“Operation Moneysuck” is the rule Gary Halbert lived by and John Carlton made famous: if you’re the person in charge of bringing in the money, that’s your number one job – and your number two, and your number three. When everything is on fire, you lock the door and do the thing that brings in the bucks. The printer can wait.
You’ve probably seen me throw around this weird name.
“OPERATION: Moneysuck”
Fun to say…
Kinda ridiculous…
But also… what the hell is it, actually?
Is it just a tryhard “unique mechanism”-style label?
Some random Csaba-ism?
Or does it mean something specific for how you bring in money in your business?
Here’s where the name comes from…
And why this one silly phrase completely changed how I think about what my real job is as a marketer.
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Send Me the Rapid Lead Activator →Where does “Operation Moneysuck” come from?
So…
Let’s go back a few decades:
The inspiration for this comes from the late, great advertising legend Gary Halbert…
But it was his most famous mentee, A-list copywriter John Carlton…
Who first shared this powerful concept with the wider world.
Here’s what happened (based on John’s memoirs)…
Early in his career, John was hired by Gary to help him write ads for clients…
And on the very first day he arrived at Gary’s office on Sunset Blvd (in West Hollywood)…
Sh*t hit the fan almost immediately!
You see…
The “dynamic duo” was supposed to write a bunch of copy for all sorts of clients…
And figure out NEW ways to increase their bottom line…
But just as they were ready to really get into it…
Not one, but TWO secretaries burst in at the same time…
PLUS Gary’s red-headed girlfriend (NOTORIOUS for getting her way).
And everyone came bearing lots of bad news!
The printer had just broken down (at the WORST moment ever!)…
One of Gary’s clients was threatening legal action over something…
The landlord was on his way up to the office because there was a problem with the lease…
And an employee from the bank was waiting on the phone, regarding some emergency.
Things went from relatively calm…
To DEFCON 5
And this primordial chaos was ready to consume everything and everyone in its path.
What did Gary Halbert do when everything broke at once?
And so – as most people in this situation would – John started gathering his stuff to leave Gary to attend to all these problems.
BUT…
Before he could pack his stuff, Gary held up his hand…
Shushed everyone…
And simply escorted everyone out of the office.
(even his “notorious for getting her way” girlfriend!)
He even locked the door!
Then, he simply sat down at his desk, grabbed a pen & paper, and said:
“Okay, let’s get busy.”
…
John was stunned!
“But what about all that other stuff that needed fixing NOW??”, he asked in disbelief.
To which Gary replied:
“Screw all that irrelevant stuff.
We’re gonna bring in the bucks.
It’s time for “Operation MoneySuck”
And that’s exactly what they did.
For the next several hours, they finished ads…
Landed new deals…
And consulted with clients.
They brought in A LOT of moolah together.
And – almost miraculously – when they finally opened the door again…
Things were calm outside.
All those pesky problems?
Gone!
All those nagging “emergencies”?
Taken care of.
All the while, the dynamic duo made bank inside the office.
*** FIN ***
What’s the lesson for business owners?
So what’s the biggest lesson in this story?
According to John Carlton:
“If you are the person in charge of bringing in the money, then that is your Number One job – to bring in the money.
It’s also your Number Two job…
Your Number Three job…
And so on.
YES – ALL problems are “emergencies”, in one way or another…
They’re a show-stopper to some, an ulcer-inducing nightmare for others.
However, if your job is to bring in the moolah…
And an hour of you doing that can generate, say, a thousand bucks in fees or sales…
Then, when you scurry over to start looking at the printer when it snarls up…
That means you’re paying someone (you) a thousand bucks an hour to read the manual and pull out jammed paper with uncoiled paperclips.
While NO ONE is picking up your job of bringing home any bacon!
So you lose twice.
Net loss of two thousand smackeroo’s per hour.”
Wise words from a grizzled marketing veteran……..
(and one of the best copywriters of all time)
But also consider this:
Many business owners routinely confuse “Operation MoneySuck” with “Operation MoneyDump”…
Why?
Because they often try doing everything themselves… hoping to “save” a few bucks here and there.
And while this can be a perfectly reasonable strategy in *some* cases…
Usually, they just end up shooting themselves in the foot.
(while crippling their growth potential)
So remember…
If you want to grow your business and take it to the next level, you MUST focus most of your energy on the BIG-MONEY needle-movers.
You know… the things that actually produce 80% of your results.
How do you find your biggest money move?
Problem is…
It’s often really, really hard to figure out exactly what these things are.
For example:
If you want to sell something online, then Engineering an Offer people really want should be one of the first key parts of your process.
But once you have that, the next high-impact step is to make sure your offer Generates Consistent Monthly Sales in a sustainable way.
However…
Once you have THAT…
Then your #1 job becomes Driving A Surge of High-Quality Leads to your offer and funnel.
All those things should take center stage in your focus, one after the other.
Problem is…
It’s really, REALLY hard to see your own biggest “money moves” when you’re buried inside the day-to-day chaos of your business.
When you are always working in it… instead of on it.
You get pulled into mini emergencies…
Client stuff.
Tech stuff.
Random “we should really fix this” stuff.
And before you know it, your version of “OPERATION: Moneysuck” quietly turns into “Operation MoneyDump”.
You’re constantly tired, busy, and “doing things”…
But the big, obvious money move sits there untouched.
And that is precisely why it can be sooooo incredibly powerful to bring in someone from the outside.
Someone who is not emotionally tangled up in your day-to-day.
Someone who can look at your offers, your audience, your marketing assets, and say:
“Okay.
Here is the easiest, lowest-hanging cash flow opportunity in your business right now.
Here’s what to focus on first.
Here’s what to ignore for now.
Here’s the plan to go and get the money asap.”
Your own Operation Moneysuck (this week)
1. Block 2 hours. Lock the door. Phone in another room. Email closed.
2. Pick the ONE activity that brings in money. An email to your list with an offer. A follow-up with a warm lead. A sales page you’ve been “polishing” for weeks.
3. Let the printer stay broken. Everything else can wait 2 hours. It usually sorts itself out anyway… just like it did outside Gary’s door.
If you’d like that outside look at your business – where the money is hiding and what to do first – tell me about your business here.
Free book + AI assistant
Turn the Leads Already Joining Your List Into Buyers – Faster
The Rapid Lead Activator reveals the psychology-based framework I use to write welcome sequences that sell – without hype. Normally $9.99 on Amazon, yours free. Plus a bonus AI assistant that writes your first 5 welcome emails for you – in minutes, not days.
Send Me the Rapid Lead Activator →-Csaba
