one question, why did you wait so long?

8. Comment by Neil — June 19, 2009 @ 1:11 pm

   Please share the rock an roll ad. It would be an inspiration for all us newbies.

   Thanks

9. Comment by Arturo Ovies — June 19, 2009 @ 1:54 pm

   Great post Clayton and “right on the money”.

   Thinking outside the box has been a great challenge for me, but reading your post today has given me the boost I needed for the days ahead. I have learned that doing ordinary things consistently lead to extraordinary results.

   How big can I dream?, I’ll let you know on a day or two

   All the best,

   A

10. Pingback by ‘How Big Can You Dream?’ - ‘The Total Package’ — June 20, 2009 @ 6:20 am

    [...] How Big Can You Dream?… [...]

11. Comment by Kammy Thurman — June 20, 2009 @ 12:51 pm

    Hey Clayton,

    GREAT article. I’m seeing a plethora of e-mails of late offering to show readers all the ins and outs of creating info publishing empires. Do you have something like this in the works, so we can get the inside scoop from someone we already know and love?

    Kammy

12. Comment by Astrid Harper — June 20, 2009 @ 4:27 pm

    Clayton,

    Your “chump change” of $3 million a year is more than I could ever use. In fact, I suspect it would create more problems that it would solve. So promises of $50 to $100 million a year do not in the least motivate me. But I do like your thoughts on how to think outside the box. Just to learn that skill motivates me. And your particular example gave me a good laugh!

    Astrid Harper

13. Comment by Len — June 22, 2009 @ 11:48 am

    TO KAMMY (#11): You should check out Clayton’s “Confessions of the Infomarketing Superstars” … just click here: http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/online-store/confessions-of-the-infomarketing-superstars/

14. Comment by Susan Connors — June 22, 2009 @ 10:41 pm

    Hi there Clayton

    I have had these ideas chomping at the back of my head since I read this post some days back.

    Since then I have revisited my life and goals many times. Looked at the possibilities and love what I see.

    I know it will take time - I know I will achieve them.

    Sometimes just getting away or as you suggested spending an hour away from the distractions of life can be a real eye opener.

    I look at where I am now, where I came from in life, where I want to go, what can I give back to the community, and more.

    The only one who limits my choices is me. See I have this scrawny little monster who sits on my shoulder and feeds on negativity and doubt. Some days it gets real heavy as it stuffs its face and feeds on the negative moods and actions of myself.

    Other times it is very quiet and sleeps. Somehow the good balances out. Yes, there is guarantee that BS stuff happen. Thats the good, the bad, the mad, the happy and glad side of life.

    Our mind sets shape where we take our thoughts and actions.
    One thing that works for me when I am stressing and feel like thumping someone or throwing something is to simply BREATHE! Its free costs nothing and gets help to clear the head.

    I am making these six months count!

    Thank you for this wonderful site (no I am not gushing
    I simply appreciate the Total Package and people who take time to help people help themselves to a brighter future!

    My pennies worth,

    Susan Connors
    Australia

15. Comment by Crystal — June 25, 2009 @ 1:22 am

    Hey Clayton

    An excellent article. I would love to be able to start an DR business of my own or even work for someone else. I go to school right now to write childrens books to upgrade on the structure of writing and editing. This will definitely help me with the copywriting or dr or even poetry in the years to come.

    The $3m-$100m sounds very motivating to me. I am not nor will I ever be a materialistic person but if I made or even come close to making that it would give me a chance to give my 4kids and my husband and I a better living and then help out our(his) family that I knew needed it.

    I have always been a very BIG dreamer to where I could think outside the box and way beyond. I have a determination that gives me the advantage to teach myself things and DO NOT give up till I have learned it.

    I AM a very driven person. But out of my parents and 3 sisters there is just me since I was 15 and staying driven and motivated as much as honest with others and myself has what has kept me going.

    Thanks for everything — You da man!!
    Crystal