Ben Settle

“They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled”

-The Other
“The Avengers”

I recently re-watched “The Avengers”.

Not my favorite Marvel Comics movie (that honor goes to “Thor” — and before you argue my choice, remember ye the Benverb: “I’m incapable of ever being wrong, ergo I’m always right”).

But, well worth watching again.

Especially the mid-credits scene.

It’s where “The Other” (Thanos’s Lackey) tells Thanos about the earthlings — how they’re not the cowards they were supposed to be.

And, how they’re “unruly”, and therefore cannot be ruled.

There’s a great business lesson there.

Especially if you adopt the “Anti-Professional” mentality I teach.

And that lesson is:

“Ruly” people are often ignored.

Rarely make any lasting impact in their business, field, niche, or market as anything but a plain vanilla entity.

And, worst of all… are easily enslaved.

Enslaved by what, you ask?

Well, your milage may vary, but I’ve noticed many of the people I know who are easily controlled are slaves to things like:

• Their emotions (anger, jealousy, etc)

• Competitors

• Low class jackass customers, clients and leads

• Swiping & copying (they have zero ability to think, and are basically just drones)

• Their base urges

• Being “offended” at everything

• Public opinion

• Manipulative, damaged or even outright toxic people who bring zero value to their lives

• Marketing hype

• False modesty

• Peer pressure

• Needing to be “liked”

• Family (when one crab tries to crawl out of the bucket, the others immediately try to pull it back in…)

• Political agendas

• Celebrity worship

• Their spouse or someone they romantically pine for

And the list goes on…

I know the mush cookie types on my list will disagree with me on this (if that’s you, then see ye again the Benverb above), but that makes this no less true:

The more “ruly” you are, the more easily you’re ruled.

So don’t be ruly.

Be UNRULY!

Especially in business.

In other words, don’t fear breaking silly rules. (BTW, since some people take things insanely literal — I’m not talking about breaking laws — either temporal or moral, k?)

Or bucking public opinion.

Or telling people bringing you down to hit the bricks.

Or getting on your horse, living by your own code of honor and doing what you gotta do to be the best there is at what you do.

Pretty simple stuff.

And it’s especially true of email marketing.

It’s what I teach in “Email Players”.

And, it’s one reason why my system works so well.

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

First, let me say one thing…

I’m a BIG Dan Kennedy fan.

I have read most of his books, really enjoy his teachings (and have profited immensely from them), and even think his print newsletter is almost as good as the “Email Players” — www.EmailPlayers.com — newsletter.

(But really, what is…?)

He’s one of the great marketing minds of our time.

And his teachings changed my life.

So yes, I am a Dan Kennedy fan.

But, what I’m NOT is a Dan Kennedy “fanboy.”

Dan Kennedy fanboys simply don’t think.

All they do is quote:

“Dan Kennedy says…”

(Like Brainy Smurf always saying, “Papa Smurf always says…”)

And they just quote, quote, quote, without context.

For example:

A little while back, a Dan Kennedy fanboy tried busting my ballz (unsolicited advice, he didn’t even think it wise to ask questions first) about not offering a guarantee, even though doing so has increased my profits.

Another example:

One DK fanboy nagged me about not using testimonials.

Again, it was unsolicited advice.

(They LOVE giving unsolicited advice.)

And if he’d bothered asking, he’d have known the ad he had heartburn about performed better without testimonials.

(Remember, assuming makes an ass out of you, not me…)

Look.

I don’t know if this is ALWAYS the case with ALL of them.

But the ones I’ve dealt with only know how to parrot.

So while they can quote Dan Kennedy chapter by chapter and verse by verse, they rarely think an original thought for themselves.

It’s always:

“Dan Kennedy says…”

To which I retort:

Wtf cares what Dan Kennedy says.

What do your own results say?

If doing something contrary to what Dan Kennedy teaches makes you more $$ are you going to stop doing it?

That’d be nutzo.

Which brings me to the best part:

Dan Kennedy is the FIRST person to tell you all marketing “dogma” is bad, and not to blindly believe it.

His stuff included.

I guess, they must skip over that part…

Anyway.

Gotta love them Dan Kennedy fanboys.

Never a dull moment.

Until next time…

Ben Settle

It’s good to listen to music while writing.

Why?

Because when you’re writing emails, sales copy or any other kind of writing (like, for example, when I write about flesh eating zombies in the novel I’ve been slooooowly grinding away at) you want to be in an emotional state.

At least, I do.

You can, of course, do whatever you want.

Here’s the two kinds of music I dig lately:

1. Music with lots of saxophone

2. Music with lots of violin (especially movie scores)

So in my case, lots of jazz and orchestra type music.

