Make sure you pay close attention to this short story as I’ll SUBTLY reveal some life lessons (beyond the main point) that will make you an “Optimized-Man-Baller”… and possibly very rich.

Yesterday I mowed the shit out of some lawn.

The riding mower was on the fritz so I pulled out the push-type one.

The lawn is big so 3 hours later, after walking a ton, I was done.

It’s fantastic to do yard work. A) it feels like ‘real’ work. Getting away from the computer is absolutely necessary for nerds like myself and B) it gives me the opportunity to listen to interviews, I Love Marketing episodes, or audiobooks.

So I spent about 3 straight hours behind the mower.

Last night I got in bed and closed my eyes to fall asleep. As I lay there my mind drifted to the mower. I was back in the yard, mowing. I could hear the engine. I could feel my hands on the metal grip.

You’ve likely experienced this before: after hours of doing something — like riding in a boat — you feel as though you’re still in that experience as you go to bed.

Or, if you work intensely for a hours a day, or study really hard, your thoughts at night drift towards your work.

Your mind is in ‘that world’ without really any conscious effort.

NOW… think about how you spend the majority of your time.

The activities you do during the day undoubtedly carry with you to your sleep.

If you harbor negative thoughts regularly, they’re subconsciously (and possibly consciously) reappearing as you sleep.

If you hate your line of work… going there every day is just going to make you better at it, keep your mind focused on it, and make it that much more difficult to transition out of it.

Beyond the dangers, you might see how you could positively leverage this knowledge.

If there’s something you want, you’ve got to spend HOURS (not minutes) a day not just thinking about it, but also practicing it.

And if you’re consistent, you’ll also be focused on it during your rest time.

Not enough hours in the day you say? Bull shit. You’re practicing in your sleep.

One minute spent practicing negative thought patterns might translate into hours.

One hour spent practicing self-improvement behaviors might translate into several hours.

Your mind wants to make you rich, bitch, now pay attention.

For a bigger write ups on exact things to do, Visas, passport stamps, places to stay, etc., check this post by Sean Ogle and this one by Chris Guillebeau.

(Disclaimer: This is Havana as viewed through the eyes of tourist gringos.)

One of my new rituals is sitting down with my post-workout meal and studying mid-day infomercials.

I love it.

A couple days ago an ‘Insanity’ infomercial came on. ‘Insanity’ is ‘hardcore’ body weight workout program. They promise insane results to those who give insane effort.

So I’m sitting there watching and up pops the face of someone who looked familiar. I thought I recognized him from the The Hollywood Physique forum.

Then they showed his before/after shot.

I was shocked.

His before picture was the same one he posted in the THP forum.

WTF?

I’m not sure I have all the information, but from what I’ve gathered, this guy saw INSANE results on the Hollywood Physique. It’s documented — there are progressive sets of pictures (taken every Sunday), clearly showing his progress.

Then this guy went on to do Insanity and he thought his results went a bit further (in actuality, I think he looked better in his THP after shots before Insanity).

Here’s a dude on national television, providing his testimonial for a product (Insanity) that wasn’t what gave him the results.

The REAL results came on Clay’s Hollywood Physique. 

There’s no real motive behind this post and I’m not mad at this guy or anything. 

Here’s the point:

Unless he was motivated by ‘fame’ or being on TV… AND, assuming there’s nothing fishy going on… he attributed his RESULTS to the wrong product.

And all of us do this ALL THE TIME.

We fail to really understand where our results come from, and our failures.

I’ve been doing a tiny bit of experimentation with my diet over the past 3 weeks. And I noticed some interesting results (more to come later).

I caught myself thinking, “Wow, this new experiment is working like gang busters.”

In a way, it is. But the truth is, 80-90% of my workout results thus far can be attributed to the Hollywood Physique.

I’d be lying to myself, if I said otherwise.

The same goes for failures. We often accuse or blame products (especially information products) for our failures when there are a host of other variables at work.

On the flip side, when results come we tend to think of them as coming out of nowhere. If you suddenly have a business breakthrough, it doesn’t mean that all the previous teachers, products or things you learned in the past are irrelevant in comparison to the ‘latest’ thing you were using. We can partially thank advertisers for these thoughts, but the point remains: THINK before you fully ATTRIBUTE. And dammit, give Clay his due for creating the best results-oriented muscle building product around.

