"Well boys," I say to Joe and Addison, with David now seated to my left, "it's been an unbelievably eye-opening day. I can't thank you enough."

They both smile just as the waiter approaches. 

Addison orders some fancy glass of wine. I ask for a Diet Coke. And David and Joe both go with the iced-water.

"You guys have done something truly remarkable in the world of copywriting and direct response marketing," I say. "I'm blown-away by the process you've put together and how easy you've made it for folks to pump-out multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns. It's just staggering."

"It's been a long journey," Addison says.

"A decade," Joe adds. "But it's been the single greatest catalyst behind the speed of our growth at Agora Financial."

"I'm sure," I say. "The success stories you shared about the new copywriters alone had to add close to 30 million to your sales, right?"

"Absolutely," Joe says. "And there's more... 

"Geez louise," I mumble. "That's insane."

"Yeah," Joe continues, "and there's this college kid, Patrick McKelvey, who just graduated, and he’s already used the AF Process to write a piece of copy that generated another 20,000 new customers for us.

Chuckling, I say, "Alright, so you guys clearly know a thing or two about teaching people how to write winning copy."

Addison takes a sip of wine as he nods in agreement. 

"So what's been the big copy breakthrough you mentioned," I ask.

Joe moves his chair closer to the table and leans in...

"Well," he says, "you already understand the value of finding and developing the right Big Idea for a campaign. That's a big part of our secret sauce, so to speak. And you know we teach our copywriters how to continually develop new Big Ideas and leads for the same product, basically leaving 80% of the campaign the same." 

"Wait," I say, cutting Joe off. "No, what do you mean you teach them how to develop new Big Ideas and leads for the same product?"

Joe leans in more.

"The beauty of the Big Idea and lead part of the AF Process is that our copywriters can continue to market the same product over and over by simply developing a new idea with a new lead. Those are the two most important pieces of a campaign from a copy perspective, anyway. 

And a new idea, with the right new lead allows us to have something new and fresh to say for the same product. So, this way, we're able to market and sell the same products for years. And the majority of the work is already done with each new Big Idea and lead."

"Ahhhh," I say, letting it sink in a little. "Very interesting."

"But that's not the big breakthrough," Joe says, glancing over at Addison who's pouring himself another glass of wine already. 

"The big breakthrough is this -- many of our new copywriters are now using the AF Process to find Big Ideas, first, that we can then build new products around. So, we're not just finding new ideas for marketing and selling existing products, we're now finding Big Ideas for products we don't have yet. That we can create."

"That's interesting," I say. "So your guys are basically discovering Big Ideas they believe are really compelling and would sell well, and then you guys are simply developing products around those ideas. Is that correct?"

"Exactly," Addison says. 

"And how has that worked for you guys," I ask.

"Some of our biggest winners," Joe says, "have come from starting with the idea and then developing the product."

I lean back in my chair to process it for a second.

"It really makes total sense," I then say. "Cause you're really starting with a great marketing idea... without any of the constraints of an existing product. So you're able to come up with an absolute killer Big Idea, then develop the product and offer to fulfill on it. So, from a copy and marketing perspective it makes things even easier"

"You're spot-on," Addison says. 

I smile. 

"So, in essence," I say, "the AF Process is responsible for not only marketing and selling your existing products... but it also shows you what new products and offers to release that will also crush it."

"Exactly," says Joe.

Addison nods. David nods. 

Just then the waiter approaches to take our food order.

15 minutes later our food arrives and we enjoy a nice meal chatting about family, our kids, a little golf, Tesla, and swapping some war stories.