You, the Movie

By John Carlton

"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today."
- Robert McAfee Brown

Have you ever wondered where the knack for finding stories and hooks — the main ingredients of any great copywriter’s bag of tricks — comes from?
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Why TV Makes Us Fat

By Craig Ballantyne
One of my best clients grew up watching a lot of TV. In fact, he feels that he was practically raised by Cliff Huxtable (of the Cosby Show) and Meredith Baxter-Birney (from Family Ties). That’s how much TV he watched.
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A Fat-Loss Program for Very Overweight People

By Craig Ballantyne
I’m often asked where really overweight men and women should start when it comes to a fat-burning exercise program. My answer is probably not what you’d expect.
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The Best Workout Schedule

By Craig Ballantyne
What’s the best time to work out? And how should you organize your training? Weights first, then cardio? Or vice versa? Read almost any fitness blog or magazine, and you’ll find a different opinion.
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The Language Perfectionist: What's Wrong With Dictionaries?

By Don Hauptman
"Let's look it up in the dictionary."

When people disagree about language, someone is bound to utter this sentence, as if it will settle everything. But the solution is not always so easy. Here's why.
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The Language Perfectionist: Verbal Vexation

By Don Hauptman  
Can you detect anything amiss in the following two sentences?

1. I even called the place and handed him the phone so that he could get verbal directions.

2. A verbal agreement is legally every bit as effective as a written one.

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The Language Perfectionist: Solving an Enormous Problem

By Don Hauptman  
Consider the following, all found via an Internet search:

• "My aim is to win an Olympic gold," says the 17-year-old Saina Nehwal. But the enormity of the task sinks in as she...

• Headline: [Candidate Greg] Ballard Grapples With Enormity of Mayoral Win

• When does the enormity of a favor cross the line?

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The Language Perfectionist: This Tip Will Pay High "Interest"

By Don Hauptman  
What's wrong with the following three examples?

1. We've seen a marked increase in the number of candidates disinterested in positions requiring heavy travel.

2. Headline: Congress Disinterested in Whether USDA Program Works

3. Interest in return to the Moon is slim, with 29% interested, 45% neutral, and 23% disinterested.

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Fight Stomach Fat

By Craig Ballantyne
You can see it just by walking down Main Street, USA: Americans are getting bigger and fatter. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, between 1994 and 2004 the average waist size increased from 96 cm (about 38 inches) to 100.4 cm (about 39.5 inches) in men, and from 89 cm (about 35 inches) to 94 cm (about 37 inches) in women. The rate of stomach-fat obesity also increased, from 29.5 percent to 42.4 percent among men and from 47.0 percent to 61.3 percent among women.
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A Nutty Paradox

By Craig Ballantyne
When I tell someone to eat more nuts to lose fat, they think I'm, well, nuts. Everyone knows that nuts are high in fat and calories. So how could eating more of them possibly help you lose weight?
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Weight-Loss Trick

By Craig Ballantyne
When it comes to losing weight, we often need to use every trick in the book. And according to researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, one of those tricks might be having a little H2O before you eat.
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Make $250,000+ a Year … With Your Video Camera

by Paul Lawrence

When my two partners and I agreed to pursue the venture, we thought of it as almost a hobby. We all enjoyed combat sports and thought it would be cool to sell related videos. And, if we made a few extra dollars by doing it … even better.
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How Great Incomes Are Made With Specialty-Interest Newsletters

by Dan Kennedy

“Business is not financial science, it’s about trading … buying and selling. It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it.”
- Anita Roddick

In Message #1630, I started this series of articles about the information marketing and publishing business.

Today, I’m going to address a question that I’m often asked: “If I kept all my knowledge but had to start over with little or no resources, how would I enter the information marketing business?”
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Inside the Information Marketing Business

by Dan Kennedy

There have never been greater opportunities in the field of Information Marketing – for everyone from very experienced, successful entrepreneurs to rank beginners. As something of a “father” of the industry, I’ve been invited to contribute a series of articles about these opportunities.... And I thought I’d begin by defining what Information Marketing is … and giving you a quick preview of what you can expect in upcoming installments.
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How Can I Possibly Be Gaining Weight?

By James B. LaValle, RPh, MS, ND, CCN

These days, when two incomes barely make ends meet, you may be leading the kind of hectic life where coffee is all you make time to “eat” during the day. Unfair as it is, this black coffee stress diet can lead to weight gain. Fortunately, there are things you can do to prevent “stress bloat.”
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How to Make Your Customers Leave Your Website in a Huff and Never Return

by Derek Gehl

According to recent [2006] research from the Gartner Group, half of all online sales are lost due to confusing website navigation. That’s 50 percent of potential sales down the toilet because customers can’t find what they’re looking for. And when customers leave your site, chances are they’ll never return.
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