Red Skelton spanks the wild-eyed marketing newbies
Published: Thu, 01/30/20
“How does one that knows absolutely nothing about copyrighting or clientless copy, thus, having no niche OR product, get into this field of work?”
My initial response to questions like this is a meme I saw a while back.
The meme has Don Draper from “Mad Men” smiling while lifting a glass of whiskey to his mouth.
But, instead of it being Don Draper's face, it's Trump’s smiling face, with the words:
“F--ck outta here”
Imagine someone thinking they can learn how to effectively build a direct response business in the comments section of an article, instead of buying the program the article is selling to develop the skill to do it, instead.
Such is many-a-newbie’s mindset.
And if they don’t roto-rooter out that mindset they’re dead in the water before starting.
Plus, there is something else going on.
Something nobody selling “how to get into business” ever wants to admit to. Something that was probably best illustrated by the late, great entertainer Red Skelton when talking to his protege, the late King of Late Night Johnny Carson on Johnny's show.
Here was the exchange they had:
JOHNNY CARSON: You taught me a lot. I stole a lot from you.
RED SKELTON: No, no you didn’t…nobody helps you get started. If you’ve got talent, they can put you behind a brick wall, you’ll come through. So that’s what you have.
Now, swap out “talent” with “skill” and you’ll know what I speaketh of.
Talent is something you either have or don’t. But skill is something you can learn, hone, master, and perfect over time. And skill is also something that is needed that newbies never seem to ask about or look for, preferring hacks & shortcuts instead.
I once heard the great John Carlton put it like this:
(paraphrased)
Everyone wants to have already written, but nobody wants to write.
In other words:
Everyone wants to already have the proverbial successful business up and running, with dozens of offers already created, world class sales copy already written for those offers, and a happy as pig-in-pewp base of customers already built who can’t wait to buy again and again again, for years, and decades in the future. But nobody wants to spend the ten of thousands of collective hours of time learning, practicing, and writing those world class sales letters & emails. Or spend the thousands of hours of time building out, testing, and tweaking those offers. Or spend the hundreds of painful hours required to change, adapt, fail, learn. Or keep current on technological, market, and other changes that will invariably happen, etc.
It takes time, effort, and sacrifice to learn and hone this skill.
Yes, including the parts I specialize in teaching — the email side.
Very few people are willing to do what it takes to achieve it.
But, not all is lost:
As your Humble Host can at least teach you the skill part.
And, if you subscribe to my paid "Email Players" newsletter (and read the book I give with new subscriptions) and if you already have a list, and if you have content to sell, then the February issue — that goes to the printer tomorrow — will show you a way to use that list and content to potentially create a flood of new sales, build a buyers list eager for more offers, and make some quick, “shot in the arm” profits unlike anything I am guessing you’ve ever experienced before via simple, plain text emails.
End of long run-on sentence...
If you got the above in place, go here immediately before tomorrow’s deadline:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle