Personal Change

The secret spider web of money and love opportunities

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This morning, I woke up, stood up, blinked, stumbled to the living room, and reached, addict-like, for my laptop. I checked my email. The first email started with,

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Hi John!

Thanks for all your patience.

Now, let’s get you paid.

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That’s for some work I did at the end of last year. The money is finally arriving. Today of all days.

I say today of all days because today and the past few days, since the start of this month, strange things have been happening.

I made more no-deadline sales of my Most Valuable Email and Copy Riddles programs than I had since I created these offers.

I’ve had a surprising number of people replying to my emails with interesting comments.

I’ve had a new surge of email subscribers.

I’ve also spent more money on new courses and trainings than I had in the past two years’ total.

And all this has been happening while I’ve been keeping most of my attention on another project I have been working on, which I believe has the potential to be much bigger than this Bejakovic newsletter, and which I am looking at as real business, unlike this Bejakovic newsletter, which was and remains primarily a daily way to feed my curiosity and need for novelty and some kind of creative work.

You might wonder why I’m telling you this, or why you might possibly care.

A while ago, I wrote how I believe there’s a secret spider web. This spider web connects copywriting clients. There’s another spider web for money-making opportunities. There’s even one for women in your life, if women are what interests you.

And here’s what I’ve found, over and over in my life:

Once you start jumping up and down on one corner of that web, no matter how remote, it gets the attention of the other spiders, I mean clients, I mean women, or business partners, or customers, or people who owe you money. And if you keep jumping up and down, they will seek you out. Sooner or later.

It’s true the other way around also.

If things are not going as you like in your life, if nobody is seeking you out, if no pleasant coincidences are happening to you regularly, there’s a good chance that the spider web has grown silent and still.

You might think I’m just telling you to take action. In different ways. And to keep taking action, even if the action seems futile.

And yes, action is how you jump up and down the spider web, and how you set it vibrating.

But if you ask me, there’s value in having a story to tell yourself, or an image to keep in your head, or an analogy that you can believe in.

For me, I’ve found the image of jumping up and down spider web works much better than the rough command, “keep taking action.”

Maybe this image will work better for you as well.

And who knows. Maybe there really is a secret spider web, and maybe you really can make it vibrate.

And now, it’s time for me to do some jumping myself.

So if you’d like to spend some money as a way of getting your spider web vibrating, then take a look at my Copy Riddles program.

I’ve put a lot of work into this program, and I’m proud of what I’ve been able to create.

At the most basic level, Copy Riddles is about writing sexy sales bullets. But beyond that, Copy Riddles is really about the fundamentals of sales copywriting. But beyond that, Copy Riddles is really about the essence of effective communication, whether in a sales context or not.

Maybe those are grandiose claims. So let me bring it down to earth, and share what copywriter Liza Schermann wrote me after going through Copy Riddles:

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The entire course is an a-ha moment. Because you see these things from other copywriters or you read other copy, but you don’t see what’s behind it or why it’s working. Your course shows what happens behind the scenes. Why is this working… and why is this working in this specific case… and why it wouldn’t maybe work in another case.

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If you’d like to find out more or buy Copy Riddles:

https://bejakovic.com/cr/

I proactively unsubscribe my second reader ever

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Ten days ago, after I sent out an email where I compared the British royal family to marketers building a list, I got this punctuation-free reply:

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Can you send something on writing advertorials

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Last night, after I sent out an email about personal positioning with a story featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King, I got a reply from the same guy:

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Hello can you do more advertorials more on

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Now here are a couple of intimate facts about me that you may or may not care to know:

1. I like hearing from my readers.

​​My cold heart always warms up a few degrees above absolute zero whenever I see a reader reply sitting in my inbox.

2. At the same time, I’m easily influenced — that’s why I study influence.

So when I get a nagging, ungrammatical, 7-word reader reply that seems to shout over top of me by completely ignoring the content of the email that I sent out — that annoys me.

​​Not only that, but it stays in my head for a good while interfering with other work.

I recently started a journal on the topic of fast writing.

Fast writing for me doesn’t mean typing more words per minute.

It doesn’t even mean writing my daily email in 15 minutes instead of 55 minutes.

Instead, fast writing for me is all about ways to change how I work so as to get more done at the end of the month, while keeping the same adequate level of quality, and while spending less time at the damned computer than I do now.

The first idea in my fast writing journal is to eliminate distractions.

So I unsubscribed the guy above from my list.

