The Boron Letters - Chapter 24

Thursday, 7:15 AM

July 5, 1984

Dear Son,

Well, I'm feeling better today. I think these short, frequent days of fasting are really cleaning me out. I
really feel a need now, more than ever, to shed my excess weight because it is starting to get really hot
here. In fact, I'll be it's 80 degrees or so already this morning.

Anyhow. What I want to tell you this morning is that after tomorrow I am going to stop writing these
letters for a while. There are several reasons: For example, I need to review some reference material
and take notes and then, more or less outline, the future letters as my babblings seem to me to be
getting too random. Another thing is that I want you to get this first batch of 25 letters typed up so I can
easily review them and take notes from them also. And, also, I need to catch up on some of my other
work like filing my rule 35 motion (a request for a modification of sentence) so I'll have a chance of
getting out of here earlier.
And, finally, I have a couple of "bankers" who are eager for me to develop some promotions which they
will finance and then we will split any profits 50/50.

And you know what? I think an excellent way for you to learn how to make money in this business is to
watch over my shoulder as I begin to create one profitable promotion after another.

Here's how I'm going to start: First of all, I am going to go through the SRDS book and make a note of all
the lists that look like hot markets. Then, I'm going to show Eric this list of lists and ask for his comments.
I'm sure he will be able to add to my lists and maybe he will also be able to tell me that some of the lists
are really not so hot.

In any case, after all that, I will have a page full of list selections and I will write you a letter telling you
what lists I have selected. After that, I will put on my thinking cap and develop some product ideas to try
and sell to the various lists. By the way, I would very much appreciate any ideas that pop into your head
after you see my list of lists. Well, in any case, after all this, I will sleep on it and then, pretty soon, I will
codify (isn't that a neat word) and isolate the projects I want to work on.

Then I'll talk to my bankers.

Here's the way it works with my bankers. If they see a project they would like to be involved with, they
will have to come up with a development fee of $5,000.00. (Believe me, that's peanuts to these guys.)
This $5,000.00 will be used to create a DM piece and to make a test mailing of that piece to 2-5M
names. We will also use some of the money for product development.

O.K. after that, if the response is no good, the banker will eat his $5,000.00 loss and we will go on to the
next project.

If, however, the results look good, we will then proceed to a larger mailing of perhaps 50,000 pieces.
And then, after we get our results from the 50,000 pieces, if everything still looks good, we will start
rolling out and taking care of business.
It's a good outline, I think. I intend to keep you informed every step of the way and I'll let you "live" the
development of these projects with me. And, as a matter of fact, I think I will let you help me with some
of these projects and give you a small cut of the action.

So, sharpen your driving skills. Do your roadwork and get cracking on all those other things I told you
were good things to do. I'll join you again on my lunch hour.

Well, kiddo, it's past the lunch hour but better late than never, eh? Whatever. I'm stuck for a theme
again. What do you suggest? O.K. How about the subject of IMPACT? Good, I'm glad you agree.

Impact is the impression you or your promotion makes on its intended target. Someone once said that
the average American is subjected to about 1,500 commercial messages every day. Probably so.
Especially when you count billboards, ads on TV, ads on radio, ads on the backs of buses, on taxicabs, on
match covers, in newspapers, magazines, direct mail pieces, etc., etc.

However, out of all those ads very very few have any appreciable impact. And impact is one of the things
I strive for.

And, what I want to talk about right now is my favorite way in all the world to achieve impact with my
DM promotions. What I'm talking about is attaching things to the top of my letters. I've mentioned this
before but now I want to go into it in considerably more detail.

The best letter ever to use this technique was the classic "dollar bill" letter featured in "The Robert
Collier Letter Book." (must reread)

This was a first class letter that was designed to raise funds for a children's hospital. When the recipient
opened the envelope he discovered a personal typed letter with a real honest-to-goodness dollar bill
attached to it. The copy explained that the writer wanted to donate a thousand dollars to a certain
children's hospital but that he realized that a thousand dollars wouldn't go very far. So, what he (the
writer) had decided to do was divide his $1,000.00 contribution into 1,000 - one dollar bills and then
mail these bills to 1,000 different people. Now, he went on to say, what he hoped is that everybody who
received one of these dollar bills would decide not to keep it and, instead, send it straight to the hospital
with one or more dollars of their own.
Did it work? Oh my! It was probably the most effective direct mail promotion ever mailed. It got better
than a 90% response and the people to whom it was mailed eventually contributed tens of millions of
dollars!

That's Impact!

Today, in the mail, I received a copy of my Japanese "Penny" promotion. This promotion, as you know,
has a Japanese "Penny" attached to the top of the letter and the copy says that the writer is attaching
the penny to the letter for two important reasons.

The first reason is to get attention. And, secondly, because what the letter has to talk about was
discovered in Japan, the writer felt that some sort of "Japanese" eyecatcher was appropriate.

This letter is working like crazy. It has impact.

But, be careful. Whatever you attach to the top of your letters should tie in with the rest of your letter
and what you are selling. It should make sense and fit into the promotion in a natural way.

Here is an example of how not to use impact: Some companies print up advertising that, at first glance,
looks like a traffic ticket. Then, they hire kids to put these traffic ticket type ads on the windshields of
parked cars.

What happens is, that the owner of the car comes back to discover what seems to be a traffic ticket on
his windshield and he, naturally, grabs it forthwith and starts to read it.

It sure gets his attention. It sure achieves impact. The guy will sure remember that company.

But He Will Remember The

He Will Remember That This

Is A Company That Scared

Him And Made Him Angry!

You know what all that adds up to?

No Sale!

The message is clear: You must not use "cheap tricks". Make what you attach to the letter "fit in". All it
takes is a little imagination. Let's see if I can come up with a couple of original examples:

How about attaching an eagle feather to a letter that tells how these birds are in danger of becoming
extinct?

How about attaching a Mexican Peso to a letter that talks about inflation? I did it and it was a great
puller.
How about a computer microchip attached to a letter that explains why a certain new electronic product
is superior to the competition?

How about my son attaching a picture of himself to a letter to his old man that tells him how he is
getting into good shape?

How about you send me some ideas along these lines?

I Love You and Good Luck

Dad

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Friday, 7:14 PM

July 7, 1984

Dear Bond,

Tonight I am going to be writing about something I didn't think I was going to be writing about.

I just had a minor confrontation in the chow hall with a guy I've had a little trouble with before. He was
giving out cups of ice and when I insisted on two cups he said 'no' and we verbally got into it. At one
point, he suggested that if I didn't like his refusal to give me more ice, we could go fight behind one of
the dorms.

I glared at him and walked away. We were starting to attract attention and there were (always are)
guards in the mess hall.
Really, this is no big deal except in a way, it is. This guy is not very much like the room mate I had some
trouble with. This guy is young, tattooed and stupid. He is a loser and I know from previous
conversations with him that he is pretty much lost when he is on the street.

He is always messing up, he smokes dope and he is in the Lieutenant's office often for disciplinary action.

I would probably kick the living $#!+ out of this guy. You never know for sure, I could be wrong but he is
not a big, bad type. Mostly, he is just plain stupid.

But what may be instructive in all this is why it happened and what I hope to do about it so I, hopefully,
don't have to deal with it again.

First of all, let me explain that both the incident with my roommate and this incident happened when I
was "off". As a matter of fact, I am off right now and I have been off for more than a week. When I am
off, when anybody is off, this is communicated!

Right now, also, (or in conjunction with) being off, I am also quite vulnerable. I have fasted two days this
week, I am missing L and I have been, in general, feeling sad.

No big deal. Except when you are in prison. When you are in prison, even a very easy one like this one,
your "Karma", I believe, is extra important! It's important on the street too, but it is especially important
here. This is a bad place to be weak, even a little and even momentarily.

Remember how I told you, you could sort of tell if you were off by how close you could guess what time
it is? Well, another indicator is if you bump into things just a tiny bit or you are just a tiny bit clumsy.
Don't forget HALT. Hungry. Angry. Lonely. Tired. When I went into that mess hall, I was all of this except
angry and I was probably a little angry too.

Now, here's an interesting thing about both of these two incidents. In both cases, I was "wrong". Not big
deal wrong. But wrong from a not being aware and on top of things aspect. You see, in the incident with
my roommate, if I had been aware, I would have realized that my radio was causing an infuriating
disturbance. And, in this recent incident in the mess hall, I should have realized that this guy was
deliberately positioned there for the express purpose of rationing out the ice and here I was responding
to his "What about the rest of the guys?" with the answer, "To hell with the rest of the guys!"

And, believe it or not, I said that a little unconsciously because I sort of thought he was joking. You see, I
just wasn't on top of things.

On the street, neither of these things would have been a big deal. But here, there is a lot less slack.

So, now that I know I'm off, what do I do? Well, I certainly don't intend to fight this guy who I refer to as
"The Rodent". That could cost me six months extra in the joint. But, I don't want many more of these
incidents either. So, what I intend to do is lay low for a while until I am feeling strong and not feeling
vulnerable.

You know why I'm going to lay low? It's because I'm concerned. Not physically scared ("The Rodent" isn't
very threatening) but concerned that I better get back on top mentally to be more prepared to deal with
this environment.

Does it seem like I'm making a big deal out of all this? Don't kid yourself. It's serious. I'm missing L like
crazy right now, I am missing my freedom, I am angry about having to be here, I am diminished by my
previous confrontation, I am weak from fasting, I am tired (albeit pleasantly) from my long run and all
the time I spend in the sun and, in general, I am a bit weakened.

I am starting to make mistakes.

No good. Not here. So, what I intend to do is fall back and regroup.

I am, for a little while, gong to try to avoid (as far as possible) my fellow inmates. I'm going to fast
tomorrow and sort of hid out. I don't intend to fast again after that for another week. You know, when
I'm on the street (God, I even talk like a con now!) I also avoid people whenever I fast and it is even
more important here.
So, first I'm going to lay low and secondly, I am going to try not to "emerge" until I have pumped a little
iron.

You know, I may be wrong but, I think had I been "pumped" neither of these incidents would have
happened. I think this for two reasons:

1) I would have been more alert and never did the things that perpetuated these incidents.

2) And secondly, when I am "pumped" and on top of things, people react differently to me because I
send out different "vibes".

By the way, another way I can tell I am stressed right now is my vision is a little blurred.

So now, after all this preamble can I relate any of this to your success at DM and MO? You bet. At the
time in my life when I was making the most money, I followed the same procedure I am talking about
here. Namely: I pay attention to myself and when I am off, I drop out of sight and do what is necessary
to strengthen myself.

It is important here, it is important out there, and it is especially important in business dealings. People
can smell it when you are weak. When you are vulnerable. They can smell success too. They can sniff out
a winner.

And you can't fake it. Not for long. You've got to be it!

Lord I'm tired. My vision is more blurred. And, I have just made some minor but maybe important
changes in my planned routine over the next little piece of time. I'll tell you what they are when I resume
writing.
What I have decided is, I had better not take a day off running right now. I intend to run in the morning
and fast tomorrow. And, then, run again Sunday, even though I fasted the day before. What I'll do I
think, is I'll get up early like (sun up) 5AM and eat a couple oranges and drink a little coffee and maybe
take warm up shower or a longer than normal warm up walk and then run Sunday too.

Boy, did I just have a good talk! I found a guy here who is very much like me. His life is stones, he's
intelligent, he's Cherokee Indian and he has had some "incidents" also and he gave me some good
advice. He said you can't sink to their level. Just don't talk to them. He also said avoid cursing. And, it's
funny; he does the same stuff I do: He runs, he pumps iron, etc. Maybe a valuable friend.

I'm so tired. I really want to get out of here now.

Since this is the last of my first batch of letters (this is #25) to you, I am going to try and think of
something extra, maybe a little special to say.

I don't know what. Let's see. How about this? One of the things I have learned here is how precious the
good times and the good people are. I hope I have learned never again to not take fare of my special
relationships.

Like the one I have with you. Let's remember we've got something very special and really take care of it.

I Love You and Good Luck!

Dad

P.S. I've got four more minutes to do to get my hour in. Let's see. I guess what I want to focus on here at
the end is my resolve to "go underground" and quietly strengthen myself. I've really got to do it. I've got
to transcend myself.
 And, what I think my theme will be is to make a game of becoming an expert at quietly diffusing
explosive situations and sending out stronger vibes so I have fewer (or maybe none) encounters to begin
with.

That's It!

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