Business Ideas

Why every project I’ve ever launched has failed

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I’ve tried launching a dozen or more projects or businesses over the years. With the one exception of my copywriting service business, they’ve all failed.

When I look back on what happened, the conclusion is clear:

I focused on making a great product, hoping that would be all the marketing I would need. It was not.

I just launched another project last week (my email newsletter on corona travel). So I want to remind myself, and perhaps you also, of the advice of a very successful entrepreneur.

This is a guy who has launched or helped launch dozens of multimillion-dollar businesses… including one that’s gotten to the billion-dollar level.

The amazing thing is he’s been willing to share much of what he’s learned about starting and growing a business. He’s even taken the trouble to write it all down in an A-Z book, so you dont have to hunt for his wisdom across various interviews, or buy $50k+ coaching or masterminds.

The entrepreneur in question is Mark Ford. His A-Z guide on lauching and growing a business is called Ready, Fire, Aim. And here’s what Mark says:

“For most entrepreneurial businesses, it is enough to have the product and customer service just okay at the outset. Perfecting them can be done a little later, after you have gotten feedback from your customers.”

Aha. That’s where I’ve been going wrong. So what should I, and maybe you, do instead at the outset? Here’s Mark again:

“To be a truly effective entrepreneur, you must become your business’s first and foremost expert at selling. There is only one way to do this: Invest most of your time, attention, and energy in the selling process. The ratio of time, creativity, and money spent on selling as opposed to other aspects of a business should be something like 80/20, with 80 percent going towards selling and only 20 percent toward everything else.”

Speaking of selling, here’s a pitch:

I write an email un-newsletter about marketing and copywriting. If you’re interested in starting or growing a business, you might find it valuable. Here’s how to subscribe.

Premier positioning (War is over)

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Gary Bencivenga held his farewell seminar at the St. Regis Hotel.

Bencivega’s motto was, Why not the best? That’s why he chose the ritzy St. Regis.

The St. Regis hotel holds Forbes five-star and AAA five-diamond ratings. It’s been home to a bunch of famous guests and residents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Salvador Dali, and John Lennon, who recorded a demo version of “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” in his room. At the time of Bencivenga’s seminar, 15 years ago, a room at the St. Regis cost $750/night.

But let’s get back to Gary Bencivenga.

He got excellent results as a copywriter. Perhaps better than anyone else. But I believe his farewell seminar is why we’re still talking about the guy 15 years after he retired.

That “Why not the best” attitude gives Bencivenga a position in the mind. He remains the premier A-list copywriter, while other A-listers of his generation fade into obscurity.

Now here’s another positioning tidbit for you to mull over:

Jay Abraham won’t speak at an event unless he’s the keynote speaker. Jay positions himself as the world’s premier marketing consultant. Why would he ever accept anything less than top billing?

Rolex. Rolls Royce. Harvard. Like Gary Bencivenga and Jay Abraham, these are all premier brands. That means 1) they charge a premium over what their competition charges and 2) they occupy a clear position in the prospect’s mind. Why not the best?

Of course, there’s a problem.

You can’t simply wave a wand, claim to be the premier choice, and make it true.

Conditions have to be right. There’s got to be a soup of good options — you one of them – but nobody to  claim the premier position yet. Or you can think of it as a war, with many warring parties, but no clear winner.

Now here’s the good news:

If those conditions exist, you don’t have to wait and hope for the “premier” label to land on your shoulders.

You can proclaim yourself the premier choice.

Start charging never-before-seen prices.

And adopt the attitude. Why not the best?

War is over. Your prospect finally has a clear winner to keep in his mind.

Ok, so much for the ritzy part of the marketing spectrum. Now for the down-and-dirty:

Want more ideas about positioning, copywriting, and persuasion? Then you might like to sign up for my email un-newsletter.

To be Home Aloned

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The original Home Alone movie cost $18 million to make. It went on to gross over $476 million.

For a while, Home Alone was the third highest grossing film in history. For an even longer while, it was the no. 1 money-sucking comedy of all time.

According to screenwriter William Goldman, Home Alone was such a success that Hollywood insiders began to use the term “to be Home Aloned.” It meant to have your movie screwed because it was released at the same time as a runaway blockbuster.

The point being that success can have more to do with who else is in your market… than the inherent quality of your product. This is the essence of why you need positioning. Many fine films, including Look Who’s Talking Too and Hamlet starring Mel Gibson, never got much of an audience because they competed head-on with Home Alone.

