I’ve been a student of Michael Masterson for quite a long time. He doesn’t know I exist (although he’s critiqued some of my copy) and I haven’t met him personally… yet. But even without a personal connection to him, he and Bill Bonner (of Agora fame) have had more influence on the way I think about business, marketing and copywriting than just about anyone else I can think of.

Just in case I never meet either of them, I’ll take this opportunity to publicly thank them both.

I first learned about Michael Masterson when I purchased AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. The material in that course contributed to me hitting six-figures very quickly as a new copywriter for hire.

At the time, I was making $85 an hour as an independent technology consultant. I was in control of my time, but at that point, my time just wasn’t that valuable in terms of dollars and cents. Actually, I wasn’t even making $85 an hour because I had just moved to a remote part of Indiana, far away from the big city of Chicago where I built my technology business.

I needed to start over in a business that I could run from anywhere. Freelance copywriting fit the bill perfectly. So on January 1, 2007, I hung out my shingle as a copywriter for hire.

So What’s the Big Idea?

I remember listening to a recording of Michael years ago where he was describing a successful company he worked with and how each of their “franchises” was basically centered around a single big idea; or a unique way of viewing the world.

At the time, I thought I got what that meant, but I really didn’t.

Great copy is built on great ideas. BIG IDEAS that is. In particular, a single big idea which serves as the foundation for everything to follow.

Early in my copywriting career, I wasn’t so good at the big idea thing. Instead, I settled for small ideas and tried to make up for them with “good” writing. I’m a good “writer” so I thought that would be enough. That, my friends was a mistake.

The world doesn’t need small ideas and it doesn’t respond to them. It doesn’t line up and wait for hours in the cold and rain to hear someone spout off small ideas; ideas that people probably already know.

Writing copy based on small ideas is pretty much noise in the marketplace.

BIG IDEAS, on the other hand, stir people to action. Big ideas sweep people into other (better) worlds, propel them closer to their goals and draw them magnetically towards solutions to their problems.

The world needs BIG IDEAS. And boy does the world respond to them.

Great copy has little to do with just words, and it has everything to do with expressing BIG IDEAS with words.

These days, I often take a new project and sit around for a week or so (I don’t always have this luxury) and let the big idea drop out of the sky into my lap. Sometimes that takes longer, sometimes it’s much quicker. Once that core idea is cemented in my mind, however, the actual writing of the promotion is pretty easy.

To me, figuring out HOW to say something is not nearly important as figuring out WHAT to say.

A good copywriter is proficient with words. A great copywriter is a master of IDEAS.

Uncovering the Big Idea is Like Reading Between the Lines

I was going to leave this part of this essay out. After all, it’s challenging to teach someone how to “see” a big idea when it comes to writing copy.

It’s hard to give you a step-by-step, here’s how you do it, system to follow.

It’s a bit like those books of magic illustrations you see in the bookstores. Those are the ones where you’re supposed to stare at a page until you begin to see the real picture hiding on it.

The big idea isn’t always obvious. It’s more a product of looking at all of the obvious things, blurring your “vision” a bit, and then seeing a “bigger picture” based on all of those details.

Despite this disclaimer of sorts, I’m going to do my best to communicate this process to you anyway. Mainly because this skill, the ability to see “the big idea” in any selling opportunity, is the core ability that separates great copy from trash.

Big ideas are persuasive. And that’s what great copy does. It persuades.

So let’s say you’re selling a newsletter. That’s a hard sell because no one really wants a newsletter. Who really wants to pay money so they can add yet another item to the reading list they never have time to get through?

The answer is no one wants that. And yet, plenty of newsletters sell like hotcakes every day. Why?

Because no one is buying a newsletter. They’re buying something else. They’re buying a “big idea.”

You might think you’re selling a newsletter. But that’s not what your customer is buying. The chances are better than not that what they are buying has more to do with things like:

• Permission to access a world and valuable (secret) information that might otherwise be off limits to them…
• A credible source of validation and camaraderie for their views regarding their way of living, investing, or earning money.
• A proven shortcut to helping them reach their goals.
• A fast and simple way they can relieve pain, whether it’s physical, emotional or both.
• The promise of a better life.

These are very general, of course, but hopefully you’re starting to get the picture.

You might be selling a newsletter, but that’s the last thing that anyone is buying.

This really is, in part, marketing 101. Where it gets more advanced is when you start to take that core understanding and really “blow it up” so that it is almost larger than life.

Let’s say you sell a newsletter with unconventional strategies and tactics to grow a business very, very quickly.

You are tired of seeing people work so hard for so little and your path in life has taught you how to create big results fast. And even better is that you can create those results with such little effort that it’s almost hard to believe.

So you take that kernel of truth, blur your “vision” and start to understand what you’re really dealing with. That’s when big ideas start to jump out at you. Things like:

• Perhaps your newsletter becomes a call to war in a worldwide battle of sorts. A battle between the “powers that be” and the underdog hero (your subscribers). Your subscribers are not just customers, they are warriors. And they are determined to go out into the world and claim the success that is truly theirs.
• Perhaps your newsletter becomes a rallying cry for freedom from the oppression of the world of 9-5 office cubicle slavery that so many people endure.
• Perhaps your newsletter simply becomes like a wise and mysterious mentor. Someone with the ability to masterfully direct and encourage others towards their goals.

These example are very simple, of course, but the goal is give you a rough idea of how this process rolls out. This is how you take a ho-hum newsletter and transform it into something that people will go out of their way to get.

Once you have your big idea, then it’s time to write.

They Have to Want It

In his book, The Architecture of Persuasion, Michael presents the art of copywriting as very similar to the art of seducing a romantic interest.

Rule #1 is to refrain from whacking them over the head, freaking them out and sending them running in fear. That, my friends won’t do anything for you.

Seduction isn’t about forcing your wants onto someone else. It’s about turning things upside down and becoming the pursued instead of the pursuer.

This is where copywriting meets art. And this is where it becomes very evident that the core foundational secret of great copy has little to do with words.

It has everything to do with understanding the emotional condition of your reader. Your reader has hopes, dreams and fears. They have aging parents, growing kids, and a load of stresses that they face each and everyday.

To the extent you can develop the ability to put yourself in their shoes and feel the feelings your reader is dealing with, the better your copy will be.

What Is Copywriting Really?

Many people will say that copywriting is about writing.

Fewer people will say that copywriting is about selling.

At the core, however, copywriting is not about either of those things.

Instead, copywriting is about developing an emotional connection with your reader. It’s about developing the ability to almost instantly kindle the beginnings of a relationship with a complete stranger; a stranger that you understand on a very, very deep level.

Selling things isn’t the result of great copy, it’s only a byproduct of the real result. The real result is a relationship with another human being.

Secure the relationship and you create a situation that makes selling possible.

That’s your focus.

Waiting for something to happen in your business just plain sucks.

Sometimes you’re waiting to hear back from a prospect or a vendor—sometimes you’re waiting on a payment from a client or a customer.

At other times, you’re waiting on someone to do something that they said they were going to do.

I’ve done more than my fair share of waiting. And when I fall into that trap, I end up feeling really stupid.

I feel stupid because I’ve allowed someone other than myself to slow down my progress. I feel stupid because when I’m “waiting,” often times that’s all I’m doing.

The progress of my business slows because I’m focused on the waiting.

But Waiting Is Not the Problem, It’s a Symptom

Waiting for someone or something in your business really isn’t a problem in and of itself. Waiting is really a symptom of the real problem, which is that you care more about what the world does than you care about what you are doing.

Waiting puts you in the position of caring about the effects of your actions more than moving onto the next action. Waiting puts you in the position of allowing yourself to be molded by the world instead of being the one doing the molding.

Here is the bottom line that you never want to forget:

The only thing you ultimately control in business is what you put into it. Despite what the business gurus tell you, I’ve never met anyone who had total control over what actually happens in a business. Sometimes it might look that way from the outside in. But when you’re on the inside, it simply doesn’t work that way.

So to put your focus on anything but your input is simply misdirected energy. It’s not going to do you any good no matter how hard you try. (And boy do we try.)

When you find yourself waiting around in your business, ask yourself, “Why have I chosen to put my focus on the actions of others instead of keeping my focus on my own action?”

That single question might be enough to snap you out of your trance and back into the mindset of a business builder.

The business building mindset is where you are focused on what you are doing. You are focused on the input. You are focused on the recipe. You are focused on things that you can control. You mess with that focus when you start thinking about what’s happening (or not happening) because of what you are doing.

In other words, you reduce your potential success when you get too attached to the results of what you are doing. It’s not that you don’t care what happens, it’s simply that you are not attached to the outcomes in an unproductive way. There is a difference and it is a pretty large one.

If you are waiting for anything in your business, I’d suggest that you simply don’t have enough work to do. Or at least you have not given yourself a long enough list of other productive things to do while the results take care of themselves.

In the absence of your list of important todos, you just sit and wait.

How Much Can One Person Accomplish?

I still remember the first week I tried planning out my work and blocking out my time. I basically ran out of things to do before the first day was over! That’s a bit of an exaggeration but it’s in an effort to make my point clear:

Despite how “busy” we say we are, very few of us actually have enough to do. Enough of the right things to do that is.

Instead, our days are filled with busy work and only highlighted with the occasional important activity.

The important activities come so rarely that we feel like we did something special just for completing one. Then we wait around to see what happens because of our “major accomplishment.”

That’s the trap you want to watch out for.

Operating like that is a sure sign that you need to better plan your work. When you decide to stop waiting for success and start pursuing it, you realize that one of the most difficult things to do is to plan enough work to fill your time with important tasks.

It might be hard to believe, but this is actually hard work and requires a lot of discipline in my experience. But it’s work worth doing. Because In the absence of a plan like this, you end up falling into the trap of “waiting” for something.

Wait For No One, Because Waiting is Wasting Your Life

I think a better way to operate is to go in with the attitude that, “You wait for no one.”

The idea isn’t that you should be a jerk and demand that everything happens on your terms. While that might be the stereotypical success personality, who wants to go through life acting like that? You might end up successful, but you’ll also end up alone. And that, in my book, is total failure.

The core idea I want to communicate is that when you’re waiting for someone to do something or for something to happen, forget about it in an instant and take action on something else to build your business.

Let’s say you are waiting on a payment from a client. Days go by and the payment doesn’t arrive. You wait and you wait, but still no payment.

You have two options:

The first option is to wait around and stew about it. Choose this path and you’ll be focusing your energy on a target that will do you absolutely no good.

The second option is to move on and focus on something you actually control. This will keep you in the driver’s seat of your life and your business.

Getting caught “waiting for the world” is a fool’s game. You will never win, because the world is not there to serve you. You are there to serve you.

Are you waiting on something or someone in your business?

Stop waiting, stop stewing, stop complaining.

Just start doing.

1. What’s your biggest business accomplishment and what did you learn from it?

At first I was going to say my Turbulence Training Certification, because it’s something that I’ve truly been working on since I first started working out in high school. I remember telling a friend in my first year of college that I wanted to take my style of workouts and fitness to the world via books and seminars and all that…and finally it’s a reality as there are Certified TT Trainers around the world in over 7 countries.

But really, I wouldn’t be able to do this without my team…and so building a team of incredible people, most of whom get to work daily on their Unique Ability (a great concept from Dan Sullivan), so they are engaged in work that they see as changing lives – which it is. As many of the books I’ve read (like Good to Great, Rockefeller Habits, etc.) will tell you, people don’t just work for money, they work to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

And I like to think that we are building that environment with the help of my team here.

Now to be honest, I’m an introverted, sometimes-curmudgeonly leader. So that makes it all the more of an accomplishment to me…haha.

The biggest lessons I’ve stumbled across putting my Certification and team together are:

a) Nothing helps you get work done faster than a a deadline. I was struggling with creating the final content for the Certification, so I reserved a hotel seminar room, paid the fee, and was therefore given a final date and a punishment if I missed the deadline. Of course, I found a way to get the work done. It’s a simple solution anyone can use if they are struggling to finish a project.

b) Have a MISSION in your business. My fitness message went from good to great as soon as I told the world that our Mission was to help 1 Million men and women transform their bodies and their lives by 2020. Now all of the sudden, people, readers, and total strangers want to be a part of it – all because we are naturally attracted to being part of something bigger.

c) Put it out there to the Universe. Trust me, I know it sounds hokey, but it’s also practical. There comes a point where you have to tell at least a few people about your big, hairy, audacious goals…because they will know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can help you. So if you really want to achieve a dream, tell someone. Put it out there.

Sorry for cheating and listing 2 accomplishments and 3 lessons. My apologies.

2. Favorite Book EVER and Why:

Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl

Frankly, most people today in Western Society have grown soft. We complain about everything. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, I’m tired, my feet hurt, I’m hungry, I missed Jersey Shore and my TIVO is broken.

(And don’t get me wrong, I do my fair share of complaining…but I immediately realize how ridiculous it is.)

We have no true perspective on what it is like to deal with true suffering.

Most people don’t realize what humans are capable of achieving, overcoming, and dealing with.

Frankl’s book has affected me on many levels. First, physically. I know that everything I do, from working outside in bone-numbing cold or setting a personal best in a difficult workout in the gym, pales in comparison to what men and women have had to suffer in generations past. Even people making minimum wage today have a better life than royalty did 300 years ago.

Second, his book gave me one of my mantras, “it will all be over soon”. While we all suffer, we must remember that all suffering ends. Better days lie ahead for everyone.

So instead of complaining, we should look for the lessons we can learn in all suffering, look for the positives to focus on that will help us endure any suffering, and then share this so that we can help anyone going through the same suffering.

But, the “it will all be over soon” mantra has a second meaning and reminder that life will be over all too soon, and if I want to achieve something, then I better get working on it now.

I truly believe Frankl’s book should be mandatory reading in high school. Sure, the messages would be lost on 90% of the kids, but it could make a real difference for the rest of the kids, and we need to start somewhere.

3. What’s one thing people online don’t know about you that you’d like to share?

I take a lot of inspiration in my business from rockstars rather than Internet Marketers.

I watch how the good ones treat their fans, how they go the extra mile in their productions, how they continue to be creative even when they are on the road touring, and how they invest money back into their businesses.

My #1 inspiration is this musician from Toronto named Deadmau5. He plays electronic music, and wears a giant mousehead on stage at his shows. And dozens of fans build their own and bring to his shows – where he autographs them. It’s really an incredible phenomenon.

Deadmau5 (named for a deadmouse he once found in one of his computers) has millions of Facebook fans, and he still takes time to do live Ustream chats, visits to high schools, upload tons of personal photos and info to his pages (allowing a greater connection with his fans), and many, many other things that “social media gurus” are out there teaching people to do for big money…but this guy just does it because it’s “right” for his fans.

He doesn’t live a flashy life, but he pours a ton of his money back into making the coolest stage show in the electronic music scene, and therefore creating the ultimate customer experience. Plus, his act has spawned an incredible merchandising spin-off of the regular t-shirts and stuff, but also figurines, mouse ears, and so much other stuff that stimulates participation in his “herd” as Dan Kennedy would say.

Essentially, he’s doing all the right stuff…but not because he went to some slick Internet Marketing guru’s seminar, but just because he wants his fans to get the greatest quality product (his music) and have an incredible emotional experience at his shows.

Folks in all industries could learn a lot from him…just as most of us could from generally looking outside of the IM industry to the real world. There’s a lot of good people out there doing great stuff without a “mind control” IM agenda.

4. What’s one mistake that you see business builders making online and what should they do instead?

Too many people think that they “deserve” a million dollar product launch.

First, most people don’t have a BIG IDEA that will support a product launch. Their product and marketing is the same as everyone elses, and they think that if they can just get enough of the “big affiliates” to promote their launch, then they will be able to retire to the Caribbean.

It doesn’t work that way. I’ve watched plenty of launches, some with gimmicks, some with massive affiliate support, and the only ones that work like gangbusters are the ones where there is a big idea with a unique hook as part of the product.

If you don’t have this, you won’t have a great launch.

Second, even if they have a big idea, they don’t appreciate the work that it takes to run a product launch, and I don’t just mean from a marketing and affiliate recruitment perspective.

There are so many things to consider: You need copy that converts and makes your affiliates more money than they could get somewhere else, you need adequate hosting for all the traffic, you need to make sure you have the right upsell flow to maximize revenue, and so on and so on. It’s not just as simple as creating an ebook and asking affiliates to mail.

Third, they think that one product launch is going to make them rich and end all of their worries. But in reality, after you pay affiliates (bonuses and commissions), a launch consultant, web hosting/design, and the dozens of other little things that add up to real money, you only come out with a fraction of that “big launch money”.

The real money comes from the work you continue to do in the relationship building – and back end sales – following the product launch.

People are naturally enamored by the gurus who claim $4 million dollar product launches, but don’t know the real truth about the numbers – mostly because the gurus don’t want Dorothy to see what really goes on behind the curtain.

5. If you started over building your business today, what’s the ONE thing you’d do differently?

I wouldn’t have been so cheap. But hey, that’s what happens when you grow up poor on a farm and have a Scottish father and an efficient German mother. Now I’m not really blaming my circumstances, just making a joke. I take full responsibility for my poor decisions of not investing earlier in coaches, mentors, professional SEO help, courses, etc.

As a result of my cheapness, I had an email newsletter for 2 years before I started selling anything (1999-2001). And then 2 more years of a couple bucks here and a couple bucks there. It wasn’t until I bought Bob Serling’s “Info Millions” in 2003 that my business really started growing.

Although it still wasn’t until 2006 when I hired my first business coach, Tom Venuto, that things exploded and set me on the fast track to success.

So I wasted many years just “doing okay” when I could have made a bigger impact and helped more people. And that’s another thing…I didn’t fully understand that by not having a bigger business, that meant that I was not helping as many people as I could. When you switch to that mindset, and realize that you have a solution that people need, then you’ll start taking action faster to get your solution into their hands.

Trust me, the list of things I’d do differently could go on and on…but that should serve as encouragement to people, because if I can succeed with all of the mistakes I’ve made, you can too.

1. What’s your biggest business accomplishment and what did you learn from it?

My biggest business accomplishment has been developing relationships with a wide ranging network of influential, interesting and impressive people.

This has lead to numerous financial opportunities for me, but that’s not the half of it. Surrounding yourself with truly impressive people enriches your life on all levels.

The biggest thing I learned from the experience is actually HOW to do it. Just five years ago I was making a lot of money, but was essentially living in a very unsatisfying vacuum. One day I simply decided I was going to stop chasing money and only do things that interested me.

Interesting people interest me. So, that’s where I started.

Building a network like this demands that I demonstrate, in every encounter and consistently over time, that I am both a person who adds value and a person who can be fully trusted.

I actually detailed this process in a report called the Network Infiltration Report. You can download it free here.

2. Favorite Book EVER and Why:

For me, books are all about timing. Some things seem to ring especially true at certain points in your life. In my case, one of the most influential books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read it no less then a dozen times by now) is “Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life”

I don’t expect that to be on anyone else’s top ten list, but for me it was, and continues to be, hugely influential. Epictetus along with a few others have provided the perspective by which I view MY life and what I need to do with it.

The Stoics aren’t very popular these days but in the last couple of years they’ve gained some fame when Tim Ferriss started talking about another great Stoic, Seneca. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/

3. What’s one thing people online don’t know about you that you’d like to share?

Frankly, I’ve been doing business online since 1998 and most people in this community probably have no idea who I am and if they’ve heard of me they know little to nothing about me.

I think I prefer it that way.

4. What’s one mistake that you see business builders making online and what should they do instead?

The internet is training us to be fast, short term thinkers and has made success too easy. Too easy? Yes, and I think that ‘ease of success’ has created a trap for business builders.

Very few internet marketers, in particular, seem to understand the basic value equation that’s driven the success of businesses pre-easy button days.

Just like building a great network, businesses are built on constantly adding value to your customer’s lives and demonstrating that you are trustworthy. Too many marketers are hide behind good intentions while spending 90% of their time trying to separate people from their money.

Nothing wrong with making sales. That’s why we’re in business.

But, our businesses are dominated by the guiding principle that we’ll provide more value, each and every day to our customers then we ever ask for in return.

Beyond that more people need to take to heart the ideas discussed in Seth Godin’s short book, Tribes, and rehashed in numerous other places. The world needs leaders. It needs people to stand up and stand for something.

5. If you started over building your business today, what’s the ONE thing you’d do differently?

I’ve created eight companies in the last several years so I’ve had the opportunity to refine my approach with each. The biggest thing I’m focusing on now is trying to make sure that I’m working on things where I can best put my strengths to work and avoiding everything else.

As Entrepreneurs, we tend to naturally fill voids. If there is a problem, we jump in to fix it. If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be successful. But, as our businesses reach a certain level you just can’t do that. You have to focus on your “stupid human trick” as a wise friend of mine likes to call it.

Dear Business Builder,

I’ve got a few client deadlines staring me in the face and I
was writing some email sequences over the weekend that
reminded me of something important.

The quote below pretty much sums it up. Oh… I took some
liberties with it and adapted it just a wee bit.

So here’s my “adapted” quote… with apologies to Confucius:

“Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a
man to fish, and you’ve fed him for a lifetime. Teach him to
fish before he pays you for your help and they’ll be NO fish
for you!”

Selling is about focusing demand on what you have. It is
about focusing that demand so clearly that someone can’t
help but to buy your product or service.

There is tension there that the sale releases. But teaching
creates little to no tension. And teaching creates little to
no attraction.

That’s fine if all you’re trying to do is TEACH.

After all, teaching is a valuable thing. It can change
lives. But if you’re in the selling business, teaching can
be a killer if you don’t use it correctly.

Teaching doesn’t sell. SELLING sells.

A lot of people are good teachers. Far fewer are good at
selling.

If you want to change lives, learn to teach. If you want to
get paid really well for changing lives, make sure you learn
to sell.

I don’t control the way the world works, but I do my best to
pay attention to the way it works.

Talk to you soon,

Jason Leister
Renegade Internet Entrepreneur

http://www.jasonleister.com

P.S. The Hotsheet goes out in just a few hours… If you
want it, hop onboard now:

http://www.jasonleister.com/hotsheet

P.P.S. Just an update. I’ve had to make some changes to the
way I work with new clients. Here’s a link to the details
just so there’s no confusion:

http://www.jasonleister.com/contact