Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 28, 2008
Issue #15
- 3 Golden Rules for avoiding most legal nightmares …
- 4 MORE secrets for KEEPING the millions you're going to make as a savvy business owner, marketing exec or copywriter …
- And MORE!
Dear Business-Builder,
One year before 9/11 – almost to the day – I was cooling my heels on the 86th floor of Manhattan's World Trade Center, waiting to be grilled by a team of government investigators and wondering how IN THE HELL I'd ever wound up there …
I flashed back to the moment, two years earlier, when a FedEx truck had rolled up to my office and disgorged an innocent-looking box. Inside the box, I found a bunch of investment newsletters written by a guy I'd never heard of – and a letter from my agent asking me to "take a look."
As I read the first issue, I felt like somebody had just poured ice water down the front of my shorts. What the editor was saying shocked me … chilled me – and ultimately, electrified me!
This guy was saying truly outrageous things about President Clinton's past and making extreme, negative predictions about the future of the economy and the stock market.
In short, his audacious, uniquely powerful message was in stark contrast to the Pollyanna pabulum I was seeing from other financial publishers.
The fact that I disagreed with most of the editor's views was immaterial to me at the time. If ad agencies and copywriters only worked with clients and media whose opinions we agree with, there wouldn't BE any ad agencies or copywriters!
To me, the editor was simply …
- A U.S. citizen, expressing his (admittedly outrageous) opinions, and …
- An American businessman, attempting to attract new customers.
Now I feel it's only fair to remind you: I did NOT graduate Harvard Law School – or any other attorney assembly line for that matter.
… But I am a proud graduate of McKinley Elementary School in Tremonton Utah. And when Mr. Walden tested my sixth-grade class on the U.S. Bill of Rights and Constitution back in 1962, I passed with flying colors (OK – so maybe it was just a "C+").
I distinctly remember those dusty documents saying – and I'm quoting from memory here …
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Posted by:
Carline Anglade-Cole
August 26, 2008
Issue #488
Man, I really goofed!
I mean, I recently made a DUMB mistake – and it cost me over a thousand bucks!
But thanks to knowing an amazing secret, I was able to recoup my loss and even save face.
What’s the secret?
Knowing the POWER of the written letter!
Here’s what happened …
I made plans to fly to Washington, D.C to pick up Alexis, Paris and Elliott – my nieces and nephew so they can spend some of their summer vacation with my family.
I would fly up early Tuesday morning, meet their folks at the airport, scoop up the kiddies and fly back to Atlanta the same afternoon. Simple, right?
Well … not really. Turns out I made a big mistake – and I didn’t find out about it until the very last minute.
But wait.
The theme of this article is the power of a letter. So, let me allow the letter tell you what happened …
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Posted by:
Gary Bencivenga
August 19, 2008
Issue #484
Dear Marketing Top Gun:
My friends, star marketers Alex Mandossian and Yanik Silver, recently paid me a compliment by calling me, "The world’s greatest living reason-why copywriter."
I consider it such high praise because my mentor, David Ogilvy, was in my view the greatest reason-why copywriter of all time. In fact, when asked by a reporter if he was a strong proponent of "reason why" advertising, Ogilvy responded, "Is there any other kind?"
Thinking of Mr. Ogilvy (or "D. O.," as we staffers at Ogilvy & Mather called him) has prompted me to once again offend every English teacher whose classes I endured, and inspire everyone else who speaks the King’s English to cringe, by penning another of my infamous poems, this one entitled …
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 12, 2008
Issue #479
Dear Business-Builder,
Sorry about yesterday. We returned from our ten-day vacation Sunday night and frankly, I’m still jet-lagged.
San Fran was outstanding. We stayed downtown and I swear I feel like we walked every square inch of it. And Chinatown. And Fisherman’s Wharf. And the Marina District. And Haight-Ashbury.
I’m pleased and somewhat relieved to report that the Pacific Ocean is still right where it was last time I saw it. No lower; no higher. And that Alioto’s still serves the best clam chowder I’ve ever sunk a spoon into.
The redwoods were grand, Carmel was charming and Big Sur — despite the recent fires there — was breathtaking, Hearst Castle was amazing but frankly, a little sad. Probably the gloomiest house I’ve ever seen.
Santa Barbara seduced all of us and our three-night stay at Raffles L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills was interesting. Didn’t really see any celebrities in the bar, but James Woods did hop out of his car just as we hopped into ours.
And of course, three days of revisiting my old stomping grounds in South Bay and Hollyweird and the “V.I.P. Behind the Scenes Tour” of Universal Studios were a blast.
Now, I just need a vacation from my vacation.
But before I hit the sack, here’s some stuff I’ve been thinking about that I hope will help …
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 8, 2008
Issue #477
Fellow Business-Builder,
Last Sunday night, while we slept, someone cut through the screen on a kitchen window, crawled through, rifled through a few things, opened one of the vehicles out in front of the house and went through the glove box and console, then stole the keys to the other vehicle (the dreaded minivan) and took off.
I woke up (fast) at 7:45 am when one of my 7-year-old daughters came in the room asking why all the doors in the house were "wide open." I ran out and sure enough the front screen door and main door were pried open.
The back doors the same.
** Something was most definitely wrong.
Then I noticed the kitchen window screen was cut, and the ledge below the window had been cleaned clear of all the photos that used to sit there.
Someone has been in the house - maybe was still there - and we had yet to figure out what was stolen. I see my laptop still sitting there. An iPod and a cell phone both lay on the kitchen counter. Cash still sitting on my tabletop in the bedroom.
Luckily everyone is safe and sound.
In a case like this, anything could have happened.
The person may have gotten startled and done something drastic.
One of the kids could have gone to the bathroom and ran into the thief.
Anything could have happened.
** Fortunately, nothing did.
A missing purse and minivan - who cares?
We are all fine - which is what really matters.
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