Ben Settle

Or at least can give people the will to keep living, trying, not give up.

For example:

About 20 or so years ago I remember listening to a doctor talk about someone who had a terminal illness. I was especially interested in this topic at that time because my dad had a late stage potentially terminal illness himself. And for whatever reason, this patient the doctor was talking about went and holed himself up in a hotel room with nothing but Marx Brothers films. As the story went, the patient emerged weeks later totally health — having literally “laughed himself back to health.”

I’m not making any claims or giving medical advice here.

Let the pedantic types take note…

I’m simply telling you the story I heard about the potential power of entertainment. Many entertainers, movie producers/directors, and writers know full well how entertainment can and does change lives. Not long ago Bounding Into Comics ran an article quoting the director of the ‘Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’ game saying the purpose of entertainment is:

“To give the people the will to live, today and tomorrow.”

The late Stan Lee would talk about this a lot as well.

One of my favorite quotes from him was:

“…I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed…Without it, lives can be dull. Singing a song, playing sports — anything that entertains, that takes people away from their own problems, is good.”

Then there’s the Rocky films.

How many lives have been changed, extended, improved by those movies? How many people got into shape, avoided amputated limbs, strokes, early heart attacks because they saw Rocky and got inspired? We’ll never know. But just anecdotally it’s a lot of people I have known over the years. I suspect many reading this can attest to that as well.

More:

Back in the last Depression it was a known phenomenon that people depressed, out on their arse, unemployed would spend their last few cents not on food but to watch a movie — as it was the ultimate in self medication. Many people reading this on their $900 iPhone who have never missed a meal in their lives would bark about how that was irresponsible. But I’d argue it was very likely a way to psychologically regroup and find the strength to keep going.

My point:

Entertainment is an extremely powerful force.

And if you’re not using it in your marketing/copywriting/emails you’re almost certainly missing out on a ho bunch of sales, happy customers, and opportunities to help your market and bond them to your business in ways your boring competition just parroting the same benefits as everyone else cannot touch with a 12 foot cattle prod.

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Ben Settle

By forces of evil I refer to gov and corporate bureaucrats with lots of power who take a, shall I say… “interest” in your righteous business.

In no particular order:

* Have 10+ merchant accounts, minimum and even more if you can find them, and use a gateway service that lets you rotate them so no one merchant account gets all the sales at any given time

* Make it a goal to become a platform unto yourself like all the extremely polarizing people you either love to hate or hate to love who always grow more influential the more they are attacked, hated, prosecuted, and persecuted

* It only takes one rogue employee or bureaucrat at a tech platform or bank or in the government who doesn’t like you to lose access to all your data and ability to sell

* Have an email list on a privately owned platform that is not run or financed (i.e., corporate or bank loan funded) you mail regularly and back up daily to at least 3 places besides your phone: like a secure cloud untouched by any big tech… your own hard drive of course… and if you’re really paranoid put it on a flash drive on a keychain you take with you everywhere you go…

* Realize any device with a speaker in your home or place of business can and probably will be turned into a microphone…

* Never say or write anything online (anywhere, in any app, in any email exchange, yes, even if you think it is “private” and secure — including in Gmail even if a draft you don’t send) you wouldn’t say in front of a judge or jury deciding your fate, the police, a hostile reporter, and especially the folks who provide you merchant account, banking, or other professional services your business relies on

* In other words… before writing that joke or making that flippant reply imagine it being discussed at a deposition passed around the room (happened to me once… very sobering) or in front of a jury or group of alphabet agency people trying to decide what to do to you and then proceed accordingly…

* Assume there is no such thing as truly being “anon” — hiding behind a cartoon or statue avatar on Twitter is fine and well, but assume you’ll be ratted out or discovered some day and behave accordingly now, if you want to have a chance to save yourself from a lot of potential bull shyt later

* Assume every sales page on your site, every email to your list, every webinar pitch you give will be looked at by a competitor with one of the alphabet agencies in his hip pocket wondering if you’re competition

* The above is where legitimately advanced copywriting, email, & selling game comes into play

* Have all ads and sales pages reviewed by a sharp attorney

* Impose harsher and stricter rules for any claims in your advertising and in following direct marketing laws than even the alphabet agencies require

* Learn how to make the skeleton dance (turn legitimate flaws into benefits/reasons to buy) and  learns how to monetize haters/trolls/slanderers/1-star reviewers/media reporters/goo-roos, etc — not only can it be good for sales, but can also help make your business the proverbial “porcupine” surrounded by aggressive creatures wanting to bring you down

* However paranoid you think you are, you ain’t nearly paranoid enough

* You’ll know you’re probably doing it right when the death threats, black mailing, doxing, swatting, and coordinated de-platforming attempts begin…

* Read Gary Halbert’s The Dark Side of Success newsletter issue (easily found online), then read it again, and again… and again… and then read it several more times, especially if you are seeing quick success and find yourself getting overly arrogant

* Consider alternate forms of generating income that do NOT rely at-all on merchant accounts, customers, clients, or being in the spotlight in any way like investing/Options trading (like taught at Low Stress Trading) or a local side business in your community (one of the things we will be doing with Stefania’s business when Willis is a little older), etc

* When your business gets big enough you might want to have your business and asset affairs set up like politicians set theirs up… (will not explain, and, frankly, am not even qualified to)

* It probably won’t always be this way, just ride it out for the next 5-15 years, after the inevitable collapse it will straighten out depending what part of the country you live (if in the US, at least) when it happens

None of this is legal advice obviously

And it won’t all apply to most reading this anyway.

Just depends on your business, niche, market, product category, size, revenue, etc.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately for reasons I won’t go into here.

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Ben Settle

Following is something for the:

“I just want to write content but not sell every day”

…boys & ghouls I’ve heard from over the years. Those who really just don’t like copywriting, marketing, selling. And for who it’s a “necessary evil” they grit their teeth and do. I could give it some kind of snazzy marketing name. But I prefer to just call it:

“The Product-less Business Plan”

I have not done it myself.

But I suspect it would be ideal for those who love writing, but hate selling.

Here goes:

1. Grow email list

2. Pick topic you love writing about

3. Write 1000+ word article every day to list

4. Put short pitch at end or in the middle or somewhere visible for running ads in your emails (just because you hate selling and marketing, doesn’t mean there ain’t plenty in your niche who’d love nothing more than to sell and market to your list..)

5. Start making deals with potential advertisers who respond

6. Copy & paste an ad that an advertiser already wrote & paid you for in each daily email

7. Enjoy life

Probably way too simple for most.

Especially those who want something complicated, with multi-step funnels, year-long launch campaigns, nurture sequences, upsells, downsells, cross sells, and and endless string of coaches, masterminds, events, and consultations. But the above is for those who are passionate about a topic they love writing about, want to share that content with people, and be able to charge advertising to marketers in that niche who sell to people in that niche.

I don’t know if these numbers below would work out exactly for everyone.

But just a thought:

Imagine if you had a list of, say, 5,000 opt-ins passionate about the topic.

Many who eagerly tune into your musings each day.

And with no shortage of people wanting to advertise.

Now, imagine you charged, say, $500 to run an ad in each email. Maybe place it somewhere for the diehards to see, but easy for the bums on your list who think you should work for free, toil away for free, and just send them free stuff each and every day like you’re Santa Claus to ignore.

$500 per day x 30 days = $15k per month.

All without you writing any ads, and without really selling a “product.”

Totally hypothetical, of course, so take with giant grain of chili pepper.

I merely wrote this as a springboard for ideas & what could be possible.

All right so that’s something to chew on.

And while you’re chewing:

You can get the first issue (as a PDF) of my paid Email Players newsletter free here:

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Ben Settle

A couple months ago I got this email from a veterinarian:

Hi Ben!

We love you and Zoe as clients! To say thank you, we’ve got a new mobile app for you and your animal companions. It helps manage their lives so you don’t have to! Plus:

* Request Appointments 24/7

* Pet Pickup Notifications

* Create and store all your pet’s reminders

Sounds like a mighty fine service for pet owners.

I will certainly give them that.

But, here’s the problem:

Last time Zoe went to this vet was 9 years ago, way back when I lived in

The Burgle. She has since long passed away and joined the Kennel Invisible a year and a half ago. And yet, this vet is sending me this ditty about how much they love having my deceased pet as a client. Anyone who owns pets knows

their lifespans are short — and so I guarantee you I am not the only one who had a “WTF is wrong with you people?” moment when seeing that.

Bottom line?

Not even my paid Email Play

ers newsletter can f

ix email marketing this bad..

Anyway, not a problem for 99.9% of marketers.

But a cautionary tail — as Zoe would have put it — nonetheless.

Speaking of Email Players, you can learn more about it here:

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Ben Settle

So said the kooky Irishman Stephen in the movie Braveheart.

I got to thinking about that recently, and how those of us who grew up without an iPhone in hand or internet access while in constant fight or flight mode binging movies like Alien, Terminator, War Games, even Maximum Overdrive… tend to have a visceral distrust of machines, crypto, AI, digital products, technology, the government, and other institutions run by utter morons who have power over the populace — especially services people rely on.

And for good reason.

Marcus Gill ‘splains:

Ben,

Your view of AI is spot on.

We live in Houston, 4th largest city in America, 

Harris County 3rd largest in America.

Advanced tech modern city blah blah blah..

Two weeks ago One sudden unexpected Hurricane/tornado instantly took us back to the Flintstones in less than 1 hour.

From 

Uber eatz at the push of a button

To 

Pitch black. No A/C in 100 degree heat.

“Sorry, cash only” everywhere if they could function.

Neighbors stuck in elevators and no traffic lights etc

ALL bc  1-2 main towers and several lines were knocked down.

Thousands of contractors flooding the streets from out of state still cannot fix it fast enough.

We have had several storms in Texas since.  

The shortages are real.

so

AI ain’t a threat. Not even close.

Not knowing how to live off the land or work with your hands, or knowing the trades is.

Writing copy (by hand even) is.

Thinking like a prepper is no longer fringe here.

So keep preaching.

But alas, distrusting technology doesn’t mean not using it.

Or, in an online marketer’s case, shamelessly profiting from it.

Case in point:

We heard from several people who bought my “Email Bastard!” offer a couple weeks ago asking what cart we used for it. And, even more importantly, people wanted to know if it was our ContraCart software? (That I have been mercilessly teasing for over two years now – most recently in the Email Players Comicbook #2 I sent Email Players subscribers back in January to commemorate the newsletter’s 150th issue.) And if it was ContraCart, will it ever be for sale or am we just gonna leave them hanging forever?

It’s a fair question.

And here is my unfair answer:

Selling a cart is a gigantic, logistical, and maybe even unsustainable for our small team task to do it as a service — and so we just shelved it as an offer, and decided to just selfishly use it for our own internal use instead selling Learnistic and BerserkerMail-related offers. It always sounds like a good idea to sell ContraCart, and we know a lot of people could certainly benefit from it… until we run alll the variables involved, after which we just want to reach for the ibuprofen. But all the recently feedback did get us at least talking about it again. And it was not all that surprising to hear about the flaws in a lot of the cart software our boys & ghouls use.

So who knows?

Maybe it will happen or maybe not.

There are certainly no timeframes either way.

And even if we do, it’ll only be for sale to BerserkerMail and/or Learnistic clients.

In the meantime:

If the demand continues it’s far more likely to happen.

If not?

We’ll just use the cart for our own offers.

To learn more about the paid Email Players Newsletter go here:

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Ben Settle

Back in 2019 I wrote the 8th of my novels titled:

“Enoch Wars: God Blood”

And when it came time to find someone to write the intro the most natural choice was loyal Enoch Wars series fan Daniel Throssell. It wasn’t even a choice — he was the guy.

And the reasons for that were many.

But one of the main reasons was, being an email marketer and copywriter himself, he “got” and, I believe, enjoyed the books at a much deeper level than most as a result.

Especially the merging of my fiction with my marketing wiles.

For example, this part of his intro to the novel:

“It might sound weird … but these books challenged and strengthened my Christian faith in ways I never expected. And I don’t just mean the “good” parts that talk about theology or prophecy. I realised that even the “bad” parts — the sex, gore and language — aren’t Ben just being crass or vulgar … they’re Ben expertly wielding evil against itself. The infamous abortion clinic scene in Lucifer’s Favorite eviscerates the pro-choice position without a single argument — just pure “Vision”. And Skoll’s epiphany as he runs toward the pit in Hell’s Frankenstein — about why everything with the monsters was “all about sex” — was one of the most spiritually illuminating things I’ve ever read.”

i.e., the books utilize persuasion-by-Vision, and doesn’t resort to getting preachy.

A lot of fiction tends to use Vision to persuade when done right, when you break it down.

That is why people are persuaded, influenced, guided by it.

When done right it sticks in the mind, yanks at and tests beliefs, challenges assumptions — and it does it without imposing its Will on you, but by laying out the information in the way I explain in the June Email Players issue where there is nothing really to “object” to.

Sales people love to brag about how they can overcome objections.

And it is a fine skill to have.

But, if you do Vision right, you probably won’t need to overcome a lot of objections.

Why?

Because you don’t create a lot of objections in the first place.

There are no “arguments” to even be made when done correctly.

That was a huge breakthrough moment when I first heard Jim Camp explain that. It reminded me of something the great A-list copywriter Doug D’Anna told me once when I was interviewing him many years ago (way back in 2007) that has never left my psyche. He said he could walk into your house and get your dog to come running over to him even if the dog doesn’t like people or new people.

