$1,000 Worth of Boring Advice
“People are bored. They are bored out of their minds — at all times.” World-class copywriter John Carlton pointed this out to Eben Pagan during a one-hour coaching call Eben paid Carlton $1,000. “This was the most profound thing [Carlton] said,” says Eben. On the surface, this doesn’t seem like earth-shattering news.…
Have You Seen This Disappearing Parking Spot?!
I was on Facebook yesterday and this video caught my eye. The video, if you haven’t seen it, is of a “disappearing parking spot.” It’s a platform called a Car Dok that you drive your car onto and then push a button and the entire platform, which is on hydraulics, lowers underground and…
How Billion-Dollar Companies Plan for the Future
This weekend I watched an hour-long talk Brian Tracy gave at a private event. The event was Joe Polish’s Genius Network Event and Joe was kind enough to upload the full video to YouTube. I don’t expect many of you to watch the full video so I figured I’d share my big takeaway…
Why Smart People Sometimes Act Dumb
Let’s pretend you’ve locked your keys in your car. You’ve tried everything short of breaking a window to get your keys out, but no luck. You call a locksmith. Locksmith #1 arrives. He’s friendly, and he opens your car in two minutes. A week later, you lock your keys in…
What We Can Learn from Dickens About Networks
Mention to a low key Londoner that someone is a “good networker” and a grimace of quiet distaste bordering on panic will flash across their face. This is, of course, ironic in a country where good networks are still often inherited with good families, good schools, et cetera — the…
Are You Promotable?
It’s almost September, and year-end reviews are just around the corner. It isn’t too late to show your boss that you’re worthy of a promotion. Maybe you’ve been holding down the same position for a few years and are ready to move up. Maybe your company is going through some…
Mirror Customer Behavior to Build Trust, Make More Sales and Get More Dates
I called and she picked up. “Hel-lo” She sounded shocked that I was calling. Then she said, “can you text me instead?” When I asked why, she said she didn’t like talking on the phone — it was weird :/ … I never texted her back after that. Whether you’re trying to…
Success: What Price Will You Pay?
The question that has always vexed me most is when a subscriber writes and asks: “Should I become a freelance copywriter?” “Should I start an Internet marketing business?” “Should I [fill in the blank here]?” Now, if you ask me HOW to do these things, I can give you some…
How to Increase Conversions Using FOMO
You slide into bed and crack open a book. After the day you just had, this is exactly where you want to be. What could be better than this? You think. As you turn the page, you hear a ding! Your best friend just sent you a text. Where r…
3 Keys to Negotiating a Better Salary
One of the critical factors in business school rankings is how well their graduates are compensated. So, as a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, I tell every MBA class I lecture that my first objective is to…
How a Millennial Couple Got Rich and Retired by NOT Owning a Home
I read an interesting story today about a 30-something couple that got rich and retired by choosing NOT to buy a home. Kristy Shen (33) and Bryce Leung (34) did everything their parents told them to do. They went to college, graduated in computer engineering, found 9-5 jobs, saved money,…
The Power of Personalized Gifts
In Robert Cialdini’s classic book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Cialdini reveals the six universal principles of persuasion. The first principle is Reciprocity. What a lot of people don’t know about this first principle is it extends beyond just giving in order to get. In a talk Cialdini gave at the International Behavioural Insights Conference…