STEPHEN J. CARTER | Direct Response Copywriter

So now that you’re here let me tell you who I am.

I’m also going to outline what I do for clients.

Actually, I’ll do that first.

That way you’ll be able to figure out whether working with me is something that could potentially benefit the both of us (since I like to think of those I work with as business partners).

I’m Stephen Carter.

Most days I consider myself a copywriter.

That means when people ask me what it is I do for a living I tell them I write sales copy for others.

I like this answer because it’s easy to picture the result of providing this service.

It’s a piece of copy that my client’s prospects can choose to either read, listen to, or completely ignore.

Most importantly, it’s something we can both point to and say “There it is, that thing we created together. And wow, it’s pretty frickin’ awesome…”

Compare that to what’s typically achieved from rounds of consulting, which can take more of our time as copywriters than the physical act of putting pen to paper.

Nothing.

Most of what gets discussed leads nowhere.

It becomes food for thought.

Things we might try down the line.

One day.

If we ever remember we had this conversation (not likely).

So while the truth is I’m as much a consultant for my clients as I am a copywriter, if you ask me what it is I do for a living I’m going to say I write copy.

And I like think it’s fairly good copy.

But it’s not just any kind of copy.

And it’s not written for just anyone.

Wanted: ASK Funnel Visionaries

My primary interests bias strongly toward health and science.

In practice I tend to specialize even more narrowly.

In fact I built this web site specifically to cater to two kinds of prospective clients.

With luck you’re one of them, and I’m about to describe you to a tee – like I’m right inside your mind…

The first group consists of marketers who are currently looking to build a Ryan Levesque ASK-style sales funnel.

The second group haven’t quite reached that point.

They’re marketers who have become aware of this type of online quiz-based marketing tool and they’re trying to scope out just what it takes to build one of these things.

The question they want answered is the following.

Is there someone who can take a look at their existing business with fresh eyes, re-imagine it in the context of the ASK framework, and then formulate a plan to design a quiz-based sales funnel complete with the various copy elements required to bring it to life?

There’s another commonality these two groups share.

They’re not just interested in building an automated cash-spewing mega funnel to fund their lifestyle and aspirations.

Sure, that’s a HUGELY important part of why they want to go down the ASK road.

But it’s not what gets them out of bed in the morning ready to take on the world and do whatever is necessary to make their dream a reality.

It’s the chance to make a real and beneficial impact on the lives of countless others.

To build a business both with and worthy of legacy.

That’s something I heard Ryan Levesque emphasize recently and I think he’s right.

We are all limited in the amount of time, money, and ingenuity we can apply to realize our visions in life.

So why waste any of it building businesses that peddle low-impact mass-appeal products?

Products that even if they do prove to be immensely successful sellers won’t absolve us of that troubling feeling that we still need to achieve something with our lives…

Even if those products did stand the test of time – which they almost surely won’t.

What a waste that would be.

Of your life.

Of the opportunity you have to make a difference.

If you’re here because this sentiment reflects your own thinking about what matters most to you, then it’s entirely possible you’re exactly where you are meant to be.

That you are one of the small group of people I had in mind to attract when I set to building this site.

To step off my pep-talk pedestal and wrap it in a more comfortable cloak of wordery – if I’ve done my job right you may be the precious and pain-stakingly sought fly to my craftily constructed web of sticky ASK-inspired trinkets and goo.

If anything I’m saying is plucking a string deep inside you right now, causing the words “Tell me more!” to bubble up from within, then I’ve hit my mark.

You’ll find articles dedicated to answering this question – about whether I’m the one – elsewhere on the site.

These posts should quell any lingering confusion about whether this fellow Stephen might be a good match for the project you have in mind.

So, Stephen Carter – Tell Me A Little About Yourself…

You got it, doc.

Let me just slide up here on the couch and get comfortable, then we can dive right in…

Actually this would probably be the right time to mention that I’m also a doctor.

But not one of those fancy types that allow the M.D. initials to be tacked onto the end of my name.

No – if you choke on a pretzel in my presence and fall at my feet gasping – well, there’s a very good chance you’re not getting vertical again.

Sorry, my friend, but on the medical front I have no training whatsoever.

On the other hand:

• If you’ve ever found yourself waking in the dead of night in a cold sweat because the copywriters you know seem unable to get a proper handle on the science that goes into your nutritional products, or those of your competitors…
• If the technical stuff matters in some shape or form to the smooth operation of your business, and when it comes to deciding what to do next you could benefit from knowing a guy who can usually suss out what’s plausible and what’s likely a pure waste of your time…
• If you’re plain frustrated by the mysteries of the universe and – you know – you simply can’t make sense of quantum mechanics and its crazy claim that the cat inside the box can be both alive and dead at the same time (no, seriously, that’s a thing)…
• If you could make use of a copywriter who studies the ASK methodology with a level of intensity that often leaves him blue in the face…

Then maybe – just maybe – having access to me could put your mind at ease and make your life measurably less stressful.

OK, so maybe you’ll pass on knowing more about the quantum mechanical nature of the world and want to concentrate instead solely on its moola-manifesting properties… I’m cool with that too.

Either way, I am very comfortable with the sciency side of things because I grew up on a long and steady hard core diet of the stuff.

Somewhere along the way I even managed to acquire for myself a doctorate in physics.

All of which is to say I have an endless fascination for what makes the world tick.

That I can also write is just the icing on the cake.

It’s the bit that, if we get lucky and we seem to be a good fit for one another, we can use to your advantage to help take your business where you want it to go.

And don’t worry, I’ll never ask you to call me Dr. Carter.

Especially since I wouldn’t know a Heimlich Maneuver from a Tchaikovsky Overture if my life (well yours if we ever eat together and you insist on going for the pretzels) depended on it.

Soup.

That’s your safe choice of menu item when you’re with me.

But Damn It, Man… Can You Really, Truly Write?

Great question, most excellent question.

As I mentioned before, yeah, I kind of do alright with the written word.

At one point in my life I spent years dedicating practically every waking hour to developing my craft as a novelist.

A teller of tales.

That’s not an entirely useless skill to have mastered.

Particularly as it relates to the art of persuading people to part with their money.

Listen, I’m not the kind of guy that likes to draw your attention to my talent as a copywriter.

Some of that may be necessary from time to time, as I reel you into my world and slowly try to brainwash you into accepting my point of view…

But the most important thing you need to understand about me is just why I’m in the business of helping others to build their business.

Here’s the unvarnished truth of the matter.

The biggest part is about the money – the need to make a pile of it.

Certainly enough so that when my son heads off to college in the not-too-distant future I won’t be caught floundering.

Otherwise I’d just as soon be off writing stories for the fiction market.

Believe me, the idea of spending my days doing that is more than a little appealing, and I guarantee you it is WAY more fun than copywriting!

So – if the means to shoring up my bank account depends on me helping you devise and design an ASK-and-copy-driven business capable of generating bucket loads of cash…

Well then, I’m going to be trying awfully hard to meet my end of the deal.

That sounds eminently reasonable to me.

Especially if you have a product or service that simply kicks ass in the real world.

I’m up for it.

I’m ready to go for broke and give it my very best shot.

How about you?