Before I pack up for the next Maverick trip to Aspen - I wanted to give you guys something you could put to use immediately…

I’m going to share a bit of the information that I first taught at my $3,495.00/per person copywriting workshop. This subject is something I have not seen anyone tackle in full – so if you are interested in making your sales copywriting (or actually any writing) work harder for you – pay attention!

[Side note: I’m doing a more in-depth section on this in the latest Underground Secret Society issue. Next issue is coming off the press shortly and you can grab a free 1-month trial.]

You see, once most people learn about copywriting they can usually crank some pretty decent letters. I mean they get the gist of it right with a few formulas like “problem-agitate-solution” or “AIDA” or whatever.

But where the rubber really meets the road is something most people don’t want to think yet alone do – and that’s the copy editing part. I have a 9-step sequence I use to really hone, polish and sculpt my sales letters (and you’re going to get 8 of them right here). Fact is, most people’s rough drafts are quite similar but it’s in the editing that you see the difference between a blockbuster and ho-hum copy.

Before we get into the phases of editing – you need to have something worth editing. Many writers fail to let their creative brains loose because it’s always being stymied by the critical part. It’s that little voice in your head that says, “That’s dumb”, “Blah!” or “Nobody is going to care about that” etc.

I suggest you write fast and turn off your internal editor. Get it all out as soon as you can and then edit later. There are 2 different parts of your brain. You really cannot edit and write at the same time.

Now when we get to the editing phases – I focus on one particular part for each pass through and edit. You might want to highlight that because right there is one of the biggest secrets. It’s like when you buy a new car and all of a sudden you start seeing your make and model everywhere. The same number of Mini Coopers were on the road before – but now you have selective perception. Our brains are trained to seek out what we are hunting for and most people will do 1 ‘general’ edit. That’s not good enough.

Phase 1 Edit: Opening   

Your opening is one of the most critical parts of your sales copy (after your headline). In readership studies it’s been shown that readership after 500 words will only fall off again at 5,000 words. So the key is getting people into a slippery slope and into those 500 words.

Most writers have a lot of ‘warm up’. Essentially getting ready to say what they want to say – you need to be ruthless and cut out the fluff. Many times when doing critiques I will literally ‘X’ out an entire first page (or 2) or initial paragraphs. This is an easy trick to making your writing more powerful is to see what you can cut from your original opening. Typically your lead-in will be further down the page.

Phase 2 Edit: Moving Pieces and Copy Blocks

The next thing I look at is if the copy blocks fit into a sequential process. Here, I’m looking for a logical and most persuasive order of the parts of my letter. If my audience is especially skeptical then I will move my ‘Authority’ and ‘Proof’ elements near the beginning. If I’m using a copy analogy or a story – is it positioned in the best spot to keep readers engaged?

I will read through the entire with one thought “Does this paragraph/section/copy block make sense where it is?”

Phase 3 Edit: Graphics, Embellishments & Look

The next thing I’m thinking about is the ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of my copy. As online copywriters we have a few items in our toolbox to choose from like

Bolding

yellow highlighter

shaded boxes

bullet points

check boxes

fake handwriting

embellishments

(I also will very sparingly use italics and underline if it’s an online letter.)

When looking for where I am going to put graphics and embellishments in – I am considering a few things. I look at each one as a spice and just like a top chef doesn’t want the spice to overpower the food – we don’t want the graphics and embellishments to overpower the copy. Just a pinch will do it. I use what I call my “Squinty test”.

I will print out each page and then hold it far enough beyond my face that I just squint to see it. I want to see a good amount of white space, different engaging elements (like bullets) and shaded boxes. But also I don’t want to see too much bolding or too much yellow highlighter.

Phase 4 Edit: Double Readership                

I first learned this term and concept from Dan Kennedy and it’s especially useful online. As prospects hit your site – many are only going to skim what is there unless they are fully engaged. Essentially there are skimmers and readers. You want someone to be able to simply skim through the headline, subheads, boldings, yellow highlighter, embellishments, etc and be able to make a buying decision.

If they can do that – you’ve done your job.

Let’s look at one of my first million dollar products – Instant Sales Letters®. I’m going to only write out the headline and subheads here. Nothing else.

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Okay, Now I Hear You Grumbling:
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This doesn’t include any bolding or yellow highlighter, etc to draw the eye in. Just from skimming these subheads – somebody could get the main idea and actually buy the product. Look at your copy from a skimmer’s viewpoint and see where you need to add more subheads or graphical embellishments to make the sale.

Phase 5 Edit: Bucket Brigade

This is where you smooth out and “stitch” everything together. Your copy’s readability (next edit) is directly part of the “bucket brigade” copy transitions. They are called bucket brigade because they keep moving the reader forward and through the copy. Use words and phrases like these:

•    And that’s just the beginning…

•    As you read on, I’ll tell you more about how…

•    But before we go into that,…

•    But better still…

•    But don’t take my word for it…

•    But I’m jumping ahead. Let me tell you how this all came about:

•    Here’s more…

•    Fact is,…

•    Here’s the deal:

•    Here’s the scary part:

•    Listen, there’s more. Lots more.

•    My strong hunch is…

•    Needless to say,…

•    What this all boils down to is..

•    What’s more,…

•    What’s the catch?

•    Then it hit me…

•    Wait, there’s more…

Anytime you can use a copy transition – it will help keep the reader sliding down the slippery slope we’re creating that ultimate ends in the sale. (I have compiled 226 I use that are part of my copywriting workshop material)

Phase 6 Edit: General Flow    

I don’t know what it is about reading something aloud versus reading to yourself, but you’ll pick up lots and lots of insight into how good (or bad) your ad really is by reading it aloud. All the bumps and rough spots jump out at you.

Or a variation on this is to have someone else read it you. This is even better. As they’re reading it, you should take out a copy of the ad and make notes on it. One big advantage of this is your reader is completely impartial. He won’t stress certain phrases or words to make the meaning clearer. And if the reader is having trouble you know that’s an area to edit.

Also, at this editing phase I like to see if I can change some of the “I”, “We” or “Me”s to “You’s” and make most of the sentences geared to the readers benefit. i.e.

“We are giving you 6 must-have bonuses” to “You’ll get 6 must-have bonuses”.

Much stronger that way. A simple start of a sentence you cannot over-use is “You get…”

Phase 7 Edit: Sleep On It 

First, you should let your ad sit for at least a day. Then the next day you can come back to it with new eyes and a fresher perspective. You can find errors that weren’t apparent before. Also, your chances of writing a good ad are significantly improved with rewriting. (I will rewrite an ad or letter 3, 4 or 5 times before I’m done.)

If you do not have the luxury of an extra day – even a few hours will help to give you a new perspective on the writing.

Phase 8 Edit: Grammar and Spelling Edit   

This is my final pass through and I will typically have someone else who is much better at grammar and English look at my work. Not I definitely take this with a grain of salt because a copywriter’s grammar is usually not proper English but I don’t want to look like a total dunce when I confuse ‘their’ and ‘there’.

Now I know most people will not go through all 9 8 copy editing phases – but I promise it will dramatically improve the power of your writing!

***

Note: If you really want to get serious about copywriting – our Ultimate At-Home Internet Copywriting Workshop is a must-have resource. Over 1579 pages of swipe files, formulas, etc. Plus an entire manual with actual examples of copy I’ve critiqued and gone through the 9 phases of copy editing. I strongly suggest this resource! (Yes, I left one out in this blog post because it involves my proprietary 68-point copy checklist.)

Who am I talking about?

Well, if you ask most people – those words above are associated with people in business.  

Plus you can throw in a few more choice ones like “greedy”, “rip-off”, “crooks”, etc. Or some well-worn phrases easily slip off the tongue like “Filthy Rich” and “Money is the root of all evil”.

Throughout history, in the media or just day-to-day interaction entrepreneurs and business owners have been negatively portrayed?

In fact, just today in the car with my Father-in-law he mentioned a company with a multi-billion dollar 1st quarter earning and how ’sickening’ it was. Like it should be criminal to earn that kind of profit or something immoral was done to get it.

Why?

Maybe it’s because we haven’t quite had the words or perhaps a big enough reason to defend ourselves?

A few months ago, while at Necker Island, one of guests there, Jon Butcher, showed a video to everyone there during our Virgin Unite brainstorming session. We didn’t know what to expect but we politely obliged.

After it was done, it seemed to have a tremendous impact on everyone there including Sir Richard Branson. You see, Jon had taken a lot of our thoughts on entrepreneurship, value creation and even the morality of capitalism that were swimming around in our heads, and finally expressed it. Yes, in our hearts, as entrepreneurs, we seem to instinctively realize as “producers” we provide incredible value – but have never stopped to put it together in this way.

The original video was pretty rough around the edges and after our reaction at Necker Jon went back to his house to polish it up. I believe it’s only been seen a few dozen people so far and I told Jon it’s time for the message to be heard by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs. I posted it below so you can view it. I must warn you it’s a bit long - 15 minutes and 10 seconds. But the points raised are incredibly important because the stakes (as Jon will explain) are high.

Check it out and leave a comment – would love to hear your thoughts.

Note: Jon is the founder of ‘My Lifebook’. It’s a new innovative life development company to help you create your own dream life. I have not had a chance to go to Chicago yet to experience - but I will be soon.

* Update: Some people are having trouble with the video - I’m asking Jon to upload to YouTube also. *

Additionally, as I was thinking about this topic I also came across the transcript of “Francisco’s Money Speech” from Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shurgged” (one of my all-time most influential books).  I think it’s especially pertinent.

“…If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents…”

You can read the whole speech here.

Last weekend, I embarked on one of my craziest adventures yet. A HALO skydive (High-Altitude Low-Opening). It’s on my BIG Life List and that’s another big checkmark. Plus, we were able to (with your help) raise over $32,000.00 for the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. (Side note: I believe you can still donate if you have not yet.)

I’m still waiting on the video but as soon as that’s ready – I’ll post it up here. I figured, I’d give you the recap and a few pics in the meantime.

My buddy and co-author for “Moonlighting on the Internet”, Rob Olic, and Maverick Business Adventures™ founding member, Mike Filsaime, were the only guys brave enough (or stupid enough) to come with me down to Mississippi. I’m now the 40th civilian to have done a tandem HALO skydive (Filsaime is #41 and Rob is #42).

Just a quick background on HALO skydives – they were designed during the 60’s as a military maneuver to insert troops behind enemy lines undetected. That’s because the paratroopers jump from 30,000 feet (the cruising altitude of a commercial jet) so on radar everything looks normal. What’s more, the temperature up at 30,000 feet is about 25 degrees below zero (so damn frickin cold!) and you have to wear a full oxygen mask for two reasons.

1) Because at that altitude you’ll remain conscious about 30 seconds without oxygen
2) You need to pre-breathe pure oxygen for about 40 minutes to purge all the nitrogen out of your system to avoid getting the ‘bends’.

Good stuff, right?

Needless to say the week leading up to my jump, Missy, was freaking out a bit. Rationally, skydiving isn’t really riskier than the other stuff I’ve done – but emotionally it gets a lot of people worked up. After checking on our life insurance and talking to the jumpmaster I got a green light.

So the 3 of us arrived on Friday night in New Orleans to hang out with a few friends, eat some good food and take in some local music. Our local guides, Chris Daigle and Chad Mac, did not disappoint. Dinner was awesome and I had frog legs and pork belly. And for dessert a little green tomato pie. I know it sounds a bit freaky – but it was awesome. Afterwards we headed to the House of Blues to check out the Radiators. That just wasn’t our scene. The band didn’t seem to have much energy that night. So we went to plan B and checked out a local group called “Soul Rebel”.

This was like a 180-shift – the place was rockin’. What a live performance! You can check out some of their music here - I believe the genre is something called “Brass Funk” – but it’s really eclectic. They’ve got a bunch of brass instruments and then combined with jazz, reggae, hip-hop, etc.

We didn’t have a late night (unfortunately) because we were all trying not to have more than a few drinks for our big jump on Sunday. So we crashed out early (for New Orleans standards anyway) at 2 AM. The next morning we packed up and headed East for Lumberton, MS. (I believe the population is like 400 people – so insert your own joke here.)

That’s where we met up with the team responsible for keeping us alive. Most of them were ex-military and the whole deal certainly had an air of a military operation to me. As we were hanging out on the ‘compound’, I hear a man walk up and start asking, “Mike Filsaime?….Yanik Silver? I thought that was you guys!”

Pretty funny. Michael Worthington lives there and his daughter runs the snack bar at the skydive center. He’s a customer of both of us – makes you realize how wide the Internet Marketing really is now. Michael and his wife, Pauline, were great and took good care of us.

A little side note along the same lines – last May in Vegas for the Zero-G Maverick adventure, we got picked up by our limo driver and his jaw just about dropped when Brad Fallon, Mike Filsaime and I walked out of the hotel. He told us he had a StomperNet CD in his limo right now and was a huge fan and customer of each of us. In fact, he said he had driven people Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, etc and was most excited to have us in his car. 

Onward…

We spent the rest of day getting fitted for our equipment consisting of a flight suit, oxygen mask, helmet, goggles, gloves, oxygen bail out canister and communication system. Pretty hard core stuff. Then we got trained on what to expect while up there, hand signals, how to switch from the onboard O2 regulator to our portable bail out canisters, how to jump out of the plane, etc. Phew!

We finished up around 5pm and decided to check out the latest Batman flick “Dark Knight”. Wow! I think it’ll land in my top-10 for movies for sure. I really loved it and without being too morbid, Heath Ledger’s performance, as the Joker, just stole the show. I heard a lot of reviews of the movie and this lived up to the hype and then some. We all hit the sack early because we had to be up by 5:45 AM to head to the airport.

I had no trouble sleeping and I guess Mike didn’t either because we had to bang on Filsaime’s door to wake him up! After a quick muffin – we drove out to the airfield with just a tiny bit of trepidation building in all of us. For me, the day before when I was being fitted for my Oxygen mask – I felt just a slight hint of claustrophobia. About 15 years ago when I went scuba diving for the first time, I felt that same way and slightly panicked. I was concerned I couldn’t just bounce up to the top of the surface without doing some damage to myself – but I put that fear aside and started getting geared up.

At 7:30 AM, the local NBC reporter came to do an interview with Mike and I about the jump and the ‘fall-a-thon’ to support the Branson School of Entrepreneurship.

We were sitting pretty tight, shoulder-to-shoulder. I couldn’t see Rob but I could see Filsaime who was a bit across from me (he’s the first guy on the left in the pic below) . The only person you can talk to is your tandem instructor because you are hooked into your comm unit with them.

With everyone else, you can only make hand signals and gestures. Mine were off the one-fingered variety at Mike and they taught us in training you are supposed to respond in kind to make sure you brain is working and you aren’t suffering from hypoxia.

 I could watch my tandem partner, Ben’s altimeter rising and at about 7,000 feet I started to feel like I couldn’t take another 30 minutes to get to altitude. But I relaxed and just focused on my breathing – which isn’t that reassuring because you sound like Darth Vader – and that’s the only thing you hear in your head.

I kept watching the altimeter….

10,500….14,750….21,800….28,500…then the action started!

We had to switch off from the bigger Oxygen compressor inside the plane and move onto our portable bail out canisters. And then 30 second later – Ben and I started moving towards the door. Mind you, I had a view of the door – the entire way up so I could see just how far up 28,500 feet is (Unfortunately the FAA is not letting them jump above 29,000 ft anymore).

I faced the door and waited for Ben to hook me into the tandem harness – while prayeing that these 4 little clips would hold us together. But I didn’t have too much time to consider that because the door opened and we rocked back and forth twice and hurled ourselves out!

