Last call for Tour de Commandments bonuses

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The past week, I have been running the Tour de Commandments event to mark the 1-year anniversary of the publication of my 10 Commandments of Con Men etc book.

As a result of this event, I have sold more than 100 paperback copies of my book, and have rocketed up the book rankings, at least for a few days, above the paperback of Robert Cialdini’s Influence. That’s really all a daily email writer could ever want for.

Today is the last day of this promotional spectacle. With one final, desperate push towards the finish line, the Tour de Commandments event ends tonight, Sunday the 17th, at 12 midnight PST.

If you take me up on this offer before the deadline (instructions below), you get the following bonuses:

#1. “Manna for Marketers” live workshop and implementation call

Happening next Wednesday at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. I will cover how I’ve consciously applied these 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. in my biz. I’ll also offer you my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

#2. “3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads”

Over the past 7 years, I’ve spent $18,487 on Amazon book ads. The majority of those ads have been for my two “10 Commandments of SOMETHING” books. I’ve put together a report on the 3 main lessons learned after 7 years, thousands of copies sold, and $18k+ in ad spend.

#3. “40 Pages to Authority: A $1k article series”

Back in 2023, the the Professional Writers Alliance paid me $1,000 to write a 4-part article series about my experiences writing, promoting, and profiting from a 40-page book (my first 10 Commandments book).

PWA made these articles available to their paying members only. But you can get them as a free bonus for taking me up on my Tour De Commandments offer.

#4. “How I made an extra $1404.53/month in Amazon royalties at the push of a button”

This report outlines a hack, which involves the push of a button — literally, that’s all there is to it — and which made me an extra ~$1.5k per month in Amazon royalties. I used this hack once, over the span of a few months, or rather a few weeks. I made money with it. And I never used it again.

I’m not saying anybody else should use this hack. I’m not saying anybody else should NOT use it either.

All I’m willing to do is to tell you what this hack is, why I’m no longer using it myself, and how you can try it out yourself, if you so choose, to make easy money off Amazon.

#5. “The best direct marketing book of the past 15 years”

That’s according to me, somebody who has read and reread all the great direct marketing books, and some of the not-so-great, and who has made millions in sales via the ideas I’ve learned in those books.

Odds are excellent you have not read this book or even heard of it. But I will tell you what it is so you can grab it on Amazon, and I’ll even give you $15 in Bejako Bux so you can get it effectively FREE.

#6. “The best course on selling via email I have personally found”

The information in this course has influenced a ton of people online, indirectly. Yet I never hear anybody talking about this course directly, or implementing the complete system inside, rather than just one fraction.

(I have been going through this course and implementing it myself and helping my coaching students implement it.)

If you like, you can be among a select elite of people who both know about this course and who profit from it. Because, if you take me up on my Tour de Commandments offer, I will tell you where to find this best course on selling via email, for FREE, and completely legally.

#7. Influence Riddles Vol. 1

7 real-life case studies of successful episodes of influence, turned into riddles for you to ponder and profit from, including:

* How one clever offer owner got me to promote his offer as an affiliate even though I knew it wouldn’t sell to my list

* A lead magnet I’ve seen two very successful marketers using, which gets better conversions and higher-intent leads than the usual free report/course/template etc.

* A new upsell strategy that “exploded average order value overnight” (taken from the best direct marketing book of the past 15 years, which is #5 inside this bonus bundle)

If you want to take me up on this Tour de Commandments offer, here’s what to do:

1. Grab five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and get you access to the above bonuses, as well as others I release in the coming days.

Again, the deadline for this event is tonight, May 17, at 12 midnight PST.

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

My new experiment: weekly work budget

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As a new experiment, I’ve set myself a “weekly work budget.”

It’s the opposite of the workweek, which mandates how much time you MUST work.

The weekly work budget mandates the amount of time each week I’m ALLOWED to work.

If I work more one day, I have to take it out of another day.

The total time I work by the end of the week has to be less than the time I’ve set for myself (currently 24 hours).

I’ve set myself a weekly work budget because I tend to waste a lot of time supposedly working but actually just checking email and Skool… switching between projects (why not? I’ve got ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to do everything!)… and not prioritizing what actually matters.

So far it’s working brilliant. I’m only wondering why it’s taken me 12 years of working by myself to hit upon this.

I’m telling you this in case you also work for yourself, and in case you spend more time working than you like, and getting less done than you like.

If so, a weekly work budget might be worth trying.

I’m also telling you this because I’ve already spent a bunch of time working today. I’ve had a couple calls — one with a possible auction partner, and a second with a prospect — now turned client, the first I’ve had in years — who replied to my “DFY newsletter service” offer a few days ago.

Those two calls, plus some other work I’ve done today, mean I haven’t had time to prepare any more bonuses for my ongoing Tour de Commandments event. And who knows, with my weekly work budget quickly draining out, I might not have time to prepare any more by the end of this week either.

Will that kill this Tour de Commandments deal for you? I don’t know. Maybe the following list of bonuses will be enough to entice you.

The deadline for this event is this Sunday, May 17, at 12 midnight PST. If you act before then (instructions below) you get the following bonuses:

#1. “Manna for Marketers” live workshop and implementation call

Happening next Wednesday at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. I will cover how I’ve consciously applied these 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. in my biz. I’ll also offer you my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

#2. “3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads”

Over the past 7 years, I’ve spent $18,487 on Amazon book ads. The majority of those ads have been for my two “10 Commandments of SOMETHING” books. I’ve put together a report on the 3 main lessons learned after 7 years, thousands of copies sold, and $18k+ in ad spend.

#3. “40 Pages to Authority: A $1k article series”

Back in 2023, the the Professional Writers Alliance paid me $1,000 to write a 4-part article series about my experiences writing, promoting, and profiting from a 40-page book (my first 10 Commandments book).

PWA made these articles available to their paying members only. But you can get them as a free bonus for taking me up on my Tour De Commandments offer.

#4. “How I made an extra $1404.53/month in Amazon royalties at the push of a button”

This report outlines a hack, which involves the push of a button — literally, that’s all there is to it — and which made me an extra ~$1.5k per month in Amazon royalties. I used this hack once, over the span of a few months, or rather a few weeks. I made money with it. And I never used it again.

I’m not saying anybody else should use this hack. I’m not saying anybody else should NOT use it either.

All I’m willing to do is to tell you what this hack is, why I’m no longer using it myself, and how you can try it out yourself, if you so choose, to make easy money off Amazon.

#5. “The best direct marketing book of the past 15 years”

That’s according to me, somebody who has read and reread all the great direct marketing books, and some of the not-so-great, and who has made millions in sales via the ideas I’ve learned in those books.

Odds are excellent you have not read this book or even heard of it. But I will tell you what it is so you can grab it on Amazon, and I’ll even give you $15 in Bejako Bux so you can get it effectively FREE.

#6. “The best course on selling via email I have personally found”

The information in this course has influenced a ton of people online, indirectly. Yet I never hear anybody talking about this course directly, or implementing the complete system inside, rather than just one fraction.

(I have been going through this course and implementing it myself and helping my coaching students implement it.)

If you like, you can be among a select elite of people who both know about this course and who profit from it. Because, if you take me up on my Tour de Commandments offer, I will tell you where to find this best course on selling via email, for FREE, and completely legally.

If you want to take me up on this Tour de Commandments offer, here’s what to do:

1. Grab five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and get you access to the above bonuses, as well as others I release in the coming days.

Again, the deadline for this event is this Sunday, May 17, at 12 midnight PST.

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

The best course on selling via email I have personally found

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Yesterday, I teased, without revealing, the best direct marketing book of the past 15 years.

This got more people to take me up on my Tour de Commandments offer than the previous days combined.

In part, that’s the cumulative effect of an email promo, which in this case has been going on since Monday.

In part, it’s the power of teasing info, curiosity, and that itching, nagging, bothersome mystery and information gap that a secret creates.

If you need a valuable marketing idea for today, let this be it:

When trying to sell info, use the takeaway sale.

Let me now take my own advice. Let me tease a second bit of info today. Let me tell you about the best course on selling via email I have personally found.

This is NOT a course about email copywriting. Rather, it’s a course about making sales via email.

These are two distinct things.

Most people who try to make sales via email only blast out offers (“New! Discount! NOW!”) or they only try to be funny and informative and valuable in the hope that one day, somehow, people on their list will buy out of good will alone.

Both of these approaches can work from time to time. But long term, both are suboptimal and even unsustainable.

Fortunately, there is a THIRD WAY, which is laid out in the best course on selling via email I have personally found.

I have been going through this course and implementing it myself and helping coaching students implement it.

I happen to know the information in this course has influenced a ton of people online, indirectly.

Yet I never hear anybody talking about this course directly, or implementing the complete system inside, rather than just one fraction.

If you like, you can be among a select elite of people who both know about this course and who profit from it.

Because, if you take me up on my Tour de Commandments offer, I will tell you where to find this best course on selling via email, for FREE, and completely legally.

The course consists of several audio recordings, and one document which lays out the philosophy behind the case studies.

It’s not fill-in-the-blank templates. Rather, it’s made up of a dozen or so case studies that illustrate the many ways to implement underlying ideas in this course, which are both profound and simple.

Also, here are the other bonuses I am offering as part of my ongoing Tour de Commandments event:

#1. “Manna for Marketers” live workshop and implementation call

Happening next Wednesday at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. I will cover how I’ve consciously applied these 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. in my biz. I’ll also offer you my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

#2. “3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads”

Over the past 7 years, I’ve spent $18,487 on Amazon book ads. The majority of those ads have been for my two “10 Commandments of SOMETHING” books. I’ve put together a report on the 3 main lessons learned after 7 years, thousands of copies sold, and $18k+ in ad spend.

#3. “40 Pages to Authority: A $1k article series”

Back in 2023, the the Professional Writers Alliance paid me $1,000 to write a 4-part article series about my experiences writing, promoting, and profiting from a 40-page book (my first 10 Commandments book).

PWA made these articles available to their paying members only. But you can get them as a free bonus for taking me up on my Tour De Commandments offer.

#4. “How I made an extra $1404.53/month in Amazon royalties at the push of a button”

This report outlines a hack, which involves the push of a button — literally, that’s all there is to it — and which made me an extra ~$1.5k per month in Amazon royalties. I used this hack once, over the span of a few months, or rather a few weeks. I made money with it. And I never used it again.

I’m not saying anybody else should use this hack. I’m not saying anybody else should NOT use it either.

All I’m willing to do is to tell you what this hack is, why I’m no longer using it myself, and how you can try it out yourself, if you so choose, to make easy money off Amazon.

#5. “The best direct marketing book of the past 15 years”

That’s according to me, somebody who has read and reread all the great direct marketing books, and some of the not-so-great, and who has made millions in sales via the ideas I’ve learned in those books.

Odds are excellent you have not read this book or even heard of it. But I will tell you what it is so you can grab it on Amazon, and I’ll even give you $15 in Bejako Bux so you can get it effectively FREE.

If you want to take me up on this Tour de Commandments offer, here’s what to do:

1. Grab five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and get you access to the above bonuses, as well as others I release in the coming days.

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

The best direct marketing book of the past 15 years

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Do you like books?

Do you like marketing books?

Do you like valuable marketing books that can legitimately make you millions of dollars, if you only consistently apply what they tell you to do?

If so, I got something for you.

This whole year I’ve been reading and rereading a book, without telling anyone anywhere what it is. It’s the first time I’ve come across an information resource that is so valuable that I wanted to keep it and hoard it for myself, like a miserly dragon.

This book is:

1. Published relatively recently.

2. Almost unknown. I haven’t heard anybody else talking about it, and as per Amazon, it’s not selling.

3. Written by a direct marketing legend who has little personal charisma and either little skill or little interest in building up a big personal brand. (How is he still a legend then? That’s something I will only tease for now.)

4. The most valuable and useful and impactful book about direct marketing in the past 15 years, going back to Mark Ford and John Forde’s Great Leads, which was published back in 2011. That’s according to me, somebody who has read and reread all the great direct marketing books, and some of the not-so-great, and who has made millions in sales via the ideas I’ve learned in those books.

Now here’s my deal for you:

I’m currently running my Tour de Commandments event. I’m using it to mark one year since I published my 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. book.

The deal is that if you buy 5 copies of my book (or 4, in case already have a copy), I’ll give you a buncha bonuses.

My new bonus for today is that I’ll give you (well, kinda) this best direct marketing book of the past 15 years.

This book sells on Amazon right now for $15 for the paperback.

The thing is, I have no interest in going on Amazon and actually filling out your shipping details and ordering this book this book on your behalf and shipping it to your door. I’ve done that before, and it’s frankly too much work for the small offer I am making right now as part of this Tour de Commandments event.

But I also know the value of getting something for FREE.

So my deal is:

Take me up on my Tour de Commandments offer.

I will tell you the name of this book, and I will give you $15 in Bejako Bux to offset the price if you wanna buy it. You can use this $15 in Bejako Bux towards any of my courses or coaching (or anything I sell directly on my site).

(If by some minuscule chance you already own this direct marketing book, you still get to keep the $15 in Bejako Bux.)

Plus, I’ll also tell you a second resource, by the same uncharismatic direct marketing legend, equally as obscure and unknown, which I have been bingeing on for weeks now. It’s got so many valuable marketing ideas that it could legitimately be packaged up as a $30k/year mastermind. But it’s available for free, if you only know where to look, and that’s what I’ll tell you.

Plus plus, there are the other Tour de Commandments bonuses I have promised so far:

#1. “Manna for Marketers” live workshop and implementation call

Happening next Wednesday at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. I will cover I’ve consciously applied these 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. in my biz. I’ll also offer you my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

#2. “3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads”

Over the past 7 years, I’ve spent $18,487 on Amazon book ads. The majority of those ads have been for my two “10 Commandments of SOMETHING” books. I’ve put together a report on the 3 main lessons learned after 7 years, thousands of copies sold, and $18k+ in ad spend.

#3. “40 Pages to Authority: A $1k article series”

Back in 2023, the the Professional Writers Alliance paid me $1,000 to write a 4-part article series about my experiences writing, promoting, and profiting from a 40-page book (my first 10 Commandments book).

PWA made these articles available to their paying members only. But you can get them as a free bonus for taking me up on my Tour De Commandments offer.

#4. “How I made an extra $1404.53/month in Amazon royalties at the push of a button”

This report outlines a hack, which involves the push of a button — literally, that’s all there is to it — and which made me an extra ~$1.5k per month in Amazon royalties. I used this hack once, over the span of a few months, or rather a few weeks. I made money with it. And I never used it again.

I’m not saying anybody else should use this hack. I’m not saying anybody else should NOT use it either.

All I’m willing to do is to tell you what this hack is, why I’m no longer using it myself, and how you can try it out yourself, if you so choose, to make easy money off Amazon.

If you want to take me up on this Tour de Commandments offer, here’s what to do:

1. Grab five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and get you access to the above bonuses, as well others I release in the coming days.

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads

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Yesterday, with much fanfare and a bit of fireworks, I kicked off the Tour de Commandments event for my 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. book.

I published that book a year ago, and have since sold ~4k copies.

I got a reply about that number from from online creator Kieran Drew, who continues to read my emails even though I viciously and without provocation assaulted him a few weeks ago in another email.

Kieran graciously wrote:

“4k! Incredible. What’s contributed to sales most? Just through your list?”

My list, great though it is, has not been the main driver of my Amazon sales. For one thing, my entire list is not 4k people. For another, while many of my readers did buy the book, more did not.

Instead, I attribute the biggest part of my book sales to Amazon ads.

Over the past 7 years, I have spent $18,487 on Amazon book ads. The vast majority of that has been spent on promoting this new 10 Commandments book and my previous 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

I’ve seen on a couple occasions how my book sales (including organic sales) plummeted after ads were turned off.

For those reasons and more, I believe Amazon ads are the best way to sell books and get quality buyers onto my list, and something I plan to scale up soon (immediately after this promo).

But back to the Tour de Commandments. I have written up a new report, titled:

“3 lessons after $18,487 spent on running Amazon book ads”

I’m offering this report as a free bonus for the Tour de Commandments event. I’ve also prepared two other free bonuses:

#2. “40 Pages to Authority: A $1k article series”

Back in 2023, the the Professional Writers Alliance paid me $1,000 to write a 4-part article series about my experiences writing, promoting, and profiting from a 40-page book (my first 10 Commandments book).

PWA made these articles available to their paying members only. But you can get them as a free bonus for taking me up on my Tour De Commandments offer.

#3. “How I made an extra $1404.53/month in Amazon royalties at the push of a button”

This report outlines a hack, which involves the push of a button — literally, that’s all there is to it — and which made me an extra ~$1.5k per month in Amazon royalties. I used this hack once, over the span of a few months, or rather a few weeks. I made money with it. And I never used it again.

I’m not saying anybody else should use this hack. I’m not saying anybody else should NOT use it either.

All I’m willing to do is to tell you what this hack is, why I’m no longer using it myself, and how you can try it out yourself, if you so choose, to make easy money off Amazon.

