Elegant Solutions

But I wasn't finished yet, "And
Gary, once you get the 'personalized' letters from the printer, you fold and
stuff them in all the envelopes which contain the names and addresses of all
those 1000 Clarkes. Put a live stamp on each one and drop them in the
mail."

My version of a "personalized" letter
cost about a penny... as opposed to... a computer-generated, personalized letter
which cost profusely more.

Looking back on it, it doesn't seem like much of
an idea, does it? But, it was an "Elegant Solution"... because of
which... over 600 million letters were mailed... and... at an increcible profit.

Other times, an "Elegant Solution" can
be short, simple and to the point. Follow along closely to yet another true-life
story. I recently received a letter from one of my subscribers. Due to my
misplaced sense of couth and kindness, I am going to eliminate his name but,
here's his letter, word-for-word:

Dear Mr. Halbert,

Wow! You are one passionate guy who has found his
calling and is living it! I don't know how I found you but I've read your
newsletter archives and I see one thing: There are people who have a job or a
career or a calling. You live, eat, and sleep and exude passion for headlines
and copy. So, of course, you are the person to ask.

I am a residential architect. I have the idea to sell my
house plans via the web. My wife says, "You want to sell plans and there
are a million other sites out there? How are they going to find us? How are you
going to drive people to our site? How are you going to compete with the
well-established ones? How are you going to find out what house plans sell the
best? We only have 200 house plans. It's a lot of work and too big of a risk.
Your houses are regional (Northeast) and they are not great designs."