Mike later told me that’s when he started freaking out a little because it was like a James Bond movie. One second I was in the plane with him and the next second I was a half mile away very much out of the plane!

That first feeling is unreal because your body and mind are trying to come to grips with what just happened. But then I settled into a calm freefall. (I guess calm is relative since I believe we were traveling at 200mph – but it felt calm anyway.) Here I am in freefall:

On the way down you are supposed to equalize the pressure in your ears – but I couldn’t find the right spot on my nose piece to hold my nose shut so my ears killed. They got better as we kept falling. It was really interesting to start off in a freezing cold section of the atmosphere above the clouds and then we literally fell through a line that took us from cold to very warm. Here’s a view of us from above where you can see the ground:

Overall, we had 2 minutes and 15 seconds of freefall (more than double the normal skydive) but it felt like 30 seconds to me. I couldn’t believe it when I felt the upward jolt from the parachute opening up. We fell from 28,500 ft and opened up at 5,000 ft. I could relax and take in the scenery as we came down for a landing at the dropzone.

After the 3 of us landed we had a quick exit interview with NBC. (You can see my hair looks all screwy.) Of course, after high-fiving Mike and Rob – I quickly gave Missy a phone call to tell her I was alive and well!

After hanging out for a bit – we headed back to New Orleans for a little Cajun celebration and the beer definitely tasted a little better than ever going down!

Thank you…thank you…thank you!

Our HALO Skydiving ‘fall-a-thon’ is a success.

Yesterday, I got notice of a $5000 donation from one of my Maverick Business Adventures members that puts the total raised at $15,749.00 — so that’s over $30k since Mike Filsaime and I are both kicking in $7500/each. Great news and even better news for the students at the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. Even though we hit the goal that doesn’t mean we can’t crush it.

I’m here in New Orleans getting ready to go to dinner and then head over for training tomorrow at the dropzone. Would love nothing better than to see even more donations come in. Plus, there’s still the Amazon kindle up for grabs. Read the previous post for rules and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates on our HALO skydive. (We’ll see, but it looks like we might get picked up on TV from local news programs.)

One more thing, my friends Michel Fortin and Slyvie Fortin, are running their own charity campaign to support breast cancer. Sylvie is a breast cancer survivor and I’m sure you know many people affected by this terrible disease. In fact, my mother had breast cancer and ovarian cancer. She was a real warrior who battled cancer for 10+ years before finally passing away 3 years ago. (And in the process baffling all her doctors several times!) Michel and Sylvie will be cornering a bunch of online experts and putting on an incredible teleseminar as a special gift for you donation (actually it’s just a pledge). Check it out here.

Wish me luck…next time you hear from me there will probably be some cool video and pics up here of our HALO skydive. And of course announcing the winner of the Kindle.

I just tweeted about this

Kindle contest update. Most creative promotion of the charity HALO skydive page gets the Kindle.

Send people over to this page (me and Mike don’t make a dime - 100% of the donation goes to the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in S. Africa). Only rules are nothing illegal and no spam. Get creative and have fun. There are only 4 days left for the charity ‘fall-a-thon’.

Post a comment with what you’ve done here or reply back to me on Twitter. I’ll be announcing the winner after my skydive. If you want to check out more about the cool prize - you can see it here. I love my Kindle. It’s pretty slick from the wireless access where you can download ebooks in seconds to the crisp way the print shows up on the screen. I’ve seen other ebook readers and they all kinda suck compared to this one. Plus, you can send documents to be converted to your Kindle, highlight, do clippings and much more. It’s $359 right now on Amazon.

Okay got it? Let’s see what you got…

Okay I think I need to admit I was wrong.

I’ve been telling my friends that Twitter is one of the silliest things in the world – but now I might have to eat my words…

You see, I was thinking about Twitter for my own personal use – i.e. wanted to know exactly what my friends were doing at all times. Who cares? Well – it seems like a lot of people do. In fact, I just started updating my Twitter profile – you can follow me at www.twitter.com/yaniksilver (So in case you wonder what’s going on in my world aside from when I update this blog - you can follow along! Plus, I’ve got a new Amazon Kindle ebook reader that I’m going to give away to someone who follows me. Not sure how yet - but we’ll figure out something fun together. So click here to follow me.)

The reason I’m going to be using it is applying to what I’ve discussed before in a recent Secret Society newsletter – and that is applying personality to your web presence. Twitter is perfect for this. Just a quick recap in case you haven’t seen twitter – it’s a “microblogging” platform. You’ve got 140 characters that you can update via web or text messaging and let your ‘followers’ know what you are doing at this moment.

For companies who want to put out more personality – this is great. Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com, who spoke at Underground® 4 is using Twitter in a big way. He’s got over 9,026 followers (that’s huge). Funny enough, I was buying new flip flops and on the thank you page at Zappos – they had an invitation to follow Tony via Twitter. Check out Tony’s twitter profile at www.twitter.com/zappos

Notice the kinds of ‘tweets’ he puts out. Not too much to do with business but a whole lot to do with the personality of Zappos. It’s about solidifying the fact they truly live their values. Tony is such a big fan he’s even put up a page on Zappos dedicated to Twitter and getting started with it -
http://twitter.zappos.com/start

If you go back and look at the history of Tony’s tweets – they are a tiny amount that are promotional in nature.

I think this is taking blogging to the next level. I love my blog for the interactivity and the ability to transmit my personality across to readers – creating that bond. With Twitter – you can do this 140 characters at a time. Try it and don’t forget to follow me for a chance to win that Amazon Kindle.

What do you think?

*

I have to give credit to John Reese to opening my eyes to the potential here on Twitter. Now as ‘big, bad marketers’ we are always looking at new ways to getting our message across - but Twitter is interesting because only your ‘followers’ will get your messages. So you cannot blatantly bombard your twitter contacts with pitches because they’ll stop following you (just like opting out). If you don’t have anything interesting to say or do (hmmm….like a HALO skydive!) then they’ll drop you. John covers Twitter and a slew of other new ways to get traffic to your site in his new Traffic Secrets 2.0 resource. It goes on sale today at noon.

You’ve probably heard of “Walk-a-Thons”, right?

You know where you sponsor someone for every mile they walk, right? Well…you know me and I can’t just do a typical fund raiser…it’s got to be a bit more Maverick over here.

So we’ve come up with a “Fall-a-Thon”!

Next Sunday, July 20th, my buddy and fellow Maverick Business Adventures member, Mike Filsaime, and I are jumping out of a perfectly good plane at 30,000 feet. (Oh yeah - that’s the cruising altitude of a commercial jetliner and double the normal skydiving altitude).

Why?

Aside from it being another item to check off on my “Big Life List” – it’s also to support the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. Their mission is to:

• Identify and nurture individuals with entrepreneurial potential
• Develop potential entrepreneurs in a practical, relevant and holistic way
• Provide students with real-world business skills and mentorship
• Promote entrepreneurship as a desirable career option and
• Support start-ups and micro-enterprises with skills, mentors, services, networks and finance arrangements

Every single penny of your pledge goes to support the education and programs here because 100% of the Virgin Unite (Virgin’s charity arm) overhead is borne by Sir Richard Branson. In fact, this school is the first time he has lent his personal name to any project. I have come to truly appreciate you guys as some of the most generous people on the planet. But as a little ‘incentive’ Mike and I wanted to show our thanks by putting together $524.89+ in special gifts just for supporting the two of us. In fact, a fraction of a penny pledged will qualify you for these resources (many of which are unavailable for sale anywhere else).

Our goal is to raising $1 (or more) for every foot we fall and are committed to matching funds up to $15,000.00 from our own pockets! So if you donate $100 we pony up the same c-note.

After personally spending time with Branson and the team from Virgin Unite in Necker Island – I’ve been even more inspired with what they are doing. We firmly believe entrepreneurial innovations and initiatives are going to help alleviate the biggest social issues. At Virgin Unite they call it - “Driving Business As a Force for Good”. With your donation - you can feel fulfilled knowing you’ve really made a difference to young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs in a part of the world that badly needs it.

Mike and I do not make a single dime from this so please support this anyway you can and tell a friend. Thanks!

*
In other news, I’m excited to announce 2-time Super Bowl champ, Carl Banks, is coming to Aspen for the upcoming Maverick Business Adventures™ “Rocky Mountain High” Experience Aug. 13-17, 2008.

Carl was a member of the Giants teams that won Super Bowls XXI and XXV.

But that’s just one part of Carl’s life. Staring during his playing days, Banks started designing clothes for his teammates. The clothing became so popular that he began to distribute them to major retailers and soon joined G-III Apparel to distribute the GIII/Carl Banks line of clothing which was a partnership that became highly successful. So successful that sales for this apparel manufacturer, licensee and distributor for 2007 added up to $518,870,000.00.

He won’t simply be there for a quick hour or 2. Carl will actually be with the Mavericks whitewater rafting and taking part in the adventure together.

What’s more, following white water rafting there’s another big surprise for members…

Carl is going to be firing up the grill and hosting a down home BBQ at our lodge! That’s right, we’ll get to chow down on his new “Famous 58″ line of barbecue products, already successfully sold on HSN.

There’s just one spot left for the adventure.

Don’t forget our celebrity icons are just the ‘cherry on top’ because the actual Maverick members coming are really some of the world’s most successful (and sharing) entrepreneurs. They are recognized as the top of their respective professions ranging from online pioneers, INC 500 companies, multi-national manufacturers, heads of financial institutions, renowned experts to International real estate developers and restaurateurs.

Fact is, a connection with any of these guys, to the right person, is worth a small fortune. And it’s exactly these kind of unique experiences that can provide the deeper, more meaningful connections than just meeting someone in a seminar or at the bar.

*

Final thing - I also just read a really interesting report from Chris Guillebeau – he piqued my interest with the way he lives his life and runs his business from remote location – while truly giving back! I’m working on interviewing him for a Secret Society interview soon.

Here’s an article I wrote a few years ago - I think the lessons here about freedom and independence are still incredibly timely so I’m reprinting it.

And in other exciting news - it’s Zoe 1st Birthday on Sunday so we’re getting ready around here for a crazy horde of hopped-up-on-too-much-sugar-kids to swarm our house! Wish me luck! (BTW - I’m thinking we’re going to do a sale on her actual birthday for a day or two - so keep your eyes peeled if I decide to.)

* Update: I decided to do it. It’s a 48-hour sale. Here’s the link * 

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July 4th for Americans is a chance to celebrate our independence. Trust me, I’m not going to get on a soapbox and start waving the flag - but I do think it’s important no matter what country you live in to really think about that word “independence” and its meaning for you.

My father reminded me that July 3, 1976 was his “Independence day” since that’s the date my family came over to the United States from Russia. (Pretty cool since it was right before the bi-centennial celebration.)

For me, my independence day was on July 1, 1999.

That’s the date I left my father’s business to work on my own. It was by far one of the hardest decisions of my life. You see, I had worked for my dad since I was 12 and he thought I was going to take over the company. I had that same thought as well until I got the “bug”. In fact, my wife, Missy, and I were talking about this recently. She was talking about how when she met me 11 years ago, I had only one thought: “how to grow my father’s business”. I would stay late working on new ads and marketing pieces. I was in early calling my accounts trying to make sales, etc. etc.

Now I had been studying direct marketing, and results were really paying off for my dad’s business. (Actually they still use a lot of the ads I wrote in 1998 because they still work today.) But with every ad I wrote I was getting more and more aggravated. Not because the ads weren’t producing sales - they were - but because of the grief and politics I had to deal with. Everybody seemed to be an advertising expert even though they’ve never studied or read anything on the subject. People mistakenly believe that if they wouldn’t “read all that copy” then nobody will. Or if the ad is “ugly” and has no pictures or pretty graphics it won’t work.

Complete and total crap.

For every ad I wrote I had to fight to get it out there. I got sick of it and decided I would create my own product so I could write ads for myself. My first product was to help dermatologists who wanted new cosmetic patients. It was a big kit (manual, tapes, reports, diskette, etc) based around some marketing consulting I was doing on the side for some of my customers.

I ran my first ad in April 1998 in Dermatologic Surgery magazine. I got 10 responses so I sent them the 20-page sales letter I’d written selling this $900 kit. Not one order.

I waited…

Sent out a 2nd notice to those 10 respondents.

Nothing…

Then I sent a 3rd notice telling them the expiration date to get all the free bonuses was only 10 days away. Finally on the very last day of the expiration date I got one order over the fax machine.

Yipeee!!

I still remember that doctor’s name in Flushing, NY. What an incredible feeling. That was the start of my independence. I realized I now had the power to chart my course as I wanted. That first sale. That’s one of the greatest feelings in the world - when something you’ve created is sold. It took me a little over a year after that first order to realize I wanted my freedom and I finally quit on July 1, 1999. Maybe it’s the new confidence you get when you realize you’ve created something that people want and are willing to exchange money for. That first sale is usually the hardest (but also the most rewarding).

It’s wonderful when I help turn on that light in people. I’ve seen it first-hand working my Apprentices and seeing them launch their products. How amazed they are by the
money pouring from around the globe. I love it!

So when will your independence day be?

If you’ve already achieved it - I bet you can remember it perfectly. Sometimes the bleakest times that we believe are terrible actually turn into a perfect opportunity.

Take my good friend, Jim Edwards, for example. His independence day came because he got fired. To him that wasn’t a blessing at first but as he looks back on it - it’s the best thing that ever happened.

I remember the conversation we had right after it happened. I was drinking a Maker’s Mark & Ginger and Jim was having a beer. We were talking about different projects he could try and pursue and do now. We were throwing around some ideas and we came up with “33 Days to Online Profits“. It was right there during that call that we outlined each of the days and moved forward from there. And “33 Days” has been a tremendous six-figure income earner for both of us and it hasn’t stopped yet.

So what can you do to achieve your independence?

I’ll give you a couple things to take to heart. I can’t remember the author who said this but he said, “If you show me what a man does in his spare time I’ll show you the type
of man he’ll become.” What are doing with your spare time?

- Watching TV or reading?

- Napping or practicing your copywriting?

- Yakking to your friends or studying direct marketing?

It all comes down to the choices we make every single day.

In fact, you shouldn’t let one day go by without making sure you are taking at least one proactive step towards your own independence. Just because the thought of you doing what you want when you want may seem so far away - don’t let that stop you from taking those baby steps each and every day. That’s one of my rules and I hope you’ll
adopt it.

What else?

Learn to be different. The truth is you need to become extraordinary to achieve extraordinary results. You can’t be like everyone else (and why would you want to). That means doing the things other don’t (or won’t) do. That also means NOT listening to their advice (unless they are doing what you want to do). Frankly, if you simply did the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing you’d turn out okay.

Why? If only 5% of people are truly successful and the 95% are the mediocre majority - doesn’t that mean the majority is wrong? Don’t engage in their thinking. Don’t follow their lead. Don’t adhere to the same values and standards the “95-percenters” do.

Two people who really helped me clarify my thinking on this was Earl Nightingale and also Dan Kennedy.

Please don’t get me wrong - in no way am I trying to be elitist. I’m not. But it is tremendously important to go through your day with your eyes wide open. The truth is most of your friends (right now) probably don’t want you to change and succeed. That would imply that they are losers. That would mean they are failures. Nobody is going to propel you to succeed except yourself.

So get on it and proclaim your own Independence Day starting, as Neil Diamond sings, “T-O-D-A-Y!”

*

Quick side note: My buddy, John Reese, just released some very cool videos for his upcoming Traffic Secrets 2.0 release. Check it out - he’s giving up some good info to expand your thinking about generating traffic to your sites. It’s yours without jumping through hoops or giving up your email.

Have a great 4th of July!

Two days ago Missy woke up with her stomach in knots because she had to call our maid, M., to fire her. M. had been cleaning our house for the last few years but she’s been getting progressively worse. She went on vacation for 2 weeks and we started using Missy’s sister’s maid and they’ve been way more thorough. So now it was time to let M. go but Missy had been procrastinating about it.

She’s been putting this off for nearly 2 weeks now and it got me thinking about our ‘tough’ decisions. Like most everyone else I too have struggled with making the kind of decisions that leave us feeling uncomfortable.

It’s easier to keep putting them off but that doesn’t do any good.

I know any time I’ve had a decision weighing on me it’s something that keeps nagging at me and leaves me feeling uneasy. But when I finally make the hard call or have the difficult it’s never really as bad as I had worked it up to be. In fact, I’ve found the longer you ruminate on it the worse it gets.

Thinking back here are a few vivid examples that spring to mind…

Buying Our First Place…
When Missy and I were engaged we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Bethesda, MD. It’s a great place because you can walk everywhere and there are towns of restaurants and quaint shops. (In fact, I tell visitors that Bethesda has the most restaurants per square foot of any city. I’m not 100% sure that’s an accurate fact but I think it’s true and it sounds good.)

Anyway, the two of us really loved it there but wanted some place bigger. Plus, this was the time when my online business first started taking off. So we went searching for a place in Bethesda – but everything was pretty over-priced (or we thought it was anyway). But we found a nice 2-bedroom apartment in our building but it faced the opposite side from where we lived at the time. It overlooked NIH (National Institute of Health) and the view was nothing special. What’s more, the sun hit that side in the morning instead of the afternoon like our other place we were currently renting.

Regardless, we wanted to buy our own place and decided within a few days to buy the place. Then it started…

We both should have been really excited but we weren’t. Come to think of it we were sort of depressed the next day. What had we done?

Missy ended up calling up one of her sorority friends, Gina, who was an attorney to see what we could do to get out of the contract. I can’t remember the exact specifics on number of days but it was something like 3 days you could rescind the contract with a written notification. We had a letter drafted and delivered it our real estate agent (who also lived in our building) at the 11th hour. But it was done and we didn’t have to go through with buying the apartment. Ahhhh…..Joy & relief took hold again.

The big lesson for me here was we didn’t listen to our gut feeling about it not feeling right. I know that sounds wishy-washy and woo-woo – but I don’t think enough people (especially men) pay attention to their gut. 2 interesting follow-ups on this:

1) My best friend, John, did buy an apartment in our building too. His faced the side of the street we liked and he ended up making a tidy profit when he sold a few years later.

2) When we bought our first house – the gut feeling was right and Missy instantly knew she was in the right spot. (Same with our current place.)

Breaking Away from My Dad’s Business…
Definitely one of the biggest decisions gnawing at me for awhile was whether or not to leave my Father’s medical equipment sales & service business. Originally when I started working with him (since I was 14 selling latex gloves) and thought that I would work in it to really grow it. But I started getting the ‘itch’ to go on my own in 1998.

That’s when I started experimenting with the information marketing business selling to doctors resources and tools on how to get more cosmetic patients. I remember the very first ad I ran - it was a little classified ad in Dermatologic Surgery Journal. I ended up getting exactly 10 leads. Now I didn’t have my course ready but I had a 30-page sales letter to mail out. I sent it to all 10 leads and waited…and waited…and waited.

Nothing.

Every time the fax machine rang at my Dad’s office I’d go up there to see if it was an order. (I was using his fax # on my order page to save money.) It was like some sort of Pavlovian conditioning where I’d hear the dial tones and start running – but to no avail.

I sent out a 2nd notice and still nothing. Finally, I mailed out a 3rd notice highlighting the approaching deadline for all the bonuses (I had yet to create). On the final day of the deadline – I went up to the fax machine to watch it slooooooooowly print out my very first order for $900! It was awesome! I can still remember that feeling. After I peeled myself off the ceiling – I realized I had to create the product and bonuses that were only an outline. I wrote a letter back to my first customer telling him the material was going to be republished and would be available in 30 days – and that we would not charge his card until then.

And that was the start of my little info marketing empire.

My Dad was pretty flexible and let me continue using his office as my home base. I would seriously answer my cell phone under my desk when it rang with customers to talk to them or take orders. It got to the point where I was literally counting the minutes until 5pm so I could work on my own stuff. And then my Dad let me start taking Fridays off so I could work on my own projects.

The idea that I was somehow ‘betraying’ him and the family business was eating me up. I knew my heart wasn’t into his business anymore and I finally decided I had to break away. My Dad wanted me to grow his business and work with him side-by-side. I decided I couldn’t continue living my life under the expectations of someone else. I had to do what was right for me. And it was actually nearly 9 years ago to the day that I left the company – July 1, 1999.

It was bittersweet as they had a small going away party for me but I knew it was the right decision. Looking back, it’s was by far the best decision I ever made for my financial future. My Dad was worried that I might fail – but that’s okay too. Part of independence is getting your nose bloodied a little in the real-world.

