Last night, before I went to bed, an intriguing email landed in my inbox. The subject line read:
“I got paid $500k to write a 12-minute VSL”
The email came from copywriter Stefan Georgi. If you’re not on Stefan’s list or haven’t read the email yet, the gist is this:
* Stefan talked to a business owner about doing a VSL
* Stefan quoted $120k + a share of revenues
* The deal never happened
* Stefan kept following up, but got no response
* Months later, Stefan bumped into the business owner at a conference
* The business owner agreed to hire Stefan for a new project, a short 12-minute VSL
* Stefan ended up getting $500k in total, $250k up front, and another $250k as a “we’re so happy” bonus
Pretty crazy, right?
$500k for a 12-minute VSL?
Probably a thousand words total? $500 per word?
But there is a catch.
This business is a crypto project. And Stefan got paid in the tokens of that project.
These tokens might really be worth $500k one day. Or they might be worth more. Or they might turn out to be worse than monopoly money — not even the value of valueless paper.
If it sounds like I’m harping on the obvious like a jilted lover, that’s because this is a highly sensitive personal issue.
Back in 2017, a friend and I started a crypto news website.
2017 was the year of ICOs — crypto projects raising funds by selling their own tokens. Some projects were legit. Many were scams.
I had the idea to interview the founders of various ICO projects on camera. This would give investors a more realistic feel for who is a shyster and who is genuinely genuine.
The first founders I interviewed were from a project called CanYa, a kind of crypto Upwork.
I got on Zoom and listened to the founders of CanYa talk enthusiastically about their business for 20 minutes.
Once the call ended, the CanYa CEO said he wants to say thanks for the publicity (our YouTube channel had 4 subscribers). So he sent over $2k worth of CanYa coins.
“Pretty nice,” I thought, “though it might turn out to be monopoly money.”
But then, it happened. A few days later, CanYa started trading on a public exchange. And CanYa coins jumped from $1 to $5.
Suddenly, my 20 minutes of listening to some dude talk was worth $10k!
This was a hell of a business. “So long copywriting,” I said to myself. “Hello listening to people enthuse about their project at an effective hourly rate of $30,000 hour!”
Well.
As you can see, I’m still in the copywriting and marketing world.
I no longer have that ICO news website with my friend.
And my former $10k treasure of CanYa coins, which I continue to sit on like a greedy dragon on his hoard, is today worth $22.02.
I’ve personally lost almost all my interest in crypto. I think that today, as in 2017, there are a few legit projects. As for the rest, it’s a bunch of hype and scams.
But you know, none of this is the point of why I told you about Stefan’s experience above.
The point is up there, hidden among those bullet points.
Maybe you can spot it. And if not, then read my email tomorrow. That’s where I will tell you the valuable point I have in mind, because today’s email is getting long.
To get that email when it comes out, you can sign up for my newsletter. The newsletter is free, though contributions of worthless crypto tokens are always welcome. Click here to sign up.