My longtime buddy and fellow Entreprogrammers mastermind member Derick Bailey of WatchMeCode.net recently launched a new product. The video series shows JavaScript developers how they can experiment with all the hot new features coming to their favorite programming language—without screwing up the projects they’re working on for the Big Bossman. To sell this product, he […]
Continue readingNot too long ago I signed up for one of those “grow your email list” tools. It looked pretty good, so I invested a couple of hours to get it set up, then let it run for a week— And netted a grand total of 11 new email signups. Blech. I’m getting more and more […]
Continue readingBack when I first stumbled on the idea of creating email courses, I got really excited. This approach eliminates the “so what do I say?” problem with writing followup email sequences. Well, kinda… Actually it’s more like kicking the can down the road. Eventually the course ends, and you find yourself asking the same question […]
Continue readingA consulting client of mine named Geneve recently sent me an SOS. She set up an email course to sell her high-end marketing services to professional photographers. It’s not going well, and she’s getting nervous about it: Hi Josh, So my drip campaign (remember the one for photographers that you helped me set up…) is […]
Continue readingIn chemistry there’s a concept called a “half-life.” From what I understand, the half-life is the amount of time that it takes for radioactive material to decay to the point where it’s giving off half as much radiation as it did on day 1. This happens at a very steady, predictable rate. Well, emails have […]
Continue readingLast week I signed up for an email course from a well-known guru in the “launch-a-best-selling-book” niche. I won’t name names here—I don’t want to beat up on the guy, since he seems to really know his stuff. For all I know he might be killing it with this course. I doubt it though. From […]
Continue readingSharp-eyed subscriber Galit asks: Hi Josh, I have a question for you—I am watching your “Behind the Scenes of a Six-Figure Email Course” video and I noticed your callout of the coveted Welcome email. But I’m looking back at my emails from you and this is the first one that I received after I opted […]
Continue readingOne of the biggest challenges of my work with Simple Programmer is this: My business partner John can crank out products like crazy. This is the guy who created 55 multi-hour video courses on technical programming topics—in less than two years. He is a content production “Terminator.” You can’t stop him, no matter what you […]
Continue readingMy short take on giving “homework” in email courses is: DON’T DO IT! Almost no one actually follows through on your assignments, and you’re just adding guilt and stress to your subscribers’ lives. Subscriber Ed calls me out though: Interesting. So you’re suggesting a “pure info” course with no homework? And yet, on Simple Programmer, […]
Continue readingThe other day I read a news story about a teacher who banned homework in her classroom. She sent the students home with a note that said, “Studies have failed to prove that homework improves performance. Spend time together as a family and go to bed early instead.” So what about email courses? Does homework […]
Continue readingRight now I’m wrapping up this 30-day boost-your-productivity challenge. One of the first assignments was to do a massive “inbox purge”—unsubscribing from all the email lists that aren’t bringing immediate value. I unsubscribed from something like 90-100 lists! Nutso. I highly recommend this exercise. You can think much more clearly when your attention isn’t being […]
Continue readingThis one ventures dangerously close to “TMI” territory—but it’s a little too much fun NOT to share. So here goes nothing… My wife is a lifelong fan of the Anne of Green Gables books. So a couple of years after we got married we decided to vacation in Prince Edward Island where the “Anne” stories […]
Continue readingThis always makes me smile: Every so often I’ll check my page views in Google Analytics and see that dozens of older blog posts have each gotten a single page view. Usually that means that someone stumbled across my site and is digging back through the archives to read everything they can find. (Hint: 0.5% […]
Continue readingThis summer I finally got to take my two oldest sons fishing for the first time. There’s this 5-acre pond nestled in the woods behind our church, with a fountain that shoots a bloom of water 20 feet in the air. Very peaceful and picturesque. I decided to take them both individually for some “daddy […]
Continue readingOne of the best marketing books I’ve read in a while is Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. (It’s a bit ironic, because the Heath brothers take lots of potshots at marketing, including copywriting legend John Caples.) To me the most fascinating part of the whole book was the anecdote that starts on […]
Continue readingInquiring minds want to know: How long should my email course be? I have an easy rule of thumb that I usually follow. But before I just give you a rule to follow mindlessly, here’s the thought process behind it. Now I’m going to assume for this discussion that you’re creating your course because you […]
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