During the past week, I was agonizing over a career decision.
Specifically, I was considering whether to apply for a job at Stansberry Research.
If you know direct marketing, you might have heard of Stansberry. They ran the “End of America” campaign a few years back. This was one of the most successful direct marketing campaigns of all time, responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
The point being, Stansberry Research is an elite place for copywriters.
So when I saw that they are hiring, I got a pain in my side and a bug in my head.
Should I apply?
On the one hand, I don’t want a proper job.
On the other, this would be an opportunity to perfect my copywriting skills at the very highest level.
So what to do?
In the end, I didn’t apply — because it turned out I am not qualified. They are only hiring experienced financial copywriters, and I’ve written very little in the financial sphere.
But that’s really not the biggest issue. Because, had I wanted to, I could have written samples of financial copy, specifically as a way to angle for this job.
What got me instead was an interview I saw with top copywriter and marketer Justin Goff. Justin doesn’t do financial copy, but from what I can tell, he sells to a similar audience that Stansberry Research sells to.
And that’s where the problem lies.
Because in this interview, Justin was going over the psychological triggers that motivate this audience.
Things like anger… resentment… fear… suspicion… closed-mindedness… a sense of moral superiority…
In short, these are not people I would want to spend my time around in real life.
And in the same way, I would not want to spend my whole day, every day, researching and writing to this audience. I’m afraid their bad karma would rub off on me.
Maybe it’s crazy.
Or maybe it’s just my brain coming up with excuses, because I like the freelancing life and I don’t really want an office job ever again.
Whatever the reason, the conclusion is I won’t be applying to Stansberry Research now or in the foreseeable future.
And I will continue to focus on the health space. Speaking of which, if you want my insights about email marketing in the health space (including lessons from an email campaign for an 8-figure supplement company that tripled sales for a specific funnel), you might like my upcoming book:
Influence, Insight, And Income Via Writing