#FtheHUSTLE ~ 089 – The Godfather Was Almost Shut Down
July 28, 2022 August 19, 2022 /
I read the book “The Godfather” before I saw the movie (way back when I was in college, working in a bookstore).
I also kinda fell in love with mafia/gangster movies because of that story, but that’s for another email.
As always, the book was better than the movie, but still… a phenomenal movie.
Now that I have a VPN and can stream things from the states, I’m catching up on a few things I’ve wanted to watch.
One of which is “The Offer,” starring Miles Teller as Al Ruddy, the man who produced “The Godfather.”
Before watching this series, I had no idea it was such a struggle to get the movie made.
Threats from the actual mafia, Frank Sinatra hated the book (a character was modeled off of him), the studio didn’t want Pacino or Brando in the movie, and they thought the script was too long.
It was also the second film Al Ruddy produced (talk about swinging for the fences, right?).
The Godfather ended up being the highest-grossing film of 1972 ($135M, which equals about $711M today).
What if Al Ruddy had listened to the studios?
Can you imagine anyone other than Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in those roles? Bob Evans of Paramount wanted Jack Nicholson to play Michael (Al Pacino’s role). They even had to fight for James Caan to play Sonny.
Think about how often you’ve heard “that won’t work, you need to do it this way, you have to inject more scarcity, no one will buy “your thing”…”
… you get my point.
Just because something has been done a certain way or someone in a position of “authority” tells you no, doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
It’s time to challenge the status quo, my friends.
Online marketing is still a new industry.
Take the “way things have been done” and put your spin on it. Inject who YOU are into everything you do.
You’re the differentiator.
Your audience is waiting for you to show up and “be you.”
What are you waiting for?
Tweet of the Week ⭐
My good friend & brilliant partner of Deliverit (Jason Resnick) knocked it out of the park with this one.
This tweet was a test and generated 31 new subscribers in one day (per our ConvertKit account. Will be interested to see what happens in the next couple of days).
Read Jason’s “Email List Growth” tweet here and test it for yourself.
A Little Brainpower 🧠
Now that I’ve officially started my TikTok channel (more on that in a separate email), I’m digging into everything I can to learn the ins and outs. Ready to get started? Read “How to Use Tiktok: Beginners Start Here.”
Related: Follow me on TikTok 😊
Apparently, advertising on TikTok is also running circles around FB & IG ads (I have zero proof of this myself, just what I’ve heard. .08 leads? Yes please!). Read “The complete guide to TikTok advertising (with ad examples)” here.
Related: Book – The Definitive Guide to TikTok Advertising
Tool Time 🛠
Want to have a little fun? A
I don’t know what the purpose of this is (yet), but it’s pretty fun. It’s called “Emoji Kitchen” and you can combine emojis and voila! See below:
- E-commerce: Want to create an e-com store that works directly with social platforms? Try Stan free here.
- Audiograms: Still a favorite tool and worth sharing again. Create audiograms from podcasts. Try Headliner app free here.
- Repurpose content: I picked this up when it first came out a few years ago and am going to start using again with my new video endeavors. Try Repurpose.io free here.
Latte’ on the rocks please… 🤣
Whew! It has been a busy couple of weeks. One of my dogs is recovering from knee surgery (both back knees) and the other one doesn’t quite know what to make of everything.
Fortunately, the vet down here is amazing and I feel good about her progress.
We’re halfway through the first cohort of HitSend and it’s going fantastic! I’m looking forward to running this again in the fall, stay tuned for a link to get on the notification list.
Have a fantastic last few days of July! 😊
Kim
