AL, a superstar stock broker on Wall Street, once said: “The
more you tell the client that you are not a guru, not a
rain-maker, the more credible you become.”

I think this kind of humbleness goes a long way toward getting
people to trust you. Yet modesty is a credibility builder that
almost no one uses. What a shame!

For instance, on one of his web sites, my buddy Fred Gleeck, the
superstar information marketer, writes:

“Probably 98% of people who buy my products do nothing. The
testimonials on this site represent those who HAVE done
something.

“I make no promises about your results. That’s up to you. The
information is solid. The testimonials represent a VERY SMALL
portion of the people who buy this product, much to my chagrin!”

This is brilliant because it is both honest and believable. The
reader either knows or suspects that most information products
don’t deliver the results their authors boast about. Fred’s copy
resonates with the belief the reader already has in his head
instead of clashing with it.

Fred also avoids creating unrealistic expectations on the part
of the buyer. If you buy his product and don’t get the results,
you realize that it is at least in part your fault. So this
reduces dissatisfaction and minimizes refund requests.

Sad to say, the majority of people I encounter both in business
and my personal life are braggarts, to one degree or another.

To me, that’s counterproductive, because in my observation, most
people dislike braggarts and admire modesty.

The Bible, Jeremiah 9:23: “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise
[man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in
his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches.”

If you wish to be a humble and modest human being, or at least
give the appearance of being one, here are 3 simple rules to
follow:

1-Resist the constant temptation to brag, no matter how frequent
or strong the impulse.

2-Do not tell people about your successes, accomplishments, or
good fortune unless they ask. And even then, downplay it.

3-Is what you are about to say going to make the other person
feel bad about themselves in comparison to you? Are you saying
it unnecessarily to feed your own ego? If so, don’t say it.

Is content marketing – the marketing methodology that entails disseminating free special reports, white papers, e-books, blog posts, and other useful content to potential customers – overrated?

Sales expert Robert Minskoff seems to think so.

“Go ahead and blog, tweet, and post,” says Minskoff. “But be very aware that there is still a large segment of the buying population that places very little importance on that type of content.”

So what does work in getting the order? “Selling is a human interaction,” Robert says. “Be human.”

I am the first to stand up and say content marketing – which in the good old days, we simply called “free information offers” – can work well.

After all, I have been an active practitioner of content marketing since the early 1980s.

But content marketing has its limits.

Offering free content is great for generating inquiries – people love to get free stuff.

It also educates the consumer on how to buy your type of product.

For instance, say you offer a free report “7 Things to Look for When Hiring a Roofer.”

Naturally, your roofing service precisely meets all 7 requirements spelled out in the report.

So after reading the report, homeowners will be more likely to hire you than your competitors who do not precisely match the requirements you listed.

However, if all you do is give away free content, you are not going to close many sales.

Content marketers need to remember that we are in the business of selling, not giving away free stuff.

The prospect is there not merely to be educated. You also have to sell him on why he should buy your product vs. other alternatives – including doing nothing. And that’s not content marketing. That’s copywriting.

To close the sale, at some point the prospect must receive a communication containing copy that (1) highlights your product’s unique advantages over the competition, (2) overcomes his objections, and (3) proves that your product is a superior solution to his problems.

You may also need professional salespeople who know how to establish relationships with prospects, diagnose their needs, and convince them your company is the best equipped to meet those needs.

Not to be mean-spirited, but I think part of the reason so many marketers jumped on the content marketing bandwagon so readily is that writing content is a lot easier – and less  threatening – than either writing copy that sells or selling in person.

It’s a relatively easy and pleasant task to write a short blog post on a thought, idea, tip, or factoid that caught your fancy. Or put that information in your e-zine.

It’s quite another to convince a terrific prospect to retain your firm when he is objecting that your price is too high – or he thinks your competitor is just as good as you are.

That kind of situation causes your average content marketer to run for the hills – but copywriters and salespeople alike relish such selling challenges. It’s what we’re paid for.

The bottom line: content marketing is fine as far as it goes. But nothing really happens until somebody sells something.

Confession time: I am an inferior human being … meaning I come
up short in almost every category by which people are measured.

Every day, I look around and see people who are more athletic
than me … better-looking … taller … smarter … thinner … kinder …
more personable … wealthier … healthier … more well-adjusted …
even funnier.

Whatever I do professionally – copywriting, book writing,
speaking, information marketing, consulting – there are others
who are more successful and make much more money at it than I do
(though in one of these vocations not many others and not that
much more money).

