Many years ago, I wrote an article that went viral about how great copywriting needs to be built on a great offer to have a successful promotion. 

If your offer sucks, it doesn’t matter how good the copy is…

It won’t sell. 

If your offer is AMAZING, you can write crappy copy…

It will still sell. 

Here’s one thing that most copywriters, marketers, and business owners miss…

There’s 1 layer deeper…

And that’s the MATH the offer is built on. 

I recently had this realization. 

Let me explain. 

Right now at PaleoHacks, we are essentially only working on health supplement VSL projects. 

We’ve kind of left cookbooks in the past. 

Why?

Let’s take a look at the math behind both types of funnels. 

For a winning cookbook funnel, you’ll have a front end AOV of about $30. 

We’ll be able to acquire customers. 

And if we send it to our email list, we’ll make...

Oooohhhhhh boy…

The question I got asked on the FIRST day inside my 8 week coaching program?

“What do you think about AI?”

Here’s my answer. 

ChatGPT has turned the copywriting industry into a giant space needle…

With an infinite saucer base. 

Let me explain. 

There’s a sea of copywriters who cannot write better than chatGPT. 

Essentially, an infinite number. 

That’s the saucer base I’m talking about. 

If you cannot write better than chatGPT, I am sorry…

But you’re screwed. 

UNLESS - you up your game. 

No, I’m not here to sell you an AI copy product. 

I am here to simply share my thoughts on this hot topic with you. 

I’ve done a LOT of copywriter hiring in the past 6 months…

I’m well-connected with the top business owners and top copywriters. 

Here’s what I see…

ChatGPT is a better copywriter than 85% of the market...

Yo, Copy Gangsta, it’s Ning! 

Today’s lesson:  

To master the skill of copywriting (and earn all the riches)…  

You need to learn layers of writing micro-skills that compound on top of one another.  

This lightbulb moment came to me when I was at a Chris Stapleton concert 4 weeks ago.  

My wife and I were at his concert in Petco Park in San Diego.  

She had gotten me front-section tickets because she knew Chris Stapleton is one of my all-time favorite musicians.  

He’s got a country voice raised in Nashville, Tennessee that is pure bliss to listen to.  

Anyway - 2 other country bands opened for him.  

They were fine, enjoyable.  

But when Chris came on… 

It was really apparent there was a HUGE, massive skill gap.  

His music wasn’t 2X or 3X better… 

In my eyes, it was a 20X or 50X difference in musicianship.  

To...

Common question I get from people is:

I understand that emails are a great way to get started with copywriting but what should I actually write? It feels as if every business uses a different style so I get overwhelmed and confused

What works the best when teaching email is to show frameworks clients use in their business. 

This way, students not only learn what’s effective…

They are also more confident when they pitch their services…

Because clients DESPERATELY need emails that follow the proven frameworks. 

With that said, let’s the frameworks, shall we?

(Hat tip to Justin Goff who outlined and popularized them)

• Contrarian 

State something that goes against the grain.

If you're in weight loss, you tell people to stop eating salads.

If you’re in Facebook ads, you tell people to write ads that might trigger the algo.

If you're in copywriting, you tell people to fix their mindset before investing in another course or...

Many moons ago, the great Eugene Schwartz blessed us with the idea of awareness. 

In simple words...

How much do your prospects know about the problem you solve? 

Let's say you write a biz opp sales letter.

You start saying the economy is in tatters...

And that people need to make more moolah fast to keep up with their bills.

This is a sign you don't understand people's awareness levels.

Why? 

Because EVERYONE feels it in their bones that the economy is in bad shape right now. 

When you educate people on a problem they are already aware of, you bore them. 

A stronger approach is to talk about your solution...

And why it's different from the other 9483258329 options out there. 

Let's see another example. 

I'm putting the final touches on my new course.

It will help copywriters score the clients, make the money, and live the life they deserve... by overcoming their mindset blocks. 

For this offer, I don't have to talk about the state of the...

Big problem I see with copy today is that it's bloated. 

Most copywriters took the old adage "the more you tell the more you sell" to heart. 

They fill their pages, ads, and emails with fluff thinking that people will read it and buy. 

Wrong. 

The more you tell, the more you sell... provided you tell something INTERESTING. 

But if you pump words for volume's sake, that's bad. 

This is what brings me to today's lesson:

Go out in the interwebs and search for old-school newspaper ads. 

You want ads from back in the 1970's because that's when the copy OG's were the most active.

"Newspaper ads, Ning? Really? Isn't this copy there antiquated?" 

Yes, the copy is antiquated.

The markets in the 70s were less sophisticated.

But what I love about newspaper ads is how LEAN they were. 

Old-school guys didn't have the luxury of writing unlimited words like we do today. 

Word count was fixed.

If they wanted to write more, they had to buy more...

Here are 6 warning signs that you might be dealing with a NIGHTMARE client: 

• They yell at you
• They pay you pennies - and it takes forever for them to pay you
• They self-sabotage their own business
• They are a pain in the BLEEEP to work with
• They demand more and more from you (push scope of work)
• They don't respect your boundaries

I HOPE your clients are nothing like that.

Worst case, they should have one or two of those warning signs.

Now, let’s see what DREAM clients look like, shall we?

• They are kind to you 
• They pay you what you're worth (and even surprise you with sweet bonuses)
• They always try to take their business to the next level 
• They are a joy to work with
• They only ask what you agreed to 
• They respect your boundaries

 And before you roll your eyes…

There ARE clients like that. 

I know because my coaching students and I had the joy to work with A+++ copywriting clients. 

(Hint: you don’t have to be an A-list...

A bloke by the name of Nick Coleman came up with a badass ChatGPT prompt recently.

Check it out:

"can you write me an hour by hour journal entry from the point of view of a married businessman that has 30+ pounds of fat to lose who is 45 years old. this man is on the brink of divorce and his kids don't respect him. write about his insecurities, fears, frustrations, dreams, desires, current role in society, and future role in society if nothing changes. write about how he feels around women and younger men. and write it like it's the worst day he's ever had because of how overweight he is"

Here's a small sample of what it spit out: 

6:00 am - I wake up feeling angry and hurt as I replay the events of yesterday in my head. I can't believe that my wife was checking out other men, and I feel a deep sense of inadequacy and shame. I know I haven't been the best husband or the best father, but I never thought my wife would look outside of our marriage for attention and affection.

7:00...

Here's something one of my coaching students recently wrote:

"Every post I see says they’re looking for people with solid track records of success…so I pretty much stop myself from applying for any gigs. I feel like I’d be wasting their time and my time if I reach out.

I need solid success stories. I need a track record. I need clients who will actually document said records and provide them to me. Until then, my unbreakable imposter syndrome stops me from applying to any posts online.

Why pick me when there are dozens of more qualified folks, with more experience and track records to back them up?"

He is right. 

This is imposter syndrome and I always help students get rid of it with my unique mindset framework.

But if you aren’t a student, today I got something that will also help.

A-list copywriter Paris Lampropoulos once said that clients want 3 things from copywriters:

1) Good copy chops

2) Not missing deadlines

3) Being a pleasure to work with

...

When A-list copywriter, Paris Lampropoulos discovered copywriting, he was working in real estate. 

So he decided to write a sales letter selling a book... teaching people how to sell their house. 

It bombed.

Horribly.

Frustrated, he paid another copywriter to critique his work (smart move since it's nearly impossible to see your copy's blind spots)

The copywriter, paraphrased, said:

You spend the first few pages of the letter giving facts about how bad the market is. They already know this! That's why they want to sell their house. Remove those pages and start with the solution.

Paris applied the advice and BOOM - he got a ton of sales.

All because he removed stuff that was irrelevant to his target audience.

And this brings me to a mistake I see a lot of students make.

They use a lot of facts to try and make a point. 

So they write things like:

• 39% of adults aged 18 years and over are overweight

• 84.18% of households make less than $100k a year

• 78% of...