The IOU theory of copywriting

by

I read once (in a book) that credit, aka debt, came way before money. In other words, an IOU — a little slip of clay tablet commemorating the three sheep you gave to me — is a more powerful economic idea than gold coins.

I also read once (in an email) that copywriter Gary Halbert said the most powerful human motivating force is not self-interest… but curiosity.

Is there a connection between these two powerful facts?

Clearly. Because I personally think of curiosity as an IOU.

You give a couple of IOUs to your reader right in your headline. “I promise to pay you some valuable information,” each IOU says, “just give me a bit of time.”

As long as you’re in the reader’s debt, as long as he’s holding one of your IOUs, he sticks around. He wants to get paid.

The good thing is that you can give your reader a new IOU before paying off an old one. That way you can keep him around. But be careful.

If you start handing out too many IOUs… if the debt you’re incurring is too outrageous… if the repayment period is too long… then your reader is likely to get frustrated.

“This guy is never gonna pay up,” he will say. “This is just worthless paper.” He will throw away all your IOUs into the river, and along with them, your sale.

In other words, don’t overdo your debt of curiosity. But do do it.

And if you want some technical pointers on how to do curiosity in your sales copy, why, I’ve got just the thing.

It’s hidden right there inside Commandment III of my book on A-list copywriter commandments.

In case you haven’t checked this book out yet, but are a bit curious, here’s the link:

https://www.bejakovic.com/10commandments

Two marketing legends try and fail to pronounce my name

by

A few days ago, reader Sam wrote in to tell me a curious fact:

On a recent episode of the Chris Haddad podcast, Chris and IM guru Matt Bacak spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to pronounce my name.

Matt: “B-E-J-A-K-O-V…”

Chris: “Buh-Jack-Oh-Vick? I think that’s how you pronounce it?”

[No, it’s not. But I can’t blame anybody for not knowing for what to do with this salad of letters.]

The context is that Chris, the very successful marketer and copywriter I wrote about yesterday, asked Matt, a legend in the direct response field, which copywriting books Matt recommends to people.

Matt had two recommendations.

The first was Evaldo Albuquerque’s 16-Word Sales Letter.

The second was Johh Buh-Jack-Oh-Vick’s 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

I was chuffed to hear that Matt and Chris were discussing my book.

But it wasn’t a complete surprise.

About a year ago, Matt had written me an email telling me how he recommends my book to people inside his mentoring program. At the time, I was a little too denso to do anything with Matt’s endorsement.

So if you really need a marketing and copywriting lesson in today’s email, then my message to you is:

​​Don’t be like me.

In other words, ​when doing marketing for yourself, treat yourself as you would a client, including being aggressive about collecting and using testimonials.

If you are a freelance copywriter or marketer of any stripe, I can almost guarantee that’s the most valuable thing will hear today.

​​But perhaps you don’t believe me.

Perhaps you want more copywriting and marketing advice, so you can compare which one is the most surprising, new, and useful for you.

​​If so, I have ten more copywriting and marketing commandments to share. Inside of a little book publicly endorsed by Matt Bacak. You can find the entire collection here:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

Getting comfortable copybragging on Facebook

by

Speaking on a podcast a while back, marketer and copywriter (though not freelance!) Chris Haddad had the following harsh truth to share:

“If I was a freelance copywriter, I would be posting on Facebook about copy all the time. And I would be posting all of my testimonials and all of my successes. Because that’s the gig. And if you can’t do it, you need to go out and do something else.”

Chris was saying how back in the day, what made him successful as a freelance copywriter is he was willing to go out and shout, “Hey I’m Chris Haddad and I’m fucking great.” But that kind of bragging causes a discomfort in his seat these days. It’s also one of the reasons Chris didn’t offer any copywriting training for the longest time.

What if you’re the same?

What if you have a fear of the spotlight, and you cannot imagine bragging about yourself on Facebook?

