The real heroes are dead

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“As a soldier, Rick Rescorla served in Vietnam, where he earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and also a Purple Heart. When he returned home, Rescorla landed a job as Head of Security for Morgan Stanley. And as you’ll soon see, in many ways, he was the best investment Morgan Stanley ever made.”

I’ve gotten interested in writing financial copy. So as the first step, I started watching financial promos while I eat lunch.

I got going yesterday, with a Stansberry VSL. The hook is the story of a U.S. Army vet named Rick Rescorla… who, the VSL tells you, could end up having an “enormous impact on you, your family, your money, your savings and investments.” And then it leads to the bit about Morgan Stanley and its best investment ever.

“This story sounds familiar,” I said.

“An Army vet… going to work on Wall Street… as Head of Security… where did I read this before?”

I typed a few words into Google. And yep, there it was. First result.

For many decades, the recommended bathroom reading material for copywriters was The National Enquirer. At least so claimed Gene Schwartz, who said:

“That’s why I say that the required medium for you is all the junk magazines in the United States. I would go out tomorrow and get a subscription to The National Enquirer and read every single word in it. That’s your audience. There are your headlines. There are your people and their feelings.”

But the Rick Rescorla story didn’t come from the National Enquirer. So I’d like to give you a different magazine recommendation as new required reading.

I’m talking about The New Yorker.

It’s a snob magazine. If you’re writing sales copy, it’s unlikely to reflect your audience or their feelings.

And yet I recommend it.

Because the New Yorker and its writers manage to dig up obscure stories… find the fascinating implications… and create drama through substance rather than form.

Stansberry’s Rick Rescorla hook came from The New Yorker.

And it’s not the only one.

If you’ve been reading my emails for a while, you know I’ve written about Dan Ferrari’s Genesis sales letter. It tripled response over the control and sold out the entire stock of Green Valley’s telomere supplement.

Dan’s sales letter kicked off with a snapshot. A secret meeting of Hollywood stars and Silicon Valley millionaires… gathered in a Malibu Beach cliffside mansion… to listen to a Nobel-winning scientist reveal her breakthrough research on doing away with death and old age.

That story was true. And it also came from The New Yorker.

“All right Bejako,” I hear you saying. “You almost have me convinced. Two examples is good. But where’s your third example? Don’t know you all copywriting proof comes in threes?”

You got me. I only have the two examples above to give you.

If that’s enough of a pattern for you to work with, then start scanning The New Yorker and checking if some of their stories could be used for your hooks.

And maybe you will be my third example one day… or maybe I will be, because it’s what I’ll start doing.

In any case, if you’d like to read why Rick Rescorla was the best investment Morgan Stanley ever made, follow the link below.

But before you go, consider signing up for my email newsletter, which serves you up with a daily idea or recommendation for improving your marketing or copywriting.

And now, here’s the tight, fascinating, and moving New Yorker article about Rick Rescorla:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/the-real-heroes-are-dead

Introducing: Watershed beliefs

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I was chatting to a friend in January of 2020. He spends too much time online and is a bit of a hypochondriac.

“Have you heard about the new corona virus?” he asked.

“Oh no, here we go,” I said. “Where did you read this?”

“CNN, just today.”

“Figures,” I said. “I’m sure they will blow it up into a new swine flu by tomorrow.”

Today I’d like to introduce to you the idea of watershed beliefs. For example:

That time in January 2020 was the first time I’d heard of corona virus. It’s colored my whole corona experience since… all the stories, stats, and recommendations I’ve heard and read. To the point that as of today, September 6, 2021, I’m still not vaccinated against covid19.

Had my first experience with corona been different… say, had my mom gotten a mysterious flu-like illness around that same time… wound up in the hospital… had severe complications for weeks… and spent months recuperating… I would probably feel very different about everything that has happened over the past 18 months.

That’s how watersheds work.

Early on, it’s easy to channel a few drops of water down one side of the mountain or the other.

But once water collects into rivulets… streams… and eventually rivers… it becomes dangerous, hard, or even impossible to manage or divert.

And so it is with beliefs.

There are certain moments when it’s easy to influence or form people’s beliefs around a certain topic.

Those turn into watershed beliefs.

But if you find yourself downstream from those moments, you have a dangerous, hard, or downright impossible task.

“Not very inspiring,” you might say.

Fine. so here’s the inspiring bit.

In many situations, it’s possible to go upstream to identify and attack the watershed belief itself. This can be an easy way — and often the only way — to alter the course of a powerful torrent of downstream thoughts and action.

For example, if somebody could truly convince me that news sites like CNN are not a bunch of circus monkeys that fanned and continue to fan corona fears for their own ends… maybe I would question much of my own beliefs about corona.

(But that’s a bit of a tall order. I just saw today that for the first time ever, the majority of Americans, specifically 58%, agree with me that “journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”)

You’re welcome to try to change my mind about the media. But your efforts are probably better spent on identifying your prospect’s watershed beliefs… and then finding ways to attack those. You’re likely to have more luck there.

But what if your prospect’s watershed beliefs are also too hard to change?

Well, then you’ll have to create a new watershed downstream. And divert at least some of the thoughts and actions of your target audience in a new direction… the direction you want.

What are your current beliefs about signing up to my email newsletter? If you’re not set against the fact yet, I’d like to suggest you try it out. You get daily ideas about persuasion, marketing, and copywriting… to maybe change how you see these topics.

In case you’re interested, you can sign up to try it out here.

One of the greatest direct response mysteries of all time

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“Jesus, that looks frightening.”

There are many cosmetic dentists in the town I’m staying in. Some of these dentists advertise.

So there’s a billboard down the road, and it shows a pretty girl, with perfect teeth, smiling brightly at the driver-by.

​​And then closing in on both sides of the girl’s face… approaching her like monstrous tentacles of an unseen krakken… are various dental instruments of torture — drills, picks, mirrors, and suction tubes.

Every time I pass this billboard, I shudder. It seems to be such a full-on advertising miss.

I guess they tried to associate dentistry with beauty and happiness. They wound up doing just the opposite — making a bright and happy smile look frightening. But who knows, maybe it works?

In any case, it brings to mind one of the greatest direct response mysteries of all time, at least to my mind. Because here’s a quote from Claude Hopkins, the grandfather of direct marketing and the author of the book Scientific Advertising:

Show the bright side, the happy and attractive side, not the dark and uninviting side of things. Show beauty, not homeliness; health, not sickness. Don’t show the wrinkles you propose to remove, but the face as it will appear. Your customers know all about the wrinkles.

In advertising a dentifrice, show pretty teeth, not bad teeth. Talk of coming good conditions, not conditions which exist. In advertising clothes, picture well-dressed people, not the shabby. Picture successful men, not failures, when you advertise a business course. Picture what others wish to be, not what they may be now.

We are attracted by sunshine, beauty, happiness, health, success. Then point the way to them, not the way out of the opposite.

Can this be true? But it’s got to be, right?

After all, Claude Hopkins didn’t have opinions about advertising. He had hard results — scientific advertising — based on keyed ads. The idea back of an ad either sold, or it didn’t.

But hold on. We know today, from equally scientific advertising, that the story of a fat woman humiliated at a ritzy clothing store…

T​he image of a frightened and injured dog, loose on a busy highway…

T​he snapshot of a man walking into a shopping mall, killing three people, leaving his shotgun on the counter, and walking out…

W​e know these are all are powerful ways to make a sale. Or at least my clients and I know.

Because those were all stories I used to start emails, advertorials, and sales letters. And all of them worked many times better than bright, happy, and attractive alternatives.

So what gives?

Has human nature changed so much in the last 100 years?

Or was Claude Hopkins wrong in reading the data he was getting?

Or was this just a classic case of a marketer saying one thing about his marketing… but doing another?

I don’t know. If you do, I hope you will enlighten me about this mystery. And if you’re into direct response mysteries, you might like my scary email newsletter about marketing and copywriting.

No meddle! Only help

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I thought the cartoon above was funny when I first saw it, years ago.

But it’s been popping up in my mind in many situations ever since.

I realized this cartoon is profound. Because these three simple panels show real fundamental truth, not just about dogs, but about people, too.

A truth about so many situations in life.

When you have one thing…

And you also want the other thing. But you can’t get the other thing without letting go of the thing you already have.

And if somebody offers you the thing you want…. at the cost of the thing you have… you react.

“No meddle! Only help”

For example, this is my explanation for what I talked about in my post yesterday, of why so many people reflexively hate advertising.

People might want the thing you’re advertising. Six-pack abs. A million-dollar paycheck. Total self-acceptance.

But they’re not willing to let go of the ball they are gripping between their teeth. The ball that holds their self-image… their feeling of control… their sense of meaning and consistency in their lives.

I’m not sure how to end this post, except to tell you to keep the cartoon above in mind, the way I’ve done for years.

And when you see people retreating from you, even though you have something they really do want…

Realize that, like dogs, human beings are conflicted. So take the attitude of the adult who can give them what they want… without making them feel they are losing something else as they get it.

And if you want regular other ideas to help you influence people, at no cost to your self-image, feeling of control, or your sense of consistency in life… then you might like my regular email newsletter.

“Raping of our night skies”: A growing problem for marketers

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“Fuck this guy and fuck his raping of our night skies. Fire him into the fucking sun. Billionaires are a planetary cancer.”

That was a tweet written by one Alan Baxter a few weeks ago. Thousands of other people wrote equally outraged Tweets, while a few had deep Tweet-thoughts like this:

“can you just ask him to do something abt climate change @Grimezsz”

@Grimezsz is the Twitter handle of Grimes, the Canadian singer and musician.

And the “him” in the Tweet above is Grimes’s boyfriend and well-known planetary cancer, Elon Musk. How quickly things change:

For many years and until what seems like yesterday, Musk was loved and celebrated by the mass mind.

His Tesla electric cars made it sexy to take smoke-billowing gas guzzlers off streets.

His Hyperloop concept promised a cool way to travel far without the environmental costs of airplanes and airports.

And his SolarCity company brought clean energy to hundreds of thousands of homes across America.

So what changed? Why the sudden outrage towards Musk?

What did he do to make his personal brand plummet… and to make people forget all about his solar energy company… and his electric cars… and his minimal-impact human gerbil tubes?

As you can imagine, it took something big.

It took a cardinal sin.

It took for Elon Musk to get into advertising.

Because the tweets above, and thousands like them, came after Musk announced his plans to put a “billboard satellite” in space.

In reality, Musk’s space billboard will be something like a 4-inch-by-4-inch TV, floating among all the other tin cans miles away from the surface of the Earth. It will be invisible from the ground. It certainly won’t rape anybody’s night sky.

And yet, people hate the idea of a billboard satellite. And they hate Musk for working on it.

Because, as you may have noticed, many people have an allergic reaction to advertising. And the numbers of the afflicted are growing.

You can see it in the blowback to Musk’s space billboard plan.

You can see it in the bubbling anger over online tracking and targeted ads. (Which, if anything, people should welcome, because it makes advertising more relevant to their needs, habits, and interests.)

And you can see it in the reports of big-name direct marketers, who say skepticism and indifference are rising, while conversion rates are dropping year after year.

So I’d like to suggest to you that this is a big problem.

And one way or another… if you are doing any kind of marketing, advertising, or proactive selling… and unless you want get out of business and go work for the federal government… then I’d like to suggest you have to face up to this problem and find ways to deal with it.

You can back away… and make your sales softer and more indirect.

Or you can get confrontational… and turn up your sales pitches while mocking those who object to your trying to run a business.

Or you can use subtle psychology to strike some sort of middle ground. That’s my preferred approach.

But whatever your preferred approach, you have to start thinking about it. And you have to start acting on it. Because if there is one thing that the growing numbers of people who hate advertising react to… it’s new advertising, which is just like the old stuff, only done a little bit better.

So that’s all. Except:

Would you like to know more about subtle psychology and how to use it in your marketing? You can get it in regular drips if you sign up to my email newsletter here.

The copywriting knack that so many lack

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“Thousands of sales have been lost, millions of dollars worth of business have failed to materialize, solely because so few letter-writers have that knack of visualizing a proposition — of painting it in words so the reader can see it as they see it.”
— Robert Collier, The Robert Collier Letter Book

This entire week, I’ve been promoting my “Win Your First Copywriting Job” workshop, which kicks off tomorrow. This is the last email I will send to promote it before I close the cart down tomorrow at 6pm CET.

So rather than letting a single possible sale fly out the window like a loose dollar bill in a gust of wind, let me paint a few pictures in your mind:

First, the picture of you nodding with understanding as I explain how I regularly won 4- and 5-figure copywriting jobs… with a 3-sentence application… and a few targeted samples of my work.

Then the picture of you sitting at your laptop… crafting your own targeted samples… having a lightbulb moment… and working it into your copy.

Then me looking over your shoulder in virtual space, and saying, “I like this part a lot, and here’s how to make this part even better.”

Then you nervously clicking “Send” to email your application and samples to this amazing-sounding copywriting opportunity, which seems out of reach, but you never know…

And finally, your heart beating as you read a reply that says, “Hey thanks for applying to my job. I loved the samples you sent in. It seems like you could be the perfect fit. Do you have time to get on a call tomorrow to talk in more detail?”

That is, imagine all of this IF you choose to take me up on my workshop offer.

Or of course, you can choose to do nothing at all.

In that case, the word paintings will be different.

So imagine walking the streets alone, trying to keep warm while cold wind blows inside your jacket to your ribs and then it starts to rain… scrounging around for loose change in your pockets so you can maybe collect enough for a single coffee… and wondering to yourself, “Had I only taken up John’s workshop offer that one Friday, would I have a well-paying copywriting job right now, instead of being cold, lonely, and without the change for a coffee?”

Ok, maybe that’s a little melodramatic. But dollars are at stake for me… and a momentous life-changing proposition is at stake for you.

So if you want warmth and a jumpstart to your copywriting success… rather than loneliness and cold, empty streets… then have the knack of acting in time, before this offer disappears out the window:

https://bejakovic.com/win-your-first-copywriting-job/

Dan Kennedy, Rich Schefren, and a monkey named John B.

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Let me tell you a true story about a social primate I will call John B.:

Six months ago, John was reading the “Million Dollar Resource & Sample Book.” This is a 270-page document that Dan Kennedy prepared for his Titans of Direct Response talk.

Toward the end of this doc, John saw the mention of a seminar of Dan’s, called Opportunity Concepts. Opportunity Concepts is all about using ideas from bizopp marketers more broadly, in other kinds of businesses.

“Sounds valuable,” John muttered into his cereal, which he was eating at the time.

So John googled Opportunity Concepts and found the sales page.

“Interesting… interesting…” John said as he scrolled down the page. But suddenly, he bared his teeth and grimaced.

“Ouch!” he said, mouth full of cereal. “$2,000!…”

Now let me tell you with confidence, because I happen to know this social primate intimately, that John has been training himself to look at things in terms of their value… rather than in terms of their price.

Even so, after a few moments of grimacing and weighing access to Opportunity Concepts on the one hand… versus the pain of giving up $2,000 on the other… John found himself closing down the sales page and browsing away to happier, less stressful webpages.

Now fast-forward a few months.

John was watching a livestream put on by marketer Rich Schefren. Rich paused his scheduled programming to answer questions. And one of the questions that came in was this:

“Which products from Dan Kennedy do you think are the most valuable?”

Rich thought for a second and said, “I think Opportunity Concepts is number one.” And by the time Rich named his second favorite Dan Kennedy program, John was already gone. He was in a deep trance, credit card out, filling out the order form for Opportunity Concepts.

So that’s the true story for today. I hope you liked it. And now let me tell you why this story is meaningful to me, aside from my close relationship to the primate in question.

It’s not just that this story illustrates the power of social proof.

Or the value of an endorsement from a respected authority.

No, it’s about something broader.

Because one thing I’ve learned by working in direct marketing is how much our brain loves to avoid the hard tasks of thinking and making decisions.

That’s why we are constantly looking for shortcuts and excuses. Shortcuts to conclusions. And excuses to make a decision or to not make a decision.

If you’re new to direct marketing, you might think this only applies to those gullible people out there. The ones who buy magic pill weight loss supplements… at $47/month… based on obviously fake testimonials.

Well, I’d like to suggest it’s not just them.

Even people with greater advertising literacy make decisions in the same way. Even for much bigger purchases.

And if you’re selling something, including yourself and your services… it’s a good idea to give your prospects helpful shortcuts and excuses to make sure their decisions are the right ones.

And by the way, this same stuff applies to business owners looking to hire copywriters. You might think they will make a detailed, reasonable decision about who to hire. You might think they will evaluate all the data, and weigh all the pros and cons of each application.

Nope.

Business owners, like everybody else, are just looking for excuses to dismiss an applicant straight out the gate. And they are praying they will come across an applicant who will signal in some clear way that he is THE ONE… so they can hire him and get on to happier, less stressful tasks.

Even more by the way, are you yourself looking to get hired as a copywriter?

Then I have something that could be valuable. It’s a system for giving business owners those helpful shortcuts and excuses to make sure their decisions are the right ones — i.e. hiring you.

This system is inside my “Win Your First Copywriting Job” workshop, which kicks off this Friday.

For more info:

https://bejakovic.com/win-your-first-copywriting-job/

Most people are too busy digging an escape tunnel to notice the cell door is unlocked

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I used to prepare to escape. Away from the office job. Away from the 40-hour workweeks.

But I didn’t experience real freedom until I started preparing less — a lot less.

For example, yesterday I crafted a new offer, with no preparation, in just about two hours from start to finish. With a little luck, it should earn me enough money to cover all my expenses for the next month, maybe longer.

What’s more, I’m going to ask you to send me $197 dollars for this offer, even though it won’t cost me more than a few minutes of my time to fulfill it. And I’ll try to make it so irresistible that you’d be a darned fool not to do it.

After all, why should you care if i make a $197 profit for a few minutes’ work if I can show you how to make a lot more — in just the next week, and in every week after that?

I’ll tell you about the offer in a second. But first, let me address the strange sense of deja vu you might be feeling right now.

Because what you’ve just read is the reworded lead to Joe Karbo’s Lazy Man’s Way to Riches ad.

It’s a famous ad. There is a lot in there. A lot I didn’t see when I first read it. And even a lot I didn’t see for many years after.

For example, here’s one thing always gets me:

In the fifth sentence, Joe admits he’s selling something. Even though he’s formatted his ad to look like a neutral newspaper article.

And then in the seventh sentence, he reveals the price of his offer — and that the price is entirely unrelated to his cost of fulfillment.

It’s a great pattern interrupt.

Because most marketers try to lull you into buying. They think if they hold off long enough, they can hypnotize you so deeply that you won’t mind when the pitch comes.

The trouble with that is, all of us are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

It’s very hard to fool modern consumers into thinking they are not reading an ad when they in fact are.

And people’s reactance to ads — leading to perfectly good sales messages getting tossed out on sight, marked as spam, or simply browsed away from — has never been higher. In fact, it’s increasing.

Which is why it can make sense to disarm your prospect’s skepticism right away — by admitting you are selling something, and maybe even revealing the price.

Which brings me to that $197 offer I mentioned up front.

It’s for my “Win Your First Copywriting Job” workshop, which kicks off this Friday.

Like I said at the start, I used to have an office job. I’d sit there each day, lusting after the kind of freedom I have now. To work when I want… where I want… and as much or as little as I want.

And still, to have as much money as I need.

Fortunately, I was tossed out of my office job and into my first copywriting gig without too much time to prepare, doubt myself, or try to line up everything perfectly.

But perhaps you’ve had the curse of too much time. Perhaps you’ve been studying maps of the terrain… digging your escape tunnel… and waiting for the perfect moment to make your break.

And waiting.

In that case, my workshop might be what you need to escape for real.

The workshop is not a “Lazy Man’s Way to Copywriting Riches.”

​​But if you’re willing to do some work… and if you have a couple basic requirements satisfied… then I can help you open the cell door and take that first step through it. All within the next week.

​​For more info:

https://bejakovic.com/win-your-first-copywriting-job/

“Win your first copywriting job” workshop

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If you are looking to get going as a paid copywriter, here’s an announcement you might find valuable:

This Friday, I’m putting on a spectacular show called Copywriting Portfolio Secrets.

It’s a free bonus for people who signed up for my Copy Riddles program. And it’s all about how to apply for and win copywriting jobs, even if your portfolio is as insubstantial as a cucumber sandwich.

In case you’re curious, here’s the sneak preview trailer for Copywriting Portfolio Secrets:

IN A WORLD…

… where copywriting clients are busy and distracted…

… and where the law of the land is naked self-interest…

… one copywriter stepped forth…

… and found out exactly what one potential client was looking for…

… and then showed the client exactly why he (the copywriter) or she (the copywritress) was it.

“An exciting but unbelievable premise,” you might say. “How could I be exactly what the client is looking for… when I’m a complete noob with with that cucumber sandwich of a portfolio?”

O ye of little faith.
​
It can be done. I know because I’ve done it. Back when I got started with copywriting… and several times since, when I effectively became a noob again by branching out into new industries and new copywriting formats.

Zero relevant experience to start. 4- and 5-figure copywriting jobs as the end result. ​​

So it can be done. That’s the good news. But here’s the trouble:

You might not know how to do it. And unless you signed up for Copy Riddles back in July or back in March, you won’t find out, because Copy Riddles was the ticket that gets you into the feature show that is Copywriting Portfolio Secrets.

At least that’s what I planned on, until today. Today, I decided to make a new offer.

I’m calling it the “Win your first copywriting job” workshop. It includes two parts:

1. The Copywriting Portfolio Secrets presentation on Friday

2. My one-on-one guidance so you actually implement everything inside the presentation, and so you can actually win your first copywriting job

In case you’re starting to feel a little warm right now, here are a few warnings to cool you off:

The “Win your first copywriting job” workshop is not free.

It is also not done-for-you.

Instead, it is rather expensive, and it is done-with-you.

So if those facts don’t turn you off right away, you have until Friday 6pm CET to decide whether you’d like to sign up to my “Win your first copywriting job” workshop and get on the path to being a paid copywriter.

​​And if you’d like to join, or if you’d like more details to help you decide, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/win-your-first-copywriting-job

The inspiration theory of money

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Yesterday, I was walking through town and I saw a small group of dressed-up people. They were standing outside the local council hall. It was a wedding, about to go down.

The bride-to-be was sitting by the door and taking deep breaths. She was getting ready to stand up and walk into the building.

All around her and around the small group, down the stairs and across the small piazza in front, there was a scattered mass of pink flower petals.

And then in the corner of the piazza, there was a cleaning woman. She had a broom in hand. And she was already busy, sweeping up the flower petals and throwing them away into a trash bag.

For many years now, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of what money really is.

I’ve read a bit about it, but I’ve never found a satisfactory answer. I think a part of that is that money is in fact several different things, all rolled into one.

So let me tell you a bit of what I’ve concluded about money, and why this can matter if you are looking to make more money.

One obvious thing:

Money is a measure of what different people value, right there in a specific moment. So for example, take the wedding scene.

I’m sure the wedding party paid good money for those flower petals. The petals had value to that group of people. Right up to the moment that the future bride sat down before going in for the actual wedding.

But in that very moment, things shifted. The value of the flower petals to the wedding party disappeared.

Instead, there was sudden value to all the other citizens of this small town in getting rid of the flower petals. Which is why the cleaning woman was getting paid to sweep them up.

Maybe it seems like I am flogging a dead flower here. But there is a non-obvious point to all this:

Many of us, myself included, think of money as some kind of stored resource, like flower petals in a bag, or maybe grain in a silo. You have a good harvest… store some of your grain away… and you will have something to eat when winter comes.

And by extension:

If I take some of your money away from you, I will have more to eat this winter, and you will have less.

But money might be less like grain in a silo than like applause after a rousing speech… or the joy of having flowers thrown over you as you walk in for your wedding.

In this theory, money is a reflection of temporary desire, and of the ability to inspire, move, and influence. It’s a measure of what some of us value right now, and that waxes and wanes from moment to moment.

Of course, there is more to money than this. Which is why money might seem confusing to you, like it does to me.

Maybe I will write more about that another time. If you want to read that should it appear, you can sign up here.

But for now, I’d like to suggest that money is not a zero-sum game. And perhaps, if you are looking to make more money, keeping this in mind will help you inspire, move, and persuade other people… for just a few moments… in ways that benefit you both.