Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

When I was an accomplice

About five or six years ago a groom wanted to hire me to draw caricatures at his wedding.  One problem though.  The bride was kinda against it.  I’m sure she thought what many people think.  

It’s low rent.  

Caricatures are for kids.

It’s stupid.

Ok, I’ll give her stupid.  I draw cartoons, I’m no stranger to stupid.  But still…

I emailed the groom a few times and we spoke on the phone.  It’s always kinda strange for me when I speak to a Millennial on the phone.  So many of them are into texting, instant messages, and written communication.

Not that I can blame them.  The more I write the more I prefer to communicate with the written word too.  Anyhoow… 

Back to my groom.  With our e-mails and even our phone conversation he kept talking about meeting up in person.  It was odd because 98% of my events I book via email or over the phone.  

I made an appointment and met them at a park.  I finally got to meet the fiancé and she was very pretty.  They made a beautiful couple.  But to quote one of my favorite lines from the movie Evolution, she was a bit of an “Ice Queen”.

She was not warm to me at all.  Time to do like Flynn Rider from Tangled and bring on the smolder…

I tried charm…

She shot it down like trying to shoot a layup over Shaq.

I told her my story and my background in comics…

She was about interested in that as a college lecture on Dung beetles.

I even went the social proof route but she wasn’t seemingly impressed.

I was using every ounce of my creativity.  I felt like I was doing a crossword puzzle but none of the words I kept using seemed to fit.  I slowly learned why the groom wanted to meet me in person.  He wanted an accomplice to help convince the fiancé to include me in their reception.

Eventually the groom had his way and they did book me.  It taught me a lesson though.  In my success in not scratching and clawing for every gig I could get I got lazy.  Why should I have to do things like talk to people or meet them in person?  Ain’t I Mr. Special…?

I grew to really enjoy talking to my perspective clients in person.  You get the good stuff.  You learn about them, how they met, what their goals are.  It’s the kind of thing that you just can’t get from sending emails (usually) or looking at their Instagram page.

To quote a John C. Maxwell book title, “everyone communicates, few connect.  Connect with your prospects, clients, and tribe.  The connection will go way beyond words.

https://www.adamstreet.net/

Adam

21 Days of Letters

Welcome 2022 and all our new goals.

It’s normal to have new year’s resolutions and big goals with the new year but often something is overlooked.

Something big.  

The true engine behind your dreams, goals, and what you want to accomplish isn’t something you write on a 3×5 card.  

It’s not your cell phone or one of those fancy goal-setting planners.

It’s not a masterminded or an accountability group either. 

Public declarations?  Nope.

There’s tons of things they say you can do to fuel dreams but rarely do they talk about this one.  

Your body.

Jim Rohn is one of the few who put this on my radar years and years ago.  All you have to do is ask yourself this question….

Is what I’m putting in my body able to power my dreams? 

I like pizza more than I like vegetables.  News flash, right?  But I know eating veggies or drinking green juice gives me more energy and helps me sleep better.

I’m not telling you to eat what I eat.  Maybe you’re a carnivore and just eat animals.  Whatever.  Just make sure you get enough of what powers you.

Sometimes I fast and don’t eat anything at all!  And when I fast my energy is usually off the charts!

But when I work and work and work my ergonomics go to crap.  I start eating fast food more and then my quality of sleep disappears.  

And then I stop going to the gym because I don’t “feel like it…”

You wouldn’t drive from Vegas to San Diego without getting gas.  So don’t try to set bigger goals serving your tribe and doing more and more without taking care of YOU first.

Also…

For the next four weeks I’m going to do a writing challenge.  So I’ll be sharing much of what I write for the next four weeks.  😀

https://www.adamstreet.net/

Adam

Proof I’m not a guru :(

I’m on a copywriter’s email list.  Today’s email had this line:

“Copywriters are NOT writers! We are marketers. We are strategists. We are salespeople in print.”

She said that quote was “every copywriting guru’s favorite line in the world”.

I thought not only have I not used that line before but I’ve never heard or seen it before either.  

See, and just when I thought I was one of the cool kids…

I do agree copywriters can be strategists and we are certainly salespeople in print.  

That first part bugs the hell outta me though.  It’s like wearing only a furry itchy wool trench coat in the middle of summer.

And I live in Phoenix by the way…

When we use the fire emoji here it’s cause it’s 114 degrees, not because we think something is cool.  

Anyhoow, back to copywriters are not writers.

This is why there is so little creativity in marketing nowadays.  If you rely on formulas and short sited tactics your marketing will stop evolving.  And then you’ll take another course and learn one more thing.

You’ll keep living your life and running your business off borrowed time.  

Albert Einsten said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

This is why studying some of the old direct response marketers can be so effective.  NO, you don’t want to model most of their ads but you DO want to learn how they think.  

Read about Claude Hopkins, Rosser Reeves, John Caples, or Robert Collier.  And plenty of others.

Also study good writing.  You can learn just as much reading Michael Crichton or Mark Twain.

Good writing is good writing.  

Not only will your marketing get better but you will develop your own voice.  

Your own approaches.

Your own techniques.  

That’s when writing your copy and emails gets easier.  And you start to enjoy it.

You still will have to start with a blank screen when you write.  But at least you’ll reduce your urge to jump out of your office window.

Want less stress when you write?  https://adamstreet.net

Adam

Candy coated Kale

I don’t mind Kale but I don’t love it either.

But what if it was wrapped in candy?  

Like white chocolate?

Jolly Ranchers or…

M&Ms? 

That may sound gross, especially if you love Kale.  But if you’re like the millions of people who don’t like the stuff, a candy coating may give you some incentive to give it another shot.  

Imagine this at your state fair.  Right next to the deep fried Twinkies.

This sums up how you want to market on social.

Fun and deliciously entertaining on the outside with a strong message on the inside.  

Pew Research did a survey and they found more than half of Americans get some or all of their news from social media.  And 1/3 get their news from Facebook alone.

YES, you may coach people with some serious problems.

YES, your course may solve some un-funny problems but people won’t stop to look at your posts on Facebook if they aren’t interesting.  

If your focus is always “giving value” and teaching.  Or worse, giving your stuff away for free.  Do you think you have a shot against the cucumber vs. cats videos?  Or all the little adorable toddler Tiktoks out there?  Girls in bikinis?

Fat chance.

Use what I teach in the Blockbuster Marketing Club.  

What Ben Settle teaches and many others.

Be fun.

Be interesting.

Be curious.  

Do that and people will watch.  They will care.

They will eat right past the crunchy candy coating and go straight to the nutritious center.

Gotta bon appétit? https://adamstreet.net

Adam

PS  If you want to read the study:  

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/new-research-shows-that-71-of-americans-now-get-news-content-via-social-pl/593255/

Beating Entrepreneurial Fibromyalgia with 1%

When my mom was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia her doctor gave her a cheery little nugget of wisdom.   

He said something like…

You will have pain everyday for the rest of your life.

Well, that was harsh I thought…

But he wasn’t doing it to be crass, or to be a dick.  

He was doing it because to him, that was the reality of Fibromyalgia.  And he said if she could internalize that now, it wouldn’t be as bad.  

This doc’s philosophy goes against my overly Pollyanna-ish like nature but I get it.  

This is also why I tell entrepreneurs and service pros that marketing is hard.

Copy writing is hard.

Figuring out your product, your message, and the best media for you is hard.  

This is why Swipe and deploy and copying ads have a tipping point.  They work and they’ll get you started but you almost never see the success of the original.

Eugene Schwartz said it best.

“Each and every formula is simply the written solution to a particular problem that occurred in the past.  Change even one part of that problem, and you need an entirely different formula.  That’s why memorizing theories won’t make you a scientist…or rewriting somebody else’s headlines won’t make you a copy writer.”

I could steal all Lebron’s moves and the Laker’s wouldn’t be calling me anytime soon.  

Great teachers help you learn and understand foreign and complex ideas.  That’s what makes them great teachers.  

That is what I aspire to do.  

That’s why I do what I do.

That’s how I’m wired.

But I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s easy.   Or that if you take my course you’ll become the next David Deutsch and 10x your income in six months.

But when you KNOW it’s hard.  All you have to do is little things.  

Like get 1% better everyday.  

The compound effect of daily improvement will make you an entrepreneurial bad-ass.  It might take 6 months it may take 6 years.      

But it WILL happen.  

Better to put your faith in that than some mamby pamby hocus pocus course.  

If you need a little “Riddikulus”:  https://adamstreet.net

Adam “Expelliarmus” Street