Ever heard of a bloke named John Carlton?

Well, up until a few years ago, neither had I. But stumbling across John’s work one day changed my life.

Let me explain..

When I first was learning marketing I went down a lot of blind alleys, and took many wrong turns.

Jaysus, I did TONS of dumb stuff..

Like spending the best part of a week fussing over the right shade of blue for my business card.

Or wasting months working on my logo, a backdrop of Dublin’s “skyline”, etching it out in painstaking detail in Adobe Illustrator.

People loved how my work looked though. Anyone who saw thought it the best thing since sliced salami.

However, there was just one little problem. It was all about me.

Delicious looking as it was, ‘twas narcissistic, self indulgent twaddle.

None of this stuff improved my clients lives, or helped progress their businesses. People liked looking at it, but it didn’t make them buy.

Bemused by the fact that my gorgeous, aesthetically beautiful website went down like a fart at a funeral, I retreated back to the drawing board.

I knew the answer lay in how I marketed myself, but…. wasn’t I doing everything I was told to do? I had build up a solid brand identity and was doing everything in my power to create awareness of my brand?

I don’t remember when I first encountered John Carlton but I think it was via one of those mazy Google jogs we all go on from time to time.

But within minutes, I liked what I saw of this dude..

All of a sudden I was airlifted out of the dull as dishwater world of mainstream branding strategies right into the world of “balls-to-the-wall, no-holds barred” direct marketing.

A secret society devoted to “killer, street-savvy salesmanship” and “lizard-brain customer psychology”.

I was hooked. For a contrarian, ant-professional like myself who long suspected most marketing was bunk, it was a revelation.

It was a wake-up call akin to be slapped across the face by a rabid fishwife with a 10 day old rotting kipper.

Suddenly, a whole new world of rogue, anti-establishment capitalists appeared right before my very eyes.

Evil geniuses like Gary Halbert and Dan Kennedy.

These lads didn’t play by the rules, and openly took pleasure in laughing at the stupidity of big corporations and their lame ass ways.

And I could never look at web design the same way ever again. Once your eyes are open, there ain’t no turning back, chico..

Everywhere I looked I saw I bloated, wishy-washy websites with no focus or goal in mind.

No reason for existing other than the business decided “they should have one.”

So I set out to change things.

To create websites that actually did something. Websites with a goal. A purpose.

Websites that sold, and made their businesses money.

Grab yours today.

Stay Hungry,

Keith “The Anti-Professional” Commins

P.S. If you’re looking for an introduction to the intoxicating world of direct response marketing, there’s numerous books and courses you could use. But I couldn’t write an email about John Carlton and not recommend any of his products, now could I?

His course “Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel” does exactly what it says on the tin. Irreverent, ballsy copywriting advice from one of the industry’s grand masters. It’s not kindle store territory at €99, but if you’re still viewing your marketing education as an expense, then you really need to ask yourself some serious questions..

Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel – John Carlton