“If you have one good idea, people will lend you twenty.” – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Born Sep. 13, 1830. One of the best things about operating via conversations with your audience is that you almost never need to be creative. Plant a seed, and people will grow it into a crop of their their troubles…. Read More →
How to Limit Yourself to Turn “Too Many Good Ideas” Into Actual Output
“The river flows at its own sweet will, but the flood is bound in the two banks. If it were not thus bound, its freedom would be wasted.” – Vinoba Bhave, Born Sep. 11, 1895. You’re creative. You’re smart. You’re talented. You’re skilled. So what? Who cares? What does that DO for anyone? You or… Read More →
Modern Tech Makes Many of Your Perceived Limits Into Bullshittery
“But the power of science lies in open publication, which, with the rise of the Internet, is no longer constrained by the price of paper.” – Michael Shermer, Born Sep. 8, 1954. This technological fact of publication has changed the face of advertising, too. No more paying for printing prep. No more collating. No more… Read More →
If You Want to Write Better, Practice Writing Faster
“I can’t write without that urgency. Something is wrong if it takes more than five days to finish a screenplay. A story created this way will always be full of life.” – Werner Herzog, Born Sep. 5, 1942. Whatever you’re working on, you’re probably taking too long. Do it faster. Stop fucking around. Focus on… Read More →
How To Overcome Impostor Syndrome Forever: Kick It In the Jim-Jams and Bolt Past It
“I think it’s healthy for a person to be nervous. It means you care – that you work hard and want to give a great performance. You just have to channel that nervous energy into the show.” – Beyoncé Knowles, Born Sep. 4, 1981. When I mentor people or consult with them, I frequently hear… Read More →
You Already Have a Built-in USP – You’re Just Suffocating It
“I have a different constitution. I have a different brain; I have a different heart; I got tiger blood, man.” – Charlie Sheen, Born Sep. 3, 1965. How are you different from every other boring jerk out there? What makes you unique? Your history? Your style? Your point of view? You need to know. Because… Read More →
Use That Big Beautiful Brain to Build Your Business (Because Almost No One Else Does)
“If thinking men are few, they are for that reason all the more powerful. Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.” – Henry George, Born Sep. 2, 1839. Most people hate to think…. Read More →
What Holds You Back From Being a Copywriter is Not Writing Any Copy
“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” – Edgar Rice Burroughs, Born Sep. 1, 1875. Until you are a copywriter… Stop buying copy books. Stop collecting swipes. Stop hand-copying old ads. Stop it. Instead… Start writing some copy. Start publishing it…. Read More →
Stick it Out, Take it Further, and Discover Something Worth Selling to Other Seekers
“A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.” – Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenber (aka Novalis), Born May 2, 1772. There is a lot of talk in our line of work of becoming an authority figure in a market – a recognized expert. And this quote speaks to the… Read More →
Your’re Not a Classical Composer – You’re a Punk Rock Shredder
“I really don’t think records should be made in the manner where you sit and write, and when you’re finished writing, you start recording. That just seems conventional and old-fashioned to me.” – Jay Reatard, Born May 1, 1980. Writing for the internet, for yourself, is pretty fucking punk. You don’t have time to engineer… Read More →