You can call me old fashioned…but hopefully not a “square.”
The former denotes some kindness for an older gentleman; while the latter seems like a condescending insult…please don’t do that to me! 🙁
I know it’s semantics but I’m old fashioned about semantics too. 🙂
Regardless…when I experience a full circle moment, I find it very therapeutic…nostalgic…but most importantly, impactful when there is transformation (for me and my community) comparing the beginning of the circle with the completion of it.
That happened three times at “Titans Xcelerator Live” last week in Greenwich, CT.
Fifty top marketing entrepreneurs and copywriters were in the room (all multichannel, online and offline), feeling those full circle moments added an element to the event I couldn’t have predicted…and each one was special in its own right.
Let’s define the term according to AI:
A full circle moment is a situation where events, feelings, or circumstances return to a point that mirrors an earlier stage in life, completing a loop.
Key Characteristics:
- The Return: You end up back in a similar place, job, role, or situation where you once started.
- The Transformation: Unlike where you started, you return with new wisdom, maturity, skills, or perspective.
- The Reflection: It offers a sense of closure, irony, or deep personal validation—showing you how far you have traveled.
I wanted to check my premise because if the definition was only something that “…mirrors an earlier stage in life, completing a loop” and “you end up back in a similar place…where you once started”– that would be extremely unfulfilling.
Under those definitions alone, it’s more about the past than the present and future…”a flat circle”…and about memories rather than epiphanies.
Thank goodness AI took it further with the bullet about “The Transformation.”
That’s where the good stuff lives. 🙂
Mount Rushmore is still standing
The event in Connecticut last week was the first multi-day live event I have hosted since 2023…after hosting a minimum of three per year over eight previous years…but the wait was worth it.
One of the speaking slots I wanted to fill was one where I “brought back the band” from Titans of Direct Response (an epic event I also hosted in 2014) …a band of four copywriters who were my go-to guys in 2014 (and years previous), responsible for over half a billion pieces of quality direct mail…and by quality, I mean successful…and by successful, I mean profitable.
I was able to corral three of them—the fourth, Arthur Johnson, is long since retired (which takes nothing away from his forever spot on my Mount Rushmore).
We re-grouped for a discussion about “marketing/copywriting stamina” in the face of radical change.
Or…how these three A-Listers– top-of-the-pyramid experts in their field– have stayed relevant and significant, as voices everyone still wants to hear from, despite all the noise around them (and us).
Eric Betuel, David Deutsch and Paris Lampropoulos had a lot to say on this subject because they still have a lot to say about the state of marketing and copywriting today, after practicing their craft for close to a century.
That’s a century combined. They aren’t THAT old. 🙂
With “…new wisdom, maturity, skills…perspective.”
That is the definition of “Transformation” whether defined by AI or by every human in the room…and everyone reading this post.
Eric has evolved his skillset into developing game changing apps so consumers can be advocates for their own longevity…and he uses all the artistry from his multiple decades deeply entrenched in consumer direct mail and design.
David has evolved from copy-writing to copy-thinking…and coming from a place of being an early adopter of AI (remember Jasper, circa 2022?), he knows its strengths and limitations, and lives the battle cry (authored by Kevin Rogers), “Do you want to be The Best or a Bot?”
Parris toggles between physical product marketing (supplements and newsletters) and the highest levels of digital content and media…while training the next generation of copywriters in his “spare time” …because he, like Eric and David, knows that their craft will never die.
Craft is an eternal skill because it anchors human agency, patience, and identity in a physical world that constantly changes.
That’s their story and they are sticking to it. It’s mine too.
And the story took over an hour to tell (with much left unsaid).
It’s also a story without an ending because they are all lifelong learners.
Here we are telling a piece of that story last week:
Left to right: Eric, David, Parris, me.
Our past, present and future success is proof positive how we have mastered marketing stamina.
And we’re not even tired a little. 🙂
You never know who is watching
If you’ve been a reader of these Sunday missives for any length of time you know that one of my marketing heroes is Jeff Walker.
If you don’t know who he is (which I find hard to believe), he is the inventor of a methodology to market transformation, something many claim and few can prove, with his Product Launch Formula.
My full circle moment with Jeff last week was more like a second full circle moment.
And lo and behold, Gemini had more on that concept…of course it did:
A second full circle on top of or continuing past a first circle is a double circle (or a 720-degree circle), representing two full rotations or 720 degrees.
I guess this also entails “double new” wisdom, maturity, skills, or perspective?
I know it felt like it.
Without going into the details about my first full circle moment with Jeff (you can read about it in my post, “You never know who is watching”), I can tell you that going from 360 degrees to 720 degrees with Jeff was exhilarating.
When I asked him to come to the event and “speak,” I also asked him if we could do a fireside chat format rather than a formal presentation so we could go deep into his marketing expertise…and deep into his passion for marketing (and life).
I think we accomplished that via a wide-ranging discussion about tactics, strategy, business philosophy, entrepreneurship, pivoting, succession planning…and living life to its fullest.
And I checked Jeff off my bucket list of interviews to do (along with Dan Sullivan, Joe Polish, Steven Pressfield, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Mark Ford which were already “in the can”).
I’ve still got a few more to go. 🙂
My ultimate mentor, Marty Edelston, said to me on his 80th birthday:
“I love getting old because I get so smart.”
My version of that:
“I love getting old(er) because it gives me unique access to interview my mentors and heroes, to incorporate their wisdom even more (while sharing it with others) …making me and everyone around me smarter.
Mission accomplished with Jeff last week.
He’s a few years younger than me but with an experience set that is very different from mine…and that experience and unique perspective was on full display—what he sees in the future for marketers and copywriters—and despite the threats, he was quite optimistic.
Why shouldn’t he be?
He often says, “It’s good to be us.”
And “us” is anyone who wants to learn from Jeff Walker.
The Total Package
Full circle moments can involve the living…and those who have passed…and the latter happened at the event last week through a special guest.
Wendy Makepeace—a friend for over 30 years and the wife of legendary copywriter Clayton Makepeace—attended as a friend first and as an innovator second.
And that is taking nothing away from her innovation skills.
Through our association over the years—before Clayton’s death and after—I knew about the volumes of material Clayton had accumulated, now all in Wendy’s possession.
Not only all the spectacular promotions he authored, but his interviews, his courses, his seminars/webinars, his teaching, his newsletters (e.g. “The Total Package”).
She had been asking me since Clayton’s passing for ideas to create something incredibly useful from his exceptional and unique body of work and a series of connect the dots moments culminated at last week’s meeting…and it’s only the beginning.
Enter Clive Cable…a member of my mastermind and Bot building master…who was a long-time student of Clayton’s work (but never got to meet him) …who I introduced to Wendy…leading to a partnership…culminating with a demonstration and soft launch at last week’s event of the “Clayton Makepeace Legacy Bot.”
This was a full circle moment because Wendy and Clayton had attended multiple Titans Mastermind meetings over the years, most recently in 2018.
But a second full circle emerged (now that I know there’s a term for that sort of thing). 🙂
The demonstration that was done in real time at the event was on a supplement promotion copy chiefed by none other than Parris Lapmpropoulos, who just happens to be one of Clayton’s top mentees.
Fancy meeting him there.
And when Parris said the critique by Clayton…er, his Bot…sounded eerily like what Clayton would have said/suggested, his street cred says it all, boosting the legitimacy of the Bot.
That led to a discussion of how Parris will test “everything Clayton suggested” and report back to the group with results.
And it set Wendy and Clive on to the next steps on their pursuit of how to share Clayton with the world despite him no longer being with us.
Or is he?
This was almost a third full circle moment but 720 degrees is more than enough to keep me dizzy with excitement.
The first Titans Xcelerator Live was a success for many reasons…with the most important that it was LIVE.
The current plan is to do it on an annual basis.
While I love the global reach of a virtual/Zoom-based mastermind, it always misses one key component.
That is, nothing replaces human-to-human contact and collaboration.
“Live” is the anecdote to virtual (and AI); it doesn’t replace it but without it, life is much more boring.
And when full circle moments are added to the live experience, magic happens.
Life is long…and those moments are the exhilarating rocket fuel to make life even longer. 🙂
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. O.K…it’s time to decide.
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Maybe the same old way is good enough for you, but why wouldn’t you want to be in a room (i.e. on a Zoom screen) with up to 100 other people with the same opportunities and challenges you are facing…interacting with them…contributing to them…and have them contributing to you.
Our 11th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp begins Tuesday November 10th and runs through Friday November 20th.
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Like a mini mastermind over 2 weeks…with timeless documentation. 🙂
With some full circle moments too.
The book—and Gene—are timeless.
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Plus…access to two calls of my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind…an additional bonus for registering for the Bootcamp.
One of the calls will be a full circle moment for me when we will have as our guest speaker marketing icon, Perry Marshall.
I hosted Perry for a full day event in 2013…which led to the epic “Titans of Direct Response” event in 2014…to Titans Mastermind in 2015…to Perry and I collaborating on a host of things over the years…and now I’m bringing him back to speak to you.
And that’s just a side bonus for joining this Bootcamp. But it’s a biggie.
There is also a private Facebook group to share ideas during the Bootcamp…and to make friends for life (which happens in every Bootcamp).
That’s “friends with benefits” (and not THAT way). 🙂
It’s the benefit of people who will be a sounding board for you and your business during the Bootcamp…and on into the future.
Plus hot seats, office hours, special guests.
And with focus on your specific business or category.
It’s the ultimate no downside/all upside proposition…and now is the time to register.
Please join us.
I’ve also got a lot of Gene Schwartz full circle moments too. 🙂