Podcast appearances and mentions of bob bly

Bob Bly is referred to as THE direct response copywriter for the digital age. We have used him for several years at Galaxy Press. In addition to helping us at Galaxy Press, he has also worked with other “start-ups” such as IBM, AT&T, Intuit, Forbes, Medical Economics, and ITT. McGraw-Hill calls him “America's top copywriter.” The Direct Marketing Association awarded him the Gold Echo, and the American Writers and Artists Institute voted Bob Copywriter of the Year. He has taught copywriting at New York University and is the author of over 100 published books, including The Digital Marketing Handbook, The Copywriter's Handbook, PR For Dummies. And as for this interview … he is also the author of The Science Fictionary: A Dictionary of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Writers&IllustratorsoftheFuturePodcast231.BobBlyCreatorTheScienceFictionary      

Bob Bly is referred to as THE direct response copywriter for the digital age. We have used him for several years at Galaxy Press. In addition to helping us at Galaxy Press, he has also worked with other “start-ups” such as IBM, AT&T, Intuit, Forbes, Medical Economics, and ITT. McGraw-Hill calls him “America's top copywriter.” The Direct Marketing Association awarded him the Gold Echo, and the American Writers and Artists Institute voted Bob Copywriter of the Year. He has taught copywriting at New York University and is the author of over 100 published books, including The Digital Marketing Handbook, The Copywriter's Handbook, PR For Dummies. And as for this interview … he is also the author of The Science Fictionary: A Dictionary of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Bob Bly is referred to as THE direct response copywriter for the digital age. We have used him for several years at Galaxy Press. In addition to helping us at Galaxy Press, he has also worked with other “start-ups” such as IBM, AT&T, Intuit, Forbes, Medical Economics, and ITT. McGraw-Hill calls him “America's top copywriter.” The Direct Marketing Association awarded him the Gold Echo, and the American Writers and Artists Institute voted Bob Copywriter of the Year. He has taught copywriting at New York University and is the author of over 100 published books, including The Digital Marketing Handbook, The Copywriter's Handbook, PR For Dummies. And as for this interview … he is also the author of The Science Fictionary: A Dictionary of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

What if you could get your hands on a unique, and effective email copy in one text? This new chatbot can write essays, create opinion pieces, answer questions, and so much more. But, can it replace copywriters? Tune in to find out!

What if you could get your hands on a unique, and effective email copy in one text? This new chatbot can write essays, create opinion pieces, answer questions, and so much more. But, can it replace copywriters? Tune in to find out!

And now for something a little different: Today's episode is a short clip from the most recent Office Hours, a monthly live and very interactive gathering that has become the centerpiece of the Simplest Marketing Plan, the framework I teach (and sell in the marketing mentor shop). Join me and my guest, copywriter, Bob Bly, for a free live event to launch the new SMP for 2023 with a one-day deal and amazing bonuses. That's live on Cyber Monday Nov 28 at Noon ET. Sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/SMP2023

Technical copywriter Bob Bly shares his journey from brochure maker to online information marketing expert. For him, making it is about doing what you love while helping others succeed. Bob explains why he just keeps learning and doesn't plan to retire.

Ready to write effective sales copy? In this episode of ill communication, I'm providing you with a checklist to help you write effective sales copy. You'll use this checklist to help you prepare for writing and to help you edit your writing before you hit send or publish. You'll learn this with the 5 Cs of copywriting. If you're a digital marketer or copywriter, you might have heard of Bob Bly's copywriting formula. It is a beautifully succinct way of explaining the foundations of great sales copy. I think Bob's formula is awesome; however, I do think that something is missing and it is worth adding to the formula. It's an ingredient that is sadly missing from a lot of the sales messaging that we see today. Tune in to hear my modern refresh of this classic formula and how to start using it to level up your sales copy today. Show notes are always available at www.kimkiel.com!Resources Mentioned:Instantly level up your copy with the Rule of You: https://www.kimkiel.com/podcast-1/instantly-level-up-your-copy-with-the-rule-of-youLearn more about Bob Bly: https://www.bly.com/I would love to connect on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimKielCopy, Instagram: www.instagram.com/kim_kiel_copy, and Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kimkiel

Part 9 of a series on Robert Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook Transcription Number Nine function of content marketing. Hi, I’m Brian Pombo. Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live. We are covering this is the final step of the nine functions of content marketing, as outlined by Bob Bly in the Content Marketing […] The post # 9 Function of Content Marketing

Part 7 of a series on Robert Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook Transcription Number Seven function of content marketing. Hi, I’m Brian Pombo. Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live. We’re reading a little section out of the Content Marketing Handbook by Bob Bly. And this is number seven is a really good one. […] The post # 7 Function of Content Marketing

Part 6 of a series on Robert Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook Transcription Number six function of content marketing. Hi, I’m Brian Pombo. Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live. We’re going through number six, out of the nine functions of content marketing, as delivered by Bob Bly from his book, The Content Marketing […] The post # 6 Function of Content Marketing

You wouldn't believe me even if I spelled it out. There is a set of tenants that turn words into influence. Use them to write copy that sells.When you do this, you grow your copywriting business. It is a small part of a larger body of knowledge. Even with this bit of detail, you can earn more now.Don't waste your time with other podcasts. This is the podcast that teaches you how to transform your business. Even change clients to new levels of interaction with you.Finally, attract six and seven-figure assignments. Listen carefully. You get practical examples from Bob Bly, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Zig Ziglar, and more.

Part 5 of a series on Robert Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook Transcription Number Five function of content marketing. Hi, I’m Brian Pombo. Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live. Today we’re going we’re continuing our process of digging through the nine functions of content marketing, as outlined by Bob Bly, The Content Marketing […] The post The Number Five Function of Content Marketing

Thoughts on Robert Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook Transcription One function of content marketing. Hi, I’m Brian Pombo. Welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live. Today I’m going to be taking a little excerpt from Bob Bly’s book, The Content Marketing Handbook. This came out in 2020. Bob Bly or Robert W. Bly has […] The post One Function of Content Marketing

If you'd like to sell more using email marketing, you'll love today's episode. Even though people like to look for the latest social media hacks to gather more engagement, let me tell you this: Email sells at least five times more than any social media platform! So if you care about making sales and building a genuine relationship with your audience, you can't go wrong using emails. And today, Ben Settle joins me on this episode. Ben is what he calls himself an Email Supremacist and an awesome copywriter endorsed by the greatest copywriters and top-marketers like Gary Bencivenga, Brian Kurtz, David Deutsch, Bob Bly (just to mention a few of them). He's been writing daily emails for way over a decade, and today, he's willing to unveil some of his practices that allowed him to run a 7 figure business by simply sending emails. Here's some of what you'll discover: - How Ben built a 7 figure empire as a one-man band talking about the same topic for over 12+ years (and established himself as an unmatched leader in his market) - How to literally turn garbage into an email - The "secret" behind Ben's Creative routine that allows him to come up with endless daily email ideas… (and way more than he can humanly pour out!) - How to avoid people getting annoyed by your daily emails - Why worrying about SPAM complaints is a waste of time and energy - The shameless rule Ben uses to make sales almost every day out of short 300 words emails - How to avoid "product blindness" when pitching the same offer to your list every day - The one hack to start emailing daily (and keep the habit going…) - The powerful concept Ben applies to his daily emails (borrowed by one of America's most successful advertising geniuses who died even BEFORE email was invented) - The simple reason why you're doing your list (and your bank account) a HUGE disfavor if you don't email daily. - The easiest way to NOT send an email per day and why continuing doing this is nothing else than deliberately missing out on daily sales (it's also the fastest path to literally get "disgusted" by sending emails) - True story: Why tracking emails may be the stupidest thing you can do and also the best way to lose money on purpose. (Triggered by his astonishing experience with a supplement company) - How most autoresponder companies harm your daily emailing practices (making you leave money on the table by simply… continuing using them!) - And much more…   LINKS MENTIONED: Bensettle.com - Ben's daily email newsletter about… daily email newsletters! Berserkermail.com - Ben's Email marketing platform Mattgiaro.com - My Newsletter to level-up your content creation game ENJOYED THIS EPISODE? SUBSCRIBE so that you don't miss the next one!

 Discover how to get that awesome online marketing breakthrough through the power of observing and adapting Learn what platform suits you and your business that will keep your clients hooked and splurge on your products Find out how to effectively and organically increase your online sales by letting your clients feel cared for Resources/Links: Wanting to Find Out How to Up Your Online Marketing Game and Keep Your Products Booming and On the Trend? Learn how you can organically and effectively be everyone's go-to business online: www.strategicprofits.com/jay Summary Have you been struggling with the fast-pacing changes brought by the online world that it makes online marketing just so hard? Do you want to know the nits and grits of online marketing so that you can maximize your business and product's potential? Are you ready to breakthrough online growth with the right marketing strategy that will last you a lifetime and organically attract high-paying clients? Rich Schefren is widely recognized as an Internet marketing pioneer and one of the world's top experts on online business strategy. He has coached the world's top online business gurus, increased client revenues by BILLIONS of dollars, and grew 3 of his businesses to 7-figures a year. Agora publishing a billion-dollar testimonial. In this episode, Rich talks about the different online marketing tactics and strategies that you can apply to your business that can organically get you traction and clients. He also shares the importance of being aware of anything online— from trends to hashtags and whatnot, which you can adapt and help you market online. Check out these episode highlights: 02:21 – Rich's ideal client: “Anyone that uses online marketing to either make money, grow a business, etc., is ultimately a client of ours or a potential client of ours based on some of the products that we recently released, like in the last few years, really, it's so wide open.” 03:18 – Problem Rich helps solve: “Well, I would say that, you know, if they are not satisfied with the performance of their marketing, at the end of the day, like, that's the problem I would solve. So, that's the starting point, really.” 23:58 – Rich's Valuable Free Action (VFA): “I would say that they should pay more close attention to the people that they buy from, the places that they shop from, and notice anything that is new to them when they first noticed that. Like, you know, all of these things are hidden in plain sight, you know.” 29:05 – Rich's Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Rich's Website: www.strategicprofits.com/jay 32:15 – Q: You wouldn't know to ask me this question, but since I'm asking myself the question and delivering the answer, let me tell you. A: I want to share what I did to watch my coaching. It's something I've taught to numerous people and the people who have done it have done very well and done the same. Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode: “The one competitive advantage that cannot be copied is timing.” -Rich SchefrenClick To TweetTranscript (Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast) Tom Poland 00:10 Welcome everyone to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Tom Poland, beaming out to you there from little Castaways Beach from Queensland, Australia, joined today by Rich Schefren. Rich, good day, Sir. Very warm welcome. Where are you hanging out? Rich Schefren 0:23 I am in Delray Beach, Florida. Tom Poland 0:26 Sounds like a nice spot to be. For those of you who don't know Rich, you must have been living in a cave, because he is one of the founding fathers of online marketing. He's literally one of the world's top experts on online business strategy. He's coached a Rolodex of who's who in the world of internet marketing. Most of the internet, the people that I respect and I hold in high esteem based on their integrity in the results in the internet marketing world have been mentored by Rich. He's come out of retirement. He's got- If I read his whole bio, it's kind of, it would rival war and peaceful credentials and lengths, he said. For example, just plucking one thing out of the air, he's got a testimony from Agora about how he helped them get to $1 billion of extra revenue. I mean, you can't live on a billion dollars, right, Rich? But it's a good start, yeah? Rich Schefren 01:19 Yes, a good start. I wish I would have negotiated a piece of that, but unfortunately, not. Tom Poland 1:25 I want to add, as well, that Rich is just an extraordinarily generous person. I remember getting something from you for free and it was about strategic alliances. It was a giveaway, but it was something that had been previously sold for a lot of money, and rightly so because it was chock full of value. And everyone I speak to, the usually inestimable Bob Bly, who introduced us Rich, speaks so highly of not only your integrity but your generosity. So, delighted to have you on the show. I think without further ado, we will announce the title, which is “The #1 Key to Breakthrough Online Growth”, and we're going to kick off. Folks, today, I so wanted to have Rich on the show. I'm throwing away our seven-minute timer. We'll go through the same questions, but we might take a little deviation here and there with his act of smells and gold. So Rich, let's kick off with question number one, though. Who's your ideal client? Rich Schefren 2:15 Yeah, it's very wide open these days, which is always generally a bad answer for marketers, right? Tom Poland 2:20 Right. Rich Schefren 2:21 Anyone that uses online marketing to either make money, grow a business, etc., is ultimately a client of ours or a potential client of ours based on some of the products that we recently released, like in the last few years, really, it's so wide open. So, you know, the same product that became our flagship is great for agency owners, it's great for coaches and consultants, as well as people who are trying to scale a business online. So, which will make sense, I think, as we go on. Tom Poland 2:52 As we go on. So, common denominator – people wanting to get growth online. Would that be fair? Rich Schefren 2:57 Yeah. Tom Poland 2:58 So, question number two is what's the problem you solve? We were talking before the interview. It sounded very much like, if I could paraphrase it, the problem you solve is people feel like they're a voice in a crowd of screaming people. How would you define the problem you solve? We know it's about growth, but what is the problem or the potential people are looking for when they become a client to yours? Rich Schefren 3:18 Well, I would say that, you know, if they are not satisfied with the performance of their marketing, at the end of the day, like, that's the problem I would solve. So, that's the starting point, really. That if the marketing is not performing as well as it should or as they hoped or etc., not powering the growth that they want, then that's what we solve. And the- I don't know if I should go further with that. Tom Poland 3:44 Yeah, please. Let's do. Anything you think about, your own? Rich Schefren 3:48 Yeah. So, what most people don't realize is that there are strategies, tactics, channels, etc., that can, at one moment in time, be insanely powerful, but that over time, it degrade. Tom Poland 4:07 Right. Rich Schefren 4:08 And that's pretty much consistent with everything, as far as marketing online. And so, the only exception to that can be tremendously great creative, like an amazing copy or something like that, but that's outside the reach of most people. Tom Poland 4:23 Right. Rich Schefren 4:24 So, you know, I'll give you an example. So, when I brought the VSL to Agora, it was back in 2007. Tom Poland 4:33 Just let me explain to folks. VSL is the Video Sales Letter. Rich Schefren 4:37 Yeah, Video Sales Letter. It was invented by John Benson. He's the creator of it. He invented it at the end of 2005. He first did it for a client in 2006. I saw that and brought it to Agora, like soon thereafter, early 2007. When Agora used that, that's what the testimonial from them, from Bill Bonner and Mark Ford says, when I brought it over to them, immediately, conversion rates went up 400% in the US, 300% in France, 250% in Germany, and all they did was take the sales letters that they had and copy and paste it into a PowerPoint. You know, white background, black text. That's it. And just to give a full arc of that story, right? So, John Benson invented it at the end of 2005. The very first course on video sales letters didn't come out until 2010. And that was the 3X VSL method by John Benson. And the Agora got those benefits in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, right? By 2017, there was absolutely zero difference between a regular sales letter and a VSL the way that Agora had been doing it. So, zero, right? And so, what most people don't realize is that you're either there for the beginning or you don't get the benefit that, like, you could get. And you know, a year later, when I invented automated webinars, like, we had the same thing. Like, the show up rates were 80%. The registration rates were high, like you know, because there wasn't- it wasn't the way it is now, right? Tom Poland 6:18 Yep. Rich Schefren 6:18 And so, every marketing, or if you were early on in AdWords or early on in Facebook, like there was a time when it was very easy. Tom Poland 6:27 Yeah. Rich Schefren 6:28 The time is over now, right? Like, now, it's easier to make something work on YouTube than it is on Facebook, and if you don't know that, you could be pounding your head against the wall to try and make Facebook work. So, there are these levers, but what's more important than the lever itself is also the timing. And because not only this performance degrade on any channel, any tactic, any strategy, but the effort that's involved to get the result increases over time. So, you have one graph, which is results, they're going down, right? Like, if I can- Tom Poland 7:01 Yeah, I got it here. Rich Schefren 7:02 Like going down, right? But then, the effort to get the result is going up. So, you have this like, moment in time right over here where it's high results, low effort, right? And then it goes down and up, and so now all of a sudden, on this side, it's high effort, not great results, right? And if someone looks at their marketing arsenal, their marketing mix, you know, the assets that they're using, and none of them are anything that is new, like not anything that has been introduced in the last 12 months or 18 months, then probably, everything in their mix is stuff that everybody knows. And if you're using stuff that everybody knows, there's not really the advantage to propel you forward. And what I think most people miss these days, is that that's the primary way of growth online. And so, whether people realize that or not, they should take a step back and look at the businesses that they know that are successful online; I'm not talking about, you know, VC-funded, but entrepreneurial driven, and how they grew and what was their primary way of growth, and generally, it can be reduced down to a channel, a strategy, or a tactic that they got on before the rest of their industry did – the other people, right? And so, I got known because back in 2006, I wrote a free report. And back when I wrote that free report, you know, my problem was is that I got great results for clients like Ryan Deiss and Russell Brunson and those guys, but nobody wanted business coaching back in 2006 and nobody knew who I was. And so, I wrote a free report, like hoping to get a dozen clients. Just put it on my blog. It's called the “Internet Business Manifesto”. And then, that ended up going viral. And so, been downloaded millions of times, and totally took me from unknown to known, and built the West, built the business, etc. And for the next year and a half, from, you know, that first report, Internet Business Manifesto I wrote in June of 2006, till 2008, I wrote six more free reports. And that's how I built my whole business, just like writing free reports, putting them on my blog, and having affiliates mail for it. And that was a very effective strategy in 2006, 2007, 2008. In 2009, the book “Free”, written by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, was talking about this new concept about giving stuff away for free to sell your product, but by that time, that's when everybody knows. And there's no doubt, right? That if someone were to start today, like if they thought they could put a free report on their blog, and that somehow, they'd have millions of dollars, like a month or two later, that's not going to happen, because the window has already closed. So, that's what I'm talking about, as far as this idea that there are asymmetric kind of rewards for stuff that is new online because they grab attention and it's not clear yet as obvious that I'm trying to sell you something, right? It's like stealth, camouflage kind of selling. Tom Poland 10:23 Right. And so, what I'm hearing is that once the thing becomes common place, it becomes- it doesn't get the cut through that I need to get in order to get noticed. It doesn't get noticed. It doesn't get acted on. So, there's two things. There's the lever or the platform or the tactic or whatever it is, the VSL or the free report, but it's also the timing. Rich Schefren 10:42 Right. Tom Poland 10:43 I almost had to use the analogy, but it sounds a bit like multi-level marketing. If you don't get in at the top, it's going to be too late. And, you know, it's kind of like, when I got to the share market, everyone was in there, and so, yeah. You know, if the taxi driver is telling me about the best stock to buy, it's probably time to get out. Rich Schefren 10:58 Right. But the good news is that there's always something. Tom Poland 11:00 Right. Rich Schefren 11:01 So, it's just a question of like, figuring out what it is now? Or, what's next, right? It shouldn't be shocking, right? That there might be an opportunity right now on TikTok, right? Like, it should not be shocking to anyone. Tom Poland 11:16 No. Yeah. Rich Schefren 11:17 Now, finding out like what it is and what's working. Like, you either can come to a service like mine, or you can just, you know, keep your ears open and eyes open, rather, and pay attention to anything that gets you to pay. Anything that you notice that's different and new. And I can give you a ton of different examples of like what's working now, but yeah. I mean, that's the gist. Anytime someone sees something and stops and says, “what is that?” There's something to it. Tom Poland 11:45 And so, we need to pick up areas. So, we don't necessarily have to be the innovator, the one person that comes up with one idea at the right time. We might be able to kind of hang on to this shit tiles and go on for the ride, if I'm mixing my metaphors up. Maybe just three or four examples of what you think is hot right now. Rich Schefren 12:01 Sure. Yeah. So, something that, like, we talked to our group about recently, a couple months ago, was one that is called Interactive Sales Letters. It's like a video sales letter, but they're interactive. And this was shared with me by Daniel Levis. He's a copywriter. Tom Poland 12:19 Yeah. Rich Schefren 12:20 And he changed his application funnel for his coaching program from the standard model, which is, you know, ad, opt in, VSL, application, right? Like, that's the process. So, there are two different companies that you can do this with. One is VideoAsk. The other is Go Tolstoy, like the writer, Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy. Both of them are platforms where you can do interactive video. And so, Daniel Levis has it where, you know, you get to this one. The difference is that instead of people going through multi pages, they stay on one page. It's a seamless experience. And the number of people that he was able to get into his coaching program grew from like about 200 to 300%, like the conversion rates were that much higher, the show up rate was higher, everything was higher, and it makes sense, when I explain why. Tom Poland 13:13 Right. Rich Schefren 13:14 So, it's an interactive video, and Daniel does three different questions throughout. And the first question is, are you B2B or B2C? And then, you know, they click a button on it, and then it keeps talking. Tom Poland 13:28 Yup. Rich Schefren 13:29 And the next question is, which niche are you most closely aligned with – health, wealth, or relationships? And they answer, and then it keeps talking. And then the last one is like, are you a small, medium, or large business? And he attaches numbers to those three different, you know, categories. Tom Poland 13:46 Right. Rich Schefren 13:47 And so, with those three questions, there's two answers to the first one, three answers to the second, three for the third, so it's two times three, it's six, times another three is 18. There's 18 buckets that someone could fall into. Tom Poland 14:01 Gotcha. Rich Schefren 14:02 And as soon as they finish that third question, Daniel then goes into a case study about someone very similar to them. Who's in B2B or B2C like them? Who's in the same niche as them? Who has a similar business than they had, and that's now at the next level, right? And then invites them to apply and set up a call, but like, while he's talking them through it, right on the video, because they never have to leave that video, it's all seen. Tom Poland 14:28 Right, it's clever. Rich Schefren 14:29 And that has a higher engagement rate right out of the gate, right? Because it's new and novel. Tom Poland 14:34 Right. Rich Schefren 14:35 And then, in addition, the message is more catered to them and they're being kind of pre-sold before they get on, even on the call, right? And so, that would be an example of something that's working really well now, but I'll give you another one that's in the same field, because this one is very much working like right now and it will be something that, in a year and a half from now, will be a problem. Tom Poland 14:59 Right. Rich Schefren 15:01 And it's funny because a friend of mine, Rudy Mawer, who runs a lot of the brands for Tai Lopez, like he sits on top of Pure1 and RadioShack and all the brands that they bought, and he called me because he has a coaching program. And he was like, “I heard that there's been a change in the way they're being sold, and I heard that, like, I should talk to you about those.” So, I was like, “Yeah, I'll send you the thing that we did on the segment.” And so, this one came from a gentleman by the name of Cole Gordon. Cole is the guy that has set up the phone rooms for a lot of gurus that want to have phone sales but want to keep it totally in house. Like, they don't trust, and there's a lot of good reasons not to trust other people because they can damage your reputation so fast, right? Tom Poland 15:45 Yeah. Rich Schefren 15:46 So anyway, he's done it with like Traffic and Funnels, and Aaron Fletcher, and a bunch of bigger companies, too, he's also worked with before. And so, I did a call. I did a, you know, a segment with him, and he started that by telling me that outbound is the new inbound. And so, that was the premise of the segment. And what he was talking about was that the standard process, the way I was explaining it, the way Daniel used to do it, right? Opt in page, video, right application. Instead, it's opt in, but it also has optional phone number, and then as soon as the person – this is just one of seven different funnels that you went over, right? But when they're watching the video, there's an outbound call to that person while they're engaged, right? That's an extra call that's being added to the sequence, right? And that extra call is taking a very, like, leadership concierge role. It's just like, what brought you to the site, seeing if they can give them something right now for free as a gift that like kind of fits where they're at, and setting up the future call, etc. so there's already that first touch point. And so, very interesting segment. And actually, I've done a segment with the guys from Traffic and Funnels and Chris Evans. And he was telling me that they had started sending out more content to their list and sending them to the blog, and then people could opt in for content expansion, you know, and that they were making an extra, you know, mid six figures a month, because they were doing that. I was like, “I don't understand how you're making an extra six figures just by that.” But it's because when they're on the site, getting their content expansion, that's when all sorts of phone calls are happening out, right? Tom Poland 17:38 Right. Rich Schefren 17:39 So, I asked the guys from Traffic and Funnels about it, and they said, “Oh, yeah. We switched to outbound and that's now responsible for about 90% of our sales.” Tom Poland 17:48 Wow! Rich Schefren 17:49 It starts like the first contact starts outbound. So, like, that's a strategy right now. It's very effective, right? You can bet, you know, dollars to donuts, right? That as more people start doing that, at some point in time, whether it's eight months from now, whether it's a year and a half from now, two years from now, people are not going to appreciate that call. Tom Poland 18:09 Right. Rich Schefren 18:10 Right now, they do. They feel like this business really cares. Tom Poland 18:12 It's novel. Rich Schefren 18:13 But when they start getting calls from every website they got into, it's going to be a different story. So, very effective now. Tom Poland 18:21 Interesting. Okay. Rich Schefren 18:23 The next one, this one was shared by also two different people kind of overlapping. It's about discovery ads for YouTube. So, Aleric Heck was talking about how, you know, it's a great opportunity right now to grow your channel if you have an organic YouTube channel by using discovery ad, and that they're very inexpensive. And discovery ads, just for people who don't know, when you're watching a YouTube video, some of the suggested videos on the right hand side are discovery ads. Tom Poland 18:57 Okay. Rich Schefren 18:58 And then also, if you search by keyword, sometimes, a few of the top ones will also be discovery ad. And generally, you're advertising your organic content, right? And so, our work just was talking about it as a, like right now, it's very useful to use, it's very inexpensive, and it can reduce your overall advertising rates for several reasons. I, then, also did one with Ian Stanley. And Ian Stanley teaches people. It's one of the best actual biz ops out there, because I'm generally not a fan of biz op at all because they don't work. But it needs to just, people have to be email copywriters. And there's a million businesses out there that don't manage them as well that you can actually have a career. I mean, you're not going to get rich but you can make, you know, six figures as an email copywriter relatively easily. Anyway, so he uses discovery ads as well. And if you have an organic channel on YouTube, you have to link it to your Google account. Until you link it to your Google account, you can't, you know, you don't get the benefit of having an organic account because you can retarget anyone that watches your organic videos once your organic YouTube account is linked to your advertising account. Tom Poland 20:18 Right. Rich Schefren 20:18 You can't go back. And you can only go to the point where your link those up. And so, what Ian is doing is he's spending five bucks a day on Discovery ads to get his videos, and then he- retargeting on YouTube is relatively cheap as well, very cheap, actually. So, once he retargets anyone who watches any of his videos, so the people that come to his videos through discovery ads are the same as people that can do it organically. And on just $5 a day, he is selling high-end coaching to clients through this whole process of moving people through the discovery ad to channel, prevent seeing other ads, and then ultimately being taken off site. And other ones are a little bit more complicated, but those are examples, I would say, of different strategies that are currently working right now. Tom Poland 21:14 It's interesting. Rich Schefren 21:15 And you know, another thing I can just quite share is that whereas I don't know of any marketer who has gotten any ads to work from YouTube, or Facebook, or Instagram on TikTok. I know lots of marketers who have ads that work on TikTok, that work on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Like, that format works on all channels, right? Which is interesting. They don't know yet how to apply that, but it's something to think about. Tom Poland 21:47 Well, certainly test on TikTok, and if you don't get it working, go to the other channels, maybe. But yeah, this is interesting. So, the key point, I think, folks, is that there are innovations. You don't necessarily have to be the innovator, but you have to keep your eyes and ears open and notice what you are noticing, because there might be an opportunity to jump on that particular bandwagon before it rides off the cliff. One day it will. Rich Schefren 22:09 And what I would say is, is that you don't need- not every element of your business needs to be this, but you need one. Like, you know, like when I released my free reports, like I was using regular email, a regular blog, like what was the thing at that moment was free content that was valuable, that made a sale. Tom Poland 22:29 Yes. Rich Schefren 22:30 You know. When I did the webinars, like it was the same thing, like everything else was normal, like the standard stuff everyone else was using. So, my point is that you don't need 100 of these things, but there should be one element in part of your marketing arsenal that is relatively new, that your competitors are not using. And you should spend some time looking for that and recognize. And it could be in any other industry, but it's not yet been in your industry so your prospects are not like familiar with it. Your competitors aren't using it. Tom Poland 23:03 And the process of innovation, it's necessary that people are going to fail, people are going to trip over, that if you can hang off, if you can notice what is working somewhere, you know, perhaps, you could avoid a lot of those a lot of that downtime and wasted money. But it's either way. It's fascinating stuff. And essentially, what you're saying is that, really, the only competitive advantage of sustainable is innovation. You've got to have something that's timing Rich Schefren 23:25 The one competitive advantage that cannot be copied is timing. Tom Poland 23:31 Perfect. Alright. So, terrific stuff. Strategic, but also lots of examples to flesh out those concepts. Let me give you question five. I've skipped a couple because I think we've covered them adequately and lots of value has gone out, anyway. What would you say would be one valuable free action? Where could someone go from here to start the process of exploration or innovation or timing? What's one step in the right direction you'd recommend people take? Rich Schefren 23:58 I would say that they should pay more close attention to the people that they buy from, the places that they shop from, and notice anything that is new to them when they first noticed that. Like, you know, all of these things are hidden in plain sight, you know. They're out there. It's just a question of whether you can spot them or not. And you're not going to spot all of them, that's for sure, but you only need to spot one, you know, at any given point. So, I would say that, you know, recognize that some percentage of your time – and I'm not necessarily saying a lot of it; maybe 5%, maybe 10% – put some amount of your time recognizing that if you look at what your marketing arsenal is right now and you don't have anything that you would say is cutting edge or something that's relatively new, then you should spend 5-10% of your time to be on the lookout for those things. Go to different marketers sites. Opt into their stuff. See what they're doing. See if it's anything different than what you're doing, right? Most of the time, it's not going to be found in a course, because generally, it takes a few years or at least a year or two for something to get out in a course. So generally, you know, there might be a few in a course, but that's not the amount of time to invest it. Courses are great for what they are. They're just not great for the latest and greatest, usually. Tom Poland 25:19 Yep. Yeah. Rich Schefren 25:20 So, I would say that, and be willing to test, but recognize that, when I speak to most people, if they get honest about it, they've never spent any time looking for this. And so, the first thing is to recognize one that there is this kind of time element that is involved with marketing, and that, you know, looking at what the people that you look up to, that you know are doing well, what they're doing is a start, ideally not in your industry, so that you have the opportunity to be first in your industry, and experiment. You know, at the end of the day, putting your own spin on things. Like, the reason I wrote a free report was that I was listening to a Dan Kennedy program for coaches and consultants. And at that moment in time, I had my coaching program. Nobody knew me, right? And so, I'm listening, like very eagerly, and I will always remember the question and answer because, like, I can't believe that I thought this way once, but I did, so, you know. But I had this great coaching program getting people great results, but I felt like I needed new front-end products, new low-priced products to acquire new customers. And then I would need, you know, mid-tier products. Like, I needed this whole built-out business in order to do well. And I didn't know what to put in these front-end products, these low-priced products, because I had all this great stuff in my coaching program, but I was afraid to take anything from my coaching program because I was afraid I cannibalize my coaching program. Tom Poland 26:52 Right. Rich Schefren 26:52 So, I'm listening to this Q&A session that is at the end of what Dan presented, and this coach asked the exact question that I was thinking, which is, I have like this coaching program but I don't know what to put in these lower-priced products to acquire customers because I'm afraid I'll cannibalize. And Dan just laughed at him. Like literally started, like chuckling, and he said – these are his exact words. He's like, “Baba? Baba? You don't get it. You put your best ideas in those products because that's what's going to get people to want to join your coaching program.” Tom Poland 27:24 Right. Rich Schefren 27:25 And I was like, that was news to me, back in like, you know, 2005-ish, or whenever I was listening to it. I was like, that was news to me. And the more I thought about it, I was like, well, if that's true, then what if I just gave it all the way from like, put not all my good ideas, but what if I gave a bunch of good ideas away for absolutely free? Tom Poland 27:44 Yep. Rich Schefren 27:45 And what if I gave people, gave affiliates, you know, 25% of the coaching, like, just for giving away a free valuable report? And so that's what I tried, right? Like that. It was just an experiment, but it was based on Dan's saying, what he said, and based on like, what I know about online marketing, and maybe like, asking affiliates to just give away something highly valuable and we'll take care of all the selling and do everything from there. Maybe that's enough. And it was enough. And so, didn't have to build a lot of front-end products and I didn't have to do all these things. But it was because like, I was willing to experiment. Tom Poland 28:20 Yes. And we all want this thing that's going to stay true and sit and deliver results for ad infinitum, for eternity, but unfortunately, it just doesn't exist. So, someone's going to move the cheese, right? Rich Schefren 28:33 Yeah. I mean, people are always shocked. Like, I wrote a report on automated webinars in early 2008, weighing out how to work, like the whole model. That's still used today. And people were shocked, like, “why would you do that?” And I'm like, if I thought I could actually do it forever and no one would know about it, I would certainly- Tom Poland 28:52 Keep it to yourself. Rich Schefren 28:53 That's not on the table. Yet anyway, so I credit the guy that invented Tom Poland 29:00 Right. It's going to have a “use by” date, so he has to get it out before that expires. Rich Schefren 29:05 Yeah. Tom Poland 29:05 So Rich, let's go to your website. You're going to set up a special page – www.strategicprofits.com/jay. What are people going to find when they go there? Rich Schefren 29:17 Yeah. So, they're going to find, this was a book that Jay Abraham used at the most recent Anthony Robbins, like super high-end Mastermind. Jay called me because he was giving away one of his books, and none of his books have really the internet component in it and he felt that that was necessary. And so, we took seven of the segments that I'm talking about, like the examples I was giving you, and Jay titled it “Getting Everything You Can Out of All That's Hot Online” which is like a take-off of his book, getting everything you can from all that you've got. Tom Poland 29:55 Right. Rich Schefren 29:55 And this has strategies in here from Tim Burd, who has Ads Secrets, which is one of the best Facebook groups out there for media buyers people, like he's got several 1000 in there that pay him 97 bucks a month; Fernando Cruz, who's the Head Marketer for Legacy, which is one of the best divisions of grow wise until it was just sold for $3 billion; Jordan Menard, who is the top media buyer. I'll give you an example of another one just with Jordan. It's not the one that's in the book. The one in the book is about how to produce new angles. But Jordan shared a strategy with me. This was like about 18 months ago so its effectiveness is a little less than where it was, but it still works. And he showed me in split tests. He had three split tests. He had one for Bob Proctor who's a client of his, one for the Morrison Brothers who's also a client of his, and one, Agora property. And he did a split test with Facebook ads, and all he changed was two words – the first two words of the Facebook post. And the two words that he added were “It's true…” And “it's true…” boosted the click through rate by about 50-70%. Tom Poland 31:10 Wow! Rich Schefren 31:11 Kind of shocking. But anyway, so Jordan Russell Brunson has his favorite funnel, the funnel that actually has built more click funnels than any other funnel, and one that he spends over a million dollars a month on, that's cashflow positive. And then Aleric Heck talking about YouTube retargeting, and why it's so effective and how to do it, and Growth Secrets, Molly Mahoney. So, it's seven different strategies that people can have, and we are planning on selling it on Amazon, but for your listeners, they can get a free by just going to www.strategicprofits.com/jay. j-a-y. All lowercase. Tom Poland 31:49 Rich Schefren, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. I'm so glad we throw away the seven-minute timer. Folks, hope you enjoyed that. Go get that book for free. www.strategicprofits.com/jay. Rich, your score on the gentlemen. Thanks very much. Rich Schefren 32:04 My pleasure. I do want to answer that last question. Tom Poland 32:08 Oh, I'm sorry. That's my bad. Question seven, kind of our trademark question – what's the one question I should have asked you but didn't? Rich Schefren 32:15 Yeah. You wouldn't know to ask me this question, but since I'm asking myself the question and delivering the answer, let me tell you. I want to share what I did to watch my coaching. It's something I've taught to numerous people and the people who have done it have done very well and done the same. So, you know, it's very first time I got a chance to speak where I was going to sell something, and I'm not a really- I'm a great marketer, because I'm a bad salesperson. Tom Poland 32:43 You've to be good at one or the other. Rich Schefren 32:45 Yeah. I was quite concerned about selling from stage, especially with other sharks speaking, right? Because that's not me. And so instead, I decided that to avoid the possibility of there not being anyone getting up and buying, better to like, kind of make sure that that's not even an option, so I'll make an application only. So, there's no reason to rush. You could just fill out the application, and you know, etc. And then well, what could I do to get people to want to fill out the application? And I could put a really strong guarantee. And so, my original guarantee when I started my coaching program, and it was the first group of people that I coached, and those were nice, those guys, you know, it was a year-long program, you will double the amount that you're currently making and you will be working half as much by the time we're done. Like 4x your return on your like, on your own. And there were several hundred people in the room. And that guarantee got, you know, especially when I reinforced it, got quite a few people to apply. Tom Poland 34:00 Right. Rich Schefren 34:01 So, you're basically guaranteeing that I'm going to be at 4x and a year from now, or all the money I pay you is going to, you know, be returned to me, and I'm doing private coaching at this point. It's not like a group program. Like, there's some group components, but I'm talking to everyone individually, too. Tom Poland 34:18 Yes. Rich Schefren 34:19 And so, I had about 40 some on, like 47, 48. I don't remember how many, but 40 some on apply. Tom Poland 34:26 Yeah. Rich Schefren 34:27 But I then spoke to every single person for 15 minutes, because I only accepted the people who I felt I could actually deliver that for, right? So, put a big guarantee out there if you have the opportunity to talk to a good, you know, some amount of your prospect. Put a strong guarantee out there. Make it by application only, but then, only accept that people into the program you actually could deliver on, right? You know, I never worked harder than that year, because like, I didn't have a program. I didn't know. But I knew that these people were winners I felt, and I felt like I could help them, right? Tom Poland 35:09 Yeah. Rich Schefren 35:09 But it was that, and then it was my delivering that result for those people, so that I didn't have to refund anyone's money, that their results went into the Internet Business Manifesto. So the Internet Business Manifesto, like, reek of proof, and it was the proof of those people who I had built the program on. And so, I was talking to them individually, like twice a month, I was doing group, like lessons for the group. Those group lessons were based on the individual calls that I had, so they were based on what I felt they needed. That's what I was teaching. So, my entire program was built out by delivering, so that one group. Then, that was what I ended up selling, automated for the next 10 years, right? Like, that exact program. I had A studies. I had everything from that initial group, and that initial group was gotten by an over-the-top guarantee application where I would only accept the people that I could help around. Tom Poland 36:17 A careful selection. So, there was actually a heck of a lot of integrity around that. And last question, bonus question, then we'll wrap up in another 30 seconds. You think that the marketplace responds a lot better when they sense you have skin in the game. You're offering all money back after you work for people for 12 months. People are going, “Wow, Rich must really believe in this.” Rich Schefren 36:36 I think there's a part of that. I also think that, you know, on the one hand, people think that that's a tremendous investment, and it certainly is, right? Like, I'm willing to risk a lot. But also, the likelihood of someone being this honest with you after you've been personally talking to them as a coach, where people have opened up to you like, you know, they're on your side. They want the outcome. But, you know, if you're a good coach, odds are that they've also grown to like trust and bond with you, right? And so, I think, partly that. And then the other thing I would say, which like, just as an added bonus tip, there is no excuse, like zero, for a coach not to be a great marketer. Because the questions that marketers, like we'd love to know the real answers to, are the questions that coaches get answered, like at the beginning of a conversation, right? Tom Poland 37:43 Yeah. Rich Schefren 37:43 So, a lot of times, in all the free reports I wrote, one of the most common feedback I got was, “It felt like you were just standing right over my shoulder, like you were describing quite me.” Tom Poland 37:53 Music. Music to my ears. Yeah. Rich Schefren 37:57 You know, if you coach a lot of people, you don't have to hear the stories that many times to see the commonalities that are in all of them, but people generally won't open up to anybody like that. They are opening up to you because you're here to help them, and that is the exact information that is like the gold when it comes to marketing. Tom Poland 38:18 Isn't it? Yeah. Rich, thanks so much for your time. Rich Schefren 38:20 My pleasure. Tom Poland 38:21 Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we're doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It's very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.

Conrad Hall is an author of a number of successful business and marketing books. He also authors a “Getting Happy” book series. But he was not always so centered on success and moving forward in life. On our episode today you will have the opportunity to hear his story and see how he turned many life challenges into a tool for moving forward. His experiences and his personal challenges have created a person who is successful and wants to help others be successful and unstoppable as well. Some directories do not show full show notes. For the complete transcription please visit https://michaelhingson.com/podcast About my Guest: Conrad Hall is the bestselling author of six books on marketing (including two international bestsellers), host of Social Media: Cheap and Easy, and the founder of the Getting Happy book series. Conrad's marketing titles include The Business Owner's Guide to Social Media, Writing e-Books for Fun and Profit, and The Ultimate Marketing Sin. Inspired by Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Conrad has launched the Getting Happy series. Think Chicken Soup for the 21st century. Each book tells a motivational, inspiring story of encountering a life event, being unhappy about it, and finding your way back to Getting Happy. And with each book in the series goes a workbook for those who need a helping hand with making practical progress. Conrad is also responsible for coaching thousands of local business owners, just like you, to increasing their revenue, their customer count, and their free time. Using Relationships as the foundation for marketing, Conrad has helped business owners implement loyalty programs to foster customer loyalty and retention. He has used local and inter-state joint ventures to make businesses more resilient and diversified. And he built referral programs that required owners to hire new staff, and even open new locations. He has learned from experts like Dan Kennedy, Mark Hall, and John Forde that all marketing comes down to relationships. It is the rapport you build with a person, not a prospect, that opens the door to doing business together. conrad@ceriohs.org Share your Personal Story at: https://GettingHappySeries.com/shareyourstory About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes UM Intro/Outro 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson 01:21 Welcome to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. And today we get to meet Conrad Hall. Conrad is an author full time now. He retired from doing other work, which I'm sure we'll get a chance to hear about. He's has been and is a veteran, and I think has some interesting stories to tell. And clearly has been very flexible and wise as he moves from one thing to another to know what to do and when to do it. So Conrad, welcome to unstoppable mindset. Conrad Hall 01:52 Thank you, Michael. I'm happy to be here. Michael Hingson 01:54 Can you tell me a little bit about your early years to start us off? Conrad Hall 01:59 Um, yeah, cuz that will bring us back around to the book series. Guess the easiest way to phrase it or explain it is? I grew up being the third child in a family with only two kids. And I had parents who never let me forget it. Michael Hingson 02:22 How did that work? Conrad Hall 02:24 Well, it was, it was adventuresome. I grew up very much disconnected, grew up very much angry. And, you know, when you talk about unstoppable mindset, by the time I was 28, I had 32 suicide attempts, several of which came very close to succeeding. And in spite of that, something that was always with me was this mindset of, if I really do succeed, then they win. You know, the people telling me that I'm worthless, I'm not lovable, that, you know, or any other negative thing, they end up winning, because I've just bailed. And it took me a long time to get past the whole suicidal mindset. It's like any other pattern of thought, you know, if you, if you grew up learning how to succeed and how to encounter challenges and overcome them, well, that becomes your pattern of thought. If you grew up being told that you're worthless and unlovable, then that becomes your pattern of thought, especially if you buy into it. Exactly. And, you know, as a kid, you're getting that fed to you, it's pretty hard to deal with. And then as a teenager, you know, I just, I found my refuge in anger. And, you know, when I'm working with folks today, and especially when I'm working with kids, you know, I'm honest with them, and if that's the only refuge you can find, then take it and hold on to it. Get through, just understand, there's going to be a big price to pay when the time comes that you want to let go of that anger. And understand that it's always a stopgap. You know, belonging is something that we all require. Genetically, biologically, it's built into us. Babies who don't have belonging who aren't being held and cuddled on a regular basis, wither and suffer poor health and throw your life if you're in that situation where you are not getting hugs, you're not getting physical Attention, then it does have a negative effect on both your physical and mental health. And the great thing is, the older you get. And hopefully the sooner you realize that your life is a result of your choices. And so whatever your past was, at any point in time, you can say, You know what, I'm done with that past, I no longer need it. I don't want to be associated with it. And I want to go out a new direction in life. I want to choose to build a strong positive self image. I want to choose to find good healthy relationships. And I'm going to take responsibility for me, and for my life. And the way you go, Michael Hingson 05:52 you just said something really interesting. And I want to follow up on on it with a question, you talked about making choices, something that I have felt for a long time. And I believe that doing a lot of self analysis, I can trace how I got to where I am, by the choices I've made. I've gathered that you are saying you can do sort of the same thing that you can go back and look at the choices that you made and the results that happened from them, and how that led to other choices and so on that got you to where you are. Conrad Hall 06:25 Absolutely. Now even a really big life event that resulted in the writing of this book, and the launching of the book series is I got divorced in 2012. And it absolutely turned my life upside down. And when I, I worked on writing the book, I got the manuscript finished. I showed it to a friend of mine, who was also an author and a copywriter. And he does a lot of editing. And I asked him what he thought, and he was not non committal. He didn't want to say, and I'm like, dude, okay, I'm not gonna break now. Tell me what's going on. And he said, Well, you do a lot of blaming in this manuscript. And we ended up doing two rounds of edits, focused solely on scrubbing out that blaming language. Other because we always get this thing? Well, I only did that because she did this, or I only did that because he did this. And it's this almost natural thing that rather than say, You know what, I did it. And it was the wrong thing to do. And I'm taking responsibility for it. Which I can tell you from personal experience, that's really hard to say, you know, I goofed, I got it wrong. And now I need to go make it right. It's far easier to say, Well, I only did it because he upset me or she took my apple or, you know, finding some reason to blame somebody else. That's easy to do. But it gets you know, where it lands, you being a victim, instead of being empowered and moving forward and building your life. Michael Hingson 08:24 Why is that? So easy to do? Conrad Hall 08:29 Why does dirt roll downhill? Yeah, because we we will live up to or down to expectations. And if we can get away with saying it's someone else's fault. We do. And it I am convinced that we get into that pattern. Because it's what we learn as we're growing up. You know, our parents let us get away with saying, Well, I did it because you know, my sister did this or my brother did that rather than holding us accountable. And then when we get into adult life it's really easy when you're at work to say well, I didn't get all the welding done because the parts didn't show up. Which is true. And if you couldn't do it because that stuff didn't show up. It's really easy to carry that over into areas where you absolutely do have control. And like I mentioned a little while ago it's you know if I love you is a powerful statement. Please forgive me and I'm sorry, while being equally powerful statements are so often much more difficult to say. You know, you can tell your wife You love her might be like pulling teeth. Okay, I love you. But to ever admit you were wrong to apologize. It's almost as though if you do that you are somehow weaker. When the truth is, you know the person that can admit to being wrong, and say, Okay, let's find a solution. That's a very strong person, that is someone who's very confident in themselves, and who is willing to admit to being wrong, and then look for the solution. Michael Hingson 10:45 Many years ago, I participated in an accountability group, I was actually part of a Christian program run by the Methodist church called Walk to Emmaus. And we had a pretty close knit group, where we lived in Vista, California, and we met every week. But it was interesting to see those who lived up to the concept of accountability. And those who didn't really want to be held accountable for what they did, or what they committed to. And it is something that we face a lot. One of my favorite books is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. And he talks a lot in the whole concept of team building, about accountability, and using that to help grow and develop trust. Right. And it's, it is so often that we just don't want to be held accountable. And I think though, and as you imply it, I think it is a, it is a learned skill, to learn not to be accountable, but it could just as easily go the other way. And nowadays, there's so much craziness going on and everything that we see in the world, that most people just don't want to be held accountable. They're not held accountable, and they they ridicule those who choose to really live up to the whole concept of accountability. Conrad Hall 12:19 Yes, yeah, it's, I'm wrong. I want to be free to be wrong. If there are consequences, I want you to clean them up. And I want you to pat me on the back for being wrong. And tell me that I'm a good little boy for being wrong. You know, one of the things that I use because with getting happy series, every book in the series comes with a workbook. So if you want to make practical progress you need you need a helping hand. There's a workbook so you can work your way back toward getting happy, through whatever life event it is that you're experiencing. And one of the things that I use is I talk about PAP and poop. And pap is personal empowerment practices. Poop is personally offensive, obstructive practices. And the approach I take is to say, you know, Pap, or poop, which would you like more of in your life? People invariably put their hand up and say, oh, I want more pap. Mm hmm. And then when you talk to them about what they're actually doing on a day to day basis, they're filling their lives with poop. They're lying and saying it's a good thing to do. They criticize people, instead of caring about them. They complain, they threaten, they nag. They, they just do things that are easier. You know, which is easier to make sure that your child eats good food, or just give in and let them have ice cream and you know, fast food and whatever it is that they want. It's absolutely a question of which are you going to learn which are you going to put into practice. And I use the analogy regularly about a garden. And so, you know, if you're going to empower your garden to grow, you need to turn the earth you need to plant your stuff in nice straight rows, you need to weed the weeds. Take those out, you need to water your garden. But you also need a little bit of fertilizer. So you need a little bit of poop to make that garden a really healthy productive garden. And that's where we fall down. You need a little bit of poop. You don't need truckloads of poop. You don't need to fill your life with it. Michael Hingson 15:01 So, essentially good poop. Yeah. So what's, what's an example of good poop? Conrad Hall 15:10 Well, and it's one that requires, you know, you and me to listen, and it comes up with kids all the time. So pap is to encourage your kids to do well, you know, to have them do the things that they're supposed to do. Nagging is when you just, you're just constantly after them. And the simple example is, you know, you're encouraging your children to take responsibility. So one of their chores is to take the garbage out. You're encouraged them to do it. You encourage them again to do it. And then at some point, your child lashes back and says, Would you just quit nagging me about the garbage? Well, there's the learning opportunity. You know, sweetheart, I love you. I'm trying to encourage you to do what you're supposed to do. But you haven't done it. So yes, I am nagging you. And the nagging will stop when you take out the garbage Michael Hingson 16:13 you got. And hopefully, hopefully, they learn, you know, you said it's easy to do the bad stuff, and so on. So the question that comes to mind is, is it really harder to do the good stuff? Or is it only harder, because that's the environment in which we live? In other words, if somebody truly grows up, recognizing and internalizing being accountable, then is it really hard for them to do things that address the issue of incorporating and bringing in more pep? Conrad Hall 16:56 You are exactly right. You absolutely haven't grown up in a violent, very negative family environment. It has throughout my life been easy to do, you know, to be criticizing people to be complaining about people to be even threatening and lying. And I have seen other kids. And I've seen a dynamic in their home. And I remember it from growing up, where their parents were consistently encouraging. And I remember it, because I remember thinking I'd really like to live here instead of living where I do live. So I remember those examples. And in the same way that I, in my teens, and in my 20s would just veer toward negative behaviors. Those friends of mine who have parents that are consistently encouraging them, and holding them accountable, and who are who are consistent about the rules to so what is a No, today is always enough. And what is a yesterday is always a yes. They just it never would occur to them to do the kinds of things I would do. And I can remember, throughout my teens, having friends who were upset and put off when I would start engaging in those negative behaviors. Michael Hingson 18:43 So what did you do? Or maybe you didn't do anything at the time? Conrad Hall 18:49 Well, I would say most of what I did was retreat further into the negative behaviors. Almost as a way of saying, You know what, I can do this. And I don't need you to tell me I'm wrong. You know, I have people at home telling me I'm wrong all the time. And it it was a big part of my life where I got into a situation where I would push people away before they would have an opportunity to reject me. Because I grew up in an environment where I was consistently told that I was unlovable that I wasn't wanted around. And I allowed that to take root. And in my adult years I can remember seeing people would meet me and they would say positive stuff. And very often I would correct them and say yeah, you You just don't know me very well. Because I had done so many negative things because I so readily engaged in negative behavior. And because for a lot of my life, I was filled with rage, not just anger, but rage. And having grown up in such a crap environment, to be honest. And I had it in mind that if people really knew who I was, they just naturally would not like me. But now I'm now 55. I actually had time of recording, my birthday was yesterday. So I'm now 35 years of age. Thank you. And now when I look back, I think, you know, the natural me, the kid. Everybody loved me, because I was happy. You know, it just enjoyed having fun. I just naturally think well of people. I'm pretty easy to get along with person. It wasn't until I got into my teens and my early head all years that I was just a flat out jerk. And I was joining the military. I encourage anybody to do it, who that's what they want to do. For me, it was a bad choice. Because it just was a place that allowed me to be angry. And, you know, kind of rewarded the results that would get. Michael Hingson 21:52 Youmentioned that by the time you were 28, there had been a significant number of suicides and so on, did something happen when you were 28. Conrad Hall 22:01 Actually, several weeks before I turned 28, I was involved in a car crash. I was in the military. I was going home to say goodbye to my parents. And I hadn't spoken to them in five or six years. But I was going home to say goodbye because my unit was going to the former Republic of Yugoslavia. And I had no intention of coming back. Now that would be a very easy place to get involved in a fight and end up dead. So in the process of going home, I goofed on the roadway, and crashing my car at 84 kilometers an hour. And for several minutes was vital signs absent. So it's now you know, almost 30 years later I can look back and say it's kind of laughable. It isn't anywhere near laughable. But it is odd that I had tried so many times to kill myself. And then the thing that convinced me that I wanted to live was ending up dead in a car crash. Michael Hingson 23:28 Why did it change? Why did your attitude change? Conrad Hall 23:35 Well, as strange as it may sound in that car crash I had a direct and personal experience with God, the Creator, the being that made all of this and I'll tell you what, you know what? Meeting him is terrifying. It's not fun. But maybe we're Yeah. Yeah made clear. I always believed, you know, God was out there. But then when you come face to face with what I feel is evidence of his existence really changes your mind about throwing away this gift he has given you. Michael Hingson 24:40 I wrote a book called Thunder dog the story of a blind man his guide dog in the triumph of trust, which was number one New York Times bestseller and is still published. And in that book, I tell specifically about my experience, hearing the voice of God because it did happen on September 11. We were very close to tower two when it began to collapse. And I was with someone who ran off. And I turned and started running away from the tower which needed to do just to survive, right. But I remember thinking to myself, God, I can't believe that you got us out of the building, we come out of Tower One, I can't believe he got us out of a building just to have fall on us. And I heard a voice it said, don't worry about what you can't control focus on running with Roselle, who is my guide dog. And the rest will take care of itself. And I knew it was the voice of God, I had always believed in God. And I believe that I've had many conversations with God, but never with a voice that was that clear and definitive. So I understand exactly what you're saying. In my case, the voice wasn't angry. It was just it was very clearly saying just keep going and do what you're supposed to do. And it will be fine. And don't worry about what you can't control. So I think it is. I'm not surprised, or in any way put off by your comment. I think that it is something that all of us should do more of is listening, hear that voice or hear what there is to tell us we would be so much better off if we did. Conrad Hall 26:23 Yes, I agree. I woke up in the car and could not breathe. Turns out my left lung had collapsed. And somebody from in front of the car or for what felt like in front of me said don't worry. It'll be okay. And then I passed out. And then at some point died. And I never really had the impression of anybody being angry with me. I kind of it's more of an impression of I'm sorry, it took this much to get through to you. Michael Hingson 27:11 But that was your choice. Conrad Hall 27:14 Exactly. Yeah, even the car accident was my choice. I was driving home on a road that is locally known as snake road. And it follows the Niagara Escarpment, and it goes up and down the escarpment as well as back and forth along the escarpment. And I know better you don't drive a road like that, at 80 kilometers an hour. Somewhere in the realm of 5055 miles an hour. And the place that I got into the accident, I didn't realize where I was. And then I did because I saw a sign for hairpin turn. That is signed for 10 miles an hour, 20 kilometers an hour. And the last time I looked at the speedometer, I was doing 84 And I just I pulled my feet back off the pedals. I crossed my arms over my chest and bowed my head and said if I have to die, you know, I get it. Just please don't let me go to hell. And I got an answer. Michael Hingson 28:34 And you came out of it. And what did you do? Conrad Hall 28:40 Well, in true human fashion, I tried to turn my back on it and say oh, it was nothing, you know, and go back to life in the military. God clearly had different ideas because in a few months, I was medically discharged. They're saying you can no longer do the job. And I had to look around for something. And by the time I got out of the military I was my mindset was okay. I will start to listen. Clearly you have something to say? Clearly you have something you want me to do. And I will start to listen. And it was about that time that I also started making a shift away from being angry all the time away from pushing people away. And I started experimenting with letting folks into my life and you know, exploring new relationships. And I certainly had my ups and my downs, just like anybody. But I'm now a much happier and more fun to be around guy. Michael Hingson 30:17 There you go. What kind of work did you get into after the military? Conrad Hall 30:24 I came out and went into construction. Okay. My father was a carpenter. So I grew up with it. Probably by the time I was seven, six years of age, something like that. During summer break, I would be on construction sites, pulling nails. So you just hammer them back and then pull the nail and because my father was saving lumber to build a new house. And I figured, okay, that's something I know how to do. I was still at a state where I wanted his approval. And I thought, Okay, I'll do what he did. He will have to approve of that. Which didn't work. But I enjoy carpentry, I enjoy woodworking. I really enjoy building things. And so building houses, putting additions on houses, I worked my way up to being a field engineer. I have no degree, never attended university. But worked my way up to being a field engineer. And then in 2007, that summer, I realized I was spending a lot of time at the edge of the building, looking down wondering if it would hurt when I hit the ground. And I just picked up one day and said that's it. I'm done. I quit. And spent a few months looking around going, what do I do? What should I do? And a couple of folks suggested writing. And I discovered that the average annual income of a Canadian author is $12,500. And that was so attractive. That's what I decided to do. Michael Hingson 32:38 Why did they suggest writing? Conrad Hall 32:42 I've been writing since I was a kid. Okay, I'm good with words. I actually know how to spell that's a good thing, if you're going to be an author helps. It does. And I have been published several times throughout my life, essays, you know, articles and magazines, that kind of thing. An Anthology of poetry that was published. So what I actually went into was copywriting. I got got involved with some folks, American writers and artists in Delray Beach, Florida. I went down and I listened to the, you know, I listen to them describe copywriting. And I'm sitting in this room with, like, 600 people. And I'm getting progressively more upset. And a couple of folks do what's wrong. This is crazy. This is the kind of stuff I would do on weekends for friends, just to blow off steam and relax. They would ask me to do a an ad for them or to write a letter that they could send for a referral program or whatever. And I would just do this stuff because it was more fun than the carpentry. And I've been doing it for like 20 years for free. Michael Hingson 34:12 You you missed out, I missed out. What kind of books are you writing now? Conrad Hall 34:20 Well, the first six, were all about marketing, all about how to sell your stuff. I've had my own business since I was 19. And so there's always even while I was in the military, I would go out and do little renovations on people's houses and stuff. And then when I came out of the military and I got into high rise construction, I ran a construction business on the side with several crews working in different places. So I've always been able to get people to buy into a solution. I don't quite agree with selling stuff. I think a salesperson a good salesperson is actually just helping you solve a need, you know, whether it's you need a new car, or you need a new washing machine or, you know, you're in the store and you need new clothes. A good salesperson just helps you, you know, solve the problem you're trying to solve? Absolutely. And it just worked out. The first book that I wrote, was a commission by Bob Bly. And he asked me to write a book of all things. The first book I wrote, was a book about how to write books. And it turns out, you know, about 70 to 80% of that manuscript is actually how to sell your book. Because writing it is the easy part, selling it, getting people to see that you have presented them with a solution and getting them to buy into it. That's, that's the hard part that requires some effort. So the first six are all about marketing. And then number seven. And for the foreseeable future, these books are about personal development and self help, you know, about encountering a life event, realizing that you're less than happy about it, and working your way back to getting happy. Michael Hingson 36:42 In addition to doing the books, do you have any kind of a coaching program or a course? Are you thinking about doing anything like that, so that you not only write about it, but you you guide people directly? Conrad Hall 36:55 I do I do coaching. And it's, I'll be honest, I don't say yes to everybody. One of the first qualifiers is, you know, do you believe you are responsible for where you are? And if somebody answer's no, I, you know, I am where I am. Because of this, that the other thing I recognize in myself, I, I do not yet have the strength to deal with that. So I need somebody to at least be at the stage where they're willing to say, you know, I don't know if I get it 100%. But I, I understand where you're coming from, that I'm responsible for the choices I make. And then we can move on with coaching from there. I am looking at several things that I want to build as, sort of do it yourself courses. There, you know, 10 things for self image strengthening three keys to successful achievement. Things that I've learned along the way from people like Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who did, he published Psycho Cybernetics back in 1960. John Maxwell and everything that he has put together. Oh, actually, I should mention Jack Canfield, not only because he has been a terrific mentor, but because he has written the foreword to this first book in the series. So I explained to him that the series is actually inspired by his chicken soup series. And, you know, I'm inclined to call it chicken soup for the 21st century, which I think Jack is just okay with, I'm not sure he likes the idea, but he's okay with it. And it was after I explained that to him, and I said, you know, would you write the foreword for this first book, and he did. So that was terrific. I'm very proud of that. Michael Hingson 39:17 Well, our time is running short, darn it. So we need to do more of this in the future. And I definitely want to chat with you more and get more insights. But for now, how do people get a hold of you? How can people reach out to you? Conrad Hall 39:33 Well, there are a couple of ways if you just if you're, if you're interested in something like coaching or counseling, you can send me an email. And it's a nice easy email address. It's my name conrad@ceriohs.org conrad@ceriohs.org. But maybe more importantly, you If you have a story of encountering a life event, getting unhappy and working your way back to being happy, I would love to hear it. And there's a webpage. If you go to GettingHappySeries.com/shareyourstory, all one word, all lowercase. That takes you to a form where you can start sharing your story. And I would love to hear what it is, I'd love to read it. And when we get to that point where we're doing that life event is one of the titles in the series. I'd be happy to come back and ask if we can use your story. Yeah, immortalize it. Michael Hingson 40:51 Super, and it gives people a way to, to talk and express things. And as we all know, one of the most successful ways we have of moving forward is talking about what we are and who we are, and helping to use that to direct us as to where we want to go. Conrad Hall 41:13 Absolutely. Michael Hingson 41:15 Well, Conrad, thank you incredibly much for being on unstoppable mindset. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. And as I said, I want to continue this discussion and hope that we'll be okay with you. Conrad Hall 41:30 Yes, sir. I'd love to. And I really, truly appreciate the opportunity to be here. Michael Hingson 41:36 Well, you've been wonderful and and I've been extremely fascinated by listening to you. And I think there are a lot of ways that we, we, I won't say always had similar experiences, but we have come to the same decisions and conclusions, which is the important part, I think and how we live our lives on what we do. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Well, everyone who's listening, thank you again, for joining unstoppable mindset. We hope that you enjoyed it, I would invite you to go to Michael hinkson.com/podcast and subscribe. And also, wherever you're hearing this podcast, please go give us a five star review. I appreciate it. I and I would hope that you will reach out to Conrad and learn more about his story. And if you have stories to tell, as an author myself, I am a speaker. I believe that it's all about us telling stories. And I think everyone has a story to tell. So reach out to Conrad and tell him yours. So Conrad again, thanks very much for being here. Thank you, Michael. UM Intro/Outro 42:41 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

