Call it a ‘sabbatical.’ It feels like the right time. The first person I saw do this was the habits blogger James Clear. Taking a break from the repetitive, day-to-day tasks, he said, was essential for refuelling the mind with ideas. And for getting a fresh perspective. It’s why he sometimes stepped away from his [...]
Should I delete LinkedIn? Should you? If you’re willing to master it, then I’m sure you’ll get amazing value from it. But I’m not. And I don’t. Most of my time is spent clearing out notifications. A barrage of time-wasters, tire-kickers and cold callers. Here’s a message I got the other day from a new [...]
I live in a small townhouse, amongst a block of four. We all share the same garbage bins which are stored away in a shed. One of these bins is for food waste. It’s beaten to hell. Raccoons have smashed it to pieces. The top doesn’t close properly. The bottom is covered in a weird [...]
An interesting fact about Hitler: he was actually a pretty decent painter. In fact, some people believe Hitler’s art is directly linked to his evil. Whether it was due to lack of perseverance, laziness or poor self-esteem, Hitler failed to realise his potential as an artist. This agony caused him to become a tyrant dictator. [...]
Years ago, back when I started at Money Week, we were taught the four ‘U’s of writing effective headlines. I’ll share them with you now, because they’ve stuck with me ever since: 1. Make it URGENT: People don’t buy preventatives. You want to present your reader with problems they must deal with now. Even something [...]
A couple of years ago, I pitched an exciting new story concept to one of my more literary pals. I saw it as the seed of a novel. Maybe even a movie. “Okay, picture this,” I said. “You have a free-spirited astrologer and a super-logical astronomer. The astrologer falls in love with the astronomer, but [...]
Here’s a big “upsell mistake” I notice time and again. You see… Copywriters spend most of their time selling products to new customers. The trick here is, “get to the point.” You hit your reader with your offer and benefits, then you immediately ask them to act. With upsells it’s different. Your customer has only just bought from [...]
You have to ask yourself serious questions when a doctor envies a copywriter. But that may be where we’re heading. I was breezing through our agency’s latest surveys. These go out to our email list, so we know who’s signing up, and what they want. Anyway, one respondent was a real-life physician…trying to master copywriting as [...]
