Happy Sunday, you handsome devil you.
Hope you’re having a great weekend.
If you’re from the US, I hope you had a great Independence Day and celebrated by doing something awesome (i.e. by NOT watching the movie “Independence Day”).
Anywho, you didn’t open this email to absorb a rather tepid preamble, did you?
No, you want the good stuff – three emails you can send this week. The kind of emails that liven up your list and keep you top of mind so when your customers find themselves holding a fat stash of cash and trying to think of someone to throw it at, they think of you.
Let’s crack on with…
1. This week, I have mostly been learning…
They say that every day’s a school day – you learn something new every day.
Most of the time, “they” are absolute idiots, but, on this occasion, I agree with “them”.
Not only will learning something new each day make you a better human and give you more opportunities in life, but it also gives you something to share with your list.
YAY – email fodder!
So, with that in mind…
… what the best thing you’ve learned this week?
Share it with your list.
Doesn’t matter if it’s related to your business or not. Share it anyway. Give them an insight into what makes you tick and what’s important to you.
You’re at least one step ahead of your customers in your field of expertise, so sharing something you’re trying to get better at keeps you humble and makes you more approachable…
… even if you are a condescending, arrogant asshat.
Nearly drowned on your first kayaking lesson? Write about that.
Got a bit over-enthusiastic with your bongos and burst one? Share that.
You never know what you’re going to bond with people over. Random shit like this might be the thing that tips them into reaching out to you with a “HOLY hell! You nearly drowned too? I thought it was just me. I shouldn’t have brought my bongos along… You free for a call today?”.
You never know.
2. “OMG! You like ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ too?”
I love a good book.
Not physically, you understand…
(Not since I was banned from all my local libraries)
There’s probably a quote somewhere, saying something like, “You can tell a lot about a man by looking at his bookshelf”…
… but I’ll be buggered if I’m Googling quotes…
Let’s just presume there is, it was Abraham Lincoln who said it, and move on with our lives, shall we?
What kind of books do you like to read? Why?
Fiction? Non-fiction?
What’s the last book you’ve read?
What are you reading at the moment?
What’s the book you’ve read more than once?
Tim Ferriss is fond of asking guests on his show, “What’s the book you’ve gifted the most?”
If you were stuck on a desert island, and only had one book, what would it be?
(Apart from “How to Build a Seaworthy Boat From Bothin But Palm Trees and Sand”)
Write an email this week, looking at books. You can choose any angle you want, but, whichever you choose, try to get into the “why”.
Don’t forget, the whole point of emailing is to forge a closer bond between you and the reader. To do that, you need to give them an insight into what’s going on in your head.
Give them something to grab on to.
You can tell a lot about someone by what’s on their bookshelf, though I can’t remember where I heard that…
3. It started with a…
Because we’re all busy #Hustlin’ #247, it’s easy to lose track of where it began.
We’re so busy trying to reach for the “next level” that we forget to look back and remind ourselves how we got to where we are now.
Odds are, you’ve done some pretty awesome things.
None are more important than the very first thing you did.
Going from 0 to 1 is a big step. The biggest, probably.
How did you do that?
The moment you handed your notice in at the Accountancy office and decided to go all-in on your range of Bovine scented phone cases…
… what was that like?
How did you know you were ready? What were you feeling? Was it an easy decision to make, or the most challenging thing you’ve ever done?
Tell your audience about it the moment everything changed.
Let them see what started you on this journey.
This is the kind of stuff that customers love. It gives them a bigger, more vivid picture of you.
You’re no longer “some person on the internet”, you’re “Shelia, the lady who grew up on a farm and loves cows a bit too much…”.
Tell your customers your origin story and you give them a reason to choose you over the other guys.
Don’t forget, all the previous TEYCSTW are available in the GOOGLE DRIVE OF AWESOMENESS!!!
(Don’t worry, it’s a bit of an easy treasure hunt – I’ve called the doc “TEYCSTW”)
John Holt