Ben Settle

Gonna do something different today.

I’m cracking open my skull and letting you look at my brain.

(egh… that sounded gross, didn’t it? Hey, cut me some slack. I’m working on the second draft of my zombie novel I’ll be publishing in a few months, and the gore is bound to “seep” out into these emails from time to time…)

Specifically, I’m gonna tell you my 2014 goals.

This’ll take multiple emails.

But, maybe they’ll inspire you.

We shall see…

Anyway, my most important goal is:

PATIENCE

Why is this my #1 goal?

Because, my little droogie, patience is what separates the boys from the men. Patient men lead and inspire people to trust them… impatient men bring down and hurt people through their bad decisions and lack of discipline. Patient men are confident and have power over themselves and over others… impatient men are insecure and have no power over their urges, emotions or others. Patient men don’t waver and buckle under pressure, they endure and wait for the right time to act… impatient men react to pressure and often do the exact opposite what they should do, wasting their shot and often causing misery around them as a result.

You get the picture, yeah?

Patience is power.

Power over yourself.

Power over your opponents.

And, power over your world.

But you know what?

I lost a lot of my patience in 2013.

Frankly, I used to have this patience “attribute” in spades.

“Delayed gratification” was my middle name.

I would eagerly wait weeks, months even YEARS to implement plans and ideas simply because I knew that would be the best chance of those ideas succeeding in all the important areas of my life:

• Business
• Family
• Relationships
• Education
• And the list goes on….

But, something happened in 2013 to change that.

Exactly what happened, I know not.

What I DO know is I had unstoppable patience in 2012.

And in 2011.

And in 2010.

And, really, my entire business life.

(Going back to 1998.)

Then, about mid way through 2013… it was gone.

Vanished like a fart in the wind.

Good news is, I recently found my patience again.

(In the last place I looked — where all my lost time is found too).

Now it’s just a matter of getting it back to the “unconscious competence” mode it used to be in — where it was as automatic as breathing, instead of the “conscious competence” mode it’s in now, where I have to sometimes remind myself of it.

Hey, you can NEVER rest on your laurels.

I don’t care how great your life is now.

Or, how successful you are.

In fact, the more successful you get, the more you have to be on guard about losing the things that made you successful in the first place.

Now, let’s wrap this email up:

One product that takes patience to read is…

“Christian Business Secrets”

It’s a looooong book.

Thick with information.

And, not for “casual” readers.

It’s also *patiently* waiting for you here:

www.ChristianBusinessSecrets.com

Ben Settle

“About the whole no guns thing… not sure I feel as strongly about it as you”

– Catwoman
“The Dark Knights Rises”

Let’s talk about guns.

It’s been a while since I stirred up the gun haters on my list who think guns are the devil and only unaccountable government agents should be allowed to possess them (because, you know, that worked so well historically with the Nazis, Commies and other monsters who have slaughtered their own people when left defenseless).

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, last time I talked about this was a year ago.

It was right after the Sandy Hook tragedy.

And, it was about how, at the EXACT time that tragedy happened, I was at a shooting range, with well over a dozen guns popping off on both sides of the shooting bay I was in. And yet, I was a gazillion times safer there than your child was that day sitting there exposed in a “gun free” public school classroom.

Yes, it’s true.

All those “icky” guns around me posed no danger.

Yet, at that school where those innocent kids were slaughtered, the “no guns” rules did nothing to protect them.

No amount of gun control will change this fact.

And, no amount of anti-gun drama queening will change it, either.

Now, of course I got a bunch of angry mail (lots of funny, mindless “hulking out” comments) that day — most of it just “link bombs” (when people send you a dozen links to biased websites, thinking you’re going to spend all day reading them). All of them ignoring the facts (like what the FBI says about the issue). And, basically relying on various straw man arguments more full of holes than the target I just got done riddling with bullets at the gun range that day.

Anyway, why am I bringing this up?

To make some people shake in anger?

Rally others to the cause?

Amuse myself with the flurry of emails I’ll get from people who have nothing to say except accuse me of watching Fox News (I don’t even have cable TV), being a Tea Party member (I’m not) or being in the NRA (never have been)?

Well, there may be a little “amusement baiting” going on.

These emails exist to amuse me first and foremost.

But also, I want to talk about something important.

And that is…

Being armed and prepared in 2014.

And no, there is no marketing lesson here.

So if you’re just going to squawk on about how you joined this list to get email marketing info and not my views on saving your life, then the opt out link is below.

Don’t let the unsubscribe page hit you in the butt.

Come, stay, lay or pray, I care not what you do, either way.

What?

You’re still here?

Okay, good.