​​And what if, unlike Chris, you haven’t yet reached the levels of success that allow you to say, you know what, I’ll do something else instead?

Well, I think you’ve got several options. Such as creating your own product in a non-marketing niche… or writing a daily email newsletter in the hope of establishing your credibility without bragging… or taking a page out of Sasha Fierce’s book.

Yes, Sasha Fierce.

Maybe that rings a bell. Maybe no? It’s the alter ego that Beyonce created for herself in her early days. Here’s Beyonce:

“Usually when I hear the chords, when I put on my stilettos, like the moment right before when you’re nervous… then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different.”

Psychologists agree. By conducting experiments on children and the weak-willed, they have shown how inventing an alter-ego for yourself (or at least asking yourself, “What would Chris Haddad do?”) works wonders in changing your perspective, your resolve, and your behavior. ​​Search online for the “Batman Effect” if you want to know more about this.

But for now, maybe it’s time to start inventing a braggartly Facebook alterego for your copywriting business. It might not be what you like to hear. But as Chris says, that’s the gig.

Are you expecting me to finish this email by bragging myself?

No, I will save that for tomorrow’s email. I do have something to brag about, and it even involves Chris Haddad in a way. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow. Sign up to my email newsletter if you’d like to read that when it comes out.

​​​​For today, if you’d like to hear all of Chris’s tough love insights into what it takes to be a successful freelance copywriter, then brace yourself, and then take a listen here:​

#1 copy critique I give inside the Inner Ring

by

Yesterday, I held the fourth call of the Copy Riddles Inner Ring.

The Inner Ring is a little coaching group. I created it as an upsell to Copy Riddles.

In the Inner Ring, I critique people’s bullets.

The problem is, the bullets of the Inner Ring folks are getting too good. With each new week, there’s less and less biting and merciless criticism I can give.

If you think I’m trying to presell you on the Inner Ring, then stop thinking. I won’t run this offer again.

I made that decision a few days ago, for my own reasons. I might talk more about those down the line.

For today, I want to share a share a little diamond with you. It’s small but very valuable. I found it thanks to the Inner Ring. And it’s this:

There’s just one bit of feedback I keep giving people, week after week.

Even as their bullets become more intriguing… as their mechanisms become sexier… as their warnings become scarier… there’s one thing I keep repeating.

And that’s to make their copy 100% clear.

That’s my advice to you too.

Make your copy easy to read. Make it easy to understand. Take out fluff that clutters your message. Clean up stains that allow doubts to creep into your reader’s mind.

How do you do that? How do you make your message 100% clear?

There are many ways to fleece that feline. Today, I want to point you to just one. It’s an automatic, push-button tool that gets a lot of cat fur off quickly.

For example:

I started out this email with a first draft. That draft was at a 6th-grade reading level.

Thanks to this tool, I whittled it down to an 5th grade level. Then to a 3rd-grade level. And then, with a lot of work, to a 2nd-grade level.

You are still reading this email. Maybe you even found it persuasive. If you did, clarity is the reason why.

So if you aren’t using this tool yet, consider doing so. It’s valuable and it’s free.

And if you this tool, consider using it more. All the way to its full, second-grade potential. Here’s where to find it:

https://hemingwayapp.com/

The “knitted eyebrows” copywriting technique

by

If you ever wished you had the nerve to engage in more risk-seeking behaviors such as unprotected sex or high-stakes roulette, here’s some good news:

Scientists have found a quick, cheap, and easy way to help you out.

According to a study published by researchers at the University of Ohio a couple years ago, all it takes is acetaminophen — ie. Tylenol, Panadol, etc.

The scientists found that a 1,000-mg dose of acetaminophen increased risk-seeking behaviors in a batch of 545 college students.

​​In other words, acetaminophen not only reduces physical pain such as headaches… but it seems to also reduce psychic pain, at least the psychic pain coming from fear and uncertainty.

