I once read a book called The Man Who Sold America and in it I came across the term “scheme man.”
Once upon a time, a scheme man was a legitimate and even highly coveted and paid profession.
Scheme men were basically marketing consultants who could devise new selling “schemes” — ideas, concepts, breakthroughs. As master direct marketer Robert Collier put it, “It’s not the copy so much as the scheme back of it.”
Claude Hopkins, often thought to be the first A-list copywriter, was the premier scheme man (he was the one discussed in that book I read).
Hopkins didn’t really use clever copywriting to turn his clients and himself into billionaires (in today’s money).
Instead, he did it by devising new selling schemes.
As an example, Hopkins’s first big marketing job was to sell “carpet sweepers.” His innovative scheme was to start offering these carpet sweepers in a dozen different fancy wood casings, rather than the single drab choice available previously.
Stupid, right? Who cares about the casing?
This was a completely impractical and unnecessary new development. And yet, it resulted in 250,000 carpet sweepers being sold in 3 weeks.
After that, some of Hopkins’s schemes involved the “world’s biggest cake” (100,000 people came to see it)… the “paid free sample” scheme for Liquozone (which took the company from bankruptcy to making $60 million in profit the next year)… and the “engraved with your name” pen that doubled response when added as a bonus to an ordinary offer.
Point being:
Become a skilled Scheme Man, then or now, and your future is settled.
If you can devise new ways for a company to sell what they’ve already got, your services will ALWAYS be in demand, and you will get paid BIG MONEY IN BIG CHUNKS. Plus, the work can be exciting and challenging and even fun.
Except how? How do you become a skilled Scheme Man, today, in 2026?
For that I’d like to point you to Mike Samuels, and his 6-week ABP cohort.
Mike’s cohort is currently open for signups. The signup window closes tomorrow. After that, you won’t be able to get in, and also the bonuses disappear, and if this program is ever opened again, the price will go up.
Like I said, Mike’s cohort program is called ABP, which stands for Action Based Psychology. I don’t think that name does justice to what Mike is offering here.
What Mike is offering is a full-on certification program for Scheme Men, though he calls them “ABP Consultants.”
Mike’s program first gets you trained on the relevant underlying psychology and translates that into specific marketing techniques, so you can own these ideas yourself and turn them into new selling schemes for specific businesses.
Mike then gives you “audits” so you don’t have to count on remembering all these ideas and schemes, but can simply refer to the audits when the time comes.
And then finally, there’s a client-getting section so you can actually turn your new Scheming skills into profits for clients and income for yourself.
Like I said, the signup for this cohort closes tomorrow. If you’re interested in the full details before this opportunity goes away: