It seems Dr. Evil is going to prison.
I’m talking about Brendan McCarthy, aka Dr. Evil, of Dr. Evil’s Body Modification Emporium in Wolverhampton, UK.
His trial just concluded, and it seems he will be off to jail for 40 months.
He pleaded guilty to removing several ears, nipples, and bits of tongue of willing clients, without a surgical license or any skill in treating possible adverse reactions. (In Dr. Evil’s defense, he did stop short of removing toes and fingers, which some clients also requested.)
Now if this story makes you mildly queasy, you might be wondering, why would anybody willingly have their ear removed?
Well, we know the answer, at least in the case of Ezechiel Lott, a landscaper from the West Midlands who had Dr. Evil sever his ear.
“It’s because of one-upmanship,” Ezechiel says. “You see somebody who has something extreme, and want to go one up on it.”
Now, I’ve personally never done any kind of modification to my body (excepting an accidental run in with a butter knife in my final year of college).
But I always thought people were motivated to get tattoos or those loopy earplugs or skin branding as a kind of positive expression of their personality.
I should have known better.
People are frequently much more motivated by a fear or insecurity than by gain or benefit.
So they cut off their ears because they’re afraid of not being unique enough.
Or they buy testosterone supplements — not because they care about improved performance at the gym — but because they’re afraid of not being man enough.
Or they buy get-rich schemes — not because they want to retire to a private island — but because they’re afraid their father will think of them as a failure otherwise.
So what’s the conclusion?
Well, you can draw your own.
Maybe it’s how you should be happy with what you’ve got.
Or maybe it’s how you shouldn’t be happy, because other people have more.
In fact, if you’ve got a business, then it’s a fact other businesses are making more money than yours right now.
And if you don’t want to be left behind, you’ll need good sales copy. Which is something I might be able to help with. In case you’re interested, take a look at the offer on the following page, which might help you fill that gaping hole: