Agora's Big Black Book: A Compendium, of “Trade Secrets" About Writing, Marketing, and Managing

— Snapshot in Time —

Friday, April 4, 2014

The Agora World

It was 9:30 a.m. on August 27,2013. Bill, Laura, Federico, and I were sitting around the library table
in 14 West. Federico was eager to launch new products and we were discussing how to do it. It was a
challenge...

For most of his Argentine letters, Federico is the publisher, guru, and editor. Sometimes he’s the
copywriter, too. His editorial is time consuming and it is difficult to extend his guru identity across
many more publications. We realized it was time for him to add a new guru at Inversor Global. He
decided Ignacio, a columnist with a perspective distinct from his own, could rise to the occasion.

Let’s examine what happened through the lens of “The Agora World.”

THE AGORA WORLD

Note the graphic above. It shows how Agora looks at the total universe of readers and how it draws a
portion of them into Agora’s world.

At the center, you see the guru, who begins as a columnist in the eyes of the reader. Often it happens
in a daily eletter, like Money Morning, The Daily Reckoning, or DailyWealth. However, by sharing
worthy ideas and investing the time required for understanding and confidence to grow, the columnist’s
relationship with his readers deepens.

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 Book One: The Agora Guide to New Employee Success

In time, readers begin to perceive columnists as advisors. Then, as they increasingly eam trust, they
become authorities in their domain and lead with ideas and recommendations that readers find valuable.

Federico encouraged Ignacio’s relationship with readers to deepen. And, over time, he changed
the nature of his own relationship with them. From this foundation, he launched a front end
newsletter, Revcmcha Argentino, where he can take a different approach to almost anything Federico
might recommend. Federico explains why the reader should get all his money out of Argentina. Ignacio
suggests the best investment opportunities are right at home.

Both make wise recommendations and readers make better investment decisions by learning from both.
The readers get more investment ideas from which to choose. And the business result? One year later,
Ignacio’s letter now outsells Federico’s three to one.

Says Federico, “Yes, maybe it hurts my pride. But, oh well... It’s great for the company!”

Readers aren’t leaving Federico’s letters—they are also subscribing to Ignacio’s. This makes for fresh
copy ideas and more exciting personality conflicts. The investment angles are more diverse.

Daryl told a similar story in a conference room in South Africa. “Agora Health used to publish the Dr.
Atkins letter... which promoted a near all-meat diet. At the same time, Agora was publishing an all­
vegetarian letter. And wouldn’t you know it, something like 80% of readers were on both lists.” This
showed us that readers wanted effective diet ideas for an improved health outcome. How they got there,
through meat or vegetables, did not matter. They wanted the opportunity to see both approaches.

New business growth becomes possible with multiple well-developed franchise identities and
charismatic gurus. That is the beauty of the franchise system. It happens naturally... as each guru finds
just the right way to communicate with his readers.

Agora’s franchise model is the foundation of its idea-led publishing strategy. We can trace Agora’s
success back to the subsidiary and affiliate model of franchises, led by strong gurus, begun in the 1990s.
Back then, affiliates were so small the concepts of affiliate and franchise were interchangeable.

Today, it is a different story. Each U.S. affiliate is so big it can publish a number of different ideas. Thus
began the concept of “idea franchises.” Within a single affiliate, we publish different ideas. Each idea
that is successful can blossom into a full-fledged franchise, with the core components shown below.

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 Agora’s Big Black Book: A Compendium of “Trade Secrets” About Writing, Marketing, and Managing

There are three main roles in each idea franchise.

• The publisher, or pusher, understands the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of the group and
what makes a promotion work. He or she figures out which ideas are most saleable and pushes
those worthy ideas through the editorial and copy phases and out to readers. The publisher is
also responsible for spotting bad ideas and stopping them in their tracks.
• The editor, or idea guy, is the subject matter expert responsible for generating worthy ideas that
readers can act on. He or she puts a name, face, and personality on those ideas, and deepens an
ongoing relationship with readers in every letter.
• The copywriter, or persuader-in-chief, articulates the story that helps readers understand why
the editor’s worthy idea is beneficial. He or she transforms an idea from one that’s exciting to
consider into one that must be acted upon with urgency.

When these roles work in harmony, they can grow enough to become their own affiliates. For
example, Mike Ward’s Money Map Press and Robert Williams’s Wall Street Daily both spun out of
Julia Guth’s Oxford Club. Similarly, the hard money group under Laura’s guidance transitioned into
Addison’s affiliate, which is now called Agora Financial. And within this affiliate, there are seven main
idea franchises.

They are:
1. The Small Caps / Trading Franchise

2. The Lifestyle / Laissez Faire / Self-Reliance Franchise

3. The Technology Franchise

4. The Macroeconomic I Strong Guru Franchise

5. The Resources / Commodities Franchise

6. The Income / Dividends Franchise

7. The Crisis & Opportunity / Fundamental Franchise

These form the foundation of the Agora Financial business because they work in the U.S.... and seem to
have potential to work just about everywhere.

Note two important caveats to the list above:

1. The Macro franchise, in particular, lends itself to a strong guru approach. That is because its editors
often explain how the entire global economy works, as opposed to a particular sector or strategy,
and it takes a strong personality to do this in a convincing way. Ideally, however, strong gurus
should lead all franchises. It is hard to find and cultivate great gurus, but every franchise benefits
from their strong and distinct perspectives.

2. While these franchises are loosely ordered from most to least saleable, timing matters. You must be
able to capture the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times you are in... and should be able to change your

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 Book One: The Agora Guide to New Employee Success

promotional focus with speed. Each idea franchise has its own “time in the sun,’1 depending on
what is happening in the world.

Every guru and franchise maintains Agora’s storytelling approach... each its own tone, investing vision,
and clear USP. It is a good way to grow a business, and it has been Agora’s successful precedent for
over 30 years.

—Rocky Vega

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