AWAI

Cats and rats and Dan Kennedy

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The siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days. During that time, the city was ruined, the people were desperate, and hunger was rampant. As a result, the cat population suffered.

By 1943, when the siege was finally lifted, the people of Leningrad had eaten all their cats.

This turned out to be a short-sighted decision. Because without the cats, the rats multiplied. The rats attacked the few remaining stores of grain and spread disease throughout the city.

The people of Leningrad hunted the rats, shot at them, even squashed them with tanks. Nothing helped.

That’s why, when the siege was lifted, four wagonfuls of cats were the first to enter the city.

At that time, a kitten in Leningrad was worth 400 rubles, the equivalent of 10 precious kilos of bread. But it was worth it. Because the meowing division, as it was called, soon took care of the rat problem.

​​Grateful citizens of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, raised statues in memory of the heroic cats.

I mostly wanted to share this story with you. I thought it was both horrifying and funny. But since this newsletter is about copywriting, let me also try to connect it to something useful.

One of the best copywriting resources I own is the Business of Copywriting Academy that Dan Kennedy did with AWAI. It’s not about how to write copy. Like the name says, it’s about the business of being a copywriter.

And in there, Dan says that if you want to get rich as a copywriter… if you want to have lots of work and clients who celebrate you as a rainmaker… then you should get adept at finding certain wins.

That’s usually not the projects the client will come to you with.

The client will usually come to you and say, “We think we have a rat somewhere in the building. We’ve had four other cats come through and search for the rat. They failed. We’d like you to try next.”

No no no, says Dan. You want to work on things that are a certain win, or as close to it as possible.

The client won’t tell you what those are. He can’t see them himself.

But if you keep your ears up and your whiskers out, you will start to spot situations where you will succeed, almost regardless of what you do. Situations that are the copywriting equivalent of being a cat in post-siege Leningrad. Where bare competence is enough to deliver heroic results.

And if you make a habit of hunting down such opportunities, you can soon start to charge all the rubles you want… in spite of wagonfuls of competition… and who knows? One day, you might even get a statue raised in your honor.

In the meantime, you might like some more ideas on the business of copywriting. One option is to go for Dan’s AWAI course, fully worth it. Another option is to sign up for my email newsletter, where I sometimes share ideas and experiences on this topic.

Free sample: Why you are not “bombarded with information”

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Yesterday, I started reading a book called Metaphorically Selling. It looks promising, but…

The first chapter is all about the NEED for metaphor in sales and marketing. Here’s the gist:

“There is nowhere you can turn to escape the barrage of pitches vying for your attention and your disposable income. Twenty five hundred bids for our attention bombard us daily, from the television, the radio, the newspaper, the …”

How many times have you heard the same “bombarded with information” argument? I guess each marketing book, course, and seminar has to make it at the start, like a doctor putting a stethoscope around his neck to look professional.

I can tell you this:

This argument didn’t make me nod my head in agreement. Instead, it made me think of a talk that copywriter Richard Armstrong gave at AWAI bootcamp. Richard said:

“Nowadays it makes no more sense to say we are bombarded with information than it would be to say that a fish is bombarded with water. No, a fish is swimming in water. He’s living in water. He’s breathing water. To a very large extent, he’s actually made of water. And so it is with human beings and information.”

I probably heard Richard’s talk 3-4 years ago (it’s up on YouTube). I only listened to it once.

And yet, this one idea, that we are like fish swimming in an ocean of information, has stuck with me ever since. It pops up in my mind whenever I hear the cliche claim about being “bombarded by information.”

And if you take a moment to think about what I just said, you will find a recipe for messages that stick with your prospect for years… that pop up in his mind regularly… and that he shares with others, like I just did with you.

But if you don’t want to take the time to figure out the recipe, don’t worry. I’ll write more about it in a book I’m putting together. You can consider the above a free sample of that.

Anyways, the reason I watched Richard’s talk is because I read his own free sample book. And I was so impressed.

Richard is what you might call an A-list copywriter. His free sample book is a collection of his most successful and interesting ads. Along with his funny commentary.

And the best part? Richard’s free sample book is completely different from everything else out there.

Perhaps you don’t believe me. Or perhaps you’re curious. In either case, if you’re the type of person who wants to check things out for yourself, you can take a look at the link below.

But before you go, in case you’d like to take a daily swim in the ocean current that is my email newsletter, you can do that here.

And here’s the link to Richard’s free sample book:

https://www.freesamplebook.com/

A $30,000 copywriting course?

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Today I’ve got a business idea for you, if you’ve got an entrepreneurial mindset:

A few months ago, I speculated on a fanciful idea. What if copywriting education were free upfront, and the only income came from the money that students make thanks to the education?

Back then, I thought it was pretty impossible. It seemed to me that copywriting education can only go to one of two poles: AWAI or Agora.

AWAI is Mark Ford’s direct response business about copywriting. It works like any other direct response business — a never-ending stream of new offers. There’s always another secret to learn.

At the other extreme, there’s Agora. Not Agora the client-facing direct response business. That works just the same as AWAI.

Instead, I’m talking about Agora the copywriter training machine. That’s where Mark Ford (again) and the rest of the Agora folks bring in promising and ambitious people… teach them how to write copy… and then set them to work, capturing most of their productivity.

In other words, it seemed to me that you can either be an employee and get a great education for free (Agora)… or you can be a freelancer (or freelancer wannabe), and pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for your education, delivered in drips and drops of offers and upsells (AWAI).

So that brings us to today.

Because I learned something today that I didn’t know a few months ago, when I first wrote about this. What I didn’t know is that there is a business called Lambda School, which teaches you how to be a computer programmer.

So far, so meh.

The interesting thing is how Lambda School charges its students. It doesn’t charge an upfront tuition (like a regular undegrad education)… and it also doesn’t put you to work, paying you a wage and capturing your productivity (like a PhD, or work at a company).

Instead, Lambda School offers an income share agreement. I’d heard of these before, but only in the context of a traditional university. But things seem to be changing.

So here’s how Lambda School and its income share agreement work:

First, you apply to Lambda School. If you’re accepted, you sign the income share agreement, and you take the course. 6 months later, once you are a hireable programmer, you go out into the world and get a job. And then, you start paying a share of your income to Lambda School, for a total of 24 months, not to exceed $30k.

So there’s my business idea for you.

It works just like Lambda School, except it’s called AIDA School. And it teaches you copywriting and marketing. In a bit more detail:

You ask people to fill out an application to get into AIDA School. You test for basic writing skills… level of dedication… availability to commit to the course. The applicants who pass a certain threshold get in.

​​And then, you really give ’em a great education. You even help them get freelancing clients. And then you reap what you sowed, in the form of a share of their income, not to exceed $30k.

$30k per person. More than you’re likely to make selling ebooks and teasing secrets. And if you do an honest job on the teaching side, more of a positive impact also. Just remember to mention me in the first commencement speech.

And remember also to sign up for my email newsletter — if you want more business, marketing, or copywriting ideas than you would ever believe.