Friday, 2:57 AM
Dear Friend,
It's late and I can't sleep.
And counting sheep isn't helping. (Maybe I should try counting Dobermans instead, huh?)
See, I've been thinking about all the young copywriters I met at John Carlton's Action seminar.
A lot of these guys and gals are struggling. They're trapped in the "paying your dues" phase… or as John calls it… the "shameless whore" phase.
Have you ever been there?
You're stuck accepting crappy gigs you don't really want… with difficult clients who don't really "get" the value of what you do… for a mere pittance …

Friday, 12:34 PM
Dear Friend,
Sometimes I need to let new ideas "percolate" a while inside my cranium.
It helps me put everything in the proper place… separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.
Now that I've had some percolating time… and after reviewing my notes… I thought you might like to discover a few of the things I picked up at John Carlton's Action Seminar.
These aren't presented in any particular order. I'm just getting them on paper (metaphorically speaking) as they pop into my demented noggin.
Here goes…
Clarity of Vision
Should you be …

Wednesday, 8:46 AM
Dear Friend,
I've never really had the luxury of having a lot of money to start most of my "kitchen table" businesses.
Even later in my career when I DID have a fair amount of capital to invest, I still did it on the cheap.
In fact, I started my very first direct response business (which is still going after 14 years) for only $200.
I'm the master of starting on a shoestring budget and "bootstrapping" your way to success.
One day, I'd LOVE to have a client say…
"I've got $1 …

Sunday, 5:34 PM
Dear Friend,
I love the Catholics.
I better! I'm married to one.
Seriously, I love their faith, their traditions, their prayers, the rosary… and all those saints.
They've got a saint for everything.
I've even heard there's one named St. Wrigley. He's the patron saint of chewed gum stuck under desks and tables.
I'm not Catholic so don't quote me on that one.
It's obvious I don't really understand everything about the Catholic faith, but I go to mass pretty frequently with my wife.
I enjoy it. The priest is a really charismatic speaker and he …

Thursday, 10:07 AM
Dear Friend,
I've got so many marketing courses, swipe files and other goodies that I sometimes forget about a lot of the stuff.
Here's a little gem I ran across a couple days ago.
It's an e-mail Gary Halbert wrote in response to a prospect who contacted him about writing copy.
He wasn't personally taking on any more clients back then so he was going to pass this client off to one of the three guys working with him at that time… Craig Garber, Carlos Duran and yours truly, the semi-handsome DD.
I …

Dear Friend,
I've had most of my CD's packed in boxes for the last couple years.
It made it a pain in the butt every time I wanted to listen to a CD and had to dig through boxes trying to find it.
So the old tightwad DD finally bought a couple CD stands this weekend and took all my CDs out of boxes.
I found a bunch of stuff I'd forgotten about, including some CDs from the 90's I played guitar and sang on. One of them was a project with Dane Clark, …

Thursday, 9:28 PM
Dear Friend,
I received an offer yesterday from someone who wants to buy one of my "kitchen table" businesses for one million dollars.
Yup… a cool million.
A "1" with six zeroes after it.
Seven figures.
One MILLION dollars. (Spoken in my best Dr. Evil accent.)
Now I realize that the gaggle of gurus will laugh at that as "small change". After all, those guys allegedly make that per MINUTE on the Internet. But dag nabbit, for a poor kid from a broken home in Barberton, Ohio… that's still a lot of money.
So I …

Thursday, 11:14 AM
Dear Friend,
Today I'm going to write whatever pops into my demented little head.
You see, every time I sit down to write a newsletter I imagine having a personal conversation with you. And the goal of the conversation is to help you however I can.
If you need a kick in the butt… I'm gonna kick your butt.
If you need advice from a wise older Uncle (I said "older" not old. I'm not old yet!)… I'm going to be that Uncle for you.
If you need an understanding pair of ears …

"Gentlemen, this is a football."
– Vince Lombardi
Dear Friend,
I know a little bit about weight training.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to do much since breaking my L-5 vertebra in my lower back last year and rupturing three disks.
But I do know how to gain muscle and lose fat. (I would hope so. I've been working in the musclehead niche for 15 years!)
It's a weird niche.
The truth is, building muscle and strength isn't all that complicated.
You need to lift heavy weights and eat a lot of the right foods.
It's pretty simple.
I didn't …

Thursday, 9:40 AM
Dear Friend,
I once heard master marketer, Dan Kennedy say this:
"If you discard the message because of something you don't like about the messenger… you'll never learn or do anything."
It's true.
Gary Halbert knew a lot about health stuff. He researched it constantly.
He could tell you how to exercise and eat to maintain perfect health, new medical discoveries and breakthroughs, which medicines worked and which would kill you, etc.
He knew ALL that stuff.
The problem was, as long as I knew him, he never did any of it.
Since he personally chose …