Email Valhalla

The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever gotten

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Yet it’s also the most overlooked, often thought of as “unhelpful”, and sadly not even considered to be “good advice” by most people.

Sucks to be them I’d say because there truly isn’t a better way to become a better writer—or a better anything for that matter.

See, this piece of writing advice isn’t just applicable to becoming a better writer.

No, no.

It’s applicable to every single thing you’ve ever done, everything you do, and everything else you will do in both the near and distant future alike.

This is the closest to a “Theory of everything” we’ll ever get.

Now, that I’ve got the preliminary pieces of warning out of the way, it’s finally time to share with you the best piece of advice you could ever get which, once again, can be applied to everything you can ever think of.

Yet, it’ll also be the most obvious and boring thing you’ll ever hear me say—probably to the point where many people will dismiss it altogether, only to go chasing newer, shinier, and cooler (yet a whole lot less effective) ways of improving at their craft; only to end up asking themselves why they’re barely making any progress after putting in, what they claim to be, "tons and tons” of effort.

The golden piece of advice?

Here it is, exactly as it was written in the gem of a book, “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser:

“You learn to write by writing. It’s a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it’s true. The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.”

I told you it was boring.

Yet I’ve never heard better advice than this, nor do I think I’ll ever hear something better in the future.

But so it goes for everything else you do in life.

For example.

It’s been the exact same for me recently when I got into the world of creating and running ads online.

My first ad was shit. My second one was shit. And my third one was shyte.

But the fourth one?

Also shit.

It wasn’t until I got enough practice in. Learned what makes people click, what makes an ad demand attention, how to get people to finish reading the ad, click through on the offer, match the landing page to the ad, make sure there’s enough hurdles for the customer to jump through (to pre-qualify them so you don’t end up wasting more money than necessary), but at the same time limit the amount of hurdles so you don’t scare away the good customers, and much much more.

Sure I devoured everything I could get my hands on when it came to creating ads.

But none of it would’ve mattered if I didn’t get my hands dirty and experimented dozens of ads to compare what worked (and what didn’t).

True knowledge can only ever come from practical hands-on experience.

Which is why I’m putting a heavy emphasis on practical experimentation in my upcoming course all about how to successfully run ads that get you paid, while making sure those “practice ads” remain as cheap as possible so you’re not punished simply because you want to learn.

But more about my course in the future.

For now, if you’d like to learn how to write daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, a practice that’s invaluable if you combine it with the power of running online ads to sell your products and grow your list at the same time, then consider checking out my flagship course Email Valhalla.

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


The most insightful off-the-cuff comment I’ve ever heard from a family member

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My sister came to visit yesterday and said something to me, totally off the cuff—I doubt she even thought about it for 2 seconds or pondered about the significance of what she said—yet incredibly insightful and meaningful if you truly look into it.

At least, insightful about how I approach business, personal matters, and literally everything else I do in life. As biased as it may sound, I also think this is the superior way of working, experimenting, making progress, approaching every problem and obstacle you’ll ever face, and generally living life a productive, meaningful, and successful life.

What was it that my sister said to me?

Well, before I get to that, I’ll have to give you a bit of context first.

See, I’ve always believed that, at least for me, the most important task(s) should be done first thing in the morning. Whatever my top priority is at a certain period in life, that’s what I should be focussing on immediately when I wake up.

As of late, that priority was more often than not writing something, whether a sales page, an email, a digital course, or a book I’m working on.

Early 2021 to 2022, that would’ve been going to the gym.

But a few days ago I came across someone (can’t remember who it was) who talked about the benefit of going on an hour-long early walk first thing in the morning, preferably before the sun is up so you’ll see the sunrise during your walk.

So that’s what I did.

As for how well it’s fairing, no idea, I’ll have to keep on doing it for a few more days to adapt to this routine and see how it compares.

Anyhow, I told my sister this and she replied (translated & paraphrased) “You’re always living the extremes, aren’t you? One moment you’re on a walk at 6 am, the other you almost sleep until noon”.

Now, the waking up/walking part isn’t what matters here; instead, it’s the “living in extremes”.

It’s incredibly insightful and absolutely true.

I love experimenting with how I approach life and fill in my day, partially because I haven’t quite found my ideal and optimal way of life yet (who truly has?) but also because, as I’ve heard Alex Hormozi once say, who probably got if from someone else, who got it from someone else yet again, “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well”.

Now I don’t often listen to Alex Hormozi anymore, but this little jingle is something that stuck around.

If I commit to trying out some new thing, whether that’s learning a new skill, building out a new offer, or even trying out a new daily routine, I’m going to give it my all.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

This, however, also means that whenever I give something my all and it doesn’t work out, then I’m completely burned out and need some time off to recharge—meaning I’ll wake up at noon and do nothing at all for a day or two,

In other words.

I’m, as my sister correctly stated, always living life in the extremes… and I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today, nor can I go to where I want to go (at least as far as I know, because who truly does?) if it wasn’t for this specific way of life.

This is also why people who ask me whether it’s good enough to email their list monthly, weekly, or worst of all, whenever they feel like it, will never truly be successful with their email marketing practices.

Email is something worth doing, so treat it like a priority and take the time to do it well (read: mail every single day).

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn how to come up with and write daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How this world-famous film director got good without going to film school

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I was watching an interview with Christopher Nolan on the ReelBlend podcast the other day.

One of the most interesting things Nolan said was how he didn’t go to film school.

Just imagine that. One of the biggest, best, and definitely one of the most popular, directors currently around. Yet he didn’t go to film school or any other form of formal training in the art.

Instead, he simply got in there and started practicing making films at an early age.

Nolan was seven years old when he first borrowed his dad’s Super 8 camera to play around with.

He loved watching other films, thinking about the narratives, and just indulging himself in the world of cinema.

But that’s not where our story ends.

Christopher Nolan isn’t the only person where this is the case. Coincidentally, another big industry name who works closely together with Nolan, and someone who, as you may (or may not) know, I can’t seem to shut up about, also didn’t have any formal training.

More specifically, Hans Zimmer.

Zimmer never went to music school. Instead, he used to play in rock/punk band when he was younger and loved to improve music on the piano or create his own compositions.

Now, this isn’t to say the only solution for you is to start young.

Maybe it is if you want to compete at the highest level of Hollywood. But I’m guessing that’s not your gig. And it’s not mine either.

Instead, I want you to realize the importance of going out there in putting in the work. Getting the practical experience. Getting your hands dirty so to say. You don’t have to get some formal schooling to be good at your craft (this isn’t medical advice).

I don’t care how if you’ve gone to business school, med school, music school, or no school at all.

The only thing that matters is how often you’re practicing your craft.

And that’s one of the many, many, seriously many, reasons why I recommend you and everybody else to start mailing daily and start doing so today. The amount of growth you’ll experience is almost unfathomable—both in personal ability as well as in business and revenue growth.

You don’t need to go to email or business school to get started.

But getting a quick 1–2 hour introduction to point you in the right direction never hurts.

With that said.

Check out Email Valhalla to learn the foundations and avoid the early pitfalls so you can focus on getting in there and getting that practice starting today.

Here’s the link for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


A brontosaurus’ email writing masterclass

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What's a writer's favorite dinosaur?

A thesaurus.

Now, this silly little joke won’t land me a Netflix special together with Dave Chappelle. But it more than fulfilled its purpose.

What was the purpose of my silly little joke, you ask?

To continue reading this email.

See, whereas the subject line of the email serves the one and only purpose of making people open the email (unless you’ve already established a relationship with your reader—at that point, the subject line matters a lot less than the “from” line), the opening line instead serves the one and only purpose of getting people to read the second line, and then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on.

Now, there are many ways to write great opening lines that make people continue reading.

One of which is to be different than every other email in your reader’s inbox, to say something unique, to be entertaining even and make them smile—or at least chuckle internally.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there.

You’ll want to follow up your email with something education, informative, inspirational, or anything that gives your reader the feeling of being worth their time—simple entertainment won’t have people coming back for more every single day after all.

The simplest way to do so is by tying the topic of the opening line to a useful lesson or insightful anecdote.

After that it’s simply a matter of connecting everything together and packaging it up into an enticing and simple-to-follow call to action.

So if you enjoyed this mini-masterclass in grabbing attention (and keeping it) when it comes to email writing, then you’ll want to check out my flagship course Email Valhalla which will teach you all about how to write emails that get you paid while keeping your readers reading day after day.

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


Why I don’t use lead magnets (for now)

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First and foremost: I just plain don’t like them.

Not just as in "I don't like using them to build my list" But as in "I don't like other people's lead magnets".

Meaning.

I might like certain people's content and would happily opt-in to their list. But often the only way to opt-in is to first download their lead magnet—which is extra friction and makes me less inclined to opt-in.

Why?

First, I simply don't care about your lead magnet and have no need for whatever it’s trying to teach me.

So forcing me to download it?

Nah.

Second, most lead magnet landing pages don't talk about what happens afterward.

How many emails will you send me? What are they like? What will you talk about?

Are you even going to send me regular emails?

And god forbid if the only way to read their emails is to go through a "10-day email course" I don't care about, forcing me to wait 10 days before I can read your (daily) emails and actually keep up with what you're doing on a daily basis (which more often than not is a lot more entertaining and interesting than the email course itself).

And yes, yes, maybe I might just be a special snowflake in this regard

Obviously, every market, niche, and person is different.

But these are mine.

And because I plain don’t like lead magnets, it would make negative sense if I made my (future) readers go through the same process I dislike.

On another note.

Most lead magnets only attract broke people and freeloaders—you don’t want those on your list. You want people willing to invest, willing to buy what you offer, and willing to engage with your stuff and work towards a better future.

That’s a high-quality list and one that’ll get you paid by selling products, landing clients, or both.

Speaking of getting paid.

Consider checking out Email Valhalla if you’d like to learn how to write daily emails that get you paid Alex Style.

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


This email contains an incredible tip to guarantee people will read your emails

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And I mean truly incredible.

But at the same time so simple, so easily overlooked, and not to mention how extremely underrated it is.

In fact, I’ll probably get some people laughing at me because of it.

But really, sometimes it’s just that simple.

Want to know what the tip is?

Well, it’s the simple “This email contains …” subject line.

It’s easy, straight-to-the-point, and effectively attention-grabbing—especially if you combine it with some of the other 11 attention-grabbing principles and subject line types I teach in my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Speaking of which.

If you’d like more information about Email Valhalla, check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


On having too many interests

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One of the most enjoyable attributes of my list is how diverse the people on it are.

We’ve got game designers, architects, medical specialists, electrical engineers, PhD university lecturers, bakers, long-time professional copywriters, meditation specialists, college students finding their way in life, tattoo artists, bodybuilders & fitness influencers, founders & CEOs, music producers, firefighters, finance advisors, ghostwriters, cinematographers, and many many more, many of which I likely still have to discover.

I know this because I try to speak with as many of my readers as possible.

Every reply I receive I respond to, without fail, and I always invite people to reply with their thoughts, share their problems, or just tell their story.

I also always try to engage in conversation, to learn more about the person on the other side.

But even more, I’m almost always able to join the conversation about whatever they are doing simply because of the many, many interests I have and the continuous studying and gathering of experiences I try to do in my daily life.

Which is also a requirement for almost any creator in any market, and that’s especially the case for copywriters (or people practicing to write copy for themselves).

And don’t just take this from me.

This has been confirmed by many of the top copywriters, I’m talking A-list copywriters and certified legends in the field. Joseph Sugarman referred to it as broad and specific knowledge—both of which are required to have as a copywriter.

Some moons ago I a conversation on LinkedIn with David Deutsch, one of the world’s most successful copywriters today responsible for over $1 billion of copywriting success stories, about how every single copywriting legend had way too many interests to count.

And not just the “Oh yeah, that’s fun” type of interest but the “I’m obsessed and I’ll spend 6 months of my life figuring this stuff out” type of interest.

But that’s not all.

Having those interests won’t get all of these people on your list, nor will it allow you to build long-lasting relationships with anyone.

You need to talk about all of those interests as well.

That’s what so many people miss when they think you can only ever talk about one or two subjects otherwise, you’ll confuse your audience.

What a load of crap.

The only thing that’ll happen is you’ll bore your audience and become nothing more than a daily encyclopedia reaching out to them.

Of course, you have to keep it relevant.

But please, for the love of everything that’s holy. Talk about all of your interests and more.

Do this and you’ll stand out like a 15-year-old Twitter life coach in a conference full of old-school hardcore WWII veterans discussing the struggles and hardships of human life.

Don’t limit yourself.

And if you want to learn how to easily (and fast) write interesting and relevant emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, no matter the topic or the interest you’re talking about.

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


A pirates’s guide to email marketing

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If you’ve ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean (which you should—shame on you if you haven’t), then you came across a wonderful quote (one of many) by Captain Barbossa when Elizabeth Swann demanded him to release her (and bring her back to shore).

The famous quote goes as follows:

“The code is more of what you call guidelines than actual rules.”

In case you truly haven’t seen the film, the [Pirate] code refers to a set of ‘rules’ every pirate is expected to uphold, no matter how foul, devious, or unethical their plans or desires are.

After all, a society without rules is nothing but pure chaos—even one ruled by pirates, rule breakers, and miscreants.

Now, I’m no pirate. And I’m guessing you aren’t either.

So what does this have to do with either of us?

Well, the same principle of the pirate code being more guidelines than actual rules applies to almost everything we do.

As a beginner learning a new skill, you’ll be taught to adhere to and follow certain rules. Rules such as “Always follow the rule of one” for persuasive writing, “Show, don’t tell” for storytelling, or even the instrument pallet you should use to evoke certain emotions while creating music.

All of these serve a purpose, they will help you develop your skills and ability.

But as you grow, you’ll start to realize that every single rule you’ve been taught, isn’t really a “rule” as much as it is a “guideline”.

Many great copywriters have broken the rule of one on occasion.

Many great authors bombarded their readers with exposition being told to them instead of it being shown.

Many world-class composers have completely gone against common expectations when it came to instrument choice for certain musical styles—just look at Hans Zimmer using the organ as a device for the science fiction hit Interstellar.

William Zinsser said it best when he wrote, “Writing is no respecter of blueprints” in his book "On Writing Well” (a must-read).

And so it goes for email marketing as well.

While I do focus on teaching you a few basic “rules” to keep in mind in my flagship offer, Email Valhalla, I’ll also show you when to apply these and, more importantly, when not to apply them—after all, they’re only guidelines.

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


You don’t need to be a great writer

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You'll know what I'm talking about if you, at one point in your life, have read a sales page.

You see, almost every sales page pretty much uses the same tricks as every other sales page.

One of them is the “you don’t have to be x”.

If it’s a course on how to cook Michelin-star meals it’ll tell you, “You don’t have to be a great cook”. If it’s a product that promises to teach you how to dunk it’ll tell you, “You don’t have to be in great athletic shape.” or if it’s a program meant to get you into shape it’ll say, “You don’t have to have insane genetics”

And I get it.

It works.

You have to make people believe that your solution can help them. But some of them take it so far they’re outright hilarious.

They also don’t mention the whole truth.

Look, I’m going to be honest.

I’m selling a course that teaches you how to build up your email list. I’ll take you from zero knowledge, and zero idea of what to do, to an intermediate-advanced email marketer, getting paid a consistent and reliable income.

On my very own sales page, I talk about how you don’t have to be a great writer to get started and see success with the course. I even give examples of how I knew nothing when I got started—I’m not even a native English speaker and I require spelling assistance from tools such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid.

But there’s a caveat.

A caveat almost no other marketer is willing to admit because they’re scared that it’ll hurt their sales. But you know what? I don’t care. I have to address this issue.

So while it’s true that you don’t have to be a great writer. It does help.

Of course it does.

A better writer will undoubtedly see more and faster success than someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. So reel in your expectations.

I’m not telling you that you’ll never have to learn a single thing about writing.

Hell no.

I’m saying that it’s ok if you have no prior experience. That’s fine. Because I’ll teach you how to write, I’ll give you that experience.

But you’ll still have to put in the work. You’ll have to practice and get better.

And that’s only possible if you write a lot.

So don’t think for a second that you don’t have to develop a skill set after reading my, or anyone else’s, sales page, for that matter.

Because you do.

And that’s good news.

See, most people won’t put in the work. They want to get results now, not next week, let alone next month. So by simply picking up the course, learning the material, practicing it as often as you can, and gradually improving as you go along, you’ll become better than 95% of people out there.

At that point there’s no chance you won’t succeed.

So if you’re someone who’s willing to learn, who’s willing to practice, and who wants to develop their skillset of writing daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day.

Then click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Social media is like playing a game that doesn’t exist

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Attention is the new currency of our current time. Whoever gets your attention earns the most. Whether it’s through you buying their products, engaging with their content, or watching/reading sponsored posts they make.

People are getting rich off your attention. And so everyone is fighting to get a piece of it—as am I right now with this email you’re reading.

There’s no way around it. You could say it’s wrong, there’s definitely an argument to be made for it. But how are you going to spread your message? How are you going to make an impact and make positive changes in the world? Well, you need to capture attention to spread your message, right?

So everyone trying to make a change in the system has to abide by the rules of the system they’re trying to change. Which makes them quite the hypocrite.

But I’m not here to give you an existential crisis about the state of social media, the attention economy, and society as a whole.

No, I’m here to warn you. Everyone on social media is playing the same game. Everyone.

As with everything, there are evergreen strategies to get engagement and capture attention. One of those is to pick a fight. To choose an enemy and attack them. It can be anything: people, concepts, trends, ideas, beliefs, whatever you want. The more popular, the better. Controversy gets attention. Controversy sells.

So people are fighting all the time. Coffee, morning routines, cold outreach, 4am club, cold showers, cohorts, daily emails, meditation, tweet templates, platitudes, ‘authenticity’, storytelling, copywriting, 18-year-old life coaches, seriously the list goes on.

This is the cycle of social media: Something rises in popularity → A lot of people talk highly about it → It becomes hugely popular → people start attacking it for attention → attacking it becomes popular → the thing itself is unpopular again → people start defending it again because now that’s the ‘unpopular’ thing to do (which gets attention) → it becomes popular again. And the cycle repeats.

What I’m trying to say it that you’ll always have people hating everything on social media. You might say people just don’t ever agree on something. And sure that’s part of it.

But there’s more to it.

It literally pays to start new fights and pick new enemies.

What’s the way to get out of this mess? Building your own world. Doing your own thing.

The #1 worst mistake you can make is to listen to other people’s advice. Seriously.

Experiment with stuff you come across, get inspired by others, try stuff you think is cool, and stick with it.

Don’t let other people tell you what you can post and what you can’t. Don’t let other people tell you what’s going to make you successful and what won’t. And don’t let other people tell you how many emails you can send before people ‘get annoyed’ at you. Test it out and go see it for yourself.

If you think sending daily emails sounds stupid, boring, a waste of time, then don’t listen to me and do your own thing. But if you think sending daily emails to get paid sounds cool, exciting, and something you’d like to test out for yourself, then check out Email Valhalla here to learn more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla