One of the smartest things I ever did in my life was to take Ogilvy’s advice to read Claude Hopkins’ book “Scientific Advertising” at least seven times.

I did – and many more times than that. I still read it along with Hopkins’ autobiography “My Life in Advertising.”

Now there’s a brand new – and excellent – biography of David Ogilvy written by long time colleague and Ogilvy & Mather adman Kenneth Roman: “The King of Madison Avenue”

There’s so much of value in this new bio – but here’s one gem.

Here Ogilvy describes his company Ogilvy & Mather:

“..the most precious asset we have is probably our ETHOS – the spirit which binds all our offices together all over the world (Note: O&M had over 100 offices.) It embraces:

Intellectual honesty – with our clients and with each other
Thoroughness – as opposed to superficiality
Professionalism – in everything we do
The emphasis we place on character – in choosing people for key jobs
Pride in O&M – tempered by unrelenting discontent with our shortcomings.”

I like all these Ogilvy principles, especially the last: “Pride…tempered by unrelenting discontent.”

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

If you’re giving it your all and you’re working to the highest possible standards, you should be proud of your efforts.

But if you’re smart and you intend to continue succeeding year after year, you’ll realize that best is still yet to come and you’re only really just getting warmed up no matter what success you’ve had.

Technique is important, but it can’t replace this kind of deep-in-the-bones dedication to doing things right.

In that spirit, I’m happy to say that 2010 will mark our sixteenth consecutive year of offering fundamentally sound, cutting edge, and principled training in Internet marketing.

This year, Drayton Bird, a direct marketing pro with over forty years experience will be joining us in Chicago as a featured speaker at System 2010.

Among other things, Drayton is an alumnus of Ogilvy & Mather.

Drayton sold his UK direct marketing agency to O&M, became one of their key DM executives, and was the person Ogilvy entrusted with teaching direct marketing principles throughout the agency’s 100 + worldwide offices.

Details about the event

For more information about System Seminar 2010, Drayton Bird and the rest of our faulty: Click here

Ken

P.S .If you’re reading this before December 31, 2009 and you intend to join us in Chicago, please note that the super “early bird” tuition discount deadline offer expires December 31, 2009.

For more information about System Seminar 2010: Click here

Seven marketers took a stab at it. Here’s what they posted to Twitter in the order they posted.

Some good stuff!

“Only 3 things matter in copywriting: The reader starts reading, he keeps reading, he takes the action you want him to. That’s it.”
- Twitter.com/KenMcCarthy

“Good copy offers relevant benefits with every reason to grasp them; what you miss if you don’t; dispels disbelief and stays in the mind.”
- Twitter.com/DraytonBird

“Copywriting: the art of using words to create first interest, then action.”
– Twitter.com/ShelHorowitz

“Who Am I, What Do I Have, Why Do You Need It, Here’s How You Can Get It Fast!”
- Twitter.com/ChefMarkGarcia

“Get his attention by meeting and stimulating the interests (already on his mind) and meet his desire with an irresistible offer”
- Twitter.com/Andy_Moose

“Get clear on what counts, create, wait, edit, test, keep what works, do it again.”
- Twitter.com/Adriel_Brunson

“Copywriting is: Getting attention and keeping it long enough that the reader takes your desired action.”
- Twitter.com/Healymonster

“Copywriting is conclusively proving that you offer the best solution to the prospect’s problem so they act NOW”
- Twitter.com/shaunoreilly

“Copywriting is discovering what people want & showing them how to get it (in print). It’s not “original” but works for me ;0)”
- Twitter.com/bensettle

Jim Rohn had an absolute genius for simplifying life and success. Barely a day goes by when I don’t think about one of his aphorisms.

If you know his work, you know what I’m talking about.

If you don’t know his work, by all means check it out.

Here’s a good place to start:

Jim Rohn remembered in death

I also know Twitter is good for research and a handy way to see who’s active in a given niche and what they’re up to. But these are support functions, not put money-in-the-bank functions.

So then, how can Twitter become a cash producer?

The Secret

The same way every medium does it: by producing things that people find interesting, useful, entertaining or inspirational.

But, realistically, can you you really say anything worthwhile in just 140 characters?

I didn’t think so until I tried my hand at it.

Here’s what inspired me

At least once a week, I encounter someone who wants to learn or get better at copywriting.

Very often, they’re at the very beginning of their careers and all I can do is recommend a stack of real copywriting books by the giants (Hopkins, Caples, Schwab, Schwartz, Bird etc.) and urge them to read one or more of them.

But I realize that doesn’t help the person right now which is when most people, including me, want when they’re seeking help.

Help is on its way

I’ve thought about this a lot and decided the world needs a copywriting seminar that tells you everything you need to know about copywriting in 140 characters or less.

Much to surprise I was able to create one.

I’m deadly serious.

If you keep these 140 characters in mind you will always know exactly what to focus on when you sit down to write an ad or sales letter. You’ll also never waste another minute on gimmicks or BS advice that doesn’t work.

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it?

I tested this 140 character seminar on two very experienced copywriters and both gave it a double thumbs up.

It’s one of those things that might not seem like much to a beginner, but the more copywriting experience you have, the more you’re realize that the three-step process I lay out is the Holy Grail.

For myself, I’ve been writing ad copy for over 20 years and I’ve found these 140 characters valuable enough to put on an index card and post by my computer.

It may even be as powerful as my “traffic + conversion = profits” formula which has clarified Internet marketing for so many now-successful entrepreneurs, but only time will tell on that one.

So where is this seminar in a tweet?

On Twitter, of course.

Something you can use…in 140 characters or less:

http://twitter.com/kenmccarthy/status/5624862016

Ken

P.S. If you’re not a Twitter user, it’s a snap to register.

You need an e-mail address, a user name and a password and you’re on.

Posting is just like posting to a blog – only 100 times easier.

The interesting part is it allows you to easily follow writers you admire with the single push of button.

And that’s it. 90% of what you need to know about Twitter.

http://twitter.com/kenmccarthy/status/5624862016

- Ken McCarthy

P.S. This year’s System Seminar will be in Chicago, April 9, 10 and 11.

For more info: The System Seminar

================================================

My milion dollar piece of advice back then (and my talk was taped at Wharton) was “If you really, really want to buy Internet shares, wait and you’ll be able to get all you want for pennies on the dollar.” No one called it better.

Now, at the height of the second Internet industry bubble (oh, yes we are), here’s a short “Internet reality check.”

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just came out with an important reality check. (The Pew Trust is an old oil family that likes to keep track of what Americans are thinking just in case we ever get tired of the internal combustion engine and the fact that 95% of our tax money for transportation goes to private cars and not mass transit.)

Anyway, the reality check:

31% of Americans say they use the Internet a lot and find it improves the quality of their lives.

20% use the Internet, mainly because they “have to” but aren’t fans.

49% don’t use the Internet at all, or use it sparingly because they get overloaded by it or their gear doesn’t work the way they need it to.

The reality check is that when you’re using the Internet to market, you’re really only potentially reaching about 1/3 of your market.

The good news is this is an affluent, intelligent, consumerist slice of the country and the Internet, when used intelligently (ala “The System”) is still a very effective way to reach and engage with them.)

Fifteen years ago, when I was considering the wisdom of jumping with both feet into the Internet marketing pool, I calculated that if just 10% of the market used the Internet, it would be worth getting into.

What I said back then and I’m still saying now (and the recent Pew study confirms it), you better not throw away the other media and channels like print and direct mail and cable because there are still huge percentages of the world that don’t use this thing, don’t want to use it and will NEVER use it.

That’s a piece of advice that only the wise among the corporate media and the world of boostrap entrepreneurs is heeding.

In one of the online bonus sections that buyers of the book get free access to, I read a quote that I think sums up Tim’s secret to success:

“I (make) more mistakes in 8 weeks then most make in 8 years.”

Tim was referring to the methodology behind his rapid language learning program, but this could easily apply to any of the other things he excels at: dancing, martial arts and direct marketing.

Most people spend their lives avoiding the discomfort of making mistakes. That’s probably the biggest mistake of all.

The only way…the ONLY way…you can learn a skill (as opposed to a theoretical idea) is by doing, making lots of mistakes in the process, and learning to identify and correct your mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the better.

Without quality, what’s the point in producing something? But seeking perfection can be counterproductive in the extreme.

Where do you draw the line?

I think the answer, as it is for so many questions like this, is: “It depends.”

Every circumstance has to be evaluated and re-evaluated on an ongoing basis. “4-Hour Workweek” author Tim Ferriss recommends running an 80/20 analysis on your business monthly. Not a bad idea.

Once you accept that perfectionism is something that can’t be eliminated with one killing blow, then what you need are guidelines. Here are two of my all-time favorite guidelines for dealing with perfectionism plus a new one I just discovered that inspired this post.

Guideline #1. “It’s amazing how rich you can get without being perfect.” – Richard Dennis, super successful futures trader.

Becoming rich (or happy, or contented, or successful) has nothing to do with being perfect. Perfection is most definitely not required.

Guideline #2. “Perfection in infinite time is worth zero.”

I wish I could remember who I first heard this from. I Googled it and nothing came up. Maybe I actually coined this phrase and forgot. It wouldn’t be the first time. I know I’ve been using it for many, many years.

This one says it all. Getting the thing done, whatever it is, in time to actually use and enjoy it is what matters the most. Perfection on some far off, undefinable date is absolutely worthless (unless you plan to live forever which, let’s face it, is unlikely.)

I recently discovered a new perfectionism quote which comes from a book called “Beyond Success and Failure” by Willard and Marguerite Beecher.

I learned about this book is a very circuitous way.

Lawrence Bernstein, who’s one of the world’s greatest archivists of classic advertising copy, gifted me with a rare collection of ads by Eugene Schwartz that he painstakingly uncovered through researching back issues of old newspapers.

Schwartz was a grand master of selling books by mail order and the ads he wrote are so good that I felt compelled to track down as many of the books that he advertised as I could. “Beyond Success and Failure” was one of them. (By the way, every book Gene wrote ads for was a winner and well worth buying.)

Anyway, here’s my newest favorite quote about perfectionism. It’s the most stark and it’s one you’re not likely to forget:

Guidline #3: “The perfectionist is doomed to starve in the midst of plenty.”

Wow! No sugar coating there. And they’re right. How many times have we seen people who could have something good, but don’t because they want something GREAT? My advice: Start with the good and work towards the great with the good as your base.

The Beechers, who are psychologists, get into the psychology of perfectionism and they hit the nail right on the head:

“(The perfectionist) will resist and reject What Is – simply because it can never measure up to his imagined goal of what-should-be.”

OK, now that we undestand the disease of perfectionism, what causes it and what it costs, what about the cure?

Here’s a brilliant one, short, sweet and most of all practical:

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Francis of Assisi

Life can be simple when we let it be.
- Ken McCarthy

They laughed and they knew what I was talking about.

But maybe I don’t really know what Web 2.0 is. I wonder. Does anyone?

Whether we understand it all fully or not, people are inventing new ways to use the Internet. And this is in keeping with the way new mediums always evolve.

Would you believe it took decades after the telephone was invented for the idea of just picking up the phone and chatting with a friend to take root? And it was users, not the engineers, who made that happen.

That the original telegraph technology was visual (marks on a strip of paper) and that it took a 14 year old kid from Kentucky to discover that the human brain had the capacity to translate audio dots and dashes into words and sentences in real-time?

Yes, it’s engineers who invent new technology, but it’s us – users – who figure out how to make their inventions into everyday mediums for communication.

I confess that I have not been able to fully wrap my mind around Web 2.0, especially in terms of finding commercial applications for it. Maybe there are none. Maybe like private phone calls, Web 2.0 is not meant to be intruded upon by advertising.

I don’ t know. (How liberating it is to say that every now and then. “I don’t know.”)

But here’s a guy, who has clearly given it a lot of thought and given us all a lot to think about – and in just under five minutes. Beautiful.

A video by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University.

By the way, if anyone is going to sort out practical applications of Web 2.0 for business, I’m betting on these members of the System 2007 faculty:

• Dave Taylor – The grand old man (but he’s not really that old) of the Internet who graps the core culture of the Internet better than anyone I know
• Marc Harty – From Madison Avenue to SEO to Web 2.0
• Sherman Hu – Total immersion in the world of blogs

You can hear what these guys have to say about Web 2.0 as it applies to us, the business owners of the world, here:

Click here for System 2007 interviews with faculty

I say “sometime” because it was dark and I really didn’t want to know what time it was.

I just wanted to go back to sleep, but the thought literally wouldn’t let me. After quite a bit of internal resistance, I finally rolled over and scribbled the words “Results vs. Activity” in the notepad I keep by my bed.

So what does it mean? Because I’ve worked with so many entrepreneurs over the years – hundreds directly and many thousands indirectly – I’ve had a chance to see what works and what doesn’t in business.

Many people – including me sometimes – are under the mistaken impression that “busy-ness” is the same thing as business. When they do this they’re making a very fundamental mistake.

Business is not about activity, it’s about results.

Like a unguided missile, many people launch themselves on a trajectory of what they think is dilligent activity assuming that activity alone is going to get them to a happy place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Most people would profit from stopping everything they’re doing for a day and going to some quiet spot with a notepad and a pen and “thinking outloud on paper” about:

1. Where you’re at,

2. Where you’re trying to go and

3. What is it you’re actually doing every day.

Early in the Internet marketing revolution, I coined the phrase “traffic plus conversion equals profits.” I came up with this equation because I’d become deeply frustrated watching so many beginners chase their tails in a flurry of dramatic, but meaningless busy-ness. It’s very easy to get very, very busy and get nowhere.

Getting results, which presumably is why we do what we do, is about getting busy on the things that matter. When it comes to the things that matter in Internet marketing, it always comes down to the same things: traffic and conversion.

What did you do to get more leads today? What did you do to inspire your visitors to take more of the actions you want them to take?

If the answer to one of both of these questions is nothing, what exactly did you do today for your business?

Believe it or not, loyalty to this simple formula has been responsible for countless success stories in the Internet marketing world. It’s gotten people off the merry-go-round of chasing the-fad-of-the-month and into the world of putting serious money in the bank.

Take some time today – even just ten minutes – to think about what results you’re trying to achieve. Then catalog what you plan to do with your time today. Are the two in sync or has activity run off like an unguided missile taking you only God knows where?

It’s a question all smart entrepreneurs ask themselves daily. In fact, I believe you’ll find that many run this calculation in the back of their minds all day… “Is this activity going to move me towards the results I want?” If the anwer is yes, move forward. If it’s no, look for a better use of your time.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Speaking of conversion, I’ve been somewhat quiet about System 2007.

There’s been a lot going on in the background…the faculty this year is even bigger and better than System 2006 …the curriculum will be the most wide ranging, comprehensive one I’ve ever offered…and fortunately for me the word-of-mouth is strong and we hit the 50% enrollment point this week.

In the next ten weeks, I’ll be introducing the faculty, unveiling our curriculum (so the “copy cats” can get a head start on next year’s Big Idea) and conducting in depth interviews with every one of the guest experts who’ll be sharing with us this April in Chicago.

Frankly, we give away more immediately useful marketing strategies and tactics during the promotion period before the annual System event than most people get from seminars they spend thousands of dollars to attend.

But you can’t benefit frorm the free Pre-System festivities unless you’re on the Pre-Seminar notification list. If you’re not on (or if not sure if you’re on it), go to this page and opt-in:

http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com

See you in Chicago,

Ken

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

Hard work? Stamina? Intelligence? Dilligence?

All these these things are part of the pie, but if I had to put it down to any one thing, it would be the ability to generate options. The world rarely does what we want it to and “the best laid plans of mice and men…” – well you know.

So what do you do when life throws you yet another curve ball?You better be flexibile and adaptable and nothing helps that like being skiled at generating options and alternatives, and the faster the better.

So how do we get there?

Here’s a simple, but profound comment from author Byron Katie on the subject that hit me like a thunderbolt. It explains why some people are able to “see the hole” in a crowded playing field and others stand still and get tackled…

“Options come quckly to an open, fearless mind.”

It’s easy to have equanimity when things are going your way, but what about when they’re not?

Can you get out of your “it’s not supposed to be this way” emotional rut? Can you drop the fear, which usually shows up as anger, when people let you down or things don’t go according to plan?

If you can, you’ll get the options you need to go around, over or under your obstacles sooner rather than later.

You’ll feel a whole lot better too.