Who else wants to be popular and sought-after?

On Thursday night, I watched TV. I rarely watch TV but I was somewhat interested in the first round of the NFL Draft. (For those of you who don't follow professional 'American' football, the draft is the event where the professional teams pick college players.) The draft continued on Friday and Saturday. The teams chose the most sought-after players on Thursday then the less sought-after players on Friday and Saturday.

Size, strength, speed, and physical characteristics are obviously important. But, physically, there's often very little difference between a player picked early and a player picked late. One guy is 300 pounds and the other is 310 pounds.

So...what really makes a player highly sought-after or not highly sought-after? Listening to the pundits, the difference is effort. From the pundits...

"This guy has a great motor."

"He's relentless."

"He never takes a play off."

"He's full speed all the time."

In the NFL, having all of the above is the difference between tens of thousands and millions. Literally.

In the latter stages of the draft, here's what I heard...

"Great physical talent but I've got questions about his work ethic."

"Takes plays off..."

"Big but needs to spend more time in the weight room getting stronger. I'm not sure he's proven he wants to do that."

As I move forward with my direct response copywriting and selling my services, I'm going to have to be relentless, full speed, etc. I've been that way to a certain extent but I have to be more relentless, more persistent, and work harder. I know it will pay off.

The NFL is classic 80/20: 20 per cent of the players make 80 per cent of the money. I learned a lot from the NFL draft and it had nothing to do with football.

For my direct response copywriting site, go here. Or visit www.scottmartincopywriting.com.