RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.03.09

Recommended Book

📚 The 10 Commandments of Con Men…

I was already an avid reader of John Bejakovic’s emails when I picked up his book “The 10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters.”

I read the book in one-sitting. The next day, I suggested to Ted Prodromou that we feature this book in the Mastermind Book Club.

Get this book and join us on Thursday, March 26, 2:30 p.m. ET live on Zoom with the author as our special guest.

Every month, Ted and I choose a great book for Club members to read and discuss. When we meet, we explore ways we can apply lessons from the book to elevate our businesses.

This book is loaded with lessons.

Get the book here.

Join us on March 26 here.

Recommended Reading

💡 Freelancer Empathy by Seth Godin

This post from Seth Godin is for any business owners — not just freelancers — who fear technology can replace them.

If you want to be irreplaceable read this post.

Recommended Viewing

📽️ Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

If you have HBO watch this. If you don’t have HBO, get HBO, then watch this. It’s a two-part documentary) about the great Mel Brooks, directed by Judd Apatow.

Of course, I laughed when I watched it. But I also learned a ton — about overcoming imposter syndrome, devotion to craft, the importance of friendships and partnerships, and the importance of telling the truth (a lesson Richard Pryor brought to Mel).

Podcast (The Story Power Marketing Show)

📡 How to Turn Marketing Guesswork Into Predictable Growth (with Skip Wilson)

Skip Wilson is an advertising luminary and the founder of DRAFT Media Partners, but his journey truly began as a storyteller at age 16. Starting his career as a copywriter, Skip learned early on that the most effective marketing isn’t about “pitching and prodding”—it’s about human connection.

Skip champions a “Draft Mentality,” empowering leaders to stop guessing and start building predictable, science-backed marketing results through the power of connection.

In this episode, he and I discuss how many business owners use a “spray and pray” approach, jumping between platforms without planning, execution, or iteration and then wrongly concluding the channels don’t work. Skip explains DRAFT’s Dynamic Response Advertising Forecast technology, which uses data and benchmarks (click-through rates, landing-page conversion rates, acquisition costs) to predict campaign outcomes, identify weak points, and optimize rather than abandon efforts. He distinguishes advertising (paid, specific message to a specific audience for a specific result) from broader marketing (brand choices and customer experience).

DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE

~02:20 Spray and Pray Trap

~05:21 What Draft Means

~07:15 Advertising as Science

~10:02 Marketing vs Advertising

~14:12 Leads Need Follow Up

~17:49 Targeting and Messaging

~19:32 Paid Ads for Testing

~22:58 Organic vs Paid Reality

~29:43 Where to Find Skip

~33:04 Final Advice and Wrap

FULL EPISODE VIDEO: vimeo.com/1170171998

Listen on…

Apple| Spotify| Amazon

Words to Ponder

“I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

– Mary Oliver