Glazers Never Give Up: Sifu Edward & Sifu Julliana Armstrong Sit Down With Direct Response Copy Girl's Mara Glazer

Adapted from the recorded conversation; the guest's words are verbatim. The questions are reconstructed and voiced by Sifu Edward and Sifu Julliana Armstrong.

🎥 Video podcast coming soon. The complete interview will play here once published. The full conversation is transcribed below, and the audio edition will be available on sifuarmstrong.tv.

In a new Sifu Armstrong interview, the founder of Direct Response Copy Girl explains why she worked for free for six months to join her own father’s company, and why she considers copywriting the single most important job in any business.

Before Mara Glazer became known as one of direct response’s most respected copywriters, she was a corporate employee in the New York fashion industry whose job stress became a physical crisis. “I actually ended up tearing my spine from the stress and pressure,” Glazer told Sifu Edward and Sifu Julliana Armstrong during her conversation for the Warrior Intelligence Series, describing three months in 2003 when she couldn’t walk, drive, or work following spinal fusion surgery.

That crisis convinced her she needed control over her own schedule, so in 2009 she asked her father, marketing strategist Bill Glazer, if she could join the family business. He said no. She asked again. He said no again. She remembered a phrase from her childhood (“Glazers never give up”), and asked a third time. That time, her father agreed, on one condition: she’d have to earn it first, by working for free for six months while still holding down her regular job.

Even after she’d proven herself with results, Glazer said, the hardest part wasn’t the workload. It was the perception that she’d simply been handed a job. “I didn’t want anyone to think I was getting a handout,” she said, describing an existing team that initially questioned whether she belonged there at all. She spent her early months on an assignment she knew nothing about (social media marketing), and taught herself the discipline from scratch until the results, an additional seven figures in tracked sales, made the doubt disappear.

That same refusal to coast eventually built Direct Response Copy Girl, a team of female copywriters Glazer assembled after hearing repeatedly that great writers were nearly impossible to find. Her view of the craft itself is direct and total. “Copywriting is every single word,” Glazer said, the language a business uses to explain what it sells, who it’s for, and how it gets delivered, which she considers the most important job inside any company, regardless of industry.

Glazer credits her father as her primary business mentor, but names her mother as the unsung force behind the family’s success, the one who ran operations, kept the books, and positioned the business for its eventual sale, all from behind the scenes.

The Armstrongs drew a direct line between Glazer’s story and how rank is meant to work inside any serious discipline: a title handed down means little, but a title fought for and proven becomes something no one can take away or quietly dismiss.

It’s a principle that holds well past copywriting or family business, a place you earn is a place that’s actually yours.

In This Conversation

Spinal fusion surgery and the corporate job that finally broke her
“Glazers never give up,” asking a “no” to become a “yes,” three times
Working for free for six months to prove she belonged
“Copywriting is every single word,” why it’s the most important job in a company
Building the team behind Direct Response Copy Girl
Honoring the unsung mentor: her mother, running the business from the back

The Full Conversation

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: We've now sat with Mara's father, Bill Glazer, and their partner Rob Cuesta, but Mara's own story is the one I most wanted to hear, because it's about earning your place. She recovered from a spine fusion, refused to accept "no" three times to join the family business, and worked for free for six months to prove she deserved a spot no one would just hand her. That's a warrior's relationship with a place at the table.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: And she's a master of the craft that sits underneath every business, the word. She calls copywriting "every single word," and she's right. When someone who was taught by a legend, hand-to-hand, red pen for three years, tells you the word is the most important job in the company, our operators should listen.

Our guest is Mara Glazer, called the world's best female copywriter by her peers, and founder of Direct Response Copy Girl. Mara, welcome.

Mara Glazer: Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Take us right back to the beginning, because it starts with a real physical low point.

Mara Glazer: I used to be a miserable employee at a corporate job in the New York City fashion industry, miserable because making $35,000 a year in the Big Apple should honestly be illegal. I had no money, I lived in a strange city with no friends, and my boss, if you've seen The Devil Wears Prada, that was my life. In 2003 I'd had major surgery, my spine fused with two titanium rods. And while working in this miserable job, I actually ended up tearing my spine from the stress and pressure. I couldn't walk for about three months, I couldn't drive, I certainly couldn't work. And it was in that moment I knew I couldn't have a nine-to-five anymore. I needed the freedom to take care of myself when I needed to.

So in 2009, I approached my dad, Bill Glazer, and asked if I could move back to Baltimore and join the family business. And he said no. So I asked again, and he said no again. And I remembered a saying my father used to share with me growing up: "Glazers never give up." So I asked a third time, and he said, "Okay Mara, if you really want this, you need to earn it." So for the next six months, I did everything my dad asked (writing marketing plans, copy, all sorts of stuff), for free, because that's how bad I wanted it. And I was doing this while still working my job. Then he said, "If you really want to do this, understand two things: one, you'll be working harder than you've ever worked in your whole life. And two, you'll be heading up the social and alternative media marketing department." And I didn't want to tell him at the time, but I had no idea what social media even was. On my first day, an employee looked down on me and said, "So Mara, what do you know about social media anyway?" And I told the truth. I knew two things: how to invite my friends to my parties, and how to post the drunk party pictures the next day. So I spent the next months inhaling everything I could about making money with social media: implementing it, testing it, tracking it, tweaking it. The result was an additional seven figures in sales we tracked back to social media alone.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Titanium rods in your spine, torn from the stress of a job that was crushing you, and you turned that into the decision that changed your life. That's the alchemy I respect most. The body forced the reckoning, and instead of shrinking, you demanded freedom. And then you asked a "no" to become a "yes" three times. Persistence isn't loud. Sometimes it's just asking one more time than they expected.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: The hardest part wasn't the work, though. It was proving you weren't just the boss's daughter.

Mara Glazer: The hardest part is what most people wouldn't expect. When I integrated into the business, there were employees already there, and I felt a lot of heat from them. "Who is this girl coming in, is he just giving his daughter a job?" I didn't want anyone to think I was getting a handout, so I worked my butt off to prove I deserved a spot. The part that was easy was actually learning the marketing, honestly, it's in my blood, I pick it up quickly. So the parts I thought would be hard weren't, and I had this whole new dynamic of coexisting in an existing team with preconditioned thoughts about me, and I had to prove them wrong. And thankfully I did, when we started tracking revenue and sales, it changed. Now our whole team is like family; we still get together once a year for Christmas dinner.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: "I didn't want anyone to think I was getting a handout." That's the whole thing. A place you're handed is worth nothing, a place you earn is yours forever, and nobody can take it from you or whisper about it behind your back. It would have been easy to coast on the name. Instead you outworked the doubt until the results silenced the room. That's exactly how you earn a rank on the mat: not by who your teacher is, but by what you can do.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: Where does that work ethic come from, and how do you stay focused?

Mara Glazer: I'm a hard worker by nature. My father is, his father was: we joke that "Glazers are the hardest workers in the world." Some might call it pushing myself, but to me it's just how I am. I watched my father push himself so much growing up. He used to own men's clothing stores, and I clearly remember him waking up very early, going to the stores, coming back super late, having dinner with us, and then going to sit at the card table in our living room to continue working on his consulting business (teaching retailers how to grow), way past the hours I went to sleep, every single night. So for me, it's just what I know. And to stay focused, like my father, I create long lists of things I have to do and keep working until I cross them off. He always has a big legal pad; mine's electronic, but I'm the same way. If something gets on that list, it has to be important, and I have to complete it for it to come off.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Who are your heroes, and I have a feeling one of them is the person nobody sees.

Mara Glazer: My father has been my greatest business mentor. But I have another hero (the unsung hero, the underdog), and that's my mother. She played a completely different role. My dad would joke, "We would never have had as big a business if it wasn't for your mom. She runs the show around here." While he was the face and the front-end strategist, my mom was in the back doing the books, keeping the team organised, really running the whole thing. She's the one who postured and positioned the business for sale back when my dad sold it in 2011. And she always says, "Mara, I don't know anything about business," and I'm like, "Actually mom, you're a total badass, and this business sold because of a lot of what you did." She also taught me patience, compassion, so many skills. I hope one day I can be even a percentage of how amazing she is. My parents are my heroes. It might sound corny, but it's true.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: It's not corny at all. It's the truest thing. And I especially love that you honour your mother, the one running everything from the back that no one credits. Edward is the face of this federation, and I promise you there's a whole world of building I do where the spotlight never reaches. Every great front has an unsung partner holding it up. Seeing that, and naming it, is a mark of real character.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: Tell our operators about Direct Response Copy Girl, and why you say copywriting is the most important job of all.

Mara Glazer: Direct Response Copy Girl is a team of female direct response copywriters, and we write sales copy for coaching, consulting, speaker and expert businesses, as well as eCommerce. Right now we're even doing a bunch of projects about epoxy flooring. I put this team together because I kept hearing my industry friends say they couldn't find great writers, and honestly my biggest challenge is finding great writers too, for about every 100 applications, maybe one is worth a shot. So I find writers who are already amazing and continue to train them to become even more amazing. About 80% of what we write is email, 15% long-form sales pages, and 5% other things like video scripts and Facebook ads.

And copywriting is every single word: literally every word you use to communicate what you do, what you sell, what you offer, even how you deliver it. A lot of people overlook the importance of having really great copy, but it's the most important job in your whole company. If you can't communicate how to sell your services and products, who you're selling them to, and how to deliver them, you're not making money, you're not keeping customers happy, and you're pretty much toast. So it's really important, in fact, the most important.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Your goal for all of it sounds like the exact opposite of that Devil Wears Prada job. What does success look like now?

Mara Glazer: My ultimate goal for everything I do is to enjoy what I do, and to have a business that allows me to do what I want, buy what I want, and be where I want, whenever I want. Direct Response Copy Girl fulfils that. I can do it from anywhere; I was just in Portugal and Greece for two weeks, checking in with my team from my laptop. And the team of women I have are so fun that I want to spend time with them. I'd love if we all went on vacation together. That's my goal in business, and this really fulfils it for me.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: From a boss who made you miserable to a team you want to take on vacation. That's the whole arc, and it's a beautiful one. Freedom isn't just about money or a laptop on a beach. It's building a place people actually want to be, including you. The warrior who escapes a cage only to build another one hasn't won. You built the opposite.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: What's your advice for someone starting or growing a business, and what's next for you?

Mara Glazer: Get really focused on two things. First, once you figure out who your audience is, ask them what they want, and then figure out how to give it to them. That was the first thing my father taught me, and it's the easiest, quickest way to make money. Second, get really good at finding leads, selling, and delivering so your customers are happy. Get good at those two things and the rest becomes a lot easier. I far too often see people chasing bright shiny objects. "I want to do Facebook ads, a podcast, YouTube videos." Those are all great, but if you don't have the core foundational pieces in place, you'll get sidetracked and won't make money. So focus on the basics.

And what's next. I have the privilege of working with my father again; he's relaunched his business, and we run a membership program together called the Outrageous Marketers Alliance, with our business partner Rob Cuesta. And I've been wanting to do something new, so I've been building an eCommerce store selling products to help make being a mom easier. We launched the ads two days ago and made our first sale yesterday. It's called ohheymomma.com. You can find me at directresponsecopygirl.com.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: Mara, it's been an absolute pleasure, and it completes a lovely trio, having sat with your father and Rob as well. Thank you.

Mara Glazer: Thank you.

Sifu Julliana's closing word: Mara turned titanium rods and a torn spine into a demand for freedom, asked a "no" to become a "yes" three separate times, and then outworked every whisper of nepotism until the results spoke for her. A place you're handed is worth nothing. A place you earn is yours forever. She earned hers three times over. And she honours her unsung mother, the one running it all from the back. That's a warrior who knows where the real strength lives.

Sifu Edward's closing word: Mara reminds us that under every business is the craft of the word, and under every earned place is refusal, refusal to quit, refusal to coast on a name. "Glazers never give up." Master the fundamentals before the shiny objects, ask your people what they want, and earn your rank so completely that no one can question it. We don't entertain warriors. We create them.

Mara Glazer, called the world's best female copywriter, founder of Direct Response Copy Girl (directresponsecopygirl.com); daughter of Bill Glazer, and co-runner of the Outrageous Marketers Alliance with Bill and Rob Cuesta. New eCommerce venture: ohheymomma.com.

ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS. Any revenue, enrollment, margin or retention figure in this conversation is either a documented result from one of our own operations, a figure the guest reports about their own business, or an illustrative example, never a projection of your results.

Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice.

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This conversation is part of the Sifu Armstrong Warrior Intelligence Series: interviews with world-class performers, builders, and thinkers, filtered through the lens of the warrior's path.

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