Ted Nicholas – History
His first worked in his father’s homemade ice cream business doing odd jobs.
One of his early jobs was selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door – a really tough business.

 At age of 21, and in massive debt, he started up his own homemade ice and candy business  where he discovered how to successfully market a business.

   The candy business was also how Ted discovered the power of words.  he began to notice that his customers responded depending on the choice of words he used in all of the ads he used for his business.

   Through determination and hard work , Ted built his retail candy business from one store in the beginning to ultimately 30 retail candy store franchises.

 This was the time that Ted got the idea for his first book “How To Form Your Own Corporation Without a Lawyer for Under $50″.  This book contained all tear-out forms needed to form a corporation. Something that people normally paid a lawyer to do hundreds of dollars to do.

    The book became one of the best-selling business books in history and whilst he didnt make friends with many lawyers business people loved the idea that they could incorporate themselves without the expense of hiring an attorney

    From this success he was able to form his own publishing company leading to 14 other best-selling business books.

    In 1991, Ted  sold out the businesses and retired.  It didn’t last long .  In under a year he decided retirement did not suit him.  

    When he started to get calls from other business owners who knew of Ted’s track record, and asking for marketing help. Ted decided he would enjoyhelping other businesses by consulting, and conducting seminars

    Today, Ted Nicholas is an expert marketing consultant author and speaker, and one of the best paid copywriters in the world.

    Ted  loves to hear rags-to-riches success stories from those he mentors.  Many have gone on to make millions as a result of studying Ted’s methods.

Ted Nicholas –  Books
Ted has produced many masterpieces – but these are my favourites: and every budding copywriter should read them

Ted Nicholas – How to write copy
Ted  does many presentations and seminars – and it is very rewarding to hear him speak:

At a conference last year he gave a blow by blow summary of how to write copy:

And here are some of the topics:

>Use a strong headline:

There are 27 words that Ted  recommends: see those here in this list!
1 Announcing
2 Secrets of
3 New
4 Now is the time
5 Amazing
6 Facts you should know
7 Breakthrough
8 At last
9 Advice to
10 The truth of
11 Protect
12 Life … will change your life
13 Here… is the answer
14 Discover… the secrets
15 Do you … make these mistakes
16 Bargains… stock market bargains
17 Yes! …Ted please send
18 You will love
19 Don’t hate
20 How much…
21 How would .. you like
22 This
23 Only way
24 Sale
25 Free
26 You….
27 How to…

>Benefits

Ted  says you should always- Consider the dream benefit
What is the best you can offer your customer?

>Language

Ted has firm views on language too!
Use Colouful powerful words – love , hate
Dont use adjectives adverbs
Don’t be catchy or cute.
Use a dropped first letter that spans 3 rows

>Structure

Ted Nicholas recommends trying to look like an editorial
Headlines: Use Capitalised case and Use quotation marks.
Advertorial ads – make it look like editorial
Use a Thin line around order
Use Three columns
Always Include a copyright

>Type and typeface

Ted has tested typefaces, and here is his recommendation
Serif typeface = times new roman
Ragged right column
White background

>Subheads

Ted Nicholas recommends the following 6 subheadings
What about you
Don’t hate yourself
Start right away
Easy to use
Free bonus
Delay is death

> Display ads

From long experience he recommends the following!
Small display, not classified
Best day of week tues/wed/sun

>Mailings

In his presentation Ted Nicholas describes what works direct mailing and has comments about all of these!
Letter -Outer Envelope -Order form
Reply envelope – Lift letter – from someone else
- Please do not read unless you have not decided to order
Brochure- Contact information.
Process blue signature
Headline, PS

But to sum up his copy philosophy Ted Nicholas says

> Give a headache
Then sell aspirin: positive fear

If you ever get the chance to hear Ted speak – Go!, not least because mentorees are being invited to his 120th birthday party – how is that for the power of positive thinking!

Andrew Reynolds realised early on that in a market all selling the same product, rebranding was vital, and he adopted Joe Karbo’s legendary title in rebranding the DVD course of Bill Myers on direct marketing which he attended in the USA, and for which he had bought the resell rights.

