Story Power Blog
The Paul McCartney Story that Gets my Goat
Today’s the day (in 1997) when Paul McCartney became a knight. Now we’re supposed to call him “Sir Paul.” Call me blasphemous, but Sir Paul bugs me. It’s that story about dreaming “Yesterday” that gets my goat. In his biography Many Years from Now (published just a few months after he became a knight), Sir…
Hate Writing Emails? Good News.
Once upon a time, I tried to change the oil in my car all by myself. It didn’t go well. My first mistake: Choosing a drain pan that was too small for the job. My second mistake: Trying to cap the drain while oil was pouring from it to prevent the too-small pan from spilling.…
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…
My Unrequited Love Story
When I was younger (and lonelier), I wrote a song called “Unrequited Love.” I wrote it a few weeks after a blind date. I thought the date went well. I called her — several times. Left messages suggesting a second date. No reply. No more dates. Sad story. I’m thinking of writing a similar song…
A Cure for Funnel Dysfunction
Oops! This happened again… I signed up for an author’s email list yesterday, got a generic “thanks for subscribing” message on his website, and then received an email confirming I was on the list. That’s all. Nothing else. No follow-up message. No effort to build a relationship with me. (No wonder he’s struggling to grow…
Is This The Punniest Holiday Ever?
Today is the fourth of March. Betcha didn’t know today is also March Forth and Do Something Day. March forth on March Fourth. Get it? Word nerds call that a homophonic pun. “Homo” as in same. Phonic as in “sound.” Two words that sound the same but have different meanings. Wordsmiths call that funny (Come…
A Simple Way to Boost Attendance at Your Events
If you host webinars, workshops, or other live events, here’s a great way to increase the attendance rate: Automatically email a calendar invitation to registrants so the event shows up in their calendar and they’re less likely to miss it. It’s easy to send such invitations when we create an event in Google, Outlook, or…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.03.02
Recommended Article and Video ️⭐ What Does it Mean to Be Wealthy In a recent session with business owners, I asked attendees to tell me the difference between “prosperity” and “profits.” The consensus: Profit is simply a measure of money; prosperity is about how you experience life. I was thinking about that discussion when I saw…
This Artist Picked Email Over Instagram. Here’s Why…
Halfway through her set last night at City Winery in St. Louis, singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson asked all of us in the crowd to pull out our phones and join her email list. She used to ask her fans to follow her on Facebook and Instagram. But the social platforms are making it harder and…
The Surprising Downside of Scripting Your Presentation
To script or not to script? That is the question. You’re preparing a webinar or sales presentation, and you want to cover all the bases. You don’t want to leave out any of the important bits. You don’t want to stumble at critical points. So do you memorize a script and deliver your lines? Or…
Watch This if You Struggle to Turn Leads Into Clients
I have a brand new video you’ll want to watch if you ever struggle to turn leads into clients. Many business owners burn time and money to get new leads — then watch their investment disappear when they fail to follow-up and nurture them properly. This video is a mini-masterclass where I share the simple blueprint that turns those…
What Happens Behind Your Back at The World’s #1 Restaurant
A story from the world’s top-ranked restaurant… Managers at Eleven Madison Park knew their guests hate to wait. Time stands still at restaurants, especially when you first sit down or after you finish eating. So managers devised a system to speed up water service. It works like this… The host seats the guests at their…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.02.23
Recommended Video 🥂 The Secret Ingredients of Great Hospitality | Will Guidara A $2 hot dog helped make Eleven Madison Park the #1 restaurant in the world. Not because of the food. Because of what it meant. In this brilliant TED Talk, restaurateur Will Guidara explains the concept of “unreasonable hospitality”—the idea that people don’t remember…
The Gold Standard for Dealing With “Pressure”
Yesterday, I played hooky. Stepped away from work for a few hours to watch the women’s hockey game between the USA and Canada. The USA won the game and the gold medal 2-1 in overtime. For Canada’s 34-year-old captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, this may have been the end of an incredible Olympic journey. I was rooting…
“I Absolutely Hate Marketing…”
Says a software developer on Reddit: “I absolutely hate marketing.” This guy loves to build things, lives to solve problems for clients. But he hates all the stuff he thinks he has to do to get clients — the stuff that makes him feel like “just another person trying to make a quick buck.” How…
A Redemption Story? I’m Pulling For Her…
Good morning, sunshine. I rolled out of bed to the news U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin is in first place after the first run of the women’s slalom finals at the Olympics. The second run started at (6:30 a.m. CT). I’m tuned in, and I’m rooting for Mikaela. When it comes to alpine skiing, she’s the…
You Don’t Need “More Leads,” You Need This…
A few hours before my meeting with Tony, I visited his website to size up his business. I filled out the “join our email list” form in the site’s footer, and a message appeared where the form used to be: “Thanks for submitting your information.” That was it. No thank you page. No follow-up email.…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.02.16
Recommended Video 🎩 Leadership Lessons of the Presidents In this TEDx talk, White House reporter and author Paul Brandus looks at five U.S. Presidents and pulls out the traits that made them effective — traits any leader can use. Clear communication. Resilience after setbacks. Steady judgment under pressure. Long-term thinking. Brandus has covered presidents from inside…
No Clients. Now What? Here’s The Answer…
“Trufflepong89” is panicking. He spent big bucks to write and publish his book. He sent 1,000 advance copies to potential reviewers. Eight replied. Four of them asked to be paid. The other four ghosted him. Poor Trufflepong shared his story in a Reddit post that ends with, “What the hell do I do?” Good question.…
This is The WORST Way to Get My Attention…
Ripped from the pages of Reddit: An email that “Matt” received from an eager lead-gen vendor: Subject Line: “Saw your name in the Epstein Files” Email Body: “Hey Matt, don’t worry I’m only kidding. Just figured I’d get your attention and if you’re reading this, I guess it worked! We work with budding startups that…
Flight 1397: A Near-miss And a Business Lesson
Some days, more than others, you’re just happy to be alive. Yesterday was one of those days. I was in seat 14B, Southwest Flight 1397 from Philadelphia to St. Louis, staring out the window as the Boeing 737 eased toward the ground for landing when… …suddenly the plane surged upward and turned hard to the…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.02.09
Recommended Video 🔥 6 Eternal Truths From 6 Dead Mad Men | Brian Kurtz If you care about direct response, human behavior, and marketing that actually works, this is required viewing.Brian Kurtz breaks down 6 eternal truths from 6 legendary marketers—men who built fortunes long before Facebook ads, funnels, or “growth hacks.” Claude Hopkins.David Ogilvy.Robert…
What a Train Wreck (But I Survived)
About five minutes into the online training I was running last night… …I realized I was using the wrong slide deck. I’d opened an old version of my presentation — totally different than the one I intended to deliver. (Uh oh!) 😮 I muddled through — winging it the rest of the way. Doing my…
Tonight Only: Turn Your Expertise Into More Clients
Twenty-five years ago last month, I founded an email marketing software company called MarketVolt. This was before most people had heard of email marketing, much less tried it. I ran the software company (and the marketing agency I built around it) for 19 years before selling it in 2019. Then I started my current marketing…
How Predator and Prey Partnered and Prospered (A Business Fable)
Weird and wacky news from the wild: Motion-activated game cameras have spotted ocelots (think “little leopards”) walking through the Peruvian rain forest with opossums. Here’s why that’s wacky: Ocelots are carnivores and LOVE opossums. Not in the, “I love you; let’s hang out” kind of way. But in the “Pass the salt and pepper. I…
The Music Didn’t Have to Die (A Business Lesson)
It’s February 3. “The day the music died.” In 1959, Buddy Holly and his band had been touring the Midwest — 24 shows in 24 nights. Also on the bill: 17-year-old Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), and Dion and the Belmonts. They traveled from town to town in beat up school buses which…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.02.02
Recommended Video 🔥How To Fix Your Attention Span (Before It’s Too Late) Your attention is under attack. In this short video, Daniel Pink lays out a simple, science-backed way to get it back before it slips away for good. Five practical steps you can use today to focus longer, think deeper, and actually finish what…
You Don’t Have to be a “Killer” to Grow Your Business
A few years back, I met with a prospect about a massive project. The meeting went well. I remember thinking as the meeting moved along, “I’m CRUSHING it.” Before I left, they committed to hire me. I returned to the office, shared the news with my team, and slapped high fives all around. “Way to…
I Needed Help. I Got AI-powered Fakers.
