I hate when someone gets anointed in our industry as being “authentic.”Isn’t that a given for all human beings?Whether they are authentic heroes or jerks, they are always being who they are…authenticity is not a learned skill.There are exceptions…as I found out when I met comedian Steven Wright in person.If you don’t know who ...

You may recall my statement, “overdelivery is dangerous…don’t do it” two weeks ago in my post, “Lose when you win. Win when you lose”.I repeated that sentiment this week on a podcast when I titled my interview, “The downside of over delivering.”In both cases I was lying with a purpose. :-)I “open” with quotes like ...

I almost fell off my chair while sitting in a mastermind in early 2017 where some of the best online marketers in the world were complaining about how badly their launches and marketing campaigns performed in late 2016, from September through November.As you may or may not recall, there was a presidential election in ...

Anyone who ever tells me that they want to fight something based on “principle,” will never get my support. I know that sounds harsh. Fighting a war with an endless series of battles, leading to nothing significant in the end, is just not meaningful. Put more simply: “Principle” is a mirage. I could end ...

One of the most instructive pieces of research a marketer or copywriter can do is to study 5-star and 1-star reviews on Amazon for the books their core audience is reading. It’s one of the best ways (in addition to joining forums and groups where your customers and prospects hang out) to get into ...

One year ago, I wrote a blog post to celebrate my mom’s 97th birthday. And sadly, a month later, she passed away (in her sleep, peacefully). Those of you who have been part of my online family for a while know about my mom, an expert in direct response marketing (and the concepts covered ...

I completed my 25th Titans Mastermind meeting this week, and I wanted to take stock of where I’ve been, where I am now…and where I’m going…in this ever changing world of direct response marketing. I’m not going away…which hopefully continues to be good news for most of you. And for those of you who were ready ...

I appeared on the Livecast I told you about in last week’s post to support marketing superstar, Kim Walsh Phillips, launch her new book, The Shift: Scale Your Business and Multiply Your Wealth Without Sacrificing You. And while I knew the one question she would be asking me in advance of the call-– “What is one shift ...

Have you ever thought about your clients or customers as “patients?” And if you haven’t (or even if you have), what kind of bedside manor could you add when you deal with them…in addition to selling to them and servicing them? One way is to onboard them forever as I talked about in “Onboarding is ...

“When you stop being curious, you start to age.“ -Sean Stephenson #Sean365Sean Stephenson Legacy Can we learn to be curious? Or is it something we are born with? I went to the most curious person I know (and a modern-day Socrates), Jay Abraham, to get some insight. I believe curiosity is the single most ...

Those of you who are copywriters—or are familiar with the copywriter’s mindset—would probably agree that the brain it takes to write creatively (and get people to pull out their credit cards) is not wired to run a large company. There are exceptions…and I am not belittling every copywriter by saying none are equipped to be a ...

It never fails that on almost every Titans Xcelerator call, which takes place anywhere from two to four times a month, when someone is on a hot seat about their business, someone suggests, “You should write a book.”While you know I don’t like the word “should,” I believe it’s something everyone could consider as part of their ...

When I wrote “There are no unique names, only unique lists” two weeks ago, I told you a little bit about the man I consider the “king of the list industry” who most of you have never heard of…a friend and a mentor…who handled the role as emperor with humility, quiet confidence and a philosophy like ...

“Live your life like everyone is rooting for you.” -Sean Stephenson #Sean365 It’s spring…and you know what that means…it’s time for baseball (in the U.S.). There’s also the World Baseball Classic (WBC) this year…proof that baseball has become more global…and you can be from any country to appreciate this post. Those of you who ...

“I love getting old… because I get so smart” -Marty Edelston I’ve said it before and I need to say it again: Too many of my mentors are dead. And still dying. Funny/not funny how that continues to happen 🙁 I had a lot of friends early in my career who made fun of ...

If your InBox looks like mine, you would think the wheel has just been invented…or at least the iPhone. It’s “artificial intelligence (AI) all day, every day” in my email –Open.ai, ChatGPT, Jasper et al.—and I have to say it’s pretty exciting stuff. The possibilities are endless and we are just scratching the surface. Besides observing ...

I couldn’t outrun the gazelles…so I just outworked them. -Martin “Marty” Edelston (February 14, 1929-October 2, 2013) A novice says, “I’ve already heard that;” a master says, “Ah…thank you for the reminder.” -Sean Stephenson (May 5, 1979-August 28, 2019)(Sean Stephenson #Sean365) Those of you who have been part of my online family for any ...

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer…and keep them all well fed” -Brian Kurtz, March 30, 1981 I can’t say whether I actually said those words on 3/30/81 (my first day working in direct marketing and the day Ronald Reagan was shot outside The Washington Hilton) …but I can safely say that it is ...

With the release of Steven Spielberg’s newest film, The Fabelmans, I recalled a presentation I made at the first Copywriter Club event in 2018 (they have done many since) …where I tried to equate Spielberg’s career to how copywriters should look at their own careers. And marketers too. I remember the speech being a bit disjointed…as many of ...

“Over lunch, a colleague’s young nephew asked me how we tweeted before the Internet. Pneumatic mail tubes and a lot of stationery, kid”     -Lester Wunderman on Twitter 3/25/12 Almost exactly four years ago to the day, we lost one of the pioneers of direct marketing, Lester Wunderman. I wanted to remember him again…with some ...