🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Founder of VeryGoodCopy.com, essayist

Hello, thanks for stopping by. I’m Eddie 👋🏼

I’m a conversion copywriter, content marketer, and the founder of VeryGoodCopy, a newsletter about copywriting and creativity read by millions of people each year. Join over 80K email subscribers—including copywriters, marketers, entrepreneurs, and other smart folks—who've subscribed to the VeryGoodCopy Newsletter and bought 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬:

◾ “VeryGoodCopy shows you how to write, and how not to write. How to think, and how not to think. Eddie is a damn good marketer. I recommend him.”
—𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗬𝗧𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗗, 𝗢𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿

◾ “Please, God, can everyone involved in advertising—and not only copywriters—just read this book…I loved every moment.”
—𝗥𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗦𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗, 𝗢𝗴𝗶𝗹𝘃𝘆 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻

◾ “Eddie is a fantastic copywriter.”
—𝗔𝗡𝗡 𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗬, 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨

◾ “Eddie Shleyner. Where to begin? Not only a fantastic writer, a historian, a gentleman, someone I'm proud to call a colleague. VeryGoodCopy is a copywriting goldmine. I often go there for inspiration. Eddie is the real deal.”
—𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗗𝗥𝗬, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺

◾ "Eddie Shleyner is one of the few people who can articulate what makes great writing great."
—𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗢, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲

◾ "Eddie Shleyner is a brilliant writer who understands the art of persuasion — and teaches it — in a way few people can. I'm jealous of how he can say so much in so few words. Big fan!"
—𝗞𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳

◾ "Eddie Shleyner, now there's a fella who knows something about copywriting."
—𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗧, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲

◾ "VeryGoodCopy is likely the very best reading you'll do on any given day about copywriting."
—𝗞𝗜𝗠 𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗠, 𝗔-𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿

◾ “Eddie gets it. He’s a joy to work with and does so at the highest level.”
—𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗧𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗞𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿, 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻

Read hundreds of free "micro" lessons, interviews, and courses about copywriting, creativity, and storytelling on VeryGoodCopy.com.

You can also the "Featured" section below for more information about my products and services. 

Thanks again for being here—and enjoy!

Founder

"One of the best copywriting blogs around." 
- Wistia

"One of the content marketing industry's best copywriters." 
- HubSpot

VeryGoodCopy.com is a blog about the art and science of written persuasion. Over 53,000 people subscribe to receive weekly micro-articles about copywriting, content marketing, and psychology.

It's also a direct-response copywriting and content marketing agency that ships clear, concise words that sell.

Click the link below to learn more.

Hey folks! Many months of work went into this thing. I'm very proud of it, and excited to finally share with you all: https://lnkd.in/dgTWp2jp

Please help me spread the word 🙏🏼 

And as always, enjoy!

- Ed

Founder of VeryGoodCopy.com | Join 95K newsletter subscribers

VeryGoodCopy Audiobook is Now Available

How to find the words again (without AI):

Growing up, it felt like Babushka had a saying for every problem. 

Every bad or uncomfortable situation I faced was met with some expression about resilience or patience or effort. Probably because my grandma’s own childhood in Stalinist Russia was so hellish and sad, so she had these set phrases, I guess, these little rhyming quips that brought levity or perspective when things were hard. 

I remember when I cut my lip on a 7UP can. She held a napkin to my mouth and put her cheek against my head and said, “Doh svahd-by zah-zhee-vyot.”

It means: “It’ll heal before your wedding.”

Or when I stormed into the living room and told her that I couldn’t do it, that I could not possibly memorize “Falling Up” by Shel Silverstein. I remember she looked up at me from her book and said, “Trood vsyo peh-reh-troot.”

It means: “Hard work grinds everything down.”

Or when there was heartache. She opened the door to my room, and that devastating song, “Color of Your Blues” was playing through the stereo, slow and soft…

𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴/ 
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴/

I remember she hugged me so and said, “Vsyo pra-ho-deet, soln-sa.”

It means: “Everything passes, my love.”

And of course, I remember the thing she told me almost every night, no matter the circumstance, like a mantra. “Oo-truh vye-cheh-ruh moo-dreh-nee-yeh,” she said. 

It means: “The morning is wiser than the evening.”

I think about this often. 

I think about it in all sorts of situations, but especially when it’s dark outside and the house is still and my brain is still, but I’m still writing, still trying—and the words won’t come. 

When this happens, I hear Babushka. I swear to God I hear her voice: 

“Oo-truh vye-cheh-ruh moo-dreh-nee-yeh.”

And so I listen. And I rest. I let my subconscious drive for a while. 

And when I return to work, the words are there again.

A warning to writers:

I read Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk.

In it he talks about philosopher Martin Heidegger, who postulated that humanity sees the planet as a standing reserve of raw material—as resources, basically, inventory just waiting to be collected and processed and converted into something else, something useable:

Cows into meat. Forests into lumber. Mountains into minerals and metals. Etcetera.

Heidegger called this standing reserve “Bestand.”

“It seems inevitable,” writes Palahniuk, “that people without access to natural Bestand such as oil wells or diamond mines, that they’d turn to the only inventory they do have—their lives.”

Yes. Most people don’t own massive quantities of raw materials, but all of us, every single person, owns their story, their life, everything they’ve savored and suffered, the beautiful things and devastating things and everything in between, too.

Our Bestand is our lived experience—and to harvest it, we can write.

We can notice our life, and we can write about it.

“Put yourself into your work,” said the late, great copywriter David Abbott. “Use your life to animate your copy,” he said.

Some of our greatest artists have echoed this advice:

Writer Anne Lamott said, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories.”

Comedian Norm Macdonald said, “My strongest material comes from real life.”

Director Bong Joon Ho said, “The most personal is the most creative.”

But at what cost?

Heidegger warned that viewing the world this way, as Bestand, can be incredibly dangerous because it reduces Mother Nature to a mere resource, something expendable to exploit and subjugate.

And therefore, as writers, it’s also possible to exploit ourselves, to collect and process and convert everything that happens to us—be it love or children or divorce or cancer or existential dread—into material: every moment examined for its potential as a headline or chapter title.

And what happens then?

“[Then] we might hurry through life,” warns Palahniuk, “enduring event after event, in order to build our list of experiences. Our stock of stories. And our hunger for stories might reduce our awareness of the actual experience.”

And what happens then?

What happens when the material supplants the moment itself?

Folks, would you call this asset a LANDING PAGE or a SALES LETTER: https://lnkd.in/gnHcEwQp

Note: this asset is designed for folks familiar with my work, mainly past buyers, current newsletter subscribers, and avid followers.

Please feel free to share your take in the comments...

Another note: I may quote and/or screenshot your comment in an an essay I'm writing about this topic for my newsletter. (I will of course link back to your profile if I do.) But if you do NOT want me to use it, please just say so in the comment 🙏🏼

Thank you!

Is this a LANDING PAGE or is it a SALES LETTER? (See above)

Attract ideal clients with social videos | Speaker | Agency Owner

Listen, I'm not going to convince you to do video. But if you're reading this, you likely *do* want video. You just don't have an easy, repeatable system to get it done. 

If that's you, you're exactly who I built my business for.

Our model is low-stress like a Zoom call but more fun (and puts money in the bank). 

- No prep
- No scripts
- No editing

If you tend to say smart things on networking calls or client calls, you can do video compelling video content with Dialog.

Justin Vajko

There's this funny thing that keeps happening in my sales calls. 

As the prospect finishes up their list of questions about how the service works, they usually end up saying something like this: 

(1) Well, I feel good about everything you just told me. 

(2) And you seem like a trustworthy guy. 

(3) Let's work together. 

You notice that second line? 

It's always a variation of that. 

“You seem like a good guy.”
“I feel comfortable around you.” 
Etc etc 

When someone buys an expensive service from you and B2B, they're not just vetting your ideas. 

They're vetting you. 

Video content is the fastest way to build trust with prospects before you've ever met them.

And if you want to expedite that rate of trust, you need to invest in video content. 

Because video is the next best thing to an in-person meeting. 

You might have buyers who never take a meeting with you because they just don't know how you are as a person. 

But you can change all that by adding video content to your LinkedIn feed. 

👋 Hi, I'm Justin Vajko.
📈 I’ve built my business on LinkedIn.
🔔 Follow me to grow your pipeline with content.
📩 DM me “video” to book a free video content session or visit https://loom.ly/wUyEtOI

Forget AI. Clients want you. | Videos for busy b2b founders | Dad of 5 | Pretty good at Catan. | “Ghostwriting but with video”

PSA for the folks sending the "quick question" emails: 

I'm marking every single one as spam.

I hate to break it to you. 

But your LinkedIn content isn't doing what it's supposed to. 

Oh, what *is* it supposed to do? 

2 things: 

1) Educate buyers 

‧͙⁺˚*༓ AND ༓*˚⁺‧͙ 
 
2) Get buyers to buy from you, specifically. 

You've got the first one down pat. Like, really good. 

You're consistent. You're citing studies. You clearly know your stuff. 

But it's the second part that's missing, isn't it? The "getting buyers to buy" part. 

Oh why? 

Um...

How do I say this...

Your content could have been written by anyone in your field. 

Yeah, if you take your post and copy/paste it to your competitor's profile, no one would know any different. 

And because your buyers don't remember they learned it from you, your pipeline is leaking. 

How do you make stickier content? 

You put yourself IN the content. 

Yeah, I'm talking about video. 

Try it now (with me) for free. 

And hey, if you've ever asked, "So what's the psychology of a client-getting video?"

Webinar here --> 
https://lnkd.in/esnpnni6

You've only got one life. 

- Send the DM
- Pitch the proposal
- Shoot your shot
- Get knocked down
- Get back up again
- Try the kombucha
- Discover you have kombucha allergies
- Take the ambulance ride to the ER at 12:37 AM to treat kombucha allergies

That last part is a true story. 

What are we talking about again?

The #1 mistake people make is that they treat LinkedIn like any other social media platform. 

They think: “Hey, I’ll just post this video and bam… there will be demand for what I do.” 

But it’s not like TikTok or YouTube. 

You can’t just post and ghost. 

LinkedIn prioritizes presence on the platform. 

That means it rewards you for spending time and engaging with your network. 

If you take time to engage in…

→ commenting/sharing/liking/etc
→ responding to DMs
→ making connections
→ attending live events

…LinkedIn will reward you with more reach. 

So don’t expect big results from a one-and-done post. 

Show up, be present, and you’ll start to see the results you want. 

👋 Hi, I'm Justin Vajko.
📈 I’ve built my business on LinkedIn.
🔔 Follow me to grow your pipeline with content.
📩 DM me “video” to book a free video content session.

I’ve got a system that makes video creation easy. 

You say: “Hey Justin, I’m ready to try out the whole ‘thought leader’ thing. I’d like a video (or a few), but I don’t know where to start.” 

That’s all it takes. 

Before you know it, you’ll get an email with our first session with a list of questions I might throw your way. 

You’ll glance over it. Maybe spend a minute thinking about what you’d say. 

But inside your brain, the real work is happening. 

The list is just a psychological kick, so your brain starts subconsciously preparing an answer. 

(you’re doing work without even realizing it) 

Then, when we have a video call, I’ll throw you a random question, and you’ll have an answer you didn’t even realize was forming this whole time. 

We’ll have a fun, engaging talk about business. 

A few days later, you’ll get a punchy, authentic edited video you can instantly post to your social media. 

Made a great video with Chris DuBois. Check it out on his profile. 

👋 Hi, I'm Justin Vajko.
📈 I’ve built my business on LinkedIn.
🔔 Follow me to grow your pipeline with content.
📩 DM me “video” to book a free video content session.

Video advice 5 years ago: 

“Be aware of your filler words.”

“Filler words?”

“Yeah, cut the ums and uhs.”

“...Uh ok…”

“Stop that!”

“Oh, sorry I mean OK.” 

-------- 
Video advice in 2026: 

“Use more filler words.”

"Wait, what?”

“Yeah, you'll sound more human that way.”

“I JUST LEARNED TO STOP DOING THAT.”

------
Video advice for founders today :) 

“Spend exactly 0 time worrying about how you talk. Just hop on a video call with me. Our editors will handle the rest.” 


👋 Hi, I'm Justin Vajko.
📈 I’ve built my business on LinkedIn.
🔔 Follow me to grow your pipeline with content.
📩 DM me “video” to book a free video content session or visit https://loom.ly/wUyEtOI

Every task you hold on to is a roadblock to scaling your business.

(it’s what held me back for years) 

I’m a graphic designer by trade. I used to love doing the design work for my business. It was my thing. 

But eventually, I realized I needed to let go. 

I had a designer, but I was still acting like that was my main priority. 

Once I stopped, I started giving her more work and coaching her to get to my level. 

That’s the only way I was able to truly scale my business. 

Every time you choose to do something in your business that someone else could do, you’re taking time away from solving the bigger problems. 

(and the ones you might not even realize need solving yet)

So yeah, here’s my advice for founders who want to scale their business in 2026…

1) Let go of the small stuff. 
2) Scale your team by upgrading their skills and giving them more work.
3) Focus on what really matters from a founder's perspective. 
You can’t scale your business if you’re stuck doing everything yourself.

👋 Hi, I'm Justin Vajko.
📈 I’ve built my business on LinkedIn.
🔔 Follow me to grow your pipeline with content.
📩 DM me “video” to book a free video content session.

taplio

The Battle

🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Justin Vajko

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJustin Vajko's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Justin Vajko

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJustin Vajko's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Score🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance