Recent Quotes 📖

• It will not, I trust, be supposed by any reader that I have intended in this so-called autobiography to give a record of my inner life. No man ever did so truly,—and no man ever will. Rousseau probably attempted it, but who doubts but that Rousseau has confessed in much the thoughts and convictions rather than the facts of his life? If the rustle of a woman's petticoat has ever stirred my blood; if a cup of wine has been a joy to me; if I have thought tobacco at midnight in pleasant company to be one of the elements of an earthly paradise; if now and again I have somewhat recklessly fluttered a £5 note over a card-table;—of what matter is that to any reader? I have betrayed no woman. Wine has brought me to no sorrow. It has been the companionship of smoking that I have loved, rather than the habit. I have never desired to win money, and I have lost none. To enjoy the excitement of pleasure, but to be free from its vices and ill effects,—to have the sweet, and leave the bitter untasted,—that has been my study. The preachers tell us that this is impossible. It seems to me that hitherto I have succeeded fairly well. I will not say that I have never scorched a finger,—but I carry no ugly wounds.

  an excerpt from An Autobiography, written by Anthony Trollope in 1878

• That, in the writing of books, quantity without quality is a vice and a misfortune, has been too manifestly settled to leave a doubt on such a matter. But I do lay claim to whatever merit should be accorded to me for persevering diligence in my profession. And I make the claim, not with a view to my own glory, but for the benefit of those who may read these pages, and when young may intend to follow the same career. Nulla dies sine lineâ. Let that be their motto. And let their work be to them as is his common work to the common labourer. No gigantic efforts will then be necessary. He need tie no wet towels round his brow, nor sit for thirty hours at his desk without moving,—as men have sat, or said that they have sat. More than nine-tenths of my literary work has been done in the last twenty years, and during twelve of those years I followed another profession. I have never been a slave to this work, giving due time, if not more than due time, to the amusements I have loved. But I have been constant,—and constancy in labour will conquer all difficulties.

  an excerpt from An Autobiography, written by Anthony Trollope in 1878

• I was called upon by the proprietors of the Graphic for a Christmas story. I feel, with regard to literature, somewhat as I suppose an upholsterer and undertaker feels when he is called upon to supply a funeral. He has to supply it, however distasteful it may be. It is his business, and he will starve if he neglect it. So have I felt that, when anything in the shape of a novel was required, I was bound to produce it. Nothing can be more distasteful to me than to have to give a relish of Christmas to what I write. I feel the humbug implied by the nature of the order.

  an excerpt from An Autobiography, written by Anthony Trollope in 1878

Recent Notes 📓

• Extremely cheap paperback copy, looks like the cheesiest used-car salesman business book. Aesthetically a turnoff but we can still look at it dispassionately, can’t we?
  
  Jay: I’m a marketing consultant who has worked with thousands of companies and here’s the 21 best ways we’ve found to work with assets you already have:
  
  1. Flight plan. Uh, you need to sell, everybody is in sales. easier to sell more to existing customer than lock in a new one, etc, blah blah
  2. Breakthru. Break out of conventional approaches in your industry. Open your eyes. World is big and strategies are everywhere.
  3. Assess your current success. 50 questions to answer like ‘how did you get your first clients?’ And ‘when somebody becomes your client who else are you creating a client for?’ Eg, real estate agent => title company. These are actually probably a good exercise.
  4. Strategy of Preeminence. Put your clients needs ahead of your own. Success follows. Their REAL needs - security, money, family, etc.
  5. Understand LTV. It’s OK to break even or go into the red to acquire a client when their LTV makes up for it. Don’t miss the forest for the first-sale-tree.
  6. Vive le difference. You need a USP and it needs to be something you talk about ALL THE TIME.
  7. BTRF: Customers are scared to waste money. Make It easy to say ‘yes’ by offering a ‘BTRF, Better Than Risk Free guarantee. Like 110% money back!
  8. Would you like the left shoe, too? Add-on products, volume, time. Addon sales are easier than the first one.
  9. Never fall off a cliff. Testing things. Test your products, test your adds, etc. Lean startup basics here.
  10. Help from friends. Host-beneficiary approach. Find people already marketing to your market and get in on their action.
  11. Someone you should meet. Referrals baby! Just ASK your clients for referrals, diplomatically. You need to know what a good client looks like and be able to communicate that. You don’t have to make an affiliate bonus fee. People want to help you.
  12. Prodigal client. Regain your old clients! Go thru your rolodex and reconnect.
  13. Ten-thousand-person sales department. Direct mail. It works, it works across all kinds of industries, and its battle-tested. Just follow a template. Write a sales letter. A lot of stuff here that’s in cold-email templates.
  14. Fish where the big fish are. Don’t market with a shotgun, use a rifle. Target your likely prospects and the best ones.
  15. Telemarketing. Seriously that’s what this chapter is about. But advises you combine with direct mail and specific targeting.
  16. Bigprofits.com. Heard of the internet? You can sell there too. (Delightful bit where he says to ignore the hundreds of other search engines and focus on the top 8, Lycos, Altavista, HotBot, Northern Light, Excite, InfoSeek, WebCrawler, and Yahoo!
  17. Bag of beads. Consider bartering. You buy stuff for your business, could you barter your services for them?
  18. Leave a message after the beep. Call your clients regularly.
  19. Over the rainbow. Set reachable goals.
  20. Never-ending success. Plan for more success. I guess?
  21. You’re richer than you think. World’s full of opportunities, you just need creativity and hustle.
  
  
  Matt’s takeaway: Eh, I hated this. But it's evergreen sales advice, probably still things to learn here.

  an note about Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got, written by Jay Abraham in 2000

• I don’t remember why this made it on my to-read list, but it’s a twisty nested structural… horror book? Not sure yet. But the general conceit so far is: this is a booklength review of a Blair-witch style found footage documentary, with discursive footnotes, which is then FURTHER footnoted with personal stories from the punk kid who found all this (along with the original foot-noter’s body). That’s just 75 pages in, I suspect it’s going to get more complicated.

  an note about House of Leaves, written by Mark D. Danielewski in 2000

• She’s very impressed by a huge thunderstorm; something I feel proud of as an American (stupidly).

  an note about Domestic Manners of the Americans, written by Frances Trollope in 1832

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