The 4 W's of the idea apocalypse

Easily one of th e“most asked” question I get around here is: “What are some tips for coming up with ideas?” (For emails, books, newsletters, courses, sales copy, all of it) The answer is what I call my “4 W’s.” They are: 1. Writing 2. Working 3. Working out 4. Willis I can trace nearly all my best ideas to those 4 things. The more I write, the more ideas I get (writing begets writing). The more I work on something else, the more ideas I get from that, too. (There is even science behind the hand-creativity connection that I won’t bother going into here, but it is easily Google’able. Excludes wanking, of course — that’s not one of the W’s, sorry if that disappoints…) The more I workout, also the more ideas I get. (I’ve “written” entire Email Players issues and portions of books on long walks on my phone’s audio recorder and am constantly pausing to jot notes down in the gym to the point where I just keep my phone on with my note taking app standing by.) And the more I just relax hanging out with Willis all day the more ideas I get for everything from books and newsletters to big, sweeping business ideas/strategies for the other ventures I got my righteous fingers in (SaaS, Options Coaching biz, the newspaper I am buying ownership in… I am constantly writing ideas down when Willis is around). The result: The more of those 4 things I do, the more ideas I get. The more ideas I get, the more content I create. The more content I create, the more sales my business makes. Thus, I spend more and more time on those 4 things. My entire day is basically doing those 4 things — even when eating sometimes. Bonus thought: There is also a 5th thing I used to have but no longer do: And that is a Zoe. Walking my dog Zoe was a huge source of ideas for content. Eventually I’ll get another dog. And when I do, I suspect I’ll have to give him a name that also starts with a W. I’m obsessive compulsive like that… Okay so that’s that. If you want to see the latest content creation & monetization methods/strategies/tactics I’m using in my business to grow my sales, my customer base, and my influence in my market/niche… see the April Email Players issue. This is some of the most valuable content-related info I’ve ever taught. And it turned out to be so much info I had to make it a King-Sized issue. (32 pages vs the usual 20) The information inside is how I get away with selling content for as much as $1,000+ that most think can only be sold for $10 — like paper & ink newsletters, perfect bound books, and that sort of thing — and, yes, it can be applied to other kinds of content like video, audio, etc, too. Powerful info. And only Email Players subscribers will possess it. Go here to subscribe in time before the deadline: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle P.S. Here’s a lil’ taste of what’s inside this King-Sized issue: * A content creation secret used by famous actor Gary Cooper to turn otherwise boring, ordinary, bland, and totally “plain vanilla” scenes into fascinating & memorable moments people remembered for years afterwards. (Especially useful if content you sell is otherwise easily found free on YouTube or Google.) * A shrewd way used by everyone from Dr. Seuss to Mister Rogers to even Quentin Tarantino… for creating content people love to pay for and consume even if it’s not mind-blowingly original. * The “fights are bullshit” secret for writing emails that can potentially make lots of sales even if you hardly even mention your product or offer at all. (This is directly from the writer who helped make The X-Men a household name and a billion dollar IP for Marvel Comics. And it can work like a charm when creating other kinds of content, too — from sales copy and emails to books, courses, talks, and everything in between.) * An old school writing trick for making your content so compulsively engaging & hard to stop reading/watching/listening to it might even piss people off! (No joke — doing this not only pisses off Stefania whenever she reads or edits my content… but it even irked my book designer when she was creating the interiors of one of my books.) * 7 ingenious ways (based on what Dungeons & Dragons in the 80’s did to help stop IP theft in its tracks) to aggravate & foil content pirates who are probably drooling right now at the chance to steal and sell your hard work. * The “Scorsese touch” content creation & monetization secret I’ve been using for the last several years to help write emails that sell like crazy without having to constantly hard pitch my offers. (Including helping me sell scads of my perfect bound books that look like they should sell for $13 at Barnes & Noble for as much as a $1,000+ a pop…) * A content creation trick (that's gone all but extinct since the rise of “Influencer” culture) that can help you sell your offers on the sneak inside your content. (I also show you an example of an email doing this that got the highest clicks, opens, & sales for us during a highly competitive affiliate campaign… even though it barely even talks about “the product” or benefits or has all that many claims.) * 2 things amateur copywriters, coaches, & online marketers can do (starting immediately) to help grow a bigger and more influential business than their more talented & well-connected peers and competitors. (These are the exact 2 things I did over 20 years ago to quickly blow right past a lot of my own more talented, better connected, and far superior copywriter and/or marketer peers.) * A cunning way to craft content that can help your business stand out head & shoulders in niches overrun with competition and distractions. * An ancient kung fu fighting tip (used by the late, great copywriter Jim Rutz did a lot in his ads, believe it or not...) that can help make even the most mundane, ordinary, and typical content/information look & feel exciting and sexy. * A 3-point content creation approach pioneered by Earl Nightingale (when he was a radio broadcaster in Chicago) and later perfected by Dan Kennedy (when speaking on the Peter Lowe tour) that can help get your content ridiculously high engagement & sales. * Why always trying to be contrarian or a “rebel” is a recipe for ending up ignored at best or even an abject failure in the content creation game at worst. * How to use your content to seize the coveted “cat bird seat” (i.e., he to whom business seems to flow effortlessly) in your industry. (Old school Mad Men like Olgilvy, Burnett, Norman, Foote, Cone, etc were pros at doing this — and it’s one reason why each had their own horde of clients who gravitated just to them, only wanted to hire them, and often didn’t care how much it cost.) * How to approach content creation in a way where your name and brand can be all but “infused” so strongly in your customers’ braincells they start seeing you almost everywhere and almost in everything they look at! (I won’t say doing this is easy — it’s not — but it is the big secret to how you achieve true marketplace omnipotence where your content can spread to the four corners of the earth and all but sell itself.) * How to summon energy & excitement “on demand” to create content when you don’t feel like it, don’t want to it, and it feels like such a chore you’d rather be doing ANYTHING else but creating content. (The late Heath Ledger tapped into this phenomenon to help create his most memorable performance as the Joker. And I've been using for a long time to pound out all kinds of content even when I'd rather be doing something else. You can, too, if you take this approach to heart, apply it, and work hard at it.) All right that’ll do it. If you want in on time for this issue you have to hurry. Once the deadline hits it’ll be too late. Here’s the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2024 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA