Email Valhalla

Forget about social media and online business

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I was scouring the interwebs today when I came across the following beauty.

For context: An artist (painter) asked for tips and tricks to grow their social media—hoping to increase their sales—on a “business for artists” forum.

One of the responses?

Read it here yourself:

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“The best advice I can give is: forget about social media and online business – do real life exhibitions instead. It's easier to connect with your audience IRL, which makes selling easier as well (and you'll get a much better compensation for your work). I have been a full-time visual artist (mainly paintings) for 27 years now and I do one or two solo shows and a handful of group events every year, and that's more than enough to make a living.

Sure I have social media, but the time and effort it takes to first grow a following big enough to get some consistency in sales and then the time and effort it takes to make those sales is just not worth it IMHO – with a fraction of that effort I make a lot more sales IRL. If I have to calculate my earnings based on time spent for the sales I make online, I am better off flipping burgers.

For reference: I have about 10K followers on FB, IG and X combined – FB being the largest and if I make a sale, the buyers mostly come from there.”

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Now listen up, I’m not here to tell you how to live your life…

BUT.

If you’ve got a combined follower count of 10k (that’s ten THOUSAND people) on social media, and you still struggle to make sales (or at least, find it not worth the effort, so much so that you’re discouraging others from even trying) then, and I say this with the utmost respect, the problem doesn’t lie with “social media and online business”, the problem, my dear friend, lies with you and your ability to be entertaining and persuasive (as opposed to manipulative—big difference) enough.

As the great late John E. Kennedy said, “Advertising is salesmanship in print”.

So if you’d know how to sell someone in-person, as the author of the post said he could, then you can use those very same principles to sell someone on social media—which ultimately is a form of advertising.

Except people nowadays don’t actively make the connection between social media, advertising, and salesmanship.

Such as shame, really.

Anyway.

For more information on how to improve the persuasive abilities of your writing, and especially in emails, check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/


Should you create your own email list?

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I had a small back-and-forth with a long-time reader a short while days ago (not sure he wants me to name him).

To give some context:

He’s a passionate game dev and has been thinking about starting his own email list about game design.

Note: “thinking about starting”.

When I asked him what’s been holding him back he gave 2 reasons:

(This is how I summarized it based on his response

1) He doesn’t believe he’s “big/successful” enough to have something to offer. So why should people listen to him?

2) He prefers creating games more than writing about them, so why waste time with an email list when he could create more games instead?

Both of these are valid and popular, but ultimately flawed, responses—making this a great opportunity to share my answer publically.

So let’s talk about why those two reasons aren’t as important/valid as you might first expect.

First off, if only the biggest and most successful people could build an email list, then there’d only be a handful of lists and every market. Which simply isn’t the case.

The truth is…

People care more about people than anything else. Someone might be a lot more successful and have 10 more years of experience. But if you’re the more entertaining person while caring about your audience and actually, from the bottom of your heart, want to help your audience succeed as best as you can, then you’ll be the one they want to be around and listen to.

That’s just how it goes.

There’s no ifs, buts, or maybes about it.

Secondly, and this might not seem directly obvious when looking at it at first glance. But building your email list actually helps you free up more time (making it so he could create more games in this case).

Here’s how that works:

Instead of focusing all his effort on writing articles, social media marketing, reaching out to people, “networking”, taking on projects you don’t care about just to make ends meet, and god knows what else… You could instead focus solely on building and writing to your email list, which will take care of all your financial issues if done right, freeing up your schedule of all other things you had to do till now.

Now you’ve freed up so much time. Time you can choose to spend on creating more, writing emails (if you so choose), or just plain relaxing, whatever you choose.

Anyway.

If you haven’t started your email list yet, now’s the time.

And if you’d like some help figuring out how to get everything up and running, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Action-packed titles all suffer from the same problems

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Have you ever watched a movie or an episode of something that included a fight scene, yet found it extremely boring to watch?

I know I have.

One of the best well-known (and modern) examples I can give is the latest John Wick film. Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved the series. It’s a great movie, with top-tier moments, and I very much enjoyed watching it… but not because of the fighting/shooting scenes. Those scenes simply took too long and there were too many of them.

If you’ve seen one of them, you’ve seen all of them.

More.

Even Chris Claremont, the famous comic book writer who single-handedly took it upon himself to take X-Men, one of Marvel’s worst-performing titles back then which nobody cared about, and was on the brink of cancellation, to one of the most recognized, well-known, and best-performing comic book series of all time, resulting in tons of storylines, dozens of media adaptions, hundreds of toy lines, video games, and so, so much more, once told an interviewer, “To me, the fights are bullshit”.

Yes, the creator of one of the most successful action-packed comic book series of all time thought the fights were bullshit. All he cared about were the emotional relationships between the characters, how they interacted with the world, and the consequences these emotions had.

And so it goes in almost every other form of fiction as well.

A good fight is nothing else but an opportunity to further the plot or the emotional relationship between characters, developing them as people in the process.

That’s also why the lightsaber fights in the Star Wars prequels are often criticized as being lackluster and much worse than the original trilogy, even though the prequels had better choreography with much more flashy moves and a more dramatic and exciting setting… but they didn’t carry the same emotional baggage as the original trilogy did, nor did they further the plot most of the time.

So the fights, were in fact, bullshit.

Even more.

This isn’t just about fiction.

It perfectly applies to business as well—with one slight difference. This time it’s not “the fights are bullshit” but instead, “the value is bullshit”.

Just as any beginner fiction writer makes the mistake of thinking the fights are the end-all-be-all, so does the beginner marketer make the mistake of thinking the value is all that matters.

Spoiler alert: is doesn’t.

In fact, it’s probably not even in the top 10 of things that matter. What matters more is the relationship you have with your reader/viewer/listener/customer, the relationship they have with your offers, the mindset (inherently different than pure “how-to value”) you bring, the motivation you give, the opportunity to think differently, the feeling of being understood, the community to be a part of, and the “World” you welcome them in with open arms (as well as the barriers you put up to keep the people you don’t want as far away from your world as you possibly can).

So the next time someone comes to you, shouting “Provide more value!!”, probably expecting you to give it all away for free as well, then know…

They don’t know what they’re talking about and you’re simply better than them.

As to how to get even better yourself and learn how to actually write content that gets you sales and keeps people reading every day (without resorting to “giving more value”), then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


A persuasion masterclass from Belgian politics

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This Sunday was election day for every Belgian adult with a right to vote.

Three different elections took place actually. A local vote, a vote deciding the national government, as well as a vote deciding who will be elected to the European parliament.

And before you click off, let me warn you that I won’t get all boring or political in this email.

Quite the contrary, in fact.

There’s something extremely interesting and valuable that took place in our national election. Something I doubt many people would even think twice about, but yet it happened right there, under everyone’s noses, plain and simple for everyone to see. And it’s one of the most valuable and practical persuasion lessons I’ve seen in a long time.

To give some context:

Here in Belgium, we have the option to vote on one of the 7 different parties (there are a few other smaller parties to vote on, but these are the major ones), depending on their agendas and whichever we like most. As in most first-world countries, gender and sexuality have become quite the popular topic and one of the major points of discussion among the people. So naturally every political party had to take a stand on it and voice their opinion and how they’ll act on this whole shebang.

Naturally, the people who care about this are the loudest group in society.

Resulting in something an overrepresentation of that group in society, leading to the fact that, one by one, every single political party shared how much they care about gender and sexuality, how much they’re going to aid and support the LGBTQ…+ community, even going as far as stating they’ll reform education plans as early as kindergarten to teach kids all about it.

Well, all political parties except one, that is.

Out of the seven (7!) there’s only one party that dared to voice their distaste of what society has become with the gender-and-sexuality movement, saying there should be no place for “gender propaganda” in kindergarten, or any other level of education for that matter (and rightly so).

Even more.

The better part of our entire media landscape is against that particular political party, actively trying to undermine them, make them look bad, digging up dirt wherever (and however) they can, going as far as almost boycotting other people or parties to support them, in short, doing whatever they can to make them as weak and tiny as possible.

And yet.

After the results of the election came in, they secured a tied first place in the national election.

Regardless of what your takes are on the gender discussion, there’s a lesson to take away from this story.

And that’s not to be afraid to voice your opinions, stand up for what you think is right, and dare to fight the crowd.

Who knows, maybe you might just end up winning an election.

Even if you’re not planning on running in any election. Voicing your opinions, and daring to fight the crowd is an immensely powerful way to strengthen your bond with your fans and repel everyone you don’t want, nor care about—leading to a much healthier and higher quality audience (as well as a lot more profits for your business).

If you’d like to learn other persuasion principles to increase your business’s profits, especially through (email) writing, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Jump over the river, fall into the mud

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Yesterday I had another long walk scheduled.

More precisely, I mapped out a nice relaxing route, mostly through parks and the occasional forest where I live. The total length was 30 kilometers—that’s about 18.5 miles or around 16,745 refrigerators for the hamburger people—and would take me about 7 hours to complete, including the occasional eating or toilet break.

And so I went on my way in the early afternoon.

It all started well. Amazing scenery, great weather, no prediction of rain at all that day, sunny and warm, but not too warm that I was sweating all the time. Everything was just right.

An hour into my walk I ended up in one of those small forests.

I looked at my phone to figure out my directions, and Google Maps told me to turn right, over the bridge to cross the river, and continue walking in the same direction.

Except…

There wasn’t a bridge in sight.

I went back and forth a few times, thinking I must have passed it somewhere and it might be hidden in between some bushes. But no luck.

Luckily, the river was small enough for me to consider just jumping over it. It was a big enough river to make it a challenging jump, but the ground were I was walking was also a bit higher than the ground on the other side, so I had some luck there.

After a (rather short) bit of thinking it over, I decided to just go for it and jump over. With all the sports and physical activity I do, a little jump over the river shouldn’t hold me back, should it?

Anyway.

I got ready, took a step back to get myself a running start, and just went for it, not thinking about the consequences at all.

Luckily I made it over the river, all in one piece, and without getting wet.

Except, I now found myself a foot deep in what apparently turned out to be a wet and barely solid underground of mud (which wasn’t clear just by looking at it). So much so that I actually lost my shoe right after I jumped and tried to continue walking.

So there I was, happy that I made it and didn’t get wet, yet my feet, shoes, and bottom of my trousers were covered in mud.

Now, I’m not trying to dissuade you from jumping over rivers—I’d happily do it again. But this experience did bring up a good point… No matter how much you prepare, or how well you plan everything out, there will always be stuff you didn’t (or couldn’t) account for that’ll mess up your plan and alter the course you’ll have to take.

Luckily, as the great Matt Furey used to say “Nothing bad ever happens to a writer”.

Read it again and think about why that might be the case—powerful stuff.

And that’s why I’ll highly recommend you to check out Email Valhalla so you can learn how to write better emails that’ll get you paid (and so nothing bad will ever happen to you).

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


AI is a poor man’s solution

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If you’re thinking about using AI to aid your writing—that is, to have it write for you, regardless if it’s the entire first draft or just a single sentence—then you’re better off rethinking your life choices.

Now, I don’t say this to be rude.

In fact, I say this to help you as best I can.

See, I say this to help you become a prolific writer, not by making you as productive as you can in the least amount of time, but by making writing such a fun and enjoyable experience for you that you’d do it whether you get paid or not.

So what’s wrong with AI?

Think about it like this:

Let’s say you’re a professional and experienced guitarist. Ever since you can remember you’ve been playing the guitar. You love every single second of it. Whenever you play it feels like heaven on Earth. You can’t get enough of it. It’s your one true passion and your biggest source of pride and accomplishment.

But now it’s time to write a new song, or a whole new album even.

Then suddenly, someone, doesn’t matter who, a friend or someone who you’ve never met at all, comes along and he or she offers to play the guitar in your new album so you have less work to do and can focus on putting out more albums in less time.

Chances are you’re not going to accept that offer—if anything you’re going to politely show them the door while laughing in their face about how stupid of an idea that was.

Not only would the quality and the feel of your work drop drastically (after all, everyone’s “touch” is unique and can’t be replaced, no matter how good someone tries to), let alone the sheer stupidity of outsourcing that which you enjoy doing.

This is what you’re doing by letting AI do the work.

You’re creating sub-par content, which, believe me, people WILL notice. They might not realize exactly what’s going on, but they will feel that something’s different about your work—and not in a good way.

But even more importantly…

You’re not even giving yourself a chance to enjoy and come to love the process!

And for the love of everything that’s holy, don’t listen to the AI shmucks who tell you about how “AI is going to steal our jobs!!” and “You have to learn how to work together with AI or you’ll be left behind!!!!”.

If anything, they’re only projecting their own lack of skill, passion, and creativity onto the market.

Don’t get caught in the same trap as those bottom-of-the-barrel feeders. Stay clear of using AI to replace your writing.

And so it goes for coming to love the writing process.

Anyway, I haven’t finished my “How to make writing fun, easy, and enjoyable (while writing faster than ever before)” book yet. But check out Email Valhalla in the meantime if you want to learn how to write simple emails that keep getting you paid: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

The best lifehack I discovered since ’00

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But before I can share it with you, here’s some context you need:

See, if you’ve been on my list for any reasonable amount of time, you’ll probably know I’m big on bouldering. I try to go bouldering at least once a week… unless I’ve got injuries and my physical therapist forbids me to.

Anyway.

Last week I finally got myself a hangboard—a wooden training instrument with specific sized holes to train yourself to hang on to small ledges with anywhere from all 5 to 2 fingers per hand.

A great and useful tool.

In my case, I mounted it above the door of my room where I work, read, sleep, relax, and more than occasionally waste some time—I’m in there a lot.

I also enter and leave a lot, whether it’s to get something to drink, to eat, to go to the toilet, to go on a walk, to the gym, talk to people, whatever it is.

So my new lifehack?

Simple.

Every time I either enter or leave through my door I have to use the hangboard at least once.

It’s the easiest thing ever. It takes all but 5 seconds and it’s always “on the way” to whatever I want to do.

The result?

I get tons of practice and training in without even thinking about it, let alone even realizing I’m “training”.

Now I don’t know how this might be useful in your life, but what I do know is that you could use this same strategy to force yourself to write a small opening line (or a subject line) to an email everytime you think of an idea and want to write it down.

You want to write it down anyway, so why not practice creating more curiosity in your writing?

Anyway.

Another way to learn how to create more curiosity in your writing and improve your persuasiveness is by checking out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Let me take you down memory lane

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It’s not Thursday today, but I was in a nostalgic mood and thought it time for a throwback.

More precisely, I went back and looked at one of the very first “daily emails” I wrote.

Here it is:

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Look.

If you had one shot.

Or one opportunity.

To seize everything you ever wanted.

One moment.

Would you capture it?

Or just let it slip?

Yes I've just quoted Eminem.

Why?

Because I'm a big fan first of all.

But also because I need to remind myself of this way too often.

I'm working towards building my dream life every single day.

And it feels good.

Too good sometimes.

I'm working so hard to reach a certain milestone.

And when I reach it? I have to celebrate ofcourse.

But that celebration can become dangerous.

I become complacent. I stop putting in the same level of effort that got me here.

I need to become aware of the fact that the race isn't over. Far from it.

There's still so much more to do.

I have to remind myself to keep on the lookout. On the lookout for great opportunities to come along.

And most importantly. To jump on them as soon as I can. No hesitation.

Opportunities that can change your life are rare to find. Don't let them get away from you.

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It then goes on to promote my consulting calls.

But the content of the email itself isn’t important right now. What’s important is that I hope you can clearly see how my emails today differ with the ones I was writing a year ago—and how much better my emails are today.

Goes to show you the power of consistent practice.

Anyway.

If you’d like to get your consistent practice in as well and master the art of daily email writing, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Why are all dwarves Scottish?

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So here’s a question for you.

If you’re anything like me—an avid enjoyer of fantasy—you might have noticed how almost all dwarves in popular media nowadays get portrayed as Scottish.

(Something that’s, as I’ve recently learned, not unique to just dwarves, Vikings often get the same treatment in modern media—just look at How To Train Your Dragon).

But why?

I thought about this just a few days ago when, for both educational and inspirational reasons, I started playing The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt for the first time ever (yes I know, shame on me, should’ve played it already a long time ago).

In the game, you’ll come across many species, including dwarves, which are all portrayed as Scots.

This isn’t the only case, far from it.

At first, you might rightly want to point fingers at Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings—like almost every fantasy trope out there.

Simply watch the films and you’ll confirm that idea.

Except, Dwarves were never mentioned or hinted to be Scottish in Tolkien’s original books. If anything, they appeared to be Jewish more than anything else.

So where do you go looking for historical fantasy influences if not for Tolkien’s works?

That’s right, Gary Gygax’s Dungeons & Dragons.

And you’d be mostly correct.

It so turns out that the Scottish Dwarf can be traced back to early D&D novels. Some sources say Gary Gygax was influenced by yet another work of fiction a few decades before there was any mention of Dungeon & Dragons at all.

But that’s truly the end of our little rabbit hole.

Either way.

If someone mentions Dwarves in today’s day and age, chances are you’ll think of a short, red-headed, somewhat chubby, little fellow, going around, throwing out insults with his Scottish accent while wielding either an axe or a pickaxe in his hand.

Because as everyone knows…

If a dwarf ain’t a blacksmith or a miner, he ain’t no dwarf.

And that’s all because of one man who knew what he wanted to do, was passionate about his work, didn’t let anyone else tell them what he could or couldn’t do, and wouldn’t shut up about it until he was sure everyone knew what he was working on—and even then he’d keep on talking about it day after day, because that’s how much he enjoyed it.

Goes to show you the power of persistently sharing your work and talking about your interests.

As far as that goes nowadays, there’s simply no better way to do so than through daily email.

To learn more about how to go about writing daily emails, click here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Am I a Dan Koe copycat?

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Many moons ago I received a message from a reader telling me how my writing is “like Dan Koe, but CLEAR!”

That was a sign I was doing at least something right.

Since then my writing has evolved a lot—as everything you do should do if you're actually growing—and it differs immensely from Dan's writing now.

But I still like to look back at this message with a smile on my face.

Partly to stroke my ego.

But more importantly, to see how far I've come in 1) emulating and incorporating ideas from people I admire (or used to admire at the time) and 2) how I evolved and incorporated everything I've learned into my own style, my own writing, my own creations.

Starting out as a "me too" business is a great starting point.

Staying one isn't.

And the best way to “find your voice” is by writing a lot and writing often.

It helps if that writing practice is as fun as it can be—something I’m currently writing a new course about, which you’ll hear more about soon.

As for now.

Learn how to write better emails (ones that sound more like ‘you’) with Email Valhalla.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla