Earlier this year, I was interviewed for the great and esteemed Ken McCarthy’s “System Club” trainings.

We talked about all kinds of advanced info.

Including how to write “swipe proof” email subject lines that make all the wannabes swiping, copying, and “lifting” your emails & other content look like the hacks & losers they are.

Anyway, Ken graciously let me put it on my Media page.

To listen to it, go to the link below:

www.BenSettle.com/media

Ben Settle

A couple weeks ago I was asked why I have no an affiliate program.

The answer to that question turned into a near 20-minute advanced business-building lesson — partially about something I learned from how the old Catholic Church grew so big — about how to get the maximum life time value (LTV) possible from as many of your customers as possible.

Here’s where to listen in…

Back in 2013 when I was still writing my first novel “Zombie Cop”, I asked my publisher Greg Perry about what he thought of the little “Easter eggs” I peppered throughout the books.

Were they necessary?

Dorky?

Waste of time?

His answer:

I am paraphrasing, but he basically said yes, keep those in, those are the little things 90% of people will miss, but the 10% who do get them will treasure the stories more, become much bigger fans of the stories, and enjoy the stories in ways they never would otherwise.

Turns out, he was spot on correct.

And, ever since then, I’ve doubled down on including such “Easter Eggs” in all my emails, content, videos, podcasts, and even customer service. All of which, I believe, has created a much stronger, more fanatical, and more prosperous/successful fanbase of customers and subscribers who “get” these things, and profit and/or benefit from the content far more as a result.

And if you think this is some fluke, think again.

Fast forward several years to this last summer.

I read about how Disney World has been doing this for decades to build its irrationally fanatical fanbase.

Like the “Be Our Guest” restaurant, for example.

They use expensive & painstakingly created little carvings of the Beast’s head instead of customary (and much cheaper) little circles on the ceiling.

A very small percentage of people will ever notice much less get it.

We’re talking probably less than 10% of customers.

Yet, those are almost certainly the most fanatical, most likely to return many more times in their lives, bring entire generations (kids, grandkids, great grandkids), watch all the movies, aggressively defend the Evil Mouse’s most insane decisions, and work tirelessly to give the company as much of their money as they possibly can, and train their families & friends to do the same.

The Evil Mouse does this sort of thing in probably hundreds of other ways, too.

Like using real plants vs fake plants maybe 2% of people would notice.

Or applying a fresh coat of gold paint daily on their castle.

And the list goes on.

Little, tiny, seemingly insignificant things, often done at enough expense to make the accountants wince since they can’t be tracked or measured… that add up to a far bigger, more powerful, and fanatically followed brand.

No, you cannot “measure” or “track” or “test” these things.

(Thus, the screaming accountants.)

But show me a business that does this, and thinks about it and, even most importantly, has a methodology for this, and I’ll show you a business that has a brand people love to follow and will cheerfully buy from for years and decades into the future.

As far as a methodology for this, I can’t help you.

I have my own little ways of doing these things, but they aren’t at-all methodized.

They are all in my head.

And, really, even if I did, I wouldn’t be the guy to learn it from.

So, instead, I found a resource to begin (just a first step) help teach how to think like this I am gifting to my loyal Email Players of the Horde as a Christmas gift in the December “Email Players” issue.

No, it’s not anything super “ninja!” or anything like that.

It’s simply a book I bought in bulk.

And, again, it’s merely the first step in creating this kind of mindset.

So if you are looking for a “hack” or a “trick” or whatever, this ain’t it.

Nothing I offer deals in those things

Amateurs & newbies seek trick & hacks, professionals seek Wisdom, after all.

And, Daddy doesn’t cater to amateurs & newbies…

Whatever the case, the deadline to subscribe in time to get the December “Email Players” issue is tomorrow (11/30). If you are growing tired of chasing petty hacks & tricks, and want to build a foundation for a business that can potentially grow bigger than you ever imagined over time, this issue and this bonus gift can possibly do just that for you.

Or not.

It really is up to you and what you do with the info.

Only fools think they can get heat from a cold stove…

If you want in, you best be quick about it if you want to make the deadline:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. I recently got an email from the great and esteemed Shameless Shamus Brown — one of my favorite sales & persuasion teachers, and easily one of the best sales trainers in the game. And what he said perfectly sums up who should and who should not be subscribing to “Email Players”:

Funny, I was just reading over your yesterday email about the December newsletter… I came onboard after you made this big shift in your focus.

I think I held off buying your newsletter before as it seemed tactics oriented around email. And while I can always use more tested tactics, that was not what I was focused on, I didn’t sign up. Until you changed focus, and the broader business building message appealed to me.

