Yesterday I did a consultation with a writer named Sue. Sue runs a weekly webinar about “3 blogging myths” where she sells her high end “how to blog” course. During our discussion she asked what she should say in her emails to get more people on the webinar. My reply: “Use the ‘blind tease.’” The […]
Continue readingYesterday my partner in crime John recorded an “upsell” video for one of the products we’re selling. And he instinctively did something that will make the video MUCH more effective in terms of sales. The video will live on the “thank you” page for our main funnel, which is an email course about building a […]
Continue readingMy inner loss aversion monkey is screeching and rattling the bars of his cage right now. The little guy is a furry ball of poo-flinging rage, all because of my trip to the UPS Store yesterday. What’s a “loss aversion monkey”? It comes from a study that some scientists did a few years back. They […]
Continue readingLongtime subscriber Andy is a jeweler with his own store. He recently told me he’s going to start writing regular emails to his list of several thousand past customers. I warned him that I might have to critique some of his emails, but he went ahead anyway. After his first email went out, he confessed […]
Continue readingRight now I’m working on 2 different free email courses. These are both for Simple Programmer, which is a business my buddy John started up. In January he brought me in as a partner to run his marketing. The first email course is one that John put together about 18 months ago. It’s called, “How […]
Continue readingThe raging debate among email marketers is: Single or double optin? If you’re not familiar with the terms, double optin means that you send each would-be subscriber an extra email when they try to subscribe to your list. Then the new subscriber has to click a confirmation link in this double optin email before you’re […]
Continue readingA few weeks back, my wife clued me in to the hilarious “nailed it” meme on Pinterest. This meme is a collection of crafts and baking attempts that went horribly off the rails. You post a photo of something you were *trying* to make, alongside the actual results. Like rolls that are supposed to look […]
Continue readingConversion rates are nasty, lying little devils. Especially the way many marketers talk about them. Case in point: A few days ago I was reading a post on Inbound.org about the growing popularity of “welcome gate” style optin forms. More and more sites are using tools like SumoMe and Thrive to create welcome gates because […]
Continue readingYesterday my coaching student “Karen” sent me an email to critique. Karen sells “marriage bootcamp” weekends—intensive, full immersion couples therapy retreats for relationships that are on the rocks. The email had a great “hook”: She demolished 3 deadly myths about happy couples. Then she ended like this: For more great ideas to keep you in […]
Continue readingLongtime subscriber “Alex” is hustling to quit his day job and start a business in an unrelated niche. He has a successful podcast and growing email list of around 3,000 subscribers. He’s been pursing gigs as a freelancer, but then a new opportunity popped up. Alex writes: My plans are starting to diverge off the […]
Continue readingWhen I was 12 I started learning the guitar. I’d order these learn-at-home tapes from a company out of New York and just work through the lessons. My favorite style was Bluegrass. Think old-timey country with banjos and mandolins. Mountain music. By the time I was 14, I was good enough to impress everyone in […]
Continue readingIn college I had a roommate named Brad. Brad was a proud “meterosexual,” back before that was a thing. He had this elaborate hair care routine—he bought only the best salon-quality hair care products and scoffed at anything that cost less than $30 a bottle. Me? Just give me the cheapest shampoo/conditioner at Wal-Mart and […]
Continue readingResponding to my “starving sales funnel” email from a few days back, Ashley writes: Thanks Josh – this was actually just what I needed to be reminded of today. I think what I’ve built is great, the feedback on my free course/funnel has been really positive, but no ones bought my paid course yet and […]
Continue readingSubscriber Claudio is a programmer who wants to make a name for himself by building a thriving blog and email list, and writing a book. He’s bouncing around in his own head, though, and can’t get traction: I run a personal blog since 2008. I haven’t posted consistently, there were periods where I posted 2 […]
Continue readingUnemployment really messes with your head. While some guys end up sitting on the couch and binge-watching TV in a depressive funk, geeks like me tend to focus their frustration into some weird obsession. Back in 2008-09 I spent 6 months “between jobs,” and I threw myself into… Bladesmithing. The art of forging steel to […]
Continue readingYesterday I got pretty frustrated with this email sequence I’m writing for a client in the mortgage lead generation niche. This particular client has an ice cold list—nearly 1,000 leads and past customers that haven’t heard a peep from my client in months or years. I banged out the first email pretty fast, but when […]
Continue readingEver heard of the book, “The Richest Man in Babylon”? One of the key takeaways in that book is this: “Don’t carry buckets, build pipelines.” In other words, build a machine that generates results without your direct involvement. Most people hear that and jump right to the idea of creating products to generate “passive income” […]
Continue readingThe email I sent a few days back about my guest posting “mental block” musta struck a nerve—my inbox lit up with replies. One of them was from a biz owner named Holger: Late last year I launched a SaaS for tele-marketing freelancers and small agencies (strictly b2b). It’s been three years in the making […]
Continue readingAndy runs a jewelry business, and he’s looking for a breakthrough. He writes: I keep flirting with the idea of sending emails like this to our clients…but something keeps me from doing it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been at it (the jewelry business) so long that it bores me. Or maybe I’m tired of a […]
Continue readingHow To Sell Your Online Course With Email Back in 2009 I was desperately hunting for a job. At the time I was 2 years into my 6 month contract as a temp. Every day when I’d swipe my badge to get into the building, I’d half expect to see the little light on the […]
Continue readingHere’s something I didn’t fully grasp when I launched my first product: Not everyone is your customer. Now I wasn’t expecting EVERYONE who signed up for my email list to buy my book. But deep down, I kinda thought I could convince MOST of them. What I learned, though, is that the real world works […]
Continue readingI got seduced by the friendly monkey and the pretty UI. It didn’t take long for the ugly cracks to start showing through that fresh coat of paint. “Oh, you want to send a welcome email with lead magnet A to these subscribers, and a different message with lead magnet B to those subscribers? “Good […]
Continue readingBefore we had electricity, internal combustion engines and nuclear power, the entire world economy depended on the wind. And when ships ventured near the equator, sometimes the wind would just die, leaving sailors stranded for weeks or even months until they ran out of food and water. They called these pockets of deadly calm “the […]
Continue readingHave you read “The Martian” yet? Best novel I’ve read in a LONG time, especially if you’re kind of a geek like me. Astronaut Mark Watney gets stranded on Mars—his team thinks he’s dead because they watched him get speared by debris during a freak dust storm. He has to figure out how to make […]
Continue readingFrom my inbox: Hi Josh, My name’s Mike. I’m a fiction writer. I’ve had a film project optioned, but that’s currently being tortured in development hell. Chances are the project will never see the light of day. Also, having tried and failed to go the traditional route with book publishing, I’ve decided to take the […]
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