What I Learned From Masterminding With John Carlton
Hey there,
Been a while since my last post, so I must apologize.
The reason for my absence is in fact my subject today.
You see, I’ve just returned from a meeting with John Carlton’s Mastermind Group in San Francisco.
It was a fascinating, eye-opening affair, with more marketing expertise and insight flying around than you could possibly imagine without being there.
I came back with fundamental strategy changes that I plan to implement immediately, and I’m expecting them to make huge increases to my bottom line.
You see, copywriting can be a lonely gig. We spend hours upon hours locked in our office (dungeon/laboratory/whatever), working alone, with little to no human contact.
And so most of the time, our business strategies and systems exist almost in a vacuum, no matter how inefficient or costly they may be.
That’s why I want to share with you my 3 big takeaways from the meeting. I think just about every marketer/copywriter out there could benefit from being involved in a situation like that, so I’m going to put my money where my mouth is, and show you what I got from it.
(Note- I’m pretty sure that these kinds of lessons would be applicable for just about any decent mastermind group you joined)
Big Takeaway 1-
This hit me as a revelation – - and it was so big and obvious I can’t believe it never occurred to me before.
The revelation was that I REALLY should have joined something like this a long time ago.
There’s something almost magical about spending time with a group of like-minded professionals in the same (or a similar) business as you. You get insights, ideas, and all kinds of happy accidents take place. In fact, get a bunch of smart people together in the same room, and you never know what kind of creative sparks will fly… especially when they’re all focussed on the same or similar goals.
Of course, the mean, unflinching by-product of this is commitment.
Once you publicly commit to your goals and aims in a setting like this, then you’d better by God start taking massive action to meet them…
If you don’t, your new buddies won’t hold back in kicking your ass… (in fact they’re already looking forward to it)
… or even worse, next time they see you they’ll give you the look of sympathy that says they know you’re the guy who didn’t “get it”. The one guy who can’t take all this expertise and conjure it into more money…
Seriously though, if you’re at all lacking motivation in any aspect of your business, joining a mastermind group could be just the thing to shove a candle under your ass.
Big Takeaway 2-
You know, there’s a lot to be said for the self-respect building that goes on when you’re involved in something like this.
Working in this business can be a tenuous thing – we often don’t have to answer to anybody, and can twist our roles and our business into all kinds of shapes, often trying to fit into someone else’s idea of how it should be.
This will change completely the very moment that you’re around a group of people in a professional capacity.
Aside from the fusion and outbreak of ideas you get from rubbing your fertile mind against another person’s fertile mind, the introspection that comes afterward will almost always be useful.
Seriously — it sounds like new-age woo-woo bullshit, but until you shake somebody’s hand, look them in the eye, and tell them what you do for a living, on some level you’ll always believe you’re faking it.
So if you’ve yet to do that, go and do it at your soonest opportunity. A lot of people operate their copywriting business completely under the radar – even their friends and family won’t know what they do.
And whenever they meet someone new, they’ll explain their business away with an embarrassed cough or a glance at the floor.
Don’t do this.
Instead, firmly shake their hand, and with a smile, tell them what you do. Don’t hesitate, and have no fear. Shame on them if they don’t applaud you for seizing the day and shooting for the moon.
Be proud of what you are, what you’re trying to achieve.
Oh and hey, there’s a big secret by-product to this too…
The more people you tell about your business, especially other professional people, the more exciting things will start to unfold for you. Partnerships that you wouldn’t dare hope for will just fall into your lap.
So do it.
Even if you need to join your local chamber of commerce, take part in free local marketing seminars, whatever.
Just go and shake some hands, see what happens. I promise it will be good things only.
Big Takeaway 3-
The last takeaway is a little simpler, and a lot more fundamental.
I realized how much more effective I am in business if I immerse myself in my market.
I’m English. I live in London.
But nearly all the copy I write is aimed at the huge American market. That means I have to write in an American “voice”.
And hey, it’s not as tough as it may sound – American culture is all over the world, and many of us wallow in it daily, through the TV we watch, the movies we see, and the books we read.
BUT…
Until I spent a good deal of time over there, like I have this year, I didn’t realize how many subtleties and language issues I was tripping over.
And that’s the takeaway – there’s simply no substitute for truly delving into your market, whatever it is. You’ll uncover the solutions to problems you didn’t even know existed…
… and you’ll gain million dollar insights just by watching as daily life unfolds around you.
For a marketer, these insights are invaluable – they’re the difference between monster paydays from each project, and the kind of profits that make you shrug your shoulders and hope for better days.
Seriously, I can’t stress this enough – go bury yourself in your market, as deep as you can. Good things will come of it.
Those were my 3 biggest takeaways from meeting with John Carlton and his mastermind group in San Francisco a few weeks ago…
… and now I’d like to turn the floor over to you.
What was your first marketing event like? What were your 3 big lessons?
I’m dying to know, so lay it out for me in the comments below.
Oh and I’m sorry it took me so long to get this latest post live. Won’t happen again, I promise.
To the blank page,
-David
14 Comments
David Raybould
Teach Street Featured Blog
Hey brother Raybould, tell the truth, I haven’t attended any marketing events,YET.
But I am participating in my first mastermind group starting next Tues. I can only report back after the experience – I will.
Though I look forward to others holding me accountable!
Eric, (recently in your SWS “classroom” )
Hey Eric,
Great to hear from you man. What’s cooking?
How are things going?
You’ll flourish in a mastermind, I just know it.
Let me know how it goes for you.
-David
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Hey David…
Immersing yourself in your market is big for me. I’ve been lucky. Fate has conspired to allow me to live in the US for the last 10 years. So… picking up the quirks of US language has been relatively easy… especially considering that I’m a copywriter, and inhaling the zeitgeist is part of the job description. (At least, that’s the line I feed my wife to allow her to let me off the leash to watch every new movie that comes out.) But it’s also why I’ve got such respect for guys like you and Matt O’Conner who write great in the US style without actually living here. It’s quite a feat because there are a TON of differences in the way English and US phraseology. Way, way more than most people think. Keep up the great posts.
— Ross
Hey Ross,
Great to hear from you buddy, thanks for commenting.
I can’t speak for Matt, but I think I developed my “American”
writing skills by endlessly reading fiction by US authors as a
kid. I used to write fiction as well (too busy these days), and
a lot of that had a decidedly US flavor…
Devouring US TV and movies probably didn’t hurt either
I’m pretty jealous of you living in the US dude, I must
admit. Right about now that grass is looking a whole
lot greener.
Oh and don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of posts up my sleeve.
Planning on dedicating a lot of time to the blog over the
coming months.
-David
Dave,
you have done well with writing in an American “voice”.
How good?
Well I thought you were American!
——————————————————-
What was your first marketing event like?
——————————————————-
Was good… I got to share loads of knowledge with other people
in my home country.
——————————————————-
What were your 3 big lessons?
——————————————————-
1. Shake hands
2. Introduce yourself and what you can do for people
3. Smile
Hey Graeme,
Thanks for posting man, appreciate your input.
I dig your 3 big lessons.
In fact, #2 was a vital one for me.
At my first seminar, the realization that I could
actually help most of the people there was a
powerful one.
After that point, somehow the more people I
tried to help, the more useful connections and
friendships I made.
I guess there’s a lesson about giving to receive
in there somewhere, but I’ll leave that for another
post.
-David
Hey David
Wise words… I agree 100% with every point here, you need to become a part of a mastermind or at the very least get yourself a mentor (as you’ve mentioned in previous posts) and it’s so important to be proud of what you do…
If you don’t have pride or respect for what you do then no-one else will… plus others in the same industry will respect you much more too if you let them know what you do and that you need help to get to the next level
The last point is also a very good one… there are so many differences in the use of language and to be the best you can in your chosen field you need to be aware of these differences, whatever the niche… property, IM forex
There will always be slight and often very crucial nuances and it’s these that can be the difference between an average payday and an amazing payday.
Thanks for the insights David and for sharing them with us all… The first two points are definitely things I have learned in the last 12 months and agree wholeheartedly with
The last something I’ll be taking a note of and implementing at every opportunity
Pete
Hey Pete,
Good to see you here buddy.
I’m glad you got a lot from the post. I think you’ve
probably got the first 2 taken care of, but the 3rd
one really will pay dividends for you as a writer.
It can be pretty surprising.
-David
So true. For years I operated in a vacuum, simply not knowing you could mastermind or who to do it with.
But it can be incredibly powerful.
btw, how is your schedule ? send me an email and let me know if you have time to look something over.
Hi Evan,
Thanks for your post.
You’re right, one of the biggest risks in this
business is that you’ll sabotage the whole
thing by operating in a vacuum.
As soon as we realize it doesn’t have to be
that way though, good things start to happen.
And they usually happen pretty fast.
Thanks again,
-David
PS- My schedule is perennially insane. Shoot me
an email through my site on the right hand side >>
and if I can’t help you, I can probably find you
someone who can.
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Hi David
I am surprised you weren’t part of a mastermind group before – Your network is your net worth! I know the value of connections and sometimes if you want to meet THE BEST in the industry, you have to PAY for it, but I think it’s worth it.
Personally, I’m an accountant and my social circle is mainly corporate yuppies. I was just getting my toes wet in internet marketing less than a year ago. I knew it was possible to make money on the internet, but I didn’t know how. I was ABSOLUTELY CLUELESS. I knew there had to be some sort of strategy or formula or something, but how do I figure it out? Is there a book I could read or a course I could do? I didn’t know a SINGLE internet marketer or ANYBODY who could help me. So, I needed to FIND HELP.
Then, one weekend at a personal development seminar, I heard about this event called Billionaire Adventure Club where there was this internet marketer, James Schramko who was gonna be there. The Billionaire Adventure Club is a week long event where you hang out at a resort in an exotic desintation in the world with mentors (industry leaders) and get PERSONAL COACHING with them (so you can ask them all your questions and squeeze every drop of value juice out of their brains) and it costs USD$10,000.
Who in the world is James Schramko? I don’t know, but I think he can help me, so I signed up. In 1 hour, James Schramko told me EXACTLY what I needed to do to get a website up and running. It’s like a crash course of what took him 3-4 years to master, I got in one mentoring session.
Was it worth $10,000? If you’re saving me 3-4 years of trial and error, avoiding mistakes, struggles and frustration, I’ll gladly pay it. I’m a lazy person and I like taking shortcuts to success.
James told me no matter how good your product is, if you can’t write convincing sales copy (What the HECK is sales copy?) I’m not gonna sell anything, so he told me to do a copywriting course by John Carlton (who the HECK is John Carlton?) which I did, and got assigned a copywriting teacher, and that’s how I met YOU!
Can you see how my whole social circle has suddenly been elevated to high calibre people?
What is the value of that?
The next Billionaire Adventure Club that I’m going to is in Egypt in October and here’s the line up of some of the mentors coming on the trip: http://www.chrishowardsbillionaires.com/egypt-10
Unforunately it’s already been SOLD OUT. But if you want to come on the next one, next year in Turkey, just let me know. USD$10,000 to blast your learnings and earnings into the stratosphere.
If you’re running a $10 million dollar company and want to take it to a $100 million dollar company, there’s also a mastermind group for that. You can pay USD$40,000 to hang out with Richard Branson in February next year to squeeze every drop of value juice out of HIS brain. http://www.maverickbusinessadventures.com/necker
Do you think Richard Branson can teach you a thing or two about how to run a business?
……………
Later,
Vanya
Hey Vanya,
Great to see you here, thanks for posting.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, I had a very similar
phone conversation with Kevin Rogers yesterday. The
benefits of making those kinds of connections are literally
immeasurable.
Oh and yes, I’m pretty sure Branson could teach me a
thing or two… not least how to get a good deal on an
island
-David