​​He was a distraction. And I don’t need a third email from him in another two weeks, saying, “Hey can you advertorials more more”

John Cleese of Monty Python fame has this tiny book on creativity. In it, Cleese, who I would consider a very creative person — not only Monty Python, but A Fish Called Wanda, Fawlty Towers — says the number one enemy of creativity is distractions.

Writing, even sales copy, even a daily email, takes a certain amount of creativity.

If writing is what you do, then help yourself out and make a habit of eliminating distractions that interfere with your work.

And if you happen to write a daily email, and if you happen to also be an easily influenced person, then you might like what I’ve figured out with my Most Valuable Email.

​​It’s a way to influence and feel good in the process. You can find out more about that here:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

The mystery of taking a 4-foot dive

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The summer before last, I met up with some friends on the Croatian island of Krk, in the town of Baska, where I spent much of my childhood.

One day, with one of those friends — a jolly, bear-like guy — I went to a little beach at the edge of town.

The beach is a rocky lagoon with a small stone pier at one end. If you stand on the pier, you are four feet above the water. Some parts of the sea around the pier are shallow, but other parts are deep, 10-12 feet.

I grew up coming to this beach and so I immediately went up to the pier and dived into the water where it’s safe.

My friend stood on the pier, looking at me, ready to jump in as well.

Then he looked down at the water. “Is it deep enough to jump in here?” he yelled to me.

“Yep, you’re fine.”

My friend took a few steps back on the pier to get a running start. He started, neared the edge of the pier, and stopped.

He smiled at me and shrugged his shoulders.

“Come on,” I yelled at him, “jump in!”

He tried again. Same thing — he ran to the edge, stopped, and peered down at the water below.

I got out of the water, jumped in several more times.

​​My friend stood there, nearing the edge, peering over, getting ready to jump in. Each time, he stopped short. Then the entire process would begin again.

I got dry in the meantime. I sat in the sunshine making fun of my friend. I gave him encouragement and coaching and advice.

Nope.

People on the little rocky beach started noticing. At first, they were sneaking a peek out of the corners of their eyes. Then they started watching the spectacle full-on and pointing out the miserable non-jumper to their friends and family.

Will he do it? won’t he?

I’m telling you this because yesterday, I got a question from a member of my Copy Riddles program, who is taking advantage of the Copy Oracle privilege. He wrote:

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Your best advice for positioning or justifying starting a list when in the beginning you’re not a bonafide xpert yet on a particular subject without being a Bullshit Artist, Pretender or just a F.. Liar would be what?

The connection to bullets is I have studied Copywriting and Marketing for years because of the Sales Value they have. But have finally seen the light as to how powerful written direct response is and the leverage it offers or can offer when done correctly.

But its obvious it takes a list to take full advantage.

Mentally Positioning it to yourself as to why the hell should anyone get on the list in the beginning is a Bitch. ( at least to me it is )

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The justification for starting your own list are the same as with any other valuable project. You do it because the long-term benefit is great, and there’s no way to get there without taking the first step.

But that’s like saying the justification for taking a 4-foot dive into the sea is that it’s fun and refreshing.

​​That’s obvious.

​​But still my friend stood there, approaching the edge of the pier a hundred times, each time stopping himself right at the edge.

Eventually, after half an hour, in spite of a hundred short stops, it happened.

My friend went over to the edge of the pier. He looked down at the water. He reassured himself that the water was deep enough.

He took a few steps back, got a running start. He ran to the edge, leaped into the empty air, and splashed down into the water.

He emerged a second later, perfectly fine and even triumphant.

A huge wave of relief passed over the audience on the beach. Well-meaning families of Czechs and Hungarians had become exhausted by my friend’s indecisiveness. Now they could finally relax. A few of them even clapped.

What made my friend jump in? What makes anybody jump in?

​​It’s a truly mysterious question.

Some people can do it right away. Some people never do it. Some approach the edge a hundred times, and then, in spite of all the previous hesitation and inhibition, they finally leap in.

What makes the difference? And how can you achieve that difference, if you have been hesitating a hundred times?

I have no idea. And nobody else does either. I believe that if anybody truly had a method to force that to happen, he could set himself up as the founder of a new religion that would sweep the world and win billions of converts in five years.

But such a messiah has not yet appeared. And so we’re left with indecision and agonizing and will-he-won’t-he, even when the benefits are clear.

Now let me stop philosophizing and point you to my Most Valuable Email course. It’s meant for people who write about topics like I write about — marketing and influence and writing.

If you’ve already started a list, then my MVE course can help you entertain and engage your readers, while making you a better marketer and writer in the process.

On the other hand, if you do not yet have a list, then it’s a mystery.

Maybe the story I told you above was inspiring. And so you get a running start and you near the edge of the pier and… nothing. Yet again.

Or maybe today will be different for some reason. And you will actually start your list, and you will start writing to it regularly.

If today truly is different, then I suggest getting my Most Valuable Email course, because it can help you get authority and credibility even if you’re entirely new.

Either way:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

Tipping outrage and my despicable suggestion

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A few nights ago, I went out for sushi with a friend. At the end of the night, the bill came. We each took out a credit card and split the bill halfway, 40 euro per person.

My friend then took out two one-euro coins and put that down on the table as a tip. ​​Out of solidarity, I reached for my pocket to see if I had any change, but my friend said, “No, no, it’s fine.”

I live in Spain, and the tipping culture here is that tipping is not required or expected. If you do leave anything, it really is “just the tip” and not half the snaking bill.

Compare that to the U.S.

​​I read an article in the AP last week. It said people in the U.S. are increasingly unhappy about tipping.

15% used to be standard once upon a time. Then it inched up to 18%. In most places, 20% is now standard.

Lots of automated registers now prompt you for tips. Plus tipping is spreading in situations where tips weren’t expected before, such as carryout and fast-food counters. If you want to clearly signal you were actually impressed with the food or the service, you will have to leave a 30% tip or more.

Lots of consumers feel this is getting out of control, a kind of highway brigandage at the coffee shop and the rotating sushi place.

On the other hand, you have people in the service industry, the baristas and the waitresses and the cooks, rightly pointing out that tips are how they live. It’s about paying people “what they’re owed,” said one service-industry veteran.

That AP article is worth digging up and reading, because it’s shows a war of different psychological principles — loss aversion, reactance, liking, reciprocity.

But that’s not my point for today. My point is simply that at the end of the AP article, there’s a quote from a consumer who’s complaining.

It’s the company’s job to pay, he says.

That’s foolish. Just the opposite. It’s the company’s job not to pay.

Some companies even advertise good tips in their job listings. “Somebody else will pay you well for doing this job,” they are saying, “but it ain’t gonna be us.”

This might make you feel frustrated as a consumer, or outraged if you work at a tippable job.

And maybe you’re right, whichever side you’re on. But here’s where I will make a suggestion you might find despicable:

Take that frustration and outrage, and instead of stewing there with your arms crossed, channel it into something valuable for you.

​​Get yourself into a similar position to those despicable companies, of not having to pay anything yourself, but passing on your expenses to others.

You might wonder what I’m on about. So let me tell you.

Marketer Dan Kennedy has a story of getting his million-dollar-plus divorce settlement. Dan says:

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I’ve never taken a pay cut. Somebody whacks me with a new tax, somebody else is gonna pay it. I’m not.

Exact same attitude about my divorce settlement. It’s why it didn’t really bother me. I said, I don’t know exactly who’s gonna pay this, but it ain’t gonna be me.

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Dan wasn’t bothered by his divorce settlement because he’s in a position of “income at will.”

In other words, when Dan got the ugly news of the millions of dollars he was suddenly supposed to pay to his ex-wife, he started thinking about creating a bunch of new offers — high-priced seminars, diamond-level coaching, marriage counseling services.

​​And then he advertised those new offers to his list, or as he likes to call it, his herd.

The herd ended up paying for the divorce, not Dan.

So start thinking about how to get yourself into a similar situation.

Because really, the only way to fully protect yourself against inflation… and out-of-control tips… and new tax bills… and ugly divorce settlements… is to put yourself into a position where you don’t have to be the one to pay any of that.

And if you want some free advice on how to do that, you might want to get on my email list. Click here to sign up.

Famous showman advises you to stop bla— well, let me stop myself there

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Back in the 19th century, famous ringmaster P.T. Barnum made good money going around the country and giving a talk titled, The Art of Money-Getting.

Barnum knew a thing or two about money-getting.

​​He built up a large fortune, worth several hundred million dollars today, starting from nothing, using nothing except his own wits. And he did it a few times over, including after being forced into bankruptcy by cheating business partners and disastrous Acts of God.

Anyways, here’s a bit from Barnum’s Art of Money-Getting:

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Don’t blab. Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost. Say nothing about your profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions.

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Not long ago, I asked readers of this newsletter which of my emails came to mind first.

I got lots of responses, and also some surprising extra information.

Many people used the word “transparent.” They said they liked my emails because of how transparent I am.

​​I guess they meant transparent about my business, because I don’t make any effort to be transparent about my personal stuff. Rather, I sometimes make an effort to be opaque about that.

So maybe Barnum speaking to me. Stop being so transparent, Bejako.

Or maybe he was speaking to you.

Don’t blab, dear reader. And if you do decide to share your money-getting business secrets, make sure something fine is gained by it, and not just a back-slap from your neighbors.

At this point in my email newsletter, I had a special offer for my readers. That’s not an offer I ever make on this website, in the archived version of my email — because I don’t like to blab about it publicly. In case you would like to get on my email newsletter, to get the full story I am writing each day, you can click here and sign up.

Jerry Seinfeld’s serious joke about the news

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Today I watched a clip of Jerry Seinfeld on the Johnny Carson Show. Jerry smiles his precocious-boy smile and says:

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To me the most amazing thing about the news is that whatever goes on in the world, it exactly fits the number of pages that they’re using in the paper that day. [Johnny Carson chuckles off screen. Jerry continues:]

They must stand around after each edition going, “I don’t believe we just made it again! If one more thing happens, we’re screwed. There’s no more room in this paper!”

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This is a joke if you hear Jerry Seinfeld tell it, or imagine him with his mannerisms, or if you include that exaggeration at the end.

It’s not a joke if you just read the first sentence of that quote. It really is amazing that the day’s news always just fit the newspaper.

Of course, who reads newspapers any more — but the underlying point still stands:

The news was and is just a constant drip of telling you what to think, how to feel, how to react.

The news is not what’s worth knowing. At least that’s the way I look at it.

If you’re still reading, you might wonder what I think is worth knowing. I call it anti-news.

I’ve written before of my policy of not reading books that were published in just the last year.

I’ve been informed this has a clever name, “the Lindy effect,” after some long-surviving deli in New York.

The idea is, if something is worthwhile, it will still be worthwhile in a year from now. More generally, the longer something has been around, the more likely it is to keep being around.

This simple but powerful idea impacts everything I do, from the books I read to the emails I write to the offers I create. And since it’s time to start promoting:

It also lies behind my Copy Riddles program.

Copy Riddles is built on examples of winning copywriting that have been around for three, four, five, six decades or more.

But I’d take it still further back:

I believe Copy Riddles is really about the principles of effective communication, going back thousands of years. That might sound high-heeled, but it’s really what direct response marketing is — a merciless distillation that purifies and concentrates the evergreen principles of effective communication.

These principles were relevant yesterday, last year, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago.

And if you are looking to influence or manipulate people, these principles are your best bet for what will continue to be relevant tomorrow.

As marketing consultant Khaled Maziad wrote me to say after going through Copy Riddles:

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Man, this’s the best course on bullets I have ever seen. And believe me, I have seen a lot. I loved that you didn’t include bullet templates but went deep into the psychology behind each bullet. This course is not just about the “how-to” of writing bullets but understanding the artistry and the deep psychology behind them… Plus, when and where to use them.

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As you might know already:

This is the last week I am giving away two free bonuses with Copy Riddles. The first bonus is Storytelling For Sales. The second bonus is Copywriting Portfolio Secrets.

Don’t buy Copy Riddles just for the free bonuses.

But if you decide you want to get Copy Riddles, you have until tomorrow, Saturday Jan 21, at 12 midnight PST to get Storytelling for Sales and Copywriting Portfolio Secrets as free bonuses.

After then, Copy Riddles will remain available, but the free bonuses will disappear.

To get the whole package:

https://bejakovic.com/cr/

Who today remembers Ragged Dick?

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I was very grateful to find out the following fact just now:

Today being January 13, it is the birthday of Horatio Alger, one of the most popular and influential American writers of all time.

Starting with Ragged Dick in 1868, Alger published almost a hundred novels. They were all exactly the same — but readers didn’t mind.

Each of Alger’s novels starred a poor and luckless boy, who managed to stay afloat through honesty, hard work, and perseverance.

Eventually, following a noble act, the boy would be brought to the attention of a wealthy patron. The patron gave the boy his lucky break, setting him on the path to success and security.

It was good story for 19th-century America. That’s why it could be told over and over again.

Today, of course, nobody remembers Ragged Dick. Nobody reads Horatio Alger any more.

It takes somebody like me, an email columnist a little desperate for a daily email topic, to even bring up the fact that today is Alger’s birthday, and to tell you something interesting about the man. Such as the following haiku:

Rags-to-riches theme,
Urban tales of working class,
Alger’s legacy.

In case you are wondering what I’m getting at, I’ll admit that Alger’s story makes me think of the mysterious question of fame, and who gets it and who gets to keep it for more than a few years.

Alger sold some 20 million copies of his books in his time. But just a few years after his death, surveys showed that few kids had ever heard of him.

But — and maybe I am naive, and maybe I have bought into the Horatio Alger myth too much — I feel that today is a moment of opportunity as good as 19th-century America. Maybe better. And Alger’s stories, outdated as they are, remain emotionally relevant.

Ragged Dick was a bootblack.

If Dick lived today, I imagine he would join the creator economy, and maybe start a free email newsletter. Through honesty, hard work, and perseverance, he would toil away on his newsletter until he got his lucky break, which would set him on the path to success and security.

Maybe you don’t buy into my Ragged Dick daydream. And maybe this entire email isn’t relevant to you.

But if by chance you are starting a free email newsletter, or in case you’ve already got one, then you might want to know about my Most Valuable Email.

For more info on that:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

Free quiz: See if you should give up on that dream

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A while back, I came across an insightful analogy by a guy named Jeremy Enns. I don’t know Enns from Adam’s off ox, but the man seems to run a successful marketing agency.

Anyways, Enns had this to say (I’ve cherrypicked the most insightful bits):

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Podcasting Is Like Investing

I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside and talk with dozens of podcasters about how their shows have grown and when the effort finally started to feel like it was worth it.

The most common response is that it took at least two years before the investment really started to pay dividends.

I like to say that you can podcast for a year and it will feel like a massive waste of time. Podcast for three years and it can completely change your life.

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This ties into a little quiz I devised last year, while writing my never-released Copy Zone project, about the business side of copywriting.

The quiz is a way to decide if any dream project is worth embarking on.

The quiz is simply this. Ask yourself:

“Would I be ok working on this for the next five years?”

If your answer is, “No way!” or “Really, I want to do this for a year or max two and get out,” then quit now.

And when you do quit, send me a thank-you note for saving you months or maybe years of your life, dabbling on the sidelines, and possibly wasting thousands of dollars on books and courses and seminars. Because the fact is, this project, dreamy though it sounds, is just not for you.

And if by chance your dream project involves an email newsletter, take my little quiz above.

If you find yourself thinking, “I’m willing to write this newsletter for the next year so I can then move on to something else,” then you know what to do. Don’t even get started.

But if your answer is a grudging but honest yes — yes, you’d be willing to work on this for the next five years — then I can tell you that:

1. After one year of writing the newsletter you’re reading right now, I had nothing to show for it — at least nothing in the way of money or recognition or red panties being thrown my way

2. After two years, this newsletter started to pay dividends

3. After three years, and and now moving on to four and more, it has completely changed my life

If you are willing to stick with it for the long term, then it makes sense to start. Even today.

Now for my pitch:

If you want to discover the one type of email I would write every day if I had to — the one I would choose above stories, or personal reveals, or how-to, or pop culture illustrations, or shock and controversy — then you can find that in a little course I’ve called Most Valuable Email.

For more info:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

Daniel Throssell is right

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“Whether liketh you better, said Merlin, the sword or the scabbard? Me liketh better the sword, said Arthur. Ye are more unwise, said Merlin, for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword, for while ye have the scabbard upon you ye shall never lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded, therefore keep well the scabbard always with you.”

Australia’s best copywriter, Daniel Throssell, wrote an email two days ago in response to my own email from New Year’s Day.

Daniel’s subject line read, “John Bejakovic is wrong.”

In his email, Daniel started off by saying he and I are on good terms and that he has helped me before. And he’s absolutely right.

In 2021, I had been stubbornly writing this newsletter in silence for three years. With one email to his own list, Daniel changed that. In the three days after he first promoted me, I tripled my list size, and made a bunch of money as a result.

Daniel has also promoted me since, and every time, I’ve gotten a big boost in new subscribers. I’ve written before to say how grateful I am for that, and how impressed with the influence that Daniel has over his readers.

But back to Daniel’s email from two days ago. After that “we’re good” intro, Daniel went on to the heart of it:

A five-point argument that paid newsletters are a desirable or even superior info product. That’s opposed to what I wrote in New Year’s Day email, where I said that nobody really wants a newsletter, not without lots of bribes, indoctrination, or shaming.

If you haven’t done so yet, I’ll leave you to read Daniel’s email and see if you are convinced by his arguments. I’ve heard from readers on both sides.

Some said Daniel is a magician with words and that he turned it around brilliantly. Others said they found Daniel’s arguments unpersuasive.

As for me, I will only say that, even after reading Daniel’s email, I am still not selling a paid newsletter, or planning to do so.

But Daniel is selling a paid newsletter. In fact, he wrote recently that adding this paid newsletter to his business is one of the best things he’s ever done.

And that’s why he’s absolutely right to publicly fight for his position, to make a black-and-white case of it, and even turn it into an issue of what’s noble or not.

If you want to be seen as a leader, or if you have a kingdom to protect, then Daniel’s example is well-worth studying and following.

Like King Arthur, you have to mount your horse, brandish your sword Excalibur, and lead the charge against any flying serpent that crosses your borders and into your marches, before the ugly beast has a chance to threaten your heartland.

If I were in Daniel’s position, I would have to do the same. But fortunately for me, that’s not the position I am in.

Like I’ve said before, I don’t look at what I’m doing here primarily as a business. Yes, these emails have been making me money, and sometimes good money. But this is not only project I’m working on, and it’s not the main way I’m looking to make money.

That non-dependence is like the scabbard of Excalibur for me. It means I don’t lose no blood, no matter the wounding things anybody may write about me, about the content of my emails, or about the offers I promote.

And if you value your freedom more than ten kingdoms, then this kind of non-dependence is something to keep always with you.

Moving on. I have tribute to collect from various places around the world. Meanwhile, if you would like to read more essays I’ve written, then sign up to my daily email newsletter. Click ye here and fill out the form that magically appears like Merlin out of a cloud of smoke.

I made a lot of mistakes in my copywriting career, for example:

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1. In my early days, I worked with OH, who loved meetings, pushing me around like his secretary, and telling me how it’s going to be, to the point where I had trouble falling asleep because I was so insulted and angry

2. In my late days, I worked with SA on a commission-only job, which involved a ton of preparation, the frustration of writing daily emails in his voice, and which paid me nothing, in spite of promises of a huge profit share from his million-name-plus email list

3. I wrote cold emails for any business that would pay me, until I figured out no amount of copywriting hacks will compensate for the fact that a generic offer targeted at uninterested leads will not sell

4. I wrote a weak lead for RealDose’s probiotics sales letter, they rightly dragged their feet on it, and it never ran

5. I started a daily email newsletter twice before, and I stopped and deleted all the archives twice before finally starting writing daily emails for good, which you are reading now

6. I spent the first six months of my professional copywriting career thinking I had learned all there is to learn about copywriting, since I had read Joe Sugarman’s Adweek book and Gary Halbert’s Boron Letters. During that time, I didn’t crack open a single copywriting book or listen to a single training, and I made a bunch of screaming mistakes as a result

7. I didn’t formally collect endorsements, testimonials, or client success case studies

8. I worked with WT, who thought the answer to every copywriting and marketing problem is to apply the AIDA formula, and who exploded in anger when I suggested otherwise, and who translated my innocent comment about not having to fit everything into AIDA into an attack on the value of his MBA education (no joke)

9. I wrote a seventh and final batch of emails for a real estate investing fund out of Chicago. They had paid me for all the previous emails, and on time. They never paid me for this final batch. To date, they are the only client who has ever shafted me for anything

10. I did not take a moment every three months to ask myself, “What have I learned to do pretty well over the past three months?” and then package up that new expertise into a presentation or a mini-course or a little report I could sell, both to make a bit of money, and to build up a lot of status

There are many more mistakes I made. No matter. I learned, quickly or eventually.

I stopped working with clients who didn’t suit me. I became obsessive about studying and improving my skills. In time, I even started thinking about how I present myself, and now just what I can do.

All of which is to say, I don’t really regret making any of the mistakes above, or any of the countless other mistakes I made in my freelance copywriting career.

Except one.

There’s one mistake I regret it because I persisted in it for so long.

I regret it because it cost me so much, both in terms of the kinds of work I missed out on, and the piles of money that blew off in the wind.

And really, I regret it because it would have been so easy to fix, had I only kept one thing in mind.

That one thing is the topic of my Most Valuable Postcard #1, which is available for purchase right now.

But I am only making this offer to people who are currently signed up to my email newsletter. To get on my newsletter, so you can take advantage of this offer, click here and fill out the form that appears.