I can’t believe it’s been three years since we launched the first Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp…and with the 8th one coming up soon (it begins on May 6th), I wanted to look back on its evolution.And I also want to share with you four examples of how I applied the fundamental concepts of Breakthrough Advertising in my career with ...

Don’t be sad that it’s over; smile because it happened.            -Dr. Suess, Gabriel García Márquez, Vin Scully (and I’m sure others) This may sound callous:I hate missing funerals.Not because I’m looking for reciprocity (i.e. I want folks to show up at mine).Rather, I am looking for maximum meaning and understanding ...

“Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave – 12 notes and the octave repeats.  It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer this world is how they see those 12 notes. That’s it.”                             ...

Being a serial direct marketer comes with lots of responsibility. It means that there are various forms of marketing and advertising that for the most part I avoid like the plague: Publicity Public relations Brand advertising Image advertising Basically, anything that is not measurable, has no obvious return on investment or has little or ...

The subject line of this email was written by a young marketer who had little faith in me …so of course I had to prove him wrong. 🙂I not only read his email, but I wrote him a detailed response.And since I spent significant time composing the response—he hit a nerve (as you will ...

Whenever I receive two emails on a related subject in one week, from two different people, I feel compelled to write about what connects them. I consider it the universe telling me I have a duty to do it. The first was from the greatest living copywriter, Gary Bencivenga…who claims to be “retired” …but ...

I received an email this past week from someone I highly respect who has training that is unique, super creative, and actionable.This results leader asked me one question:“I was wondering if you could give me a sense of what to charge for a new mastermind.”How would you answer this question?Here’s how I did:There are ...

I want to share two “exercises” which I have done via email, not in the gym…one took place “B.T” (“Before Titans”) and the other just recently (which almost closed the loop on the first one). I say “almost” because the second opened a new loop while doing it. And I just created an open ...

Enter a room like you’re supposed to be there and speak as if others need to hear you.” -Sean Stephenson #Sean365 Today I encourage you to embrace the idea that we belong in every room we enter. And enter in the spirit of “this will be the best experience ever.” I know for some ...

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 Of all the “Hallmark holidays” I love Valentine’s Day the best. It takes ...

This past week I’ve heard from multiple friends and colleagues who recently lost a parent…and unrelated to that, I’ve also heard from four people in my life about their near-death experiences that I never knew about previously. Tough week? On the surface, yes. But it has also been uplifting. When discussing the fragility of ...

There is your audience.There is the language.There are the words that they use. -Gene Schwartz With the re-election of Donald Trump this past November, I went back to the post I wrote when he was first elected in 2016 to see if it was still relevant.I believe it is…but I’ll let you decide.The 2016 ...

Advertising opportunities are now infinite -A wise investment banker, circa 2012 If there is a number called “more infinite,” that would be more appropriate for 2025. And that is true whether TikTok is part of your long-term future or not. 🙂 When the clock was “tiking down” regarding the dissolution of TikTok, there was ...

Inside my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind, I recently created “accountability PODS” (i.e. groups of four to six members, getting together once a week to talk about specific opportunities and challenges within their businesses, outside of the larger group calls). I leave it to the group to determine their agenda for each meeting…we have different templates ...

If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breathe a word about your loss……Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it. -From the poem “If—” by Rudyard Kipling If you lost everything today, what would you ...

My buddy Ryan Lee shared something with me a few weeks ago which reminded me of a core tenet of business…well, the way I do business…and I will submit it here for your approval. The fact that Ryan agrees with me makes it easier to share. 🙂 Ryan received this message from an acquaintance ...

25 years ago, as many prepared for the end of the world (“Y2K”), there were visionaries who knew we were on the verge of greatness.For every paranoid IT guy at the time, there were many more who only saw opportunity.For those of you who don’t recall the emotional terrorism at the time, here is ...

“There is no luggage rack on a hearse…” – Clotaire Rapaille, cultural anthropologist,in his book, The Culture Code A few years ago, a member of my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind group put the quote above inside the chat…and I was reminded of it today since this past week I approached this topic while being interviewed ...

If you follow Perry Marshall, one of the greatest marketing minds in the world, you might think the subject line refers to a piece of advice Perry gives out freely and often: Everyone needs to read something that was written before Gutenberg every day Since Gutenberg invented the printing press, it makes sense. Anyone ...

Over my 40+ years working and playing in the world of direct response marketing, there are two guys who I can almost always trace as the source (culprits?) of how each of us got into this wacky business.They are each the “first domino” for more legacy marketers practicing today than anyone else.And they are ...