The “big con” requires two central con men. One is the insideman; the other is the roper.
The insideman has the “opportunity” to get something for nothing, which is what ultimately seduces and dooms the mark.
The insideman stays put and waits for the roper, who goes out into the world and “ropes in” the mark.
A good roper needs to have: the gift of the gab; surface knowledge of lots of topics; the ability to pretend and act; a magic quality known as “grift sense”; and the willingness to withstand the high stress of constantly being exposed while trying to scheme and swindle himself into a mark’s confidence out in the wild.
That’s what it takes to be a good roper. But what does it take to be a first-rate roper?
David Mauerer, a professor of linguistics and author of The Big Con, asked this question to two big-con ropers back in the 1930s. here’s what one of them said:
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Will-power is the most important asset a con man can have. Have you ever watched a grifter who stayed in one position all his life and never advanced? It is pitiful to see how much mental energy he uses up getting nowhere. If he is a smack-player, he won’t try to get up any higher in the racket. Most failures wear themselves out with futile grifting and worry about keeping out of the can. They work themselves into a fever because they haven’t the will-power to stop and organize themselves for efficiency and try to get a big mark for the big store.
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(The “smack,” by the way, is a short-con game, as opposed to the big con, which is at the top of the confidence game hierarchy. Short-con games like the smack have lower stakes, lower earnings, and less prestige among grifters than the big con.)
Now, maybe don’t want to take any kind of business advice from criminals.
Fair enough. I can’t fault you, and I won’t try to persuade you otherwise.
Personally though, I found the above quote made me stop and think. To me at least, it applies even outside the world of confidence men.
The key words for me were continuing to “play the smack”… instead of having the will-power to stop and organize yourself so you can get to the next level.
Only you can figure out what it might take to get you there.
Maybe it’s skills… presentation… connections… attitude… experience… or an entire change in approach.
Again, only you can figure it out. And it will take will-power to get you to do so.
Anyways, if by chance you find out that it’s skills that you need, specifically copywriting skills, here’s how you can learn from the people who have made it to the absolute top of the copywriting racket: