Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

In the Monday Morning Memo for Oct. 10, 2022, I wrote,“Do you want to be one of the world’s great ad writers? Don’t read ads. Read the poems, short stories and novels written by the winners of the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes in Literature.”My friend Tom Grimes – the waterboy of Amarillo – texted me this insightful correction:“I’ve heard you teach in class that magicians, stand-up comedians and the creators of comic strips always structure their storytelling in that same tight economy of words used by the world’s great poets. ‘And then what happened, and then what happened, and then what happened…'”I stand corrected. Thank you, Tom.Yes, comedians, magicians, and the creators of comics are three different types of writers who know how to capture and hold our attention, just as the world’s great poets have done for centuries. These writers show us possible futures, imaginary pasts, or an exaggerated present; realities that exist entirely in our imaginations.And they do it in a brief, tight, economy of words.Likewise, the best ad writers take us on journeys that begin and end quickly, but leave us altered, changed, modified, different.I don’t list AI in my pantheon of persuasive writers for the same reason that I don’t list the makers of movies.Great movies are created from great plays and great books. Even Disney’s animated cartoon adventuresbegin with great stories.Stories are written by writers.The actors, directors, and illustrators who portray those stories are called artists and they are assisted by technicians. Artists and technicians don’t write the stories; they adapt stories to fit a format and then show them to us.AI is not a writer. AI is an artist and a technician.Dune was written by Frank Herbert 59 years ago and has sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide. Artists and technicians adapted it into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and then a major motion picture in 2021 with a sequel that was released in theaters just last week.The Lord of the Rings was written by Tolkien and adapted by artists and technicians.The Godfather was written by Puzo and adapted by artists and technicians.Harry Potter was written by Rowling and adapted by artists and technicians.Charles Schultz, Bill Watterson, Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, Scott McCloud and Tom Fishburne are writers who tell stories in comic panels.Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Ellen DeGeneres and Dave Chappelle are writers who tell stories in short bursts while standing behind a microphone.Penn and Teller, Siegried and Roy, David Blaine, Brian Brushwood, David Copperfield and Nate Staniforth are writers who stand on stage and tell stories while proving that you cannot believe your eyes or trust your logical mind.Ian Fleming, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Truman Capote, and Elmore Leonard are writers who tell stories using only words.Artists and technicians adapt their stories for stage, film, and video.Shakespeare wrote 38 stories that artists and technicians have adapted for the past 450 years. The artists who gave faces and voices to Shakespeare’s characters include Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, David Tarrant, Derek Jacobi and Peter O’Toole.We have writers. We have artists. We have technicians.Can one person be all three?Certainly. George Lucas did it 50 years ago on the big screen. Rex Williams, Brian Brushwood, and 1,000 others are doing it today on YouTube.AI is not a writer.AI is an artist. AI is a technician.AI works its magic through aggregation and compilation.These are not the same as creation.Roy H. WilliamsNOTE FROM INDY – Did you notice that Tom Grimes did a near-perfect imitation of Mr. Haney from Green Acres? Pop into the rabbit hole and I’ll play you a short compilation of Mr. Haney outtakes.When David faced Goliath, he wasn’t playing games. But when Bob Moog faced Hasbro and Mattel, his games and puzzles were all that he had. Bob has gone nose-to-nose with the world’s biggest players and found a way to beat each of them at their own game (pun intended). In this fun, fun, fun episode of Monday Morning Radio, Bob Moog, the co-founder and president of University Games plays “20 Business Questions” with roving reporter Rotbart and his son Maxwell. Hey! Let’s all play a game! Maxwell needs a nickname. What will it be? Listen to this episode and then send your suggestion to corrine@wizardofads.com and she’ll compile a list. Are you ready? The game is about to begin at MondayMorningRadio.com.

There are two ways to become invisible, and both are easily accomplished.To become invisible to yourself: get lost inside your own head. When you ignore other people, it never occurs to you that they can see you. This is how you become invisible in your mind.To become invisible to others: say what people expected you to say; do what they expected you to do. This will blur you into the background and make you invisible. To make people see you again, all you have to do is say something new, surprising, or different.These techniques also work in advertising.If you get lost inside your own head, your ads will focus on your company, your product, and your service. You will ignore the things your customer cares about, and speak only about what they ought to care about, what they should care about, what you want them to care about. You will answer all the questions that no one was asking. You will be visible to yourself, but invisible to others. When your ads talk to you, about you, for you, no one other than you is interested.When you say what people expected you to say, they quit listening. Ads that sound like ads are filtered from conscious thought. The mind is constantly scanning for the new, the surprising, and the different, and for pain, pleasure, urgent necessities, and entertainment. If your ads look like ads and sound like ads, you can be certain they will be invisible.Bad advertising is about you, your company, your product, your service. Good advertising is about the customer, and how their life will be altered if they allow you to come into it.Talk to your customers about them, not you.If you want to talk about you, find an old pay phone and drop a quarter into it. Call your mother. She’s the only one who cares.I slapped you just now because you are delirious, and you need to wake up. My slap may have stung a little, but it was an act of love.Five paragraphs ago I said, “The mind is constantly scanning for the new, the surprising, and the different, and for pain, pleasure, urgent necessities, and entertainment,” because these are the things that interest us.The New is always interesting because it might be relevant to us. When we have judged it to be irrelevant, it disappears.The Surprising is interesting, but only until it is no longer surprising. A magician knows that every surprise must be followed by another surprise, or they will lose the attention of their audience.The Different is interesting because it might be an improvement. But if we conclude it is not an improvement, we dismiss it.Pain is interesting because we want to avoid it. When your ads speak to pain, you become associated with pain, and the minds of your customers will recoil away from you. If you want to test this theory, just kick your dog every time you see it.Pleasure is interesting, always. But if your statements about pleasure are not judged to be credible, your listener will feel they are being manipulated and you will be viewed as a seducer, a con-man, and a snake.Urgent necessities are interesting because we need them, and we need them now. This is why so many advertisers spend copious amounts on Google ads. The problem with this strategy is that all your competitors are doing the same. This results in a high cost per click and a low rate of conversion.Entertainment is interesting because it allows us to escape into the lives of interesting characters. When you are watching a football game, the mirror neurons in your brain allow you to be part of the game as you live vicariously through the actions of others. The same is true of TV shows, movies, well-written novels, and interesting ads.Win the heart and the mind will follow. But please don’t be so foolish as to believe that people bond with soulless corporations.Personalities bond with personalities.Does your company have a personality? Does the public understand how and why your company came into existence? Do they understand the forces that shaped and formed your company to become what it is today? Do they know what you believe and why you believe it? Do they understand what your company stands against, and what you are trying to eliminate? Do they understand your quirks and eccentricities, and do they know what caused them?When the public knows these things about you, they talk about you because they find you interesting. They no longer type their urgent need into the Google search window. They type your name instead.Cheap click. High conversion rate.When your company has a personality, it becomes a character with which your customer can bond. People read, watch, and listen to your ads when your ads are interesting and entertaining.Then, when they need what you sell, yours is the first name that comes to mind, and the name they feel the best about.When you want to win the hearts of the public, give them ads that feature colorful and interesting characters. People intuitively understand the motivations of characters. This is how they will know what your company believes, why you believe it, and what makes you do the things you do.You can advertise in the way that I just described to you, or you can do what everyone else has always done, and hope that it works out better for you than it did for them.Again, I slap you only because I care.Roy H. WilliamsWhen two historians start talking, the conversation can skip across centuries like two little girls playing hopscotch. On this week’s episode of Monday Morning Radio, historian Maxwell Rotbart talks with historian Ron Shafer about how the future is looking a lot like the past. If Rod Serling were alive, he would say, “Consider if you will, two historians who looked into the Mirror of Time [pause] and saw the Future.” Or perhaps one of those little girls playing hopscotch will someday grow up to be Snow White, and Lucille La Verne is the evil queen looking into that mirror in 1937. You’ve seen the movie. Say it with me, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall…” [pause, followed by four notes stair-stepping downward in a minor key] MondayMorningRadio.com

The podcast discusses the importance of understanding various advertising channels and creating impactful communication with a vivid first mental image. It explores strategies for capturing audience attention through advertising and writing, emphasizing techniques like declarative statements and customer testimonials. The focus shifts from attention-grabbing ads to engaging and transforming the audience for effective sales, highlighting the elements of engagement, enlightenment, and transformation.

