Part of the complete Psychotactics newsletter archive ← Back to Index
December 2024
What’s Coming Up Next! January to April 2025
📅 December 28, 2024 | View in Gmail
Live online workshops, new products and more.
https://www.psychotactics.com/new-events/
Live Online Course (With Sean D’Souza)
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/article-writing-course-how-to-write-articles/
The Article Writing Live Online Course Learn why articles do a far superior job of attracting the clients that you want (and how the right articles make you the expert in your field)
Registrations open: 21 February 2025 Course duration: 28 April – 20 July 2025 (Important Note: There will be no live course in 2026 or 2027).
Click on the link for more details Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/article-writing-live-course-form-how-to-attract-clients-with-your-articles/ |Sales Page and Waiting List
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/article-writing-course-how-to-write-articles/ | Alumni Experience
https://www.psychotactics.com/Free/awcbonus/Prospectus_Article_Writing.pdf |
Home Study Courses
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/small-business-marketing-home-study-business-courses/
28 February: How to stop knocking on clients’ doors and get them to call you instead Free goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/article-writing-live-course-form-how-to-attract-clients-with-your-articles/ | Sales Page and how to get on the waiting list
29 March: How to create information products that instantly separate you from the competition. Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/ | How to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/how-to-create-knockout-information-products/ |
25 April: How to Make Your Product or Service Stand Out Among All the Noise Free goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/ | Sales Page and how to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/positioning-strategy-how-to-get-to-uniqueness/ |
New Products in 2025! (More details soon)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
- The Advanced Storytelling Series
- Photographing Strangers
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/article-writing-course-how-to-write-articles/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. Do you have any questions? Email me, and I will reply.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
(New) Announcing : Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle of Learning
📅 December 28, 2024 | View in Gmail
Find Out Why You Have Gotten Sightly Misplaced Advice For So Long
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be talented while others are a bit stuck?
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation. We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
- If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds.
- What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
After reading all those books about success, what if there’s something so fundamental that it’s under our noses and we can’t sniff it?
Well, here’s an invitation to the launch of Suddenly Talented.
Announcing the launch of Suddenly Talented: How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
In this book, you will learn why you don’t need to put in thousands or even tens of thousands of hours to be talented.
- We understand confidence. And we have a more-or-less handle on skill. Yet, how do they all fit together?
- And how is this understanding the reason why someone who’s seemingly hopeless gets better in a matter of months?
It’s interesting because the ideas finally fall into place. I think you’d want to know.
How by understanding what’s happening in the background enables you to stop feeling stuck and move ahead. And yes, most importantly, it shows you why Doable Greatness is the way to go rather than focusing on genius.
It’s all here in this new book called: Suddenly Talented. The book has been launched, and you can buy it at US$39.97 from this special page.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. It’s magical when you realise how you’ve gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach. Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
(And do read the testimonials and judge for yourself)
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
Announcing : Launch Of Suddenly Talented—The Road to “Doable Greatness” (NEW book)
📅 December 24, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why Doable Greatness Is Better Than Genius
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be talented while others are a bit stuck?
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation.
We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
- If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds.
- What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
Announcing the launch of Suddenly Talented—The Road to Doable Greatness
In this book, you will learn why you don’t need to put in thousands or even tens of thousands of hours to be talented.
How by understanding what’s happening in the background enables you to stop feeling stuck and move ahead. And yes, most importantly, it shows you why Doable Greatness is the way to go rather than focusing on genius.
It’s all here in this new book called: Suddenly Talented. The book has been launched, and you can buy it at US$39.97 from this special page.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. It’s magical when you realise how you’ve gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach. Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented—The Road to Doable Greatness
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
P.P.S. Here is what Monika Burger has to say:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
The Book —Suddenly Talented is not just an ordinary how-to guide… it is a practical tool and a top-level game-changer.
It is a treasure that just came at the right time into my life.
Easy to read and full of fascinating insights on how to learn really anything you want. Easier and faster. Along with very clear structured chapters of the book, there comes heartwarming cartoons that make the complexity of the topic even more digestible and so much more fun to read!
Yes, we start all somewhere, but the author manages to pick you up exactly where you are, helping you embrace imperfection and move along to a more organic, lively and creative process.
For me, as a person facing complexity and the need to create the right learning environment, this book is very practical and enormously useful to bring my learning skills, energy and confidence to the next level.
It becomes easier, faster, and so much more fun when I follow Sean’s advice to put my learning pensum into doable portions.
Suddenly, it loses its scarcity and becomes doable.
Sean D’Souza is an incredible artist, a deep thinker, an inspiring practitioner and doer and a wonderful teacher who knows how to make learning easier and more playful. His advice is always on point, deeply thoughtful, valuable, helpful, enlightening and supportive along the way.
I would recommend this amazing guidebook to anyone who wants to know how to learn better and faster or even someone who wants to write a book faster and have fun with it!
I believe everyone who is looking for personal improvement can profit from the secrets of suddenly talented.
Judge for yourself: It’s magical when you realise how you’ve gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach. Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
The Power Of Analogies: How To Write An Analogy Going Backwards
📅 December 21, 2024 | View in Gmail
There is a twist to this story
The Power Of Analogies: How To Write An Analogy Going Backwards
https://www.psychotactics.com/working-backwards/
When we sit down to write an article or design a presentation, we tend to slip in an analogy.
However, most of the analogies that we seem to come up with are boring and tired. The reason why we struggle so much is because we’re going about it the wrong way. And analogies – in general – should be written backwards.
How do you write an analogy going backwards? That’s what we’ll find out in this podcast.
Listen or read this episode here. Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/working-backwards/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1fn1bAPDCJJIt092DweBFI?si=46360509d2a3470e
Two binge-worthy podcasts on Article Writing (You can read and listen)
https://www.psychotactics.com/transform-analogies/
The Power Of Analogies (Part 2)- How To Use Everyday Life To Create Stunning Analogies
Probably the biggest mistake that most of us make is that we try to find analogies. Yet, there are dozens if not hundreds of analogies waiting for us round the corner. And by that, I mean literally around the corner.
It’s a secret waiting for us in plain sight. Let’s find out how to go about creating those analogies by the dozen! Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/stunning-analogies/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7aatUR7J3YOreMZJhYY0s0?si=-9mDTVQpR2mG4VlMPoI7kw
The Power Of Analogies (Part 3) – How To Transform Analogies From Tired To Fresh
At times, you simply can’t think of an analogy, and you reach for something that’s been used many times before. However, there’s zero fun in using a tired analogy.
How can you take this rather overused analogy and turn it into something with oomph? Let’s find out. Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/transform-analogies/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/55RLNrdP0Jv2K5Oy4fYlp8?si=b30bb026144d44d0
https://www.psychotactics.com/transform-analogies/
Warm regards Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading or listening to this podcast, please consider forwarding this email to a few friends. I would be grateful.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
The Hallelujah Moment: Why Being “Late To The Party” Is Not A Crisis For Your Business
📅 December 17, 2024 | View in Gmail
(And How You Can Be A Lifesaver)
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
The Hallelujah Moment: Why Being Late To The Party Is Not A Crisis For Your Business
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/business-crisis/
In 1969, when writer Mary Higgins published her first book, she was a widowed mother of five kids.
She was in her forties but woke up early at 5 a.m. to write her novels. When she died at the age of 92, she’d written over fifty best-selling books and sold more than 100 million copies. Yet, what’s the one doubt that could have stopped Mary Higgins Clark in her tracks? That would have to be the doubt we all have, which is that everything has been done before.
Whether you’re sitting to write a training course on sales, it’s been done before. If you go a little niche and call it sales for people who hate selling, well, that’s been done before too. At this point, it feels like we’re all late to the party. Why would anyone be interested in what we have to say when it’s all been said before? When we go to Amazon.com and look at all the books on what seems like a very similar topic, it’s enough for us to reach for the sixth coffee.
Yet look around you, and you’ll notice that yet another cafe has opened in your neighbourhood. That law firm that didn’t exist three months ago seems to have popped up from nowhere.
Just when you thought you had enough sushi restaurants, there’s yet another one. The late to the party concept doesn’t seem to apply to many services, but it seems to haunt us when we are creating content for a course, a product or an article.
Yet there are several reasons why you should not be despondent—and let’s start with the concept of the party itself.
They are:
- You’re providing a hallelujah moment.
- People relate to one person over the other—even with the same topic.
- If you don’t create it, it’s hard to improve it.
- You’re providing a hallelujah moment. A year ago, a barista at the cafe predicted that I’d be very good at using my new camera.
When I bought a new Leica—that’s a German camera—I wasn’t feeling so confident about my choice. I’m fascinated with black and white photography, and the Leica m10 monochrom seemed to be the only digital choice.
Yes, there were a lot of film cameras I could have used, but that wasn’t my goal. I wanted the images to be digital and the camera to shoot in monochrome.
I wasn’t ready to shoot using manual focus. While some of the earliest cameras I played around with did indeed have manual focus, most of the cameras of the last twenty years have gone from automatic to being able to face recognition and even eye-focus.
Yet, this camera was going back in time, where I’d have to focus manually for every single picture. My barista, used to me taking up insane challenges, was confident that my grumble was likely to be temporary. In a short while, she said, you’ll be quite competent at taking pictures.
I wasn’t so sure, and I did what many of us would do at this stage. Yes, I turned to YouTube. Despite watching dozens, possibly hundreds of videos on the simple topic of accurate focus, I was still very reluctant at nailing the shot.
Then, one day—and just in passing—a YouTube presenter said something that stopped me in my tracks.
I’m hopeless at focusing with this camera, he said while cradling a camera just like mine. The way this focus is supposed to work is to put the ring on infinity and then work the positions so that you can get an accurate distance. If the concept he was describing bounced over your head, don’t worry about it too much. For me, however, it was a breathtaking moment.
Despite watching those YouTube videos, the barista’s prediction that I’d figure out the focus was still a fantasy for me. Yet, in that one fraction of a second, I got a concept that was so powerful that I was rooted to the spot.
It’s similar to what happened to me when I first thought of The Brain Audit.
I’d been to a networking meeting and had been listening to audio in my car. The speaker mentioned how people tend to be focused on the problem and how the brain seems to find the biggest problem.
It might have seemed obvious to everyone else, but it was a revelation to me. Right until that moment, I’d been talking about the solution. When I met clients and asked me what I did, I’d always give them my solution. It wasn’t like the audio went deeper into the problem topic and why it mattered.
The moment was brief. He mentioned the concept and moved on, just like the guy on YouTube muttered something under his breath and moved on.
However, that singular moment made all the difference to my thinking and what I did next.
With the video guy, I decided to watch more of his videos. With the problem guy on the audio, I started buying his products, joined his marketing group and later became friends with the author.
What do all of these stories prove?
They prove that even though you and I may think that everything has been covered before, we’ve managed to provide a completely different angle. It may be a single passing comment, or it may be the way we look at things, but it’s a hallelujah moment for the client.
For the first time ever, they see things entirely differently
The client’s behaviour change may be because of a brief comment. Or it could be because you’ve worked out a system that looks at the same thing from a different angle.
Take, for instance, the example of writing a sales page. Almost any training course, workshop, or book will teach you to start from the very top. The headline matters, they will tell you. And the headline is indeed important, but we often get stuck at the start. We can’t get going.
I found myself starting somewhere towards the bottom when writing sales pages.
I’d write the features, then the features and benefits, before moving up to the bullets. Notice that these three sales page elements are not usually found at the top of the page.
Yet, when working my way up, I found it easier for me and clients to write their pages. That slight insight caused us to rewrite the entire Sales Page Course in a way that we’d not anticipated.
It’s also what draws clients to that course rather than other courses, even though there are hundreds, possibly thousands of courses on how to write a sales page.
When we sit down to create information, we think it’s all been done before
We don’t realise that most of us start up in business because we tend to do something—maybe a tiny something—differently. It’s that something that the client finds very useful and becomes the spark that gets them to go further.
It’s one moment—a hallelujah moment. And you’re the one that is providing it, sometimes even without realising it. Which is the first and most important reason why you need to write or create your information.
The second reason might be that you’re the client’s only hope? Really? You think to yourself. How could you be the lifesaver? Let’s find out.
- People relate to one person over the other—even with the very same topic.
How early will a person die if they’re chronically lonely?
According to Dr John Cacioppo, Chronic loneliness increases the odds of an early death by 20 per cent, which is about the same effect as obesity, though obesity does not make you as miserable as loneliness.
Being alone is different from being lonely, he said.
In animals, it’s not separating a monkey from any companion; it’s separating them from a preferred companion. Being with others doesn’t mean you’re going to feel connected, and being alone doesn’t mean you’re going to feel lonely. In other words, even when there are lots of people around, you can feel extremely cut off.
Which is approximately what a client feels in a world of information
When we sit down to create information, we think we can’t add much to what’s already there. Yet the way we build our information makes a massive difference. Our tone of voice, our choice of graphics, the way we summarise everything—all of these elements make a huge difference to the client.
I had this experience when I was in school.
I knew I was a good student in almost every subject except maths. It wasn’t like I was terrible at it, but I had no particular fondness for it, and my scores were about 60/100. Then, I ran into a teacher called Mr Sharma.
His version of algebra was precisely what was being taught by a teacher in the next class, but the way he went about teaching was remarkably transformational.
He challenged the class to improve their scores.
He’d give us a hundred equations to do at the end of the day, and by early next morning, we had to submit the working and the answers. At first, it seemed like a grind to work late at night on equations.
However, we were all keen to rise to the challenge. We could look at an equation and know the answer before working on the problem. Going through almost 500 equations a week, we instantly see our scores rise. In time, we’d done so many equations that many of them began to repeat themselves.
We were pretty lonely in our maths world until the teacher came along.
It’s a feeling that many of us feel when we’re learning a new skill. The skill could be watercolours, Photoshop, needlework or photography, but the results are the same. We never seem to move ahead.
Then along comes someone with the same syllabus and almost identical content, but how they express themselves is different. That tone of voice alone can change the way we move forward.
Clients have usually tried a lot of sources before they run into you
Most of us will buy multiple books courses and go to various teachers. Yet we never seem to move ahead and feel that we’re the problem. We feel lonely despite the volume of information at our disposal. Along comes a new way, a new method, or even a new tone—and we’re off learning in a way we couldn’t have imagined.
It’s easy to believe that everything has already been covered before.
Even if it has, it’s still valuable for you to go ahead and explain it yet again. For instance, you may have read a version of this article before, yet something about the tone or the examples in this article has caused you to forge ahead. The hesitation is still present but you can feel it erode bit by bit.
Feeling lonely is a killing emotion.
The moment you find someone you can relate to, be it in life or when learning, you are a whole new person. As creators of content, we need to understand that clients are waiting to hear our tone of voice, our method of teaching, or possibly just an example that moves them ahead.
That’s the second reason you need to create something, even if it’s been done several times before.
- If you don’t create it, it’s hard to improve it.
In 2005, we decided to do our first Article Writing Course. However, I wasn’t quite ready for the course because of two thoughts running through my head.
The first thought was that there were enough books on writing.
The second one was: who would want to do a course on writing, anyway? Hence, though I put up a sales page and a price on the course, I didn’t expect many clients to sign up. Imagine my surprise (and even slight horror) when the class filled up immediately.
I had no notes, no audio, not even an actual syllabus in place. What was I going to do?
Today, the Article Writing Course sells out within an hour, and the home study version helps clients who can’t be on a live course. However, none of this would have happened if I’d given in to the initial doubts—or failed to put up that sales page.
The reality is that your work may not be as stellar as you’d like it to be
All of our products started the best they could. The Brain Audit was just a 20-page booklet; many of the courses were built week by week, even as we moved ahead. If we hadn’t started at some point, we would not be where we are today, and the same applies to you.
When you put out information, you get feedback in two primary forms: 1- Clients agree with you and find things helpful. 2- Clients are confused with some aspects, and you have to explain things more.
Knowing what a client is finding extremely useful enables you to dig a lot deeper.
You can give more examples, add case studies, and create beneficial information for the client. There are also issues where clients are confused and need more clarification. If you never start your first product or course, you have to rely on guesswork.
However, you need to create information because a client is different from a window shopper. When clients are merely on your list, they aren’t likely to hang around forever if you don’t offer them an information product. Think about it for a while.
Let’s say you’re learning French, and you’re on someone’s free list. Then along comes the competition and offers a course—any course! You know the free information is valuable, but a course is a course, and a book is a book.
What would you do? You’ll continue to stay on the free list, but your purchase will be with the competition.
You actively drive clients away when you hesitate to create your product or service.
Clients do NOT subscribe so that they can get stuff free forever. Even when browsing, their mentality is to buy something. If you have nothing to sell, they’re not going to park their money in a mutual fund.
They’re either going to spend it on a holiday or buy some information that will improve their lives.
You have to create a product, even if it’s done before, solely so that you can improve it over time. Just as importantly, a client that buys nothing usually leaves.
Look around you. Every book on your topic has been written before.
All the products we sell at Psychotactics are likely to be available somewhere else. We have products on presentations, sales pages, article writing, cartooning, pricing, client psychology. Notice anything new yet? Of course not, yet we’ve run a business for well over twenty years without a steady, generous income.
If you want to stop thinking about how everything has already been created, do so. But you do so at your peril.
Thank you for being a subscriber and if you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. I would love it!
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Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article
📅 December 14, 2024 | View in Gmail
Here are two methods to write the first line of your article.
How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article
https://www.psychotactics.com/first-line-article/
The first line is what pulls us into an article.
Yet we end up writing a really boring first line.
What’s worse is that you could use the power of a story to create an intensely powerful first line in minutes.
Don’t believe me? Well, do you have 10 minutes? Here are two methods to write the first line of your article. Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/first-line-article/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ash0mnlbOWCCgMLOREnBx?si=a50d8b86f3e34b3a |
Three podcasts on 'Article Writing'
(You can read and listen)
https://www.psychotactics.com/story-ending/
How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader’s Attention With A Story) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/story-ending/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1FYE3sYNBNNs1t599H0h3g?si=sYx_rEs0SLGy63VAzHyNsw |
Why We Struggle With Writing Well (And How Your Brain Is Trying to Drive You Crazy) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/struggle-writing-article/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Ar0K0CBlompTe26yF6VDA?si=gLwwPjLGQY2alxThoUak_g |
Three “Slightly Boring” Ways To Create Metaphors For Your Articles Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/create-metaphors-articles/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0dAgWSVnbWS3C1mcEdLTNV?si=Z4ZfcYk4RoGFHq__lmBMAQ |
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/
Warm regards Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading the podcast, please consider forwarding this email to a few friends.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TEwsHOzstOysnEyc7BzstEa0rBxsTAzsbIw=
Why You Should Pay Attention To Giving (And Why Receiving Is Just As Important)
📅 December 10, 2024 | View in Gmail
The Three Principles of “Giving”
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
Why You Should Pay Attention To Giving
(And Why Receiving Is Just As Important)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/giving/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/giving/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6EsuocOo8z2U99p0h6zPhR?si=6c6fb6b4ae4b4854 |).
If a burglar were to break into our home, he would be slightly confused.
As you get to the chest of drawers and open the first drawer, you find a hoard of chocolates. The drawer to the right of that one also contains bars of chocolate. Both the ones under it have chocolate too.
A burglar is looking for valuables to steal, and drawer after drawer seems to reveal yet another hoard of chocolate.
“Someone sure has a sweet tooth”, you’d think to yourself if you didn’t already know us If you know us, you’d know that the chocolate isn’t for us. Instead, it’s for everyone else. Every year, and even in pandemic times, about 300-500 chocolates make their way to clients.
Members who join our membership site at 5000bc get a bar of chocolate, as do those who send feedback about glitches on the site. Those who attend courses also get chocolate, and yes, of course, those who come to workshops.
“Well, that makes sense”, you may think to yourself These are clients, and we all have a good sense of the concept of reciprocity. Giving isn’t a one-way street (in most cases). When you give, people often feel the need to give something back.
As impressive as it is to experience the power of reciprocity, that’s only part of the reason why giving is so powerful. Let’s dig a little deeper into “giving”, and while we’re there, let’s also circle around why “accepting” is just as important.
1: Why giving creates goodwill 2: Acknowledgement of the existence of another 3: Why “accepting” is crucial for society
- The principle of goodwill
Around 2006, we got into an argument that we hadn’t started.
We were having a workshop in Campbell, California, and after the workshop, we decided to have a smaller, two-day session for a few clients.
We rented the boardroom for two days, and that’s when I made my first mistake. Since we were going to be such a small group, and since many of the clients were travelling with their spouses, I told them they could bring the spouses along for the two-day session.
The wife of one of our clients stepped into the boardroom and backed out almost immediately. “I can’t stand the smell of the new carpet,” she said, raising her voice. The boardroom was right next to the reception. Without warning, she turned to the staff at reception, demanding that they give us another room right away.
We were in a bit of a soup With just minutes to go before we started our session, there was no warning whatsoever. The woman was not willing to negotiate, either. We were a tiny group of just six participants.
If she couldn’t stand the smell in the board room, we could create a makeshift area in one of the hotel rooms. A quick set-up of the whiteboard, and we could be rocking and rolling. However, for some inexplicable reason, she wanted a “proper” room and turned on the staff, criticising them for not giving us an “acceptable” space.
She poured an excessive amount of frustration on a particularly timid member of the staff That “timid” person then gave us an option. There was an unused board room in the hotel. It was pretty huge, and we’d feel the excessive space. However, it was workable, had no new carpet, and could use it if we chose to do so.
By this point, the screaming spouse had rattled everyone, and we trooped up to the room and went ahead with the sessions. We didn’t think of the timid staff member until much later.
When the day was done, we bumped into her in the lobby As it turned out, she wasn’t a “timid” staff member. She just happened to be a rather unassuming general manager. While we were eager to apologise, she waved the matter away and instead thanked us for the chocolate.
Chocolate? What chocolate? Yes, of course, when we travel, we take 20-30 bars of New Zealand chocolate along as well. Waiters, random staff and people at the reception get a bar of chocolate once we’ve settled in.
As it turned out, the general manager was one of the “reception staff” who’d got a bar of Whittaker’s chocolate as well.
The way things went that day could have been a lot uglier The room we were originally booked in was plush and comfortable. The hotel was under no compulsion to offer us a separate room. Yet, a single bar of chocolate had built an enormous amount of goodwill well in advance.
In many situations, gifting is done because we know the person, or in some cases, because we want something in return. Yet, you, me, all of us should constantly be working on goodwill.
Giving something to someone when you don’t need to do so is the most bizarre act of all You know that in most cases, those people can’t give back. It’s a one-way act of giving. And yet, you’ll see how a lack of goodwill can turn against you over the smallest of things.
Last week, for example, the kid across the road was playing Tim the Toolman Taylor. He’d gotten up on the roof and was putting up an array of Christmas lights. It seemed like the perfect moment to get out and take a picture. I walked up, asked his permission, and he agreed to the photo being taken.
Then his mother showed up.
The family lives bang opposite our house. We’re out on the street a lot, but apparently, she had no clue who I was. “You can’t take a picture”, she said to me flatly.
Would that situation be quite a bit different if she’d known us? It could go either way, but without goodwill, the odds are against you. They’d moved in about a year ago, and if we’d given them a cake, or even a bar of chocolate, things would have been different.
Giving—and even goodwill—sounds creepy because it seems like there’s an agenda in place.
Yes, of course, there is an agenda. If you’re a hermit, living on an island all by yourself, you may be excused from dealing with society’s core values. However, if you’re a normal human being, giving becomes crucial, but goodwill is probably the most important thing you can do.
Even corporations realise the power of goodwill in their balance sheets If you were to buy a company today, you’d probably look at assets and liabilities. Yet, right in the middle of it all, is something called “goodwill”. It’s considered to be an asset.
Without the goodwill of your clients, family or community, you’d find the world to be a much more complicated place to live in. Giving—in most cases—creates reciprocation.
However, getting the goodwill of another human is what we should all be looking to cultivate. Not just at festival time, or some special occasion, but though the year. If you can’t think of things you want to give, maybe raid the food store and get yourself several dozen bars of chocolates.
If a burglar breaks into your house, that burglar might be super-confused too.
And on that weirdly happy note, let’s dig into the next two points. We’ll cover why giving is an essential acknowledgement of the other person. And yes, why receiving is just as important, if not more important than giving.
- Acknowledgement of the existence of another
You likely deal with people every day. Maybe a waiter at the restaurant, perhaps the shop where you buy your groceries. Do you know their names? Sometimes you do, but perhaps you don’t.
But what if you went one step further and gave them something small? Giving has the power of radiation. You give something, and it brightens up their day, and in turn, they often pass it on. But giving also tells the other person that they exist.
People in your family exist. People who help you in stores exist. People in restaurants exist.
Giving something out of the blue acknowledges that the other person exists. It’s a power all of us have, and we can give something at least once a week. However, to do something like this, you need to be more organised. We are so obsessed with how tired we are, how needy we are, that we forget to make the world a lot better.
Giving is a selfish act. It makes us feel better. And this takes us to the third point, which oddly is about receiving.
- Is giving better than receiving?
Maybe not. If you’ve tried to give something to someone and they won’t accept it, you know exactly how it feels. We’re not talking about something creepy here. The stranger off the street is wary even if you’re handing out $100 notes, as giving has to have some trust involved.
Even so, receiving is highly underrated When someone doesn’t take what you have to give, it seems like a small rejection. Theoretically speaking, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Let’s multiply that one person’s rejection across a million people and what you’re starting to notice is a breakdown of convention, and finally, society.
If enough people decide not to take what you’re giving, there’s no social contract. They don’t owe you anything, and no reciprocity is needed. It’s everyone for himself. Left unchecked, it’s not hard to imagine the complete breakdown of society.
When you see someone that gives, you think there’s a great deal of generosity in place. Yet, the act of receiving is also just as important. Of course, it tips the balance. Of course, you feel that you have to give back. Yes, it’s how society works and how it makes us less selfish as a whole.
Giving and receiving is easily the glue that keeps us all together. Let’s give. And receive. And create a whole lot of goodwill along the way!
Did you enjoyed this article? Do remember to forward or share it with your friends. You can even post it in your WhatApp groups.
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Top-Selling Products Under $50
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https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
The Brain Audit : (Collector’s Version) The seven red bags sequence of marketing
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ .
Testimonial Secrets How To Avoid Painful Clients (And Get Clients That Are A Dream To Work With Instead)
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/
Two Most Popular Podcasts
Why Staying Small Is Probably A Smarter Move iTunes
http://www.psychotactics.com/power-enough-critical-sanity/ | Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TGranDiQBkS3ygKxTr3v7 |
The Crazy Philosophy Of Psychotactics (And Why It May Help You In Your Business) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/philosophy-of-psychotactics/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6lATN0aX6maTdQYhGrEqjF |
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Last day: Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass: (Free When You Join 5000bc)
📅 December 07, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to Create a Website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets them back
Today is the last day to get the Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass when you join 5000bc.
You've been around the Psychotactics site for a while. And you've probably even sneaked a peek at 5000bc. So what is 5000bc, and what is the Special Bonus—Website Strategy Masterclass about?
Let's have a look.
Image
In 2006 we conducted the website strategy masterclass. It was based on the precise steps involved in attraction, conversion and consumption. The specific psychological factors that every website must have–and without which you're just wasting your time and money.
Even today in 2024 we are still using the same strategy successfully. And will continue to use it in 2025. • Yes, technology has changed. • Yes, we have new media to communicate our message. • Yes, our website design has changed over time. Yes, the strategy continues to work!
Websites fail because you don’t understand the core of what drives business For clients to keep coming back to your ‘restaurant’, and keep eating the ‘meals’ regularly, you need to have a powerful strategy in place. A strategy that guarantees the return of the customer. That will not only get the customer back but over time, the customer will buy more from you and buy at higher prices.
And how do you create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets customers to keep coming back?
Presenting the Website Strategy Masterclass Home Study Course
(Free for 5000bc Members)
The Website Masterclass is not some quick system This Home Study Course is about a simple, step-by-step system that we’ve used ourselves to grow Psychotactics over the years to the point where it pays us a handsome return and affords us a comfortable lifestyle. This information is not meant to impress you. It’s just to show you that if you use the right strategy, you too can achieve what we’ve achieved in a reasonable time frame.
Ready to join 5000bc and get the entire workshop, notes and bonuses? Click here to get this offer
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. This offer expires on 7 December 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
P.P.S. And what else has 5000bc got to offer you?
If you’re a business owner, you know how lonely it can be in your world. And now, like most people on the planet, we’re unsure where to go or what to do. We’re stuck in our homes, and it seems odd to want to start up a project or do something.
The volume of chaos is so great that it’s hard to focus Yet, it’s also the precise time that will give you the time to ask questions, get answers and finally get that project going. We all complain about having no time, and time is still a premium, but we do seem to have just a smidgen more of time these days.
It’s like a Yoda quote: There is no try, Luke. There’s do. And there’s don’t.
If you’re in the “do” category, I’m in 5000bc, ten or twenty times a day answering questions and helping you move forward. And there are members who are just as knowledgeable who can help you too.
You can ask questions and get an unending number of answers. And often so quickly that it seems like consulting. Not consulting once a week or once a month, but every day, or ten times a day if you like.
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. And having a community to talk to, to work with and bounce your ideas off, is incredibly valuable.
There’s an old African saying: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group. And yes, if you go with a helpful group, you enjoy the journey.
Yes, it’s the last day to join before the waiting list goes up, so get in the community and let’s go far.
Here is the link
Warm regards, Sean P.S. See you in 5000bc. This offer expires on 7 December 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
Here is what Monica Stapleton has to say about 5000bc
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I've pretty much stopped following all other business marketing and strategy mentors. 5000bc is where I feel I'm going to get the answers I need, personally.
What I like about 5000bc—My list so far:
1. The "safe" zone of 5000bc is an unbelievable "find" in this world. So rare, and so valuable. With every other group I've been a part of, whether it's a mentor or a writing group, there is also a stressful environment of pressure to be a certain kind of person or do things I'm not comfortable with, or measure up somehow.
2. Sean's quick, personal, supportive responses to my emails have surprised me and they set the tone for everyone else in the group.
3. The supportive group there is amazing. I'm not used to being a part of such a supportive, positive group, and it's taking a little getting used to.
4. I value vulnerability and humility, and I finally feel like I've found a place where I belong. It's incredible. I feel that making a place where introverts have the necessary space to grow is an unbelievably rare find.
5. Along with all that, Sean still manage to produce the right motivational "pressure" or encouragement to do it right and get good results in a way that actually makes logical, real sense.
6. While I know everyone is going through the same challenges, I do sort of have a unique set of fears, and I think I really need the space 5000bc creates in order to spread my wings. I'm really not made for a dog-eat-dog world, and I don't do well in that environment. I'm sorting that problem out. In every other group I tend to go undercover very quickly, and I don't make headway.
7. Renuka's encouragement when I first started with 5000bc to get started with my first TAP (Taking Action Plan) was PERFECT.
8. The TAP (Taking Action Plan) experience was one of the most meaningful experiences in my lifetime. I made such huge headway in my personal health, and felt extremely encouraged by the few people that took the time to go on my thread and say encouraging things to me. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I broke through a ceiling I've been hitting for the last ten years, or more. I figured out a few clues that I'm still following and continue to have more breakthroughs as a result of the headway I made in that three week TAP. I'm still in shock about how important that was, and all that I discovered. I can't wait to take on another TAP with business goals and break through more ceilings in these other areas.
9. Sean really listen. That might need to be placed higher up on this list. The experience in 5000bc is so personal that I have no desire to go back to any of the other groups where I have felt distant and detached, and I wonder about the advice given, which is painted with such a broad-brushed stroke it doesn't have any bearing on my personal life at all. In two other groups where I did reach out for some help, I felt like a child being scolded on the receiving end. Even knowing I had to keep pushing forward, it made me cautious about what I would put out there in those groups. Now I don't want to go back to them at all.
10. You've won me over with the support of this group, and I think the group Sean managed to create is the thing I want to emulate in any health coaching practice I create in the future. The value of the group dynamic is probably more important than anything else, and since I want to involve people in personal change and growth I think that's an important piece that other models are completely missing. All the marketing strategies in the world that involve just getting your story out there can't make up for the problem of the impersonal, one-size-fits-all approach.
11. Sean and 5000bc insights are incredibly deep and wise. There is no other resource that I know of, that makes such great sense out of the psychology of marketing and writing. Your approach feels right to me in every way. I have yet to read anything you've written and think it didn't apply, or wasn't that important.
12. There is so much value in 5000bc that I have enough information just by belonging to the group, to keep growing as long as I want to.
13. I've made more personal headway in the few months I've been following you than I ever did in other groups. It's the combination of truly understanding the psychology behind marketing and the safe zone for personal growth that is an amazingly powerful combination.
Monica Stapleton
FL, USA
Join us:
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Wrong date in earlier message
📅 December 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
The correct date is 7th December 2024
I made a mistake in the earlier message I sent you today. The offer expires on 7 December 2024. Sorry for the confusion.
In 2006 we conducted the website strategy masterclass. It was based on the precise steps involved in attraction, conversion and consumption. The specific psychological factors that every website must have–and without which you're just wasting your time and money.
Even today in 2024 we are still using the same strategy successfully. And will continue to use it in 2025. • Yes, technology has changed. • Yes, we have new media to communicate our message. • Yes, our website design has changed over time.
However the strategy continues to work!
Websites fail because you don’t understand the core of what drives business For clients to keep coming back to your ‘restaurant’, and keep eating the ‘meals’ regularly, you need to have a powerful strategy in place. A strategy that guarantees the return of the customer. That will not only get the customer back but over time, the customer will buy more from you and buy at higher prices.
And how do you create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets customers to keep coming back?
Presenting the Website Strategy Masterclass Home Study Course
(Free for 5000bc Members)
Image
The Website Masterclass is not some quick system This Home Study Course is about a simple, step-by-step system that we’ve used ourselves to grow Psychotactics over the years to the point where it pays us a handsome return and affords us a comfortable lifestyle. This information is not meant to impress you. It’s just to show you that if you use the right strategy, you too can achieve what we’ve achieved in a reasonable time frame.
Ready to join 5000bc and get the entire workshop, notes and bonuses? Click here to get this offer
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. This offer expires on 7 December 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rBycLMxMHKw=
Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass: (Free when you join 5000bc before 7 November 2024)
📅 December 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to Create a Website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets them back
In 2006 we conducted the website strategy masterclass. It was based on the precise steps involved in attraction, conversion and consumption. The specific psychological factors that every website must have–and without which you're just wasting your time and money.
Even today in 2024 we are still using the same strategy successfully. And will continue to use it in 2025. • Yes, technology has changed. • Yes, we have new media to communicate our message. • Yes, our website design has changed over time.
However the strategy continues to work!
Websites fail because you don’t understand the core of what drives business For clients to keep coming back to your ‘restaurant’, and keep eating the ‘meals’ regularly, you need to have a powerful strategy in place. A strategy that guarantees the return of the customer. That will not only get the customer back but over time, the customer will buy more from you and buy at higher prices.
And how do you create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets customers to keep coming back?
Presenting the Website Strategy Masterclass Home Study Course
(Free for 5000bc Members)
Image
The Website Masterclass is not some quick system This Home Study Course is about a simple, step-by-step system that we’ve used ourselves to grow Psychotactics over the years to the point where it pays us a handsome return and affords us a comfortable lifestyle. This information is not meant to impress you. It’s just to show you that if you use the right strategy, you too can achieve what we’ve achieved in a reasonable time frame.
Ready to join 5000bc and get the entire workshop, notes and bonuses? Click here to get this offer
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. This offer expires on 7 November 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rBxsDKycLAw=
Announcing: How To Join 5000bc (But How Do You Know if 5000bc is The Place For You?)
📅 December 03, 2024 | 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.
For the next seven days we’re bringing down that wall. From Saturday 30 September to 7 October 2017, you get the chance to join (without being on the waiting list).
The last time we opened up the waiting list was six 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.
You have to judge for yourself. So take a look at 5000bc right away. https://www.psychotactics.com/general/special-offer/
We’d love to have you there if you think it’s the right place for you :)
Warm regards, Sean P.S. Make a decision today based on what you see. https://www.psychotactics.com/general/special-offer/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rBxsDKyczMw=
November 2024
Tiny Saturday Request
📅 November 30, 2024 | View in Gmail
We would love to have a few more people join us on this Psychotactics journey.
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Sean here, and I have a tiny request to ask you this Saturday.
Some of our best clients come from people just like you. People who are kind and helpful and with whom we could share a coffee or tea. We would love to have a few more people join us on this Psychotactics journey.
So this Saturday, I have a tiny request. It would really be nice if you could tell just one friend about Psychotactics.
Email works best So, if you can send an email to a friend, that’s probably the best way to go.
Just click on the email link below and send a message. Email Friend 1 (In case this link doesn’t work for you, there is an alternative link below)
Let us know when you tell your friend, I would love to say. Thank you to you. :)
Tell a friend
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Warm regards, Sean D’Souza P.S. You can post a message in your WhatsApp Group, Facebook Groups or LinkedIn. Here is a good place to send them to. Psychotactics Guide
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/#guide
Click here to tell one friend
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rBysHBwMnAw=
Pre-Sell Strategy: How To Strategically Tackle Promotion of Products and Services
📅 November 26, 2024 | View in Gmail
How To Systematically Manage Your Pre-sell Strategy
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-sell-strategy/
Pre-Sell Strategy: How To Strategically Tackle Promotion of Products and Services
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-sell-strategy/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-sell-strategy/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5H7WQ2WbPLkdyv0xF813me |). How do you introduce the concept of roundabouts to motorists?
The concept of the roundabout was a French idea, but it was the British who made the most use of it. But the roundabout was still a bit klutzy until 1969. In the year, traffic engineer, Frank Blackmore, who invented the modern roundabout, helped introduce the new idea to motorists. He would park himself on a traffic island and shout out instructions through a megaphone-like-device.
It was because of Blackmore’s simple plan that made the roundabout work
His idea was that entering vehicles had to give way to traffic that was already moving on the roundabout. And if you’ve ever been on a roundabout, you know that it’s such a delightful invention. Unless, of course, it’s a huge roundabout and there’s loads of traffic. That’s when it becomes a bit of a nightmare.
Similarly, when you’ve got just one or two products or services to pre-sell, it’s not hard to get a sequence together and get the sequence going. But when you’ve got three or four, or like us almost 17 different products and services, it seems like a logistical nightmare.
And yet you can pre-sell your product or services, and yes, there is a bit of complexity involved.
Let’s find out what’s involved and how you can systematically manage the pre-sell.
Stage 1: Which products are the most important? Which are not? Stage 2: Have we created a “separate section” for each of the vital products/services? Stage 3: How can we create urgency and scarcity?
Stage 1: Which products are the most important? Which are not?
The term “important” is probably too vague. The importance of a product or service is dependent solely on your strategy. Let’s say you have a product that’s priced at just $20. Is it more important than a product that’s priced at $2000? The answer depends on your strategy. Let’s say I have a book that you’re writing at this point.
It might be personally relevant for you to get the book into the hands of as many clients as possible. In such a case, the $20 would outweigh the $2000. In which case, you’d start with the book pre-sell right now, and then work out a sequence that would head directly to the launch. Later in the year, you might have a $2000 product that, if sold to 40 people, would generate $80k, then that’s the most important.
In the case of Psychotactics, you’ll notice that not all the products or services are in a pre-sell sequence
Take the example of products like “Outlining” or “Chaos Planning”. And it may seem like their lower price point is what relegates them to this non-pre-sell bracket. But even higher priced products like the “Copywriting Course” aren’t in any pre-sell sequence, because we’ve only wanted a few products to have on pre-sell.
And in time, things may change.
Some don’t even have a sequence, e.g. Psychotactics workshops
Many of the workshops in the past few years have filled up without needing to go to a list at all. Is there a pre-sell of sorts? Yes, there is. But it’s not done through e-mail or any reminder system. We have other groups that we run separately in WhatsApp.
When the workshop is ready to roll, we merely let those groups know, and it’s not unusual to have 70% or more of the workshop filled through that backchannel. The remaining 30% fills up without too much of a bother.
Which, of course, means that the first stage would be to figure out what’s important, and why it’s important to you at this very moment. And as that situation changes, why the next product is essential, and so on. The importance will determine why you’re pre-selling one series of product or services and not the other.
Be aware that you can put every product in a pre-sell sequence
But it’s a heck of a lot of work to set it up and then to monitor the sequence. Sanity calls for fewer, more strategic moves to be made so that you achieve the goals you need to meet.
Which takes us to the second bit. Stage 2: Have we created a “separate section” for each of the important products/services?
Stage 2: Have we created a “separate section” for each of the important products/services?
Having determined what we’re going to promote and pre-sell, we have to create silos. When we decided to launch “Suddenly Talented”. We decided to make announcements, create snippets and give out samples and this was already a good strategy.
However, it’s far better to create a separate area in advance before you launch the product and that is what we did— Which is why we created a silo/a separate list: Eg. psychotactics.com/suddenly
What is that separation creating?
It’s getting clients to opt-in to a specific channel. They’re interested in the information that is likely to follow before the launch of the product. And if I were to do this task correctly, I’d have to find myself a good barista, order a coffee and work out what goodies I’m going to send that list and how often.
Because it’s an explicit opt-in, they’re likely to be more eager to receive goodies. And to be clear, information and announcements are fine, but goodies are the best. What we’d need to do, is create enough excitement, enough enticement, so that the final launch isn’t this last minute “buy my book” scenario.
We have silos for the Article Writing Course, the Info-Product Course and others
Yet, there’s still a problem in place, isn’t there? Just because someone has signed up for the book on talent, doesn’t mean she won’t sign up for the Article Writing Course. And if this client is super-eager, she might sign up to quite a few others.
As you can tell, it feels a bit like an asteroid belt where one e-mail could clash with the other at any point. It seems like there’s a good chance that the client could wake up one morning and find five different sets of goodies all from Psychotactics.
And yet that situation never occurs
It’s because the goodies go out with a higher frequency in the run-up to an event. Which means that through most of this year, you’re likely to get a few e-mails or podcast announcements. Nothing over the top, just a few to keep you abreast of what’s happening.
A set of goodies may be slipped under your door too, but just enough to keep thing moving along. The only time you’re going to see a step up in activity is between 8-16 weeks before the actual launch date. At which point, all the other pre-sell volume gets turned to low. The focus becomes one product or one service.
And yet, you may never need to turn down the volume if you use editorial well Do you see what’s happening right now in this very article? You were told about the “Suddenly Talented” book. You were told it will be launched maybe next year. You even have a nudge with the link above which allows you to opt-in.
Those are three sets of pushes in one article. Now think of all the articles, all the presentations, every webinar, seminar, audio, video—every single piece of editorial that is being put out from now until the launch. If you include your product or service as an example, you are already pre-selling.
There’s an added advantage too
Because it’s editorial, I don’t have to scamper through the information, and neither do you. In one presentation on pricing which we call the “Yes-Yes” presentation, we spend over fifteen minutes going over every point of the Article Writing Course. Is the audience offended? Are they mad at us for taking up their time?
They would be if it were merely a pitch. But if you watch the video, you’ll notice that it’s helping the audience structure their price sequences. It’s helping them get an additional 10-15% per year if they put the advice in place. They know you’re pre-selling some other product, but as long as you’re helping, they’re happy to listen, watch or read.
There is a caveat, though
If you’re going to make three passing comments, you may not need to have other examples in your editorial. However, the moment you’re taking up a sizeable amount of the editorial content, you’ll need other examples as well.
While the video does talk about the Article Writing Course, it also has other examples, like the IceBreaker t-shirt, a real estate company and other examples.
It’s a bit of a balancing act, and if you’re going to drone on about your own product or products, it’s irritating. There’s no formula for how much of the other examples are needed, but slipping even one or two removes the lopsidedness.
You can create separate sections for pre-sell, but you also don’t want to miss out on the almost limitless editorial opportunity. If you play it right and increase the volume of pre-sell closer to the date of launch, you’re unlikely to get too much of an asteroid-like-clash.
However, if you want to achieve a consistent, almost recurring levels of sales, you’ll also need one very obvious set of tools. They’re called: scarcity and urgency.
Stage 3: How can we create urgency and scarcity?
“Why don’t you have the Article Writing Course every more frequently?” said a client to me.
“Good question. Because the course is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire,” I said. And then I went on about how intense the course can be both for the clients—but also for the teacher. And yet, that wasn’t the complete answer to her question. The more significant reason for not having the course every year was, scarcity.
“If the course were held more often,” I said, “doesn’t create scarcity”.
At the back of my mind, I was holding firm to the story of the late Gary Halbert. Halbert was considered to be one of the most in-demand copywriters on the planet at one point in time. And he decided to cash into his fame by hosting a series of workshops. Almost instantly, the workshop was filled, so he announced a second and a third. And then yet another.
Do you see where this story is going?
Of course, you do. You and I depend on a lack of scarcity when we go shopping for just about anything. If we head to the supermarket, we expect to find beans, chocolate, ice cream, and bread.
The moment we realise that an item is scarce, we want it more than ever before. This scarcity mentality applies not just to the “essentials” like chocolate, but also to something pretty random like a special fountain pen you’ve wanted to buy. Or even the seat at the restaurant that looks out onto the harbour.
Halbert’s fourth workshop, as the story goes, was a bit of a dud
Which is precisely the reason why we make products and services scarce on Psychotactics. Making products rare are a superior form of marketing, provided certain conditions exist. We’ll get into the conditions shortly, but let’s look at how scarcity works in our favour.
1: It created urgency.
Most courses, products, workshops etc. on the Internet have primarily depended on affiliates at one level, but there’s almost a stampede towards advertising. How do you tone down or even eliminate the need for any external source? If you’ve tried to sign for most Psychotactics courses, even 24 hours later, you’re likely to have realised that it’s every seat has gone.
It’s essential to have the course fill up, or the product sold out
It’s a clear cut case of revenue, but there’s also the other, more serious side to creating this scarcity and urgency. Because you sell out quickly, you don’t need to waste weeks, and possibly months, in trying to sell your product or service. If you’re a diligent teacher, you now have time to celebrate, as well as create valuable resources for your clients.
The energy that would have needlessly gone into writing more promotions, two dozen e-mails, and motivating all your affiliates is slightly unnecessary. The products that have a lesser priority in our schedule require more promotion and ironically, the more important ones, require less.
Interesting, isn’t it?
It means that you don’t have to be like a maniac, trying to push everything to your audience, year round. You selectively pick the product or services that work for you, either from a revenue point of view or from a client acquisition/retention. When courses or products sell quickly, we can get on with the job of making it even better for the client.
Not surprisingly, this act of making the experience richer and more in-depth for the client brings them back repeatedly. Which then creates a vortex of scarcity in your favour. The first advantage of scarcity is additional time and lots more energy.
The second reason is a spike in revenue
It makes perfect sense to a client when 16 seats sell out at a workshop. Or if 25 seats sell out for the cartooning course. It’s a training scenario and to ensure a high standard, you have to have a fixed availability. What seems to perplex clients a lot, is when digital courses like the article writing course or the info-products course have a fixed number of copies.
This change boosted our revenue by around 500%
In our case, it went from approximately $30,000 per annum in 2016 to about $130,000 per annum by 2018. Notice that they were the same products, and had an identical sales page and even e-mail sequence.
Just the factor of scarcity changed. The limit of 25 or 16, or 35 is what causes clients to avoid procrastination and to make their decision immediately. It’s not uncommon for Psychotactics clients to put a real alarm on their phones.
The revenue figures for 2016 were based on pre-sell but not on scarcity
A client could come in any time during three days and buy the product. It’s still the same pre-sell sequence. The results are dramatically different. The smaller window of opportunity has worked a lot better for us and consistently continues to do so. The additional revenue we earn isn’t necessarily padding our bank accounts.
We make approximately the same sum every year and have tried to keep the revenue to about 3x of our expenses. The scarcity boosts the revenue, and as a result, we can spend more time answering questions in detail in 5000bc or spending more time helping clients. There’s no need to have to rush out and start yet another promotion because the additional revenue acts as a wonderful buffer.
Pre-sell itself can work. Creating silos also works.
But it’s scarcity that creates urgency. And that is easy to overlook. There are many ways to create scarcity, of course, but just for the sake of simplicity, reduce the number of seats.
Which takes us to an important point: How do you design scarcity?
It’s not uncommon to wildly be off base when predicting how well your promotion will do. Some of us are too modest, and some expect a lot. However, pre-sell works on the simple, yet frustrating game of “musical chairs”. If there are many people in the room, you put out just a few chairs.
The greater the number of chairs, the less likely the results will work in your favour. Notice that at Psychotactics, we have several tens of thousands of clients on our list. How many seats do we offer at our workshops? The answer is 16.
How many are allowed to come to a meetup? Just 15. Even online courses are restricted to a tiny figure of between 20-30, depending on the course itself.
It’s an extreme version of musical chairs, and it works. And with a little luck and lots of planning, will continue to work. When you’re designing your set of musical chairs, err on the side of scarcity.
Scarcity creates urgency, and if the chairs fill up, you can add another chair, but slowly, and one at a time. Until of course, you reach a limit.
Gary Halbert must have learned from his experience of trying to sell too many workshops and not creating enough scarcity, which is likely how we know the story.
It’s an excellent story to keep in mind alongside these three points.
Stage 1: Which products are the most important? Which are not? Stage 2: Have we created a “separate section” for each of the important products/services? Stage 3: How can we create urgency and scarcity?
And even if your product launches seem a bit chaotic, like on a big roundabout, you can manage them and still keep every launch rolling as smoothly as possible.
Presenting Pre-Sell Free Goodies: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Free Booklet on: Learn the five stages to making your product sell time and time again using pre-sell.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Product Offers: Links you should visit
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
Top-Selling Products Under $50
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/
The Brain Audit : Audio, ebook, physical book and workshop (Over 800+ testimonials on the Psychotactics website and over 100+ testimonials on Amazon) Find out how you can market in a way that is respectful to your customers, yet powerfully compelling.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/
Critical Website Components 2.0 How do you create compelling pages on your website? What’s really missing? And is there a simple way to fix it—while retaining your own voice, your own personality?
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
Free Goodies
How A 3-Step Pre-Sell Creates Irresistibility
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Why You Need To Start A Project—Not A Business Read Online
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How To Restart A Stalled Project: The Middle Of The Project Method Read online
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Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenarios
📅 November 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
(3 simple stages to boost your negotiating power)
Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenarios
https://www.psychotactics.com/why-negotiation-fails/
Imagine you needed some coffee to be ground, and the only place you could do it was at a Starbucks near your house.
Would you succeed in accomplishing this mission?
What I’m about to tell you is a real-life scenario. A client read an excellent book on negotiation and decided to put that knowledge into practice. He decided to try to get the Starbucks guy to grind his coffee—and so the plan was implemented.
I waited while he went to the cafe to get the coffee ground.
When the client returned, I asked whether he had achieved his mission.
You probably know the answer, don’t you?
He’d failed in his mission, and he was slightly perplexed. —Was it because he got the negotiation wrong? —Was it because there were too many objections?
For instance, the coffee could have been contaminated. Maybe the Starbucks guy is not allowed to grind anybody else’s coffee. Maybe there’s a company policy in place.
But what about the negotiation? What went wrong?
When you read a book about negotiation, it seems like you should be able to get exactly what you want.
However, when you go out into the real world, your negotiating turns to custard. Others don’t seem to agree with your terms, and you’re left hanging.
Often, this problem arises because of three simple stages that we ignore.
Let’s find out why he failed and how to boost our negotiating power without us doing anything extraordinary in three simple stages. Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/why-negotiation-fails/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CqH5XdNld3lXehPZPef9x?si=3WvPmK2fSie-sSI63DXgTA |
Three binge-worthy podcasts on
‘How To Manage Your Mindset’ (Something we all need to listen to) (There are transcripts too)
https://www.psychotactics.com/perfection-stall/
Why We Stall – And How To Pull Out Of The Mess Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/perfection-stall/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6rtyKJ6qQRoZ4qqX65cwkA?si=MXDxdShLR5uUWRHbVO-cBA |
The 5 “Psychological Stages” Of Entrepreneurship – And One That’s More Scary Than The Rest Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/psychological_stages_entrepreneurship/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gMIAOdjg4aeuzbTENg2xF?si=DBZzunR-RD2hAhFV20JNpQ |
The Concept Of Bandwidth: How To Control The “Uncontrollable” Of Chaos Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/juggling-chaos/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5pd3sWD1WlmoGtQroy1jlg?si=HjmHiFj7RSSItAN3lUSOMw |
Warm regards Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading the podcast, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp group, Facebook groups, or LinkedIn or even forward this email.
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Announcing: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay
📅 November 19, 2024 | View in Gmail
You don’t need all that hype or a big audience to get results.
There is a cartoon here. :)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
In the year 2009, we tried selling our copywriting course. We gave away a ton of goodies, marketed it for weeks, and guess what? Even though we had a pretty large list and a rock-solid reputation, we sold just four seats.
Four seats? Yup, just four.
And yet when we ran the very same course in 2013, every single seat was taken in under 25 minutes.
Sounds like a fluke? • Every workshop since 2009 has sold out in record time (often in under a week). • Every course since 2009 has sold out in less than 48 hours. • Products that didn’t move at all for weeks, flew off the shelf (yup, since 2009). Obviously something happened in 2009, right? That something is called “Pre-Sell”. It’s the understanding of how to get your customers to buy, long before they pay. And no matter whether you’re selling products, services or training, the concepts still apply.
And we’ve not had to sell our soul to get results If you look around you’ll see that you’re told to do more joint ventures, do more advertising, spend a bundle on adwords, Facebook marketing etc. The louder you scream, it seems, the better the chances that you’ll get results. And we’ve gone a lot quieter. Most of the above results were achieved with a tiny group.
Makes you wonder, eh? Well, wonder no more. Because now you can learn what we figured out in the year 2009. You too can learn how to pre-sell a product/service.
And you don’t need all that hype or a big audience to get results.
Presenting: Pre-Sell Free Goodie: How To Sell Your Product Time And Time Again Read the report and see how you can take your products and make them stand out repeatedly using the pre-sell method. Click here to get the goodie.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
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https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Warm regards Sean P.S. On 30 November, ‘The Art Of Pre-Sell: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay’ will be on sale. Find out how to get on the waiting list.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/presell/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Last Day for Special Offer: (New!) Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website
📅 November 16, 2024 | View in Gmail
Do you often wonder if your home page, about us page or client acquisition page is working
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
When you buy Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website from the 12 -16 November 2024 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
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
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: Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-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 Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
P.P.S. This special offer is only valid until 16 November 2024 (US Eastern). Have a look and make a decision based on what you read. Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing (New!): How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website + Special Bonus (Valued At $45)
📅 November 12, 2024 | View in Gmail
Special Bonus - ‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ .
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
Hi Seree
When you buy Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website from 12 -16 November 2024 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… Judge for yourself at: Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-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: Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
P.P.S. This special offer is only valid until 16 November 2024. Have a look and make a decision based on what you read.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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The Elegant Strategy To Overcome “Information Overload”
📅 November 09, 2024 | View in Gmail
(And How To Do It Almost Overnight)
The Elegant Strategy To Overcome “Information Overload”
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=EjRbL0UP2QOG963UjLqKGQ
How do you overcome "Information Overload"?
Is there a way out of the craziness of constant information availability?
We all struggle with information. We’re almost always behind, constantly making notes, trying to catch up.
Should we cut back on information completely? Is that the solution? Or is there a simpler, more elegant way to relax and take in endless amounts of information?
Let’s find out how to handle information overload almost overnight. Read
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=EjRbL0UP2QOG963UjLqKGQ | Apple
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=Yz6wRPaMKcM1M63gRAljRA | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=foTAQ69jMyGax9iCM5yAUQ
Three podcasts on pricing, marketing and negotiation
(Yes, there are transcripts too)
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=o.J3_cNp7Zu_K1ARll3f1A
Pricing Strategy: How To Increase Prices From Left To Right (Or Right To Left) Read T
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=o.J3_cNp7Zu_K1ARll3f1A | Apple
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=128RBJoY3hUs767Be59.ow | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=nWoKX70ZtsuY1VVqIrsyKw |
Why You Should Never Trust A Silent Customer Read T
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=VDc3fwZReH0CMtNGD3.A1g | Apple
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=AThQcoNludcz4QXKyaoRBw | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=HDddhCzPFLtyJa815X12dg |
Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenarios Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=xckIJmZIMY9rIlRQeWf4ww | Apple
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=rzz_X7HsYHrpttXE8TqouA | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=wPCcPtEuim39EKCsbkOh4Q |
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=Ig6bimFLjDitt1&b=EjRbL0UP2QOG963UjLqKGQ
Warm regards Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading the podcast, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp group, Facebook groups, or LinkedIn or even forward this email.
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The Power Of Deflection (Why It’s A Crucial Strategy On An Interview)
📅 November 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
Here is the only thing you have to do.
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
The Power Of Deflection (Why It's A Crucial Strategy On An Interview)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast-interviews/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast-interviews/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fPNxDlR3whbJpVuJvJc4B?si=4PXRQ4wjT26seFGiWl6NqQ&dl_branch=1 |).
Have you noticed a politician almost never answers the question?
There’s a reason why this is the case. It’s not because they don’t want to answer the question. It’s because it’s the job of the press to get stuff that will make headlines.
On any given day, the answer to the question is likely to get the politician in a spot they won’t relish. Hence, in many a case, the politician will accept the question—but then give their own answer.
You and I aren’t likely to be politicians, and it’s also very unlikely that an interviewer is trying to gun for you. Even so, this method of “not answering the question” is not always a way of deflection.
In many cases, it’s crucial for you to change the topic.
Here are three reasons why: • The interviewer’s question is off-topic • The question has been asked (and answered many times before) • You’re pretty nervous and need to geek out a bit on your topic.
1: The interviewer’s question is off-topic.
I have no idea how we ended up on prime TV, but when we launched The Brain Audit, we did quite a few TV interviews. The TV hosts have a sort of script—that you may or may not have control over. You’re live. There’s no wiggle room, and you’re pretty unsure of what they’ll ask.
And the first question that’s headed your way is off-topic
What do you do? You do what the politician has learned to do. You accept the question or you deflect it right away. Accepting the question is simple. All you have to say is this: That’s a good question, but the real issue is—and in seconds you’ve steered the answer exactly to what you had prepared in the first place.
Let’s take an example.
TV interviewer: What is the secret to making customers buy?
You: It’s not about making customers buy. You’re presenting information in the way the brain operates. The brain operates in a very specific sequence and you’re presenting the information so that the customer can make a good buying decision. A lot of the buying is about mind-control and this isn’t about mind control. It’s about the customer saying, “I want to buy something, give me the information”.
Noticed what happened?
Now the interviewer can’t backtrack. You’ve answered a question, not her question. Which allows you at almost instantly to gain control. But that control is only momentary.
An interviewer doesn’t always have the time or hasn’t always done the research to know exactly what you do. She will mull over your answer in her head and will ask the very next question.
That question may be perfectly suited for you, and it’s important to agree with the interviewer.
She’s dealing with a whole new topic and she’s going to bring all her professionalism to the interview. However, her curiosity, or personal experience may quickly get in the way. For instance, on The Brain Audit interview, the questions were:
- What makes customers buy? (Slightly off target)
- We ask ourselves a series of questions; what are they? (this is on target)
- She then tries to apply what you’ve said to her shoe buying experience (still on target)
- However, then she goes into advertising and what works and what doesn’t (oops). On a podcast interview, all of this drama is unlikely to unfold
If they’re interviewing you, you can almost script the questions, or even request the questions in advance. However, there’s a certain spontaneity to answering questions, and it’s probably a good idea to ask for the questions in advance (just to make sure the interviewer is prepared).
However, you may or may not look at the questions, because at all times you’re just doing two things.
-
You’re accepting the question, but then deflecting it to what you want to say.
-
OR the interviewer’s question is spot on, and you agree and answer the question in as much detail as possible. However, that’s not the only reason why you should deflect the question. The second reason why you want to go down a different path is because there’s no surprise when you give the right answer.
The Brain Audit: On TVNZ (Breakfast): Prime Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JShBb0NdKyw
The Brain Audit: On TVNZ (Breakfast): Prime Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JShBb0NdKyw
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JShBb0NdKyw
2: The question has been asked (and answered many times before)
Bestselling author Dan Brown, was asked a much-repeated question on a live webinar.
The question was: What time do you start writing every day?
Hmm, a mundane search through Google would have got that answer for you, m’lord. Yet, Brown answered the question as if the information was a state-secret.
“4 am, that’s when I wake up. And I write every day of the year,” he said.
What should he have said, instead?
The question wasn’t a “who wins the early writer award”. Instead, it was some aspiring writer searching desperately for some inspiration in Brown’s answer. It’s not as if those hundreds of people on the webinar would magically wake up the next day at 4 am to write their own novels.
Dan Brown’s answer should have been something like this:. I start writing at 4 am everyday, but what if you don’t want to, or can’t wake up at that hour. What if you wake up at 11 am, instead?
What you need to do is write within the first hour that you’re up. You get yourself a coffee, tea, or whatever you need. You get to your computer and you get started.
Unfortunately, Dan Brown is not alone in giving oft-repeated answers.
When a new movie, book, or album is due to be released, authors, movies stars and musicians will do the tour of dozens of TV shows and radio stations. They’ll get on over a hundred podcasts, and after a while the questions are remarkably similar.
If you were to go to YouTube right now and watch an author talk about his book, you’ll find that YouTube runs one interview after another. In almost all the interviews, there’s an overlap of questions.
The mundanity of questions may arise from the fact that their PR team has sent the questions in advance, or it could be that the TV production team simply came up with extremely similar questions as everyone else. No one watches dozens of interviews of the same person, or listens to podcasts of the same book.
But as someone being interviewed, you lose your enthusiasm quite quickly
You’ve heard the questions before and you’ve said your piece. Hence, you want to make life a little more interesting, and more importantly, keep that enthusiasm in your voice. Which is why you answer the question, and then go down a rabbit hole of your choosing.
You say: Yes, I wake up at 4 am to write, but that’s because I need to get rid of all the hot chocolate I bought off the Internet. Guess what happens next? It’s natural for the interviewer to follow that trail and now you’re telling fun stories about how you ended up with endless hot chocolate.
Everyone’s having a great time and it’s all because you answered the question in a way that was obvious—but still covered additional ground.
The interviewer, by the way isn’t always at ease.
Even if they’ve done thousands of interviews, they still want to look authoritative as they interview you. Even if their questions are well researched, even zany, there’s always the possibility that a boring question will slip in. Or worse, an audience member will ask a question that almost everyone knows the answer to.
Well, all you have to do is deflect.
Answer the question and deflect and everyone has a great ol’ time. And before we go, let’s cover one more point. Which is the inbuilt nervousness of being the expert. You should be calm, you should be relaxed, but you’re not.
Deflection is cool because it allows you to do the third thing—namely to geek out.
- You’re pretty nervous and need to geek out a bit on your topic.
Adele, Ozzy Osbourne, Luciano Pavarotti, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Rod Stewart, and Barbra Streisand. What do these musicians have in common? They all have stage fright. Some of them don’t sleep well or throw up before a performance.
And while you’re not getting in front of 10,000 people at Wembley Stadium, the fear is much the same. The only thing that you have in your favour, is that you’re likely to be a geek.
Which is why the request for the interview came in the first place. The interviewer somehow read an article, or possibly listened to another podcast or watched a video and decided you were the one.
And they can’t tell that you’re terrified
Well, neither can the audience. We know this to be true because of TV. If you turn on the news today, you’re sure to find at least a few interviews on the evening news. These are often people off the street with no prior experience of being on TV.
Someone has knocked on their door, or called them earlier to ask if they’re okay being on TV. They’re riddled with excitement, and almost undoubtedly a whole lot of fear too. Do you see their fear on TV?
We never do. We never do. Not once do you see someone shaking as they answer the question.
Which goes to show that the audience is never going to know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have things your way. In an interview, you might get questions that are off-topic and you have to deflect them. Or you may get a question that has been asked many times before.
Again, deflection is in order. However, the biggest reason for deflection has got to be what was hinted at just a bit earlier. That something is enthusiasm.
If someone asks me a question about “how to start a course”, it’s probably not that exciting for me.
Hence, I’ll deflect. I’ll go down a path that I know will get the excitement back in my voice. And in doing so, should I have any fear, I’ll be so wrapped in the moment, that I’ll forget my fears completely. Those people who show up on TV are not shaking from head to toe, because they’re the experts.
Maybe some hurricane just passed their window, or they were neighbours to the serial killer. In all cases, they’re the experts and the nervousness just doesn’t exist, even when they’re put on the spot.
To get yourself into a frame of mind, you might want to put a list together
There are topics you can talk about endlessly. Well, send that list to the interviewer. She’ll look at it, and the chances are she’s busy and will almost always stick to your list.
You’re the expert on the topics and that dampens, or even extinguishes the fear completely. Should a question show up out of the blue, all you do is deflect yet again, and like a seasoned politician, take on the question you want to answer.
For all of this advice, you’re unlikely to be ambushed on a podcast
TV, Radio, and the street may turn out to be a bit hostile at times, but in most cases, a podcast is likely to be a soft pitch. No one is out to get you, but it doesn’t mean that questions won’t show up unannounced. When they do, you stop for a second, get your thinking cap on, and simply deflect.
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. I would love it!
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Product Offers: Links you should visit
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Three binge-worthy podcasts on 'Pre-sell'
- How To Use Simple Stories To Pre-sell Your Products And Services Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-selling-products/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zTc7N5i1gflMEKPImrSuL |
- How To Strategically Tackle Promotion Of Products and Services Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-sell-strategy/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5H7WQ2WbPLkdyv0xF813me |
- Pre-Sell Strategy: (Some Unusual Questions) Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/pre-sell-questions/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6lN63zh3ZbyVUgRONIzTCA |
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Presenting Pre-Sell Goodies: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay
📅 November 02, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to Sell Without The Hype Or A Big Audience.
There is a cartoon here. :)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
In the year 2009, we tried selling our copywriting course. We gave away a ton of goodies, marketed it for weeks, and guess what? Even though we had a pretty large list and a rock-solid reputation, we sold just four seats.
Four seats? Yup, just four.
And yet when we ran the very same course in 2013, every single seat was taken in under 25 minutes.
Sounds like a fluke? • Every workshop since 2009 has sold out in record time (often in under a week). • Every course since 2009 has sold out in less than 48 hours. • Products that didn’t move at all for weeks, flew off the shelf (yup, since 2009).
Obviously something happened in 2009, right? That something is called “Pre-Sell”. It’s the understanding of how to get your customers to buy, long before they pay. And no matter whether you’re selling products, services or training, the concepts still apply today.
And we’ve not had to sell our soul to get results If you look around you’ll see that you’re told to do more joint ventures, do more advertising, spend a bundle on adwords, Facebook marketing etc.
The louder you scream, it seems, the better the chances that you’ll get results. And we’ve done the opposite—we’ve gone a lot quieter. Most of the above results were achieved with a tiny group.
Makes you wonder, eh? Well, wonder no more. Because now you can learn what we figured out in the year 2009. You too can learn how to pre-sell a product/service.
And you don’t need all that hype or a big audience to get results.
Presenting: Pre-Sell Special Free Goodie: How To Sell Your Product Time And Time Again Read the report and see how you can take your products and make them stand out repeatedly using the pre-sell method. Click here to get the goodie.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Warm regards Sean
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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October 2024
Announcing! The End Of Writer’s Block (The Easy Way)
📅 October 29, 2024 | View in Gmail
Writer’s Block is no longer a reality. In fact the opposite is true.
Fun Cartoon here
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
When I first started writing, I had what you'd call "bad days"
Actually they were worse than bad. They were foul days. These foul days were my “article writing days”.
I’d start off cheerily enough I’d be inspired to write an article and would begin. And then something would happen—I’m not sure what. But it would bog me down. It would frustrate me, make me mad. I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I’d write draft after draft of the article. And two days later, after much agony, I’d get an article done—if it did get done. • Many of my articles just went into an article graveyard. • Most were half done. Or almost finished. But never quite done. And then one day I realised what I was doing wrong. And the moment that realisation hit me, my output just exploded.
It wasn’t even a magic trick It was something I’d known about for the longest time, but was resisting like crazy. But that was a turning point and I’ve never looked back.
Writer’s Block is no longer a reality In fact the opposite is true. So many articles, so little time.
So how do you get over your “Writer’s Block” forever? Find out for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
Warm regards Sean P.S. This is what Helen Dillon from Scotland has to say:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"The one big thing for me was the idea that outlining (an extra step) can actually save you time in the long run..."
Because it helps to keep you focused on what it is you are trying to get across--and not go meandering off on some other (perhaps equally useful, but tangential) topic.
Also I can now see why articles that I've written have worked and haven't worked, before I couldn't really put my finger on it.
The thing I really like about Sean's work is that he doesn't just tell you what to do, but goes into specifics about how to do it, in a systematic way.
That's rare, in my experience of online courses.
Helen Dillon
Scotland
Judge for yourself:
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
Image
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"It never seemed like I needed outlining since I could write right off the top of my head.
So, as a result, I avoided this product for a while, thinking it was for people who really had a hard time writing and not for people like me who write quite a bit."
I found out that I was very wrong when it came to outlining.
Even when I am suffering from writer's block, having a topic and creating its outline helps me overcome it. By implementing this simple task of outlining, my content has improved where my YouTube viewers are impressed with how I convey my content and answer the questions in their heads.
Anyways, I ignored outlining for years due to ignorance and I wish I had this skill when I started to create content.
Bulcha Dolal
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Judge for yourself:
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Speed up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
📅 October 26, 2024 | View in Gmail
Do you often hit a Wall Called ‘Writers Block’? Have you heard about “talker’s block”?
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
Imagine you’re looking for both an improvement in the quality of your articles—and the quantity.
What would you do? You’d sit down to write, wouldn’t you?
And that is not what most professionals do. Professional writers are like great chefs. Chefs do the prep work long before they cook. And so it is with writers. If you want to ramp up your start-to-finish time significantly, this book will show you what you need to do.
It’s short; it’s sweet And it teaches you a massively practical skill in a compressed amount of time. It’s a bit like the missing link nobody tells you about. And it enables you to write workable outlines that are clear and also will allow you to write content for articles or posts on your blog. • In short, you get a precise structure. • No more slow, tedious writing.
An article is not an article is not an article Understanding how to speed up your article writing is important. There are several core elements to writing. Come with me on a journey. I think you’ll like it a lot. It’s the starting point to an incredible journey.
Have a look and judge for yourself: How To Speed Up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
Warm regards Sean P.S. This is what Felicia Gopaul from California has to say:
Image
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"I couldn't stand the thought of outlining when I first heard it."
"I'd been writing just fine for years without an outline. I had spoken without an outline. I had developed presentations without an outline. What could Sean possibly tell me that I didn't already know about outlining.
Earlier this week, when I was struggling with yet another presentation, I reread the book and realized that I needed to re-outline the presentation. Doing so, I recognized that some "bloat" had crept into my presentation and I was able to cut it and finish the presentation.
I've become an outlining fiend.
By outlining first, I know where I am going with my projects which means that I am able to finish them much more quickly than before.
I find, I have far fewer projects that don't get completed because with outlining, I know where the projects start and end so it's much easier to connect the dots. And finally, I have greater confidence that my project will get the positive response I want when I outline them first.
Other benefits:
I was able to outline a book I've been wanting to write in half an hour. I was also able to put together a 10 week course and the various sub-topics in about an hour. Both projects were ideas that I've been thinking about for several years.
Even better, I was able to start and complete significant parts of both projects already. And even though I can't work on these projects everyday, with the outline I can easily pick up to where I left off."
Felicia Gopaul
California, USA
Judge for yourself: How To Speed Up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Why Catching Up Is A Poor Learning Strategy
📅 October 22, 2024 | View in Gmail
(And Why the ‘Next Sunrise Method’ Is More Powerful)
Why Catching Up Is A Poor Learning Strategy (And Why the ‘Next Sunrise Method’ Is More Powerful)
https://www.psychotactics.com/learning-strategy-powerful/
Is there a strategy for learning? When we are learning something new, it takes time.
When we fall behind, our core instinct is to catch up. In most cases, that’s a strategy that stresses us out and achieves very little. It feels like one foot inside and another outside.
But is there a better learning method? Try the ‘Next Sunrise Method’ and see how well it works for you. Read T
https://www.psychotactics.com/learning-strategy-powerful/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/64FAJdSXDz8YfxbQiqkYnH?si=ROqmgIswQR2ZwvPCT76NQA
Two podcasts on article writing + one fun one
(Yes, there are transcripts too)
https://www.psychotactics.com/story-ending/
How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader’s Attention With A Story) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/story-ending/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1FYE3sYNBNNs1t599H0h3g?si=sYx_rEs0SLGy63VAzHyNsw |
Why We Struggle With Writing Well (And How Your Brain Is Trying to Drive You Crazy) Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/struggle-writing-article/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Ar0K0CBlompTe26yF6VDA?si=gLwwPjLGQY2alxThoUak_g |
How To Win Friends: The Hug, Hear, Help Method Read T
https://www.psychotactics.com/how-to-win-friends/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2D5lVvH9SflSPlqfRVcBG9?si=ba35WPgdQguboL6Dng4eBw |
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/will-tell-friend-podcast/
Warm regards
Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading the podcast, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp group, Facebook groups, or LinkedIn or even forward this email. Or send them to this page.
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Announcing: How John Forde (And Sean D’Souza) Got me to Write Articles
📅 October 19, 2024 | View in Gmail
Start. Stop. Start. Stop. The Biggest Frustration With Writing is it drives you Crazy. Before I start, let me make one thing clear. John Forde is a copywriter who lives in Paris. And a good friend with a great newsletter. And me, I’m Sean D’Souza. Which of course makes it really weird when I say I used myself for inspiration. It sounds a lot more than weird, actually. It sounds egocentric. Let me assure it’s got nothing to do with ego. And everything to do with desperation You see when I started writing articles for my website back in about 2001, I was at best a cartoonist. If you asked me to draw something, you had a bouncy volunteer right besides you. But when you asked me to write, the bounciness would sure fade away pretty rapidly. You see not only did I consider myself an average writer, but I had enough reason to be afraid of writing. And the reason I was afraid was because of girl named Clare. I remember writing an article way back in the year 1990-91 . I wanted to be a copywriter and in one of my diverse moods I decided to “make some money” writing for the newspapers as well. So I met up with this guy called CY Gopinath, who ran this writing agency. Well CY gave me an assignment, and I wrote about it. And Clare, who worked with him, edited my assignment. And when Clare was done I couldn’t recognise the darned thing at all. There was so much edited; so much added; so much removed that it seemed to me not my work at all. Today I can’t even remember the subject of the article. But I remember the memory of frustration I remember that I didn’t want to be a writer. Well who cares about writing articles anyway? I could be a cartoonist instead. I could write ad copy. Clare wouldn’t be around to edit my stuff. And who died and made Clare queen anyway? And there I was, ten years into the future, and Clare was still bothering me. In fact most months, article writing was a drudgery I wrote articles because I was forced to do so. I knew I was supposed to update my website. I knew that one of our alliances, Allen Weiss (from MarketingProfs.com) would be asking me whether I’d completed my article. Somehow I had to banish Clare from my head and take away the fear of writing. Article writing was intense drudgery I hated every bit of article writing. I hated the start, the middle, and I couldn’t be sure of the end. If I completed an article in one working day, I’d be ecstatic. Most days it would take me two days. Two whole days and I couldn’t honestly tell you if the article wouldn’t end up in this article graveyard. Thankfully it was only two days in the whole month (Yup, I’d write once a month). And then I decided to get inspiration from my own articles I started looking back at the ones I’d completed, and felt this immense sense of satisfaction. Even inspiration. And so before writing, I’d look at my previous headlines. I’d read my own articles. And feel a sense of accomplishment. That put in a little juice in my reserve tank. That propelled me off the starting point. And I coughed and sputtered, but at least I was writing a new article. It didn’t make things any better. I was still a foul person to be around on article writing days. So I had to search for inspiration. And inspiration came in the form of a guy named John Forde I loved the way John wrote. His writing was always so effortless. He seemed to be having so much fun. And he knew his topic (unlike me who mostly knew about cartooning). And so I’d read many of John’s article. At one point, after getting to know him, I even asked him for an archive of sorts. Just so I could read and be inspired. John’s writing and mine: They both nudged me on And while I got a lot better over the years, there was a moment in time when I got radically better. That moment was when I promised my members that I would write 5 articles a week. No one paid attention of course, but I had promised 5000bc members that they’d get this wealth of information week after week. And there I was trapped—in a way. I had to write those articles. If you thought writing one is hard, five must be pure agony. Actually I found quite the opposite The moment I started writing five-six articles a week, something changed rapidly. Not all at once, of course, but in a few months I found that I could literally sit down at my computer and turn out five articles in the course of the day. At first this spurt of writing seems like a fluke I was sure I’d run out of ideas in a few weeks. But the weeks turned to months. And months to years. The dread that I’d been feeling seemed to disappear, slowly at first, but the evidence was clear. I was never going to run out of ideas. What’s more interesting, is that I got faster, which allowed me to move from writing 800 word articles to 3000 word articles—often in a day or two, but also sometimes in a single morning. When you get through that much, and do so, so quickly, it’s not a big leap of imagination to figure out you can write booklets, then books. At first, the steps were halting, almost like someone was about to tap me on the shoulder and say “ok, you’ve run out of luck”, but in time, I realised that tap was never going to come. I’d earned myself that skill, fair and square and it was getting better all the time. And when you see all of this from the outside, it’s easy to think: This Sean is a genius. Or a mad man. I don’t see the same Sean as you do I see the Sean who struggled with Clare’s edit (she was only doing her job well). I see the plod, the drudgery of writing articles for MarketingProfs in the early days (I wrote almost 50 articles for them). I see the fear in my eyes when I promised to write five articles a week in a moment of madness. And I know that anyone can do it. Anyone . I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your education. I don’t care if you can even read—or write. The best part is that you don’t need to slave for almost ten years like I did. Or if you go back in time to Clare, twenty years. You can do it in three-six months. It’s still going to be a slog, but you can do it. And then there are going to be times when you’re super frustrated And the only inspiration you have is yourself. Or someone like John Forde. And if you persist, something magical will happen. You’ll get enormously better at writing. And you’ll be an inspiration to others. Imagine that! One Announcements Start. Stop. Start. Stop. The biggest frustration with writing is it drives you crazy. Yet writing is a “language” like everything else. Learn the structure and you can learn to write without the frustration and faster than ever before. Click here for Five Free Goodies: How to create expertise through article writing Click here to read about: The Article Writing Self Study Course
How To Build A List Systematically
📅 October 15, 2024 | View in Gmail
(And Get Clients To Buy From You Repeatedly)
Psychotactics
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How To Build A List Systematically
(And Get Clients To Buy From You Repeatedly)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
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(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=IfhrCj4M27Ett1&b=FqGtRMP.8E43trCIGlLQYg | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=IfhrCj4M27Ett1&b=75B5zUsZPQ.44MFeEwPn8Q | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=IfhrCj4M27Ett1&b=BJ0sNZEfKXTtm4CEWrcVGw | ). When we start to build a list, we think of followers or fans, but all of these potential clients are elsewhere on YouTube, or Instagram or Facebook.
We can’t wait for the fans to swell up in number. Instead, you need to move quickly. Even if you have just four or five fans, you need to get them over to YOUR list, your website.
—How can you go about that task effectively? —And how do you then get them to the very next stage, which is to buy something?
List building isn’t complex, but without these fundamentals in place, it’s can be a massively wasted exercise. Let’s out how to avoid the pitfalls that a lot of people drop into and never seem to recover.
We will tackle two tiny parts—
- Why you need to drive clients from Point A to Point B (if you ever want them on your list).
- Why you need to sell something to those clients (or risk losing them forever). 1—Why you need to drive clients from Point A to Point B (if you ever want them on your list).
If you were advertising your product or service, what would be the goal of your ad?
It’s not a very complicated goal, is it?
You’d want the person who clicked on the ad to show up and either sign up to a list or buy something. When it comes to content marketing, however, the rules seem to change. Or do they?
What if you paid no attention to those rules and decided to operate as though every view was truly costing you money and time? How would your strategy be different?
Let’s take Instagram for instance
Let’s say you decided to go for something like Instagram, because it doesn’t need as much time as writing an article or creating a video. You start your channel and you get one follower.
In time two more show up. Maybe ten days later, you’re solidly on double figures. What should you do at this stage? The answer would have been different back in the year 2000.
When the internet was brand new, it was more like an encyclopaedia than a market place
The initial concept of the Internet was merely to communicate and inform. Somehow, two+ decades later, the same idea of “information” seems to pervade. You’re likely to find hundreds of content creators who still rely inform, in the hope that someday their list will grow, and then they’ll be in a position to sell.
However, the time to move people over to your list is today—and possibly four days from today
When you’re on another channel, whether YouTube, Medium, Instagram or any other group, you already know they’re calling the shots. Which means they make their own rules, have their own algorithm parties, but most of all, you have no way to communicate with your followers. You may post something on a medium and despite the value of the information, their algorithm may bury the information. Hence, no one sees it.
The only way—and it is the only way—is to get people to your side of the fence on a constant basis
You may not have a website. You may have just a web page. Well, get them there. You may not even have a web page, but just a form. It’s imperative that you get the followers to that page and get them on an e-mail list.
What’s important is that you do this activity on a recurring basis
One of my friends has an Instagram following of 1.5 million or more (these numbers change all the time). His posts are mostly “feel good” phrases.
However, every four or five posts, he gets the followers he has to move across to get a free copy of his magazine. The reality is that people are following you for a reason.
I take street photos, for example
And people find it intimidating to take pictures of others. They would like nothing better than to learn how to approach a stranger and take a really warm, intimate picture.
If you were following the Instagram feed and found there was a way to take pictures of strangers, would you follow that link? It’s more than likely you would. And even if 90% of your followers or viewers ignore your offering, it’s still worth chipping away at 10% of the time.
Yes, it’s work to create content
But you don’t need to create endless amounts of content. You can see which topics really get people’s attention. And you can make a video, or PDF that explains topics like “how to approach strangers”, “how to get invited to insider tours”, “how to shoot in almost complete darkness”, and so on.
At first, it would be a lot of work to create a bunch of content. Work on one project a week if you can, and create small pieces of content that are seen to be valuable. Then it’s time to get that teaser to show up somewhere in your article, Facebook, Instagram feed, YouTube etc. And that’s what draws the viewer to your site.
It’s not a one time thing. It’s recurring.
Once again, this isn’t some magic trick.
It’s management of your time and resources. If you don’t have a calendar and don’t stick to it, the chances of people moving from A to B are bleak to none. Followers don’t automatically move from one place to the other. They don’t wander across to websites and forms.
They don’t sign up unless you have something worth their time.
You have to do the ground work and no “push button” course is going to help you get there. Hence, you have the second batch of things that you have to do. And there’s little choice. At this stage, you will need to:
1- Work out how often you’re going to have some goodies. 2- The topics you’re going to cover 3- Have a form with an e-mail list. A website is best, but work with what you have.
2— Why you need to sell something to those clients (or risk losing them forever).
This part isn’t hard. If anything, it’s remarkably similar to the first part, except that you are asking your follower or subscriber to buy something.
Which isn’t to say that they haven’t already bought into what you have to offer. One of the primary reasons why someone would get follow you, and then get on your list, is because they found your work to be different in some way.
Given a chance, they would buy something from you.
And more importantly, you need to sell something to them because as the title says, you risk losing them forever. Let’s take a few examples at this point, that involve both services and products.
Let’s say a subscriber is really interested in origami, and you’re perceived to be the origami expert. Once they’ve begun their journey, they want to learn more. They’re already on your subscriber list, and get some sort of newsletter or notifications from you from time to time.
However, the subscriber knows that all the YouTube videos in the world aren’t quite as good as a step by step dedicated system. They’re not buying a how-to, but they’re buying your experience, your workflow.
They’re eager to move their skills up several notches. At this point in time, if you don’t get them to buy something from you, they aren’t likely to put their money under a blanket. The client simply moves on to someone who will sell them a system.
When you’re dealing with products, it’s not much different.
Let’s say you have a store and sell tyres, or coffee, or bread. Your clients somehow need to be told explicitly to buy a product. Their world is already busy and when you send out an e-mail or notification about an offer, they pay attention.
If you’ve been on the Psychotactics list long enough you’re likely to have noticed two kinds of e-mails.
The first type of e-mail contains the article and there are some info-products and courses mentioned at the bottom. Those mentions get a small percentage of clickthroughs.
People do buy, but in very small numbers because their focus is very much on the contents of the article. Which isn’t to suggest that the mention of the info-products and courses are a waste.
They perform the crucial role of branding because people see a product or service for weeks and months before they decide to buy. Most clients buy when you send a sales-only e-mail.
Which is to say, if you’re selling coffee, you stop talking about the coffee and tell them why they should buy a special coffee, in the next three days. Or if you’re into the shoe business, why you’re getting those exquisite red shoes that everyone’s been lusting over.
When you tell, you’re telling. When you sell, you’re selling. In short, you have these combinations of e-mails or notifications that play specific roles.
However, getting the client to buy starts a relationship going
When we first sold The Brain Audit, it was a measly 20 page book. We didn’t know any better, so we continued to sell on a regular basis. However, in time we wrote a second version. Guess who bought the second version? New clients as well as existing clients.
The same applied to a series like Website components. We released the first series back in 2013, then Version 2.0 seven years later. Once again, who buys the product? Both existing and new clients step up to buy because they know that there’s value in the relationship or they wouldn’t be around in the first place.
A buying sequence is a lot like dinner
You could go right to the mains, but usually you and I don’t. We dawdle over the appetiser, the wine, and the soup before heading to the big meal. And then when we’re done, we have coffee and dessert.
Hence when we sell a client a product like the “Outlining” series, they are likely to come back for even more. They do the headlines course, buy the storytelling series, do the Article Writing Course and possibly the First Fifty Words course as well.
All of this buying is not one-sided. The client continues to buy because they’re getting good value from you. And this value applies to shoes, coffee as much as it does to any services or training.
If you don’t get the client to buy, you’re gifting this entire sequence to someone else. Maybe it’s your immediate competitor, or someone you don’t even know. However, it’s certainly not you. All of that list building exercise; the moving of the client from A to B; all of that is likely to be pointless if you don’t get the subscriber to buy.
