What does it mean to write your own ticket — and do YOU have this power?
I was thinking about this last night.
And specifically, I was thinking about the deeper value I’m trying to deliver through Breakthrough Marketing Secrets and BTMSinsiders.
Let’s rewind a bit.
One of the first jobs I got in high school was in a gigantic call center, working for the credit card processor First Data. They’re a company that works behind the scenes processing massive amounts of credit card transactions, on behalf of banks.
I was working in “hot calls” — which was a department that took calls to figure out if a particular transaction was fraudulent.
Mostly, it was verifying basic information from the card or about the transaction with the merchant and sometimes the card holder.
Occasionally, some more interesting things happened. Like when I got someone arrested for credit card fraud (and earned a $25 bounty). Believe it or not, they were using a stolen credit card, and they sat around for maybe 30 minutes for the police to show up, while I convinced them that “we’re going to get this wrapped up and get you out of there shortly.” Yeah, something like that.
Mostly though, like most big call centers, it was a pretty miserable existence.
You had almost no control over your working life, while you were there for your shift.
You had to be logged into the phone the minute your shift started. You followed their pre-established policy and procedure for every call. Creativity was frowned upon, sometimes punished. You took breaks when they let you. And you stayed on the phones until a minute or two after your shift was up, so you wouldn’t get dinged for logging out early.
Not only that, you’re basically planted in the middle of a cubicle farm — rows upon rows of cubicles with computers, sucking the life out of all who dare enter. Look to your left and right, and the statement about most of us leading “lives of quiet desperation” rang true.
I did well there. I sucked it up, followed directions, and collected my paycheck.
But I knew, even then, that…
The life of a cubicle-dweller was NOT for me — I wanted freedom!
It would take me a long time to get it, though. Heck, it’d take me a long time to even find the path that would lead me there.
Through college I worked a series of cubicle jobs — albeit, in smaller call centers. And selling, where I could be a little more creative (although, in practice, not really — there’s only so much you can do in one-shot cold-call sales calls).
But all along, I still knew that I was destined for something else… If only I could find it!
Even when I graduated college, I felt pretty directionless.
I still hadn’t found my calling. I got a degree in psychology because I was interested in the study, not the field of work.
So after graduating, once again, I went with what I knew.
Another low-paying, soul-sucking job in a cubicle-farm call center. This time, working for about $20,000 per year, full-time, answering customer service calls for the local utility company.
Basically, when you didn’t pay your gas bill all winter and we shut you off on the first warm day of spring, I’m the guy you called to yell at… Because, somehow it was my fault. That you didn’t pay your bill.
More misery!
But then, a moment of clarity…
In between those calls, I got to read. Especially later in the evening — since I worked noon to 9 PM. (Nobody wants to call the gas company after dinner.)
And it was reading in between calls that led to me discovering copywriting. And the broader field of direct response marketing.
Where you’d send out marketing — and people you’d never met would send you money in return!
That was when I stumbled upon a truth that has guided my life for more than the decade since…
If you’re able to generate effective direct response sales messages, you can write your own ticket!
I’d been a casual writer before that. So the obvious interest was becoming a freelance copywriter. But I knew there was a much wider world this would give me access to.
For one, I’d never have to be a soul-sucked cubicle-dweller again.
I knew in that moment, for me, it didn’t make sense to become a freelancer. I wanted experience first, in marketing.
So I decided to write my own ticket with a marketing job. Despite having ZERO experience, I wrote my way into running marketing for a small and growing IT training publisher. I more than tripled my annual pay in the half-decade that I was there, as I helped to more than triple the company.
Then, I decided it was time to write my own ticket again. I went out on my own as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. I helped clients break sales records, generate millions, and have done well for myself in these roles since 2010.
And now I’m actively building my own publishing business, on the back of these same skills.
If you really take the time to learn the art and science of direct response, this is available to you, too…
Do you want to be a consultant, copywriter, or coach? Do you want to be a perpetual solopreneur? Do you want to be a lifestyle entrepreneur? Do you want to be a founder, entrepreneur, and business-builder who rapidly scales something much bigger? Or, do you simply want to call the shots in your career while working for companies that excite you?
It’s YOUR ticket. You decide what’s on it!
When you understand proven direct response principles, strategies, techniques, and tactics… You have FREEDOM!
Here’s the thing about direct response…
It makes an INCREDIBLE amount of things possible.
Do you have a mission to change the world with a great cause? Direct response fundraising will give your mission the resources it needs.
Do you want to gain political power and influence for the betterment of your community? Hello! Direct response fundraising and voter action campaigns are the most reliable way to do that.
Do you want to be a successful inventor, creating products that solve problems, and get them out to the people whose lives will be better as a result? Direct response can be your secret.
Do you want to do almost nothing, but in that time you work, give a ton of value and earn enough to live a great lifestyle for all the time you’re not working? Am I preaching to the choir yet?
Do you want to build a professional practice that’s automatically packed with high-value, ideal clients so you can focus on delivering your core skill?
Or, do you have an innovation you believe can change a billion lives and you want to get it out into the world in the most self-sustaining, perpetual way possible? Direct response is key…
If you have ANY OUTCOME you want to achieve, that requires you to get people on board and supporting you (in a monetary or other way), the fundamental skills of direct response will prove invaluable.
When you can reliably generate RESPONSE, you gain the power to write your own ticket…
Once you’re able to reliably get more than $1 back in proceeds for every $1 you spend putting a message out into the market, you’ve found the secret.
You’ve found the secret to ever-greater influence and personal success.
Then, you simply have to decide how to use it.
Pick your destination.
Decide what you want to do, or what you want to pursue.
Decide what journey you want to go on.
And write your own ticket.
This is the biggest reason I love direct response…
The people I know who aren’t in this industry are absolutely fascinated with what I do.
How is it that I have total freedom and control over my day — and make a great living — without ever reporting to an office or checking in with a boss?
It’s mind-boggling to most.
But to anyone who truly understands the dynamics of direct response, it’s commonplace. Par for the course.
We’re spoiled to have an insider’s perspective here.
We know that with direct response…
— We have the lifestyle freedom to do what we want, when we want, with whom we want…
— We can achieve total financial freedom, making more than enough to support ourselves and our families, plus grow richer every day…
— And we have the freedom to pursue our personal purpose and values, using these skills to do the fulfilling work we choose as an expression of our unique abilities…
I know this seems like a rah-rah fest for direct response, but this is why I get so inspired to write these essays every day. This is the passion I put into every BTMSinsiders training.
Even though I’ve long identified the practical aspect of what I do as “sharing ideas that grow businesses,” that’s just the practical.
Emotionally, what I’m offering to you… What I’m trying to help you achieve… What I want most for you… Is that you can realize the power to write your own ticket.
And then, go do amazing things with it.
Here’s the full info on the BTMSinsiders All-Access Pass.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
