A few days ago, I shared with you my joyous news – 300 subscribers.
To most, that definitely plops me in the “small fry” camp.
To some, probably also in the “aren’t you embarrassed to admit that?” bracket too.
Let me be blunt – I don’t care what you think about my subscriber count.
Not because my business is none of your business or any of that “stay in your lane” talk.
I don’t care because when I was applying for these big gigs last year, I realised something…
None of the people I wanted to impress cared about my stats.
You can see in “The Sniper Approach” how I mention emailing my list every day, making videos of me sitting on the toilet, and creating freebies for the GOOGLE DRIVE OF AWESOMENESS!!!!
At the time, my email list had only just ticked over the 100 mark and, as for the viewer count of the videos I pointed them to?
Only three boasted viewing figures in double digits.
And yet, the first email I received telling me I’d make the shortlist of a heavily contested position began:
‘Dear John from “Dear John on the John”…’
They didn’t care.
And they weren’t alone either.
At no point in applying for any of these gigs did anyone ask me:
“How many subscribers do you have on your list?”
“How many hits does your website get every month?”
“Why have you got a photo of my wife in your wallet?”
Why? I can’t be sure, but I can take a pretty good guess…
Because it doesn’t matter.
Because I upload all my emails and videos on my website, they can judge the quality for themselves.
[INSERT YOUR FAVE TRANSITION PHRASE IN HERE]
The answer to the question, “can this odd little chap from the UK write an email?” isn’t “103 subscribers”.
When it comes to trying to blag your way into an agency, there are things that matter and things that don’t.
Things that do matter:
– Being able to structure a piece of writing
– Working on your own initiative
– Showing up consistently
– Demonstrating skill with a body of work you can point someone to and say, “here, I wrote this!”
Things that don’t matter as much as you might think:
– How many likes your Facebook post got
– 99% of anything that counts as “consumption”
– The colour scheme, font, and logo of your website
It’s the same in your business – some things matter… some things don’t.
The first time I realised this was as a wedding magician.
I thought brides cared about the tricks I would do on their special day.
Turns out, they wanted me to make their Aunt Jean laugh so hard that Champagne would shoot out her nose and she’d also have to go upstairs and change her underwear.
If I’d have focused on tricks, I’d be a better magician, but my business would be far worse off.
If you’ve got a goal you’re working towards, there are probably worse things you can do than separate prospective actions into “matter”/”don’t matter”.
There’s a great example of this in the latest video I uploaded.
It’s not about magic, or me landing gigs, it’s about YOU and YOUR business.
Specifically, the headline you’re using.
Wanna find out what REALLY matters when it comes to your headline?
Godspeed,
John
P.S. As you can see in the YT description… I’m still persisting with the “silly bullets” thing.