“How?” I asked, leaning in expecting some super guru trick.

But alas, all Doug said was:

“By holding up her favorite cookie.”

While the owner his manipulating, or restraining, all you gotta do is hold up the cookie.

That is what Vision does:

Gives you a cookie that takes away the objection.

That was not the context in which Doug taught it.

But all great teachings have multiple layers of depth and complexity.

Anyway, so yes, I did use Vision a lot in my Enoch Wars series. In fact, Email Players subscriber Galel Fajardo who does the audio books said he had to pause at times because some of the content made him sick to his stomach.

And some readers still quote my Fezziwig character to me.

The Vision I used to describe that particular character’s miserable existence was deliberate, too.

In the most recent novel (the 9th book “Serpent Seed”) I write a chapter using Vision that I think any parent who is worried about their teenager wanting to butcher their body to try to change their gender should read. I’d make Willis read it if he ever talked about such nonsense to me. Because Vision by persuasion is powerful, and it would at least plant a seed into the mind of he or she that parent would wish to persuade on the topic. Yes, I am saying using Vision can do more than just make your business more sales and get you more cash & prizes.

All right, on to the business.

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Ben Settle

Sucks to be these guys…

“Oh my, oh my, what have I done! There’s something very wrong, there’s something very wrong, there’s something very wrong!”  — Church Of Satan founder Anton LaVey’s last death bed words.

“I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O Jesus Christ!” — Voltaire, atheist, on his death bed.

“I am in the flames!” — David Hume, atheist, last words of despair on his death bed.

“I would give worlds, if I had them, if the Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help me! Christ, help me! Stay with me! It is hell to be left alone!” Thomas Payne, atheist, in his last hours.

“I am perplexed. Satan, get out!” — Aleistair Crowley “Englands most wicked man” on his death bed

Luke chapter 16 tried to warn ’em.

What?

Oh, I know, I know…

“askchually scientists say that’s just neurons firing off in the brain…”

Yes, no doubt the same scientists who say men can have babies, that the food pyramid is healthy, the sun is bad for you, meat will kill you, the jab will totally save your life, the earth is turning into Mordor but Bill Gates’ private jet doesn’t count, the inflation is merely transitory, and the list of lies goes on and on and on and on.

You can put your faith in the scientists if you want of course.

The point here ain’t about if your soul is on the rotisserie.

The point is the power of Vision when it comes to influence & persuasion.

Use it and save thy business from the hell of no sales.

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Ben Settle

Whenever I think of AI-generated writing I think of the movie Twins.

If you have not seen it, it’s about twin brothers who are the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to combine the sperm/DNA of six fathers to produce the perfect child. The embryo split in two and what you got was Julius who was the perfect physical and mental human specimen (played by Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the other Vince who is physically and mentally almost the exact opposite… played by Danny DeVito.

Anyway, here is the part of the script I want to show you:

(Where they confront the guy, Traven, in charge of the experiment)

VINCE: This must be where you made the milkshake…

TRAVEN: We weren’t making milkshakes. We were making the most fully-developed human the world has ever seen.

VINCE: But instead of just one perfect kid, Mom had two of us — way to go, Mom.

TRAVEN: Wrong. The embryo split in two, but it didn’t split equally. All the purity and strength went into Julius. All the crap that was left over went into what you see in the mirror every morning.

VINCE: Whoa — I’m the crap?

JULIUS: It’s not true, Vince.

VINCE: No, I want to hear this. I’m left-over crap? I’m no good?

JULIUS: He’s wrong.

TRAVEN: Just look at him —

VINCE: You tellin’ me I’m a side effect!?!

And so it is with AI-created writing, art, whatever:

The dorklords and broccoli heads who obsess over it think the result is Julius but really they just got the crap left over from smarter, better, and greater minds, and then try to put it together in a way that doesn’t sound totally incoherent, stupid, and probably even insulting to the intended audience in a lot of cases — unless they are catering to the lowest common denominator, I suppose.

It’s all rather amusing to watch play out.

Just a year ago people were running around saying it would change everything.

You won’t have to write ever again!

It was as silly as the woman on TV who thought she’d never have to pay her mortgage again the night Obama got elected. Everyone is looking for that shortcut that doesn’t exist. That tool that will liberate them from doing the hard work. The piece of technology that will disguise their flaws, removing the required blood, sweat, & pain of doing the process to achieve the outcome.

No.

It doesn’t work that way.

Tools can help make writing faster and more efficient.

(I am typing this not hand writing it, for example)

But it won’t do the writing for you.

And I don’t care if we’re talking about copywriting, email writing, grant writing, fiction writing, press release writing, non-fiction writing, poetry writing, or frankly even grocery list writing — creating a collage of others’ writing ain’t the way to create anything that has genuine engagement that lasts the test of time. This is a small part of a very big discussion I talk a lot about inside my paid Email Players newsletter on a somewhat regular basis.

To learn more about it go here:

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Ben Settle

While back on twitter, podcaster Ellie Schnitt declared with the passion of a 1000 pronouns:

“my favorite right wing thing is when they say nyc is sooooo scawwwyy like not to be that girl but I am the approximate size and strength of a ladybug and I don’t feel unsafe here so it’s objectively funny to be a Big Tough Country Boy and shit your diaper over the subway”

To which my reply was:

“My favorite NYC story is when @stefaniasettle saw a bum across the street of her mom’s Manhattan resell store jerking off in public, and the cops formed a protective ring around him while he did it. I like the way they do bid’niz”

Which then got some replies like:

“ok, how do you unsee a tweet?”

“My poor eye holes.”

“How can I unread this!”

Fun times on Twitter.

And yes, there is a point to this beyond my grossing you out. And that point is, creating Vision doesn’t require showing any pictures, images, or videos. If you know what you’re doing, your words fueling your reader’s imagination is a far more useful way to use an image to make sales than a gif or emoji, meme, or other picture.

Been getting low on hate mail, so let’s take for example everyone’s favorite subject:

Abortion.

Ooh!

Many years ago I remember seeing a bunch of pro-life protestors lining up along the road during morning rush hour holding up graphic pictures of aborted babies. Very disturbing and graphic, and horrifying. I remember feeling sick to my stomach. I suspect most everyone else who saw them did too. But, I also seriously doubt anyone’s opinion on the matter was swayed either way. Those against it were still against it (while feeling sick and probably angry at the protestors) and those who are okay with it were still okay with it (while feeling sick and also probably angry at the protestors).

What’d work better?

I’d argue what’d work a lot better is talking to people using just their words to create a Vision. Like, for example, when Antony Levatino testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing about Planned Parenthood’s medical procedures after having personally performed over 1200 abortions himself.

You can read the transcript or watch it on YouTube.

But some of the highlights included such Vision as:

“Your patient today is 17 years old; she’s 22 weeks pregnant. Her baby is the length of your hand plus a couple of inches, and she’s been feeling her baby kick for the last several weeks. And she’s asleep on an operating room table.”

“…you introduce a suction catheter into the uterus. This is a 14 French suction catheter. If she were 12 weeks pregnant or less, basically the width of your hand or smaller, you could basically do the entire procedure with this, but babies this big don’t fit through catheters this size.”

“…you introduce an instrument called the Sopher clamp. It’s about 13 inches long. It’s made of stainless steel. The business end of this clamp is about 2 1/2 inches long and a half-inch wide. There are rows of sharp teeth. This is a grasping instrument, and when it gets a hold of something, it does not let go.”

“…and out pops a leg about that big, which you put down on the table next to you. Reach in again, pull again, pull out an arm about the same length, which you put down on the table next to you. And use this instrument again and again to tear out the spine, the intestines, the heart, and lungs. The head on a baby that size is about the size of a large plum.”

“…You know you did it right if you crush down on the instrument and white material runs out of the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. Then you can pull out skull pieces. And if you have a day like I had a lot of times, sometimes a little face comes back and stares back at you.”

“Congratulations. You’ve just successfully performed a second-trimester D&E abortion. You just affirmed your right to choose.”

The little face staring back is quite the eerie Vision.

And I suspect many-a-person reading it no doubt has a Vision from that now seared into their own non-liquified white goo brains they will not soon forget. Plus, there is nothing to “object” to as far as arguing with it, because, like any persuasion and influence based in Vision it makes no argument to object to.

It simply is what it is.

And while most will not have had their minds changed immediately, the experience of reading that won’t be easily forgotten. Possibly it might even change someone’s opinion in the future over time, as it takes hold, they think about it, see it in a new context, it fits into their world when it didn’t prior to reading it, and have time to digest it all. It’s happened before to some of my customers when I’ve talked about this subject using Vision — especially in my old elBenbo’s Lair Facebook group.

And should that happen to someone?

It won’t be because of any pictures since I didn’t show any.

Nor will it be from any slick “sales copy” or appeals to reason or logic or religion.

It will be because of Vision.

Their Vision, not mine, from their imagination, not mine, based on their experience, not mine – or any vision I try to impose on them with a photo, picture, gif, or anything else I could include in this email.

Speaking of email…

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Ben Settle