Email Valhalla

One of my all-time favorite short books

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And I mean seriously short, this book is only 41 pages with a ginormous font.

Not to mention, It’s an old gem as well.

It was first written and published in 1902, yet still relevant and published today (a rule I picked up from Naval Ravikant is that if an old book is still around, it’s got something inside of it that’s worth reading).

Anyway.

The book I’m talking about is As a Man Thinketh.

As the title suggests, it’s all about the power of your mind, and how your thoughts, and their quality, influence and decide everything about you, your life, your surroundings, and the things life rewards (or punishes) you with.

What I like most isn’t just how it’s practical, relevant, very clearly written, easy to read in one quick sitting, or even how it broadens your mind and shows you a new way of thinking.

No.

It’s how it conveys complex ideas, in an understandable and easy-to-grasp manner, yet still wording it beautifully and poetically.

Everyone who has ever written knows how simple language and poetry don’t easily go hand in hand. Yet As a Man Thinketh seems to have cracked the code because it does it on every. single. page.

Here’s an example:

“Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth.”

That, to me, reads beautifully.

And I hope you can share this joy with me by seeing the beauty in it as well.

On another note.

While it might not help you write as beautifully or as poetically, Email Valhalla will help you write valuable and entertaining emails in a simple and easy-to-understand manner to keep your readers interested, sometimes even obsessed, making them come back each and every day.

If that sounds like a skill you’d want to develop, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


This has been way too long overdue

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But I finally did it.

I’m talking about something so crucial, so important, so absolutely vital to my business (and more than likely yours as well), yet so overlooked by almost everyone out there it’s not even funny how overlooked this is.

Entire businesses can go from thriving one day to having lost everything and going completely broke the next if they don’t do this one simple thing.

And it really isn’t that hard.

In fact, it took me all about an hour or two to do this thing and I’m not set up for life. I never have to spend any time on this, never even have to click on anything, hell I don’t even have to ever think about it ever again.

All it took (and all it ever will take) is one to two hours.

And it could probably take you a whole lot less (maybe a bit more) depending on how much experience you have with stuff like this. But then again, it’s something anyone could easily figure out by reading a guide or watching a free 10-minute video explaining EXACTLY (and I mean to the letter) what to do.

The reason why it took me (and many others) so long to do (remind yourself, some people never do this and lose everything because of it) this, yet it’s so incredibly important is simple.

It doesn’t do anything unless it’s too late.

See, what I’m talking about (which I’ll reveal in just a minute) is more of an insurance. Not an actual business benefit. Yet it’s the most important insurance you can have for your business.

But that’s just how insurances go. Nobody ever wants one…

Until it’s too late.

Ok enough teasing for now.

The insurance I’m talking about, and what I finally did today that was long overdue was to set up an automation that backs up my email list in real-time (for those interested in the technical side: I do this by adding the emails to a Google Sheet whenever someone subscribes to Beehiiv, using Make dot com—as well as adding unsubscribes to another spreadsheet (and removing them from the original one)).

This way I’m making sure I’ll never lose my email list no matter what.

Yes building your own list is great since that’s something you “own”. But that owning part only goes so far if you never take it off the platform you’re using. Every single day is another chance for you to get de-platformed (it happens a lot more than you think, especially in today’s age of cancel culture), let alone if the platform suddenly shuts down (no business lasts forever).

So the final layer of protection is to back up your email list.

Anyway, enough of that.

Speaking of email lists and protecting your business. Another vital step of this equation is to master the art of daily email writing and list building to get yourself a valuable list you’re afraid of losing enough to get the motivation to back it up in the first place.

And for that, let my biased ass tell you this, there’s simply no better place to start than by checking out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


I have a confession to make

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I haven’t been hand-copying sales letters anymore.

This bad behavior of mine has been going on for almost a month now (25 days to be precise). Truth be told, I have no excuse for it either.

It all started when I messed up my shoulder a while back (even though it wasn’t my writing shoulder). Still, my mind found it a good enough reason to convince myself that it’s ok to “take a break” because of it.

Yet it wasn’t until I sat down recently and looked at my daily goals and tasks I was supposed to do that I finally noticed how I still hadn’t gotten back to doing this daily practice of mine (a practice I have no doubt has been helping me develop as both a (copy)writer and a marketer).

This might sound recognizable to you, it might not.

Who knows.

Either way, let this be a reminder to check back in on your (positive) habits once in a while to make sure everything’s in order.

Another such habit that I’ve found to immensely improve my life ever since the day I started doing it—and it has only continued to improve my life more and more the longer I keep on doing it consistently and religiously, day in, day out—was the practice of writing an email every single day.

No exceptions.

I was writing daily emails when barely anybody was reading them, when I had nothing to sell, and yes, even when I thought I had nothing to say or write about.

Even more.

All of these so-called “problems” are solved by writing daily emails and staying consistent.

Day after day.

Email after email.

Do this for at least 30 days and you’ll soon realize 1) people will start listening/reading your stuff 2) you’ll figure something out that you can sell (and something your readers need/want 3) the more you write, the more things you’ll have to say to the point where if you’ve been writing for a long enough time you’ve got too many things you want to say/write about and not enough time/days/emails to write about them.

Anyway.

If you’d like a head-start to properly get this habit of daily email writing going then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Two things happened yesterday

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The first:

I didn’t send an email.

Not because I didn’t write one—I did. But for some reason, the scheduling got messed up and no email was sent.

The second:

I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time.

As of late I’ve been going through a list of good classic movies which I’ve never seen and watching them one by one. Both for the experience and the enjoyment, but also to study and learn from the storytelling, screenwriting, and other creative aspects that have to do with cinema.

Now, both of these might seem like they have nothing in common with each other.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

See, over the past year, I’ve come to learn that everyone is and always will be connected in some way or another. In fact, it might be better to say all things are one, and it’s an illusion differentiate between, for a lack of a better word, ‘things’ (which are never and can never be anything else but social constructs we use to better understand the world around us and everything in it).

But let’s not go there just yet.

The practical side is this:

There’s always a connection to find between everything. If it doesn’t look like there is, then you simply don’t know enough about the subject or you aren’t looking hard enough.

Let’s take yesterday’s 2 things that happened as an example.

I don’t know what happened with my email. So I could very well complain about Beehiiv and say they messed something up—after all, they might have, who knows?

At the same time, I could also take up responsibility and say it’s highly likely I am at fault and I messed something up myself.

Here’s (one of infinite) connections with 2001: A Space Odyssey:

If you’d ask our good friend HAL-9000 what’s more likely, Beehiiv (the software I use to send emails) messing up or me messing up, then he’d say I messed up, because whenever something goes wrong, it’s always a human error, no doubt about it.

So there you have it.

I messed up somehow (which, generally, is the better view to take as well than simply blaming errors on things outside of your control).

The practical takeaway of this email?

There’s many to be found.

But let me give you a marketing one.

Whenever you’re trying to market, promote, or sell something in an email. Don’t just think “what can I tell about this offer that might be interesting”. Instead come up with an interesting fact, story, or anecdote you’ve come across, a really interesting one (which is easy to do in today’s age of media overload) and then find the connection between that topic and your offer (again, there’s always some connection).

That’s how you write emails in a framework-like style.

Even better. You can reuse those exact emails for everything, everywhere, at any time, simply by switching out the CTA and drawing another connection.

Anyway.

I’m sharing too much here. This is too valuable and I shouldn’t be giving this away for free.

So if you’d like more tips, tricks, principles, and strategies to selling more via email using one of the simplest frameworks just about anyone could use, then check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


3 reason you might want to consider running classified ads

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I’ve run 2 ads in the past few weeks in my daily emails.

The thing is, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that last year.

Not because I didn’t think I could do so (everyone can) but simply because, at least back then, I told myself I’d do any ads because why would I advertise for someone else’s stuff if I could just sell my own and earn more?

I still believe that, at least to a certain extent, but, as with anything, there are exceptions.

First, sometimes you just don’t care, don’t want to offer, or simply can’t offer (either because of a lack of expertise, time, or other resources) a certain solution that would help your readers out.

Would it then be fair to withhold such an opportunity from your readers?

No, of course not.

My main goal, first and foremost, will always be to keep the customer and the market in mind, think about what they want (read: need—the customer doesn’t even know what they want, let alone what they truly need) and how I can offer it to them.

So in that case, I’ll gladly refer people to someone else to buy from or do business with—and if I can get paid for it in the meantime, then even better.

Another one.

There’s always unused capacity in everything you do—daily emails are no exception.

Yeah, I can write daily emails selling my own stuff all the time (and I mostly do), but I can’t be running promotions 24/7, and even when I’m not running promotions, there’s always a diminishing return from sending more emails (most people don’t send enough emails to notice it though, me including). So withholding one email here and there to write an affiliate email or do a sponsored post is making use of the unused capacity and filling the gap or “less optimized” email you would otherwise have sent.

Last but not least.

It’s simple to do and doesn’t require much (if any at all) investment on your part (not every reason has to be profound, right?).

Anyway.

This has been an important lesson for me (and one I found valuable enough to share with you) and marks another clear sign of personal growth in my entrepreneurial journey of email marketing.

That said.

If you’d like to pick up pace in your own journey and learn more about email marketing and building, growing, and selling to your list then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


This simple Dan Kennedy lesson could earn you millions

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Today, I was (re-)reading The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy (a must-read)

One of the most vital things I read today was the importance of having a PS at the bottom of your sales letter.

Here’s what he wrote:

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“Every sales letter needs a PS—do not consider your efforts complete until you have composed one. The PS can make or break your letter.”

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So a PS is important. But why?

See, many people simply skip to the end of your letter. Whether that be a sales page, an email, physical mail, or even a Twitter thread or a LinkedIn post.

Why do people do this? Well, they all have different reasons.

Some know there’s often a recap at the end and want to know whether the whole thing is worth reading. Others are simply lunatics and want to know how it ends before they start—believe me, they exist.

Hell, some people look up the ending of movies before they watch them.

Lunatics.

Anyway.

People do weird stuff. But that’s a tremendous opportunity for you.

By summarizing your offer/promise/most important takeaways in your PS, you can inspire the reader to read the whole thing.

And even if you’re dealing with someone who reads your stuff in the order you intended it to. Even then, it can serve as a great incentive to make people respond or commit to your offer.

You can compare it with having a second headline in your sales letter. One of the best high-impact tools any marketer has access to.

PS: if you’d like to learn more evergreen principles to help you write better emails, make more money, and build a thriving business with email as its foundation, check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Are you interested in writing emails and making sales?

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Well, I’ll assume you are since you opened this email.

So did you know you don’t have to write 200-300+ word emails all the time?

Yeah, I’m serious.

You could even write sub-50-word emails.

Don’t believe me?

Check out Email Valhalla here and see for yourself: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How I make more money the more inadequate I feel

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Thanks to the type of business I run, I regularly wake up to notifications telling me someone bought a product of mine.

Less regularly, but not THAT irregularly, comes along a feeling of inadequacy or imposter syndrome where I doubt if my products are actually worth what I’m charging.

It’s a funny feeling that.

And it happens to everyone in this business. I’ve never spoken with someone who hasn’t, at one point (most of the time at many points) in their career, felt the same way.

See, almost every single person with every single product will launch it at a certain price, more often than not severely UNDERvaluing the product.

Then through repeated additions, refinements, and customer feedback, it becomes clear that the product has significantly improvement in quality and a price increase is justified (if not necessary).

Yet after a few of those the question arises: “Is my product actually worth this much?”.

Yes.

Yes, it is.

Case in point: it’s helping more people than it was before, more people are buying it, and most, if not all, people who bought your product continue buying other products of yours (showing they were at least satisfied enough with your product, more likely completely ecstatic about it, to continue trusting you and wanting, even needing, more of your good stuff).

So why do I (and many others) get this feeling?

Well, for one, we clearly remember where we came from and how we started.

That $500 offer? I once sold it for $50. In fact, at one point long ago, people could get it for free (only then nobody seemed to want it, much less get the same amount of results from it—big lesson here).

Another point.

Everything inside my own products is obvious to me. I already know all that stuff. There’s nothing new to me. Nothing I need repeated either because I do it all the time. I created it. It’s based on my experience.

You wouldn’t pay someone $1,000 to tell you what your name is, where you live, how old you are, and what kind of work you do or to have them help you solve a math problem you solved 10 minutes ago.

My point is.

It takes a lot of experience, wisdom, and time to understand/see the value in the information you can offer people (As Dan Koe, who probably got it from someone else, often says, every single person has a $1,000,000 idea in their head right now, they just don’t see it).

But there’s a benefit to all of this as well.

Everytime I get this feeling, I can’t just sit around and do nothing until it passes. No I have to do something. I have to justify it to myself again and again and again that these products are in fact worth the price, if not many times more.

I just can’t help it.

And so I add new content, improve upon my old content, I add bonuses, share more value, write better stories, or even create new additional offers (more often than not entirely for free or at a large discount for existing customers) just to improve the product even more.

So I’m not sure if I’ll ever have a 100% completed product I’ll stop tampering with.

But then again, I’m not sure if I’d want to. After all, stagnation is a fate worse than death.

Anyway.

If you want to learn how to sell your own products so you can get a similar feeling of inadequacy so that you’ll in turn get the undying motivation to create more and better products, only to later increase the price and keep the cycle going (beware, it’s addictive).

Then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


A simpler and more passive list-growing method than social media

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I’ve been gradually getting more passive email subscribers the past few days.

All because I took the time to create and host my very own WordPress site, publish all of my emails online, and learn some of the basics of SEO and making it so my emails (or “posts” as WordPress calls them) show up in search engines.

This combined with Beehiiv’s Boost function, and me teasing my Email Valhalla course on sign-up also means I’m semi-passively (I still have to write the emails after all) earning an income because of it.

Not only that, but I’ll keep earning based on past emails I’ve written—emails that will only grow in numbers and get better in quality the more I write.

To me there’s truly no better business model out there.

Find me another business where you can earn a living by writing whenever you want, from wherever you want, all the while helping people accomplish their own dreams, getting thank-you emails on the regular, and, last but not least, do all of this without a income ceiling limited by any one resource such as time, distribution, money, or costs.

I applaud anyone building a coaching business, working as a freelancer, owning their own agency, or any other service-based business for that matter—let alone selling physical products.

But that’s not for me (at least not yet, who knows when the Banana Viking merchandise might be released?)

I like to keep it simple, efficient, and with a freedom-first aspect.

Anyway.

If you’re only using social media to get leads, you’re seriously missing out.

Go get your online real estate up and running.

And if you’re not even building your own email list yet, what are you waiting for?

Check out Email Valhalla today and get started right away: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Why stagnation is a fate worse than death

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A couple of weeks ago, I went to a high school reunion.

There I saw so many of the recognizable faces who made up the bigger part of my 6 years in high school quite a while ago, some of whom I’ve kept in touch with and have regularly seen after high school, others I hadn’t seen for over 5, 6, or 7 years.

And the craziest thing to me wasn’t how much some people have changed, that’s certainly fun to see (and talk about). No, the craziest thing was how LITTLE some people changed.

Which is quite saddening to think about.

Here are people who had something going for them, who were developing themselves in high school, had support all around them, yet somehow, someway, that same support suddenly stopped after high school graduation.

They got pushed into a career they weren’t keen about, were forced to do stuff they didn’t want (but other people wanted for them) and they lost their spark.

They stopped innovating. They stopped experimenting. They stopped trying.

Essentially, they stagnated.

Which, just as in business as in life, means death.

If you’re not growing, you’re dying goes the saying. And that’s absolutely true in every regard.

You could be the biggest business in your market for years, even decades. But the moment you stop growing, you start to crumble and fade away. Others will start catching up. Others will pass you by. You will become forgotten and obsolete.

There’s also no point arguing or getting mad about this.

That’s just the way things go.

It’s up to you to decide what to do with this information. Realize this truth and try to make the best of it or act as if it isn’t true and slowly, sometimes even unknowingly, wither away until there’s nothing left.

So many people are alive, yet not living.

And like so, many businesses exist, yet aren’t functioning.

Now, I don’t know about you. But I’d rather accept this truth at face value, and rightly act upon it—growing both my business and myself.

Anyway.

I’m not the personal guru teaching you self-growth (maybe I sometimes do, if so, that’s an accidental benefit). But I can help you grow your business, especially when it comes to your marketing and your email game.

If that’s your jam, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla