I started my first business blog on Typepad.

I called it “On Copywriting.” It was about copywriting, advertising, and marketing.

But because I’m a freelance copywriter, I attracted mostly other freelance copywriters as readers.

In January 2008, I started my new blog here at RyanHealy.com. I decided to reposition my blog to focus on business growth, with copywriting and advertising as sub-topics.

I did this because I wanted potential clients to read my blog. People who want to grow their business may be more inclined to hire a direct response copywriter. That was my thinking.

I’m now strongly considering a redesign of this blog (this will be redesign #4). As part of that makeover, I’m also strongly considering changing the focus of what I write about.

With that in mind, I’d like to ask for your input. I’ve already got three overarching ideas I think would be good for me to focus on — mostly because I have experience in these areas and they are topics of interest that I would enjoy writing about.

But just because I think the ideas are worth pursuing as the topics for this blog doesn’t mean they’re the ones I should pursue.

So… of the topics I’ve listed below, which ones should I be focusing on? You can select 5 different options in the poll below. You can also see the results if you are interested.

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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I am a copywriter.

More to the point, I am a freelance direct response copywriter who writes sales letters, manages product launches, and blogs about business growth.

I make about 90% of my gross income from fees, commissions, and retainers for writing direct response sales copy for clients.

But this year, I hope to change this.

In fact, I’m doing everything in my power to shift the bulk of my income from selling my time to selling products that don’t require any direct ongoing investment of time.

Toward that end, I’m planning to release one new product (or one newly updated product) every single month this year, starting on March 15.

So… the first new product I’m releasing will be released on March 15, and then each successive product release will happen approximately every 30 days thereafter (April 15, May 15, June 15, etc.) — unless one product or business really takes off and is worthy of additional leverage.

Crazy or Necessary?

This may sound overly ambitious or even downright crazy, but I believe it’s necessary.

Because for the last few years, my goal has always been the same: to increase the percentage of my income derived from product-based businesses while reducing the percentage of my income derived from service-based businesses (like my copywriting business).

Last year was my biggest, most audacious push yet to start a business to replace my copywriting income.

In fact, I outsourced more work than I ever have in my life just to make it happen. I took a big risk… invested thousands of dollars… and yet the risk did not pay off anywhere near what I had hoped.

That said, I don’t accept this is a complete failure. It’s just one more business experience I’ve been able to learn from. This year, I feel more prepared than I’ve ever been.

Why I Want to Change My Business

It’s not that I dislike writing copy for clients. I actually enjoy it very much.

It’s just that I’m constantly juggling three, four, and five different copywriting projects with multiple deadlines. It can be stressful. And it doesn’t provide the kind of flexibility I would like. (I haven’t taken a real vacation since June 2007.)

Sometimes I feel burnt out.

Like I just need a break.

Or maybe even an extended absence to really recharge my batteries.

And sometimes life throws us curve balls that practically force us to stop working for a time. (This happened to me recently, and I’m just glad the “curve ball” wasn’t more major than it was — because I would not have been prepared or even able to take a full week off!)

My First New Product

As I mentioned above, I’ll be launching the first of my new products/services on March 15.

This particular “product” is called Paid On Time – The World’s First Affiliate Trust Seal. It is an idea I had based on my 5th business prediction for 2011.

• If you run an affiliate program (and would like to attract more higher-quality affiliates), then you may be interested in becoming a network member.

• And if you have access to people who own or manage affiliate programs, then you may want to become an affiliate. (We will be paying healthy recurring commissions.)

You can learn more about the Paid On Time Affiliate Trust Seal at www.PaidOnTime.net. You can also subscribe to the priority notification list here so you’re first to know when the Paid On Time seal is available.

It’s going to be a good year, and I look forward to helping you and inspiring you along the way.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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If someone called you today and offered to pay you to speak at their next meeting, would you be available to speak?

Here’s why I ask…

Public speaking is one of the fastest ways to grow your business and attract new clients into your business.

And right now there are hundreds of public speaking opportunities — both local and national — if you know where to look.

But here’s the rub…

If you’re not ready when the opportunity presents itself, you may miss out on potentially lucrative speaking gigs.

Attract Clients Through Public Speaking

Do you know copywriter Michel Fortin? When he was just getting started as a freelancer, he would host small workshops to attract clients.

This strategy worked very well for him. So well, in fact, that he eventually had to stop giving free talks!

If you’re a freelance copywriter… an SEO consultant… a business growth expert… or whatever the case may be — one of the fastest ways you can attract new customers and clients is via public speaking.

My First Public Speaking Gig

Even though I took speech classes in high school, I’m a bit timid when it comes to public speaking. For years, I’ve thought about doing it — but just haven’t taken action.

Thankfully, my friend and business coach Gogo Erekosima lined up a speaking gig for me in early March 2010. I’m happy to report that it went really well. And I enjoyed it more than I expected.

And yes — even though there were only about 15 people in attendance, I did get new business from it.

This new business happened in spite of myself; I didn’t even have a close or sales pitch!

Want Public Speaking Gigs? JP Maroney Is Your Man.

JP Maroney is a business growth strategist and a public speaking expert. You might even say that public speaking is one of his “secret weapons.”

A few years ago, I went through JP’s Speaker Formula program as part of a trade. I wrote copy for him; he gave me access to his speaker training program.

So I can vouch for the quality of the training material JP has.

Anyway, JP is currently giving away over $1,250 in free speaker training. When you opt-in, you’ll discover…

• How to get booked and start collecting speaking fees fast — even if you’re completely unknown in the speaking and meetings industry.

• How to build your celebrity status as the obvious expert in your industry so you can command top dollar for your services.

• How to write a speech people will pay to hear.

• 5 ways to create a profitable product income through speaking.

• How to break into the #1 speaking market in America.

• How to speak locally on a part-time basis and still earn a healthy five-figure income.

• The essential tools you must have for marketing yourself as a speaker.

• How to set your speaking fees, plus when to raise them.

• How to use public speaking to build your existing business — even if you have no desire to become a full-time professional speaker.

If you’re even slightly interested in public speaking, you’ll want to get this information. Opt-in to watch the video now:

http://www.public-speaking-secrets.com

Ryan Healy

P.S. There’s no charge for the stuff JP is giving away. If you like what you see and ultimately buy something from JP, he’ll reward me for making the referral. If you’re not okay with that — just enjoy the stuff he’s giving you. :-)

Here’s the link one more time:

http://www.public-speaking-secrets.comSimilar Posts:

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If you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know that my blog here is the “main course,” so to speak.

In other words, this is where I share a lot of my controversial ideas, as well as tips, strategies, and techniques for writing sales copy, getting traffic, and growing business.

Now, I even have a regularly updated web site that is focused exclusively on the art of written persuasion: Copywriting Code

But there’s another outlet for those who want to know what I’m thinking and reading outside of copywriting, marketing, and business growth.

“A Side of @HealyMonster”

Today, as I was reading Terry Dean’s blog, I came across the post “Building Momentum in Your Life.”

In this post, Terry talks about the importance of routine and being productive even when you’re not in the mood to be productive.

But what made me chuckle was this paragraph toward the end of the article:

Instead of wanting to be the “overnight social media sensation,” just get involved. Setup your Twitter account. Subscribe to some great people like that wonderful @TerryDean or perhaps a little @BenSettle with a side of @healymonster.

My Tweets Are Not for Everybody

Obviously, if you’re on Twitter, I’d love to have you as a follower.

But based on Terry’s wording, I can only assume that this “HealyMonster” guy is an acquired taste, kind of like fine wine. ;-)

Seriously, though, my tweets are often like my blog posts; they’re polarizing because I’m not afraid to stir the pot (so to speak).

So if you can handle some contrarian, sometimes off-the-wall thoughts and ideas, join me on Twitter.

And don’t forget to follow Terry Dean and Ben Settle as well. They always share good stuff, and they’re not hyperactive so they’ll never monopolize your tweet stream.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. The name “Healy Monster” was an old wrestling nickname I resurrected when I discovered my name was already taken on Twitter. Just in case you were wondering…Similar Posts:

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Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something shows up in your mailbox that proves you wrong.

Yesterday, as I was going through the mail, I found a letter from DirecTV, a satellite TV provider. I was intrigued because the letter was not addressed to me as a consumer, but rather to me as a business owner.

So I opened the letter and gave it a quick read.

The letter makes a lot of eyebrow-raising claims. For instance: “Bring in more customers by entertaining them while they wait, shop or work out with the best variety of sports, shows and up-to-the-minute news.”

Hmmm… I guess that’s possible. I personally avoid any auto shop that has a TV that dominates the waiting room. Inevitably there’s some banal talk show blaring and I have to suffer through it as I try my best to read.

In reality, TV in a waiting room is like tyranny on a small scale. All the patients are subjected to watching or hearing what one person has decided to watch. Is that a reason for me to come to your business? No way!

I’d rather some books or a stack of magazines I can thumb through — everybody gets to choose their own “channel” without bothering anybody else.

One thing’s for sure: You don’t choose a doctor based on the quality of the television programming in the waiting room!

Still, given that most people are addicted to television, I guess having satellite TV in a waiting room could give you a small transient advantage. DirecTV offers this fact as proof: “90% of business subscribers believe DirecTV increases their business.”

Yeah, and lots of people believe things that aren’t actually true. You must be running a pretty shoddy business if TV programming brings more customers in. (One possible exception: health clubs.)

But let’s move on to a separate claim — the most ludicrous claim I’ve probably ever encountered in advertising.

In this particular mailing, there is a buck slip with six so-called “facts” for how DirecTV improves a business.

Fact #6 is the one that just kills me: “Employees are more productive when they have a constant connection to current events.”

Wait a second. Am I reading that correctly — that employees are more productive when they’re constantly connected to a television?!

If improving employee productivity were really that easy, our GDP should be growing by double digits every quarter. Just watch more TV — and watch those numbers climb!

It’s clear to me that whoever wrote the copy for this promo is not an entrepreneur and has never run a business in his or her life. Heck, the copywriter doesn’t even understand what business is about.

Here are some tips for the marketing folks at DirecTV:

First, stop the B.S. Employees don’t work harder when they’re watching TV.

Second, how’s about you actually put some effort into a little thing called list selection.

I can think of three groups of business owners who might be interested in getting DirecTV for their businesses: doctors who have waiting rooms; auto shops that have waiting rooms; and high-end health clubs that want to differentiate from low-end fitness centers.

Write the promo for one type of business — and then send it to just those businesses. I work from my home and have no employees. What need do I have for TV programming in my study?

None. Nada. Zip.

But I guess DirecTV doesn’t know that because they used the shotgun approach to send out a ridiculous sales piece to a whole bunch of business owners — because all businesses will get more customers with better TV programming!

Lesson: Direct mail that is not targeted properly and is not based in reality is doomed to fail. Be wise.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• When Selling on Price Backfires
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• The Battle Between Strategy and Tactics
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There are essentially four over-arching strategies for growing a business. No more, no less.

1. Get more customers and clients.
2. Get your customers/clients to buy more frequently.
3. Get your customers/clients to spend more money per transaction.
4. Keep your customers longer.

While there are only four primary strategies for growing a business, there are literally dozens of different techniques you can use to implement these four strategies.

Strategies are important because they give us something concrete. They endure while techniques may come and go.

But the techniques are equally important. Strategies tell us WHAT to do; techniques tell us HOW to do it.

With that in mind, I’ve provided a list of 31 techniques for growing a business, all categorized by one of the four strategies.

This way, you can skip to the strategy you want to implement in your business, and focus only on those techniques.

Strategy #1: Get more customers and clients.

When we talk about growing a business, this is by far the most common approach: get more customers and clients.

And while this is certainly an important step (you MUST start here if you have no customers or clients yet), it is also the most expensive way to grow a business. And it takes the most effort, too.

Here are 9 ways to get more customers and clients:

• Drive more traffic to your web site.

• Improve the effectiveness of your ads and sales letters.

• Find new/better places to advertise (newspaper, TV, Adwords, ezine ads, social media, etc).

• Create stronger offers that appeal to more people in your target market.

• Enlist the help of affiliates to reach more people.

• Ask for referrals.

• Down-sell prospects who reject your initial offer.

• Craft irresistible guarantees so your customers have little or no risk when they buy.

• Host a free teleseminar where you can demonstrate your expertise and ask for the sale.

Strategy #2: Get your customers/clients to buy more frequently.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners focus on getting the first sale, and then neglect to ever get a second.

This is unfortunate because you make much more profit on sales two, three, four, and so forth.

Here are 6 ways to get your customers and clients to buy from you more frequently:

• Create a customer mailing list; send them customers-only offers on a weekly or monthly basis.

• Send out promotional emails to your house list on a more frequent basis.

• Run time-limited or quantity-limited promotions and use scarcity to get customers to act now instead of later.

• Design a product funnel that automatically moves your clients from one purchase to the next.

• Start a monthly continuity program that automatically bills customers every month. (Print newsletter, membership site, etc.)

• Use autoresponder email sequences to automatically introduce your prospects to all of your products.

Strategy #3: Get your customers/clients to spend more money per transaction.

This is probably the simplest and easiest way to grow a business. But for some reason, many entrepreneurs avoid this strategy because they fear how their customers will react. They fear their customers don’t have more money to spend.

Here’s a suggestion: Get over your fear.

By implementing these techniques, you can easily grow your business 5% or more within the next few months.

A word of caution though… raising prices is not something you do willy-nilly. It helps to have a good reason for raising prices; it also helps to add more value to a product/service.

Here are 7 ways to get your customers and clients to spend more money per transaction:

• Increase your fees and prices.

• Add more value to your products and services.

• After a person buys one product, up-sell or cross-sell them another related product.

• Offer payment plans on your expensive products and services.

• Charge for shipping separately.

• Use phone sales to help close large ticket purchases.

• Do a product launch.

Strategy #4: Keep your customers longer.

This fourth strategy is often overlooked, but is highly effective.

If you can keep a customer or client for an extra month or two, or even an extra year, that could bring thousands of extra dollars to you — especially if you have a continuity program or a well-designed promotional calendar.

Here are 9 ways to encourage loyalty and keep your customers and clients for a longer period of time:

• Send out surprise bonus gifts with new purchases. (You may even consider giving away business promotional items that are branded with your business name so you stay in the top of your customers’ minds.)

• Create a follow-up sequence of communication designed to get customers and clients to actually use the product or service they’ve purchased.

• Call your best customers and clients and thank them for their business.

• Send out birthday cards and Christmas cards/gifts.

• Deliver more value than you’ve promised to deliver. Go above and beyond.

• Ask your customers and clients for testimonials. (After a customer has publicly declared their support of you, they will automatically be more loyal to you and your business.)

• Create incentives to encourage customer longevity.

• Publish the date when a person subscribes and/or becomes a customer. (Ex: Customer since 4/99.)

• Give your customers and clients public recognition in your newsletter, blog, or ezine.

So there you have it: 31 ways to grow business.

Now the only thing left for you to do is pick one or two of them and actually implement them. Learning is good; doing is better.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Have any additional techniques you’d like to share? Leave a comment and show off your expertise.

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Fact #1: Words can be copyrighted; ideas can’t.

Fact #2: Original ideas are about as rare as 10-karat diamonds.

“Idea theft,” as I’ve called it in the title of this post, has been on my mind for a couple of reasons.

The first incident happened a few months ago when a good friend of mine expressed anger about a guy who had “stolen” his ideas and created an information product similar to what my friend had already created.

I understood his anger and frustration, but pointed out that ideas can’t be copyrighted.

For instance, I wrote about overcoming inertia last week. Does that mean I’ve cornered the market on that idea? No way! Anybody can go out and write similar articles or create information products about that idea.

What people can’t do is copy the words I wrote verbatim. That’s a violation of copyright law.

So you can express the same ideas, but you have to do so using your own words.

Go to the business section of any bookstore and you’ll see literally dozens of books all covering many of the same ideas, strategies, and concepts.

If I want to go out and write a book about business growth, I can do so without breaking any laws–even if there are already multiple books that already talk about that subject.

Get this… Pamela Dodd and Doug Sundheim wrote a best-selling time management book called The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques. If you go to Amazon.com and type in “time management,” their book will likely appear first, ahead of David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

How Did They Accomplish This?

Simple. They bought the top 20 time management books based on Amazon’s ratings, read them all, and “stole” the best ideas they found to write their own book, which quickly became a success.

This, in my opinion, should not be viewed as stealing. This is synthesizing. It adds value. And it’s how every person on planet earth operates.

I could not write a single word if it weren’t for all the books I’ve read, all the teachers I’ve learned from, and all the people who’ve contributed to my life. Am I “stealing” from them? No. It’s simply how we learn, process, and share information.

Now, let’s talk about the second incident that prompted me to write about ethics today.

I recently signed up for a service based on the recommendation of a fellow blogger. The results the service can provide are really fantastic, but the set-up instructions and help files are pathetic. A quick scan of the private forum confirms this seems to be the consensus among most of the users.

As you can imagine, this opens up the door to competition. If somebody has a great idea, but is deficient in the execution, then aggressive competitors are likely to smell an easy kill.

Here’s a general recipe for business success: Identify a problem, find somebody who is already solving that problem, then copy the idea behind the solution, and improve upon the solution. Sometimes summed up with these timeless words… Make a better widget.

Again, nothing wrong with this. It’s been done thousands of times and is routine in business.

So where do we cross the line? Said another way…

At What Point Are We Acting Unethically?

Everybody’s moral compass will be a little bit different. I, for one, would feel uncomfortable buying somebody’s ebook and then “rewriting” it in my own words. This happens all the time, even though I would not personally do it.

I would feel more comfortable reading multiple books or ebooks and then writing a book of my own based on what I had learned.

Whatever I wrote would contain ideas I had learned, plus my own style, my own unique perspectives, etc. By doing it this way, I would ensure that my creative work would be sufficiently different from the source material to be definitively my own.

Crossing the Line…

Let’s get back to this “second incident,” which I mentioned above. As I already said, the service under scrutiny is lacking in some respects, and that has opened the door to competition.

But I am not here to criticize the service provider; I’m here to criticize an infiltrator. And in this particular case, I believe the ethics line was crossed.

I witnessed it this morning when I received an email that APPEARED to come from the owners of the service I am subscribed to. Here is a copy of the email with the name of the service blanked out.

Hi,

We see you are using __________.

A group of us have got together and wish to improve this great service, with our help. We are sure, like us, you love the system, but wished it was little less stringent.

If you are interested in a free account or just want to know more please fill in the form at http://___________.com

We just need your name and email, but you can include your likes, dislikes and any improvements you think can be made.

Work is already underway and any help or ideas will be greatly received.

Thanks,

Your ________ team

In each case where I’ve included a blank, the name of the service was used verbatim. Basically, whoever sent this email (and I believe I know who sent it) is pretending to be the service provider. He is inviting me to a “new and improved” service, which is not in any way affiliated with the original service I signed up for.

This kind of behavior is totally unethical and unacceptable.

Want to copy an idea and improve it? I have no problem with that.

But it has gone too far when a person hacks into a private community, steals customer email addresses, and then spams them with “new and improved” offers… all while pretending to be the original provider of the service!

This is not just idea theft…

It Is Customer Theft & Identity Theft, Too!

If there is a lesson in all of this, it is this: know what is lawful and unlawful. Know what is ethical and unethical. Determine for yourself where you will draw the line.

And let me encourage you to always err on the side of caution. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t, even if the law may allow it. Act in such a way that you can be proud of the work you have done… and still sleep well at night.

And if you decide ethics don’t matter, and you believe you can act however you want in the name of profit, then be sure to watch your back. What goes around comes around…

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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