No matter what industry you're in, there's already competition.

This isn't just some random competition, but rather people who are better established than you. They've worked with your clients before, have a greater profile and probably a fancy portfolio.

And then there's us—you and me with no way to get our foot in the door.

But are things really that hopeless?
Can we come from behind to take over the coveted job from our competitors?

Here's how you go about understanding how to overcome your mental block and put a quick, workable strategy in place almost overnight.

Next Step: Find out—How To Overcome Mental Blocks That Derail Your Progress

Practice, practice, practice! Isn't that how you get better?

Well, yes, but the problem with that mantra is that few of us have the time to get to schedule in as much practice. What if you stopped believing in endless "practice, practice, practice"? Suddenly you'd have to have answers to problems pretty rapidly. Instead of spending endless time in practice, you'd be able to get fluent not at just one, but two, possibly as many as a dozen skills.

However, first you've got to figure out what professionals do and how they go about their lives.

Let's find out, shall we?

Next Step—Listen or read:
The Charlie Brown Moment: Why We Choke Under Pressure (And How To Practice Under Lucy Moment)

We all seem to know that fluency takes time—lots and lots of it. It also takes a lot of effort and learning. We're told that to be fluent, we have to put in thousands of hours of work.

However, what if that premise were wrong?

What if you could be fluent at something in a matter of weeks, or better still, in a matter of minutes? It sounds almost scammy doesn't it? And yet, fluency is closer than you'd think.

Here's a look at fluency in a manner you've probably not encountered before.

Next Step: Have a look at: (Audio and text)
Accelerated Learning: How To Incredibly Speed Up Your Skill Acquisition

In the first part of this podcast, we noticed that there's a logic to choosing what elements to fix on the sales page. We're looking at attraction, conversion and risk. And at the same time we're trying to slow down the client from skimming.

This episode puts the brake on skimming by using graphics and captions.  Let's learn how to use them effectively.

Next Step: Are there different copywriting strategies for landing or sales pages? 
Here is a link to 21 articles on "How To Write Your Sales Page".
(Audio and text)

When creating sales pages—or even when fixing them, you have a long list of elements to tackle.

So many in fact, that you may just put off the fix for a few weeks, which ends up taking a few months. The reality is that you and I can't do it all at once. Why not take on a few elements, instead?

If you were to fix things, where would you start?
Here are two of the ones I'd get cracking on, right away. And there are two more showing up in the second part of this podcast.

Next Step: Have you listened to How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System? Let me know what you think. 

We know how it feels to be in a state of flow. Our work seems so effortless. However, we almost seem to be rushing to meet a deadline, and work seems—well—just like work.

We've always thought getting things done on time is a good thing, and it is. But is it possible that getting things done on time is one of the biggest reasons why we always feel behind?

How do you get into a state of play if you're always stressed?
Let's find out in this episode.

Next Step:  Learn how to get to the finishing line of all your projects—The Dual Boomerang System Of Learning.

We all know storytelling is a crucial skill to have as a business owner and also for you as a person. When we tell stories at the dinner table, everyone seems to listen.

The same concept applies to marketing, but there's another bigger reason why you need to be able to tell stories.

In this podcast, you learn the core importance of storytelling.

Next Step: Ready to listen/ read the entire series on Story Telling? You can start with—Three Core Elements of Storytelling (And Why You Need To Write Stories Right Away)

No matter how good things are, there's a moment when things just don't go your way. That's when you've entered stall mode.

It doesn't matter how skilled or experienced you happen to be. It's still a place that you can't pull out from. Yet, we all do. And there's a way to speed things up.

Next Step: Listen or read about—The “Coats Of Paint” System To Break Out Of The Curse Of Perfection.

Isn’t it better to recycle instead of writing all the time?

A tiny bit of recycling may not be out of place, but there’s a good reason why we should keep writing new material all the time. Well, here are my reasons anyway.

Next Step—Listen or Read over 51 articles on:

How do you keep your readers locked into your article?

(Audio and text)

You know how you're told to set a goal and then benchmark your success based on that goal?

Well, that's what we set out to do with our membership site at 5000bc. However, we kept running into these headaches that seemed to derail us.

In time, however, we found that these constant diversions were to our benefit.

That if we just stopped fighting them so much and figured out a way out, we'd end up better than we expected. And we did.

