Ben Settle

A few years ago I was telling “Email Players” subscriber and the “founding father” of online advertising & email marketing as we all know it Ken McCarthy about why — barring a death in the family, and even that may not happen… — I refused to do any plane traveling.

There is a burnout aspect to it after the last few years.

Not to mention all today’s requirements to fly.

But, more than that, I always found airports only slightly less depressing than casinos.

Last time I flew was in October 2018, when speaking at AWAI’s copywriting bootcamp and then the great Brian Kurtz’s master class right after that, and it was intolerable.

Not just from the crowds.

But, the utter unsanitary conditions of even so-called “clean” airports.

I hear tell covid protocols has made places be cleaner, but who knows.

Anyway, Ken’s response (with his permission) is below.

It’s quite the lesson in and of itself for business people:

I’ll tell you, not only are they depressing, they are literally sickening – as are air flights and hotel rooms and restaurant food.

I can drive to Kennedy (LONG but doable) and I’m going to shoot for a place to stay with OPEN windows ideally where I can make some of my own meals.

I always found travel a little rough, but now that I’ve looked into the matter in depth I realize that when we go out into “the world” we might as well be crawling through a sewer.

In terms of toxins that are in the air, in synthetic carpets, chemical cleaners, air “fresheners” that are literally neurotoxins and on and on it goes. It’s quite a lot to process. Human beings aren’t built for it and in takes a toll.

You are right on the money to be living by the ocean and NOT traveling

And I can go into a lot more gruesome detail!

Some people depending on genetics, constitution, overall health – various factors – are a lot more impacted than others, but bottom line all these places – airports, airplanes, hotel rooms are absolutely ghetto-sewer shit.

It’s kind of a joke that we look at them as “luxuries”

Cap’n Covid or no Cap’n Covid:

This is why I can’t stomach even the mere brain fart of being a digital nomad. I just don’t see what’s so exciting, thrilling, fun, and great about traveling from one petri dish to another full of human stench, terrible hygiene, boogers, farts, screaming kids, nosey travelers, long lines for terrible food, sticky bathroom floors, overachieving (and overreaching) TSA agents, being forced to breathe my own CO2 for several hours, and other assorted horrors that airports & even hotels offer.

This why I’m far more content being a Baggins than a Took.

Adventures make one late for dinner.

And are highly overrated IMO.

All right, enough warm fuzzy feelings for the traveler’s soul.

It’s not all doom & gloom.

Because if you know what you’re doing, you can use plain, simple emails to make sales anywhere — at home, in an airport unfit for human habitation, or even in a dirty hostel in the middle of nowhere occupying the same dwelling with 5 total strangers all sharing the same bar of soap with a pubic hair stuck to it.

To learn how to write such emails, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A reader asks:

Hey, Ben.

After binge-reading your email newsletter few days ago,

something makes me curious.

You write long story email,

why don’t you write a blog post just like your email

and promote your post through your email newsletter?

The short answer:

I do it the way I do it because I like getting paid.

I find this question fascinating in the same way I would find it fascinating if someone asked me, “Ben how come you don’t use MySpace?” In fact, I thought this silly idea of writing teaser emails to send people to long blog posts which then link to an offer, being more profitable than simply putting the content in the emails with a link directly to an offer died off years ago.

But, apparently not.

About 13 years ago I would sometimes get challenged on this.

And you know what happened?

Every single person I know who tested it who actually knew what they were doing with email found their sales were not just better, but exponentially better… simply putting the content in the email instead of trying to screw around sending them to a blog post to generate comments or for SEO, etc.

That’s not to say not to use blogs.

I certainly do – for purely list-building purposes.

But, not when I want to make direct sales, except in rare circumstances.

Anyway, do with this info what you will.

Take it to heart.

Ignore it.

Or even SPURN it, for all I care.

But if you want to see the exact methodology Yours Crotchety uses, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Here are 13 examples of shallow thinking in marketing:

1. Slave to marketing metrics at the expense of (or even outright ignoring the existence of) all the intangibles in a business that are just as important

2. Prioritizing the selling of offers over the building of a business

3. Relying completely on social media

4. Setting goals that are outcome dependent (i.e., make X sales by Y date) vs goals that are not outcome dependent (write & send 1 email each day for the next 30 days)

5. Building a list instead of an audience

6. Think having a funnel is the same as having a business

7. Selling offers that don’t logically link to other offers

8. Assuming they can only inexpensively get leads & traffic by being on social media

9. Relying on one merchant account — especially Stripe or PayPal — and not at least making plans for more

10. Having 50% or more of their income tied up in ONE offer or client, and isn’t at least in the process of working to change that

11. Thinking marketing or copywriting is more important to sales than status

12. Selling the “thing” they offer before selling themselves

13. Making transactions at the expense of relationships

These are just a few examples of shallow thinking.

And if you happen to fall into more than one of the above I suggest changing that, fast, if you want to not only be able to compete in, but conquer in your market, industry, product category in the coming months, years, and decades.

It’s also mandatory to not do the 13 things above to use Email Players.

The newsletter simply won’t work for shallow thinkers.

Which is why they never last long, and why I try to turn them away.

They are much better off buying elsewhere.

Otherwise, here’s the link:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Once upon a time I saw a perfect example that shows the importance of owning, creating, and/or controlling your own media empire in a New York Times article.

It was about a 15-year old snot nose who had 1.2 million Instagram subscribers, pulled in some $10k per month with it, and he was full of piss & vinegar (who wouldn’t be?), ready to conquer and pillage.

But then… Instagram shut him down without warning.

The reason:

Violating rules, etc.

His entire business gone — with the push of some button somewhere.

And of course, like a lot of influencer types, he could not replicate his massive success, because he was simply all intelligence and no wisdom.

The worst part for him though:

“A lot of my friends think I’ve become depressed, and I think that’s right,” Rowan said. “I’ve been feeling insecure about a lot of things, like how I look and act and talk. I talk a lot less than I used to. I’m a lot less confident. Losing my account is the main reason I feel like this. With @ Zuccccccccccc, it felt like I had a purpose and was doing something that benefited a lot of people, and now I kind of just feel — I feel lost.”

Such is the spooky fate of being high on intelligence but low on wisdom.

I also daresay it’s the fate of many-a-business in the not-too-distant future. Especially anyone naive enough to rely completely on a platform they don’t own or at least control and export their audience/list from.

And it all starts with having strong email game.

From there, you can apply it to other media.

(Social media, mobile apps, whatever it is).

To learn my email ways go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Daly is the ‘asshole god’ of this virtual world, and his word is law.”

— Walton
Black Mirror
“USS McCallister”

I can’t say I’m a Black Mirror fanboy, but the show definitely has its moments. Including a few of the best scripted single TV show episodes I’ve ever seen.

One of which is titled:

“USS McCallister”

It’s about the CTO of a tech-entertainment company who nobody likes or respects and even finds creepy when working at his company in the day. But at night he is in his own private cinematic cyber universe — based on a TV show he watched as a child — as the commander of a starship exploring new worlds, with his “crew” being the digitally cloned consciousnesses of the people who treat him like crap and ignore him in the real world.

In this world he is “god.”

He can control matter itself, and does so in horrific ways to keep everyone subordinate.

And what he says is the way it is. Anyone who disobeys him is, for all intents and purposes, condemned to a hell of Daly’s own creation that is a bit disturbing to watch.

This is a power that he abuses, of course.

And, he suffers the consequences of that abuse.

Reason I bring this up today is because, while having your own media platforms doesn’t give you the power to bend reality, it can give you a lot more power over your fate, and the fate of those you serve and sell to, than you might think.

Some medias give you more power than others.

Like, for example, social media has rules you have to follow. Same with mobile apps or even email and a website (which your host can always shut down).

But a media you sell via the postal system, for example, has no rules I can think of, as long as you are not doing anything illegal. You can “say” whatever you want in a print newsletter or book, for example, and other offline media you own. In the US you are even protected by the First Amendment to do so.

Point is, each media available to businesses is different.

With their own pros & cons, their own reach, and their own profit potentials.

And the real power is NOT in controlling and mastering just one media, but stacking and combining as many as you can, in as many ways as you can, selling with them in all the means for doing so as you can.

Which brings your non-god-like narrator & pal to the point:

About learning to think like a multi-channel, multi-media platform marketing publisher, and not just an “internet marketer” or a “copywriter” or a “coach” or accountant, attorney, or whatever the thing is that someone does in their business.

It’s the difference between thinking like a publisher and not just a “writer.”

An agency owner and not just a “copywriter.”

A restaurant chain owner and not just a “chef.”

A network owner and not just a “Youtube influencer.”

And so on, and so forth.

It’s a state of mind.

And in my opinion, it begins with tight email game.

Then, stacking other medias on that, all working together.

To learn the email side, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

My first big copywriting success was writing a sales letter for an info product that shows people how to buy million dollar businesses without using any banks, credit, or your own money.

The guy who created the program was a delightfully salty fellow named Art Hamel.

A lot of people don’t know who he was.

But, he was called the “Dean Of Business” back in the 80’s (on infomercials, etc), and he bought over 200 business over 40 years — starting with a small 25 unit motel in California that was barely profitable and took all his time, energy, and money, and was extremely stressful. It wasn’t long after that when he stopped Mickey Mousing around and being chintzy (as he would have put it) with small time businesses, and transitioned into buying only multi-million dollar business that gave him zero stress, and that took none of his time, energy, or money.

After that, he started showing other people how to do the same.

(Via his home study course and seminars)

Eventually, he had tens of thousands of students worldwide.

Then, he sort of drifted off into obscurity.

One day he was so well known people recognized him at airports.

The next, nobody had any idea who he was.

That is, until Michael Senoff saw his course being sold on eBay, JV’d with me to write the ad for it, and we helped put him back on at least a few maps at the time in the US, the UK, and Australia.

But there is one thing that stands out I remember that applies the most to today.

And that is when he said:

“During recessions, stay the hell away from the news.”

Why did he teach this?

Because the news is, by its nature, negative.

It is based on the saying, “if it bleeds, it leads.”

And when you are in business, you’re best served by focusing on yourself and your business more than ever (especially during hard times) — and not getting distracted by all the chaos and angst and information manipulation designed to keep you in flight or fight mode, always weak & reactive instead of being strong & proactive.

Very simple tip.

Very powerful, too.

Everyone I know who abstains from the news reports sleeping better, having more energy & stamina, and being more optimistic, more productive, and making more scratch just by the freed up time and mental bandwidth alone.

Immoral of the story?

Stop giving the best of your time, your attention, and yourself to the news media.

That is, unless you want to be manipulated & treated like a puppet.

My (biased) opinion:

A much better use of your time is to plot & scheme on your own business.

To see how to do just that with email especially, that’s what Email Players is for.

You can see if it suits your fancy right here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Once upon a time at elBenbo’s Lair:

I was talking to Stefania about the infamous Myers-Briggs personality test. She is one of the few marketers out there who uses it to sell with intelligently (even the great “founding father” of online advertising according to Time Magazine – Ken McCarthy – interviewed her on his prestigious “System Club” about it), instead of treating it as astrology, like a typical boss lady life coach haunting social media is likely to do.

To the point:

She made an off-hand remark that reminded me of why I so coldly and ruthlessly blacklist and cut people out of my business, as well as why certain people in general frustrate the hell out of me through no fault of their own.

What did she say?

She said:

“Most people are S’s.”

S’s are the opposite of N’s in the Myers-Briggs.

They are people who simply cannot easily do forward-thinking.

It has nothing to do with intelligence, IQ, or experience, either.

They simply aren’t “wired” for forward or longterm, big picture thinking.

Take, for example, a story Ken McCarthy talked about in his magnificent “System Club Letters” book. Back in the early to mid 1990’s, when a lot of “name” gurus were still figuring out what they wanted to be when they grow up… he sold an 8-page newspaper called “The Internet Gazette”, that had a circulation of 25,000 people.

And, one of the articles was about internet video.

The multi-media expert he hired couldn’t understand why Ken wanted to write about that.

“You want me to write about THAT? Why? No one can do it.”

“But someday people will be able to and when they can it will be the most powerful thing on the Internet. Let’s be ready.”

Back then, it took a half hour to download even a 4mb clip. It was agonizingly slow. And S’s — like the reporter I am guessing was, or at least sounded like he was — simply could not understand the reality that it wouldn’t always be that way, despite intellectually knowing the speed and rate at which technology was growing. But Ken, being an especially strong N not only saw it, but I suspect was often frustrated with all the S’s in silicon valley who didn’t even see what he clearly saw with things like click-thrus being a way to measure response online (which even Time Magazine credits Ken with discovering).

Yes, my fine feathered little pigeon:

Ken “saw” the potential of videos, webinars, livestreams, etc almost 20 years before they became mainstream, as well as social media, too, as he was preaching community-building long before blogging was fashionable or before Facebook was even a brain fart.

Take Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, as another example of S’ery.

He is a very strong S in the movie.

And, like a lot of S’s, incredibly good at one-on-one sales.

Since he was (mostly) in the here & now, he wasn’t always trying to guess what a prospect was thinking or going to say so much as dealing with what is. But, when he tried to be forward thinking — timing his drug consumption, writing manipulative sales scripts, and constantly dreaming up more money-schemes, for example — he ended up self-sabotaging himself and landing on the FBI’s radar.

That is the plight of the S:

Great at “here & now” tasks & tactics – for selling, negotiation, martial arts, etc.

But almost no foresight.

Or strategically thinking ahead.

Or being able to fully comprehend the future consequences of their current actions or inactions, even if they want to and intellectually know they should.

Again, it’s not an intelligence thing.

I’d argue Tony Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron was an S.

i.e., when he tried to be an N he created a robot that wanted to commit mass genocide…

It’s simply how an S sees the world.

Which brings me to the point of this whole Sha-bang:

I always knew there were certain people who were horrible customers for what I sell and teach. I could not pin-point it. But I knew, at a gut-level, there were certain people who just irritated the hell out of me whenever I did any kind of coaching, consulting, or client work. They are the same people who are so caught up in the moment currently with the economy, virus, etc they clearly cannot see the obvious bountiful harvest of opportunities such times always have historically created and are already creating now.

Those people are always, almost without exception, S’s in my experience.

And, it’s why I now spend as much time turning the really “hyper” versions of them away as I do on selling the people (mostly N’s) who do make great customers for what I offer.

My worldview is totally different than an S’s.

And, they make decisions that make zero sense whatsoever to me.

Like, for example, this guy who subscribed to “Email Players”, made a lot of money (by his own admission) for the two or three months he was on it… but then said, “I am two issues behind, OMG, I have to cancel!”

To an S reading this, that kind of hamster spinning probably makes perfect sense.

But to an N such as your faithful storyteller?

It’s insane.

That is hyper-S behavior at its worst.

And to an N reading it, it probably sounds almost like I am exaggerating.

But this is simply a hyper-S’s worldview.

They are incredibly good at some aspects of business, and incredibly terrible at others, just like N’s are incredibly good at some aspects of business, and incredibly terrible at others.

Neither is “better” than the other.

But when you understand how to harness other peoples’ personalities you can make lots more sales, close more clients, build a much stronger business, and create unbelievably powerful business relationships, JVs, and other alliances.

Perhaps one day I’ll do a live call with Stefania about this.

We shalt see.

In the meantime, for more email-centric training go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Last month I wrote an email telling a story that I’d told multiple times throughout the years, in different formats, medias, forms, and guises.

But the same story all the same.

It’s simply recycling content.

After which one of my Email Players of the Horde told me about a woman he knows who insists readers will start to ignore you if you tell the same stories over and over and over, and that one should not do as such.

My take?

Ignore what she says about that.

She knows not what she does.

There is a reason why the TV networks show the same Christmas shows and movies each year. People happily, eagerly, and excitedly sit through multiple viewings of “A Christmas Story”, “It’s A Wonderful Life”, and even multiple iterations of “A Christmas Carol”, “Miracle on 34th Street”, Rudolph, and even (if you’re in the Settle household) “Cobra” and “Gremlins”, and the list goes on.

If ratings showed nobody was watching they wouldn’t run them.

Frankly, most of the time those classics get rerun before “new” content.

Lesson there…

Same with re-runs and movies when they hit streaming.

People love a good story or to consume great content not just once but many times.

And in my experience this goes triple for emails.

I never foolishly even bought into the tired goo-roo trope of not reusing emails if they did not “work” the first time. l have lost count of how many times I reused an email that did not do much — or anything — as far as sales originally, only to clean up later when used as-is or slightly adapted for the exact same (and sometimes even a totally different) offer.

And vice versa.

Sometimes an email that nabbed sales the first time doesn’t the next.

It’s a lot less about the “emails” than people think.

All right so that is that.

If someone wants to work harder than needed that’s their business.

Me?

I will happily reuse the same emails & stories over and over.

And am far more focused on consistency & relentlessness.

For help with that, see the Email Players Newsletter here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

A question rolls in:

Ben,

Can you please give me a short list of great communicators to study? Even if they’re controversial. 

I want to to create a list of people with good social/communication skills that I can repeatedly use as examples & reference points for my teachings in my publishing business 

I’m asking you because you’ve mentioned people before but I can’t remember them all. I remember you said to study Johnny Carson monologues before or something. Stuff/people like that is what I’m looking for

Here are a few in no particular order:

• Johnny Carson
• Ronald Reagan
• Kevin Trudeau
• Vince Lombardi
• Pat Buchanan
• Mike Ditka
• Arnold Murray
• Gerry Spence
• Steve Jobs
• Patrice O’Neal
• Donald Trump
• Johnnie Cochran
• Bob Enyart

There are literally hundreds more.

And I wanted to mostly avoid the obvious ones.

Plus, the above are mostly all very different from each other — with their own styles, and game they play — and also controversial (super controversial in a few cases) who have proven to be extremely persuasive communicators to those they wished to influence.

Also, a note for the easily-triggered:

You don’t have to ‘like’ or agree with what any of these people say/teach/do.

At least two of them I don’t like worth a dayem.

One of them is literally in Federal prison for fraud.

But it ain’t about liking, Spanky.

It’s about learning.

After all:

Engagement is the coin of the realm these days.

And if someone pissed you off they obviously nabbed yours.

Analyze how, then use in your business.

Yes, even if you’re revolted by them.

For more about the Email Players newsletter go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle