Michel Fortin: No, I think if you want to look at optimism in the best way is to look at it as an educational process. Learning is part of it… sitting down with people, talking with them, spending time with them, reading books, spending your time on learning as much as you possibly can.

You will be able to go down the right road. Fast or slow doesn’t matter and that’s not optimism. That’s just being. That’s just following your conscience. That’s just being a realist. It’s not being a pessimist. It’s not being optimist. It’s probably an optimal point of looking at it, an optimal point or way to look at things, but it’s not necessarily optimistic.

Ralph Zuranski: Do you think it takes courage to pursue new ideas?

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So, if you’re following the commandments, you should now have a unique name, possibly a tagline, and established yourself as the first or leader in your unique category. What about the service or product you offer? Do you offer an extraordinary product or service, or do you offer an ordinary one?

Even if the service you provide is customary, traditional, and probably offered by your competition, you should make it appear unique just as well.

Remember that perception is more powerful than truth. You don’t need to emphasize that your product or service is unique, better than the competition, or even the best for that matter. Doing so by declaring that it is can sometimes be worse than not saying anything at all, and the reason for that is that it makes your self-serving claim appear suspect or exaggerated.

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Freelance copywriters are an interesting bunch. They practice the art of salesmanship in print, yet have difficulty selling themselves. They struggle when it comes to self-promotion.

So instead of being well-fed and content, they often go hungry. Why is this?

I believe it comes down to three fundamental deficiencies. I observed these in myself when I was getting started a few years ago. I have continued to observe them in other copywriters who are launching new freelance careers.

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I’ll never forget this for as long as I live.

The real estate office manager marched to his secretary’s desk. He rubbed his face in frustration. I stopped making cold calls to spy on their conversation.

In muffled tones, he told her to write a “house ad” for a new listing. He wasn’t sure what to write. So he told her to come up with something. Anything.

Back then I sold real estate for a living. I just started learning how to write ads that work. But I couldn’t believe what just transpired.

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What I have said in the last chapter applies as well to the professional person and the wage-earner as to the person who is engaged in selling or any other form of business.

No matter whether you are a physician, a teacher, or a clergyman, if you can give increase of life to others and make them sensible of that fact, they will be attracted to you, and you will get rich. The physician who holds the vision of himself as a great and successful healer, and who works toward the complete realization of that vision with faith and purpose, as described in former chapters, will come into such close touch with the source of life that he will be phenomenally successful; patients will come to him in throngs.

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A person who desires to make an impression must stand out in some way. Being eccentric, being abnormal is not distinction to covet. But doing admirable things in a different way gives one a great advantage.

So with salesmen, in person or in print. There is uniqueness which belittles and arouses resentment. There is refreshing uniqueness which enhances, which we welcome and remember. Fortunate is the salesman who has it.

We try to give each advertiser a becoming style. We make him distinctive, perhaps not in appearance, but in manner and in tone. He is given an individuality best suited to the people he addresses.

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