“A dream will always triumph over reality, once it is given the chance.”– Stanislaw Lem Your brain contains about 100 million sensory receptors that allow you to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. But your brain also contains 10-thousand-billion synapses. This means you are approximately 100,000 times better equipped to experience a world that does […]

  “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine, in Select Proverbs of All Nations (1824) p. 216, and later as, “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”, as quoted in 20,000 Quips & Quotes (1995) by […]

    Don Quixote, book 2, chapter 26: Quixote and Sancho are in a tavern watching a puppet show by the puppeteer Maese Pedro about a knight who rescues his wife from captivity. Quixote becomes so convinced that the show is real that he attacks and destroys the set with his sword. An 1863 engraving […]

  “I told a teenage girl today I used to get 10 CDs for a penny in the mail, and I’m not sure if she thinks I’m lying about what a CD was, what a penny is, what the mail is, or all three.”– sent to us by Dave Young, previously from Sidney, Nebraska. Located […]

    “Here’s the thing you gotta understand about statistics. ‘Increases your chances by 80%’ does not mean ‘there is now an 80% chance.’ If your chances were previously 10%, your chances are now 18%, not 90%. If your chances were roughly 1%, they’re now just slightly less than 2%. That’s how that works.” – […]

Prodigal Son, (1939) by Thomas Hart Benton A successful man returns home only to find that his home could not survive without him.

The Wizard Academy tower sits on a plateau 900 feet above the city of Austin. The view from the stardeck is stunning. When you attend our free public seminar on the afternoon of March 17, you will be in Tuscan Hall just 500 feet from the tower. If you have some extra time on campus, […]

Q: Why did Isaiah say, “In the year that King Uzziah died,” I saw the Lord?A: King Uzziah was the prophet Isaiah’s friend, and friendly kings were rare for prophets in those days. Now his friend was dead. This brought instability into Isaiah’s life. God reveals himself as king to Isaiah in the year that […]

  Visual portals, musical portals, and word portals help us move to an entirely new place in our imagination. Portals take us from one place to another in our minds. In the fascinating video below, Rob Kapilow explains the remarkable musical portals that made “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” one of the most famous songs of […]

  The Michelin Man is white because rubber tires are naturally white. It was not until 1912 that carbon chemicals were added, turning them black. The change was structural, not aesthetic. By adding carbon, tires became more durable. Michelin began reviewing restaurants so that people would travel further distances to eat at these restaurants. This […]

A Portal is a Call to Adventure “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, […]

Do you remember the story from a few weeks ago?

The Spring 2025 PowerSelling Tutorial will be held on Monday, March 17, from 1pm to 5pm in Tuscan Hall on the campus of Wizard Academy, 16221 Crystal Hills Dr. Austin, Texas, 78737 This 4-hour seminar is available at no charge to business owners, but advertising professionals will be restricted from attending unless they are registered […]

    After 28 years as a cornerstone of Fox News and Fox Business, Neil Cavuto, 66, made headlines with his unexpected resignation. Roving reporter Rotbart has known Neil since the beginning; the whole 28 years. This week, hear the first-ever podcast airing of a 2020 conversation Rotbart had with Cavuto and hear about Neil’s […]

  Personification is a type of magical thinking; it speaks of what cannot be as though it were. It’s not often that I am impressed enough with the writer of a mini-series on Amazon Prime that I repeatedly pause the DVR to transcribe a remarkably well-written passage… Meet Elsa Dutton. Walk her journey with her… […]

  “Integrity is living by what you think is right. Not what you can get away with, not what everyone else is doing. For the most part, it’s not illegal to sell stuff to dumb people who don’t know any better. In only a handful of cases is breaking your word a crime. In fact, […]

  And how did this singular individual — this eternal being made flesh — approach power? He rejected it, by word and by deed. And it all began with Christmas. If a person is going to look for a coming king, the last place you’re going to start is in a stable. But that humble […]

These results were extracted from Service Titan for a home services company operating in 3 different cities during the 3rd year of their PowerSelling campaign. These numbers do not include the $$$$$ in sales that were made to customers who used direct navigation to visit the website of the PowerSelling company.

Q: PowerSelling. What is it?A: PowerSelling is an advertising technique that makes your name the one people think of first – and feel the best about – when they need what you sell.  Q: Does it work for B2B? (Business to Business)A: Not really. B2B requires tight targeting and significantly more logic than what is […]

  Personification puts the Power in PowerSelling Your heart tells you who you are. Your heart contains all your beliefs. PowerSelling radiates outward from that pulsating fact that people don’t bond with companies; people bond with people; personalities that share their beliefs. Your company needs a personality if you want your customers to feel a […]

Accepting guilt is hard.Finding justification is easy. “The greater the ethical compromises we make, the fiercer our justifications become — and the angrier and more frustrated we get at those who won’t go along for the ride.”– Peter Wehner,an American writer and former speechwriter for the administrations of three Republican U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan, George […]

    “Half the people who consider themselves Christians are dissatisfied with the church because it’s too big, too impersonal and too commercial: it doesn’t penetrate their lives as deeply as it does their pocketbooks. They’re impatient because it isn’t changing fast enough. The other half are uptight because it’s changed too much already.”– Tom […]

  Roving reporter Rotbart and deputy rover Maxwell offer a holiday treat for Monday Morning Radio listeners: a reading of A Christmas Day Miracle, the true story of a man on death’s doorstep, and what happens to him next. This happy holiday story was discovered and written by Dean and Talya Rotbart, and the audio presentation of it will magically […]

Two pages ago, did you read the journey of Elsa Dutton, and of what she discovered along the way? Bob Dylan made that same journey of discovery in 1962… Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?Oh, where have you been, my darling young one? I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains.I’ve walked […]

  Once a man was asked, “What did you gain by regularly praying to God?” The man replied, “Nothing… but let me tell you what I lost: Anger, ego, greed, depression, insecurity, and fear of death.” Sometimes, the answer to our prayers is not gaining but losing; which ultimately is the gain.

  “In the ’90’s I was an Electronic / Avionic Engineer at Boeing. I was putting myself through law school at night. There were two things happening at Boeing that were influencing Boeing in a disturbing way that stood out to me on the management level. First, was the business school theory that management need […]

  “The freshly poured cement naturally attracted graffitisti with popsicle sticks, determined to immortalize themselves. Inevitably, one of these was an ardent young swain who wished to proclaim his undying love to the ages. His chilling masterpiece of… er… concrete poetry is located right at the foot of my walkway, where I must look at […]

Listen to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” his famous 1962 story about a woman who pushes too high, too hard, and too fast, and lives to regret it. You will find that story strangely similar to “Big Shot,” the 1979 story written by Billy Joel. In a 2010 interview with Howard Stern, Billy said […]

  What it Means to Go Full Kardashian Curiosity is a beagle running through the forest with its nose to the ground. Curiosity is the cure for boredom. There is no cure for curiosity. Curious, I asked, “How did the Kardashians become famous?” I wish I hadn’t. “Through different ventures, several members of the family […]

  Read the 10-year-old quote below. Replace the word “data” with “AI” and ask your heart whether the assertion below remains true or not. – Indy Beagle “Big data has become the X factor of modern marketing, the hero of every marketer’s story. But it’s a promise at risk of letting you down. You may […]

  “Friend, I know why you are struggling to hold onto the light within you right now. I am, too. But I also know that right now it is more valuable and powerful and necessary than it’s even been.” “Do something to remind yourself why you live.Embrace the people you love.Use the gifts you have […]

Bob Dylan’s song “Shelter from the Storm” contains several references to Christ: The narrator as Christ The narrator is both God and man, and some say the lyrics imply that he is Christ himself. For example, the narrator says, “I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form,” which alludes to Christ’s 40 days […]

Len Clark is the Winner of our AI-Prompting Contest and will receive $1,000. AI gave Len’s ad a score of 633.* Len is a media consultant with a Ph.D. (I have to admit I got a chuckle out of the final line of his prompt. – RHW) This was Len Clark’s AI Prompt: Write a […]

  The most effective ad campaigns cannot be ignored. Ineffective ad campaigns are easily ignored. Most ads are not written to persuade.They are written not to offend. When a message has the power to move people, a percentage of those people will be moved in the wrong direction. Get over it. A lack of complaints […]

  While most consultants focus on improving a company’s mechanics — sales, marketing, human resources, and the like — Charles Rose advises his clients on the best ways to unload the personal baggage that limits their bottom line and personal satisfaction. Charles Rose built an e-commerce company and sold it for 10 million dollars. He […]

SUBJECT: Can Steve Huff attend my foster son’s birthday party? My foster sons are obsessed with the Steve Huff commercials and billboards. I have 5 boys.  The 2 in middle school particularly quote the Steve Huff ads daily. They make everyone in the car stop talking and turn the volume up, then quote the commercials […]

This painting from 1911 sort of pulls you in, doesn’t it? It’s a wonderful example of a technique that Wizard Academy teaches called “Portal Stacking.” You can do it in paintings, photographs and videos, even in music, literature, and storytelling. When I saw this painting, I knew it was going to sell for a lot […]

Adoration of the Magi with Alfie the Elf, by Litvinov Oleg Arkad’yevich. You will notice Babylon in the background. It is widely agreed by scholars that the wise men – the magi – were from Babylon. If you read the book of Daniel in the Bible, you will see that Daniel, a Jew, was made […]

People stoppin’, starin’I can’t see their facesOnly the shadows of their eyes. I’m going where the sun keeps shinin’Through the pourin’ rainGoing where the weather suits my clothesBankin’ off of the northeast windsSailin’ on a summer breezeAnd skippin’ over the ocean like a stone.

  David Griffiths is on a mission to spread the gospel of social media success, teaching business owners and entrepreneurs how to amplify their brands and reach new heights. The social media strategist and consultant enjoys more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok and more than 150,000 followers on Instagram. Simultaneously, David, blessed with a […]

“You may recall a variety of wackadoodle proposals, alternatives to the rebuilding, that circulated online after the fire, including one to put a swimming pool on the roof, another to replace Viollet-le-Duc’s spire with a chubby, gold-leaf, carbon-fiber sculpture of a flame, which looked vaguely like the logo for a chicken wings franchise in Colorado.” […]

“The mortality rate for young men in society is six times what it is for young women, from violence and from accidents, just the stupid stuff that young men do; jumping off of things they shouldn’t jump off of, lighting things on fire they shouldn’t light on fire, I mean, you know what I’m talking […]

If I were a farmer, I would plant orchards and vineyards. If I were a farmer, I would sell milk and eggs. If I were a farmer, I would sell wool. If I were a farmer, I would never trust a weasel with a calculator. Allow me to explain. When you plant crops, you have […]

How Facebook’s Algorithms Fueled Anti-Muslim Hate in Myanmar “Facebook… publicly acknowledged that in 2016-17, ‘We weren’t doing enough to help prevent our platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence.’” “While this statement may sound like an admission of guilt, in effect it shifts most of the responsibility for the spread of […]

 

“Mary’s right hand, which is on the back of John the Baptist, is very tense. Her fingers are pressing into John’s back, but the thumb is over his shoulder, and what she’s doing is holding him back!” “Mary, in the popular theology of the time, already understood her son must one day die, and in […]

“Good-bye, Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners…. Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking…. and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths…. and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it – […]

Give David Brooks just a few minutes and he will increase your happiness and give you a divine sense of purpose. Seriously, you need to make time for this.

Stephen Semple is director of Canadian operations for Wizard of Ads, Inc. and a stunningly good ad man. This is the email Stephen sent the wizard a few days ago: Roy, I am really excited to share my TEDx video with you.  I believe you will see and feel your influence in this talk. It […]

“As a poor Black American growing up in the 60’s-70’s-80’s, all I can say is it really touched, not just my heart, but all of our hearts when Bobby Kennedy toured the poor South and saw for himself (as well as on National T.V.) what the black community was really like. Even to this day […]

    Douglas Katz is a West Point graduate, a disabled Army veteran, and a culinary enthusiast (also known as a foodie.) Douglas, like many other people who suffer from limited mobility, struggled to use kitchen utensils that require upper extremity strength. Aided by an army of friends and military veterans, Doug retreated to his […]

WANT TO DO SOME TIME TRAVELING? In the first video below we see Henry Fonda – the friend who read the Robert Louis Stevenson poem at Steinbeck’s funeral – talking with Dick Cavett about a movie that was released the same year Steinbeck died. This interview was December 30, 1969. In the second video we […]

  “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very […]

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“A gentleman who possessed a large personal library was asked a too-familiar question by a visitor to his home. A question so often posed to those who own a lot of books – ‘And have you read them all?’ But this wise collector faced his visitor with an astonished look and simply replied: ‘No, and I […]

“Several decades ago, when treating substance abuse problems, psychologists developed a technique called motivational interviewing. The central premise was this: Instead of trying to force people to change, you’re better off helping them find their own intrinsic motivation to change.” “You do that by interviewing them — asking open-ended questions and listening carefully — and […]

“I met Carl Sagan when I was 17. I had been accepted at Cornell, but didn’t know what college I wanted to go to, and the admissions office saw that.” “I didn’t know this, but they had forwarded my application to him for his reaction. I had been deep into the universe since I was […]

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They were climbing Montblanc when they decided to take this photo more than 130 years ago. Do an image search on Google and you’ll see it on lots of websites, though most of them don’t list a date for the photo. One claims the photo was made in 1820 which, if you know the history […]

  Andrew Matthews has inspired more than 1,000 global corporations, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Honda, and Citibank. In addition to that, Andrew and his wife produce uplifting books that have sold over 8 million copies in 70 countries and 48 languages by presenting timeless wisdom in fresh, engaging ways. This week, Andrew reveals his creative process […]

Words are a language. Music is another language. When these two auditory languages collide, your feelings and responses are more often controlled by the music (pitch, key, tempo, rhythm, musical interval, and musical contour) rather than by the words. As an example, listen to a bit of the hit song “September” by Earth, Wind & […]

“The thing about Bing was, he made you think you could do it too. He was so relaxed, so casual. If he thought the words were getting too stupid or something, he just went buh-ba, buh-ba, booo. He even walked like it was no effort.” – Frank Sinatra, remembering Bing Crosby in Pete Hamill’s Why […]

Below is a real radio ad running on real radio stations for a real business. It was written and produced by Johnny Molson, one of the amazing Wizard of Ads partners. Johnny’s ads always get attention and drive a lot of traffic to his clients.

  Renita Wolf is an expert on Exit Strategies. Whether you hope to execute  “the transaction of a lifetime” in one year, a decade, or longer, there are steps you should take now to maximize the value of your company when the time arrives to sell. Renita describes how to identify potential buyers for your […]

Elliott Stark is a marine biologist, a fisherman, and a Wizard of Ads partner famous for his ability to bang words together and make music. Elliott is a big, big, deal in the world of sport fishing. He has fished on four continents, spoken to large groups about sportfishing and conservation around the world, and […]

Get to know Zac and Craig.

  The wizard and I had to fight like tigers to wrestle this 300-year-old English stained glass armorial panel from the grasping hands of all the other people bidding on it. It was an online, international auction with live bidding, but we had a specific place for it in the new conference rooms being built […]

This was sent to the wizard and me from Todd Liles, one of the Wizard of Ads partners: He sat his bag down to dig out his ID. The line was moving slow this morning. Being a veteran of travel, Todd knew this was unusual for a Tuesday morning. The airport was very busy, and […]

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The World Outside My Window The color is gone from the sky today. I went to church and was told things about God that I never knew before. I was told there are 5 things God really cares about, and that it is my job to make sure that God gets what God wants. This […]

  David Sauers used to be a commercial banker, but today he runs a service business with 50 branches nationwide. It’s not the type of business that most people dream about owning. The nature of his business – and the powerful lessons you can learn from his success – will be revealed in this week’s […]

Television and radio sales professionals spend so much time trying to sell television and radio ads, they have almost no time to learn how to make those ads work. When you know how to make ads work, and can prove it, television and radio are incredibly easy to sell. So instead of asking a salesperson […]

Self-made people have the ability to recognize the possible. They see a path where others see only a wilderness. These pathfinders are often called “people of vision.” People flock around them as if they are gods. DANGER 1: When enough people believe you are a god, you start to believe it yourself. Uh-oh.  DANGER 2: […]

“Fast Car” earned Tracy Chapman a GRAMMY in 1989, when she took home the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was also nominated for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. Thirty-five year later, Luke Combs cover was also nominated — this time for Best Country Solo Performance – and […]

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Big Sister and Little Brother are ready to go Trick-or-Treating! These are the kids of an awesome Mom who is a friend of mine and the Tiny Tribe. What great costumes! – Indy Beagle

How does a self-published children’s book author garner global media coverage, reach more than 2 million potential customers in a single day, and zoom upwards more than 1 million spots to the top of the Amazon charts? (1.) You have to write a truly incredible book. (2.) It helps to be married to Dean Rotbart […]

Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” peaked at No. 6  in August, 1988. You got a fast car.I want a ticket to anywhere.Maybe we make a deal.Maybe together we can get somewhere.Any place is better,Starting from zero, got nothing to lose.Maybe we’ll make something,Me, myself, I got nothing to prove.   You got a fast car.I got […]

“Jesus lived as a common man among common men. He lived where they lived – fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds street vendors. And He loved them all, outcasts of every kind, the untouchables, lepers, lunatics, Samaritans, street people and women taken in adultery. He loved kids and crowds, celebrations and solitude, miracles and quiet meals with […]

“All that we know is nothing, we are merely crammed waste-paper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing.” – David Herbert Lawrence

“Science lessons are everywhere, all around me. I climb trees and peer at birds’ nests. I watch hard eggs become naked hatchlings, mouths wide and begging. The hatchlings grow feathers and muscles, leave their nest, begin pecking the ground. I see storks and swallows take flight, then disappear when the weather grows cold. In the […]

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“The old world is dying. And the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” – Antonio Gramsci (1894–1937) A vocal critic of Benito Mussolini and fascism, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926, where he remained until his death in 1937. While in prison, Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 […]