Category Archives: Business Tips

When I was 17 I called my state and asked if I was too young to get a business license. They said I was old enough, I got my first business license for “Hungry Dinosaur Creations” and started making some extra cash.

Another successful entrepreneur trait? You bet. We often start young.

In fact, at 6, I was the one selling baseball cards and candy to my older siblings for a profit. (I also did some non-profit work lending out my books like a library.)

When did you start your entrepreneurial journey?

Leave a comment and I may feature you in a future blog post. And word around the campfire is links from within the content of a blog post are extremely valuable, so you’ll be getting more than your money’s worth

Let’s just start with this. I’m not a big fan of watching a ton of television. And lately I’ve been enjoying reading “The Four Hour Body,” “1491″ and “End The Fed.”

But there are a few good TV shows that I’ve noticed lately. I mentioned a few posts back that I just watched my first season of “The Apprentice.” That’s a fun business show even though the contestants are often terrible sales people.

And I’ve found two more business shows that I enjoy AND contain good business lessons.

1) Tabitha’s Salon Takeover (Bravo) and
2) Kitchen Nightmares (Fox)

The focal point of both shows are business savvy entrepreneurs in Tabatha Coffey and Gordon Ramsay. They know how to run a business, and their job is to teach it to business-illiterate business-owners.

There are lessons abound for all business owners, Internet entrepreneurs included.

One of the first things Gordon does is simplify the restaurant menu. Every copywriter has had a chance to give that advice before.

And a recent show with Tabitha was very comical indeed when the salon owner revealed she was sending out mailings starting with, “Frankly, I’m shocked you haven’t come in for a haircut.”

Who hasn’t heard that line in the IM niche!?

So the shows are easy to relate to your own business and great for motivation. What would Tabitha or Gordon have to say about your business?

If you check them out, let me know.

What I’m about to share will make other copywriters grin.

It involves a topic every copywriter experiences. But first, let me share a story.

Last Monday I changed the PHP code on my application form. You know, the form people fill out when they wish to hire me.

It was a small change, so I didn’t think much of it. Didn’t test it either.

Well as it turned out, I BROKE it. DESTROYED it. An enthusiastic copywriter might even say I EXPLODED my business. (No injuries reported yet.)

So my application form ceased to take applications.

A freelance copywriter could go broke very fast this way.

Thank goodness something inside my head reminded me to test it the next day. And that’s when I discovered the error and was able to fix it.

The moral is – be sure to test even small tweaks. They DO matter.

And now the part that will make copywriters grin. Ever had a conversation with a client that went like this?

Client: Sales have suddenly dropped, how can we fix it?

Copywriter: Let me take a look… (Pause)… Wait, how come you changed the headline?

Client: Oh it was just a small change, it shouldn’t make much difference.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Copywriters and marketers – you’ve gotta test the small tweaks as well as the big ones.

When legendary ad man Claude Hopkins applied to work for Swift & Company behind 105 other applicants, he knew he needed to make an impression.

He immediately asked other Chicago ad men to personally write Swift & Co and let them know what they thought of Claude Hopkins. That’s social proof, and much like you’d see in testimonials.

But was he satisfied with mere testimonials?

Nope. He did more.

He did something anyone can do, but rarely will do. He made sure to get himself published in his local newspaper.

He wrote an advertising column for the newspaper and it ran twice a week. He offered to write the column for free just for the credibility.

(You know which famous IM guru writes a regular newspaper column on Internet marketing? Jim Edwards.)

Claude Hopkins then began sending the published columns to Swift & Co. Now he has been lent credentials as a columnist and has the backing of a newspaper for more social proof.

He got the job.

I wonder if anyone in today’s business climate could use this strategy…

Could you use it in your online business?

Would “columnist” look good before your name? Would that add credibility?

If you can’t write a weekly column, there’s still a decent chance you can get a reporter to write and publish a story about a local business person.

If you check out your local newspaper, you’ll notice this is very common. And many of the Internet marketers who are “killing it” swear by it.

How do you know if spaghetti is ready?

Throw it against a wall and see if it sticks.

Do you have to be an expert chef to do that?

Not at all, being a complete beginner is good enough. You don’t have to spend years cooking or sign up for culinary school before you know when your pasta is ready.

Just keep trying until something sticks.

I think this is the best way to run a business also.

You could decide to become a MASTER of SEO. You could spend night and day studying and reading about the latest SEO methods. You could buy every $1997 course on SEO that comes out.

And after months of studying, where are you? Have you reached the top of the search engines? Have you done anything at all?

What if instead you took a few small actions each day and monitored your results?

Wouldn’t you be a few steps closer to your goal each day? And wouldn’t you be learning from firsthand experience?

Furthermore, aren’t you wasting time becoming an expert when you could stay a beginner and just find out what sticks?

Example from my life:

I write a lot of software in PHP to run my business. I write sales copy inside my php software Copy Breeze, I send emails to my list via my php autoresponder and I created my own split test software.

And yet I’ve never taken a PHP class or even read a PHP book. I’m a complete beginner writing software that runs my business.

What about your life? Have you ever skipped the learning process entirely and just started TAKING SUCCESSFUL ACTION one small step at a time?

Please share your story in the comments.

While reviewing “A New Approach” I noticed I used the term “Shotgun Approach” in a negative light.

I pointed out that when bringing a new product to the market, liberally spending big bucks all at once on a large ad campaign is the wrong approach. It is certainly the wrong approach if you’re watching your budget closely.

Instead I offered the Sniper Method. With this approach you take small but important incremental steps to a powerful cash-like-clockwork ad campaign. This option maximizes every dollar of your budget.

(You can apply to use the Sniper Method in your business here.)

But the truth is… I love the shotgun method in my business. If I need something to work and to work now… then I come up with 3-5 solutions and try them all.

And I do it with the idea that 2-4 of them will fail and 1 will work.

If you think about it… that’s the same as testing 5 headlines at once to find the winner. That’s what multivariate testing is… the shotgun approach!

(And we all know what a big fan I am of multivariate testing.)

In the end, the Sniper Method depends heavily on the shotgun method preceding it.

Taking the Sniper Method with your copy simply sacrifices time to maximize your investment on sales copy. It’s a smart route to take for many people in today’s economy.

If you’re looking to hire a copywriter, I recommend trying the Sniper Method to maximize your investment.