Attending My First Seminar…
While studying and applying the direct marketing methods I began learning – I got sent an invitation to attend a high-priced copywriting seminar put on by Dan Kennedy. This was back in October 1998 I almost passed up an opportunity that I would later realize was the turning point in my business (and bank account).

My fledging information marketing business to doctors might have been pulling in maybe $2,000 or $3000/mo – so no great shakes. I was really hesitant and unsure about spending several thousand dollars and missing several days of work (both of which I couldn’t really afford) to head out to Phoenix to attend this seminar.

I asked my Dad about it and he was making fun of me and telling me I shouldn’t go. He would chide me (in his thick Russian accent) “Mr. Yanik, why do you want to throw away your money. If you have so much of it I can help you get rid of it. Don’t you already have enough of these books and tapes?”

But I bit the bullet and decided to go.

Frankly, if I had listened to him I know I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today. I can directly attribute that single event to the moment when several things all ‘clicked’ for me and I “got it”. I discovered the power of how to use words and turn them into cash windfalls. Of course nobody ever looks back on an opportunity they DIDN’T take and remembers that as the turning point in their lives. [Side note: Speaking of seminars and missing out on opportunities – there is a limited window to pick-up the Underground® 4 DVD & CD recordings. They go back into the vault on July 1, 2008.]

Personally, I’ve found that people regret the things you don’t do much more than you things they do. And that’s exactly how I want to live my life – not thinking of ‘shoulda’, ‘coulda’ or ‘woulda’s.

In fact, I believe most of what we consider tough decisions are really illusions that we’ve built up in our own heads. (btw – if you haven’t read the book Illusions by Richard Bach – get it!) Most of the really tough decisions are a whole lot easier once we reach that decision – it’s simply the wavering, the gestating, the thinking, the unease that comes from being in limbo that really hurts. But once the decision is done – there this wave of calm and tranquility that sweeps over me.

With that in mind – here are 5 things you can try when you are faced with a tough decision:

1) Think about what’s the worst case scenario – What is the worst possible thing that can happen if I make the wrong decision? With going off on my own – I had those wild thoughts of my Father disowning me. He might have been disappointed but he didn’t flip out.

2) Listen to your gut – this is huge! Don’t try to rationalize your way out of decision making – you’ve got incredible wisdom stored inside you that is willing to help if you allow it.

3) Create a deadline for a decision – if you give yourself an indefinite amount of time to decide on a course of action you’ll drive yourself crazy. Think of yourself as a high powered CEO of your own life who MUST make decisions quickly. Even if they are wrong 49% of the time – you’ll be ok more often than not.

4) Visualize your ideal outcome – anytime I have a real nagging dilemma or something I’m worried about I use my friend, John Harricharan’s, “Power Pause” exercise. You take 3 minutes (1 minute for each part) to think about #1 - What you want to happen. #2 – How you feel when this happens. #3 – What you are grateful for in your life.

5) Band-aid solution– you know how it sucks to pull off band aids (especially for us hairier people)? Well the secret is just pull it off quickly! Nothing is worse than paralysis by analysis. You’ll never have ALL the information you need. Get what you can – and do the best you can. Then move on.

And bonus decision making tip - flip a coin. That’s how I decided to propose to Missy. Seriously (shhh….don’t tell her)

Actually getting back to Missy. She couldn’t get a hold of M. so she came to clean our house as usual on Tuesday. Missy told her in-person that we weren’t going to use her anymore and M. seemed relieved. It seems that there were some other clients she wanted to work for but couldn’t because she was at our house on Tuesdays. There you go – all that angst and gut-wrenching turmoil could have been avoided.

Do you have a decision making technique you use that helps?
Or how have you made it through tough decisions in your life? If you’re comfortable leaving a comment on that - it’d be great to hear that…

Just a quick note today before I head out to play hockey.

3 big events in the Silver household.

#1 - Probably the biggest one is Zak went poop on the potty today for the first time. Yes, that tops the list by far. He’s been peeing for a few days but he would only go in a diaper before this. We all jumped around like crazy people and applauded. Here’s a quick snapshot of him triumphant in the bathroom with his victory lollipop:

#2 - We had a front page story come out about Maverick Business Adventures on Conde Naste’s Portfolio.com site. Here we are:

This was from our last Las Vegas trip. There were a couple little points in the article that weren’t quite correct (like us being a guy’s club - we’re not) or all Internet entrepreneurs (we got $100M manufacturing companies in there as members). But overall - I think it turned out well. (Check out Brad Fallon in the picture - the angle makes him look a little Neanderthal-like.)

If you were interested in attending a Maverick experience - the next one (with female members coming) is Aug. 13 -17, 2008 in Aspen. We only got 5 spots left! We’re doing Whitewater rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking and a 4×4 excursion.

#3 - We launched the new Underground 4 DVDs & CDs today. They are going back into the vault on July 1st (or sooner once all 500 sets are sold-out). If you missed out attending live this is the next best thing! I had a bunch of attendees make it a point to come up and tell me it was the best Underground event yet. (And that’s definitely saying a lot considering who we’ve brought it before.) I guess it makes sense since added together the grand total our speakers sell each year totals nearly $1B (yes, One Billion!) online. The last one was definitely our biggest and baddest one yet. There were about 328 sets last time I checked earlier.

So all in all a busy little day over here. We got our Spring league playoff hockey game for the Chiefs tonight and I’m in charge of buying beer so I need to scoot.