I’m writing out a famous ad by hand for Copy Hour titled, “About This Stock And Bond Business…”

The ad essentially just provides a crash course on what stocks and bonds are, and how the whole business works.

Here’s an excerpt:

“What are common stocks worth? That depends on what people are willing to pay for them…(which is) largely determined by one factor – earnings. That includes what the company has earned (its past record), what it is earning (its present state of health), and what it might earn (its prospects for the future).”

This got me thinking: why don’t we apply and evaluate most everything in our lives based on these factors?

Business Opportunities

Evaluating a business opportunity based on past, present, and future factors is a no brainer right? You wouldn’t think so based on what decisions people ultimately make. We always try to think intrinsically – what’s my passion? If your passion is VCR repair, then you’re shit out of luck.

Let’s run a VCR repair business through the past, present, future test:

• Past earnings? Great.
• Current earnings? Shit.
• Future earnings? Dog shit.

This applies to so much more than business (just like my last post on the 6k System For Attracting Millions & Models).

Building Muscle

Let’s evaluate our current physical shape. Are we happy with it? If no, then let’s look at the workout plan we’re using and the results it has produced.

• Past workout results? OK. Gained some muscle.
• Current workout results? Not great. Stalled.
• Future results? Probably not great.

The next step would be evaluate the diet plan based on past, present, and future. With every decision there are multiple factors to run through this test.

(If you need a workout plan that produces results, you know what I recommend: Hollywood Physique)

Attracting Women

Let’s evaluate a girl we’re interested in dating. And let’s say we’re at the point where we’re looking for a woman to mother our children.

We probably have some set criteria that we want in that woman. We’d look at each feature we’d want in this woman and run it through the past, present, and future test.

Let’s say we want a woman who is faithful because we want to be sure we’re only providing for children that are ours.

Example girl’s:

• Past faithfulness? Cheated on her ex boyfriend with you.
• Current faithfulness? Faithful.
• Future faithfulness? Unsure. Probably all good.

Now, maybe this girl has a bright future of faithfulness. What you need to determine is how predictive you think past actions are of future actions. There’s a lot to weigh.

But can you afford NOT to do this?

Are You Being Intelligent?

The ad goes on to say, looking at these factors is something the “intelligent” investor does. Why don’t we expect ourselves, or force ourselves, to be “intelligent” in our life choices? Life is pretty important right?

I’m developing a new 6-step process for writing copy over at the Copy Hour challenge. This system applies just as much to copywriting and business as it does to attracting the opposite sex.

Here it is:

1. Know your audience.
2. Know your audience.
3. Know your product.
4. Know sales psychology.
5. Know it takes work.
6. Know your bank account number so you can deposit checks.

I’m slightly kidding with this list, but I do think it’s valid.

1. Know Your audience.

Whether it be a potential client or certain type of woman, you have to know that person inside and out. What they want, what they’re looking for, what turns them on, what turns them off, what’s their past behavior, what products/men do they go for?

2. Know Your Audience

Seriously it’s the hardest part. Know your audience and the rest is fairly easy.

3. Know Your Product

Who are you… really? Read my post about types. Know EXACTLY what your product does for people. What your audience finds attractive about it. Enhance those features, show them off, hammer in the benefits. Fix the flaws.

4. Know Human Psychology

Beyond just your audience’s ‘type’, humans generally respond to certain universal triggers. Read the book ‘Influence’ for starters. Read anything you can on human psychology. More importantly interact, think, and study.

5. Know It Takes Work

Once you accept that it’s going to be difficult (and you will need to sacrifice almost EVERYTHING) to make millions and mate with models, it’s easy.

6. Know Your Bank Account Number And Home Address

Know where to deposit the checks. Know how to take the babes home.

We continue to ask, “What can I do for you?”

This is a good question… but it produces little, if any, feedback or results.

A better question is, “Did you like that?” or “Is this helpful,” or “Should I continue?”

What’s the difference and why is the second question better?

Asking Is Rude

As social creatures we are trained not to ‘demand’ things of others. Asking people for anything is impolite.

