Yes, this book will completely revolutionize your approach to business — AND get you making more from working less.
Last week, I introduced Work The System as a book and methodology that could completely transform your life.
I admit, I was pretty new to it, just getting started. I’d finally gotten pushed off the fence by yet another recommendation for it, this one from Marc Aarons, a fellow Titans of Direct Response attendee and incredibly sharp WordPress designer who creates good-looking websites that actually generate marketing results (shocker!).
But I knew from WHO was singing its praises, and the little bit I’d seen and heard already, that it was good.
Perry Marshall had said, “Mandatory reading. Work The System liberates…”
Yanik Silver, “Work The System will change your life.”
Ryan Lee, “One word: Awesome!”
Vishen Lakhiani of MindValley, “Work the System is integral to the Mindvalley.com operation. Simple and powerful… essential reading for the CEO.”
But perhaps even more interesting is the chiropractic and rehabilitation clinic CEO. He revealed that before Work The System, they’d grown the business dramatically, but were not showing profits and were struggling to make payroll every month. After 6 months of applying the Work The System methodology, they were making over $100,000 in monthly profit.
Those are heady results from a simple approach you can get out of a book.
Now that I’m diving in, I recommend Work The System even more — ESPECIALLY if you’re a one-person operation, run by a boss with ADHD (that’s YOU, whether you’re diagnosed or not), who feels like building your business is an uphill, disorganized battle, and you’re not getting the results you know you’re worthy of.
If you’re adamantly NOT a systems person, if you’re someone who insists on going with the flow, I recommend it EVEN MORE.
This book WILL transform your life, if you read it and apply the simple methodology it teaches.
Before inventing this methodology, Sam Carpenter was working as much as 100-hour work weeks, going with the flow as he fought fire after fire in his business. Now, he regularly works two hours a week (last week I told you eight — I was wrong). He makes 20X what he used to make from the business. And has all the free time in the world (which he’s used, among many things, to build four more cash cow businesses using much the same methodology).
And here’s the best news…
You can even get it as a free PDF at the Work The System website, just by giving your name and email address. And if you’re willing to share it on social media, you can get the audiobook version free, too.
Or you can support the author (which I did and fully recommend) by actually buying the book in Kindle, hardcover, or paperback format here.
Let me tell you specifically how I’m applying Work The System in my copywriting business…
This approach wasn’t really built for a one-person operation. It applies, but it was built for a team where every task needs to be able to be completed by either a 10-year veteran of the business or a new hire — and it needs to be completed perfectly every time.
However, we all deal with many of the same challenges. Especially if we’re work-from-home self-directed “employees” of our own company — with no boss to report to and no previously-established systems and processes to follow.
If you’re like me and you make it up as you go, Work The System is especially for you!
For example, I can sit down and write out these articles, no hassle.
But after I actually write the article, I need to make sure it gets published on my website, and sent out via email.
In itself, that’s two separate processes, with a handful of steps each.
At some point, it’s something I should outsource.
But in the mean time, if I have a very clear 1, 2, 3, 4 process to follow (that’s on paper and not in my head, so I don’t skip a step like accidentally forgetting to hit “send” or “schedule” on the email), I’m going to get it right every time and get it done faster. I won’t have to guess what to do next, I’ll have a process to follow.
It doesn’t take away your creativity to do it this way — it actually just clears out all the mundane faster and easier, so your creativity can be your focus and flourish.
But these emails are only one example.
My client intake procedure is another.
I have a long list of questions in my head that I want to ask before I bring on any new client.
I’ve formalized the longest of the long list in my Total Business Breakthrough Marketing Audit (which is a freebie for signing up for Breakthrough Marketing Secrets emails), but that’s more than I need for most clients.
As I go forward, that’s something I’m going to be writing down and formalizing more as a working process within my business.
This will allow me to make sure I have all the information I need on a client before I take them on, and they have all the info they need on working with me. It will be better for everyone.
And that’s just the start…
The Work The System methodology is designed to help you break down every mission-critical element of your business, and get consistently great results easier and more automatically…
It doesn’t take away your genius, or force you into someone else’s approach. It’s a way to bottle your genius up at its highest potency!
I’m even applying it to the process of writing copy.
The typical direct response copywriting project has a handful of major “systems” that go into it.
– There’s the preparation system, where you make sure you have everything you need from the client to get started…
– There’s the research system, where you’re figuring out all about your product, your market, your spokesperson being used in the ad, your big idea, and more…
– There’s the organization system, where you’re defining your big idea and culling down all that research to what supports your narrative, and building our plan around that…
– There’s the writing system, where you’re fleshing out your outline or narrative, and turning all your research into copy…
– There’s the editing system, where you take everything you’ve written and make sure it is presented in as clear, compelling of a manner as possible…
– There’s the layout system, where you’re making sure that your message is presented for maximum impact…
– There’s the launch system, where you’re actually putting the copy or promotion into the marketplace…
– There’s the support system, where you continue to do what’s needed to get eyeballs on your promotion…
– There’s the testing and refining system, where you iterate on the promotion to improve performance where possible…
– There’s the learning system, where you look at the project’s successes and failures, and figure out how you can do better next time…
– There’s the wrap-up system, where you establish either the end of the project or a plan or system for moving it into self-perpetuating mode…
And each of these subsystems of the greater project has their own subsystems, or different processes that need to be completed to make the overall system work best.
It may sound like a lot to systematize this, or it may sound like it puts too many restraints on your copy. Try it — it doesn’t. Again, it gets all the mundane out of the way so you can actually focus on the important parts that demand creativity.
I’ve intentionally left out critical parts of the Work The System methodology…
… Including the critical “understanding the mindset” part that’s necessary to get the Work The System system working for you…
… Including the Strategic Objective part, which you have to do FIRST to make sure everything else works…
… Including the Guiding Principles declaration that will make all your systems work better PLUS give you the resources to succeed even where you don’t yet have a system…
For these, you’ll have to get the book.
Before I finish, one more application that I think you’ll be interested in…
The whole premise of my workshop in November was that it was a system for what to do Before, During, and After writing copy, to give you better results and bigger profits for everything you write.
I thought I had a good system for it before.
However, after digging into Work The System and starting to rebuild my own system within that framework, I’ve made an important decision.
I’m going to go whole-hog on the Work The System approach for the content of my Advanced Direct Response Copywriting Workshop.
I’m going to fit everything I know about writing profitable direct response copy into a set of Strategic Objectives for the system itself, Guiding Principles to writing better copy, and Working Processes you can use for every element of your copy project — Before, During, and After.
YES, all the other items will be in there, too. Like the “biz of copywriting” session I promised. And even some surprise extras.
Not only that, you’re going to walk home with this entire system already done for you — plus the knowledge of how to use it right away, on your next project.
This integrates all the high-level strategy, principles, and mindset required to write powerful, response-pulling direct response copy… Into a simple set of procedures you can follow right away to improve your copy.
I’m not officially updating the sales letter for this — because we’re too close to the cutoff for registrations.
But I think if you were going to get 10X ROI in terms of how this will impact your copy going forward, this shift-change will give you 100X ROI.
If you were going to get 100X, this will give you 1,000X.
I’ve never seen direct response copywriting presented this way before.
And this is not going to be presented this way again.
Yes, I’ve already mentioned that I’m recording it. But there’s nothing like the full-immersion experience. And besides, releasing the recordings will not be my highest priority after this is done (except to attendees).
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
