Getting to the top of any field these days takes an almost obscene amount of dedication.
Take for example A-list copywriter Jim Rutz.
At one point, Rutz was one of the most in-demand copywriters in the world.
In the early days, he was so good he worked on royalties only — he was confident he could beat any control, so higher royalties made more sense than charging fees.
Later, the line of clients who wanted Rutz stretched out the door and down the hill. So Rutz also added up-front fees to his royalties. At one point, these up-front fees reached $100,000 for a single promotion.
But like I said, it took an unholy amount of dedication for Rutz to become this dominant.
Apparently, he didn’t have much of a social life or sex life. His clever attempts at finding a mail-order bride fell through.
His home life was unusual too. When Boardroom VP Brian Kurtz visited Rutz’s home, he found stacks of direct response promotions lying around. Rutz used these promotions as furniture. It seems his whole life was largely about direct response.
I definitely don’t have this level of dedication. Perhaps you don’t either. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can learn from Jim Rutz nonetheless.
For example, I always remember this Jim Rutz commandment:
“You must surprise the reader at the outset and at every turn of the copy. This takes time and toil.”
Sure, you wanna surprise the reader at the outset. Have a paradoxical headline. Or a bizarre subject line. Makes sense.
But what about at every turn of the copy?
Well, let me give you an example of that. Here’s a quick paragraph from a sidebar in a Jim Rutz magalog. If you want to get better at surprising your readers, read this, once, twice, and maybe even print it out to form the beginning of your new nightstand:
“The ultimate nightmare: Being trapped in extreme pain, day after day. GREAT NEWS: Some doctors have learned in the past ten years how to block almost any degree of pain. But you have to know what kind of treatment to ask for… or how to get a physician who specializes in pain management… or where to find an accredited pain management facility. It’s all on page 127. Don’t be a dumb bunny and wait until you get hit by a cement truck. Get this knowledge now.”
Speaking of knowledge:
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