Will this make your writing better?

Will I keep listening to this?

Does any of this matter?

No idea.

But, people ask about this from time to time.

And if you take it to heart, give it a shot, and put some on when you write… I do believe sax and violins will get ya every time…

Also, one more thing:

It helps to listen to epic sounding music.

Like movie scores, for example. Or inspirational music. Or, even better, the music your market listens to… so you have another “angle” into their psychology.

Okay that’s it for today.

Until next time:

Go thou here and write weak emails no more:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

For the first time in God-only-knows-how-long…

I live in a town with a comic book store!

This is dangerous.

It’s like a drug addict living on the corner of crack and 8 ball.

I’ve already been in there several times, buying a bunch of graphic novels and wasting WAY too much time chatting with the owner who has forgotten more about comic books, what’s going on in the industry, who’s suing who, etc than I’ll ever even begin to know.

Anyway, there’s a reason I’m telling you this.

Check this out:

So the store owner and I got to rapping about what’s been going on in the 10+ years since I’ve collected comic books. And one of the questions I asked was “why do these comic book companies keep restarting the numbering???”

It used to be cool to have an #1 issue.

Now?

Apparently they re-boot titles every few years.

The reason?

Low sales!

And the reason for low sales?

Lack of good stories, art, etc.

(I blame the executives for this — even back in the 90’s they used to make the writers to do yearly “events” which would force the writers of multiple titles to compromise on telling great stories to get a surge of sales as collectors then needed to buy ALL the titles tied in to the event to get the full story. That was why great writers like Chris Claremont left the X-Men — after single handedly making it THE top selling book — after 17 years. Or, why Peter David — another great writer — left the Incredible Hulk after bringing it to the top of the sales charts, too…)

Ah crap, I just geeked out there, didn’t I?

My bad.

Alright back to the point:

So they basically keep rebooting titles as sales gimmicks.

Kinda like when they killed Superman.

It was an obvious gimmick.

And, yes, it helped sales.

But it also killed a lot of peoples’ enthusiasm for the book.

Anyway, here’s the point:

You may be tempted to do this with your online business — and “reverse engineer” what you see gurus doing constantly launching and re-launching products over and over and over… even though, from what I’ve been told and have learned first hand from at least one guru… some of these blokes are just one failed launch away from living on the street!

As are these comic book titles, apparently.

After all, if you got no substance, you must rely on gimmicks.

Trickery.

And, sometimes, even fraud.

Or, you can do it the EASY way.

The RIGHT way.

And, yes, the PROFITABLE way:

Focus on creating quality products. Sell them using email the way I teach. And, work on a way to have consistent sales coming in… instead of having to rely on geeking up you entire affiliate base in your niche with yet another hyped up launch. (You can still do the affiliate thing, and should if that’s your bag, but don’t *rely* on it — the ol’ Dan Kennedyism of “1 is the most dangerous number” is truth.)

Hey Marvel Comics, you listening?

What about you, DC?

This is free advice to ye company “suits.”

Which is why, it would be ignored, anyway.

Oh well.

It ain’t easy always being right.

Go here next:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Got an important quote for ya.

It’s from one of the most “serious” actors of our times… from one of the most artistic, “high culture” films ever made.

Anyway, the “serious” actor is Jim Carrey.

And the high society film of which I speaketh of is…

Kick Ass 2!

Here’s what happens:

There’s this scene were all the costumed heroes are about to take down a child prostitution and slavery ring. Jim Carrey’s character Col. Stars & Stripes (How’s that for a name? I told you this was a high classy film…) gets ready to knock on the door and tells his band of heroes before the ass kicking commences:

“Try to have fun. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

And guess what?

This short quote can help you write emails that pull in sales day after day, predictably, reliably and, yes, joyously.

How??

Because it directly applies to email copywriting.

You MUST have fun writing emails.

You MUST enjoy it, too.

And, you MUST even look forward to it.

Why?

Because otherwise you’ll hate doing it.

Quit.

Make a fraction of the sales you *could* make.

And, let’s face it:

If that’s the case, then what’s the point?

Wait a minute… what’s that?

You hate writing?

You suck at it?

And, this is what’s holding you back?

Never fear, Batman.

This is why the “Email Players” newsletter comes with a short book showing you exactly how to write all the profitable emails your bad little self can eat — in a way that’s fun, interesting and exciting.

Not just for you to write.

But also, for your readers to consume.

And, yes, buy from.

Here’s where to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let me tell you a story:

During our Oceans 4 hot seat mastermind event in San Diego a couple months ago, Ryan Leveque told us about his fool-proof “trick” for getting the arm rest when flying.

Or, as he called it:

How to “Levesque” someone.

Here’s what you do:

When sitting next to someone on the plane, and they have the arm rest, you tuck your elbows in a little differently, so you can quickly slide your arm on the rest as fast as possible. And, what you do is, you wait until he scratches his nose or rubs his eyes or does some other gesture where he momentarily raises his arm.

And then…

You steal the arm rest for the rest of the flight!

(Extra points if you smirk & wink at ’em right after…)

Anyway, good advice for them looooong flights.

And you know what?

It’s also good advice for email marketing.

It’s actually a lot how my email system works.

Here’s what I mean:

When you have people on your list who are also on your competitor’s list, you are essentially sharing an arm rest with them. And if your competitor has better positioning, personal branding, a bigger list, more subscribers, a rock star presence in your market, and so forth he basically has the arm rest.

What that means is:

He’s comfy.

And, you ain’t.

But, guess what?

Eventually, they’ll stop mailing for a few days.

(Or weeks.)

They’ll get lazy.

Or, just take their list for granted.

In other words…

They move their arm from the arm rest!

And, if you email using my methodology, you are there, each and every day — in those shared subscribers’ inboxes, selling them (in a way they LIKE reading and buying from), bringing a mini “adventure” to them… which means you will eventually (and automatically) pull a “Levesque” on them, and steal those subscribers’ mindshare and business over to YOU.

One by one.

Over time.

And, without them even noticing until it’s too late.

All they know is their sales are going down, and sitting in that seat next to you without the arm rest is a bit… uncomfortable.

Is any of this getting through?

Or will you keep SPURNING me on mailing daily?

I hope not.

After all, you only hurt yourself.

And give your competition the arm rest.

Go thou here next:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Hmm… never been accused of this before.

The following is a response to some emails I wrote a couple weeks ago (with the subject lines “Creepy disturbing emails I get from people” and “How to profit from gut-wrenching despair”)…

Mr. Ben Settle,

I’ve been reading your emails for awhile now and you are funny…lot’s of times biting… but the past 2 emails I see something different. You are a romantic. Yes, maybe you are. You will scoff at this I’m sure, maybe even make fun of me…but I like this side of you. It is nice to see behind the veil so to speak. Anyone who sends you mean or disturbing letters is crazy or a fool. Thanks for the inspiration you give to those of us who like to write.

Naomi Novella

“Novella”, eh?

Lemme guess… you write fiction?

Anyway, here’s the thing:

Changing up the tones, themes, ideas and concepts of my emails are all part of the Settle way of writing emails. I’m all about giving someone a “surprise” each day — so you never know what you’re gonna get.

In other words…

Are you gonna get cool, laid back Ben?

Asshole Ben (i.e. elbenbo)?

Angry Ben?

Calm Ben?

Biting harsh Ben?

Sweet Ben?

Entertaining Ben?

Just-the-facts Ben?

Mockery Ben?

Praise Ben?

Arrogant Ben?

Humble Ben? (There was a sighting of him once or twice…)

Angel Ben?

Devil Ben?

What are you gonna get?

You simply don’t know.

Hey, I don’t even know until I set down to write!

In fact — and I did not plan this, as I wrote the email that came out the next day the week prior (set to go out on a schedule) — the next email after the one Ms. Novella responded to was certainly not romantic Ben at all. Its subject line was “As if my ego wasn’t big enough already… ” and the next Monday I sent out an email about the backasswards things chicks say (Romantic Ben was nowhere to be found that day…)

The point?

I like to mix it up, baby.

Keep things unpredictable.

And, yes, profitable.

If you want to learn my FULL system, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

In which a reader asks:

“Ben love your emails!!! I am not focusing on building an online business because I am almost done with graduate school and need to find a job to pay the bills first 🙂 Do you have any tips for grads for using email to find a job?? Thank you!! – Trixie”

Yes Trixie (your real name?), I do have some advice.

Advice I recently gave to my friend Kate.

She, too, is about to get a graduate degree.

And, well, let’s face it:

The job market is a dog-eat-dog world.

And y’awl new grads are wearing milk bone underwear…

So, that said, what can you do?

Well, here’s the advice I gave Kate:

What you do is get yourself interviewed by reporters. Can be for radio, print, tv, it doesn’t really matter (I’m partial to radio…) And you get interviewed about whatever it is you do.

I don’t know what you’re studying.

But let’s say it’s a degree like… oh… say creative writing.

And, you want a job as a teacher.

What can you do?

