Writing better copy, being different, and high signal reading

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: How to Write Better Copy

Copywriting is one of the most powerful marketing skills you can learn.

Whether you’re pitching your startup idea, writing your landing page, or trying to convince your teacher to give you an A — copywriting can help you.

Here are 3 tips to write better copy:

Write with your eraser

You get 100 bucks for every word you rub out from your title:

No one cares what you can do

Everyone cares what you can do for them.

Your first line is crucial

If people don’t read it, they’re not going to read your second line either.

Keep it short:

Source: 17 tips for great copywriting

2: How to Be Different (Without Getting Lucky)

When you’re building a startup, an important question to answer is:

What makes us different from everyone else?

Zach Pogrob, one of my favorite writers, wrote an essay on 8 ways to be different (without getting lucky). Here are 3 of my favorite tips:

Stop consuming what everyone else consumes. Unfollow big accounts. Leave your phone at home. Let your mind wander to random streams of consciousness, to quiet corners of bookstores, to visions you wish existed.

What's the one sentence summary of what you create? How do fans tell their friends about you? How do you make every word of that sentence different from what's out there?

Turn off your mind. You will see things 25 minutes into a sauna session you can't see otherwise. Go for a long walk. Paddle to the middle of a lake. Voices will come. Paths will appear. Truths will be deafening.

Source: How to Be Different (Without Getting Lucky)

3: High Signal Reading

Highest signal-to-noise pages on the internet:

1.http://paulgraham.com/articles.html
2. https://patrickcollison.com/advice
3. https://nat.org
4. https://blog.samaltman.com
5. https://ldeming.com/longevityfaq
6. https://eladgil.com
7. https://sigilwen.ca
8. https://marginalrevolution.com
9. https://karpathy.ai
10. https://berkshirehathaway.com 

Source: Highest signal-to-noise pages on the internet

Best of The Week

See you next Monday,

- Jay + The Z Fellows Team

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