⛅ 9 Lessons from the Legendary Gary Halbert to Make You a Better Writer (and Human Being)
Tom Brady, Michael Jordan.....Gary Halbert.
This week’s newsletter is all about Gary Halbert and the lessons he had to offer in both writing and life. His book, The Boron Letters, is a highly enjoyable read and one of my favorites as far as improving your writing goes. Here’s a link to the book via Amazon (affiliate link) if you’re interested and want to simultaneously help support this newsletter!
Onto the rest…
Gary Halbert, arguably the greatest copywriter ever, was imprisoned for tax fraud in the 1980s.
While there, he wrote letters to his son offering wisdom and insider tactics on how to succeed in life and as a writer.
They were later published in 2013 as The Boron Letters.
In the letters, he talks about how he managed to earn millions of dollars from his writing. He also gives some seriously awesome self-improvement advice, which he knew was important to becoming the best of the best.
Here are 9 of my favorite lessons from his book:
1. "Rely on your own strength instead of somebody else's compassion!"
Gary knew that always relying on others was a mistake.
He believed it was important to develop his own knowledge, skills, and physical prowess to be successful. (Just check him out in the image above.)
2. Write down your goals and review them daily.
Gary was big on knowing what he wanted.
He suggested to his son, Bond, that he write down his goals and review them every day (not just once a year).
This would bring clarity to what he truly wanted.
3. Get your mind right
"Everyone wants to climb the mountain, but the big difference between those at the top and those still on the bottom is simply a matter of showing up tomorrow to give it just one more shot."
4. Keep "moving"
Gary didn't believe in writer's block, but he believed in occasionally getting stuck or emotionally jammed up.
"Don't sit around waiting for a flash from Heaven," he told his son.
Walk. Jog. Write (even poorly).
Just do something to get the juices flowin'
5. Audience first, product second
Gary shared a fun game he'd play at seminars where he'd ask folks how they would approach selling burgers at a burger stand.
Some said the quality of the meat, others the buns, price, and a few mentions of location.
Gary? A starving crowd.
6. Build a swipe file
All of the best writers steal information from others.
Create a collection of strong ads and great content that you can use as examples, templates, and springboards for your own writing (just don't plagiarize).
Inspiration isn't thievery, it's tactical.
7. Create a Power Word list
Gary advocated that his son keep a list of "power words" that resonate well with others.
The idea was that those words would seep into real-life conversations as well as writing.
And that's how he'd carve his own unique, influential voice.
8. Use the proven AIDA formula
Gary knew that reinventing the wheel was a waste of time.
When sharing his frameworks, he always referred back to the time-proven AIDA formula:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
9. Never stop iterating (and reiterating)
Gary was an obsessive tester.
He frequently sent out early-stage letters in small batches to study their performance. Then, he'd keep making slight adjustments before going all-in.
Always be iterating.
Gary Halbert may be deceased, but his legend and lessons will live on forever.
😎
tl;dr
• Develop and rely on your own strengths
• Write down your goals and review daily
• Get your mind right
• Keep "moving"
• Audience first, product second
• Build a swipe file
• Create a Power Word list
• Use AIDA
• Never stop iterating (and reiterating)
Hope you have a great week!
Best,
Jason