My friend Kevin Rogers did a massive interview with me where
he dragged me over the coals and made me reveal the “secrets” I used to take Text Your Wife Into Bed from $0 in sales to over $25k (actually more like $32K now) in about 45 days.

It’s a good (and occasionally dirty) interview.

Check it out:

http://thecopywritersedge.com/?p=424

"We is so Smart. SMRT."

You ever hear of the “Dunning-Kruger effect?”

I hadn’t either until I got an email from my buddy Ben last week pointing me towards this article . . .

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2893602.htm

(You’ll have to hit the “show transcript” button to
read it.)

The short version of Dunning Kruger is that “dumb” or uninformed people tend to hold drastically inflated opinions of how “right” they are about something . . .

(“2+2 = 5 and I will FIGHT YOU TO DEATH if you disagree with me!”

While “smart” or more educated people tend to hold drastically DEFLATED
opinions of what they know.

(“I know enough to know I don’t know anything.”)

From the article . . .

And here’s the kicker; across every test, the students at the bottom end of the bell curve held inflated opinions of their own talents, hugely inflated. In one test of logical reasoning, the lowest quartile of students estimated that their skills would put them above more than 60% of their peers when in fact they had beaten out just 12%. To put that misjudgement in perspective, it’s like guessing that this piece of music [music for 5 seconds] lasted nearly half a minute.

Even more surprisingly, the Dunning-Kruger effect leads high achievers to doubt themselves, because on the other end of the bell curve the talented students consistently underestimated their performance. Again to the test of logic; those topping the class felt that they were only just beating out three-quarters of their classmates, whereas in reality they had out-performed almost 90% of them.

The verdict was in; idiots get confident while the smart get modest, an idea that was around long before Dunning and Kruger’s day. Bertrand Russell once said, ‘In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.’ From his essay ‘The Triumph of Stupidity’, published in 1933.

For me, reading this transcript (and checking out the wikipedia page on the topic) was a big aha since it explained a lot of the CRAZINESS (on both sides of the fence) that stands-in for political debate in this
country.

But it also made my mind go CRAZY with the implications for marketing and how to tune messages depending on the level of sophistication of your market.

(It also explains why unethical marketers can get away with selling “magic wands” and other such BS with impunity.)

Just thought I’d share. =-)

Any excuse for Machio . . .

Another quick copywriting tip for you today.

This one is called the “Crossroads Close” . . . and is based off a technique I learned studying the letters of the great Clayton Makepeace.

Here’s how it works:

By the time a prospects gets to the end of your letter (or your sales video or launch sequence) they should have a lot of tension built up in their chest.

Basically, they should be going through hell trying to decide if they should TAKE ACTION or RUN FOR THE HILLS . . .

With the crossroads close, we give the prospect three different options, the “do nothing” option (which sucks), the “crappy alternative” option (which we’ve usually been mocking for our whole letter) and the “Risk nothing and try this out” option (which is what we want them to do.)

For instance, for my “Ultimate Best Man Speech” product (this video converts about 8% off affiliate traffic) the close goes like this . . .

Listen, I don’t want to put too fine a point on this, but . . .

You’ve Really Just Got Three Choices . . .

Option 1: Do nothing. If you want to you can click off this site right now . . . spend the next days, weeks or hours SWEATING and swearing up a storm, “Wing it” on the big day . . . and prepare yourself to be ripped apart by the bride as you ruin the most important day of her life.

Option 2: Get one of those lame “pre-written” speeches online . . . Get up on stage in front of HUNDREDS of people and try to sound natural and sincere while spewing out some of that “hallmark” crap people call best man speeches online.

Option 3: Do What Hundreds of Other Guys have done, risk NOTHING and put together your speech in just 20 minutes using the Ultimate Best Man Speech Guide . . .

I personally guarantee that you’ll be blown away by the material in your guide (and at the amazing reaction you get when you give your speech) . . . so much so that I’ll personally guarantee your success.

Don’t think about it. Don’t come back later. The clock is ticking and I’m committed to your success.

Sincerely,

Michael Fiore

(Note, this was mostly adlibbed from memory.)

As you can see, though, what we’re doing is subtly (or not so subtly) ripping apart the other options until buying is the only logical choice.

More soon.

c

Really impressed with the iPad as a “writing machine.” Reminds me of my old Brother word processor from high school. Clean and useful and not mucked up with a bunch of extra stuff you don’t need.

Planning on taking notes on a book I’m thinking about writing on this thing over the next year. Will report back with thoughts.

Got some really good feedback after getting off stage . . .which is good since I’m running a slight fever and have been coughing all day. =-)

If you were in the audience at the seminar and are just popping onto the blog for the first time, make sure you say “Hi” in the comments.

In fact, in the next month I’m flying to Miami for a closed door internet marketing event with a bunch of big muckity mucks, am dashing off to Conneticut to speak at Ryan Lee’s “Continuity Summit” and am spending a few days in DC for Yanik Silver’s Underground.

And while I’m sure there will be a bunch of great content at these seminars, the real reason I’m wracking up the miles is for the networking.

As a mentor of mine told me early on in my career “The real business gets done at the bar.”

My friend Martin Howey just put up a post talking about one of the profound re-connections he made at Jeff Walker’s PLM event a few weeks back.

If you’re wondering what going to seminars can do for you and your business, I’d give it a read:

http://www.sevenfigureconsultants.com/?p=769

(Martin also gives me a nice little shout out in the post. Thanks for that, Martin. Always enjoy your company.)

Let me be your Cyrano. (I really wanted to put a pic of Steve Martin from "Roxanne" but couldn't find a good one.

(Update: Check out the comments from this post for the love notes I wrote and responses.)

OK, THIS should be fun (and more than a little scary.)

As a special “Valentine’s Day Gift” I’m doing something WEIRD . . .

In fact, I’m giving  you the chance to have Chris “Mr. Moneyfingers” Haddad himself (that’s me!) “be your virtual Cyrano.”

What’s that mean?

It means that if you’re fast and lucky and smart and brave you can get ME to ghost-write a love note/poem/rap song/short play/video whatever I really feel like in your stead . . .

Basically you get to put my LOVE FINGERS into action on your behalf . . .

Here’s all you have to do to enter:

1. Put a comment under this post telling me:

• The name of your Valentine/wanna be Valentine. (Pet names or nicknames are also acceptable.)
• Your relationship with them (Lover/Spouse/SO/NSO/Stalker)
• 3 Things you ADORE about them.
• 1 Thing about them that kind of drives you NUTS (your interpretation).
• The place you first met.
• The basic idea of what you REALLY want to say to them on Valentine’s day. (Don’t work too hard. Let the pro writer do the heavy lifting.)
• The RESULT you’re looking for on Valentine’s day. I’m a marketer, dammit. What’s my conversion metric?

2. PROMISE that WHATEVER I write for you you will actually GIVE to your Valentine. You can email it to them, print it up and deliver it or even copy the whole thing out by hand. But you can’t change a word.

3. PROMISE to report back to the Moneyfingersinc.com readership on what kind of reaction you get.

4. PROMISE to let me SHARE what we come up with right here on the Moneyfingersinc.com blog, probably in about a week or so after the Valentine’s hooplah has died down. If you’d like we can “anonymize” the whole thing before it goes up. But it’s more fun if we don’t.

Got it?

Great.

This is an awesome opportunity, but you’ve got to be FAST . . .

Valentine’s day is only a couple days away. I’m going to be selecting the “winners” tomorrow (probably 3 but maybe 5) morning and holing up in a coffee shop in the AM in order to crank these suckers out so you can have them ready for my favorite corporate holiday.

Happy VD =-0

P.S. What qualifies me to do this? I’m a high fallutin professional copywriter, dammit. Plus I’m renowned the world over for my sense of WEIRD romance, ability to make women quiver with a text message alone and general badassery.

You don’t get this kind of shiz for FREE very often.

P.P.S. My own Valentine is in CANADA right now so I gotta get my romance jollies off somehow.

Hey folks,

I’m in the middle of testing a Video Sales letter versus the more traditional long copy sales letter for one of my niche sites. My gut is telling me that the video version is going to kick the long copy version’s ass.

Anyway, here’s my “rough cut” after a couple hours work on thursday afternoon.

Couple notes:

* This came out a bit longer than I was expecting. I don’t think it being a half hour long is a total dealbreaker since there’s good content in there, but I’ll most likely try to do a shorter version as soon as I get the chance and run a split test.

* When I do do the shorter version I’ll most likely cut down the description of what’s in the bonuses, cut or move the “stop freaking out” slide and go through my notes to find places I can slice out content during the 7 deadly sins section.

* I also am going to think about how to position the 7 Deadly sins better, possibly putting more juice on the idea that you WILL commit these sins if you don’t have this product.

* Originally I was planning on “reading” a bunch of notes I’d typed up as I went through the letter. By my third time stopping and starting the VO though it became apparent that just doing some prep work and “knowing what I wanted to say” before getting to the slides was a better option.

* Yes, I talk really fast. Wanted to have a nice mix of energy and clarity in this vid. Definitely have the energy but there are places where I swallow my words too much. Then again, perfect is the enemy of good. That’s for v 2.