And on top of these three new bonuses, there is the bonus I announced yesterday, Manna for Marketers, a live workshop where I will cover I’ve consciously applied these 10 Commandments of Con Men etc. in my biz.

Plus, I’m offering my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

If you want to take me up on this Tour de Commandments offer, here’s what to do:

1. Grab five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and get you access to the above Amazon-related bonuses, as well others I release in the coming days

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

Announcing: Tour de Commandments

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Today, being May 11, marks the busy and drama-filled kickoff of Tour de Commandments, a special event to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of my conveniently titled book:

“10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Professional Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters”

I published this book exactly a year ago, on May 11, 2025.

Since then, I have sold some 4k copies of this book… gotten a bunch of 5-star reviews (“Can’t tell you how glad I am that I clicked Buy Now”… “This is going into my yearly reads collection”… “More compelling than Cialdini with sprinkles of Houdini”)… and had people tell me this is the best thing I’ve ever written.

And now, I have a spectacular, amazing, uncanny Tour de Commandments bonus bundle to encourage you to get your copy, and a few extra copies to boot.

Over the course of this event, I’ll be dripping and leaking these bonuses. Today, I’ll tell you about just the first leg of the Tour de Commandments bonus bundle:

“Manna for Marketers,” a live implementation workshop for the influence ideas from the 10 Commandments book.

Who: For email marketers, list owners, course creators, online business owners, coaches, and sales professionals.

What: How I’ve consciously applied these 10 commandments in my biz, in expectation of this workshop. Plus, my help and input if you want to raise your hand live on the call, and ask me how to apply any of these commandments to your biz (or life).

Why: The #1 thing my readers have been asking me for, on the back of this 10 commandments book, is advice and examples on how to implement these ideas.

So I’m giving it to you.

You can see behind the curtains of how I use these commandments practically. You can get ideas for how you too can use them. And can get my direct help in tweaking these ideas to help you perform miracles of persuasion.

How: Like a gameshow? Listening to me rattle on for a long time is not fun for anybody. So I’ll apply everything I know about making workshops fun, interactive, and even exciting to this “Manna for Marketers” workshop.

There will be a gameshow component, there will be rewards and prizes, and you might win a brand new Tesla (ok no Tesla but everything else is true).

When and where: Next Wednesday, May 20th, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST, inside the Big Store (I’ll send you a link if you take me up on the offer below.) And of course, if you cannot make it live, there will be a recording, which others will have to pay for, but which you get for free, as part of this special event.

As I said, I will tell you about the remaining bonuses over the coming days.

If you already know you want to participate in the Tour de Commandments based on the Manna for Marketers live workshop, here’s what to do:

1. Grab your five paperback copies of the 10 Commandments book (or four, if you’ve already got a paperback and can dig up that receipt as proof)

2. Forward me your receipt (or receipts, if you already got one) from Amazon

3. I’ll get you in for the Manna for Marketers workshop, and all the remaining bonuses as I release them over the next few days

If you’re in, here’s where to take me up on this offer and reserve your spot for “Manna for Marketers”:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

I’ll take Problems Of Influence for $500, Alex

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Tomorrow, I will kick off of my Tour De Commandments event. Its purpose:

To commemorate the 1-year anniversary of the publication of my “10 Commandments of Con Men etc.” book, and tease you with some exciting, mysterious, life-changing bonuses connected to this book.

I already have several bonuses ready to be handed out. I also wanted to get my audience’s input for extra bonuses I could offer. I asked for this input inside my Daily Email House community. House member René Kerkdyk wrote:

===

Bejakopardy – the ultimate gameshow about how to apply the Commandment in various situations like B2B, B2C, high-ticket, low-ticket, to a list, to a cold audience, etc. You describe the situation, we answer, you demolish our answers, we learn something. Best contestant wins a shout-out to your list.

===

There are two separate ideas in here:

One is gamification, which I will definitely do as part of another bonus I am already planning.

The other is influence in “various situations like B2B, B2C, high-ticket, low-ticket, to a list, to a cold audience, etc.”

Maybe can help me with making a list of those various situations. Let’s see:

Are you trying to persuade somebody? Influence somebody? Are you trying to close a sale? A low-ticket sale? A high-ticket sale? A bedroom sale?

Are you you trying to make a good first impression? To get people to open up and share information with you? Are you trying to overcome skepticism, or objections, or even hostility?

Most important of all, are you stuck for a solution, for a way forward? Have the things you have tried so far failed you? Are you, in short, experiencing a problem of influence?

If so, write in and let me know.

If I think I can help you by applying one of my 10 Commandments to your situation, I’ll go over how I would do that in a bonus I will offer as part of my Tour De Commandments.

I can keep your name anonymous if you like, or if you prefer, I can keep your name in it and give you bit of exposure.

And if do end up giving my take on your problem of influence as part of my Tour De Commandments, I will share my proposed solution to your problem with you, whether you end up taking me up on my offer, which will kick off tomorrow, May 11. Thanks in advance.

Prediction about the world by the end of 2027

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Last night, as the sun was setting, my friends and I walked to a park in downtown Athens, directly next to the lit-up Acropolis. Innocent enough.

We then climbed up onto a rock inside the park, where tourists gather to take pictures of the thing. Still pretty innocent.

As soon as we got to the top, a ginger-haired, bearded man who was squatting on top of the rock, turned towards us.

“First time in Athens?” he said with a grin.

My friend Marci, who is something like a human golden retriever, smiled back and said yes.

Uh-oh.

This allowed to the ginger-haired, bearded man to open the floodgates. Over the course of the next 20 or possibly 120 minutes, as he twisted his mustache, he covered:

* How he had been island hopping for the past 8 months…

* How he had been “defeated” by a stone staircase that led down the side of a cliff on a remote Greek island, while women and children successfully managed it in the past…

* How the Greek god of blacksmithing, Hephaestus, was repeatedly cuckolded by the Greek god of war, Ares…

* How the Athenians lost the war to the Spartans, which is not really a vote in favor of democracy…

* And, after a few twists and turns covering the current political situation in several countries, how the closing of the Strait of Hormuz will lead to a worldwide shortage of sulfur… which in turn will cause food prices to skyrocket… which in turn will lead to worldwide famine… which in turn will lead to the collapse of civilization as we know it.

Eventually, the guy must have felt he had exhausted his audience.

He stood up, and before walking off into the sunset, he raised his finger to the sky like Plato. “By the end of 2027!” he cried out. “Remember when the collapse happens that the aspy guy in Athens predicted it!”

Now here’s my prediction, which I fully expect to be realized by the end of 2027:

Things will be better than ever.

Humans are not like spaghetti, which flies in a straight line when you fling it at the wall. Instead we have agency, the ability to adapt and solve problems, to change the course of our flight, and to come out ok and even better off.

It’s been like that for a long, long time. And so it will be this time.

(When the end of 2027 comes and things are better than ever, remember this email newsletter predicted it.)

Of course, some people will be worse off in a year and a half. That’s always true.

But you can choose, and the decisions you make today will determine which group — better off or worse off — you will be in when the end of 2027 rolls around.

Since I’m in a prophetic mood, let me give you one more prediction:

An audience, and a strong relationship with that audience, are the only things that will have value in the future…

… because of AI, because of political uncertainty, because of increasing competition in whatever field you’re in, because of a worldwide shortage of sulfur.

Maybe you don’t agree with me. That’s fine.

Maybe you do agree with me, or at least think that having an audience and a strong relationship to that audience is a worthwhile bet to make on behalf of your future self.

If so, you might like my “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen etc.” book.

I wrote that book to be interesting (at least if you find stories about persuasion and influence interesting) and provocative (hence the con men and pick up artists right at the start of the title).

The core ideas of this book, however, are really just about effective communication, or if you like, persuasion, which is ultimately what building and keeping a strong relationship is about, whether individually or in groups.

If that sounds valuable to you, and if you you wanna make a bet on yourself for the future:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

P.S. To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of this book, I will be kicking off a Tour de Commandments event on May 11th.

I’ll have more details about this exciting, unique, spectacular, historic, one-time, never-to-be repeated event over the next few days, as the countdown to the start gets closer and closer to zero.

If you wanna be ready for it, grab your copy of my book at the link above.

[T-minus-3] Commercial from the Mediterranean Sea

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Fair warning:

This email is a commercial, coming to you from a sailboat in the Mediterranean, with zero secret tactical info, and the only intended goal of hyping myself up a bit.

The reason for this:

Like I said, I’m currently on a boat, somewhere on the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, with a few friends.

The evening is warm, the sea is calm, the Germans on the next boat over are playing some dice game while my friends chatter quietly in Hungarian.

Frankly it’s very nice. Yet I’m still trying to squeeze in an email.

Because of the circumstances, I want to be quick, and so I will simply share a nice testimonial, one of the top ones I’ve gotten in the past year.

This testimonial comes from Nick “Jet Set” Bandy.

Nick, as you might know, works as a fractional CMO, and makes a nice $12k/month for a modest 15 hours a week of various and interesting marketing work. He also writes pretty fantastic daily emails, and sell pretty fantastic offers to his email list.

And that’s when he’s not doing commisson-only deals with local businesses that have customer datbases of 10s of thousands of names, and offers in the 10s of thousands of dollars…

… and of course, when he’s not jetsetting with his wife and baby around the world, as he is doing now in Japan.

Nick recently went through one of my courses. That prompted him to write me unbidden:

===

Hey man just wanted to say that your stuff is incredible. I’ve been purposefully not consuming courses for the past few months and just got around to going through a handful of yours. Also grabbed 10 Commandments of Con Men et al to read on our trip.

There are only a handful of people whose products I can go through and say “I couldn’t have prompted Claude to come up with this” and you’re one of them.

===

I’m glad I can still be better than AI, even when prompted by somebody clever and skilled like Nick.

I could link to one of my expensive courses here, hoping that you will buy it.

Instead, I’ll suggest you grab a copy of my 10 Commandments of Con Men et al. book.

It’s only 5 bucks on Amazon, and whether you’re going on a trip or staying at home, I suspect you might find it incredible if you give it a quick read. Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

PSA: I failed, and nobody noticed

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A few days ago, I ran a poll inside my Daily Email House community that went… nowhere.

A member, Neil Sutton, had suggested creating little 3-4 person accountability groups. I somehow called them “pods” and ran a poll to see if people would want to participate. The results, from a group of 480 members:

6 people voted “Yes! I love the idea, please make it happen!”

2 people voted “No! Other people are just barnacles slowing down the gleaming ship that is my life”

7 people voted “Ew? I mean, maybe? It would depend on who exactly I’m matched with in my pod”

I’d call that a fail, and I blame the “pods” naming misstep. Some more failures i’ve had in the past couple weeks:

– Psych Psundays. I introduced this series of Sunday emails, ran it for 3 weeks, ran out of ideas and apparently reader interest, called it quits

– Vitriol Wednesday. Based on another Daily Email House member suggestion. Designated a day to pile on hate on a guru in the industry. Lukewarm hate at best. Called it a fail that I won’t repeat.

– Auction for Svet Dimitrov. I had the idea for copy chief Svet Dimitrov to run an auction to help people get copywriting clients. Svet floated the idea to his list and I floated it to mine. Again, lukewarm interest. Call it a fail (though Svet did get a number of coaching clients out of the exercise nonetheless)

– Auction for Copy Riddles resell rights. I floated the idea to my list and inside Monetization Nastermind, another Skool group I run. Again, not enough interest to run an auction. Fail.

Did you notice any or all of these failures? If you did noticed, did you remember any of them until now that I brought them up? And if you did, did you gloat and cackle at at any of these failures of mine?

I doubt it.

In my experience, nobody notices your failures, and if they do notice, nobody remembers.

And yet, I can tell you that each time I start a new project, particularly one that will be out in the open like a poll or a launch or an auction, each time the thought comes to me:

“What if it’s a big old failure? And what if a bunch of people see me fail?”

In other words, all I’ve really developed, in place of a thick skin, is a moderate ability to act in spite of feeling stressed about what will happen if I fail.

The feeling has never really gone away.

And that’s important to remember.

If you’re waiting to stop feeling nervous in order to act, odds are you will never act.

On the other hand, if you act, and if it produces a success, you’re almost sure to be filled with excitment and even confidence.

And if you act, and it produces a failure, the feeling will be much less stressful than the expectation of that failure… plus, like I said, few people will noticed and nobody will remember.

And while I’m on the topic of public service announcements, a reminder that the kickoff of my tour de commandments event is happening in 4 days

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of this book, and possibly, my 100th review, I will be kicking off a Tour de Commandments event on May 11th.

I’ll have more details about this exciting, unique, spectacular, historic, one-time, never-to-be repeated event over the next few days, as the countdown to the start gets closer and closer to zero.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t yet gotten your copy of my 10 Commandments book, your copy is waiting for you here:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments