Brainstorming for One
Issue #2495
- WEALTHY: What to do if you dislike your job (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: One way to get the most out of your workout (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Robert Frost on how the brain works
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- When you are intimidated by a blank page… (John Forde)
- A life lesson from Paul Newman
- It’s Fun to Know… about the other Nobel Prize
- Add “zeitgeist” to your vocabulary
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Dear ETR: “Should I still look for a career change?”
“I am in a job I don’t like. However, I get paid very well, all my superiors think I am doing a good job, and I am succeeding above expectations!!!????!!!!
“Am I lucky? Or should I still look for a career change?”
A.M.
India
Dear A.M.,
You are in an enviable situation. You have a successful, highly paid career. But there is something about it you don’t like. So you are wondering, “Should I get out now and start somewhere else from the bottom… or should I stick this out for the money?”
Fair question. The final answer is easy: You should be in a career that you like. You are evidently very good at what you do. This means you will probably be very good at what you do in your next career.
But that doesn’t mean you should quit your current job right away.
Before you quit, ask yourself, “Is it the industry I hate, or is it my particular job?” If it’s your job that is bugging you, try this: Imagine the perfect job for you in the industry that you are in. Then figure out how you can go from where you are now to that job in a reasonably short amount of time. Write a well-worded letter to your superiors, explaining how much you appreciate their support but telling them that you have this goal. And tell them that you would be happy to continue doing your job for a while if they could help you achieve the transition in a timeframe that is acceptable to you.
Tell them that you’d like to start transitioning immediately by changing some of what you do. Say that you will be happy to maintain your current responsibilities while you train a replacement, but that you want them to train and support you as you develop the knowledge and skills you will need for your perfect job. In making your request, tell them how putting you in the right position will benefit them… and the company’s bottom line. Use all the direct-marketing secrets you have learned in ETR to convince them.
If they turn you down, you know what you have to do. If they accept your challenge, you won’t lose a paycheck trying to find the next perfect job.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: All the money in the world can't make up for working at a job you don't enjoy. Fortunately, it's easy to do exactly what you want to do. Start your own Internet business! For dozens of insider secrets about how to start and grow a business, come to ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp. Our panel of experts will be revealing the $100,000 strategies that have helped them make a combined $1 billion in revenues. Reserve your spot today.]
“The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get to the office.”
Robert Frost
Brainstorming for One
By John Forde
“Brain-writing” is not my term. But we’re going to make it our own by revising it a little to make it more productive…
You brainstorm to get ideas when you have none. Ideally, you do so in a group. So you can feed off each other. So you can legitimize sitting around drinking coffee. So you can get others to do all the hard thinking for you.
In all those respects, group brainstorming is a good thing. But what do you do when you’re writing sales copy in isolation?
Brain-writing is a way to kick ideas around… jumpstart your engines… and get into that “zone” of creativity that you hope to get into in a group session.
In fiction circles, there’s something similar called “free-writing. USUALLY, it simply means setting a timer, putting pen to page, and letting the ideas pour. Whatever it is, you write it down. You don’t stop until your pen runs out of ink or your elbow balloons like a grapefruit.
But there are two problems with free-writing when you apply it to writing sales copy:
• First, pens come with a lot of ink these days. Even the dime-store ballpoints could keep you scribbling well past deadline.
• Second, sometimes it’s the very prospect of a blank page… the sight of a blinking cursor… and the notion of all that cerebral “freedom”… that’s got you stymied in the first place.
There is a more efficient way to get started.
If you were about to make bricks, would you begin without clay? If you were getting ready to make glass, would you begin without sand? If you wanted to make punch, would you leave out the hooch?
Of course not. So why is it writers of any kind so often try to start conjuring up ideas out of thin air?
For all the reasons to get “blocked,” this is the easiest of them to resolve.
Before you begin your solo brainstorming session (or a group one, for that matter), get yourself a hefty stack of “stuff” about the product you’re going to write about. Aim for height. An inch is too little. A foot is too high. Somewhere in the middle ought to do it.
Next to this, put a fresh stack of index cards… a legal pad… and/or a computer.
This is where the “brain-writing” comes in. Start reading. Start taking notes.
The process remains “free” in the sense that you shouldn’t try to organize ideas at this point. Record them as they come. You’ll sort later.
However, contrary to popular creativity myths, discipline has a role. For instance: You’ll need to keep yourself from focusing too long on any one aspect of your research. You’ll need to force yourself to write full-fledged ad copy, rather than just recording notes. And you’ll need to make sure, always, that the central promise of your ad is the magnet pulling you through the muck of ideas you’ll produce.
You should have at least six kinds of things in your “brain-writing” stack before you begin:
1. Competitors’ ads. If you write direct mail, you know there’s no excuse for not being seeded on competing lists. Keep a box of other people’s promos by your desk.
2. Samples of the competitors’ products. You can probably get comped for competitors’ newsletters, as a professional courtesy. But, at least once in a while, go through the subscription process anonymously. You might learn something from the way they do business.
3. Printouts of relevant websites. Yes, printouts. If you’d rather, you can make handwritten notes while scrolling a screen. But avoid the temptation to bookmark links, save pages, or copy and paste text into word documents. No matter what you think… the only way to really absorb ideas is to re-interpret them for your own notes.
4. Relevant magazines and newspapers. Big media has the budget to gather persuasive stats and anecdotes. Again, copy the information in your own hand. Don’t just clip and count on coming back to it later. BUT, make sure you note every source – both for legal reasons and because you’ll get extra credibility with your readers when you cite respected sources.
5. History and non-fiction best-sellers. Sometimes, nothing can be more valuable than going down to your local bookstore to see what your prospective customers are reading. It’s an excellent way to put your thumb on the popular zeitgeist. Restrict yourself, however, to buying two books… tops. If you’re under any kind of deadline, you won’t have time for more than that.
6. Your product manager’s “best of.” Any good product manager will give you the following items when you start a copywriting project: product-related e-mails, raw testimonials, third-party reviews and endorsements, product-related news clippings, free “giveaways” that come with the offer, notes from past brainstorming meetings, past control packages, tapes or transcripts of conversations with customers, customer service letters, interviews with core people connected with the product, and phone numbers of people you can call to talk to about the product.
This is, of course, just a partial list. You could add more. But even with only the above, you should be drowning in new ideas before day’s end. (At which point, you’ll have a different problem – more ideas than you can spend in one piece! Every copywriter should be so lucky, right? Save the leftovers for the test mailing.)
The beauty of this simple approach is that you don’t need a soul around to help you make it pay off. In fact, isolation makes it easier.
Tip: At some point, you’ll make it to the bottom of the stack or you’ll feel in your gut that you’ve got all the key points somehow covered. At that moment, stop and get up. Put on your coat. Go shoot some hoops, take a walk, knit an afghan.
While you take that break, your subconscious mind will be mulling over everything you’ve come across. Absorbing. Sorting. Editing.
The next morning, put the pile of stuff in a box and get it out of your sight. Everything happens now inside your pile of notes. Re-read all the material. Twice.
Take the points that stand out and re-write them on a fresh page. Some things will stand out. Others will strike you as complete garbage. Distill and polish. Narrow. If you need to accelerate the process, mail or e-mail the notes to a trusted (and patient) friend to read.
If you try this technique and you’re STILL stuck for ideas, you might consider buying yourself a push broom. Or running for public office.
[Ed. Note: Copywriting is just one skill you can master to help your business grow. Learn the ins and outs of copywriting, marketing, search engine optimization, and more from some of the best experts in the business (including John Forde, Bob Bly, and Charlie Byrne) at ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp. Find out how to reserve your spot right here.
And to get John's wisdom and insights into copywriting (and much more), sign up for his free e-letter, Copywriter's Roundtable at copywritersroundtable.com or send an email to signup@jackforde.com. Get a free report about 15 deadly copy mistakes and how to avoid them when you sign up today.]
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Internet Marketing Expert Rich Schefren on Changing the Channel: “Michael and MaryEllen’s Book Stands Way Above All the Others.”
“I just finished reading Changing the Channel, and all I can say is WOW! I read four to five books a week, and Michael and MaryEllen’s book stands way above all the others.
“This book is a must read for anyone and everyone who has anything to do with marketing that must deliver real results to the bottom line.”
- Rich Schefren
CEO, Strategic Profits
[Ed. Note: Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business is the brand-new book by MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson. The book comes out on Tuesday - but you can learn more about it and the power of multi-channel marketing right now at www.ChangingtheChannelBook.com]
Choosing the Right Weight
Going to the gym is intimidating enough. But not knowing how much weight to use for an exercise can make you feel even more uncomfortable. If you grab a weight that’s too light, you’ll waste your time. If you grab a weight that’s too heavy, you risk injury.
In a 12-week study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found that subjects gained the most strength when using a weight that corresponded to 70 percent of their 1-repetition maximum – meaning 70 percent of the heaviest weight they could lift in the exercise.
Here’s how to figure out what that ideal weight should be…
In most cases, if you’re lifting 70 percent of the heaviest weight you could lift, you can do about 10 to 12 repetitions. So you want to use a weight that allows you to do no fewer than 10 reps and no more than 12 reps per set. For example, if you can do seated rows with 50 pounds for 20 reps, you should try using 70 pounds for 10 reps instead.
Unfortunately, the only way to identify an ideal weight is by trial and error. Start conservatively with an easy weight. Do six repetitions. If that feels too easy, increase the weight by 10 percent and try again. Do this until you find a weight that is a challenge for 10-12 reps. It should take you about three minutes to find the right weight for each exercise in your program.
[Ed. Note: Building muscle and burning fat doesn't have to take hours of work. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has put together a Turbulence Training program that can help you get fit in three 45-minute workouts a week.
For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]
Worth Quoting: Paul Newman on Giving Back
“We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”
(Source: The New York Times)
It’s Fun to Know: The Other Nobel Prize
The “Ig Nobel” awards – given out by the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine – honor real research that happens to be really funny.
This year, Deborah Anderson and colleagues from the Boston University Medical Center won the Ig Nobel chemistry prize for research which ascertained that Coca-Cola kills sperm. “The sperm just kind of explode,” Anderson noted. Other prizes were awarded for a mathematical formula which demonstrates why a ball of string or hair will tangle itself up in knots, and to a French team which determined that dog fleas jump higher than cat fleas.
(Source: Reuters)
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Word to the Wise: Zeitgeist
“Zeitgeist” (TSITE-giste) – German for “spirit of the age” – is the general trend of thought or feeling that’s characteristic of a particular period of time.
Example (as used by John Forde today): “Sometimes, nothing can be more valuable than going down to your local bookstore to see what your prospective customers are reading. It’s an excellent way to put your thumb on the popular zeitgeist.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
I grew up in the town right next to where Paul Newman Lived, and my best friend lived right around the corner from him in Westport, CT. I unfortunately only met Paul Newman on a sunny summer day a few years ago by chance. He was driving from Westport across the Norwalk/Westport town line and he happened to be right on my tail with a 50’s Red Porshe and his wife Joanne Woodward. I slowed down and yelled at him to slow down not knowing he the person was behind me. He gave me a dirty look and I made a right turn as he went straight to where I believe they movie Stepford Wifes was being shot in Norwalk and New Caneen. I later told some of my friends who said that I should appoligize to him by writing a letter. I thought about it and was going to write a letter to him, but it just slipped my mine as time passed. I am writing this recalling how this man did so much good for others via his Newman’s Own Company and the hole in the wall gang where he had donated $250 million to charity. He did not take out any money for himself, if all went to charity. I just wish I have gotten to know him and want to tell everyone that we need more people like him. God rest his sole.