There’s a tense scene early on in the James Bond film Casino Royale.
Jimmy, dressed in khakis and a black button-down shirt, sits down at a high-stakes poker game.
He keeps winning. By the end of the night, he even wins himself the keys to the bad guy’s Aston Martin, and indirectly, to the bad guy’s sexy wife.
Exciting stuff.
And set in a beautiful location, on an unnamed tropical island.
The real-life location of this scene is a private island in the Bahamas, currently worth about $2 billion. The island features exclusive casinos and some of the world’s most expensive hotels (including the The Atlantis, which offers a room for $25,000 a night).
Merv Griffin owned the island at one point, and reality-TV star Donald Trump was a major investor. All of which begs the question:
What’s the name of this magical place?
Why, I’m surprised you don’t know it. It’s none other than…
Hog Island.
Ok, it’s officially Paradise Island now, since around 1959.
But it certainly was Hog Island originally, until big tourist development started up, and the then-owner decided it was time for a rebranding.
Come to Hog Island — your wife is already here
The point being that names matter.
It’s hard to imagine James Bond paying a trip to Hog Island, even if it were packed with dangerous women and beautiful cars. It’s equally unlikely that even with the fanciest hotels and most romantic beaches, Hog Island would ever seem like an acceptable destination for a honeymoon.
But here’s something else to notice:
“Paradise Island” isn’t a terribly creative name. Yes, it’s good enough to sell an island in the Bahamas. But it wouldn’t do much to promote a rocky, rainy, wind-swept isle off the coast of Scotland.
All of which, I think, has some practical applications.
For example, if you are starting out as a freelancer on Upwork, you may be tempted to spend a lot of time on your profile page. Which title should you give yourself? What should you say in the description?
Sure, those things matter, just like the name “Paradise Island” matters. But they are only one part of the total picture of Upwork success and they won’t win you jobs by themselves.
So what to do?
I’ve got lots of advice on the “positioning” part of getting on Upwork. But I can also tell you about the entire process of becoming a $150/hr freelance copywriter. In fact, I’m putting together an entire book on the topic right now.
It will be out in another couple of weeks. And then I will put it up on Amazon.
If you want to sign up to get notified when it’s out, mix yourself up a Vesper martini, unholster your Beretta, and take aim at the deadly link below: