Muhammad Ali, Gary Halbert and myself
It was January 1971.
He saw me jump rope. He laughed and yelled, “Hey white boy! What are you doing here?”
It floated like a butterfly, sting like a bee. He was the greatest.
I? Without float. No sting. No one.
He was right. What was he doing there?
Oh yeah. A frustrated college football player, he had decided to be a boxer. So just before Christmas 1970, I dropped out of the University of Oregon and headed to boxing mecca … the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach.
The doors slammed open at noon. Media, microphones. Howard Cosell, Burt Lancaster, Angelo Dundee. Chambers, high rollers, cigars. Plus a few dozen guys with bent noses and fat ears. The scene was surreal.
But I couldn’t help but notice an alarming lack of unreality inside the ring. Ali hit his sparring partner, training seriously for his first fight with Joe Frazier. Glad I can give you a laugh. Cheerier still wasn’t there with him.
Three months later, my knee exploded. I retired undefeated, without a fight. “The Greatest” never noticed.
Fast forward 19 years
1990 was my thirteenth year driving a county bus in Miami and Miami Beach. I had started and failed in so many deals that I lost count. I couldn’t sell a lick. He did one foolish thing after another. Married with 4 children at the time, it had cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
On breaks, I studied sales letters. He had written a couple dozen for other people, with some success.
I sent samples to the prince of the printing press, Gary Halbert, world champion of direct mail and copywriting genius. Could you work at your Seminar by the Sea in Key West, which costs $ 7,000 per person?
A couple of days later, the phone rang. Halbert didn’t laugh. He didn’t call me “white boy”. He invited me to work for him at the seminary.
I disagree for Ali, but working with Halbert. YES!
Key West was a blessing … for a day.
On Monday morning I met the other copywriters: John Carlton, Brad Antin, David Deutsch, Gene Dowdle, Loretta Duffy, Brad Peterson. All the legends of today.
I put in some of the speakers: John Eger, Dan Kennedy, Ken Kerr, Phil Kratzer, Carl Galletti, Bill Myers, Ted Nicholas. More legends. I put Halbert. What could be more exciting?
On Monday, Halbert and others shared their genius. It was wonderful. On Tuesday the hot seats arrived.
Whoops! Back to “white boy!”
Halbert called an assistant to the front with himself and 3 copywriters. The guest described his business. The panel asked questions. Then Halbert yelled a few words that caused me instant terror:
“COPYWRITERS! HOLDERS! HOLDERS! HOLDERS, COPYWRITERS! HOLDERS!”
Halbert wanted headline after headline, pop pop pop pop pop pop. I wanted quality. I wanted quantity.
Over time (and I mean weeks or months later), I understood the purpose: the more points of view and ideas, the more chances there are of finding many prominent copy points for the sales letter. Now I accept this as an absolute truth, and you should too.
But not then. My routine? Sit in front of my word processor with a cup of coffee, think quietly, get a good idea from time to time.
The other copywriters screamed headlines. I sucked my thumb.
Tuesday was awful. Wednesday and Thursday weren’t much better. On Friday I started having it … but the week was over.
When I left, I vowed that I would never, ever be so embarrassed again.
Back home. To the library. I received years of Readers Digest, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines on microfilm. I wrote EVERY headline … over 1,500 of them.
The people who wrote these heads make millions to get attention, to sell magazines. They are the best. So why not take advantage of that brainpower? So I created a file of all the headlines I got from my sources, and I titled it Shortheads.
I have been using ShortHeads for over 15 years. It has made me a lot of money. I used it to find (among others) the most recognized title in the history of network marketing: “Dead doctors don’t lie!”. Your title is the most important part of any advertisement or article. If your head doesn’t capture or hold attention, the rest of your writing goes to waste. I highly recommend that you compile your own “title file” that you can extract from each time you head a good title.