Ben Settle

Couple weeks ago Stefania tweeted:

“Told my trainer this morning: it’s a point of personal pride that @elBenb0 has never changed a single one of Willis’ diapers nor made a single meal for us – he’s maybe used the microwave once or twice, but that’s it. She looked me like I was out of my mind”

True story about that:

A day or two after Willis was born, Stefania’s parents stayed with us for a few weeks. And one of the first things her dad Julio asked me while on my way out the door, laptop bag slung over shoulder, ready to get some work done on way to my detached office was:

JULIO: Ben, you going to change diapers?

elBENBO: I can change the diapers or I can make the money.

He nodded in agreement.

He never changed any diapers either.

I don’t even think Stefania’s mom Margoth would let him.

And in my case, it’s simply not a wise use of my time.

Especially now, with the economy collapsing, where time is literally of the essence.

Now let me be crystal clear for the wine aunts gasping in despair at this:

If a dad wants to change diapers, I have nothing against it.

This certainly ain’t me shaming anybody.

Some guys have literally no choice, others even like doing it from what I’ve noticed.

But when one learns how to valuate their time — down to the minute — and parse that with the realities of energy output, breaks needed, mental bandwidth expended on menial activities that are not getting you to your goals, not to mention other ticky-tack business-related tasks that can’t be ignored… those multiple blocks of constantly interrupted work flow combined with the time spent wiping up shyt & piss several times per day for next couple years add up to quite a bit.

Same with other domestic chores that gobble up time.

This is one reason why Dan Kennedy’s NO BS Time Management book is so vital.

He forces you to figure out what your time is worth.

Mine is high enough where it’s one of the many reasons why I despise small talk, and possibly also why my output in a month is probably more than most peoples’ output in a year as far as content creation, emails, sales pages written, novels published, etc.

Time really does = money.

Thus the long game dictates my approach.

And not virtue signaling talking points on Twitter or Facebook to appease the wine aunts.

All right, enough of this.

Instead of changing diapers I put that time into high payout activities.

One of which is obviously email.

To learn how I go about it, check out:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Recently I was reading an interview with an old school crotchety screenwriter (is there any other kind?) from the book Backstory 2 by the name of:

Phillip Yordan.

Very interesting guy.

Street-wise, and battle-hardened.

And one theme that goes through not just his career dealing with high level Hollywood producers and studio owners, but a lot of those old school writers is, just how little the “script” mattered to their bosses at the end of the day.

Yes, they needed a script.

But for some it was like an afterthought.

As an example from the book:

“I worked for Walter Wanger once. . . he was a Dartmouth graduate and they wanted to bring somebody out here with some class. So they brought Walter. Walter says to me, ‘I don’t want to read this script. Scripts are shit. They’re nothing. It’s the subject matter, the story, the title, the cast, the costumes, and the set, that’s the picture.’ Like Cleopatra [1963]—names, costumes, set. Wanger wasn’t interested in the rest of it. Didn’t believe in scripts.”

Movie was ultimately considered a disaster.

Most people remember the drama behind the scenes more than the movie.

And it was all based on everything but a good script. These producers thought far more of the actors than the stories. More of the sets than the script. And more of the costumes than coherence or continuity. And while sometimes that worked (on accident), mostly it resulted in dumpster fires.

We got a bit of that in the marketing world too.

Example:

I have lost count of how many of my customers, Email Players subscribers, friends, and colleagues up in this industry have worked for clients — big and small — far more interested in the “name” than the talent or skill those names possess.

People chase names & status.

They want this guy’s style of email.

Or that guy’s style of doing sales copy.

Or some other guy’s style of doing launches, funnels, whatever it is.

The copywriting craftsmanship itself is almost an afterthought.

Real life instance:

I once coached someone on their copy.

And I will never forget one of the client saying:

“I want my sales letter to read like Ben’s Email Players sales letter.”

Zero awareness or caring about context whatsoever.

That sales page is not written to a mass market.

It’s certainly not written to people who do not know who I am.

It’s written “to” people who have been pre-exposed — via days, weeks, months, even years or possibly over a decade — of emails from me prepping them for the page. Someone lands cold on Email Players would be dumb to buy from it. It’s not meant for them. It’s not talking “to” them. I don’t even want such a customer as they aren’t sufficiently prepped unless they’ve been on my list first. And so to have a sales page written in that structure and flow of information in that particular case would make no sense for 99% of people who think it worthy of being modeled.

This is just how people are.

They are followers seeking & adhering to dogma.

Good dogma, bad dogma, relevant dogma, irrelevant dogma… doesn’t matter.

But I like Dan Kennedy’s long-time attutitude about marketing dogma:

“All dogma is bad”

Yes, including my “dogma” if I have any – perceived or otherwise.

But I do not teach dogma.

I never say there’s an “only way” to do anything.

There’s only the way that works.

This includes anything I teach, sell, advocate.

More here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let us hearken back to a simpler time.

i.e., 10+ years ago.

Back in those days I was on both Facebook and Twitter. And one thing you could see people doing all the time — and maybe they still do — is tagging multiple people in a post or tweet when they want someone’s attention and a fat scooby snack for their trouble.

The so-called “Follow Friday” shtick comes to mind.

Especially amusing.

And was virtually worthless.

This was when people would shoot out 4-5 (or more!) tweets worth of people they wanted to tag at once, juts their handle and nothing else. It’s what amateurs would do. And had zero impact other than to get a like or wink from one of the people being tagged.

The reason:

Nobody is given any reason to follow any one of them.

i.e., Reason Why selling.

Same when I used to see people tagging 8 or 9 or 10 people on Facebook and all the ways they helped them, almost always as a desperate virtue signal. Not quite as worthless as Follow Friday was due to the nature of Twitter v Facebook.

And certainly better than nothing.

But you know what’s ideal no matter the platform?

(Facebook, Twitter, even email)

Tagging/plugging just one person.

And then giving that one person the spotlight.

One, it’ll be far more likely to be read and acted on.

And B, you’ll be doing a true service for the person you are tagging vs diluting it amongst multiple people. Not saying never to tag multiple people or whatever. Sometimes that is better. And in emails I’ve done that sort of thing, but not as a virtue signal, as a genuine attempt to help serve my readers.

But if you really want someone’s attention?

And if you genuinely be of help to them, and endear yourself to them?

Maybe even get that precious scooby snack from them?

Don’t bury them in a post with multiple others.

Apply the oldest “law” of direct response probably ever devised:

“Sell one thing at a time”

Put the spotlight on just one.

Maybe your milage will vary. But doing that one thing helped me get more JV’s, make more connections, and, overall get me more business using all kinds of marketing media than almost any other social media tip I can share.

Applies to email, too.

Yes, you can write a list of people or books you’ve learned from. And at times I have. But the impact was nowhere near as powerful as isolating one person, one book, one resource, etc, I want my list to check out.

These laws of direct response are constant.

Social media is not “different.”

Mobile apps are not “different.”

And whatever new tech comes next will not be “different.”

Not when it comes to direct response.

The laws work across the board.

Which is why I bake so many of these laws into everything I sell, why I teach them constantly, and, yes, why I use them all the time in my own business, almost to an obsessive degree. Solid principles grounded in proven psychology and sound, principled thought will rarely leave you or forsake you — unlike tactics which are often fleeting, temporary, and very often treacherous that’ll turn on you.

All of which brings me to the Email Players Newsletter.

A lot of the info inside each month is almost all law-based.

Applied to email.

And accessible by just about any business using email.

That’s why they work so reliably, and are far more valuable than the latest goo-roo tactic being preached in some Facebook group or being sung about by someone prancing around the room at a mastermind.

Not saying all tactics are bad.

But they are often situationally effective.

And, while they may get you a meeting, they rarely get you invited back.

(H/T to the late Jim Camp who I first heard that truism from)

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

An Email Players subscriber (not sure she wants me revealing her name) checks in:

Something that jumps out at me:
 
When you were in burnout, you wanted the 10-minute workday. When you came out of burnout, you wanted to work more.
 
I’m deep in burnout right now and feeling overwhelmed. But I’ve been sending my daily emails for almost a year now, and it feels like I’m cracking my way into a new level. The revenue still isn’t there but I’m trying new things.
 
This email gives me hope that I won’t always feel this way, that things will get easier at some point, something will click, and and I will be ready to contribute MORE instead of wanting to get by on LESS. I hate wanting to be smaller.
 
No question, just a THANKS for the (unintentional?) encouragement to keep going.

That is exactly how it works.

And this is what 99% never understand or experience because they quit too early.

In my experience:

Whatever someone is going after, if they have a good plan to follow, it will happen eventually. That’s literally how the process works: There’s nothing, nothing, nothing happening… wheels spinning… you wonder what’s the point… until you’re on the verge of just saying to hell with it all… but you keep going even though any rational person would probably quit (it helps to have someone who is a naysayer to prove wrong…) and then seemingly out of nowhere:

BAM!

Something happens and everything changes.

What will happen?

Who knows?

I’ve never heard or seen it be the same for any two people. But the common theme is, an opportunity arises seemingly out of nowhere while, in reality, you’ve been readying yourself to see and exploit it. An old dead deal revives. An idea comes to you out of the blue that changes everything. You get on someone’s radar who mails their list about you somewhere and 2000+ people join your email list, many becoming buyers, and many of those buyers leading to new deals, JV’s, clients, whatever it is.

It’s impossible to say what for any specific business.

But all the above happened to me and more all at once it seemed.

In fact, there was a time many yeas ago I was on the verge of saying screw it all.

Nothing seemed to work sustainably.

All my hard work seemed to be for nothing.

And I was wasting my talents on skills, with nothing to show for it, constantly clawing away, working like a mule, and getting screwed over, or making stupid decisions, or just toiling away in frustration not knowing what to do next.

(This was before I took email and list building seriously, which too me far too long to start doing…)

But then a deal emerged I thought was long dead.

A client came out of the woodworks I never expected.

I got an idea to implement out of the blue.

And then I got on some radars of the right people — who had seen some of the stuff I’d been toiling away on but that I didn’t think anyone saw — who helped put a lot of people on my list, including people wanting to hire me.

Money came in that let me invest in programs that made my skills sharper.

Which led to more profits.

And more skill mastery.

Which then led to another series of opportunities, deals, clients, etc.

And all of those then had “threads” I tugged on, that led to more opportunity.

Until, today, it’s not a matter of where good deals or ideas are, but which to turn down.

And so on, and so forth.

I didn’t “engineer” any of it.

I simply created an environment for it to happen and grow in organically, and went with it.

Had I known then what I do now I’d have both created the environment & engineered it.

But the point is this:

Any one of a million “things” can happen.

And every single person I know in this business has had some “thing” like that happen at some point. A catalyst that sparked a fuse, that created a chain reaction of events and opportunities that changed their entire lives seemingly “overnight” after many years of hard grind and struggle.

Admittedly:

It’s hard to see it or believe it when you’re in the thick of darkness & despair and nothing is working. But if you were to ask people you know who are successful at what they do, I suspect they’d tell you the same thing. And it’s like that law of physics where for every action there is a reaction.

With no action, there can be no reaction.

So it goes to reason that you should not focus on the reaction, but the action.

As many actions as you can.

Eventually there’ll be a reaction.

There has to be – because, as the late Earl Nightingale astutely said:

That’s the law.

Ain’t nothing metaphysical or “woo-woo” about it either.

The thing is though, nothing to aim your actions at it’s almost as bad as having no action. A ship without a rudder will get to some destination, probably something destructive… (deserted island, shoals, storms, hit an iceberg or another ship…) so it’s foolish to try to approach it like The Secret or whatever.

Thus, having a plan.

Doing the work, with a plan, is what separates the sheep from the goats.

That plan may change and evolve, but it’s a start.

As far as how to use this info?

I can’t make your plan for you.

But my Email Players Newsletter might serve a a good beacon.

You’ll have to decide for yourself.

More info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A question came in all the way from the Philippines asking for advice to an aspiring copywriter. The guy is in dire straights financially – mom needs medical care, he’s hustling his arse off, etc but he wants some guidance.

Here’s some advice in no particular order:

* Hit up your network – and let them know you’re looking for clients, most copywriting gigs, like most corporate jobs, are not advertised

* Be useful – don’t beg, ask, or try to make creative offers as it comes off as desperate… instead try to find out what people want (you have to learn how to research anyway) and be useful.

* Ask for referrals – whenever you get a client who is happy with your work immediately ask if they know anyone else who can use good copy, try to get them to do an intro for you, you can build an entire book of clients just doing this

* Don’t take no for answer – pull a Jim Camp and force flakey or wishy-washy people to tell you no i.e., “will you do me a favor and just tell me no, that way I can stop wasting your time and focus on the other clients I’m working with”

* First hour always belongs to you – not your clients or anyone else, always be selling your own offers, building your own list, etc, the goal is to not “need” any one client, you be your own client first and foremost

* Leverage – start going to your peers and think of ways to help each other, form masterminds, get yourself on podcasts, create your own local event for online marketers, just as a mixer (nothing for sale), that you host if you’re really hardcore and extroverted (admittedly I’m not, personally, and would not do this – I struggle with even summoning the ambition to do a small local intensive of 5 or so people…)

* Finally – apply (when relevant, at least) what I talk about in the Email Players Newsletter each month.

Although, a caveat:

The newsletter is not intended for newbies.

Only those with for real businesses (freelance, info publishing, ecommerce, brick & mortar, services, anything that can be sold via email).

If you want in, hit the jump below:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Last year, I wrote this in an email:

“1. If it jiggles it’s fat (not just talking about Schwarzenegger’s take on weight loss…)”

To which the inevitable question came:

I printed this email and put it on the wall so I can read it again and again. Only point 1 is not clear. What do you mean with “If it jiggles it’s fat (not just talking about Schwarzenegger’s take on weight loss…)”?

Physiologically it means the human body doesn’t lie to you.

Muscle doesn’t generally jiggle…

From a business perspective it can mean a lot of things:

* Excess words that needlessly bloat a sales page is jiggle

* Time spent scrolling social media thinking you are “doing business” vs legitimately working in your business is jiggle

* Possessions you don’t use, don’t need, and that clog up space/mind/time is jiggle

* Employees (especially office politicians) who don’t earn their keep or create chaos is jiggle

* Offers/products/content that lose money and/or don’t lead to profit on the back end (i.e., TV shows that drain the network budget like the rash of woke CW superhero shows that just got the axe, etc) is jiggle

* Emails with no offer or don’t lead to a sale (i.e., so-called “good will” emails) is jiggle

* Time spent tracking metrics you do nothing practical with is jiggle

* Energy invested into virtue signaling on social media over taking action is jiggle (i.e., “I’m going to write a book!” vs actively writing the book)

* And so on, and so forth

If it jiggles it ain’t muscle, it’s fat, Spanky.

Word to the wise and all that.

To check out the Email Players Newsletter go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

One of my favorite jokes goes something like this:

Guy is trapped on a roof during a flood praying to God for help. A man in a rowboat comes by and offers to save him. Guy says no, God’s got him. Then a motorboat comes by and the driver says to hop in. Guy declines, says God will save him, but thanks. Finally, a helicopter hovers overhead and a rope dangles down for the guy to climb. Guy says no need, he’s praying.

Then, the water rises, and the guy drowns.

The guy is up in heaven and asks God:

“Why didn’t you save me???”

God replies:

“I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

I find that amusing on several levels.

One of which being, I’ve watched it play out in many ways with some of my own would-be customers, subscribers, and even certain friends up in this business.

+ I’ve seen people on my list get savaged by online mobs and not make any money from it, while not buying Copy Troll.

+ I’ve seen people on my list suddenly complain about needing ways to make fast sales, and then ask me in desperation some things they can do to use email to make quick cash flow, while eschewing Email Players.

+ I’ve seen all kinds of businesses complain about shenanigans going on with competitors’ ads showing in their Facebook groups or being reported and suspended due to wrong think, sometimes even losing all their data, while snubbing SocialLair.

+ I’ve watched email marketers get kicked off their email service provider platform and lose their list and all their data (I am not even sure how that’s legal, but it does happen at some of them ESPs..) while putting off getting BerserkerMail.

+ I’ve lost count of how many business people I’ve seen watch their YouTube get booted off completely, losing their audiences, influence, and sales with the push of a button by some blue-haired harpie who didn’t like what they had to say, while refusing to even get a free Learnistic test drive.

And the list goes on.

And when it happens and they come to me for advice, I’m always tempted to mock them:

“I sent you Email Players, SocialLair, Learnistic, BerserkerMail, Copy Troll…” (whatever it is they are needing help with), and you didn’t bother getting it or using it.”

These poor slobs are no longer innocent victims.

They’re willing victims.

Just like the guy on the boat.

But unlike God, I’m rather unforgiving about it, and have zero sympathy when they knew there were solutions they could have been using that I provide, but they were too lazy or not sufficiently educated on just how fragile their businesses are.

It’s like I always say:

You can lead these people to knowledge, but you can’t make them think.

And this is going to go quadruple for the information in my monthly Email Players Newsletter.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

1. You’ll become a better writer

2. You’ll write better sales copy

3. Your writing will inevitably get faster

4. Generate more ideas (ideas beget ideas, emails beget emails…)

5. Clearer thinking

6. Accomplish more than your lazy peers

7. Generate more testimonials

8. Engineer more JV opportunities

9. More customers to which you can sell other offers to

10. More clients

11. Regularly demonstrate your knowledge & superiority

12. It’s therapeutic

13. Might inspire others

14. It’s fun

15. Can create more financial security

16. Troll fodder handed to you on a rusted platter

17. Entertainment when you see someone melt down over something you wrote

18. Can elevate your thinking

19. You can teach cool ideas to a receptive audience you wouldn’t be able to otherwise

20. Makes your other (non email) writing easier to pound out

21. Gets your business more attention

22. Lets you demonstrate leadership

23. Will very likely make you many new industry connections

24. Can create other opportunities you never considered

25. Attracts better leads

26. Repels weak or unqualified leads

27. Less spam complaints (in my experience way less)

28. Creates “friendly familiarity” making the choice to buy from you much more likely

29. Builds & strengthens relationships with your list

30. New product ideas spring forth the more you do them and get feedback from your list

31. Gives you content to repurpose for other things

32. Better inbox delivery (if you do email right)

33. Your business can make more sales

I could go on and on and on.

But if those 33 ways aren’t enough to light a fire under your righteous gluteus assimus to grow your email list and mail it each day, then you’re truly hopeless and probably anything else I say will go in one ear and right out the other.

As far as the “how tos” of doing it?

See the Email Players Newsletter here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Came a great question from an “Email Players” subscriber a while ago:

…you talk about always plugging something in every email. Since I am an email copywriter, I always write something interesting and transition into a product pitch. But I feel the list may not be happy in the long term. What is a good ratio mix of sales and educational content in a week? Should I write blog posts and link them instead from time to time?

My take:

He is making the exact same mistake a lot of email marketers — probably 99% of ‘em — are making. And that is, projecting one’s emotions & hangups about being sold to on to a list.

Listen up, listen good, and always remember:

Buyers want to buy.

Lurkers want to lurk.

Lukewarm people want to complain, whine, & bytch.

You have to decide which of those you want to focus on and serve.

If the answer is buyers, then write for & TO them.

That means, giving them something to buy.

Of course, that doesn’t mean not to make your emails worth their time to read. But it does mean at least giving your subscribers the opportunity to know your offer exists each day. Or, at the very least, sending them somewhere that will lead to a sale.

There is no perfect ratio of selling & content.

The art & craft is in seamlessly & naturally combining the two.

The last thing I do when I write an email is say:

“All right, I gotta make sure x% of this email teaches, and y% sells…”

Some of my emails are 100% teasing.

Others are even 100% pitching.

Once in a great while (2 or 3 times per year, probably) they are 100% teaching.

But 90%+ of the time it’s a combination — all based on the content, the market, the market’s awareness and/or sophistication levels (ala Gene Schwartz’s teachings), what I want to write about, what I think my list needs to know, what is on my mind, what is on the market’s mind, the offer I want to tell them about, and a whole slew of variables that make any kind of perfect ratio of selling & teaching a complete myth with about as much basis in reality as Wakanda or Latveria.

That’s my take.

What’s far more important than the mythical content v pitch ratio is this:

Consistently writing & sending emails.

Getting to know your list, and build a relationship with it.

And do it with as little “friction” as possible.

Enter the Email Players Newsletter.

Details here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle