Ready...Fire...Aim! Gets Its First Negative Review
January 31, 2008

My new book, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat has been getting great reviews. First from colleagues in the industry. And then from critics. And then from readers.

So far RFA has received 18 reviews on Amazon. I was pleased to see that most of them were real people using real names. 17 of the 18 reviews were raves and rated 5 out of 5 stars. One was a panning...at one star.

G Treese - the one-star critic - provided a very different critique. Apparently, he (she?) didn't like it at all. I wanted to know why. So I read his critique very carefully. Here is what he said:


1. "Masterson should just launch an infomercial so he can be like Kevin Trudeau, but he doesn't because it is far less expensive to do viral marketing via the web."

Wrong. First, I don't want to be like Mr. Trudeau. I don't want to run his kind of business. And I don't want to promote myself on TV. I value my privacy. That's why I use a pseudonym.

2. "Look at his reviews for the book yourself; Most of them are very complimentary, yes, but several are from Agora, the publishing company that Masterson owns."

Wrong, again. I don't own Agora. I am happy to be a consultant for them. They keep me on only if I am helpful in growing their business. The year before I went to work for them they had revenues of $8 million. Last year they exceeded $300 million. This year they will top that.

Since Mr. Treese is confused about my relationship with Agora, he makes a statement that slanders those Agora publishers who gave the book good reviews. He implies that they are doing so to flatter their "boss." But they are my bosses. If I provided one of them with a flattering review, this charge - though false - could be made. I am very happy and flattered by the praise my clients gave the book. These are very independently minded people. They don't always give me five-star ratings.

3. "Further, the reviews from those who say they have 'worked' with Masterson are likely people who have paid Masterson to attend his workshops that cost in the thousands of dollars. I could be wrong here, but I searched the reviews and cannot find one that says, 'Masterson worked for me and did a great job.' For someone who is supposed to write outstanding copy and be a high priced expert consultant, it seems odd that there would not be a review from a satisfied employer."

Now Mr. Treese seems to be objecting to what he just criticized: that there are not enough testimonials from my clients. I thought this was an odd criticism... how would he know who my clients are? In any case, I looked at it again today and found that there were in fact several recommendations from clients, two of which are reprinted below.

"As a mentor and now consultant to my company, I have seen first hand how Michael Masterson can grow a business.

"Reading Ready, Fire, Aim was like a flashback to all the advice Michael has given me over the years. I know that advice is the only reason my company survived the initial startup and now has annual sales over $10 million. Now all that knowledge, experience and advice is put together in Michael's latest book. I highly recommend this book to anyone starting their own business, or for that matter, anyone who owns a business of any size.

"Fantastic!"
-Brian Sodi Delray Beach, Florida

"I recently read Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. I have to say that it actually surpassed my high expectations. To me, the thing that separates this book from other similar publications is that it's written by someone that has used these principles over and over to make a fortune. The book explains in crystal clear terms how to take specific actions to become rich. And I know that Michael Masterson knows what he's talking about. He's been a consultant for my business for only a month and sales have already doubled following his strategies. This book is a "must buy" for any serious entrepreneur."

-Paul LawrenceFt. Lauderdale, Florida


4. "Lastly, the biggest thorn in the side of a copy writing business (other than losing the reader's attention) are typos. If you read Masterson's self aggrandizing posts, under the heading 'A Good Way to Start the Day' dated 4 January 2008, second sentence. 'He thanked "me for sending me" a copy of Ready Fire Aim…"

I love this last criticism. First of all, it's clear to me that Mr. Treese hasn't read the book. Ready, Fire, Aim is not about copywriting. Neither are any of my other books. They are about starting and developing businesses and building wealth. I do teach copywriters how to write better copy. But I haven't published anything on that subject. When I do, I hope Mr. Treese buys one of the books and actually reads it. If he does, he will discover that typos are not, as he claims, the second biggest problem that copywriters face. In fact, I would not put typos among the top 100 problems.

But I love the fact that his last criticism of the book is a criticism of a single typo that he found among the thousands of articles I have written since ETR began publishing. A single typo! That's great.

But what is better is Mr. Treese's own writing. Notwithstanding the logical and factual mistakes that are so abundant in his critique, there are the following mistakes in punctuation, spelling and grammar:

- There is no need for a comma after Kevin Trudeau.
- There should be a colon, not a semi colon, after "Look at the reviews for this book yourself;"
- The use of the word "yourself" in that sentence is redundant. It should be deleted.
- The following sentence is ungrammatical. It is what grammarians call a "run on" sentence. It should be two sentences. And the "yes" should be omitted.
- "Further" should be deleted from the next sentence. It is unnecessary and makes the writing sound academic.
- That sentence is also too long.
- The next sentence is ungrammatical. There is a mistake in tense. Instead of "cannot find" it should be "could not find."
- In the following sentence "high priced" should be hyphenated.
- In the next sentence there is yet another grammatical blunder: "the biggest thorn…are typos."
- And in the same sentence another punctuation mistake: "self aggrandizing" should be hyphenated.
- The same mistake is made in the last sentence, but we are getting tired now. We must leave Mr. Treese alone.

I don't fault Mr. Treese for all his faults. I'm thankful to him for pointing out my failing: a single typo in an essay of more than 1000 words. The fact that he made 11 fairly serious grammatical, punctuation and usage mistakes doesn't make him an ineffective writer. But it does make his criticism difficult to take seriously.

I was not the only one who felt this way. In response to Mr. Treese's critique, Harry Brown said:

"It is quite odd that this reviewer comments more on other reviews than on the actual book... I have none of the above mentioned relationships with Mr. Masterson except that I'm fairly successful in business. And from my experience, no matter what business school you decide to go to, if you don't get up and actually do something with all your ideas... well that's all they'll be, ideas. And that is one of the things this book tries to pass across to the reader. Stop waiting for the perfect moment to come... ACT NOW!"

"Aspiring Wealth Builder" said:


"I agree with Harry Brown. This reviewer seems confused. Perhaps it's just me, but is she seriously suggesting that instead of spending $20 and a few hours with this book, you're better off spending $100,000+ and 2 years going to business school? Hmmm. that doesn't seem to make good business sense to me."

And "W. Fan" said:

"Masterson has the goods to back up his book, having built more than one significant business. Just my opinion but the price of the book seems an inexpensive way to access his insights given his accomplishments. On B-school, not that B-school has no value but if wealth and success are the goals here, how many of today's Fortune rich list completed B-school or even undergrad studies? If it were me, I'd spend the $20, take some action on Masterson's ideas and pay my way through B-school in cash instead of racking up the debt like most students end up doing."

After reading Mr. Treese's review, I am convinced that he hasn't read the book. Besides the major mistake of missing the book's good advice, he thinks the book is about copywriting. I guess he mistakenly assumed the book was about that. As I said earlier, I've never written a book on copywriting. (However, I am writing three of them now...) Some of my ideas are included in AWAI's programs, but I've never actually written a book on that important subject before. Ready, Fire, Aim is about entrepreneurship - about starting and growing small businesses. It contains most of the best ideas I have on the subject and highlights the most important principles and strategies I've used these past 25 years to help start and grow so many successful companies.

Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 8:41 AM, ,

Ready, Fire, Aim Hits #7 in the Wall Street Journal
January 22, 2008

I just got an email from my publisher with some great news about Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. I'm out of the country traveling on business, and I haven't had a chance to hit the newsstand yet. But apparently my new book is #7 on this week's Wall Street Journal business book bestseller list.

If you were one of the thousands who bought Ready, Fire, Aim... thanks. If you took the time to post a review on Amazon.com or highlighted the book in your blog, website, or e-zine, I thank you as well.

I'm very pleased the book is selling well. I know my publisher is. I truly think this is the best book I've ever written. It collects most, if not all, of the ideas about starting and running entrepreneurial businesses that I've developed during my decades in business. So it's gratifying that so many people are interested in learning from my experience. I expect many more will pick up a copy after seeing it in the Journal.

Yes, hitting #1 on Amazon last week was great. But there is a different feeling from making one of these "big" lists. It's a weekly list, not daily or hourly, so it's much harder to secure a spot. It's definitely more prestigious. This is going to give the book national and even international attention.

I have been on bestseller lists before. Seven Years to Seven Figures was on the New York Times list a couple of years ago, but it still feels just as good this time as it did then.
Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 11:30 AM, ,

An Eater's Manifesto

A New York Times ad for Michael Pollan's new book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, had a good subtitle for the book's January third release: "A New Way to Eat in the New Year." The ad then listed 12 rules from the book, which I will reprint here:

1. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce.
3. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else - the farmer's market or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide diversity of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Three things that must be said about this ad:
1. The punctuation is excellent. Few people today know how to use a colon and semicolon.
2. The advice is excellent. Longtime Early to Rise readers know these rules.
3. Spelling out all the advice is a risky marketing proposition. I am tempted to read the book because it is clearly a good, smart book. But I have the rules. Do I need the book?

Kudos to Michael Pollan and his publisher.
Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 8:11 AM, ,

What's Your Ambitious Goal for 2008?
January 15, 2008

Last year at this time I wrote a message to AWAI students and clients, as well as ETR readers. In it I said that I had made a very ambitious writing resolution for 2007. My goal was to write a poem a day for 365 days.

I got the idea from a playwright who had done something very similar: She wrote a play every day for a year.

I liked the boldness of that ambition. It seemed to me that it was the kind of goal that could change a life. It did for the playwright. One of the plays she wrote made her famous.

I have written poetry on and off my whole life, but never seriously. Maybe, I thought, I could improve my skills and even write some good poems this way. There were no guarantees, but I was optimistic that something good would come of it.

In revealing my personal goal, I recommended that AWAI students and clients set an equally ambitious goal related to their careers as future copywriters. I suggested that they read a new promotion every day. Or, if they were really gung ho, write one.

Many people who read that essay probably thought I was dreaming. "What's the point in making a resolution you can't possibly keep?" one person wrote me.

I was concerned - maybe even a little afraid - that the objective was too grandiose. And that I wouldn't follow through.

But I was also hopeful. The cleverness of the idea was the sheer size of it. By setting a super-sized career goal, I thought, maybe one could break through a lifetime of failed smaller objectives. A XXX-Large sized New Year's resolution might be big enough to crash through whatever psychological barriers that were holding one back.

That was the idea. And guess what? It worked for me. I did write 365 poems in 365 days. I skipped a few days when I was busy traveling, but I made up for them when I had spare time. Many of the poems I wrote were only a few lines. (I employed some Japanese stanzas - 3 and 5 lines - when I was far behind.) And many weren't very good. But at the end of the year I had more than 100 poems that were - according to a few editors I sent them to - good enough to publish.

So that's what I'm working on now: publishing them in literary journals and collecting them for my first book of poetry. It feels good to have accomplished this goal. It feels great to have improved my skills as a poet.

This brings us back to you. Did you read that essay? If so, did you set a goal?

If so, I would really like to hear about it. I'd like to know, in particular, how tough it was, how you coped with whatever setbacks you encountered, and what you gained from the experience.

If you took my specific suggestions and set reading or writing goals, tell your fellow blog readers how the experience improved your career. Are you more confident now? Tell us about it.

If you did not make a gargantuan resolution last year, why not make one for this year?

You know how quickly time flies. And with every passing year, it will move more quickly. Seize the day, as they say. Capture the moment. Make 2008 your year for taking a quantum leap forward.

If you missed that little essay, here is a part of it:

How did the playwright do it?

Did she wake up early every morning and get to it and not stop until she was done? Did she work on other projects first (she is also a screenwriter and novelist) and then get to her plays at night?

And how much did she write? According to the article, some of the plays were "only a few pages long" - but that's still an amazing accomplishment. She gave herself an almost unthinkable goal ... and went ahead and accomplished it.

But she did it smart. She didn't put a minimum length on each play. She let each one take its own length. That's a clever way to approach doing something great.

But it can be done by doing what she did: by narrowing the scope of the goal and focusing on quality rather than size.

Here are some other "unthinkably" big goals to consider:

• Learn a marketing secret a day.
• Read/scan an educational book a day.
• Write a story a day.
• Study a promotion a day.
• Analyze a stock a day.
• Make a sale a day.
• Contact a potential customer a day.
• Recite a poem a day.
• Call/write a friend a day.
• Practice a speech a day.
• Sing a song a day.
• Practice a musical piece a day.
• Exercise intensely each day.

Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 10:11 AM, ,

The Ready, Fire, Aim Buying Frenzy
January 7, 2008

When I left work on Friday, my new book Ready, Fire, Aim, had just launched that morning. It was 120,000 on the Barnes and Noble website and placed similarly on the Amazon bestseller list. When I woke up this morning we were #6 overall on Amazon and #1 in the business and investing category. On BN.com the book moved up the list steadily, from #43 on Sunday afternoon to #21 this morning. Apparently we got strong endorsements from two big publishers, the Daily Reckoning on Sunday and CenterPointe on Friday. I'm among the 500,000 subscribers to Daily Reckoning, and I read it every day with great interest. CenterPointe has a unique approach to personal growth, a subject that, as you know, I'm very interested in. So I appreciate that they both felt Ready, Fire, Aim was worthy of their reader's time. I'm certain their help played a major role in this weekend's buying frenzy for my book.

I should also mention that Friday the Early to Rise team started another promotional effort for the book launch. It's a viral video contest in which readers will submit videos featuring the book. They're competing for a business lunch meeting with me and MaryEllen, the superstar CEO of Early to Rise. The Early to Rise team put together a fun video to get things rolling. Visit the events page on my website to see the video and for more details on the contest.

This contest is something we haven't tried before, and I'm very curious to see what will come out of it.
Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 3:32 PM, ,

Finally...Ready...Fire...Aim is Out!

Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 1:37 PM, ,

A Good Way to Start the Day
January 4, 2008

The first thing I read today - a handwritten note that was at the top of my inbox - came from Jeffrey J. Fox, the best-selling business author. He thanked me for sending me a copy of Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat and said he thought it was a "great" book and hoped we would sell "a million of them."

That was a pleasant way to begin the day's work. It made me think: it would be good for the blood if one could start off each day with an upbeat message of some kind. At ETR we receive written compliments all the time. Why not have one of them printed and sent around to our staff first thing each morning? Or at least every Monday morning. Better than an overdue bill.

Back to Jeffrey J. Fox. Ever since I first read How to Become CEO I was hooked on his little books: chock full of good advice that only someone who understands business from the inside could provide. Academy award winners often say that what they like best about the Oscars is that are bestowed by their fellow practitioners. That's how I feel about getting accolades from the likes of Jeffrey J. Fox.

And they are coming in. So far, we've heard very flattering comments from Porter Stansberry, Bill Bonner, Julia Guth, Katie Yeakle, Robert Ringer, Jay Abraham, Joe Vitale, Brian Tracy, Richard Frost, Ron Tucker, Brent Jones, Scott Martineau, among others.
Read more!

posted by M. Masterson @ 4:12 PM, ,

"When Michael Masterson gives advice, I pay attention, and you should too ." - John Mauldin, bestselling author of Bull's Eye Investing

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