Which isn’t to say EVERY subscriber will buy
Most of your audience isn’t likely to buy anything. They’re likely to open up e-mails infrequently. Don’t let that bother you very much. We’ve had subscribers on our list for 7-8 years or longer.
They chose not to buy anything for that duration. When the moment presents itself, they open their e-mail. If the offer is tempting enough, they buy. Our job is to do the best we can to keep the entire cycle going so that the list builds systematically and steadily.
All that stuff you hear about people getting 10,000 downloads isn’t necessarily untrue
It’s possible that it happened to one person and that person alone. Tens of thousands of people may have been so enamoured by the thought of achieving the same, that they bought into the idea.
However, there’s no big idea at all. All it really is, is a bunch of steps done over and over and over again. If you like you can go buy yet another course on list building but it’s just a waste of money.
To be, or not to be. That is the question.
If you want to be, then go ahead and create a step by step plan. Make sure it’s going well into the future, even though the future changes all the time. If you want to be, you have work to do.
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. I would love it!
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Opening on 22 October 2024: The Article Writing Home Study How to create expertise through article writing Free Goodies: How to structure your article without frustration
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Sales Page and how to get on the waiting list: Learn why articles do a far superior job of attracting the clients that you want
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Here are a list of all the Top-Selling Products Under $50
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Fun Stuff
Free Goodies: How to structure your article without frustration
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Free Goodies: How To Make Existing Products Attractive Again
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Most Popular Podcast Why Staying Small Is Probably A Smarter Move iTunes
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Announcing : The launch of Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
📅 October 12, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why some people seem to be “talented” while others are a “bit stuck?”
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be “talented” while others are a “bit stuck?”
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation.
We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
• If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds. • What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
Announcing the launch of Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
In this book, you will learn why you don’t need to put in thousands or even tens of thousands of hours to be talented.
How by understanding what’s happening in the background enables you to stop feeling stuck and move ahead. And yes, most importantly, it shows you why “Doable Greatness” is the way to go rather than focusing on genius.
It’s all here in this new book called: “Suddenly Talented”. The book has been launched, and you can buy it at US$39.97 from this special page.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. It's magical when you realise how you've gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach.
Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
P.P.S. Here is what Monika Burger has to say:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
The Book —‘Suddenly Talented’ is not just an ordinary how-to guide… it is a practical tool and a top-level game-changer.
It is a treasure that just came at the right time into my life.
Easy to read and full of fascinating insights on how to learn really anything you want. Easier and faster. Along with very clear structured chapters of the book, there comes heartwarming cartoons that make the complexity of the topic even more digestible and so much more fun to read!
Yes, we start all somewhere, but the author manages to pick you up exactly where you are, helping you embrace imperfection and move along to a more organic, lively and creative process.
For me, as a person facing complexity and the need to create the right learning environment, this book is very practical and enormously useful to bring my learning skills, energy and confidence to the next level.
It becomes easier, faster, and so much more fun when I follow Sean’s advice to put my learning pensum into doable portions.
Suddenly, it loses its scarcity and becomes doable.
Sean D’Souza is an incredible artist, a deep thinker, an inspiring practitioner and doer and a wonderful teacher who knows how to make learning easier and more playful. His advice is always on point, deeply thoughtful, valuable, helpful, enlightening and supportive along the way.
I would recommend this amazing guidebook to anyone who wants to know how to learn better and faster or even someone who wants to write a book faster and have fun with it!
I believe everyone who is looking for personal improvement can profit from the secrets of suddenly talented.
Judge for yourself: It’s magical when you realise how you’ve gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach. Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Become an Expert (In your Customer’s Eyes)
📅 October 10, 2024 | View in Gmail
How Do You Write so that your Clients actually Read Your Articles above all that noise?
Article Writing Image
How do you become an expert in your customer’s eyes? How do you become the person the customer most wants to work with? How do you then increase prices 500% and still have customers wanting to work with you?
To understand how this unusual situation occurs, let me tell you a story I was a cartoonist by profession. Then one fine day, I decided to get into ‘marketing.’
Now tell me honestly Would you hire a cartoonist to show you how to attract customers? Would you hire a cartoonist to show you how to improve your website? Would you hire a cartoonist for anything—but—to draw cartoons?
Why would you? I wouldn’t.
And that was the uphill battle I faced: No one knew me as an expert. Now it didn’t matter how many times I looked in the mirror and called myself an expert.
I still wasn’t getting any respect, let alone pesos in the bank. And it drove me crazy.
But there’s always a way out of crazy-land So here’s what I did. I started writing articles. And it was painful writing those articles. I’d write one article after slaving over it for two days. And then sometimes after two days, I’d trash the article and start all over again.
Did I say there’s a way out of crazy-land? Well, it sure didn’t seem so, because this article-writing-jazz was driving me loco.
But here’s what I found too. That there were systems. And techniques. Techniques that enabled me to write faster. That enabled me to make an article almost like a movie. That enabled me to see a pattern as to which articles would go down the gurgler, and which articles would get lapped up by the readers.
That there were certain articles, when published, that got customers to my website in droves. I’d wake up, and suddenly there were fifty, or a hundred new subscribers.
Sometimes as many as two hundred or more.
And then as the weeks and months passed, I started getting calls Calls to help customers with their website (um, after I wrote a website-based article).
And then emails. To help customers to help them attract clients (um, again, it was an article that did the job).
You’re guessing what crossed my mind, eh? Not only were the articles pulling in customers to the Psychotactics website, but these customers were asking me to work with them.
Me, a cartoonist, work with them?
I have to say, I was scared out my wits. (For two whole years actually). But after two years of writing articles (and I just wrote about 20 articles in the first two years), even I began to see a trend.
I figured I could go nuts and cold-call Or I could sit at my computer and write an article. And have a customer call. (Ooh, I did like the sound of that phone ringing).
But you have to remember this was back in the year 2002-2004. Back then, the Internet was a bit of a novelty. People doled out their email addresses like peanuts. Today it’s not that easy to have two hundred people stream through your website. Which means that it’s not enough to just write an article.
There are squillions of articles on the Internet today And those articles are competing with audio. And video. And heck knows what else.
So the questions do cross your mind
- How do I write so that my clients actually read my articles above all that noise?
- How do I write, if I struggle to put a paragraph together?
- Is there a ticket out of crazy-land? Can I really become an expert in my client’s eyes?
There indeed is a ticket And if you’ve been putting off writing, because you think it’s hard, well, it’s time to get that ticket out of crazy-land.
Information (um, Article Writing) creates expertise Ask every author on Amazon.com Ask every top consultant. Ask every top trainer. And ask a cartoonist.
Free Goodies: Don’t take my word for it. Judge for yourself. Get some solid methods to write better articles at this link. Don’t wait. This link won’t stay up forever. :) Free Goodies: Article Writing
Sean P.S. The goodies are free.
P.P.S. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. The biggest frustration with writing is it drives you crazy. Yet writing is a “language” like everything else.
Learn the structure and you can learn to write without the frustration. Article Writing Self Study Details
(The limited-edition, self-study course will be available on 22 October 2024 to those on the waiting list).
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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(New) Announcing : Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
📅 October 08, 2024 | View in Gmail
Find out why you have gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be “talented” while others are a “bit stuck?”
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation. We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
• If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds. • What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
After reading all those books about success, what if there’s something so fundamental that it’s under our noses and we can’t sniff it?
Well, here’s an invitation to the launch of Suddenly Talented.
Announcing the launch of Suddenly Talented:
How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
In this book, you will learn why you don’t need to put in thousands or even tens of thousands of hours to be talented. • We understand confidence. And we have a more-or-less handle on skill. Yet, how do they all fit together? • And how is this understanding the reason why someone who’s seemingly hopeless gets better in a matter of months?
It’s interesting because the ideas finally fall into place. I think you’d want to know.
How by understanding what’s happening in the background enables you to stop feeling stuck and move ahead. And yes, most importantly, it shows you why “Doable Greatness” is the way to go rather than focusing on genius.
It’s all here in this new book called: “Suddenly Talented”. The book has been launched, and you can buy it at US$39.97 from this special page.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. It's magical when you realise how you've gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach.
Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented—How To Overcome The Struggle Of Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing! How To Become an Expert in Your Industry
📅 October 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
The Biggest Frustration with Writing is it Drives you Crazy. Yet writing is a “language”.
Article Writing Goodies
Imagine you had a fairy godmother.
And she gave you one wish: The wish of 'perceived expertise'. This 'perceived expertise', means that your customers would look at you and say: "There goes the expert in the field. I only want to work with her/him."
I had such a godmother.
And I got a wish from that fairy godmother in the year 2002.
You see I'd just started up my consultancy in marketing
I'd moved from India to New Zealand.
No one knew me in these parts.
No one knew if I was good at what I did. Or just plain useless.
And what was worse, was I wasn't quite sure either.
Then one day, that fairy godmother whizzed into the room
"Write articles," she said.
"Write articles?" I echoed.
"What good are articles going to do for me?" I thought condescendingly.
But as fairy godmothers go, they can read your thoughts
And so there I was, um, writing articles. And remember, I didn't even know my subject well enough. To me, marketing was a whole new world.
But then something magical happened.
Something I just didn't expect. When I sat down to write, I started to get ideas.
Ideas that I didn't know existed in my head.
And as I read more books (both business and non-business books), I got even more ideas.
When I put those ideas on my website, and put up a little 'Subscribe' link right at the very bottom--I started getting subscribers.
I wasn't even selling anything online (or offline for that matter)
And there I was..ahem...building an audience.
An audience that wanted to listen what I had to say.
An audience that went from just friends and family, to a chunky
hundred people.
Then a thousand. And it kept growing.
I wasn't doing any advertising
No publicity.
Heck, I barely knew how to do my own marketing.
Yet these articles were like a magnet.
They pulled people from every part of the world to my...um...pretty crappy website (you should have seen it in the year 2002).
And offline, I was starting to get inquiries too.
"Can you give us some advice on these marketing matters?" they said
"Can you train our staff?" they said.
Can you do this, and can you do that.
And on and on it went.
But articles were hard work for me
It would take me two days to write a single article. And I'd curse and struggle.
And to write one article a month was a big achievement for me.
But hey, I did have a fairy godmother
And fairy godmothers grant wishes, so I took her up on the wish. "Make me write great articles that captivate. And show me how to write them at high speed (so I don't have to spend two days over a single article)" I said to her.
"Article writing is about structure", she said
"Structure and drama," she continued.
"Structure and drama and the 'next step'," she crescendoed.
"Drama pulls you in. Structure keeps you there. And then the next action gets your client to move to the next step."
And just like that I learned how to write articles. And now it's your turn.
Will you let me be your fairy um...godmother?
Do you want to learn how to spot drama? Learn how to spot structure? And understand how to use the power of the next step?
Well, ask and you shall receive. But hey, there are no magic wands here.
You've actually got to go to the link below. And there you'll be taken to a page with instructions. Instructions on how to get some free goodies. Goodies to drama, structure, and the next step.
So, tah-dah, here's the link:
Free Goodies: Article Writing
See you on the other side! :)
Sean
P.S. The goodies are free.
P.P.S. Start. Stop. Start. Stop.
The biggest frustration with writing is it drives you crazy. Yet writing is a "language" like everything else. Learn the structure and you can learn to write without the frustration.
Article Writing Self Study Details
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Why Would They Choose Me? Getting Past A Mental Block
📅 October 01, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to overcome your mental block and put a quick, workable strategy in place almost overnight.
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
Why Would They Choose Me?
Getting Past A Mental Block
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/mental-block-competition/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/mental-block-competition/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0zdezSXyGVmm8k1bFxZO5G?si=xdy6emoAQDCs46tBHce1zQ |).
No matter what industry you’re in, there’s already competition. This isn’t just some random competition, but rather people who are better established than you. They’ve worked with your clients and have a greater profile and probably a fancy portfolio. And then there’s us—you and me with no way to get our foot in the door.
But are things really that hopeless? Can we come from behind to take over the coveted job from our competitors? Here’s how you go about understanding how to overcome your mental block and put a quick, workable strategy in place almost overnight.
September 2024
A Psychotactics meetup in Paris, France?
📅 September 28, 2024 | View in Gmail
Have a look at what to expect and why it’s so very different.
Yes, we're going to be in Paris in November.
And a Psychotactics meetup is unlike any other meetup you’ve ever been to, which is why clients keep coming back repeatedly.
If you’re anywhere “close” to France, it’s probably a good idea to take the day off and spend it with some interesting, kind and lovely people.
But don’t take our word for it. Look at the meetup page and see how a Psychotactics meetup is like a little picnic.
We’d love to see you there. But first, have a look at what to expect and why it’s so very different.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/#paris
Renuka and Sean P.S. Maybe next year we’ll get to North America, but for this year it’s just France.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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The “Pain Map Of Learning”: How To Make Learning Fun Again
📅 September 24, 2024 | View in Gmail
What’s happening in our brain, and how can we avoid it?
https://www.psychotactics.com/learning-map/
When we get into a learning situation, we're usually excited.
Then, almost immediately, we feel unsure. We stumble along, not keen to move ahead.
What’s happening in our brain?
I’ll tell you what: a pain map is being created because of a lack of good instructional design.
Let’s find out: How to avoid creating this pain map for our kids, and especially for our clients? Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/learning-map/ | Apple
Announcement: How To Speed Up your Sales with Client Attractors
📅 September 21, 2024 | View in Gmail
(Find out the 20% that causes the client to buy)
Client Attractors Book
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
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?
The remaining 20% is what causes customers to buy… • In order to take customers to the next stage, you have to have a rock-solid system to help structure your sales page. • You have to know and understand the elements so that customers respond to your offer.
So isn’t it time to find out what the remaining 20% is all about? And how you can quickly learn and implement that 20% to improve results.
Find out more details at this page and judge for yourself!
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Warm regards, Sean P.S. Premium Bonus: Sales Page Layout—“What Goes Where” on the page It shows you how to keep the customer engaged with the first part of your sales page—before they get to your bullets, features and benefits. Check out the bonus :)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Speed Up Your Sales With Client Attractors
📅 September 17, 2024 | View in Gmail
Plus Premium Bonus: Sales Page Layout—What Goes Where on the page
Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the poem, I am a teapot.
It’s pretty short—and has just four lines. It goes like this: I am a teapot, short and stout. This is my handle; this is my spout. When the water boils, hear my shout. Lift me up and pour me out.
Now let’s say you’re in the market for buying a teapot
Most of us would simply run into the features.
- Fat and stout
- Handle and spout
- Notification mechanism
- Pouring ability.
That’s not enough to get clients interested. Instead, what’s needed are features and benefits.
- Fat and stout: Retains heat at 60-80% for over 30 minutes.
- Handle: Stays cool even as the main teapot stays hot.
- Spout: No drippy-irritating, runny spout. The pouring ability is flawless every time.
- Shout: Loud notification mechanism to save needless boiling and energy wastage.
The teapot hasn’t changed, but how you approach the sales page has made a huge difference.
And all of this information is buried in the features and benefits—as well as the bullets. When the client skims—and we all do—they stop at a certain point. This specific point on the sales page is often where we decide to buy or just move on. Yes, the headline is essential, and so is the main problem.
However, when the client hits the brakes, you want to showcase your product or service in the most compelling manner.
The teapot is a simple example, but you can create as many as 30-60 features and benefits for many products and services. What’s better is that you can make every one of them as powerful as the headline on your page.
Find out more details at this page and judge for yourself! (But read the testimonials below as well, before you click)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Warm regards, Sean P.S. The bonus on this product is really worth having. It will really give you an insight into sales pages like never before. Check out the bonus :)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How Do You Create Your Uniqueness That Stands The Test of Time?
📅 September 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why we get our uniqueness wrong and How to get to your uniqueness
Uniqueness Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Have you ever wondered what would it be like to stand out from the competition in a way that customers choose you over everyone else?
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.
Somewhere cheaper.
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.
Here is the sequence of what to expect in the coming weeks:
Goodie 1: Why we get our uniqueness wrong
Goodie 2: How to get to your uniqueness
Goodie 3: The importance of the mundane and the uninteresting
Goodie 4: Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
Goodie 5: The difference between uniqueness and the other red bags
Goodie 6: Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for ‘every’ product or service?
Here is the link to get the goodies:
Uniqueness Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Warm regards
Sean D’Souza
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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How To Turn An Average Elevator Pitch Into One That Gets Consistent Attention
📅 September 10, 2024 | View in Gmail
The 3 parameters that make an elevator speech interesting
How To Turn An Average Elevator Pitch Into One That Gets Consistent Attention
If you’re in a real elevator, you’ll notice no one asks you questions. If anything, people don’t tend to make eye contact at all. Hence, why would anyone want to know what you do?
The elevator part is important because elevators are quick. You could get from the basement to the 66th floor at breathtaking speed, which means you don’t have time.
1- Short 2-Single focused 3-Curious.
We tend to think of an elevator speech as something that we do, but in fact it’s a mutual situation.
When you or I ask someone what they do, we are the ones initiating the conversation (and not the other way round).
If we use an example at this point, it tends to make things clearer.
Q: What do you do? A: I show people how to get rid of lower back pain with a three-minute exercise.
Q: What do you do? A: Dogs that bark incessantly are a problem for owners, as well as the neighbourhood. I show you the root causes of barking and how to get your dog relaxed.
Q: What do you do? A: Professional wedding photographers shoot hundreds, even thousands of photos at a single event. We have a software that shows you the picture in a fraction of the second, allowing you to pick the ones you need, instantly.
Logically we shouldn’t need to have an elevator speech.
An elevator itself is like a chamber of quiet, broken only by bings and bongs as the elevator shows up at floor after floor. However, an elevator speech is a test of your own ability to communicate. Can you be short, single focused and make people curious?
If you can, there’s a greater chance that level of precision will spill over to your website, your presentations and every other aspect of your life. It makes you a good communicator in a world that’s wishy washy at best.
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Make Your Product or Service Stand Out (Among all The Noise)
📅 September 07, 2024 | View in Gmail
Biggest Mistakes and How To Avoid Them.
Uniqueness Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Have you ever wondered what would it be like to stand out from the competition in a way that customers choose you over everyone else?
That's what uniqueness can do to your product or service.
• How do you do that?
• How do you create a uniqueness that's so dramatic and powerful, that clients pick you in a flash?
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.
Here is the sequence of what to expect in the coming weeks:
Goodie 1: Why we get our uniqueness wrong
Goodie 2: How to get to your uniqueness
Goodie 3: The importance of the mundane and the uninteresting
Goodie 4: Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
Goodie 5: The difference between uniqueness and the other red bags
Goodie 6: Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for 'every' product or service?
Here is the link to get the goodies:
Uniqueness Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Image Sean
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Warm regards
Sean D'Souza
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcement: Psychotactics Strategy 3 Day Workshop (Two Seats Left)
📅 September 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
The price goes up on 9 September.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
Have you ever noticed that "crazy car" in traffic?
You know what I’m talking about. Like everyone else, you’re stuck in traffic, but there’s this one crazy guy.
He moves from the left lane to the middle lane. Then, not much further down the road, he moves to the fast lane. Suddenly, he’s back, moving into the middle lane again. Back and forth, he tries to beat the traffic by moving from one lane to the other but not getting very far ahead.
That’s a bit how it feels like when you run a business today
We start doing one activity, only to be told another activity is better. And we shift lanes hoping to get some traction. However, all of this bouncing between one lane to the other drives us mad, and doesn’t seem to get us very much further down the road.
The reality is that even when everyone is zipping in and out, there are some businesses that get quietly ahead.
There’s no fuss, no drama, and it’s just a matter of strategy.
Strategy is what gives us all the long term view
While every business needs both tactics and strategy, it’s the strategy that keeps us from constantly jumping between lanes. A strategy looks at the long term situation, not just of revenue, but also has a big role to play with your sanity, downtime and other issues that don’t normally get addressed.
This event has never been done before. And there are just two seats left. (The price goes up o 9 September)
Click here to read more: Psychotactics Strategy Workshop.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
Warm regards Sean P.S. If you have any questions about the workshop, e-mail me and I will respond.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
“What I find very important in a workshop is that the trainer comes up with a system that you can use over and over again.”
Very often you don’t find that in workshops, that is why I don’t attend training very often. What I like about a Psychotactics workshop, is that you get a system.
Apart from that you meet a bunch of nice friendly people and it is lovely to chat with each other. And have dinner together and just have fun.
The participants come from all over the world and they flock to this one place. Some are introverts and a bit shy but by the end of the day you will find everyone is chatting happily, and totally in their comfort zone.
And that is really, really nice.
What I find unique about Psychotactics is that what every question you have or whatever trouble you have you can always Sean, Renuka or the other members and you get a reply instantly. That makes it a very special community.
Els Jacobs, Leiden, Holland
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
Other workshops don't understand how to present information that is easily understandable for me.
As a result, I am left confused and lost about the material. Sean is a great teacher who presents the information clearly with metaphors that I remember.
At the end of the day, my brain remembers pictures and not words.
Nathan Lau Hong Kong
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
“Sean and Renuka seem to attract great people, and we all laughed and learned together.”
I’ve been to lots of workshops, both good and not-so-good. The Psychotactics workshop was one of the finest I’ve been to. I’ve enjoyed learning through Psychotactics online courses and knew I wanted to go to a live event.
The Psychotactics workshop exceeded even my sky-high expectations. Why?
- Fun! We all enjoyed each other, and even though many of us had not met or corresponded before. Sean and Renuka seem to attract great people, and we all laughed and learned together.
- Space. Not just physical space, but learning space. We had lots of breaks sprinkled through the day. We could get up and get snacks, chat a bit, and let what we learned “marinate.”
- Structure. Sean’s organization of the material and how he presents it make each little bit “snackable.” Sean can break down the complicated into comprehensible tiny tasks. We were able to create a landing page, tiny step by tiny step.
- Safety. No question was “stupid.” We could make mistakes and ask questions, without the fear of embarrassment.
I am so glad I got to meet Sean and Renuka. It seemed like I already knew you. Looking forward to more laughs. Jen Jackson Washington, USA
Click here to read about the: Psychotactics Strategy Workshop.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Last Day For Special Offer: Why Clients Buy (And Why they Don’t)
📅 September 03, 2024 | View in Gmail
Special Bonus: How To Identify The Right Target Profile For Your Business
There is a cartoon here.
https://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 18 years and got results. And most importantly a system that you don’t have to pull up a 675 page manual to figure out what to do.
Announcing: The Brain Audit Special Valid until 3 September 2024 (12 midnight 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 Brain Audit Special before 3 September 2024 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: • How You Can Get Target Audience Wrong • How Target Profile Works • Persona vs Person and more
Judge for yourself. You won’t regret it. (This offer expires on 3 September 2024)
https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/
Regards, Sean D’Souza P.S. The Brain Audit has been around for many years and is unique because it has over 967+ testimonials. It’s proof that The Brain Audit works, and works very well indeed.
https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/
Here is what Raj Aiyer has to say about The Brain Audit
“I did not want the Brain Audit to join the long list of books that I had enthusiastically bought and left them unread midway because I found them later to be –blah blah blah. There’s a lot of mediocre content out there and so I was cautious about buying this.
The Brain Audit an all-encompassing framework to audit your communication.
The beauty of Brain Audit lies in its simplicity and the common sense approach it takes. The specific features I liked the most were that there were lots of examples and great cartoons which made it an easy read.
I would recommend The Brain Audit to anybody who has a business to run and wants to audit their communication or learn the building blocks of marketing.”
Here is what Jonathan Chan has to say about The Brain Audit
I LOVED the Brain Audit!
Like others who are grasping at straws trying to find my way through advertising & marketing, I thought The Brain Audit was probably just more information. I’d already read, The famous ‘Boron Letters’, Jay Abraham’s books and other advertising books.
Firstly, I was extremely surprised on how readable it was.
It was so simple to understand! Secondly, I was even more impressed since I could immediately see where I could improve my landing page (for an upcoming product launch).
It clearly taught me how to systematically think and understand why clients really buy or not buy. There was a simple checklist to go through.
I also loved the stories at the beginning.
They helped me to remember what I needed to and why. Another was the clear explanations helping me understand why I should pay attention to customers complaints and how to use them.
I’d highly recommend the Brain Audit. In fact, if you know NOTHING about advertising or marketing and are on the fence on which program to buy, just get this! It also comes with the BEST guarantee you will ever see, period. In fact, I regret I didn’t find it earlier. I’d have save lots of wasted time and be years ahead.
Yesterday was the best time to buy The Brain Audit; Don’t waste any more precious time and buy now.
Thank you so much Sean!
Judge for yourself. You won’t regret it. (This offer expires on 3 September 2024)
https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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August 2024
Announcing Special Offer : Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don’t)
📅 August 31, 2024 | View in Gmail
A System To Get And Keep Your Customer’s Attention Every Time. You’ve seen it beforeYou’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 Special: Why Clients Buy (And Why They Don’t)Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep your customer’s attention. But you don’t want thousands of ways:You 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 18 years and got results.A system that has over 967 testimonials.A system that has got results across all media, from websites to presentations, to one-on-one selling and sales through brochures, booklets, Facebook, Instagram, etc.And most importantly a system that you don’t have to pull up a 675-page manual to even figure out what to do.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 we 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 Brain Audit from 31 August to 3 September 2024, 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 BusinessThis book will give you an instant understanding on:How You Can Get Target Audience WrongHow Target Profile WorksPersona vs Person and more. Have a look and judge for yourself here:(This offer expires on 3 September 2024)https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/ Regards, Sean D’Souza P.S. Judge for yourself. You won’t regret it. https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/
How To Use A Contrarian Mindset To Your Advantage
📅 August 27, 2024 | View in Gmail
Believing in yourself at the start is difficult. So what can you do?
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
How To Use A Contrarian Mindset To Your Advantage
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/contrarian-mindset/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/contrarian-mindset/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7BHusGo8kXCMsWvOKaK4U8 |).
Do you know why the Tesla is such a big car?
Think about it for a second. Tesla Motors only make electric cars. The bigger the car, the heavier it’s going to be and the greater the drain on the battery. So why make a big car? Why not make it more compact like other electric cars?
The answer lies in the battery. The entire base of the car is nothing but a battery. The bigger the battery, the greater the distance the car can go. The top of the line Tesla can go 400 miles (that’s over 640 kilometres) on a single charge.
So how did Tesla come up with technology that far supersedes the range of a fuel-driven car?
The answer lies in a concept of contrarianism. Being a contrarian means you’re not like sheep, just following what has been done in the past.
Being contrarian means you’re creating an end point and working backwards, without even knowing how you’re going to get to the “finish line”.
Great companies and individuals have an end-point in mind that isn’t like other “sheeple”
They march to the beat of their own drum and the road can be pretty rough, but the contrarian in them is forced to go down the path they see to be correct and true.
Not everyone is an iconoclast
Some of us tend to be contrarian and iconoclastic from a very early age. But others get frustrated with the system and decide to go down a completely different path. That path, if well trodden, brings in a reasonable amount of fame and fortune.
Done incorrectly the contrarian behaviour can quickly end up in less than happy circumstances. In this series let’s look at three elements of contrarian advice and how to go about it in a way that results in a happy ending. We’ll cover:
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How do you find the confidence to push out your own very contrarian message?
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How do you go against the trend of others?
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How can or should you push forward despite your own concerns?
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How do you find the confidence to push out your own very contrarian message?
Easily the most popular Indian meal in New Zealand is a dish called butter chicken.
Without doing an actual poll, you could safely say that no Indian restaurant would willingly remove “butter chicken” from their menu. There’s one prominent exception, however, and that’s a restaurant called Cassia.
Run by Chand and Sid Sahrawat, Cassia has won the supreme title of Restaurant of the Year in 2016 and 2017. All without a shred of the must-have butter chicken in sight.
Being contrarian has a high risk factor, but it’s also the seemingly very risky behaviour that carries the greatest reward. Even so, how do you find the confidence to push out your own contrarian message?
What if you have a message that you know is far superior when it comes to getting results, but is almost immediately bound to create a resistance to your message?
The confidence needs to come from a factor of fear
When I started out in copywriting, a fellow-copywriter said this to me: “Unless you’re feeling a bit of fear, it’s likely that your concept if safe, and very me-too”. Now there’s nothing wrong with me-too. A great example of the success of me-too is visible all around us.
If you go to Amazon.com, you’ll find dozens of examples of me-too products. If you switch on the TV, you’ll find reality show piling onto another reality show. Me-too works perfectly well, whether you want to start a carpentry business, start a membership site online or create any sort of business.
In fact, starting off with a me-too model enables you to get some traction before you find your own feet and head off into your own direction.
Even so, there’s a point where me-too won’t do
The confidence, ironically, comes from fear. If you’re not feeling at least a bit nervous about your product or service, it’s likely to be much too safe to make any waves in the marketplace.
However, you don’t have to just jump into a contrarian message without testing the waters. Instead, look for a post where you get a sort of mid point. A mid point is where half the people are likely to hate what you’re selling. And the other half will absolutely love the idea, even without any details.
That’s it? Half love, half push back?
The fact that you’re getting push back is because your idea is a bit of a shakeup to the system. Take The Brain Audit, for example. It might seem like putting the “problem” before the “solution” is a good idea, but when we first started talking about it, there was enormous pushback.
“I don’t want to appear negative in my marketing” was one of the biggest objections, we’d hear. People had used benefits or solutions for years and it clearly worked. Why should the client rock the boat and change their methods just because you say so?
Contrarian behaviour sticks out because it goes against the grain. However, there are ways of getting the fear factor down in a big hurry. With information, training or consulting, you can reduce the push back by using one or all of these three methods:
- Analogies
- Case studies
- Not entirely discarding the existing method
Let’s take The Brain Audit for example.
- Analogies: There are several analogies in The Brain Audit that allow the client to accept that the problem shows up earlier in the sequence than the solution. The concept of how we pay attention to dog poo is one of the most prominent analogy.
How we can be walking on the street, looking around at the shops, at other people and then suddenly we notice—and sidestep—dog poo. It shows us that the brain is alerted by the problem.
Other analogies include how we pay attention to the red and blue lights of a police car or to an approaching storm, rather than a sunny day. Analogies help your clients bridge that gap that comes from contrarian thinking. However, analogies are just one way to go about bringing down the resistance. The second method is using case studies.
- Case Studies: You may not quite remember the case-study now, especially if you’ve read The Brain Audit a while ago. However, there’s a case study of John Cacciopo that talks about how a bunch of experiments gauged people’s reactions.
When shown an empty plate, they predictably showed little or no response, and just a mild surprise. When shown a desirable object like a bright, shiny red car, they responded with a fairly decent amount of brain activity.
Yet, the biggest reaction came from the image of a dead cat. This is one of the case studies in The Brain Audit that demonstrate how the brain responds and how our communication needs to correspond with our brain if we are to get a message across effectively.
Finally, however, it might be possible to stick to the existing method while bringing in a contrarian thought.
- Not exactly discarding the existing method: If we stay with just the first chapter of The Brain Audit, you notice that there’s an emphasis on the fact that the solution/benefit is not inferior to the problem.
And that both the elements are equally important and have their own roles to play. The book goes on to explain that it’s just the sequence that has changed.
A client finds this leap of imagination to be a small one. It fits in with their existing model and doesn’t need them to dump everything they know just to latch on to your method.
What you also need to know is that contrarian messages aren’t always rejected out of hand
At least some percentage of your clients are always looking for methods that are different from the run-of-the-mill. Once your company is known to be contrarian in nature, you’re likely to attract people that are looking for precisely the results or advice you’re offering.
You can never attract everyone, anyway, and focusing on those who want to hear your message will give you the confidence you need.
Here’s a bit of what I’ve experienced as well in our own business
Many of the products we create go off at some weird tangent. Think about a book called Dartboard Pricing, which seems to suggest that pricing is super-random.
Or a future book on talent, suggesting that you don’t need anywhere close to 10,000 hours to acquire a skill—and that you can be pretty outstanding in fewer than 500 hours, instead.
If nothing else, these products and training provides a sense of curiosity in the client. They purchase the product/service and when they find it working for them, they keep coming back. That’s the kind of client you need anyway and they motivate you to keep looking beyond the ordinary.
An Indian restaurant has never won a prestigious prize in New Zealand before
Indian restaurants are often lower-priced and seen as a place for a cheaper, if not cut-price meal. Cassia broke the model by being contrarian in nature and not offering the standard fare of saag paneer, rogan josh and yes, butter chicken.
Instead, they highlighted the street food of Mumbai, the humble pani-puri and made it a big novelty. However, it’s also important to note that they didn’t reject the existing method of dining either. They stayed well within the bounds of “fancy” dining and hence created a new mindset.
Confidence is eventually going to come from clients
The moment you have clients who love your work, you’ll be encouraged to do more of it, and in different areas of your field. Believing in yourself at the start is difficult, but guard your ideas with a few loyal clients and you should do well.
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We will be in Paris in November 2024
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18-20 November: Business Strategy 3-Days Workshop
Strategic Thinking And How To Formulate A Non-Stressful Business Strategy
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/strategy-workshop/
(Two places left)
22 November: 3-hours Meet-up
Why Attend?
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=O__8h&m=3jSdmE5BJpR6Bt1&b=ld.xwafae_aIKx8ignBeJA | How to sign up
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/#paris | (Few seats left)
Podcasts you may have missed
(Yes, there are transcripts too)
502: Why “Prompts” Speed Up Learning (And Avoid The Boring Hard Work Syndrome) Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/hard-work-syndrome/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NxYgtKng3Yoa66inqiU87?si=1fDKa7rSTJ2_6u7mwJnNNg
501: A Memory Test: Are You Bad With Names Or Is It A Myth? - Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/memory-test/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UGToNifnW1jbmtGlfwwuQ?si=nwgc3o_iTc6OxP_iVha4dQ
500: The Elegant Strategy To Overcome “Information Overload” (And How To Do It Almost Overnight) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/overcome-information-overload/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Q95VB9YKvbVnGbn5gDexR?si=SBlyEGVLS4-Db4tg5PkVdA
And here is where you will find all the latest products.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
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How To Create A Uniqueness That’s Difficult For Competition To Replicate
📅 August 24, 2024 | View in Gmail
Can others easily replicate your uniqueness? What can you do to be different?
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
How to Create a Uniqueness that’s Difficult for Competition to Replicate
https://www.psychotactics.com/uniqueness-replicate/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/uniqueness-replicate/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6EB6PULrSiebOlncP3ZC8c )
Imagine for a second that you didn’t want to buy a notebook.
I know I didn’t.
Like you, I have quite a few notebooks lying around. I also have a lot of paper. And let’s not forget that I can take notes on my computer and the iPad. In short, who really needs a notebook?
Well, the guys at Studio Neat totally ignored this lack of need and decided to put out a notebook called Panobook. One look at Panobook and you suddenly feel the need for a notebook. And like any product or service, this notebook has many many features and benefits.
Which is where the root of all uniqueness trouble lies, doesn’t it?
Whether you set out to write a book, create a course, or manufacture a notebook, your offering is going to have many features and benefits. And marketing tells us repeatedly that we need to create a factor of uniqueness, because it’s the uniqueness that makes a product or service stand out. But how do we create uniqueness that can’t be easily ripped off?
For this we have to start by looking at the features and benefits of the Panobook.
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The page size is panoramic at 11.34 x 6.30 inches. That’s approximately the same size as a small sized keyboard.
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It has a subtle dot grid. The grid enables you to draw shapes on a page, almost perfectly without the need of a ruler.
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Guide markers (again subtle) that that make it easy to quickly draw three rectangles on the page, sized ideally for smartphone UI design or storyboarding.
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You can write on them with many different types of pens, without smudging or bleeding.
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Made robust wire-o binding, which allows the notebook to sit flat when opened. But also you can tear out a page, if you don’t like how it looks.
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Panobook comes with a slip case, which is meant to be the final resting place for your notebook. You can write on the spine to catalogue the notebook.
This list of six prominent features and benefits means we have six potential uniqueness elements in place
But will these benefits and features assure the creators of the product a high level of success? If it’s relatively easy to copy the product or service, a competitor would step in and take away your high vantage point. But can we make it a bit difficult for those nasty buggers? Let’s take a look and see what’s possible.
We need to evaluate how “difficult it will be for the competition to copy” your idea What’s impossible, or seemingly impossible in your field? Or if you’re dealing with a product or service, what seems to be out of the reach of most of your both you, or your competition?
Most of us know how Domino’s Pizza came to dominate the pizza industry.
Their slogan of “30 minutes or it’s free” was a level of difficulty that was almost impossible for the competition to quickly overcome. The same kind of uniqueness seems to be inbuilt into a Tesla car or truck.
The Tesla Roadster quickly put the brakes on the competition because of the range: it can go about 400 miles without needing to charge. The long range trucks can go 500 miles, which means that (at least in the U.S) a truck can go to their destination and back, without needing to stop for a charge.
Which is all very fine for a big company like Domino’s and Tesla, but what about you and me?
A few years ago, we realised that our goal at Psychotactics wasn’t necessarily to give the client more information. We noticed that we were able to give them skills, instead. This immediately ramped up the level of difficulty on two fronts.
First, we promised that every course or workshop wouldn’t focus just on information, but solely on skill. That once you finished the cartooning course, you’d have the skill to cartoon.
If you went through the information products course, you’d be able to create not just any information product, but one that clients would be eager to consume. Making such a seemingly ridiculous claim makes it very difficult for the competition to follow.
However, in many cases you don’t need to go out on a limb
Most products or services tend to be fairly similar. A course, a membership site, a book, a law service—they’re all similar. However, if you reduce the number of components, you can almost always guarantee a specific result. Take for instance the Headlines Report on the home page of the Psychotactics site.
When you sign up for the newsletter, you get the report. But what does the report guarantee? It guarantees that in under 10 minutes, you’ll be able to write three different types of headlines. Now that kind of promise isn’t hard for the competition to copy, but even so, they may not be in a position to do so right away.
When Domino’s Pizza made their offer, no one was able to get their pizza across in record time. Today, it would be possible to create a system that allows for competition to deliver a speedy pizza.
Nonetheless, it allowed Domino’s to enjoy a huge honeymoon period even as the competition tried to catch up—if they tried to catch up at all.
The Panobook is an example of many features and benefits, but what’s the difficulty factor?
It’s panoramic, has this extremely useful dot grid, doesn’t smudge or bleed because of the great paper quality, can site flat when opened, and has a slip case to catalogue the book. But where’s the difficulty factor?
What if the competition decided to copy the very same kind of book? If I were the creator of the book, I’d pick the “blotting factor”. So many of us use different types of pens, that you’d want a book that can take almost any pen.
I have almost no problem with the Panobooks (and good thing too because I think I bought about 15 of them) but if you look at the reviews online, people like the books, but have a problem with the smudging.
What can you do today to create a level of difficulty?
What seems impossibly difficult in your field? Can you make a list? And what if you tried to solve that problem by making it your uniqueness? That’s what you and I need to do whenever we’re creating a product or service.
Your steps would be:
Step 1: List your product/service Step 2: What’s seemingly impossible? Step 3: How do you make it possible? Step 4: Can others easily replicate this uniqueness? Step 5: How do you get the word out?
Let’s take an example before we come to the end of this article. Let’s take 5000bc for instance.
Step 1: The name of the product is 5000bc.
Step 2: The factor that’s impossible is for you, the client to get an answer, or even better a detailed answer from the owner of the site, when you need it.
Step 3: What makes it possible? I, as the owner of the site, need to be available to answer the questions on a consistent basis.
Step 4: Can others easily replicate this uniqueness? Not at all. In fact, owners are too busy on other projects. For them to replicate this uniqueness they’d have to change their entire business model and time allocation plans.
Step 5: We get the word out through articles, through podcasts and through presentations.
And there you have it.
The difficulty factor of creating uniqueness.
Wasn’t so very hard, was it?
Try it and let me know how you go.
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. I would love it!
P.S. On sale in four weeks How do you create your uniqueness that stands the test of time? Free Goodies: Uniqueness—Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Sales Page: How to Make Your Product or Service Stand Out Among All the Noise
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/positioning-strategy-how-to-get-to-uniqueness/
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Product Offers: Links you should visit
Special Products
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
Top-Selling Products Under $50
The Brain Audit ( (available as an ebook, audio, actual book and workshop) 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.
DartBoard Pricing How to systematically increase prices without losing customers
http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
About this eZine and your subscription
Free Goodies:
- Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for ‘every’ product or service? Learn how to create your uniqueness that stands the test of time
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
- Can you create expertise through article writing? Here is a mini-booklet that helps you quickly improve your article-writing.
- The five stages to making your product sell time and time again Find out why you need to avoid greed.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
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Announcing: Psychotactics Strategy 3 Day Workshop
📅 August 22, 2024 | View in Gmail
(Two Seats Left)
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=Jtk5zlNf67Ett1&b=43.wHyMZcFF2f5WwTkHQkw
Have you ever noticed that "crazy car" in traffic?
You know what I’m talking about. Like everyone else, you’re stuck in traffic, but there’s this one crazy guy.
He moves from the left lane to the middle lane. Then, not much further down the road, he moves to the fast lane. Suddenly, he’s back, moving into the middle lane again. Back and forth, he tries to beat the traffic by moving from one lane to the other but not getting very far ahead.
That’s a bit how it feels like when you run a business today
We start doing one activity, only to be told another activity is better. And we shift lanes hoping to get some traction. However, all of this bouncing between one lane to the other drives us mad, and doesn’t seem to get us very much further down the road.
The reality is that even when everyone is zipping in and out, there are some businesses that get quietly ahead. There’s no fuss, no drama, and it’s just a matter of strategy.
Strategy is what gives us all the long term view
While every business needs both tactics and strategy, it’s the strategy that keeps us from constantly jumping between lanes. A strategy looks at the long term situation, not just of revenue, but also has a big role to play with your sanity, downtime and other issues that don’t normally get addressed.
This event has never been done before. And there are just two seats left. Click here to read more: Psychotactics Strategy Workshop.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=Jtk5zlNf67Ett1&b=9tmnz95xaspRG2rIRa171A
Warm regards Sean P.S. If you have any questions about the workshop, e-mail me and I will respond.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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How To Use Group Consulting To Increase Earning (And Learning)
📅 August 20, 2024 | View in Gmail
Which is more powerful? Consulting one on one? Or in a group?
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
How To Use Group Consulting To Increase
Earning (And Learning)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/group-consulting/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/group-consulting/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ptkqVrpQMoFaj99Tdq3Mv?si=J0L_PeGuQgu_stT7BpZOxA | ). Which is more powerful? Consulting one on one? Or in a group?
Given a chance to pick between the two options, we’d be likely to choose “one on one”. It seems logical that getting the full attention of the trainer or consultant is far superior than being just one of many in a group.
What makes us sure that we’ve made the right decision is the fact that we’ve spent time in groups in the past. Whether it was in school, university, in a workshop or in an office, we’ve all experienced the chaos that is almost endemic to a group. One on one consulting would far outperform group consulting without a doubt.
And you’d be right—group consulting can be chaotic
You’re more than likely to have people who aren’t prepared, people who want their voices to be heard. Like in many of the groups you’ve been in, you wish you’d get the sole attention of the teacher.
Given the spotlight, you could move at your pace, and ask the questions that plague you, without being drowned in the cacophony of the group.
Despite our strongest convictions, group consulting can far outperform one on one situations. Let’s first explore:
1- Why group consulting can be far superior. 2- How to make sure you get everyone on the same page. 3- How to sell the concept of group consulting to an audience that’s keen on one-on-one training.
Why group consulting can be far superior
Back in 2002, I’d never heard about group consulting. My routine as a consultant involved me driving from one client’s place to the other and spending hours on the road, and in meetings. Even when we moved to phone consulting, I’d charge $150 an hour, but all the consulting was purely one-on-one.
Until the point when I saw another marketer advertising his group consulting
I was skeptical. How could group consulting be better? Maybe it was just a way to get a higher price, I thought to myself. After all, if you’re charging $150 an hour and working with one person, you could reduce your prices by 33%, charge $100 per person, and earn about $500-700 per hour, with a relatively tiny group.
My skepticism vanished, when I realised that the problem lay not in group consulting, but rather in the choice of the groups. Once the ground work was done, a group’s individual and collective performance went up considerably.
Group consulting was superior for several reasons.
The first of the reasons was clearly the variety of situations. Let’s assume you’re consulting with the owner of a cafe. As a consultant you have ideas what the owner can do to improve the sales of her products.
However, a one-on-one consulting session is like a ping pong match. The client brings up the problem, and you as the consultant have the solution. No matter how experienced you are, it’s likely that your solution is based on your own knowledge.
Yet, the moment the very same problem is put the group, the dynamics change considerably.
Let’s take another example
Let’s say you’re asked to give your view on a sales page. You’re the sales page expert, and of course, you’re likely to know what can be fixed, moved or added on that page. Yet time and time again, experts are have biases they can’t control.
As a consultant you see the world from a specific point of view, and the others (who also happen to be buyers) can see a totally different point of view. Having those extra eyes and those additional voices ramps up the quality of the solution, and reduces the dependence on you as the sole expert.
While you as the consultant can be pretty adept at coming up with solutions, there’s no way you can have the collective knowledge of a group. Given a chance to pitch in, a group’s initial response may seem chaotic, but given a few parameters, you’re likely to find the group approaches the very same problem from many angles.
The client is happy, you’re happy and that’s because you have examples for the very same concept, which increases the chances of success.
For such a scenario to unfold, you have to get the group on the same page
If we were to take the example of the sales page critique, it’s easy to go off in all directions. Hence, in our case, we work with the parameters from the book, The Brain Audit. The chaos that you see in groups is often due to the lack of precise parameters.
In The Brain Audit, if we start looking at the first concept, namely the “problem”, then everyone is looking at whether the problem is powerful. If, instead, we are looking at another concept, e.g. the uniqueness, the entire group has the very same parameters to work with.
They may see the world differently, and yet the parameters allow for the group to move ahead and give advice in an organised manner.
The “same page” concept is not restricted to a document alone.
Everyone must also feel they’re in a safe zone. When everyone feels they are allowed to comment in a constructive way, under your watchful eye, you’re creating a “same page” situation.
They know they’re all there to solve a problem, and that when they get their turn, they are likely to get the same level of respect as they have given others. All of these elements need to be put in place before hand, and be stated in the group sessions repeatedly.
Once the group settles in, they are more likely to treat each other with respect. It’s not like you’re going to change the personality of the people in the group. Mr.Grumpy will still be grumpy. Mr.Confused is still likely to be confused.
But because they’re moving forward as part of a group, and because they have parameters, they’re likely to work much better together.
Finally, however, it’s up to you to sell the concept of group consulting
Perhaps the easiest way to get clients to agree to group consulting is through your pricing. As you heard in the story above, reducing your price per person, is likely to get the client to take a chance on the group as a whole.
However, a price reduction is not the biggest motivator. The client’s main issue isn’t to get a better price. The main reason they’re asking for your advice is because they want both confidence and results.
And admittedly, it’s hard to convince clients that a group is better than the individual consulting sessions. But once you’ve done the first group consulting sessions, you want to make sure you get testimonials that talk very highly of the group vs individuals. So highly in fact, that you have to do no convincing at all.
Let’s take a few examples, shall we?
Example 1: The group experience was amazing. All the group members were very encouraging, especially when I was struggling through initially, they would make sure I didn’t feel discouraged and always left a cheering note. They also helped me with their inputs on assignments which was great.
Example 2: I loved being in my group, enjoyed being able to focus on a few others’ articles and see their improvement. Comments, ideas, suggestions and support from others in the group was very encouraging.
Example 3: I have found that being in a group is a great motivator. I have done other courses in the past with similar structure (assignment each week…), FB group etc… but the fact we are in small groups gave me a feel of . It’s easier to keep going when you see others keeping on the top of it.
The other side is the fact you are learning a lot from others, both what they are doing so well and what isn’t that good. Plus, of course, people have insights that you don’t have and this can work as a lightbulb moment (there has quite a few times for me).
Once you have done one group session, you want to make sure you get as many testimonials regarding the group itself. When future clients read it, their objections are automatically reduced, if not completely eliminated.
If you explain how you choose groups, put filters in place and also create a safe space, then the job is more or less complete. You’re likely to have more people wanting to be in groups, rather than one on one, which frankly can be quite intimidating as there’s safety in a group.
But what if you train groups via video or phone?
Won’t the bolder clients get more air time than the quieter ones? Yes, that’s largely true but only if the group sessions are restricted to video or audio. You can have part of the sessions on video or audio and then move the discussions to the forum where everyone has their own post—and hence own space.
In our case, we’ve completely dumped audio and video even though it was part of our system for years on end.
Most people were happier to show up on a forum in their own time, instead of having to report to a call at a fixed time. Not everyone is comfortable asking questions on audio or video, even when they know you well.
We asked clients repeatedly which feature they hated most on our courses/consulting and the unanimous winner was the audio or video sessions.
However, audio or video can be used very effectively for a one-off session
Once the group is settled in, there may be a problem or problems that need solving. At this point, once the group feels comfortable, they are likely to show up quite willingly on the audio/video session.
They know they’re in a safe zone, and are more than likely to participate. However, keep these sessions to a minimum and offer them as a big bonus—an extra.
And that’s pretty much it.
You can spend time one on one with a client and get good results. Or you can have a group, get better results and earn more money too. Plus you’ll have more time. Everyone wins, most of the time.
Yes, you may have a few ups and downs when you first begin, but in time you’ll smoothen out the wrinkles and both you and your clients will choose group consulting over one on one.
Our clients certainly do.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to others.
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Announcing: Why Some Books Stand Out (While others Fail Miserably)
📅 August 17, 2024 | View in Gmail
How To Create Non-Confusing InfoProducts (The Stop-Go System)
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/
Why would anyone want to write a book?
Book writing is a pain from start to finish. You have to think about the outline, collate the information and then somehow make it all seem very informative and entertaining. The last thing anyone would want to do is to write a book.
And yet, we know the power of the book because we read books
We know what happens when we read a book that changes the way we think or do something. We seek out that author, we buy more books. If they have courses or training, we want to join in. And we too want to be like that author. We too want people to earn our living doing the stuff we enjoy.
It’s just this writing process that’s a real pain
I know this to be true because I was pretty much a nobody in a nowhere land. When I moved to New Zealand from India, I didn’t know anyone here. I was also not known for marketing, and if I had any references or testimonials, it was solely for cartooning. If it seemed like the odds were stacked against us, well, they were.
I didn’t realise it back then but The Brain Audit became a doorway
It started out as a tiny booklet (padded with a lot of cartoons). It was through this booklet that people came to our even tinier workshops. This book was key to us starting up 5000bc (our membership site). The book got us a few speaking engagements, then connections to the world outside.
But aren’t there already millions of books on the same topic?
Yes there are, and there were—even back when we started. There have always been more books than you could read. Even in the noisiest marketplace, there will always be books that will stand out because they’re easier to read and remember.
And how does a book become easy to read and remember? You do it with: • Structure • Stories • Summaries You might not realise, for instance, that summaries rock.
That summaries show up not just at the end of a book, but in a ton of different places. You may think of stories as just a story, but in fact stories, analogies, examples and case-studies are what makes one book great and the other just ho-hum.
And structure.
Without structure it’s easy to get hopelessly lost.
You can spend months going around in circles trying to figure out which part to keep, which part to drop.
And this is why amazing books are hard to find
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.
• Learn how to structure. • Learn how to craft stories in a compelling way. • Learn the immense power of summaries.
Collect your free goodies and read the piece on the “One Concept” That’s your starting point to creating a far more effective info-products.
Goodie 1: How To Make The Information You Sell More Valuable Goodie 2: Three Ways To Write A Stunning Report Overnight Goodie 3: Product Sequencing: How to guide a customer along a clear purchasing path
Click here to get your goodies: (You will be asked to opt-in) Free Information Products Goodies
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Warm regards
Sean
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing Special: Storytelling 3-Part MiniSeries + Premium Bonus
📅 August 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
How To Craft A Story That Suits Your Audience
There is a StoryTelling Cartoon
https://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.
Book 1: The Power of Stories—How to Turn Average Stories into Cliff-Hangers
Book 2: Signature Stories—How to Create Clear and Memorable Business Stories
Book 3: The Power of Drama—How To Create Counterflow (Without Making Your Reader Sick)
Have a look right away.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Regards,
Sean
About Story Telling
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what Debbie Newhouse has to say:
"Before I bought the book I thought there would be too many ideas I'd heard before."
I've been a heavy follower of Chip & Dan Heath, authors of "Made to Stick", and their philosophies on storytelling that "sticks". I found that there was a lot to learn beyond what I'd absorbed from "Made to Stick" and its formulas.
The feature I liked best
The realization that the best stories are about something you are 80% familiar with, you can anticipate, and then WHAM – the new 20% hits you.
Three other benefits
The examples of stories that "worked" and "didn't work". Understanding how much detail is just enough, and what is too much. Sean's classic straightforward, easy to absorb step-by-step approach which doesn't leave you behind.
I would recommend this product to anyone who has to persuade others, explain something, or teach.
I use the concepts mainly to teach, and especially to engage my audience and get them to realize why they should care about a topic.
Debbie Newhouse, California, USA
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what a few more people have to say
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I found that this Storytelling Mini Series helped me to think about storytelling in completely new ways.
The thing I liked the most about it was that it teaches the tools and mechanics of storytelling and how to make stories compelling and interesting.
Christopher Cook, USA
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I learned to use connectors and disconnectors effectively. This has given my articles a much needed method to keep my reader reading.
Since I started using this technique for certain pages of my site, the average time spent reading on my site has increased.
Honor Dragan, Guildford, UK
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Sean is not selling magic. His is selling a method, a way of thinking, a way of speaking.
And just like everything you still need practice. You will not become proficient overnight. But instead of being in a labyrinth with an infinite number of paths to choose from, Sean will narrow it to finite number of choices, which is in the end the role of a good guide. Harrisson, Japan
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
As a result of buying the product— My writing is tighter, especially in the e-newsletter, and I can craft a story that suits my audience.
If you don't have the time to commit to a full time course you can get as much marketing value from this product with a few days reading.
Pam Bestwick, Wellington, New Zealand
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I wasn't sure that I could learn anything impactful from the Story Telling series because I write stories on a daily basis.
It's a ton of value for a fair price. I would recommend this book to anyone who write short stories for business because it's helped me build trust with my audience and clients.
Steve Jolly, USA
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
What I like best about the Storytelling Mini Series is its extreme usability.
I just read the Series and am immediately able to use it. It just kind of slips into my writing. It's an easy read. I also like the bad examples on how not to try and "pimp up" your writing.
Elfriede Krauth, Netherlands
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Put that Zing Back In Your Articles (And get the Attention of your Reader)
📅 August 10, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to enthralled as you weave your magic of story, darting in between facts and the story line.
Story Telling Cartoon Image
https://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.
Book 1: The Power of Stories—How to Turn Average Stories into Cliff-Hangers
Book 2: Signature Stories—How to Create Clear and Memorable Business Stories
Book 3: The Power of Drama—How To Create Counterflow (Without Making Your Reader Sick)
So have a look right away.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Regards,
Sean
P.S. With the premium version you get—'The Power of Drama'.
It talks about how to create counterflow in your articles without making your readers sick, the myth of boring writing and the four ways to create drama.
Have a look here:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Debbie Newhouse Testimonial
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what Debbie Newhouse has to say:
"Before I bought the book I thought there would be too many ideas I'd heard before."
I've been a heavy follower of Chip & Dan Heath, authors of "Made to Stick", and their philosophies on storytelling that "sticks". I found that there was a lot to learn beyond what I'd absorbed from "Made to Stick" and its formulas.
The feature I liked best
The realization that the best stories are about something you are 80% familiar with, you can anticipate, and then WHAM – the new 20% hits you.
Three other benefits
The examples of stories that "worked" and "didn't work". Understanding how much detail is just enough, and what is too much. Sean's classic straightforward, easy to absorb step-by-step approach which doesn't leave you behind.
I would recommend this product to anyone who has to persuade others, explain something, or teach.
I use the concepts mainly to teach, and especially to engage my audience and get them to realize why they should care about a topic.
Debbie Newhouse, California, USA
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Scientific Advertising: How To Sell Your Product (The Power Of Being Specific)
📅 August 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why being specific doesn’t apply solely to the promise or result
Psychotactics
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Scientific Advertising: How To Sell Your Product (The Power Of Being Specific)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
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(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
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Does a 100-year-old book on advertising still apply today? If you ever tire of the slightly ridiculous drone of “hustle, hustle and hustle”, you might want to step into the past over a cup of coffee and cake. And read the wisdom of yesteryear as the world hurries by.
Let’s explore one of Hopkins’ principles: Why Specifics Matter.
Being Specific
What would make a course sell out in twenty minutes, instead of three weeks?
One of the worst disasters at Psychotactics was the sales page/copywriting course. For years on end, we’d managed to sell out the courses. But then in 2010, only four seats were taken. What did we do wrong, we wondered.
There are many reasons why a course may go from being a hero to zero. Scarcity, the way you market, the size of the audience—it all matters. Yet, it was hard to ignore the fact that we were missing one prominent element, namely, specificity.
Be specific, that’s the advice of Hopkins
Almost immediately, this chapter of the book launches into case studies. At one time in the automobile business, there was a general impression that profits were excessive.
One well-advised advertiser came out with this statement, “Our profit is 9 per cent.” Then he cited actual costs on the hidden costs of a $1,500 car. They amounted to $735, without including anything one could easily see.
Hopkins goes on with yet another case study.
Shaving soaps have long been advertised “Abundant lather,” “Does not dry on the face,” “Acts quickly,” etc. One advertiser had as good a chance as the other to impress those claims.
Then a new maker came into the field. It was a tremendously difficult field, for every customer had to take from someone else. He stated specific facts.
He said, “Softens the beard in one minute.” “Maintains its creamy fullness for tens minutes on the face.” “The final result of testing and comparing 130 formulas.” Perhaps never in advertising has there been a quicker and greater success in an equally difficult field.
Specifics are almost a form of uniqueness
Terms like “better”, “faster”, “nuttier” meant very little to an audience well over a hundred years ago. Today, audiences react in much the same way. It’s not like they don’t respond when things are vague, but the response can tend to be unpredictable.
Managing a sales sequence is already sufficiently annoying, that it makes little sense to lose a client just because of a lack of specifics.
However, as you can tell, specifics are scary for the person selling the product.
Let’s take the headline course, for example. We say: You will be able to write eight different types of headlines in under 10 minutes. And the article writing course, which promises you’ll write a magazine quality article in under an hour.
Which is the same sort of scary standard we had to put on the sales page course. It takes ages to put a sales page together. What if there were a way to create a sales page in under three days? A promise like that, coupled with scarcity, a good pre-sell, etc., is what causes a course to sell out in twenty minutes instead of taking ages.
Being specific doesn’t apply solely to the promise or result
It also applies to the name of the product or service. Take the example, “Blackbelt presentations”. It’s a very precise course and helps you work through designing a presentation, crowd control and structure of the presentation.
Yet, what does “blackbelt,” say to you? Probably nothing, right? And the same ungainliness applies to the book series on “storytelling”. Again, a good product let down by a hurried launch.
On the other hand, a name like “Chaos Planning” pushes through with instant specificity. Every level could have done with a more significant amount of clarity.
“Salesmanship in print is very expensive”, states Hopkins.
“Every word you use may cost $10 to insert. Loose talk matters little. When you are talking to millions at enormous cost, the weight of your claims is important.”
Hopkins could not have seen the internet coming. He couldn’t have foretold that we don’t pay $10 per word. But he did realise that specifics are the way to go.
His book, “Scientific Advertising” and especially “My life in Advertising” is is a treat to read.
It gives you a clear sense of how little things have changed when it comes to human psychology. But it’s also enjoyable in the sense that he talks about tungsten vs carbon lamps, shaving soaps or evaporated milk.
It’s like getting on a time machine with interesting terms, slightly unusual English, but extremely sound knowledge. Read it and then read it again!
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends
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📅 August 03, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why A Crappy Name Will Bury Your Book or InfoProduct
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/
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'.
What just happened?
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 a need to rush from one thing to the next; one concept to the next.
And it's approximately what we tend to do when creating an info-product.
We are in such a hurry to create this massive info-product, that we fail to understand the importance of "One Concept". Without a single concept, an info-product can ramble mindlessly. This causes you to struggle when putting the information together, but it also causes reader fatigue.
Read this piece on the "One Concept" as well as five other pieces.
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You will also learn about:
• Why A Crappy Name Will Bury Your Book or InfoProduct
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Warm regards
Sean
P.S. Also look out for two more free goodies in the coming weeks.
Goodie 2: Three Ways To Write A Stunning Report Overnight
Goodie 3: Product Sequencing: How to guide a customer along a clear purchasing path.
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July 2024
Announcing: Why Most Planning Fails (The Critical Importance of Chaos In Planning)
📅 July 30, 2024 | View in Gmail
What is chaos planning and why does it works?
So year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve.
Then suddenly it’s July 2024 and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected. And hey, this phenomenon isn’t new. It’s not like you’re not trying to achieve stuff, but something always seems to derail your goals.
And what’s worse is that you’ve read all the books on planning as well.
But they haven’t helped either. There’s a reason why they haven’t helped. It’s because those books were written by highly organised people. What you need is for someone disorganised to write a book. A book based on chaos. And how chaos is critical to starting out your plan.
Aha…here’s a 35 Page Report: The Chaos Planning System
That will help you move ahead. So have a look at this product and judge the value for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Warm regards, Sean P.S. You also get the book—Pronto Learning: Insiders Tips To Speed Up Your Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
"Since putting Chaos Planning into place my stress levels have gone way down. It's a beautiful thing!"
“Taking the time to legitimately mark off 3-4 hours for chaos each working day has made all the difference. In the past, just like you described, I stacked up my days with back-to-back everything — totally unrealistic.
I would recommend this product—It was an easy read and an easy implementation, and since putting it into place my stress levels have gone way down. It’s a beautiful thing!”
Dan Wagner, USA Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: The Chaos Planning System: Why Most Planning Fails
📅 July 27, 2024 | View in Gmail
Plus Bonus: Pronto Learning: Insiders Tips To Speed Up Your Learning
There is a cartoon here
So year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve.
Then suddenly it’s July 2024, and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected. And hey, this phenomenon isn’t new. It’s not like you’re not trying to achieve stuff, but something always seems to derail your goals.
And what’s worse is that you’ve read all the books on planning as well.
But they haven’t helped either. There’s a reason why they haven’t helped. It’s because those books were written by highly organised people. What you need is for someone disorganised to write a book. A book based on chaos. And how chaos is critical to starting out your plan.
Announcing The Chaos Planning System
A 35-page report that will help you move ahead. So have a look at this product and judge the value for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Warm regards, Sean P.S. You also get the book—Pronto Learning: Insiders Tips To Speed Up Your Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
"For me it's all about the chaos hours and chaos day. It's just realistic."
“It’s meant that I now force my to-dos into a tight planned schedule and let the chaos reign when it reigns. Chaos is a beast that can’t be beaten, just tranquilized with a dart for a few hours a day and then let out of the cage for a few hours a day.” Simon Lamey, UK
Testimonial: Chaos Planning
"I realized that now I am able to accomplish a lot on my endless "To Do" list"
“I didn’t think that a Chaos Planning System would apply to me. After all, I always thought that I’m well organized. But, after reading the report, I realized that while I am able to accomplish a lot on my endless “To Do” list. I always struggle with finding time to work on important projects and feeling like I got something done.” Marina Brito, USA
At first, I thought that Chaos Planning was just some kind of gimmick."
“Planning for chaos reduced my stress levels a LOT. It has helped my productivity system get to that “final” level. As a bonus, the focus on learning skills was also a great reminder for me so I can do better work, faster.” Al Khan, UK
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Testimonial: Chaos Planning
"Since putting Chaos Planning into place my stress levels have gone way down. It's a beautiful thing!"
“In the past, just like you described, I stacked up my days with back-to-back everything — totally unrealistic. I would recommend this product—It was an easy read and an easy implementation.” Dan Wagner, USA
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"The most important feature of Chaos Planning is actually the system. The simplicity of the system is what makes it work."
Once you hear it, you can’t forget it. And you’ll always know why you’re falling behind and how to quickly adjust.
I would recommend this product to anyone who feels like they’re falling behind on their most important projects or who has a creative mind and can get stuck in the start-but-don’t-finish cycle. Basically, anyone who wants a better way to run their business or work-life should just buy this product and give the system a try. No matter what, you’ll have a mini paradigm shift that will allow you to think about your time more intelligently.
Colette Nichol, Canada
Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
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Why The Top-Half Of The Sales Page Goes Wrong (And How To Fix It)
📅 July 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
When writing a sales page, do you ponder over which issues will get the client’s attention?
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/guidelines-sales-pages/
Why The Top-Half Of The Sales Page Goes Wrong
(And How To Fix It)
https://www.psychotactics.com/guidelines-sales-pages/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/guidelines-sales-pages/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NAYTAupaYKNCEaeUe4h50?si=myv9vdplTAWI-VPueXExeg |).
Why are some sales pages so confusing?
Is it because of the message or because there are way too many messages hitting you all at once? A sales page needs a powerful message to get the client interested and to keep reading. Yet, sales pages often miss that goal.
But there’s a way to start the sales page from getting off to a false start. And it’s called “isolating the problem”. But how do we go about this isolation process? Let’s find out, shall we?
Let’s say you’re on a mission to the supermarket—with a well-defined list. • Oranges • Bananas • Fresh Coconut • Chilli Powder • Ice-Cream Are all of the above important?
Technically, yes. No one usually goes shopping with a list of five items and ends up with just one or two. But even as you scan the list, you know it’s not just a list, but a priority list. For instance, the ice cream might not seem like a top priority to anyone else, but you know there are kids back home who have been promised that treat.
If you go back without the ice cream—well, let’s just say it won’t be a great outcome. In reality, the list is not just a list, but some issues are far more ponderous than others.
When writing a sales page, we too ponder over which issues will get the client’s attention
And that’s usually where we go off track, because we don’t treat the issues as a priority list, but instead as a shopping list. We feel we need to get all the possible problems that the client is having on the sales page. But it’s ice-cream that’s the priority. The chilli powder, coconut and the fruit can wait because it’s the priority that matters.
Similarly, a sales page has to be assembled based on priority
The most significant problem—the one that shows up at the top of the sales page—is the biggest problem. That problem is the one the client has at any given point in time. It’s the one target problem they want to solve—or want you to solve—and to get to that particular problem, you need to use the power of priority.
It’s at this point that we run into a peculiar hurdle
Instead of the client helping you, all they do is confuse you. Instead of giving you the one thing they want to deal with most of all, they give you the entire shopping list. But there’s a way out of this mess, but bear with me, because we need to go back a few steps to figure out how we got into this mess.
But before the client confuses us, let’s confuse ourselves.
If the above line sounds odd, yes, it’s odd. But most of us confuse ourselves when writing a sales page. And the way we go about creating this particular chaos is because we’re swayed by traditional advertising or marketing. If you were to step into a marketing agency or read a marketing book, you’re likely to run into a description of the client.
And it reads like this:
The clients are corporate managers/leaders & small & medium size business owners, approximately 40 years of age, with family, income $100K+, live in an urban area, and grow onions in their backyard.
Wait, did you think the “growing onions in their backyard” concept was weird?
If you did, then backtrack to all the points in that long sentence, because every single thing in that description is weird. Let’s say you’re selling a course on negotiation. The onions have as little relevance as the client’s income, or family, or age or even they’re corporate managers.
Well, the corporate manager bit is slightly useful, but the rest of it has little or no bearing on what you’re going to sell. All of this crazy, nonsensical description of family, dogs, income, and where they live isn’t how a client buys a computer or a phone, or holiday in Fiji. If we’re going to consider all of the above, you may all well consider the onions and really make a mess of things.
If we’re to avoid this mess, we will do well to stop writing silly descriptions like the one above
The way to understanding a client is to first start with the target audience. That first bit—the corporate manager—that gives you a place to look. Firstly where would you meet a corporate manager? Which takes us to the second level—and the most important of all: WHO? Who is this manager? When looking for the problem (and the final solution) you have to be like an owl: Who, who, who.
Who is that person?
And the answer, in this case, may well be Arundathi. We’ve gotten rid of all the nonsensical information about cats, dogs and onions. And this allows us to talk to a real person called Arundathi.
Who without wanting to, causes a whole new level of confusion. When you speak to her over the phone (or in person), you tend to get something like this on the recording.
“My problem is that I’m a new manager. I am running a team, and I’m anxious about my new role because it’s also a new company. I have a fear of making mistakes. And I’m a perfectionist, so there’s this constant drive for perfection. I also have a bit of a history of being stressed—it’s almost a recurring pattern of stress.
This stress is compounded by the fact that I need people to like me, and hence, I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I also work long hours, which means I can’t take care of my family like I’d want to.
I don’t have time to put aside for my health and well being either. All of this makes me more stressed, anxious, and I have this constant fear of failure.”
Did we spot the biggest problem in Arundathi’s response?
Of course not. While most clients may start tentatively, they quickly give you way more information than you can handle. Buried in that single paragraph is a shopping list. It’s only when we separate the elements, do we sense the real magnitude of confusion. • New position as manager • New team • Brand new company • Fear of making mistakes • Drive for perfection • Need people to like me, and don’t want to disappoint anyone • Work long hours and guilty about not taking care of the family • No time for health and well being • Constant fear of failure See that list? It reads a lot like the earlier list we created, doesn’t it? • Oranges • Bananas • Fresh Coconut • Chilli Powder • Ice-Cream And just like the grocery list, we have to have a sense of priority—and use all the elements on the list
Just because we’re using priority, doesn’t mean we’re not going to buy the rest of the items. And similarly, all those fears and troubles that Arundathi has—well, they’re all real and essential. But priority means that you can’t deal with them all at once. And if you do, well, that’s why most sales page messages are such a hodgepodge.
The way we’d go about prioritising the list is to simply present the list back to the client
And because it’s a real person and not some figment of a marketing agency’s imagination, we can send across the list in an e-mail. Then we get the client to prioritise, but not numerically. Usually, the tendency is to list the issues in a list that reads as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. But that numerical ranking doesn’t help our understanding of how important an issue might be.
If you were to assign ten imaginary pebbles to the client along with the list, you’d get a non-fuzzy picture
She might say:
New position as manager: 2 pebbles Drive for perfection: 5 pebbles Need people to like me, and don’t want to disappoint anyone: 2 pebbles Constant fear of failure: 1 pebble
Did she just do that? Did she just drop her family and health off her list?
No, she didn’t. Instead, she realised it’s the perfection that’s causing the cascade of insanity. That while being a new manager was indeed a bit of a burden, it’s the overwhelming need to be perfect that’s sucking up all her time and energy. Which means that we now have a priority.
And that priority is bigger than everything else because it’s taking up 50% of her waking thoughts. Once we get that 50% in control, we’ve made a huge change in her life, and she’s more than likely to have more time and energy for her family and health.
Prioritising the biggest problem is the most important task of all.
And the way we went about it was to get rid of the dogs, cats and onions. And while we started out looking for managers (as in plural), we realised that it’s one person we needed. We went from “where” to “who”. And we found Arundathi, who tend confused us even more with her overwhelming problems.
But we used the pebbles, and we are now at the stage where we are clear about her priorities. We are poised to make real change at this point.
But we’re still slightly at sea
What do we do next? We know that she needs to reduce the perfection, so should we just give her our solution? Should we talk about our program and how it can help her?
We will get to that point where we can talk about our product or service but now’s not the moment. We know her problem is perfection, but we need to know more; need to dig deeper.
Let us find out how we go about the next stage.
Now that we are clear about Arundathi’s real problem, we have to go through a sort of “second-interview” stage
She’s identified that her drive for perfection is her primary downfall. And our job is to let her express how the perfection scenario starts to unfold. It’s at this stage where you can ask her why she sees the “perfection” issue as the biggest problem. And then, what she feels are the consequences of that problem.
Like a movie, she’ll start to tell you what happens and how it all happens
This information, by the way, should be recorded, because the client will slip into “explainer mode”. Just as the term sounds, she’ll explain what she goes through concerning perfection.
And she’ll use specific words to describe her situation (all of which needs to be recorded and transcribed). And like a bit of a horror movie, it will have mostly despair and doom.
But at one point, she’ll stop talking
At which point, you can ask if she’s done. Or if there’s something more. If there is anything she wants to add, she will do so at this point. But if she’s done, she’ll be ready for the next part. You can ask her what the solution looks like. And she’ll describe exactly what she’d like to see.
Once again she’ll slip into her explainer mode. And yes, you need to keep that recording going. Because yet again, she’s going to use a unique way to explain how she sees her perfect world. Or at least a world that’s not so crippled by perfection.
What we have at this stage is pure magic for your sales page. Let’s plot our journey so far.
- We don’t have that fluffy, dog, cat, onions nonsense muddling up your description.
- We do have a bit of a shopping list concerning the client’s problems, but we make sure that she prioritises the most important one.
- We then dig deeper into that one—because it’s the main problem. She explains the problem and the consequences of her problem.
- When she’s done with the problem and consequences, ask her about the solution. Once again she’ll slip into “explainer mode” while you’re dutifully recording every last detail.
Which leaves us with two unsolved issues
Issue 1: What about the rest of the problems in that list? Do we just abandon those? Issue 2: We understand her problem, but where does our product or service come into play?
Issue 1: What about the rest of the problems in that list? Do we abandon those?
Just like a shopping list, you don’t just get rid of the other items. If your client comes up with a dozen problems, you can very easily move them into another section. And that section is called the “bullets”.
Usually, on a sales page, you have a short synopsis of points called bullet points. If your product is solving her other problems just as well, the rest of the problems go into this area. We haven’t exactly thrown anything away, but merely moved it to another area.
And just so you know, it’s not like the bullets are less important. If anything, they’re among the most valuable methods to communicate your points, because they’re almost like headlines—well, they are a type of headline but show up later in the sales page. Which takes us to the second point: What about the product or service were selling? How does that fit it?
Issue 2: We understand her problem, but where does our product or service come into play?
There’s a good chance that your product or service already fixes most of the problems of the client. Maybe it doesn’t fix every possible issue, but there’s a good chance it will cover a lot of the issues. The sequence on the sales page needs to flow like this: • Biggest problem of the client • The description of that problem • The consequences that arise • The solution (as the client sees it) • And at this stage, it’s time for your solution, your product or service As you can see, these series of steps aren’t something you can achieve, on one afternoon
All of this seems like an unnecessary detour, which is why it’s certainly more tempting to take the “marketing agency” method. Instead of going through all of these steps, it’s far easier to have a statement that reads like: The clients are corporate managers/leaders & small & medium size business owners, approximately 40 years of age, with family, income $100K+, live in an urban area, and quietly leave the onions out of the description.
It’s also the reason why so many sales pages seem “swappable”, which is to say you can almost take their sales page and put it on yours, and it might still work. And if you take the shortcut, the sales pay will work, but it will take a lot more advertising and far more marketing dollars.
It’s not like clients won’t buy from your sales page. It’s just that the message will be far more confusing and hence cause a higher rate of bounce.
Isolate the problem, and the results will speak for themselves.
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The Five “Psychological Stages” Of Entrepreneurship
📅 July 20, 2024 | View in Gmail
(And One That’s More Scary Than The Rest)
The Five “Psychological Stages” Of Entrepreneurship (And One That’s More Scary Than The Rest)
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=JhjnqxKmnDitt1&b=G.TD8U455hZ5AwUtIkvYlQ
What are the five stages of entrepreneurship? What are the psychological aspects of an entrepreneur? And which one is the scariest? We don't always realise it, but we go through precise psychological stages when we are becoming entrepreneurs.
The biggest problem is that one stage is more deadly than all the other stages put together. It’s the stage where we lose control because we are driven by outside forces.
How do we know which stage we are in? And how do we prepare ourselves for the stage that is going to seriously rock the boat? Let’s find out. Read
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=JhjnqxKmnDitt1&b=G.TD8U455hZ5AwUtIkvYlQ | Apple
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Three Trending Podcasts
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Why Creating A Series Gets Greater Client Involvement Read online
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How To Create Bonuses For Your Products Or Services Read online
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Warm regards Sean P.S. Will You Tell One Friend About The Podcast? I would love it. Here is a simple link:
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What’s Coming Up Next! August to Dec 2024
📅 July 17, 2024 | View in Gmail
Paris Meet up and Strategy Workshop and more.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/
Live Events Paris, France (On Sale Now/Limited Seats)
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/#paris
18-20 November: Business Strategy 3-Days Workshop: Paris
Strategic Thinking And How To Formulate A Non-Stressful Business Strategy
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22 November: Paris, France Meet-up (Few seats left)
Why Attend?
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Home Study Courses
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31 Aug: How to create information products that instantly separate you from the competition.
Free Goodies
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28 Sept: How to Make Your Product or Service Stand Out Among All the Noise Free goodies
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22 Oct: How to stop knocking on clients’ doors and get them to call you instead Free goodies
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30 Nov: The Art Of Pre-Sell: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay Free Goodies
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https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/
Warm regards
Sean
P.S. Do you have a question? Email me, and I will reply.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
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The Blindingly Obvious Reason”That Drives Success In Almost Any Sphere
📅 July 16, 2024 | View in Gmail
It’s also the reason why you do extremely well in some areas, but fail miserably at others.
Psychotactics
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The "Blindingly Obvious Reason" That Drives Success In Almost Any Sphere
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https://www.psychotactics.com/drives-success/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/6X5QQI9r2XbYnstMs3CTfZ?si=gCpgNXSVTqKi86KCHZVH-A | ).
Can a referee be too close to the action and therefore make the wrong decision? It was just six minutes into a soccer game that referee, Darren England had to come to a quick conclusion. One player, Nathaniel Chalobah, had made a rush towards his opponent, bringing him to the ground in pain.
Such an attack would have warranted an instant red card.Nathaniel Chalobah would have to leave the ground and his team would be a player short, giving a huge advantage to the opposing team.
However, the referee let the game go on. After all, he seemed like he was close enough to judge what was going on, on the field. As it turns out, he was too close!
A referee tends to make better decisions when he’s about 11-15 yards away. Because of intense studies made on referees, we know that the referee needs to be some distance away.
Yet, this fact isn’t blindingly obvious to begin with. A similar problem lies when we look at people who are successful at what they do. We tend that it’s often to do with strengths and weaknesses.
However there’s a blindingly obvious reason why people get successful at what they do.
It’s also the reason why you do extremely well in some areas, but fail miserably at others. The three points we’re going to cover are:
- Mastery vs Ego Orientation
- The problem with embarrassment
- How to keep the confidence strong.
- Let’s start out with the concept of mastery vs. ego.
In 2021, my friend Doug gave me his Leica camera on loan for a month. If you’re not familiar with Leica, you may not have realised they’re very expensive cameras.
Most of them cost upwards of US$6500 and some of them sell for well over $20-30k. To simply loan a camera like that would mean a big leap of faith, especially as Doug is very fussy about his cameras—or his things in general.
Having got the camera, I decided to take pictures indoors. I’d take a few pictures, send it to Doug and then wait for his response. “Out of focus”, that’s what he’d say to me. I’d take some more pictures. “Out of focus, out of focus, out of focus” were the repossess I’d get almost all day long.
The weird bit about this “focus” problem was that the camera wasn’t a manual camera. It was autofocus and all I had to do was point and shoot. Even so, I was getting the focus all wrong and I was getting increasingly frustrated with the camera.
At this point, would you have given up if you were me? “It all depends on why you do what you do,” says Dr.Gio Valiente, a sports psychologist. If you want to find out who’s going to meet with success and who’s going to quit, you need to go back to the reason why they’re doing the activity at all.
At first, all activities are fun, but sooner or later things go wrong Even so, some people don’t give up. The reason, says, Dr. Valiente is “the difference between mastery and ego”. The people who are mastery-0riented are focused on their own level of improvement. When they fail, they don’t necessarily give up.
Instead, they get curious. They want to know more about how others have overcome the same problem. This spurs them to keep attacking the issue until they have the answer to the problem, or at least a part of the answer that moves them forward.
The ego-oriented person is also curious, but their motivation can be quite different. If you ask an ego oriented person the reason why they do something, the answers are different. They sound a bit like this:
I want to beat other people. I want to prove a point I want to show them that I’m good at what I do. I want to win the trophy.
Invariably all of us are hit by failure. However, when the ego-oriented person fails, they don’t tend to bounce back with curiosity. Instead, they’re embarrassed. Knowingly or unknowingly, they got started because they wanted to prove their worth and then things started to go south. When they reach this point, their normal reaction is embarrassment.
Which takes us to our second point: Why is embarrassment so very deadly for us?
- The problem with embarrassment
“Humiliation, is second only behind grief,” says Valiente. “When a child or loved one dies, there’s intense grief. You shut down and can’t think of anything else. Right behind that is humiliation.”
Embarrassment is such an overpowering emotion that when things go wrong, all you tend to see is an attack. Just like grief, you shut down and don’t want to continue down the path you’ve set on.
Many of us have had this feeling of threat and embarrassment, often as children. My sister in law must have been around seven years old, at school. In her drawing class they had to do an assignment. However, later, the teacher held up her artwork, and without mentioning anyone’s name said, “Who did this rubbish?”
From that moment on, my sister in law felt that drawing was not her forte. She felt she was not “born to draw” and it was a better idea to abandon that “weakness” and concentrate on a “strength”, instead.
That level of embarrassment was so great, that she didn’t attempt to draw for many decades later. Today, she’s an accomplished artist that turns out splendid work, so you can safely say she’s not permanently tarred by embarrassment.
The change in trajectory is solely due to the fact that as an adult she looks at all the goof ups with curiosity. In school, we are largely driven by ego, to prove a point to our teachers and parents.
We want to get high scores because it’s how we tend to be measured. It’s easy enough to place so much emphasis on that ego-orientation, that we just give up when faced with difficulty.
A similar sort of ego plays itself out in many courses that we conduct at Psychotactics. It’s not unusual to have a client say: Their work is so much better than mine. They draw cartoons better than I do. They write articles that are far more evocative than mine. These are all ideas driven by ego, by wanting to prove that we somehow need to be in a different place.
The gap between who we are and who we want to be is so great that we are embarrassed. The humiliation can wash over us like wave after wave until we feel destroyed.
However, if we approach the very same task with a mastery attitude, we simply get curious and want to learn how to surf over those waves that are causing such a nightmare.
We somehow need to keep the confidence strong. How do we do that?
- Keeping the confidence strong.
Remember the camera story? Did I give up or am I still taking photos? You probably know the answer already, but there’s a way I got my confidence back.
If you ask me: Were you trying to get some amazing photos? I’d probably deny it. Yet, it’s more than likely that ego was playing its part, alongside a great amount of lack of skill.
The way out of this hole is to stop forcing yourself to get everything right. Instead, you prioritise getting 80% of the activity wrong. As weird as it sounds, this crazy method causes the ego to make a quick exit.
Instead of taking every picture in focus, I moved towards getting just two out ten in focus. In short, I was giving myself the task of taking mostly fuzzy pictures.
In the book, “The Inner Game of Tennis”, another sports psychologist and trainer, W.Timothy Gallway brings up a story of a woman who came to him with a tennis problem.
She played mixed doubles with her husband but was sorely embarrassed because instead of hitting the strings, she seemed to get the ball on the frame of the racquet. No matter how hard she tried, she’d almost always get it wrong.
W.Timothy Gallway asked her to focus on the frame, instead. The instruction was to make sure she hit the ball with the frame of the racquet. As you’d expect, something odd transpired. Time and time again, the ball went flying off the strings.
In a slightly weird manner, focusing away from the result, did what most of us know to be true. When we’re relaxed and not focusing on trying to be the best, we relax. The brain takes over, the embarrassment disappears and we turn out a pretty good job.
Is it the best? No, of course not. You’re not in the game to be the best. In some areas, you have the luxury of rankings. You can tell that a player is No.1 or that you got the highest marks in the exam. However, you can’t measure which cook is better, or whether one podcaster is vastly better than another.
You will get better if you stop saying you’re a perfectionist (that’s ego, again). It’s a steady, quick progression to getting very good at almost any skill. Most people think it takes years, but in reality most people get relatively proficient in a skill in as short as 12-20 weeks, working just an hour a day.
They start off feeling hopeless, but with precise instructions, they find themselves to be surprisingly successful.
Success is a weird term. Everyone has a different description of success. However, at some level, we all seek to get better—a lot better—at what we do. Some people never make it because they’re more focused on what others think.
Their ego drives them over the metaphorical cliff, and they can’t recover easily. Since humiliation is so intense an emotion, it may seem like there’s no way out and yet there is.
Instead of trying to get most things right, your goal should be to get most of it wrong. Unless you’re flying a plane, getting 80% wrong is a good goal to go for at almost all times. Your brain relaxes, the embarrassment slips away and that’s when you get ahead.
You’re going to do badly for a while. Get used to it. You’re on the road to success.
Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. I would love it!
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Last Day For Special Offer—Dartboard Pricing + Bonus! 5 Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully’
📅 July 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
Premium Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
When you buy Dartboard Pricing-How To Increase Prices Without Losing Customers from 9 - 13 July 2024, you'll also get—'5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully' (worth $49) absolutely free with the premium option.
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 pricing 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.
And the Special Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully (with the premium option)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
In this 24 page booklet you will learn
• Five steps that are required to start up any new project successfully. • Why you shouldn’t get scared of your competition. • Why brand analysis comes before everything else. • Why personality is critical in your business. • What is the most important thing when starting up a project?
Judge for yourself at:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer ends 13 July 2024—US Eastern at 12 midnight)
Regards Sean P.S. This is what Colette, Javi and Manjula and has to say about Dartboard Pricing:
All about DartBoard Pricing
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
"The feature I most enjoyed about Dartboard Pricing was the table that shows you exactly how to price things so that they sell. It's kind of genius."
“I have a very high success rate when it comes to sales but I’m interested in increasing my prices over the next two years, rather substantially.
I purchased Dartboard Pricing as I was certain that it would provide useful info about how to actually go about doing that without experiencing excessive customer friction.
Dartboard Pricing confirmed some practices that I was already using – showing me why it was working and how to make it work even better. It also gave me an easy to use framework for selling any course or product that I create. I feel confident now that when I create my first online course I will be able to price it in a way that communicates the value of what my clients will be receiving.
Most small biz owners I know have all sorts of issues with pricing – this should take away some of those issues if not all of them.
There’s basically no good reason not to buy Dartboard Pricing. It’s hands down the best $50 I’ve spent this year.”
Colette Nichol Vancouver, Canada
Judge for yourself at:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer ends 13 July 2024—US Eastern at 12 midnight)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
"I would recommend this product becuase unlike other things I've read, it goes straight to the point and has distilled useful information."
As a result of buying the product I got a deeper understanding on the psychology of pricing. Javi Prieto, Spain
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
"This was a book I wasn't certain I needed because I have been in Sales and creating pricing packages and negotiating prices successfully for over a decade."
My biggest take away was Sean’s perspective on simplifying the packages for the buyer with the yes yes system. His ability to demystify the psychology behind the buyer’s decision, the need for clarity and how to put those components together, were truly well thought out and communicated. Manjula Higginbotham, USA
Judge for yourself at:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer ends 13 July 2024—US Eastern at 12 midnight)
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: Dartboard Pricing—How To Increase Prices without Losing Customers + Special Bonus Valued At $49
📅 July 09, 2024 | View in Gmail
A step-by-step system that walks you through exactly what you have to do. No boring pricing models.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
When you buy Dartboard Pricing-How To Increase Prices Without Losing Customers from 9-13 July 2024, you'll also get—'5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully' (worth $49) absolutely free with the premium option.
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 pricing 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.
And the Special Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully This booklet is tiny—only 24 pages. However, it very systematically takes you through the five steps that are required to start up any new project successfully.
• Why you shouldn't get scared of your competition.
• Why brand analysis comes before everything else.
• Why personality is critical in your business.
• What is the most important thing when starting up a project?
Here’s the page. Judge for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
Regards Sean P.S. This series gives you an overview of how to go about pricing your product or service, and then gets to the brass tacks. You can literally copy the model (and you should) and have it up on your website, in your presentation or brochures.
Have a look and make a decision based on what you read.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer is only valid until 13 July 2024—Eastern US midnight)
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Why We Stall – And How To Pull Out Of The Mess
📅 July 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
What is the genesis of stalling?
https://www.psychotactics.com/perfection-stall/
No matter how good things are, there’s a moment when things just don’t go your way. That’s when you’ve entered a stall. It doesn’t matter how skilled or experienced you happen to be. It’s still a place that you can’t pull out from.
Yet, we all do. And there’s a way to speed things up.
Let’s find out how to get unstuck. Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/perfection-stall/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/046a7sEDYe6max7dw8iV7E?si=EBlcugeqTTW-14EP89HKag |
Here's a list of trending episodes
(There are transcripts too)
Why Negotiation Consistently Fails In Real-World Scenarios Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/why-negotiation-fails/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CqH5XdNld3lXehPZPef9x?si=WD-R9PHdSdyrccfZF1ED7w | Google Podcast
The Five “Psychological Stages” Of Entrepreneurship – And One That’s More Scary Than The Rest Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/psychological_stages_entrepreneurship/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gMIAOdjg4aeuzbTENg2xF?si=DBZzunR-RD2hAhFV20JNpQ | Google Podcast
The Concept Of Bandwidth: How To Control The “Uncontrollable” Of Chaos Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/juggling-chaos/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5pd3sWD1WlmoGtQroy1jlg?si=HjmHiFj7RSSItAN3lUSOMw | Google Podcast
Why Creating A Series Gets Greater Client Involvement Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/create-series-clients/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JV3l0vlhtJxs5ZR81zQE6?si=s6KtS9l8R2ST0uIAnPv8Sg | Google Podcast
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/#guide
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading the podcast, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp group, Facebook groups, or LinkedIn or even forward this email. Or send them to this page. Read
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The Not So Obvious Angles For Succeeding In Life
📅 July 02, 2024 | View in Gmail
The Three Wise Men Principle - How To Not Be Stressed The Not So Obvious Angles For Succeeding In Life Do you remember the story of the Three Kings? They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus. What’s the surprising part? This is one of the core principles of living: giving.
Let’s look at three not-so-obvious angles for succeeding in life: 1- Be interested 2-Be interesting 3-The Three Wise Men Principle.
Be interested When you ask questions, it signals that you’re interested. When you ask three questions back to back, you have to listen to what the other person is saying. Your story will have to wait.
Being interested in people can open almost any door, even with strangers. Being interested is hard work, but once you stop thinking of your own thoughts and worries, people see you differently.
Being interesting Most of us love when someone else is interesting. The reason why some people are more interesting is because they’re interested and they’re learning about various things.
Marie Curie won two Nobel prizes. She was also interested in fitting out ambulances and ensuring hospitals used X-Ray machines correctly. Einstein was an accomplished violinist and prolific writer.
The reason some people are talented is because they’re more interested. Having hobbies allows you to go deep into subjects without monetization.
The Three Wise Men Principle The story of the Three Wise Men matters because they brought gifts. Gift giving is crucial to the human psyche.
No one needs your gifts logically. We can buy our own flowers, chocolate, and gifts. But when someone gives you something, you remember how you were treated. You remember the feeling of getting something unexpected.
When you buy coffee, you pay and get the product. But if one cafe gives treats occasionally, which cafe do you prefer?
Clients keep coming back because they remember what they were given. When you do, giving becomes second nature. The simple benchmark: when you’re leaving the house, are you empty-handed? Put something in that hand and leave.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
June 2024
3 Pre-Sell Strategy: (Some Unusual Questions)
📅 June 29, 2024 | View in Gmail
Do you pre-sell if your audience is away on vacation? What if my the pre-sell falls flat?
Psychotactics
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=J1SlD_RSf7Ett1&b=GnHphxE_aTbXzzmUpInEGQ
3 Pre-Sell Strategy
(Some Unusual Questions)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=J1SlD_RSf7Ett1&b=GnHphxE_aTbXzzmUpInEGQ
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=J1SlD_RSf7Ett1&b=GnHphxE_aTbXzzmUpInEGQ | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=J1SlD_RSf7Ett1&b=s5Zq5QKJqxSit5cz0uSg_A | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=J1SlD_RSf7Ett1&b=G.IlDYM6Ld4xr.crDVNBLQ |).
(New) Announcing : Suddenly Talented—Why ‘Doable Greatness’ Is Better Than Genius
📅 June 25, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to avoid the “I’m not talented” dungeon by understanding energy.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be “talented” while others are a “bit stuck?”
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation. We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
• If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds. • What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
After reading all those books about success, what if there’s something so fundamental that it’s under our noses and we can’t sniff it?
Well, here’s an invitation to the launch of Suddenly Talented.
Announcing : The launch of Suddenly Talented—Why ‘Doable Greatness’ Is Better Than Genius
📅 June 22, 2024 | View in Gmail
It’s magical when you realise how you’ve gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be “talented” while others are a “bit stuck?”
Since the time you were a kid, you noticed others who were better at maths, better at drawing, etc. Fair enough, but then we all grew up. Some of those kids continued to have limited skills, while others went on to become good at many different things.
There’s a reason why some people get more stuck than others—and it’s a surprising revelation. We are all focused on the concept of genius. We want to become exceptionally good at what we do, and in the process, we fail to get started.
We buy into the slightly crazy concept that we have to spend 10,000 hours to achieve greatness, when greatness is the last thing on our minds.
• If you’ve wondered what makes some people pick up new skills throughout their lives, you have to understand what’s going on in their worlds. • What decisions are they making that make them move ahead relentlessly while you feel a bit left behind?
Announcing the launch of Suddenly Talented—Why ‘Doable Greatness’ Is Better Than Genius
In this book, you will learn why you don’t need to put in thousands or even tens of thousands of hours to be talented.
How by understanding what’s happening in the background enables you to stop feeling stuck and move ahead. And yes, most importantly, it shows you why “Doable Greatness” is the way to go rather than focusing on genius.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
The Book —'Suddenly Talented' is not just an ordinary how-to guide… it is a practical tool and a top-level game-changer.
Easy to read and full of fascinating insights on how to learn really anything you want—easier and faster. Along with very clear, structured chapters, the book includes heartwarming cartoons that make the complexity of the topic even more digestible and so much more fun to read! Monika Burger
Have a look and judge for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Warm regards Sean
P.S. It's magical when you realise how you've gotten slightly misplaced advice for so long and that talent is comfortably within your reach.
Judge for yourself here: Suddenly Talented—Why ‘Doable Greatness’ Is Better Than Genius
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/suddenly-talented/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOycbCzMzBw=
Why You May Be Scaring Clients Away From Your Sales Page (And How A Simple Fix Can Bring Them Back)
📅 June 18, 2024 | View in Gmail
Most of us have products and services that solve many problems. How do we simplify it? Why You May Be Scaring Clients Away From Your Sales Page Florence Nightingale invented the coxcomb, a visual system for data. She used it to show that more soldiers died from sanitary conditions than from war injuries. The death rate dropped from 40% to 2% because she focused on one point. The same one point matters when writing your sales page. To get your audience to see you precisely, you have to focus on a single fact. Example: Alexander, a piano teacher with a home study course. He had three initial points:
- Grid: The most critical tool for understanding rhythm
- Practice Methods: Six different practice methods
- Rhythm: Master rhythms with 4th, 8th, and 16th notes Eventually, he dropped two and focused on ONE: rhythm. He wrote: Do you have trouble playing your favorite songs because you can’t handle the rhythm? He described the problem in detail, then presented the solution: Rhythm-Logic. The result? 20 sales on the first day at $179 each. Writing a sales page is hard work. But if you go systematically, you get results. Start with your entire list of features. Get down to three. Finally, stay on ONE. One idea. That’s what you need. Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
Tiny Saturday request
📅 June 15, 2024 | View in Gmail
We would love to have a few more people join us on this Psychotactics journey.
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Sean here, and I have a tiny request to ask you this Saturday.
Some of our best clients come from people just like you. People who are kind and helpful and with whom we could share a coffee or tea. We would love to have a few more people join us on this Psychotactics journey.
So this Saturday, I have a tiny request. It would really be nice if you could tell just one friend about Psychotactics.
Email works best So, if you can send an email to a friend, that’s probably the best way to go.
Just click on the email link below and send a message. Email Friend 1 (In case this link doesn’t work for you, there is an alternative link below)
Let us know when you tell your friend, I would love to say. Thank you to you. :)
Tell a friend
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Warm regards, Sean D’Souza P.S. You can post a message in your WhatsApp Group, Facebook Groups or LinkedIn. Here is a good place to send them to. Psychotactics Guide
https://www.psychotactics.com/podcast/#guide
Click here to tell one friend
https://www.psychotactics.com/about/psychological-marketing-business-tactics-tell-a-friend/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOysHOwsjJw=
How To Not Be Stressed All The Time (And To Get In A State Of Play)
📅 June 11, 2024 | View in Gmail
Let’s find out the three essential things to consistently get us in a state of play. How To Not Be Stressed All The Time I’ve taken close to 22,000 photos of strangers. I get my best pictures after an hour or two when I’m enjoying myself and my subjects relax. Most want to be in the zone, in a state of play. But this flow requires work and time. Three essentials to get into a state of play: 1: Being ahead vs being on time 2: Angles 3: Tools matter Being ahead vs being on time If you do work on time, you’ll always feel stressed. We always want to get things right. Working on it is the only way. If you’re several days or weeks ahead, you’re in a great mood. Being on time is almost always pain. When we reach deadlines, it’s always stressful. Unless we are ahead, we are never in a state of play. Angles If asked to take twenty photos of a glass of water, you get creative. Doing what you’re told means little chance for play. You’re in play mode when you’re doing MORE than asked. You approach the same project from multiple angles. Reduce complexity: stick to the bare minimum, then use rest of time for angles. Do a less complex task from several angles rather than one complex task. Tools matter When I switched to digital art and Photoshop, I could work in a fraction of the time. When Wacom tablets came, it was perfect. But by 2015, my illustrations halted. I was tired of sitting at a computer all day. Then came iPad Pro with the Pencil. In one year, I went from three drawings to over a thousand. I could draw anywhere: cafe, sofa, even while watching Netflix. My skill hadn’t changed. The tools did. A good carpenter has excellent tools. If struggling because you need right tools, get the best you can afford. The more you’re struggling, less likely to play. Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
Announcing: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long before They Pay
📅 June 08, 2024 | View in Gmail
Presenting: Pre-Sell Free Goodie: How To Sell your Product Time and Time Again
There is a cartoon here. :)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
In the year 2009, we tried selling our copywriting course. We gave away a ton of goodies, marketed it for weeks, and guess what? Even though we had a pretty large list and a rock-solid reputation, we sold just four seats.
Four seats? Yup, just four.
And yet when we ran the very same course in 2013, every single seat was taken in under 25 minutes.
Sounds like a fluke? • Every workshop since 2009 has sold out in record time (often in under a week). • Every course since 2009 has sold out in less than 48 hours. • Products that didn’t move at all for weeks, flew off the shelf (yup, since 2009). Obviously something happened in 2009, right? That something is called “Pre-Sell”. It’s the understanding of how to get your customers to buy, long before they pay. And no matter whether you’re selling products, services or training, the concepts still apply.
And we’ve not had to sell our soul to get results If you look around you’ll see that you’re told to do more joint ventures, do more advertising, spend a bundle on adwords, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. The louder you scream, it seems, the better the chances that you’ll get results. And we’ve gone a lot quieter. Most of the above results were achieved with a tiny group.
Makes you wonder, eh? Well, wonder no more. Because now you can learn what we figured out in the year 2009. You too can learn how to pre-sell a product/service.
And you don’t need all that hype or a big audience to get results.
Presenting: Pre-Sell Free Goodie: How To Sell Your Product Time And Time Again Read the report and see how you can take your products and make them stand out repeatedly using the pre-sell method. Click here to get the goodie.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Sean DSouza Image
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Warm regards Sean P.S. On 29 June 2024, ‘The Art Of Pre-Sell will be on sale only for people on the waiting list. Find out how to get on the waiting list.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/presell/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Last day: Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass: (Free when you Join 5000bc)
📅 June 04, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to Create a Website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets them back
Today is the last day to get the Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass when you join 5000bc.
You've been around the Psychotactics site for a while. And you've probably even sneaked a peek at 5000bc. So what is 5000bc, and what is the Special Bonus—Website Strategy Masterclass about?
Let's have a look.
Image
In 2006 we conducted the website strategy masterclass. It was based on the precise steps involved in attraction, conversion and consumption. The specific psychological factors that every website must have–and without which you're just wasting your time and money.
Even today in 2023 we are still using the same strategy successfully. • Yes, technology has changed. • Yes, we have new media to communicate our message. • Yes, our website design has changed over time. Yes, the strategy continues to work!
Websites fail because you don’t understand the core of what drives business For clients to keep coming back to your ‘restaurant’, and keep eating the ‘meals’ regularly, you need to have a powerful strategy in place. A strategy that guarantees the return of the customer. That will not only get the customer back but over time, the customer will buy more from you and buy at higher prices.
And how do you create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets customers to keep coming back?
Presenting the Website Strategy Masterclass Home Study Course
(Free for 5000bc Members)
The Website Masterclass is not some quick system This Home Study Course is about a simple, step-by-step system that we’ve used ourselves to grow Psychotactics over the years to the point where it pays us a handsome return and affords us a comfortable lifestyle. This information is not meant to impress you. It’s just to show you that if you use the right strategy, you too can achieve what we’ve achieved in a reasonable time frame.
Ready to join 5000bc and get the entire workshop, notes and bonuses? Click here to get this offer
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. This offer expires on 4 June 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
P.P.S. And what else has 5000bc got to offer you?
If you’re a business owner, you know how lonely it can be in your world. And now, like most people on the planet, we’re unsure where to go or what to do. We’re stuck in our homes, and it seems odd to want to start up a project or do something.
The volume of chaos is so great that it’s hard to focus Yet, it’s also the precise time that will give you the time to ask questions, get answers and finally get that project going. We all complain about having no time, and time is still a premium, but we do seem to have just a smidgen more of time these days.
It’s like a Yoda quote: There is no try, Luke. There’s do. And there’s don’t.
If you’re in the “do” category, I’m in 5000bc, ten or twenty times a day answering questions and helping you move forward. And there are members who are just as knowledgeable who can help you too.
You can ask questions and get an unending number of answers. And often so quickly that it seems like consulting. Not consulting once a week or once a month, but every day, or ten times a day if you like.
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. And having a community to talk to, to work with and bounce your ideas off, is incredibly valuable.
There’s an old African saying: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group. And yes, if you go with a helpful group, you enjoy the journey.
Yes, it’s the last day to join before the waiting list goes up, so get in the community and let’s go far.
Here is the link
Warm regards, Sean P.S. See you in 5000bc. This offer expires on 4 June 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
Here is what Monica Stapleton has to say about 5000bc
Image
I've pretty much stopped following all other business marketing and strategy mentors. 5000bc is where I feel I'm going to get the answers I need, personally.
What I like about 5000bc—My list so far:
1. The "safe" zone of 5000bc is an unbelievable "find" in this world. So rare, and so valuable. With every other group I've been a part of, whether it's a mentor or a writing group, there is also a stressful environment of pressure to be a certain kind of person or do things I'm not comfortable with, or measure up somehow.
2. Sean's quick, personal, supportive responses to my emails have surprised me and they set the tone for everyone else in the group.
3. The supportive group there is amazing. I'm not used to being a part of such a supportive, positive group, and it's taking a little getting used to.
4. I value vulnerability and humility, and I finally feel like I've found a place where I belong. It's incredible. I feel that making a place where introverts have the necessary space to grow is an unbelievably rare find.
5. Along with all that, Sean still manage to produce the right motivational "pressure" or encouragement to do it right and get good results in a way that actually makes logical, real sense.
6. While I know everyone is going through the same challenges, I do sort of have a unique set of fears, and I think I really need the space 5000bc creates in order to spread my wings. I'm really not made for a dog-eat-dog world, and I don't do well in that environment. I'm sorting that problem out. In every other group I tend to go undercover very quickly, and I don't make headway.
7. Renuka's encouragement when I first started with 5000bc to get started with my first TAP (Taking Action Plan) was PERFECT.
8. The TAP (Taking Action Plan) experience was one of the most meaningful experiences in my lifetime. I made such huge headway in my personal health, and felt extremely encouraged by the few people that took the time to go on my thread and say encouraging things to me. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I broke through a ceiling I've been hitting for the last ten years, or more. I figured out a few clues that I'm still following and continue to have more breakthroughs as a result of the headway I made in that three week TAP. I'm still in shock about how important that was, and all that I discovered. I can't wait to take on another TAP with business goals and break through more ceilings in these other areas.
9. Sean really listen. That might need to be placed higher up on this list. The experience in 5000bc is so personal that I have no desire to go back to any of the other groups where I have felt distant and detached, and I wonder about the advice given, which is painted with such a broad-brushed stroke it doesn't have any bearing on my personal life at all. In two other groups where I did reach out for some help, I felt like a child being scolded on the receiving end. Even knowing I had to keep pushing forward, it made me cautious about what I would put out there in those groups. Now I don't want to go back to them at all.
10. You've won me over with the support of this group, and I think the group Sean managed to create is the thing I want to emulate in any health coaching practice I create in the future. The value of the group dynamic is probably more important than anything else, and since I want to involve people in personal change and growth I think that's an important piece that other models are completely missing. All the marketing strategies in the world that involve just getting your story out there can't make up for the problem of the impersonal, one-size-fits-all approach.
11. Sean and 5000bc insights are incredibly deep and wise. There is no other resource that I know of, that makes such great sense out of the psychology of marketing and writing. Your approach feels right to me in every way. I have yet to read anything you've written and think it didn't apply, or wasn't that important.
12. There is so much value in 5000bc that I have enough information just by belonging to the group, to keep growing as long as I want to.
13. I've made more personal headway in the few months I've been following you than I ever did in other groups. It's the combination of truly understanding the psychology behind marketing and the safe zone for personal growth that is an amazingly powerful combination.
Monica Stapleton
FL, USA
Join us:
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOys7OwsTBw=
Special Bonus: Website Strategy Masterclass: (Free when you join 5000bc before 4 June 2024)
📅 June 03, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to Create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets them back
In 2006 we conducted the website strategy masterclass. It was based on the precise steps involved in attraction, conversion and consumption. The specific psychological factors that every website must have–and without which you're just wasting your time and money.
Even today in 2024 we are still using the same strategy successfully. • Yes, technology has changed. • Yes, we have new media to communicate our message. • Yes, our website design has changed over time.
However the strategy continues to work!
Websites fail because you don’t understand the core of what drives business For clients to keep coming back to your ‘restaurant’, and keep eating the ‘meals’ regularly, you need to have a powerful strategy in place. A strategy that guarantees the return of the customer. That will not only get the customer back but over time, the customer will buy more from you and buy at higher prices.
And how do you create a website that not only attracts more customers but actually gets customers to keep coming back?
Presenting the Website Strategy Masterclass Home Study Course
(Free for 5000bc Members)
Image
The Website Masterclass is not some quick system This Home Study Course is about a simple, step-by-step system that we’ve used ourselves to grow Psychotactics over the years to the point where it pays us a handsome return and affords us a comfortable lifestyle. This information is not meant to impress you. It’s just to show you that if you use the right strategy, you too can achieve what we’ve achieved in a reasonable time frame.
Ready to join 5000bc and get the entire workshop, notes and bonuses? Click here to get this offer
Warm regards Sean D’Souza P.S. This offer expires on 4 June 2024 (11:59 pm New York, Eastern USA).
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOys7OwsTKw=
Announcing: How To Join 5000bc (But How Do You Know If 5000bc Is The Place For You?)
📅 June 01, 2024 | 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.
For the next seven days we’re bringing down that wall. From Saturday 30 September to 7 October 2017, you get the chance to join (without being on the waiting list).
The last time we opened up the waiting list was six 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.
You have to judge for yourself. So take a look at 5000bc right away. https://www.psychotactics.com/general/special-offer/
We’d love to have you there if you think it’s the right place for you :)
Warm regards, Sean P.S. Make a decision today based on what you see. https://www.psychotactics.com/general/special-offer/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOys7OwsTAw=
May 2024
How To Fix Three Core Elements On Your Sales Page And Avoid Procrastination
📅 May 28, 2024 | View in Gmail
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/sales-pages-procrastination/
How To Fix Three Core Elements On Your Sales Page And Avoid Procrastination
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/sales-pages-procrastination/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/sales-pages-procrastination/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0oMjGvdAU4ZCmqpEBBubgS?si=2FWUMtIsSx6H4T3bGwWv_w | Google Podcast
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wc3ljaG90YWN0aWNzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/Y2IxNzNhY2UtYmM5MC00OTEzLThkMzAtZTE5NTkyMjg3Yjhl?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiQ-_Sp2MH7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ ). When I worked as a copywriter in ad agencies, the three things we’d talk about centred around:
1- How to create astounding advertising 2-How to win advertising awards 3-How to meet models.
Maybe we were younger, maybe it was a crazier time, but it’s more likely that we weren’t focused on specific results. We could spend tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands on an ad campaign and not have to worry about the results.
With a sales page, however, there’s usually just a singular focus. Everything on the page is designed solely to get you to the “buy now” button.
As someone designing the sales page, you have two separate audiences.
The first audience comprises of people who are just looking to give you feedback. Even the best written copy in the world can quickly amount to nothing, if the layout isn’t quite right on a sales page. There might be some level of confusion or distractions.
Worse still, the sales page may have a considerable amount of errors—which you could also lump into the category of distractions. However, this first kind of audience is just acting as your collective of guardian angels, giving you their feedback and praise where needed.
The second audience are your buyers.
They aren’t necessarily window shoppers, because people who don’t buy have their own reasons. However, buyers are those invested in your product. They’re likely to have gone through your sales page in detail.
When you ask them what made them choose your product, it’s likely that they could tell you what caused them to buy from your page.
However, at Psychotactics, when we ask clients what they found interesting on our sales page, they aren’t very helpful at all. They seem to suggest that they barely read, or at best skim very quickly through the sales page. They’re more eager, it seems, to get to the buy now button.
This behaviour makes no sense, or does it?
It makes sense to have a sales page, because you’re putting together all the information that enables clients to make a buying decision. However, what if your clients are largely ignoring the contents of the sales page? This tells us that something else is afoot.
Something else like pre-sell.
In 2016, we decided to have a workshop in the South Island of New Zealand. It was an early version of a course we were intending to do. The sales page comprised merely of the name of the course, the location and dates. And the bonus was that you’d get to meet my wife, Renuka.
You’d think that such a sales page would get zero response. Instead, people flew in from the US, the UK, Australia and we even had one solitary New Zealander. All of them, had never seen the sales page, because it didn’t exist. However, if you consider pre-sell, then a sales page largely becomes redundant.
It’s not totally wasted, but pre-sell alone can do all the power lifting. However, let’s say you largely ignored pre-sell and decided to put all your efforts on a sales page. Which three elements would be the ones that I’d pick?
They would have to be: 1- The opening problem 2- The bullets 3- The testimonials
- The opening problem
Does the headline make or break the ad?
When famed ad man, David Ogilvy was in his prime, he made a statement where he seemed to pluck a random figure from thin air. He said: “On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Maybe. Maybe not.
The point he’s making, however, is one of attraction. If you were to step on a street with a yellow shirt and a red hat with jet black trousers, there’s a greater chance that a lot—if not almost all of the people—would notice you on the street.
However, going naked would likely achieve the same result. Hence, it’s not merely a factor of attraction. Instead, it’s attraction that creates a greater level of curiosity.
A great headline might get as much attention as your attire—or lack of it.
What keeps that attention is the part that is definitely the bigger challenge. And this is why we don’t merely dole out the gold medal to the headline itself. Instead, it’s the headline with the opening problem that’s crucial to sustaining the curiosity.
Writing a headline is considered to be the holy grail of a sales page.
Yet, it’s the ability to sustain that attraction factor that’s crucial. To give you an analogy directly from The Brain Audit, it’s like driving a car and noticing red and blue flashing lights. The lights get your attention, because they signify a potential problem.
However, if there’s a sign that said: No traffic cops for 300 miles, now that’s letting you off the hook and the attention crumbles instantly.
Hence, almost all the effort must go into creating not just the headline, but the first few paragraphs.
Here’s an example from the Article Writing Course at Psychotactics, that’s sold out ever since it began somewhere in 2006.
Let’s go over the headline and the first few paragraphs.
How to stop knocking on clients’ doors, and get them to call you instead
Knocking on a client’s door is the hardest way to get business – yet we do it all the time. In order to get the client’s attention, we send out sales letters; we make presentations; we do everything we can to try and sell to clients. The more we try to sell, the higher the client’s hackles go up. The more we try to convince; to persuade, the more the client starts avoiding you. Or at the very least, they put off buying from you till much later.
So why do clients put off the purchase? There are two big reasons. The first reason, is that they don’t want to buy at the exact moment that you want to sell. So even if you’ve just made this wonderful presentation of your product or service, there’s a close to zero-response on the client’s part. And that’s just because they’re not ready to buy right away.
The second reason is that the client doesn’t really recognise you as an expert. All they can see is someone who’s trying to sell something to them. To them you’re just another ‘sales pitch’ coming through the front door. What you really need is a side-door entry!
Notice that the headline isn’t shy. It’s bold, and in your face. But it’s only when you start reading, that you find yourself nodding just a little bit. You feel that frustrating feeling of having to always pitch, always sell yourself.
Once that curiosity has been fired up, the second element I’d never let go off would have to be bullets. Which insane fool would not understand the power of bullets? Oh, that would be me. I’ve made that mistake before, but now I know better. Let’s head on to the bullets and see why.
2- The bullets
When writing a sales page, would you start with the headline?
If you did, you’d probably get very annoyed with yourself for a specific reason. Writing the headline and the main problem ends up with a lot of false starts. Besides you’re thought process is frozen stiff. It’s at this point, you need to start with the features of a product.
Almost anyone can list the features of a product or service.
For an online course, for example, here are a list of features.
- Working with large game group.
- Fire bad clients.
- Networking event success.
- Asking clients right questions.
- Building networks online.
- Client objections.
- Charging flat fees.
- Pricing options. However, that’s just the starting point. What we need to do is turn these features into bullets because by themselves, these features are not curious.
- How to get work at a large game company (and know exactly what the hiring manager is looking for)
- How to fire bad clients (without burning any bridges)
- How to make the most from networking events (even if you’re an introvert)
- Why asking clients the right questions can win you the gig (and what to ask them)
- How to build a network completely online (without ever leaving your house)
- Why client objections are a good sign (and what to do when they come up)
- Why charging flat fees will get you paid more (even with cheap clients)
- Why offering your client pricing options makes it easier for them to say “yes”. Bullets are simply a headline with HOW or HOW to. Or you can use WHY. When you take your features and turn them into curious headlines, you now have a stack of headlines.
If headlines are what attract clients to your product or service, this is like having 50-60 headlines on a single page. While bullets seem to be something different or new, they’re just headlines and each of them have the capacity to convert.
The reason why bullets work so well is the same reason why headlines work.
When written well, they are intensely curious. They’re puzzles waiting to be solved. Many clients will look at a single bullet and want to join a course or buy a product. If they find more than one bullet that matches their expectations, you’d have to hold them back.
When we announced the sales page course, we use the same system of bullets to get and keep attention. And if you thought that 60 bullets are overkill, here are just some of the many bullets on the page.
Here are some of the topics covered in Stage 1. • Why assembly matters (and how to go about assembling the page from the bottom-up) • Why you should work through the assembly process using three distinct partitions (and how this three-part process helps you make sure nothing is left out • How to systemise your assembly process while spending the least amount of energy • How to assemble the elements in a way that makes it simpler for the client to see value—and buy products and services • How to write between 30-60 bullets for every sales page (even if you haven’t created your product or service quite yet) • Why bullets are the foundation of your sales or landing page (and how to make every single one attractive to the buyer) • Why you’re going to need a bonus to increase sales (and get higher prices over 95% of the time). • How to use the bullet-system to create an extremely powerful set of bonuses (even if you end up using just one bonus on your landing page)
There’s another reason why bullets are so important.
Yes, they’re curious and keep the client’s attention. However, an even bigger advantage is that they’re restricted to a line, or slightly more. That allows a client to scan through fifty or sixty bullets at high speed.
In a world where everyone is skimming, the bullets act like an extended speed breaker. The client has to slow down to scan through the list, and stays at this slow pace while going through the entire list.
Designing the bullets so that it’s not one big waterfall of text is also crucial.
It’s one thing to have text on a page. It’s quite another to be so sloppy that it’s unreadable. Throwing sixty bullets on a page is a sure-fire recipe for overwhelm. If done badly, the client will simply avoid the entire section and you’ll have missed the opportunity to present the entire course or product or service in the form of bulllets.
Okay, so we’re done with the main problem (the attraction), the bullets (mainly to convert). Then it’s down to risk. And what better way to reduce risk than have a series of stories? However, you don’t write the story—your client does.
Welcome to the world of testimonials. But not just your average sugary testimonial. These are crafted to reduce the inherent risk the client feels. Click here to continue reading.
https://www.psychotactics.com/sales-pages-elements/
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Client Attractors: How To Increase Your Web Conversion Rate
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The Brain Audit : Why Clients Buy (And Why They Don’t)
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Coming in 4 weeks! The Art Of Pre-Sell—How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay
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Trying to sell a product or service is a slightly terrifying ordeal. What if you've put your hopes and dreams into a product and are left with nothing to show for it?
Learn the bite-size, non-pushy method of Pre-Sell.
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https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/ | How to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/presell/ |
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Presenting Pre-Sell Goodies: How To get Customers To Buy, Long before They Pay
📅 May 25, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to sell without the hype or a big Audience and get Results.
There is a cartoon here. :)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
In the year 2009, we tried selling our copywriting course. We gave away a ton of goodies, marketed it for weeks, and guess what? Even though we had a pretty large list and a rock-solid reputation, we sold just four seats.
Four seats? Yup, just four.
And yet when we ran the very same course in 2013, every single seat was taken in under 25 minutes.
Sounds like a fluke? • Every workshop since 2009 has sold out in record time (often in under a week). • Every course since 2009 has sold out in less than 48 hours. • Products that didn’t move at all for weeks, flew off the shelf (yup, since 2009). Obviously something happened in 2009, right? That something is called “Pre-Sell”. It’s the understanding of how to get your customers to buy, long before they pay. And no matter whether you’re selling products, services or training, the concepts still apply.
And we’ve not had to sell our soul to get results If you look around you’ll see that you’re told to do more joint ventures, do more advertising, spend a bundle on adwords, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc. The louder you scream, it seems, the better the chances that you’ll get results. And we’ve gone a lot quieter. Most of the above results were achieved with a tiny group.
Makes you wonder, eh? Well, wonder no more. Because now you can learn what we figured out in the year 2009. You too can learn how to pre-sell a product/service.
And you don’t need all that hype or a big audience to get results.
Presenting: Pre-Sell Special Free Goodie: How To Sell Your Product Time And Time Again Read the report and see how you can take your products and make them stand out repeatedly using the pre-sell method. Click here to get the goodie.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
Warm regards Sean
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Why Willpower Is Weak (And How Numbers Help You Stay on Track Instead)
📅 May 21, 2024 | View in Gmail
Willpower is tiring almost all the time.
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Why Willpower Is Weak (And How Numbers Help You Stay on Track Instead)
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How do you pay for your house when your mortgage payments are as high as 9%? We decided to buy our house four months after we moved to New Zealand. The mortgage seemed manageable, even though the interest rate was relatively high back then.
We read several books to make doubly sure we paid our mortgage efficiently. One was by author Anita Bell, called: Your Mortgage and How to pay it off in five years (by someone who did it in three). She had several pieces of advice and a system to pay off the mortgage. The lesson we took from the book was how we needed to monitor our “eating out” expenditure.
We decided to spend $150 per month on “eating out”. If we were careful and went to places that weren’t so expensive, we could eat out about five times a month. However, if we decided to splurge and spend the entire budget in the first week, there would be no “eating out” for the rest of the month.
Before we set out this benchmark, we believed we weren’t eating out so much after all. When we did look at our credit card bill, we’d be spending twice or thrice the amount.
However, there was a clear benchmark once we decided on the amount. Once we reached the $150 mark, we had to stop.
Benchmarks (rather than willpower) are an ideal way to reach almost all your goals. Take the example of Ravi Gupta from Sequoia Capital. He aims to keep fit, not just for himself, but to be healthy enough to “run with his young kids”. In an interview, he mentioned how some people love exercise. As you can tell, he’s not one of those people.
To keep his weight under check, not only would he need to exercise, but he would also need to eat smarter. His trainer gave him a benchmark: There are 21 meals in a week. If you want to lose weight, 19—or more—of those meals must be good. To maintain your weight, 15-19 of them. If it’s less than 15, you’re going to gain weight.
Willpower asks you to choose, to make a decision. If you want to take willpower out of the equation, decision-making must be minimal. It’s just a count, instead. You’re not deciding if you are going to go for a walk or not. If you step on the street at 6 am, you’ll find the people who go for a walk do so based on their benchmark. One of these people we know of is a 65 year 0ld named Eddie.
“If it’s raining, I don’t walk,” he told us one day. Eddie wakes up every morning and listens to the sound of precipitation. If it’s already raining, he stays indoors. If the rain is in the forecast, he still goes for a walk.
The only thing that stops him from walking is if it’s raining at the point of departure. It rains about 180 days in Auckland annually: Guess how many days Eddie stays at home? He’s always on the road at 6 am all year long because there are only so many days that it rains at the exact moment he’s leaving the door.
Willpower is tiring almost all the time. It might sound like keeping the expenses to $150 a month or counting how many meals you eat is just another form of willpower. And it’s fair to say it does sound like willpower. Yet it spurs people on in a completely different way when they have something numerical.
In some situations where there’s nothing to count at all. You don’t say: I’ll brush my teeth on five days out of seven. You brush daily; if you don’t, there’s a fair chance of tooth decay. If you choose to do something every day, that also strips the willpower out of all its strength.
Put another way, if you have to make a decision, then you are going to need willpower. If you don’t have to decide, you’ll get at least a little bit, if not all, of the work done.
Most times, the ones that meet their goals are the ones with a mantra. I wake up before 4 am, but that’s because I’m at work at 4 am. Do I like to wake up that early? Not really. I envy those who can sleep in until 7 am or later. Even so, it’s easy to do nothing, even if I’m up.
I can read the news, go through e-mail or even watch Netflix at that early hour. What gets me to get out of bed and go to the office in the dark morning? It’s simply a mantra I have that goes like this: successful people hate doing the same things that unsuccessful people hate doing, but they do it anyway.
The mantra takes the decision-making away from my hands. I don’t have to decide because it’s constantly reminding me that I have to get to work or I won’t do what I have set out for the day. That very same mantra plays a reverse role when I’m on holiday and often seem to sleep in until almost 5:30 am.
The success when I’m on vacation is to sleep in as much as possible. In both cases, the main factor isn’t willpower. It’s the absence of decision-making. If you have to make a decision, you’re already putting yourself in a position where there’s a greater chance of failure because willpower is tiring.
There will be days when I throw the mantra, numbers and willpower in the garbage On some days you’re too overwhelmed, or just too tired. I find that I eat too much on those days. I rustle through the snack boxes; I dig up the cheese from the fridge; if there’s icecream I’ll probably have several helpings. Everyone is entitled to their little breakdown from time to time.
However, on most days, things go smoother simply because there’s a system in place. It’s not easy—which is why it’s almost always a struggle, but without a tiny system of this nature, all we end up doing is reading one more book, one more article on habits, and not getting things done.
Get yourself a mantra or a numerical benchmark. Try it. It’s worth the tiny effort.
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—Article Writing Self Study (Opening 25 May) How to create expertise through article writing
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3 “Slightly Boring” Ways To Create Metaphors For Your Articles (And How To Create The Element Of Surprise)
📅 May 18, 2024 | View in Gmail
Usually, it’s an everyday event—with a slight twist. What is the slight twist?
https://www.psychotactics.com/create-metaphors-articles/
While writing an article, a report or a book, you're more than likely to need a metaphor.
In fact, you may need at least a dozen. The problem with metaphors is that they’re usually very predictable.
How do you take a “boring method” and make a metaphor quite exciting?
Let’s find out how to create that element of surprise. Read online
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Three binge-worthy podcasts on 'article writing'
https://www.psychotactics.com/story-ending/
How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader’s Attention) Read online
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How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article Read online
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Why We Struggle With Writing Well (And How Your Brain Is Trying to Drive You Crazy) Read online
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https://www.psychotactics.com/create-metaphors-articles/
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Why You Have To Keep Writing Articles (Even if You Have Written Articles For 20 Years)
📅 May 14, 2024 | View in Gmail
Isn’t it better to recycle your articles instead of writing all the time?
Psychotactics
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Why You Have To Keep Writing Articles
(Even If You Have Written Articles For 20 Years)
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https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JSzJfK8df7Ett1&b=y3qYmkhTSLQk5QTMJpWIdg ). I often have clients who ask me why I keep writing. It’s been a while, they say. Why don’t you simply recycle your articles and send them out as newsletters? The question is so frequent, that I had to go back a bit, to when I first started writing. And why I still write today.
Here are the reasons:
- I started writing articles mainly to create a factor of expertise. Usually, when you read an article, report or book and find it interesting, you tend to want to read more. That writer becomes the person whose perspective, style or explanation you enjoy.
Let me give you an example: When I was in college, I often went to the movies. However, there were a lot of movies that other columnists recommended and weren’t to my liking. I probably missed out on others because I’d blown up the money on the “dud” movies.
At this point, I ran into a column by a movie critic. I found that his tastes and mine matched. It wasn’t that his choice was impeccable. It was just that we had quite a similar taste in movies. In my opinion, he was “my expert on movies”. If I took his advice, I’d have a great afternoon, which worked well for me.
It’s how many of us feel when we read, listen, or watch something. We decide we have our own “experts”, and we follow them, buy stuff from them, go to their events etc. I was completely unknown and not even known as a marketer.
I felt confident as a copywriter and cartoonist, yet marketing was still very much where I felt like an impostor.
I wanted to create a factor of expertise so that prospects who saw work would say, “Yes, I’d like to work with that person because he has a point of view that appeals to me. That’s my kind of expert”. But that’s only the primary reason. The second reason I figured out only a bit later.
- Talk is cheaper. Writing is hard. If someone interviews me on a topic, I can give an answer slightly all over the place, and it will still be considered a good answer. The questions, too, can be here, there and everywhere, and the interview would pass muster.
However, when writing an article, a rambling answer is not acceptable. There has to be structure—at the very least—even if there’s no great insight. Hence, article writing forces you to understand what makes writing so difficult and more accessible for some.
Writers who do well in life have had to learn their craft. Or they have been taught how to put their thoughts together coherently. However, that’s not the main reason to write. When you write, you take the ideas constantly floating around in your head and make them work on paper.
Many years ago, for instance, I was considering the idea of attraction and conversion. It struck me, at that point, that no one was paying attention to consumption.
What is consumption? Simply described, it’s like going to a restaurant. When you see the sign and the menu outside, that’s “attraction”. Then, when you sit down and order, that’s “conversion”.
However, let’s say you never eat the meal or just a tiny portion and leave almost all the rest. What are the chances that you’ll eat that meal again? Or even go back to the restaurant? Hence, the main reason we go back repeatedly is because we had a great experience. It makes us want to go back repeatedly.
It’s approximately the same principle that we use at Psychotactics. A course may cost a client $3000 or $4000. Their main goal isn’t to get more information. They want to gain a skill. They want to become good cartoonists, good writers, or outstanding at creating a sales page.
As a concept, the idea floats randomly in my brain. Writing it down allows me to think about it thoroughly. When something is in “print”, that’s when you see how it looks. It’s harder to write than to just think about something because writing needs coherence and structure. You need to think things through.
Without putting my thoughts on paper, I find ideas going forward, backwards, and even sideways. I write to clear my mind and to improve my structure.
This idea of putting things down doesn’t just apply to writing. I have written and drawn about 3500 watercolours that most people have never seen. I have taken close to 23,000 photos in the past two years, most of which have been done to improve how I see things.
You do it for yourself: to clear your brain, understand your ideas, and create a structure.
- The third reason I write is to stop my work from decaying. There was a time about ten years ago when I stopped writing. A week passed, two weeks, a month, two months, and three months crawled by. I’d look at my computer and couldn’t bring myself to write. You could say I wasn’t a good writer, or at least I thought so, which is why I stopped writing.
However, that’s not the case at all. I’m very competent at drawing cartoons, yet a few months can pass when I don’t feel like drawing. And it’s not just writers or artists, but everyone. Chefs don’t feel like cooking, and sportspeople lose their enthusiasm. It’s not for want of skill but because there’s a sense of decay.
When you stop, you don’t stand still. Instead, there is a feeling of going backwards. The first few attempts are clumsy when I finally start writing, drawing, cooking, etc. However, it’s the way out of the hole. The best method is to never get in the mess in the first place.
And here’s a story from 2003. I’d just started writing regularly, but it would take me two or three days to write a single article. I’d just started a membership site called 5000bc back then (and yes, it’s still going). One of the goals of creating the site was to answer clients’ questions on various marketing topics.
However, the secondary goal was to stop the feeling of decay that was already a bit overwhelming. The articles I wrote took me so long to complete, and I could only write two a month.
I decided I would write five articles a week in 5000bc. I’d gone from writing two articles a month to between 20-25 a month. I had to get creative and had to have a system.
I couldn’t be frivolous about how I went about writing. And then, in 2014, when we started the podcast, I had to take another leap. Usually, I wrote short articles which were about 800 words, but the podcast needed scripts that were 3000-5000 words in length. For two whole years, I struggled to get control of my writing so much. Yet, today, I can write a 3000-word article in a single morning.
Writing is something we all wish to have control over. We grow up wanting to speak, draw and write. Ignoring this basic need is something that gnaws at us as we move through life. It’s much better, instead, to learn to write and then write regularly.
P.S. Opening in 2 weeks! Article Writing Home Study
Learn why articles do a far superior job of attracting the clients that you want
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Announcing: How To Become An Expert (In Your Customer’s Eyes)
📅 May 11, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to write so that your clients actually read your articles above all that noise?
Article Writing Image
How do you become an expert in your customer’s eyes? How do you become the person the customer most wants to work with? How do you then increase prices 500% and still have customers wanting to work with you?
To understand how this unusual situation occurs, let me tell you a story I was a cartoonist by profession. Then one fine day, I decided to get into ‘marketing.’
Now tell me honestly Would you hire a cartoonist to show you how to attract customers? Would you hire a cartoonist to show you how to improve your website? Would you hire a cartoonist for anything—but—to draw cartoons?
Why would you? I wouldn’t.
And that was the uphill battle I faced: No one knew me as an expert. Now it didn’t matter how many times I looked in the mirror and called myself an expert.
I still wasn’t getting any respect, let alone pesos in the bank. And it drove me crazy.
But there’s always a way out of crazy-land So here’s what I did. I started writing articles. And it was painful writing those articles. I’d write one article after slaving over it for two days. And then sometimes after two days, I’d trash the article and start all over again.
Did I say there’s a way out of crazy-land? Well, it sure didn’t seem so, because this article-writing-jazz was driving me loco.
But here’s what I found too. That there were systems. And techniques. Techniques that enabled me to write faster. That enabled me to make an article almost like a movie. That enabled me to see a pattern as to which articles would go down the gurgler, and which articles would get lapped up by the readers.
That there were certain articles, when published, that got customers to my website in droves. I’d wake up, and suddenly there were fifty, or a hundred new subscribers.
Sometimes as many as two hundred or more.
And then as the weeks and months passed, I started getting calls Calls to help customers with their website (um, after I wrote a website-based article).
And then emails. To help customers to help them attract clients (um, again, it was an article that did the job).
You’re guessing what crossed my mind, eh? Not only were the articles pulling in customers to the Psychotactics website, but these customers were asking me to work with them.
Me, a cartoonist, work with them?
I have to say, I was scared out my wits. (For two whole years actually). But after two years of writing articles (and I just wrote about 20 articles in the first two years), even I began to see a trend.
I figured I could go nuts and cold-call Or I could sit at my computer and write an article. And have a customer call. (Ooh, I did like the sound of that phone ringing).
But you have to remember this was back in the year 2002-2004. Back then, the Internet was a bit of a novelty. People doled out their email addresses like peanuts. Today it’s not that easy to have two hundred people stream through your website. Which means that it’s not enough to just write an article.
There are squillions of articles on the Internet today And those articles are competing with audio. And video. And heck knows what else.
So the questions do cross your mind
- How do I write so that my clients actually read my articles above all that noise?
- How do I write, if I struggle to put a paragraph together?
- Is there a ticket out of crazy-land? Can I really become an expert in my client’s eyes?
There indeed is a ticket And if you’ve been putting off writing, because you think it’s hard, well, it’s time to get that ticket out of crazy-land.
Information (um, Article Writing) creates expertise Ask every author on Amazon.com Ask every top consultant. Ask every top trainer. And ask a cartoonist.
Free Goodies: Don’t take my word for it. Judge for yourself. Get some solid methods to write better articles at this link. Don’t wait. This link won’t stay up forever. :) Free Goodies: Article Writing
Sean P.S. The goodies are free.
P.P.S. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. The biggest frustration with writing is it drives you crazy. Yet writing is a “language” like everything else.
Learn the structure and you can learn to write without the frustration. Article Writing Self Study Details
(The limited-edition, self-study course will be available on 25 May 2024 to those on the waiting list).
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Last Day for Special Offer: (New!) Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On your Website + Special Bonus
📅 May 07, 2024 | View in Gmail
Do you often wonder if your home page, about us page or client acquisition page is working
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When you buy Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website from the 4 May to 7 May 2024 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.
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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 Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
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P.P.S. This special offer is only valid until 7 May 2024 (US Eastern). Have a look and make a decision based on what you read. Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
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Announcing (New!): How To Create Compelling Pages on Your Website + Special Bonus (Valued at $45)
📅 May 04, 2024 | View in Gmail
Special Bonus - ‘How To Maximise The Power Of Bonuses’ .
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Hi Seree
When you buy Website Components 2.0-How To Create Compelling Pages On Your Website from 4 May to 7 May 2024 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… Judge for yourself at: Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
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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: Website Component 2.0 Special Offer
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P.P.S. This special offer is only valid until 7 May 2024. Have a look and make a decision based on what you read.
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Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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April 2024
The Myth Of Poor Memory (And How To Overcome It Instantly)
📅 April 30, 2024 | View in Gmail
There were two kinds of people. Which one are you? Let’s find out.
Psychotactics
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The Myth Of Poor Memory
(And How To Overcome It Instantly)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
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(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
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Have you heard yourself saying: I’m not good with names! Almost everyone you run into is likely to say something similar. Is it because we’re bad with names and have terrible memories? Or is it a myth that we’ve been perpetuating? Let’s find out in this slightly odd view of memory. Imagine you entered a memory championship and you “accidentally” became the national champion.
In the book, “Walking with Einstein”, author Joshua Foer takes on a roller coaster of a journey. He’s keen to know more about the memory championships as he’s writing a book on the topic.
He doesn’t see himself as being good with memory. He is the first to admit that he forgets many things, including where he keeps his keys (not skis) and his sister’s birthday.
However, during the course of his research, he gets access to many of the top champions. He learns memory techniques, and much to his surprise, he gets the top prize.
When we relate this kind of story, we encounter two kinds of people.
The first kind of person says, “I don’t want to become a memory champion, but I will become a champion of memory in my personal life. Hence when I meet somebody new today, I will remember their name.
It’s not ‘try to remember the name’. They decide that they are ‘going to remember’ the names.
Once you decide that you’ll have a better memory, your brain decides to play along. If you tell your brain all day long that you cannot remember names, your brain agrees and says, “You cannot remember names.”
It doesn’t even try.
What about the situation when it does try?
Most of us grew up remembering phone numbers. I knew dozens of phone numbers when I was a kid. My home number, my father’s office number but also Renuka’s number, because I had to call her a lot.
However, today I can’t remember a single number.
I can give you my mobile number, but that’s it. However, even if you held me over the Victoria Falls and threatened to drop me, I couldn’t tell you Renuka’s number. On the other hand, she has been giving my number to every hairdresser, vendor, etc., so she sure knows my number.
Though for a while, she didn’t know her own number (she does now).
When we look around us, we notice that memory has nothing to do with being young. All the young people in your life may know their own number, but have no recollection of any other number. With no need to remember any details, the brain just chooses to never pay attention in the first place.
But if you do want to remember, then there’s a way.
Memory is merely a function of relating something to another thing.
I went to a curtain company the other day, to take photographs. The first two people I met were Aaron and Sergei (from Ukraine).
Then Hilda came downstairs, and I knew because I asked her her name. The person who introduced us to the team is the company owner, and his name is John. I then met with the guy who was going to put the curtains in our house, and his name was Simon.
I had earlier met with Riley and Beau. As I went through the company, I was also introduced to Michelle (who has been working for 30 years), and then when I went upstairs, there were Olivia, Rani, and Rekha.
That was not a feat of memory.
That is just me telling myself that I have to remember; therefore, I have to work out some system to remember things. The people who don’t remember something either have some sort of brain defect or choose not to remember. There’s also a good chance that they don’t have any system for retention.
They choose to let the information pass by.
I know “letting the information pass by” sounds blasé, but that’s how it is.
We know this to be true because you can remember the names of your cousins, friends, parents, relatives, teachers, presidents, dictators and anybody you choose to remember. Someone like Putin may have zero relevance in your life, but you know his first and last name.
The ones that you choose not to remember slip away almost immediately.
The same concept applies to any learning you do, but there’s a big difference.
Usually, when you’re learning, you have too much to cope with all at once. Depending on the complexity, you could take weeks or months to get the information into permanent memory. If there is too much information, your brain skips over the details, and you wonder how you forgot it.
You then place yourself in a box: it’s called: “people with a bad memory”.
The reality is that your brain did not assimilate that information in the first place. That’s not a memory problem but an assimilation problem.
It’s because we get several waves of information in any presentation or even in a tiny article. Not remembering all the information is not a memory issue at all. All audio, video and text are designed to give you information, and there’s no way of knowing how much of that information will drop out.
Let’s take an example.
I was watching a TED Talk about how to get rid of pain. I don’t remember all the details, even though she was a wonderful communicator.
I can remember all the names of the people at the curtain company but I don’t know the name of the presenter. I don’t even remember any of the graphics, though I do remember her story of being on a plane and having a beer and a vibrator
But her main goal was to get “one point” across—which is what she did.
That “one point” was that there is a way to get rid of pain without medication. That’s the part of the information I recall. Somewhere down the line, if I need the details, I can search for the TED talk and then assimilate the information. It then becomes part of my permanent memory.
And that—that’s memory in a nutshell.
P.S. You may not remember it, but I said there were two kinds of people. The first is the one who says they were “not born with a good memory”. Those people cannot be helped. There’s nothing wrong with them, but they choose to believe what they believe. The second kind is someone who relishes a challenge and makes tiny steps to overcome their “so-called memory problem”.
I know who I’d rather be.
Announcing: The key to writing articles is clarity
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What’s so special about 5000bc: Psychotactics Membership Community I’ve pretty much stopped following all other business marketing and strategy mentors. 5000bc is where I feel I’m going to get the answers I need, personally. Come join us in 5000bc. We are a friendly bunch of caring people.
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Interested in article writing? Have a look at:
1) How to Use " 3 Transition Techniques" to Keep the Reader Locked into Your Article
Rea
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- U-turns: Why Almost Every Article Needs One To Create Drama Read online
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Announcing! How To Become An Expert In Your Industry
📅 April 27, 2024 | View in Gmail
The Biggest Frustration with writing is it Drives you Crazy. Yet writing is a “language”.
Article Writing Goodies
Imagine you had a fairy godmother.
And she gave you one wish: The wish of ‘perceived expertise’. This ‘perceived expertise’, means that your customers would look at you and say: “There goes the expert in the field. I only want to work with her/him.”
I had such a godmother. And I got a wish from that fairy godmother in the year 2002. You see I’d just started up my consultancy in marketing I’d moved from India to New Zealand. No one knew me in these parts. No one knew if I was good at what I did. Or just plain useless. And what was worse, was I wasn’t quite sure either.
Then one day, that fairy godmother whizzed into the room “Write articles,” she said. “Write articles?” I echoed. “What good are articles going to do for me?” I thought condescendingly.
But as fairy godmothers go, they can read your thoughts And so there I was, um, writing articles. And remember, I didn’t even know my subject well enough. To me, marketing was a whole new world.
But then something magical happened. Something I just didn’t expect. When I sat down to write, I started to get ideas. Ideas that I didn’t know existed in my head. And as I read more books (both business and non-business books), I got even more ideas.
When I put those ideas on my website, and put up a little ‘Subscribe’ link right at the very bottom—I started getting subscribers.
I wasn’t even selling anything online (or offline for that matter) And there I was..ahem…building an audience. An audience that wanted to listen what I had to say. An audience that went from just friends and family, to a chunky hundred people. Then a thousand. And it kept growing.
I wasn’t doing any advertising No publicity. Heck, I barely knew how to do my own marketing. Yet these articles were like a magnet. They pulled people from every part of the world to my…um…pretty crappy website (you should have seen it in the year 2002). And offline, I was starting to get inquiries too.
“Can you give us some advice on these marketing matters?” they said “Can you train our staff?” they said. Can you do this, and can you do that. And on and on it went. But articles were hard work for me It would take me two days to write a single article. And I’d curse and struggle. And to write one article a month was a big achievement for me.
But hey, I did have a fairy godmother And fairy godmothers grant wishes, so I took her up on the wish. “Make me write great articles that captivate. And show me how to write them at high speed (so I don’t have to spend two days over a single article)” I said to her. “Article writing is about structure”, she said “Structure and drama,” she continued. “Structure and drama and the ‘next step’,” she crescendoed. “Drama pulls you in. Structure keeps you there. And then the next action gets your client to move to the next step.” And just like that I learned how to write articles. And now it’s your turn.
Will you let me be your fairy um…godmother? Do you want to learn how to spot drama? Learn how to spot structure? And understand how to use the power of the next step? Well, ask and you shall receive. But hey, there are no magic wands here. You’ve actually got to go to the link below. And there you’ll be taken to a page with instructions. Instructions on how to get some free goodies. Goodies to drama, structure, and the next step.
So, tah-dah, here’s the link: Free Goodies: Article Writing
See you on the other side! :) Sean P.S. The goodies are free.
P.P.S. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. The biggest frustration with writing is it drives you crazy. Yet writing is a “language” like everything else. Learn the structure and you can learn to write without the frustration. Find out more: Article Writing Self Study Details
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing! The End of Writer’s Block (The Easy Way)
📅 April 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
Writer’s Block is no Longer a reality. In fact the opposite is true.
Fun Cartoon here
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
When I first started writing, I had what you'd call "bad days"
Actually they were worse than bad. They were foul days. These foul days were my “article writing days”.
I’d start off cheerily enough I’d be inspired to write an article and would begin. And then something would happen—I’m not sure what. But it would bog me down. It would frustrate me, make me mad. I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I’d write draft after draft of the article. And two days later, after much agony, I’d get an article done—if it did get done. • Many of my articles just went into an article graveyard. • Most were half done. Or almost finished. But never quite done. And then one day I realised what I was doing wrong. And the moment that realisation hit me, my output just exploded.
It wasn’t even a magic trick It was something I’d known about for the longest time, but was resisting like crazy. But that was a turning point and I’ve never looked back.
Writer’s Block is no longer a reality In fact the opposite is true. So many articles, so little time.
So how do you get over your “Writer’s Block” forever? Find out for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
Warm regards Sean P.S. This is what Helen Dillon from Scotland has to say:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"The one big thing for me was the idea that outlining (an extra step) can actually save you time in the long run..."
Because it helps to keep you focused on what it is you are trying to get across--and not go meandering off on some other (perhaps equally useful, but tangential) topic.
Also I can now see why articles that I've written have worked and haven't worked, before I couldn't really put my finger on it.
The thing I really like about Sean's work is that he doesn't just tell you what to do, but goes into specifics about how to do it, in a systematic way.
That's rare, in my experience of online courses.
Helen Dillon
Scotland
Judge for yourself:
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
Image
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"It never seemed like I needed outlining since I could write right off the top of my head.
So, as a result, I avoided this product for a while, thinking it was for people who really had a hard time writing and not for people like me who write quite a bit."
I found out that I was very wrong when it came to outlining.
Even when I am suffering from writer's block, having a topic and creating its outline helps me overcome it. By implementing this simple task of outlining, my content has improved where my YouTube viewers are impressed with how I convey my content and answer the questions in their heads.
Anyways, I ignored outlining for years due to ignorance and I wish I had this skill when I started to create content.
Bulcha Dolal
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Judge for yourself:
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-outlining
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Announcing: How To Speed Up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
📅 April 20, 2024 | View in Gmail
Do you often Hit a Wall Called ‘Writers Block’? Have you heard about “talker’s block”?
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
Imagine you’re looking for both an improvement in the quality of your articles—and the quantity.
What would you do? You’d sit down to write, wouldn’t you?
And that is not what most professionals do. Professional writers are like great chefs. Chefs do the prep work long before they cook. And so it is with writers. If you want to ramp up your start-to-finish time significantly, this book will show you what you need to do.
It’s short; it’s sweet And it teaches you a massively practical skill in a compressed amount of time. It’s a bit like the missing link nobody tells you about. And it enables you to write workable outlines that are clear and also will allow you to write content for articles or posts on your blog. • In short, you get a precise structure. • No more slow, tedious writing.
An article is not an article is not an article Understanding how to speed up your article writing is important. There are several core elements to writing. Come with me on a journey. I think you’ll like it a lot. It’s the starting point to an incredible journey.
Have a look and judge for yourself: How To Speed Up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
Warm regards Sean P.S. This is what Felicia Gopaul from California has to say:
Image
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
"I couldn't stand the thought of outlining when I first heard it."
"I'd been writing just fine for years without an outline. I had spoken without an outline. I had developed presentations without an outline. What could Sean possibly tell me that I didn't already know about outlining.
Earlier this week, when I was struggling with yet another presentation, I reread the book and realized that I needed to re-outline the presentation. Doing so, I recognized that some "bloat" had crept into my presentation and I was able to cut it and finish the presentation.
I've become an outlining fiend.
By outlining first, I know where I am going with my projects which means that I am able to finish them much more quickly than before.
I find, I have far fewer projects that don't get completed because with outlining, I know where the projects start and end so it's much easier to connect the dots. And finally, I have greater confidence that my project will get the positive response I want when I outline them first.
Other benefits:
I was able to outline a book I've been wanting to write in half an hour. I was also able to put together a 10 week course and the various sub-topics in about an hour. Both projects were ideas that I've been thinking about for several years.
Even better, I was able to start and complete significant parts of both projects already. And even though I can't work on these projects everyday, with the outline I can easily pick up to where I left off."
Felicia Gopaul
California, USA
Judge for yourself: How To Speed Up Article Writing (The Easy Way)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/learn-how-to-speed-up-article-writing-with-simple-outlines/
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Why Lack of Depth in Article Writing Drives Us All Crazy
📅 April 16, 2024 | View in Gmail
To write well, you can’t stay at the top level of articles—you have to go deep.
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-writing-depth/
Why Lack Of Depth In Article Writing Drives Us All Crazy
Fun Cartoon here
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-writing-depth/
(You can read this short article on the website as well)
https://www.psychotactics.com/article-writing-depth/
In the year 2003, I did something incredibly silly.
I started a membership site called 5000bc. And one of the first announcements I made on 5000bc was to tell the clients I’d write five articles a week.
There was just one problem
I had been struggling to write even a single article a week. At the time, we were sending out the Psychotactics Newsletter just twice a month, and it would take a bit of head-banging to get two articles out of the door.
Nonetheless, I made the promise of five articles a week based on my experience as a cartoonist. You see, before I became a marketer, I was a cartoonist and one of my specialties was drawing comic strips—kinda like Calvin and Hobbes.
For months, I’d been badgering the editors of two newspapers to run my comic strips
They mostly ignored me—and one day they didn’t. Almost like a conspiracy, both the newspapers agreed to run the comic strips. Now I had to do two separate comic strips, five days a week—that’s a whopping ten comic strips a week.
I thought I was going to be in a lot of trouble
But I wasn’t. I found the experience to be quite the opposite. When I needed to draw a cartoon now and then, I’d struggle like crazy. The moment I had this punishing routine, I found ideas popping out of almost everywhere.
Which is about the same experience I had in 5000bc (yes, the membership site). I found writing an article a day sped up my writing like crazy. Since I had no option and made this crazy promise, I had to work out a system to write—and write well.
To write well, you can’t stay at the top level of articles—you have to go deep
Think about it for a while. Let’s say you’re writing on the topic of “triggers in marketing”. That’s a pretty top-level topic. If you jump onto any search engine and look up triggers, you’ll get some mundane “3-steps to create triggers” or something just as pathetic. That’s because top-level writing is well, pretty vague.
It’s when you go down a level, possibly two levels that you start to see the magic.
But go down a few levels and you get the following:
• How to make a trigger memorable—for ten years or more • Why the lack of specifics keeps your trigger vague—and boring • How to use the power of contrast to create mind-blowing trigger statements
Article writing—exquisite article writing—it’s about depth
Taking a topic and heading way down into cave-land. That’s when you realise you can write articles about topics no one has ever thought of—ever dreamt of. You’re so excited about writing articles that you can’t help yourself. Five articles a week—just five articles a week—it seems insane to restrict yourself to creating so little information.
And your client says wow—just wow!
Most clients run into reams of inane writing. Writing that’s top level, boring stuff that ends up being filler material instead of rocking your world. When you head deep into these sub-topics, the client wants to read more. And let’s test this out right now—shall we?
You don’t even get to read the articles. You just look at the headlines and tell me if you didn’t feel the urge to read the articles.
Let’s roll the headlines: • Why Cartoonists Force-Fit Thoughts (And Why You Should Start Using Their Techniques for Article-Writing) • How To Write The “First 50 Words” Incredibly Quickly (Using The Newspaper Method) • How Do You Know If Your Outline Has The Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome? • Why We Struggle To Write Articles: The Myth of Unique Content • When Outlines Behave Like Cats: How To Keep An Outline From Going Off At A Tangent • Will it Bloat?: How the Outlines Gives Us Clues About The Length of Our Articles
Now article writing is not all about the topic—or sub-sub-sub-topic
Sure you’ve got to learn about structure.
You need to learn how to quickly write the opening paragraphs, in a way that evokes a ton of drama.
Connecting lines and sentences, so they flow into each other; creating contrast—these are all crucial to being able to turn out articles of high quality. Having all these skills is what distinguishes great content creators from the run of the mill stuff, is depth.
I had no choice back in 2003 when I announced that I’d write five articles a week. I had no choice back in 1995 either—when I was tossed into a series of daily comic strips.
And you too need to put yourself in that position of no choice.
You too can write over three hundred articles—outstanding articles a year without driving yourself crazy. To succeed, you must learn the craft of article writing (and yes, it is a craft, and very learnable).
And then, you must go deep. Very, very deep. So that you have a blast writing—and your clients—they love you for it!
Next step Here are 5 Free Goodies that will give you solid methods to write better articles.
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Product Offers: Links you should visit
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/under-50/
Top-Selling Products Under $50
The Brain Audit (available as an ebook, audio, actual book and workshop) 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/
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/
DartBoard Pricing How to systematically increase prices without losing customers
http://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
What’s so special about 5000bc: Psychotactics Membership Community I’ve pretty much stopped following all other business marketing and strategy mentors. 5000bc is where I feel I’m going to get the answers I need, personally. Come join us in 5000bc. We are a friendly bunch of caring people.
Free Goodies: Writer's Block (4 part series)
4) How a Lack of Energy, Not Time, Causes Writers to Stall and Crash
Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/energy-management-writing/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6kETqJHbdvIA2kysOkwp1J |
- Why Discussion and Feedback Are A Writer’s Secret Weapon Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/discussion-feedback-secret-weapon/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1XykmYYzqcD7xOpUCk3ncS |
2)Why Cross Pollination of Ideas, Media and Styles Are Crucial (And Avoid Shutdowns When Writing) Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/writers-block-crucial-elements/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nJRMe6nFK2zu2YfOV2b0g |
1)Why Lack of Outlines Even Stop Professional Writers In Their Tracks Read
https://www.psychotactics.com/writers-block/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1pVegBuLy6MYNto6PaU31W
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The Art Of Praising Someone (How To Give Genuine Praise)
📅 April 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
The opposite of praise doesn’t have to be criticism. So what should you say?
https://www.psychotactics.com/art-praising/
We all want to praise others, but sometimes, it seems extremely difficult to do so.
This is why we often resort to something like “great job” or “that’s cool. And Facebook has trained us to just “like” everything which means that the person you’re praising rarely feels the impact of that praise.
Let’s look at how to go about praising someone, and especially how to give praise when you don’t have much to say. Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/art-praising/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1s27lPGdlMyYvtihmUtxiw?si=JJ6u64DLThm2iQOGTU8hkw | Google Podcast
Two binge-worthy podcasts on 'life'
1) The Second Best Way To Get Yourself Out Of A Rut
Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/get-out-rut/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gLOl36qzGyT7jdEj9csbq?si=oUAtCsROQVadteFFRRQBHQ | Google Podcast
- Why “A Walk In The Forest” Reinvigorates Our Busy, Stressful Lives Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/recharge-energy/ | Apple
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1d37TTZib1OGfut5vj2M0f?si=Lv8oaLGjS0KuT_OI57s9OA | Google Podcast
https://www.psychotactics.com/art-praising/
Warm regards Sean P.S. Thank you for being a subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed listening to or reading this article, please consider sending it or recommending it to a few friends. You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp Group, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn or even forward this email.
The Art Of Praising Someone (How To Give Genuine Praise) Read online
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How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader’s Attention)
📅 April 09, 2024 | View in Gmail
Here are three ways to get your client’s attention.
Psychotactics
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=k8a8NIXRhMs5Y9_IaH6jrQ
How To Write The First Line Of An Article (And Instantly Get The Reader's Attention)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=JCKjvYY3AE2nqfljGXRLGg
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=JCKjvYY3AE2nqfljGXRLGg | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=.9IUKLl5oXGsomUSiio1Bg | Spotify
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https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=jXpP4uy77b34vgAIxLtXPQ ). How does a fairy tale end? Usually, it ends with “happily ever after”. And how does it begin? Once again, it’s predictable. It’s “Once upon a time”. However, you don’t need to start with “once upon a time”.
And there is no doubt that endings are needed for stories, but they’re almost always irrelevant when you’re using a story for an article. The story is there to make a point, not end with “happily ever after”.
You can start wherever you wish, as long as it’s connected to the story.
Here are three ways to start a story for your article. 1- Pull out a line from the “middle of the story” 2- A question 3- Curiosity that’s created by contrast.
1- Pull out a line from the “middle of the story” When you write a story, it starts to gain momentum as the story gets to the stuck moment. This means that you can tell which lines are more interesting or surprising than the next in your outline itself.
• Mum met a cousin at a wedding. • He was a distant cousin, and they chatted for a while. • She casually mentioned that he should come over sometime. • For a while, he didn’t show up. • Then, out of the blue, he knocked on the door one evening at around tea time. • My mother brought out the tea, possibly some biscuits or even some snacks. • They chatted for a while, and then he left about an hour later. • The next day, he showed up again. • Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday—he keeps showing up. • My mother was distraught. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she had work to do, and we had homework. • We tried pretending we were not home. He’d still come back the next day. • Then he stopped coming over, and we were happy. • But once again, he started showing up with intense regularity.
See the points where there’s some sort of tension? That’s your cue for what you can pull out—or just refashion—and put at the top of your story. In many, if not most, situations, you’ll need to tweak it just a little bit to sit nicely at the top.
However, you rarely need to think up something new because the first line is already embedded in your story.
Hence, here are some first lines from the “middle”: • My mother invited her cousin just once for tea. Instead, he started showing up every day. • When we were young, we hid from mum’s cousin. She hid from him as well. • My mum’s cousin was a welcome visitor—until he became a royal pest.
Let’s look at a non-personal story instead. • In 1816, spring was typical, and people in Europe and the US awaited the warmth of summer. • However, June, July and August brought in extremely high snowfalls. • The snow refused to melt between April and September. • The rain continued almost non-stop with 130 days of a downpour. • The people at the time were sure it was a God striking them down for their sinful ways. • However, the reality is that a volcano called Mt.Tambora was the reason for all of this chaos. • The explosion was ten times greater than most known volcanoes. • As a result, it spewed sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. • The ash cloud drifted across the globe to the north and blocked out the sun’s rays. The entire Northern hemisphere was battered by snow, rain and extreme cold.
Once again, here are some first lines from the “middle”: In 1815, a volcano erupted in Indonesia and caused the northern hemisphere to have endless snow in summer. In 1816, instead of sunny weather, Europe was drenched with 130 days of cold rain.
However, we could also ask a question.
2: Asking a question
If we were to take the same examples as above, the fastest way is to evoke some curiosity. This curiosity can be achieved in many ways, but the question is the handiest of them all.
In the story of my mum’s pesky cousin • Would you hide from a relative who was coming to see you? • How often does someone need to come over before you consider them a pest? • How do you tell someone to buzz off without hurting their feelings?
In the story of “The Year Without a Summer.” • Did you know that in the year 1816, Europe had no summer? • Can an extremely massive eruption cancel out summer for an entire continent? And finally, the curiosity that’s created by contrast.
- Curiosity created by contrast
What’s contrast? Well, the simplest form would be the “opposite”. What’s the opposite of tidy? Well, what’s the opposite of interesting? You know the answers, yet they act as a form of curiosity when you put them together in a single line.
In the story of my mum’s pesky cousin • Mum’s cousin was invited for a cup of coffee at first. But soon, we began to pretend we weren’t home. • My mum’s cousin was lonely and needed someone to talk to. Frankly, we didn’t give a damn. • Tea time is for relaxing, but it was the most tense part of the day for us.
In the story of “The Year Without a Summer.” • In 1916, summer was late in coming. It didn’t show up until 1917. • In 1916, an eruption in Indonesia was ten times stronger than any known eruption. Yet, the most damage it did was tens of thousands of miles away. • Summer usually brings 130 days of sunny days. But what if you had 130 days of cold rain instead?
And that’s how you go about writing the first line of your article with a story.
Epilogue: Once upon a time, we’d start the story like a fairy tale. Now we know better, don’t we? The most important next step is NOT to try all three methods. Instead, use one method for a few weeks until you get used to it. Then add the second method, and finally the third. The use of all three will give your articles variety while also getting the readers attention.
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Free Goodies
1)5 Free Goodies that will help give you solid methods to write better articles
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=I1uOiRJx2Qb0cwEObK3RmQ
- Can you create expertise through article writing? Here is a mini-booklet that helps you quickly improve your article-writing.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=I1uOiRJx2Qb0cwEObK3RmQ
- The five stages to making your product sell time and time again Find out why you need to avoid greed.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=GrUk7jmcw2BvtGSJVgax7A
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The Brain Audit is definitely a book I have recommended and will continue to encourage others to read. Why? Two advantages: First – its principles are simple but profound because they work. Second – it’s packaged in a way that can be replicated so that no one has to reinvent the wheel. The Brain Audit book concepts are practical since there are things to implement right away.
Karen Williams, USA Find out how you can market in a way that is respectful to your customers, yet powerfully compelling.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=sYCl6hT8xIUR9zWCD.MMvw
(P.S. Available in different formats— Audio, ebook, physical signed book and workshop. If you have already bought the Brain Audit, email me for details on The Brain Audit 7 Series.)
Testimonial Secrets How to get meaningful testimonials, without needing to ‘bribe anyone’ for it.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JqrzAryDj7Ett1&b=DYQOt2vdg1Xjf6rvNw3lpg
DartBoard Pricing How to systematically increase prices without losing customers
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Announcing: Psychotactics Storytelling Course—And Why One Author Sold 28 Million Books
📅 April 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
Sidestep the guesswork. Learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=K1feZkART7Ett1&b=7zE01hGRiQR4jWFx3Tm0jQ
Author Yuval Noah Harari has sold 28 million copies of his book—and other historians are mad at him.
So many historians expressed their annoyance and even frustration at the book. They said: The author hasn’t written anything new. Everything in the book has already been written hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
What they failed to realise is that readers were just waiting for a better story. When Yuval Noah Harari presented the book “Sapiens” to the world, people took it and recommended it because they understood the story more viscerally. The historical explanations were tiresome in the past, sending readers into a coma.
What Harari did so masterfully was to tell a better story.
What is a better story? Every story needs a starting line—something that captures the reader’s attention. From there on, the story almost seems to fall down a staircase. It goes bumpity-bump, bumpity-bump, almost unable to stop the tumble. It is this tumbling down the stairs that creates the drama.
A better story exists in two primary forms. There are stories in the public domain—stories about Alexander the Great, how coffee mugs were invented, or maybe just how the Himalayas were formed. Admittedly, those stories have been told repeatedly, but not with as much drama.
Learning how to refashion a story that has been told thousands or even millions of times before is the true art of storytelling.
There is another kind of story that we also need to tell. And these are stories that involve your life. Most of us incorrectly believe that our stories are boring. This isn’t likely to be the case because you are always keen to tell your story when somebody else is telling their story!
Hence, the story itself is not boring. It is the way you express your story that makes a difference. You have to move things around and have a structure to follow, and then there’s always that sense of timing. It’s a bit like juggling, but that’s what you need to learn to consistently tell a better story.
There are, of course, some scary issues that always seem to arise. —We aren’t sure which story structures to use and must rely on our intuition. —We don’t even know how the elements of a story play out. —How do you line up everything so the story feels fluid and enjoyable? —We are often unsure how to keep people engaged or completely riveted to our stories.
Well, it’s time to sidestep the guesswork. You, too, can learn and tell the story that always hits the hot button.
Like any other Psychotactics course, this storytelling course is meant to teach you the skill. This means that by the end of the course, you won’t just be stuck with information but will be able to find and tell unique stories. Better still, you’ll know precisely when things are going wrong and fix them instantly!
Instead of guesswork, you can analyse why some stories are better than others and ensure you consistently have a good story. Here are the details on how to get on the waiting list.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=K1feZkART7Ett1&b=7zE01hGRiQR4jWFx3Tm0jQ
Warm regards Sean P.S. Also, once you master this skill, you will be able to use it to create stories when writing articles, podcast scripts, speeches, presentations, and videos. The skill also comes in handy when writing a report or a book.
P.P.S. Booking open on 13 April for those on the waiting list. It’s time to sidestep the guesswork and learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot button.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=K1feZkART7Ett1&b=7zE01hGRiQR4jWFx3Tm0jQ
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: Psychotactics Storytelling Course—And Why One Author Sold 28 Million Books
📅 April 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
Sidestep the guesswork. Learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=IxrKUhLpiDitt1&b=J45k9p3p8e5pFnr6FJuZUw
Author Yuval Noah Harari has sold 28 million copies of his book—and other historians are mad at him.
So many historians expressed their annoyance and even frustration at the book. They said: The author hasn’t written anything new. Everything in the book has already been written hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
What they failed to realise is that readers were just waiting for a better story. When Yuval Noah Harari presented the book “Sapiens” to the world, people took it and recommended it because they understood the story more viscerally. The historical explanations were tiresome in the past, sending readers into a coma.
What Harari did so masterfully was to tell a better story.
What is a better story? Every story needs a starting line—something that captures the reader’s attention. From there on, the story almost seems to fall down a staircase. It goes bumpity-bump, bumpity-bump, almost unable to stop the tumble. It is this tumbling down the stairs that creates the drama.
A better story exists in two primary forms. There are stories in the public domain—stories about Alexander the Great, how coffee mugs were invented, or maybe just how the Himalayas were formed. Admittedly, those stories have been told repeatedly, but not with as much drama.
Learning how to refashion a story that has been told thousands or even millions of times before is the true art of storytelling.
There is another kind of story that we also need to tell. And these are stories that involve your life. Most of us incorrectly believe that our stories are boring. This isn’t likely to be the case because you are always keen to tell your story when somebody else is telling their story!
Hence, the story itself is not boring. It is the way you express your story that makes a difference. You have to move things around and have a structure to follow, and then there’s always that sense of timing. It’s a bit like juggling, but that’s what you need to learn to consistently tell a better story.
There are, of course, some scary issues that always seem to arise. —We aren’t sure which story structures to use and must rely on our intuition. —We don’t even know how the elements of a story play out. —How do you line up everything so the story feels fluid and enjoyable? —We are often unsure how to keep people engaged or completely riveted to our stories.
Well, it’s time to sidestep the guesswork. You, too, can learn and tell the story that always hits the hot button.
Like any other Psychotactics course, this storytelling course is meant to teach you the skill. This means that by the end of the course, you won’t just be stuck with information but will be able to find and tell unique stories. Better still, you’ll know precisely when things are going wrong and fix them instantly!
Instead of guesswork, you can analyse why some stories are better than others and ensure you consistently have a good story. You are already on the waiting list, so you don’t have to sign-up again. I will send you more information on 13 April. You can read the testimonial here.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=IxrKUhLpiDitt1&b=J45k9p3p8e5pFnr6FJuZUw
Warm regards Sean P.S. Also, once you master this skill, you will be able to use it to create stories when writing articles, podcast scripts, speeches, presentations, and videos. The skill also comes in handy when writing a report or a book.
P.P.S. Booking open on 13 April for those on the waiting list. It’s time to sidestep the guesswork and learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot button.
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=IxrKUhLpiDitt1&b=J45k9p3p8e5pFnr6FJuZUw
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing! How To Speed Up your Sales with Client Attractors
📅 April 02, 2024 | View in Gmail
What happens once your customer goes past the Headline into the rest of the copy?
Client Attractors Book
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
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?
The remaining 20% is what causes customers to buy...
• In order to take customers to the next stage, you have to have a rock-solid system to help structure your sales page.
• You have to know and understand the elements so that customers respond to your offer.
So isn't it time to find out what the remaining 20% is all about?
And how you can quickly learn and implement that 20% to improve results.
Find out more details at this page and judge for yourself!
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Warm regards,
Sean
P.S. The bonus on this product is really worth having. It will really give you an insight into sales pages like never before.
Check out the bonus :)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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March 2024
Announcement: Why Skimming Sales Pages Are a Problem (And How To Make it Work To Your Advantage)
📅 March 31, 2024 | View in Gmail
We are in an extremely tough market with lots of competition.
Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
I'm pretty sure you've heard the poem, "I am a teapot".
It’s pretty short—and has just four lines. It goes like this: I am a teapot, short and stout. This is my handle; this is my spout. When the water boils, hear my shout. Lift me up and pour me out.
Now let’s say you’re in the market for buying a teapot
Most of us would simply run into the features.
- Fat and stout
- Handle and spout
- Notification mechanism
- Pouring ability.
That’s not enough to get clients interested. Instead, what’s needed are features and benefits.
- Fat and stout: Retains heat at 60-80% for over 30 minutes.
- Handle: Stays cool even as the main teapot stays hot.
- Spout: No drippy-irritating, runny spout. The pouring ability is flawless every time.
- Shout: Loud notification mechanism to save needless boiling and energy wastage.
The teapot hasn’t changed, but how you approach the sales page has made a huge difference.
And all of this information is buried in the features and benefits—as well as the bullets. When the client skims—and we all do—they stop at a certain point. This specific point on the sales page is often where we decide to buy or just move on. Yes, the headline is essential, and so is the main problem.
However, when the client hits the brakes, you want to showcase your product or service in the most compelling manner.
The teapot is a simple example, but you can create as many as 30-60 features and benefits for many products and services. What’s better is that you can make every one of them as powerful as the headline on your page.
Find out more details at this page and judge for yourself! (But read the testimonials below as well, before you click)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
Warm regards, Sean P.S. The bonus on this product is really worth having. It will really give you an insight into sales pages like never before. Check out the bonus :)
https://psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
P.P.S. Here is what people say about Client Attractors.
About Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
"We are in an extremely tough market with lots of competition and the information helped us see how our product is different than all the rest."
I didn’t really read the whole book yet because I was stopped in my tracks with the features and benefits part because that’s what I was interested in most.
We just went online with a new product and frankly was struggling with the whole features versus benefits thing. The information provided was very insightful and in fact helped me see that our product actually works in three ways and not two (among others)!
We are in an extremely tough market with lots of competition and the information helped us see how our product is different than all the rest. The features and benefits we came up with are now going to the basis for other advertising handouts, all because of your book!
While reading and figuring out our features, our enthusiasm just blossomed.
It also brought home the whole “how are we different than the competition” in all of our minds. We knew it on a gut level but when compared to others, we could very clearly see how our product just really stands out.
I would highly recommend Client Attractors because it makes you see what your offerings are in a totally new and helpful way.
If only I had read the book earlier. Was interviewed briefly on a radio show about our product. Had I known, what I know now, the interview would have been able to detail why our product is so different in a way folks could really understand. It could have been the bright spot, in what was really a terrible interview.
Sue Elliott, USA Judge for yourself: Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
The biggest benefit was the formula to create truly attention grabbing bullets. I tried it, and it worked.
After reading a few copywriting books, I wondered what else you could possibly teach about writing copy that focuses on benefits and features. It turns out you were able to not only teach me new things but in a way that made intuitive sense. I truly appreciated how you broke down the process of writing both benefits and bullets into a formulaic process. It truly takes someone with exceptional skill and knowledge to simplify and teach in a way that enables you to immediately grasp core concepts. Ankur Shah, UAE
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
A small business is very stingy with its own budget, and I always have this mentality of "I could learn stuff first-hand by myself".
I started implementing Sean’s system, and I felt like I had hit a jackpot. Not only did the audience remember all the major features (that I selected), but the interaction increased dramatically. Marlon Cruz, New Zealand Judge for yourself: Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Why Do Clients Sign Up? Understanding The Core Motivations That Attracts Clients
📅 March 26, 2024 | View in Gmail
We tend to look for super-glitzy concepts to improve our business, but in reality..
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
Why Do Clients Sign Up? Understanding The Core Motivations That Attracts Clients
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/clients-sign-up/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/clients-sign-up/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gjOCzXts5pBDEve1CzOHZ?si=xHUvd28TTEaFzfXm2LaDBA | Google Podcast
Have you ever wondered why people keep buying recipe books?
Your grandma had a dozen books, so did your parents, and now, even if you’re not such a good cook, you’re likely to have a few around the house. There are tens of thousands of recipes in blogs and on YouTube.
Even so, there’s when yet another recipe book comes out, and there’s still a market for it. Why is this the case? The reason is more straightforward than you’d expect because this factor of recipe books doesn’t just apply to food.
If you’ve tried to learn a language, you’re likely to have gone to a live course, bought several apps and some home study versions of the language. When the next “wonder language program” comes out, you’ll still want to try it out.
And all of these purchases of books, courses and training don’t just apply to beginners. An experienced writer, for example, will evaluate and possibly buy a new writing course or go to a writing event.
Why is this the case, and how do you use this information to make your sales page better?
The things that people want haven’t changed.
That’s why they still buy recipe books. Or do art courses. Or learn article writing.
And it’s the same with topics. People want to achieve what you want to achieve. Not something dramatically different. They just want to achieve it in a easier or more fun way and gets a precise result.
• Precise result • More fun • Easier
Let’s examine each of these in a little more detail, shall we?
- Precise result
Back in 1995, I attended a course where I was learning programs like Corel Draw and Photoshop. Like most training, it advertised itself as a course where you could learn the programs.
And like most students, you sign up expecting to understand what’s being taught. Invariably, you get smarter, but you’re not too much down the line from where you started.
You don’t really know Corel Draw or Photoshop that well, and this shortcoming is easily demonstrated when you have to do something slightly out of the ordinary.
I would, for example, learn something in the class and then try to replicate it a few days later. And I’d be utterly lost. The reason for this kind of confusion wasn’t because of the teaching method. Instead, it was because there was no precise result.
What is a precise result, you may ask?
A precise result is a benchmark. It means that everyone—without exception—reaches a particular standard. A train journey easily describes this benchmark. If the train is supposed to leave Statin A and get to Station B by 11:40 am, does it arrive on time? And if not, then how late?
While it made its way to the destination, did everyone get there at 11:40 am? Or did some passengers get left behind on the trip between Station A and B?
If this kind of analogy sounds ludicrous, it’s not.
In most training, there is a vague concept of “we’ll learn Photoshop”, but not precisely which part of Photoshop we’ll cover. Hence, people go from not knowing the program to learning a little bit.
When they’re at the end of the course, they know a little bit more but aren’t sure exactly what they’ve covered. The opposite of this confusion is to precisely state what you’re covering.
Instead of “we’ll learn Photoshop”, you’re saying, we’ll learn about Adjustment Layer Essentials
That’s Station B. When we get to Station B—every single passenger on this train will know how to: • Work with adjustment layers • Understand the histogram • Refine dynamic range using levels • Adjust contrast and correct colour using curves • Limit adjustments with clipping masks The elements above are precise because you can benchmark exactly whether every participant can do what’s needed. Instead of a vague “let’s learn Photoshop”, you have a precise result.
One of the reasons why clients do courses at Psychotactics is because we have these precise results. • Headline course: Write eight different types of headlines in 10 minutes • Landing page course: Create your landing page in 3 days • Article writing course: Write articles with drama and story—not just “seven steps to this or that”. One of the simplest ways to get precise results is to cut back on what you’re covering
No matter what you are teaching, you are covering too much. Notice, it didn’t say you’re likely to be covering too much. It’s a fact that we cover too much and promise too much.
If you scale back Photoshop to just “Adjustment Essentials in Photoshop”, you’re more than likely to get the trainload of passengers from Station A to B, without a problem and on time.
Yet, there are seemingly situations where you can’t control the result
Let’s say you run a service where you help couples get pregnant. You can’t guarantee the results, can you? What if you’re a lawyer? You can’t be sure that the ruling will go in your favour, can you? And if you’re a travel agent, you have no control over the weather or flights, for that matter.
Even so, there are things you do have control over. As a travel agent, you can control what happens if the client gets into trouble. Do you have a number they can call should they have a problem? There are always things out of your control, and correspondingly, there are things you have complete control over.
When you look at the big picture and promise, “I’ll teach you Photoshop”, you’re likely to be making a promise that is very cool but hopelessly inaccurate as well. Clients sign up for results. To get the results, you need to break down the product or service into smaller chunks.
That’s when your offering comes alive.
Here is a list of vague bullet points for a photography course. • taking pictures of strangers • composition • night photography
And when we get precise, we have details like this:
• taking close up pictures of strangers • composition in tight spaces • using reflected light to improve your night photography
Clients sign up for results, whether it’s training, service or a product.
It’s easy to say, “oh, this is about Photoshop, but it won’t work for my business.” The reality is that you invented your business to solve a problem. If you sell foot cream, or coffee, or clean carpets, there’s an apparent reason why you started in life.
At first, you may have just wanted to earn some income, but you realised that you did something different as you spent more time. Clients came to you—and continue to show up—because you offer something that the competition doesn’t.
Even so, this kind of promise can be vague and works only because the opposition is just as unclear. The moment you get a competitor that’s precise with their result, it’s easy to see why the audience leaves and goes across to the other side of the fence.
In our desire to stuff our product or service with more and more benefits, we miss out on the specific. Clients amble from one service to another, one product to another, like lost people wandering through the desert.
Yet, the moment you can give a result, things change. If you can promise results alone, you’re way ahead of the pack. Yet, core motivations aren’t just about results. It’s also about fun.
- Fun
I once went to a conference in Sweden, where most people were unhappy about a particular incident.
When you or I think about unhappy people at a conference, we tend to go down well-trodden paths. Maybe there were a series of bad presentations, or the room was too hot or too cold. Perhaps the notes were missing, or the audio was terrible.
None of these issues came up, and that would make it a pretty good conference. Yet, many, if not most of the clients, were sullen.
The reason?
The spa pool at the Yasuragi conference centre was shut for the duration of the conference.
The Yasuragi conference centre, situated outside Stockholm, has 191 hotel rooms and 422 beds. And it’s built in a way that replicates Japan—but in the heart of Sweden.
People wear Japanese kimono-like clothing, the rooms are all Japanese-style, and the long corridors have light touches of Japanese art. Central to Japan’s culture is the bath.
Yasuragi has a long, swimming sized sauna filled with salt water, and for most of the clients, this was the highlight of their trip. Yet, because they were in the process of doing some renovations—and because it was the end of the season—the spa was closed. Hence, the fun element of the event was swept away without warning.
One of the big motivations in life is fun
Hence, no matter what product or service you’re offering, there needs to be a fun component to it. A kid goes to the dentist and gets a lollipop. What does the adult get? A big, fat invoice.
A client attends an online webinar series, but it’s just endless, boring slides. Where’s the fun? If it’s nonexistent, the client will still buy into your product, but they will not be overly motivated to buy a new product or service in a hurry.
Southwest Airlines is famous for the way they approach their business
Every airline does the same thing, serves similar food, and takes you from Point A to Point B. However, Southwest staff are given free rein when they want to have fun. You’ll often hear of how they make funny announcements or surprise the passengers with a fun activity.
Tesla cars are not far behind
When you first get into a Tesla, you’re working out how everything works. Settle in, and scroll through the panel, and you get the Fart section. Yes, you read it correctly. You have • Not a Fart • Short Shorts Ripper • Falcon Heavy • Ludicrous Fart • Neurastink • Boring Fart • I’m So Random Why would a car need fart sounds?
Because it’s fun, that’s why. When you look at a service or product, you need to ask yourself: do people really join because they want what I’m selling. The answer might be a “yes” if you’re selling food or coffee or a house.
However, how many of us really want to do an article writing course? Wouldn’t you prefer that your fairy godmother tapped you on the shoulder and you were magically able to write? Do you really want to learn Photoshop? Of course not.
What you want is the result—the endpoint—so why not make the journey more fun? Reader’s Digest put in several sections of fun in their very serious magazine. Newspapers used to have pages of cartoons, and now all they have online is awful news.
It’s not always easy to install a fun module
When starting up a business, it takes all your energy to figure out what you’re doing, where you’re going and how to get and keep clients. However, in a very short time, you can sit back and ask yourself: Can we make this a bit more fun?
Take the course I’m working on right now. It’s all very serious. It’s about how to write a sales page so that you can sell your product or service. What would make the course more fun?
I think I could think of a few things, but even if you’re stuck, it’s possible to ask your clients what would enable them to have a little more fun when consuming the course.
It motivates them to finish the course but then to come back.
Hence yes, results are crucial, but the fun is just as important. And then there’s the obvious: Don’t make me think. Or, in other words, “is this easy”?
- Easy
If you’ve ever used Apple’s podcast app, you realise what a pain it happens to be. All the user is trying to do is do one of three things:
1- Listen to a podcast 2- Save a podcast (if they want to listen again) 3- Discover similar podcasts
Instead, the same company that invented the iPhone—and got you to open it with two clicks forces you to struggle through three straightforward actions. They’ve taken something that should be easy and made it horrendously difficult. It makes us wonder: how do we make things easy?
The answer is simpler than you’d expect
The answer is: what’s difficult?
When we started the Article Writing Course, it wasn’t hard to figure out where clients got stuck
Easily the most challenging part of writing is the starting point. Or as we call it, “the first fifty words”. If you’re trying to create drama, you have to know how to pick a story, massage that story, then reconnect it to your article.
If the article is about welding and your story is about welding, well, ding, ding, ding, you’re on your way. Yet, if the story is about bees collecting honey, and now you have to connect it to welding, you’ve got a pretty big issue on hand.
What did we do to solve this problem?
Until 2016, which was a whole 11 years after we started the Article Writing Course, the starting—or the First Fifty Words—was explained in Week 8.
With just four weeks to go, every writer scrambled to find a way to understand and implement the concept. The assignment placement was so horrid that it took a complicated task and increased the difficulty factor.
It’s hard work to rewrite an entire course as it takes months
The same applies to Apple’s podcast app or to anything that we find difficult. We have to go around letting clients use what we’ve created. Where do they get stuck? How often do they get stuck? How do we find a way out so that their misery is not compounded?
It’s likely you don’t conduct a course—and sell a physical product instead or offer a service.
What do you do? How do you make things easy? After all, there are dozens of touchpoints where you could fix things. The way around this problem is to have a tiny “what bugs me”. It’s not as intimidating as “feedback”, and yet it gets results.
If you have a “what bugs me” on your site, in your store, in your office, you’ll be surprised at how many people give tiny suggestions that can improve your operations.
We believe that clients come to us because we have superior products or services
They probably do. However, in most cases, clients come back for specific reasons. Think of the places you go, the sites you buy from and the places you eat at. You go there for results, there’s an element of fun, and things are simple.
These ideas aren’t fancy, yet they reduce the “risk factor” and inch up the “like factor”.
We tend to look for super-glitzy concepts to improve our business, but in reality, some of the most basic ones drive customers back repeatedly. Let’s jump on the result, fun and easy bandwagon.
There’s lots of room because people are too busy chasing their tails trying to do something extraordinary instead of doing what’s essential.
This incidentally is also the reason why we buy yet another recipe book when there are so many.
The one we pick up seems to feel like it will get better results, be more fun to read and be a lot easier to cook. And why the recipe books will keep selling today, tomorrow and for decades to come.
Makes sense?
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Product Offers: Links you should visit
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Top-Selling Products Under $50
Client Attractors: How To Increase Your Web Conversion Rate With Client Attractors
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/client-attractors
The Brain Audit : eBook |Audio | Workshop | Signed Copy | The seven red bags sequence of marketing
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/the-brain-audit-32-marketing-strategy-and-structure/ .
Testimonial Secrets How To Avoid Painful Clients (And Get Clients That Are A Dream To Work With Instead)
http://www.psychotactics.com/products/websites-that-workinternet-marketing-psychological-secrets/
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—How to structure your article without frustration
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http://www.psychotactics.com/bonuses/019_Outwitting_Resistance1.pdf
—The Crazy Philosophy Of Psychotactics (And Why It May Help You In Your Business)
https://www.psychotactics.com/philosophy-of-psychotactics/
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Announcing: The Traffic Light Storytelling Online Course 2024
📅 March 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
Tired of the guesswork and just plain intuition when writing stories? Learn the structure.
Fun cartoon here
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/
Have you heard of a comedian who is only “60% funny?”
If you were to watch comedy, you would find that some comedians get laughs, but the jokes are only partially funny.
The audience giggles, but they are not entirely engaged. The comedy doesn’t feel complete. It feels more like “60% funny”.
When we say, “60% funny,” we realise there is scope for improvement. We also know the messaging could be far superior with just a bit of work.
A similar scenario seems to unfold when we are telling stories.
We need stories for presentations, articles, booklets, books and sometimes just to get a message across to a client.
But somehow, our stories seem to stay at that 60% level – and we don’t know why. This feeling of being so close yet so far is very frustrating. We suspect there is a structure and system to improve our storytelling.
If we had access to that system, it would feel almost magical. We could tell stories that people would instantly get and keep our audience’s attention.
Here are just a few reasons why storytelling seems overly tricky.
—We aren’t sure which story structures to use and must rely on our intuition. —We don’t even know how the elements of a story play out. —How do you line up everything so the story feels fluid and enjoyable? —We are often unsure how to keep people engaged or completely riveted to our stories.
Well, it’s time to sidestep the guesswork. Learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot button.
Like any other Psychotactics course, this storytelling course is meant to get you the skill. This means that by the end of the course, you won’t just be stuck with information but will be able to find and tell unique stories. Better still, you’ll know precisely when things are going wrong and fix them instantly!
Instead of guesswork, you can analyse why some stories are better than others and make sure that you consistently have a good story. Here are the details and how to get on the waiting list.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/
Warm regards Sean P.S. Once you master this skill, you will be able to use it to create stories when writing articles, podcast scripts, for speeches and presentations, and for video. The skill also comes handy when you’re writing a report or a book.
P.P.S Booking open on 13 April for those on the waiting list.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOzMDEwsHEw=
Announcing: The Traffic Light Storytelling Online Course 2024
📅 March 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
Tired of the guesswork and just plain intuition when writing stories? Learn the structure.
Fun cartoon here
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/
Have you heard of a comedian who is only “60% funny?”
If you were to watch comedy, you would find that some comedians get laughs, but the jokes are only partially funny.
The audience giggles, but they are not entirely engaged. The comedy doesn’t feel complete. It feels more like “60% funny”.
When we say, “60% funny,” we realise there is scope for improvement. We also know the messaging could be far superior with just a bit of work.
A similar scenario seems to unfold when we are telling stories.
We need stories for presentations, articles, booklets, books and sometimes just to get a message across to a client.
But somehow, our stories seem to stay at that 60% level – and we don’t know why. This feeling of being so close yet so far is very frustrating. We suspect there is a structure and system to improve our storytelling.
If we had access to that system, it would feel almost magical. We could tell stories that people would instantly get and keep our audience’s attention.
Here are just a few reasons why storytelling seems overly tricky.
—We aren’t sure which story structures to use and must rely on our intuition. —We don’t even know how the elements of a story play out. —How do you line up everything so the story feels fluid and enjoyable? —We are often unsure how to keep people engaged or completely riveted to our stories.
Well, it’s time to sidestep the guesswork. Learn how to move from a 60% story to one that always hits the hot button.
Like any other Psychotactics course, this storytelling course is meant to get you the skill. This means that by the end of the course, you won’t just be stuck with information but will be able to find and tell unique stories. Better still, you’ll know precisely when things are going wrong and fix them instantly!
Instead of guesswork, you can analyse why some stories are better than others and make sure that you consistently have a good story.
You are already on the waiting list however, here are the details
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/ about the course.
Warm regards Sean P.S. Once you master this skill, you will be able to use it to create stories when writing articles, podcast scripts, for speeches and presentations, and for video. The skill also comes handy when you’re writing a report or a book.
P.P.S Booking open on 13 April for those on the waiting list.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TEwsHOzstOysnEyc7BzstEa0rOzMDEysDGw=
Storytelling: How to decide which facts to keep and which ones to drop
📅 March 19, 2024 | View in Gmail
Let’s find out which facts to drop and which ones to keep.
Storytelling: How to decide which facts to keep and which ones to drop
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/storytelling-test/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/storytelling-test/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3WmKrteKLkoFJgYFqOiGnv?si=rb5rebDsSdqSLMShOXyOqQ | Google Podcast
Did you know that in 1816, Europe had no summer?
Winter started as it usually did, but spring never came. Instead, the weather stayed cold. While Europe waited for the warmth of the summer, they got snow. Autumn was cold again, and then Europe slipped into winter yet again. The reason for this unusual occurrence was the eruption of a volcano called Mt. Tambora, which is located in Indonesia.
Early in April of 1815, the volcano erupted with immense force sending particles of sulphur high into the atmosphere. It’s important to note that Earth’s winds stream from the tropics—where Indonesia is located—to the poles. This is why those particles of sulphur were transported towards the polar south and north. As the northern regions moved into spring, those particles hung around, blocking or scattering the light.
A volcano that erupted in 1815, thousands of miles away, caused Europe to have no summer in 1816.
Notice how you kept reading the information above without a pause? Even if a week passed, and you were asked: “why didn’t Europe have summer in 1816?” you’d be able to give most of the details. You’d be likely to say:
• A volcano erupted in Indonesia. • I think it erupted in April 1815. • It threw up particles of sulphur high into the atmosphere. • Those particles were transported to the poles. • This blocked the light. • Hence, Europe had no spring, summer, or autumn. Just winter.
Now let’s step back and put in just a few details that make life more difficult. We’ll run through the same story but add a touch of information.
Did you know that in 1816, Europe had no summer?
Winter started as it usually did, but spring never came. Instead, the weather stayed cold. While Europe waited for the warmth of the summer, they got snow. Autumn was cold again, and then Europe slipped into winter yet again. The reason for this unusual occurrence was the eruption of a volcano called Mt. Tambora, which is located in Indonesia. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. It consists of five major islands and about 30 smaller groups. Together, Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. One of these islands, Sumbawa, is where Mt. Tambora was situated.
On 10th April 1815, the volcano erupted with immense force sending particles of sulphur high into the atmosphere. Rather than a slow, steady broadening of the equatorial cloud into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the cloud expanded in fits and starts. As some pieces of the cloud were blown away from the equator, they were quickly caught up in the dominant stratospheric jet streams, which in May blow east to west in the Northern Hemisphere and west to east in the Southern Hemisphere.
The cloud soon began to resemble streamers or filaments, with small portions regularly pushed off the equator and into the middle latitudes in each hemisphere. Eventually, these filaments formed a single set of clouds that covered Earth. And there they remained. Had the aerosol-cloud ascended only into the lowest part of the atmosphere, the troposphere, where clouds form, rain would soon have cleansed the ash from the air. But in the more stable stratosphere, conditions prevent the formation of clouds of water droplets.
Those particles hung around, and as the northern regions moved into spring, they blocked and scattered the light.
A volcano that erupted in 1815, thousands of miles away, caused Europe to have no summer in 1816.
If you read the above paragraph just once, what would you remember?
• A volcano erupted in Indonesia. • I think it erupted in April 1815. • It threw up particles of sulphur high into the atmosphere. • Those particles were transported to the poles. • This blocked the light. • Hence, Europe had no spring, summer, or autumn. Just winter.
Did you recall it was the island of Sumbawa? What about 10th April? Did the particles of sulphur hang around in the troposphere? Or was it the stratosphere? You probably didn’t realise that Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands, but was it relevant to the story?
These details could be easily drooped, making the story memorable a week, maybe several months from now. Yet time and time again, writers tend to stuff their articles with reams of information.
Take, for example this story about Pepsi that showed up in my inbox Here we go:
During World War 1, Pepsi was in deep trouble. Sugar rationing meant Pepsi didn’t have enough sugar to make their syrup. Pepsi was already selling in 24 states in America and doing brisk business. But lack of sugar meant deep losses. After the war, sugar prices went up even higher - from 3 cents to 28 cents. And unfortunately, when sugar prices were at the top, Pepsi placed a huge order for it - more than they required for their soft drink. The bet on sugar that went wrong bled them to death. And by 1923, Pepsi had to file for bankruptcy.
But before filing for bankruptcy, Caleb Bradham - the pharmacist who started Pepsi - asked if Coca Cola wanted to take Pepsi over. His offer was rejected. And Pepsi’s assets were finally sold to Craven Holding Corporation for $30,000, before Roy Megargel - a wall street broker - took it over from them for $35,000 (equivalent to about half a million dollars in 2022.)
Megargel never managed to turn Pepsi around. And when the Great Depression occurred in 1929, his struggles deepened. Coca Cola was again asked if they would like to buy Pepsi. And again, the offer was rejected. Pepsi went through its second bankruptcy.
During this time, Charles Guth, the president of Loft - a candy manufacturing company that ran a network of 115 stores - asked Coca Cola to give them a bulk discount to sell their soft drink. Loft was buying 31,000 gallons of syrup from Coca Cola every year and so, Guth thought that he should receive a bulk discount that wholesalers receive. Not getting any response from them, Guth went and bought Pepsi assets using his own private funds from the bankruptcy proceedings for $10,500.
When Loft replaced Coca Cola with Pepsi in their stores, Coca Cola came after them with inquiries as well as legal threats. And Guth asked them to buy Pepsi from him for $50,000. This was the third and the last time Coca Cola rejected the acquisition offer!
Just five paragraphs but let’s list the details, shall we? • World War 1. • Pepsi selling in 24 states in America, but sugar was scarce. • After the war, prices went up: 3 cents to 28 cents. • Pepsi placed an order when prices were at their peak. • In 1923 they had to file for bankruptcy. • Caleb Bradham who started Pepsi asked Coke if they wanted to take it over. • Pepsi’s assets were sold to Craven Holding Corp. • The price was $30,000. • Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, took it over. • He paid $35000. • The Great Depression showed up in 1929.
There’s more, but I’m going to stop right there. While the story spans five paragraphs, the details overwhelm you in the first paragraph itself. By the third paragraph, when I stopped, you can’t keep track of the story. And it’s not a very complex story either. • World War 1. • Pepsi was selling in 24 states in America, but sugar was scarce. • After the war, prices went up: 3 cents to 28 cents. • Pepsi placed an order when prices were at their peak. • They had to file for bankruptcy.
Do you remember the details in any of what’s to follow? • Caleb Bradham, who started Pepsi, asked Coke if they wanted to take it over. • Pepsi’s assets were sold to Craven Holding Corp. • The price was $30,000. • Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, took it over. • He paid $35000. • The Great Depression showed up in 1929.
The problem with details is that they look very cool on paper, but it’s very tiring for the reader. This Pepsi story went through about 14 paragraphs, each littered with facts and details. By the time I reached the end, I couldn’t figure out what the writer was trying to say. My brain had been through the minefield of fact after fact, and I was shell shocked. However, while this is an extreme example, even the most minor bits of information can be too much.
In the Mt.Tambora story, certain elements were crucial. You needed to know: • It was a volcano called Mt. Tambora. • The location of Indonesia in the tropics was also crucial. • The fact that it threw up sulphur—and threw it up high into the atmosphere was needed. • The winds that blow from the equator to the poles • And finally, the blocking or dispersion of light. Try removing any one of these elements, and the story doesn’t seem so coherent.
This brings us to the point of “how do we know how much to edit”? The answer depends on the goal of the story. Let’s say we took the date: 10th April 1815. In my version of the story, it’s not needed. But what if something happened on 11th April? Or a week later on 17th April? Now the specific date matters and can’t be left out.
If my story was to talk about how a smaller explosion would have been a lot worse, then bringing in the troposphere and stratosphere would matter. It’s not just a question of leaving out information. It also depends on where you story is going and how the facts relate to that story.
The good news is that you can quickly test how an audience will react to your story.
When I have a story I’m excited about, I tell it to anyone that’s around
I might do it while in the car with my wife, Renuka. Or I might have my nieces pop in after school, and I tell them the story. They will often ask me a question if they’re unclear about a fact. Or they will seem confused if there are too many details. If I’m particularly unsure, I may ask them to repeat it to me.
Whether you’re dealing with an adult or a ten-year-old, they’re very good at stripping out the stuff that’s boring or difficult to remember. I pay attention to the bits they keep, and it forms the core outline of the story.
Even if you don’t have anyone else to bounce your story off, you can manage by listing the details
Instead of sitting at a computer and typing your story in a paragraph form, sit down with a pen and paper. List the main elements of the story and see which details are irrelevant. You’ll find a lot of figures, dates and especially obscure names can be left out quite easily. In bullet point format, you’re forced to keep only what’s important and why you think it’s so crucial to the telling of the story.
It’s also good practice to listen to other storytellers.
Comedians tell stories in small, precise clips. If you get onto YouTube, you might want to watch “Live at the Apollo”, where comedians get on stage in London. After listening to a story, press pause and see how much of the story you can remember. You’re likely to find that there are few confusing facts and that you can recall almost all of the essential details.
A combination of telling stories and listening to a LOT of stories is what will allow you to become better at your storytelling. Knowing what facts to drop and which ones to keep are the key to writing great stories.
Coming Soon!
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/
24 March: How To Make Your Product Or Service Stand Out (A Step-By-Step System)
Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/ | Sales Page and how to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/positioning-strategy-how-to-get-to-uniqueness/ |
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/
13 April (On Sale): Traffic Light Story Telling Online Course with Sean
Why aren’t the stories you write gripping? When you write a story, you often ramble on because you’re not sure when to stop. You’re not sure if the story is relatable or even mildly interesting to the reader. Is it just boring, or is it wonderful? Learn the system to get your readers locked into your story. | Starts June | 10 weeks | All the details and how to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/storytelling/ |
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/#meetups
April and May: Meet Sean in Portugal, Singapore or Germany.
https://www.psychotactics.com/workshops/worldwide-workshops/#meetups
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How Do you Create Your Uniqueness That Stands the Test of Time?
📅 March 16, 2024 | View in Gmail
How to get to your Uniqueness? What are the Biggest Mistakes and how to avoid them.
Uniqueness Goodies
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JFQADII5r7Ett1&b=004bxq_u.t4w4YsrJSLm8A
Have you ever wondered what would it be like to stand out from the competition in a way that customers choose you over everyone else?
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.
Somewhere cheaper.
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.
Here is the sequence of what to expect in the coming weeks:
Goodie 1: Why we get our uniqueness wrong
Goodie 2: How to get to your uniqueness
Goodie 3: The importance of the mundane and the uninteresting
Goodie 4: Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
Goodie 5: The difference between uniqueness and the other red bags
Goodie 6: Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for 'every' product or service?
Here is the link to get the goodies:
Uniqueness Free Goodies
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JFQADII5r7Ett1&b=004bxq_u.t4w4YsrJSLm8A
Warm regards
Sean D'Souza
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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When you create your business, product or service uniqueness, do you need to test it?
📅 March 12, 2024 | View in Gmail
It’s not enough to have a uniqueness, you have to do so much more.
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/effectively-test-uniqueness/
When you create your business, product or service uniqueness, do you need to test it?
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/effectively-test-uniqueness/
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/effectively-test-uniqueness/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4vwpPJl85q18BD1CvfWtLU?si=_SfMCVnASp2CPHKtAEN3mg | Google Podcast
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wc3ljaG90YWN0aWNzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/MGUwYzc4ZmRiNWYyOTllYTE3OGExODk4ZGUxNDZjY2Y?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjY1qzbwsX0AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ ).
When you create your business, product or service uniqueness, do you need to test it?
Incredible as it seems there’s little point in doing any testing at all. Let’s find out why testing is practically impossible and how instead of wasting time on research, you should follow three steps to make sure your uniqueness occupies a permanent part of your client’s brain.
What is likely to happen to a woman’s bikini, when she’s surfing?
“If you’re a woman, surfing with a bikini was slightly out of the question. You’d be out in the waves, walk out of the water and literally you’ve lost your bottoms,” said the business owner, Anna Jerstrom. So Jerstrom decided to create sexy, bright bikinis.
And the uniqueness? Bikinis that stay on, no matter how rough the surf. And with this single-minded pursuit, investment banker, Anna Jerstrom started a business called Calavera.
Wouldn’t she need to test the uniqueness before she began?
In almost every case, testing a uniqueness is completely unnecessary. One of the biggest reasons why you shouldn’t be bothered with testing a uniqueness is because you’re unlikely to have any competition.
Let’s take the uniqueness of Calavera, for example. Why did Jerstrom start the company? Surely she should have been able to find some bikinis that didn’t slide off in the surf.
Even with the power of the Internet at her disposal, she was still running into dead ends. It means that there will be hundreds, if not thousands of customers who are also finding it hard to get a decent product.
That line of thought may not sound reasonable to you, but let’s look at the alternative, shall we?
Let’s say you decide to sell a product. Maybe it’s an information product that’s based on presentations. When you look on Amazon.com, you’re likely to find at least 5,000 books on presentations. Do you really want to go through every sales page trying to find out what’s unique about the presentation product?
Clients don’t care about doing such extensive research either. They just want to show up to your business whether online or offline, and they want you to explicitly tell them why you are different from the rest of the competition.
Whether you have a product, training or a service, your uniqueness doesn’t need testing, simply because it’s impossible to do a test.
But there’s another good reason why you shouldn’t bother to test
The biggest reason why you should just go ahead and run your uniqueness is because the competition is lazy or confused, or both. Most companies are clearly at sea when asked what makes them unique.
If you have a uniqueness factor in place, that puts you way ahead of your competitors. However, there’s also another reason why you can go ahead quite happily.
Even if your competition has a uniqueness, it’s not much use unless they use it on a frequent basis
A uniqueness itself is not enough for clients to remember what is being said. Volvo is known for their safe cars because they ran endless ads about safety. Dominos made a billion dollars selling pizza because of their “30 minutes or it’s free” slogan. Think for a second about your competitors right now. Can you quickly bring up their uniqueness?
It’s not enough to have a uniqueness, you have to do so much more
In fact, you have to take three steps to make sure the uniqueness does its job properly.
Step 1: You have to consistently get the word out. Step 2: You have to state the position of the competition. Step 3: You have to state your own position.
Let’s go through the steps—To Getting Your Uniqueness Recognised
Step 1: Get the word out
This means a uniqueness can’t just sit around. It has to be repeated in some form or the other, over and over again.
If you’ve listened to the “Three Month Vacation” podcast, for example, when I talk about 5000bc, I will repeat the same thing almost ad nauseam. I will say, “5000bc is a place where introverts meet because they feel safe”.
The same message will be sent out in articles, in books—in just about every medium possible. And the message never changes much, if at all. Keeping that message consistent is what is critical.
If you keep changing the message simply because you’re bored of it, you’ve lost more than half the uniqueness battle. You want to make sure you get the uniqueness as simple as possible and then continue to mention it everywhere.
When you consider that you may have more than one product or service, you have to pick your battles
For instance, the uniqueness of Psychotactics is “tiny increments”. But often the overall company uniqueness is of little value to the client, because they are more focused on the product or service, instead. However, at Psychotactics, we have many products, so I pick the uniqueness depending on the medium.
On the podcast, I will consistently end with the uniqueness of 5000bc
However, while I’m explaining something in the podcast or in an article, I will make sure to talk about the uniqueness of Psychotactics courses and how they’re not just information, but about skill (see, I did it again).
You don’t want to bring up the uniqueness of every single product or service. You want to make sure you have a few entry points.
For us at Psychotactics, those entry points that need to be stressed are The Brain Audit, 5000bc and the courses. It’s not like the rest of the products and services don’t matter. They do, but the uniqueness of those products and services are on the sales page or sales pitch itself.
It’s important to have your doorways
Just rattling off a dozen uniquenesses for a dozen products doesn’t get any message across to clients. Pick two or three of your services or products—or if you like, the uniqueness of your company. And then keep hammering them home in pre-selected areas of your marketing.
But that’s only the first part of making sure your uniqueness is heard. To make sure you get the point across, you have to state the position of the competition.
Step 2: Stating the position of the competition
Ever noticed how shiny Harley Davidson bikes tend to be? The reason for their shiny nature is probably the diligence of the bike owner, but equally, it’s how the bike has been positioned in the Harley owner’s mind. Harley owners have been known to truck their bikes across and then ride them locally.
After all, the bikes have to be in pristine condition at all times. The BMW bike owners, on the other hand, seem to favour the dust and dirt, pushing their bikes across all sorts of punishing conditions.
Even if the above description of BMW vs. Harley is not 100% accurate, it demonstrates the difference
And uniqueness is a point of difference. To make sure you get the point of difference across, you need to have the competition clearly in your sights. If you have a million-dollar promotion budget, you can continue to mention your slogan, but if you’re a small business, you tend to get very few chances.
Which is why it’s important to bring the competition when you’re describing your own point of uniqueness. So first, you have to pick your “enemy.”
The enemy may not be a company. It could be a way of doing things. So when I say, “other courses give you a money back guarantee, but no guarantee of skill”, I’m not taking on anyone in particular. I’m simply taking on an aspect of online courses.
If you were to say, “other yoga classes have a lot of yoga routines, but don’t necessarily pay attention to what can injure you long after you’ve left the yoga class.” Or to take a third example involving microphones: Other microphones pick up unwanted noise and reflections, in a bad-sounding, untreated room.”
Once you’ve defined the enemy’s characteristics you know what you’re battling against
No doubt the enemy will have many flaws, but your job is to pick one. Uniqueness is about “one thing”, and the moment you pick the opponent’s flaw, you can easily position yourself against them. Which takes us to the third step, doesn’t it?
Step 3: You have to state your own position
Your position is the exact opposite of the flaw you’ve picked.
If they work too slowly, you work quickly.
If they give you 200 pages of information, you give only the ten pages needed. If they sell ripe bananas, you sell them green, so they don’t ripen too quickly. With the Calavera bikinis, Anna Jerstrom’s enemy was “the terribly fitting bikinis”, and her position was “bikinis that stay on, no matter how rough the surf.”
You can pick up anything off your desk and ask yourself why you use that particular product. And the same goes for any service as well. Or company for that matter.
When I give a presentation, for example, I want to stand out from the rest of the presenters, so I talk about how businesses make a gazillion dollars, but we make more than enough, and we take three months off every year, not working, but completely on vacation.
When you state the competitor’s position and contrast it with yours, you can see the lights going off in the prospect’s brain.
Which brings us to that testing bit again: how do you know if your uniqueness is truly unique?
It’s the nodding of the head. When you state your uniqueness, the clients tend to see the difference between your competitor and you. And you get this smile, this slight nod of the head. You know you’ve struck a chord with the client. Oh, and there’s the echo.
When you ask the client what you do, they should be able to echo your words perfectly
Listen for the echo. Are they missing out important bits? If they are, your uniqueness may not be as simple as you think and you’ll need to edit it a bit. If they’re totally off tangent, then you haven’t made your point as precise as it could be.
If you run into your client a month or six months from now and they can echo your uniqueness perfectly, then you’ve got a uniqueness that has resonated with them, and it’s truly a point of difference.
Finally, a lot of uniqueness comes about when you’re not expecting it
That line about how our courses are different from every other online course wasn’t something I figured out while sitting down and going through this exercise.
I probably said it in response to a question on an interview or when trying to explain what makes our courses different. Over times, I made sure to bring it up often so that it got a bit of an edge.
A lot of your uniqueness is going to pop up when you least expect it, so make sure you write it down when you hear yourself saying something interesting about your product or service.
Nonetheless, as a starting point, defining the enemy is a very crucial exercise. It’s only when you define the enemy that you can clarify your own position in a memorable manner.
To get your uniqueness really charging down the road you need to consider all three points:
Step 1: You have to consistently get the word out. Step 2: You have to state the position of the competition. Step 3: You have to state your own position.
And that’s how the uniqueness fits—just like a Calavera bikini.
Oh, one more thing: Calavera closed down its business in 2017. They decided they wanted to do something different and after a good five years of running the business, they decided to shut shop.
On sale in 10 days: How do you create your uniqueness that stands the test of time? Free Goodies: Uniqueness—Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Sales Page: How to Make Your Product or Service Stand Out Among All the Noise
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/positioning-strategy-how-to-get-to-uniqueness/
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Top-Selling Products Under $50
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Free Goodies:
1) Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for 'every' product or service?
Learn how to create your uniqueness that stands the test of time
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
2) Can you create expertise through article writing?
Here is a mini-booklet that helps you quickly improve your article-writing.
3) The five stages to making your product sell time and time again
Find out why you need to avoid greed.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/pre-sell-goodies/
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Last Day for Special Offer—Dartboard Pricing + Bonus! 5 Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully’
📅 March 09, 2024 | View in Gmail
Premium Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
When you buy Dartboard Pricing-How To Increase Prices Without Losing Customers from 5 -9 March 2024, you'll also get—'5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully' (worth $49) absolutely free with the premium option.
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 pricing 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.
And the Special Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully (with the premium option)
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
In this 24 page booklet you will learn
• Five steps that are required to start up any new project successfully. • Why you shouldn’t get scared of your competition. • Why brand analysis comes before everything else. • Why personality is critical in your business. • What is the most important thing when starting up a project?
Judge for yourself at:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer ends 9 March 2024—US Eastern at 12 midnight)
Regards Sean P.S. This is what Colette Nichol has to say about Dartboard Pricing:
All about DartBoard Pricing
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
"The feature I most enjoyed about Dartboard Pricing was the table that shows you exactly how to price things so that they sell. It's kind of genius."
“I have a very high success rate when it comes to sales but I’m interested in increasing my prices over the next two years, rather substantially.
I purchased Dartboard Pricing as I was certain that it would provide useful info about how to actually go about doing that without experiencing excessive customer friction.
Dartboard Pricing confirmed some practices that I was already using – showing me why it was working and how to make it work even better. It also gave me an easy to use framework for selling any course or product that I create. I feel confident now that when I create my first online course I will be able to price it in a way that communicates the value of what my clients will be receiving.
Most small biz owners I know have all sorts of issues with pricing – this should take away some of those issues if not all of them.
There’s basically no good reason not to buy Dartboard Pricing. It’s hands down the best $50 I’ve spent this year.”
Colette Nichol Vancouver, Canada
Judge for yourself at:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer ends 9 March 2024—US Eastern at 12 midnight)
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: Dartboard Pricing—How To Increase Prices without Losing Customers + Special Bonus Valued At $49
📅 March 05, 2024 | View in Gmail
A simple, step-by-step system that walks you through exactly what you have to do.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
When you buy Dartboard Pricing-How To Increase Prices Without Losing Customers from 5 - 9 March 2024, you'll also get—'5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully' (worth $49) absolutely free with the premium option.
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 pricing 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.
And the Special Bonus: 5-Steps To Starting Up A New Project Successfully This booklet is tiny—only 24 pages. However, it very systematically takes you through the five steps that are required to start up any new project successfully.
• Why you shouldn't get scared of your competition.
• Why brand analysis comes before everything else.
• Why personality is critical in your business.
• What is the most important thing when starting up a project?
Here’s the page. Judge for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
Regards Sean P.S. This series does gives you the overview of how to go about pricing, and then gets to the brass tacks. You can literally copy the model (and you should) and have it up on your website, in your presentation or brochures.
Have a look and make a decision based on what you read.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/trust-the-chef/
(This special offer is only valid until 9 March 2024—Eastern US midnight)
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Make Your Product Or Service Stand Out (Among All The Noise)
📅 March 02, 2024 | View in Gmail
Biggest Mistakes and How To avoid them. How to get to Your Uniqueness.
Uniqueness Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Have you ever wondered what would it be like to stand out from the competition in a way that customers choose you over everyone else?
That's what uniqueness can do to your product or service.
• How do you do that?
• How do you create a uniqueness that's so dramatic and powerful, that clients pick you in a flash?
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.
Here is the sequence of what to expect in the coming weeks:
Goodie 1: Why we get our uniqueness wrong
Goodie 2: How to get to your uniqueness
Goodie 3: The importance of the mundane and the uninteresting
Goodie 4: Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
Goodie 5: The difference between uniqueness and the other red bags
Goodie 6: Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for 'every' product or service?
Here is the link to get the goodies:
Uniqueness Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Image Sean
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/uniqueness-form/
Warm regards
Sean D'Souza
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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February 2024
Why Being Contrarian Creates a Stunning Uniqueness Factor in Business
📅 February 27, 2024 | View in Gmail
The downsides are low and the upsides are a business that gets the attention of clients.
Why Being Contrarian Creates A
Stunning Uniqueness Factor In Business
Fun cartoon here
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JiLZQrcAL7Ett1&b=mWbwBt0nx_H7dsbeZjAbuQ
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
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https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JiLZQrcAL7Ett1&b=.ynGRdI5tSyRg.ksUB3KLg | Spotify
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https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JiLZQrcAL7Ett1&b=xrC5w_wD5gkD5DMFab9i4A ).
John Yudkin should have been revered for his findings, and yet he’s a scientist who the world has largely forgotten.
Back in 1972, Yudkin decided to go against the trend. In his book, “Pure, White and Deadly”, he outlined how the obesity epidemic wasn’t being caused by fat, but by sugar, instead.
“If only a small fraction of what we know about the effects of sugar were to be revealed in relation to any other material used as a food additive,” wrote Yudkin, “that material would promptly be banned.”
The book sold pretty well, but Yudkin’s career went into a downward spiral
Prominent nutritionists furiously attacked him and the food industry lopped off what was remaining of him. He died in 1995, disillusioned and unknown.
The road to contrarian ideas can be incredibly frustrating and possibly lead to dead ends
Even so, being contrarian means you have to go agains the trends that are clearly inferior. In the case of Yudkin, Galileo Galilei and other extremely contrarian personalities, they paid a heavy price for their unusual ideas.
To be perfectly fair, a large number of crackpots are also contrarian, but that’s hardly the reason for a sudden spurt of going the other way.
The biggest reason for being a contrarian is to force a different angle
A company in the south of New Zealand makes wet suits. Often, wet suits tend to be thicker and warm, or thin and a bit cold. To suggest that a wetsuit can achieve both goals seems a bit odd but that’s what SeventhWave wetsuits set out to do.
They make wetsuits that are ‘toasty thin’. The phrase ‘toasty thin’ itself creates a very strong image in your mind, and works as a powerful uniqueness. However, it also points out how we can create a uniqueness as a result of being contrarian. • An Indian restaurant without butter chicken. • A toasty thin wetsuit. • Learning Photoshop without a computer. • Writing a sales page from the bottom-up. • Cosmetics that haven’t been tested on animals When you set out to solve a problem in a totally different manner, you see things others have missed
In doing so, you also set yourself apart from the competition. They are so flat footed by your method, idea or invention that they may choose to ridicule it, or ignore it, even while clients move over to your side of the fence.
Sometimes it gives you a massive headstart and at times it makes you so different that the competition doesn’t try to catch up.
Take for instance some of the live Psychotactics courses
Most course online have dozens of audio, video and PDFs. With Psychotactics, it’s rather spartan. But at least for a while, our products were similar in structure to other courses.
Back when I was writing the notes for the Uniqueness course, I was getting very frustrated with myself. I had reached a point where I’d said all I wanted to say.
“How many pages have you written, already”? Renuka asked me
“90 pages”, I said to her. She looked at me in horror. “I’ve got to read 90 pages to understand the concept”? Her reaction took me by surprise. My goal was to be like everyone else and put in at least 200 pages of content, if not more.
And Renuka wanted a whole lot less, instead. Which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? A client doesn’t buy into a course to read hundreds of pages.
The client sets out to understand the concept of uniqueness and then use it for her product or service. Given the option, she would rather read no pages at all—or at least the least number needed to get the result she seeks.
Another time, during our Friday morning meeting we talked about stagnant home study sales
For years the home study versions of our products had been selling, but nowhere as quickly as they should have. There were really good products and they included the Article Writing Course, Uniqueness course, and others like the information products course.
“How about we sell only 35 copies of the course,” I blurted out. Renuka gave me that look, but the sales were stagnant anyway and there was nothing to lose by being contrarian.
No one we knew of restricted the sales of home study products. They are PDF files and audio/video after all. It makes no sense to say there are only 35 copies available this year.
And yet that contrarian move worked stunningly well
Our sales jumped a whopping 500% and clients waited patiently on waiting lists, if they happened to miss the sale. For about 15 years of our business, we’d done what everyone else was doing (and probably still is) but one tiny contrarian move created a wave of additional income and eager clients.
But what about the downside of being contrarian?
Things didn’t seem to work out so well for John Yudkin or Galileo, did they? It’s true. If the world is going one way, and you go the other, you could stand out too much. Galileo’s ideas weren’t even new.
600 years before Galileo, scholar al-Biruni made calculations that would prove the Earth rotates on its axis. Unlike Galileo, however, his ideas were accepted by religious scholars. Galileo went against the almighty church, as did John Yudkin against the obese sugar industry.
We, on the other hand, aren’t fighting such massive battles
We probably have a wet suit that needs reengineering, or a restaurant than can turn out enough of range of “unknown” Indian food. No one is going to chain us in a tower for running a course on Photoshop.
And at worst, the sales of a home study course may stay stagnant. The price we’re paying for being contrarian is so pathetic, that it makes no sense to do things like everyone else.
Even if we’re not exactly used to standing out, we can still use one product or service to play “guinea pig” and enable us to make that change.
The downsides are low and the upsides are a business that gets the attention of clients.
Try it today. Take your product or service and list out what everyone else is doing. Then make a change that seems to upend what the norm seems to be.
Announcing Goodies: How to find your business uniqueness Free Goodies: Uniqueness—Biggest mistakes and how to avoid them
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JiLZQrcAL7Ett1&b=_D9jqw_s.LRLTvV.5equIA
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Free Goodies
Do you need to carve out a uniqueness for 'every' product or service?
Learn how to create your uniqueness that stands the test of time
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JiLZQrcAL7Ett1&b=_D9jqw_s.LRLTvV.5equIA
Most Popular Podcasts Why Staying Small Is Probably A Smarter Move iTunes
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What’s Coming Up Next! March to May 2024
📅 February 24, 2024 | View in Gmail
Traffic Light Storytelling, Germany, Singapore and Portugal meetups, article writing, etc
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24 March: How to Make Your Product or Service Stand Out Among All the Noise
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27 April: How to stop knocking on clients’ doors and get them to call you instead Free goodies
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1 June: The Art Of Pre-Sell: How To Get Customers To Buy, Long Before They Pay Free Goodies
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13 April: The Traffic Light Storytelling Course
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25 April: Portugal Meet-up Why Attend?
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22 May: Germany, Meet-up Why Attend?
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19- 20 May 2023: 2-day Photography Workshop in Portugal Ready to sign up? Click here.
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Warm regards
Sean
P.S. Do you have a question? Email me, and I will reply.
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
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Why Is Storytelling So Important In Marketing (And How To Use It In Your Marketing)
📅 February 20, 2024 | View in Gmail
We all know storytelling is a crucial skill to have as a business owner. But why?
Psychotactics
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=pyr7dbax3giq0h.Qm0Gerw
Why Is Storytelling So Important In Marketing
(And How To Use It In Your Marketing)
Fun cartoon here
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=9JayTMOWgKCIJDVuG24TRQ
(This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=9JayTMOWgKCIJDVuG24TRQ | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=mfiaAKTpPUiwiylre7_RUA | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=E1.KFkg_qJcncm6TmLcWLA | Google Podcast
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=KQnf2&m=JdTpuGCgL7Ett1&b=TrrVK_JTYpUV2wuVb4UTPQ ). There’s an e-mail we’ve run for close to 17 years. It’s the sales e-mail for the article writing course. It kind of talks about article writing. However, almost the entire e-mail is about the idea of having a fairy godmother. It’s about how I struggled so much with writing. When I would get going, a single article would take me two days.
And then, when I got to the end of that article, I wasn’t sure it was good. I didn’t want to learn to write. I just wanted a fairy godmother.
Do you feel like you need a fairy godmother too? What you’re experiencing almost at the start of the e-mail is the same thing you experience when you walk into a movie theatre. You’re locked into that movie that’s running on the screen. The lights go out, the film comes on, and you are taken to a different space and time. You don’t—and often can’t—focus on the world outside.
Storytelling does the same job, except with no theatre and with the full volume of distraction. Somehow, when you talk about a story or tell an account, you get the audience’s attention, even under trying conditions. And it doesn’t take much to become a storyteller, either. The first part of the storytelling process is to do what movies do.
Movies move you to a different space and time. Hence, if I’m standing on stage and talking about The Brain Audit, it’s pointless to talk about The Brain Audit. It’s boring to say, “oh, you know there’s this book, it’s called The Brain Audit and blah, blah, blah”.
The audience isn’t bored, but they’re in their world. They’ve just been checking their e-mails; they’re likely to be on social media or have been in the middle of some conversation before they sat down to listen to you.
When you give them something boring, they are still locked into the world they were in. The space and time haven’t changed at all.
When presenting The Brain Audit, I’d lift a chair and place it on the stage. Instant curiosity sets in. And my job is to unfold that story so that it’s not just some stunt but something that fits in entirely with The Brain Audit. “I’m going to sit on this chair,” I’d say to them. “And then I will stand up”. True to my promise, I sit and stand, repeating the action. In about 10 seconds, the audience is locked into what comes next.
What comes next is one of the main aspects of storytelling. What happens to Cinderella when the godmother appears? What happens to Sean from 2001 when the fairy godmother doesn’t show up? What happens to the articles? Similarly, what happens next with the chair in the presentation?
I’ll tell you what happens next. I explain that the chair doesn’t fall apart. I can sit on it, stand on it, dance on it, and it doesn’t let me down. I never test a chair before I sit on it. Even if I were seriously overweight, I wouldn’t go around trying the chairs before seating myself. Why does the chair work so well? I ask the audience?
The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The chair is built on science. It has clear parameters, and you must consider them when creating a chair’s mould. You can have any colour, even bizarre shapes, but the chair must not fall apart.
The structure is what causes the chair to perform consistently time after time. However, when we look at our marketing, we don’t see that structure. We don’t know exactly what we’re supposed to say when someone asks us what we do.
We don’t know how to promote our business or even if we’re doing the right thing. We hope that if we do something, our fortunes will change. However, what we’re lacking is a structure or a template.
And that’s what The Brain Audit is all about. I tell the audience that it’s not necessarily something new. The information in the book is probably as old as sales and marketing have existed. However, it is helpful because it shows you exactly why clients buy and don’t.
It shows you why and when clients hesitate. At this point, imagine you’re sitting in the audience. You’ve been transported from the chair sequence and thrown into another story—the story where you’re just throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks.
Standing on the stage, in front of you, is someone saying they’ll give you a template. Do you want the template?
Of course, you do! Even if you’re a pro at selling, you still want to know what the structure is all about. And if you’ve been burned many times or don’t feel like being one of those “let’s hustle” people, you instantly want to know how to solve your problem. However, what’s important to note is that the journey started with the story.
A story doesn’t always need to be told; sometimes, a name is enough. Let’s take two products from Psychotactics. One is called “Black Belt Presentations”. The second is called “Dartboard Pricing”. Which one seems to be more attractive?
People pick the pricing one because what’s interesting about a random, generic term like “black belt”? It’s interesting to note that before we know what’s in the course or book, we are already demonstrating a bias between one product and the other.
When you expand the term “Black Belt Presentations” it still feels like a struggle. While it’s a fantastic product for constructing your webinar and presentation, it lacks the story aspect. “Dartboard Pricing”, on the other hand, talks about how to set your prices.
You might think it’s all very scientific, but instead, it’s a matter of setting up a dartboard and throwing darts at it. This unusual concept gets your curiosity bubble going. You know it can’t just be one dartboard-throwing move to setting the right price.
Yet, that’s the key to storytelling. One title didn’t move you much. The other pushed you into a different space and time.
The crux of storytelling is about another space and time. Your audience is hooked. Now it’s up to you to get them to “what next, what next and what next” until you seamlessly move them to the product or service you’re selling. And when you do get to the product or service, the audience knows it.
They’re smart—whip-smart. They’ve seen a hundred or a thousand other pitches before. They know you’re special because you’re not boring.
Most people are boring. Their pitches are boring. And there’s a way out with storytelling. And once you discover it, you too can run the same e-mail for 17 years in a row, fill up your courses and never be boring again.
I would love it if you would share or email this article to one friend:
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April and May 2024: Meet-ups in Portugal, Germany and Singapore
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Get away from the humdrum of your office and have a pleasant morning with Sean and Renuka over coffee in a casual setting. A Psychotactics meet-up is a real treat. You get to ask Sean an endless number of questions on marketing, sales and whatever you can dream up. Plus, we have a coffee, and who knows, we may even wander off for lunch. You get to meet others who are with Psychotactics as well. All in all, it’s a great morning out and an escape from your to-do list. Why Attend?
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Products you may have missed: Click here for the Top-Selling Products Under $50
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Effective Sales Tactics: How To Create Bonuses For Your Products Or Services
📅 February 17, 2024 | View in Gmail
Let’s look at two methods to create bonuses: A traditional and a not so traditional method
Effective Sales Tactics: How To Create Bonuses For Your Products Or Services
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=WLdukl2JralxtYXK0dMyRw
It may sound odd, but the bonus is often the tipping point for a client to buy your product or service. And yet, by the time we are done creating the product or service, we are too tired to work out what the bonus should be.
In this episode, we look at two methods to create bonuses:
—One is a more traditional method called “bundling”; the other is quite unexpected and requires very little work. —The second is a method called “Unbundling”.
Let’s find out how we can use both of these methods or just one, to create bonuses that are extremely yummy.
Listen or you can read this episode here. Read online
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=WLdukl2JralxtYXK0dMyRw | Apple
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=r423QAZl8tpE5QeRrWNG3g | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=Ov62RN.GS0bR9DkQ_NVR1g | Google Podcast
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=RYkvU9tU9Ve7_msXqPjhWw
Two binge-worthy podcasts on
‘information products’ (There are transcripts too)
- Why Mundane Topics Get You Noticed By Clients (And How To Exploit The Power Of Mundanity) Read
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=DklLgVd..eCwwJePBngc6A | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=ZgjD4WMzwX.JWyrOMs.0NA | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=0DnP58yndALWUYDCzAaofg | Google Podcast
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=0CCrNMmoGKRa_BdDu0MhEQ
- Why “Elegance” Not “Information” Creates An Addictive Business Model Read
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=l8nIRwp3lFlDDAJlEbo6EQ | iTunes
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=w9CY_l2vu5rrAeeecOcjOw | Spotify
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=2eucnla773pkS7GGE1kSjg | Google Podcast
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=svsU71Fy8uSRqnnOpWEyxQ
https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=WLdukl2JralxtYXK0dMyRw
Warm regards
Sean P.S. If you enjoyed the podast/article do share it with one friend? You can cut and paste the links in your WhatsApp Group, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn or even forward this email.
Effective Sales Tactics: How To Create Bonuses For Your Products Or Services Read online
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https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=98y0i&m=J_9EY9SAaDitt1&b=RYkvU9tU9Ve7_msXqPjhWw
Or do share it here:
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Announcing: How To put That Zing Back In Your Articles (And Catch the Attention of The Reader)
📅 February 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
What Would Make one Article Better Than The Other?The answer lies not just in stories.
There is a StoryTelling Cartoon
https://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.
Book 1: The Power of Stories—How to Turn Average Stories into Cliff-Hangers
Book 2: Signature Stories—How to Create Clear and Memorable Business Stories
Book 3: The Power of Drama—How To Create Counterflow (Without Making Your Reader Sick)
Have a look right away.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Regards,
Sean
About Story Telling
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what Debbie Newhouse has to say:
"Before I bought the book I thought there would be too many ideas I'd heard before."
I've been a heavy follower of Chip & Dan Heath, authors of "Made to Stick", and their philosophies on storytelling that "sticks". I found that there was a lot to learn beyond what I'd absorbed from "Made to Stick" and its formulas.
The feature I liked best
The realization that the best stories are about something you are 80% familiar with, you can anticipate, and then WHAM – the new 20% hits you.
Three other benefits
The examples of stories that "worked" and "didn't work". Understanding how much detail is just enough, and what is too much. Sean's classic straightforward, easy to absorb step-by-step approach which doesn't leave you behind.
I would recommend this product to anyone who has to persuade others, explain something, or teach.
I use the concepts mainly to teach, and especially to engage my audience and get them to realize why they should care about a topic.
Debbie Newhouse, California, USA
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what a few more people have to say
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I found that this Storytelling Mini Series helped me to think about storytelling in completely new ways.
The thing I liked the most about it was that it teaches the tools and mechanics of storytelling and how to make stories compelling and interesting.
Christopher Cook, USA
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I learned to use connectors and disconnectors effectively. This has given my articles a much needed method to keep my reader reading.
Since I started using this technique for certain pages of my site, the average time spent reading on my site has increased.
Honor Dragan, Guildford, UK
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Sean is not selling magic. His is selling a method, a way of thinking, a way of speaking.
And just like everything you still need practice. You will not become proficient overnight. But instead of being in a labyrinth with an infinite number of paths to choose from, Sean will narrow it to finite number of choices, which is in the end the role of a good guide.
Harrisson, Japan
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
As a result of buying the product— My writing is tighter, especially in the e-newsletter, and I can craft a story that suits my audience.
If you don't have the time to commit to a full time course you can get as much marketing value from this product with a few days reading.
Pam Bestwick, Wellington, New Zealand
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
I wasn't sure that I could learn anything impactful from the Story Telling series because I write stories on a daily basis.
It's a ton of value for a fair price. I would recommend this book to anyone who write short stories for business because it's helped me build trust with my audience and clients.
Steve Jolly, USA
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
What I like best about the Storytelling Mini Series is its extreme usability.
I just read the Series and am immediately able to use it. It just kind of slips into my writing. It's an easy read. I also like the bad examples on how not to try and "pimp up" your writing.
Elfriede Krauth, Netherlands
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: How To Put That Zing Back In Your Articles (And Get the Attention of your Reader)
📅 February 10, 2024 | View in Gmail
The moment we have to Write an Article, we freeze up. What are the elements of a story?
Story Telling Cartoon Image
https://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.
Book 1: The Power of Stories—How to Turn Average Stories into Cliff-Hangers
Book 2: Signature Stories—How to Create Clear and Memorable Business Stories
Book 3: The Power of Drama—How To Create Counterflow (Without Making Your Reader Sick)
So have a look right away.
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Regards,
Sean
P.S. With the premium version you get—'The Power of Drama'.
It talks about how to create counterflow in your articles without making your readers sick, the myth of boring writing and the four ways to create drama.
Have a look here:
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Debbie Newhouse Testimonial
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Here is what Debbie Newhouse has to say:
"Before I bought the book I thought there would be too many ideas I'd heard before."
I've been a heavy follower of Chip & Dan Heath, authors of "Made to Stick", and their philosophies on storytelling that "sticks". I found that there was a lot to learn beyond what I'd absorbed from "Made to Stick" and its formulas.
The feature I liked best
The realization that the best stories are about something you are 80% familiar with, you can anticipate, and then WHAM – the new 20% hits you.
Three other benefits
The examples of stories that "worked" and "didn't work". Understanding how much detail is just enough, and what is too much. Sean's classic straightforward, easy to absorb step-by-step approach which doesn't leave you behind.
I would recommend this product to anyone who has to persuade others, explain something, or teach.
I use the concepts mainly to teach, and especially to engage my audience and get them to realize why they should care about a topic.
Debbie Newhouse, California, USA
Judge for yourself: StoryTelling Mini Series
https://www.psychotactics.com/products/story-telling/
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, visit: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TExsbIwstKxszJzMzKxMtEa0rOxMDJxsLKw=
Finding Your Mick Jagger Moment:How To Transition from Task To Task (And Avoid Getting Distracted In The Switchover)
📅 February 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
You and I need to know our energy black holes so that we can waste time effectively.
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
Finding Your Mick Jagger Moments:
How To Transition From Task To Task
(And Avoid Getting Distracted In The Switchover)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/energy-management/
(From the archives: One of the most read articles. You can also read or listen to the article at these links: Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/energy-management/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4CPOi0bjoV7q9pIawk2RJC |). What’s the difference between 4 am and 4 pm?
If you ask me, personally, it’s a world of difference. At 4 am, I’m raring to go. I can write an article, draw cartoons, or write “War and Peace”, if I put my mind to it. At 4 pm, I’m a shadow of my 4 am self.
I’m distracted, bored, and bouncing from Facebook to Pinterest and randomly checking e-mail in between. You know exactly where I’m going with this example, don’t you?
When we look at our world, we treat every hour exactly the same—and it’s not.
I’m like a vegetable right after lunch. Which means that from around noon to well past 4 pm, I’m better off going to the cafe, taking a nap or doing something that most people would consider to be unproductive. Yet, the reason why those unproductive hours can exist is because they’re energy black holes.
You and I need to know our energy black holes so that we can waste time effectively
Wasting time randomly doesn’t bring us joy and warmth. But if we’ve diligently go out for a coffee, or take a nap, that’s pure strategy. Learning to recognise when you’re hopeless at doing stuff is the key to getting stuff done and switching back to high gear.
And most of your day is going to consist of terrible energy hours, not-so-terrible and finally, those hours when you’re like Mick Jagger prancing on the stage.
Which are your Mick Jagger moments?
Do you have zones every single day that work well for you? We all do, don’t we? My 4 am is my wife Renuka’s 8 am, and yours maybe 11 pm. But we all know when we can be superduperfragillisticexpealidocous.
This means that we have to get most of our work done in those zones. Whether it’s creating a new presentation or writing an article, we need a full charge for those activities as they’re far more power-hungry.
Yet, we struggle and get distracted, even when we’re in the right zone and ready to go.
A big chunk of the blame must go to a lack of preparation. If you’re about to write an article, you’ve got to have the outline in place. Do you have the opening story ready? What about any research you need to put in the piece?
If the prep work isn’t in place, it’s natural to start digging for a story or doing slightly pointless research. Your energy level is now steadily burning out on a low energy task. All of the mind-numbing stuff should have been kept for the times when your energy is low, and you couldn’t care less if you found the right information or not.
When you use high-quality octane to drive a bullock cart process, you’re not making the bullock cart faster. But you sure are wasting the octane.
Time management is a slightly stupid concept
Time management works well if every hour were identical in terms of energy. The way to work with your energy is to make sure you know your black holes of energy. Use them to recharge, either by napping, or taking a walk or simply doing low level, mindless tasks.
The middle ground is where your energy is not so great and you can handle tasks that don’t suck up all that octane. And that leaves us with the high energy zones, which if you waste, are just lost. And it makes you feel crappy, which creates its own doom loop of lower energy.
Be aware that at the core of all of these energy zones lies a planning strategy
I spend a good chunk of my time in planning. Maybe I’m planning for a webinar, or a podcast series, or just the strategy for our business. I have to fit in all that, as well as make sure I get my watercolours done, cook breakfast and lunch and upload my photos to the photo book I’m creating.
I like to wing my way through the day, and sometimes that randomness works. However, if I’m going to get real work—and play done—I have to plan. Most of the planning is done usually at the cafe, in my low energy zone. The black holes of energy, it seems, aren’t as bad for productivity. They’re just different.
As a first step, however, get to know your black holes.
Even if you nap, or whittle away the time it’s a good use of time. However, it’s in the black hole zone that you can also put together the plan and do the preparation work. And then when your high energy kicks in, you’re off like a rocket, finishing work in a fraction of the time.
And now, you have time to waste :)
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Announcing: Why Some Books Stand Out (While Others Fail Miserably)
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How To Create Non-Confusing InfoProducts—The Stop-Go System
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Why would anyone want to write a book?
Book writing is a pain from start to finish. You have to think about the outline, collate the information and then somehow make it all seem very informative and entertaining. The last thing anyone would want to do is to write a book.
And yet, we know the power of the book because we read books
We know what happens when we read a book that changes the way we think or do something. We seek out that author, we buy more books. If they have courses or training, we want to join in. And we too want to be like that author. We too want people to earn our living doing the stuff we enjoy.
It's just this writing process that's a real pain
I know this to be true because I was pretty much a nobody in a nowhere land. When I moved to New Zealand from India, I didn't know anyone here. I was also not known for marketing, and if I had any references or testimonials, it was solely for cartooning. If it seemed like the odds were stacked against us, well, they were.
I didn't realise it back then but The Brain Audit became a doorway
It started out as a tiny booklet (padded with a lot of cartoons). It was through this booklet that people came to our even tinier workshops. This book was key to us starting up 5000bc (our membership site). The book got us a few speaking engagements, then connections to the world outside.
But aren't there already millions of books on the same topic?
Yes there are, and there were—even back when we started. There have always been more books than you could read. Even in the noisiest marketplace, there will always be books that will stand out because they're easier to read and remember.
And how does a book become easy to read and remember? You do it with:
• Structure
• Stories • Summaries
You might not realise, for instance, that summaries rock.
That summaries show up not just at the end of a book, but in a ton of different places. You may think of stories as just a story, but in fact stories, analogies, examples and case-studies are what makes one book great and the other just ho-hum.
And structure.
Without structure it's easy to get hopelessly lost.
You can spend months going around in circles trying to figure out which part to keep, which part to drop.
And this is why amazing books are hard to find
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.
• Learn how to structure.
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Sean
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January 2024
Last Day For Special Offer: Why Clients Buy (And Why they Don’t)
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The beauty of The Brain Audit lies in its simplicity and the common sense approach.
There is a cartoon here.
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Hi Seree
Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep customer’s attention
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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.
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The Brain Audit an all-encompassing framework to audit your communication.
The beauty of Brain Audit lies in its simplicity and the common sense approach it takes. The specific features I liked the most were that there were lots of examples and great cartoons which made it an easy read.
I would recommend The Brain Audit to anybody who has a business to run and wants to audit their communication or learn the building blocks of marketing.”
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I LOVED the Brain Audit!
Like others who are grasping at straws trying to find my way through advertising & marketing, I thought The Brain Audit was probably just more information. I’d already read, The famous ‘Boron Letters’, Jay Abraham’s books and other advertising books.
Firstly, I was extremely surprised on how readable it was.
It was so simple to understand! Secondly, I was even more impressed since I could immediately see where I could improve my landing page (for an upcoming product launch).
It clearly taught me how to systematically think and understand why clients really buy or not buy. There was a simple checklist to go through.
I also loved the stories at the beginning.
They helped me to remember what I needed to and why. Another was the clear explanations helping me understand why I should pay attention to customers complaints and how to use them.
I’d highly recommend the Brain Audit. In fact, if you know NOTHING about advertising or marketing and are on the fence on which program to buy, just get this! It also comes with the BEST guarantee you will ever see, period. In fact, I regret I didn’t find it earlier. I’d have save lots of wasted time and be years ahead.
Yesterday was the best time to buy The Brain Audit; Don’t waste any more precious time and buy now.
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Judge for yourself. You won’t regret it. (This offer expires on 30 January 2024)
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Announcing Special Offer : Why Customers Buy (And Why they Don’t)
📅 January 27, 2024 | View in Gmail
A System To Get and Keep your Customer’s Attention every time. You’ve seen it beforeYou’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 Special: Why Clients Buy (And Why They Don’t)Marketing provides thousands of ways to get and keep your customer’s attention But you don’t want thousands of ways:You 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 18 years and got results.A system that has over 967 testimonials.A system that has got results across all media from websites 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 The Brain Audit from 27 January to 30 January 2024 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 BusinessThis book will give you an instant understanding on:How You Can Get Target Audience WrongHow Target Profile WorksPersona Vs Person and more Have a look and judge for yourself here:(This offer expires on 30 January 2024)https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/ Regards, Sean D’Souza P.S. Judge for yourself. You won’t regret it. https://www.psychotactics.com/special/brain-audit-offer/
Three Ways To Motivate Yourself Again (And Restart What You Want To Do)
📅 January 23, 2024 | View in Gmail
Everyone has their method of getting back on the saddle. Here are 3 techniques I use.
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Three Ways To Motivate Yourself Again
(And Restart What You Want To Do)
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(From the archives: One of the most read articles. This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links: Read online
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Back in the 1980s, a program on BBC radio checked if myths lived up to scrutiny.
One of those myths involved the suicide rate in Sweden. During that decade, the social system of Sweden was said to cause the phenomenal rate of people killing themselves. As it turned out, the myth was indeed a myth.
The country’s suicide rate was below France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany. And just above the USA. Yet, the myth caught hold and persisted to this day.
A myth doesn’t need to make sense to succeed. If it’s good enough, it will continue to bounce around as if it were true. And while this myth surfaced in politics, there are just as crazy myths in business.
One of those myths can be rooted in the concept of “it doesn’t matter how hard you fall, it’s how quickly you bounce back, that matters.” In reality, few of us bounce back quickly. Instead, we are blown so much off course that it may take us weeks or months to get to our last known position.
This chaos may be entirely unintended because of some personal issues. Still, it can also be due to simple procrastination or even taking a break and finding that it’s hard to get motivated to restart.
Everyone has their method of getting back on the saddle. Here are some of the techniques I’ve used over the years.
1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head. 2- Getting to the end of a tiny goal 3- Have a rule in place.
1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head.
If you were to ask most of my clients what time I wake up in the morning, the answer would be unanimous and entirely accurate.
Even so, it’s a myth to think that I bounce out of bed everyday and race to the office. That’s because I’m up and at work at 4 am, every workday. And clients who are on live courses have often used this knowledge to their advantage, posting their work just before 4 am so that I can see their work the moment I’m up.
For instance, earlier in this year, I slept badly for almost two months straight
I’d sleep early, avoid reading on the iPad late at night, and even stopped having coffee after lunch. It made little or no difference. I’d wake up feeling I’d been in a fight, groggy and slightly unfocused.
Without exception, I’d have a nagging baby headache. Not the kind of headache that would send you right back to bed, but enough to wonder if there’s something wrong.
And if it’s not a weird sleep issue, it might just be the weather
It’s cold; it’s dark. I don’t exactly feel like waking up and trudging to the office, which is situated next door. Even worse, when we first started our business, the office was almost a kilometre away, and I’d have to walk through the “cold” (well, it’s just 8°C here in winter) and then get to a cold office before starting up my work.
In any case, we can’t rely on how we feel that day to get going
If we’re down in the dumps, the thought of bouncing back into the saddle is the furthest from our minds. In such a situation, we have to use a script. A tiny something that we know will work every single time. In my case, I have different scripts for varying situations.
When I struggle to get moving, I remember the lines I heard from author/speaker Brian Tracy.
I’d just moved to New Zealand in 2000. Life wasn’t hard, but it certainly wasn’t easy. I hadn’t ever been to New Zealand before we moved here. And we knew no one. It was at that point I started listening to audio for the first time.
In one of those audios, Brian Tracy said the following: “Successful people hate doing the same thing unsuccessful people hate doing. But they do it anyway”.
I’m sure he said a lot of other stuff because I collected a box of his audiobooks, tapes, CDs, and videos over the years. But instead of that mountain of advice, I’ve chosen to run a single, simple script. When I’m struggling to get going, I simply say it in my head.
It’s still cold. It’s still dark. I’m still groggy. I get up anyway and get to the office.
Well, that’s the first piece of advice.
Get yourself a script. Borrow mine, if you like, because you’re sure to need it as we go to the second part of this article. Namely, instead of trying to do it all, you sidestep the overwhelm. Instead, you become a bit of a nutter trying to get to the finish line as quickly as you can.
2- Getting to the end of a “let’s do rubbish” goal
On average, I will draw about two-three cartoons a day. I’ll draw one in watercolour in my Moleskine diary, and then, later, when watching Netflix, I’ll draw a couple more on the iPad.
Which sounds productive until you realise I hadn’t done a single cartoon on the iPad for all of this year. And had skipped three whole months of watercolours.
The worst part about this kind of situation is that there’s no incentive to get restarted
People around you tend to be very supportive. Hence, if you were to tell them that you’re not going very far, they suggest you relax or that you’ll get to where you want to go, eventually.
Yet, with every passing day, you’re aware that their good nature is not helping you at all. Worse still, there’s no urgency or deadline. The project may be necessary but not crucial.
In such a situation, you not only fail to make progress but engage in avoidance tactics
You’re so far behind that it’s easier to do nothing than getting started. This is why you need to set a “let’s do some rubbish” goal. In my situation, I force myself to sit down to draw and paint just about anything. Or to write about anything.
My wife, Renuka, will look at it and may say nothing, but I know she thinks the work is pretty bad. What she also knows is that once I’ve turned out the “rubbish” stuff, I’ll get the next thing done and the next, and suddenly, I’m back to producing relatively decent work.
No matter what your project, the moment you stall, you feel like you’ll never get started again
And most of us struggle to get back, partially because we feel that we need to hit a perfect note to get started. The reality is that we’re rusty, and doing some rubbish seems counterintuitive, even counterproductive. Yet, it’s what gets us restarted.
More importantly, it gets us to the end
When we complete something, we’ve moved from doing nothing to doing something no matter how average. Getting to the end of that small goal, that next page gets us moving.
Best of all, you can always go back and erase the rubbish stuff. For instance, yesterday, I got out the glue and stuck a horrendous couple of pages. With my articles, I might go back and delete the terrible paragraphs. With just about any project, you can erase your tracks if you want.
However, the psychological need has been met
You’ve reached the end, and that prompts you to take the next step and the next. Which is what gets you back on track again. It’s a slog, for sure. You don’t want to turn out shoddy work. Even so, could you do it? Get to the end of it, and you’ll see how it propels you forward.
And finally, there’s the shortcut of rules. We all think about habits and motivation. Which is all very fine; rules are superior. Once you’re ready to get back on track, you have to set some rules. Here’s how you go about getting rules to work for you.
3- Have a rule in place
When we go for a walk, we run into an 75-year-old named Eddie. And Eddie has a rule.
The rule is: If it’s not raining, I’m going for a walk. See how uncomplex that rule happens to be? If it’s cold, windy or sunny, you can be sure that Eddie will be on the street. Rain? Well, he’s at home sipping a hot tea.
Rules are what get us back on track because they are far superior to habits. A rule doesn’t need any thought because it’s what you’re going to do, no matter what.
Hence, when I stop drawing for a few months, I have to restart by creating a rule. The rule looks like this: You have to sit down every day after breakfast and open your diary.
Notice that the rule isn’t as stringent as Eddie’s?
Eddie is still going for a walk. My rule doesn’t call upon me to draw, paint or even sketch. All it requires me to do is sit down and open my book. The rule can stop short of the activity.
It can just be enough to get you to the spot, and that gets you off the hook. We all know what happens next, though. If you do sit down and open your book, you’re going to do something.
It might be just a bad drawing, but it’s going to get done. And because you and I are not as disciplined as Eddie, there will be days when we sit down, open the book and do nothing.
Most of us have many projects going at once
Usually, by the time we’re finished with a project, we’ve lost all steam. Or maybe you’ve been on a break and can’t get yourself to restart. That’s when a rule is most likely to come to your rescue.
Even with rules, life gets in the way
We don’t lead isolated lives. We may decide to do something, and a family member will want our attention. They may want to go for a walk or need to talk about the news. In any case, your rule is now likely to run into a fair bit of trouble.
The good part about these disturbances is that they’re relatively predictable. For instance, while I’m learning something on a video course, I have my earphones on. When Renuka shows up, I can’t hear her and have to take them off.
She’s conscious that she’s disturbing me, but I’m also aware that we can’t shut off the rest of the family while we go about doing stuff. Hence, whenever Renuka is around, I have a earphone in my right ear. If she says something, I can quickly respond and then go back to whatever I was doing.
There are times when no disturbance is just as crucial
When I’m writing something, I need to think about the lines in my head. The rule may help me get to the computer or to my diary, but if someone disturbs me, it’s hard to get the momentum back.
Hence, I have to work out situations when the person is improbable to get in my way. You’ll know when family members get busy with their activities. That’s when your rule needs to kick in for things you can’t be disturbed.
At all other times, you can easily manage with a fair bit of disturbance, and your rules need to consider each scenario.
Having a few rules also help. You don’t want to conquer the world yet. You want to get started on a few projects that have fallen by the wayside. Make a few rules, and you’ll be on your way.
In summary: 1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head. 2- Getting to the end of a tiny goal 3- Have a rule in place.
Coming in 4 weeks! A Step-By-Step Method to Create Info-Products that Clients Find Irresistible
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📅 January 20, 2024 | View in Gmail
Why a Crappy Name will Bury Your Book or InfoProduct
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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’.
What just happened?
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 a need to rush from one thing to the next; one concept to the next.
And it’s approximately what we tend to do when creating an info-product.
We are in such a hurry to create this massive info-product, that we fail to understand the importance of “One Concept”. Without a single concept, an info-product can ramble mindlessly. This causes you to struggle when putting the information together, but it also causes reader fatigue.
Read this piece on the “One Concept” as well as five other pieces.
That’s your starting point to creating a far more effective info-product.
You will also learn about: • Why A Crappy Name Will Bury Your Book or InfoProduct • How Your Product Can Create A Niche In Your Marketplace • How To Create Non-Confusing InfoProducts—The Stop-Go System • Why A Unifying Theme For A Product Helps Sell Your Product A Lot Quicker • Why Cannibalising Your InfoProducts Is A Sound Business Strategy
Click here to get this goodie. (You will be asked to opt-in)
Information Products Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/
Warm regards Sean P.S. Also look out for two more free goodies in the coming weeks Goodie 2: Three Ways To Write A Stunning Report Overnight Goodie 3: Product Sequencing: How to guide a customer along a clear purchasing path.
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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How To Accelerate Learning (And the Surprising Power of Fun)
📅 January 16, 2024 | View in Gmail
Fun seems obvious as a concept. But “fun in learning” almost seems like a bit of a paradox
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/
How To Accelerate Learning
(And the Surprising Power of Fun)...
9 Most Popular Articles And Podcasts: On How To Run Your Business And Enjoy Your Life
📅 January 13, 2024 | View in Gmail
Structure your business: Put your heart and soul in your work and also enjoy your life. Here are 9 most popular articles and podcasts:
- Why Happiness Eludes Us
- Why Clients Leave - Why Lack Of Community Is One Of The Big Problems
- Why Understanding The Faces Of Overwhelm Helps You Sidestep Frustration
- How To Restart A Stalled Project: The Middle Of The Project Method
- How To Be A Source Of Inspiration To Others
- How To Build A List Systematically
- The Coats Of Paint System To Break Out Of The Curse Of Perfection
- Why You Don’t Need Clickbait Headlines To Get Clients
- Three Ways To Motivate Yourself Again
Find out how to structure your business in a way that enables you to put your heart and soul in your work and also enjoy your life.
These articles and podcasts cover key topics for entrepreneurs and business owners who want success without sacrificing personal wellbeing.
Warm regards Sean
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
Meet Up: Singapore+Portugal+Germany
📅 January 12, 2024 | View in Gmail
A Psychotactics meet-up is a real treat. You get to ask Sean endless questions.
Live Events (On Sale Now/Limited Seats)
22 April: Singapore Meet-up 25 April: Lisbon, Portugal Meet-up 19-20 May 2023: 2-day Fun Photography Workshop in Portugal 22 May: Munich, Meet-up
Home Study Courses
24 February: How do you create information products that instantly separate you from the competition? 24 March: How do you speed up the sales of your product or service by using a single set of words? 27 April: How to stop knocking on clients’ doors and get them to call you instead
Warm regards Sean
Do you have a question? Email me. sean@psychotactics.com
PO Box 36461 Auckland Auckland 1330 NEW ZEALAND
How Limitations Create Productivity (Without Spending More Time)
📅 January 09, 2024 | View in Gmail
How can a business improve productivity? What is productivity and how you increase it?
Psychotactics
https://www.psychotactics.com/productivity-work/
How Limitations Create Productivity (Without Spending More Time)
Load the images to see the cartoon. It works!
https://www.psychotactics.com/productivity-work/
(From the archives: One of the most read articles. This email contains the complete article. However, you can also read or listen to it at these links:
Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/productivity-work/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4CPOi0bjoV7q9pIawk2RJC |). How can a business improve productivity? What is productivity and how you increase your productivity without wasting time?
The way most cities solve traffic problems is to build more roads.
If you live in a congested city, you know adding more roads only puts more cars on the motorway. Instead, what if we were to restrict the roads? What if half the lanes were just for bicycles?
Almost instantly, you’d see a greater number of people using public transport, and many people adopting bicycles—and electric bikes— as a form of transport because it’s safer and faster to get going. The number of people using cars for random trips would also drop quite dramatically.
Similarly, you can’t create more time and superior work by trying to cram in more hours
The longer and harder you work, the less productive you are. No scientist needs to do a five year study to tell you that you can only work at an optimum level for so long, before you’re just wasting time.
The nasty part about all of this distraction and time wastage is that it’s self perpetuating. The more time you waste, the worse you feel and it takes an enormous amount of energy to get back on track again.
Unless, of course, you spend less time
Spending less time on an activity seems to sound like a half-baked exercise. If it takes you an hour to write an article, how can you possibly take 45 minutes to do the same thing? Except, you’re not doing the same thing, are you?
When we’re given a limited amount of space, we tend to get more creative. Let’s take an example. Around last year, this time, my big boast was that I’d work for a month or more on a single presentation.
It sounds dedicated, doesn’t it? And far better than a statement that says, “I worked just three days on the presentation”. The question to ask is: Is the month long presentation ten times better than the three-day presentation?
Even without looking at the presentation, you’d know it can’t be 1000% better
It might be twice as better. Maybe. And if you looked at the presentations side by side, would you know which one took one month and which one took three days?
There’s a pretty good chance you’d never be able to tell the difference. Which tells us that my boast was just making me feel better, while chewing through a lot of time and energy.
Even so, it’s hard to bring a presentation with 150-200 slides down to three days, isn’t it?
Which is why I set myself the goal of creating a presentation in a week. Not surprisingly, I’d take all week to finish the presentation, but that sliced off ¾ of the time and energy.
Until the day I had just 24 hours to complete an entire presentation. I worked hard—much too hard—which meant I was like a zombie on the morning of the presentation.
And in a way, I’d found the time period that suited me—at least at this point in time. Given the resources and systems I had, I could complete a presentation in less than a week, and bring it down to three days.
This kind of restrictive behaviour also prevents that so-called perfection
If my clients, my wife and even I couldn’t tell the difference between the three-day and the month long presentation, then we had a problem, didn’t’ we? When learning a skill, we all like our work to be outstanding.
If we take the Article Writing Course, for example, clients know what they’d like their article to look like, but it’s clearly impossible to write an article that meets with their expectations. They don’t have the skills to create something of such high quality in a few weeks.
Which is why they do what city planners tend to do. They spend more time editing, writing and rewriting. What’s the end result? They spend 200% or 300% more time and don’t get a 300% result.
Instead they might get a 2% better article or might end up so exhausted that it’s worse than expected. Because an article has so many elements, it’s best to break up the exercise into many tiny increments.
Hence, they write the topics on one day, do the outline on the next and then write on the third. At all points, they’re aiming to keep to their limits.
It’s a fine balance between limits and ability
You can’t take a month long presentation and boil it down to three days overnight. But you can go through tiny increments, and find that you’re starting to get faster.
At first, a month is probably what you’re going to need to get through that presentation, but if you don’t try and restrict yourself you’ll just be like that person who’s always busy.
People are busy because they’re not efficient.
If you give yourself less space, you will find to your surprise, that you’re faster, better and definitely more creative. And not surprisingly, you’ve bought yourself an enormous amount of time. You’re working at high energy and goofing off with a precise strategy.
Life is sweet. And you have more energy. And oh yes, you’re a time management pro too :)
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Coming in February! A Step-By-Step Method to Create Info-Products that Clients Find Irresistible Free Goodies
https://www.psychotactics.com/general/information-products-live-workshop-form/ | How to get on the waiting list
https://www.psychotactics.com/home-study/how-to-create-knockout-information-products/ |
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Popular Podcasts (Yes, there are transcripts too)
Why You Have To Keep Writing Articles (Even If You Have Written Articles For 20 Years)
Read online
https://www.psychotactics.com/writing-articles/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1oDpJaCc6n6ngirDO1NI4Z?si=IHq1RiiyS5SKdrOvy9yiJQ | Google Podcast
How To Gain Momentum In Business Using The Subsets Technique (And Gain New Clients Too!) Listen online
https://www.psychotactics.com/gain-momentum-business/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fKcIbSEMM2yt6CgWUWKp6?si=lxiJpNssScCLQfNV6T0QIA | Google Podcast
Why We Stall – And How To Pull Out Of The Mess Listen online
https://www.psychotactics.com/perfection-stall/ | iTunes
https://open.spotify.com/episode/046a7sEDYe6max7dw8iV7E?si=EBlcugeqTTW-14EP89HKag | Google Podcast
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Announcing: Why Most Planning Fails (The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning)
📅 January 06, 2024 | View in Gmail
I didn’t think that a Chaos Planning System would apply to me. I’m always well organize.
There is a cartoon here
So year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve.
Then suddenly it’s January 2024, and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected. And hey, this phenomenon isn’t new. It’s not like you’re not trying to achieve stuff, but something always seems to derail your goals.
And what’s worse is that you’ve read all the books on planning as well.
But they haven’t helped either. There’s a reason why they haven’t helped. It’s because those books were written by highly organised people. What you need is for someone disorganised to write a book. A book based on chaos. And how chaos is critical to starting out your plan.
Aha…here’s a 35 Page Report: The Chaos Planning System
That will help you move ahead. So have a look at this product and judge the value for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Warm regards, Sean P.S. You also get the book—Pronto Learning: Insiders Tips To Speed Up Your Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Testimonial: Chaos Planning
"I realized that now I am able to accomplish a lot on my endless "To Do" list"
"I didn't think that a Chaos Planning System would apply to me. After all, I always thought that I'm well organized. But, after reading the report, I realized that while I am able to accomplish a lot on my endless "To Do" list. I always struggle with finding time to work on important projects and feeling like I got something done."
Marina Brito, VA, USA
Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Testimonial: Chaos Planning
"Since putting Chaos Planning into place my stress levels have gone way down. It's a beautiful thing!"
"Taking the time to legitimately mark off 3-4 hours for chaos each working day has made all the difference. In the past, just like you described, I stacked up my days with back-to-back everything — totally unrealistic.
I would recommend this product—It was an easy read and an easy implementation, and since putting it into place my stress levels have gone way down. It's a beautiful thing!"
Dan Wagner, USA
Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Image
I'd looked at the product a few times in the past when it had been available but had always felt like I didn't have enough chaos to warrant needing it.
But this summer was different. I had taken on too many projects and I was feeling worn down. I was exhausted and it felt like my brain wasn't focused . I read and listened to the program the day I bought it and completely restructured my upcoming month.
The most important feature of Chaos Planning is actually the system.
The simplicity of the system is what makes it work. Once you hear it, you can't forget it. And you'll always know why you're falling behind and how to quickly adjust.
I would recommend this product to anyone who feels like they're falling behind on their most important projects or who has a creative mind and can get stuck in the start-but-don't-finish cycle.
Basically, anyone who wants a better way to run their business or work-life should just buy this product and give the system a try. No matter what, you'll have a mini paradigm shift that will allow you to think about your time more intelligently.
Colette Nichol, Canada
Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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Announcing: Why Most Planning Fails (The Critical Importance Of Chaos In Planning)
📅 January 02, 2024 | View in Gmail
Since putting Chaos Planning into place my stress levels have gone way down.
So year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve.
Then suddenly it’s January 2024 and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected. And hey, this phenomenon isn’t new. It’s not like you’re not trying to achieve stuff, but something always seems to derail your goals.
And what’s worse is that you’ve read all the books on planning as well.
But they haven’t helped either. There’s a reason why they haven’t helped. It’s because those books were written by highly organised people. What you need is for someone disorganised to write a book. A book based on chaos. And how chaos is critical to starting out your plan.
Aha…here’s a 35 Page Report: The Chaos Planning System
That will help you move ahead. So have a look at this product and judge the value for yourself.
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Warm regards, Sean P.S. You also get the book—Pronto Learning: Insiders Tips To Speed Up Your Learning
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
"Since putting Chaos Planning into place my stress levels have gone way down. It's a beautiful thing!"
“Taking the time to legitimately mark off 3-4 hours for chaos each working day has made all the difference. In the past, just like you described, I stacked up my days with back-to-back everything — totally unrealistic.
I would recommend this product—It was an easy read and an easy implementation, and since putting it into place my stress levels have gone way down. It’s a beautiful thing!”
Dan Wagner, USA Judge for yourself
https://www.psychotactics.com/chaos-planning
Psychotactics, PO Box 36461, Auckland, Auckland 1330, NEW ZEALAND
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