It was January 1971.
He saw me jump rope. She laughed and yelled, “Hey, white boy! What are YOU doing here?”
It floated like a butterfly, it stung like a bee. He was the biggest.
To me? No float. no sting Nobody.
He had a point. What was he doing there?
Oh yeah. A frustrated college football player, he had decided to be a boxer. So just before Christmas of 1970, I dropped out of the University of Oregon and headed to the mecca of boxing…the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach.
The gates were flung open at noon. Media, microphones. Howard Cosell, Burt Lancaster, Angelo Dundee. Cameras, high rollers, cigars. Plus a few dozen guys with crooked noses and fat ears. The scene was surreal.
But I couldn’t help but notice an alarming lack of unreality inside the ring. Ali punched his sparring partner, seriously training for his first fight with Joe Frazier. I’m glad I could give him a laugh. Happier still wasn’t there with him.
Three months later, my knee exploded. I retired undefeated, without a fight. “The Greatest” never caught on.
Fast forward 19 years
1990 was my 13th year driving a county bus in Miami and Miami Beach. I’ve started and failed in so many businesses I’ve lost count. Couldn’t sell a lick. I did one stupid thing after another. Married with 4 kids at the time, it had cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
On breaks, he studied sales letters. He had written a couple of dozen for other people, with some success.
I sent samples to the Prince of Print, Gary Halbert, world champion direct mailer and copywriting genius. Could you work on your $7,000 a head Key West Seminar by the Sea?
A couple of days later, the phone rang. Halbert did not laugh. He didn’t call me “white boy.” He invited me to work for him in the seminary.
Despised by Ali, but working with Halbert. YEAH!
Key West was a blessing… for a day.
On Monday morning I met the other writers: John Carlton, Brad Antin, David Deutsch, Gene Dowdle, Loretta Duffy, Brad Peterson. All the legends of today.
I met some of the speakers: John Eger, Dan Kennedy, Ken Kerr, Phil Kratzer, Carl Galletti, Bill Myers, Ted Nicholas. More legends. I put Halbert. What could be more exciting?
On Monday, Halbert and others shared their genius. It was wonderful. Tuesday the hotseats arrived.
Oh! Back to “white boy!”
Halbert called an assistant up front with himself and 3 editors. The guest described his business. The panel asked questions. Then Halbert shouted words that startled me instantly:
“EDITORS! HEADLINES! HEADLINES! HEADLINES, AUTHOR! HEADLINES!”
Halbert wanted one headline after another, pop pop pop pop pop. He wanted quality. He wanted quantity.
Over time (and I mean weeks or months later), I understood the purpose: the more points of view and ideas, the more chances of finding lots of highlights for the sales letter. I now accept this as absolute truth, and so should you.
But not then. My routine? Sit in front of my word processor with a cup of coffee, think quietly, catch a good idea once in a while.
The other writers shouted headlines. I sucked my finger.
Tuesday was horrible. Wednesday and Thursday were not much better. By Friday, I started having it…but the week was over.
When I left, I vowed that I would never, ever, EVER feel so ashamed again.
Back home. To the library. I got years of Readers Digest, Forbes, Cosmopolitan and other magazines on microfilm. I wrote ALL the headlines… over 1,500 of them.
The people who wrote these heads make millions to get attention, to sell magazines. They are the best. So why not tap into that brainpower? So I created a file of all the headlines I pulled from my sources and titled it Shortheads.
I have been using ShortHeads for over 15 years. It has made me a lot of money. I used it to create (among others) the most recognized title in the history of network marketing: “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie!”. Your headline is the most important part of any ad or article. If your head doesn’t capture and hold attention, the rest of your writing is wasted. I highly recommend that you compile your own “headline archive” that you can pull from whenever you hit a good headline.
