Hi Friends,

New video blog for you today where I discuss…

• What makes Jason Moffatt so cool…

• The first time I ever “bit it” as a stand-up comic…

• One reason Mobile Monopoly became a record-breaking ClickBank mega-launch…

• Where to get my new free stuff that will help your launch convert like crazy!

As always, your comments are golden.

Kevin

Hi,

My friend Max asked a good question and I got so involved in writing my reply, I decided to make a new post of it. It’s a follow up to the networking at seminars tips I gave out in the interview with David Raybould. I hope you find it useful.

Here’s Max’s question: When you mentioned the awkwardness the first time with Yanik, I can totally identify… But – how on earth did you manage to go from ’socially awkward writer’ to doing stand up comedy in front of crowds? And appearing on flashpoint?

Ahhh… good question, Max. Well, just to be clear… you’ve got the progression backwards. I went from socially awkward teen (all comics are socially awkward), to stand-up comic, to appearing on Flashpoint, to socially awkward writer.

I think what it comes down to in regards to feeling awkward, Max, is confidence.

When I went to those first marketing seminars I mentioned in the call — I felt like I didn’t quite belong yet. I assumed I hadn’t yet accomplished enough to earn my swagger.

What I learned (the hard way), was in reality, my insecurities were coming from the fact that I was too focused on an outcome from each encounter.

I felt like I had to impress people with what I’ve accomplished for them to take me seriously.

That’s backwards. And as I explained in the call, when you approach someone with genuine curiosity about them and what they do… they very naturally become interested in you and what you do.

That’s how healthy friendships (and partnerships) are formed, right? It starts with two people showing a sincere interest in one another.

So, hopefully, the story of my awkward encounter with Yanik Silver will help others avoid the trap.

The idea of “networking” is actually pretty inviting when you remove the pressure of “what’s in it for me” and instead think, “how can I help this person.”

I know that may sound kinda hokey, but it really works.

Here’s another good “networking” tip… this one I heard from Michael Masterson (incredibly cool cat, no matter what the cynics say) at ETR Bootcamp back in November… (which, by the way, I was invited to by my (now) good friend, MaryEllen Tribby, after meeting her briefly at another event just weeks before.)

(Not trying to name-drop here, just show that if an awkward goof like me can do this — anyone can.)

Michael and I were chatting when a guy approached him, looking perplexed. He said, “Michael, I’ve always heard that the best way to network is to walk up and say to people: ‘Hi, I’m Ed, what can I do for you?’ But I’ve been doing that all day,” Ed continued “and people just look at me with blank stares.”

Michael asked Ed what he was in a position to actually offer a guy like Clayton Makepeace (whom had given him the blankest of stares). Ed replied, “Well, nothing really, I think that’s why it’s weird.”

Obviously, Ed was using similar advice to the kind I just gave a minute ago a bit too rigidly. It’s important to enter a conversation with business leaders realistically.

If the person you approach is so much more advanced in their career that you couldn’t possibly offer help to them — then directly asking them “what can I do for you?” will seem silly and desperate. Especially if they’ve not even had a chance to get to know you yet.

Michael gave him some good advice on how to engage the person more genuinely. He said, “Instead of trying of trying offer them something when you’ve really got nothing… just ask them for advice.”

That’s a good tip because most people love to share their knowledge. It strokes their ego a bit, and makes them feel good if they can actually help you out.

Let’s face it… none of us got were we are today without the generous advice and guidance of people more experienced than us. Most of us remember that — and are happy to return the favor when given the chance.

So, the key to “networking” with anyone, anywhere, no matter how accomplished they are… is to just be genuine and curious.

Try it and see.

All the best,

Kevin

Hi Friends,

I’m just back from San Diego where I took part in John Carlton‘s first Action Seminar. It was a 2 day event — much more marketing “workshop” than speaker parade — where John, his biz partner, Stan Dahl, and a cadre of A-list marketing talent gang-tackled the biz-building issues most relevant to attendees.

Surveys sent to those who signed up for the event a week earlier garnered a whopping 85% response rate and expert panels were formed to address the most pressing concerns as voted on by attendees. There was no doubt those at the event would be getting advice on exactly what they needed.

Further, there were no formal product pitches by the experts on the room. Instead, marketing superstars were giving away free access to some of their best material. Like when Joe Polish decided to supply the room with access to 10 of his Genius Network interviews most relevant to the topics being discussed at the event.

The energy surrounding the event was palpable. Attendees and “Big Dogs” (John’s title for the experts on hand) alike were inspired to share their best tricks for making big bucks online. In true Carlton fashion, nothing was held back and noticeably absent were the pretenses of your typical marketing seminar.

Carlton and Kilstein (with Deutsch holding mic)

I was privileged to join several panels discussing topics like how to get the most of copywriter/client relationships with John Carlton David Deutsch, Harlan Kilstein, MaryEllen Tribby and Joe Polish (I recap my best advice for freelancers negotiating higher fees in the audio interviews below)…

… and I hosted a panel of top copywriters including Deutsch, Kilstein, Jim Curley, Robert Gibson, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero and Mark Landstrom where we did “flash critiques” of sales letters submitted by attendees. (My apologies once again for any recurring nightmares this may have inspired.)

If you were fortunate (read: wise) enough to attend this event, I’d love to hear your impressions in the comment section. And for those of you who sat on your hands, or just couldn’t make it out… I’ve recorded two interviews with copywriters who attended the event that will provide you an insider’s perspective on the event.

Copywriter Ben Johnson taking in the action.

The first is with a talented newcomer to the freelance copywriting scene. His name is Ben Johnson and the very first letter he wrote for a client reached #1 on CickBank in the Forex niche. I’ve been mentoring Ben for just a few months and he’s an amazing talent.

Next I interviewed one of the hottest freelance copywriters in the marketing world right now, David Raybould, who has spent half of his short career dominating ClickBank’s #1 spot for Marketing and Ads. David flew from the UK just to attend this event (and ditch the gloomy London skyline for sunny San Diego).

I asked both Ben and David for their 5 biggest takeaways from the event. In these info-packed interviews you’ll learn…

• The one easy social tactic introverts can use to instantly melt-away the awkwardness of meeting strangers and have people dying to get in contact with you after the event. (And how to avoid looking like a total idiot like I did to Yanik Silver at my first event years ago.)

• James Schramko’s tip on where to get cheap “heatmapping” software that allows you to pinpoint exactly where visitors are drawn on your website (This tip alone could raise boost conversion with a few simple tweaks)…

• How to quickly establish yourself as an expert (and NOT a vendor) in the eyes of your prospects. (This works wonders for freelancers looking to raise their fees!)

• How Mike Koenigs is about to completely change the game in regards to customer access by tapping into over a billion smart phone users (Imagine hosting a membership site straight from a phone app)…

• Why writing killer copy is not enough. the 3 things you’ve got to do to “crossover” into the big leagues of marketing.

And a whole lot more.

But the interviews don’t focus only on the Action Seminar, you’ll learn valuable tips and tricks for…

• Taking your writing to the next level…
• Increasing traffic to your website and
• Positioning yourself as the “go to” expert in your market.

Listen to the interviews here:

Ben Johnson Interview:

David Raybould interview:

(May take a minute to download, be patient.)

Or you download the zip audio files here:

Ben Johnson zip

David Raybould zip

You’re really going to like these interviews. And after you’ve given them a listen, please leave a comment here to let me know your thoughts. I’m also happy to answer all of your questions.

Talk soon,

Kevin

Something different today and I think you’re gonna dig it.

Last week at ETR’s Bootcamp, Mike Koenigs inspired me to rush out an buy a Kodak z18 pocket cam, and I’m putting it to good use.

Here’s how: I’ve found that if you approach life with an open mind and an eagerness to learn…

… we can learn something valuable from everyone we meet. And every lesson of value in life also contains an important lesson in sales.

So, I’ll be interviewing my good friends (and total strangers) about the tactics they use to sell and sharing these quick and dirty videos with you.

Yesterday my good friend, Lou Angelwolf, stopped by the house for coffee and spontaneously became the first interview in the series.

There are 3 Big Lessons in this 8 minutes clip, and several more quick ones that can help you sell more — better.

I hope you find it useful, and as always, your comments are encouraged.

