Razvan Rogoz

Category: Book Review

  • Review – “Ca$hvertising” by Drew Eric Whitman

    From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
    Dear friend,

    I read. A lot. I’ve read ~70 books this year.

    I can’t say that they are all on copywriting (since I do have other interests) but a large part of them are. Cashvertising by Drew E. Whitman is the last one that I’ve finished on this topic. Since there are around 40 – 50 in total, I will post reviews periodically on them.

    This book comes highly recommended by many people. Many folks on Amazon consider it the best copywriting book ever written. I’m afraid it is not. It drags too long, it is a bit too hyped up (yes, I do hate hype) and there weren’t many “a-ha” moments in it. Plus, it deals more with advertising in general, the psychology behind it than with web copywriting.

    What I’ve liked:

    • There were many references to human psychology, behavioral psychology and why people act in the way they act. This is the soul of copywriting, understanding your prospect, not the writing part. I feel like there are better resources on this out there (like Influence by Robert Cialdini) but it gives you a crash course into it.
    • It teaches you how to write in a very conversational tone. From how to structure your message to how to write in a way that gets read, everything is here.
    • It places a huge focus on headlines and I like this. It is not really Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz (which many consider the bible of headline writing) but it teaches you the basics of how to write a good and interesting headline.

    What I’ve disliked:

    • Overall, there aren’t many memorable parts. It feels like watching a B movie trying to appear an A movie. It is not a bad book, it’s just that it won’t make you say WOW. For example, from “Writing Copy For The Web” by Maria Veloso, I remember involvement devices and the idea of advertorial, two things that really stuck with me. From this one, apart from the associative / disassociation theory, there isn’t much “WOW” material.
    • It drags too long sometimes. There is almost an entire chapter on what font to use. Yes, fonts are important and any competitive edge is important. However, I am not interested in reading 20 minutes about damn fonts. You can simply go for Tahoma + Georgia + Arial most of the time and it will work just fine.
    • Hyped. This is a personal preference but I do like factual books. The kind of books that don’t try to be too cute and too interesting and simply tell me what I need to know. Many copywriters think it is a good idea to write a book like a sales letter. I don’t think it is. It is one thing to read a long sales page and another one to read 60.000 words this way.

    Do I like it? Do I love it? My view on books is that if I can get a single idea that I can use, then it is an amazing book. I’ve got more than one idea. However, since it touches on many topics that are not relevant for me or it drags too much on a simple subject, I’m not really excited to read it twice.

    Best regards,
    Razvan “The Copy Scientist”

  • Book Review: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

    From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
    Dear friend,

    The E-Myth by Michael Gerber is the only book you must read before starting a new business. I have finished it today and it provided me not just with an essential framework and mindset for my own business, but also a framework for my own life.

    In order to understand what this book is about, let’s consider you are a CPA. Your boss is making your life a living hell, you are not paid enough for how much you work and you consider that you could do far better. You feel that you are at the end of your road (and patience). Instead of going with an AK 47 and showing him who’s the boss, you start your own business.

    You open a LLC, you rent an office and you place an ad in the newspaper for finding new clients. You get two clients right away and you are making more money than ever. Life’s sweet, isn’t it?

    Here comes the true challenge. You opened your own business because you were after the liberty that came with such a feat. However, here’s what you haven’t realized yet. When you were an employee, you had only one responsibility – doing the books.

    Now, it’s different. You like doing the books. But you must also do several things that you don’t like, you despise or you don’t know how to do. These are marketing, operations and financial.

    In other words, getting leads, converting them, doing the books for your clients and for yourself, cleaning the office, taking care of the legal papers and more.

    Instead of having a job, you have four. I bet this isn’t what you were after initially. At this point, you can either get frustrated and declare bankruptcy or you can start implementing the E-Myth.

    The E-Myth acknowledges that in every business and in every person there are three distinct personalities.

    These are:

    1. The technician – the person that gets thing done.
    2. The manager – the person that keeps things in order.
    3. The entrepreneur – the person that expands the business.

    Because you were a technician, chances are that this is what you want to do. Get things done. You don’t want to take care of everything else. However, you must.

    And the easiest and cheapest way to do this is to create systems that will take care of that result for you. A system is a set of procedures and rules optimized for the best results. For example, if answering in a certain way at the phone gets you more orders than answering in a different way every time, that is a system.

    If wearing a blue suit instead of a red one in a sales meeting increases your conversion rate, that is again, a system.

    However, system thinking is not just about optimization. Yes, you can take this to the next step and create systems for your life. You can create a system to shower better, to run better, to reach work faster, etc.

    But in the context of a business, systems are critical because they need to replace you. A system is like your best personality. You set how you want things to be done. Then you do them to test the system. You get some results. You either perfect the system or you finalize it.

    Then the most important thing happens. You hire someone with no experience to follow the system to the letter and replace you. If you have created a system for lead generation, you hire a person that will follow that system and get leads for you. And because it’s not skill based but rather guideline based (sequential), the efficiency should be near perfect.

    This is what the E-myth is all about.

    You can buy the book from:

    Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B002V1LGZE&qid=1314306922&sr=1-1

    Next on the line is GTD by David Allen.

    Thank you,

    Razvan Rogoz

  • Book Review: Dale Carnegie – How To Win Friends And Influence People

    From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
    Dear friend,

    Needless to say, even if this book is 74 years old, the principles found inside of its pages are timeless. Proof of this fact can be found in the 860 review on Amazon.com with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars.

    It is in top 5000 on Amazon.com, with a rank of 2107. While most advice is common sense, you don’t need the newest research to be successful in life. Most of the time, simple actions like smiling or showing empathy can get you the business deal, seduce someone or simply turn your life into a more positive scenario.

    This book is a rather easy lecture. So the best way to comprehend it is to buy the audio-book. I have listened it on my BlackBerry 9300 3G in about 4 days while eating, working out or just between my main tasks.

    It can be bought for only $7.49 on Audible and played on most devices (It’s in a M4A format. This is a format usually used by Apple on the iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes) and this $7.49 investment will translate into thousands or even millions of dollars in your lifetime (if you use the principles properly).

    Here is the purchase link: http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B002V5BV96&qid=1313149545&sr=1-2 (this is a non affiliate link).

    How Dale Carnegie’s Book “How To Win Friends And Influence People” Applies To My Own Life

    I considered myself an empathetic being for most of my life. However, when you get in business, you may fall in a dangerous trap – acting like a businessman. Using words like “synergy” or “win-win situation”. You start acting in a role and you forget one critical aspect – businesses are made out of people. People are made out of desires and fears.

    A Fortune 500 CEO is not that different from you and me. So you must remember that you are still human and not fall into the “business-like” attitude.

    In Dale Carnegie’s book, you will learn first of all, how to sell. And the most important advice in selling is “listen more, talk less”. Almost half of the book is about this principle alone. Listen to the other person, show empathy, talk about what he’s interested and stop trying to appear bigger than the other person, because your partner will try to do about the same thing.

    There are also some principles taught in copywriting. One of them is not to go against people’s beliefs. Instead, start with the initial belief and move him towards a new one with facts, logic and emotion. It doesn’t matter if he’s wrong or right. It’s a good advice not to go against his initial belief.

    Another good tip from the book is trying to see things from the other’s person perspective. Show that you understand him, show empathy, talk about his interests and life, show that “you give a damn” and then make your request. People are usually interested in only one topic – themselves. They are interested in their problems or accomplishments. They are interested in their hobbies or goals. They don’t really care about your POV unless it’s somehow related to theirs.

    Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know. I share the same traits. But after reading this book, I can say that I know more about selling that Jordan Belfort taught in his Straight Line Persuasion sales classes*.

    Where could you apply the principles taught by Dale Carnegie? Maybe create a tighter bond with your loved ones? Make your employees work harder? Get that account that’s eluding you?

    You know best. And if you want, please share it with me in the comment box below. I’d love to exchange ideas and start a discussion.

    And if you don’t have Dale’s book, here’s the purchase link again. For $7.49, it’s a steal:

    http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_2?asin=B002V5BV96&qid=1313149545&sr=1-2

    To your financial and personal success,

    Razvan

    * I am a big fan of Jordan Belfort. I have read his book “The Wolf Of Wallstreet” and I am aware of his sales system called Straight Line Persuasion. While SLP is a very good (and expensive system), you are better off learning the basics first. It’s the tip of the spear, and now I know why I haven’t received so much value from a $2000 course – I didn’t had the basics down.

    More about Jordan Belfort and his SLP can be found on his website at: http://www.jordanbelfort.com/.