There is a mysterious camera in your brain that will click and capture a poignant scene from time to time. You know what I’m talking about: random moments that you can vividly recall, but you’re not sure why.My awareness of that camera has been heightened and brightened in recent days as I feel a chapter of my life coming to an end and a new chapter about to begin.I’ve sure you have felt what I’m talking about.Phil Johnson explained these uneasy times of transition 40 years ago when I was in the middle of one. He said, “Roy, you’re in an elevator and the door is closed and that’s always an unsettling time. You’re not sure whether the elevator is taking you up to a higher floor, or down to a lower one. You know only that when that elevator door opens, everything is going to be different.”*Click* went the camera in my brain.Then he looked encouragement into my eyes as he said, “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” As we began walking toward our cars, he finished by saying, “Marcus Aurelius wrote that note to us 175 years after Jesus was born.”*Click*Phil Johnson passed away in 2019, just 5 days before his 97th birthday. You will find the last words he spoke to me emblazoned across the 12-foot-high bookcases that hold the thousands of books he left to me in his will. “You acquire an education by study, hard work and persistence. But you absorb culture by viewing great art, listening to great music and reading great books.”The moment that heightened and brightened my awareness of the elevator I’m in was a 521-word text sent to me by Pennie’s sister, Pam. That text contained the complete lyrics of Billy Joel’s song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Nothing else.If you have been reading these Monday Morning Memos for any length of time during the 29 years and 9 months that I’ve been writing them, you won’t be at all surprised that Indy Beagle and I sprang into hot pursuit of the liquid-fast rabbit that leaped out from Pam’s mysterious text.To those of you who are new to rabbit chasing, the objective is not to catch the rabbit, but only to let it lead you to places you might never have otherwise discovered. Uptight people will say that Indy and I are wasting time. But those people will never meet Calvin and Hobbes.When Indy and I lost sight of the liquid-fast rabbit, an unsettled teenager said to Billy Joel, “It’s crazy to be my age. You didn’t have this kind of stuff going on when you were growing up. Nothing really happened back then.”Billy went home that day and listed more than 100 major worldwide events that occurred between the day of this birth in May, 1949, and the day of that teenager’s visit in 1989. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was a birthday gift Billy Joel gave to himself on his 40th birthday in 1989.If you click the image of Indy Beagle at the top of this page, you will be transported to a secret page featuring two different YouTube videos of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Each of those videos will show you the more-than-100 different people and events that Billy Joel is singing about 35 years ago.And now you know why we call those hidden pages, “The Rabbit Hole.”Indy said to tell you “Aroo.”I’ll tell him you said “Aroo,” too.Roy H. WilliamsSeven-hundred-thousand Americans per year submit a trademark application, but Andre Mincov says that number is far less than it should be. Prior to beginning his global consultancy specializing in trademarks, Andre worked at a law firm helping companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sun, and Dell file and defend their trademarks. Today Andre rescues small and mid-size companies that failed to file formal trademarks, or that forgot to file them for all their brands. Listen and learn as Andre explains the most common trademark pitfalls and how to avoid them. Where else but MondayMorningRadio.com?

Learn how to lift a company to new heights by uncovering Untold Stories and overcoming Limiting Factors. Dive into the world of Interesting Characters, Emotional Environments, and the true goal of ad writing. Discover the power of emotional connections with customers and the significance of honesty, transparency, and dedication in business.

How to Shear a Sheepby Barbara KingsolverWalk to the barnbefore dawn.Take off your clothes.Cast everythingon the ground:your nylon jacket,wool socks and all.Throw awaythe cutting tools,the shears that bitelike teeth at the skinwhen hooves flailand your elbowcomes up hardunder a panting throat:no more of that.Sing to them instead.Stand nakedin the morningwith your entreaty.Ask them to come,lay down their woolfor love.That should work.It doesn’t.I lectured them into the night, many hours past my bedtime, telling them how to continue the dazzling success of their father. He was there, listening, nodding his head, making sure they would never forget this night.He and I have worked together since 1989, when we were both very young and our sons were very small. Today he is a rich and famous jeweler in a well-known city. I am the man 500 miles away who writes his ads.His hard-working sons listened intently when I said, “People you trust and admire; people who care about you and your success, will come to you, pull you aside, and tell you with deep concern, ‘You need to change your advertising. You’re not doing it right.’ People who studied advertising in college; friends who feel certain they know what you should do, will say to you, ‘You need to change your advertising. You’re not doing it right.'”I told the sons of my friend about the heart-piercing lessons I learned as a young ad writer. I told them about the clever things I did that I knew would would, had to work, were certain to work, that didn’t work.I told them about all the clever things that I was taught, and trusted, and believed, that didn’t work.I told them about the millions of dollars of other people’s money I had wasted year after year on ideas that didn’t work.And then I told them what I finally noticed, and watched, and understood 35 years ago. I told them the counterintuitive truth that I finally had the eyes to see.I told them what always works. I told them why it never fails to work. And I told them why no one who sees it working ever believes that it will work.Their father nodded his head up and down. The four of us looked at each other and smiled.And then I went home to bed.Roy H. WilliamsPS – “How to Shear a Sheep” is just one of the many delightful poems in a little-known book by the legendary novelist, Barbara Kingsolver. If you haven’t read her novels, you should.Danny Heitman, during the Covid lockdown in 2020, published this book review in The Christian Science Monitor:“Barbara Kingsolver is best known for her novels, including ‘The Bean Trees’ and ‘The Poisonwood Bible,’ and her essay collections, such as ‘Small Wonder’ and ‘High Tide in Tucson.’ She’s not as well known for her poetry, though she should be. ‘How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)’ collects her best poems from the past few years. It’s a tonic for these pandemic times, reminding us of Robert Frost’s definition of poetry as a ‘momentary stay against confusion.’ Kingsolver’s poems are like that, though their clarity is less a matter of sudden revelation than the slowly ripening insight of age. The title poem, with its ironic parenthetical promise that we can learn to soar after ‘ten thousand easy lessons,’ sounds a winking dissent from all those how-to bestsellers that offer quick mastery of life’s essentials in a handful of effortless steps.”Like I said, I really like Barbara Kingsolver. – RHWRebecca Davison was a banker – a financial advisor to multimillionaires – who went on to build a global following among female entrepreneurs, many of whom are important business leaders. Rebecca teaches them how to earn more money, but that’s not what makes them love her. Like many of you, Rebecca can feel what others are feeling, and she uses this ability to help people experience spiritual and monetary abundance through the development of their intuition: that inborn ability to communicate with the universe. Roving reporter Rotbart – ever the investigative reporter – says, “Whether or not you buy into the notion of metaphysical pathways to success, there is no denying that Rebecca’s methods are delivering results for a lot of people.” It’s happening, and it’s happening right now, at MondayMorningRadio.com

The dew lies softly on the green grass and the sunrise is golden in the early morning sky. I come upon an unspoiled mirror of water. A smooth pebble leaves my fingertips. Yes! I land my pebble perfectly in the bullseye! I watch a concentric circle of ripples reach the edge of the pool and bounce back to the middle where they collide.I wander on.Who knows why we do what we do?I was contemplating Quixote, that strangely enchanting character created by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605.But what was happening across the water in 1605?Having a keyboard at my fingertips, I took an early morning walk backwards-in-time to see what was happening in America while the tormenters of the Inquisition were torturing the innocent people of Spain and wooden blocks were stamping the first edition of Don Quixote onto paper in Madrid.1607: Jamestown, the first permanent settlement by Europeans was founded on the shores of what would later become Virginia.1610: John Rolfe realized he could introduce the tobacco of the Native Americans to the people of Europe. Praise God! This would be the crop that would provide the income that would sustain our little colony on the sparkling shores of this brand-new world.1615: Miquel de Cervantes writes Part Two of Don Quixote, and more characters are carved into wooden blocks to stamp ink onto paper in Madrid.1619: Four thousand Europeans agree to work as indentured servants for a few years in the tobacco fields of Virginia if someone will loan them the money for passage across the Atlantic and give them fifty acres of their own. Among these 4,000 men are Anthony Johnson and 19 other young men of Africa. Each of them work in the tobacco fields to pay off the loans for their passage, then each is awarded 50 acres of his own. Anthony Johnson later becomes successful enough to pay for the passage of 5 more Africans to help him work his land.1650: Thirty-thousand people are working in the tobacco fields of Virginia, including about 300 Africans. Everything seems to be running smoothly and everyone is prospering.1654: Edmund Gayton writes the first commentary in English about Don Quixote. The book is published by William Hunt in London, titled, “Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot.” Later that same year, slavery is introduced to North America when Anthony Johnson convinces the court of Northampton County that he is entitled to the lifetime services of John Casor. This would be the first judicial approval of life servitude, except as punishment for a crime.As I return from my morning walk, I discover catastophic chaos raging in the pond, the unintended consequences of a pebble tossed. The ripples that bounce off the shores of the pond result in unintended collisions and consequences as all sense of symmetry disappears.Some people say only about 3,000 people were executed by the Spanish Inquisition. Other people say it was more like 30,000. No one has ever claimed it was 300,000. But the pebble of tobacco tossed by John Rolfe killed more than 100,000,000 people in the 20th century alone. We can only guess at the number killed by lung cancer and emphysema during the previous two centuries. Tobacco continues to kill about 8 million people a year.The pebble of slavery tossed by Anthony Johnson resulted in the subjugation of millions of innocent people in America for exactly 201 years. And the waves of that storm continue to crash upon the beach 161 years after the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.Anthony, Anthony, Anthony… why did you throw that pebble 370 years ago?Anthony, if you are listening, please know that you are remembered as a hardworking and successful man who lived with his loving wife Mary for more than 40 years and was admired by everyone. You have been called the patriarch of a very successful community of 300 African-American families who prospered in Virginia during the days when America was new. But after you died in 1670, your plantation was not inherited by your children, but was given to a white colonist when a judge ruled that you were “not a citizen of the colony” because you were black.As I finish my early morning walk backwards-in-time, I hear in my head a sad sigh, and the voice of Kurt Vonnegut saying, “And so it goes.”Yes, Kurt, and so it goes.Roy H. Williams“Never quit on your worst day.” That’s Lesson #1. It’s easy to remember and it’s valuable advice. But the story behind lesson #1 is what makes the lesson magical. Lesson #2 is equally insightful. “You can’t score goals if you’re not on the field.” Phebe Trotman retired as a soccer superstar to become a superstar business coach. The characteristics required to lead a championship soccer team are identical to those required to lead a championship team in business. Phebe Trotman is about to tell young Maxwell Rotbart everything he needs to know. Listen in, and Win! MondayMorningRadio.com

You look at life from a unique point of view.I do, too.Each of us is trapped in our own perceptual reality.“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”You and I may look at the same thing but see it differently. And that little girl over there, yes, that one, sees things differently than either of us. The woman standing next to that little girl has experienced things you and I will never experience, and her reactions to those things have changed her and formed the person she is today. She is trapped inside her own perceptual reality, just like you and me.“Is there a way out of it?”Out of what?“Out of the perceptual reality in which each of us is trapped.”When you modify your perception, you modify your reality.“Explain.”When you listen carefully to an honest person who doesn’t agree with your beliefs, you understand that they experience things differently than you do. And that is when your perceptual reality is modified, and your mind is expanded.“What you are describing is relativism. I believe the facts are the facts, and the truth is the truth, regardless of what you choose to believe.”But would you agree that things are often different than they appear to be?“I’m not sure what you’re saying.”Sometimes we trust facts that are not facts. And even when our facts are correct, the complete truth is usually far more complex than it appears to be on the surface.“I reject that statement. Facts are facts, and the truth is never complex; it is always plain and simple. An honest person who doesn’t see the truth has simply been misinformed.”I respectfully disagree.“Then you have been misinformed.”It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:“God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!”The second feeling of the tusk, cried: “Ho! what have we here,so round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!”The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,the squirming trunk within his hands, “I see,” quoth he,the elephant is very like a snake!”The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:“What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain,” quoth he;“Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.”The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; “E’en the blindest mancan tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!”The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,“I see,” quothe he, “the elephant is very like a rope!”And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!“Okay, so what’s your point?”Each of the six blind men saw a different elephant, but every one of those six elephants was far more complex than it appeared to be on the surface.“But if the blind men had taken time to gather all the facts, they would have seen the truth of the entire elephant.”That’s true.“Well, that’s what I do. I gather all the facts, and then I see the truth.”You are to be congratulated on that. You are a very special individual.“Thank you.”The rest of us suffer from availability bias and confirmation bias.“What are those?”Availability bias is the result of not having all the facts available to you. When you come to a conclusion based on the facts that are available – and you are unaware that other facts exist – your conclusion will suffer from availability bias. Think of it as a kind of blindness.“Well, I’m certain I’m not suffering from availability bias. My sources of information are rock solid. Beyond dispute.”I’m sure they are.“What is the other one?Confirmation bias.“What’s that?”Confirmation bias is the result of agreeing with information that confirms your belief, and discounting information that conflicts with your belief.“I’m certain I’m not doing that. I use deductive reasoning.”Excellent! Then you know that deductive reasoning requires you to seek out information that might disprove your belief, as you try with all your might to prove that your belief is wrong.“Who does that?”Scientists do that. At least the real ones do. Deductive reasoning is the basis of scientific method. The job of a true scientist is to work as hard as they can to disprove what they believe. And when they cannot disprove it – and no one else can disprove it – only then will it be tentatively accepted as reliable.“But don’t normal people just use common sense?”Yes. Inductive reasoning is when you look at all the facts that confirm your suspicion and then pronounce your suspicion as the truth.“But wait. That would be confirmation bias, wouldn’t it?”You are correct. And like I said earlier, you are to be congratulated; you are a very special person.Roy H. WilliamsWould you rather (1.) fight a massive wildfire requiring the evacuation of more than 20,000 people, or (2.) bootstrap a start-up, with no outside investors, that will sell an untested app? Clive Savacool has successfully done both. Battling blazes for 25 years turned out to be excellent preparation for extinguishing the many firestorms faced by entrepreneurs. Listen in as Clive tells roving reporter Rotbart how both of these jobs taught him that the key to leadership is to understand human behavior and motivations. A fascinating interview awaits you at MondayMorning Radio.com

A weak ad attempts to make too many points, and none of them very powerfully.A weak ad is a bloated little porcupine.A great ad drives a single point through one side of your house and out the other with all the momentum of a freight train. A powerful ad is a charging rhinoceros.The world is covered in porcupine ads. They waddle slowly across your television screen. They crawl out of your radio like termites. Their dead carcasses are displayed on billboards along the highways. You stumble over them wherever you go.If I paint an unpleasant picture, it is because porcupines are annoying little rodents.But a charging rhino is a wonder to behold. It makes us stop what we’re doing and pay attention. A rhino pays no attention to the hall monitor who wags his finger and scolds, “No running in the hall!”And that really pisses some people off.Chris Torbay wrote a charging rhinoceros radio ad that makes a single point, very powerfully. I told you about it a few weeks ago, one day after it began charging across the sky from the tops of radio towers in Florida.The ad features a woman who works at an insurance company:My name is Michelle, and I work for Chapman Insurance. I work in the call center answering the phone. What kind of job is that you’re thinking? Well, when it’s your call, maybe I make a difference for you. Maybe you were dreading another one of those stupid corporate phone things with their “press one” and “press two” and “press six if a palm tree just fell on your dog house.”[Now Michelle starts to become emotional, getting increasing wound-up as the ad progresses, until she finishes with thundering pride and deep conviction]But you get to talk to a person, and you get to tell a real person how worried you are. And I get it, because I’m a real person, and I do this for a living. And I can see your policy and answer your questions because I know how confusing this can be!! And when you hang up, you feel like someone with a heart and a soul, and a pretty awesome understanding of insurance has had the basic human decency to answer the phone and talk to you like a person instead of making you press six!!! My name is Michelle. I work with Chapman and your insurance call matters to me!!!!Does it surprise you that the insurance company has had multiple complaints about that ad?It makes a single point:“Business phones should be answered by knowledgeable people who can give you accurate and immediate answers.”Rhinoceros ads always get complaints.Chris Torbay has a younger brother named Mick Torbay who lives in Toronto and rides a rhinoceros everywhere he goes. Mick and I had lunch yesterday with Kyle Caldwell of Atlanta and Ryan Chute of Halifax. Mick said,“When I unleash an ad, there is a specific number of complaints I’m looking for, and it isn’t zero.”The rest of us nodded our affirmation.The majority of people love to see a rhino put on a show. They love rhinos because rhinos are never boring. Porcupines are boring.The rage of the tiny people who are shouting at Chapman Insurance are mostly business owners who are using those abominable “press one” and “press two” machines instead of having the basic human decency to answer the phone and talk to you like a person. You can see now how that ad could make them angry, right?Porcupine lovers are prickly, and easily aggrieved, and quick to call and shout,“Your ads are terrible! You’re not doing it right! You should hire a professional who knows how to talk about features and benefits and price and selection and value and convenience and how long you’ve been in business, and all the awards you’ve won, and say the name of your company at least 7 times in the first 30 seconds. You need to find an advertising professional who knows how to make your ad sound like an ad!”Like I said, porcupines are annoying little rodents.Roy H. WilliamsAfter 16 years as a wedding photographer, Ryan Erickson decided he was barking up the wrong tree. He was making money, but he no longer had a passion for his work. So Ryan decided to try his hand at fine art photography, and now he’s thinking of going nationwide. His clients love how his fine-art portraits accentuate the subtleties of faces, especially the eyes. Ryan brings his state-of-the-art equipment to his clients in a mobile studio, but the most unique aspect of Ryan’s service are the free belly rubs he gives to each of the retrievers, shepherds, bulldogs, beagles, and other canines who pose for him. “It’s so much easier and enjoyable working with dogs,” Ryan tells roving reporter Rotbart and his co-host son, Maxwell. Today’s episode is going to the dogs! MondayMorningRadio.com

Efficiency experts say you must plan your work and work your plan. And you must have written goals and a budget and a schedule.A detailed plan is the key to success when you are doing something small, but you cannot have a detailed plan when you are doing something big and new and untried.You know a project is small when all the variables can be known in advance.When you do something big and new and untried, you will come to a place that your plan did not foresee. This is when you must improvise. Later, you will discover that you are making decisions at the last moment, because that is when you have the most information.Possibilities are in your mind. Reality is at your fingertips. So get started. Move. Take action. Do something.Clarity, commitment, and continual improvement are what you need most when doing something big and new and untried.1: Clarity means you have a clear vision of the outcome you are hoping to bring into reality.2: When you have clarity, you always know what to do next.3: Commitment means that quitting will never occur to you.4: When you have commitment, you find a solution to every obstacle.5: Continual Improvement means that you touch your project every day without fail.6: Touching your project every day – and moving it forward a little – unleashes the power of Exponential Little Bits, the energy that spins your flywheel.7: A thousand tiny touches don’t add up, they multiply. Two becomes four. Four becomes eight. Eight becomes sixteen, and 28 cycles later you have exceeded one billion.8: The only things you cannot know in advance are(A.) How long is it going to take?(B.) How much is it going to cost?9: If you insist on knowing those answers in advance, these are the answers:(A.) It will take as long as it takes(B.) It will cost what it costs.10: If you demand answers with more details, you either lack commitment or you believe I can see the future.11: I cannot see the future.12: The only hard part is step number one.You will notice I have given you a 12-step program. This is because doing things that are big, new, and untried is highly addictive, and every addictive thing has its own 12-step program.Do not confuse it with a plan.Roy H. WilliamsPS – George Bernard Shaw said, “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” Roy might tell you more about George Bernard Shaw next week. Or then again, maybe not. – IndyCharlie Munger was the billionaire businessman who built Berkshire Hathaway side-by-side with Warren Buffett. Just weeks before Munger died at age 99, Gregory Zuckerman of The Wall Street Journal spent 4 hours with Charlie in the billionaire’s Los Angeles home and came away with some life-changing insights. This week, roving reporter Rotbart interviews the last journalist to interview Charlie Munger, which makes everyone who listens to this week’s episode of Monday Morning Radio just three degrees of separation from Charlie Munger and four degrees from Warren Buffett. How can you resist? This party will start the moment you arrive at MondayMorningRadio.com.