Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
June 23, 2008
Issue #443

Five ways to grow (very) rich
in tough economic times

Plus …

• Four hot new freebies for you (no strings, no pitch, nothing to buy) …

•  The most exciting announcement in Total Package history …

•  Two huge new opportunities to swing for the fences in 2008 …

•  And more!

Dear Business Builder …

Lots of new stuff to report this week — things we’re doing to get you richer, faster …

FIRST, we’re celebrating our third birthday this month — and like always, you get the present!  Can you believe it?  With more than 440 response-boosting articles in our archives and more than 1,000 pages of “Thank-You” letters in our testimonial file, you’d better! 

But there’s a problem …

Unless you discovered us a long time ago — or spent weeks poking around in our archives — you’ve missed many of the best articles on copywriting I’ve ever seen anywhere (I know, I watched me write them!). 

And since I’d rather have bamboo splints jammed under my fingernails (or worse:  Sit through an entire Obama or McCain campaign speech) than to repeat myself, I’ve been laying awake nights worrying that you’re missing tons of timeless strategies and tactics that would otherwise be getting you bigger winners, more often.

But never fear, dear reader, your team at The Total Package has your back!

Here’s the deal:  From now on, Thursdays will be “The Best of The Total Package” Day — the day we reprint one of our timeless and most highly acclaimed articles on copywriting, building a copywriting business, getting better work out of a copywriter — and more.

So I’ll continue publishing my new articles on Monday each week as always …
Tuesdays, you’ll get our guest articles from luminaries like Drayton Bird, Gary Bencivenga, Michel Fortin, Bob Bly, John Forde, Michael Masterson, and many others … 

Wednesday is still reserved for our token Canuck and all-around swell guy and brilliant marketer and copywriter – Daniel Levis …

Thursdays, you’ll be treated to the very best response-rocketing articles from our archives …

And on Fridays, you get Troy White’s ingenious insights on growing your small business.

Clear as mud – right?  Just hang in there … you’ll get used to the new schedule in no time flat.

SECOND, we have three more response-rocketing gifts for you:  If you haven’t already grabbed your free copy of Tony Flores’ two new volumes The Great Copywriting Conspiracy and The #1 Way to Electrify Your Ads or his six-page Power of Proof and Credibility cheat sheet, you’d better do it right away!

These are three of the most powerful response-boosting tools I’ve seen in a long, LONG time.  His blog is packed with high praise from your competitors who have already read them.  But we can’t leave them online much longer!

There’s nothing to buy; these remarkable tools are absolutely free.  So why not click here and download them now?

THIRD, this Friday, June 27th, will be a red-letter day for us — and for YOU!  After three years in development, we’re finally making The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach available for purchase.

For my money, this is – by far – the single most comprehensive guide, tutor, mentor and resource for copywriters ever assembled.

I predict this massive, 1,032-page volume will quickly become THE indispensable resource for every serious copywriter – newbies as well as old pros – on the planet … not to mention everyone who hires and works with copywriters … and certainly every online and offline entrepreneur looking to leverage the power of great sales copy to multiply response and profits by an order of magnitude.

And as you might expect, you get more than just 1,032 pages.  The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach comes with tons of whistles and bells – including a six-part “Getting Started” audio series … a three-part video training series … a ten-promotion, 220-page swipe file containing the best promos written by Carline Anglade-Cole, Parris Lampropoulos, Kent Komae and several other folks I’ve mentored (never-before released swipes that will never be available separately) … and much more.

You can’t buy The Ultimate Copy Coach quite yet — we’re still in the final stages of preefrooding — but come hell or high water, it will be available for purchase this Friday.  So be sure to check your inbox bright and early four mornings from now for all the exciting details!

FOURTH, we’re in the final stages of selecting the last new client my agency, ResponseInk, will accept this year.  So if you have a going concern and are interested in partnering with us to take it to the moon, this is your last chance to click here and tell us about you.

AND FIFTH, we’re offering an exciting NEW service to multiply your income — beginning in July!  When I founded The Total Package in June, 2005, my real job was creating promotions for investment and health newsletters.  Wendy was a stay-at-home mom.  We had no employees to help me with this blog or with my clients.

Today, I’m still a working marketer/copywriter, creating promotions for the same kinds of clients.  But something important has changed:  We’ve built an entire team to help me.  We now cut regular salary checks to 17 full-time employees every month.

Needless to say, our four crackerjack copywriters, five web/graphics guys, business development gal, traffic cop, customer care babe, bookkeeper and other soldiers — and of course The Redhead working overtime to keep the whole motley crew headed in the right direction — have all freed up my time … a LOT!

Meanwhile, thanks to the success of The Total Package, our customer care box has been crammed each week with letters from:

• Copywriters begging me to critique important projects they’re working on and to give them ideas for ramping up response …
• Business owners pleading with me to review and improve their business plans, hone their marketing and creative procedures that will capture dollars that are now falling through the cracks and put them where they belong:  On the bottom line …
• Product managers asking me to take a look at their products, premiums and offers and give them ideas to make them more successful …
• Marketing directors trying to bribe me to kibitz on their campaign strategies or to give them ideas for getting a lift out of their controls — and of course …
• Some personal requests that propriety prevents me from detailing here (and that gave us all huge grins when we read them!).

Now, thanks to all the help I’m getting from our cracker-jack team, I can finally say “Yes!” to a very, very small number of requests for private consulting.

And when I say “a very small number,” I mean it:  I must limit the time I spend on this to just ten hours per month. 

My regular clients keep me hopping 50 to 60 hours a week.  I have no intention of working around the clock or sacrificing family time for this. So those ten hours of consulting time will be booked at the rate of $5,000 per hour on a first-come, first-served basis only.  Once those 600 minutes are booked up each month, they’re gone for good. 

So if you’re interested, call Martha at 1-800-827-0940 or click here to send her an e-mail.  She’ll get the ball rolling for you.

OK — ‘nuff news.  On to the money-making stuff …

How to grow (very) rich in tough economic times

Let’s say you own a business and you’re trying to decide what kinds of products you should be developing now.  Or, you’re a copywriter trying to select the clients and projects most likely to make you a bundle over the next year or so.

Right off the bat, you know it isn’t going to be easy.  Just take a look around …

• The U.S. economy has ground to a standstill and the stock market is stuck in quicksand.
• The credit markets have dried up and even our largest banks are teetering on the brink of disaster.
• The equity in your home — most people’s #1 source of savings and wealth — is dwindling by the day … and despite the steady stream of pro-dollar B.S. flowing from the Fed, the value of your money is tanking, too.
• The number of unemployed Americans is heading towards Depression-era levels and personal and corporate bankruptcies are setting new all-time record highs with each passing month.
• Gasoline, natural gas and electricity prices are sky-high, roaring higher and every trip to the grocery store costs you more than the last one did.
• Consumer confidence is cratering … prospects and customers are curtailing discretionary purchase and beginning to watch every penny as if it was their last … and retail sales at all but discount stores are plunging.
• Just last week, two major financial institutions — Merrill Lynch and the Royal Bank of Scotland — issued frank, blatant, in-your-face warnings that the global economy and world stock markets WILL suffer a major meltdown in the next 90 days.
• And if all that isn’t enough cause for concern, we have not one, but two economic ignoramuses running for president, pitching tax and regulatory disasters plus health care and other spending schemes that have proven historically to be recipes for financial catastrophe.

Sorry, Boobalah, but them’s the cards you’ve been dealt.

What’s that you say?  “This article isn’t for me … I’m not in the U.S.  I live in one of the 67 other countries on The Total Package subscription list.”

Uh — sorry to break it to you, my foreign friend, but with America on the ropes … with Eurozone economies slowing, stock markets softening and inflation rising … and with Asian nations fighting their own inflation demons and Pacific Rim stocks swooning as much as 60% so far this year … these ain’t exactly the salad days for you, either. 

So — given the fact that we’re all marketers here — what do you do to make max money in miserable times?

What kinds of products should businesses be launching and which kinds of assignments should copywriters pursue? 

Answer that one question and you stand an excellent chance of getting through this with a stronger business and greater wealth than you have now.  Get it wrong, and you’d better learn to love eating beans three times a day.

Since ResponseInk is in the process of selecting a new client in 2008, you know that question has been at the top of my mind lately.  Maybe my thoughts could help you too.

Right now, for example, I see five big areas of opportunity for entrepreneurs, business owners, marketing folk and copywriters …

Opportunity #1
Anything that helps
consumers or companies live better for less:

Products and services, for example, that …

• Improve gas mileage, help reduce the number of miles we need to drive each week, shrink utility bills, eases the pain we’re feeling in the grocery store check-out counter and of course, that minimize our taxes and insurance premiums.
• Reduce what we pay for education or to care for aging parents … minimize medical or legal bills … allow us to buy the best for the same or less than we’re paying now for second- or third-best.
• Help older people live better on a fixed income, that guide them to higher-yielding investments, get more out of Social Security and Medicare and make every dollar go farther.
• Help businesses reduce these costs and also find new operating efficiencies that improve productivity, cut costs and shore up their bottom lines.

Opportunity #2
Things that help
make consumers or businesses more money:

Products and services that help prospects …

• Augment income or replace a lost job:  Work-at-home opportunities … entrepreneurial and home-based businesses … online business opportunities … multi-level marketing opportunities … investment courses, software and products designed to do well in a stagflationary environment … anything that helps employed people get a raise or jobless folks to find an employer.
• Survive and thrive in a troubled real estate market: To sell a home or limit the financial damage that comes with foreclosure … or to profit as home foreclosures mount and as home prices continue to plunge …
• Harness the profit potential of excess debt:  Debt collection services, products to help consumers fend off debt collectors, credit counseling/debt reduction services and bankruptcy help spring to mind …
• Sell more products for less:  Anything that helps companies increase sales revenues and reduce costs thus increasing ROI, profits and market share.

Opportunity #3
Little luxuries and guilty pleasures

Did you know that the entire global make-up industry was founded during The Great Depression? 

It’s true!  When money’s tight and jobs are hanging by a thread, inexpensive products that offer us a sense of normalcy … help us connect emotionally with “the good old days” … boost our self-esteem or hope … give us pleasure or a few moments of respite from worry and want … tend to sell like hotcakes. 

Opportunity #4
Products and services
for the richest one-quarter of one percent

You won’t see Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Al Gore in a breadline anytime soon.  High-net-worth folks have money to burn even in tough times.

Even in tough times, being in the business of selling these things to the super-rich can still be very, very profitable.  The rich and filthy rich will still be spending good money on fashion, jewelry, antiques, art, travel, high-end estates, exotic cars, yachts, private jets, and more.

Opportunity #5
Products we all need no matter what

No matter how tough things get, we still fall in love, have sex, have babies.  We all still have to eat and drink … still have medical needs … and of course, we all, eventually, unfortunately, still croak — and products that help us do these things well and cheaply tend to be stagflation-proof.

What have I left out?  Probably a ton of stuff!

So chime in — let’s hear your ideas for growing rich no matter what happens next in the economy …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

P.S.  Final News Item:  BETRAYED by John Newtson! 

Just look at that fresh young face.  Could you ever believe the guy behind it would do such a thing?

I gave him a $25,000 assignment and a nice trophy as winner of the Copywriter Challenge at my Power Marketing Summit, then moved his sorry butt to Waynesville at my expense and hired him to work for me full-time.

He thanked me by sucking every marketing and copywriting secret he could out of me … used my name and the things he’s learned to quietly pick up a couple of high-paying clients on the side … and then two weeks ago, the shameless S.O.B. marched in my office and gleefully suggested that I, “Take this job and shove it!”

I feel so cheap … so violated … SO USED!

Not really. 

In fact, not at all!  The day I hired John, I told him this was the entire point of the exercise. 

“Here’s the deal,” I said.  “I pay you peanuts, plus a royalty on your successful projects.  You soak up everything you can and make tons of contacts working here.  Then, after we’ve invested a fortune in your learning curve and just when we’re counting on you most, you’re going to fire us, go out on your own and make a gazillion dollars.”

And now, as John and his adorable (and brilliant) wife Katrina await the birth of their first tricycle motor, Mr. Newtson has followed my script to the letter and launched his freelance career. 

So after the warmest of send-offs — including a nice company lunch to wish him well plus dinner and plenty of drinks and bawdy jokes with the 11 guys in our office and (of course) yours truly — John is now discovering the inestimable joys of freelancing up close and personal-like.

So good luck, John — don’t be a stranger:  We can’t wait to hear about all the great successes you enjoy in your freelance career!

(BTW:  If you’re looking for help with your next promo, why not kick it around some with John?  You can e-mail him at john@esmartmarketing.com).

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15 Comments »

1. Comment by Swans Paul — June 23, 2008 @ 9:12 am

   Wow Clayton:

   You’re a cool guy. So you trained new copywriters and set them free.

   That’s pretty cool.

   If you ever need to train a copywriter for the French-speaking market, let me know.

   Sincerely,

2. Comment by Sarah clachar — June 23, 2008 @ 11:41 am

   Clayton,

   Great summation of the hidden opportunities in this changing economy.  As a contributing editor for Nutrition Business Journal I’ve heard from many health companies and market analysts who foresee some softening in this market, but not a complete drop if not some gains for two of the reasons you cited - small indulgences and essential for living.

   In a bit of shameless self-promotion, I urge your readers to keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming report on health copywriting when the economy is not so healthy.  And it will be free.  If you want to be alerted to its publication, let me know.  All information will also be on my website.

