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independence2 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

5 claims · 3 articles · 3 receipts

window

2025-08-02 → 2026-04-22

2 builders who never spoke to each other

Provoke the reaction, then turn it around

Agreeable copy is forgotten, so find the tension in what you are writing and take a position somebody could argue with. An opening that annoys people, followed by a reversal in the second half, converts the readers who came to complain into the ones who pass it on. Aim at the response of somebody rethinking something rather than at agreement.

The method

  1. 01

    Open in a way that provokes an immediate emotional reaction, including annoyance, then reverse the argument in the second half so the readers who came to complain end up sharing it.

  2. 02

    Look for the tension in what you are writing; agreeable copy is forgotten while conflict holds attention.

  3. 03

    State a position someone could argue with. Opinions nobody can dispute are the ones nobody remembers either.

  4. 04

    Aim each piece at the reaction of someone rethinking something, not at agreement, by teaching what your reader has not considered.

  5. 05

    Take a definite position, because people sitting on the fence never buy.

What it returned

  • 2019

    A 2019 post of Welsh's read at first like a hustle-culture morning routine piece and drew angry comments; readers who reached the flip saved it and 206 of them passed it on.

  • Framed as the cost of staying quiet to dodge pushback: safety buys you obscurity.

  • The target response given is a reader admitting they had never looked at it that way.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.

More in copy

all copy plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.