Yes, today the world is filled with modern marvels that make life
better, easier, safer, healthier, and more profitable.

Examples include personal computers, smart phones, the internet,
e-mail, self-driving cars, drones, and new medical treatments for
everything from arthritis to cancer.

But, as much as I like and embrace many innovations, I do
sometimes long for the good old days.

In particular, here are a few of the things I miss from way back
when, illogical as some items on the list may seem:

1– My IBM Selectric typewriter.

Ever since getting my first PC in 1982, computers have helped my
freelance writing income skyrocket.

That being said, I loved the feel of the Selectric keyboard … the
freedom from worrying about malware and other computer glitches …
and the experience of seeing my words immediately appear on paper
as I typed them.

2–Vinyl records.

Vinyl records are making a comeback. The main advantage of
records is that the large album covers had plenty of room for
extensive liner notes.

CDs have these notes printed on separate insert booklets, which
quickly become lost. And somehow they are not as fun to read.

My kids love iPods and digital music. But I don’t want to own yet
another device, and I have no need to carry 950 songs with me.

3–Newspapers.

When I was young my ambition was to be a newspaper reporter,
which was considered one of the coolest jobs for writers on the
planet. After all, Superman was a reporter!

The millennials seem not to read the newspaper anymore. And
today, a newspaper reporter is ranked as one of the least desirable
jobs.

4–Easy air travel.

I have never liked travel of any kind.

But air travel in the 70s was an order of magnitude better than
it is today — for three reasons.

First, planes were often half-empty. Now, they are almost always
full. An ancillary benefit was that there was always room to
store your luggage in the overhead.

Second, there was more legroom. Today, there is so little, it
even bothers me … and I’m a short guy.

Third, pre-911, security was so much laxer, because it didn’t
seem to need to be otherwise.

You didn’t have to take off your shoes, jacket, and belt, which
to me is a pain in the rear.

5–The ability to unplug.

In some ways, smart phones and other mobile devices are a
blessing.

For instance, I worry about my kids less, because I can always
reach them on their cell phones.

On the other hand, wireless connectivity has created a society in
which we are continually connected and available to our boss,
coworkers, and customers round the clock. Putting us under even
more stress.

6–Chocolate milk shakes.

The greater awareness of nutrition today keeps us healthier and
may even extend our lives, and that’s a wonderful thing.

On the other hand, in the 60s we mostly ate stuff that tasted
good, either blissfully unaware or not caring whether it was good
for us.

In particular, I miss regularly consuming chocolate milk shakes …
barbecue ribs … salami sandwiches … Coke … and even the
occasional Ring Ding.

7–Safe sex.

I got married before AIDS reared its ugly head, so I dodged a
bullet — not that I was promiscuous anyway.

But back then, casual hookups and active dating were not
potentially life-ending activities.

I can’t imagine that single people who are sexually active today
with multiple partners aren’t constantly worried about getting
HIV.

8–The Beatles, Sinatra, and Elvis.

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t understand how people enjoy
songs when you cannot understand the lyrics being sung or rapped.

Some people say Will Smith is a terrible rapper. But he is one of
the clearest, most articulate rappers out there (Eminem is, too).

9–Classic cars.

I liked the way cars looked and drove back in the day better than
today’s modern tin cans.

My dream car is a fully restored 1957 Pontiac Chieftain.

My mother bought one used in the 60s for $100.

It still pains me enormously that my parents sold it to a guy who
totaled the car soon after he bought it.

What a putz he was to destroy that treasure!

It’s been observed many times that you need 4 things to enjoy a
happy and successful life:

>> Meaningful work.
>> Money.
>> Personal relationships.
>> Good health.

Well, I have several of these things, a lot of the time.

But I just dodged a bullet — in the health department.

Here’s what happened….

After a routine physical, I got a call from Linda in my doctor’s
office.

“Dr. RS says your blood protein levels are a bit high, and he
wants you to see a hematologist.”

I went to the hematologist’s web site … and discovered the words
“hematology and oncology” were both in the name of the practice.

Not exactly encouraging.

So I saw the hematologist, Dr. FB, who said the high blood
protein could mean I have blood cancer — multiple myeloma.

He said he thought there was a 30% chance that I did in fact have
blood cancer, based on blood work.

To determine whether I actually had it, he ordered a battery of
additional blood protein tests … and had me go for a full-body
x-ray of every bone in my body.

Apparently, if you have myeloma, it can weaken your bones.

The results came back. Not negative. Not positive. But
inconclusive.

“At this point, I think your risk of having cancer is lower than
I originally believed — I would say down to 20%,” he said.

“But you could still have bone cancer.”

So he did a bone marrow biopsy with a needle through the bone
near the bottom of my spine where it connects to the pelvic bone.

It took a week to get the results.

I was not particularly on edge, but my mother and wife were
becoming frantic (I did not tell my kids).

Finally, a week later, Dr. FB called and immediately said: “Bob,
this is Dr. FB, and you do not have bone cancer” — in a cheery
voice, no preamble, exactly as such news should be delivered.

So for now, I am free and clear.

But it’s a reminder.

Remember that list of the 4 things you need to be happy?

I believe they are nearly equal.

But health is perhaps a little more equal than the others.

KS, a friend who is a cancer survivor, commented when he read the
line above: “I have come to believe exactly the same thing. Health is
the bedrock on which pretty much everything else in life is
dependent.”

When you or your loved ones have health worries or problems, it’s
one of the most difficult things to cope with.

And brings to mind the old saying:

“Every day you wake up above the ground is a good day.”

Don’t get me wrong.

I would much rather be self-employed than working for a company.

But I do think the idea of being your own boss and starting your
own business is a bit oversold by promoters of courses on how to do
those things.

Their marketing tells you the many advantages of being a
freelance, solopreneur, or small business owner … and most of
what they say is true to one degree or another.

But what they do not tell you are the drawbacks of being out on
your own.

So in the interest of fair play and full disclosure, here are a
few of the things that are not so good about being an independent
contractor or small business:

1 — Every 3 months you have to make a large quarterly payment
toward your estimated federal and state (if your state has it)
income tax — whether you have cash in the bank or not when the
payment due date arrives.

2 — If you work at home, you have to empty your own waste basket. I know, that sounds like a small thing. But mine seems to be filled to
overflowing every 15 minutes or so. At Westinghouse, a janitor
emptied my trash every night — no cost to me. Now I even have to
buy my own trash bags to line the waste can!

3 — When you work for someone else, they provide and pay for just
about everything. When you are self-employed, you pay for
everything from office space and furniture, to computers,
printers, and printer ink cartridges (which cost a fortune
today).

4 — There is a health insurance crisis in the U.S. today, and
health insurance costs an arm and a leg, no pun intended. But
there are few things more dangerous to both your physical and
financial health than going without health coverage. A huge
problem.

5 — Self-employed? No pension for you — and no matching
contributions by an employer to your retirement plan. Today fewer
and fewer corporate people have these things — but many still do.
We freelancers do not.

6 — Life has gotten more and more expensive today. Incomes to me it seems have not kept pace with inflation. When I got my BS in the
late 70s at University of Rochester, it costs me for all 4 years
— tuition, room, and board — around $16,000. My son spend 4 years getting his BS at Carnegie Mellon. He graduated 2 years ago, and the total bill was around a quarter of a million dollars — more
than 15X what I paid for my degree. I know the average
white-collar worker today does not earn 15X what my dad did when
I was in school.

7 — Freelancers do not have the luxury of getting sick, because we
do not get paid sick days. When an employee takes the week off
with bronchitis, his corporation chugs along fine without him,
with others easily taking up the slack. If I were home sick for a
week, not only would my copywriting business make no money, but I would worry and fret about clients, projects, and deadlines.

8 — My friend KK has been in IT with his company for over 3 decades and at this point gets 5 full weeks of paid vacation a year. I
have never taken more than a week’s vacation in a year in my
life. For many years I only took long weekends, because the
demands of my clients did not allow me to be gone for an entire
week.

9 — Most freelancer writers work alone, sitting in a room, with no
co-workers to chat with. While I am usually fine with that, you
can, like Jesse the Maytag repairman, get lonely. If you are a
people person, in a corporate job you spend a lot of time near
and with team members and other coworkers.

10 — Many small businesses have a crisis-lull-crisis rhythm: they
are either too busy and pressured to fill orders on time, or they
are slow and in need of new business and cash flow. For them, it
either rains or pours — and only rarely is the workload at a
happy middle ground.

And believe me, this is far from a comprehensive list of the dark
side of being an entrepreneur or independent contractor. I could
easily double the number of items.

So to paraphrase Sylvester Stallone’s speech to his son in Rocky
Balboa — the freelance life ain’t all sunshine and roses. Be
warned.

But for me and many others I know, it sure beats the alternative.

More and more people today are curt, cold, unfriendly, mean, and
downright rude.

But I believe most of them are not bad people, and they aren’t in
many instances deliberately being mean or discourteous to you.

They are short with you and impolite because they are just so
darned busy!

I call this phenomenon haste-based rudeness.

People used to be kinder and more civil.

But especially in business, they are just so swamped, they are
always crazy/busy.

And as a result, feel compelled to get through every conversation
as rapidly as possible.

This leads to the impression that they are uncouth louts for two
reasons.

First, everything is fast. They want to get the conversation done
as quickly as possible. Which may make the other person feel they
are getting the brush-off. Also, the tone of a rapid-fire
conversation is often not genteel.

Second, they are in such a rush, when you try to get a word in,
they feel you are interrupting them. When you try to express your
opinion, they view it as arguing — and they get irritated.

If you are a client, customer, or the boss, you do have power
over certain people, and may feel it’s OK to treat them
dismissively or brusquely.

It’s even worse if a boss is talking to an underling, or a vendor
to a client, because they are the ones in a position of power.
But as Ben Parker tells his nephew Peter Parker in Spider-Man:
“Just because you can do something to someone doesn’t mean you
should do it.”

So what can you do? And how can you act better?

A few suggestions….

< < First, if you find yourself being short or impatient with others, slow down. If you are stressed, close your door or put on ear buds, and listen to something relaxing and soothing for a bit. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata works for me. Then do a little deep breathing. Only then do you open the door, invite the person in, and start the meeting or conversation. You will be less rude because you are calmer. >> Second, if you find others being rude with you, and they are
the boss, client, team leader, or even fellow team member, don’t
lose your cool.

If you respond with a smile and a non-angry rebuttal, spoken in a
soft, measured voice, it can usually get them to back off and
match your more reasoned demeanor.

On occasion someone will say something that is incredibly rude,
offensive, insulting, or inappropriate.

Pause a second, look the person in the eye (if you are
face-to-face or on video chat), and firmly but calmly say, “What
was your purpose in saying that to me?”

Eight out of ten will instantly realize they were inappropriate.
They will then apologize and continue in a more civil tone. Try
it.

For the 2 out of 10 who don’t, at least you have made them aware
that their words and demeanor crossed a line — and most people do
not want to do that.

Subscriber JL writes:

“Bob, I was hoping that you could do a few posts about research.

“How much time do you spend just on product research for a
copywriting job?

“Where do you start and how do you know when you are finished?”

Well, as to the first question, I would say that of the total
time I spend on a copywriting project, 25% to 40% is devoted to
research.

By “research” I mean:

–Reading the background material the client provides.
–Reading the additional research I request from my freelance
online researcher.
–Doing additional research on my own.

I start by reading everything the client gives me, and then going
on to supplement that with additional research by me and my
researcher.

The research materials I study for a copywriting project
generally cover three areas:

1–Information about the product.
2–Information about the market.
3–Promotions for competing products.

As to JL’s second question, I created this short video to give you
as precise an answer as to when you know you are finished:

I’ve already said where I start — with the background materials
the client has provided.

And as for when to start, I would say: start within 24 hours of
getting the assignment.

Reason: If you put off research, you may find that when the
deadline is around the corner, then it’s too late.

So you don’t have enough time to do a proper research job and
still get A-level copy written on time.

The late, great David Ogilvy said, “Advertising people who ignore
research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy
signals.”

One more thing….

My client AS has said to me repeatedly, “To get a big idea for a
winning promotion, you have to do research until you find the
core idea in the research materials.”

I would add that sometimes the great promo idea leaps out at you
and strikes like a bolt of lightning the instant you come across
it.

Other times, it doesn’t come easily. You have to dig and dig. But
you almost always find something good eventually in the research.
And if you are lucky, you often find something great.

Anybody who is in the public eye on the internet … even someone
as minor as me … will invariably get his fair share of people who
feel compelled to bash him — often in a nasty and mean-spirited
way.

Of course the conventional wisdom is to shrug it off. But I
sometimes find it difficult not to take personally.

For instance, MM writes:

“I have purchased several of Bob’s products on his websites and
found them to be a complete rip-off. He charges $50 for 80 pages
of useless, outdated content.”

It’s easy for me to prove that MM is by far a minority opinion;
take a look at some of the testimonials from my e-newsletter,
book, and e-book readers:

http://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/Testimonials.html

Also, most of my e-books are in the $29 to $39 range, not $50
(though a few are).

MM’s comment proves to me something I read in an article in a PC
magazine more than a decade ago:

“The best thing about the Internet is that anyone can post
anything to it.

“The worst thing about the Internet is that anyone can post
anything to it.”

Evidence of the latter statement is in an article on Quora
reporting a Harvard study concluding that one out of five reviews
on Yelp are fake.

And on one occasion, a reviewer gave my new book a one-star
review saying I hadn’t been polite to him when he asked me a
question online; he had not even read the book.

Amazon says reviews cannot be personal vendettas and have to be
based on the book itself.

And though I have notified them 3 times that this particular
review is based on a personal incident, Amazon has ignored my
repeated requests to have it removed on that basis.

Also, back in the day, book reviews were written by professional
book reviewers who often had a background and knowledge in the
topic of the book.

And their reviews were vetted by a newspaper or magazine editor
prior to publication.

Now online reviews on Amazon and elsewhere are written by any
Tom, Dick, and Harry with a computer and an internet connection.
They are not required to have a working knowledge of the topic of
the book … and no editor is there to make sure the reviews are
civil, literate, and accurate.

Which do you prefer — book reviews by professional reviewers, as
in the New York Times Book Review or the New York Review of Books
(the latter is my favorite periodical)?

Or the opinions of consumers, which range from honest and smart
to pure Bozo?

If you are a marketing manager … copywriter … ad agency …
creative director … or content marketer …

… the marketing you produce is only as good as the information
you are able to gain on your target market and your product — and
your understanding of it.

Therefore, in the profession of marketing, we ad writers are
extremely dependent on our clients.

The better the briefing and research they provide us, the better
our copy will be.

Conversely, when we copywriters lack either enough information on
the product and the market – or worse, have wrong information —
it’s extremely unlikely the promotion will be a home run.

Computer programmers call this GIGO, which stands for “garbage
in, garbage out.”

So we need good background information — and not garbage — to
write the best ad we can.

Yet it is our responsibility as ad creators to help our clients
and guide them so they get the right information to us … and
enough of it to write a kick-butt promotion!

Some people call the transfer of product and market knowledge
from the client to the marketing creator the “discovery process.”

I find it useful to post my own discovery process on my web site
and refer clients to it — so they can see the kind of
information we need to gather and share to create winners:

http://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/documents/HTPFAC.html

Getting the right information from the client is so important, I
outline the responsibilities of both me, the copywriter, and the
client, in my standard agreement as follows:

CLIENT AND COPYWRITER RESPONSIBILITIES

As your freelance copywriter, Bob Bly is responsible for:

–Requesting all the information he needs to write your
promotion.
–Writing the strongest copy possible.
–Making any revisions you ask for within the terms of the
copywriting agreement.
–Always telling you the absolute truth about any of your ideas,
edits, or plans — even if it’s something you may not want to
hear and could even possibly upset you.
–Keeping the client’s project confidential.

As the client, you are responsible for:

–Providing Bob with the information about your product, offer,
and market he requests for the writing of your copy.
–Being as specific as possible about any edits, revisions, or
changes you want Bob to make to his copy draft.

I can’t force the client to comply, and of course I always do the
best job possible with whatever materials I have to work with.

But by taking on the responsibility of assisting your clients in
providing what you need in the discovery process, you greatly
increase the odds of having a winning promotion.

Which is good for both you and your client.

I also think guiding the discovery process proactively means you
are meeting your fiduciary responsibility to the client by doing
due diligence to the best possible level.

For decades, I have been a semi-workaholic who works 11 to 12
hour days and rarely takes a vacation.

But I do have a technique I want to share with you for giving
yourself a break once a month.

It makes you feel as if you are playing hooky for the day, though
in fact, you are getting a lot done.

I call it “M-Day” or “Miscellaneous Day.”

Each month, I pick one day.

It has to be a day when I have no pressing deadlines, no phone
meetings, no other appointments, and nothing to deliver to a
client or publisher due that same week.

On regular days, I schedule my work during the day so I am
working on one project or another during every hour, with a short
rest between hour increments.

On Miscellaneous Day, there is no schedule. So I don’t HAVE to do
anything at any particular time.

I crank up the music.

And I spend M-Day working on whatever project or task strikes my
fancy.

Then I jump to something else … well, whenever the mood strikes
me.

I often start M-Day with easy, light work — like a magazine
article, working on one of my info marketing projects, or writing
an article for my e-newsletter, as I am doing right now.

But often I will get inspired to tackle one or more tougher jobs
on M-Day … such as a particularly challenging sales letter … and
if that mood strikes me, I do it with great gusto.

And somehow, because of the immense freedom I have on M-Day, if
anything I enjoy it even more than usual (and I really enjoy
writing sales letters) … and do it even better and faster than
usual!

M-Day is also a good day for me to handle miscellaneous tasks
that I often put aside because of my usual multiple writing
deadlines, such as filling out paperwork or straightening out the
occasional problem with a health insurance claim or similar
stuff. Miscellany that is boring and distasteful, but still needs
to be done.

(For instance, recently my health insurance didn’t pay a provider
because they said my other health insurance carrier should handle
it. And you guessed it, I do not HAVE another insurance plan.
They are my sole carrier. But I had to spend time on the phone
and filling out forms to prove it before they would pay the
claim!)

For me, M-Day relaxes and revitalizes me, while giving me a full
day in the office that is different and therefore even more fun
than usual. And, it is always a very productive day — not really
a hooky day at all!

I think it’s the change of pace in an otherwise fairly set
routine that is part of the secret of M-Day — it’s a full-day
“pattern interruption.”

The other aspect is, with all the projects I can work on during
M-Day to choose from, I feel like a kid in a candy store, picking
whatever I want as the mood strikes me. There is a big smile on
my face and a lightness of spirit that is so invigorating!

So why don’t I do more Miscellaneous Days?

One M-Day a month is just about right for me. I tried doing two
Miscellaneous Days a few months ago, and it didn’t feel right — I
felt like a slacker. You may be different.

My suggestion is that you try giving yourself a Miscellaneous Day
soon.

If it works for you as it does for me, give yourself one M-Day
a month.

You will thank me for it.

Time to sign off now and get back to more M-Day fun!