When Inner School Marms Strike: Man Becomes King Of The Squirrels!
Nothing says ‘I’ll take booby prizes for $200, Alex’ like getting valuable, applicable free training — then 
ignore it because you’ve focused on a speech quirk that annoys you.
Geez, the number of things I would never watch nor listen to if that were the case. But hey, I’m not in the business of tossing out the baby with the bathwater.
Unlike this guy who has given his answer to the timeless question — “Is it better to have a million dollars or be King Of The Squirrels?
Come, let’s see why he settled for the booby prize and how you can avoid the same fate . . .
Topics: Client Top Secret, Inside The Mind, Pet Peeves | 1 Comment »
By Walter
King Of The Squirrels Case Study - A Rookie Goes Dumb
So . . . read this and tell me what you think. Did he get his million dollars, or did he opt to become King of 
All Squirrels? Stay tuned because I’ll give you my post-mortem which will help you prevent this from happening — ever.
I knew this fellow copywriter. We need a name, don’t we? Let’s call him “Harlan” (not his real name).
Now “Harlan” got a few good copywriting gigs under his belt, hit the fabled six figures mark (allegedly, because later events called this claim into question) and before you know it, he was putting on a copywriting seminar for . . . you guessed it — beginning copywriters.
See yesterday’s post for why this was settling for the booby prize.
What’s funny about this was a Harlan was not an established copywriter, yet here he was throwing
Topics: Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves, Pro Analysis | No Comments »
By Walter
A Million Dollars Or King Of The Squirrels? The Copywriter’s Dilemma
“Is it better to have a million dollars or be King of the Squirrels?”
A fellow software Test Lead would ask this question of his team whenever there was an indecisive moment about where to go next on a project.
Believe it or not, there were some who had to think that one over.
Today, I see many businessfolk doing this, especially copywriters . . . especially junior and beginning writers.
And, even some of you reading this right now.
Now, I don’t usually write posts addressing copywriters, because I don’t care what they think. They’re not my target audience/market, they’re not influencers of my target market, ergo I don’t care.
So if you’re not part of the sales writing-profession, stick around anyway because this still pertains to your business and how you market it.
In other words, Listen Up– this is important. Learning from other people’s Worst Practices so you don’t have to make the same expensive mistakes is always important, right?
Can someone please tell me what is up with junior copywriters writing their blogs and creating products to
Topics: Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves | No Comments »
By Walter
Are You Taking Advantage of these 22 Startling Economic Predictions?
Michael Masterson has some startling predictions for 2008 that will impact your bottom-line. So why should you
care? Maybe you shouldn’t . . . maybe you should . . . either way, it all depends on what you DO with the information that matters, isn’t it?
Normally, (as Masterson) acknowledges, I couldn’t give a spit about predictions unless they can improve my business, my clients’ businesses, or make more money for both.
In his article, he does all of the above. I’ve clipped 2 of them below,
Topics: Client Top Secret, Pro Analysis | No Comments »
By Walter
The Art Of The Inconvenient Question
Whatever you think about what causes global warming, are you making the same mistake art critics make? 
In social situations over the holidays, when the subject of global warming came up (as it often does), I would ask one key, clarifying question that proved to be vital to knowing where the other person was coming from.
And the question was this:“When you say global warming, do you mean the natural cycle the planet periodically goes through, or do you mean the humans-are-to-blame version which has been popularized and monetized by Al Gore and crew?”
It makes a difference, you know. I’m shocked by the number of times I’m met with a
Topics: Inside The Mind, Lessons Learned | No Comments »
By Walter