Email Valhalla

Superman is a nerd

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If you haven’t lived under a rock for the past decade, you probably know who Henry Cavill is.

In case you seriously don’t know, he’s an English actor mainly known for his role as Superman in Man of Steel, Geral in The Witcher TV series, his depiction of Sherlock Holmes in the Enolma Holmes TV series, and many more.

Something else entirely Henry Cavill is known for is his immense love and passion for gaming and nerd culture as a whole.

Cavill reportedly missed the call telling him he got the part of Superman because he was busy raiding in World of Warcraft. He was referred to as “a living encyclopedia” on the set of The Witcher, built (and games on) his own custom-built gaming computer—he even live-streamed the whole thing. As well as he regularly talks and nerds out about everything that has to do with Warhammer 40k.

And, not unsurprising, many of his fans love him for it.

So much so that people in the gaming and nerd culture communities are proud and excited to call Cavill “one of us”.

Now, this information might not seem all that useful to you, but it is.

Because think about it: How would Cavill being so open about his passions and his interests (including his appeal to the gaming and nerd-culture communities) impact his work as an actor?

Would the movies and series he stars in get more or less recognition (especially from said communities)? Would those people enjoy those same movies and series the same amount (assuming the stays the same if it were played by a different actor)?

The truth is, none of us know.

This is only a thought experiment and there’s no way to get a defining answer. But I would bet all of my life-savings on the fact the movies he stars in get way better results from audiences alike just because he’s in it as opposed to someone else, who might very well be a better actor, yet isn’t as beloved in the same circles.

Which, once again, brings us to one of the most important lessons in all of business and marketing alike, regardless what you do, what you sell, or what market you operate in: You’re always, first and foremost, selling yourself before anything else.

So now that you know the power of selling yourself first, why don’t you check out my flagship course Email Valhalla that’ll help better sell your personality through entertaining emails that get you paid and keep your readers coming back for more.

Click here to learn more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


On getting shit done

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I’m always working on something.

Whether it’s writing an email, reworking a sales page for the 10th time, crafting a new offer, batching social media content, working with clients, or updating a product I made a while ago.

This might look overwhelming to many people.

More.

Some might fall into the trap of working on their stuff indefinitely, trying to get it “just perfect”.

Yet this is the least productive task you could probably spend your time on.

That 100th revision won’t make the difference. That one typo you fixed in your 2,117-word email won’t make you more money. That logo you redesigned won’t magically land you more clients.

Creating more content, launching more offers, and talking to more people. Now that will make you more money.

Which brings the question: how do you handle saying to yourself “it’s good enough” and just go with it.

My answer?

Public deadlines.

See, I’m a big procrastinator.

Always have been and always will be. I never get anything done unless it’s absolutely necessary. This has put me in a lot of trouble in the past. But it didn’t need to.

I realized last year that I could use this to my advantage.

How?

By setting deadlines.

Whether artificial or real—setting deadlines is the secret to getting things done. Especially for a procrastinator—they get extra productive when those deadlines come close.

So imagine I have to write an email that has to be published by 8pm.

There’s no way I’m procrastinating on that one when the clock strikes 7.30. Neither will I avoid researching a topic for a coaching call an hour before I’m supposed to hop on the call.

But there’s one problem.

What if there is no deadline?

Imagine if you wanted to launch your newsletter or create and sell a new product. It’s your own project. You don’t have a boss to tell you when something is due.

But you do have (potential) customers, readers, followers, or whatever you call the people who like your stuff.

The solution?

You announce that you’ll be launching a new product before you even start creating it. Tell your followers that your course will launch in 2 weeks. Even stronger. Announce that your product is available for early purchase at a discounted price.

Now you have no choice but to 1) create a sales page 2) write those promotional emails 3) create a curriculum 4) design your product 5) figure out your pricing and most importantly 6) get everything done in 2 weeks.

No time to mess around. No time to procrastinate. And no chance for you to “keep gathering information and not take action”.

Now I’m sure this might not be possible with everything in life.

But so far I’ve found a way to apply this trick to everything that’s functional and important in my life.

Try it out for yourself and see how much you can truly get done in a short amount of time.

On another note.

If you’d like to discover my framework for writing high-converting emails that keep your readers engaged and coming back each and every day, without having to spend hours writing them (in fact, you could easily start writing emails in less than 5–10 minutes), then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Being liked doesn’t matter, being respected does.

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See, many people want to be liked (which goes hand in hand with getting a lot of engagement on their posts).

They constantly need confirmation that what they’re doing is good and that they’re sharing awesome stuff.

They want people to tell them how much they love what they’re doing and thank them all the time.

Get them a few naysayers and all hell breaks loose.

I hate to break it to you though, but ‘being’ liked doesn’t pay the bills. Being respected does.

What this means is, people will give compliments to the guy they like, they’ll engage with him, reply to all his stuff, and tell him how amazing his content is, but when it gets down to actually taking out their credit cards and buying some new product they’ve been eyeing for a while, they’ll always purchase from the guy they respect rather than the one they like. In fact, there’s something to be said that your biggest haters and dislikes are actually your most valuable customers, but that’s something for another time.

Now, I don’t know about you but I’d rather be respected than liked if it meant actually getting paid (in real-life money, not imaginary likes or thank you’s) for what I do.

So how do you go about it?

Well, there are many ways to be respected.

But if I were to name one, just one, that you could start doing today, without any issues, without much work, that’ll have an almost immediate effect, and will keep increasing its effect until nobody dares not to respect you, let alone compete with you, for months, years, even decades (not saying you’ll have to do it for decades, just showing you the absolute power of this), then it would have to be, without a doubt, the act of mailing your list daily, showing up day after day, showing who’s the boss, sharing something every day, never taking any shit, proving you know your shit, and doing it your way.

I know, it ain’t exciting.

It’s nothing new.

But it’s by far the best, most effective, and, dare I say, fastest way to become respected instead of merely being liked (something that isn’t as valuable as you might think at first).

Anyway.

To learn more about the most effective way to send daily emails, build up a reputation, show your readers you know your shit, and do it in a manner that’s easy, simple, and doesn’t take any time whatsoever, but has massive effects for you, both in the short-run as in the long-run, then check out Email Valhalla.

Click here to learn more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Too much marketing? What about not enough?

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Here's an interesting observation:

Recently my mother has gotten frustrated because she has NOT been receiving any marketing flyers, emails, or whatever else from some of the local shops in our area.

This is something most people, when it comes to doing their marketing, fail to understand.

When done correctly (very important), people WANT to hear from you. They're ready to give you their money. All they need is to hear from you, for you give them the opportunity to buy—which is completely different than how most people think about it.

You're helping people improve some aspect of their lives by allowing them the privilege and opportunity to buy from you—at least if you're doing honest business and care about your customers.

Think about this the next time someone tells you not to send frequent emails to your (future) customers because "you're going to annoy them".

You won't.

Not if you do it right and make your emails as entertaining and interesting as they can possibly be.

For more advice on how to do just that, check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Do you know how to change a tire?

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Some 3 weeks ago a friend and I went on a walk.

A 40km walk, during one of the top 5 hottest and sunniest days that month, which took us over 8 hours to be more precise.

About 5 hours in—give or take—we came across a 75-ish man (he told us his age but I forgot the exact number) who was hunched over next to his parked car on the side of the road because he had a flat tire.

He seemed to be struggling to change his tire so we quickly went over and asked him if he needed any help.

I’ve never seen a happier man than him at that moment.

Apparently—this is what he told us—he’d been at it for close to an hour (if not more) trying to change his tire, with little to no luck at all. He had medical problems with his heart, was extremely tired, couldn’t even lift his spare tire anymore, and knew no one in the vicinity to come and help him since he lived in another country (we were close to the border).

Even worse.

This was a street with quite a lot of traffic (for the outskirts of town at least) and almost nobody even bothered to ask the man if he needed any help—and those who did didn’t know how to change a tire.

And don’t worry, this story has a happy ending because we quickly changed his tire, offered him some water, and helped him.

Now, while “learn how to change a tire” is definitely good life advice, that’s not my point.

My point is this:

Plenty of people all around you are struggling with problems at all times—most of which will never ask anyone for help (especially not men, let’s face it).

So it’s up to you to 1) reach out to people and offer your help to solve their problems and 2) actually know how to solve the damn problem.

The second part comes from experience, education, and specific knowledge depending on what kind of problems you help people solve.

The first part can be as easy as building an email list and mailing it daily.

For more information on how to do the latter, check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Abracadabra, here I am!

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You may (or may not) have noticed that I didn’t write an email yesterday.

That was intentional.

See, I wanted to test something.

More specifically.

I wanted to test how healthy and developed my relationship and close connection is to my readers. It turns out, it’s quite healthy.

Today, I woke up to a handful of people pointing out that they didn’t receive an email yesterday and they wanted to see if something went wrong (either on my end or theirs).

While a handful of people doesn’t sound like a lot, you must remember: if one person asks it, dozens more are thinking it.

So that’s an easy way to confirm whether I’m taking up “mental real estate” in people’s heads—and apparently, I am.

If you’ve got a medium where you’re keeping constant connection with your audience, then try this “experiment” out yourself. See whether people notice if you stopped tweeting, posting, emailing, podcasting, or whatever else you might do, just for one day.

The results may very well surprise you and you might learn something new about the routine-like relationship you have with your audience.

As one long-time reader once told me (paraphrased), “Your emails are like getting up to have a quick chat with a friendly co-worker at the water cooler”.

And that’s a good place to be.

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn more how you can build a deep relationship powered by constant connection with your audience, especially when it comes to email, then I suggest you check out Email Valhalla.

Click here to find out more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How to set your empire on fire and live to fight another day

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Many tales are told about the Roman emperor Nero.

Such as the story of how Nero supposedly set fire to his own majestic imperial capital. A fire that we to this day refer to as the Great Fire of Rome, which occurred on the night of July 19, AD 64.

Yet it’s likely that almost none of it is true.

That’s the premise of one of the books I picked up up a year ago while paying a visit to the Gallo-Roman Museum.

I don’t exactly remember who mentioned it, but I once came across a rule somewhere mentioning the benefits of forcing yourself to buy at least one book every time you enter a bookshop. It doesn’t matter which book. Just one. The first one that catches your eye.

You’ll learn lots of cool stuff you wouldn’t have otherwise.

It so happened that the museum had a bookshop. And so I had to get myself a book. I couldn’t decide between 2, so I just bought both of them.

Trajan by Nicholas Jackson and Rome is Burning by Anthony A. Barrett.

Both are fascinating reads and I’d recommend them to everyone slightly interested in history or the Roman Empire.

But back to Nero.

He’s commonly been called a tyrant who ruled with ruthless impulsiveness. Yet, for most of his rule, he was, in fact, liked by the general populace of Rome.

The people loved him. He did good things. He entertained the people. He often took part in plays and would sing together with the other performers.

Nero was a liked and popular emperor.

Yet his popularity plummeted after the fire because of all the rumors. Rumors of how he started the fire. Rumors of his lack of leadership and correct behavior. Some rumors stated he himself started the fire, others stated he could be seen singing on his balcony while Rome stood burning for 6 days straight.

Whatever the case was, he didn’t rule—or even live—much longer after that.

Was Nero to blame for all of this? Did he deserve it? Was he actually insane and tyrannical? Was his popularity and gentleness before nothing more than a facade?

We will never know.

But one thing we do know is this: he could’ve used some lessons on personal branding.

You see. Being the emperor of Rome or building your own brand isn’t all that different. There’s a huge importance in maintaining a strong and likable image, building a strong connection with your ‘audience’, and even building your own world to ensure you’re unreplaceable and effectively ‘cancel-proof’.

Perhaps, if Nero knew what we know today, his people would have continued loving him, regardless of whether he caused the Great Fire and executed his family members.

Clearly Nero didn’t succeed in doing so. But that doesn’t mean you can’t succeed either.

And in my humble, yet accurate and proven opinion, there’s no better way to build a good relationship with your readers than by staying in constant connection with them through frequent emails.

You can’t even come close to understanding how powerful this constant connection is until you’ve experienced it yourself.

And if you’d like some pointers on how to get started the right way, while getting paid and building your creative business alongside it, then you might want to check out Email Valhalla.

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Stop writing so damn much

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There’s this old saying, “less is more”.

It’s especially true for writing.

Why write big and fancy words when simple and short ones will do? Why waste your time writing 500 words when 50 is enough?

The more you leave out, the stronger your writing.

So it is for both product creation and email writing.

Which is what I focus on in my flagship course Email Valhalla; how to write entertaining emails that make sales and keep your readers reading day after day.

Sounds interesting? Click here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


The case against working with a publisher

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People love to talk about publishers like they’re the second coming of Jesus—regardless of market or industry.

But if I were you I’d think twice about getting into the sea with a publisher.

After all, it’s a big decision, and more often than not, working with a publisher isn’t worth it.

For one, on average, across all industries, whether we’re talking books, video games, or music… publishers will take anywhere from 30% to 70% of your total profits.

Sure, the good ones (which are becoming harder to find day after day) will pay you upfront for your deliverable. But that’s not never where people make the majority of their income (if they know what they’re doing that is).

So there’s immediately a huge trade-off here.

Then the question you need to ask yourself becomes, “Will I make more profit, on top of the publisher’s cut, with the publisher than without them?”.

If the answer to your question is either “no” or “I don’t know” then don’t work with a publisher.

They need to be able to show you an entire game plan backed up by reliable figures of previous (and hopefully similar) projects they took on to convince you of their worth.

Even more.

Self-publishing has never been an easier, efficient, and especially lucrative practice than it is today. And it’ll continue to improve and be the better option for 90% or more of creatives out there.

The downside?

You’re on your own and you’ll need to do your own marketing.

Luckily for you, that too is becoming easier and easier by the day, especially when you apply what I teach in Email Valhalla about building a list and writing daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day regardless of what market or industry you’re in.

Click here for more information about Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Why new stuff is almost always way worse than the old stuff

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One of the founding fathers of modern-day marketing, and more specifically advertising, is Claude C. Hopkins who first published “Scientific Advertising” back in 1923.

It’s an amazing read which I highly suggest to everyone who even remotely comes close to advertising anything, no matter what, why, or how.

In fact, I’d argue you should read it multiple times in a row. That’s what I’m doing right now, in fact—I’m currently on my god-knows-how-many read-through and I keep learning new stuff.

You can read the entire thing in one sitting if you’d like.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking “But Alex, that book is from 1923, surely that’s outdated and there are better books for me to read right now?”.

I thought so too at first.

But boy how wrong I was.

See, advertising and marketing at their core are psychological disciplines. It’s essentially salesmanship in print as Hopkins described it in his book. And if there’s anything to know about sales & psychology, it’s that people’s psyche doesn’t change. If something used to be true back in Ancient Rome, then chances are it still holds true today.

Sure the medium changes, and maybe even certain ideas, beliefs, and cultural ideals. But the underlying principles everything is based on don’t.

Another fact to consider is that the best way to stand out is to “be different”.

So modern books, teachings, and people who want to “compete” with such old-school legends and more-than-holy scriptures on the art of advertising, by definition, have to do things differently or else they won’t even stand a chance in competing.

But what happens when people want to compete with a near-perfect book (in this case at least)?

That’s right…

You end up with something slightly worse at best and completely and utter bollocks at worst.

That’s the case for every piece of information in every market targeted to every demographic and applied to every medium there is. No exceptions.

Something to think about.

Anyway, I’m not saying I’ve got knowledge anywhere near to the level of that of Hopkins. But I always focus on only taking in the best, most-trustworthy, and effective information from the old-school myths, legends, and pioneers.

Take for example Email Valhalla, my flagship course which teaches you all about writing emails that get you sales, no matter what market you’re in or what you’re selling, and keeps readers reading day after day.

There’s nothing truly new in the course.

No shiny bells or whistles.

But it is one of the only (I only know a handful of others) courses that brings everything from the top dogs who knew what they were doing together and teaches it in a modern jacket and a teaching style that’s uniquely mine and mine alone (that means no-nonsense, no bullshit, no time-wasting, and ultimately memorable and effective).

If that tickles your fancy, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla