Part of the complete Psychotactics newsletter archive ← Back to Index

December 2015

The Power of Chocolate Marketing

📅 December 22, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Power of Chocolate Marketing (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2015)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Imagine you sold a course that was worth $2500 to a client.Imagine you also sent a bar of chocolate, just as a thank you.

Six years later, what does the client remember?

Yes, you have the right answer: they remember the chocolate! Incredible as it may sound, the expense of the course is long forgotten, but the memory of the chocolate—a single bar of chocolate—lingers on. And you know what’s even more incredible? Most of us don’t send the chocolate!

So why is the chocolate so very important?

It’s important because it was a “little thing”. In comparison to the product or service itself, it’s pretty tiny, but it still takes up an inordinate space in the mind of the client. And at Psychotactics, we’ve been sending out chocolate for many years and for different reasons.

And at times, for no reason at all. Like in May 2015, when we sent out 197 chocolates for clients who opted in–yes, for the chocolate!

But shipping chocolates can be expensive

A quick trip to the post-office may get your eyebrows raised, especially if you ship chocolates internationally. However, you also have other options. When I was a cartoonist (these are in the days before I got into marketing), I’d send a monthly calendar to my clients.

Sure it’s easier to send a yearly calendar, but month after month they got that tiny “little thing”. And it was something to look forward to, and a lot more economical than sending huge slabs of chocolate. We also send out postcards to clients. Simple, yet elegant postcards that clients find it hard to throw away.

But why is all of this chocolate, calendars and postcards so important?

You’ve heard the saying, “It’s the thought that counts”. Well, that’s exactly the point. In today’s world, when clients order something, they get that something and nothing else.

When you send a little extra, and preferably something that’s not related to the product or service, you’re bringing a sense of wonderment that’s hard to beat.

It’s important to be personalised, however…

There are services online that will send out cards, chocolates and all sorts of goodies. If you can personalise the message, it’s sensible to use these services, but it’s smarter to send out small goodies from your own office or home.

For instance, we live in New Zealand. When we send out a chunky slab of chocolate, you know it’s going to be a Whittaker’s chocolate. If we send a postcard it’s going to have a New Zealand stamp on the envelope. These are tiny elements, but they bring a ton of personality to the gift.

Your clients may be local, but you still want to create a bit of personality

Something that’s sold in a tiny boutique store right next to your home will be far more thoughtful than something that’s available in a mall.

Your own handwriting on a postcard, beats any printing service, no matter how amazing the service. Even your handwriting on the envelope makes a huge difference to the recipient, so yes, do try writing.

In the world of marketing you’re told how to write sales letters, how to write great headlines, etc.

And while all of those skills count, we know for a fact that what really counts is the connection. “Little things” can make a bigger and longer-lasting impression on the client.

So much so that when they’re faced with trying to remember which product or service they bought from you, their memories often fail.

All they can remember is the chocolate! Send chocolate!

Top Selling Products Under $50

Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales [ http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets ]

Story Telling Series: How to Create Clear and Memorable Business Stories [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/ ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies: Episode 61 What Does It Take To Be Super-Human? A Deep Dive Into The Reality of Business (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/61_How_To_Get_Over_The_Start_Up_Roadblocks.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/reality-business/ ] |

Report: Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/free/headlines-fail/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools Tell your friends: http://www.psychotactics.com/tell-a-friend Resources I recommend: http://www.psychotactics.com/resources Where do you start: http://www.psychotactics.com/products Three Month Vacation: http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Important: You are subscribed to the Free Psychotactics Newsletter.’ If you un-subscribe from this letter, you won’t receive any goodies, offers, or newsletters in future. If you’re getting duplicate newsletters, email us and we’ll make sure you get just one copy. Email renuka@psychotactics.com

The Brain Audit

Why Clients Buy (And Why They Don’t) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]______________________http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/

Dartboard Pricing Strategy

A Systematic Method To Increase Prices (Without Losing Clients) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/how-to-be-able-to-tell-a-great-headline-from-a-crappy-one-in-a-matter-of-seconds/

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsTCwsLMw=

Free Goodies: How To Stand Out From Your Competition

📅 December 19, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/

This is a reminder in case you missed last weeks email

Have you ever wondered what it might feel like to not be me-too?

What would it be like to stand out from the competition in a way

that customers choose you over everyone else? And what if you

were to raise your prices, and they still kept coming?

That’s what uniqueness can do to your product or service.

Yet most of us seem to know what makes our product or service

better than competition.

But the customer doesn’t know.

So they go elsewhere.

Some cheaper. Somewhere crappier. But they don’t come to you

in the droves you’ve imagined.

Presenting: Uniqueness Goodies (Yup, FREE Goodies!)

Everyone tells you that uniqueness is important, but no one tells you

how to work through the uniqueness minefield.

Until now, that is..

You will get access to articles, audio and video.

Even if you don’t like video, I would recommend you watch the

videos. They are just 15 minutes. Your understanding of uniqueness

will change dramatically after you watch these detailed videos and

reading the articles.

Here is the sequence of what to expect in the coming weeks

Free Goodie No. 1: Uniqueness: Why We Get It Wrong

Free Goodie No. 2: Getting to Uniqueness Part 1 & 2

Free Goodie No. 3: Uniqueness: The Importance of the Mundane and

the Seemingly Uninteresting

Free Goodie No. 4: Uniqueness mistakes and how to avoid them

Free Goodie No. 5: Uniqueness: The Difference (and Resemblance)

Between Uniqueness and the Other Red Bags

Free Goodie No. 6: Uniqueness: Do You Need To Carve Out a

Uniqueness For ‘Every’ Product or Service?

How to get the goodies?

Have a look at this page for all the details: Uniqueness Free Goodies [ http://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/ ]

Regards

Sean D’Souza

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsTOzsjIw=

The 6 Most Important Lessons In Marketing

📅 December 15, 2015 | View in Gmail

The 6 Most Important Lessons In Marketing (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2015)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Follow up.
Follow up.
Follow up.
Follow up.
Follow up.
Follow up.

How do I know this to be true?

Because recently we launched a book on Membership Sites. As is the norm, we give the best price to our members at 5000bc. We also let them know about the product a lot in advance. They read it in announcements, on the forum etc. So what price would your members choose to buy the product at? The lowest possible price or a higher price?

You’d be surprised at what you’d find…

Our logical minds would tell us that the lowest possible price is when you’d pick up a product. But that’s not the case. Yes, many members do pick it up at the member’s price. But at least 15% or more pick up the product/service/workshop at a higher price.

Now why would they do that?

We can’t say. And neither can you. Maybe they weren’t convinced. Maybe they didn’t read the earlier emails. Maybe they were on vacation.

Maybe-and the maybes don’t matter.

What does matter is that a reasonable number of buyers (and we’re still talking members here) do buy at a higher price, and on a later date. Which means that if we didn’t follow up, those sales may not have happened.

And this little insight shows you that if your closest, tightest band of followers aren’t paying that much attention after being reminded over and over again, how will the rest of your audience react?

Yup, you got it right

The rest of the audience is more skeptical, more distant and so yes, logically they would react much slower. The less connected your audience is to you, the more they’d hesitate to buy your product. And hence, if you don’t follow up, you miss the chance of getting the sale from this audience for sure.

But that’s not all.

When you miss out on a sale, you don’t just miss out on one sale

I recently bought a series on “how to draw trees, how to draw skies” etc. I bought that product about three weeks ago. Yesterday, I bought some more product from that very same instructor. So what are the chances that I’d buy the second series, if I’d not bought the first?

It doesn’t take much to guess that you don’t get to second base, unless you slide to first. And yet the first would have never got my interest if it wasn’t for the consistent follow up.

Which is all very fine in theory, but how do you follow up without being a pest?

Well, it depends. There are several ways of following up. Yes, the most effective way is to be direct and to the point. That means an email that says: “Announcing the book on XYZ…” is going to get far more response than anything else you can send to your list.

That single announcement that is pure sales and nothing else will get a far greater open rate than any other email. Yes, it’s salesy, but customers want to buy from you. So if you have something to sell, they want to see it.

But being direct and to the point continuously, isn’t the best of ideas

If you keep pummeling someone with sales offers, they’ll soon tire of you, and stop paying attention no matter how great your offer. You can however, follow up with other methods. E.g. a book excerpt. Or a few testimonials from clients embedded in your weekly newsletter. Or an interview where you talk about your book.

As you can tell, there are many ways to follow up for a single product

And you don’t want to do them all at once. The mistake that rookies make is that they send out the excerpt, the testimonials, the interview etc. all in one email.

Well, fine, so now what do you have left to send to you list, when you want to follow up? Not a lot, huh! So keeping the follow up sequence ready is pretty darned critical. And yes, make sure you create this sequence well in advance.

In advance?

Yes, in advance. When you’re first selling a product/service all your cylinders are firing. Yes, you may be exhausted from having to put the product together, put the sales sequence etc. but that’s the point when you’re most focused on your product.

If you put together the entire sequence-or at least six follow up steps, you’ll get those follow up steps out of the door on time. If you don’t, you’ll soon get distracted with taking a break or just launching something else, and your existing product will get bounced to a black hole on your to-do list.

So follow up:

Follow up many times. Six is a good starting point.
Even your best customers don’t pay attention the first time, or even the fifth time.
A great starting price is often not incentive enough. Your best customers are likely to buy even when the price rises, so keep at it.
If your best customers are not paying attention, ahem, guess how much more work you have to do for the rest of your customers.
So it’s one sale. Nope, it’s not. If you don’t make this one, you miss out on future sales as well.
You can indeed follow up without being a pest-provided you plan your sequence of follow ups.
If you front-load all your follow-ups in one email, you have nothing to follow-up with. So yeah, space them out.
Plan and put the follow-ups in place at the time when you’re most exuberant (and yes, most exhausted). It may not make sense to work when you’re so fed up of everything, but once the moment passes, it will be even harder to put any sequence together.

And that’s it

You now have the 6 Most-Important Lessons in Marketing.

Unless you follow up 9 or 10 or 15 times.

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“This product will help you avoid writing traps as well as anticipating and handling objections when they arise in the reader’s mind”

“I would recommend this product, because it will quickly show you how to develop thoughts and ideas into a structure capturing the important stuff to write about. Not only that, it will help you avoid writing traps as well as anticipating and handling objections when they arise in the reader’s mind.”

Duncan MacIntyre Office Chair Advice, Derbys UK

Judge for yourself: How to speed up article writing with simple outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ].

Top Selling Products Under $50

Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ]

[ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies: Episode 62 Why Free Products Need To Be Better Than Paid Products or Services (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/62_FreeProduct_vs_Paid_Mastered_AAC.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/free-products-paid-products/ ] |

Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://www.psychotactics.com/free/headlines-fail/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

subscribed to the Free Psychotactics Newsletter.’ If you un-subscribe from this letter, you won’t receive any goodies, offers, or newsletters in future. If you’re getting duplicate newsletters, email us and we’ll make sure you get just one copy. Email renuka@psychotactics.com

Psychotactics Products

How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ]

How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsTCzMLOw=

The Two Psychological Techniques To Creating An Irresistible Product/ Service (And Increased Sales)

📅 December 12, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Isn’t it a pain creating a new product?

With tens of thousands of similar products or services in the market, it seems impossible

to make your product stand out. But is there a way to make your product or service

irresistible—and without looking cheesy? Can you really use simple techniques to

create a great offer?

This episode shows you the two psychological methods that we can’t turn down as humans.

No matter if you’re a small business or a big one, you can use these techniques and

increase your product and service sales.

You’ll learn

How to use two psychological methods to create an irresistible product
How do you make your product or serve irresistible even if you don’t have star power
How you can start small—and charge more.

#67: Two Psychological Techniques To Creating An Irresistible Product/Service

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/67_Irresistible_Offer_Part_1.mp3 ] | Read [ http://www.psychotactics.com/irresistible-product-techniques/ ] |

Once you finish, don’t forget to binge-listen to these two irresistible

podcast.

#68: How To Create Product Exclusivity: The Twin-Irresistibility Factor

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/68_Irresistible_Offer_Part_2_Exclusivity.mp3 ] | Read [ http://www.psychotactics.com/create-product-exclusivity/ ] |

#69: How A 3-Step Pre-Sell Creates Product Irresistibility

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/69_Irresistible_Offer_Part_3_Presell.mp3 ] | Read [ http://www.psychotactics.com/presell-creates-irresistibility/ ] |

Sean

P.S. You’re probably already binge-listening to all the “Three Month Vacation” podcasts.

If you are, let me know how you find it—and send questions. If you aren’t, then it’s time to

binge-listen. Look for it on iTunes or Stitcher (and yes,there are transcripts too).

iTunes: http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes

Android: http://www.psychotactics.com/stitcher

Website: http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast

And if you have any problems, please email me-sean@psychotactics.com

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0zAyMLCxMbCw=

How To Isolate the Biggest Problem Of The Client ( Without Driving Yourself Crazy)

📅 December 08, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To Isolate the Biggest Problem Of The Client —Without Driving Yourself Crazy (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2014)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Ever tried to soothe a very young child when he’s crying?

You cuddle him, give him something to eat, something to drink. But the bawling is driving you crazy. And so you give him some of his favourite toys, some keys-and maybe in a moment of madness, a set of drums.

You’ve calmed down the crying, but you can’t control the noise

And that’s the kind of noise you get when you’re trying to understand why clients buy. You see, the reason why clients buy is because you’re solving their specific problem. And you can try to guess what that problem is, or write some boringly synthetic copy.

Or you could meet with the client over lunch…

So there you are, interviewing the client. You’re asking her about the biggest frustrations she’s battling at this point in time. And of course, once the client gets started, there’s no stopping her.

In effect, you’ve given her a drum kit

Now she’s simply thumping out all the problems she wants solved. And she’s got a wish list a mile long. She wants this, that and the other. So how on earth are you going to figure out what she really wants?

The answer lies in reduction

You ask her to choose the top five things that are important to her. Then the next three. And then ask her to choose one. At this point, a huge amount of resistance will set in. She will not want to choose just one. After all, three is like hedging your bets nicely. Why choose one when you can have three?

So you randomly remove two from the list

If your client isn’t protesting like crazy, it probably means she’s quite happy with the one you’ve left behind. If she’s shaking her head like a crazy person, you’ve just taken away one of her prized possessions. And you can be jolly well sure she’s going to fight to get it back.

Let’s take an example to understand this concept better

Let’s say your target profile is a salon owner. So yes, she wants to make a million dollars a year, yes she wants a villa in Fiji and oui, oui, she wants her business not to crumble while she’s sipping all those piña coladas. So what’s really important to her? To her, the Fiji villa may mean everything.

But then again, maybe not. She may sure like the lifestyle, but maybe the biggest problem she has is that the salon falls to pieces once she’s away. If only there was a way to make sure that salon continued to turn out great service.

The same concept of target profile applies to a mother choosing a car

When faced with an option of a new car, it’s easy to list all the benefits and features under the sun.

But if you start using that red marker and eliminating all but three, you’ll find the claustrophobia soon sets in. She wants to have all three, and yet there’s one of those three that are more important than everything else. Yes, she’d like that fancy red shade, but hey, if the car can’t seat all the kids-and the dog, it’s a non-starter.

And that’s how we know that the space factor is important, far more important than anything else.

So there you have it-a method to get down to what’s really important to the client

Step 1: Make the target profile write down the list of things that are important.

Step 2: Reduce that list to five (Yes, cancel the ones that aren’t as important).

Step 3: Reduce it further to three.

Step 4: Either get the client to choose the most important one, or randomly chop off two from the list. And then watch the reaction. She will eventually pick one problem.

Every time you create a new product or service and want to write a sales page or brochure, you’re going to have to reach out to a client to give you direction. If that direction goes awry, take away the “toys” one by one.

When you take away the one they want the most, the “bawling” will tell you all you need to know!

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“I have a business and attracting new customers require a continuous effort. I am always searching for ways to take my business to the next level.”

The Story Telling Mini Series gave me the road map for my web-site. Demet Kitis, Canada Judge for yourself: Story Telling Mini Series [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Client Attractors: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ]

http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors Outlining: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ]

Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies: Episode 63 Preacher or Teacher? Why Our Clients Struggle To Learn Skills Quickly (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/63-How_to_Be_A_Teacher_Instead_of_A_Preacher.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/why-clients-struggle/ ] |

Free Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://www.psychotactics.com/free/headlines-fail/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Psychotactics Products

Story Telling Series How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

Client Attractors How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsTCzMTIw=

Why It’s Dangerous To Sell Products/Services With Benefits Alone

📅 December 01, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why It’s “Dangerous” To Sell Products/Services With Benefits Alone (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2015)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

You know Dasher and Dancer And Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid And Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall… The most famous reindeer of all?

Sure, we’re talking about Rudolph

And notice how they talk about the “red nose” as Rudolph’s “problem”. And how that enabled Santa to use Rudolph as a guide to his sleigh, because of that bright red nose.

But think about it for a second: was the nose always a solution? No it wasn’t, was it? It was a problem. Right before Santa figured out that the nose would stand out on a dark night, the nose was proving to be a real pain. It stood out; the other reindeer jeered.

And yet, without that problem standing out, Santa would never have spotted Rudolph.

The same concept applies to your marketing

You may believe that your product or service solves an obvious problem. And so you don’t bother to talk about the problem, preferring instead to slide right into the solution; the benefit. Yet, that bypassing of the problem and getting right to the solution causes customers to miss the point.

Let’s say you’re selling a product that allows you to send personalised cards to loved ones

Let’s just say you’re a brand new service, and the cards aren’t anything like the cards you see in the marketplace. Instead of being generic, you can actually put in your own words, and in your own handwriting.

You don’t have to lick the stamps or even mail the card—it’s all done for you. So where’s the problem? There is no problem, is there?

The client can clearly see that the solution, can’t they?

Yes, they can. But let’s just change the scenario for a second. Let’s now assume that there’s not just a single card service in the market. Instead, there are 8000 other card services doing approximately the same thing.

Now your business doesn’t stand out with just the “solution”, does it? Now your business/product/service looks exactly like the next one. Just touting the “solution/benefit” isn’t helping to get customers to buy from you.

And this is why the “problem” is critical to get the customer’s attention

Our business may start out working in a vacuum. But soon enough competition creeps up and within next to no time it’s a full on onslaught of competitors. The only thing that separates you from your competition is the way you describe the “problem”. And in the book, “The Brain Audit”, the method of how to get to the problem is clearly explained.

You don’t just dream up the “problem”

Instead you use the concept of the “target profile”. You speak to a single customer—not an audience—a single customer. They then tell you what they see as the problem. You then put that problem up and centre on your sales page, your brochure, your presentation. And then others with the same problem relate to it instantly.

Let’s take an example, shall we?

Let’s say you’re buying a camera, shall we? The solution for a camera is pretty darn easy—all you’re doing is taking photos. So there you are with your budget for this fancy camera with a zoom lens and all the bells and whistles. You have dozens of Nikon, Canon, Leica etc staring at you in the face. Instead you pick on the Fujifilm x100s. So why did you pick on that one?

It takes amazing low light pictures, that’s why

The problem with taking pictures is that your best pictures are often at dawn and dusk—not in the bright, harsh glow of the day. You may also want to take pictures at parties, and weddings and all those special occasions. And now you reach for your fancy camera and guess what? You need a flash.

That clunky add-on flash that weighs a ton. And you need to bump up the ISO (yes, technical term) way up, so you end up with grainy pictures. Yet, if you look at the Fujifilm x100s, you don’t need that crummy flash. In many cases, you don’t even have to bump that ISO (yes, technical term again) very high. You get crisp, yummy pictures in incredibly poor light.

The Fuji x100s—my favourite camera

I made you feel like buying a camera, didn’t I?

You had no intention of buying a camera, let alone the slightly expensive Fujifilm x100s. And yet, the description of the problem first—yes, long before the solution, made you feel like your next camera needs to somehow be the Fujifilm x100s. You noticed the solution only after the problem was brought out in great detail.

Too many of us expect clients to work out the problem

We think clients are smart—and yes they are. But they’re also busy; also inundated with far too many offers; far too many options to choose from. So when someone like you comes along, brings up the problem, then describes the problem, you are now creating that hook that a client will latch on to.

But this “problem” isn’t just a marketing issue alone

It’s a biological issue as well. When we deal with “solutions/benefits” our heart rate may go up, but only marginally. Think of a cup of coffee for a second. That warm cup of amazing coffee calling out your name.

And your heart rate goes up, doesn’t it? Now think of reaching the cafe and finding they’ve run out of coffee. Instantly your heart rate goes up. There is no cafe, no coffee, and no one has run out of anything—this is just a theoretical exercise, but your heart rate went up nonetheless.

This is the power of the problem

If you depend on the solution alone, you’re making a pretty big mistake. You’re allowing your clients to not feel this increase in heart rate. You’re assuming they will choose you instead. And yet, Santa didn’t choose Prancer. Or Blitzen. Not even Dasher or Vixen.

He chose the reindeer that had the “problem”. But he had to work it out. And you can bet that your busy client has no time to “work it out”. If you don’t do the work for them by highlighting the problem, they may just end up buying the product/service from the competition.

Your product or service can’t be just any ol’ reindeer

It has to stand out. And the best way to stand out is to get to a “target profile”, speak to that person, and get that person to give you the “problem” they’re facing—and yes, how you can solve that problem for them. You then take that information and put it on your product, your sales page, your marketing material. And that will make you stand out from the other “reindeer”.

Be Rudolph. Be the Fujifilm x100s. Stand out with the “problem”. It’s the best way to get—and keep—the attention of the client.

Product Offers: Links you should visit

Do you sometimes wonder if planning books are written just for the ‘organised’ people?

Organised people already know how to plan. They don’t need information like this. Yet most planning books are written without considering chaos at all.

Learn how the ‘Chaos Planning System’ is a radical, yet perfectly intuitive way to plan). And learn how to get things done, and take long vacations as well. Judge for yourself: Chaos Planning System. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales [ http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets ]

http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecretsThe Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

_____________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies: Episode 64 How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/How_To_Use_The_Pebble_System_To_Create_Extremely_Focused_Sales_Pages.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/sale-page-pebble-system/ ] |

Free Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://www.psychotactics.com/free/headlines-fail/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Three Month Vacation: http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Product Offers

Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting Start With Chaos Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/How to get meaningful testimonials, without needing to bribe anyone for it? [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/secret-life-of-testimonials-simple-powerful-techniques-to-get-better-clients-and-sales/ ]http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsTCxMrOw=

November 2015

Last Day for Special Offer: Why Clients Buy (And Why They Don’t)

📅 November 28, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/

Hi Seree

Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep customer’s

attention…

But you don’t want thousands of ways. You just want a simple system

that’s effective. A system that has been tested for over 13 years and

got results. And most importantly a system that you don’t have to

pull up a 675 page manual to even work out.

Announcing: The Brain Audit Kit + Special Goodies worth $158 (Valid

until 28 November, 2015—12 pm US Eastern)

The Brain Audit is the book that gives you a system

The Brain Audit is a step-by-step system that enables you to

understand what’s going on in the brain of your customer. It’s a system

that is based on a deep understanding of how our mind works, and why

we do what do.

When you buy the Premium Brain Audit Kit before the 28 November, 2015 (12 pm US Eastern)

you’ll also get “How To Identify The Right Target Audience For Your Business”.

Special Goodie: How To Identify The Right Target Profile For Your Business

This book will give you an instant understanding on

-HowYou Can Get Target Audience Wrong

-How Target Profile Works

-Persona Vs Person and more

Take advantage of this special offer of The Brain Audit Kit right

away. This offer expires on 28 November, 2015 (12 pm US Eastern)

http://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/

Regards,

Sean

P.S.Make sure you don’t miss this offer. And make a decision,

based on what you read.

http://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJwcHAxMDOw=

The Science of Undervaluing Yourself (And How To Overcome It)

📅 November 24, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Science of Undervaluing Yourself (And How To Overcome It)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Do we charge less?

Do we value ourselves less than we should?

Do you think that sometime in the future, there will be this perfect product at the perfect price, and the perfect client will come along?

I used to have a client who had exacttttttly the same problem

And I can categorically tell you that everyone without exception has the same problem. Some have it almost perpetually. Some less so. But everyone has it. When we started out I’d do consulting. I’d spend hours with someone, even give a money back guarantee (some one actually took their money back after 8 hours of consulting). And even our products/courses were terribly under-priced.

I actually had a client say to me: You should charge more!

And I was terrified of increasing the prices

Who would pay that much? And yet, I went from $1,500 to $3000, $3000 to $6000. $6000 to $10,000. And there were still takers. Our consulting went from $75 to $550 or thereabouts (per hour). Still takers. You may say: People know you, Sean. You already have a reputation.

But you’d be beating around the bush. I could still be charging -or rather undercharging.

Remember that client I was talking about before-the one who undervalues himself?

He’s well known now, after a rather torrid start for about 10-12 years. Even today he’s increased his income and prices only marginally.He gets clients that can’t pay. He still discounts. He still keeps his fees as low as possible. He believes that clients can’t pay. And he’s right.

I know this because of one of my earliest clients. She was huffing and puffing to pay my 10-part, low fee. Then one day she missed a consulting class. Why? Because she had to buy a car: Only $30,000.

I’ve had clients who’ve not had $250 to spend, then gone on vacation and blown up $2500

I’ve had clients who’ve said that have gone and signed up for some sort of pie in the sky for $12,000. I know that kind of person. I was that kind of person. When I was starting up in marketing, I blew up $12-14k on a single workshop when that constituted about a fourth of my annual income.

So what am I saying here?

It’s all in your ear

There’s someone sitting on your shoulder and screaming in your ear.

They’re screaming stupid things. And you should not be listening.

But what if that screamer was right? What if indeed you couldn’t raise your prices?

Well that’s an easy answer

Start up something that doesn’t exist.

In 2006, we started up the Protégé. It didn’t exist.

We put a price of $6500 on it. Wrote a sales letter. And waited. Well no we didn’t wait. We tried to sell the heck out of it, and yet it wasn’t something we were depending on. You see it was a fictional kind of thing. In our minds it could work. Or not. If it didn’t, we’d get a whole bunch of copy writing practice and we’d get at least some folks who’d be keen to join something else in future (think of it as an advertisement for the future).

We surprised ourselves

The Protégé program was oversubscribed in 2006, 2007, 2008. We didn’t do any in 2009/10/11. But think about it. It started off as a dream that could fail. That if it failed it wouldn’t matter. And yet it succeeded. So well in fact that I had to stop it, just that I had to step back just so I could do other stuff.

The point is we’re all good at stuff

We just don’t have the confidence.

Give us someone who’s willing to listen and we’re good at stuff.

But we’re scared of pricing. We’re terrified of being turned down. Of failing. So scared that we won’t even dare to entertain the idea, let alone start up. But there’s a way around it.

Start up a fictional project/product/service

One which you don’t care if it fails or succeeds. Put a price on it. A price that you think is at least 50%-100% more than you currently think it’s worth. And if it succeeds, you’ll prove it to yourself. If it fails, it doesn’t mean it’s failed. It just means it’s failed “this year”. Or this “quarter”.

Again, how do I know this?

In 2011, the Article Writing Course sold out in 24 hours. Two batches. Plus a ton of home study courses. Consider that the Article Writing Course is priced well over $2000 and you see the problem. Why would anyone pay $2000 to learn to write articles? That was the question swirling in my mind back in the year 2006.

We were so reticent about the course that we didn’t offer it to the public until 2007 or thereabouts. In 2007, I put it out there just as a lark. And we were still reticent. It was the cheapest of our courses. And guess what? Fast forward to 2013 and it’s got a five month waiting list. Next year it may have a seven month waiting list-at a higher price.

So where’s the problem?

The problem is in your brain.

My brain. Our brains.

We undervalue ourselves.

And we keep at it. And believe me, now matter how big your reputation grows. No matter how much money you make, you’ll still be undervaluing yourself.

And in case you’re wondering, this isn’t about just charging insane sums of money

I’m now comfortable doing that, we know we have great products and services. For instance we know that our courses are the toughest in the world. There’s simply no trainer that structures a course like ours, because our courses are based on consumption-not conversion. This means that when you sign up, you’re there to succeed, not to fail.

And it’s not boot camp, but heck it’s tough. And it’s not just tough for you, it’s bloody tough for me as well. I’m there in the trenches with you. As an example the Article Writing Course started in early Feb. In less than a week, the group of 35 people had generated over 2000 posts. I wrote almost 550 of those posts. Think about it. Does any trainer do that? 550 posts a week? That’s madness.

No it’s not

It’s what you would do for your clients.

It’s what you could do for them.

But you can’t work for peanuts.

Those peanuts have to come out of your brain and need to be fed to that monkey who’s been sitting on your shoulder-and shouting at you.

Your prices, your lack of value-it’s all in your brain

You’re believing that monkey.

It’s time to step out. And change your prices. If not change your prices, create a fictional product/service. Something you’re sure no one will buy. And put in fictional prices that are reasonably higher than you have right now.

And be shocked when someone does buy

Even if one person buys. Even if you get one question asking you for more details, you know you’ve hit pay dirt.

The lack of value is in your brain.

Tell that monkey to be quiet.

It’s time to revalue yourself. And revalue your future.

Because if you don’t do it, no one will.

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/“I thought I had a pretty good About Me page.”http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/

“My ‘About Me’ page was a whole load better than many others that I had seen. I couldn’t really see that I could improve on that much.

Then I read Sean’s ‘About Me’ page book. Suddenly, I had a long list of improvements that I could make to my page. Now that I’ve implemented them, the page looks so much better. And I get more engagement from my website visitors.

Here are three reasons why you should invest in this book:

You’ll be able to read it quickly.
All the suggestions are really clear.
It’s easy to implement the advice.

I would recommend this book to you no matter what kind of company run. You’ll be surprised how much you can benefit from it.

Matthew Parker Profitable Print Relationships, Wiltshire, UK Have a look: Website Component Series [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Remember to share this article

Free Goodies #64:How Success Causes A Blind Spot (And Creates A Rip Van Winkle Effect) (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/40_RipVanWinke_Effect-Blindspot.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/how-success-causes-blind-spot/ ] |

Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://psychotactics.com/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Three Month Vacation:http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Psychotactics Products

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentationsHow to design pages that helps customers find their way around and do what you want them to do. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]http://www.psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentations

http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategyHow the Brain Goes Through Decision-Making [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzszOwsnAw=

Announcing: The Brain Audit Kit + Special Goodies worth $158 ( Valid until 28 November, 2015)

📅 November 21, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

You’ve seen it before

You’re about to get a customer to sign on the dotted line. And then they suddenly back away. What causes them to back away? What causes a sure sale to fall apart?

When a sale falls apart, it’s extremely frustrating! And what’s frustrating is the fact that you don’t know at which point the sale fell apart. What you do know is that your product or service is really good for your customer. And that you’ve done everything to get them interested and ready to buy.

Announcing: The Brain Audit Kit + Special Goodies worth $158 (Valid until 28 November, 2015)

Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep your customer’s attention

But you don’t want thousands of ways. You just want a simple system that’s effective. A system that has been tested right across the planet, from big markets to absolutely atom-sized markets. A system that has been tested for over 13 years and got results. And across media from Web sites, to presentations, to one-on-one selling and sales through brochures/booklets etc.

And most importantly a system that you don’t have to pull up a 675-page manual to even work out.

The Brain Audit is the book that gives you a system

The Brain Audit is a step-by-step system that enables you to understand what’s going on in the brain of your customer. It’s a system that is based on a deep understanding of how our mind works, and why we do what do.

• How the brain responds to specific psychological triggers. • How to speed up the sales process, without the need to be pushy. • How do you stop your brand from being a commodity?

When you buy the Premium Brain Audit Kit from the 21-28 Nov. 2015, you’ll also get the bonus goodie ‘How To Identify The Right Target Audience For Your Business’.

Special Goodie: How To Identify The Right Target Profile For Your Business

This book will give you an instant understanding on

How You Can Get Target Audience Wrong
How Target Profile Works
Persona Vs Person and more

Take advantage of this special offer of The Brain Audit Kit right away. This offer expires on 28 November, 2015.

http://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/

Regards, Sean

P.S. Make sure you don’t miss this offer. And make a decision, based on what you read. http://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/

How To Correctly Use Emotion To Create Drama In Your Article

📅 November 17, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To Correctly Use Emotion To Create Drama In Your Article

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

I raced madly. I raced madly, but I didn’t care. I raced madly, but I was too excited. I raced madly, but something was gnawing inside of me. Something was about to go wrong. I raced madly, but I couldn’t shake the depression.

So what’s the difference between the first line and all the rest?

Well, yes the first line is shorter. But it also lacks emotion. And while facts give you um, the facts, they don’t tell us how you feel. In any given situation, ten people getting the same bowl of soup will respond in ten incredibly different ways.

I saw the bowl of soup and my heart sank. I saw the bowl of soup and it flooded me with happy childhood memories. I saw the bowl of soup and I was surprised how hungry I felt. I saw the bowl of soup, but a feeling of hesitancy crept into my being. I saw the bowl of soup, and immediately felt overwhelmed.

Yes, you get it, don’t you?

The bowl of soup isn’t what the brain is searching for in the story. The brain is searching for the expression on your face. This search is embedded in who we are as human beings. When my niece Keira (she’s three, almost four years old) gets a shout from her mother, she almost always scans her mother’s face instantly.

What’s the reading on her mother’s face? Is she angry? Is she annoyed? Is she frustrated? Is she furious? Is she about to going bananas in a second?

The reader of your article needs to know what Keira can see

They need to know not just what the event was all about, but why it was important. And how it was important. And the biggest clue comes from the emotion that follows the statement. Or the emotion that precedes the statement.

So let’s jump in with a few examples…

Follows the statement:

Example 1: There she was, the girl I so cared for. And yet, there was a sense of disgust. Example 2: There she was, the girl I so cared for, and my heart lit up like the fourth of July. Example 3: There she was, the girl I so cared for. And then she was gone. I was frantic.

But you can create the scene by using emotion as a pre-cursor

Example 1: Little did I know that I would be disgusted. After all this was the girl I cared for very deeply. Example 2: I wasn’t expecting that sudden burst of happiness on this gloomy day. But as I rounded the corner, there she was-the girl I cared for very deeply. Example 3: There was nothing to suggest that I’d be frantic in a second. Because right there in front of me was the girl I cared for.

And so, the emotion sets the scene

Sometimes preceding the event. Sometimes after the event has occurred. The event itself is just an event. What makes it burst into flame is the emotion that surges through our system as a result of experiencing that event.

And then of course, we can choose to bring in the emotion earlier, or let in hang a bit behind and then whiplash the event with its suddenness.

But of course, you can overdo the emotions

Yes, the emotions provide the roller coaster that leads the reader through the article. And especially so, when you’re telling a story. But you can’t keep going on and on, line after line with emotions. Instead you bring in the emotion, and let the reader feel the happiness, sadness, disgust etc.

Sadness, depression etc. tends to linger a lot longer, and it’s ok to keep it going for a little while. Happiness, fear- they’re emotions that are fleeting. That speed through faster than a speeding bullet.

So yes, you drive the pace

And you drive it with the emotions.

Because ten people can drink soup. And every one of those folks feel totally differently about the soup. A soup is a soup is a soup. Until you add a dash of emotion. Maybe two dashes. You decide.

Is The Four-Hour Work Week A Waste Of Time?

📅 November 14, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Hi Seree ,

I don’t mow the lawns. I outsource it.

I don’t do my accounts. It’s what keeps my accountant in business. I bake my

own bread, cook my own food, but at least half of the time it’s all outsourced.

In fact, when I think about it, a good chunk of my life is outsourced.

I don’t build my own computers, code my own programs, generate my own

electricity. I didn’t even bother to weave my own carpet.

So yes, you could safely say that outsourcing is a good part of my life.

What I don’t outsource is magic

It’s magical to write my own articles. Do my own books. Draw my own

cartoons. Answer my own email.

When I think about those who keep yearning for a “four-hour” work week,

I find it incredibly weird and unsettling. I think of Leonardo da Vinci spending

only four hours a week, painting. I think of Michelangelo goofing off on

David and just putting in the least amount of time.

There’s a difference between the “four-hour work week” and magic.

You can create revenue in a short week. But you can’t create magic.

Magic is what we all want to create with our work. Most of us love our work.

It gives us purpose and satisfaction. And yes, we’d love a “three-month” paid

vacation—or just any vacation at all.

And that’s the goal. The goal is to work hard, but to also have a great time.

You can outsource some stuff, and you should. But to

create the Mona Lisa, David and some fine wine, that’s going to take a

chunky 50-60 hours a week.

So how do we do that?

That’s the podcast you should listen to/or read today (It is available both in

audio and transcript)

Yes, this is the very first episode of ‘The Three Month Vacation’, re-released

without—the evil twin.

Here is the link

#65: [Re-Release]: Is The Four-Hour Work Week A Waste Of Time?

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/065_Re-Release_Magic_vs_Outsourcing.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/four-hour-work-week/ ] |

Once you finish listening to or reading that podcast, here are the

latest 2 podcasts

#66: Re-Release-How To Avoid Blindspots In Your Business: The Rip

Van Winkle Effect

Success is good. Focus is good. Until it’s bad. Incredible as it may seem, focus

can cause a massive blindspot in our business.

So what’s the option? Surely it can’t be distraction?

Actually it’s a mix of both that’s required. Using the concept of “spinning plates”,

you can avoid the blindspot of success and the mindlessness of distraction.

In this episode, we’re going to explore three elements.

First is the concept of the Rip Van Winkle effect.
The second is the opposite, which is the danger of not having that focus.
The third is the solution. How do we solve this problem of focus and
```
 not focusing at the same time?
```

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/66_Re-Release_RipVanWinke_Effect-Blindspot.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/how-success-causes-blind-spot/ ] |

#64: How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System

When we sit down to write a landing page, we usually have a ton of confusion

in our heads.

We have so many elements on that landing page. What should we put first?

What should we leave out? The sales of our product or service depend on us

having incredible focus.

So how do we get that focus?

The answer lies in “The Pebble System”.

What you will learn

How To Find The Confusion On Your Sales Pages
How To Use The Pebble System On Your Sales Page
How To Expand The Sales Message

Let’s get straight to the episode.

Listen or read this episode here.

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/How_To_Use_The_Pebble_System_To_Create_Extremely_Focused_Sales_Pages.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/sale-page-pebble-system/ ] |

Warm regards from the Three Month Vacation,

Sean

P.S. How to download all the podcasts or read the transcripts

iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://www.psychotactics.com/stitcher ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/ ] | RSS [ http://www.psychotactics.com/rss ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzsLAyMbMw=

The Core Difference Between Winners and Losers

📅 November 10, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Core Difference Between Winners and Losers

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

There are two kinds of people on the planet.

Those who make excuses.

And those who don’t.

The ones who make excuses don’t start that way

No one is ‘born talented’ at making excuses. But over the years they learn to get out of things. They learn how to blame the weather, their parents, their teachers, the system, the chewing gum-yeah, pretty much anything that can deflect the blame. And give them the excuse they need.

And then there are those who don’t

Or rather won’t.

We all have our difficulties and some days we feel like making excuses. And we start mumbling, but stop before the mumble pushes itself into a rumble. And we get the job done.

Amazingly all of us have similar capabilities. Similar capabilities to get stuff done

Or completely screw up our lives with excuses.

When you wake up in the morning you get to choose which route to take. As one wise person said: The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that smart people hate doing the same things that unsuccessful people hate doing-but successful people do it any way.

As you go on this journey, you get the chance to back out

To make excuses.

To blame the chewing gum.

Or not.

You have the choice.

You decide.

About 5000bc Membership

“If you suspect that your business could be bringing in a lot more revenue but you don’t have a clue how to make that happen without hype or hassle, 5000bc is a must-have resource.”

“The information and support I received from Sean and my fellow “cavers” about a single Web page was directly responsible for selling $10,000 worth of books in less than two weeks.

Try it. You won’t regret it.”

Find out if 5000bc is for you. http://www.5000bc.com/

Products Under $50

Announcing! How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling) So what are the elements of a well-told story? And why have they been playing hide and seek with us for so long? [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

You already know that 80% of a sales letter depends on your headline. So what’s the remaining 20% that causes customers to buy? Find out more [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ]

Chaos Planning Year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve. Then suddenly it is the end of the year, and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected. Learn Why Most Planning Fails: And The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Remember to share this article

Free Goodies #64: How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System (audio and transcript) View in iTunes [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] | Android [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/How_To_Use_The_Pebble_System_To_Create_Extremely_Focused_Sales_Pages.mp3 ] | Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/sale-page-pebble-system/ ] |

Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://psychotactics.com/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Three Month Vacation: http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Psychotactics Products

http://www.5000bc.com/Let’s face it. We’re drowning in information. And yet we need more information to keep on top of things. Now any membership site will give you a ton of information. What’s different about 5000bc is that the information is suited to you—and your project. [ http://www.5000bc.com/ ]http://www.5000bc.com/

http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategyDart Board Pricing: How To Increase Prices (Without Losing Customers) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzszOwMDGw=

Announcing! How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling )

📅 November 07, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling

Storytelling seems to be the rage these days.

And yet, it’s not new at all. It’s been around for thousands of

years.

What’s more, it’s not even alien to us. Even as a three-year old, you can tell when a story is really cool

and when it’s just plain boring.

The problem arises when we have to take this storytelling

skills to our articles. The moment we have to write an article,

we freeze up. The article gets riddled with facts and figures.

Or sequences. Or whatever. But we know instinctively that the

power of the story is missing.

But it’s not just the story that’s important.

It’s a story well-told.

A well-told story is like a well-told joke. It has zing. And kapow! So what are the elements of a well-told story? Why have they been

playing hide and seek with us for so long?

Find out right here in this three-part series on Storytelling! You’ll love it. It’s full of cartoons, precise advice—and yes, the

zing! That’s what you’ll learn: how to create the zing.

So have a look right away. http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling

Regards,

Sean

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJxsHCzMDJw=

Why Your Tagline Should Be A Superpower

📅 November 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Your Tagline Should Be A Superpower

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Puny Parker.

You’ve probably not run into that nickname before. And yet, you’re more than likely to know of Spidey—better known as Spiderman.

But how did “Puny Parker” get his strength and agility?

Yup it was a spider—a radioactive spider that bit him—and transferred that power in a matter of seconds.

Tagline are like spiders

When they bite, they either transfer super powers to clients—or they don’t. And most taglines are not just ordinary, most are plainly confusing. The reason for boring taglines is easy to explain. We try so hard to get a message across, that we forget our core role in life. And that role—it’s to bestow superpowers on your clients.

So what does a superpower look like?

Let’s move to the examples—and a bad example. Our membership site at 5000bc has a tagline. It’s called: Zero-Hype Small Business Zone.

Are you excited?

Curious? No, not feeling that tingle of the radioactive spider? That’s because there is no power in that tagline. It’s plainly copywriter-speak and transfers no superpowers to you—the client. You can’t fly, climb walls or do anything spectacular, can you? And yet, let’s look at tagline that make you come alive in seconds.

Let’s move to some better examples…

Headline Course: Write 200 headlines that work, without needing to do any split testing. Presentation series: Get woken up at 3 am, yet do an outstanding presentation. Photography book: Take photos with your phone that look like a high end DSLR camera. Evernote report: Learn how to retrieve powerful information when faced with a crushing deadline. Testimonial secret book: Auto-filter crappy clients. Get only amazing clients. Presell course: Fill courses and events with extremely tiny subscriber list. Article writing course: Get clients to call you; no more chasing prospects.

Notice the slight tingling you feel?

Those taglines weren’t written by your copywriting brain. The copywriting brain is convoluted, confusing and turns out crappy taglines. But how can we tell the underlying magic to create our own headlines?

We start off with two audit points:

What’s the ONE problem?
Is there ONE solution?

If you scroll back a bit and read the taglines above, you’ll find that you can easily see the problem and solution. And note, yes do note, it’s not two or three problems. And not two or three solutions. It’s clearly a single problem and a single solution.

So what happens when you don’t have a problem or solution?

Let’s look at some very well-funded taglines and see if you remember any of them.

American Dairy Association: Behold the power of cheese. Adobe: Better by Adobe. Acura: The road will never be the same. Chrysler: Inspiration comes standard. Dell Computer: Easy as Dell. Apple Computer: Think Different

Waitasec, wasn’t “Think Different” one of the most amazing taglines of all time?

Sure it was. It was also backed by a million-dollar budget (approximately $100 million a year). Try putting “Think Different” on your website or course and you’ll see why a tagline like “Think Different” would fall flat.

To avoid this flatness, speak to a client

Yup, just go up to a client and ask them this question: If you could have one superpower with this (product/course/report) what would that super power be? And they’ll tell you in simple words what you need to hear.

For instance at www.stresslessweb.com [ http://www.stresslessweb.com/ ] the main superpower is that you aren’t hostage to your own website. Imagine that? A web design company that allows you to control your own website; a web design company that doesn’t make you feel trapped. That sounds like a superpower, doesn’t it?

So let’s summarise:

What’s the problem? ONE problem—not two, not three, just ONE.
Is there a solution?
Did you ask a client what superpower they’d like? If not, do so today. And avoid copywriter-jargon.

Puny Parker. Nope. It’s Spidertagline!

P.S. You can get a free report (well, it’s really an excerpt of The Brain Audit). The excerpt dives deep into the issue of the “problem” and why it’s so critical to get the client’s attention. Click here—As you’d expect, the report has a simple tagline: Why customers buy, and why they don’t. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/xbrain ]

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“Do you want to raise your prices, get better clients, have more fun and remain authentic?”

“Pricing is an inexact science and Sean demonstrates how tightly value is related to price. In these books you will learn how to master the three gorillas of pricing.”