What I’d do is, something like this:

Contact reporters to get interviewed giving tips to younger people on how to get better grades and get the things they want in life via using the written word. (i.e. writing persuasive stories, letters to the editor, notes to companies who spurn them, etc).

Would the media interview you about this?

Yeppers.

The media is basically looking for interesting information they can give their audience (that makes them look good). And they will give you instant credibility and “celebrity appeal” if you give them what they want.

Now, imagine this:

You are going in for job interviews.

You are getting the usual questions about what your favorite color is or whatever… and you drop that you were interviewed by reporters by a local radio station.

Or a newspaper (and you attach the article to your resume.)

Or in a magazine. (ditto above).

Or, even on TV if you can swing it.

You instantly stick out.

You were in the media and all those other people applying weren’t. I have known of people who did this and it was a cakewalk for them getting the jobs they wanted. Once you get interviewed (especially multiple times) by the media you become kind of a celebrity. It’s weird, but that’s just how our celebrity-obsessed culture thinks of anyone who’s been in the media.

Might as well use it to your advantage…

Not saying every HR department will be impressed.

But some will.

And, let’s face it, you only need one to hire you…

What’s that?

You don’t know how to do this?

Sigh.

Don’t they teach people anything in school???

I’m WAY too good to my list.

I usually only give this to “Email Players”.

But, I’m in a generous mood today.

Behold…

www.EmailPlayers.com/media

Ben Settle

This email is intended for ONLY one kind of person:

And that is, someone who is interested in attending the “Oceans 4” hot seat mastermind event in Vegas in February I’m teaching with Andre Chaperon (master auto-responder writer, strategist and teacher)… Jack Born (the “Walter White” of creating marketing tools & Perry Marshall’s affiliate manager)… and Ryan Levesque (marketing funnel wizard who uses advanced neuro-scientific principles to ramp up response rates for his multi-million dollar earning clients).

Anyway, here’s the story:

Over the last few calls we’ve had, there’s been this running joke.

Should we offer the attendees free hookers?

You know, as a “carrot” to attend.

Obviously, we ain’t gonna do that, stud.

(Sorry to disappoint…)

But, turns out we got something MUCH better to offer.

Something sexier.

And, something hotter.

Well, at least if you would like a big ol’ fatty list of email subscribers to sell your products to with reckless abandon.

What is this thing I speaketh of?

Andre Chaperon’s biz partner and media buying “wizard”:

Steve Gray.

Never heard of him?

Well, neither had any of us!

And, that’s because he’s not out teaching “how to” info on how he generates an average of well over 3 million visitors per month to his various sites (in extremely “cutthroat” competitive markets)… he’s in the trenches doing it.

And before you even ask… he has no info product to sell.

Nor does he do client work.

That means, the only way you can learn from him is:

1. Becoming his business partner (good luck with that…)

2. Attending our Ocean’s 4 event in Vegas

Yep.

He’s gonna be there.

And, here’s the best part:

He’s taking NO compensation from us. Nor does he want to profit from it directly in any way, shape or form. He’s going to be there as a guest not only doing a special training for the group on how to buy media, but also as an attendee participating in the hot seats.

This ALONE is worth the investment.

I have ALWAYS wanted to learn from someone like this.

And, I’m gonna get my chance.

So are the other attendees.

And you know what?

If you hop to it and secure your spot (only a few seats left at the table as of today), you can learn from him, ask him anything you want, and have your business’s traffic analyzed by arguably one the single best media buying experts on the planet while you’re on the hot seat.

This is a cool bonus “perk” we didn’t even plan on offering.

It just kinda fell in our lap.

So it’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

How do you learn more about attending?

That’s easy, boss, just click the link below and opt in.

And then, when you confirm your opt in, you will be sent to a page where you can get all the details on how to apply (you must apply, we want to make sure you’re a serious business, and that we can even help you at all — very important).

Anyway, here’s the link:

www.Oceans4mastermind.com

See ya on the other side…

Ben Settle

P.S. Last time we had some true “heavy hitters” in attendance… like Agora Publishing, BadAss Ventures (#1 company on ClickBank — who is returning for seconds they got so much value out of the last one), New York Times bestselling author Ramit Sethi’s inhouse “go to” marketing assistant, a marketing specialist for PGA Tour players and the #1 job portal for Australia’s billion dollar mining industry.

All of them walked away happy campers.

And, they are eagerly implementing (and profiting) what they learned.

Don’t worry, though.

You don’t have to be a $100 million business to attend.

But, it’s not cheap, either.

And, you WILL be skewered on the hot seat.

(So you’ll need the ability to check your ego at the door.)

Here’s the link again:

www.Oceans4mastermind.com

But time is short.

Chop! Chop!