“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 – 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱?”

You do what they say, or they shoot you!

Wrong!

• You can take the gun

• Or you can pull out a bigger one

• Or you can call their bluff

• Or you do 146 other things

You just haven’t thought it through…

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟭𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗜𝘁!

(Adapted from Suits S1E2)

If you’ve seen Suits – you probably remember the story…

Harvey Spector’s protégé, Mike, has been strong-armed and cornered by a bully and feels he has no choice – but to do what the bully wants.

So Harvey (New York City’s top lawyer) reveals the #1 secret of his success.

“You always have a choice…”

Because you find the one in a hundred and fifty other ways – to make it happen.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟭𝟱𝟬 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲

How did Harvey come up with this brilliant advice?

You might know the answer – if you’ve been book shopping recently.

In any bookstore, you’ll see dozens of books with 150 lists of everything imaginable.

1.  150 Plant-Based Recipes

2.  150 Ways to Play Solitaire

3.  150 Healthiest Foods on Earth

4.  150 Ways to Help Your Child Succeed

5.  150 Ways to Doodle, Scribble, Color and Draw

6.  150 Ways to Sprinkle Kindness in Your Community

7.  150 Ways to Teach it Quick and Make it Stick!

8.  150 Magical Ways to Achieve Your Heart’s Desire

9.  150 Ways to Stop Your (Migraine) Pain

10. 150 Easy Ways to Stay Happy, Healthy, and Stress-Free

11. 150 Playful Mindfulness Activities for Kids and Teens

12. 150 Ways to Prepare and Cook Corn

13. 150 DIY Projects (For Outdoors)

14. 150 Ways to Use Vinegar for Cooking, Cleaning, and Health

15. 150 Real Ways to Care for Yourself While Caring for Everyone Else

I even have “150 Fun Things to Do with Your Kids” sitting on my shelf at home.

While you might learn several useful things by reading these books – making a 150 list is awesome brainstorming for increasing your creative energy.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Imagine if the next time you run into a challenge, you sit down and list 150 possible solutions…

Even if the first 20 ideas are silly, you still might find one or two ideas that work!

Brainstorming and humor are great for getting into the right creative space –  so you can come up with the best course of action.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 – because more action will generate more success.

In Suits – the ability to keep going when the chips were down, seemed to be the biggest theme of the series. The “do whatever it takes – make it happen” mindset was present in every episode…

Harvey thrived on the challenges because creative thinking was his superpower – and he’d keep at it to find a solution when others would have given up…

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲

Imagine if you were called to a hostage negotiation where you had to convince an angry terrorist to let a hostage go.

What would you say? What would you do?

You might have 10 to 15 seconds to say the right thing, or somebody could get hurt!

You may not realize this, but advertising has a lot in common with hostage negotiation – both require a high level of creative thinking.

The FBI’s top Hostage Negotiator, Chris Voss, says his main goal is to get the terrorist to respect, appreciate, and bond with him.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗮 $𝟭𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗴𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻.

He did his research and asked the right questions –

And listed all the known concerns the kidnapper had ever brought up…

“You’re not asking for a ransom; you’re really asking for war damages… relief for economic harm…”

𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 – the $10 Million dollar ransom was never brought up again.

The crime boss even called him back a few weeks later and said…

“I don’t know what you said to me on the phone, but whatever it was, I was going to kill the American, and you stopped me from doing it…

You’re really good. They should give you a promotion.”

Then hung up…

You may not be a hostage negotiator, but everyone who does business with you should respond the same way…

Because they feel respected, appreciated, and connected with you.

Doing this takes a high level of creative thinking…

Yet if you do this right – 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

Positivity Can Make You 31% Smarter!

Yet many marketers only focus on their customer’s pain…

Because studies say our brains are wired to protect us more from pain than anything else – so we give 2.5x more attention to suffering, loss, and negativity.

(This is how we stay alive)

Marketers often believe if you hit the pain point hard enough, you’ll get more attention and more buyers…

Yet negative attention doesn’t always lead to more buyers.

While your customer is wired to notice the negative, until you get them into a more positive state of mind, they may not buy from you.

Because other studies show – your brain works up to 31% better in a positive frame of mind.

This means – just changing your state of mind can make you 31% smarter in your ability to think, choose, and come up with better answers.

Would you like higher-quality leads?

Keep reading.

This next sentence could make millions for you (even with a small business) –

Present what your client gets in the most powerful, positive, present, and personal way possible…

 This approach will give you (a lot more) happy and satisfied customers who purchase when their brains are functioning at the highest level possible.

And when you purchase something when you are in a peak state, you are probably going to be fine with your purchase the next day, aren’t you?

This is why I like to combine the principles in NLP with the best words in advertising when I write sales copy.

So if you are looking for a marketer with a high level of creativity, let’s chat about how to UPLEVEL your email funnel, sales letter, and landing page –

Just send me a note.