Dear Permission to be Powerful reader,
I don’t talk about this enough.
It’s my secret weapon.
I call it my Magic Voice.
What do I mean?
I spent 15 years mastering the art of written persuasion.
I studied the craft so deeply it got into my bones.
At this point, I’m unconsciously competent.
I’m not even fully aware of what I’m doing anymore.
You just experience it.
And know the writing hits different.
It strikes a nerve.
It makes you think.
It slices through the bullshit.
But there’s one ingredient in my Magic Voice that has almost nothing to do with copywriting.
Honesty.
This one is counterintuitive.
I did not learn it from a copywriting book.
Copywriters will learn all sorts of fancy tricks to hook you.
But many never think of doing the most obvious thing:
Tell the truth.
The whole truth.
I try to write from a place of radical honesty.
But it took me a while to realize how that affects people.
It unsettles some people.
And endears me to others.
Either way, you know I’m not here to bullshit you or waste your time.
Most copywriters become so accustomed to putting their spin on the truth…
They forget to actually tell it.
They forget how powerful the truth can be.
You can feel honesty in writing.
It took a lot of inner work to become an open book.
To talk about my strengths…
Without hiding my weaknesses.
To write about the things I’m proud of…
And the things that make me look like an idiot.
To speak without shame.
There is enormous power in writing your own story down.
You may not even realize how exciting your life has been until you see the whole damn thing sitting there in Arial font.
I highly recommend it.
I have a friend going through a divorce.
I got him journaling every day.
He got hooked.
Because something strange happens when you write things down.
You organize your thoughts.
And an organized mind is far more powerful than a disorganized one.
You set your intention for the day.
You work through problems before they happen.
You begin seeing patterns you couldn’t see while you were trapped inside them.
You stop merely reacting to your life.
You begin interpreting it.
You move from sidekick…
To author.
Hell & Paradise began as exactly that.
Read Chapter One Today.
Hell & Paradise is my brand-new serialized memoir.
Join for just $1 and start reading immediately.
A new chapter is released every month.
This story began when I tried to write down what the hell had happened to me.
Because for a few years, a lot happened.
I got married.
Moved to the United States.
Became an elite copywriter working for people like Tony Robbins.
My relationship fell apart.
And so did my hopes and dreams of becoming an American.
But underneath all of that, something else was happening.
I was becoming a different man.
It brings me no joy to inform you that I used to be a professional doormat.
I let people cross boundaries.
I tolerated things I shouldn’t have tolerated.
I doubted myself when I should have trusted myself.
And then…
Bit by bit…
I learned to become my opposite.
The guy who got hired by Tony Robbins.
The guy who became a top copywriter.
The guy who understands people and knows how to influence them.
The guy who no longer takes people’s shit.
That transformation is the real story of Hell & Paradise.
Read Chapter One Today.
Hell & Paradise is my brand-new serialized memoir.
Join for just $1 and start reading immediately.
A new chapter is released every month.
And I’m going to take you through it.
Not because I think my life is particularly sacred.
But because while you’re watching me change…
You may begin noticing things about yourself.
Places where you’ve made yourself smaller.
Things you tolerate because you’re afraid of what happens if you stop.
People who have become accustomed to a version of you that doesn’t fight back.
And perhaps, somewhere along the way…
You begin to inhabit the world differently too.
You stand up straighter.
You trust yourself more.
You stop apologizing for things that require no apology.
You take back some territory.
And eventually…
You stop being the sidekick in your own story.
You become the author.
And that’s why I want you to join me for Hell & Paradise.
This isn’t a book I’m dropping on you all at once.
It’s a serial.
And once we reach critical mass, I’ll release a new chapter every month.
Month by month, you’ll follow me through the whole damn transformation.
The marriage.
The ambition.
The betrayals.
The humiliations.
The victories.
The collapse.
And the slow, sometimes painful process of becoming someone I barely recognize from the man at the beginning.
This story grabs you by the collar.
And it does not let go.
But here’s what I really want you to imagine.
Imagine following this story over the coming months…
And somewhere along the way, you start recognizing yourself in it.
You notice the places where you’ve been too accommodating.
The conversations you’ve been afraid to have.
The boundaries you’ve been afraid to draw.
The things you secretly know need to change.
And chapter by chapter, you start changing with me.
Six months from now, you’re not merely someone who read an entertaining story.
You handle people differently.
You trust yourself differently.
You walk into rooms differently.
Maybe you finally say the thing you’ve been swallowing for years.
Maybe somebody who used to walk all over you suddenly discovers that person doesn’t live here anymore.
That’s the journey I’m inviting you into.
And if you’re thinking about putting this off…
Here’s why I wouldn’t.
You can spend another six months thinking about becoming more powerful.
Or you can spend those six months actually practicing it.
You can keep repeating the same patterns and hoping something eventually shakes you out of them.
Or you can watch someone dismantle those patterns in real time.
And there’s something else.
You can still get in at the beginning.
Before the story is finished.
Before everybody knows where it goes.
Before the transformation has been neatly packaged into hindsight.
You get to experience it as a serial was meant to be experienced:
Chapter by chapter.
Month by month.
Wondering what the hell happens next.
Join Hell & Paradise now.
Read Chapter One Today.
Hell & Paradise is my brand-new serialized memoir.
Join for just $1 and start reading immediately.
A new chapter is released every month.
Come inside.
Start at the beginning.
And let’s see who you are by the time we reach the other side.
Tony V.
Editor-in-Chief
Permission to be Powerful