Here's the story.

Next Step: Find out (Audio and text)

Why Clients Leave — And Why Lack Of Community Is One Of The Big Problems

What does it take to get a membership site to keep going?

We go on a wild journey where the entire site was wiped out and how it bounced back again. And how nearly 20 years later, it’s still going.

Next Step: Listen to:
Planning On Starting A Membership Site? The Limited Membership Website Model

Kids have a superpower. When they're very young, they don't know Monday from Sunday. And it's this lack of knowledge that also gives them an upper hand when they're learning. Unlike adults who are clear about how the result needs to look like. just about anything will do with a child.

How do we take that child-like attitude and use it to speed up adult learning?

Let's find out in this episode.

Next Step: Interesting in more learning methods? Read or listen to:
How To Accelerate Learning (And The Surprising Power Of Fun)

You’ve heard the line many times before, haven’t you? And at times, it seems like kids learn at a blinding pace.

But why does this phenomenon occur?
Is it because kids are smart or just that we are more accommodating as trainers?

Let's find out in this episode.

Next Step: More about kids and what you can learn from them.
What I Learned From Children (And How It Lowered My Stress Levels)

One of the toughest tasks a business owner can have is when it's time to write a sales page.

You know that it's unlikely your product or service will sell unless you have that sales page. Yet, once you sit down to write something, it's almost impossible to write anything down. And when you do, the words are so um, boring that you believe it's something to do with you.

In reality, it's because you haven't done a target profile interview. Why does that interview become crucial, even to seasoned copywriters?

Let's find out in this sales page episode.

Next Step: Find out  How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System

Can You Stop Feeling Overwhelmed?

Almost all of us have varying levels of stress. Yet some of us are always in a fog, always struggling. Is there a fix? And is it a non-overwhelming one?

Next Step: Listen or read
The Overwhelm Virus: How To Get It Out of Your Daily Routine

When it comes to audience building, we tend to fall for the hype.

It's all about "getting a thousand clients" or "making thousands of dollars". If you've already been down that path you know that all of those methods fail spectacularly.

You have to ask yourself: what works? Or rather, what are the principles that you need to be paying attention to, if you really want to get, grow and keep your audience?

Let's find out with these cool concepts from photographer, David duChemin.

Next Step: Have a look at the series on—How To Keep Customers Coming Back Again?
(available in audio and text)

When we start on a course, we all expect we'll get to the end.

Yet time after time, we seem to abandon the course quite early. Part of the reason may be that the content is boring or too difficult, but often the bigger problem is our desire to implement it.

What if that method was one of the primary reasons why we don't seem to finish courses and books?

What if there were a counterintuitive method to complete and implement your learning?  There is, and it's simpler than you think. 

Next Step: Listen to or read—The Untold Backstory of Psychotactics Online Courses and Products

If you're a big company like Amazon, YouTube and Apple, should you bother to send out e-mail newsletters?

Can't you just spend loads of money on publicity and advertising? Why do these billion-dollar companies still work with e-mail?

The answer is remarkably simple.

If you don't keep in touch, someone else takes your place. However, that's not the only reason why you should start and sustain an e-mail newsletter—even in a world where we get too much e-mail.

Find out in this podcast just why you should send out an email and what you should avoid as well.

Next Step: Listen or read:

Dread Writing Your Newsletters? How To Overcome That Frustration In Four Easy Steps

How do most of our stories end?

Usually, it's a fairy tale ending. Or maybe it ends in chaos, sadness or even disaster. We believe that an ending is crucial for any story. And there is no doubt that endings are needed for stories, but they're almost always irrelevant when you're using a story for an article.

The story is there to make a point, not end with "happily ever after".

Learn why a fairy tale ending is something you want to avoid almost all the time.

Once you finish listening to this episode:

Listen or read:
How to Stop Clients In Their Tracks With Riveting Business Storytelling

It's not unusual to approach an edit with a machete. We see a mass of words and want to hack through them to make the story more interesting. The problem is, that we don't know what to throw away and what to keep.

That's why "relevance" is more important to a story than just adding or removing words and sentences.

Let's use the power of "relevance" to make a quick, precise edit.

Next Step: Once you finish listening to this episode, don't miss:

How To Craft Interesting Stories and Analogies (For Articles and Sales Letters)

We often believe that stories have a sequence.

First, this happens, then that happens and then something else shows up. And while that belief is generally true, the heart of the story is the "stuck point".

You know it's powerful because the audience sits up upright. If you were to stop or even pause long enough, they'd be asking, "What happened next?"

Do you get the "What happened next" with your stories?

To get a consistent "what happened next" we need the power of the "stuck point". Let's find out more in this podcast.

Next Step: Read or listen to:
Three Unknown Secrets of Riveting Story Telling

When you hear someone tell you about their vacation, you try to be interested. All that exotic food, that astounding accommodation—it's all boring.

Yet there's a reason why it's boring.

We aren't really hearing stories, but instead, we're just getting a sequence of events. The magic to making it not boring is when you hear the sound of Thumpity-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump. Yes, like falling downstairs. That's what storytelling is all about.

Next Step: Have a listen to—

The Storytelling Test: How To Quickly Test How Your Audience Will React To Your Story

When people ask what we do, we are often unsure what to reply.

Sometimes we may have a script that we've practiced over and over again. Yet we don't often have success with scripts, because somehow we haven't gotten the attention of the prospect.

How can we bypass the tedious answer and create a small 2-minute sales pitch that gets the prospect involved?

Learn how to use the twin powers of contradiction and demonstration to instantly get and keep attention.

Next Step: Once you finish listening to this podcast, listen to:

How To Turn An Average Elevator Pitch Into One That Gets Consistent Attention

Ever wonder what Writer's Block happens to be?

It's a form of choking under pressure. When we're called upon to speak, to write, or to do something under pressure, we almost always seem to struggle.

This choking happens even with professionals who normally breeze through their work. The big reason for this choking under pressure is partly because of the lack of the right preparation.

Instead of training under Lucy Moments, we train under Charlie Brown moments.

Let's find out how to avoid the choke and to avoid the sticky moments completely.

Next Step: Read or listen to—Writer’s Block Series: How A Lack of Energy, Not Time, Causes Writers to Stall and Crash

The hardest part of writing is usually the first few lines. However, the ending can also be quite a vexing problem.

Unless of course, you use a simple method called "sandwiching".

When you use a "sandwich", it closes the loop, leading to a very satisfying sort of finish.

How do you learn how to sandwich?

Well, listen to this story taken from The Moth Podcast and you'll see how it can be done.

Next Step:

How do you keep your reader locked into your article? Find out here.

Why do you have a bloated story?

It's often because there are way too many facts in the information you've put down on paper. Even if we know we have too many facts and figures, how do we separate the information so that we don't lose the power of the story?

Let's find out in this episode.

Once you finish listening to this episode head over to listen or read the series on—How To Keep Your Reader Locked Into Your Article.

When we sit down to write a sales page, we run into a problem almost instantly. We know that the client is usually looking to solve one problem, but which problem should we choose?

How do we know if the client is simply going to ignore the headline and not look at the rest of the sales page?

Should we stuff our headline with three separate problems or is that a really bad decision on our part?

The answer is that the headline and the first problem isn't as crucial as most copywriters would have you believe.

Follow these steps and you'll notice your sales page will come together in a less stressful, and more specific manner.

When we sit down to write an article or create an information product, we often have a sinking feeling.

We look around and find that it's "all been done before".

That we have nothing new to add to the conversation. Why should we keep going despite these odds? More importantly, why is our hesitation driving clients to the competition?

As I sat down to write a sales page for a course, I wasn't stuck.

However, my progress was so slow that it was driving me crazy. A sales page consists of well over a dozen elements.

However, to get started, it's important to get two core sections right.

• The first section to work on is: What you want to cover.
• The second section is: what are clients looking for?
  
  And as always, you need to start with me, me, me. Hence I started with the first section and here's my story.

When we write an article, we tend to get one point across. Yet, what if we were to disagree with our "one point" and do a complete u-turn?

It doesn't seem logical to flip flop, does it?

And yet that's what the client needs to create a more complex, more interesting version of an article.

Let's find out why u-turns are crucial when writing articles.

Usually when we're stuck, we want to get out of the mess in a big hurry. As a result, we end up digging a bigger hole for ourselves.

How do you—that's you and I—systematically get unstuck?

There's no precise formula, but there are stages of getting unstuck.

And we have to do it slowly. Let's find out how.