Color me stupid. I thought I might find a talented developer in a Facebook group to help me automate a complex business process. Instead, I got hounded by bots and pretenders dishing AI-generated slop. It started on Monday. I posted a detailed summary of what I needed in the Facebook group. Within 10 minutes, I…
Invitation
If you’ve written a book… …or you’re thinking about writing one… …join me this evening (Wednesday 1/28) for The Book Profit Plan — 3 Ways to Turn Your Book into More Profits in 2026. I’ll show you how authors use their book to attract leads, land more clients, and boost profits — without tech headaches…
Thomas Edison’s Biggest Flop
Fun fact about Thomas Edison: He was obsessed with concrete. Long after he invented the light bulb and phonograph, Edison tried to “reinvent” the American home. Concrete houses. Concrete bathtubs. Concrete cabinets. Concrete furniture. Even concrete pianos. Cost-effective. Durable. Fireproof. Permanent. Edison built prototypes and molds. And then he tried to license the molds to…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.01.26
Recommended Reading 🔥 52 fascinating people reveal the tiny habits that changed their lives Thanks to Austin Kleon for pointing me to this article which I found entertaining, head-scratching, and useful. My favorite on the list: #26. Recommended Tool 🎥 PromptSmart This is my favorite teleprompter app for shooting video with notes or scripts. The…
How Atiba Persuaded Them to Pay $33 for a “Free” Book
Here’s a story with priceless principles for authors — or any business leaders — who want more leads and clients… Yesterday, while discussing Atiba de Souza’s “The Delegation Trap” with The Mastermind Book Club, I announced you can find it on Amazon and even get a free version if you have Kindle Unlimited. Then Atiba…
Hey Boss, Are You a Judger or a Learner?
When I started my first business and supervised employees, I would often think, “Why can’t they just get it right?” I’d “delegate” a project, and when my employees stumbled or got stuck, I’d blame them. But I was the one who was stuck. I suffered from what Atiba de Souza calls the Judger Mindset — blaming my team…
Escape The Ever-expanding Task List
I used to wake most mornings with a to-do list longer than the list from the morning before. The ever-expanding task list. Too much to do. Too little time. Sound familiar? Try as I might, I couldn’t outrun it. I thought this was the price business owners paid for living the “entrepreneurial dream.” Even after…
Do You Live in a Van Down by The River?
Pedro was living the dream. His HVAC repair company was thriving. Revenue was up. The phone kept ringing. But it wasn’t always sunshine and roses — especially after hours. At 11 PM, his phone would buzz: “Boss, I don’t know how to handle this repair. What should I do?” At 6 AM, another call: “The customer is…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.01.19
Recommended Event 🔥 Vision 2 Reality Is an Internal OS Upgrade For over 15 years, Dixie Gillaspie and I have met weekly to co-create, challenge each other, and sharpen our work. If you’ve benefited from Story Power Marketing, you’ve already felt some of that influence. One thing we’ve seen consistently: High performers don’t stall because they…
2026 Done For You
I’m going to work with a handful of 1:1 clients beginning in February. We’ll design a customized plan to attract leads and convert them to clients, and my team will implement the plan so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting. Would you like to work with me?
Turn Customer Conversations Into Marketing Gold
Who says the “Holiday Season” is over. Today is “Get to Know Your Customers Day.” And when it comes to business growth, this may be the most important holiday of all. Because the more you know, the more you sell. I have a holiday challenge AND a gift for you. The challenge: Reach out to…
Florida Man’s Stupid Email Trick
I’ve seen a lot of BS marketing tactics at play over the years, but this one takes the cake… A guy named Bob bought a copy of my book and opted into my email list. Then he configured his email system to auto-reply with his marketing messages. So when I sent him emails he asked…
Prison Party Fail (and Biz Lesson For You)
Ripped from the headlines… …the prison party that never happened. In December, guards at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C. found a pile of goodies in the prison yard — crab legs, steak, Old Bay seasoning, cigarettes, and two bags of weed — plus the drone that delivered them. You know the old saying: “One…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.01.12
Recommended Reading 💡 Beware of “thoughtstipation,” Thanks to Tom Fishburne (a.k.a. The Marketoonist) for telling me about this LinkedIn post from Ann Handley who nails one of the problems with AI: “Thoughtstipation happens when we skip the messy, human part of creativity—the part where we meander, doodle, ramble, reflect…” ✒️ Why Great Creators Noodle, Doodle, and Jot…
For Business Owners Who Feel Constantly Behind
Back in 2020, when COVID moved me from a commercial building to my home office, Melissa and I rebuilt our backyard. New pool deck, driveway, landscaping, and outdoor kitchen. My home office overlooked the construction site. And for five months, while construction happened, my productivity plummeted. Every time I heard an unexpected “bang!” or a…
The #1 Reason Prospects Tune Out and Move On
I don’t have many nightmares, but when I do have them, they’re usually about college. They go like this: I wake in my dorm, roll out of bed, and realize my history final is TODAY… …but I haven’t attended a single class… …or read a single book. Oh! The horror! I forgot to cram for…
How to Bridge the Chasm Between Desire and Doing
It’s been less than one week since I began my video quest — 365(+) videos in 365 days — and launched my revamped YouTube Channel. Already, the cold-callers are crawling out of the woodwork. Said one in a LinkedIn message: “Hello. Hope you are doing well. I visited your YouTube channel and noticed it’s not yet…
Why Amazon Book Sales Won’t Build Your Business
The following question landed in my inbox recently from a business owner who’s struggling to turn his book into clients: *** “Hey Tom — How do I get the names and emails of people who buy my book on Amazon? I’ve made a few sales. But I don’t know who the buyers are.” *** Short…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2026.01.05
Recommended Reading 🍏 Steve Jobs’s 6-Step Rehearsal Process He Used for Every Presentation Thanks to Dave Dee for telling me about this article. A longtime Apple designer breaks down the exact 6-step rehearsal process Steve Jobs used before every big presentation. You’ll get a peek behind the curtain at how he started early, rehearsed like a…
Implement More. Work Less.
Yesterday, Melissa and I kicked off the new year with a visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum and the exhibit “Anselm Kiefer – Becoming the Sea.” As we entered the exhibit, a museum employee asked us for our zip code and then dutifully recorded it when we told her. The museum tracks where its…
I’ve Made a Crazy Resolution…
Happy New Year! See that video below? That’s the first of many to come. My resolution for 2026: Publish at least one new video, every day, for the entire year. 365 days. 365 videos. There! I’ve said it. Cat’s out of the bag. No walking it back now. Check it out. Subscriber to my YouTube…
Looking Forward…
Two words I plan to say at midnight when 2025 ends: GOOD RIDDANCE! It’s been a rough year, and I’m glad to see it go. On May 16, an EF-3 tornado tore through St. Louis, leveled my backyard, and ripped the roof off my house. We planned to spend most of 2025 rebuilding. Instead, we…
How Could He Crack Jokes at a Time Like This?
On this day (Dec. 30) in 1999, a mad man broke into George Harrison’s house and nearly killed him. The attacker stabbed the former Beatle more than 30 times. If not for his wife, Olivia, joining the fight, George probably would have died. Gruesome, terrible, serious business… …and soon after, George was cracking jokes. After…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.12.29
️Recommended Video ⛔ 404, the story of a page not found Two reasons I love this video: 1) It’s a TED talk that lasts less than 5 minutes. Not the typical 18-minute journey 2) It offers some funny, yet valuable advice. We all hate 404 pages, but Renny Gleeson shows why that moment of frustration is…
What Would the Dung Beetle Doo?
I’ve discovered my spirit animal… …thanks to my daughter Maddie who’s in Africa this week on safari. She’s been sending photos and videos of creatures great and small. Elephants. Giraffes. Cheetahs. Rhinos. Impalas. Impressive animals. But they’re just not ME. And then Maddie sent this… That is a pair of beetles with a tennis-ball-sized dung…
🎶 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Merry Christmas to you and yours. Hope your day is filled with joy, good food, and the people you love. I’m grateful to have you as part of my online family. And I look forward to great things to come in the year ahead. All the best, p.s. During the holidays, my house is always…
My Favorite New Holiday Tradition…
A new addition to my holiday to-do list: Burn the Devil. Not literally. That would be messy and dangerous. And I don’t know where to find the real Devil. But metaphorically, burning the Devil seems like a great plan. I got the idea from the Guatemalans. Every year on December 7 at 6 p.m. sharp,…
How to Build a Bigger Email List (Santa-Style) 🎅🏻
You know that poem that begins “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…?” Funny thing about that poem… Before it appeared in The Troy Sentinel newspaper on this day (Dec. 23) in 1823, no one talked about a flying sleigh, or magical reindeer, or Santa dropping down the chimney. All that stuff first appeared…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.12.22
Holiday History 🎅🏻 Shopping for Santa Claus: Origins of Macy’s and the Holiday Icon Macy’s introduced the department store Santa more than 150 years ago. It was not the only innovation the store introduced to attract parents and children during the holiday season. This article tells the story. It is loaded with business lessons. Holiday Humor 🎅🏻 “Santa is…
I’m Wondering If You…
Quick question… When it comes to growing your business in 2026, which is more important to you: 1) Learning new strategies and tactics to attract leads and get them to hire you? 2) Getting help implementing strategies and tactics you already have learned? Please reply and let me know. I’m planning some cool stuff for…
The Popular Marketing Move that Doesn’t Pay The Bills
I saw a great question this morning on Reddit: “One marketing tactic you believed in earlier but completely stopped using?” The most common answer: Chasing vanity metrics on social media. Said one Redditor: “I used to obsess over likes, follower counts, all that shiny stuff. It felt like progress, you know? But then I realized……
This Legendary Show was Supposed to Flop
If you tuned into the Fox television network on this day (Dec. 17) in 1989 at 8:30 p.m. ET, here’s what you saw… Marge Simpson has to use the family’s gift money to get Bart’s tattoo removed.To make up the difference, Homer takes a job as a department store Santa.But things get worse when Homer…
My Crowning Claim to Shame? You be The Judge…
Ripped from the headlines in Nevada: In girls high school basketball action last week, The Del Sol High School Dragons squeaked by the Cheyenne High School Desert Pigs (yes, the “Desert Pigs”). The final score 104-1. Reminds me of the time I coached the 8th-grade boys basketball team at the secondary school where I taught…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.12.15
Recommended Tools 📈 Sales Ready Organization (SRO) Assessment If you’re thinking about how to bring more predictability and profit into your business, my friend Christopher Filipiak has a smart tool called the Sales Ready Organization (SRO) Assessment. I took it myself and I’m already using what it revealed to guide my 2026 planning. In just a…
A Fast Way to Spot the Money Leaks in Your Business
I’m usually skeptical of those online assessments where you answer a few questions and then get “all the answers.” So when my friend and colleague Christopher Filipiak asked me to try The Sales Ready Organization (SRO) Assessment, I braced for the worst. “Sure, I’ll give it a look,” I told Chris, all while thinking, “Ugh! Not…
A Legend’s Secret to Understand His Market
I heard an interesting tidbit recently about Eugene Schwartz, the legendary copywriter who never suffered from writer’s block. He had a secret move for understanding his target market… He went to the theater and watched every hit movie. And not just once. He watched the blockbusters twice. Why? Because if you want to generate massive sales…
I’ve Had it With This B.S…
Four words that make my blood boil: “Hurry! Sale ends in…” So many fake sales with fake deadlines. Over the summer, I bought some shirts from an online store for $74.99 each. Last week, I received an email from the same store, offering the same shirts for the low, low price of… …wait for it……
The Time Ultra-conservatives and Hippies United
Come and listen to my story ’bout a man named Jeff… …a poor marketer who found riches by uniting hardcore, ultra-conservatives and tree-hugging hippies. I know that seems impossible these days, but it happened not that long ago. Our story starts just after the turn of the millennium, in 2002, when the Internet was still…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.12.08
Recommended Video 📈 Just Get Started! Moving From Learning To Doing Jeff Walker breaks down the gap between knowing and doing — and why the only real fix is to start before you feel ready. It’s a short, honest reminder that your first steps won’t be perfect, and that’s the whole point. Worth a watch if…
The Best Business Investment I’ve Ever Made
I’m sitting on the terrace at the Ritz-Carlton Tiburón in Naples, Florida, sipping fresh-squeezed orange juice and getting ready for day two of the two-day “Elite Mastermind” with Dave Dee. Our group meets with Dave every Monday morning for one hour on Zoom. Every quarter, we have two-day retreats — two times on Zoom, two…
What’s Your Claim to Fame?
Yesterday, I told you about Joe Weiss, and how he turned his humble beach-side fish shack into a world-famous restaurant. The seafood restaurateur who brought stone crab claws to the masses. Without stone crabs, Joe may have been just another business owner, struggling to attract client Which got me thinking… What’s your claim to fame?…
Joe Turned Trash to Treasure and Built an Empire
From a seaside cafe, Miami Beach, Florida… Melissa and I had a spectacular dinner last night at Joe’s Stone Crab — a legendary restaurant in the heart of Miami’s South Beach neighborhood. Before Joe’s, stone crabs weren’t a thing. I mean they existed, scuttling along the sea floor and such. But humans didn’t want to catch, cook,…
The Worst “Perfect” Subject Line Ever?
A few months ago, I tried one of those AI-powered subject line checkers and it blew my mind — in a bad way. I fed it some of my best-performing subject lines, and the AI spit back scores of 42%, 56%, and 58%. So I ran some experiments to determine the “perfect” subject line according…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.12.01
Recommended Humor 🔐 Chasing the Algorithm If you’ve ever found yourself trying to decode how to get your posts and ads seen on Facebook and other social media sites, you have to see this cartoon and post by Tom Fishburne (a.k.a. The Marketoonist). So much wisdom and humor in this. Recommended Video 😂 The Power of Laughing at Ourselves…
Dumb Holiday Thief & Great Holiday Offer
My favorite holiday shopping story… The setting: A big box store in Belleville, Illinois in 1993. A customer leaves her credit card behind after buying a bunch of holiday gifts. Instead of returning the card to the customer, the clerk keeps the card and uses it to pay for a holiday shopping spree at the…
Thanksgiving Gratitude
I woke this morning in a house that isn’t mine. A rental house. The place we’ve been staying since May… …when an EF3 tornado (160 mph winds) ripped the roof of our house and leveled our yard. It’s been a rough year. We fired the first contractor. We’re waiting on the second to begin repairs.…
Is Your AI-generated Copy Any Good?
See if this story rings a bell… You open your laptop. Cursor blinking. “I should send an email…” 30 minutes later, you’ve written three sentences. Deleted two. Stared at your inbox. Checked LinkedIn. Made coffee. Still nothing worth sending. So you do what everyone else is doing. You ask ChatGPT to write it for you.…
Prospects Go Nuts for This Contractor. Here’s Why…
Yesterday, Melissa and I got a package in the mail from a guy who’s bidding to remodel our master bathroom. Here’s what was in the package: It’s a bag of cashews (the BIG, fancy kind) with a handwritten note: “Tom and Melissa, I hope you go absolutely nuts over your new bathroom design. Have a…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.11.24
Recommended Software 🎙️ Letterly Speech to Text I’ve tried lots of apps to turn speech to text, and was never satisfied until I tried Letterly. It’s a mobile and desktop app that records your voice, turns it to text, and then uses AI to transform that text into organized notes, posts, or whatever you want. Use it…
You’re a Copywriter (Whether You Know it or Not)
I remember hearing the great Dan Kennedy once say something like this: “You’re not a plumber. You’re a marketer, promoting plumbing services. “You’re not a lawyer. You’re a marketer, promoting legal services. “You’re not an executive coach, you’re…” (You get the point, right?). I told that story yesterday to loyal reader June (an executive coach) after she…
The Biggest, Bestest Black Friday Deal of The Season…
I’ve spent the past few minutes writing a big, long entertaining email about The 2025 Black Friday Vault… …but I crumpled it up, tossed it in the trash, and decided to keep this short, sweet, and simple. The 2025 Black Friday Vault is the best-est, yumdillyicious-est, WOWza-rific-est offers in this or any galaxy. The details… ‣ The…
A Sneak Peek Before The Doors Open
This thing is under lock and key until 12 a.m. Thursday. But I figure I can give you a sneak peek so you’re ready when the doors open. 🤫 Look… John McIntyre asked me and 10 other top copywriters — John Carlton, Doberman Dan, John Bejakovic, and many others — to contribute premium products for: 2025’s…
Picasso’s Genius Pricing Principle
A story about Pablo Picasso, ripped from the pages of “Pricing Genius” by Alastair Dryburgh… Picasso was sitting at a Paris cafe when a wealthy woman walked by and noticed him. She asked him to paint her portrait. “I’ll pay you whatever you want,” she promised. Picasso grabbed a menu, borrowed a pencil from a…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.11.17
Recommended Listening 🎙️ Easy Ways to Create Great Sales Stories When David Garfinkel invited me to be on his Copywriters Podcast, I jumped at the opportunity to trade insights with “The World’s Greatest Copywriting Coach.” We discussed it all… You can hear the episode wherever you get your favorite podcasts or on David’s podcast website. You can…
Get it Before Midnight: Simple System to Boost Your Business
On Reddit this morning, I saw a post with the following headline: What does your content creation system look like? I bet a lot of people see that and think, “WHAT content creation system?” How about you? Do you have a system? What does it look like? Does it work? In a recent live training,…
I Broke My Own Rule. But Just For a Day.
Yesterday, I shared a story about a veteran who shed a tear as 18,000+ hockey fans cheered him and others who served. That email did not include a call-to-action. No request to reply. No download offer. No event registration. No product for sale. It was the first time in months I sent an email without…
A Veteran’s Day story
Last night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO, five minutes into the hockey game between the St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames, the P.A. announcer asked all veterans in the crowd to stand. Hundreds rose. Those still seated cheered. To my right, five seats down, stood a man, still as a statue, as…
He Paid HOW Much? For a NOTEBOOK?!?
On this day in 1994, Bill Gates paid $30,800,000 for a notebook. Granted, this wasn’t just any notebook. This was Leonardo daVinci’s “Codex Leicester.” But still. $30 million!?!? Nice work if you can spend it, Mr. Gates. You had some big ideas in your day. You implemented, and you cashed in. And then you bought…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.11.10
Recommended Listening 🎙️ Rick Rubin: The Spiritual Secret to Limitless Creativity Rick Rubin is one of my musical heroes. He’s a producer who has collaborated with greats across multiple genres — Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Run D.M.C., Tom Petty, The Beastie Boys, The Avett Brothers, Adele, etc. etc. etc. And he’s a scholar —…
Before You ask AI to Write For You, Do This…
James wants to write some emails to attract prospects and inspire them to hire him. But he’s stuck. So he turned to Reddit where he asked how to conquer writer’s block. “I’ve spent too much time time staring at blank pages in the past,” James wrote. One guy suggested he “go for a walk.” Another…
Bad-Day Dolphe’s Incredible Comeback
Next time you’re having a bad day and feeling frustrated or stuck, think of Adolphe Sax and take heart. Bad-Day Dolphe had more than his share of rough ones. One day he fell from a third-storey window and hit his head on a stone. Another day, he accidentally drank a bowl of acidic water. The…
The Non-cringey Way to Do Funnels
I met yesterday with a business owner (let’s call him “Bill”) who hates the idea of “funnels.” The very word makes him cringe. So many pitchy pests using funnels to dish out their over-hyped offers with inflated promises, Bill said. He doesn’t want any part of that. I get it. How about you? Have you…
How to Make ’em Say, “Wow”
Here’s what happened when I walked into Lilo restaurant in Carlsbad, CA last week with my high school pals Mike and Alison… The floor manager welcomed Alison who had made the reservation. Then she looked directly at Mike and me and asked, “Which one of you is Mike?” Mike smiled and said, “That’s me.” Then…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.11.03
Recommended Reading ⏩ Perseverance: 7 Stoic Lessons on How To Keep Going Need a boost to keep going? This Daily Stoic article delivers seven practical lessons on perseverance from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. It opens with Admiral James Stockdale’s incredible story of surviving 7 years as a POW using Stoic philosophy, then breaks down timeless…
The Most Profitable Horror Movie Ever?
Fun fact about Halloween — the movie that is. John Carpenter made the 1978 classic for around $300,000. The movie grossed $70 million. That’s a 232X profit. Speaking of profit, my client RJ 3X’d hers after she implemented my PLAN framework to turn content into clients. I’ll tell you that story and show you how to do…
This Works For Funerals, But Not For Webinars…
Of all the wacky, unusual holidays out there, this might be the wackiest: Today, October 30, is Create a Great Funeral Day right here in the good ol’ USA. Really. It is. Now, you may be thinking, “Why is there a holiday for this!?” Or maybe you think, “Planning a great funeral is NOT on my agenda…
What Were They Thinking When They Bought This?
I can’t stop thinking about Paul Hartunian — the guy who bought scrap wood from the Brooklyn Bridge during its 1983 renovation and sold it in one-inch square slices (with a certificate of authenticity) for $14.95, plus shipping and handling. I close my eyes and imagine a person who bought a piece of the bridge…
True story: Guy sells Brooklyn Bridge
Here’s the story of how Paul Hartunian became the first person to “sell” the Brooklyn Bridge — for real. For years, scammers and hoodlums “sold” the bridge to gullible dupes. But Hartunian’s offer was the real deal. It was 1983. Hartunian was living in New Jersey, across the Hudson from New York City. He was…
RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2025.10.27
Recommended Reading 📢RIP to the Old PR Master by Ben Settle Legendary PR master Paul Hartunian died earlier this month. Never heard of him? Well, he’s the guy who sold the Brooklyn Bridge — one piece at a time — and it was NOT a scam. (I’ll share that story later this week in another…
This “Completely Changed” How He Thinks About Writing Copy
My friend Ted Prodromou sent a fantastic email to his list on Wednesday, and I’ve swiped it for you. Ted and I hosted the legendary copywriter David Garfinkel on Tuesday to discuss his book “The Persuasion Story Code” with members of the Mastermind Book Club. It was an incredible discussion — valuable for anyone who…
⏳ Last chance: LinkedIn Training Today
Quick reminder: Jason Osborn’s live LinkedIn training starts today (10/23, 2:30 p.m. ET) If you haven’t registered yet, click here and save a seat. I heard yesterday from someone who got my invitation to this training and said, “LinkedIn is just a big job board; it’s not a place to market your business and find leads.”…
Does This Make You Cringe, Too?
Six words that make me cringe: “I came across your profile and…” The first time or three I received messages like this on LinkedIn, I felt honored. (“Gosh, he was ‘impressed’ by my profile!’) But that grew old — quickly. And I saw the messages for what they were: Impersonal, spammy cold pitches. There’s a…