So the DVD set sold by Andrew carried this title on VHS tapes copied on a home VHS player.

Later on, when Andrew passed on the baton to two of his illustrious students, for example Nick James, he took  a Corey Rudl ( Derek Gehls business partner at  IMC, and sadly RIP of a freak motor accident) and rebranded that with similar title.

In this case “The Lazy mans way to email riches”.

Since this product launched (at least) two of Andrew Reynolds most successful students you can see the massive emotive appeal of a headline which has launched countless direct marketing careers.

Should you use the headline? – Ethics must play a part in the answer  – the system offered must be capable of being operated by Lazy people. And there’s the rub.

Direct Marketing allows high income to effort ratio. But for most it is ONLY after a lot of hard graft learning how the business really works. Few lazy people are likely to put in the graft to learn how to make money in a lazy way.

However that may be – the title “Lazy Mans Way” is the stuff of legend.  Alongside Ted Nicholas “The Only Way left for the Little Guy  to get Rich” and other classics in the hall of fame.

It was very moving listening to Andrew describing the South African townships. When people think of excuses for why they cannot get on, it brings it all into perspective. They have nothing.

One man found a way to feed his family by making flowers out of refuse – old tin cans to sell to tourists. Andrew was so moved by this, he ordered a flower for every woman in the auditorium, and they were handed out to all of the women at entrepreneurs bootcamp.

I thought the 2 long day format, and the sheer size of the place made networking very difficult,also there seemed to be more of the wealth coaches and less of the hardcore marketers.
The lack of a jubilee line made it hard to get to the entrepreneurs bootcamp because of where it is.

Nevertheless – a lot of valuable content.

Simon Coulson revealed  at least some of his niches, and a great presentation by Kirt Christensen – the deal I would have done, if I had not vowed, to spend more time doing marketing, and less time learning!

Finally Andrew Reynolds himself who spoke twice at Bootcamp 2009. Visibly moved by his inability to succeed in time to help his father – and yet again stressing the need for product rebranding.

Many people see Andrew Reynolds success and say “Well it is OK for him” because he has a big list of subscribers, and he has access to licenses for great products. They are happy to accept that Cash On Demand works as a system, but they cannot duplicate his success because they have no quality products.

Old products never die
Tim Lowe has certainly proved that that some old products do not die. Many on his mailing lists recieved offers for VHS tapes of Bill Myers at least 5 years after they were produced.

The thing is – direct marketing is timeless – the categories of goods that are most in demand – how to make money, save money, look good, and so on have not changed. Neither have the psychological triggers that make people buy. And creating a customer list is no different now, using web ads or small ads and good copywriting
So the key thing about direct marketing is nothing has changed, the information is timeless.

Ever since E Haldeman Julius and the First Hundred Million and claude hopkins and scientific advertising

So the question is not about the information, it is about the presentation.

Cash on Demand Products – Giving new life
So here is an idea for giving life to Cash On Demand products that has worked for me.
(a) Buy up resale rights to good audio products, possibly even on audio tape.
(b) Go and buy a good video editor such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio
(c) Load the audio track up
(d) Then create slides (vegas can do this) which have all the main points made by the author listed.
(e) Better still, use powerpoint and load up the power point on to the video track.
(f) Then you have created a DVD from what was a bland audio.
(g) Cut out all references to old resources -easy to edit in vegas
(h) Break up into chapters for the DVD
(i) Put in your own introduction, and audio summary for the chapters
(j) Check out VOXPROXY if you dont like speaking yourself.
(k) Discover how to make movies from static photos – see Bill Myers
(l) Add your own resources section
In this way you have created a brand new Cash On Demand product from an old and dead audio course.

Information is Timeless
In many markets information is timeless – take recipes, diets, direct marketing, gardening: and you can create cash on demand products by renovating this information

By conducting small tests on the list, you already have a feel for how many will accept so by deciding how big a list to apprroach within reason you dictate the flow of cash.

That is a complete contrast to an ordinary business which has opening hours. During which the customers decide whether to approach you – not the other way round. You Have no certainty as to when and how many approach.

Cash on demand is also a system, detailed in some 30 manuals on a monthly basis. It is an outpouring of what has made Andrew Reynolds so successful over the years, exploring many aspects of direct marketing.

Each volume deals with something different: for example one of the early parts discusses the care to be taken with list brokers, and how to avoid getting ripped off by the unscrupulous.

Since the cost of even test mailings can be so high, clearly the experience is very valuable and worth more than the couple of tens of dollars for that part. A mistake with mailing costs thousands not tens.

I spoke to one of andrews successful students , and his opinion is interesting. He said, pay as close attention to what Andrew does, as to what he says. In this context he was pointing out for example that printed subscription paper courses clearly have a massive revenue upside!! – ie not just the value of the course as information for the reader, but also to notice the course as a business model for what the reader might do.

So is CASH ON DEMAND complete in every detail? No course can be so comprehensive , and some of the references are now dated.
There are indeed, some good products in good markets with ostensibly good copy that should perform but they dont.

There is a missing ingredient…sign up for our minicourse to find out why!

But his legacy lives on  in the form of letters written from a jail cell to his sons.

Golden Nuggets from the Boron Letters

As Ed dale said the Boron Lettersby Gary Halbert are on of the best educations a direct marketer can ever get. Written to his son bond at a difficult time in Garys life  the letters sum up a philosophy on direct marketing and Direct Mailing

So I have tried to summarise as halbert would say the Golden Nuggets from those letters. They are indexed by the letter number , for anyone that wishes to go back to the originals.

This is another tribute to Gary , a flawed human being but a great marketer. His sons are keeping the website Gary Halbert Letter as a valuable resource.

I have also tried to bring some of this into modern context

The first letters talk about gary getting fit and training on a hill at the prison.

And here are the golden nuggets of wisdom from the rest

Gary Halbert – Boron Letter 5 – Become a student of markets

Become a student of markets, not products, techniques or copywriting

• The most important thing is to deduce what people want to buy, by observing what they already buy,
• Don’t be deceived by what they say they buy
• Most will say they buy premium beer – they don’t they buy regular!
• And the best way to do that is to see what they have bought by researching mailing lists
• An internet equivalent is looking at ebay pulse and affiliate sales on clickbank. Real people buiying real product.

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 6 -A starving crowd

What advantage would you want as a hamburger stall owner?
The biggest advantage is a STARVING CROWD

• Groups of people who have demonstrated by past behaviour they are hungry for the product or service
• Use the most targeted list you can have – the people in the right place who have bought a similar product recently

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 7 – Become a student of mailing lists

Become a student of mailing lists

• Recency – when did they buy
• Frequency – how often did they buy
• Unit of sale – how much did they buy
• Of these the most important is recency
• Sell people what they have shown by recent behaviour they will buy

Gary quotes from SRDS lists – A UK alternative is www.hilitedms.com

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 8 – What they say and what they do are two different things

Most people say They don’t buy mail order – they don’t read the enquirer But the statistics say they do!

Just as most people say they watch Plays not movies: They will say what they think they ought to do not what they actually do.

Always Keep awake to a possibility

See a list of 120000 per month new Pregnant women –
So Write a book: “how to raise your childs IQ before it is even born”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 9 – The more specific you make it

Make it specific dont produce just “make extra money”

• Produce “Make extra money for chiropractors”
• Wheel out the same product to many tailored groups
• The more custom tailored the more successful

Talking to his 16 year old son he said which would succeed for you
“dear occupant ways to make money
Or
“dear 16 year old here are ways to make money”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 10 – How to create a good ad
First Read “Scientific advertising” Hopkins and also “Colliers letterbook”

Halbert 2001 headlines

Read and take notes make a Swipe file, look through lists

Customise an offer to a specific group

Not “did you know there is a way to buy LA real estate
Customise the LA to a location in LA

Create a product

Take all the books extract all of the ideas as nuggets
Strip away the garbage and so produce a better product than all of the others.
“The amazing LA roadmap to real estate riches”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 11 – Getting into the A Pile

How do you get it opened?

People sort mail into A Pile and B Pile
A Pile is personal, B pile is advertising.
They read all the A pile but not all the B
So make envelope look personal
No company name, and a real stamp

How do you get it read?
Attention and intrigue- Try a Bag filled with dirt to grab attention

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 12 -Making it personal
Date and time. – make it look personal

Make it a personal conversation and bond with the reader

• Write about where you are. ” I am sitting here and”
• Make it pleasant easy read interesting and not confusingNow envelopes matter
• SRE – stamped return envelope, wastes all those stamps
  Use for High ticket items
• And when you can make them feel guilty “those children need your help right now!”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 13 -Guilt Inducer

Use a Guilt inducer
“Someone else will take advantage if you dont”
“I hope you can take advantage of the offer , but if you cant
Could you drop me a note so I can extend this offer to someone else?”

BRE business reply envelopes

Disadvantages of BRE–
They slow up response
Proves it is not personal
If you cant do good guilt with a SRE a BRE is better

PSH Place stamp here – the customer pays the stamp

- lose some, because of hassle and cost
- but gain because of personalisation over BRE

Test this it is probably best!
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 14 -Attention grab with a bag of dirt

The bag of dirt.
An Attention grabber must be relevant
“ a sumbmarine that flies” cheap shot wont work

Bag of dirt
“I am attaching this bag of dirt for two important reasons”
“First because what I have to say to you is very serious and I needed a way to grab your attention

“Secondly because what is in that bag could be your passport to complete financial independence

“Why is this? – because what is in that bag is a tiny amount of what the most valuable commodity on earth
Im talking about real estate, and in this case Hawaiian real eastate
Yes its true” And so on.

So the formula is.
Picked list – a product – envelopes – attention – first para

Now you need an order card,
But Don’t want reader to see order card and brochure why?
They go straight to the coupon

So fold up with message– “open paper to find special info promised inmy letter”
The mailing needs to be business like personal, not just personal – some typeset – brochures etc
Reader to see at the proper time
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 15 -The technical side of copy

Now technical side of copy – first research

Read Everything you can about product
Books, Old DM pieces Headlines – reading and taking notes
These are the golden nuggets- Reread Put stars by best

Then leave for a while.
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 16 – AIDA

Get the right kind of ATTENTION dont use cheap shots.

INTEREST – feed some facts
eg maui proprerty – amount of sand, pretty girls and so on

Then DESIRE -
The benefits Eg more money – Or attract the opposite sex

ACTION
Be Very clear and specific what you want the customer to do.

Right now today
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 17 -Copy good copy in your own hand

Copy the “tova facelift ad “in your own handwriting
Do it just as if you were taking to the typing pool

It allows you to internalise the thought process.
You will have a big advantage of those who are lazy and dont.

Gary lists a number of important ads – including all time best such as

The original coat of arms letter
The famous dollar bill letter from the Robert collier letterbook

Notice the construction

Use simple words “Get not Procure”
Transitions – “Well as a matter fo fact” -”Now naturally we don’t want to”
Ask questions – “Can you imaine that? I know it seemsunbelievable”
Word pictures – “And just wait till you step in”

The best way of becoming a good writer is by writing good writing
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 18 Make it easy to read

The layout should catch the attention of your reader, but not in a way that causes him to notice the layout

Use Editorial look
No long paragraphs
Make it look appealing

Gary says that he once produced a catalogue as a back end to the coat of arms letter, and it bombed
But a letter advertising another product to the same group turned in $40m
Moral, you do better when it appears youa aren’t trying to sell

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 19 You Never get a second chance for a first impression

Juries, lovers, interviewers make up their minds in minutes
Then spend the rest of the time trying to justify that decision

You can hook a reader before they read, just when they look at it
So the look is very important – they spend the rest of the time trying to convince themselves for a decision that has already been made

So use a crisp look , clean layout

If using labels Bright white label on matching envelope
Use commemoratives
Letterhead dignified and non distracting
Use red to underline
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 20 Bad times to do things

Dont take decisions on ego – and remember HALT
Never make a decision when “Hungry Angry Lonely Tired”
Gary Halbert Boron Letter 21 The deal and propositions

You need an explanation to make a good deal believable

Fire sale
Out of business
Taxes
Lost the lease

A reason why.

Offering you this deal because of a unique circumstance eg “Only if you write a review”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 22 Read copy out loud

Read your own copy out loud to look for places you stumble and reword them
Read good copy out loud to imprint in your memory

So a project summary

Identify the list
Define a product of interest Car owners, “heres how to fix your car to get 50% more miles”
Then got to financer ask for $5000 to kick off the project
Do a small test mailing and if it works
Roll out to 50000
If it still works finance big rollout from cashflow
Split profit with funder

And the formula is

Find a hot market
Create a product
Direct mail piece with benefits
Test mailing
Roll out

Don’t make it complicated it is not.

Someone showed gary a product wood machine and asked if he could sell it.
He said “It’s the single biggest mistake”, “Find market first – Then concentrate on a product the market is asking for”

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 23 Awareness

Difference in success is awareness
Being ready when the opportunity comes
“so stay up to date”

He said If people are right and I am best copywriter, it is because “I work like crazy”

Take card players
Everyone gets the same hands over a long period, it is being ready for the good hands that matters.
Sweat the details, be ready for opportunity

Try fuessing the Time and check it – are you aware enough?

Gary Halbert Boron Letter 24 Impact

IMPACT
The impression of attaching to top of letter something like a Classic dollar bill – 90%
Or a Japanese penny – It Must tie in with promotion

If you try something novel and make it look like a driving ticket
They will remember you with distaste – so No sale
Dont use cheap tricks

Andrew Reynolds students

Andrew Reynolds has mentored many students with the cash on demand system, and many of them have been successful.

The super league/best knownof andrews students are:

• Tim Lowe
• Chris Cobb
• Nick James

And all of these are reported to have achieved more than £1m in sales, And most recently , the success of simon coulson who has now begun to present at the top league seminars.

The most success ful of these has to be Tim Lowe of Markiteer

Tim Lowe – Origins
You can see Tim Lowe describe his history en entrepreneur channel on sky tv
Tim Lowe had a high powered job, but hated every minute of the travelling.

He then started his own business in fire alarms only to discover that people dont buy what they need, they buy what they want, and how selling prevention is harder than cure.

In short, he set out to run a business, and it ended up running him.

Finally he was recipient of a letter from Andrew, and from then he has never looked back.
Tim Lowe – King of the small ads
Tim Lowe was recently described by Andrew Reynolds at a conference – as King of the Small Ads – although clearly the newspaper industry is now in turmoil and Tim’s more recent efforts have been essentially internet based.

Tim has developed a million pound turnover business in only a matter of four years – and in recent information he has sent out, that is now at a rate of several million a year

Tim Lowe – Following a system

Tim Lowe is a perfect example of following a system – he has followed the cash on demand system to the letter.
Tim knows the secrets of Small ad performance probably better than anyone else in the UK today.

Advertising in national papers was the mainstay of his list creation.

Tim Lowe – The general in the army

Tim Lowe has also shown you dont need to be a techical guy to succeed, in fact probably the reverse.
Tim doesnt write his own copy
And he doesnt produce his own websites

Tims strength is in marketing and knowing how to create his own products with a unique branding

As he says to succeed you need to be the general in the army – and dont try to do it all yourself

Tim Lowe – You dont need to be technical
Tim Lowe has also shown you dont need to be a technical guy to succeed, in fact probably the reverse.
Tim doesnt write his own copy
And he doesnt produce his own websites
Tims strength is in marketing and knowing how to create his own products with a unique branding

Tim Lowe – An inspiration
So Tims story is an inspiration for any student of Andrew Reynolds system. He proves that by following the system, in exactly he way you are shown, can achieve massive result from the cash ond demand system

Andrew Reynolds did not appear as a well known public figure until 2006 when considerable publicity surrounded both his contributions to the princes trust, and also his donation of a massive sum to great ormond street hospital from the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp conference he organised :

But many still ask: Who is he? And where did he come from?

There is an active community on scam.com who seem determined to include him in “mail order scams” So what is the truth?

Andrew Reynolds – Early struggles
Certainly andrew reynolds was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth: his family lived on the breadline and it was this that gave him strong opinions on how unsound the retail business model really is.

His father was proud of that shop – but it never delivered more than a basic income.

Ultimately Andrew rose through ranks to become sufficiently senior in a housebuilding company to drive a company mercedes. But he was always looking for more of a lifestyle.

As his ex wife testified at a conference, he like many bought many
“get rich quick” schemes looking for the idea that could give him the freedom he craved.

He always seems a little amused that the company he worked for had a title of “Hassel homes” with obvious unfortunate implications!

Then one day he was invited to a conference in the USA of the legendary Bill Myers:

Anyone who considers that direct marketing is some kind of scam, should read Bill Myers history and look at his website.

They will discover how many valuable products bill myers has produced over the years, and see how much valuable advise bill gives budding marketers on his forum www.bmyers.com.

Reading this you realise that there is no possibility that his methods are a scam. They are an open book.

And it was the meeting of Bill Myers and Andrew Reynolds that launched Andrews direct marketing career.

Andrew Reynolds – Direct Marketer
So Andrew Reynolds paid a large sum of money to purchase UK rights to the Video of the conference he attended. But unlike the other participants, Andrews brilliance as a direct marketer began to show through.
Instead of producing a “me too” offering of those same videos with the same brand name, same sales letter, he drew on an idea of the legendary Joe Karbo and rebranded them ” The lazy mans way”.
To those that bought the first two introductory tapes he offered the full set as a “back end product”
If there is one piece of advice Andrew Reynolds consistently gives, that seems to be equally consistently ignored in adverts you see, it is to do this rebranding. Own your own product, even if you did not create it.

For many people who follow business opportunities Andrew Reynolds has had a high visibility for at least five of the last ten years – a lot longer than the public at large. Sending repeated direct mailings for business opportunities courses and licenses .

He also markets products for niches, which understandably he is reluctant to advertise!

And during this period Andrew Reynolds has gone from marketing of home study courses, to seminars, to workshops and now massive conferences.

Andrew Reynolds – Entrepreneurs bootcamp
So Andrew is now well known for the massive conferences known as “Entrepreneurs Bootcamp” containing presentations from many of the worlds best direct and internet marketers.These have been held in 2006 and 2007 and have both raised in excess of £300000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

It is disappointing in the authors view that having waived entry charges in favour of donations to GOSH, Andrew Reynolds is sometimes criticised for the fact that he almost certainly picks up a percentage of the speakers mentoring fees but whoa!!

Why should he not make some return from these events?

For those that have never been, getting hold of a set of Entrepreneurs Bootcamp DVDs is an education in itself. Sure the speakers do pitch for additional mentoring – but the good content of the presentations are great value for anyone considering direct marketing – and there is no shortage of buyers for the mentoring. The doors are not locked.

You can leave when you wish.

You can also talk to Andrew! who makes himself available.

Andrew Reynolds – Cash On Demand
So in direct marketing circles he is now well known for his “cash on demand” programme. This allows his methods to be studied for a few tens of pounds per month. Manycriticise him for the fact that they were led to believe there would only be a set number of modules, and the course has grown to larger than its intended size: but if the content is good – so what?

Andrew Reynolds – A summary

In the end the following are indisputable fact:

Direct Marketing – The mix of a targetted product, to a hungry crowd using emotive copywriting works.

Andrew has himself made a massive sum of money in excess of £20m from selling information products by direct marketing

It is indeed a very pleasant lifestyle that he urges others to copy
Many students who have followed his own methods have made millions for themselves.