#170 Claude Hopkins (A Life in Advertising)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. This book is not written as a personal history, but as a business story. I have tried to confine myself to matters of instructive interest. The chief object behind every episode is to offer helpful suggestions to those who will follow me, and to save them some of the midnight groping which I did.
Any man who by a lifetime of excessive application learns more about anything than others, owes a statement to successors.
The results of research should be recorded.
Every pioneer should blaze his trail. That is all I've tried to do.
My only claim for credit is that I have probably worked twice as long as anybody else in this field. I have lived for many years in a vortex of advertising.
Naturally, I learned more from experience than those who've had a lesser chance.
Now I want that experience, so far as possible, to help others avoid the same difficult climb.
I set down these findings solely for the purpose of aiding others to start far up the heights I scaled.
There is nothing to be gained for myself save the satisfaction.
Had someone set down a record like this when I began, I would have blessed him for it.
Then, with the efforts I here describe, I might have attained some peaks in advertising beyond any of us now.
May I live to see others do that? That is Claude Hopkins describing the why behind writing his autobiography. And that's an extra from the book I'm going to talk to you about today, which is My Life in Advertising, written by Claude Hopkins.
Okay, so before I jump back into the book, let me quickly tie this into everything else we've been learning. Last week, I did another biography on David Ogilvy. David talks about all the people that influenced his career, all the ideas that he picked up from people that came before him, that he applied to his work in founding his company. And one of those is Claude Hopkins. And he says in his own books, the ones he wrote as well, that you should read the Autobiography of Claude Hopkins, and you should read Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. He says, in fact, on Scientific Advertising, he says you should read it seven times. They are both very old books. Scientific Advertising was first published in 1923, but it was held secret for 20 years, because they thought the person that owned the firm that Claude worked for, thought the information was too valuable. So it's over 100, almost 120 years old. And then this autobiography was published in 1927 I read both books to prepare for this podcast. I'm going to work solely from his autobiography. If you want to read both books, I would recommend reading Scientific Advertising first, use it as a reference, and then read the autobiography to see how those lessons are applied. I think that's a smart move. So let me go ahead and jump into the introduction. These books have been republished many, many times. Scientific Advertising alone has sold over 8 million copies.
So I want to talk about praise for his autobiography that comes all the way back from 1946 Let me read this quote to you. He says, There are a few pages in My Life in Advertising which do not repay careful study, and which do not merit re-reading. Before your eyes, a successful advertising life is lived with all that went to making it successful. The lessons taught are taught exactly as they were learned. They are dished up, dripping with life. It is not a book. It's an experience. And experience has always been the great teacher. Okay, so that's a good overview of why reading this book is beneficial. Before I get into some of the lessons from his career, I want to start with his early life. Oh, and let me stop for a second. In case you've never come across Claude Hopkins ever, he's widely known as probably the greatest copywriter of all time. He was so good at his profession. He had such an obsession and dedication to his craft that he winds up being recruited by Albert Lasker, who's one of the greatest advertising founders of all time.