Easily some of the hardest writing I ever had to do (though I managed to crank out my speech in about 25 minutes the day of the funeral. Speed is your friend.) And let me tell you, as a-religious as I am it was downright surreal to be standing in a Catholic Church talking about this stuff.

Still, I’m proud of what I wrote and everybody there seemed to really enjoy it. Plus it’s definitely written in a “Copy” style with lots of white space, rhythm, pauses etc.

You can see the whole Eulogy after the jump (about 800 words.)

(Having some trouble adding pictures to this post. Will go back and do so later.)

Ever since Grammy passed away on Monday morning I’ve been wracking my brain  trying to figure out what I’d say when this moment came.

And I’ve been having a hard time.

Not because there’s not a lot to say about Gram . . . there is, more than I have time for . . .

But because Gram . . . Violet Olympe Fiore . . . didn’t live her life along the lines of lot of “Grandmotherly” cliches.

I ask my friends about their grandmothers and they say things about smelling “freshly baked cookies.”

Not me, I think of Gram every time I get beat at cards.

I remember sitting at the kitchen counter, maybe ten years old playing Rummy 500 with gram . . . trying hold all these cards in my little hands, trying SOO hard to keep up. . . and getting THRASHED every time.

Violet would never “let” you win . . . she’d never let you take a shortcut but she’d always give you credit for what you earned.

And I think maybe that’s a metaphor for how Gram lived her whole life.

Grammy did not have an easy life.

She faced challenges and tragedies every day that would have broken a lot of people.

But in the 32 years I knew her I never heard her whine or complain.

Even when, maybe she should have. When life dealt her a bad hand and she had every right to.

Gram never wanted to be a bother. She never wanted to “take” from anybody. To continue my card story from before she never wanted to “cheat” her way through life.

And she “worked” and helped other people right up until the end.

In fact, one of my favorite things to say to my friends was that MY grandmother was the grandmother who went off and helped the OTHER grandmothers, sitting by their bedside and being a senior companion.

On Saturday a bunch of us gathered around Gram’s bedside at St. Vincent Hospital. I’d flown all night to be there and we were all worn out, beaten up and exhausted . . . surfing the edge of breaking down.

And then, we did.

Gram’s breathing faltered. We all thought “maybe this is the end,” put our hands on her and let it out.

And at that moment my Aunt Denise did something beautiful.

She leaned over gram up close to her ear and said “Thank you. Thank you for being my Mommy.”

And Gram . . . Violet . . .

I think I can speak for everybody here when I say we all want to thank you too.

Thank you for being our mother, our grandmother, our sister and our friend.

Thank you for your love and your guidance. Your pride and your support.

Thank you for raising two beautiful daughters, for making Mischa and Sachew two of the happiest dogs who ever lived, for being the one of the strongest women I’ve ever known and for helping make Ken and I the men we are today.

Thank you so much.

One last thing . . .

About 15 or 20 years ago my Grandmother got into the habit of knitting these big, warm “Afghan” blankets  I think to keep her hands in shape . . .

And she knitted a LOT of them . . . .

In fact, if you go to my Mom’s house you’ll find a whole closet just stuffed with Afghans of every size and color.

And a lot of my friends have “Grammy Fiore” originals that they’ve carried around with them all over the country.

As for me, I’ve slept under one of Grammy’s afghans (a blue and green one) every cold night of my adult life. Through the good times and the bad, triumph and tragedy, joy and pain she’s kept me warm with her love.

Violet loved Purple. It was her signature color and she’s wearing a beautiful purple dress my Mom bought for her right now.

She loved her daughters and her grandsons . . . her sisters and her brothers . . . Aunt Denise’s very lucky dogs and countless people I’ve never met  who all say she’s touched their lives.

She loved card games, Bingo, trips to the casino and the Patriots.

She lived her life simply, powerfully and spent her time helping people and taking away much, much more pain than she ever contributed to the world.

On Saturday, Gram woke up out of the pain and the morphine haze long enough to stare me in the eye and squeeze my hand. And in that moment I knew that she was knew how much we all loved her, that she was at peace with her death and that she was going to be OK.

Goodbye gram.

Safe travels.

Say “hi” to Pauline and Don and Meme and Loretta and Saschew, my father Ken and your ex-husband Rocco and . . you know what?  You can pop Rocco in the nose if you want to, you’ve earned it.

We love you, Violet, and we know how much you loved us.

Thank you.

Hey folks,

Something a little bit *different* today . . . (And kind of scary.)

In the video above I describe a simple exercise you can do to blast by negative thought patterns, focus on what you actually LIKE about yourself (and realize just how MUCH there is to like in the first place) and generally live a happier, healthier, more fulfilling and more awesome life.

Below you’ll find two documents that should compliment this video pretty well.

1. Text of the document I’ve got up on the screen during the video so you can play the “I Like Who I Am” game yourself.

2. Text of what *I* came up with when I played this game the first time for myself. A little bit “frightening” putting this sort of thing out there, but if you want to contribute you’ve got to go first.

I’d highly recommend you try playing the “I Like Who I Am” game yourself. (If the idea of playing the game scares you, that probably means you SHOULD play it. Doing things that scare you is a fast path to an interesting life.)

If you get something out of this, I’d be honored if you shared this video and idea with your friends, family, enemies etc.

And I’d be even more honored if you would share your thoughts or your own version of the “Game” in the comments below. =-)

——-
DOCUMENT TEXT FROM VIDEO:
——-
The “I Like Who I Am” Game . . .
(If you’re like me, this will be Scary)

Here are the rules:

1. Open up a document or piece of paper. Up at the top, write “I Like Who I Am”

2. Start typing. Write “I like (NAME). I really do.” and then start writing out things that you legitimately like about yourself in the third person. Treat yourself objectively.

3. Doesn’t really matter WHAT it is. Could be physical (“I like my eyes.”)

4. No “Wiggle Words” . . . (I like my body except for my thighs which suck).

5. Focus on the positive. Be HONEST. Even when it feels uncomfortable.

6. Write until you run out of things to say. Keep writing even if you’re uncomfortable.

7. Notice how it makes you feel.

8. Keep it to yourself, or share the whole thing with friends and see what they come up with. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can post what you come up with as a reply to this blog.

———
Chris’ First “I Like Who I Am” Game
———

“I like who I am.”

Which, you know what, I do.

I like Chris Haddad.

He frustrates me sometimes.

But I like him.

I like his smile . . . especially when it comes out for real. There’s something sort of joyful and bemused in there and a knowing glint in the back of the eye. And the dimple is really cute.

I like his brain . . . Chris says some of the WEIRDEST things of anybody I know. I sometimes wonder what it must be like in there with that much spark and activity going on.

I like the way he looks. He’s not model-quality handsome, but Chris is a good looking guy.

I like his body. He’s tall (but not too tall.) He’s in pretty good shape (with a little bit of a gut that he can suck in really easy.) He’s covered in fur but doesn’t seem to mind.

I like how talented Chris is. He has a hard time talking about it, but Chris is good at a lot of stuff. He plays hand drums like a mad man, makes up ridiculous songs, is VERY funny, is a heck of a writer and (this is more important) can often cut right to the core of what’s bothering someone and give them permission to be ok.

I like how much Chris cares. If anything, he cares too much. He spent YEARS tamping down his emotions but when he lets himself you can just see the empathy flow out of him. He gives some of the best hugs I’ve ever seen. If he thinks you’re in pain, he’ll grab on to you and won’t let go. There’s a whole storyline to a hug and Chris brings you through the whole thing.

I like Chris’ sexuality. Chris loooves women . . .but in a playful, goofy, fun way. Sometimes I think that Chris has a hard time really “Letting go” with women unless he feels really safe and taken care of . . . but he’s so into touch and pleasure and making people feel good that it’s pretty inspiring.

I like the quiet moments Chris has. I like funny chris, but I like him best when he lets that fall . . . when you see his face slack and open. When looks you right in the eye and you can see to that little boy who loves you.

I like how loyal Chris is to his friends. He’s not always there when you want him, but he is always there when you NEED him. Chris will bend over backwards and fold himself in half for a real friend.

I like Chris’ ENERGY. Standing next to him is like standing next to a live tesla coil. It’s really annoying sometimes when you want quiet, but sometimes I just hold space while he’s bouncing around next to me . . . it’s like a pack of hungry, goofy wolves are going to tackle you with hugs.

I like Chris’ darker side. He fights it so much, but sometimes that grinning evil comes out. And it’s not really that evil at all. If you dress it up in polka dots it’s not even scary. It’s just fun.

I like Chris’ hands. They are big and strong and made for kneading muscles, gently pulling hair, grabbing asses and making you feel safe.

I like how much Chris loves kids. He is a big bear of a man but is the best I’ve seen at relating to a 6 year old. If Chris ever has children, he’ll be a passionate father.

I like Chris in a crisis, when the goofiness fades away and he does everything he needs to to make things ok.

I like Chris’ pain. Chris has been through a lot in his life. And while I wish a lot of it hadn’t happened, it’s given him a priceless gift. Chris knows what it’s like to hurt and is really good at being there for people who are also hurting.

I like Chris’ wit. Chris thinks he’s dumb sumtimes . . . but he’s got a quick brain that does loops around most people.

I like Chris’ independence, but I wish sometimes that he was better at asking for help.

This is kind of a fun game. I might play it more later.

But the end result is that I really do like who I am.