Friday, May 20, 2011

How to use the "hypnotic" writing technique

As promised in my last post, here's how I used the "hypnotic" writing technique to write an audiobook of 60 minutes, titled The Wimp and the Millionaire (you can read more about it in Joe Vitale's book, Hypnotic Marketing, although this post is informative enough for you to begin practicing that technique).

In fact, today, I wrote a 40-minute audiobook titled A Million Dollars in Your House. I'll share that audiobook with you later on.

As usual, this audiobook was completely spontaneous: I was preparing my coffee at 9 AM when that sentence, "a million dollars in your house", suddenly "came up" in my little head. I have NO CLUE where it came from, I guess it's some sort of inspiration.

Anyways, back to the making of The Wimp and the Millionaire.

I simply turned on my Audacity application (which you can download for free at http://audacity.sourceforge.net) and began to speak into my microphone.

The session went something like this:

"Okay, today I'm going to talk about an audiobook titled, The Wimp and the Millionaire. This book is about how each man has, within himself, BOTH a wimp aspect and a millionaire aspect.

Here, a reader might ask, "Oh, it's like Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad!"

Yes, I would answer, but in his case, it's about two EXTERNAL sources of influences: his Dad who was an educator and the Dad of his best friend, who was a multimillionaire entrepreneur.

This book is more about the INTERNAL entities within EACH man, without exception. So there's the wimpish entity, driven by fear, and the rich, abundant or "millionaire" entity driven by joy, love, service, creativity, etc.

So above is basically how the first few minutes went. Completely unscripted, pure spontaneous creativity flowing out of my mouth.

The technique is basically about how to just have a conversation, a very normal conversation with your readers. Of course, since you're likely to have MANY types of readers, any question can come from any of those readers.

For example, a reader of The Wimp and the Millionaire could be a free agent, another could be an entrepreneur, a third could be an employee, etc.

Here, you might say, "That's great, Peter, but I'm not an author or an expert. My goal is not to write a book."

True. But please remember that this is JUST a conversation that you're having with "imaginary" readers (however, to ground your questions in practical reality, imagine that your readers asking questions are people that you actually know -- your clients, boss, coworkers, family, friends, etc.).

So this conversation is an easy, fun way for you to make explicit what it is that you know, and what your experience has been.

The power of this technique is that it keeps you CONNECTED to the reader at all times, so you never lose his attention. Thus, he won't likely put down your book (or anything else you write, for that matter, whether it's a blog, a website, a report, etc.).

Today, with Facebook and Linkedin (which went public yesterday), we talk often about "connections" and "connectivity" but real, deep lasting "connection" only comes when you master the art of conversation (writing is just conversation, but on paper).

Here's a real-life example of how a job seeker was able to use this "hypnotic" technique to land a job.

She was interviewed by a manager, and he seemed preoccupied, like something else was on his mind. She was also a bit nervous as she felt she didn't have all the experience and credentials required.

So she told him frankly, "Sir, look, I know I'm probably not at the top of your list, but I can see that you could use a good employee who's willing to work hard. I can back you up any time you need me. I can help organize this office and even do overtime and work smart so you don't feel overloaded."

Obviously, he was impressed by her genuine offer of help, so he hired her on the spot.

You see, that is the power of connection.

And you can use that power when you write, when you apply for a job, when you sell, etc.

You just have to know (or predict as best you can) how the other person is THINKING and especially what she is FEELING.

Having 500 friends on Facebook or 1,000 connections on Linkedin will not help if you're not interested in getting to know the other person well enough to PREDICT her reaction to what you are saying or writing.

"Hypnotic writing technique" sounds fancy yet it's just about BEING INTERESTED in the other person's point of view, as well as her life, her struggles, her issues, etc.

Dale Carnegie talked extensively about this in his book How to win friends and influence people. He wrote, "To be interesting, be interested."

As you write (a blog, a book, etc.), be interested in your readers' lives, what they are going through which you can help them with.

Here, you might ask, "Why would I write a book or record an audiobook?"

Because it's the EASIEST way to create a product in 60 minutes or less! :)

Your next question might be, "Why would I want to create a product?"

Because the Internet exists to sell your product so you can generate passive income from it, and eventually achieve financial freedom. That is, you will no longer have to work for a living. You will only do work that you LOVE to do (in fact, it's more like play and not work!).

More in my next post.