Pay it forward.

A simple enough statement and a well-meaning trite statement we can all roll out of our mouths when the mood hits.

But when you are giving away a course in copywriting that has the approval of Ted Nicholas–yes, THE Ted Nicholas–then you are doing something more than just talking out of your derriere.

Trevor Crook (no, not the bloke in Sydney; that Trevor is a ‘Cook’) is an Aussie-flavoured chap living in LA (we forgive and pity him).

He is a copywriter of some skill and he has decided to give his $200 course away for… nothing.

Nil. Zip. Zero dollars. Bugger all.

WTF? Why? 

As Trevor himself says, giving without any expectations of getting back in return is as rare as hen’s teeth.

Says Trevor,

My Favor To YOU . . .I Want to Give YOU My Copywriting Blueprint Formula and I Urge YOU  . . . as the Recipient . . . to Give My Favor to at Least 3 People in the Next 24 hours.

Writing sizzling sales copy is a science of proven, yet simple formulas - not something pulled out of a cereal box and certainly not rocket science to implement either.

If you want to give it to thousands of people or more . . . you have my permission too.

When I did the original teleseminars for these, people paid $97 just to listen and the feedback after the 10 one hour sessions was crystal clear . . . it was too cheap.

These same 10 hours form the basis for my highly successful ‘magic words sell’ package which sells for $197.

Now, lest you feel that this is just another hype merchant using too many highlighted phrases, CAPITAL LETTERS and Bold Words Starting In Caps to make you hyper-excited (we Aussies are a cynical bunch that don’t fall for all that crap, after all), let me assure you that I have listened to Trevor’s audio files.

Blimey, they’re good!

But forget what I might think about them. Truly.

The mark of how good they are is captured in a private Facebook discussion I had with Trevor (reproduced without his permission):

As Trevor goes on to explain on his website,

It begins with me doing a favor for you . . . WITHOUT any expectation of being paid back. What I request of you as the recipient of my favor . . . is for you to  do the same for someone else: ideally for three other people.

YOU can do this for as many people as you desire with my permission. Remember the more you give the more you get back under the “Law Of Reciprocation”.

My unconditional favor is simple.

1 Million People in 30 Days

Help me change the world for a minimum of one million entrepreneurs in the next 30 days . . . by Paying Forward My Copywriting Blueprint Gift to 3 more people . . . or as many as you desire in the next 24 hours and get them to pay it forward to 3 more people or more. 

I am sure you know more than 3 people who want to increase sales and profits. Crikey . . . if you know 10,000 people who would benefit from my FREE gift worth a genuine $197 . . . then just pay it forward to all of them!

Which is what I am doing.

I have the 10 audio files on my trusty iPod and I’m working my way through them.

I suggest you do the same.

Visit Trevor’s website, sign up and download and listen.

They have the Ted Nicholas ’seal of approval’, after all!

p.s. Don’t know who Ted Nicholas is? Well, without becoming a blubbering mess, let me just say that he is the direct marketer and copywriter that the whole copywriting world looks to and bows down before. There is no better, honestly.

You might see various names banded about as ‘this’ and ‘that’ hero and mega-million selling copywriter, but Ted eclipses them all by a factor of at least 10.

There IS no greater copywriter, alive or dead, than Ted. Trust me, I’ve studied them all.

Currently listening to: David Sylvian - Dead Bees On A Cake - Darkest Dreaming

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Cross posted from my Second Life blog

According to the stats recently released, Australia ranks in the Top 5 of SL users compared to their nation’s actual population, higher than the US.

- The Netherlands 0.10%
- Denmark 0.08%
- Portugal 0.07%
- Australia 0.07%
- United Kingdom 0.06%

Hat tip to Wagner James Au

Also of interest is the latest sign-up stats from Second Life Insider.

On Wednesday 26th Sept:

• 15,766 new signups bringing us to 9,720,894 signups total.
• Signup rates are relatively steady at approximately 44 days per million.
• Spent US$1,037,000 at an exchange rate of L$267 to US$1
• Exchanged US$193,000 at an average of US$8,100.0 per hour.

Currently listening to: Douglas Adams - Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pt 1 Disc 3 - The Admiral’s flagship

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Cross posted from my Second Life blog

According to the stats recently released, Australia ranks in the Top 5 of SL users compared to their nation’s actual population, higher than the US.

- The Netherlands 0.10%
- Denmark 0.08%
- Portugal 0.07%
- Australia 0.07%
- United Kingdom 0.06%

Hat tip to Wagner James Au

Also of interest is the latest sign-up stats from Second Life Insider.

On Wednesday 26th Sept:

• 15,766 new signups bringing us to 9,720,894 signups total.
• Signup rates are relatively steady at approximately 44 days per million.
• Spent US$1,037,000 at an exchange rate of L$267 to US$1
• Exchanged US$193,000 at an average of US$8,100.0 per hour.

Currently listening to: Douglas Adams - Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pt 1 Disc 3 - The Admiral’s flagship

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From my colleagues at the Royal Adelaide Hospital Emergency Department comes news of some crackingly good Facebook groups.

I’ve joined the “Be kind to nurses. We keep doctors from accidentally killing you” group.

But the one that cracks me up the most is the “Ten reasons why you should date a nurse” group.

Lifted straight from their group are their reasons and some more info about nurses (probably more than you ever need know!)

Mrs BetterComms is a nurse*, I know that she would agree with every one of what follows (except perhaps for 3.):

Ten reasons why you should date a nurse:

1. They can help you get over a hangover or sickness
2. Bedbaths!
3. The uniform!!
4. They are exposed to so many x-rays, its like a form of birth control
5. You will never need to buy condoms, paracetamol, toothbrushes or any hospital supplies
6. They know how to handle bodily fluids!
7. Nothing shocks a nurse, they have always seen smaller or indeed bigger!
8. They wont be disgusted by your toilet habits
9. They are experienced in manual evacuation when your full of crap
10. They know how to handle the human body!!!!!!!

Did you hear about the nurse who died and went straight to hell??
It took her two weeks to realize she wasn’t at work!

You know you’re a nurse if…..

• You believe that every patient needs tlc, diazepam, temazepam and haloperidol.
• You would like to meet the inventor of the Nurse call buzzer some night in a dark alley.
• You believe not all patients are annoying, some are unconscious.
• Your sense of humour gets more warped each year.
• You can only tell time by the 24 hr clock.
• Almost everything can seem humorous….eventually.
• When asked what colour that patients diarrheic was, you show them your shoes.
• You know the smell of different diarrhoea to identify it. 
• Every time you walk you make a jingling noise because of all the scissors and clamps in your pocket.
• You can tell the pharmacist more about the medication they are dispensing than they know.
• You carry more “spare” meds in your pocket rather than waiting for pharmacy to deliver them.
• You refuse to watch ER because it is too much like the real thing and it triggers flashbacks.
• You check the caller id on your day off to see if anyone from the hospital is trying to call and ask you to work.
• You’ve been telling stories in a restaurant and made someone at another table throw up.
• You notice that you are using more 4 letter words than you did before you started nursing.
• Every time someone asks you for a pen you can find at least 4 of them on you.
• You can intubate your friends at parties.
• You don’t get excited about blood unless it’s your own.
• You live by the motto “to be right is only half the battle, to convince the doctor is more difficult”
• You’ve basted your thanksgiving turkey with a nasogastric syringe.
• You’ve told a confused patient that your name was that of your co-worker and to holler if they need help.
• Eating microwave popcorn out of a clean bedpan is perfectly normal.
• Your bladder can expand to the size of a Mack truck’s radiator sump.
• When checking the level of a patient’s orientation you aren’t sure of the answer.
• You find yourself checking out other customers’ veins in grocery waiting lines.
• You can sleep soundly at the hospital cafeteria table on your dinner break and not be embarrassed when you wake up.
• You avoid unhealthy looking shoppers in the mall for fear that they will drop near you and you’ll have to do CPR on your day off.
• You have ever referred to someone’s death as a transfer to the “Eternal Care Unit”.
• You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled “Suicide … Doing It Right”.
• You have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say “I have no idea how that got stuck in there”.
• You have ever had to leave a patient’s room before you begin to laugh uncontrollably.
• You throw a party for a co-worker and use a urinal (clean of course) as a lemon-aid pitcher and use a bed sheet for a tablecloth
• You believe that the government should require people to have a permit to reproduce.
• You hate to get dressed in “real clothes” because scrubs are what you live in and why can’t they make jeans that comfortable.
• You have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience.
• Your most common assessment question is “what changed tonight to make it an emergency after 6 hours / days / weeks / months / years?”
• You often stay awake for 24+ hrs at a time when you work nights and realize you don’t need alcohol or drugs to hallucinate, just lack of sleep…
• You pull over in some parking lot after working nights because you are too tired to drive home and wake up to someone knocking on your window thinking you have had a stroke because you are passed out in your car and drooling.
• Your finger has gone places you never thought possible.
• You have seen more penises than any prostitute
• You disbelieve 90% of what you are told and 75% of what you see.
• You’ve sworn to have “Not For Resuss” tattooed on your chest.
• You threaten to strangle anyone who even starts to say the “q” word when it is even remotely calm.

Wonderful stuff!

* 23 years paediatrics followed by her new career in orthopaedics. She’s working towards becoming a Nurse Practitioner in orthopaedics), imagine if someone created a NP role for paediatric orthopaedics — she’d be in heaven!

Currently listening to: Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy - Treasures

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Knowing that many of my clients also love taking photos in their spare time (and at office parties) I was rather pleased to have bumped into the digital photography school site.

I have a film slr and a digital point-and-shoot — one day I’ll upgrade to a digital slr, but there are greater demands on my cash at the moment.

I don’t know if you suffer from it, but I’ve noticed many times the problem of ‘flash blowout’.

Back in the good ol’ days (just after powder and flash bulbs), I learnt to pop a handkerchief over my flash gun to reduce the power of the light.

Old tricks still work in this new digital age, it seems:

“One of the most effective ways of doing this is simply to find some semi opaque material to place over your flash. I’ve seen some point and shoot owners stick a little white tissue paper over their flash and others do this with a little piece of cellotape (the semi-opache kind).”

More great tips over at the digital photography school site.

Currently listening to: St. Germain - Tourist - What You Think About… [Primary Society Publishing]

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Today is a day of international protest against abuse, organised by blogcatalog.com

Today, September 27th, I encourage you to post about any abuse topic you care about — child abuse, domestic abuse, animal abuse, drug abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, political abuse — and let the world know you stand united with thousands of bloggers as part of the Bloggers Unite “Blog Against Abuse” campaign.

Depending on your topic, you can even link to local, regional, national, or international organizations that you care about or support. Every post will count!

There are dozens of badges you can decorate your website, emails or blog with, and of course you are welcome to make your own.

There are a couple of places where you can place a link back to your post: blogcatalog and topix.

I wish to blog about the ‘gentleman’ who pleaded guilty to 14 counts of animal cruelty.

As the RSPCA report on their blog,

The court heard that the 14 charges related to 5 cats. One female, white short haired cat called “Trinity” had a broken back for 9 months, and despite being told by a Vet that the cat needed to be put down, nothing was done. 

The cat was also severely emaciated and dehydrated, suffered sores from dragging its back half around, had significant tooth damage and an elevated heart rate which usually indicates extreme pain. 

The 4 other cats also suffered emaciation and dehydration, severe eye infections and were infected with potentially deadly feline influenza.

One of the cats had also suffered a stroke and had neurological disease.

How about we ‘put down’ animal abusers? Or child abusers?

Let’s bring back castration as a way of dealing with proven child sex offenders.

Currently listening to: Michael Brook - Cobalt Blue - Ten

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Word Wise is a fabulous blog run by Dan Santow, a senior vice president at Edelman.

Word Wise recently got a gong from Karen Russell, a professor of mass communications at the University of Georgia, as “one of the 5 best blogs for PR students“.

Also on the list of ‘best 5′ are Common Sense PR and Communication Overtones, respectively run by friends of mine, Eric and Kami. Congrats!

Dan had this to say recently, a view with which I am totally in agreement:

Every once in a while I think I’m a huge fraud – sure I can write, but what’s the big deal? I have friends who are doctors who remove spleens and lawyers who sue Fortune 500 companies and Shakespeare scholars who use words like “interiority” and museum curators who can talk with brio about Titian, Tintoretto, and Tiepolo, and all I can do is string together a couple of words without tripping.

But then I read something like this from last Sunday’s New York Times and I feel better – in a survey of human resources executives conducted by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a big out-placement firm, it’s not high-tech talent that’s wanting, but low-tech skills like writing.

According to the Times, “Nearly half said entry-level workers lacked writing skills. It seems that some young employees are now guilty of the technological equivalent of wearing flip-flops: they are writing company e-mail as if they were texting cellphone messages with their thumbs….

In response, employers are sending a message of their own: When you’re in the office, put on those dress shoes and start spelling your words correctly, and in full.”

Currently listening to: Erik Satie - Caresse - Piano Pieces - Reverie Du Pauvre (1900)

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Like many of my clients, I used to think ‘Marketing’ and ‘PR’ were one and the same thing.

I’ve grown up a lot since then {smile}.

Dilbert explains the difference much better than I can: [click on the image to see the full-size version - opens in new browser window]

Currently listening to: Michael Nyman - The World of Michael Nyman - The Piano Concerto: 4. The Release

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