#2 Day of the Gary Halbert's Challenge

On the second day of this challenge, I advanced a few more chapters of The Boron Letters and The Lazy Man's Riches, but the main thing was that I hand-wrote the copy "Do you make these mistakes in English?" and analyzed it.

It's scary how much my handwriting got ugly along the way because I was tired and my hand was hurting.

Writing sales letters and ads by hand takes much longer than it seems, but it's amazing how much you learn from it.

When you write by hand, the process of reading, understanding a word, and then rethinking it as you write makes you deeply absorb the content of a sentence or paragraph.

I had read this letter countless times in the past, but only today when I wrote it by hand did I fully understand why it converted so much, why it works, and what the writer meant with each word he put in it.

It's hard work, but it's worth it.

Here's the detailed analysis below:

He starts with a very intuitive and curious headline that makes anyone wonder "do I make these mistakes? what mistakes are these?" and automatically makes the person stop to read.

Replicable in many other markets, like "do you eat these 3 foods that increase your cholesterol?" or "do you eat these 3 fruits that increase your cellulite?" or "do you make these mistakes in your skincare?"

And right after that, he starts with proof that a guy named Sherwin Cody's invention has already helped over 100 people correct their English mistakes, even specifying the time, saying it's just 15 minutes a day to improve writing and pronunciation.

This is already a very specific and strong social proof, because the 15 minutes a day reinforces the idea that it's easy and quick to correct these supposed "English mistakes" that you make.

The first paragraph of the copy seems simple and common but it uses a very important device in copywriting, which is to validate existing beliefs in the lead's mind to make them believe every word you write.

He exemplifies that many people use expressions like "leave them lay there" or "between you and I," and when the target audience reads these examples, they automatically identify, either thinking "hey, I talk like that," or "I've heard someone talk like that." Right after that, he goes on to explain the mechanism, which is simple and clear.

He spends a few good paragraphs explaining and proving why these mistakes happen, in a way that makes sense in the reader's head.

Connecting with the cause of the problem, he introduces the solution of a new method to correct this problem with scientific evidence.

It's also interesting how he shows the product before even mentioning its name.

He makes the reader imagine what it's like to have a voice behind you correcting all the English mistakes you make and helping you correct this through habit.

He makes you vividly visualize this image in your head, so you feel how wonderful this solution is.

And only then does he say "well, that's what my product does!" At the end of the copy, he makes a beautiful sequence of objection breaking, like when he says that statistics show that there is a list of 69 words that make up more than half of writing and speaking in English, and once you learn them, it becomes easy to avoid mistakes.

This bombardment of objection breaking makes the reader reach the end of the text begging for the product.

And to finish the copy with a golden key, he ends by saying that this book is free and all you need to do is request your order following the instructions below.

An extremely simple, direct, short, but very powerful copy. I had endless ideas about how I could replicate this structure for new products in different niches. It's really bizarre how reviewing and modeling old offers can make you learn so much about the current market.

The lesson I learned on this second day of the challenge wasn't about marketing or business, but about discipline.

How to control your mind that is desperately telling you to drop that damn pencil and do anything else because your hand is fucking hurting and still tell those thoughts to shut up and keep writing.

Until it's finished.

The work pays off.

See you on day 3!