If what you see above Malaysia? Or it the map of Malaysia? If you own the map or print out the visual, do you hold in your hands Malaysia? Of merely the map of Malaysia?

With the map above, can you go to Betong? Does it show you where Bekenu is?

Similarly, our mental maps of the world is not the world. Yet, daily we respond to our maps, rather than directly to the world.

How do we create this map?

Through how we experience the world and interpret that experience. The good news is your map can easily be updated, just as easily as you create them.

Plus, wouldn’t it be easier to change your map of the world than to change the world?

NLP, or neurolinguistic programming, focuses on how your thoughts, actions and feelings work together right now to produce your experience. On the other hand, traditional clinical psychologists set out to describe difficulties, then categorising them and search for historical causes.

If you compare the two, clinical psychology starts with the question of “what’s wrong?” NLP, however, accepts the mind being alright, only the way it’s being used – consciously or otherwise – may be impairing.

By now, it’s probably clear that NLP is based on principles that are distinct from traditional psychology. The foundations of NLP rests in what are known collectively as Presuppositions of NLP.

All the 10 Presuppositions which you will be able to discover as the weeks progress can be summarised into one: people work perfectly.

What we do – our thoughts and actions – combined with what we feel produce specific results. Repeat the pattern all over again, you will get the same results.

Take, for example, you waking up in the morning. You want to wake up an hour earlier from before. However, you did not set the alarm nor did you change your sleeping pattern. Can you predict what the results of that will be?

You’ll wake up at the same time as before. The process works perfectly.

So, if you want to change the results, you need to change your thoughts, actions and feelings.

After you’ve understood specifically how you create and maintain your inner thoughts and feelings, changing them with something more useful becomes easy and effortless!

And the NLP Presuppositions are the foundations to achieve exactly that!

This post is inspired by a long-time friend who shared a problem. I decided to share it because it affects many people who want to change.

I’m not sure [what I want to change]. Because sometimes I aim… But in the end nothing happens… Then there’s the fear of meeting people…

This is the reply I got to from an inquiry regarding my Personal Development NLP Session. In whatever light you want to see this in, it’s a common struggle many people face. It is internal conflicts like this which hampers many from being the person they can be.

There are many ways people use to address this dilemma. While others successfully use positive and healthy means, there are people who succumb. The later resort to substances and alcohol, reckless activities that endanger themselves and people around them, or even go mad.

Through NLP Sessions, what NLP Practitioners will do is ask questions – some which you may feel weird. Good NLP Practitioners will use meta questioning models to really discover the deep rooted problem.

Let me take a possible weight loss client. When she comes to me for a weight loss session, I’ll ask her on how she feels about the goal, how would it be like if she achieved it, what happens if she doesn’t.

After covering the surface, using the meta questioning method, I’ll dive deeper. Asking more and more about emotions and memories, guiding my client to explore her subconscious.

From there, we will work on the remedy.

If this is not done, the chances of relapse are high. I reckon this would be the limitations of popular motivation: it does not address the root.

We have finally reached the third and last Law of Suggestion: the Law of Dominant Effect.

What is the Law of Dominant Effect? As the name implies, the strongest emotion triumphs over other emotions and reason.

Law in Action: The best example for you to consider is the way your subconscious reacts to something you are phobic of. It can be cockroaches, ladybirds, snake, frogs, the sea, heights and so on. Even though you may be protected by a bullet proof glass enclosure, the moment your sight lands on that object you are phobic of, your phobia reaction kicks in. In cases of phobia, your physiology will change. You may begin to quiver. Your glands produce liquid profusely. Some may even wail or scream – inside that clearly safe protection.

In this example, your reason and your knowledge that you’re safe all succumb to the most dominant emotion: fear. In real life, this isn’t confined to just fear. You can include euphoria, anger, sadness, content satisfied and so on.

Mind-Body Relationship: Going back to our primal origins. This mechanism within our minds are predetermined. What varies are the way it decides to protect you – whether you want it or not.

Continuing our exploration, we get to know the second Law of Suggestion: the Law of Reversed Effect.

What is the Law of Reversed Effect? More and more you try to do something governed by your subconscious, the more you find it difficult to achieve. Put it as this: your conscious and subconscious minds govern different aspects of your life. Where one is capable of doing, the other may not.

Law in Action. Physiologically speaking, your subconscious is your autonomic nervous system – the system that governs bodily functions independent of your conscious control. You can control your movements, whether to swallow or not as well as running or walking. But you cannot directly control your blood pressure, heart beat, glucose level or event sweating mechanism!

More and more you try it, the harder it gets.

Mind-Body Relationship: It is not impossible to gain control over these bodily functions. But it’s not as direct as you can imagine. Your brain is equipped with sophisticated organs which would facilitate your survival. Based on the information surrounding you as relayed by your senses, it reacts. Whether the threat or reward is real, it’s immaterial. Your brain directs your body to react to its reality.

But when you attempt to consciously assert control, it – I speculate – raises your brain’s alarm. Through that, you will begin to feel agitated, depressed or annoyed. It’s when your mood isn’t too good for whatever reason. Your subconscious isjust protecting you.

While I was on the road today, an idea flashed in my mind: a radio script for this year’s Aidilfitri programme promo on radio. It’s just a speculative work. Let’s set this year’s working title as ‘Luminasi Lebaran’.

Salam Aidilfitri pembuka bicara…

Mengundang anda sekeluarga menceriakan hari lebaran bersama TV33…

Pelbagai rancangan: rencana dan drama menemani anda…

Tatkala menjamah rendang dan lemang…

Luminasi Lebaran menerangi Aidilfitri bersama kami di TV33!

The radio promo would fit nicely in a 20 second spot with a 4 second extra for jingle. As for talent, a male with solid voice – not necessarily deep – would be ideal. Read in a ‘pantun’/‘gurindam’ style, but not to the effect that it would limit the execution.

Copy can make or break your marketing campaign just us much, if not more, as the design elements you have. Think of it this way: you want to be able to see the return on investments on your copy as soon as possible. Why invest in something that hands you losses?

Most entrepreneurs, online or offline, tend to write copy for the sake of having that brochure/leaflet/flyer. Apparently the bandwagon is as alluring as the Ferrari!

Seriously?

Well, if you’ve written your copy, it’s alright. Creating Creatives – the new Companies Commission of Malaysia-registered business owned and operated by Aldric Tinker – offers a service just for you: copy critique.

What is ‘Copy Critique’?

Simply put it this way: copy critique is an assessment of your copy or marketing text. Points which would be covered are:

• Layout/formatting.
• Headline/Subheadline.
• Opening/Attention step.
• Testimonials and Proof Elements.
• Bullet points.
• Your USP.
• Your Offer.
• Your “Persuasion Architecture”.
• Your target market.
• Order page or forms.
• Call to action.
• Post script.

With Creating Creatives, you may obtain your assessment within 1-2 weeks in document, PowerPoint or even video format!

Why get a Copy Critique?

Among many reasons, you may want to consider having a Copy Critique done for your marketing piece because:

• You want a second opinion, independent of your views;
• You want a feedback which you can fix the copy yourself. Copy critique isn’t rewriting. That’s charged at a different rate.
• You want to keep your costs minimal – copy critiques are the cheapest of the lot!
• Chances are you have hit the brick wall on your copy. A copy critique may give it a new direction for you or your creative team to explore.

How do you go about this?

Here are the steps in chronological order:

1. You pay me. (Relax, it’s more affordable than you think!)
2. You email me your sales copy in Words format (.doc or .docx) or the link to it.
3. You answer a series of simple questions via email so I have more complete understanding of your market, your product, and your advertising methods.
4. I’ll actually do the critique.

Within that 14 days, you will see new additions in the document through the “Track Changes” feature. You’ll find comments, edits, and even new copy ideas on the side. Even if you send me a link to a web page, it will go through the same process.

Each critique will definitely be different. Thus, you will be supplied with new headline ideas, new copy angles and approaches, and suggestions to make your copy flow smooth as silk.

If you find some minor rewrites, just take a deep breath and relax! You’ll get that from me sometimes – new transitions, sentences or even a whole paragraph just to make your copy more solid.

How low is Low Cost?

I am routinely paid thousands of ringgit to conceptualise or write copy. This is because – on top of being a student of clinical hypnosis, Law and neurolinguistic programming – I have experience in writing copy for print, direct response, online, broadcasting (TV and Radio) and public relations.

The good news: copy critiques cost only a fraction because you’ve already done all the heavy lifting by writing the sales copy yourself.

My job is to tap into 2-years of online, print, broadcasting, direct response and public relations experience to give you the most targeted, most insightful, and most profitable advice I possibly can.

This is much easier than writing a sales letter from scratch. Therefore, you get a significant price break.

The cost to hire me for a copy critique is relatively affordable at RM500. Not cheap, but still within reach.

(And if RM500 is going to break the bank or compromise your ability to pay your bills, please do NOT hire me.)

The Picture in Numbers

Allow me to use some basic math to show you how you will be profiting from this.

Let’s assume you sell a RM50 product. And let’s assume you also spend 25% of your sales price on advertising, leaving you with RM37.50 profit per sale.

If you get just 14 extra sales you would not have gotten otherwise, the critique will pay for itself. After that, any extra sales would be pure gravy.

If you sell a RM100 product, then just 7 extra sales covers your cost.

And if you sell a RM300+ product or service, then just 1 or 2 extra sales this month (or year) will put you in the black.

But the value you’re getting is even better than what I’ve lead you to believe because…

If you are my next 8 7 Clients, I’m Only Asking RM300

There are three clear reasons I’m offering copy critiques for only $300 for the next 8 7 clients:

Reason #1: I have some taxes due no later than April 15 and I figured I’d get a jump start on making sure I can pay them.

Reason #2: I would like to get more positive feedback — more testimonials — that I can use to sell more copy critiques.

Reason #3: A copy critique is a great low-risk way to get familiar with me and my work. And my hope is that at least one person who hires me for a copy critique will hire me for a bigger writing project down the road.

So that’s it. I’ve shown you my hand.

And I’m giving you 40% discount just for taking advantage of this offer NOW instead of later.

But don’t dilly-dally. This offer could be gone by the end of the week.

All you have to do is say yes and click email me at aldric@aldrictinker.com or call me at +6 019 752 2788 to proceed with payment and secure your spot on my schedule.

Let’s begin our three part series on the Thee Laws of Hypnosis with the most popular one: the Law of Concentrated Attention.

What is the Law of Concentrated Attention? Through the writings of Rhonda Byrne (The Secret) and Michael Frosier (Law of Attraction), this law is commonly known as the ‘Law of Attraction’.

The basis of the law is you will always find – or achieve – whatever you set your mind onto. Whatever you set your mind onto, I repeat again.

In the study of [clinical] hypnosis, your subconscious reacts to whatever you are thinking, your beliefs and values towards a particular issue. You should, by now, notice that I never mention a selection process.

To put it bluntly, the Law of Concentrated Attention stipulates that your subconscious mind reacts to everything you think of, positive and negative, to achieve or avoid a goal or aim.

Law in Action: Have you noticed, how many red MyVIs are on the road after you’ve signed the contract to buy a red MyVI? Or perhaps you begin to notice the number of people wearing a purple headscarf after you left the house and are wearing it? In my case, while working on a telecommunication company’s project pitch with a client, somehow we noticed how the Klang Valley is highly bombarded by telco adverts!

Mind-Body Relationship: While normal ‘right thinking members of society’ may feel that this is a rip off, slowly the medical and health care community are beginning to accept the validity of such relationship. Studies have been and are on going in Europe and the United States on the relationship of conscious and subconscious mind.

If you’re studying clinical hypnosis, you will be taught that this is something primal to the human mind. Back in the days of living in caves, our ancestors needed to be alert to dangers all around them. They become alert of any predators when they leave the cave to hunt or move. Every sound of breaking branches draws their attention.

When you make something so relevant and important to your mind, your body’s autonomic nervous system kicks in and does its job.

Have you ever came across brochures or text which just turns you off? What about the copy that just doesn’t feel right on that design layout? I’m sure you have – I’ve seen it so many times.

When working on a brochure, my clients would usually send over the visuals first. Once that’s done, I draw out the headlines, sub headlines and other copy elements based on the ‘look and feel’ of that soon-to-be brochure.

Just like other aspects of advertising and marketing, there is no room for waste. Generally all professional copywriters agree that the function of copy is to be read. Read and persuade the reader to answer the call to action! What divides them – and designers – is the length of the copy needed to persuade. There are many things to consider when you’re talking about length.

Much like a lawyer preparing her argument before the judge, a professional copywriter would do the necessary homework. Similarly a law student who needs to voice his opinion in the lecture hall. The shorter the copy, the more the work. Why? The copy must strike at the heart of the issue.

In considering what to write, a professional copywriter that’s worth his value will take into account:

• The measurements of success of the campaign;
• The mechanics prospects need to undergo before the sale is closed;
• The needs and desire of the prospects;
• The benefits of the product or service and how it can meet the needs and desires of the prospects;
• The visual and brand elements of the brochure and the identity of the client.

When you’re writing your brochure or website, what do you think of? Would you write it chronologically and focus more on the content? Or do you act with an overarching idea in mind?

In any event, are you aware of what’s probably the most important sentence in copywriting?

It’s commonly called your ‘call to action’.

What is a call to action? It’s a request – or directive – to your prospect or client to proceed to the next stage.

What’s the next stage?

I don’t know. You should know it before you begin writing your copy. For example, you may want your prospect to speak to your customer service representative. Then, you have your customers ‘call +6 019 752 2788 for more information’.

Alternatively, you may want them to visit a particular website. Then at the end of your copy, have them visit www.aldrictinker.com, for example.

Without your call to action, your customers or prospects may not know what to do. They’d be wondering who to contact.

In your call to action, you can make your offer more lucrative. How?

If you call +6 019 752 2788 by 14 February 2010, you will be entitled to a 20% discount.

But remember, your call to action needs to be:

• Simple;
• Specific;
• Uncluttered.