The Boron Letters

Halbert, Gary

• You know what, Son? I am 46 years and one day old and the two things Ihave written to you about so far are the most important things I have ever learned.

• "There is no justice. There is only power."

• My dad’s favorite saying was “nothing is impossible for a man who refuses to listen to reason” and it served him well his whole life.

• No, sometimes there is no use wasting time and energy fighting established beliefs by arguing and it is better to just silently go about proving or accomplishing your goal.

• The Idea of You Getting Rich Makes Most People Around You Feel Sick!

• Now, that's no sin. God knows I've been scared many times. But this guy stays scared when there is no need to be and it is very unattractive to watch.

• The point is this: Bond, as you know, I am a very non-violent person and if this guy, by acting like such a pussy, can irritate me, just think how some hard vicious hard-nosed jerk in a real prison would be affected by him!

• rely on your own strength instead of somebody Else's compassion!

• You can't fake it. At least it's not a good idea. Especially in a prison or anywhere else where there are "mean streets". You don't need to "act tough"; you need to be tough.

• Usually, when someone asks me what is the #1 big secret to making money I tell them they should get involved in whatever excites them the most.

• Money, in my opinion, especially big money, is most often a by-product of enthusiasm.

• "The only advantage I want," I reply, "is A STARVING CROWD!"

• Possibility #10 - There is one group of people who will respond even better than all the other 9 groups I have described. Can you guess what list this will be? Think about it a minute and then turn the page for the answer. THE BEST LIST OF ALL IS YOUR OWN CUSTOMER LIST!

• You see, the way I look at it, if you halt your forward progress every time you get a little tired or irritable or whatever; then you are suffering from a lack of discipline.

• Therefore, truth, my good son, can be determined NOT by how people use their mouth but rather how they use their wallet.

• The first thing I'd like you to do is get a hold of two books. One is "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins and the other is "The Robert Collier Letter Book" by Robert Collier. Ask B. and Eric for help with getting these books. Read both of these books. Read "The Robert Collier Letter Book" two times and read "Scientific Advertising" three times.

• BUT ONLY PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT STAYS ON TOP WITHOUT BEING FREE!

• It’s Better To Be In The Spam Box of A Primary Email Address Than To Be In The Primary Box of A Spam Email Address!

• I think I left off in my last letter where I was just about to comment on the part above the salutation, the part that tells the day of the week, the exact time, the day of the month and the year. Why is it important to put these specifics in the letter? Well, it makes the letter a little more personal, doesn't it? I mean seriously, don't you feel a little closer to me because I put all this data in each of my letters to you? I think so. I think this way of doing things bonds the writer and the reader closer together.

• another additional way to achieve this bond of intimacy and immediacy in your letters is to describe where you are and what you are doing as you are writing the letter. For example, right now I am sitting cross-legged on my back here in room 7 of dorm 6 in the Boron Federal Prison Camp. I have just finished running the hill five times (4-miles) and I did it in 57 minutes and 5 seconds. Do you see how this type of personal specific info bonds the reader and writer closer together?

• There's no doubt about it: A time-dated communication carries considerable more weight than one which is not.

• You see, when things are tough I have discovered that a very very simple (but effective) thing to do is just keep moving in some sort of positive direction.

• Another trick my father taught me was to work in libraries because we are social animals and it is really hard to be in the library and not try and work. Especially inside the research section

• While it is true that you must attract attention to your advertisements and sales letters, it is also true that your "attention grabber" should be relevant. It should tie in with your message. It should make sense.

• By the way, you can do 40 edits but you want to write from start to finish in one sitting so your different moods on different days don’t seep into your copy and make it disjointed.

• Another tip, when my dad says he uses picture words, he really means phrases and terms which paint a picture like cherry red.

• Remember this when you are taking these notes don’t stuff yourself. Sometimes, my nugget notes consist of just one word. Sometimes they consist of meaningless phrases. Many times my notes make sense but many times they don’t. No matter. I never worry about it. I just keep writing. I write what occurs to me as I read the list cards, the jackets of books, the ads, the DM pieces, and all the rest of the material I have assembled.

• what I want you to do is re-read the notes and the really good ones, put a star * beside them. And the ones that are even better put two stars next to them. And then, the red hot ones you put three * or more stars beside them.

• What does AIDA stand for? It stands for ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, ACTION. So, to make it clearer your letter should:

• What we do to create desire is we describe the benefits our prospect gets if he buys our product or service.

• Don’t think it’s not necessary. Remember, you must always do even the obvious.

• One thing I want to stress is that you must be very clear, very specific about what you want him to do. Lead him by the hand and take him exactly where you want him to go. Tell him where the order coupon is. Tell him to fill it out. Tell him to enclose the payment. Tell him how much to send. Tell him who the checks and money orders should be made out to. Tell him to use the envelope. Tell him the envelope doesn't need a stamp. (If it doesn’t.) Tell him to put the envelope in the mail. And, above all, tell him to do all this RIGHT NOW! TODAY! Tell him what he will get if he hurries and tell him what he will lose if he delays. STOP

• Use “get” instead of “procure.” Write short sentences and short paragraphs. Use “transition” words and phrases to make your writing flow smoothly. Do you notice how I use transition words and phrases such as the following? Well, as a matter of fact, I first blah... Now, naturally, we don’t want to blah, blah... And, of course, here is what she said blah, blah, blah...

• Now, here’s a few more great ideas: Ask questions once in a while and then answer them yourself. Like this: Bond, do you understand what I am saying? You do. Good, then let’s go on. Etc. How do we get the benefits? The answer is simple. All we have to do is etc., etc. Can you imagine that? I know it seems unbelievable but facts are facts! Etc., etc., etc.

• What is a good writer? Well, in my opinion a good writer is one who makes things perfectly clear. He makes it easy for the reader. Easy-to-understand what he is saying, easy to keep reading.

• No. What you really want is for the reader to order from your ad. Listen up dummy. “If you are writing for applause... you will go home with empty pockets!” Write for money!

• You can make your copy easier to read by the judicious use of parentheses. For example, if you want to tell people that your offer is good anywhere in the U.S. (except Alaska) the proper use of parentheses, as I just did, makes the copy easier-to-read, easier to understand and provides a little “eye relief” for your reader.

• Also, the concept of eye-relief is more important than ever because people just don’t read as much as they used to which doesn’t mean you can’t write long copy.

• It’s just that paragraphs and sentences need to be shorter.

• To Really KEEP THEIR INTEREST!

• The Layout Of Your Advertisement Should Catch The Attention Of Your Reader... But... Not In A Way That Causes Him To "Notice" The Layout!

• But don't count on this. Most of the time a person will never alter his original impression. Most of the time he will simply "edit" all new info that comes to him and "process" it in such a way as to validate his original opinion.

• Well, I have a theory about all this and what I believe is that most (or many) of our decisions about how we like or dislike something are made not in 40 seconds or the first 4 or 40 minutes but rather in the first fraction of a second that we see something new. And, I further believe that we unconsciously spend the rest of our so called decision making time not really making a decision after all but instead searching for justification for the decision we have already made.

• By the way, before I forget one little-known fact that is kind of interesting is that women like to see pictures of women in ads and men like to see pictures of men.

• If you are going to use a second color in your letters to underline words or something you should use RED.

• If you enclose a photograph or a simulated photograph you should make sure it does NOT look cheap, limp and soggy. Instead, it should look crisp, clean, glossy and clear.

• A long, long time ago Dennis Haslinger told me that most of the most serious mistakes I would make in life would be bad ego decisions.

• You see, Bond it really doesn't matter much what the "content" of this letter is. What matters is that I am going through the "process" of writing it. And it is the process or physical act of the writing and the road work that does the therapy. Remember this: You Don't Have To Get It Right... You Just Have To Get It MOVING!

• When it comes to balancing ego or pride against safety… I find it best to apply one simple test which is…. What Would I Want My Son To Do?

• Propositions are very important in DM and MO selling and a very important ingredient in making your propositions work is the "reason why". In other words when you say in effect, "Have I got a deal for you!" you need an explanation as to why you are offering this good deal.

• You see, if you don't have an explanation, your "deal" won't be believable and you may not get the sale.

• So, write like that. Bring your story down to earth and hit ‘em where they live. (In their hearts and their pocketbooks!)

• we’ll talk about that extraordinarily effective excuse for a deal. Here it is: I Am Offering You This Deal Because You (By Virtue Of Some Unique Circumstance) Are So Special This bears a little explanation.

• So, the message is clear: Get yourself a collection of good ads and DM pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.

• What is that mistake? The mistake is finding or developing a product FIRST and then looking for a market to sell it to. This is backasswards. You Must Always Find A Market First... And Then Concentrate On A Product!

• A guy with a new product cannot always find a hot market for that product but a guy who has uncovered a HOT MARKET can always find a product to fill the needs of that market.

• But get this. It doesn't matter how much you learn if you don't use what you learn.

• Now, I'm going to talk to you about a big difference between people who make it in any field (including crime) and those who do not. That difference is awareness. Most people (at least many) walk around with their heads in the sand. They are lost in a fog. They go whichever way the current of the streams of their world happens to push them. They are sheep and they are regularly shorn.

• Mail order (and all other) fortunes are made by men and women who know what's going on in their fields.

• Believability is one of the top most important ingredients of good MO & DM promotions. One way to increase believability is to give exact details. Instead of "most car owners" write "77.6% of all car owners". Instead of "you can lose lots of weight" write "and the average reported weight loss over a 31-day period was 37.5 pounds for men and 26.3 pounds for women".

• And, did you notice up there that when I mentioned my bandanna, I said "it's the blue one" in parenthesis? Did you wonder why I wrote it like that? I bet you didn't. I hope not. I hope not because if you did notice, then you were noticing my writing style instead of my message.

• However, I'll bet that little extra detail of info drew you closer to me and my letter and made this communication "more real" for you.

• The ability to remind them of you previous message is priceless because the prospects feel they got to know you a little over two letters and it allows you to make an effective I told you so argument to say gold has done so so but had you listened to me you would be sitting pretty.

• At the time in my life when I was making the most money, I followed the same procedure I am talking about here. Namely: I pay attention to myself and when I am off, I drop out of sight and do what is necessary to strengthen myself.

• He said you can't sink to their level. Just don't talk to them.

• I want to focus on here at the end is my resolve to "go underground" and quietly strengthen myself. I've really got to do it. I've got to transcend myself. And, what I think my theme will be is to make a game of becoming an expert at quietly diffusing explosive situations and sending out stronger vibes so I have fewer (or maybe none) encounters to begin with.