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:
Ben Settle