In this episode, Eric welcomes Brad Hoppmann, CMO at InvestorPlace, to talk about his approach to developing and implementing a strong marketing strategy while sharing tips on how to make your marketing campaign easily understandable and scalable.“If a fourth grader can understand it, it can scale… If a promotion is too targeted, you just can't scale it.”   - Brad Hoppmann Brad has been in media publishing since before it was trendy, so he's one of the best marketing experts to learn lessons from on topics like messaging, copywriting, calculating customer acquisition cost (CAC), organizational structure, lead conversion, scaling marketing campaigns, and career development.  You'll learn the benefits of having a well-organized marketing team and how Brad's marketing team is structured, how he entered the financial publishing and marketing fields, how to have efficient conversations about strategy with opinionated coworkers, and more! “How do you take a huge investing idea like cryptocurrency and explain it to a fourth grader? If you can do that in a campaign and make it so easy… make the promotion so readable that even a fourth grader can understand it… that is what we've found to be the most successful for us.”                                                                                             - Brad Hoppmann Resources mentioned:Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz: www.breakthroughadvertisingbook.com The Copywriter's Handbook by Bob Bly: https://www.bly.com/copyhandbook Clayton Makepeace's Copywriting Course: https://www.awai.com/makepeace/7-days-or-less/p/ Gary Halbert: https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com About Eric Stockton, VP of Demand Generation, Constant Contact:A pioneer and innovator in the areas of internet marketing, eCommerce, lead generation, publishing, and online media. Eric has directly led $3MM+ ad budgets and $70M+ top-lin sales organizations.Connect with Eric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericstockton About Brad Hoppmann, Chief Marketing Officer, InvestorPlace:Brad Hoppmann is in the business of big ideas and serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of InvestorPlace Media, LLC. Brad started at InvestorPlace Media, LLC in Feb of 2018 and is an expert in all things publishing, financial services, subscription, and direct marketing. Brad currently resides in the Baltimore, Maryland Area.Connect with Brad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradhoppmann

On today’s episode, we welcome back legendary copywriter Bob Bly to discuss his brand new book The AXIOMS of Copywriting: The 5 Universal Elements That Form the Foundation of Advertising Copy That Works. Bob is a professional writer, speaker, and marketing consultant with over 3 decades of experience in business-to-business, high-tech, and direct response marketing. […]

Today's guest on the Geniuses Of Copywriting Podcast is Mike Pavlish. Mike is an A-List direct response copywriter of long form sales letters and video sales letters that have sold over $558 million worth of nutritional supplements and health products. His copywriting has been praised by Stefan Georgi, Justin Goff, Chris Haddad, Gary Bencivenga, Bob Bly and other legends. Mike Pavlish's clients include the most successful health supplement companies in the world including Agora, Organixx, Healthy Directions, Phytage Labs, Truegenics, Al Sears MD, Relaxium, Revealed Films, Healthy Back Institute, Upwellness, Wholetones, Meaningful Beauty and many smaller entrepreneurs who sell supplements online. To learn more about Mike go to https://www.mikepavlish.com

On this episode of the Main Street Author Podcast, I am having a conversation with world-famous copywriter and author, Bob Bly.In my opinion, Bob Bly is one of the living legends in direct response marketing. Recently, Bob has published a second edition of his classic book, How to Write & Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit which he discusses with Mike on this episode.

In this episode, Alex Quin chats with Robert W. Bly (aka Bob Bly). He is a professional writer, speaker, and marketing consultant with over four decades of experience in business-to-business, high-tech, and direct response marketing. He became a self-made multi-millionaire while still in his 30s. Bob is the author of more than 90 published books including Careers for Writers, Secrets of a Freelance Writer, The Copywriter's Handbook, and The Elements of Business Writing. Bob Bly is famously known as “The World's Best Copywriter”. The Direct Response Letter, Bob Bly's free e-newsletter, has over 60,000 subscribers.Wisdom NuggetsCopywriting Can Convert Efforts Into Results: Copywriting is a great way to show authenticity, personality and create a brand image for your company. It is not only about the videos and graphics that you put out. Good copy can be a gamechanger in producing results for your ads and marketing campaigns. Be A Learner: You are never out of school. Be a continuous learner and keep staying updated with all that is going on in the world and the new ways of doing things. With the rate at which things are changing today and technology is advancing, it is important to keep reinventing yourself and staying ahead of the curve. Do You Love To Work: What is your mindset around work? Do you view work as a drag and is just something you need to do to pay the bills? When you start loving work and enjoy the process of it, work can become more fun than fun. Even better, you will end up being really successful when you change your outlook on work.Podcast Outline[01:15] What's going on everyone [01:46] The Copywriter's Handbook[03:10] Bob Bly - Chemist or Copywriter?[04:38] Publishing his first book at 27[05:50] The rundown on copywriting and why it is so important[07:30] Catch yourself making mistakes. Don't let others catch them.[08:10] The 25:50:25 formula[09:20] School is never out for the broke[10:20] Learning is only valuable when you apply it[11:34] Self-education is like the Sunday New York Times[12:20] It is important to go to events and conferences[13:22] Hey (break)[14:46] The Big Book Of Words That Sell[16:08] Do you love to work?[17:18] Bob Bly's client portfolio[18:32] There is less competition when you pick something more technical[19:52] Run with a lean team, but talented team[20:32] Can copywriting be automated through AI?[22:00] Check out Conversion.ai[23:24] How does Bob want to be remembered?[24:16] Connect with Bob Bly[25:14] Three letter domains can be sold for $8 million dollars!Power Quotes‘'Copywriting converts marketing and advertising into productive results.'' - Bob Bly 6:10‘'Never be too busy to learn'' - Alex Quin 5:55‘'Make work more fun than fun.'' - Bob Bly 16:14‘'It's not about how big your team is. It is about how far your team can go.'' - Alex Quin 20:06ResourceAlex Quin's InstagramHustle Inspires Hustle AppHustle Inspires Hustle InstagramBob Bly's WebsiteBob Bly LinkedInBob Bly BooksSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you want to write a great copy, visit: https://bly.com to get in touch with Author Bob Bly Get the latest version of The Copywriter's Handbook - 4th Edition Double your work output in 60 mins using https://FocusBlocks.io Get my Coaching & Mentorship on scaling your Online Business: https://www.2000books.com/grow 7 Day FREE Trial to “The Entrepreneur's Book Club”: https://2000books.com  

Before we get started. And thank you for being here. Let's just remind ourselves of what was covered last week. This is a 6 week series on Copywriting. It does not cover ALL aspects of copywriting, instead, it covers what I believe will help a New Marketer get their core messages in front of the people they want to do business with and start making a significant difference in their marketing, quickly and effectively. We are at week #2. But last week we: Found out what Copywriting is. And we touched on these core things that must be included in good copy. • Why a compelling headline is critical. • Why focusing on the BENEFIT to the reader is critical. • Why you must make a promise to the reader that you later fulfill. • And Why you must back up everything you've said with proof. We talked about how to write those headlines that work. And we learned what Bob Bly said in The Copywriters Handbook, that there are eight time-tested headline categories. Then … We talked about Writing headlines that get results. And the six questions Clayton Makepeace says we need to ask ourselves before we start to write our headline. So, yeah, we covered a bunch of really important things. As you can tell Headlines are important. It dominated the entire episode. If you missed that episode, I highly recommend going back to it first. . . That was your recap. . . Now let's get into today's episode. Let's dive straight in. ======================== Thanks for joining along in this "Copywriting" series. If you think you know of some improvements that could be made, let me know. Click on the link below. https://mkt2online.com/podcast-questions/ You can also send an email to: podcast@mkt2online.com Keep coming back for the remaining (4) upcoming series episodes. ======================== Link to Blog Post with more information. https://mkt2online.com/copywriting-basics-2/ ======================== Contact me at: https://mkt2online.com/contact/ or Email: podcast@mkt2online.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mkt2online/message

On this episode of the Main Street Author Podcast, I am having a conversation with world-famous copywriter and author, Bob Bly.In my opinion, Bob Bly is one of the living legends in direct response marketing.Bob is a copywriter and consultant with 30 years of experience in business-to-business, high-tech, online, and direct marketing.Bob has authored over 100 books (many which I own) and countless articles for a variety of publications.To learn more about Bob, visit Bly.com.

As a freelancer, you must be willing to toot your own horn.  But, how do you pick the right words to do it?  Our guest this week, Bob Bly, the author of "The Copywriter's Handbook," drops by with some pearls of wisdom. This is the final installment of our "Freelance February" series, and it's one you won't want to miss!

It's nice to get people with three different business backgrounds to discuss a book - which is what we did today with Bob Bly's Direct Mail Revolution. Will direct mail still work for Aviation Marketing? Is it obsolete? Has COVID killed it? Mickey prefers Tik Tok, John swears by Direct Mail, and Paula thinks it [...]

We spoke with Dave Holman about driving profits while helping the planet through sustainable real estate solutions. Dave is an investor, author, and environmentalist. Dave has written three books: Youth Renewing the Countryside, Coffee Smuggler, and Cyber Fire.   In this bonus content, Dave shares how to become a better writer through four tips that have served him well.   You can’t wait for inspiration. Treat it like a job and do it daily.   Related: How to Create Content that Converts with Bob Bly   4 Tips to Become a Better Writer Write the story that entertain you Track your writing productivity with a timesheet Set a deadline and use milestones Find a good editor and do a deep-dive into their feedback

Writing words on paper is easy. Writing words that convince people to take action is a whole different ballgame. Adam and Naresh are joined by Bob Bly, one of the world's best and most famous copywriters and founder of CTC Publishing, to find out his tips and tricks for writing copy that will actually sell (and get you more jobs). Bob is the #1 bestselling author of The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart: 1200 Essential Words Every Sophisticated Person Should Be Able to Use, How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit: Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Books, E-Books, Articles, Special Reports, Audio Programs, DVDs, and Other How-To Content, Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More, and the newly released 4th edition of The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells. Website: www.Bly.com www.CTCPublishing.net Featured Photo by Luca Laurence on Unsplash www.WorkFromHomeShow.com

What is copywriting and how do you do it right? Adam and Naresh are joined by Bob Bly, one of the world's best and most famous copywriters and founder of CTC Publishing, to discuss how to successfully enter the world of copywriting. Bob sets some expectations, tells you what you need to learn, and where the demand is for copywriting today. Bob is the #1 bestselling author of The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart: 1200 Essential Words Every Sophisticated Person Should Be Able to Use, How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit: Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Books, E-Books, Articles, Special Reports, Audio Programs, DVDs, and Other How-To Content, Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More, and the newly released 4th edition of The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells. Website: www.Bly.com www.CTCPublishing.net Featured Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash www.WorkFromHomeShow.com

Jason Hartman interviews Bob Bly, author of over 100 books. Today, Bob discusses how to get traffic to your website, convert people, and have a more successful business. Bob shares tips and tricks about SEO placement and different uses of marketing to build your multi-channel program. Bob and Jason also discuss the customer experience and the importance of building platforms designed around their thoughts.  Key Takeaways: [2:15] Bob opens with a quick explanation of the customer journey online.  [3:30] What are some ways to drive traffic to your website? [4:00] Explaining affiliate marketing for online traffic. [7:45] Pros/Cons of long copy vs. a short copy.  [10:45] Bob goes through credibility with web design.  [14:00] SEO should be stronger set on the main site, and the sales aspect should be saved for the microsite. [15:00] The best marketers have integrated multi-channel programs or campaigns to grow their visibility.  [16:45] When a potential customer is on your site, they either buy the product or leave. Make sure you capture their name and email address.  [18:30] Bob’s fundamental tips on how to be a good copywriter. [21:15] Why are sales letters so long? Websites: bly.com A GIFT FROM BOB BLY: www.bly.com/digital www.JasonHartman.com www.JasonHartman.com/properties Jason Hartman Quick Start Jason Hartman PropertyCast (Libsyn) Jason Hartman PropertyCast (iTunes) 1-800-HARTMAN

Jason Hartman interviews Bob Bly, author of over 100 books. Today, Bob discusses how to get traffic to your website, convert people, and have a more successful business. Bob shares tips and tricks about SEO placement and different uses of marketing to build your multi-channel program. Bob and Jason also discuss the customer experience and the importance of building platforms designed around their thoughts.  Key Takeaways: [2:15] Bob opens with a quick explanation of the customer journey online.  [3:30] What are some ways to drive traffic to your website? [4:00] Explaining affiliate marketing for online traffic. [7:45] Pros/Cons of long copy vs. a short copy.  [10:45] Bob goes through credibility with web design.  [14:00] SEO should be stronger set on the main site, and the sales aspect should be saved for the microsite. [15:00] The best marketers have integrated multi-channel programs or campaigns to grow their visibility.  [16:45] When a potential customer is on your site, they either buy the product or leave. Make sure you capture their name and email address.  [18:30] Bob's fundamental tips on how to be a good copywriter. [21:15] Why are sales letters so long? Websites: bly.com A GIFT FROM BOB BLY: www.bly.com/digital www.JasonHartman.com www.JasonHartman.com/properties Jason Hartman Quick Start Jason Hartman PropertyCast (Libsyn) Jason Hartman PropertyCast (iTunes) 1-800-HARTMAN

This week, we welcome Bob Bly on the show to discuss his most recent book The Big Book of Words that Sell. Bob has four decades of experience as a copywriter and McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”. He’s written copy for big-name clients such as Kiplinger, Boardroom, Phillips, Agora, Nightingale-Conant, IBM, AT&T, and more. […]

Want to build a successful career as a freelance writer or author? There's no one better to learn from than world-renowned copywriter and bestselling author of more than 100 books, Bob Bly.

Yours FREE – Bob Bly’s B2B Marketing Handbook!   Since 1979, freelance copywriter Bob Bly has written hundreds of winning B2B promotions – including landing pages, white papers, e-mail marketing campaigns, ads, and sales letters – for over 100 clients including IBM, AT&T, Praxair, Associated Global Systems, Intuit, Ingersoll-Rand, and Medical Economics. Now, in Bob’s 186-page e-book The Business-to-Business Marketing Handbook, you’ll discover 30+ years of tested B2B marketing secrets, including: 10 tips for increasing landing page conversion rates – page 10. The 6 key components of effective B2B offers – page 19. What’s working in e-mail marketing today?—page 112. 7 tips for more effective content marketing—page 78. Best practices for B2B lead generation—page 54. 4 steps to writing SEO copy that both your prospects and the search engines will love—page 49. 5 ways to build a large and responsive e-list of prospects--page 29. How to write technically accurate copy for high-tech products -- page 143. And more… Go here to download your copy today!

The anniversary 200th episode of the List Building Lifestyle is one for the books. My guest is a published author with over 80 books behind his belt. Gary Benciavenga, who’s widely considered one of the best copywriters alive, is honored to call our guest a friend. Bob Bly is one of the world’s most sought-after copywriters. Today he's breaking down the Agora Email Model he uses in his highly-successful businesses

The anniversary 200th episode of the List Building Lifestyle is one for the books. My guest is a published author with over 80 books behind his belt. Gary Benciavenga, who's widely considered one of the best copywriters alive, is honored to call our guest a friend. Bob Bly is one of the world's most sought-after copywriters. Today he's breaking down the Agora Email Model he uses in his highly-successful businesses

Do you want to learn about direct marketing from the best in the world? listen to Drayton Bird on this week's show Direct Marketing by Drayton Bird “Drayton Bird knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.” – David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather One of the world's greatest advertising men, David Ogilvy thought Drayton knew more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. In this podcast, Drayton shares insights about direct marketing, advertising and copywriting. What can you learn from that insight? What are the deadly sins that small businesses are making in their copywriting? The answer is the same as large businesses. Those sins can be summed up in THREE words... Failure to Study Even copywriters are guilty. Drayton shared a story about a group of UK copywriters. How many of them had read what Drayton considers to be the single most important book on copywriting and marketing - Claude Hopkins Scientific Advertising. Just 10% of those copywriters had. http://www.scientificadvertising.com/ScientificAdvertising.pdf   Drayton says the overwhelming number of people in marketing know the 'square root of sod all'. Hopkins' book was originally published in 1923. BUY THIS BOOK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scientific-Advertising-Claude-Hopkins/dp/1603866361 Everything that Drayton writes now, is based on the principles that Hopkins established in this book. Ogilvy said nobody should have anything to do with advertising until they have read this book at least SEVEN times. Read the book and it will make your marketing better. What makes a good copywriter? Drayton says he was influenced by David Ogilvy, even before he met him. These are important if you want to be a copywriter (according to David Ogilvy)... Obsessive curiosity - be very curious about things. Do you love to learn about new things? Do you get fascinated by new clients' businesses? Skill at the art of nit picking High standards of personal ethics - good copywriters are big people without pettiness. Guts under pressure, resilience in defeat. - sometimes people don't respond, when you get turned down, it is depressing, so be persistent. Brilliant brains, not safe plodders - ordinary people are not good at writing copy. Most good copywriters tend to be a little odd in some way other. A capacity for hard work and midnight oil. Charisma, charm and persuasiveness. Ogilvy had a way of changing the subject without warning. The secret of success in advertising was 'charm'. A streak of unorthodoxy. Look at things from a different angle to other people. The courage to make tough decisions. Inspiring enthusiasts - got to be able to motivate. Inspire people to follow and trust you. A sense of humour. 44% of Britain don't like their jobs! A burning desire to take money off people. Get people to buy stuff.   Drayton's book Commonsense Direct Marketing - note the testimonial on the fly - "Read it and re-read it, it contains the knowledge of a lifetime" David Ogilvy It all started because Drayton could not find a simple definition of direct marketing. Drayton has a revised version of his 1980s book "How to Write a Sales Letter that Sells" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Sales-Letters-that-Sell/dp/0749438762 Also see Bob Bly's https://www.amazon.co.uk/Copywriters-Handbook-Step-step-Writing/dp/0805078045/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=M68BDAK67YG890TC70PB Direct Marketing Definition "Any communication that goes out to people directly, or if they respond to directly." Therefore, everything on the internet is all direct marketing. Which 2 Other Books Does Drayton Recommend? John Caples "Tested Advertising Methods" - https://www.amazon.com/Advertising-Methods-Prentice-Business-Classics/dp/0130957011 Caples created systems for testing. He tested everything to find out what did and didn't work. Are you happy to throw money at advertising without knowing wi...

EDIT: I mistakenly said September 13 in today's episode when I meant September 30 for the 1000th episode live event. Please be there! Details at .   The only person in the world I have ever allowed to write in my name is Bob Bly, who wrote the sales copy you see on the home page at LibertyClassroom.com. McGraw-Hill calls him "America's top copywriter." And he knows an enormous amount about it -- and many other things besides.   There's a reason we teach copywriting in the Ron Paul Curriculum: it's an extremely valuable and lucrative skill, and you'd better believe I want my own kids to learn how to do it.   Plenty of great stuff in this conversation.  

Miał i ma na mnie wielki wpływ. Frank Kern, wierny uczeń mówi o nim "stary zrzędliwy Dan". Nie taki znowu stary i nie taki znowu zrzędliwy, ale fakt pozostaje faktem: nazywany jest profesorem szorstkiej rzeczywistości i jest raczej dla tych, którym bliższa jest Ciemna Strona niż kolory tęczy i tulenie drzew. Nie cierpi mieć pracowników i ich nie ma - ma za to wielu klientów, dzięki którym zarabia, rok w rok, miliony dolarów. Dość imponujące zważywszy na to, że zatrudnia jedynie sekretarkę. Jest jednym z najwyżej opłacanych na świecie copywriterów (stawki zaczynają się od 100 tysięcy dolarów + procent od sprzedaży) i jednym z najlepszych konsultantów biznesowych - o ile Ty przyjedziesz do niego, bo Dan nie lubi podróżować i marnować czasu na lotniskach... Jako speaker występował na scenie między innymi ze znanymi nam już bliżej Donaldem J. Trumpem czy Gene'em Simmonsem. Regularnie pracuje z przedsiębiorcami o majątkach od kilku milionów do kilku miliardów dolarów. I właśnie o takich ludziach dzisiaj porozmawiamy. Obserwując ich z bliska i bez filtra, Dan zauważył powtarzające się wzorce, które - co ważne - KAŻDY może przełożyć na swoje życie. Zanim do nich przejdziemy - moja ulubiona historyjka z Danem - skupiająca jak w soczewce to o czym będziemy rozmawiać. 2010 rok, Dan wchodzi z żoną do muzeum i widzi Rolls Royce'a zrobionego specjalnie dla Deana Martina. "O nie..." mówi żona, bo już wie co się szykuje. "Będę go miał!" mówi Dan. "Tyle to ja wiem..." mówi żona. "Samochód nie jest w żadnym wypadku na sprzedaż!" mówi pracownik muzeum. Godzinę później Dan (z żoną) wyjeżdża z muzeum swoim Rolls Roycem Deana Martina. Dan i Rolls Royce Deana Martina, który był nie-do-sprzedania NAJWAŻNIEJSZE CECHY NAJLEPSZYCH PRZEDSIĘBIORCÓW wg DANA S. KENNEDY: POCZUCIE WYŻSZOŚCI: Idea absolutnie centralna i kluczowa dla całej układanki. Od niej się wszystko zaczyna i o nią się wszystko opiera. Przy czym, wymaga pewnego wyjaśnienia. Ci najlepsi, ci, którzy mają najwięcej i są najwyżej (dzięki własnym osiągnięciom) patrzą na resztę ludzi tak, jak zawodowiec patrzy na amatora, tak jak operator GROM-u patrzy na cywila. Dla nich to zwykli śmiertelnicy, pionki w grze, ludzie bez pojęcia. Przy czym, to poczucie wyższości jest zazwyczaj dobrze ukrywane: nie każdemu bowiem, jak Trumpowi, uchodzi ono płazem. Jednostki, które odniosły największy sukces, to ci, którzy w skrytości własnych myśli WIERZĄ we własną WYŻSZOŚĆ a tym samym w ZASŁUGIWANIE na wielki MAJĄTEK i ogromną WŁADZĘ. - powiedział nie kto inny a sam Andrew Carnegie, pierwszy amerykański miliarder. "Powiem absolutnie szczerze, że najlepsi z tych, z którymi pracuję mają właśnie to przeświadczenie. A będąc jeszcze bardziej szczerym dodam, że sam je posiadam. Czuję się znacznie lepszy od otaczających mnie zwykłych śmiertelników." - mówi sam DK. Oczywiście, przeciwieństwem poczucia wyższości jest poczucie niższości - jeśli masz z tym problem, skorzystaj z BEZWSTYDU i będzie po problemie. "Najważniejszym i największym zwycięstwem jest POKONANIE przekonania, że nie powinieneś wyrażać swojego narcyzmu." Bob Bly w "Bezwstydzie" Dodatkowo, Kennedy wskazuje na realne powody do rzeczonego poczucia wyższości - a mianowicie za tym przekonaniem, za tym głębokim przekonaniem, idą ZACHOWANIA, które je wzmacniają. Pod tym względem, co bardzo wygodne, DK jest behawiorystą: pożycz sobie zestaw przekonań (jestem lepszy od innych) a potem dodaj zestaw zachowań, które Cię w tym utwierdzą. Przekonania te - na początku - wcale nie muszą być "prawdziwe". Możesz pożyczyć je z przyszłości. Uczynisz je prawdą poprzez właściwe zachowywanie się - bo jak przecież wiemy, zachowania nakręcają przekonania a przekonania nakręcają zachowania. Tak więc punkt wejścia może być tu dowolny. Przekonaj się własnym zachowaniem "W większości przypadków to poczucie własnej wyższości jest pierwsze i w większości wypadków jest urojone. Jednak jeśli dodamy do tego CELOWE zachowania,

The post JAH 1: Bob Bly On The Secrets Of Freelance Success appeared first on Just Add Hustle | Marketing, Mindset And Business Ideas For Writers. Ready to launch a successful freelance career, or, scale your current freelance career to new heights? Listen in as Bob Bly -- master copywriter and freelancer with 34+ years of experience -- shares his most powerful secrets of freelance success! The post JAH 1: Bob Bly On The Secrets Of Freelance Success appeared first on Just Add Hustle | Marketing, Mindset And Business Ideas For Writers.

Online training courses are essential for entrepreneurs. All entrepreneurs want to provide the best products so that they can sell them effortlessly, but the problem is they don’t know how to start creating one or, they have started creating, and they're having a hard time finishing it because they want it to be perfect. In this talk with Bob Bly, one of the best in the field of copywriting and Internet marketers, Bob shares steps on how to create your product and the different modes of delivering them to your target audience. One of the ways is audio which provides a more natural and less polished product, this is what the audience likes better. Key Takeaways If all your messages are sales messages, people will be turned off. If you make a percentage of the messages pure content that provides useful information people will appreciate it more. They'll become more loyal, bigger fans and they'll buy more. Slightly over half of your emails should be pure content and the other half should be pure sales messages. There are four learning modes of online training courses; audio-listening, video-watching, reading, and experience. First, you decide if online training courses or other products should be audio or video. Different subjects demand different media. Different learning modes can be mixed throughout your online training courses, depending on what your customers prefer. You can't please everybody all the time, which is why you mix it up and make things in different media. It pays to have your content in multiple formats, for example, online training courses can be audio, video or an ebook You can put together any information product without writing a word. The finished audio product has a higher perceived value than a book, particularly when they’re online training courses. A preferred method of selling is to generate hot traffic and to send emails from my lists and my affiliates' lists to my landing pages. The Process of creating online training courses Define the topic or problem. It could be a problem that needs to be solved or a skill set you possess. Make an outline listing all the key points with either bullet points or a list of questions about how to create online training courses. Use several options for recording and producing the audio for your online training courses Another  method is using Facebook as a way to outline key information and figure out what should go into the product. This should be based on what people want to know. Put up your own little survey page where you ask for input and list topics. Publishing newsletters will make people talk to you and ask questions. Those questions tell you what they want to learn. Creating mp3 and the recording Be invited to some venue, such as an internet marketing conference or a trainee association meeting, to speak on your topic where it's a big event and they're recording it. Deliver live in front of groups, it has the energy of the live audience feedback. Work with a partner who can be either be  the interviewer or a fellow subject matter expert. and essentially to have the interview or conversation which is much more dynamic Packaging an audio Sell as a stand-alone product. Bundle it with your other products, it can be sold for a higher price since it has a higher perceived value. Not editing your audio/video may keep its spontaneity and help you finish the product in a much faster time. The audience likes things that are more natural and less polished. Books are the only medium where a higher professional level of production is demanded. Put a really good 2-minute excerpt of your online training courses, as an autoplay video on the landing page. Luis Congdon: Today, you're going to be meeting copywriter extraordinaire Bob Bly. He has published over 89 books all under well established publishing companies. He has written for over hundred different clients. He has given seminars all over for the US army. He's been on national TV multiple times. This guy is truly a legend. His brain is just packed full of so much knowledge and we're so excited to have him here to give us some lessons about how to create a product. All right! We're here with Bob Bly. It's so great to have you on the show. Are you ready to launch Bob? Bob Bly: I'm very happy to be here and I am ready. Luis Congdon: It's really awesome to have you here. I've read some of your copywriting books. There was one that's like a handbook of online training courses for copywriters. I have been following your stuff on Facebook and what's really interesting is that we've had Ben Settle on the show who is one of my friends. I love his stuff. As I've been following you, I noticed that you both have two different methods for using email.  I found that this was really cool because this kind of spurred this whole conversation that went from Facebook to the Warrior Forum. Tell me how you and your work with online training courses differs.Sell your reputation, not your online training course Bob Bly: I worked with a lot of the more mainstream internet marketers, such as Health Sciences Institute's, Newsmax, Agora Publishing, and Dr. Sears. What these guys found, is that if all your messages are sales messages people will be turned off. They will unsubscribe and your sales rate will actually go down. If you make a percentage of the messages pure content with useful information, they  will appreciate it more. They will become more loyal, bigger fans and they will buy more. I think slightly over half of your emails should be pure content and the other half should be pure sales messages. It has been a difficult choice, but based on  the economy and  a lot of personal experience and observation, by me and my clients that this is what works the best.   Luis Congdon: Booyah Ben! I hope you're listening because you just got beaten in the email game. Bob Bly: Nobody beats Ben in the email game. What I would say is maybe he misrepresents himself because he says, "Every message should sell". And yes, he does sell at the end of a lot of messages, but when reading them it's obvious that there's a lesson, some great content, and a story. They're really not pure sales messages. So I think, whether he admits it or not, he sort of follows this rule.Selling your product or online training courses First, you decide whether the product should be audio or video. Then think about the method you'll use to teach your online training courses. There's four different learning modes which are, audio-listening, video-watching, reading, and experiencing it. Different subjects demand different media. For example, if you're playing golf, you pretty much have to do a video. People have to see the swing. Like there is a guy out there named Bill Dewees who teaches people how to do voice overs. It's got to be done through audio. You need to hear him do it. For other topics to put in your online training courses, it's really your choice. The reason I mix it up is two-fold. first, you do have some customers for whom the audio method of learning is their preferred mode. They don't want to read a book or watch a video. Luis Congdon: What?! People don't want to read books? Bob Bly: Yeah! Can you imagine that? It's actually upsetting to me as a book addict. Luis Congdon: You know what we should try doing Bob, is we should try splintering a book and posting it on Facebook. Just do short versions of the book, like parts of it. Maybe people would read it that way. Kamala Chambers: It’s like one paragraph of your book at a time. And I think you have 85 books or something, Bob. That would take a long time. So when you're putting out content, are you talking about selling them on amazon? Are you selling audio products or online training courses on any membership sites? Where's your preferred place to sell your information?Using audio for your online training courses Bob Bly: Well I have published 89  paper bound books with major publishers in the industry. One reason I do audio is because some of my customers want that. It never fails. I'll send out an email advertising a new e-book and I'll get people asking, "Don't you have this on audio?" Or I'll send out an email advertising a product through audio and the person will say, "I don't want to listen to it. Do you have it in book?" You can't please everybody all the time which is why you mix up and make things in different media. - Bob Bly I know you guys are too young to remember Howard Shenson, who was very big in information and consulting in the 70s and 80s, but he made the statement, "People will pay over and over again for essentially the same content in different formats.” So that's why it pays to have your content in multiple formats. That's why I like audio. The other reason I recommend audios to other people, is that a lot of people approach me say they want to get into information marketing, but they either can't or don't want to write. They find it an exhausting mental chore to needs be avoided at all cost. And I say to them that they could put together any informational product without writing a word and of course ironically, an audio is much easier and quicker to do as well. I do have products on Amazon. I do have a membership site as well, but  really, my preferred method of selling online training courses is to generate hot traffic and send emails from my lists and my affiliates' lists to my landing pages. Some people prefer the Agora Publishing model. The model works the same way, by building a responsive house list, making deals with affiliates who have also done responsive house lists reaching to the same audience, and market your products by sending emails. This will drive the traffic to your product's landing pages. Kamala Chambers: Fantastic. So, how do you go about creating these products and online training courses? This is something that I teach also, so I'd love to hear your perspective. The big thing about it is really deciding what you're trying to sell to your audience. Through whatever it is that you're creating, what's the problem you're trying to solve or are you really aiming to support people through that process? So, I'd love to hear a little about your process when creating an audio products and online training courses. Creating audio products and online training courses Bob Bly: First, I define the topic or problem to be covered in the online training courses. Sometimes there is a problem that needs to be solved. Sometimes there is a skill set they want to master, but it's normally one of those two things. And so I open up a word file. In all caps I write the problem, trying to make it sound a little bit like a title. Don't really worry about it too much if the title isn't finished yet. Then I make an outline listing all the key points that I think  someone would want to know. Let's say I was doing online training courses about book publishing, one of my key points would be, "How to write a book proposal" and other one would be, "Where and how to find a literary agent.”  So, I make an outline that has these two key points. And then once you have that outline, you have several options for recording and producing the audio.  I could get into what those are if you wish, but I always start with an outline. You can either just use bullet points or have list of questions. Luis Congdon: You know, a method that I've really loved is using Facebook as a way to create the outline and to figure out what should go inside of the copywriting. The first digital product I ever made was about podcasting. I created a Facebook group, that was completely free, for podcasters teaching them all about podcasting. Everything related to podcasting was posted inside this group. The podcasting aficionados, the fans, and the people that do it every day, joined this group. They started asking questions and I started taking note of the questions that came up repeatedly. Sometimes, I would create polls or I would go in there and ask a question to see what kind of feedback I would get. Or if I didn't know an answer but I saw this question being asked a lot, I'd go and ask it. I would find out what the answer was from other experts and then later, once I had all the content and knew what everybody wanted because I'd been checking out this market for a while inside of Facebook, I had a program put together and my outline was pretty much pre-made for me by the people who needed the product itself. So this makes it very easy to sell it back to them and you can feel confident when you say, "This is what you guys have been asking for. So here it is." You can do the same for online training courses as well. Getting feedback is essential to improve the quality of your online training courses Bob Bly: That's a smart method that people will love. There's another method where you put up your own little survey page, but not using SurveyMonkey. It’s just a little landing page where you ask questions and list topics about how you can increase the quality of online training courses. Let's say, the topic was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. The questions are: 1. Do you want to know what gear you need? 2. What's the best way to get to the mountain? 3. What kind of guides would you hire? You ask them to say, "This is important, can you drive? There is a lot of traffic there.” Then you can reward them by saying, “If you fill in the form and click submit, we'll give you a book  that will tell you more.” That's another way to do it, but I like what you suggested even better. I have a medium to a medium small list of 65,000 subscribers. So when I publish my newsletters, I get a lot of white mail. I get a lot of people replying to these emails. I find out from what they say, what they want to know. People ask me questions by phone also, but mainly by email. Those questions tell me what they want to know about and what will go into your online training courses.Surveys to understand the market to sell your online training courses Kamala Chambers: Well, surveys are so powerful and I just want to reiterate that we should never underestimate the power of a survey and understanding your market. You could put out audio products all day long, but if people don't want it if they're uninterested in it and they're not hot to buy it, then what's the point? I think it's just absolutely important and necessary to first survey your audience. Find out what they want in your online training courses or track your audience, just like you were saying Luis. Another thing to note, is that when I've created my first info product I was a coach and I'd find  myself repeating the questions to clients and getting the same answers over and over again. So I said, "Well, I'm just going to record this." Then, it was so much easier that I could just get passive income from online training courses, rather than having to be a one-on-one coach. Bob Bly: Well first, if you don't mind, I don't think we should talk about how to create online training courses, because the outline and the questions are the raw materials for it. But how do you actually create the mp3 file and the recording? Well, there are a couple of options for doing it.The two best methods to sell your online training courses One of the best ways is to be invited to some venue, to an internet marketing conference or a trainee association meeting, to speak on your topic where it's a big event that they're recording, you make a deal with them. Normally, they have you sign something that says they make all the money from the event and they keep the recording. I say to them, "You can do all that, but I also get a copy of the mp3 and I co-own the rights." A lot of my informational products are audio and video files that I've delivered in front of live groups. The advantage of that, is that it has the same energy and feedback of a live audience. So that's one method. My favorite method is to work with a partner who can be either just the interviewer or a fellow subject matter expert and essentially to have the interview or conversation. This is much more dynamic than just you sitting in a studio by yourself, reading the bullet points and questions and then answering then them. This is very monotone and won't keep the listener interested. Those are 2 of my favorite ways to sell them. Luis Congdon: Sounds like podcasting to me; in its early days. You know, one of the things that I see a lot of people do that is really powerful, is link to do a podcast. This is a subject that I'm passionate about. I'm very passionate about using podcasting to sell online training courses. I'm known as the podcast guy. I'm known for being Facebook organic and building a business on Facebook that is all organic. However, whenever I tackle these subjects, I'm kind of like a technician and I spend a lot of time with it and it's not what most people will do. And so the product that needed to be created  is  answering the question, "How to do these things?" And they're very specific. And people wouldn't really want to pay a lot of money for it or only a few people would end up buying it. And by so surveying the audience, I was able to find out more of the global stuff. I mean, that's really what you're getting out there. Right Bob? Bob Bly: Yeah. I'm not used to podcasting, although my younger son is a podcasting addict. So those are couple of the ways that we create online training courses. Market your online training courses - Define your demographic In terms of selling them, different people will use different mechanisms, but I will either take an audio and sell it as a stand-alone product or I’ll bundle it with other stuff I have. When you do something that's bundled in multimedia, you can charge a higher price as it has a higher perceived value. So those are the two ways I packaged an audio product. I still offer them both as a downloadable mp3 and in a CD format, which a lot of people do not do anymore. Kamala Chambers: The new thing is flash drive. You can just drop ship them a flash drive. Do you ever do that for your online training courses? Bob Bly: No. We either let them download the mp3s for the online training courses or we send them a CD album. My demographic is older and lot of them like to put a CD in the radio of the car and listen that way. The younger people will tend to want a digital form of the online training courses for one of their devices like a laptop or an iPad or they’ll download it to their iPod. Kamala Chambers: Yes. It's really important to know your demographic and how you deliver your products including online training courses. That's another reason to do a survey. That's one thing that I ask when I put out a new product. I always ask, "How do you want your information delivered to you?" I'm really surprised sometimes. Some audience, they just want videos, some want the flash drives, some want the audio, and then its blend for others. So I think it's important to appeal to your audience and mix it up too. Really great stuff! So I want to throw this in there. This could be really easy. The first time I put out a product I had a headset and I had whatever recording software came with my computer. I have a Mac so it was garage band style.  Just open it up and started recording. It can be as easy as you want it to be or you can make it complex. You just and your friend like Bob was talking about. Have your friend in the room with you and then have someone who's also an expert. You guys can banter about it and get stuff out that way. So Bob, anything else about creating online training courses before we get into selling it? Bob Bly: What I do when I'm doing it, with a friend who's really a pure colleague and also knowledgeable in the topic, we tend to sit at a table with a nice high quality digital recorder. Each of us has a nice high quality digital microphone. And we have a conversation about it. And one thing that shocks people, we don't edit it. It is pure raw, right off the first draft and it has the spontaneity that a lot of editing will take away from it. And also we can do it in much faster time. And just to give you an idea of the numbers, one of the early programs I did with my partner Fred Gleek, I think we were recorded it for maybe 5 hours. That was our complete labor in it, no editing. That time, there were no mp3s. We gave it to our fulfillment house to do CD's and we sold well over $120,000 in sales worth of those online training courses. So in an hourly rate, that's pretty good. Luis Congdon: You know, that's awesome and I can't believe you just told us that you don't edit your stuff. I mean, Bob, shouldn't everything be edited these days? We want to look perfect in front of everybody.Market your online training courses - Consider audience preferences Bob Bly: It's funny and I worked in the corporate world in the late 70s. We were taught if you're going to do a marketing video, it has to be as close to broadcast quality as possible, but today that's not true. People do videos on their smartphones with their webcams. In the current state of business, people have come to like things that are a little more raw, natural, and less polished. - Bob Bly It's very strange to me but that's the way it is. Luis Congdon: Yeah. I want to agree with you on that because it totally reminds me of when we launched a program and there was this big global thing that was happening with podcasting, and I was wearing a blazer a button up shirt. The way it was received was not as great as I wanted it to be. And the team that was producing this and helping us put this thing on came back and said, "Luis, I think you should wear either just a button up shirt or a Henley so it's just a shirt with 3 buttons and long sleeves And I did that and the reception was phenomenal. They really stressed, just bring them in your living room not in your office. Bob Bly: Now, I remember the first time I gave a talk recently without a suit and tie, I was in shock. I said, "How could I be doing this?" But that's how all the speakers dress. The formal is gone and the only medium where I think a higher professional level of production is demanded is ironically, books. Luis Congdon: Yeah that's true. I get angry anytime I see a letter that shouldn't be there. It's true though. If I'm reading a book, I'm like, "Why did this person misspell that word? Do they not know that "there" should be spelled that way? I'm going to write it up. I don't know if I trust this guy anymore." Bob Bly: That is the problem. In writing the standard is higher. I had someone called me up and complain about one of my books. Luis Congdon: They called you? Bob Bly: Yeah. They said on page 3 and 33, you misspelled whatever. I said, "Not for nothing but that book is a hundred thousand words long. You know what error rate that is to have one misspelled word out of a hundred thousand?" And I did the math for him but yet, when people see a typo, they have a very negative reaction. If you noticed, none of us wants a regular job on this callI. If you're looking for a job and you have one typo on your LinkedIn profile or your resume, that's it. Luis Congdon: Done. So now, if I go back to this book Bob, how you corrected or -- Bob Bly: No because it was not an eBook. It was a paperback book published by my regular publisher and there were 5,000 copies in the warehouse. Kamala Chambers: Of course. Bob Bly: So I wrote them a letter and said, "On the next printing, could you fix this?" Whether they actually will remember to do that is another story. Kamala Chambers: Well, before we wind up, any pro level tips you want to give to sell your audio products? Luis Congdon: Any last tips that people should know about the How to be a copywriter. Bob Bly: I have found that with video and audio, if you can find one or if you have one, putting a really good 2-minute excerpt as an autoplay video on the landing page really helps. Give them a little sample. And we do that with a lot of our audio and video files. Kamala Chambers: Awesome. Well, it's been so great to have you on the show. Luis Congdon: It’s our pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so much for your time Bob. Bob Bly: I really enjoyed it. Read MORE - Click HERE   MUST HAVE RESOURCES Free Gift From Bob Bly – Make Money Online Report  Write & Grow Rich – Earn Money Writing  Become An Instant Guru – Build Your Fame  Launch School – Create and Sell Your Own Online Training Courses 

We are so excited to have you guys here. This is something we are absolutely passionate about. It’s bringing you the Thriving Launch Podcast. Our mission really is to support you in living the best life possible. We’re going to give you true tips, real tools that you can apply to your business every Tuesday. Then, on the other days, we’re going to take a journey where we interview the top experts in the world in their industry. They are the people who are going to help you with your relationships, deepening your intimacy, deepening your spiritual practices, meditation, and a wide variety of things. And then, Luis and I are also going to be here to support you with real life stories as we travel the world and bring you this podcast. Luis Congdon Hey, this is Luis Congdon from thrivinglaunch.com. I’m excited to be here with you. It’s been a real honor and pleasure to be in the process of creating this podcast, finding the top experts, the people that I really love and admire. People like Dr. Harville Hendrix, Don Miguel Ruiz, Kyle Cease, Russell Brunson, and the list of experts that we have on the show goes on and on. More than anything, I’m just really excited to have you here. I personally come from a background of non-profit, working for over 10 years in the non-profit field, helping low income married couples. Over 300 couples I actually saw personally and then, taking my work and starting an online business. Starting several podcasts and bringing you the best of everything from my life as a former want to be monk, living in Ashrams to starting my own business and working in non-profits and just bringing all of that together to create a show that really helps people ranging from entrepreneurs to people who just want some self-help, advise and tips, and people that just want the best in life. Kamala Chambers And I’m Kamala Chambers. My passion for this show really stems from my background. I started off as an energy medicine practitioner, then, became a health coach. I became an instructor for energy medicine and health coaching, went in to intimacy coaching. So for the last 12 years, I’ve really been in the fields of self-help and wellness and for the last 6 years, I’ve had my business solely online and helping people build their own online business. The show is truly a passion project for Luis and I. We’re so happy to bring it to you and share real life stories as we travel the world together and work on our own businesses, our own love life, and share this journey with you. Luis Congdon If you head on over to thrivinglaunch.com, we got some really awesome resources for you. With every single episode, we make sure to get it fully transcribed. That means if you want to read the full episode or you just want to go back to certain areas and reread those or you’d like to quote and you want to grab it, use it as a Tweeter, as Facebook share, or you want images and you want to share them. We have images and transcriptions but not only that. What if guest mentions a cool book and you forget about it? Well, you can go over to thrivinglaunch.com and you can go to that specific episode and you can grab the book because we make sure to save links there for the resources for you on the website. Also, what if there’s a cool program or course or meditation thing or diet thing that they mentioned or name of somebody that you want to look up and you forget about it, you can go to thrivinglaunch.com. You can have all of that plus we’ve got a lot of awesome trainings for you on how you do social media, how to start your own podcast, how to launch an online course, and how to create passive income. We’ve really want you to get the best out of life. So at our website, we’ve created a hub for you to have a home and you can go there anytime you want to thrivinglaunch.com. And if you’ve enjoyed today’s show or any of the shows from here on out, be sure to subscribe to the Thriving Launch Podcast to get updates and to immediately get the new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. WHAT TO LISTEN TO NEXT           The Key To Success – Dale Partridge           Life Transitions – Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.           Online Training Courses – Bob Bly           Secret of Success – Jack Canfield           The Power of Belief – Bruce Lipton           Social Media Branding – Cherie Aimée           Time Management Techniques – Jay Papasan MUST HAVE RESOURCES The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle  The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz  Want to make a big impact and have a thriving business? - Launch a Podcast Guide 

Episode 130 “Troglodytes” 2:00 We’re live! No Derick today. Derick is conducting his webinar. John talks about being late because of  being sucked into a Youtube comment.   8:00 EntreProgrammers continue to talk about the distortions in reality. John talks about taking the reality punch when meeting with the mastermind.  13:30 Josh asks about Chuck’s question on the up coming conference projects. Chuck talks about using Member Press for ticket sales. Josh mentions a feature called Events in Drip.  18:00 Josh mention way to keep audience warm for the tickets sales. Josh says to target last years audience with an email. Josh recommends broadcast to Chuck.  Josh talks about forgetting to publish a draft.  25:00 Josh says lesson learned is not to get too tricky with your automation first time through. Do it the simplest way possible.  27:00 Chuck is trying to decide if he should do and Early Bird pricing like last year. He mention to really needing to do an early bird ticket sale. Josh and Chuck see not real issue in doing an early bird, depending on the price difference.  31:00 Chuck mentions doing the early bird to create urgency and doing a double launch.  38:00 Chuck thinks that Java Script, Angular and React are going to do best for this year. Chuck talks about the scheduling of the conferences for the best sales.  42:00 Josh talks about selling 30 seats for his upcoming webinar. Josh mention that he could possible get some help with at email for Bob Bly. This could help get more on his email list.  49:00 Josh talks about people reaching out the him and John for content to add to a passive income bundle from Azat.  50:00 The EntreProgrammers talks about seeing familiar name from hyper responders on their emailing list, as they sign-up or opt-in to products, programs, or services.  54:00 John talks about how his Surface Pro is running hot, and never using the tablet feature or disconnecting it.  Chuck talks about his iPad Pro and how appealing it is as a tablet. Josh says he is over using a tablet.  58:00 Chuck talks about his long journey with his Mac, but is thinking about switching about to Window or Linux. John mention he would not go to Linux.  Josh talks about the trouble he had when he first move to a Mac.  1:08:00 John talks about the changes between Mac and Windows, and the conflict with touch screen. John talks about the possible future of computing, like the Hololens.  1:12:00 Chuck ask about how to fit exercise into the his schedule. Josh talks about this routine for exercise and daily habit he built-in to his work day.  1:16:00 John shares that he runs an hour and half as a standing appointment everyday. John suggests starting the day with the most brain intensive activity, because your attention wears down.  1:24:00 Josh talks about the creating deficit in caloric intake, and creating overhead in the exercise daily. John talks about changing your location to make changes, like a boot camp situation.   1:30:00 John mention that he is still not back to where he left off in weight, before he went to China. Josh mention that he sign up for SumoCon in Austin TX. Josh shares more on the “How To Market Yourself” email course.  Josh talks about the differences this course will make for those who are interested.  1:45:00 Chuck asks about the notification in Thrives and patches to correct and issue. John mentions that Youtube subscribers are jumping and growing to 35,000 subscribers. John talks about a controversial thumbnail on one of his Simple Programmer videos. Video 1:50:00 The EntreProgrammers talk about controversial topics on race and how people talk about different cultures on nationalities Thoughts of the Week! John - Troglodytes Chuck - Focus on one priority a day Josh - When you push yourself consistently for awhile, you redefine what your capable of doing.  

Donna Kozik grew up on a 200-acre dairy farm in northwestern Pennsylvania and now lives near the freeways and beaches of San Diego, where she shows coaches, entrepreneurs and others how to become published authors the "fast and easy way." In fact, she has set a personal goal of turning 1000 people into published authors in the next 12 months. Her system for doing this is live and virtual "Write a Book in a Weekend" events, featuring Donna's "fill-in-the-pages" book templates plus a weekend of live audio and recorded video messages that motivate and inspire soon-to-authors to complete their books in 2 days. She is former newspaper editor and senior communications specialist, a two-time award winning book author who has been featured in Woman's Day and Women's World magazines, The LA Times and The Baltimore Sun newspapers, NPRs Marketplace news magazine and the NBC Nightly News. She's also been a paid national media spokesperson for Sprint PCS and has been featured in several other books including ones by Bob Bly and MarketingProfs, along with Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and It's All Small Stuff Stories.

Steve Slaunwhite discusses five key takeaways from the recent 4 Weeks to B2B Pro Virtual Workshop with Casey Hibbard, Gordon Graham, Bob Bly, Casey Demchak, Melanie Rembrandt, and Ed Gandia.

Episode 58 "If She Doesn't Float, We Burn Her"1:07 – We're Live!2:28 – EntreProgrammers Retreat, December 4-5, 2015, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Workshops on email marketing, podcast, brand building, etc.  Sign up for the mailing list and stay up to date with detail as they develop.http://entreprogrammer.com/retreat2015Chuck shares his week9:53- Chuck’s Kick-starter campaign reached it’s funding requirements!  Time to record videos, and begin work. This is a great example of entrepreneurial planning. Chuck decides from multiple point of view how he should maximize on the screencast he is going to market. There are several approaches he is using to market; in this case, email is one ways in this particular market that is used to reach out.    Josh talks about soccer ball…a job Josh was looking into19:41- Josh receives advice for the EntreProgrammers about techniques on following up, and creating a conversation to get the next interview.   John talks about understanding the employer’s need and be confident enough to carry out these duties.  Chuck: "Hulk wants job…now!" or give this approach a shot.Virtual Office tools 26:45 – John buy Boomerang, a Gmail plugin that help you follow-up. John is trying to connect with Chad Fowler, and Chuck has some connections.  http://www.boomeranggmail.comJosh shares a similar plugin called Streak a free Gmail plugin https://www.streak.com 30:04 – John's book, Soft Skills, is on the front page for the ultimate list of programming books.http://simpleprogrammer.com/2015/03/23/the-ultimate-list-of-programming-books/John has a plan or technique to help Soft Skills in sales, is to make associations with other books in the best-seller list.  This is a simple, but affective way to market.36:00 – Minimalist or EssentialismJohn talks about focusing on one project at a time, and completing project that will be used through out the rest of the year. These new ideas are to create a new book, along with 52-blog post scheduled for a weekly release. This blog post will coincide with the book. The main point is to create this material within a 2-month time period and schedule the material for the rest of the year. Next, to is complete all the video material for Simple Programmer within a month, for the rest of the year. This allows for focusing on one project, instead of juggling several.  42:21 – Josh ask what things John plans to cut out of his task. Some WorkoutsGet Up and Code! 45:46 – Derick directs Johns attention to author, blogger, Chris Strom http://japhr.blogspot.com50:32 – John is about to up his video quality soon.58:00 - John charts out the hour of his week. Blog =3 hoursYouTube = 2 hoursEntreProgramers = 2 hoursEmail =10.5 hoursGet up an Code = 1 hourSpeaking Engagments = 7 hours  Guest Post = 4 hours Anthony at Health CareDoug = 1 hourTwitter = 3 hoursZephyr = 1 hour  Total about 35ish hours1:00:00 – The EntreProgrammers talk about the pros & cons of breaking the cycle of work. Watch and listen closely to the possible drawbacks and successes involve in taking a cessation in your regular schedule. 1:11:17 – Josh had his conference, Get Clients in 30 Days as a Copyrighter Conference. Josh idea is to target software companies for clients. Josh attempts to get one on one time with Bob Bly. He manages to get the teacher's pet treatment form Bly.This proves the social and communication skills entrepreneurs have to possess to make successful networking and connections.1:27:43 – The EntreProgrammers talk about the Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss great book for adding to entrepreneurial skill set.  Speaking at Conferences1:30:00 - These programmers discussing value in participating in conference as a keynote speaker. Is it worth the time? What kinds of opportunities does this attract?  When should you speak at conferences?1:34:30 - Chuck has other appointment to keep, iPhreaks and such. 1:39:07 – John an actor? What? 1:45:31 – Josh and the programmers decided that speaking at a conference may give leverage to a "new comer" in the field.1:46:03 - John recommends the book,Traction 1:49:19  Thought for the DayDerick – It’s not about being perfect, it about progressJohn – Focus on what is essentialJosh – Don’t be content to stand inline Publish your podcast with SignalLeaf: https://www.signalleaf.com/

Nick Usborne has been a copywriter and direct response marketer for over 35 years. He has worked with major companies including: Citibank, Apple, New York Times, and many more.   He has done conferences and trainings for companies like: Yahoo, Walt Disney Attractions and more.   He was the winner of AWAI copywriter of the year joining past winners that include Dan Kennedy, Ted Nicholas, Bob Bly, Richard Armstrong.   http://www.inspiredinsider.com/nick-usborne-one-question-inspires/

Bob Bly is one of the Legends of Copywriting and is the author of more than 80 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide To Direct Marketing and The Copywriter's Handbook.   With a 30+-year track record as a top freelance copywriter he has been dubbed "America's top copywriter" by McGraw-Hill and praised by legendary ad man David Ogilvy.   Bob Bly talks about how to avoid burnout and what pushes him.   Watch full video here>> http://www.inspiredinsider.com/bob-bly-one-question-inspires/

I recently had the opportunity to interview legendary copywriter Bob Bly.We talked for almost an hour. What a fascinating guy!Among other things, I asked him:What his typical day looks likeWhere his income comes fromHis thoughts on social mediaHow to get lead-gen copywriting work in B2BHow to get your income to the $200,000 level and beyond I even threw him a surprising question towards the end. And he replied with an equally surprising answer.

Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter who has written copy for hundreds of clients including Network Solutions, ITT Fluid Technology, Medical Economics, Intuit, Business & Legal Reports, and Brooklyn Union Gas. Awards include a Gold Echo from the Direct Marketing Association, an IMMY from the Information Industry Association, two Southstar Awards, an American Corporate Identity Award of Excellence, the Standard of Excellence award from the Web Marketing Association, AWAI's Copywriter of the Year, and ETR's Lifetime Achievement Award in Marketing. He was voted one of the 50 most influential people in sales lead management by the Sales Lead Management Association. Bob Bly is the author of more than 70 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide To Direct Marketing (Alpha Books) and The Copywriter's Handbook (Henry Holt & Co.)

Here is a two hour interview with master copywriter Bob Bly. This is a GREAT interview because I grilled Bob with your questions on the inside secrets of the copywriting business. The purpose of this interview is not to sell you anything. It's just straight-up killer copywriting secrets and content. Bob Bly is an independent copywriter and consultant with more than 25 years experience in business-to-business, high-tech, industrial, and direct marketing. McGraw-Hill calls Bob Bly "America's top copywriter." He is the author of what many consider to be the "Bible" of copywriting, The Copywriter's Handbook, published by Henry Holt & Co. This is an exclusive interview from Michael Senoff at www.hardtofindseminars.com.

Here is a two hour interview with master copywriter Bob Bly. This is a GREAT interview because I grilled Bob with your questions on the inside secrets of the copywriting business. The purpose of this interview is not to sell you anything. It's just straight-up killer copywriting secrets and content. Bob Bly is an independent copywriter and consultant with more than 25 years experience in business-to-business, high-tech, industrial, and direct marketing. McGraw-Hill calls Bob Bly "America's top copywriter." He is the author of what many consider to be the "Bible" of copywriting, The Copywriter's Handbook, published by Henry Holt & Co. This is an exclusive interview from Michael Senoff at www.hardtofindseminars.com.

Bob Bly, who has been a freelance copywriter since 1982 (and made millions doing it) generously shared his one-page agreement in the new Proposal Bundle for Copywriters (Today only: Get $10 off with promo code: BUNDLE10). I interviewed Bob on the Marketing Mentor Podcast to find out more about his agreement. Here's an excerpt…  Is it safe to skip the agreements—and get right to work for existing clients? Bob says:  You always need to have, for every job, even if it's an old familiar client, a written agreement which the client approves. My philosophy is to keep it as short and simple as possible while covering all the salient points. We email it to the client. All they have to do is email back that they approve. New clients pay half the fee up-front. When it comes to rush jobs, Bob says:  Since we have a standard agreement, it takes less than three minutes to put in the particulars of the job. Time is no excuse. Just because it's a rush job doesn't mean I can't send out the agreement.  What about the excuse, they “won't be able to cut the check in time”?  Bob makes it easy by accepting Paypal, credit card and wire transfers.  Find out more about the specifics inside Bob's agreement. Listen to the full 15-minute interview here.