If you're selling to people who want to be where you are... ... for example, to solopreneurs if you're a solopreneur... ... to internet marketers if you're an internet marketer... ... to coaches if you're a coach... ... then does it make sense to appear frustrated, dissatisfied, or disappointed with aspects of your business? Or does it make more sense to be cheerful, optimistic, and eager about your business, both as it is now, and as it was yesterday, and where it will be tomorrow? I'd claim it's the second. Today I listened to a presentation by Internet Marketer Jeff Walker. Jeff was speaking in a closed-door mastermind. And he made his business sound so great. One big success after another. One great idea after another. Made me want to learn more from him, and pay him money. Even though I know for a fact he's had problems in his business... And even though i know the reality of running a business like his. So I got a question for you: If aiming to look happy and successful is good for business, and I believe it is... ... then how do we square this with the fact that being transparent and honest is good for business, which I also believe?

No, I'm not offering to do it for you. But I am curious. Are you planning to sell something unique to your list in March? And to have a deadline? And to send people a bunch of emails before the deadline expires?

I've been recommending list swaps as a way to grow your email list. The #1 objection I hear is: "My list is too small to make it worth anybody's while." How small is too small? 4 people? 100 people? 200 people? I was recently on a call with a list owner who has a list of 1,500 entrepreneurs. He said he's worried his list is too small to do list swaps! That dude asked for my advice about approaching people for list swaps. What I told him is: 1. A fantastic lead magnet and solid emails will go a long way. Right now, I'm doing a list swap with somebody who has a list of 150 people... because he's willing to custom create a lead magnet I know my audience will get value from. Plus his emails are solid. 2. You can always offer to make things right. If somebody's list is bigger than yours, you can offer to promote them multiple times, now and then again in 6 months or in a year etc. (In the end, that's the deal I ended up striking with the guy in point 1.) 3. Money can plug the gap. You can always offer to both promote the other person AND to pay them something to make the exchange more equitable. So? Are you convinced now? Are you gonna rush out and start doing list swaps? I hope so. But if not, I gotta tell you my dark-psychology conclusion here: I don't think list size is really what's holding people back from doing list swaps. Rather, I think it's the same old culprit that holds back pretty much everybody, pretty much all the time: Fear of rejection. Putting yourself out there... and having somebody tell you no or ignore you... and feeling so small and worthless because of it. If that's your situation, then I'd suggest, in the words of business coach Rich Schefren, that you put your business goals ahead of your personal development goals. It would be great to not care about being rejected, or to just do stuff in spite of this fear. But while you work on that, it can make sense to look for alternate routes to achieve your business goals. I'd like to point you to an opportunity to do so right now.

The return of Small Win Saturdays... What's your small win for the week? Specifically, something to do with the emails you send out... the offers you make via those emails... the people you get onto your email list, etc? Sound off in the comments below. It will make you feel good about the past week, and I'd love to hear what you're up to.

A reader forwarded me another marketer's email that said, "Are email agencies fucked?" And she (the reader who forwarded me the message) asked: "I wanted to know what you thought of this - is the writing on the wall for email copywriting?" That was two days ago. Yesterday I saw a promo (in my email inbox) with the subject line, "R.I.P. Email Marketing." And last week, I polled my readers on a different question, and got a response from a reader (and member of Daily Email House), who runs a 6-figure info publishing and coaching business. He wrote: "The sales from emails are really down, I sell maybe 10 % of my revenue through email, the rest is from ads and I am sending good emails, if I say so myself and almost daily." Is something in the water that I failed to notice? Or is email marketing dying? Any thoughts or better yet direct experiences?