But that’s enough on the matter of positioning for this holiday. I only bring up Home Alone because, as I publish this post, I too am home alone. Except my home is an empty room at an airport hotel, with probably no other guests on the same floor.

But much like Kevin in Home Alone, I’m making the best of my situation. In fact, I’ll try to use the fact I’m traveling on Christmas (again) as fodder for my new side-project.

I wrote about this project yesterday. It’s an email newsletter about travel during corona. In case you’d like to see it, or you’d like to subscribe, here’s the link:

https://masksonaplane.com/

Hidden gold inside crap online properties

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Last week, I wrote about about my plans to start rehabbing distressed online properties. To which a reader named Josh wrote:

“It seems like the only enduring ‘property’ aspect of a ‘web property’ is its rank on the Googles. The other aspects — web design, copywriting, product development, etc. — are all ‘disposable’ parts in the sense that an underperforming site will likely need a clean sheet in those areas.”

Actually, I can think of a half dozen “gold” assets that a crap online business can have. Each can be worth many times what you pay for that business.

I shared three specific such assets with my email subscribers. But even if you have no interest in flipping blogs and online stores… this is something you should think about.

Because if you have a business, chances are you have too unused assets.  Don’t leave those assets unused, and don’t wait for a hostile private equity takeover. As Jay Abraham says, get everything you can out of all you’ve got.

But what if you got no business? What if you’re a lowly copywriter looking for work?

In that case, your chances of getting hired (or rehired) are much better if you know a bit about marketing.

Like Dan Kennedy said in that quote I shared a few days ago… you don’t need to be brilliant. Just know enough to pull out some hidden value from your clients current business… and you will look like a genius.

But maybe you’re wondering what gold assets a crap business could possibly have. Like I said, I only shared this with my email subscribers. If you’d like to get on my email newsletter, here’s where to go.

Gimmick positioning

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The Schmo and The Pro is a series of YouTube video interviews.

The Pro in this case is a professional mixed martial artist, usually signed to the UFC.

The Schmo is the interviewer. He’s a youngish guy, wearing BluBlocker sunglasses… dressed in a patterned Hugh Hefner-style blazer…. and sporting a Zangief haircut.

When the Schmo asks his well-researched and reasonable questions, he bares his teeth. He twists his face out of shape. He makes claw-hand gestures.

It’s an example of gimmick positioning. In other words, a Mickey Mouse coat hanger to hang your product/service/hat off.

Stupid right? Why would anyone want to humiliate themselves by hiding behind a gimmick?

Well, how about a million dollars:

Copywriter Will Ward recently turned me on to the story of Blue Kirby. It’s some anonymous guy’s Twitter handle.

All summer long, Blue Kirby posted memes related to a crypto project, creating a ton of hype.

A few months later, Blue Kirby cashed in on the hype and disappeared. Along with about a million dollars’ worth of ethereum in his digital pocket.

Now it’s possible this could have been done by just some guy using his real name, say, Jesse McAverage.

But my gut feeling is the Blue Kirby gimmick was instrumental in the attention this guy got… and the million dollar bubble he was able to create.

In case I have your attention now, maybe you’re wondering how somebody — not you, of course — might go about creating a gimmick for himself.

Well… I shared a few ideas about this with my Bejakomaniacs. That’s the name I’ve just coined for subscribers to my email newsletter, following the example of Hulk Hogan. If you too would like to be in the rank of Bejakomaniacs, so you get all my positioning ideas, here’s where to go.

To freelance copywriters who can’t promote themselves

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Smartasses always say that if you’re a freelance copywriter worth a rusty nickel, you should be able to write and sell yourself.

Stupid, I think.

For one thing, it ignores the value of having an outside perspective. In fact, outside perspective is one of the main reasons to ever work with a freelancer, rather than do it in house. This holds for businesses. It holds for freelance copywriters too.

The above claim also ignores the facts of life. Such as the fact that the type of person who is likely to become a freelance copywriter is as afraid of self-promotion as a cat is afraid of water.

When you put those two together, you get the following:

You can be just great at marketing and copywriting overall… but terrible at applying that same knowledge to promoting yourself.

Case in point:

I read an email today from a marketer I follow and like very much. He has great content and a unique perspective and style.

But here’s the self-marketing mental block:

At the end of his email, he writes, “Can I ask for a tiny favor? Would you share this with one other person?”

From the side, it’s easy to point out problems with this.

It sounds needy. And why ask for a favor, when you can do a favor?

People refer stuff because they want to feel important, smart, and appreciated. So why not say something like,

“Do you know somebody who would benefit from reading what you just read? Why not be that cool friend, and forward them this email?”

As Claude Hopkins once wrote, “offer a privilege, not an inducement… appear as a benefactor, not as a salesman.”

Do you know anyone who might benefit from reading this? Then be a cool friend, and let them know about my email newsletter.

Hard-work positioning

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Three quick positioning stories for good night:

In 1960, Crest toothpaste had a 10% share of the market.

Not bad, but not great either. After all, Crest at that time was the only toothpaste with fluoride, which helped prevent cavities. But nobody cared, or nobody believed Procter & Gamble.

So P&G approached the American Dental Association. They showed the dentists a bunch of science. Crest was suddenly “the only toothpaste with the endorsement of the ADA.”
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​​Within two years, sales of Crest tripled. And Crest became the no. 1 toothpaste brand in The Land of The Fruit Stripe Gum.

Story two I won’t tell in detail. Because if you’ve been in marketing for a bit, you’ve probably heard how Tom Monaghan used smart positioning to create a billion-dollar brand out of a bad product.

The bad product was a low-quality pizza. The smart positioning was to say, “Delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free.” The brand was Domino’s.

Third and final story, also about pizza:

John Schnatter started out making pizza in an oversized closet. The pizza was good and John’s chain grew to 1000 locations across the country. But you ain’t seen nothing yet…

Because in a meeting with positioning guru Jack Trout, Schnatter mentioned offhandedly how he used Dino’s sauce.

“Dino’s sauce?” asked Trout. “But Dino only sells to mom-and-pop shops. He doesn’t sell to chains.”

Trout called up the Dino in question to confirm. It was true.

So Trout said, that’s your story. Papa John’s new positioning became, “Better ingredients, better pizza.” The company grew five-fold in the years following the positioning change.

There’s a common positioning strategy hidden in each of those stories. You probably see it. But in case you don’t, then you might like to get on my daily email newsletter. That’s where I share these kinds of stories — but I also spell out the hard-work lessons hidden within.

Cash buyers list

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In the real estate investing space, one common strategy is called wholesaling:

You find a property that looks vacant, with overgrown grass out front, and maybe with notices piling up on the front door.

You somehow track down the owner, who is often living out of state, and thinks this house is a nuisance. So you make him an offer to buy.

If he agrees, you get the property under contract. This means you have the right to buy it.

And then what?

Then you go to your “cash buyers list” — your list of other real estate investors.

You explain the deal you have. And you find an investor who is willing to buy this property from you for more money than what the contract says you have to pay. You then keep the difference.

Yesterday, I talked about going to other industries to find unique ideas that work well. And the first thing that popped into my mind is the cash buyers list.

That’s because I heard a very successful real estate investor talking about it recently. He said that most investors are short-sighted. They only treat their cash buyers list as just that, a list of people who have cash to buy a wholesale contract.

But a cash buyers list, this investor said, is so much more powerful. According to him, it’s actually the no. 1 asset in real estate investing.

Your cash buyers list can provide you with everything you need. More deals… learning and training opportunities… talent if you’re hiring… partnerships if you want ’em… solutions for when you’re in trouble. Whatever you need, tap into your cash buyers list, and results will follow.

So I got to thinking what a cash buyers list would look like outside the real estate space. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much creativity to map real estate investing to the online business world.

The online business world also has dilapidated, vacant properties… it has easy ways to fix those properties and flip them once they’re more valuable… and it also has a range of people who might want to get involved in this process at various stages.

Maybe that sounds abstract. Maybe this will be more concrete:

Over the past five and some years, I’ve learned a lot about copywriting and online marketing. But I’ve mostly used that knowledge to make other people money.

So I had a vision. It involved finding blogs or websites that have something to them — traffic, proof, content — but that are under-performing.

I imagined taking control of such online properties and using everything I’ve learned about direct marketing and copywriting to get them to perform. Then either sitting on that property and collecting rent… or selling it to somebody who wants it, for enough money, and moving on to the next thing.

This sounds great to me. But here’s the trouble:

Doing all this can take a lot of money, time, and work.

I am not interested in supplying all of that myself. That’s why I am starting my own “cash buyers list.”

So here’s my offer to you for tonight:

If you are interested in buying a profitable online business down the line…

Or if you are interested in putting down money ahead of time for a fix-and-flip blog or online store, so you can take a part of the profits it might one day generate…

Or if you have some unique skill — media buying, design, research, technology — and you want to shoulder some of the work of finding and sprucing up various online fixer-uppers…

Then I’d like to talk to you. I mean for real, on the phone or on Skype or Zoom. I want to find out what you’re looking for, and how I can help you get there. Write me an email and we can go from there.

I’ve forgotten dozens of unique and phenomenally effective ideas

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“All great advancements in businesses come from outside the box, not inside the box. I get to do it. What I get to do as a consultant, I get to go over and work with industry A. And because everybody’s myopic, while I’m over there I notice something that’s phenomenally effective. Hardly anybody else outside their business is doing it but could be doing it. I borrow it from industry A and I take it over and I teach it to industry B. And while I’m over there, I notice something they’re doing that hardly anybody else is doing but could be doing. So I borrow it from industry B and I take it back and I teach it to industry A. It’s a disreputable way to make a living, but I’m a high school graduate.”
– Dan Kennedy

A couple weeks ago, I wrote how copywriting has given me a great business education. It’s allowed me to look behind the curtain at dozens of successful enterprises.

Unfortunately, unlike Dan Kennedy, I am much more than a high school graduate. In the 25 years I spent in the school system, I became an expert in passing tests. It never occurred to me to think of how I could apply what I was learning to real life.

This short-sighted behavior has followed me around like a hungry dog. Example:

Since I started writing copy for money, I’ve worked in dozens of different industries. Like I said, it’s been a great education. But I never did anything with the phenomenally effective things that were unique in each industry. I never even wrote them down. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of them.

So I’m telling you now, to keep you from wasting opportunities like I did:

Start a list right now. When you come across a good idea in a specific industry, put it on your list. And think about how you could use it in other places.

I started such a list just a few days ago.

​​I kicked my list off with a few profitable things I’ve seen in ecommerce and real estate, two industries I’ve been writing a lot for. And — better never than late – I’ve already got a good business idea out of it. If you like, I will tell you all about it in my post tomorrow.

Or you can get that same post, ahead of time, if you are subscribed to my email newsletter. Here’s the optin page.

Blackjack positioning

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Al Ries and Jack Trout invented the term positioning. They then wrote a book with that title. In it, they say positioning is a hook in your prospect’s brain from which you can hang your product.

Fine. That’s once you’ve got an established position.

But how do you get that hook in your prospect’s brain? Throwing a clothes hanger at somebody’s head will only make it bounce off.

What you need instead is a spear. Something with a very small, very sharp point, which can pierce your prospect’s thick defenses (his skull) and lodge in the soft gray matter inside.

When people talk about positioning, they often talk about taking control of a part of the market. “We want to be the Apple of dog nail clippers.” Meaning, we only want a sliver of that market that’s willing to spend like crazy.

That’s one way to do positioning.

This is the flip side. Instead of thinking about cutting down your market… think about cutting down your product and its functionality.

Once upon a time, Perry Marshall was an experienced and successful online marketer. But that’s a floppy, blunt object, incapable of piercing any skull.

So Perry dropped all his copywriting knowledge… funnel building knowledge… positioning knowledge… and became “The AdWords Guy.” At least to people who had never heard of him before. His business exploded, way beyond his previous success.

Because it can be easier to sell a fragment of the thing rather than the whole. At the same price. Or even for more.

Many people rebel at this. No wonder. Our minds work additively. If you have A plus B plus C, then that’s at least as much as A alone, right?

Not in positioning.

Positioning math is more like blackjack. You know how the game goes. You keep getting cards, trying to get as close as possible to 21. But if you ever go over, you’re BUST. You lose.

Same thing with positioning. Keep adding ideas to your position, and you’re BUST. You lose. And you don’t need to go over 21 ideas either.

So swallow your pride — or fight your client’s pride. The dealer will offer to deal you more cards. Wave him off. One, sharp, deadly idea. No more.

And now a confession:

I used to have a daily email newsletter on copywriting, marketing, and persuasion. No more. From now on, it’s a newsletter on positioning. For today only. Click here to subscribe.