How do I live with myself knowing that I am so inferior?

The secret is that you can be lousy at 99.9% of things and still
have a happy and successful life – at long as you are good at
just a few or perhaps even only one thing.

As far as I know, Paul Simon is good at only music. He’s
certainly not the biggest, strongest, or best-looking guy on the
block.

Also, most fans listening to his music would agree that Paul
Simon doesn’t have the best voice and isn’t the greatest singer
in the world.

But Paul Simon has enough people who like his songs and his
singing to give him a lucrative and successful music career.

You do not have to be the best there is at what you do to make a
great living at it. SR is a great example.

SR is a professional stand-up comic who decided to make the
transition to more lucrative performing as a corporate
motivational speaker.

I have heard SR do both comedy and speaking. He is not the
funniest comic I have ever heard. He is not the best
motivational speaker I have ever heard.

But he IS the funniest motivational speaker I have ever heard.
So he makes a great living speaking for meeting planners who
want a motivational speaker who can also make their audience
laugh.

What most people don’t realize is that you don’t have to possess
nearly as many fans as Paul Simon to make a lot of money and
live well from your work.

I think it was Seth Godin who observed that if you have just
10,000 fans, you can make a great living and have a successful
career.

For instance, if you have an e-list with 10,000 subscribers, and
can convince each to spend just $100 a year with you, you will
gross annual sales of a million dollars.

Ten thousand people are hardly a big fan base; Bon Jovi probably
has millions of fans. You do not need a huge fan base to succeed
at whatever it is you do.

If you are a freelance copywriter, and tomorrow 10% of the
Fortune 500 wanted you to write copy for them, you would be
overwhelmed and could not handle a fraction of the workload.

You simply do not need every company out there to consider you
the top copywriter. You only need a few who like what you do
well enough to want you to work on their promotions.

And even those few companies do not have to consider you the
“best” at what you do. They simply have to feel that your
service is a good fit for what they want.

Years ago, when I did some consulting work for Dow Chemical,
they shared with me that they were producing 778 print ads,
brochures, catalogs, press releases, data sheets, and other
marketing documents that year.

If you were a copywriter back then and Dow was your only client,
they could keep you busy and profitable round the clock – and do
the same for ten other copywriters at the same time. And that’s
just one client.

So if it helps you, I want you to know:

1-You can be middling to poor at most things and still have a
successful life and career.

2-You don’t even have to be the best at what you ARE good at to
have a successful life and career. You just have to offer
something that other people want.

3-You don’t have to have throngs of admirers. In many instances
10,000 fans, 100 customers, or 10 clients or less can keep you
busy and profitable all year long.

If all this is of some comfort to you, and stops you from
fretting about what you think are your shortcomings, then I have
achieved my goal.

I’ve made a large number of mistakes in my life. These flubs
have cost me more in lost income, career success, and happiness
than I could possibly keep track of.

Here are my 5 worst screw-ups, presented in the hopes that I can
help you avoid making the same errors I did:

1-Not jumping on opportunities.

When Internet marketing arrived on the scene, I both resisted
and ignored it.

I could have gotten into online information marketing in the
1990s.

Instead, I waited until 2004, until my colleague FG pushed me
into doing it.

As a result, others gained the leadership position I could have
owned, and I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales I
could have made during that time.

Joe Vitale and others have said, “Money loves speed.” The faster
you act, the more likely you are to succeed.

2-Not having an ultra-narrow niche.

At the beginning of my copywriting career, I wrote only
industrial copy, and was well positioned in that niche. I loved
it! Industrial clients wanted to hire ME, not my generalist
competitors.

As time went on, more people outside that niche wanted to hire
me, and so I became less focused, although today I do have four
niches: financial, health, high tech, and business-to-business.

I love writing for the variety of clients I have today, but from
a purely business point of view, life would be easier if I were
more narrowly niched.

I think copywriters who laser focus on a narrow niche are smart,
like Pam Foster who specializes in the marketing of pet
products. Now that’s a narrow niche!

3-Turning down book contracts.

There have been a few times over the last three decades when I
turned down a major publisher who wanted me to write a book for
them.

In each case I came to regret turning down the book offer — and
wished I had accepted and had written the book.

Every book I have written has helped my career in some way –
even my satire, sex, and Star Trek books!

My advice: writing traditional paper books is good for your
career or business, so if you are offered a contract by a real
publisher, take it.

4-Not saving your accomplishments and kudos.

Any time I get a letter of praise, I drop it in a file labeled
“kudos.” I then excerpt these favorable comments and post them
on my site:

www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/testimonials.php

Any time you produce something for an employer or client, like a
video or a brochure, save a copy as an electronic file.

Clients today increasingly want to see that you have done work
similar to what they need done now.

The more samples you can show them, and the closer those samples
match their current project requirements, the more comfortable
they will be hiring you.

Although I saved a lot of my work, every once in a while a
prospect asks for a sample in a field where I have done work –
but don’t have the sample. And I kick myself every time.

5-Not having children at an early age.

This we couldn’t help: although I got married at 25, my wife was
diagnosed with cancer a few months after the wedding, and we
could not have kids for several years following her treatment.
Then we went through infertility and didn’t have our kids until
we were in our 30s.

If I could change all that, I would have had kids when we were
still in our 20s. Doing so increases the odds that the parents
will be around for the kids and grandkids longer. And, younger
parents have more energy.

Steve Martin became a first-time dad at age 67. When his
daughter graduates college, her father will be 88. That’s not
ideal for either parent or child, in my opinion.

SiriusXM Satellite Radio is now a direct mail scammer.

I just received a mailing from them with “Statement Enclosed” printed on the outer envelope — even though I am not a subscriber.

I immediately opened it, fearing that I somehow owed them money.

What was inside was not a statement. It was a direct mail promotion inviting me to subscribe to their satellite radio.

This is total deception, pure and simple.

It was a common practice years ago, what with envelopes containing faux checks or designed like notices from the IRS.

The practice is rare and frowned upon today.

Shame on you, radio guys. Seriusly.

Subscriber SM isn’t happy with me.

A week or so ago, he e-mailed and asked me a yes/no question
about his career.

I immediately e-mailed him the answer, which was one word: “Yes.”

I was proud of getting to the point so succinctly. But my answer
made SM unhappy. He wrote:

“Thank you for your one-word reply. It is obvious to me now that
I have to spend $$$$ with you to be a friend.

“I must tell you I have spent Aussie dollars on two of your
books The Copywriters Handbook and How to Write and Sell Simple
Information. Obviously an e-mail with a few words of hope or
incouragement [sic] must be too much.”

As a professional writer for 34 years, I feel compelled to point
out to SM that being concise in writing is a virtue. Its main
benefit is an important one: it saves the reader time.

I like to think I have mastered the art of concise writing, and
I have to tell you that many of my subscribers who e-mail me
have not.

They send long, convoluted e-mails in which they have buried a
point or question somewhere, then expect me to do the work to
dig it out.

Since I am incredibly busy, I won’t. My usual reply is: “Can you
ask me your question in fewer words, please?”

I think what bothered SM was that I wasn’t more chatty and
leisurely in my e-mail to him.

He also thinks his having bought a couple of my books (on which
I earned a total of about $2 in royalties) obligates me to spend
a certain minimum amount of time with him. Obviously he feels I
did not take enough time in answering his question.

What he does not understand is that I get a large number of
questions and requests by e-mail daily.

I do answer every one, which is something that, as far as I can
see, most of my peers do not do. And I answer them as soon as I
get them.

But to answer them all, I necessarily have to keep my responses
short.

Otherwise, I would be spending the whole day answering queries,
for which I am not paid, and would have no time to write copy
for my clients, for which I am paid.

I am generally cordial to my readers (unless they are rude to
me) and I have warm feelings toward them – and I want them to
succeed.

So I gladly answer short questions without charge … just as I
would do for any friend.

But I do not believe I am required to be your unpaid mentor or
coach. Do you?

And since I don’t offer paid coaching or mentoring, you will
have to look elsewhere for a private teacher.

I am often asked, “Many of your colleagues offer paid coaching
programs and make good money from it. Why don’t you?”

The reason is simple: I don’t enjoy coaching. And that’s it.
Period.

If someone needs advice or instruction, they can either read my
books – or if that’s not enough, I will happily recommend a
coach to them – someone I know and trust.

I don’t know about you, but the whole reason I am self-employed
is so I can do the things I like to do – which is write – and
avoid things I don’t like to do.

Isn’t that what you desire, too?

Several weeks ago, I wrote about how it used to stymie me when a subscriber would ask whether they should do something – like
quit their job or start a home business.

But an even tougher question you guys ask me is “What should I
do?”

The question is usually followed by a list of 3 to 5 choices, of
which the subscriber expects me to pick one for her.

Listen: I can’t tell you what to do. That’s your choice.

But I can give you some guidelines for deciding what to do on
your own.

The first consideration is money. It’s simple: come up with the
annual income you need to live the lifestyle you wish.

Then eliminate the options on your wish list that can’t fulfill
that requirement.

If none of them do, you must either consider other options or
find a way to make one of the options pay off better. For
instance, if you desire to be a freelance writer, write for
higher-paying markets.

Next, do what I call a “self-inventory.” Ask yourself:

>> What am I passionate about?

>> What do I enjoy?

>> How would I like to spend my days?

>> What do I have an aptitude for?

>> What am I trained or educated in?

>> What is my work experience?

>> What product or service can I provide that others would pay
for?

>> What have I done that others have praised me for?

Usually one or two items on your wish list will fit well with
your self-inventory answers, and of those, only one will deliver
your target income.

Then you have to decide.

For me, the most important criteria were:

1-Money: I needed to make enough money to provide for my family
and send two kids to college. I had no trust fund and will
receive no significant inheritance.

2-How I spend my days: I wanted to spend my days alone, in my
home office, at my PC, writing.

My personal definition of success, for me – yours may be
different – is: doing what I want to do, when and where I want
to do it, and getting paid well for it.

By “well” I had a figure in mind that was a multiple of the
earnings of acquaintances in town – mainly husbands of my wife’s
friends – who either have small businesses or work in highly
paid executive positions.

No choice you make will be ideal. Every business and profession
has its pros and cons.

To me the trick is to pick something remunerative enough to meet
your income goal while enjoyable enough to make you want to go
into the office in the morning.

Another priority of mine is to avoid boredom. I believe most of
my subscribers share this desire – probably you, too.

One of the cruelest fates is to spend your days doing a job you
detest for a boss or company you don’t like — and being unable
to quit because you need the money.

I see two ways out of this. The first is to move to a different
job function (i.e., from purchasing agent to product manager) or
change companies or industries.

The second is to start some type of self-employment, whether
freelancing or running a small business.

Many people dream of the second option and spend years
considering it, but fear holds them back.

I have previously paraphrased a wise therapist who once told me
what it takes to get moving.

He said: you won’t make a change until the pain of your current
situation – whether boredom, lack of money, lack of fulfillment,
dislike of your boss – outweighs your fear of making a change.

As a rule, that either happens or it doesn’t.

The other day subscriber LG wrote to me to tell me that the
Kindle version of my book “The Copywriter’s Handbook” (Henry
Holt) displayed some odd symbols on some of the pages.

Though I thanked him, the truth is: I don’t care and, not being
the publisher, I can’t do anything about it.

In fact, I was unaware that there was a Kindle version of this
book!

Does this fact – and my lack of interest — shock you?

The reason I don’t care is: bandwidth and focus.

While an author with one or two books may agonize over every
screen of the Kindle version of his book, I have 80 published
books. And I don’t have time to proof the Kindle version of even
one of them, let alone all of them.

Also, I have a full load of copywriting assignments, and my
copywriting clients are my #1 business priority – and serving
them takes most of my time.

It comes down to bandwidth: I have a finite amount of time and
energy, and therefore I can only attend to a limited number of
tasks.

And it also comes down to focus: I have to set priorities, which
means focusing on only the most important tasks – and letting
the others go.

I must do this if I am to be successful in my copywriting
business, which is of prime importance to me.

I find almost universally that people who have not achieved the
level of success they desire lack focus: they feel they have to
pay attention to everything, no matter how small or trivial –
even though doing so can seriously impede the achievement of
your goals.

For example, there is a small group of people who scan the
dozens of articles on my web site and seem to take great delight
in finding and pointing out a typo to me. I wonder why they are
doing this instead of perfecting their own web site. Do they not
value their time?

Here are my recommendations for accelerating your progress
toward your goals:

1-Don’t waste your time on unimportant, trivial things.

2-Focus on tasks that are important and contribute to your
success.

3-Treasure your time like, as Dan Kennedy says, the gold in Fort
Knox.

4-Get busy. Most successful people I know are busy.

5-Work hard. Whoever said “work smart, not hard,” was wrong.
Successful people work smart and hard.

6-Focus on what you do best. Farm out everything else.

7-Don’t feel you have to do something just because someone asks
you. Learn to say no.

8-Set priorities, because your bandwidth, like everyone else’s,
is limited.

9-Become obsessed with ROTI – return on time invested – for
every activity you undertake.

10-There is plenty of success advice out there from people who
are not successful. Ignore it.