Then, check this out:

Last week I read an article about a Wall Street advisor recommending stocking up on guns and ammo for protection in case of a collapse (which he and many of his colleagues believe very possible thanks to growing debt and deficit spending, the devaluation in the U.S. dollar, the idiocy that we know as Obamacare, the NSA dismantling your freedoms day by day… and the list goes on).

Don’t worry.

This wasn’t doom-saying.

He wasn’t even saying it positively WILL happen.

Only that we should be prepared.

And, let’s face it:

Only a fool would say you shouldn’t be prepared.

And the first part in prepping in my humble (but accurate) opinion… is gunning up, babycakes.

And, doing it fast.

As in yesterday.

It’s so simple, too:

Buy a gun and then get trained on how to use it.

Now, whenever I write about this topic, some sob sister or mush cookie will tell me a story of woe about someone she knows who was killed with a gun (no doubt in a “gun free” zone or city). Apparently, I’m supposed to let her story persuade me to give up my Second Amendment right to bear arms and defend myself.

Uhm, no.

It just emboldens me more.

And, serves as another example for the importance of arming yourself.

So to my sob sister and mush cookie friends, some advice:

Instead of telling tear jerking stories, buy yourself a gun.

Or two.

Or three…

(I’m adding at least another 2 to my collection in the next week or so, and trust ye me, guns are NOT getting cheaper).

Give one to your spouse.

Another to your parents.

And any other loved ones, too.

And if things don’t collapse into hell in a handbasket?

What then?

Good!

If you never have to use it in self defense it’s done its job. Kinda like having 6 months of savings in cash, or a well stocked pantry you never have to use.

On the other hand…

If there is a collapse and “every man for himself” chaos?

And you and your family’s backs are to the wall?

Well at least you’re prepared.

You’re ready.

And, can take action instead of being a helpless victim.

That’s why I say “gun up or shut up.”

Because all those silly anti-gun platitudes and faux statistics passed around the media from the talking points of politicians and fat celebrities who live in gated communities and have body guards won’t do you a lick of good in a crisis situation.

Neither will hiding under your bed.

Or even calling the police.

Plus, who knows?

You may even like your gun once you give it a shot…

Alright, end of Ben Settle Service Announcement.

(BSA?)

One last thing:

If you also want to be “prepped” for business this year, I also highly recommend (and I am obviously biased) this book:

www.ChristianBusinessSecrets.com

It won’t save your life.

But, it could help save your business.

Happy shooting…

Ben Settle

Few months back, I received this interesting question.

A question a LOT of people wonder about.

(Especially those swallowing the “move the free line” nonsense.)

And, my little droogie, if you take what I am about to say to heart, methinks you will find yourself getting a lot more sales, with a lot less effort, and with a lot more fun.

Behold…

I am wondering if your daily marketing advice applies to people in fields such as mine. I’m a recipe “blogger” I guess who writes recipe ebooks and cookbooks as my only way of supporting myself. I had turned my aweber unsubscribe comments off for about a year and I turned them on again recently and I’m getting a lot of nasty complaints from people.

I send out 1 free recipe, 1 free article (sometimes has a plug for something on amazon or one of my recipe books), and 1 promotion with 1 reminder a week.

And I get so many emails from people saying I send too much stuff they cannot read it, and then others who are downright livid I use emails to promote my books. My readers seem to be the 40-70 year old range, female, overweight, sickly, cheap American who is highly offended by anything that’s not free.

Some say I should give even more free content and less promos (how do I pay bills?) and you say send daily emails. Not sure what to do because my readers do not like/understand the purpose of email marketing.

This email begot a LONG response from me.

And, I put my entire response in the January “Email Players” issue — which goes to the printer in a couple short days.

But for now?

Here’s a “sneak preview” for ya.

She is making a CLASSIC marketing mistake:

Not selling to *buyers*.

There’s a marketing formula that goes like this:

Your list is 50% of the battle.

Your offer is 30%.

And your copy is 20%.

In her case, she is simply generating the wrong traffic and is the first “bottleneck” she must figure out before going further. And if she simply fixes that, most of her other marketing problems disappear.

If not?

Then, mailing daily won’t do her any good.

In fact, it’ll actually work *against* her.

I know, I know…

Kinda simple advice isn’t it?

Mayhaps it is.

Yet, how many people follow it?

How many people waste their lives slaving over creating videos, reports and other “content” to try to prove they aren’t (gasp!) sales people and businesses that exist to make a profit… instead of just learning how to SELL?

Far too many, I say.

Selling.

It’s like a dirty work.

Yet, it’s what your prospects want.

What they enjoy.

And, frankly, what they need.

So give it to ’em already, Chuckles.

What are you afraid of?

I even show you how to sell with email in a way people like reading and buying from in the “Email Players Playbook” that comes with your subscription.

Details at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Recently I got an earful from an angry customer.

No, not one of my customers.

Some goo-roo’s customer.

And she was saying how she bought a product that was supposed to help with SEO (something like that) but was outdated info, didn’t have a prayer of working and she wanted her money back which she assumed she would get.

But alas, it wasn’t so.

For one, she had to jump through a lot of hoops.

Then, ended up talking to half a dozen people who kept shunting her to another person and then another…

And after all that, she still hasn’t gotten her money back.

But, here’s the thing:

She KNEW she shouldn’t have bought in the first place.

The seller had a bad reputation. The ad was full of hype and nonsense. And, she had even known someone else who had gotten burned by the exact same seller.

It’s loco.

(Yes, she’s reading this, but needs the tough love…)

Frankly, it’s like some guy in a ski mask hopping out of the back of a windowless van with a rag in his hand, asking her “does this rag smell like chloroform?” and her agreeing to smell it.

Anyway, the point?

It’s like comedian Dante Nero says:

“When you feel a tingle in your nuts chances are you’re going to get kicked in the balls “

True ‘dat.

And you know what?

This is especially true buying online.

Now, let’s talk about something else:

The January “Email Players” issue goes to the printer Wednesday.

Here’s what’s inside:

• An email (word for word) that made a small fortune for the subscriber who sent it to me (and how you can “model” it for your own products)

• When daily emails work AGAINST you

• How to use email to nab sales from crappy Clickbank traffic

• How to use a 100-year old classified ad to make even your most outrageous claims 100% believable

• Gary Halbert’s “ignore proof” subject line template

• How to “trick” clients into writing 80% of your emails for you

• And a ho’ bunch mo’

Get your New Year issue lovin’ here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Change of plans today.

I originally wanted to show you some hate mail since I LOVE me a hot, steamy piece of hate mail in the morning.

It sends a tingle up my leg.

And, serves as a reminder I’m doing things right.

But alas, I’m fresh out of hate mail.

So, I’m gonna do something else, instead.

I’m gonna show you some marketing LOVE mail instead.

Starting with…

Casey Meyers, who recently sent me this on facebook:

“Your email drip has neutralized my ability to say no. You seem like a cross between Alec Baldwin in the movie GlenGarry-GlenRoss and Nine Inch Nails.”

I REALLY dig that comparison.

(If you’ve seen the movie you know why…)

This next piece of marketing lovin’ is especially cool.

Why?

It’s from the co-founder of the #1 company on ClickBank.

(i.e. the biggest distributor of digital products on the Internet).

And, here’s what he sent:

“Hey Ben – (this is Joshua Pellicer) I just wanted to acknowledge you and thank you for giving Jim Clair a shout out in the email you sent out. he came to me with no copywriting experience less than a year ago (maybe 8 months or so?) and now he’s doubling conversions for our upsells and basically carrying the company on his copywriting skills – not least of which are the emails he sends out – which are in my voice and are very impressive. He’s a better copywriter than I was when I wrote the Goldfish VSL with Jon Benson. Thanks very much for supporting him like this.”

Next…

Some lovin’ from website reader Misha Miller.

She says:

“Your book Copywriter’s crib sheet was recommended on my kindle and the sample copy made me buy it. You gave away the first 8 chapters filled of great, straight-to- the-point tips. Nobody is ever that generous. Really appreciated the one about using negativity to your advantage. I bought it to see what other great things could be done in the name of copy. Thank you.”

Finally…

Here’s a fat one from Email Player Patrick Williamson:

“I just wanted to thank you… not just for the training and the philosophy of what you do, but (maybe) more importantly for the fact that you’re the ONLY marketer in my inbox every single weekday! Nobody else has pulled that off. Not even close. At this point, I can’t imagine you NOT being in my inbox every weekday. Just wouldn’t be the same without you 🙂 That daily reminder of your existence and the common sense you’re trying to instill in the internet marketing industry on a daily basis has made ALL of the difference in the world. Persistence, alone, is omnipotent, and you’ve proven that maxim and lived it to the hilt with your daily emails. My hats off to you, Ben!”

Anyway, the point of all this?

To stroke my ego?

No…

I wanted to show off my “harem” of recent marketing love mail.

And, tempt you to look closely at “Email Players”.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One thing I never say is “Email Players” is for everyone.

Because it ain’t.

In fact, I not only make that abundantly clear on the sales letter, but I “pepper” my daily emails with verbiage to discourage those who either won’t last or won’t implement the information properly even if they do.

Still, sometimes people slip through the cracks.

And, when they do, I tell my list about it.

(So those NOT qualified don’t bother subscribing.)

For example, here’s a recent comment:

We have a corporate marketing staff that approves everything we send out and I just can’t get them to buy into some of your practices and ideas. They insist on us using Gitomer’s Ace of Sales product with all of the cutesy clip art and other trappings.

I understand.

Really, I do.

This guy is in a no-win situation.

And this is one reason why my newsletter is (except in rare cases) intended ONLY for independent entrepreneurs who wear the pants in their own business, not corporate clients or business owners who take orders from their own clueless “creatives” who couldn’t make a sale if their lives depended on it.

Hey…

Need wifey’s permission to make a business decision?

Afraid your employees will bristle at testing my methods?

Filter your emails through 17 idiots to get them “approved”?

Then get thee away.

It ain’t personal.

But, I don’t want to disrupt the balance of power in your business if your employees or “creatives” make all your marketing decisions… or if you work for clients afraid to test my (admittedly unconventional) email marketing methods just because it makes them nervous.

Save your money.

And, save your time.

There are lots of “safe” methods out there.

But, you won’t find them here.

On the other hand…

If you think you got the right stuff, check out:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A subscriber asks if I’m down with NLP…

QUESTION: Ben, do you incorporate Neuro-Linguistic Programming into your copywriting intentionally? More specifically, have you studied it as part of the discipline.

The short answer is… no.

I have never consciously used it in my ads.

Nor have I ever studied it, either.

Why?

Mostly because the subject isn’t very interesting to me. Call me an NLP grinch if you like, but I just don’t dig on NLP. Also, I am not very convinced of its effectiveness in copy, anyway. I don’t say this because I understand it (I don’t) but simply because I once spanked a copywriter pretty handily who is big into NLP in a head-to-head copy match, which did not bode well for my opinion of NLP’s potency.

But, who knows?

Mayhaps the copywriter didn’t understand NLP, either?

Whatever the case, I’m not against NLP.

If someone uses it, great.

But it’s not my bag.

That’s why you’ll never see anything about it in my email training newsletter — www.EmailPlayers.com — or other products.

More:

I know a few NLP fanboys.

People who study it all the time.

And frankly, they’re stuff doesn’t impress me, either.

Anyway, that’s my opinion.

Next time… something else…

Ben Settle

One of my favorite “Email Players” subscribers is Sanjay Pande.

Why?

Because he is always implementing what he learns in the newsletter — even from the monthly critique I offer as a “perk” for subscribing. In fact, just a critique I sent him was worth more money in a day than 90% of Americans probably make in a month.

Checky:

Hi Ben,

You’ll be pleased with this …

I think we’ve had one of our best “non-launch” days from the last e-mail you critiqued. As you already know, it was inspired by your “Mock the competition” issue.

So far we’ve had one sale for $1497, 3 invoice requests for the same course (our market needs this) and one snowflake complaint. That single e-mail should bring in close to 6K to the business. I’ll take more complaints please and thank you very much. This is a very hard market to sell to btw (uphill battle because we’re creating the demand).

My partner is an industry authority and can’t go off on rants like I can, so we changed the newsletter from “him” to from “both of us” (which gives us lots of flexibility) – This was inspired by another list I am on (non IM).

Yesterday, I revisited at least a dozen of the older newsletters and I can tell you this. If you’re stuck for ideas. Just crack open 10 old Email Players issues and skim them and … Wow! You’re going to feel like the idea machine man (or woman).

Warm Regards and THANK YOU!

Sanjay Pande

That’s what I’m talkin’ about Willis.

This kind of response warms the cockles of my cold, icy heart and gives me hope for humanity.

Next issue goes to print in less than 2 weeks.

Get your Email Players lovin’ here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Ben why is ‘Email Players’ so expensive?”

Came a question this morning.

I often hear variations of this question.

But, it makes no sense to me.

In fact, I argue it’s inexpensive.

That I should charge more.

And, that it’s actually cheap.

How so?

Because it comes out to $3.23 per day.

That’s cheaper than many Starbucks drinks (it’s amusing to think of someone complaining about the price while sipping a $3.75 coffee each day…) and is probably way less than what a bum holding a cup out on the street makes in just an hour.

Fact is, it’s never about price.

Ever.

It’s about priorities.

It’s about having an “investor” vs a “consumer” mindset.

And, it’s about whether or not someone can muster up the balls (it doesn’t take much) to sit down and write an email for 20 minutes 5-7 days per week and invest in their business, or if they will instead find something else more “important” to do — like play on flakebook or watch tv or talk about business on forums & blogs instead of doing it.

But it’s never about money.

Even a panhandler makes more than $3.23 per day.

And lots of people piss that away on daily Starbucks.

More:

At $3.23 per day, sending a daily email using my tips and teachings inside the newsletter should easily pay for itself if you have even a *half* way decent list and offer (and if you don’t then you shouldn’t subscribe anyway — you’re not ready).

Anyway, that’s my opinion.

And, of course, I’m right.

If you got the right stuff, check it out here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Otherwise, don’t sweat it.

You don’t “need” the newsletter.

And, it’s not intended for everyone anyway.

Ben Settle