So the next time you find yourself nervously turning away from a suspect sexual partner… or refusing to bet it all on red at the Casino in Monte Carlo… just pop a couple Tylenol, and you will be good to go.

You might think I’m being foolish or trivial. And perhaps you’re right.

​​But there is a point I’m trying to get to, if only my fingers would follow my brain.

I’ve read somewhere, and the Tylenol study above supports it, that we humans have grafted modern brain processes onto old physical hardware.

For example, when we have the intellectual or emotional experience of, say, trusting somebody… this is connected to physical sensation of warmth in our bodies.

​​The link goes both ways — trust inspires warmth, and warmth inspires trust. (Again, some scientists have run experiments to prove this.)

Similarly, other human emotions such as fear, disgust, anger, and joy, can and do trigger — and are triggered by — physical cues.

“Ugh why is this relevant to me,” I hear you saying, as your eyes roll to the back of your head.

Well, if you’re in the business of writing some frightening or infuriating or energizing sales copy, your first move might be to reach for adjectives. Like “frightening.” Or “infuriating.” Or “energizing.”

​​But that’s for kids.

What grownup copywriters do is pay attention to their own bodies.

Dry swallowing… gritted teeth… a fully expanded chest.

​​These are just some of the hundreds of physical cues you can include in your copy, and play your readers’ emotions like a keyboard.

​​Or if you want them to focus and read on, just talk to them about their eyebrows knitting together. And on that note, if you’d like to focus and read more essays like the one you’ve just read, then sign up for my daily email newsletter.

The Email Player Haters’ Ball

by

A few years ago, Ben Settle revealed that he now makes over a million dollars a year from his emails and info products.

Bob Bly has long said how his own, twice-a-week email newsletter, plus collection of $39 ebooks, earns him a healthy 6-figure income to complement his client work.

And last December, it leaked out that Daniel Throssell’s 2021 email income was “significantly higher” than $250k.

So where does that leave me?

I’ll tell you where.

It leaves me on the stage of the Email Player Haters’ Ball, receiving the award for best Email Player Hater. Like Dave Chappelle in his Playa Haters’ Ball skit, I’ll start off my acceptance speech by saying:

“First off, I’d like to thank God Almighty for giving everyone else so much… and me so little. [boos from the crowd] I hate you… I hate you… I don’t even know you, but I hate your guts. I hope all the bad things in life happen to you, and nobody else but you. [more boos]”

I won’t tell you exactly what I made over the past year from this newsletter. Let’s just say it’s equivalent to a modest salary. It’s certainly much lower than Daniel, Bob, or Ben make from their newsletters.

But in spite of my joke Email Player Hater status, I’m not stressing about my newsletter earnings.

In part, that’s because I tell myself that every blockheaded and self-defeating thing I do with this newsletter serves a deeper purpose. It allows me to stick with it for the long term.

But also, I don’t stress because of something I do instinctively, or rather something I don’t do:

​​I don’t compare myself to others, at least when it comes to business and money.

Over the past six days, I’ve been telling you about the six characteristics of a positive mental attitude. Today it’s time for the last one:

​Self-to-self comparisons.

The idea is that if you want a positive mental attitude… then don’t be a player hater or a player admirer.

​​Don’t look at all the people ahead of you on the great treadmill of life, and don’t stress how they are all the way up there… and you’re all the way back here.

Instead, simply compare where you are right now to where you were yesterday, yestermonth, and yesteryear.
​
And that’s it. The end of my 6-part, positive-attitude, let-me-put-you-to-sleep series.

Maybe you feel that was a little abrupt. Maybe you’re even left feeling a little unsatisfied.

After all, self-to-self comparisons might be good. But isn’t there value in looking to others for inspiration?

And didn’t I even say in my email yesterday that it’s good to be inspired by a vision that’s tinted by envy and bitterness?

True.

And that’s not the only confusing and conflicted part of this positive attitude stuff.

The fact is, if keeping a positive mental attitude were easy and simple and direct, then everybody would be doing it, all the time. And everybody would be happy, healthy, and on their way to being successful, all the time.

Of course, that’s not what you see at your local Bed Bath & Beyond.

Having a positive attitude consistently, or at least when it matters, isn’t particularly natural to most people.

The good news is, being aware of what it takes is step one. That’s what you have now.

But it will still take some repetition, practice, and maybe even juggling for this to have any chance to sink into your subconscious. For it to be useful the next time you might be recovering from a bad injury… or learning how to play the tuba… or building out an email-based business.

To help you get that repetition and practice, you can always reread these emails. Or just sign up for my email newsletter, and let me do all the work for you.

How to humiliate competing marketers and join the elite circle of the world’s most respected copywriters

by

Today, I want to share a few really good headlines with you:

How Does An Out-Of-Shape 55-Year-Old Golfer, Crippled By Arthritis And 71 Lbs. Overweight, Still Consistently Humiliate PGA Pros In Head-To-Head Matches By Hitting Every Tee Shot Further And Straighter Down The Fairway?

The Astonishing Sex Secrets Of the Most Satisfied… Most Knowledgeable… And Most Respected Lovers In The World!

“The Naked Girls All Laughed Behind The Little Pudgy Guy’s Back… Until He Got Into A Knife Fight With Three Enormous Bad-Ass Bikers…”

All three of these headlines were written by John Carlton. If you ask me, all three have something important in common beyond just being written by John.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For the past few days, I’ve been telling you about the six characteristics of a positive attitude.

You’re probably ready and eager to wrap up this sermonizing series. I know I am. Bear with me. There are just two more to go.

Today’s characteristic might sound mysterious, even misleading. But it’s very important, both for a positive attitude and for copywriting. ​​It’s simply this:

Positive attitude characteristic #5: Inner Motivation

Inner motivation? What exactly does that mean? From the book NLP, where I first came across these six characteristics:

“These were not ‘Hollywood’ movie or ‘new age’ images of a general desire to win, or be the best, or avoid making a fool of oneself. These athletes had personal, specific, and compelling visions of desirable goals or unpleasant consequences.”

Personal, specific, and compelling visions. Notice it doesn’t say that there’s anything particularly “healthy” about this inner motivation stuff.

And that’s what I think is going on in those winning John Carlton headlines above.

The visions John paints in the prospect’s mind are not about the actual, “healthy” benefit of the product. The satisfaction of playing better golf… or more enjoyable sex… or the practical value of self-defense.

Instead, the visions John paints are squarely about impressing or even humiliating others.

That kind of motivation works very well in sales copy…

And ugly as it might sound, it can also work in your personal life.

Meaning, if you want a more positive attitude, then create a clear and convincing picture in your mind. And if that picture happens to be tainted with current envy, shame, and bitterness… well, that’s okay.

​​It might even be optimal.

That’s not to say that you should always keep one eye on others as you try to achieve your goals.

But I’m getting ahead of myself for the second time today. In fact, I’m stepping onto the toes of tomorrow’s final email in this series.

So let me stop myself here. In case you want to read the last email in this series right as it comes out, then sign up for my daily email newsletter.

I was in Dan Ferrari’s coaching group, so read this email

by

I have a good friend visiting me now. We met many years ago, in college, at the the “clothing-optional” LSD experiment known as the University of California at Santa Cruz.

A few days ago, my friend and I were discussing how UCSC has gained a lot of status since we graduated. That’s thanks to its location right next to Silicon Valley, and the huge amount of tech money that the school has been getting as a result.

This isn’t the only lucky and appreciating investment I’ve made in education.

Another school I went to has since relocated to a richer city. As a result, my diploma became more prestigious and valuable without me doing anything.

And of course, there’s the Dan Ferrari coaching group I was in a few years ago.

Starting in the summer of 2019, I was in Dan’s coaching group for a little over six months.

At the time, Dan was already a super successful copywriter, with a big string of controls for Agora Financial and for The Motley Fool.

But somehow, Dan’s fame has increased significantly since.

​​His name has become much more known in industry.

​​He even appeared as no. 1 in some arbitrary listing of the world’s best active DR copywriters.

​​And I’ve personally noticed people treat me with growing deference whenever I mention I was in Dan’s coaching group — they assume I must have learned some of Dan’s black magic.

So what explains Dan’s growth in status over the past few years?

Some part of it is just time and compounding — Dan has just stuck around and kept working and getting better. He’s also had new wins in the years since. I also have my own pet theory why Dan’s prestige has risen so high over past few years, but that’s another topic, for another time.

For today, I just want to share something that Dan once wrote in one of his once-every-79-years, Halley’s Comet emails:

“Your abilities as a marketer are only capped by how hungry you are to leave a mark.”

What I take from that is the value of high standards, both for ends and means.

​​In other words, if you want A-list skills, and maybe even the results that come with those skills, then it’s good to set high standards for what you find acceptable.

Over the past few days, I’ve been telling you about six different characteristics that make for a positive attitude. So far, I’ve covered 3. The fourth I want to tell you about is exactly this, high standards.

People who develop high standards — for example, athletes recovering from injury, refusing to accept anything but complete recovery, where they can compete and win again — are more positive about the journey, and are more likely to reach the destination than those who are willing to settle for 50%, 30%, or 10% of what’s possible.

Perhaps that makes immediate sense to you.

Or perhaps you feel a bit of resistance to this idea. Perhaps, like me, you think there is value in having modest standards, ones you are sure to achieve.

Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, then I can tell you we still have two more characteristics of positive mindset remaining. And both of those will be particularly relevant to you in case the idea of shooting for the moon sounds like you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

In case you’re interested in reading that when I write it, you can sign up for my daily email newsletter here.

“I’ve made a huge mistake”

by

A little over two months ago, I arrived to Barcelona, Spain, with the goal of finding an apartment to live in long term. I’ve written about that before.

What I haven’t written about was that the very first day of arriving to Barcelona, I decided I had made a huge mistake. About everything.

My Airbnb, where I was supposed to stay in for the two weeks of the apartment search, was depressing and uncomfortable.

In spite of the dozens of inquiries I had sent to real estate agents, I was getting practically no response.

The one viewing I had managed to schedule was canceled two hours before it was supposed to happen.

That first day, walking around the city. I looked at the thousands of unfamiliar faces walking past me, all speaking languages I didn’t understand. And I grew disgusted, both with the city and myself.

“Even if — and that’s a huge if — I somehow manage to find a decent place to live,” I said to myself, “what am I possibly going to do here? I don’t speak the language. I don’t know anybody. I have no conceivable reason to be here.”

Barcelona might be a beautiful place to visit, I decided. But as a town to live in? Absolutely not. At least for me.

I had no intention of staying and continuing my apartment search. So I bought a ticket to fly out of town for the very next day. Why linger?

​​At the same time, leaving felt like a defeat and a proof of failure. I felt awful in every way.

Over the past couple days, I’ve been telling you about the six characteristics of a positive attitude. Today it’s time for the third characteristic:

“Chunking-down goals”

My story above illustrates what happens when you don’t chunk down your goals. When you don’t focus on the next step of the journey you have to take, and instead allow yourself to get buried by the immensity of what’s ahead.

When I arrived to Barcelona, I thought about the unpleasant and complicated process of finding an apartment. But not only that.

​​I also thought about need to learn a new language… to create a new social circle… and maybe, even something bigger and more long-term than that.

That amount of stuff to do is overwhelming. Particularly when your inquiries are getting no response… when the place you are in is depressing or uncomfortable… and when and the doors of an opportunity shut before you have a chance to run through them.

So what to do?

In my case, I called some family, I talked to some friends. They pointed out the obvious. That I was keeping too much in my head. That I should focus on just one thing — finding an apartment — for the next two weeks. That I should keep everything else out of mind until that first step is done.

And that’s what I did. It was a success.

Like I’ve written before, I managed to find a beautiful apartment in spite of the unpromising odds.

Then I started working on the language issue. In time, I might even meet some people here. And until that happens, I’ve invited friends to visit and stay with me.

The bigger point I want to make is that all this positive attitude stuff might sound obvious or even trivial.

And it is — when things are going well.

But in the press of life, it’s easy to forget how to be positive, and to get into a different mental state. To get overwhelmed, dark, or even negative.

During those times, remembering these few “obvious” characteristics of a positive attitude can tell you where you went wrong. And more importantly, it can tell you what to do to get on a better track.

That’s why I’m telling you about this positive attitude stuff. So maybe you remember it in moments of crisis. So maybe I myself remember it when I make my next huge mistake.

Of course, you need all six characteristics for a positive attitude to be strong and stable.

​​I’ve told you three characteristics so far. I’ll wrap it up over the coming days. In case you want to read that as it comes out, sign up to my daily newsletter here.

A curious Hollywood fact before I get on my positivity pulpit

by

I recently watched Steven Spielberg’s Jaws for the first time ever. And while reading a bit of background on the making of the film, I found out a curious Hollywood fact:

Steven Spielberg decided to skip the shooting of the final scene of Jaws.

The shooting of the entire film was long, difficult, and over-budget. Spielberg thought the crew was disgusted at his inexperience. He expected they would toss him in the water once the final scene’s shooting was complete.

So he just played hooky.

This apparently became a tradition. With all the movies Spielberg has made since, he has never been present for the shooting of the final scene.

And though it might not be obvious, there’s significance in that.

Yesterday, I started to tell you about the six characteristics of a positive attitude.

What I didn’t realize is that handing out unsolicited advice on how to be a better person is sure to sound moralizing or even dumb. Live laugh love, that kind of thing.

That’s why I told you the Spielberg factoid above. It’s interesting because it’s so unusual, particularly for Spielberg.

Spielberg got going with filmmaking as a kid. He shot films with his 8mm camera and his childhood friends as actors. In those days, he learned to do everything himself. Writing the scripts. Building the sets. Operating the camera.

Later, Spielberg got to Hollywood. He started working as a professional director. And he was dismayed that he had to rely on other people. That’s why his skipping the final scene is so significant.

And now let me clamber up on my positivity pulpit.
​​
You might think I’m about to tell you that it’s important to delegate work.

Quite the opposite. At least, when it comes to having a positive mental attitude.

Because the second characteristic of a positive attitude is personal involvement.

You don’t have to be like Steven Spielberg. You don’t have to sew the costumes and turn the klieg lights and feed the film into the camera, all by yourself.

But in order to feel hope or even certainty that you will succeed… and in order to have the drive to actually persevere when the shoot turns long, difficult, and over-budget… you need to be personally involved.

In other words, you have to stop waiting for others to others to achieve your goals or solve your problems for you. This is true even when there is an entire crew of professionals, ready to do the work for you.

For example, yesterday I mentioned the book NLP. It’s where I found these six characteristics of a positive mindset.

According to the book, the six characteristics were distilled from athletes recovering from injury.

Some athletes passively relied on doctors, nurses, and physical therapists. These athletes never achieved a positive attitude about their recovery. As a result, they often didn’t recover fully.

On the other hand, there were athletes who actively did their exercises. Who didn’t just lie there, waiting to be stretched and stimulated by doctors. Who took an active role in the design of their recovery program.

They developed a much more positive attitude. And their results tended to be much better.

So there you go. If you want to be more positive and more likely to achieve your goals, get personally involved.

Along with the other five characteristics in the NLP book. I wrote about one of those already. I’ll write about the other ones in coming days. If you want to read that as it comes out, you might like to get personally involved by signing up to my email newsletter here.