Now, what I am really enjoying about your newsletters, is they remind of the good ol days back in the early 00s of reading my Dan Kennedy newsletters.

i.e. I don’t cater to One-Trick Tommy’s.

If you are looking for tricks & hacks, go haunt someone else.

If you don’t have a business, a list, or an offer, go haunt someone else.

And, if you are not a long-term thinking business builder, go haunt someone else.

Plenty of more conventional places will be happy to service you.

Otherwise, if you want in on time, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Not long ago, I was privy to a couple private, insider phone calls with two of the savviest and most experienced email deliverability experts in the business.

There were many things I learned about deliverability.

Specifically, about all the ways people screw up their deliverability by listening to pretty much any mainstream internet marketing advice. Plus, these calls also confirmed why my deliverability is so high despite — for nearly 20 years — putting nearly zero thought into it at all… and pretty much ignoring what everyone in “internet marketing” says you have to do.

I have found that just by following the fundamentals I teach, delivery takes care of itself.

For example:

Asking people to send me their receipt in order to collect on a bonus promised during affiliate or launch campaigns.

I do this for multiple reasons that have zippo to do with “deliverability.”

But, the effect of the unique way I go about doing it – that goes beyond the obvious surface reasons for doing so – is way higher overall deliverability.

And, yes, this is the case regardless of the email broadcasting platform.

More:

One of the many secrets I teach in the upcoming December “Email Players” issue is one of those more profitable reasons I do this that goes way beyond the obvious… and exactly how to do it in a way — you won’t see via merely watching and trying to foolishly “reverse engineer” what I do — that can lead to sometimes thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, of dollars in extra sales for your business over time.

You can read all about it on pages 8-9.

At least, if you are subscribed to the newsletter, that is.

If not, good luck trying to guess, Maynard.

An admission:

One of the things I enjoy most about promoting “Email Players” each month, is deliberately teasing people like I am doing here, and watching the gaggle of new product junkies and know-it-alls on my list who literally know nothing about anything of significance thinking they are guessing the answer — which none of them ever does. And the reason they never do is because I like to word things in a way where it looks like I am talking about something obvious, but is anything but obvious when the real secret is revealed.

I do the same thing in my sales letter bullets too, most of the time.

Such are the mind games I play with you, my Pet.

I especially enjoy tormenting the marketing hobbyists who get all their education free on social media around like a cat does to an exhausted mouse.

And, this email and the December issue are no different.

To subscribe before tomorrow’s deadline, go here right away:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. On a related note:

Chances are, you are getting a lot of “Black Friday” sale emails today. If not, you are to be congratulated for curating your daily reading so well. But, most people up in this space are doing Black Friday sales.

All admirable attempts.

But, also magnificently ironic.

Why?

Because even though I don’t say a peep about Black Friday anywhere in the December “Email Players” issue, I can say on pages 13 & 14 I talk about what I did to my promotional schedule a couple years ago to not only make doing “Black Friday!”, or “Cyber Monday!”, or any other trendy internet market-ey holiday sales other people do completely obsolete… but I daresay I burgled (legally & fairly) many would-be Black Friday customers away from my competitors months in advance, simply by virtue of doing what it teaches.

Business can be quite fun, Chuckles.

And I reckon the December issue, if you apply it all, will show you how:

www.EmailPlayers.com

One of the many books I recommended to “Email Players” subscribers recently, is a book called “The Marvel Comics Story” by Sean Howe.

Not so much as a “what to do” book.

But, more of a “what NOT to do” book.

As a long-time Marvel fan — decades before it became trendy to be a fan when all these recent fair weather fans created by the Marvel movies were making fun of true comicbook fans — I can tell you, the book is quite depressing in many ways. Overall, it was NOT the jovial place the late, great Stan Lee made it out to be in his monthly Stans’s Soap Box column, with a happy and go-lucky bullpen of creators taking over the world.

Yes, there was a lot of that in the 60’s and 70’s.

But, come the 80’s and beyond, it became a horror show of disappointment & despair, with broken lives, early deaths, and even outright suicides resulting in some cases.

Why?

The short answer is greed.

As the company got bought by a string of ever-greedy publishers & stock holders who simply saw it as a cash cow to be picked clean of its meat at the expense of its soul, it turned into something that, today, is barely treading water compared to what it once was financially. The comicbook side has become a huge joke full of inane wokeness & convoluted continuity, written by some of the most emotionally damaged & inept writers you’ll ever see — with the movies & character licensing now being the main source of Marvel’s income from what I can tell.

And if you think the movies are going to have a different fate, think again.

It will likely still take some time.

But, it’s already going in the same direction under the watch of the Evil Mouse. And if you are paying attention to Star Wars’ free falling brand right now, that is but a taste of what awaits the Marvel brand.

The mindless fanboys will “LOL!!!!” at this because they are stupid.

But, time always reveals all…

Which brings me to the point:

I once read a Chinese proverb from the great, and esteemed Matt Furey:

“A strength overextended becomes a weakness.”

And if Marvel Comics ain’t an example of that, I don’t know what is.

It’s also something that can happen with some of the info I reveal inside the upcoming December “Email Players” issue. Word-for-word I believe this year-end and 101st issue of my noble tabloid-like publication can be some of the most immediately profitable info a business can utilize.

I know it has been for me.

And, especially used in the exact ways described inside its pages.

But, it can also be overused just as easily if you start looking at your list and market as mere numbers & transactions who exist for no other reason than to make your long-suffering piggybank squeal with new profits with short term profits and one-time buyers… vs looking at it as a way to serve and enhance the lives of your market with long term profits & lifetime customers. “Customers”, as I once read “Email Players” subscriber Ken McCarthy say it, make a “custom” to buy from you over and over, for years into the future.

Greed’ll get you every time, Hoss.

And, I believe this is quadruply true with the info inside the December issue.

Whatever the case, the deadline to subscribe in time to get it approaches fast.

Here is the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Not long ago, I was asked by a bloke in France why I don’t use a printer in Europe for European subscribers to cut costs and (I quote) “protect planet earth a bit in terms of carbon footprint.”

My answer:

If anything, due to my self-imposed airplane travel moratorium the past 12 months, my righteous carbon footprint is way too small.

True rookie numbers.

Gotta Bigfoot that carbon footprint up…

That said, I am a big fan of recycling.

At least, when it comes to emails.

Enter another question from new “Email Players” subscriber Tyler Stokes, when he asked me about the idea of “recycling” emails that I not only teach, but openly do all the time, oftentimes making more sales the second, third, or fourth time I use an email than the first time I use it.

Yes, Bernie, it’s true.

When it comes to making your bank account greener, recycling those evil emails is just fine by be.

In fact, here’s another amusing thought:

If I wasted time A/B split testing emails and, even worse, being a mindless little goo-roo fanboy about the results by only reusing the ones that “worked!”… I’d be killing my own sales. Especially since, so many of my most profitable emails did bupkis the first time I used them, but pulled all kinds of new business when recycling them months or years later.

Which is why I told him:

Yes, by all means recycle good emails.

It can do wonders for your bank account’s environment.

But, there is one thing I did not tell him about recycling emails in my reply. Specifically, a way (and the exact time) I do it to make even more sales. And I talk about this way in glorious detail in the December “Email Players” issue on page 8.

To get this issue in time, go here immediately:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I’m like the proverbial lone wolf howling in the cold wilderness about this.

But over the years, certain of my customers have admitted they have a hard time wrapping their heads around my policy of blocking people who quit your continuity programs, not letting them come back later when they think they are finally this time “ready!”, and exiling them forever into the Outer Darkness of your business, never to be allowed back.

The reasons for this are many and beyond the count of mockery.

But, following are 17 reasons I do so:

1. People who quit are reliably & consistently and often immediately replaced by better, higher quality, and less in need of hand holding & being coddled customers. It’s an almost eerily predictable phenomenon I see happen all the time, and twice just yesterday, in fact. This alone makes allowing people back completely counterproductive for my business.

2. If they cite money as having left when they try to come back, they are almost certainly not telling the truth, and it’s not a good idea to do business with such people. After all, even a street bum rattling a dirty coffee-stained cup full of sticky change can “afford” $3.23 per day. But, instead of putting the info into practice to make that modest sum back in multiples so it would not “cost” anything… they cling tightly to the skirt of price – or worse, their wife’s skirt, in far too many cases – to justify their inaction or avoiding admitting to themselves they are simply not ambitious enough or interested enough to apply the info. It is hard work, after all…

3. It makes the newsletter legitimately more exclusive.

4. I don’t cater to quitters.

5. The mere existence of my policy rattles my trolls, as well as other new product junkies (i.e. people addicted to the dopamine drip of buying new products, but never implement anything), marketing hobbyists, and other contemptible opportunity-minded buyers who lack the character to stick by a decision long after the excitement of the moment when they subscribed has passed.

6. I prefer 4 quarters to 100 pennies. i.e. fewer high quality customers vs many low quality customers.

7. I have been carefully building a small All Star roster of customers that are taking over their markets, and letting low quality quitters return would reduce my customer base and my brand to Bush League or T-ball level, like everyone else’s who accepts the “I will be back!” types.

8. I like having more customers for life – which is, I hear, a great way to amp up the LTV (lifetime value) of your list for those who obsess over such metrics.

9. Quitters make for great Orc heads to display to warn away other orcs (like this email is doing) from bothering to waste their money or my time.

10. Makes for better people — as the policy forces people to take responsibility for their actions & decisions. This is something sorely lacking in today’s victimhood-celebrating society.

11. Makes people far more likely to take what I teach and then consume, implement, and succeed with it.

12. Identifies the players vs the spectators for future would-be affiliate, JV, client, and other potential deals down the road should I ever look for such opportunities.

13. I don’t like encouraging new product junky-ism.

14. I can’t realistically help people in the long run if they have a quitter mentality. It’s like someone taking a supplement for having better workouts and not being jacked after month one, and then quitting saying “this doesn’t work!” then trying to come back later, with the same loser mentality. What I teach in “Email Players” is a lifetime marathon, not a sprint. Some of it works fast, some of it takes months and even years to see a payoff. But none of it works if it’s not consistently applied day in, and day out over months and years.

15. Wards off the newbies & non-forward thinking types who I can’t help anyway.

16. Makes for overall greater long term profits, I have found over the years.

17. It helps protect the integrity and value of what I am building. There is a reason ancient societies exiled those they deemed unworthy and disrespectful of their laws, customs, and rules. Ain’t nothing new under the sun…

Again, there are many more reasons.

These are just off the top of my head.

And, my reasons for doing so will likely not jibe with most people’s personalities or goals, and that’s fine. I’ll be writing more about this next year in an extremely expensive book I am going to sell about my publishing model.

But until then, let’s move on:

If you sell a subscription/continuity offer, there are many financial — immediate and long term — reasons to create content meant for and that will only probably appeal to 10% of your customers, ie the ones who are likely making up 80-90% of your profits, and who are also very likely making up the vast majority of those who promote you and refer to you in abundance.

Thus the purpose of this long email you just spent all this time reading.

Which brings me to the December “Email Players” issue.

Like I mentioned yesterday, it will be one of the more revered & reviled issues. I suspect many will despise it and hopefully leave… never to waste my time trying to return. While others will love it and profit from it beyond the dreams of avarice for years & decades into the future.

The difference in the two types of people will be night and day.

As will be, I further suspect, the state of their business affairs.

Whatever the case, here is the link to subscribe, if you dare:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Following has many valuable lessons “between the lines.”

And, a wise guy or ghoul will be able to extract a lot of value from it, with but a little thought & imagination.

Anyway, here’s the scoop:

A few months ago, I decided to have a new logo created for my Email Players newsletter. And, one of the several options the great Kia Arian gave me to pick from had the tagline:

“The Most Revered, The Most Reviled”

Which I immediately knew was going to be the new tagline.

Not just because I like the way it rolls off the mind’s tongue.

But, also because if the year 2019 was anything, it was solid proof that the newsletter is both those things in equal spades. Starting last April — possibly the most revered and reviled issue to date, which got the most new sign ups for a single issue, and also the most people leaving in disgust after reading it — I decided to triple down on what gave it that effect with the newsletter. That means, it became less straight action-taking “how to do xyz” info appealing to shallow-minded swipers & new product junkies who haunt social media all day, to more deeper thinking & long term profit-building concepts & strategies.

Yes, email is still the “engine” that propels the car.

But, the car that engine is inside went from slick convertible to ugly urban assault vehicle.

In other words:

For the first 92 issues prior, it appealed way too much to shallower thinking people who want and need a checklist to scan, a swipe file to cling to, and a social media group full of other online marketers just as shallow thinking as themselves to consult.

Nothing against those types.

They’re around 90-95% of people in general, and can still be successful in the short term.

But, I also realized those are the types I get most frustrated by and like dealing with the least. I can spot them a mile away by their dumb questions alone now. They are always amateur questions that show an embarrassing lack of knowledge of the fundamentals.

Why these types subscribe at all is beyond me.

They really should be learning marketing, business, copywriting, etc from more conventional people who will kiss their arses and tell them what they want to hear… where they will be more comfortable and feel “safe”, with their little checklists & the constant validation & “you go girl!” high-fives of their Facebook friends & Twitter peers.

At the very least, they should learn the fundamentals of marketing first.

Which brings me to the point of all this drivel:

The December issue will not just triple, but quadruple down on what reviled people since April’s issue.

And, I predict, it’ll be reviled by far MORE people than who revere it.

And the reason it will be so reviled by so many who read it is because the info will officially & irrevocably remove any and all excuses your Krampus-like rationalization hamster may have been cooking up to sabotage your sales, your profits, your list-building, and, yes, your overall success at whatever business it is you do.

This may sound strange to some people.

After all, why would someone willingly sabotage their own success?

There are many reasons — including simply not being “wired” to be comfortable with success. Everyone has their own inner success thermostat, where they will only be as successful (financially or otherwise) as that thermostat will let them. In other words, if you are mentally & emotionally comfortable with making $100k per year, you will subconsciously do everything in your power to stay in that comfort zone. Make $50k and you’ll suddenly perform all kinds of marketing miracles to get that extra $50k to sooth your tortured psyche. Make $200k and you’ll also start casting all kinds of irrational and foolish spending & business curses on yourself to get you back to that comfy $100k.

This is why so many lottery winners lose it all.

Why so many pro athletes & entertainers end up worse than where they started from.

And, why so many otherwise intelligent and well-adjusted marketers and business people with all the talent, connections, and “how to” knowledge they need to make a fortune… sit around on social media all day like flies on the same turd, interacting with other people at more or less their exact income and success level, and never grow much beyond where they are now.

If you doubt this, all you need do is observe.

The proof of this is everywhere.

Which brings me back to the December issue:

I believe the info can potentially add as many “figures” to your income as you want over time. But, the nature of the information is so simple and quick to implement, if you have any kind of inner-sabotaging going on, you won’t do a blessed thing with the info, and almost certainly will be disappointed with it at best, and have downright contempt for it (and for me) at worst.

And no, there is absolutely zero hyperbole in saying this.

If anything, I am downplaying what I think will happen.

On the other hand:

Those who are ready & comfy with making the leap into the next income bracket… the next rung of influence in their market… and the next leg of their journey towards their goals… can, I believe at least, not only reach that next rung, leg, and income bracket… but maybe even far exceed them over the next 12 months in ways they didn’t believe possible.

Such is the nature of what I am teaching in the December issue in great details.

Along with what exact ways to apply it.

As well as ways I have been using the info myself, that most businesses can model exactly as-is — regardless of market, industry, product, or niche.

The caveat?

You actually have to have a business of some kind.

If you still don’t know the raw fundamentals of marketing (hint: if you only learn marketing on social media or via free eBooks, you don’t have the fundamentals, Maynard) this issue will do you zero good whatsoever.

Anyway, I’m being cryptic about exactly what is inside on purpose.

But people who read last month’s November “Email Players” issue have already been told on page 11 in that issue what Santa elBenbo has in his righteous sack for his Email Players of the Horde in the December issue. But, even they have no idea of just how powerful and profitable the concept it teaches will be, until they see all the ways it can be used — big and small — to send their businesses into the next phase of prosperity, regardless of what happens to the economy in 2020 and beyond.

And certainly it’ll let you start 2020 off with a righteous bang.

That is, for those who have the right “wiring” for it.

And, of course, for those who are subscribed in time.

This issue is going to the printer soon, after which it’ll be too late to get it.

If you want it, hit that finger clickin’ good link below:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I was recently re-watching the movie “The Shawshank Redemption.”

And, there is a scene where Red, one of the inmates played by Morgan Freeman, is at his parole hearing. And he starts talking about how he wishes he could go back to his younger self, talk some sense into him before committing a violent crime, etc.

And, it got me to thinking:

What advice would I give Child elBenbo?

Especially in his formative teenage years?

And, almost as soon as the question popped into my head, all kinds of advice poured out right after, including:

• Sac up, and quit complaining
• Do the opposite of what everyone else says to do
• Don’t bother with college
• Read more, watch TV less
• Stop Putting people on pedestals
• Before joining MLM, look up Dan Kennedy and read every word he has ever written, and then build your own info-publishing company instead
• Hit the gym instead of watching TV, dummy
• Time is passing anyway, might as well start doing things now
• Instead of just reading about writers, write
• Those customers & people you hate dealing with working at OfficeMax aren’t hell, they are future market research
• A shocking number of those hot chicks you are too much of a poosey to talk to now will slam into the wall like crash test dummies due to bad choices & vices – no need to be a dork putting them on a pedestal…
• Evil beyond your wildest imaginations does exist, and that Bible you only skim through is what’ll help you identify it
• Stay off forums debating politics & religion, waste of time
• Reading and re-reading Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and those comicbooks your mom hates will pay dividends
• When you accidentally fart in study hall and everyone looks at you, and you look at the schlub behind you as if he did it, don’t feel guilty about it…

Anyway, probably few if anyone will find this much help.

But, maybe someone needed to hear it…

Whatever the case, go here next for more lovin’:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle