Gary Cooper's secret for standing out from the pick-me content creators out there

An Email Players subscriber (not sure he wants me naming him) asks: “It looks like you attempt to just sound different than anyone else in your industry, rather than ‘taking The easier route’ and focus on entertainment and controversy. If that is so, do you have a certain ‘technique’ or ‘way’ to go about it or does is just stem from you genuinely being different?” There are a lot of things I do for that. And they all help me stand out from the shallow content pick-me's desperate for clout. But one thing probably anyone can do is in an interview with screenwriter Wendell Mayes from the Backstory series of books (interviews with screenwriters). In the interview he talked about how the late — and very high paid and popular with his fans — actor Gary Cooper was a lot more complicated man than his critics gave him credit for. Ironically, I once saw an interview with another screenwriter (I forget his name off top of my head) in the same series of books who did not like working with Gary Cooper at all. Basically he said Cooper was not an actor, just a “personality.” Different strokes... Anyway, back on set: Wendell gave an example of something Gary Cooper did that is a perfect example of not only what made him stand out as one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, with the top billing that comes along with such a reputation… but also something just a few high paid content creators in-the-know that I see anymore do today. Something I believe anyone — old or newish to the game — can do as well. Here's what happened: Wendell told the story about how in one of Cooper’s westerns there was a scene where a gunbelt hung on the wall and Gary Cooper’s direction for that scene was to take it off the wall. A very simple, ordinary, thing, with no deep connotation or direction in the script. Or from anyone else, for that matter.. But Cooper was not a simple, ordinary guy. And so he started doing something during the rehearsals that probably drove the entire set mad with impatience… and to the point where, finally, the movie’s director got fed up and had to ask him what the hell he was doing. i.e., "Why not just take the damn thing off the wall so we could move on?" Gary’s reply was, in many ways, priceless. And I mean that literally. Especially for anyone who creates and/or sells content. In fact, what he said is easily one of the most valuable content creation lessons I’ve ever heard. And long story short: What Cooper did not only made what would have been a very boring, non-dramatic, even "plain vanilla" task exciting and interesting… but also made it so the movie was also probably a lot better and more engaging by default. And it almost certainly added yet another layer to his star power, box office draw, and celebrity status (and probably his infamy status too) all at the same time. Believe it or not, what he did had nothing to do with any inborn genius either. Nor was it a skill or talent thing. When I read what he did I immediately thought about my own business. And it occurred to me how when I was just getting started especially there were two things I did to help propel my business far faster and farther than it would have otherwise… including past some of my more talented and well-connected peers back then. Those two things were: (1) Outworking any other copywriter, writer, or content creator (you can always outwork the other guy — even if he’s more talented, better connected, has more skill, etc) (2) Create my content, sales copy, with the exact same approach Cooper did to his scenes I didn’t read the Cooper story until somewhat recently. But I definitely did use the approach he did — and when I thought about it, others who have progressed very quickly in this business that I know have done the same thing even though they, too, were not naturally gifted at content, copy, marketing, selling, etc. And I believe this thing Cooper did — that I did just sort of out of necessity to stand out in an already growing marketplace starting back in 2002 — is why I was able to grow a more recognizable, profitable, and influential business than a lot of my peers who got in around the same time. Not because I’m a naturally “better” writer or content creator than they are. I can assure you (and my trolls would no-doubt agree) I'm not. But because of tapping into this same phenomenon Gary Cooper did to become a well respected and very high paid actor in a town and cutthroat industry full of talented actors with better connections, skill, ability than he did. You know who else did this thing Cooper did? I would argue the late, great copywriter Jim Rutz did. By his own admission (in an interview he did for the late Clayton Makepeace) Jim outright said he was not as well-read or knowledgable a direct response copywriter or marketer as the other A-list guys or know the books and rules like they did. And yet, during his day he was hands down always in the top 3 copywriters on the planet... even to the point of working on pure commission — no fee — such was his ability to create content (sales copy, in this case). Yes, I am deliberately teasing this whole thing. I could just come out and say it. But without the necessary context I gave inside my new “Count of Content” book that’s still on sale for a little longer today… it is highly unlikely anyone will give it the required respect it requires to use it... much less aggressively and ruthlessly do it vs just thinking you already know/do it when very few people do, even if they like to think they do. As for the details: This nearly 250-page book primarily consists of the December 2021, July 2022, November 2022, October 2023, and this past April & May 2024 Email Players issues. So if you have all or some of those you will have to determine if you want to buy this book or not. It is also on sale this week until tonight, Friday 10/11 at midnight EDT during the launch at a $300 discount off the listed price. You can read about it here: [( Ben Settle 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