Kevin

I just shared this idea in a thread about stand-up comedy on Bruce Wedding’s Copywritingboard.com. I’ve also written about the inherent crossover between comedy and copy for John Carlton’s Rebel Rant, but this is the first time I’ve broken down the “hidden formula” behind joke writing.

Thought you might dig it.

There are many valuable lessons about effective copy in the rhythm and timing of comedy.

There’s also great lessons in the art of joke writing.

Styles vary greatly among comedians… not much similarity in the styles of Bill Cosby and Chris Rock, but they’re both brilliant.

(Personal opinion alert: if you’re too offended by language to see the magic in “art with an edge” then you are suffocating your own potential.)

However, this topic is about much more than rhythm and flow… here’s the REAL value in the comparison: Persuasion.

Not NLP Dr. Spock mind-melding shiznit or PUA nonsense…

… just good ol’ fashioned: premise, set up, punchline.

If you’re searching for the hidden formula in stand-up comedy, there it is. It’s a condensed version of the classic essay format you’ll find in the first paragraph of any decent op/ed piece in your Sunday paper.

It goes like this:

1) Begins with a topic sentence that introduces a general theme.
2) Follows the topic sentence with sentences that narrow the focus of the theme.
3) Narrows the discussion of the topic by identifying an issue or problem.
4) Finishes by making a debatable claim a thesis statement.

Of course, the best comics stretch that theme beyond recognition to create a style all their own.

YouTube some of Carlin’s stuff. He starts out with a premise, makes his case, then “tags” the joke relentlessly until it’s played out.

Then watch Cosby take the same formula and stretch every detail in the opening statement — stopping to meticulously examine micro-scenarios before finally closing it up with a final “statement.”

Same formula, wildly different styles. And the key to success in each case is that moment where you mutter breathlessly between laughs: “It’s so true!”

This is an endless topic. I’d love to know who your favorite comics are, and how they might inspire your marketing.

Speak up and be heard in the comments section.

Kevin

When I was a skinny, punk-ass 16 year-old… my step-dad, Scotty, ran a construction crew building new homes in Tampa.

He was a tough-as-nails, but fun-to-be-around guy (picture Willem DaFoe and Jeff Spicoli merged as one) who had one rule on the job site: Never get outworked.

That summer, rather than sit around broke watching CHiPs reruns, I decided to take Scotty up on his standing offer to join his crew and make a few bucks.

How hard can it be? I thought. You get to wear a badass tool belt, you measure some boards and smack a few nails. Presto! New home.

Cut to: Monday morning at 5:30 AM as Scotty rattles my bed with his foot as if Florida’s first earthquake was happening directly beneath the house.

“We leave in 15 minutes, dude. You need to eat before we go.”

It was still dark outside. I managed to woof down 2 pieces of white toast and by first light we were pulling onto the muddy streets of half-built houses and construction equipment.

The air smelled of fresh-cut lumber and swamp water as the droning hum of tractors and the whine of buzz saws swirled with classic rock blaring from busted boom boxes. The wood beam skeletons of soon-to-be family homes perched naked on concrete slabs like shy patients on cold tables wishing the doctor would just finish up and hand them a robe.

The whole thing looked like a disaster scene in reverse.

I was sure I’d made a terrible mistake. Much as I admired the true grit and simple wisdom of those blue collar warriors — hard labor just wasn’t my thing. Yet, by the end of that first week, I was getting a feel for it. There’s a cozy satisfaction in putting in a hard day’s work.

That pain shooting through your back means you’ve done your job. A check is coming. Beer-thirty on Friday will taste like it should.

Then came the rookie mistake that doomed it…

I was sitting on a cement wall after a short rain storm, eating lunch from a bag when Scotty came over (he never stopped for lunch)…

“Don’t sit on wet concrete, dude… it soaks your bones, you’ll be sick as dog,” he said, pulling over a saw horse. “Use this or stand.”

“Shit, I’ve been sitting here for like 10 minutes,” I said.

“You’re probably fucked then.”

Fucked was right. I woke up the next day with the nastiest cold I’ve ever felt. Every joint in my body ached and my head pulsed like a diesel engine stuck in first gear.

“I feel like hell,” I told Scotty as he earthquaked me awake.

“I feel like hell every day. Don’t make me late on top of it.”

I didn’t have the guts to tell him this wasn’t the hard day’s night kinda hell — this was see a doctor hell.

By lunch break I was pale and droopy eyed enough to earn a sympathetic “wait in the truck” assignment. I sweated out the day lying across the bench seat of Scotty’s silver F250… dreaming of a soft couch, air conditioning, and Ponch and John speeding down the 101 after some crazy driver.

Mercifully, as the sun dropped below the windshield, the noise outside finally subsided to the lone strain of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “What’s Your Name” in the distance. Scotty slipped into the truck beside me, cranked the engine and said, “Good news… you’re fired.”

“Thank God!” I said.

Later, when the fever was down and some human-like hue of color returned to my face, Scotty admitted that my pitiful performance on the job was everything he’d hoped for.

“You’re a smart dude. You might not know that yet, but you are,” he said. Then added, “So if you ever take one piece of advice from me, it should be this: Do work with your head… not with your hands. It’s not for you — and that’s a gift.”

It’s rare that a teenage boy is able to see past the hormone rage and know-it-all-ness to recognize a turning point in his life as it’s happening. But that moment was one for me.

I discovered in less than 2 weeks on a soggy construction site that it was OK not to fit in where you don’t fit in. And sticking around long enough so you begin to fit where you don’t fit in can cause you to miss your path entirely.

Thanks to Scotty, my job this morning (I decided) was writing this blog post.  Technically, I did use my hands, but tapping keys sure beats the hell out of pounding nails.

And while there are plenty of tough days as a freelancer when nothing seems to go my way (and I’m still stuck with the credo of never getting outworked)…

…for me, the freedom to make my own day is the greatest benefit of a freelance career.

What about you?

Hey,

I’m thrilled to be guest posting on John Carlton’s blog again this week. Sharing the gruesome details of some of the nastier road gigs from back in the stand-up days.

The hard lessons tie into your marketing, too.

Read it here

And be sure to check out the comments section for the really juicy stuff.

Best,

Kevin

My wife’s brother got married Friday. I love weddings. Such a beautiful opportunity to watch people go from being on their best behavior – to abandoning all inhibition within a matter of hours.

It’s the best man’s job to make the official wedding toast, but he has crippling stage fright… so the logical thing to do was ask the former stand-up comic in the family to give the toast instead.

My response was: “Do you mean ‘toast- toast’… or ‘roast-toast?’”

“Whatever you want to do is fine.” They responded.

Okay. You asked for it.

I wrote a 5 minute no-holds-barred (and very politically incorrect) speech that became the hit of the night.

I’ll print some highlights here, then I’ll offer a couple of tips that will help you knock it out the park next time you’re asked to (dis)honor someone – and want to make sure you don’t come off looking like a nutjob.

Here’s the toast (names changed to protect the guilty):

Hi. I’m Kevin, Sal’s brother-in-law and I’m honored to be giving the toast at this special event tonight.

Sal and Adrianna, we love you and all your beautiful children very much. Salute.

I cut out one inside family joke that would take too much explaining, but as you see, the bulk of the speech would still be funny to a stranger on the street. Which leads me to…

Toast Tip #1: Call out the obvious.

Sometimes the obvious differences are the best common ground between 2 groups of semi-strangers. In this case, you had a room split down the middle, and the only facts everyone was sure to know were that:

a) He was Italian and she was Greek.
b) They had 2 kids together before marriage.

Those facts alone gave me plenty of material to build on.

Toast Tip #2: Make the specifics relatable to everyone.

The set up to the jokes about their kids was very specific to their situation, but the punchlines were based on stereotypes everyone can relate to. Same with the joke about the couple’s history. Mixing specifics with generalities is a good way to get a big laugh without leaving anybody out.

Toast Tip #3 No Apologies.

If you want your toast to have the flavor of a roast you have to commit 100% to the joke. So make sure you’re cool with everything you’ve written, because there’s no editing in front of a hot mic. First rule here is to know you’re audience.

Keep in mind your event audience didn’t sign up for a comedy show. You’re not out to offend people, just wake them up and get them laughing at themselves.

I wrung my hands over a couple of the jokes, fearing they might offend some people. But audiences don’t remember details as much as they do the overall performance. As long as they never see YOU second-guessing the material, they wont either.

Good luck and happy toasting.

Kevin