2005 - 07-29-05

A large part of my job was collecting money
from people who were behind in their payments. I was really
good at collecting the money. One time a guy who was a
magician "disappeared" owing us money. I located him on a
cruise ship off the coast of Portugal and sent him a message
about his debt. Picture this: Here's this magician who has
done a "disappearing act" from the United States and is now
aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Portugal when he
receives a call to go to the radio room... where... there is
a telegrammed message for him to
the effect he should pay the debt he owed to the Economy
Savings and Loan.

Another time, I wrote a collection letter
and had it mailed to every one of our dead beat customers.
That letter, if memory serves me correctly, collected more
delinquent money in one day than all of the company's
efforts for the last five years.

After that, I wrote a letter for a
collection agency called Financial Adjustment Service. This
company was to be owned by me and two of my friends. Alas,
the company never got off the ground. But that early letter
I wrote (with no training whatsoever) was a virtual
masterpiece.

It wasn't too long after I stopped working
for Economy Savings and Loan that I discovered the world of mail
order and direct mail... and... as the saying goes...

The Rest Is History!

The point is, I was born good at
writing copy. Or at least, I became good at it soon after I
learned the alphabet. That's probably not true of you. You
were probably born with other gifts which I do not possess.

Not only was I born with the gift of
persuasive articulation, I also "nourished"
that gift throughout the years. And, I continue to nourish
it to this very day.

Most of you reading my newsletter, quite
frankly, do not have this natural gift... and even if you
did, there are not enough years left to live to nourish it
to my level of competency.