—Jeffrey Eisenberg, USA

Find out for yourself: Click here to read more. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Chaos Planning: Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ] Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ] Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Psychotactics Products

Dart Board Pricing: How To Increase Prices (Without Losing Customers) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]

Learn Why Most Planning Fails: And The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJxsrJycrOw=

October 2015

Announcing: Why The “Mosquito Moment” Brought Bill Gates’ Story Alive!

📅 October 31, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

Warm regards, s-

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJxsDOxMjMw=

Why Taglines Fail—Three Audit Points You Cannot Ignore!

📅 October 27, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Taglines Fail—Three Audit Points You Cannot Ignore!

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

There’s this prison right next to the city of San Francisco.

It’s called Alcatraz.

Only three prisoners have ever escaped from this grim place, surrounded as it is by rip tides and freezing cold waters. It was so difficult and dangerous to escape that prisoners didn’t even try to escape.

Likewise, in the world of taglines you get some pretty grim stories as well. Taglines that never make it past the rip tides. Taglines that sink right to the bottom before making it to shore.

And yet no tagline should trapped in a tiny dungeon when all it takes is a little audit to set them free.

So what are the audit points for a great tagline, anyway?

Clarity
Memorability
Curiosity

Let’s start with the first element—clarity

Clarity, in this case, involves two distinct elements—the problem and the solution. When you string the problem and solution together in a sentence, you create clarity.

Problem: Sneezing? Solution: Get rid of the sneeze in 24 hours.

Problem: Feeling cold? Solution: Feel warm as toast.

Problem: Water in ears while surfing? Solution: Keep the water out, without reducing sounds.

In every instance above, you achieve clarity without too much effort

And this “lack of effort” is incredibly important. The simpler it sounds, the easier it is to remember the tagline. Which is what the brand, “Surf Ears”, does amazingly well. Their tagline is: Let Sound In | Keep Water Out. That’s pretty clear isn’t it? Well, sure it is, but does it satisfy the next audit point? Is it memorable?

Element 2: Memorability

Ok, close your eyes for a second. And repeat the tagline you just read for Surf Ears. Do you remember it well? Sure you do. Let’s say you drove two hundred miles, had dinner, drank two beers and woke up the next day. Would you still remember the tagline? That’s what you call a great tagline—one that you can repeat without any dropout, whatsoever.

And if you go back to the earlier part of this article, you’ll see that the “get rid of sneeze in 24 hours” or “feel warm as toast”. These taglines all snuggle up to the memorability test. In effect, element 1—the problem and solution, simply stated, also create memorability. Why? Because not only is the problem/solution simple, but it appeals to our curious nature.

Which takes us to Element 3: Curiosity

A problem is like a jigsaw puzzle we haven’t been able to solve. When a tagline brings up a problem, our curiosity is instantly on alert because we’ve tried, failed, tried and failed yet again. And there, in front of us is someone who’s promising to keep water out our ears, or getting rid of our allergies in 24 hours. We almost can’t help ourselves—and our curiosity kicks in! In doing so, we hit the third audit point—curiosity.

Usually short tagline works well, but only if they meet these audit points

Advertising and marketing history is full of short taglines that were super-duper-crappy. Want to read some of them? Sure you do!

Bacardi Spice: Distilled in Hell Denny’s: A good place to sit and eat FileMaker Software: What’s your problem? Lehman Brothers: Where vision gets built Stillwell Ford: We put people in front of cars.

So short taglines aren’t the answer, but neither are long-winded ones!

When you read the taglines below, you’re going to shake your head in amazement. It seems implausible that anyone would come up with the taglines. And yet, these taglines aren’t fabricated. They’re real taglines, taken from real companies such as yours as mine. Let’s have a look.

Example 1: On a mission to help knowledge-based entrepreneurs who sell professional and personal services Build Authority & Become Significant.

So why is that tagline so hard to remember? It’s got too many points; that’s why.

– On a mission – help knowledge-based entrepreneurs – sell profession services – sell personal services – build authority – become significant

Those are six points, but notice something?

There’s no problem and no solution. And it’s long winded, not curious and of course not memorable. In fact, the chances are good that if you have a long-winded statement, you’re not getting to the point at all.

Let’s take a second example into long- winded land, shall we?

We help computer users protect their desktops and devices so they can be safe, run their business confidently and protect against identity fraud.

Let’s choppity-chop that one, shall we?

– computer users – protect desktops – protect devices – be safe – run business confidently – protect against identity fraud

Ugh!

Let’s go back to some crispy taglines, shall we? Here are some examples:

– Increase prices by 10% (without losing clients) – Take an annual three-month vacation (without losing revenue) – Turn casual podcast listeners into binge-listeners

Three audit points, that’s all you need to look for…

Clarity
Memorability
Curiosity

Taglines aren’t hard to create.

Start with the problem and solution and you’re well on your way.

Announcing: Why Bad Testimonials Attract Bad Clients

📅 October 24, 2015 | View in Gmail

Nothing bugs you more than a painful client.

A client who hassles you at every step of the way. A client who won’t pay on time. A client who takes up so much of your energy that you get drained.

I used to have clients like that

And then at some point I stopped getting bad clients. Every single one of our clients were helpful, kind and extremely co-operative.

Work became a joy instead of a painful exercise.

And after a lot of digging, I found out the reason for the change

If you’ve ever struggled to get consistently good clients (or detailed testimonials for that matter) then you’ll find that this knowledge is more than just common sense. It’s a bit of strategy you can’t do without.

Judge for yourself at: http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets

Regards Sean

P.S. This is what David Alger has to say “I had a class I was trying to fill and I wanted to have testimonials that would do the job.” I read the material quickly and took notes on the information I needed. I applied information from the book and from the Brain Audit to the class registration page. When people were registering for the class several mentioned specifics they found on the page. These are elements I wouldn’t have added without this ebook.

All of Sean’s material is easy to digest and easy to apply. The advice has both simplicity and depth at the same time. You can skim the material and find quick adjustments you can make. You can later study it for even bigger improvements.

Three other benefits: Easy to Read Easy to Apply Easy to trust – you can see Sean applying the same advice he is giving. I trust the advice, material, and approach.

Buy it. You won’t regret it.

David Alger California, United States

Judge for yourself http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets

Why A Relaxed Brain Works Faster Than A Tired Brain

📅 October 20, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why A Relaxed Brain Works Faster Than A Tired Brain

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Most people work. Then they work some more. And they never take time off.

There are two reasons why people don’t take time off

They wear it as a badge of valour.
They can’t see how they could possibly take time off.

Let’s tackle the ‘badge of valour’ first

Leonardo Da Vinci was almost certainly a workaholic. If you look at the amount of stuff he invented and created, it’s more than likely that he’d have been working long hours almost all his life.

Yet Leonardo had some wisdom he wanted to pass on to us. Here’s what he said: “Taking time off work, gives a person perspective.” Ah, perspective. Sitting at your desk, plugging away keeps your perspective just three feet away.

You can’t really see your work for what it is. Heck, you can’t even see your life for what it is. Yet there are people who say “work is everything”. These people are generally fooling themselves.

They aren’t afraid of vacations, per se. They’re afraid of something else.

When they say “work is everything”, it usually stems from issues such as ‘money’ or ‘prestige’ etc. Their work is tied to earning more, or getting more pats on the back.

So they work endlessly. They take their phones with them everywhere. Their laptops never boot down. And you only have to see the contempt on the faces of their kids or friends to know that these folks stand alone.

Taking time off scares them. It’s not that work is everything. It’s that without work, they’re nothing. So they hang on to endless work. And my advice to people who work endlessly is: Get an appointment with a doctor. Sooner or later you’re going to need one.

But what if you fall in the second category?

You may like breaks and vacations but can’t afford to take one. You need to pay the bills. The expense of a vacation is just too much to bear. And if that’s your excuse, then recognise it for the excuse it is.

You don’t need a three-month vacation—not quite yet. You can start with two days off. The key is to take two days off from your workplace and head off some place nearby. Some place not so expensive. And don’t take your phone and laptop. Two days without technology will rejuvenate you no end.

In the early days at Psychotactics, we worked pretty much seven days a week.

It wasn’t a smart move. So we started taking days off. But taking days off and staying at home doesn’t help much. Taking the time off literally means dragging yourself out of the house and some place else. Which is what we’d do. And in a short time we were taking a fair bit of vacation time.

So how does the break help?

We already know it gives you perspective on your work. You come back with different ideas. A different outlook. But more importantly, it gives your brain some time to rest. A brain at work is a wonderful brain, but it needs to just relax from time to time.

A relaxed brain works faster and more efficiently than a tired brain—and you don’t need me to tell you that.

So what do you do?

Stage 1: Organise short breaks. Just two days off here or there will help a lot. Stage 2: Organise a week away. Though frankly speaking, two-three days is just as effective as a week. Stage 3: As you get more leveraged, take more time off. We now take between 3-4 months off every year.

And there’s a final twist to this story

Some years we didn’t take breaks. We didn’t do the vacation bit. And in every one of those years, we not only worked harder, but earned less.

How is this possible? It’s simple to explain. If you have a vacation coming up, or even a weekend break, you work more efficiently. You get seven days work done in five days. If you have no break you’re less efficient, chomping up seven days for seven days work.

And at the end of seven days, you’re tired and the next week starts a lot slower than if you’re relaxed and re-charged.

But what about the money part of things? This is harder to explain, but let me try anyway.

Some of my best ideas didn’t come to me while at work. They came to me while I was away. These ideas were then put into play when I got back. And they made us more money than ever. Sitting at my desk would be counterproductive both for relaxation as well as revenue. So I did the smart thing: I packed my bags and took off on a break.

And while I never planned these breaks in advance, I now do. When January 1 rolls along, I plan every break. I have short and longer breaks. Every 12 weeks or so, I take a long break. Every six weeks or so, I take shorter breaks.

And I have them planned at the start of the year. And since the year 2011, I even started booking flights (where applicable) in advance, so I couldn’t back out of the break.

Taking time off isn’t a luxury

It’s part of your business. Whether you start up a new business or a new project, you need time off. Plan it. Then execute.

Leonardo would be proud of you.

Announcing: Why Bad Testimonials Attract Bad Clients And How To Avoid It

📅 October 17, 2015 | View in Gmail

Nothing bugs you more than a painful client.

A client who hassles you at every step of the way.

A client who won’t pay on time.

A client who takes up so much of your energy that you get drained.

I used to have clients like that

And then at some point I stopped getting bad clients.

Every single one of our clients were helpful, kind and extremely

co-operative.

Work became a joy instead of a painful exercise.

And after a lot of digging, I found out the reason for the change

If you’ve ever struggled to get consistently good clients (or

detailed testimonials for that matter) then you’ll find that this

knowledge is more than just common sense. It’s a bit of strategy you can’t do without.

Last Day Special Offer: Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website + Special Bonus

📅 October 13, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Just a quick reminder in case you missed the earlier email.

When you buy Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website on the 10th, 11th, 12th or 13th October 2015, you’ll also get a Special Bonus— ‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ (worth $45) absolutely free.

Do you often wonder if your home page, about us page or client acquisition page is working at less than its full potential?

These three pages are critical to any website, and yet we often put the content together on these pages hurriedly.

Well, “hurriedly” is the wrong word to use.

Instead we spend hours trying to get just the right content; just the right look. And then, after hours, maybe days of frustration, we put together something that seems right.

But is it really compelling? Can it be more compelling? What’s really missing? And is there a simple way to fix it—while retaining your own voice, your own personality?

Introducing: The Website Component Series

Find out for yourself how you can spruce up the home page, about us page and the sign up page. We deconstruct existing pages and then in true Psychotactics-fashion reconstruct them step-by-step.

And the Special Bonus: How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses

In this 40 page booklet you will learn

The Psychology of Bonuses
How to Find your Bonuses
How to Create a One-Of-A-Kind Bonus
How to Avoid the Bonus Trap
Why Unbundling Makes a Big Difference to How your Product is Perceived.
And more…

Special Offer: Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website + Special Bonus (Valued at $45)

📅 October 10, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

When you buy Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website

on the 10th, 11th, 12th or 13th October 2015, you’ll also get a Special Bonus—

‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ (worth $45) absolutely free.

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/

Do you often wonder if your home page, about us page or client

acquisition page is working at less than its full potential?

These three pages are critical to any website, and yet we often put the

content together on these pages hurriedly.

Well, “hurriedly” is the wrong word to use.

Instead we spend hours trying to get just the right content; just

the right look. And then, after hours, maybe days of frustration,

we put together something that seems right.

But is it really compelling?

Can it be more compelling?

What’s really missing? And is there a simple way to fix it—while

retaining your own voice, your own personality?

Introducing: The Website Component Series

Find out for yourself how you can spruce up the home page, about us

page and the sign up page. We deconstruct existing pages and then

in true Psychotactics-fashion reconstruct them step-by-step.

And the Special Bonus: How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses

In this 40 page booklet you will learn

The Psychology of Bonuses
How to Find your Bonuses
How to Create a One-Of-A-Kind Bonus
How to Avoid the Bonus Trap
Why Unbundling Makes a Big Difference to How your Product is Perceived.
And more…

Judge for yourself at: http://www.psychotactics.com/website-secrets

Warm regards,

Sean

P.S. This product is very critical if you’re just sitting down to

write your pages, but it’s even more critical if you have these

pages up, and you’ll like to improve them to help you convert more traffic.

Judge for yourself at: http://www.psychotactics.com/website-secrets

P.P.S. This special offer is only valid until 13th October 2015. Have a look

and make a decision based on what you read.

http://www.psychotactics.com/website-secrets

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzMbMxsnBw==

The “Star Trek Theory” of Why We Struggle With Creating Content

📅 October 06, 2015 | View in Gmail

The “Star Trek Theory” of Why We Struggle With Creating Content

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

If you’ve ever watched the TV series, Star Trek, two characters come to mind right away.

Captain Kirk. And first officer, Mr. Spock.

Captain Kirk has a personality to take his space ship “where no man has ever gone before”. He’s a bit out there. And Mr. Spock, he’s the guy who’s logical; who thinks before he leaps.

Writing—or creating content of any kind—requires us to be either Captain Kirk—or Mr. Spock.

Instead, we end up being Captain Spock.

When sitting down to write an article, we write, edit, write, edit. If called upon to write headlines, we expect to write and edit the headline or we’re not satisfied. Even a massive project like creating a podcast, webinar or designing a website, brings our inner Captain Spock out with increasing frequency.

And yet, we can’t play two characters at the same time.

We have to be Captain Kirk—or Mr. Spock

Our Captain Kirk mode allows us to brainstorm, to write and create freely. Our Mr. Spock mode comes later, a lot later, and nitpicks its way through the “chaos”. Both characters can’t be on the chair at the same time. One has to be in command, while the other watches carefully—but doesn’t interfere.

I didn’t realise this important principle when creating content

I wish I could say I’m wiser and smarter now that I’m older, but I’m not. For instance, we embarked on a voyage of re-designing the Psychotactics site in the winter of 2015 (our winter is in August). And when I got on that spaceship, my goal should have been to go through the entire website in Captain Kirk mode.

Instead of wondering if things were right or wrong; whether a font should be grey or black, I should have ploughed ahead. Instead I put on the mantle of Captain Spock. I tried to be two people at the same time: creating pages, editing them, creating pages and yes, edit.

And I should know better

I’ve written hundreds of articles over the years. I know that you need to write the article without stopping to think too much. You spend your time outlining, then you go flat out and write an article, without stopping for a Facebook break.

When you’re done, you put on your Mr. Spock hat and you peck and prod at the words; tidy up the sentences. You polish and shine your work until the deadline looms ahead.

It’s important to separate the duties of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock by as much as a day

Of course it’s not always possible to write one day and edit 24 hours later, but it’s probably a good idea. And there’s a sound reasoning why—and you know it. Writing or creating content, is a tiring task.

It drains you of all your energy, even if you’re proficient at it. You want to be super-fresh and rested when you’re taking on such a monumental task. If you separate the tasks, you get both the characters to do their job exceedingly well.

And this task of creating and editing doesn’t just apply to monumental work

You could be writing a headline of ten words, for instance. And you’re in your Captain Kirk mode. When you’re done with your headline, leave it alone. Go away, do something else. Let the ship fly on auto pilot for a while.

Then, as the Klingnon deadline approaches, put Mr. Spock in the driver’s seat. Let him guide your ship. This space, this big chunk of space between creating and editing is extremely critical.

Space, the final frontier.

Yes, space. As in time. Give it time.

And let Captain Kirk be Captain Kirk. Mr. Spock, he’s fine as Mr. Spock. Let one create; the other edit.

And let there be space.

P.S. That’s how you “live well and prosper”.

Product Offers: Links you should visit

‘Most of us detest chaos’

But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too). Have a look—Chaos Planning [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=8zFkAZVdwDLhnVFgnQeYGw ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Critical Website Components: How to design pages that helps customers find their way around and do what you want them to do. [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=0Hkq2iOzDdkFrFMPkTdSUw ] The Brain Audit: How to market in a way that is respectful to your customers, yet powerfully compelling. [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=EwCXQe1HHz28Ixdxyq7qYA ]

Testimonial Secrets: How to get meaningful testimonials, without needing to ‘bribe anyone’ for it. [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=.UGyfCaVIRUR3svUjiraQ ] ______________________________ [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=qEQk5VilXYh50N7xwI2YXg ]_____________________________ [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=qEQk5VilXYh50N7xwI2YXg ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies The Meaning Of Life? Or A Life of Meaning? How To Solve This Eternal Problem [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=XkfdEQOl.X_KqQKCnOCSAA ] (audio and transcript)http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=Kd1Cz2i58SxAVQnCdI2U3A in iTunes [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=CDrSijVPh_TJ6eQ2Nj9w1Q ] | Android [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=RtCtbOFO4qHpQKWZmhGn9A ] | Website [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=XkfdEQOl.X_KqQKCnOCSAA ] | http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=CDrSijVPh_TJ6eQ2Nj9w1Q Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=a5ncZPuRxaCpNSCVzYMnqw ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools Tell your friends: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=W.8po9yhgzBjWJ.CSj3sFw Resources I recommend: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=mHl3.56APXX18WpKND3j1g Where do you start: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=Lh5IJqfFnDIrO3uQx6h4IA Three Month Vacation: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=TnzSCrGBiGApNpIvYGpMow

Psychotactics Products

Learn Why Most Planning Fails: And The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=8zFkAZVdwDLhnVFgnQeYGw ]

How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With Story Telling) [ http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=ImHMfWyL5tEtt1&b=rs9e7qdG8h_9N2Xd5dtM7Q ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzMbMxsnBw==

Announcing: StoryTelling Prices Rise + Free Goodies

📅 October 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

Warm regards, s-

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TJzMzGzsrAw==

September 2015

Why Big Assignments Drain You (And How To Overcome It)

📅 September 29, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Big Assignments Drain You (And How To Overcome It)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Imagine your roof is leaking.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Can you afford to ignore the drip?

Sure you can, because it’s not flooding the carpet quite yet. But small as it is, that drip won’t go away. As you sit down to do your work, that drip is audible, and you know you have to fix it. But since it’s not a gusher yet, you’ve decided to postpone it.

And that postponement, tiny as it is, is taking up a ton of energy.

The conversation with your brain is something like this

Did you fix the drip? No, I’ll get to it. The drip, did you call the roof guy yet? No, I’ll just finish e-mail, okay? The drip, it’s not going away, you know. I’m getting to it.

The first victim of procrastination is always energy

This is because the brain has its system of prioritisation. It knows pretty well when a task needs to be completed sooner than later. It knows that everyone and everything can wait—but that drip. Which is why you need to tackle the biggest issue as quickly as possible.

When you get started on creating content for that big project; that book; that assignment for your course, your brain goes quieter.

Instead of this ping pong battle in your mind, you’ve gotten rid of the problem—or at least started on the solution. And that saves up a ton of wasted energy.

We don’t think of procrastination as wasted energy, do we?

We just think we’re putting off things until later. But the brain uses up its resources on a constant basis. And when it realises that you’ve not completed something important, it starts to nag, nag and nag.

This inaudible nagging begins to make you fatigued, and tiredness leads to greater procrastination. Which means that leak is not fixed, but you’re getting grumpier by the minute.

I have this problem when it comes to starting an article or writing a book

I know it’s important to get started. I know I should be outlining and then beginning to write, but I will find something else to do. Email beckons; cartoons call out loudly.

I’ll even cook three or four yummy dishes before 10 am, but that book isn’t going anywhere. Which means that by noon, I’m starting to get drained and nothing’s achieved quite yet.

But that’s just the first reason why you should take on the big assignments right away

The second reason comes down to the “fuel” you’re using. When you get started first thing in the morning, you’re running on completely different fuel than at the end of the day. It’s like you’re burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen and hurtling through space. As the day wears on, other drips start to get your attention.

Now your fuel has been downgraded to jet fuel. You soldier on, but soon you’re running on diesel (which, by the way, is 40% more efficient than petrol). And finally, by the end—yup you’re a petrol head.

The reason this “degradation” occurs is a simple concept called rest

Rest is what happens at night. If you haven’t quaffed one too many Pinot Noirs the previous night, you should wake up quite rested. And you’ll find that rocket fuel is at your beck and call.

There’s also the issue of fewer distractions. As the day unfurls, the distractions themselves become a gusher. Your poor brain is not just using crappy fuel, but it has to use that fuel for a bunch of unimportant activities.

And all the while the drip, drip, drip continues.

The third point is just satisfaction

My wife Renuka, she loves her list. And she’s one of that kind of people who will keep lists for all sorts of things. Incredibly (well, at least to me) she will complete a task that wasn’t originally on her list, and then cross off that task as done. You should see the smile on her face as those big slashes go across the jobs she’s completed.

This feeling of satisfaction propels us forward. When a big task is achieved, we should be drained, but we find that we are strangely energised. We want to do more, and then go out and party (well, some of us do).

So party or no party, it makes a ton of sense to take on the big task, doesn’t it? Sure it does. But what if you’re not a morning person?

Morning doesn’t have to start at 4 am

Mine does, but your morning can start whenever you wake up rested. If you go to bed knowing the one big thing you have to complete, you should tackle that big assignment first thing in the morning. And the best way to tackle the assignment is to break it up into parts.

Only the very brave or very foolish go headlong into a big assignment. The smarter you are, the more you’ll realise that every assignment needs to be broken up into bits.

Let’s say you’re doing a course, like the headlines course

You have two parts to your assignment. You have to write out your assignment, but also have to do some reading of the rest of the group (so you can learn from their mistakes and successes). Try and do all of it at once, and the rest of your activities go into pause mode.

The way to tackle your assignment is to write out your headlines in the morning. Then armed with a substantial dose of satisfaction you go about the rest of your work or personal tasks. Later in the day, when you’re running on diesel, go back and check the group’s assignments.

And you achieve the goal of learning at two levels: when you’ve done your headline writing and the analysis of your group.

The same applies when creating content for a product or writing an article

Most of us write, edit, write, edit as if it were a single task. Instead, you need just to write until you’re done. Start with that activity and then go do something else. Your brain is happy, and when you get back, it’s so much easier to edit. When I create books or presentations, I have to do writing, layouts, cartoons, etc.

I’ll take on the first task—outlining, before anything else. Then having done that task, I’ll write much later. The edit comes a lot later, followed by layouts and cartoons.

Understanding how to manage your day is critical

– You don’t want your brain to nag, do you? So get to that drip before it becomes a problem. – To do the critical tasks, use rocket fuel. Petrol is rather inefficient. – Satisfaction counts. It’s like fuel you didn’t know you had. Big tasks bring big satisfaction.

If you want to achieve more in life, it’s not just about what you know, but how you tackle it.

Take on the big tasks, and watch productivity soar. By the way, did you get to that drip, yet?

Announcing: A Hidden Reason Why One Book Made Over $600,000 in profits

📅 September 26, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

How “And” and “Even” Are Powerful Tools In Headline Writing

📅 September 22, 2015 | View in Gmail

How “And” and “Even” Are Powerful Tools In Headline Writing

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

When I was little, I had a remote controlled car.

I’d put the batteries into the car; another set into my remote and I was guaranteed an afternoon of fun. This car—a yellow Lamborghini Countach—could go left, right, race ahead and reverse just as easily.

But what’s good for a 12-year old isn’t necessarily great when writing headlines

The greater the options you have when creating headlines, the easier it is to get confused. Which is why it’s important to keep the headline-writing elements as sparse as possible—while still getting great results.

So let’s assume our “headline car” can only go forward or in reverse

To go forward, we’ll use the term “AND”. And to reverse, we’ll use “EVEN”.

And then we’ll add one more element—the parentheses

When laid out, the headline looks like this: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (AND blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (EVEN blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)

The ""AND” moves the idea forward. The “EVEN” takes it a step back—or provides contrast.

Let’s take a few examples of AND, shall we?

How to consistently raise prices (and still keep 95% of your clients)
How to tell amazing stories (and connect the stories to your business articles)

And then we move in reverse and use EVEN

How to consistently raise prices (even when clients are price-conscious)
How to consistently raise prices (even when the competition is offering discounts).

However, AND and EVEN only apply to the second part of the headline—what about the first part?

Good question. The first part of the headline needs to be a standalone headline, so that if some laser beam wiped out the second part, you’d still have a great headline.

So let’s see how the first part of the headline plays its role

How to establish rapport with an angry client
How to write headlines that people will read
How to get the best deal on your next car
How to feel good about reading a bad review

And since the first part of the headline is already in place, we can put the parentheses. And then the AND and the EVEN to create a bit of added curiosity.

How to establish rapport with an angry client (even if they are yelling at you)
How to write headlines that people will read (and leave them wanting more)
How to get the best deal on your next car (even though the odds are stacked against you)
How to feel good about reading a bad review (even though you’re being attacked)

At this point, you can audit your headline by making sure you have all three elements

A great first part—a complete headline with curiosity.
The addition of “AND” and “EVEN”.
Additional facts that increase curiosity.

But do we have to stick to “AND” and “EVEN”?

No, you don’t. You have several other options, but do you need those other options for now? Why complicate matters when you can create a string of great headlines with just a few elements?

It’s those limited elements that enable us to create headlines quickly and effectively.

And that’s what we want to do, don’t we?

How The “Mosquito Moment” Brought Bill Gates’ Story Alive!

📅 September 19, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

How To Improve Your Concentration Almost Overnight

📅 September 15, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To Improve Your Concentration Almost Overnight

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Think of your brain as a fuel tank. Let’s say you have to make a trip to the supermarket to buy groceries for the week.

Let’s say you then have to go to the dentist because you have some excruciating pain. But then later in the day you just drive because you feel like driving. Which of the three activities will use up less fuel?

Seems like a silly question doesn’t it?

And yet that’s exactly what happens to our brain — and body

When we are learning something brand-new, or have to execute something that is unfamiliar, we need an enormous amount of brainpower to get going. This is why we feel drained after a learning experience.

So let’s say you were learning Photoshop for the first time, You would find you are exhausted, especially if the lesson happens to be complicated. But after a while as you get familiar with the software, it would take fewer of your brain resources to do exactly the same activity.

Which is when you think it is okay to do a lot more

And it is okay to take on greater challenges because you can achieve an enormous amount once you have understood how to execute a routine. All the things that that seemed difficult at one point in time become child’s play.

And yet, EVERY activity is a drain on the brain

This means that if we access Facebook, or just watch a YouTube video, we feel like we are relaxing, but in reality it is burning through our “fuel” reserves.

Even if the activity is an extremely simple activity, it’s akin to driving around with no agenda in mind, versus specifically going to the dentist or the supermarket. The fuel used up is exactly the same, and it drains your ability to function at a high level.

For maximum concentration, your brain and your body needs to be as relaxed as possible

The more stressed or tired it is, the more it will take time to achieve the same activity. And yet it’s not just the time factor that’s under consideration. Your concentration will take a massive hit and the smallest things will start to drain your brain.

You see what is happening here, don’t you? The very “fuel” you need to concentrate, is being depleted.

This need for a high level of concentration puts enormous stress on the brain. What should have been an easy exercise, like using the tools in Photoshop (because you’re an expert by this point), is causing you to huff and puff away.

And you don’t really need complex activity to send you into a loop

All you have to do is stay up very late at night, and then wake up early the next morning. Let’s say you wake up groggy, and have to write a couple of emails to a client.

Words fail you, the text has to be read many times over and you find yourself making inane mistakes. So you try harder, and the more effort you put in, the more you seem to spin.

Yet, on a day when you are completely rested, you would be able to chomp through dozens of emails without batting an eyelid.

And yet, rest is maligned, and hard work is praised

Make no mistake, hard work is critical for your success. No matter how successful you get, there is always going to be a chunky component of hard work. In fact, the most successful people work the hardest.

Think of the top tennis players, writers, dancers or the top stars in any profession. They all work much harder than everybody else. And yet over the years they learn the concept of rest.

For most of the top performers, this learning is not voluntary. They run into a situation where they seem extremely exhausted or on the edge of burnout, which is when the lesson is driven home.

That’s when they start to take breaks

And yet when you go on the Internet, you will find that people talk about work as if it were everything. The author, Seth Godin’s quote comes to mind: “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”

In theory, this quote sounds entirely plausible. In fact, it might have been taken out of context when being quoted — as quotes often are. And if we take it in its worst possible avatar, we find it reflects a society that doesn’t know how to relax.

Work is work and rest is rest

Rest does not mean watching TV or surfing on Facebook. It doesn’t mean checking e-mail. It means physically winding down, resting and doing things that we did before technology rang our doorbell and refused to budge from our couches.

There’s just an itty-bitty problem: We don’t have time to take a break

When you say “I have no time”, stop and think of yourself as a passenger on a flight. The plane is running out of fuel. What should it do next? Like a jumbo that’s done it’s leg of the journey, we too should be engaging our landing gear.

Instead, all we do is try to stuff more into our day by telling ourselves we have to keep going on. Our concentration plummets and we end up circling the airport instead of preparing to land. Eventually our work suffers, our health suffers and concentration is the least of our problems.

Rest is the key to powering ahead

– Every activity no matter how small, drains our “fuel tank”. – To restore that “fuel tank” back to normal, we have to rest. – Some of us may take longer vacations, and others may not quite be in the position to do so just yet. However, all of us need a weekend break. If we choose to avoid that break by checking email, surfing the Internet, etc., we are driving in circles, draining fuel all the time. – Circling is a sign that we need to land. Yes, there’s a massive to do list, but sleep and rest should be at the top of that list.

Take a break

A real break.

Maybe sleep, or do nothing for a change.

Then watch as your concentration begins to soar—quite naturally.

Three Unknown Secrets of Riveting Storytelling

📅 September 12, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

I was about 2 years old when I first had a bout of convulsions.

It didn’t start up as convulsions. I was standing there on the balcony, looking

out on the road, and fell off the stool that I was standing on. As the

story goes, I ran to my mother. She noticed that I was having convulsions,

and she panicked. Now, panic would be the wrong word to use because

what she did next was to bundle me in her arms, and run to the hospital.

Let me put you in the frame of mind of what India was like when I was growing up.

There were few phones—most people didn’t have phones. They didn’t have

cars. You probably had a scooter if you were well off. That’s just how things

were back then.

What my mother had to do was run a distance of 2 kilometres, maybe

3 kilometres, to get to the nearest hospital.

When she got to the hospital, they wouldn’t admit me because I had meningitis.

It seems the hospital was not in the position to deal with cases of meningitis. Somehow,

she managed to convince them to admit me.

At that point in time, they asked for the mother. Now, my mother was very young

and they assumed that she was somehow the sister. They said, “No. No. No.

You have to get the mother.”

This reaction of the hospital staff could be considered odd. Because in India,

it was quite routine for couples to get married very early.

And yet the hospital staff was adamant.

Somehow she not only convinced them to admit me, but that was only the start of

the problem. The diagnosis was pretty grim. The doctor wasn’t so sure that I would survive

the meningitis.

He said, “I have to tell you this. Your son will either die or he’ll go mad.”

What you just read was the story of my youth. The question is, why did you keep

reading? Why did the story work? What is it that caused you to pay attention and

not move away from the story?

That’s the podcast you should listen to/or read today (It is available both in

Audio and Transcript)

This podcasts covers the—Three Unknown Secrets of Riveting Storytelling

Storytelling elements and secrets are hiding in plain sight. Storytelling has a lot of

guidelines and rules. And storytellers can’t always explain what they’re doing.

The core of avoiding boring articles is to be able to tell stories, but stories are useful for

presentations; for books; for webinars. They’re useful for pretty much everything.

We load up our information with facts and figures, which are important to get

attention, but they’re also very tiring. It’s stories that we love to take in, as long

as they’re built well. So how do you build it well? What are those hidden elements

of story?

Tah, dah here’s a podcast in a perfect bite-sized 20 minute format. If you like to read

there is a transcript, divided into sub-headers. Yes, I’m trying to make it easy for

you to consume the podcast ;)

Here is the link: Three Unknown Secrets of Riveting Storytelling

http://www.psychotactics.com/three-elements-storytelling/

Once you finish listening to or reading that podcast, here are the

latest 3 podcasts

#57: Time-Crunching Software: How To Save Enormous Amounts

of Time At Work

No matter where you go, you run into people with the same problem—Time.

Whether you’re a small business owner, or run a big company, it’s all about time,

and getting things done. A lot of time saving can be done without too much

effort on your part and by simply using the software. Software that does very

smart stuff is what we all need.

Here’s the list of three core areas where I use the software.

http://www.psychotactics.com/time-crunching-software/

#54: Deconstructing Why Bad Habits Succeed (And Good Habits Fail)

It’s easy to pick up bad habits. Knowing what causes bad habits to succeed enables

you to make good habits meet with similar success. In this episode, we dig deep

into the trio of trigger, routine and reward mechanisms. And how every one of them

plays a role.

If you’ve struggled to maintain good habits on an ongoing basis, this

audio (and transcript) will show you the elements you have to put in place to succeed.

http://www.psychotactics.com/bad-habits-succeed/

Are Higher Prices Better For Customer Retention?

📅 September 08, 2015 | View in Gmail

Are Higher Prices Better For Customer Retention?

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Southwest Airlines made one tiny change that probably added $80-100 million to their operating profits. Interestingly, this small change might create customer retention even though the customer ends up paying a fair bit more.

It seems odd to think of higher prices being critical to customer retention, doesn’t it?

If you’ve ever been on a Southwest Airlines flight, you know that you don’t have a guaranteed seat. You board the flight based on the letter on your boarding pass. Passengers are allocated A, B, and C boarding passes when they check-in at the airport or through the website.

When you have an A pass, it gives you the privilege of choosing the best possible seat. If, on the other hand, you end up with a C boarding pass, you have to take whatever’s available. This means that you could be stuck on a long flight, smack in the middle seat.

Therefore, Southwest Airlines created a new ticket category called “business select”

For about $10-$30 more than the airline’s highest fares, the passenger could get a guaranteed a pass, bonus frequent-flier points, and an alcoholic beverage.

Just a few months after introducing this business select fare, Southwest was managing to sell two or three additional tickets per flight. According to estimates, this would end up with an additional $80-$100 million in additional operating profits.

But what is even more interesting is how this premium pricing affects customer retention

Think of yourself as the passenger in the middle seat on that flight. How fantabulous was your trip? What are the chances that you will choose Southwest over another airline? You see what’s happening here, don’t you?

The superior the experience, the more you’re likely to come back and buy products and services. Sure you ended up paying an additional amount, but that premium experience causes you to want to repeat it over and over again.

When you don’t have “higher prices,” all you’re doing is sending your customers to the competition

Announcing: Why Chaos Is Your Buddy (And How To Use Chaos in Planning)

📅 September 05, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

Persistent Myths of Pricing (And How To Overcome Them): Part 2

📅 September 01, 2015 | View in Gmail

Persistent Myths of Pricing (And How To Overcome Them): Part 2

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

In Part 1 of Persistent Myths of Pricing (And How To Overcome Them), we looked at Myth 1: Ending prices with 7 or 9 (e.g. $97 or $99 instead of $100)

Now, let’s look at Myth 2: The Fear of Pricing—You can feel the “right price” in your gut.

Imagine you’re in New Zealand right now.

And you’re about to jump off a bridge—with a bungee cord, of course.What can you feel in your gut?

Yup, fear.

But how do you know it’s fear? And more importantly what would you need to do to get rid of the fear?

Remember the fear you had when you first rode a bicycle?

You probably don’t, but the fear existed. It exists when you’re learning to drive a car, going for a first date, and there’s even a trace of that fear when you first land a new job or show up on vacation in a city you’ve never visited before. The moment you are dealing with the unknown, the fear surges to the surface.

August 2015

Announcing: StoryTelling Workshop in Nashville (US), Amsterdam ( Netherlands)

📅 August 29, 2015 | View in Gmail

http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/story-telling-workshop/

If you look at the ten top podcasts, they are all about stories.

If you look at the books, you remember, again, stories.

Presentations, webinars, the best sales pitches—every one of them

depends on storytelling. Storytelling so darn good, that clients

get locked into the story—and are rooted to their seats.

In the radio industry, this is called the “driveway moment”

Imagine you’ve just driven home from the supermarket with your

groceries and a tub of ice-cream. Instead of rushing inside, you’re

just sitting in the driveway. The tub of ice-cream is starting to melt,

but you can’t tear yourself away from the story on the radio.

What you’re experiencing is a “driveway moment”.

Announcing: The “Driveway Storytelling Workshop”

It’s a workshop that deals with just three critical storytelling elements:

•    Finding the story

•    Crafting the story

•    Connecting the story to our content.

Last Day: How to join 5000bc (Without Being On The Waiting List!)

📅 August 25, 2015 | View in Gmail

Today’s the last day to join 5000bc before we put up the waiting list yet again. After that only a limited number will be able to join every month.

If you’re a business owner, you know how lonely it can be in your world. And having a community to talk to, to work with and bounce your ideas off, is incredibly valuable.

The motto of 5000bc is: be kind, be helpful, or begone.

If you are looking for a community that simply slap each other on the back, are always promoting themselves, then 5000bc is not for you.

What you’ll find in 5000bc is solid information, but more importantly, solid help. Help from me (yes, I’m around 20-30 times a day, answering questions in great detail) and other members who pitch in and help.

Announcing: How to join 5000bc (Without Being On The Waiting List!)

📅 August 22, 2015 | View in Gmail

You’ve been around the Psychotactics site for a while. And you’ve probably even sneaked a peek at 5000bc (our membership site) and seen that there’s a waiting list.

And for three days we’re bringing down that wall.

And from Saturday 22 August to Tuesday 25 August 2015, you get the chance to join (without being on the waiting list).

The last time we opened up the waiting list was over five months ago. Yup, a long time ago.

But how do you know if 5000bc is the place for you? You read the testimonials. Do your due diligence and read the testimonials and you’ll see for yourself why our members join—and more importantly why they stay. And how you can be part of that select group as well.

Persistent Myths of Pricing (And How To Overcome Them): Part 1

📅 August 18, 2015 | View in Gmail

Persistent Myths of Pricing (And How To Overcome Them): Part 1

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

“Don’t go out in cold without your coat—or you’ll get sick”.

Which one of us haven’t heard our parents insisting on us wearing a coat? Almost every parent on the planet firmly believes that a cold is sure to descend upon you, if you don’t have that coat on.

And yet, you don’t get colds because of the temperature outside. You get a cold from viruses—and guess what? Those viruses are more likely be indoors than anywhere else. So yeah, getting that jacket or coat on, is just a myth, but it sure keeps you warm.

In pricing we also have myths that keep us warm

And two myths prevail, causing us to lose out on charging higher prices over time. They force us to put on a coat, when it’s perfectly good to go outside without one. Let’s take a look and find out what these myths are, and how to overcome them.

Myth 1: Ending prices with 7 or 9 (e.g. $97 or $99 instead of $100)Myth 2: You can feel the “right price” in your gut

How Long Do You Work on Vacation?

📅 August 15, 2015 | View in Gmail

In February of 2005 I had no intention of checking any email on our vacation.

That was because we were on our vacation in the South Island. Now New Zealand is a set of islands, as you probably know. There’s the North Island where we live, and the South Island.

The South Island is truly breathtaking. It’s got rivers and mountains and glaciers, and there we were at Fox Glacier. Now Fox is an amazing glacier because it’s in close proximity to both the rainforest and the ocean. That’s pretty rare with a glacier, but the ice flow on Fox Glacier is also amazing. It changes as much as three meters a day, so it’s a pretty crazy place to be, and there we were walking on the glacier.

When we had done that walk, we came down to check email.

I didn’t check email for several days, and there was this little hut right next to the glacier. Yes, there’s email everywhere these days. I switched on the computer expecting nothing much, and there it was: an email telling me that our entire membership site was non-existent.

This is the power of email. It can take a perfectly good vacation and make it an absolutely rotten one.

So how do you deal with email on vacation?

Speed and Slowing Down: The Paradox of Outlining

📅 August 11, 2015 | View in Gmail

Speed and Slowing Down: The Paradox of Outlining

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

I’m a big fan of Cheesymite.

It’s a roll of bread consisting of cheese and Marmite, it makes for a delicious snack. And if I walk every day of the week, I reward myself with a Cheesymite on a Friday. Except it’s just that some Fridays are not as good as others.

On some Fridays, the Cheesymite is fresh out of the oven

On other days, it’s been sitting in the display case for about 45 minutes before I can buy it. But for every minute that it’s been sitting in the case, it seems to lose its combination of crispness and yumminess.

Which is about what happens to an outline when you’re working on a project. That project might be an article, a webinar or a podcast—the result is similar. The longer the outline sits on your desk, the more stale it gets.

You have to think like a baker when it comes to outlining

When you sit down to outline, all you really need a tiny sheet of paper, and a pencil or pen. It’s important to jot down the points right away on that sheet of paper.

I tend to think in terms of three, when I’m considering my podcasts. So let’s say I’m writing an outline on “why some people sell better than others”, I’ll list just three sub-topics: enthusiasm, language, sequence.

And it’s not like I have any clue what’s going to fill those three sub-topics

But that’s the next part of the outline. You first simply jot down the points you want to cover. You don’t want to think about content right away. Once you’re done with covering the points, you fill in the details of what you could possibly cover.

In most cases, you’re filling the detail with a combination of questions (how, why, when, where) and a few stories or case studies.

In the case of the first point, “transfer of enthusiasm”, here’s what I’d do

I’d tell a story or two about enthusiasm. I’d demonstrate how it made a difference. The story can go both ways: it can be a story of a lack of enthusiasm and how it affected our sales, or enthusiasm and how it improved our sales.

Then I’ll go into the concept of “what is enthusiasm”, “why it’s important”, “when to use it and when to slow down”etc. And corny as it may seem when you’re writing it down, that’s really what any article, webinar or podcast is all about. It’s information being drip fed with a series of questions.

Notice that we haven’t started writing anything yet

And this is the paradox of outlining. You’re not trying to get to the article or finished product in a hurry. Taking a little time to outline helps you think through what you’re going to say, the stories you’re going to use and the points you need to cover.

You also figure out the sequence in which you’ll cover those points. In short, you’re moving through the baking process, mixing the dough, preparing the oven—there’s no Cheesymite on the horizon just yet.

But once you’ve got all the elements together, it’s time to move quickly

The longer you sit on an outline, the greater the confusion in your head. You think of additional ideas, sometimes related to the outline itself, and sometimes to another outline.

The quicker you move towards your article, the higher the chances of the article getting to the finish line.

I’ve had outlines that I’ve written (and in considerable detail too) but once the moment passes, hard to generate the energy needed to write a great article. So moving quickly is the best way forward.

However, all outlines don’t end up being perfect

You may create an outline, detail it and then find that you want to say something else, or may want to just drop a whole sub-topic. If that’s the case, you want to go back to your sheet of paper. It’s a terrible waste of time trying to fix things while writing or speaking.

Going back to the original sheet of paper is the fastest, most efficient way to go. Outline the sub-topic, then the details and only then should you go back to writing or speaking.

And all outlines are not the same

Creating an outline for an 800 word article should—in time—take you no more than 5-7 minutes. When you’re creating an outline for a 100 page book, however, it’s a different matter.

That may take all week. Nonetheless, once the outline is done, the creation work must begin or you will lose the fire and momentum.

It’s a lot like my Cheesymite, when you think about it.

Some days it’s perfect, some days it’s just a little less than perfect.

But if I wait a few days, it’s completely inedible.

What a waste!

Why Every Kid Can Draw At 5 (And Gives Up at 6)

📅 August 08, 2015 | View in Gmail

In my career as a cartoonist, I noticed something interesting. No matter where you go on the planet, you can find a five year old that is not only capable of drawing, but is eager to draw.

Then, they turn six.

Then, shortly after, they turn 35—and they draw like a five-year-old. So what happened between the ages of five and six. And why do most of us draw like we’re five? The answer seems pretty obvious, right? We stopped at the age of five.

Why You Should Outsource Your Strengths (And Work On Weaknesses)

📅 August 04, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why You Should Outsource Your Strengths (And Work On Weaknesses)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

How much would you charge to put a nail in the wall?

What if I told you I’d pay you with an elaborately cooked, four-course meal, just to put that nail in the wall?

Sounds bizarre, doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what I’d do, to avoid the trouble of “putting a nail in the wall”. I don’t see it as a nail in the wall. I see it as having to get the right position, making sure I don’t drill too big or wide a hole.

July 2015

How To Succeed (Even In A Crowded Marketplace)

📅 July 18, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Mid-month is a good time to catch up on podcasts that you may have missed. So let’s look at the “Top 3” podcasts and then that one podcast that you just can’t miss.

#48: How To Build A Cult-Like Following By Using An Adjective In Your Branding

Is it really easy to build a cult-like following for your brand? Yes, but the core of that branding lies in the “adjective”. Yes, that very same grammar lesson you had at school. When you look at the biggest and most well-defined brands in history, you find they are defined by a single word. That’s the power of the adjective. In this episode, we look at how to create an adjective for your brand.

Are Your Headlines “Write and Hope” or “Predictably Clickable”?