   I’ll keep you posted,

   Sarah Clachar
   Health copywriter

3. Comment by Kevin Adam — June 23, 2008 @ 11:51 am

   Hi Clayton,

   My first question: what is opportunity number six?

   Second: do you think that helping small businesses with their marketing could still be profitable in this economy, or will I have to morph into a "business consultant," or troubleshooter just to keep clients?

   Third: Most of what you listed in your opportunities seems to be things that don’t lean as heavily on copywriting. So, should we be looking at changing focus with "the times"?

   Fourth: Congratulations to John! I’m sure you made the most of the opportunity to sit at the feet of the master. Apply it well and best wishes for great success!

   Last: Thank you, Clayton for sharing so much with all of us who benefit from your experience. I’m really looking forward to studying The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach. Be well!

   Kevin

4. Comment by James Constantine — June 23, 2008 @ 4:31 pm

   Thanks Clayton,
   You make a fella feel better about our rapidly changing world.
   Some other things that can be done are: tips, tricks and tactics on how to save or create cheap energy. 
   Other things that come to mind are: converting water to hydrogen fuel, new and better insulation products to keep your house or business warm/cool, personal greenhouses to grow vegetables and fruit in the northern climes.

   Thanks for all the great information.

   James

5. Comment by Chick J — June 23, 2008 @ 5:48 pm

   Isn’t Troy White an Canadian, too?

6. Comment by Dean Kennedy — June 23, 2008 @ 7:05 pm

   "(I know, I watched me write them!)" … you’ve made my day saying that!!

   For me, it’s two years to the day since I got your "welcome aboard" email – yes, I still have it safely tucked away! I must admit I loved it when those first 48 issues I missed were finally opened up in your archive, I thought I’d struck gold. So with your promised changes now … I look forward to bigger and better things once again.

   You really do set a cracking pace with all that you do and I’m so glad you let us all be a part of it!

   It’s great to hear of John’s freelance career launch and I am looking forward to keeping up with his successes.

   Thank you again for such a wonderful resource.

   Now back to my own preefrooding

7. Comment by Carline — June 24, 2008 @ 8:00 am

   Phew! Good to know providing services for the health market is still viable in this crazy economy! I’m predicting the anti-stress herb market will SOAR!
   Best wishes to John too. Glad I can say I knew him when…

   Carline Anglade-Cole

8. Comment by DK Fynn — June 24, 2008 @ 10:58 am

   Clayton,

   Thanks for this post.  It confirms that what I’m doing is viable.  It fits right up there with opportunity #1.

   Mortgage acceleration, which is a methodology that teaches you how to pay off your mortgage early, is only going to increase steadily in the next few years.

9. Comment by EnEM — June 24, 2008 @ 1:26 pm

   Mr Makepeace:

   In your article "Do you Believe" in ETR you state:

   hundreds of billions of dollars are earned each year by marketers who do little else but: Identify a deep-seated desire that is resident in a particular market niche, Create a promo that suspends their prospects’ disbelief, and Step back and allow the prospects’ desire to believe do the rest. But isn’t this the classic definition of a Rip Off? If so, then do we have to count our successes by the number of fools we succeed in fooling? 

10. Comment by Dean Kennedy — June 24, 2008 @ 5:54 pm

    EnEM – what would you think of this statement:

    "Hundreds of billions of dollars are earned each year by film makers who do little else but: Identify a deep-seated desire that is resident in a particular market niche, Create a blockbuster film that suspends their prospects’ disbelief, and Step back and allow the prospects’ desire to believe do the rest."

    We collectively spend millions upon millions for a couple of hours big screen entertainment which is entirely fictitious… and we do so willingly and often repeat the process many times per year. I don’t believe Spiderman really exists, but I’ll suspend my disbelief for a couple of hours to enjoy a good story.

    And yet marketers work in the realm of real products and services, not just the fiction of Hollywood.

    You could apply the statement you quoted in a lot of ways without it ever being considered a rip off. If there’s value in what you are selling – and meets the wants and desires of a target market (whether fictitious entertainment or real life products) … then naturally a skillful marketer who can persuade that audience deserves to be richly rewarded for doing so. There’s nothing foolish about that.

    If a marketer is trying to foist something onto a marketplace that holds no value, or isn’t congruent with their own beliefs, then they should be marketing something else!

11. Comment by Clayton Makepeace — June 25, 2008 @ 2:51 am

    Hi, everyone – thanks for the great comments!

    You know EnEm, it all depends.  If you’re selling a great product that really does bring value to peoples’ lives – delivers what it promises at a fair price, you’re a saint in my book.  You help people.  You create jobs.  You pay taxes.  You’re a productive member of society.

    But in these skeptical times – with each of us receiving hundreds of advertising messages each day – it takes a mastery of marketing and copywriting techniques to cut through the clutter, get your prospect’s attention and convince him to give your product a fair try.  And if the strategy I described in ETR does it for you, why not use it?

    But if your product is crap, delivers no real value and you have to lie or mislead people to get them to buy it, you’re scum.  And sooner or later, you’re going to find yourself up to your eyeballs in legal and regulatory problems.

    Unless, of course, you’re a politician.  Then, you can lie your ass off about your product (you), tell more lies about your competitor,  fail to deliver anything at all, refuse to refund your customers’ (donors’) money – and wind up in Congress.

    Hope this helps …

    Clayton

12. Comment by Clayton Makepeace — June 25, 2008 @ 3:05 am

    Oh – and Kevin:

    > Anything that helps people OR businesses make more or save more should do well in this economy.  That’s pretty much what I’m saying in both #1 and #2 above.  Great marketing and copywriting does both!

    > ALL of these things require great copy to sell.  Copy is the language of marketing.  It is the crucial element in persuading people to buy.

    Cheers, y’all!

    – Clayton

    >

13. Comment by George Scott — June 26, 2008 @ 12:29 pm

    First, Clayton, I appreciate all I’ve learned here. Starting only a few months ago, I’ve been selling vouchers for my two hotels, Scott’s Hotel and Scott’s Galilea, and have hit more than $2 million in sales. My goal is $7.5 million within the next 9 months. I’m sure I’ll get there. In part by using your principles.One of your comments puzzled me, however, since you’re such a consummate wordsmith – the business of being bored listening to an Obama speech. I just don’t think that’s possible; the guy uses words with such clarity and fluency and precision that I would think the craftsman in you couldn’t help but admire the artistry, even though I know you disagree with his politics. But we all have to give credit where it’s due, and I think you should sit down and really listen some time to a  rhetorical genius. Now John McCain on the other hand …Anyway, thanks for all you’ve taught me.George

14. Comment by Ramona — June 29, 2008 @ 1:04 pm

    Clayton, this is my first time at your website, and I am very happy to have found my way here.
    I really appreciate the humor in your writing, especially when it involves politicians.  If there is anything that can make us smile in these "bad economic times", we should relish that.
    I agree with what George said about Obama.  Even though I completely disagree with all he stands for, I must admit that he delivers his pre-written speeches with much pomp and circumstance.   It is a much different face he presents, however, when he is "put on the spot", so to speak.
    I look forward to a long and profitable association with you!
    Ramona
    BooKooGuru

15. Comment by Bernard A. Shindler — June 29, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

    Today I am wandering through my house as a near 72 year old dad and grandpop who was overcome with you and your product that you are offering to sell me.

    Well, you have heard this one many times…

    I have been trying to get my product into the mouth of the constipated human who suffers daily from colon and bowel and IBS condtions.

    Because when they try my product they  are overwhelmed on how it works for healing the condition.  They continue ordering in multple of 3 as I offer a special at that level.

    I have treated Bowel and Colon condititions since 1958 as a intern at National College of Chiropractic and as a Chiropractic Physician for over 48 years.

    I have tried giving my product away and have given over 80,000
    6 capsule sample packages since 1995.  In my quest I never thought of keeping a separated file for the list and lost the list 20 months ago to a virus and have not been able to recover it.

    I would like to market my product correctly and have been unable to build.  I am thinking that maybe 1 - 30 day supply would be better as a sample and have it on a Auto Ship program after that initial period

    But I am unable to build my site properly and my person who builds my sites has no clue on how to get people to request these samples and how to help me build a new mailing list.

    I know age does not matter but, I am against a wall as I am unable to read and have any rememberence of what I read or write due to haveing A.D.D.  at 72 years old.

    I use my product and am trying to learn how to produce a video that might work in building a site.

    Can you sell me a program or a series that will help me.

    Also you may know how the story goes I have purchased many programs, books, consultans and they usually copy my product because it works so well and I am really a licensed doc that anyone can call when they need help to solve there colon or bowel problems, at my office in Chicago.

    Any advise is greatly appreciated and I am almost ready to start from scratch if my site is not perfect to do repeat sales…

    Thank you for a early answer,

    Bernard A. Schindler, D.C.,FACCI
    bas1237@aol.com
    847-912-3456  (24/7)