Dean Jackson has a wonderful metaphor for this:

Say you’re in someone’s home. They say to you, “Make yourself at home. If you want anything, there’s food in the fridge.”

Now, say that they walk up to you with a plate full of freshly baked cookies, extend it towards you, and say, “Would you like one?”

In the second scenario it’s now rude to decline the cookie.

The offer is now almost impossible to ignore.

We have to offer people fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies.

Instead of asking them what they want… offer them something you THINK they might love & adjust from there.

Take this situation: You’re trying to pay for a bill when you’re out with friends. They insist “No, let’s split it, etc.” If no one takes out their money and physically tries to hand it to you, it’s easy to stifle their attempts. If they shove the money in your hand, it’s hard. Same goes in reverse. If you’re trying to hand someone money for something and they refuse – put the money in their hand and they’ll quickly stop protesting.

IMPORTANT: If you start offering people something you think they might love, you make it easy for them to accept, they feel bad for declining, BUT… afterwards they feel poorly about their decision… that’s buyer’s remorse.

But if you know your audience well — and what you offer is actually helpful — BOOM. Now you’re a bad ass trusted advisor.

• You’ll be loved in business
• You’ll be love by everyone around you.

The other weekend my friend’s mom needed some help around the house.

I kept asking her, “What can I do?”

I never received a straight answer and I moped around for awhile feeling a bit useless.

Then, I looked out the window and saw a family friend of theirs drive up to the house. The woman got out of her car and immediately began to weed the yard. She didn’t even come inside to say ‘hello’. She got right to work helping.

That gave me a hint. I didn’t ask anymore. I just started doing things — 20 minutes later she was thanking me.

How can you apply this to your businesses? Comment below:

I was going to write a cleverly spun blog post today. I was going to provide a ton of value upfront before I asked you for anything. I was going to try to get you excited to join me at copyhour.com this weekend… but I’ve decided against that.

I’ll just come out and say it: Join CopyHour.

If you read my blog you’re likely interested in self-improvement and/or men’s lifestyle topics.

And, you likely want to start a small business of your own.

Don’t be one of those people who wants something but then wont do anything about it. That’ll just lead to EXTREME unhappiness.

Copywriting is a needed skill. If you can’t understand that… you’re beyond hope.

CopyHour Is Closed For A Few Weeks – Get On The Wait-List Here.

We all tend to think we’re sooo much different than the next guy.

But are we really?

For the longest time I felt alone in my business & lifestyle pursuits. I had one other friend, Clay, who had the same vision as me.

Even though I belonged to the lifestyle design community, I didn’t feel very attached to it. It seemed to me like no one really cared about business. They didn’t care about learning the fundamentals. They didn’t care about becoming good at marketing. It didn’t seem like anyone was doing anything besides starting blogs.

And these thoughts bounced around in my head for a long time… Clay and I were special, right? Our mindset, our struggles, our goals, our pursuits were different right?

Not so fast…

When I went to Thailand a few years ago, I met people who were actually successful ‘lifestyle designers.’ I met and interacted with people who I thought were in ‘my camp’.

But I still felt like this was a REALLY small group. And like I was still an outsider even amongst that group.

Not so fast…

Recently, I joined a community put together by Dan Andrews, the Dynamite Circle…

And within 15 minutes of logging in for the first time I was exposed to around 250 people who seem to be in my camp.

They have the same goals, same questions, same struggles, fears, etc.

Truth is, I still don’t feel like I 100% belong to this group – I have differing ideas on what actions I’ll take to #win in business (I’ll save these thoughts for a later date).

This just furthers my point: We tend to always think we’re different, that we don’t fit the norms of a type.

But the quicker you see that this isn’t always true, the more quickly you’ll be able to identify your ‘type’. And when you have clarity on what ‘type’ you are, you can play to your strengths, or limit the weaknesses of your type, or even work to change your type.

At the moment, I don’t really have a great exercise to give you to discover your type.

There are even lots of different ‘types’ for different aspects of your life.

What type of person are you related to business? Are you a biz opportunist? Are you an employee… what type of employee are you?

What type of dater or partner are you? Distracted? Thoughtful? Macho?

What type of consumer are you? Driven by impulse and emotion? Analytical?

The best way to figure out your type is to analyze past habits. Be brutally honest with yourself.

What did you do? What did you buy? Who do you enjoy hanging out with? What’s your job? Why did you chose it? etc…

1. You are a type.
2. Figure out what that type is.
3. Now do something about it – change it, or 80/20 it for max results.

Types Applied To Business

Now, in our businesses we have to understand that our customers are ‘types.’ As a group they share interests, fears, desires, etc.

If you understand what your customer type is, you can a) find them with your marketing efforts and b) effectively sell your products/services to them by speaking to their desires and type makeup.

If you’re at all interested in business, I think you’d benefit greatly from the small group I’m putting together here: www.copyhour.com

Understanding your potential customers is one the greatest challenges of writing effective sales copy. And poor copywriting is usually what determines who wins and loses in small business.

I’ll be closing down registration April 22nd, so check that site now.

- Derek

• What’s the ‘thing’ that’s enabled me to build a couple successful businesses and travel the world in the process?
• What’s the ‘thing’ that’s also held me back from taking my businesses, income, and subsequently, my freedom, to the next level?

++++++++++++++++

Sales letters.

++++++++++++++++

When I returned from 8 months of traveling through South America a few years back I was faced with a choice. Get a job, or leverage the skills I’d developed and create a small business.

I decided to write an eBook for James Bond fans and build a small business around it.

I put a lot of effort into that ebook it and it was pretty damn good.

But the best products don’t market themselves in the beginning… especially when you don’t have an established audience.

So what I’d do?

I wrote a sales letter.

I spent weeks on that first letter. I studied all the copywriting resources I could, and forced out a sales letter.

And you know what? It converted at right about 1% to ‘cold traffic’.

I started making sales and overtime, I built up enough customers, and a big enough back-end of product offerings, to have a tiny but profitable business.

Obviously, there were many factors that determine the success of a business venture… but none are more immediately impactful than a converting sales letter in my opinion.

Nothing else can enable your freedom more quickly.

A good sales letter works for you 24/7/365.

A good sales letter lets focus on other things — developing other products or traveling if you want.

I believe one of the greatest skills a business owner can posses is the ability to communicate effectively. To communicate the value of their products or services. And this is exactly what a well written sales letter does.

Now, I also believe that sales letters have held me back from achieving my goals.

How so?

Since writing that first letter I’ve gone on to write other sales messages that have pulled in over 10k in a few hours. Another did 25k over the course of a few days. I’ve written single blog posts that have pulled in 1-2k a month consistently for years.

BUT, I’ve never actually taken my writing abilities to the NEXT LEVEL. AND, I certainly don’t write enough of them!

I haven’t gone deep and really spent the time I know I need to spend. I’ve simply procrastinated. My copywriting skills have stalled & stagnated. And it’s no surprise that my freedom has been limited because of it.

I want to write more. I want to write better. I want more freedom. I want more money and abundance in my life.

That’s why I’m taking the time to go deep an hour a day and work on honing my copywriting skills.

If you want to join me on this journey, visit my site www.CopyHour.com and signup.

- Derek

I recently posted a quick survey to LU.com readers asking them what challenge they’d like to see next, and more importantly, PARTICIPATE in.

It’s time to get off our asses, change, and grow (& make more money if you’re in to that).

Well, the responses kind of shocked me a little. Many people wanted to participate in a copywriting challenge. The goal to wake up every morning and write for 1 hour.

My buddy Clay and I have literally been procrastinating on doing this challenge ourselves for close to a year now.

Instead of twiddling my thumbs about whether or not it was a good idea to faciliate this challenge… I took action, and in under 30 hours, CopyHour.com was born.

I’m going to call this challenge “The 8 Week Million Dollar Copywriting Challenge”.

There’s pretty much zero excuse NOT to participate in this if you’re at all interested in business. Copywriting is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. You’ll be writing emails, scripts, sales letters, blog posts, ads, etc. Or you’ll at least be judging a copywriter and hiring someone to do it.

You can get the full details at the site:
CopyHour.com

The page is designed to look simple & like an actual letter because the focus should be on the words & copy.

Cheers,
Derek