📅 July 14, 2015 | View in Gmail

There are only two kinds of headlines. Unfortunately, most of us end up with the bad kind.

Let’s call that the “write and hope” kind of headline Instead of the “writing and hoping”, we really want to create “predictably clickable” headlines. And we want to write them every single time.

But that’s not how we go about writing headlines Most of us try to put headlines together by using a few snappy words. Then, in an attempt to make them more interesting, we tweak them here and there, but we’re not quite sure if they work.

The Headline Course 2015: Bookings open in 30 minutes

📅 July 11, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

In 30 minutes from now (give or take a few minutes), the Headlines Course for 2015 will open.

So why all this fuss? Unlike other marketers that take hundreds, even thousands of people on their courses, we take just 25.

Then we stop.

The goal of the course is simple: It’s to make you a confident, proficient headline writer. One that looks at stupid headlines and laughs. And laughing is fine, but you can also fix the headlines. And then write 30 or 50 more headlines for good measure, no matter what the industry or business.

New! Headlines Course: How To Write Amazingly Powerful Headlines ( Every Single Time)

📅 July 07, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

I am resending this message just in case you missed it on the weekend.

Here’s a little test.

I’m going to write three lines. And of course, you’ll read those three lines. Then you’ll tell me which of the lines work. And which ones don’t.

Ready?

OK, here goes:

I’m going for a walk in the woods tonight.
The cylist doesn’t cycle very good.
Dinosaurs love yummy chocolate cake.

Announcing! Headlines Course: How To Write Amazingly Powerful Headlines ( Every Single Time)

📅 July 04, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Here’s a little test.

I’m going to write three lines. And of course, you’ll read those three lines. Then you’ll tell me which of the lines work. And which ones don’t.

Ready?

OK, here goes:

I’m going for a walk in the woods tonight.
The cylist doesn’t cycle very good.
Dinosaurs love yummy chocolate cake.

OK, so the chocolate cake distracted you for a while. But you were still able to quickly spot the mistakes, right?

June 2015

📅 June 30, 2015 | View in Gmail

Email Newsletter Dilemma: Should You Put Your Entire Article In Your Newsletter (Or Just A Link?)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Let’s say you’re at Alfredo’s

And Alfredo’s is your favourite Italian restaurant and you’ve been yearning all week for this lasagne.

You sit down, chomp a mouthful, then another mouthful. The flavours explode in your mouth. Then Alfredo steps in and takes the plate away before you get the third bite in.

It’s enough to make you choke, right? You were into the meal, but Alfredo says you have to get up from your table, and continue your meal in the next room.

Announcing: How to write 200 brilliant headlines + How To Build An Online Community

📅 June 27, 2015 | View in Gmail

Just two short announcements today.

Announcing: The Headline Course 2015 (8 Weeks) If you’ve ever needed to write headlines, you know what a pain it is. Then, of course, some genius marketer tells you that you have to write 200 headlines to get one great headline. But what if they were wrong?

What if you could write 200 headlines brilliantly? And what if you could do them in a fraction of the time that you’re taking right now? And what if your headline could then attract customers, just like you intended?

Why Did You Buy? A Deceivingly Important Question To Ask Clients

📅 June 23, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Did You Buy? A Deceivingly Important Question To Ask Clients

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

Whenever we sell a product or service, we forget an important question.

The question: Why did you buy?

So why is this question so very important?

It’s important for several reasons

It validates the purchase decision
It gives you an understanding into the trigger
You can manage expectations better

How to fix an “unfixable” website (A recommendation)

📅 June 20, 2015 | View in Gmail

In 2013 we had an unfixable website.

Actually two.

The websites seemed fine when they were put together several years ago. But along the way there were code changes, fixes—stuff that made a mess of things.

And when things are a mess, it’s hard to make changes It’s hard to upgrade elements; harder still to prevent the bad guys from calling and hacking in and destroying your business.

Last Day Special Offer: Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website + Special Bonus

📅 June 16, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Just a quick reminder in case you missed the earlier email.

When you buy Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website on the 13th, 14th, 15th or 16th June 2015, you’ll also get a Special Bonus— ‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ (worth $45) absolutely free.

Do you often wonder if your home page, about us page or client acquisition page is working at less than its full potential? These three pages are critical to any website, and yet we often put the content together on these pages hurriedly.

Special Offer: Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website + Special Bonus (Valued at $45)

📅 June 13, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree When you buy Website Components-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website on the 13th, 14th, 15th or 16th June 2015, you’ll also get a Special Bonus— ‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ (worth $45) absolutely free.

The Amazing Power of the Challenge (And How To Fire Up Your Audience)

📅 June 09, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Amazing Power of the Challenge (And How To Fire Up Your Audience)

(To read this article online, click on the cartoon)

Why Creating and Meeting Challenges Fire Up An Audience

When you’re sitting in a magic show, you don’t doodle. You don’t take out your pen, a sheet of paper and draw weird, funny squiggles.

And that’s because a magician creates action. And most of the action is centred around a challenge.

Announcing! Client Attractors: How To Speed Up Your Sales

📅 June 06, 2015 | View in Gmail

You already know that 80% of a sales letter depends on your headline And therefore it’s not uncommon to see writers spend many hours testing and re-testing their headline.

But what happens once your customer goes past the headline into the rest of the copy? Which are the elements that cause customers to feel an urge to buy your product or service?

Article Starter: Why The Ending Matters Most Of All

📅 June 02, 2015 | View in Gmail

Article Starter: Why The Ending Matters Most Of All

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

You’ve probably never heard of Grant Elliot.

But on the night of March 24, 2015, over 1 billion viewers paid close attention as he hit the winning shot in the semi final of the World Cricket Tournament.

But what of the players that came before him? What about their contributions? Doesn’t every player and contribution matter?

It does matter, but what really matters is the “winning shot”.

May 2015

Reminder: $2500 Free Workshop: How To (Finally) Get On The List

📅 May 30, 2015 | View in Gmail

This is a reminder in case you missed it last week. Last week we announced about the $2500 Brain Alchemy Masterclass Workshop we were giving away. And you were promised that you’d get a follow up email.

Well, tah…dah…here’s the follow up email.

Do We Really Need To Start With Why?

📅 May 26, 2015 | View in Gmail

Do We Really Need To Start With Why?

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

In Tokyo, under the Ginza railway station, there is a famous restaurant run by Jiro.

The spotlight is obviously on Jiro, because of his Michelen-star status.

Among all the restaurants in the world, few restaurants get the privilege of getting an extremely high rating in the food industry.

$2500 Free Workshop: How To (Finally) Get On The List

📅 May 23, 2015 | View in Gmail

Last week we announced about the $2500 Brain Alchemy Masterclass Workshop we were giving away. And you were promised that you’d get a follow up email.

Well, tah…dah…here’s the follow up email.

And the link to read more details and get on the list is at: http://www.psychotactics.com/free/brain-alchemy-goodies/

Why Rewriting Is A Mistake

📅 May 19, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Rewriting Is A Mistake

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

There is an ancient saying that goes like this…

You can’t step into the same river twice.

That’s because the river has changed.

And you’ve changed.

And similarly when you try to re-write an article, you’re no longer the person you were.

Free from Psychotactics: The $2500 Brain Alchemy Marketing Strategy Workshop

📅 May 16, 2015 | View in Gmail

If someone stood on the corner and gave you $25, wouldn’t you be suspicious? But what if they gave you $250? Or $1000? Would you raise your eyebrows? Even avoid that person?

It depends on the person, right? Well that person happens to be me. And I’m not giving away $50 or even $1000, but instead a home study version of a workshop worth a chunky $2500.

Announcing: How to Sell Without Selling—Last Day Special Offer

📅 May 12, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep customer’s attention… But you don’t want thousands of ways. You just want a simple system that’s effective. A system that has been tested for over 12 years and got results. And most importantly a system that you don’t have to pull up a 675 page manual to even work out.

Announcing: The Brain Audit Kit + Special Goodies worth $158 (Valid until 12 May, 2015)

The Brain Audit is the book that gives you a system The Brain Audit is a step-by-step system that enables you to understand what’s going on in the brain of your customer. It’s a system that is based on a deep understanding of how our mind works, and why we do what do.

When you buy the Premium Brain Audit Kit on the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th May, 2015, you’ll also get “How To Identify The Right Target Audience For Your Busines

Announcing: How to Sell Without Selling (Special Offer)

📅 May 09, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep customer’s attention… But you don’t want thousands of ways. You just want a simple system that’s effective. A system that has been tested for over 13 years and got results. And most importantly a system that you don’t have to pull up a 675 page manual to even work out.

Announcing: The Brain Audit Kit + Special Goodies worth $158 (Valid until 12 May, 2015

When you buy the Premium Brain Audit Kit on the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th May, 2015, you’ll also get ‘How To Identify The Right Target Audience For Your Business’.

My Adventures With Podcasting ( In Case You’re Interested)

📅 May 05, 2015 | View in Gmail

My Adventures With Podcasting (In Case You’re Interested)

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

Where did you start?

What do you use? Do you outline?

Slow down. Yes, do slow down.

Podcasting is like everything else. Work, lots of work. But also a lot of fun. So here’s the abbreviated story.

How to get FREE: Two Brain Audit Audio Files

📅 May 02, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Last week you got a chunky 30-page excerpt of The Brain Audit.

This week you can get two short five-minute audio files. These

short audios will teach you two very important lessons which you

can implement straight away.

What you will learn:

1) The critical difference between 'The Solution' and 'Your

Solution'

2) A tested-formula on how to write a powerful tag-line.

April 2015

The Man In The Jungle Method

📅 April 28, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Man In The Jungle Method

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

Imagine it’s a hot day and you’re longing for some ice-cream

I give it you.

You’re about to lick it.

But then it gets snatched away from you.

You don’t need to be told what happens next, right?

And that’s because your brain has already gotten the “reward”. Hundreds of milliseconds before you even licked that ice-cream, the pleasure centre of your brain lit up in anticipation of how the ice-cream would taste.

When the cone was snatched away, there was an interrupt that can only be fixed one way. Unless and until you get the ice-cream back, the situation remains unresolved.

This method is called “The Man In the jungle” method

How to get a FREE 30-Page Excerpt of The Brain Audit ( Without Even Needing To Fill A Form)

📅 April 25, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

If you’ve always wondered what The Brain Audit was all about. Or if you’ve ever wondered what’s in this book that’s caused thousands of businesses to “sell without selling”, then here’s a way to stop wondering.

Because you can get a chunky 30 page excerpt of The Brain Audit.

And it’s free. You’ll enjoy the cartoons. You’ll enjoy the way The Brain Audit holds your attention. And you’ll learn a lot—even in just 30 pages.

No catches. Not even a darned form to fill. But let me not yada, yada. Here you go.

http://www.psychotactics.com/BrainAudit_Excerpt.pdf

Can Walking Make You Smarter?

📅 April 21, 2015 | View in Gmail

Can Walking Make You Smarter?

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

You know how folks are always talking about being a millionaire?

Well, there’s a guaranteed way to become a millionaire

It’s called walking. You have those two feet, and if you did 15,000 steps a day, you’d end up doing 5,475,000 steps a year (yes, that is indeed five million, four hundred and seventy five thousand).

But you know what? 15,000 steps a day is an awful number of steps to complete day in and day out.

Yet, let’s suppose you did just half that, averaging about 8,200 steps a day…

You’d still end up doing over 3 million steps a year. Or rather, if we don’t do that many a day, think of 3 million steps that you’re NOT doing. That’s 3 million this year, and 3 million next year, 3 million the year after that.

I have a friend, Chris

Chris used to pride himself on not exercising. He’d go to the extremes most of us wouldn’t—just to avoid exercise.

Crazy things like driving his car across the street. And today Chris has had two heart attacks, he also has diabetes and it’s so bad, he doesn’t have any feeling on the soles of his feet.

But forget about Chris for a while…

I had issues with my health too. We eat out a lot (yes, despite all that food you see me cooking all the time). And the doctor told me that my blood sugar was high; so was my cholesterol and yes I needed to make dietary changes.

Well, I didn’t. I continued to do exactly what I was doing earlier—and I went for a walk.

I got myself a Fitbit and I became a “competitive” walker. I’d park far away from the store. I’d be the errand boy around the house. Suddenly I was doing what my grandparents; my parents did.

My grandparents and parents saw a gym as a place where you went to become a muscle man

They ate what they liked, drank a lot and yes, they even smoked a lot. But they also walked. And walked. And walked. And that’s the silly kind of journey I’m on.

I started out in July 2012. But this year I decided to have a pre-ordained goal. I decided to walk 15,000 steps a day. Done well, that would get me to 5,475,000 steps in a year. As you can tell, that’s a heck of a lot of walking.

That’s just January. As you can see, some days I get “sloppy”. But my goal is clear. I’m going to make it to 5 million steps this year. Without a goal, you get nowhere.

But it’s also a heck of a lot of learning

I listen to courses, podcasts and audio books on my way out. And I learn a language on my way back (right now it’s Italian, which by the way, is remarkably like Spanish and Portuguese).

I don’t try to remember all the stuff I’m hearing. I just treat the audio in my ear, like radio. I remember whatever I can, even it’s a measly bit. And bit by bit, I learn a lot.

Like everyone else on the planet, I have no time. So I make time by walking. My iPhone is always strapped to my side. It’s always loaded and ready to go.

If I’ve judged right, I’ll finish over 5,400 hours of learning just this year

When you consider that a two day workshop usually has just a little over 12 hours of content, that’s like doing 450, 2-day workshops in a single year. Mind-boggling, isn’t it?

The opposite of exercise, isn’t weight gain.

The opposite is decay.

Decay of the body.

Decay of the mind.

I’m on Fitbit. You can get “competitive” too. Join me and get those legs moving.

Let’s go. Let’s get rid of the body and mind decay.Let’s all become “millionaires”.

P.S. I detest exercise. I like playing a game like badminton, for example. But exercise bores me. Still, decay is not an option.

P.P.S. Wondering what happened to the medical reports? Well, the doctor said I was doing great. But I hadn’t changed my diet at all. I just exercised. I’m not suggesting you do the same. Do whatever it takes to lose weight and gain brain power. And yes, start walking—AND—counting!

Announcing: Why Chaos Is Your Buddy (And How To Use Chaos in Planning)

📅 April 18, 2015 | View in Gmail

Most of us detest chaos. But there’s not a day when chaos doesn’t show up and hang around for a good part of the day.

We can ignore chaos, but it won’t go away.

But what if we planned around it? What if we actually took chaos into consideration so that when it shows up—if it shows up—we’re more than prepared and not flustered at all.

As we head into the new year, it’s easy to get stuck into planning. What we really need is chaos planning. Because chaos will show up.

Here’s where you can find how we worked with chaos (and how you can too) http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/

3 Guaranteed Ways To Get Writer’s Block

📅 April 14, 2015 | View in Gmail

3 Guaranteed Ways To Get Writer’s Block

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

Three factors cause writer’s block.

Underwork.

Overwork.

Lack of systematic planning.

But let’s talk about systematic planning, first

Let’s talk about boiling an egg, shall we? What would you do first? Just turn on the flame and then scramble to get the vessel, water and egg?

Wouldn’t the flame be the very last thing you turn on when doing something as simple as boiling an egg? Yet, there we go into writer-land, sitting at our computer, and expecting the ingredients to show up from thin air!

And that’s where the system goes out of the window.So what would a real system look like?

A real system would involve at least three steps.

Step 1: Generate ONE topic.

Step 2: Generate ONE sub-topic

Step 3: Get to ONE sub-sub-topic

Let’s start with Step 1 and generate ON

New! Dartboard Pricing: How To Increase Prices-Without Losing Customers

📅 April 11, 2015 | View in Gmail

Dartboard? As in darts and a dartboard?

Yes, exactly! If you go to a bookstore and buy a dozen books on pricing, you will find pricing is some incredibly sophisticated system. You’ll run into fancy and complicated pricing models that rapidly put you to sleep.

So is pricing simple? Sure it is. You don’t need a book to figure out pricing. A simple dart board and some prices on the board would solve your problem in a matter of minutes.

The price itself is of little consequence What matters is all the stuff around the price. And in this three-part book series, you’ll understand:

The Psychology of Pricing (What Causes Us To Buy)
The Method of Raising Prices (And The Mistakes To Avoid)
Creating and Managing Price Expectations

There’s no sales page. There’s just a “trust the chef” offer. You want to take it now, before the prices rise by 28%. And yes, it’s fully guaranteed—in case the chef’s meal is not to your liking.

No boring pricing models. No ugh complication. Just a simple, step-by-step system that walks you through exactly what you have to do.

Here’s the page. Judge for yourself. http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/

Regards from Auckland Sean P.S. Last change to get it at the early bird price http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/

Why We Struggle To Write a Book: 3 Structural Reasons

📅 April 06, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why We Struggle To Write a Book: 3 Structural Reasons

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

When you sit down to write a book, you wonder why the sound of hitting your head is so very loud.

The more you sit down, the harder it seems.

And yet, there’s a reason—three actually.

And the three are—tah dah!

Structure
Design
Content

Stage 1: Structure is where you design the “design”

Most of us have, at some point, played with Lego. When you attack a kid’s Lego set, you don’t need a plan.

Bricks go over bricks, red over blue, green under yellow—and you get applause at the end of the day.

Which is fair enough. You’re a kid playing and play should be free-wheeling.

But the moment you get to serious house-building and you pull out your Lego resumé, you’ve got trouble on your hands. And that’s because you need a blue print of sorts.

You need a construction plan. Just sitting down and attacking the timber ain’t going to get that house up in a hurry.

Which is approximately how you write a book as well

Most of us have read books—sure, but haven’t been privy to the writing process. And the first part of the process is planning.

You need a framework to hang your information on. And the framework makes things accessible, and idiot-proof.

The biggest reason we have DIY (do-it-yourself) disasters, is because someone with a hammer and blowtorch decides to write a book.

Invariably you get a book, but the core of it is shoddy. The material is extremely hard to consume.

But we’re not even jumping over to the reader

Like DIY without a blueprint, it’s just plain hard work.

The reason why so many tasks take so much time is because a plan makes the step-by-step process easier.

You know where you’re going right—and more importantly where you’re going off on a tangent. And when we take this tangential trip, we end up spending a lot of time.

Time that could have saved, with a plan; a structure in place.

When you look back at the Renaissance, for instance, you see an incredible volume of creativity

Why were so many people creative at one point in time? The answer lay in the structure of apprenticeship.

The teacher had a plan, the apprentice followed the plan. And then once they were fluent, they went on to create their own marvellous pieces of art.

Writing too, is a piece of art. And sure you can throw anything together and hope it sticks. But it’s better to have structure.

However, structure itself won’t work—and this takes us to design.

Stage 2: What’s design?

Design is indeed what it looks like, but it’s more about how it’s consumed. So when you read a book like The Brain Audit, for example, you find yourself sliding through it.

Now on the face of it, it’s a marketing book with some analogy about seven red bags on a conveyor belt. Doesn’t sound too racy, does it? And yet, the moment you start, it’s a slippery slide.

Chapter after chapter gets your attention…

You hardly feel like you’re reading a marketing book. You somehow feel motivated to keep going. And this is because of the design.

It’s designed to look good—yes it is—but it’s also designed to get you slip-sliding.

Do you notice the white spaces? The sub-head design? The cartoons, the summaries, the captions, the stories and analogies—they’re all designed to do a specific thing at a specific time.

Just like when you’re building a house, you get different elements working sequentially, but also all at once

You get the piles put in, then the house structure. Suddenly there’s an army of plumbers, electricians, carpet layers etc. They’re the ones that give your house the ability to function as a living space. They’re the designers.

Sure you can get an interior designer to come in and give your place a swishy look, but that’s only later.

The core is all the bits that go together to make the house. And it’s remarkably similar to a book. Without the elements in at the right point—and sometimes all together, it’s hard to get going. And head banging follows.

Which of course brings us to the third part—content

Remarkably the easiest part is content. Because for the most part, we know what to say. You know this to be true, because once your house is built, you kinda know how to fill it up with stuff.

Yes, there’s always the chance of clutter, but if you followed the first part—structure, you should be good.

The reason why we struggle, is because we put the entire truckload of information on paper. Clients take one look at it, perhaps a second look and then never finish. And that’s bad for them, but mainly bad for you. Because now you have to go out and find new clients instead of clients coming back over and over again.

But that still leaves the question: What do you put in the content?

The very core of content is not that hard. You have to approach it like a five year old approaches a skunk. They’re not afraid of the skunk. And they have questions. So what does the five year old ask?

-What is that?

-Where did it come from?

-Why are you so scared of it?

-Why are they so smelly?

-But can’t we have one as a pet if it’s not smelly?

These are the kind of questions you ask. It never leaves us, this core curiosity.

If you’re writing a book on pricing, and you are covering “how packaging affects pricing”, you have similar questions.

What is packaging?
Why does it matter?
How do you use packaging to increase prices?
What are the mistakes you can make with packaging?
But what if you don’t want to package?

These are the core questions you have to answer.

And remarkably, you could write the content without too much trouble, if you just had a friend or customer ask the questions. But where you struggle the most is in the structure and the design. And that’s what you need to work on.

Amateur writers sit down to write.

Professionals first sit down to plan.

Announcing! Dartboard Pricing: How To Increase Prices-Without Losing Customers (New)

📅 April 04, 2015 | View in Gmail

Dartboard? As in darts and a dartboard?

So is pricing simple? Sure it is. You don’t need a book to figure out pricing. A simple dart board and some prices on the board would solve your problem in a matter of minutes.

The price itself is of little consequence What matters is all the stuff around the price. And in this three-part book series, you’ll understand:

The Psychology of Pricing (What Causes Us To Buy)
The Method of Raising Prices (And The Mistakes To Avoid)
Creating and Managing Price Expectations

No boring pricing models. No ugh complication. Just a simple, step-by-step system that walks you through exactly what you have to do.

Here’s the page. Judge for yourself. http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/

Regards for a rainy day in Auckland Sean

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TOyM7IysbEw=

Seree Can You Help Me With This?

📅 April 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

You’ve been with the Psychotactics newsletter for a while. And you get almost 50 articles on marketing and business growth each year.

And I’d like to ask you a small favour…

I’d love it if you could tell three-four friends or colleagues about Psychotactics.

To make it easy, here’s the link. And don’t forget to download your special bonus-‘Changing Minds: Turning Skeptics Into Believers’ http://www.psychotactics.com/friend-bonus

Warm regards from New Zealand, Sean

Special Bonus!’Changing Minds: Turning Skeptics Into Believers’

When you refer your friends, you will get an ebook on ‘Changing Minds: Turning Skeptics Into Believers’ worth $40. (No this book is not available off our website and is only for our premium customers at this point). http://www.psychotactics.com/friend-bonus

P.S. Please do let us know if you find any link that doesn’t work. We are constantly upgrading our website and sometimes links change.

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtGa0jCxMTIyc

March 2015

Two Critical Components For Getting Attention

📅 March 31, 2015 | View in Gmail

Two Critical Components For Getting Attention

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

Let’s say you’re sitting in the audience, about to hear a speech on “Why Customers Buy”.

You’re expecting the presenter to introduce himself.

You’re expecting that presenter to say something about conversion and purchasing decisions.

You’re not 100% sure what to expect, but you’re not expecting what you’re seeing right now.

The speaker has grabbed a chair from the audience.

He’s saying something. Standing on the chair, sitting on it. And suddenly your brain can’t help but be riveted to what’s unfolding before you. And that’s because the speaker is pressing hard on your brain’s neurotransmitters.

He’s getting your attention by doing something that’s so novel that you have no option, but to pay attention.

Attention: A combination of novelty and consequences!

To get a person’s attention—any person’s attention, you have a few minutes, perhaps even a few seconds. And if you break up attention into two distinct bits, you get two parts.

Novelty. And consequences.

The novelty comes first. It’s the part that holds your attention.

Suddenly, there’s this unusual thing unfolding in front of your eyes. And it’s not terribly unusual, but enough to get and keep your attention. The moment your brain is locked in, your curiosity ramps up.

And no matter whether you’re on a website, reading a book, or listening to a presentation, the same neurotransmitters kick in, starting of course with novelty.

Remember the chair story? Well, that was novelty.

Instead of starting The Brain Audit presentation talking about conversion, I sit on a chair, stand up, sit, stand

And then after a few seconds of these antics, I ask the audience, “Who expected the chair to break?” None of the hands go up—obviously. Then I ask the question, “why didn’t the chair break?”

And then someone in the audience will invariably say, “It was built to take your weight”. Which, yes, is the right answer.

The chair didn’t break because it’s built on science. It’s not supposed to break. And then we look at our marketing, and find that it breaks. We don’t know how or why it breaks, because there’s no science”

You see what’s happened? We moved from novelty right into consequences!

Novelty is nice. Novelty is needed. It’s what gets your attention, but then it’s time to sustain that attention. And that’s when the consequences storm through the door.

But for consequences to exist, a problem must exist in the first instance. So once you bring up the problem, you then (and only then) explain the consequences.

And when we go back to the chair example, we see how the problem seems to have shown up

“With marketing you don’t have the science of a chair. It doesn’t work every single time. And so you spend a bit of money on advertising or write out a cheque for some Facebook campaign. But the results are far from consistent.

You hit, but more often you miss. You spend money here, there and everywhere and you’re not even sure what’s going to work for you.

It’s frustrating, even debilitating, not knowing when you don’t get consistency. And yet the brain works on consistency. When we send out a consistent message, we get consistent result.

The reason why there’s such a hit and miss syndrome is because we don’t quite understand how the brain works. So how does the brain work?

See how novelty and consequence make a great act?

But first you have to understand what makes great novelty. And novelty mostly comes from two areas: analogies or stories.

The moment you understand how to tell dramatic stories, you can immediately create novelty.

The same applies to analogies. But like everything in life, you can tell stories in a great way, or make it utterly boring. The chair analogy stands out because it’s unusual.

If a presenter had to start with an analogy of “building your house on rocky vs. sandy ground”, for example, the audience would fall asleep, because they’re more than likely to have heard that analogy before.

So your novelty has to be built around something that’s pretty every day in nature, yet different enough to get attention.

And once you get to consequences, there’s also scope to go off target

Most of us get so enamoured with the consequences of the problem, that we forget that we have to stay on a narrow track.

Your audience is locked in because you’ve just told them they’re wasting money and they don’t know how to stop this crazy expenditure. At this point, it’s easy to go off track into a completely different set of consequences.

But you’ve got to stick with what happens next

What happens when you spend all that money?

How does it impact your future decisions?

How do you feel when things go wrong?

These are all consequences of a SINGLE action. And staying on track is critical to keep that attention. If you get distracted and head into several consequences, you’ll quickly lose the audience.

Let’s take another example of attention and consequences

In a presentation on “pricing”, I will start the presentation with a video of New Zealand. There you are, waiting for the presenter to talk about pricing and he’s talking about “three month vacations”.

But that’s the novelty. And it’s tied right back to why you struggle to take those vacations. The reason? Sure, it’s the prices you’ve been charging.

And then it’s time for the consequences of lower prices

How you have to work twice as hard to get the same results. How you get more tired, never having time to upgrade your skills.

How those lack of skills cause clients to choose others with superior skills. And then you have to work so hard just to stay in place, that a vacation, let alone a three month vacation seems like a distant dream.

So how do you increase your prices? And how do you pull off this trick without losing customers?

Attention and consequences are powerful allies.

Used well they get and keep attention.

Nice, eh?

The Brain Audit: Are you losing tons of potential business because you don’t know ‘Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don’t)? Read how The Brain Audit can help you (The Brain Audit has over 978 testimonials). [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Announcing!

Dartboard Pricing: How To Increase Prices (Without Losing Customers)

This is a special—Trust The Chef Offer. Have a look. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Critical Website Components: How to design pages that helps customers find their way around and do what you want them to do. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: How to market in a way that is respectful to your customers, yet powerfully compelling. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Testimonial Secrets: How to get meaningful testimonials, without needing to ‘bribe anyone’ for it. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/secret-life-of-testimonials-simple-powerful-techniques-to-get-better-clients-and-sales/ ] Story Telling Series: How to have that zing in your articles—to catch the attention of the reader and keep them interested? [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off? [ http://psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentations ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Free Goodies NEW! Audio and Text:The Three Month Vacation- It’s time you got a real break—every year—without any drop in income. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://psychotactics.com/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Psychotactics Products

Are you losing tons of potential business because you don’t know how the brain works? Read how The Brain Audit can help you (The Brain Audit has over 978 testimonials). [ http://www.psychotactics.com/brainaudit ]

Announcing! Dartboard Pricing: How To Increase Prices (Without Losing Customers) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TOwMzGxMLKw=

Announcing! Dartboard Pricing: How To Increase Prices ( Without Losing Customers)

📅 March 28, 2015 | View in Gmail

Dartboard? As in darts and a dartboard?

So is pricing simple? Sure it is. You don’t need a book to figure out pricing. A simple dart board and some prices on the board would solve your problem in a matter of minutes.

The price itself is of little consequence What matters is all the stuff around the price. And in this three-part book series, you’ll understand:

The Psychology of Pricing (What Causes Us To Buy)
The Method of Raising Prices (And The Mistakes To Avoid)
Creating and Managing Price Expectations

No boring pricing models. No ugh complication. Just a simple, step-by-step system that walks you through exactly what you have to do.

Here’s the page. Judge for yourself. http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/

Regards for a rainy day in Auckland Sean

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TOyMrIzMzGw=

How To Get Article Ideas: An Endless Source

📅 March 24, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To Get Article Ideas: An Endless Source

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

The moment you see a ray of sun, you know it’s something magical.

That single ray has bounced back and forth like a billiards ball and taken well over a 100,000 years to get to earth. But even as you look, there’s another ray, and another. In fact, we get so much energy from the sun, that in one day, it provides more energy than the world’s population could consume in 27 years.

If only we could tap into some of that endless energy when coming up with ideas for an article.

Instead we sit there, transfixed at the screen. We think. We trash around in our seats. We drink copious amounts of coffee. And despite sitting in awesome sunlight, we’re trapped in some dark corner.

So what are we to do? Where do we go to get an endless source of ideas?

I can’t speak for every writer, but I can speak for myself. And I know that dark place very well. There are days, weeks even, when you think you’re never ever going to come up with a single idea worth writing or speaking about (yes, I do podcasts as well).

Stomping, screaming and coffee doesn’t help. So what does?

Three things actually—three brilliant sources of sunshine

Reading/Listening
Brainstorming
Client Questions

Let’s start off with the first ray of sunshine: Reading/Listening

You know how you make coffee, right? You have to have ground coffee, water and a source of heat. Well, that’s input. Without input, you’re staring at an empty mug that isn’t going to fill itself. And the same applies to ideas.

Those ideas are going to swerve right around you, unless you decide to get some input. Actually, not some—quite a lot of input.

You want to soak yourself in input

And the way to do this is reasonably obvious. You turn on the TV, read Facebook and listen to the crappy stuff on the radio, right? Ha, ha, that was a joke. Instead you have to get your nose in a book—a good book.

A book that’s related to your set of topics to begin with. The moment you get stuck in that book, you go through two stages: agreement and disagreement.

Yet, even when you agree, you have your own spin on things. But when you disagree, it’s like your head is about to burst. You have fire coursing up and down your veins. You’re now ready to write.

Except there’s a bit of a problem

Unless we’re jumping on a bus or train, we rarely have time to read—in the morning. And the morning matters. It’s precisely the point in time when your brain has rested and is more likely to remember and process things a lot better than the evening (and for sure, better than the afternoon).

So if you don’t have that time to sunbathe in the written word, you have to turn to audio.

Audio? Ugh, you say. Audio…

And ugh is right. I’m listening to an audiobook right now, and ugh is probably the most suitable description. With a book, I could simply flip pages if the author gets too technical or boring.

A quick scan and I’m on my way. But audio is linear. You’re stuck, not knowing what to fast forward and how much to fast forward. And that’s provided you can remember anything at all. Most of us can’t.

And you shouldn’t

The goal of input is to get ONE idea. O-N-E. That’s it. With a single idea you can bound off into article writing land. And yes, even though you may like your quiet time in the car, or when you’re walking, you also need time to get in input. Or else you get too much quiet, and there’s zero input.

Suddenly you’re thrown back into that dark corner, unsure what to write about. So yes, text is great, audio too. But what about our second ray of sunshine? Ah yes, let’s mosey along to brainstorming.

So how and where do you use brainstorming?

I’m doing a podcast, possibly a book on the “myth of inborn talent”. I could read a ton of books, listen to audio etc. but that may not help me. And clients, well, they wouldn’t be of much help either. There’s no recourse but to do the brainstorming, all by myself.

So you sit in the cafe and list out the topics, the sub-topics and the sub-sub-topics. And suddenly it’s like you’ve opened up a vein. You have a lot you’ve been thinking about and you’ve got a ton of topics to cover.

But what if you don’t end up with a bonanza?

Clients and friends can help—with objections. Given a basic framework, they can come up with objections and then you have to spend your time dismantling those objections.

For example: Let’s say we take on the objection of ‘why one person runs faster than another’ or ‘one person does geometry faster than anyone else in the room’. These are objections and clients and friends are full of these objections.

Yes, you can do your silent brainstorming, but also consider roping in some deeply skeptical friends and clients to bring in your second ray of sunshine. Which of course takes us to our third ray—clients.

Clients? Didn’t we already consider clients?

Sure we did. But you nudged them, didn’t you? In a lot of situations the clients will ask you questions as you’re working with them. I’ve been doing the Article Writing Course since 2006.

Every year the course changes by about 20%. It has more content than ever before. More clarification, even.

But that doesn’t stop the flow of questions

They come thick and fast. And it’s up to you to see them as a pain or a blessing. I get my shopping trolley and stack up the questions. And then, for good measure, I answer them as fast as I possibly can.

This impresses the heck out of clients, but hey, they’re doing me such a great favour, by asking the questions. Without the questions, I have to tax my own brain—and that’s a real pain—that brainstorming bit. With clients, I have the questions served up. All I have to do, is answer them in detail.

But isn’t all of this stuff turning out to be an overload?

Sure, we’re apt to get tired just thinking about it. But let’s look at it simply. You need some reading/listening time. Even 30 minutes of dedicated time is good enough. You then can head to the cafe and wring out your brain, if you like.

And while you’re at it, an e-mail may slide in, or a client may meet you at the cafe. And yes, solve their problem.

Speed is critical, though..

If you wait too long, the outline seems to fall apart and the article turns to mush. So you need to write, and write as quickly as possible. At first, the writing will be a pain (all stuff is a pain when you’re just a “beginner”). In time, you’ll get an article out in about 45 minutes, maybe an hour, provided you stick to your outlines.

I’ve been miserable.I’ve run out of ideas.I’ve found darkness in bright sunlight.

But to get ideas, you need input. Clients, your own brainstorming and most of all, the reading and the audio (ugh as it may be).

Focus on ONE point. Outline it as quickly as possible.Then write.

To Listening to this article…Right click and save-as to download—How To Get Ideas When Writing Articles [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/027_Where_To_Get_Ideas.mp3 ]

Product Offers: Links you should visit

The Brain Audit: Are you losing tons of potential business because you don’t know how the brain works? Read how The Brain Audit can help you (The Brain Audit has over 978 testimonials). [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]
Trust The Chef Offer

Introducing—The Pricing Book: How to increase prices (without losing customers) Read more here. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ] Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales [ http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets ] Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

Sales Pages: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ] Article Writing: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ]

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off? [ http://psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentations ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Remember to share this article As long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. All links must remain in the article. No textual amendments permitted. Psychotactics Ltd. All rights reserved.

Free Goodies New! Audio and Text: The Three Month Vacation—How to get there without a drop in income. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/ ] Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://psychotactics.com/ ]

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools Three Month Vacation Podcast: “The Myth of the Four-Hour Work Week” and more. [ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-month-vacation-podcast/id946996410?mt=2 ] Tell your friends: http://www.psychotactics.com/tell-a-friend Recommended Resources:http://www.psychotactics.com/resources Where do you start: http://www.psychotactics.com/products Contact me: sean@psychotactics.com

Psychotactics Products

The Brain Audit: Are you losing tons of potential business because you don’t know how the brain works? Read how The Brain Audit can help you (The Brain Audit has over 978 testimonials). [ http://www.psychotactics.com/brainaudit ]

Client Attractors: How To Increase Your Web Conversion [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TGycnKwcDKw=

How To “Finish Your E-Book”: Prices Going Up 20%

📅 March 21, 2015 | View in Gmail

Writing a book isn’t a pain. Well, most folks would disagree.

Because writing has, traditionally, been a pain. But the pain comes from structure. The pain comes from knowing too much. Then, when you sit down to write, all the thoughts from the past start pushing through the same door.

Your brain can’t deal with such an invasion And so it shuts down. You sit there, upset with yourself. You figure you’re the one to blame. That you don’t have the talent to write. And sure, we’ve all been there, but it’s not true.

It’s never been true.

That’s because you can write an e-mail You can make a forum post. You can do a lot of things that involve writing. But the book, it’s much too big, vast, and confusing for you—the writer.

This workshop isn’t about writing This workshop is about the structure that helps you to write. It’s the grammar of the language that helps us write e-mails, forum posts and pretty much everything we do today. Without that grammar we’re lost.

If you really are tired of sitting on your hands, this is the workshop for you It’s the “Info-Products Workshop” (but really, it’s about completing that book). Having said that, you can go on to complete other information products too, using the same structure.

And prices go up by 20% On 28th March, 2015, it’s up, up and away. Grab your seat right away at http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

Warm regards, s- P.S. If you’d like the home study, e-mail us and we’ll give you instructions, but ideally make it to the workshop. You get a double benefit. You actually get to see how “education” and “learning” should be done—instead of information-overload.

You also get to meet Elmo. :)

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TOwMbKyMjMw=

Three Obstacles To Happiness (And How To Overcome Them)

📅 March 17, 2015 | View in Gmail

Three Obstacles To Happiness (And How To Overcome Them)

(To read this article online click on the cartoon)

When I was 8 years old the highlight of my week was “coconut water”.

On Saturdays, I’d go with my father to get all the provisions for the week. There was no drive to the supermarket ten times a week. Instead, once a week, we’d get on the train, then walk into a market filled with fresh vegetables, meat, fish and fruit. And in the middle of this market was a guy who sold coconuts—and coconut water.

Almost nothing brought a smile to my face as much as the thought of drinking coconut water on Saturdays. It was my moment of pure bliss.

And that, just that, is the secret of life

We go around trying to find the purpose of life, when the answer is right in front of us all the time. The purpose of life is to be “happy”.

Except I wasn’t entirely happy with just the coconut water

After we bought a ton of meat, fish and vegetables and headed back to the train station, we’d eat a potato snack dipped in a mixture of green mint chutney and tamarind sauce. Now that too, was my moment of bliss.

So wait, this happiness story is getting weird, isn’t it?

I mean here we are trying to establish happiness, and it seems we’re jumping from one point to another. And that’s exactly the point! No one thing makes us happy.

For me, my current moments of bliss are the walk to the cafe with my wife, the coffee, let’s not forget the coffee. There’s also the time I spend with my nieces. My painting, my work, the music on my podcast, single malt whisky—and yes, the 3-Month vacations.

And yet, most of us never write down what makes us happy

So do it as an exercise. Get out a sheet of paper. Make the list. It won’t necessarily be a very long list. And the funny thing is that it will consist of rather mundane things like gardening, a walk on the beach—I even know someone who is super contented by ironing.

Making the list enables us to know what we really want from life, so we can start heading in that direction.

Because frothing, right in front of us are the obstacles. They’re determined to reduce, even eliminate our happiness.

So what are these obstacles?

They are:– Inefficiency– Greed– Self-doubt

Inefficiency? Really?

Yes, really! Though you’d never expect to see inefficiency in a happiness list, it’s the No.1 killer of happiness. That’s because if you were to look at your list again, you’d find that everything that makes you happy, also takes time.

Time that you’re spending being inefficient

Look at the software you’re using. How efficient are you at it? Let’s take for example the “Three Month Vacation” podcast that I create. Well, the podcast recording itself is just 15-17 minutes.

And I can usually do it in one take. But each podcast is matched to music—often as many as eight different pieces of music (you have to listen to it, to believe it). And all this music, and production, and editing—well, it takes 3 hours.

So the question that arises is just this: How do you save 10 minutes?

Just 10 minutes in a three-hour exercise, adds up to 20 a week—about bout 100 a month. Which totals up to 1200 a year. That’s 20 hours of happiness deprivation and for what? For inefficiency? That’s a stupid, yes stupid, way to go about things isn’t it?

But we do it routinely—we stay inefficient

We know that one of the best ways to get clients is to write a book, or a booklet. To create information that draws clients to you, instead of you chasing after them. And we know that the book can’t just be “written”.

It needs structure. But no, no, no, no and no. We just sit down and write the book. And many, many hours later, we’re not sure why we’re struggling so much with the book. Or why a client is even going to read it. And we’re stepping deeper in the doo-doo of inefficiency.

So what are we to do?

Well, we have a list of what makes us happy, right? How about a list of the things we do; the software we use; the books, video, audio we have to create? How about a list—and not a very long list, that enables us to see where we can get more efficient?

Instead of slogging for a year over a book, would there be a way to write it using structure? That alone could shave off 10 months of twirling round and round.

If you’re using a piece of software, how about learning just two shortcuts a week? Just two a week! See how that brings inefficiency down to its knees, two shortcuts at a time. Yes, inefficiency is a big problem, but greed isn’t far behind is it? Let’s examine greed, shall we?

So what’s the big deal with greed?

I think greed is good. Whenever I’m greedy, I’ve almost never felt bad. I’m pretty happy when stuffing my face with one more helping of biryani (that’s a rich, rice dish) or another heap of maccha ice-cream. So greed itself isn’t a problem.

But it sure can get in the way

That’s because it takes time to wash off the greed. Too much ice-cream, too much wanting this and that—it all takes time. Because I now have to balance out that greed and atone for it in some way. I have to walk more, exercise more, work more. It doesn’t make sense, does it?

Yet we have all the dollar signs in our face

We have marketers that show us how much they earn. This month I earned x. no of dollars. The month after, I earned so much more.

Oh, look a dip in income!

That’s not good. Let’s work twice as much to obliterate that dip. And so we follow along like idiots expecting that the dollars will show us the way.

And they do. Without the dollars we’re just spinning our wheels.

But there’s a point of enough. Again, this comes down to a definition, perhaps even a list. What’s your enough? Do you know? Even though I love my nieces dearly, I do have a point of enough. Coconut water?

Even an 8-year old could tell you what was enough. And yes, the dollars. Do we really have to keep doubling them? Are we working for the joy of working, or are we slaves to the smile of our bank managers?

Greed is nice in small bursts, but terrible as a strategy

We pay the price and it becomes a form of inefficiency—and the second barrier to our happiness. Which slides us into the third big hurdle, which is just as surprising. Namely, self-doubt.

Self doubt is a big rocking chair, isn’t it?

You know the concept of a rocking chair, don’t you? It gives you the feeling of movement, but it goes nowhere. Self-doubt is like that, doing cartwheels in the velodrome of our brain.

But run into a person who’s always second-guessing themselves, and you realise that you can’t do much about it. And it’s terribly inefficient, this self-doubt. It fills your brain with a load of nonsense that keeps you from being happy.

And there’s nothing much you can do it about it, because the damage isn’t new. It’s something that has been part of you for a good chunk of your life.

So learn to say thank you.

That’s it. The inefficiency comes from the fact that someone won’t like your article, your book, your painting, your garden, the muffins you just baked , etc. And if you just assume that you’re at the point of “thank you,” you’ve saved yourself a lot of grief.

Because if you’re saying “thank you,” it means you just got complimented on something. Even just the thought of saying thanks is making you smile right now, isn’t it?

Now you no longer have to apologise, or back track. The thank you is your way out of the mess, every single time.

The secret of life is in knowing what you want—what you really want

It’s the inefficiencies, the greed and the self-doubt that get in our way. Can we save 10 minutes of inefficiency? Can we define our “enough” so we can earn what we want, but then stop? Can we get off the rocking chair by envisioning the “thank you” that is to follow?

Just recognising the barriers and getting out of their way, that’s the goal, isn’t it?

The secret of being happy isn’t as hard as it seems.Well, it can be.

Right at this moment I can’t decide: coconut water or coffee?

To listen to this article Right click and save-as to download it—Obstacles To Happiness (And How To Get Rid of Them) [ http://traffic.libsyn.com/psychotactics/028_Obstacles_to_happiness.mp3 ]

Announcing! Live US Workshop—May 2015 Outstanding books are hard to write because we’ve never been taught that writing is less about the word, and more about the structure.

It’s less about the decoration of the cake, and instead the way the cake needs to be structured so it doesn’t topple over.

For more details: http://www.psychotactics.com/dc [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ] (Few seats left!)

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“The single greatest benefit has been a sense of peace as I go through my day.”

This approach also allows for the dreams to come to life. I am finally completing some rather dusty tasks.

Leona Wilson, Armillary Business Group Judge for yourself: Chaos Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Testimonial Secrets: Powerful Techniques to Get Better Clients-And Sales [ http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets ] Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Announcing! Live US Workshop May 2015 (Few Seats Left!) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Psychotactics Products

How to create a warmer, friendlier and trusting experience for your website visitor [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting. Start With Chaos Planning. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TGycnKzMHOw=

Announcing: Why Bad Testimonials Attract Bad Clients (And How To Avoid It)

📅 March 14, 2015 | View in Gmail

Nothing bugs you more than a painful client.

A client who hassles you at every step of the way.
A client who won't pay on time.
A client who takes up so much of your energy that you get drained.

I used to have clients like that
And then at some point I stopped getting bad clients.
Every single one of our clients were helpful, kind and extremely
co-operative.
Work became a joy instead of a painful exercise.

And after a lot of digging, I found out the reason for the change
If you've ever struggled to get consistently good clients (or
detailed testimonials for that matter) then you'll find that this
knowledge is more than just common sense. It's a bit of
strategy you can't do without.

Judge for yourself at:
http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets

Regards

Sean

P.S. This is what Cornelia Luethi has to say:

"Business owners are often too scared to ask for testimonials"

I've been using Testimonials as a marketing tool for years - and I

didn't think there was much left for me to learn about testimonial

techniques. Especially so after reading those powerful "six

questions" in the Brain Audit.

After reading The Secret Life Of Testimonials, I learnt how to get

more authentic and dramatic testimonials with great impact.

And--most importantly--how to use them to maximum advantage. Sean

shares all kinds of layout and formatting secrets so that the

message is visually stunning as well as a good read.

What I found really useful is how Sean de-constructs various

testimonials, showing you the parts where they fail, and thereby

enabling you to create testimonials that work a whole lot better.

I particularly liked the run-down on how to create video

testimonials as that's something I've been thinking of doing, but

wasn't sure how to get started and how to approach it. Plus there

are some great ideas on how to get testimonials using online media.

I'd definitely recommend The Secret Life Of Testimonials.

Testimonials are absolutely vital for sales conversions, but

business owners are often too scared to ask for testimonials, and

don't know how to use them effectively. In this book, you'll learn

how to get great testimonials - and with confidence.

Cornelia Luethi

FX Marketing, Auckland, New Zealand

Judge for yourself

http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

Why Online Learning Can Reduce Your Implementation Skills

📅 March 10, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Online Learning Can Reduce Your Implementation Skills

Turn on the switch in your room.

Did the light turn on?

Well, if it wasn’t for Michael Faraday, we may have still been in darkness

And that’s because way back in 1831, Faraday invented electromagnetic induction. Right until that point, the whole idea of electricity was more of a curiosity than a reality. And one of the reasons why Faraday got to this particular moment in history, is because he left home. But not just home, but the amazing job he had as a bookbinder.

Today we don’t think twice about books

But back around the 1800s, books were expensive and hard to find. However, Faraday had the fabulous luck of getting a position as an apprentice of a bookbinder. And for the next seven years, he read every book he could get his hands on, concentrating mostly on his first love—science.

In a way, Faraday was a bit like us today

With the Internet we have access to thousands of courses, webinars, reports and books at incredibly cheap prices. And yet most of us find it hard to learn skills as quickly as we should. And often it’s not for want of application. Some of us may be easily distracted but others are dedicated enough.

I sure was dedicated

Four years ago, I decided to learn watercolours. My next step was to invade the library. I brought home every possible book on watercolours and pored through them like Faraday. Then, because I was still hungry, I bought physical books and supplemented them with e-books. And yes, several online courses too.

And I painted

I filled up a page a day, every day of the year for three and a half years (that’s over 1000 paintings, if you’re counting). And you know what? I learned a lot. But then I did one course in Spain and my watercolours took a dramatic turn for the better.

Faraday did the same—and his life changed dramatically

While he was no slouch in the reading department, Faraday longed for a “live workshop”. He went four times to see speaking engagements of Humphry Davy, the most prominent chemist at the time.

And then in a stroke of good luck for Faraday, Humphry Davy was temporarily blinded during one of his experiments. Faraday was called in to help as an assistant. And that was his “live workshop”.

Online learning is amazing, but you can’t depend on online learning alone

In fact, since 2006, we at Psychotactics have had clients who’ve loved our Article Writing Course, Info-product Course, artooning Course etc. And there’s not a doubt in the world, that online learning is extremely valuable.

And yet, a live workshop is a completely different and needed experience.

And we’re not just talking about workshops just from the client’s point of view.

My wife Renuka and I travel over 10,000 miles to conduct workshops, because there are things you can learn offline that you simply cannot learn online. You can try and try all you want, but the learning is different.

It’s not a question of “or”. It’s a question of “and”

Both the online and live workshops are what’s needed. And yet most of us won’t make the journey. Of course we have our reasons, but one of the biggest reason is that we can get most stuff online, so why bother paying for the hotels, the stay, when we can get the comfort of a workshop in our homes? I don’t know about you, but every time I’ve left home, I’m not just leaving home.

I’m leaving the hassles of home too

No garbage to put out, no dishes to wash, no cat to be fed, no this and no that. For two whole days while I travel, I can think and work on my business instead of in it. And while I’m at the workshop, I have no distractions—well, fewer distractions anyway.

But all workshops are not created equal

In fact it’s easier to confuse the terms “workshop” and “seminar”. In my experience, a seminar is inferior to a workshop. You may have one or many speakers, but they all have their own ideas and it’s rarely a cohesive plan.

A workshop on the other hand has to be cohesive as you actually have to learn and then work on something. So given a choice, I will always choose a workshop over a seminar.

The second mistake is when you have no information in advance

If you’re going to get your notes to the workshop three seconds before the speaker starts to speak, you know you’re going to miss a lot. We don’t learn much the first time we encounter anything.

Remember how easy it is to drive a car? Remember the first time you sat behind the wheel?

A workshop that doesn’t send out notes at least a month in advance, is inferior because it’s not allowing you to prepare. Even a cursory preparation helps you to absorb the facts, and then go through them a second or third time around. In a “real” workshop, you’ll have done the ground work, and are ready to learn and implement.

Most people struggle for no reason

They don’t understand that to really get the benefit of learning, you have to do both—learn like Faraday at the bookbinder and then to leave and go into the real world scenario of a “workshop”. And we’re just a product of our times.

We like stuff to be home-delivered. And you know what? That home-delivery is good, but only for so long. You then need to get outside your comfort zone, do some due diligence and find a workshop that will teach you skills. This in turn boosts your confidence and I’d go so far as to say, boost your income as well.

Faraday was born in a poor family

For him a book binder’s job was the most incredible gift ever. Yet he pushed beyond his comfort zone. He took the risks he needed to take. And he put that learning into practice.

Look around you at those you consider successful

Look around and you’ll find one thing in common. They all did their home-learning. But all of them left their nest.

Turn on the switch in your mind.

Did the light turn on?

Announcing! Live US WorkshopMay 2015

How to create knockout information products that instantly separate you from the competition, and enable you to charge higher prices. For more details http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“The single greatest benefit has been a sense of peace as I go through my day.”

I openly embrace the Chaos and now have a structure in place to ensure that items are completed. This is a system and mindset that fits how I work perfectly and has considerably reduced my stress levels. This approach also allows for the dreams to come to life. I am finally completing some rather dusty tasks. Leona WilsonArmillary Business Group Judge for yourself [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]: Chaos Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/____________________________

Top Selling Products Under $50

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

Remember to share this article With your own list, post it on your site, your blog, or add it to your autoresponder. Twitter it, Facebook it, translate it. As long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. All links must remain in the article. No textual amendments permitted. Only exception is Twitter.

Free Goodies Announcing! The Three Month Vacation Audio:It’s time you got a real break—every year—without any drop in income. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ]

Report: “Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)” [ http://psychotactics.com/ ]

http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools Tell your friends: http://www.psychotactics.com/tell-a-friend Resources: http://www.psychotactics.com/resources Where do you start: http://www.psychotactics.com/products

Announcing! Live US Workshop May 2015

Learn the most efficient system to create information products that keep customers coming back for more [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Psychotactics Products

Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting. Start With Chaos Planning. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

How to create a warmer, friendlier and trusting experience for your website visitor [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKwsDGzMbCw=

Announcing: Live US Workshop 2015

📅 March 07, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book

Most of us would, at some point, want to write a book. It seem logical, doesn’t it?

A book is a pretty cool achievement.

It opens doors. It’s a marketing tool that boosts your credibility It helps you to empower your clients—even expand your market.

What I found, instead, surprised me… When I finished my book, I got a sense of order. I got clear on what I wanted to say. I had a system in place, first for myself. The book, it seemed, would open doors, boost credibility, empower and expand. It even brought in really good clients and revenue.

But most of all, I had a system My first book, “The Brain Audit”, was a mishmash of ideas, until I actually wrote it down in a structured way. That structure then enabled me to improve my own work. I wrote better sales letters, better e-mails, and most of all I could spot the gaps. Before I had a system in place, it was a bit of hit and miss. I’d put in some stuff and leave out bits.

Then I’d wonder why things didn’t work out like they should.

But the moment I had the book complete, the system “ka-chinked” in place Sure, I called my first book “The Brain Audit”, but in reality every book turns out to be a form of audit. It’s a checklist encapsulated in a whole bunch of pages. Pages that need to make sense to yourself, first. Then the reader. Without “The Brain Audit” we’d struggle in our own business a lot more than we needed. The writing of the book itself—that was the most frustrating, yet most rewarding thing I’d ever done.

And yet, the frustration is a waste of time The reason why we’re frustrated, is because of the belief that if you have the knowledge, you’ll be able to put it together somehow. That’s a bit like having the ingredients for a dish, and hoping you’re going to be crowned the winner at “Masterchef”.

Putting together a book without a “recipe” is an exercise in madness We all know this, because at some level we’ve all tried it. We may not have gone into book-writing land, because we’ve been so busy just trying to get an article off the ground.

And yet, writing has a structure, a skeleton, a system When you follow that system, you’re able to assemble the information in a way that not only makes sense for you, but also for your client. Today’s world is cluttered with books that readers never complete. And that’s because a powerful book is based on the elements of “consumption”. Without understanding consumption, a book is just a mass of endless content—just like a squillion books out there.

Spinning is not an option It’s pointless to struggle and spin endlessly when there’s already a system in place. And a workshop is the answer, precisely because you have to travel. You have to put off doing work for those three days. You get to focus, instead of being distracted by all the stuff that invades your day. For three days, you talk, breathe, drink and eat the system.

Then you implement This is not a chatter-blah-session. The notes are sent in advance. You get ONE speaker, that’s me. And I speak for a third of the time. Two thirds of the time, you get to actually do stuff. And better still, you don’t even have the claustrophobia of the meeting room.

Most of the outstanding stuff is done outside the room, over drinks at dinner—and if there’s a pool, by the pool. Because when you think about it, you don’t learn very well at a desk or being chained to a seat, do you?

To actually finish a book you need structure You need to understand consumption. And that’s when you can put your own system together. Yes, there’s credibility, empowerment, expansion and all the good stuff. But most of all you have a system that sends a quiet tingle of happiness down your spine.

That’s the real victory.

Yes, there’s an important condition… Come join us, but be aware that you need to have read The Brain Audit in advance. Yes, it’s a barrier. But it ensures that we have clients that are truly interested in learning and improving their business. You can buy and read The Brain Audit at any point before the event, but we will not accept you if you have not read The Brain Audit. There are no exceptions to this rule.

For more details—and to meet Elmo—go to: http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TGwcHEwcHJw=

Six Courses Behind: Why I Refuse To Stagnate

📅 March 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Six Courses Behind: Why I Refuse To Stagnate

At any given point in time, I’m exactly like the next person.

I’m six courses behind.

Right now, I’m learning GREP (InDesign), Colour for cartoon scenes, Lighting and Shadow, Scrivener—and I just bought a new camera (the Fuji X100s). And yes, there are about 60 lessons of my Portuguese course that I still have to work through (I’ve completed 30). This means I’m a lot behind in my courses—at least six courses of about 18-20 hours each.

And yes, it frustrates me

I’d like to have finished the courses. I’d like to have mastered GREP and know all the buttons on that camera that looks like something my grandfather owned. And yes, I’m no newbie with Scrivener, but I’d love to finish that course, if only to find out what I’m missing.

And at this point in time, I remember. I have about six copies of Harvard Business Review to go through, and yes, at least seven books on my Kindle that I still have to read.

That’s when I look at my nieces

One is five years old. The other is ten. They have so much stuff to learn as well. Week after week they’re pummelled with maths, writing, spelling, reading, and it’s endless. Like every one of us they struggle, but they don’t think of the future like we do. Even with an enormous amount of stuff coming up in the future, they’re taking it one day at a time. They don’t say things like “I haven’t finished my maths, so I won’t take on spelling”.

And we adults do just that

We believe in our silly, ideal world. A world where you start something and you finish it. Possibly even master it on the first sweep! We think we’re not going to spend on this course, if we haven’t finished that course.

We will not buy this book, if that book is not complete. Adults call themselves realists, but they live in a fantasy world where all the boxes are ticked.

No one is saying that you should be irrational

This is not a suggestion to go out and do seventeen courses, or buy twenty-three books, knowing that you haven’t finished any of the preceding ones. Yet, in this fast-moving world, you can’t afford to sit down and say: I’ve not completed this, so I won’t learn that.

No, no, no, non, non, no! You want to be six courses behind, or five courses behind. Or even three! You want to be constantly learning, implementing and knowing that you’re going to be behind all the time, from now until forever.

That is the state of the human condition

Your to-do list is always in a state of “things to do”. We’re always behind, because if we were not behind, we’d be stagnant. And that’s precisely what I would feel if I had completed all my courses, read all the books on my list, learned all the languages I needed to learn. I’d be stagnating.

You have to dig your well before you’re thirsty

I bought myself a bunch of Moleskine books back in 2009. They’re expensive watercolour books, but they lay on the shelf for about two years and I never so much as opened the wrapping.

Then, one day in 2010, I suddenly decided to use them, slowly at first, but soon I got momentum. I started using up one book every couple of months (that’s 60 pages of illustrations). But my books were there on the shelves the moment I was just semi-keen to get started. So were my paints. And the same applies to the courses I buy, the stuff I do.

I’m always behind

Six courses behind.

Six magazines and seven books behind.

But you know what? I’m constantly striving to close the gap knowing I never will.

But it sure beats being stagnant, eh?

Announcing! Live US WorkshopMay 2015 How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Most of us would, at some point, want to write a book. It seem logical, doesn’t it?

A book is a pretty cool achievement.

It opens doors.It’s a marketing tool that boosts your credibility.It helps you to empower your clients–even expand your market.

So how do you write the book itself–without feeling frustrating?

For more details–and to meet Elmo–go to: http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“The single greatest benefit has been a sense of peace as I go through my day.”

Leona Wilson Armillary Business Group Judge for yourself [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

http://psychotactics.com/

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools

Announcing! The Three Month Vacation It’s time you got a real break—every year—without any drop in income. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/itunes ] Tell your friends: http://www.psychotactics.com/tell-a-friend Resources I recommend: http://www.psychotactics.com/resources Where do you start: http://www.psychotactics.com/products

If you haven’t already done so, connect with me! You can find me on Facebook too. And it is not all about marketing. Join me there, because hey, it’s not just about marketing. There are tons of cartoons, cloud-spotting, food, crazy places we travel to, and yes, a decent bit of business tips and tricks too.

So go right ahead and say hello at: FaceBook Sean D’Souza Psychotactics [ https://www.facebook.com/sean.dsouza ]

Or Skype Me: psychotoon. (Always expect to hear back. I respond to “all” email promptly)

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics [ http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics ]

Announcing! Live US Workshop May 2015

How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Psychotactics Products

Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting. Start With Chaos Planning. [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]_______________________

How to create a warmer, friendlier and trusting experience for your website visitor [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKwsDGzMrBw=

February 2015

Announcing: US Live Workshop 2015

📅 February 28, 2015 | View in Gmail

How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book

Most of us would, at some point, want to write a book. It seem logical, doesn’t it?

A book is a pretty cool achievement.

It opens doors. It’s a marketing tool that boosts your credibility It helps you to empower your clients—even expand your market.

Then I’d wonder why things didn’t work out like they should.

That’s the real victory.

For more details—and to meet Elmo—go to: http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TGzs7BycbMw=

Why It’s “Dangerous” To Sell Products/Services With Benefits Alone…

📅 February 24, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why It’s “Dangerous” To Sell Products/Services With Benefits Alone…

You know Dasher and Dancer And Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid And Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall… The most famous reindeer of all?

Sure, we’re talking about Rudolph

And notice how they talk about the “red nose” as Rudolph’s “problem”. And how that enabled Santa to use Rudolph as a guide to his sleigh, because of that bright red nose.

And yet, without that problem standing out, Santa would never have spotted Rudolph.

The same concept applies to your marketing

Let’s say you’re selling a product that allows you to send personalised cards to loved ones

You don’t have to lick the stamps or even mail the card—it’s all done for you. So where’s the problem? There is no problem, is there?

The client can clearly see that the solution, can’t they?

And this is why the “problem” is critical to get the customer’s attention

You don’t just dream up the “problem”

Let’s take an example, shall we?

It takes amazing low light pictures, that’s why

The Fuji x100s—my favourite camera

I made you feel like buying a camera, didn’t I?

Too many of us expect clients to work out the problem

But this “problem” isn’t just a marketing issue alone

This is the power of the problem

Your product or service can’t be just any ol’ reindeer

Be Rudolph. Be the Fujifilm x100s. Stand out with the “problem”. It’s the best way to get—and keep—the attention of the client.

Announcing! Live Workshops 2015 How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book April 2015: New Zealand [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/auckland/ ]May 2015: USA [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Product Offers: Links you should visit

Do you sometimes wonder if planning books are written just for the ‘organised’ people?

Organised people already know how to plan. They don’t need information like this. Yet most planning books are written without considering chaos at all.

Top Selling Products Under $50

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

http://psychotactics.com/

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

So go right ahead and say hello at: FaceBook Sean D’Souza Psychotactics [ https://www.facebook.com/sean.dsouza ]

Or Skype Me: psychotoon. (Always expect to hear back. I respond to “all” email promptly)

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics [ http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics ]

Announcing! How To “Actually” Finish Writing A Book [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Live Workshop April 2015: New Zealand [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/auckland/ ] May 2015: USA [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Product Offers

Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting Start With Chaos Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKwsDGxMnEw=

How A Single Book Turned Our Business Around

📅 February 21, 2015 | View in Gmail

In 2000, I just moved to New Zealand.

I didn't know a soul in Auckland.

I hadn't even been to New Zealand before.

And to top it off, I ditched my cartooning career to get into

marketing.

Getting work wasn't easy

Who would trust an ex-cartoonist to do their marketing? Was I even

able to trust myself? I felt like such a fraud. And yet, after a

presentation--a short, rambling presentation, one of the audience

members asked me to give her the notes.

I had no notes

But she was persistent. So I sat down and wrote the first version

of The Brain Audit. It was just 20 pages long. 16, if you remove

the filler-stuff. But it was my first book. Imagine the thrill,

when I spoke at other events, and people were buying this book.

Except it wasn't a book

It was an e-book. And it was 2000. An age when people barely dealt

with e-mail, let alone read a book on their computers. And yet, the

book brought us clients.

At first, just local clients. Then it spread to the U.S., Canada,

Australia, Japan. That tiny little book grew in stature (and

pages--it's now 180 pages). And to date, that book has generated

over half a million dollars in revenue. Yes, one book!

$500,000 isn't something I'd dreamed of earning for a single book...

The money is nice. It lets us live well, travel, take three months

off every year. But it did so much more for me.

It helped me organise my thoughts--make it a system.

It helped me avoid toxic clients. And get clients we could go to

dinner with, instead. It helped me open doors. A lot of doors. And

generated a sizeable revenue over the years. And most importantly,

it proved that I could do it.

Today we sit at a juncture of pure chaos--and opportunity

When we look at the marketplace, everyone seems to be an "expert".

And yet, you only have to read the first few pages--or maybe the

first chapter--to figure out the experts from the run-of-the-mill.

Because customers are being swamped with so much junk, they want to

shop around a lot less. They want to find a trusted source and then

stick with that source. A customer like that, becomes a client.

Buying any books, courses, workshops and consulting from you. But

for this to happen, you have to be able to construct the book in a

way that's consumable.

People are sick of junk, yes, but they're more sick of mountains of

junk

When you learn to write a book following a structure of

"consumption", it's a lot like a dinner. Where you start, and

finish and come back for more. Instead, many books are so

overwhelming that the customers never finish, never coming back for

more.

The more they come back, the more they ask questions

The more questions they ask, the more answers you can give.

This in turn creates content for more books, more courses, more

consulting.

In short, close to the perfect business!

There's no such thing as perfect, but getting a book together is

the closest thing to starting down that line. Your thoughts are

clearer. Your clients are nicer. You do stuff that you really want

to do, instead of the same boring stuff.

The Brain Audit was my first book

I gave it my all. 20 pages was my whole world. I didn't know if I'd

write another book. But I learned how to write books, conduct

workshops, do courses and get consulting gigs. In fact, we got so

busy that we didn't even have to do consulting by 2003. In just

three years, we were moving away from things we "had to do" vs.

things we wanted to do.

The workshops at Silver Spring-US and Auckland-New Zealand are

an invitation to enter the world of structure. A world where consumption
matters. It's not where you learn to write, but rather how to take the
information you have in your head, and structure it in a way that it
gets read, listened to, absorbed. Besides, it's fun. A heck of a lot of fun.

One speaker.

One topic.

Actual implementation, instead of blah-blah.

You know you're ready, but judge for yourself.

We'd love to meet you there. And oh, you get to meet Elmo! ;)

>>Silver Spring, US http://www.psychotactics.com/dc

>>Auckland, New Zealand http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/auckland/

Regards,
Sean

P.S. Eight seats are gone already. That's about a third--and so far

we've only announced it to a few clients. The remaining ⅔ may

not last long.

P.P.S. Not everyone is allowed to the workshop. You have to have

read The Brain Audit before the workshop. If you have, that's cool.

If you haven't, then it's a requirement before the workshop. You

will also get the entire workshop notes a whole month in advance.

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

Why Gravity Wins And How To Break Free Of It

📅 February 17, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Gravity Wins And How To Break Free Of It

Gravity.

It’s working against me. Gravity.

It’s trying to bring me down.

Twice as much ain’t twice as good.

And can’t sustain like one half could.

It’s wanting more than brings you to your knees.

Exactly.

Gravity is a pain.

It also happens to be a boon.

If you let it, it will take over your life. You’ll never change, never take off, never see the clouds from above. And so, fighting gravity is a part of what we need to be. When we learn something new; when we do a course that puts us even more demands on us; when we take on a new challenge, it’s all about the war on gravity.

I went through this exercise myself about a month ago

My life is very, very good right now, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t secure it in a different way. And so we decided to make some big changes, including upgrading the software of our websites, next we work on the design and then we work on the direction.

All of this is like fighting gravity. It’s a ton of work on top of the work you’re already doing. As if that were not enough, I’ve signed up in a course to learn more about photography. And another one to learn about InDesign and the possibilities. All of it sucking up time, money and resources.

The world is split up into two kinds of people

The excuse makers and the non-excuse makers. A client of mine has a brain issue. She has this growth in her brain and in a while, not very far in the future, it will affect her life in ways she can’t imagine.

Even now, it’s affecting her. She finds herself making crazy comments that embarrass her, and everyone in the room. She finds herself doing things that are weird. So there’s a gravity pushing against her at high speed.

So what does she do? She learns cartooning. She takes on a blogging course and learns to blog. She’s not an excuse-maker. She’s not part of the whiny, “I’m sick, I’m busy, I’m tired” brigade.

We’re all tired, we’re all busy

But the non-excuse makers realise that gravity is a great competitor. And if you and I make excuses, gravity wins. You stay rooted in one spot. This is why people achieve little or nothing. You can’t be anything but relentless against gravity. But just piling on the work isn’t going to help either.

It’s about a sort of forward-management of learning, improving, changing your situation for the better. As the song says: Twice as much ain’t twice as good. And yes it’s not twice as good, if it’s a permanent feature in your life. If you’re always overworked, you’re doing something wrong.

If you always have to whine and complain, you’re doing something seriously wrong.

So how do you get twice to one half?

That’s the irony of gravity, isn’t it? If you fight long and hard against it, you can pull away high enough. So when you’re learning a skill, it’s pure madness. You struggle like crazy. So when I first started to write articles, it was sheer torture. Two whole days of torture.

And at the end of those two miserable days, I couldn’t even tell if I would have an article that was solid; an article that would empower my audience. All I felt was drained and frustrated. And now, just this morning, I’ve written two articles. And I wrote one yesterday and the day before. I also wrote a 40-page book last week complete with illustrations and graphics.

You can tell, can’t you? I’ve pulled away from the forces of gravity

I’m in the one-half zone. Maybe even in the one-sixteenth zone. Instead of battling it out against article writing for 16 hours, I can do better than before in less than an hour. And this is gravity in a nutshell.

Gravity doesn’t care. It continues to pin you and me to the ground. We can whine. We can complain. We’re sick, we’re tired, we’re busy.

And whining is the symptom that you’re losing the battle against gravity

Whining is a sure-fire way to know that you’re on the wrong side of the fence. And the problem with whining is that it’s become such a habit that you use it as a crutch, to get sympathy. To tell yourself you’re okay. To let others feel sorry for you.

And people don’t feel that sorry if you’re a perpetual whiner. They understand how gravity works, and they understand they’ve got to win their own battle against gravity. If you stop the whining and get on with the battle, they’ll help you too.

Are you a whiner?

Or a gravity-fighter?

Gravity, it’s working against me. Gravity, it’s trying to bring me down.

Gravity, stay the hell away from me Gravity has taken better men than me (how can that be?)

Gravity Writer(s): John Mayer, John Clayton Mayer Copyright: Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Specific Harm Music, Goodium Music, Reach Music Publishing-digital O.B.O. Goodium Music

Product Offers: Links you should visit

How do you get meaningful testimonials, without needing to ‘bribe anyone’ for it?

“Utilizing the easy to understand, easy to implement information in this book should bring in far greater revenue. And even better, it solves a problem for me of how to get real, meaningful testimonials, doing it legitimately-and without making anything up, or needing to “bribe anyone”.

The best thing of all: I’ve learned how to get these testimonials long before anyone has bought the product!”

Allen WeberJacksonville, Florida, USAJudge for yourself: Testimonial Secrets [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/secret-life-of-testimonials-simple-powerful-techniques-to-get-better-clients-and-sales/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] New! Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

http://psychotactics.com/

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

So go right ahead and say hello at: FaceBook Sean D’Souza Psychotactics [ https://www.facebook.com/sean.dsouza ]

Or Skype Me: psychotoon. (Always expect to hear back. I respond to “all” email promptly)

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics [ http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics ]

Announcing! Live Workshops 2015

April 2015: New Zealand [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/auckland/ ]May 2015: USA [ http://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/information-products-workshop-details/ ]

Psychotactics Products

How to get meaningful testimonials, without needing to bribe anyone for it? [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/secret-life-of-testimonials-simple-powerful-techniques-to-get-better-clients-and-sales/ ]

http://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/Forget Business Planning and Goal Setting Start With Chaos Planning [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/chaos-planning-forget-business-planning-and-goal-setting-start-with-chaos-planning/ ]http://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKwsDGyMLEw=

Is The Four-Hour Work Week A Waste Of Time?

📅 February 07, 2015 | View in Gmail

I don't mow the lawns. I outsource it.

I don't do my accounts. It's what keeps my accountant in business.

I bake my own bread, cook my own food, but at least half of the

time it's all outsourced. In fact, when I think about it, a good

chunk of my life is outsourced.

I don't build my own computers, code my own programs, generate my

own electricity. I didn't even bother to weave my own carpet. So yes, you
could safely say that outsourcing is a good part of my life.

What I don't outsource is magic.

And magic, that takes a lot more time and effort.

So what is magic? And how do you create magic?

If you are on iTunes:

http://www.psychotactics.com/create-magic

If you're not on iTunes

http://www.psychotactics.com/four-hour-work-week/

Have a great weekend.

Warm regards from summer

Sean

P.S. The Three Month Vacation Podcast isn't about making endless

amounts of money, working like a lunatic. Instead it's about how to

really enjoy your work, enjoy your vacation time-and yes, get paid

in advance.

To get all the podcasts visit http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

Why Stories Are Great For Sales Copy

📅 February 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Stories Are Great For Sales Copy (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2014)

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable, and both - as young college graduates are - were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children.

And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there.

But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

What you just read was the story used for a sales letter that is rumoured to have generated between $1 billion-$2 billion in revenues for the Wall Street Journal.

So what makes this letter so dramatic?

Well, it’s clear isn’t it? It’s a story. And a story helps dramatise an event in a way that mere “sales” words may not. A sales letter may just spit out benefits, problems and solutions. But a story can bring in emotion and sequence in a way that gets your attention. So the question does pop up quickly: Should you use stories for all your sales letters?

And the answer is, it depends

A story works very well to get the reader’s attention. But you need to be clear at the start what you’re trying to achieve as well. And you use a story to:

Create a point of difference

Get attention

Create emotional tugs

Make the product/service easier to explain/retain

Let’s start off with: create a point of difference

It’s often hard to know the difference between one product and another. For instance, let’s look at The Brain Audit. It’s a book about customer behaviour. This means that you, as a casual browser, can’t tell the difference between The Brain Audit and just about any book or product on or off the Internet.

This also means that if you were simply browsing for marketing-type books in the store, you couldn’t tell between one book or the other. This concept also applies to services, of course. You still have to stand out from your competition. This is where the story element helps tremendously. In a world of me-too, products and services, the story becomes the point of difference, because of the way it’s being told.

So when we look at the story above about the two men who graduated from college, we see that the story causes us to react differently. Now we aren’t looking at yet another financial newspaper. We’re looking at the Wall Street Journal vs. other newspapers. But that’s not the power of the story alone.

The story also gets and keeps your attention

The moment you have a story, you have a natural sense of a movie rolling out in a sort of sequence. Two men, did something, then they did something. Then they reached at some point in the road. That flow is part of almost every good story (yes, there are crappy stories too). And when you read the analogy of The Brain Audit, you realise that there’s a story in it.

The bags come out on the conveyor belt and all six red bags show up-but one, just one is missing. You may call it an analogy, but it’s a well-crafted story. You’ve been there at that airport. You know that there’s that possibility of your bag going missing. It’s not just a random analogy.

It’s a story that you’ve thought about, even if you haven’t experienced it personally. The flow of the story gets and keeps your attention. But there’s the third element: creating emotional tugs

So how does the story create emotional tugs?

You’ve already worked this out yourself, haven’t you? You can see how you feel aligned to the guy who’s the president of the company. You feel his success. You feel the sense of “failure” at the second guy who just managed to become the manager.

Most stories have a core emotion factor. And just by telling the story, you stop the customer’s brain from going down the logic route and right into the emotion and feeling. The emotion doesn’t have to be positive. It can be negative like in The Brain Audit.

Losing the bag is not something you want to experience, but experience it you do, if only through the words in the story. Those emotions are very powerful because they creep in below the layer of logic; they force you to pay attention.

This of course, takes us to the fourth point: Make the product easier to explain

When you’re selling something, you think you’re holding the other person’s attention with words like “service”, “better product” etc. If you watch closely the customer is trying to find some cafe to duck into while you’re not looking.

But you rattle on. If on the other hand you start with a story, that very same customer stops and starts paying attention. But right after you’re done with your story, that person is able to do something magical.

They’re able to repeat the story to someone else almost without any dropout. So you can, after a single reading, tell someone else the “two men who graduated from college” story. Or you can tell them the “seven red bags” story.

So yes, the story becomes not just a point of difference, or gets attention, but it also makes the product a lot easier to explain-and retain. And yes, let’s not forget that emotional tug.

But can you use stories in every product or service you sell?

Well, technically you can. Should you do it all the time, is a difficult question to answer. If your product is very me-too, it’s almost imperative that you use a story or analogy to differentiate it from the rest. So when Steve Jobs first introduced the MacBook Air, his method of using the Manila envelope was critical because it’s hard to wow people when one thin laptop looks just like another thin laptop.

It’s the story/analogy that made the difference.

However, if you have a strong point of difference, that alone may do the job. For instance we have the Article Writing Course which is the “toughest writing course in the world”. Well, that doesn’t need a story on the sales page. The difference is clear from the very start.

Start with the difference

If your product/service is very me-too, you’re going to need a point of difference.

If you don’t have a very clear point of difference, reach for the story.

It’s the key to getting your product/service to becoming “president” instead of just another “manager”.

Product Offers: Links you should visit

How do you get meaningful testimonials, without needing to ‘bribe anyone’ for it?

The best thing of all: I’ve learned how to get these testimonials long before anyone has bought the product!”

Allen Weber Jacksonville, Florida, USA Judge for yourself: Testimonial Secrets [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/secret-life-of-testimonials-simple-powerful-techniques-to-get-better-clients-and-sales/ ]

Top Selling Products Under $50

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]
Story Telling Series: How to suck your audience right in, in a matter of seconds [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling ]
Client Attractors: How To Write Benefits and Bullets That Speed Up Sales [ http://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors ] 4 Outlining: How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines ]
Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ]
Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ]
Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ]

Black Belt Presentation Series: How to completely control the room-without turning anyone off? [ http://psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentations ]
New! Be Kind, Be Helpful or Begone: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

http://psychotactics.com/

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

If you haven’t already done so, connect with me! Twitter: http://twitter.com/seandsouza Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sean.dsouza Skype: psychotoon Blog: www.psychotactics.com/blog [ http://www.psychotactics.com/blog ] On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics [ http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics ]

Psychotactics Products

How To Speed Up Article Writing With Simple Outlines [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKxsHIyszIw=

January 2015

Why You Should Commit 30 Minutes To Daily Learning (Without Fail)

📅 January 27, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why You Should Commit 30 Minutes To Daily Learning (Without Fail) (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2014)

I own a sieve.

It’s called my brain.

I distinctly remember listening, then reading a book and then months later I listened to it once again. And I couldn’t remember almost 90% of what I’d read and, mind you, listened to, earlier.

With such a terrible memory, it does cross my mind that I should really give up. What’s the point of trying to spend hours trying to learn something when it just washes away mindlessly.

And yet, every single day (almost without fail) I still spend at least 30 minutes learning something.

So why do I bother?

Two reasons, really.

I get smarter and faster.
Unexpected, practical ideas.

About the faster and smarter bit…

I’ve realised that my pathetic brain is not so pathetic after all. If I were to spend 30 minutes learning something I was already familiar with, it wouldn’t be a big problem recalling more than 50% or even 90%.

It’s when I run into unknown areas that my brain gets stuck, and remembers little. But if I persist, it remembers more. And then you, I, we all get to a stage where the brain knows the topic quite well.

So for instance, I bought Adobe Lightroom last year. Well, I spent all of last year in Lightroom hell, because I learned little or nothing. This year, fortified with good intentions, I spent 30 minutes a day learning Lightroom. And voilà, about a month later, I’m wondering why I didn’t do it earlier.

All those klutzy looking photos, all those erroneous ways of storing the photos-all gone. But it’s taken me many passes to get to this stage. So yeah, repetition does count if you want to get smarter and faster.

But there’s one other thing that’s even more interesting-and it’s called “unexpected, practical ideas”.

So what’s unexpected, practical stuff got to do with daily learning?

Input equals to output, right? Not really, not when you have a mind like a sieve. But no input definitely leads to lousy output. And one of the most underrated elements of output is “unexpected, practical ideas?”

So let’s take for instance the scenario that unfolded on our walk today. Renuka was listening to some marketing-based audio, when she came up with some very smart ideas for improving our “welcome to Psychotactics” auto responder.

Was the marketing audio related? No, of course it wasn’t. And I in turn was listening to what she said, and nodding politely, when the idea hit me for a pre-sell for our upcoming home study of the sales page course (version 2.0). Suddenly in a matter of minutes we were swamped with three, very practical, very doable ideas.

Oh yes, there’s this factor of not having time

Nobody has time. Nobody in the history of mankind has ever had time. The people who want to make time, make the time. The others binge-watch “House of Cards” on Netflix. They find ways to get to Facebook.

They find reasons and methods to waste the time. This message isn’t for those who make excuses. It’s for those who are diligent and need that extra push to be super-diligent.

However, it’s hard work keeping focused on daily learning unless you get someone else to help along. So find a buddy, or find a group. The more you try to do everything alone, the harder it gets.

So first spend at least a little time working on getting yourself someone who will nudge you when you slow down. That way if you miss a day or two, they’ll help you get back on the daily learning pattern.

Daily learning solves a lot of problems

And gives you a ton of ideas.

My brain is a sieve.

I’m trying to block up the drainage, 30 minutes at a time.

So should you.

Product Offers: Links you should visit

“I thought I had a pretty good About Me page.”

“My ‘About Me’ page was a whole load better than many others that I had seen. I couldn’t really see that I could improve on that much.

Here are three reasons why you should invest in this book:

You’ll be able to read it quickly.
All the suggestions are really clear.
It’s easy to implement the advice.

I would recommend this book to you no matter what kind of company run. You’ll be surprised how much you can benefit from it.

Top Selling Products Under $50

Visual Basics: How Visuals Help Increase Sales Conversion On Your Website [ http://www.psychotactics.com/visuals-help-conversion ] Design Clarity: How to put sanity into your design with some really simple tweaks [ http://www.psychotactics.com/design-clarity ] Chaos Planning: How ‘Irregular’ Folks Get Things Done [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] ______________________________ [ http://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning ] Critical Website Components: How to write compelling content for your key web pages [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

The Brain Audit: Why Clients Buy And Why They Don’t (Available in Different Formats) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ ]

Online Membership Website: How To Build A Powerful, Community-Driven Membership Website [ http://psychotactics.com/products/membership-site-strategy ]

About this eZine and your subscription

http://psychotactics.com/

Privacy and Spam Policy I don’t rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You’ll not get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Other Resources and Tools The Three Month Vacation: The myth of “outsourcing everything and working just a few hours a week?” [ http://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/ ] Tell your friends: http://www.psychotactics.com/tell-a-friend Resources: http://www.psychotactics.com/resources Where do you start: http://www.psychotactics.com/products

If you haven’t already done so, connect with me! FaceBook Sean D’Souza Psychotactics [ https://www.facebook.com/sean.dsouza ] Skype: psychotoon Podcast: Three Month Vacation [ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/three-month-vacation-podcast/id946996410?mt=2 ] YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics [ http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics ]

Psychotactics Products

How to design a solid home page that helps customers find their way around, and do what you want them to do [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/ ]

How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling) [ http://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/ ]

Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0TKxsHIwcTAw=

Why Focusing on “One Concept” Helps Create Powerful InfoProducts

📅 January 20, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Focusing on “One Concept” Helps Create Powerful InfoProducts (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2014)

I don’t know if you’ve read a watercolour instruction book before.

But no matter which book you read, the instructor will tell you one thing: You need to understand ‘values’. Without ‘values’ in your painting, you will never create a watercolour that is dramatic.

And then you open the book, and guess what?

One page.

One measly page.

One measly page among about 150 pages of the book has been devoted to ‘values’.

So what just happened there?

The instructor told you what was important, and then failed to drive home that importance in greater detail. Why? Because there’s so much to teach that they feel this need to rush from one thing to the next; one concept to the next.

And this is approximately what we tend to do with any training program or infoproduct. We are in such a hurry to create this massive infoproduct, that we fail to understand that one concept needs to get far more mileage than the next.

So why does one concept need to get more importance?

For one, because your clients are plainly confused. When they start learning any new skill or system, it’s like being sloshed around in a whirlpool of information. And the moment, you, the teacher, says: “Hey listen up, this is important!” all the ears perk up. Now the clients know what is important. And they feel a sense of relief.

Instead of being tossed around madly, someone (that someone is you) has taken the trouble to hit the “pause” button and identify what’s important.

When you’re a student, it makes perfect sense to slow down, understand and implement the most important fact. But of course, as the teacher/creator, you’re in no mood to pick just one thing and make it important.

That’s because you think everything is important

And it is. Everything is important.

All that you have to say is important, but ONE thing is more important than everything else.

And if it’s not, it’s your job to drive home that factor of importance. It’s your job to pull out that single element from a tangle of elements-and then drive home why it’s so important for the client to focus on that one point. This not only calms down the client but also gives you the chance to create a solid foundation that you can go back to many times over.

But let’s take an example or two, shall we?

Let’s take the DaVinci cartooning course, for instance (It’s a course we conduct at Psychotactics). When we teach cartooning, it’s easy to get lost in hands, legs, faces, and a ton of other things that you need to teach in cartooning.

But instead we start off with what is called ‘circly circles’. And if you were to speak to anyone who’s done this course, and you asked them what ‘circly circles’ was all about, they would tell you clearly.

They not only understand the importance, but know how to implement it, and know how to fix the problem. What’s happened here is that despite having dozens of elements to choose from, we had to focus on one element and drive that over and over, until it became second nature. And it doesn’t just apply to a course. It can apply to a book or any type of infoproduct as well.

So let’s take another example

In the book called The Brain Audit, (which is about ‘why customers buy and why they don’t) there are seven critical points that need to be considered. But when you read The Brain Audit, it’s quite clear which one gets the most attention. It’s the element called the ‘problem’. What’s interesting is that it’s not even the most important of all the seven elements.

You don’t always have to pick the most important. You just have to pick one and give it the highlight so that you slow down the learner and get them focused. And in The Brain Audit the one element that gets picked, is the ‘problem’. And the message is driven home over and over again.

Why Some People Achieve Creativity Highs-And Others Don’t

📅 January 13, 2015 | View in Gmail

Why Some People Achieve Creativity Highs-And Others Don’t (From the archives:One of the most read articles from 2014)

We all know this to be true when it comes to bad habits.

We open the fridge knowing that a Coke is doused in sugar.

But once the fridge is open, the trap is sprung.

We can’t help but reach for the can, pour that liquid sugar down our throats and then feel good-and miserable shortly after.

The good news is that your so-called creativity needs a trigger too

And the mistake that most of us make is that we fail to set the trigger. In her book “The Creative Habit”, choreographer and author, Twyla Tharp talks about how she has to exercise every day for two hours.

And no matter how dedicated you are, there’s going to be a fallout of some kind. A late night, a virus, some well-meaning friend-they can all keep you up too late. And then it’s a drag all the way to the gym.

But Twyla depends on the taxi

Every day her trigger is the taxi. She just has to get to the taxi, and then she’s on her way. It’s like getting on the top of a huge water slide and finding there’s no way back up. That’s how she gets stuff done. She nudges herself towards the trigger.

Think about it: how scary is the handle on the fridge?

How scary can the taxi be?

And yet it is very scary because you suddenly have enormous momentum on your side and you have to get things done.

I wake up every day to a similar sort of trigger

I wake up and I avoid email. They often sends me hurtling into some black hole. Facebook will do approximately the same. Instead I wake up and there in front of me is my InDesign file. Or my Photoshop file.

The night before, I’ll make sure the file is open on my computer and then I’ll wrap up. When I boot up the computer again, nothing opens, but the file itself. And then I’m propelled to making that first step. I’ll either write a book, an article or draw a cartoon (depending on which file is open).

Some days of course, I forget

And Facebook or email is the last thing I have open. Those days I’m down the hell-slide. It might seem like just 10 minutes, but I will often find that 20 or even 30 minutes pass before I can pull back.

But what works for the hell-slide also works to get me productive. Shortly after I write or draw for two hours, I have to take a walk. At this point, I’ll pull out my iPhone and look at my score on Fitbit.

And there is Steve S.

Steve S. is the nemesis. A nice nemesis, but a nemesis all the same. No matter how many steps I take, he seems to take more steps than me. But I can see how many steps I need to catch up and overtake Steve. And so that sets me off on my daily walk. That in turn sets off a trigger to listen to an audio book, and then learn a language on my way back.

Of course, no one is motivated all the time

There are days, even weeks when things don’t get done. Life just gets too bothersome, you promise too much-it’s the same old story. Or you just want to sleep in some days. Even Facebook and email can wait.

And yes, we all get into that zone which it’s kinda pointless to avoid. Sometimes you just go with the flow.

But most days the flow gets you nowhere

Twyla Tharp drives home this core fact with the concept of the trigger. The trigger is what’s important. Most of us don’t have triggers. What we have is to-do lists. But to-do lists are hard to get into without the trigger. Once the trigger is activated, we’re on our way.

Good habits start with a trigger.

Bad habits too.

P.S. Steve S. is ahead of me today. But not for long.

Seree Here is a Surprise Gift For Your Clients

📅 January 07, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Thank you again for signing up for the PsychoTactics Newsletter.

Did you know you can promote your own business by giving away a valuable report?

As a subscriber you get the rights to distribute the report— ‘Why Headlines Fail? And How to Write Headlines That Get Results Every Time’ to your list both online or offline.

============================== Here is how you can use it

When a customer subscribes to your newsletter, you can put this report on your ‘Thank You Page’. Your new subscribers will be pretty tickled to receive something of value right away and this will immediately build your credibility.
As a ‘Special Report’ to all your existing customers. Print it. Bind it. Send it via PDF. Put it on your blog. Tweet about it. As long as you don’t change the contents, you can offer this as a special at an event, workshop or just a gift.

Note: If you have special changes you need to make and aren’t sure what to do, simply email us.

============================== Here is the link to the report

http://www.psychotactics.com/why-headlines-fail

In case you want to use the image of the book the link is http://www.psychotactics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/psychoheadlines.jpg

Do let me know when you use it. And if you have any questions please email me.

Warm regards, Sean

The Blech System of Pattern Recognition

📅 January 06, 2015 | View in Gmail

The Blech System of Pattern Recognition (From the archives: One of the most read articles of 2014)

Did you eat something today? Drank some sort of drink? Well, there’s a good chance you’ve been exposed to the multi-billion dollar flavour industry. Almost all the products we eat or drink have these flavours and companies spend massive amounts of money researching to make sure the get the right flavour for their product. And yet, in the early 1990s, a well-known flavour company did something really weird.

They’d conduct tons of very expensive market research and then ignore that research Instead they’d go to one of their employees and ask her to taste the flavour and they’d wait for the “blech” response. If this employee said ‘blech’ and contorted her face in disgust, the company would do something even more weird. They’d treat that particular flavour as the winner. And invariably, the

Hello from Psychotactics-land

📅 January 03, 2015 | View in Gmail

Hi Seree

Hello from the land of Psychotactics-land :)

============================ And here are three points (yes, quick points).

There’s a free report on why headlines fail (you should read it).
How to get in touch with me if email doesn’t seem to work.
Do you know which article made you sign up?