Just wanted to point out to everyone that there are 500 members in this group now! And, not that it's a flex or anything... I remember a time where there were less than 10. Congrats, John!

In another thread, @Susan Moore writes: === I've taken courses that I didn't finish. But the amount of studying I did do, combined with related unfinished courses, and my own work and life experiences has all added up to this cumulative knowledge and insight I simply would not have without my messy inclinations and unfinished courses. === In that thread, I had an example of a course I didn't finish or implement when I got it, but which still gave me an idea that ended up being useful to me years later. This got me wondering, have you had experiences like that? I mean, have you ever found... A valuable idea or tactic or strategy that you got from a course that you never never finished? Or an idea or tactic or strategy that you got from a course, which you didn't use at the time, but which you used and profited from years later? Or a a tangential idea that somebody dropped in a course or training, which you ended up using, even though it was almost irrelevant to the main thing being taught?

I'm curious to hear what you think, or what you might charge yourself. Give me your thoughts, and then I'll tell you what I think and have recently done.

I'm curious what you think: Why do sales calls typically convert at 20%-50%... ... while sales pages typically convert at 2%-5%? If you had to put it down to just one thing?

I got a message this morning from what looked like a genuine, personal Gmail account. It said: === SUBJECT: Quick question about your Skool community... Hey - saw your email writing community and had a quick thought. Most communities I’ve looked at don’t struggle with content… They struggle with members actually following through consistently. Is that something you’ve noticed on your end? === Good! At this point, not only did I open and read the guy's message, but I was: 1. Curious where this guy is going, because it sounds like he might be in Royalty Ronin (he's not, as far as I can tell) 2. Curious if he can actually make this community better. In my heart of hearts, I started imagining some brighter and easier future than the backbreaking labor I wrestle with daily in this group What the hell? I figured it's worth a reply. And if I'm replying, I might as well be all in. So I replied: "I struggle with both" 15 minutes later, the dude wrote back: "I'm sorry to hear that! Out of curiosity, have you tried anything like structured challenges/sprints before?" Eh. I haven't replied to this, and I won't. I don't know if this dude is pitching challenges. I have tried those before, and in fact I'm doing one next week, so that's already out if he wants to sell me something. But more than that, my bubble of a brighter and shinier and easier future popped. I was brought back to the present, specifically to the prospect that this guy would want me to do something or make some kind of a decision to change my current situation. and that's something I'm leery of, at least after just one email. I'm reporting on this fascinating interaction because it's relevant to you too, and not just if you write cold outreach messages. It's relevant to you if you write emails to your list, and if you use those emails to get business of any sort. There are three lessons I would say you can draw from the guy's messages above. Two from his initial message (what to do) and one from his second message (what not to do).