Today, a biz owner whose emails I read sent out an email that opened with: "This email is for you if you want quality help on [achieving business outcome] but don't want to commit the [lotsa shekels] that top-shelf collaborators charge." I winced at this. The fact is, this guy is a legitimate expert, who deserves to get paid based on the business value of his services, and yet here he is, leading off the pitch for his new offer by saying, "It's cheap relative to what you might expect." I think there's a lot of value in raising your prices. I think it can even make sense to be the most expensive in your field. Sometimes, on occasion, it can still make sense to offer something at an "attractive" price. But in that case: 1. I don't think it makes sense to lead off with that. Instead, it makes sense to first and foremost fully sell the "quality help" that this biz owner only got to later, and to emphasize that before appealing to cheapness. 2. It makes sense to give a legit public reason for the "attractive" price, and that reason can never be "I am doing it because I'm afraid you won't pay the going rate for this," even if that is part of your private motivation. I wonder if we can come up with a list of such reasons. I'd like to invite you to think for a moment, and comment below with one or more reasons you could use to justify a particularly "attractive" price, which is lower than the going rate for whatever it is that you sell. I'm inviting you to do this for two reasons: 1. Because if you do it now, there's an excellent chance you will remember this important lesson, and you won't make the same mistake this biz owner made in his email today. 2. Because I'm running a little experimental contest. The last person to comment on this post wins $100, which I will PayPal to you in case you are the winner. How do we determine the last person? I will come back to this post periodically and check the comments. If when I come back, there have been no new comments with a reason to be cheap FOR A WHILE... then then last commenter will win and I will announce the fact.

Screenshot attached. I've been getting a handful of signups to my email list every few days that all have the exact same format of email address, with just the number being different at the end. Any idea what this is about or what these things want? Or what I can do to block them, or if I even want to block them?

Marketer Dean Jackson recently shared an idea — bear with me because I won't tell you what it is yet. I will tell you I read Dean's idea and I said to myself: "It could never work. It's asking people to do your work for you. Besides, people don't know what they want. Maybe in 1-1 conversations you could use this, but it could never work in a regular broadcast email." In short, I had a bunch of objections and reasons why Dean's idea is no good, or at least no good for me. But Dean is a marketer I respect. I have tried his stuff before and been surprised by how well it works if I do it exactly as he says. I also have behind-the-scenes access to my own thinking, and I have seen my brain spin up stories and warnings and even sabotage to keep me from trying something new and potentially taxing. (I call this part of my brain The Censor. I respect the Censor and what he has to say. But I still get to choose whether I listen to his advice, or to act alongside it.) In any case, I decided to test out Dean's idea exactly as he said. (You can see it in my email today if you are curious.) One thing I've learned, after many years of wasted effort and time, is to stop thinking I know better than an expert who has done the thing I want to do for years at the highest levels. These days, more than ever before, when I find somebody I respect, I am willing to simply do as they tell me to do. I don't tweak, I don't question, I don't add or subtract. Sometimes, the advice I'm following doesn't work as promised. But it often does, and on occasion I am shocked by how big of a success a trivial suggestion can create. I am telling you this so you can maybe shortcut some of the wasted years I have experienced. (And as for Dean's idea, I will let you know tomorrow what came of trying it out in my email today.)

I just had this realization. At the end of the day, what is required for sending a daily (or as often as possible) email may be a love of the craft (writing) and a penchant for performance. I love the idea of having someone (or many) reading whatever I write. That thirst for attention moves me to share things... Even more so than a need for sales. Of course, my rent is tied to my sales, so it's nice to hypothesize... But I truly think that if I had no need to sell anything today, rent and other lifestyle needs miraculously taken care of, I'd still gladly send a daily email because it's just so fun to see a few thousand people open and read whatever I write every single day. And I think it is possible to build that kind of habit, if you will. Assuming that you like what you do, even if it isn't an almost narcissistic need for attention, you can develop an affection for sharing what you love, in writing, with the people who share that love... Or at least an interest. And that can be the reason why you start a daily (-ish) email... Without the pressure to have to sell something. Kit is free, after all. Why not just start?

It's been years since I've picked up one of the copywriting classics that I used to read and reread regularly (photo attached of three I have even lugged around with me as I moved cities and countries). I feel my life and my emails are suffering for it. I'm gonna get back into rereading some classic copywriting and marketing books... but I was thinking, maybe turn it into some kind of group activity? A book club? A naked book club? A naked book club in a bathtub? I have no idea. Maybe you can tell me if you are currently or have previously been in a book club? If so, what did you like and what did you not like?