If it’s mainstream, it’s wrong

by

As a general rule of thumb, I believe that everything "for the masses" is dumbed down, lacks refinement, and is devoid of intrinsic meaning, value, or thought.

That goes for everything from movies, music, and yes, even (especially) the stuff you learn from your favorite big-name guru or whatever’s written inside that New York Times bestseller everyone’s been yapping about for years.

Let me clarify.

Everyone’s different in some way or another.

Everyone has different likes, beliefs, interests, tastes, opinions, and many other things that shape a person into who they are. Whether this is because of their surroundings, their genes, or something else entirely doesn’t matter in this case.

People are different, and there’s no getting around it.

We, as a species, simply can’t collectively agree with anything (even with this statement—proving the point in the process, as paradoxical as that sounds).

So, to circle back to why this matters, if people are all different, and they can’t agree with anything, then everything that’s trying to appeal to as many people as possible (aka, anything that gets a lot of attention and praise by tons of people—which is always by designs, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise) has to be made as general, as widely accepted, and as simple as possible.

Or in other words.

It has to be dumbed down to the point where it’s (almost—nothing is absolute) devoid of value for any single individual—no matter the lie they tell themself or the lies other people/society are instilling into them (cognitive dissonance is one hell of a force, I’m telling you).

There’s a lot going on here.

Many forces are at play.

Each of these could arm me with many, many emails to talk about each of them in detail.

This email is one of the least precise, and most vague ones I’ve written in a while, by design, because of the nature of the topic.

As with anything, if any of this tickled your fancy, got you interested in something, both positive or negative, whether you agree with what I wrote or not, I advise you to go do some research on your own.

Educate yourself on the words and principles talked about in this email (as well as those I haven’t mentioned), come up with a hypothesis of what’s going on on your own, try to test & design some theories. Then finally see how they stack up with the examples you come across.

Or don’t and just reply with an angry email telling me I’m wrong because you said so—that seems to be what the cool kids do nowadays.

But enough about that.

I don’t have anything to offer to you that’s “for the masses”. Instead I have useful, valuable, and insightful training information that’ll help you write better converting emails to grow your list and sell more products (or services, whatever floats your goats).

You can find out more about that by clicking this link: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


I freed myself from using social media to grow my business

by

Here’s how I did it:

The first thing I did was create and host my very own WordPress site on which I could publish all of my emails online.

Combine this with learning some SEO basics (a whole lot less than you might think) to get visitors to my page and teasing Email Valhalla course on sign-up… and you’ve already got a semi-passively (I still have to write the emails after all) functioning business right there.

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, doing all of this without an income ceiling limited by any one resource such as time, distribution, money, or costs.

I’m not saying other business are bad (they’re not), or people doing things differently are stupid (they aren’t).

Just saying that’s not the way I like to run things.

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

Anyway.

If you’re only using social media to grow your business, 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


Don’t write to yourself

by

A popular piece of content-creation/email writing advice is to “Write to your past self”.

What people mean when they say it is to think about where you were 2 months ago, 2 years ago, or even 10 years ago. Then think about all the problems you faced, obstacles you had to overcome, and wrong beliefs you held. And address those. This way you write as if you were writing a note that was about to be put in a time capsule and sent to your past self.

It sounds great in theory. It really does.

I used to follow the same advice myself.

But I stopped.

The first reason for this is simple:

I can’t remember what my past self used to struggle with. And even if I could, I don’t understand the feelings that accompanied them. My whole perspective is different now than it was even 5 months ago.

It’d be foolish of me if I tried talking to that specific person.

And that’s exactly why the creator economy is so great. You learn from the people 1–2 steps ahead of you, not someone 5 whole years ahead of you—another popular piece of advice.

So if you learn from someone right in front of you, why would I write to someone way behind me? It doesn’t make sense.

Another reason is that I simply can’t be bothered anymore.

The advice my past self from 5 years previous would need doesn’t interest me anymore. I’m at a different level right now. I’m interested in other topics.

If I were to talk about topics that didn’t inspire me, then my content would be bland and uninspiring, which directly hurts you, the reader. The energy wouldn’t be the same anymore.

So I simply don’t speak to my past self.

I write about what I currently find interesting. What I’m discovering in real-time.

This makes my content interesting and engaging. And I can take you with me on an adventure. A real-time adventure you can see unfold right in front of you.

Neither you nor I know the ending. Nobody knows where we’ll end up. That’s what makes it all so exciting.

So let this be a reminder not to blindly follow every single piece of advice you get. Think for yourself, carefully judge everything you hear, see, and experience.

Then decide what’s best for you and your goals.

And if you decide building an audience that loves to listen to you, longs to follow you on your adventure, and wants to buy your products is what’s best for you and your goals. Then you might want to check out Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Numbers? Never heard of her

by

I know many people who live and die by their numbers.

Every offer they make, every email they write, every decision they make is all backed up by market research, customer surveys, focus groups, testing groups, and everything else you can think of.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work.

It does. In fact, it might even be the best thing to do. It might even be the most profitable (especially in the short run).

But it’s not how I roll.

For one thing, you become a slave of the market, always chasing where the demand goes—always testing, always iterating, always dependent on the whims of your customers.

You’re essentially choosing to be the one who chases instead of the one who is being chased.

You’ll never truly lead your market (which is a whole discussion on its own).

But more.

You’ll never truly have the freedom to do exactly what you want, when you want, and for how long you want it.

You don’t build a business that survives—even thrives—for years, decades, even generations, by being the one who chases.

Still more.

I doubt anyone who does business this way can ever feel truly fulfilled—which is one of the main reasons I don’t do data.

Everything I do, everything I create, everything I sell is stuff I think is cool (and helps my customers, important not to overlook this part). It’s stuff I’d do regardless of whether I get paid for it or not (the only difference is that I can do a lot more of it when I do get paid).

So here’s something important for you to consider.

If you’re a data person. And you’d like to optimize everything you do for maximum profitability. And you’re prone to chasing whatever the market wants (i.e., you saw AI is “the next new thing” and jumped on the bandwagon, until the hype dies down and you’ll jump to something like VR when it’s “the next new thing”).

Then it’s probably not doing you any good to listen to anything I have to say. Let alone try to implement what I do for your own.

Our businesses (and business philosophies) function differently.

Which isn’t a bad thing. But it’s something to consider.

That said.

If you do share the same philosophy to business. If you aim to build something that’s truly yours, do the leading instead of the chasing, think long term, and stick to whatever you think is cool regardless of what others say.

Then you should check out Product Creation Made Easy.

It’s my entire product creation framework where I show you how to create products you think are cool and stuff you want to create—while still making sure it’s something people would want—all the way from ideation to having a profitable launch and beyond (i.e., to keep getting sales months and even years after the initial launch).

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


When (not to) run ads

by

As with everything, the answer to “Should I run ads?” is “It depends”.

It all comes down to your current situation and what you’re trying to achieve.

For one, if you don’t have anything to sell yet, it wouldn’t make sense to run any ads. Sure, some people argue running ads can be beneficial to grow your list—which it is. But simply having a list filled with people without having anything to sell to them is a recipe for disaster—let alone the fact that you can’t possibly target your ad towards qualified buyers if you don’t even have anything to sell.

See, business has to be done in the right order.

First, you look at the market you want to sell to. Next, you discover the problems that plague that market. After you made a list of problems, it’s time to pick one or more (preferably one) and build a solution for that problem.

Then, and only then, can it be beneficial to run ads.

A specialized ad speaking to people in your market who struggle with your chosen problem AND want to solve said problem.

Notice how I explicitly mentioned people who want to solve that problem. There’s no point selling people something they don’t want. You won’t convince people that they have a problem. You can only make them aware of just how big a problem is if they’ve already experienced minor issues relating to that problem.

In this short amount of time I’ve already covered multiple mistakes many people make when it comes to running ads—major problems as well, the kind that could cost you thousands every single month if you’re not careful.

And this is sadly just the beginning.

I’ll dive deeper into the many, many mistakes people tend to make over and over again in my upcoming paid ads course for independent creatives.

More information about the course and its release coming soon.

In the meantime, reply back to me with any and all advertising-related questions you’d like me to cover in the course and I’ll make sure to include them as best as I can.


What’s the purpose of entertainment?

by

Henry David Thoreau, the American essayist, poet, and philosopher once wrote:

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

“For books are not to teach us how to live,” writes Frederic Gros in his book A Philosophy of Walking, “but to make us want to live, to live differently: to find in ourselves the possibility of life, its principle.”

Both Thoreau and Gros argue that true, valuable, and insightful books can only be written when combined with lots and lots of walking.

True walking.

Not the kind you do when you’re out shopping, rushing to get to the train station, or going to the hairdresser around the corner.

True walking is when you’re out in nature without a destination or goal to achieve, with no purpose whatsoever. It’s just you, Mother Nature, and your thoughts. Often for hours on end—even though it’ll only feel like a few minutes at most after you’re done. That’s how time functions when out in the open, connected to the world around you, and without a care in your mind; the flow gets all tangled up and you have no idea how many seconds, minutes, or even hours have passed.

“What’s the point of telling me all this?” you might ask.

Well, it’s simple really.

First, it might be a worthwhile idea to go on more walks, experience life more clearly, and inspire you to write your next masterpiece.

Second, and this is where today’s marketing lesson comes in, the first Thoreau quote I shared helps you answer the question of “What problem does an author solve?”.

To clarify what I mean, take a look at the following quote by famous comic book writer, publisher, and producer, Stan Lee, who single-handedly grew one of the biggest multimedia enterprises to date:

===

“Entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain people, you're doing a good thing.”

===

Or in other words, you’re helping people want to live (and live differently).

You can prove this to yourself by looking at people’s expenditures during difficult economic times, filled with doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety. You’d expect people to start saving more and only spending their hard-earned money on basic needs for survival such as food, shelter, hygiene, and transportation.

Instead what you’ll find is, yes people will spend more of their budget on those things (relatively speaking), yet they’ll also start spending a lot more money on entertainment as well.

After all, what good is mere survival without the will to live?

Now, you might nod your head while reading this and think “okay that’s cool”, but not so fast. Because this is truly important news for you to keep in mind as long as you work in the entertainment industry—which, at this point, almost everyone does to a certain extent.

Why?

Because that’s the key to all your marketing!

The big question people always have is “what can you do for me?”, no matter if they’re buying new clothes, booking a vacation, taking a language course, or shopping for new books in their local Barnes & Noble.

You simply cannot succeed in your marketing endeavor if you’re not aware of ‘what you can do for them’, or in other words, ‘what problem you’re solving’—a question that is a lot easier to answer in non-entertainment-related markets.

Speaking of marketing…

I’ve been busy working on a paid ad course, specifically for independent creatives active in the entertainment industry, which will help you create profitable ads, built upon age-old direct marketing knowledge, in such a simple and streamlined way that you don’t have to waste years of your life getting a PhD in advertising, so you have more to do what you love most.

It’s not quite here yet, but it will be soon…

So keep an eye out for that.


Me write words

by

Humans say “People dumb. Write simple.”

Me not agree.

Yes, difficult bad. But people dumb no.

Still write simple? They notice. People insulted. Not good relationship. People go. You zero sales. Business bad.

Better:

Write entertaining. Respect people. Do special. Yes write short. But use occasional difficult word.

Diversify.

That how humans like you.

Good relationship. Good business. Good sales. They happy. You happy. Everyone happy.

Yes.

For learn more good tips.

Go: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How to effectively monetize an email list—the right way

by

It only takes you one Google Search to be bombarded with dozens of articles, blogs, videos, courses, podcasts, interviews, or social media posts telling you how to monetize an email list.

More.

90% of those (if not more) will tell you to get as many people as you can onto your list (or newsletter as they’re most likely referring to), disregarding the quality of the readers you’re inviting to be on your list and then to continuously run ads or accept sponsorships.

And while this isn’t a bad business model per se—especially not for people who just like to write long articles and not have to worry about anything else—it’s far from the most effective, reliable, or even the simplest method there is.

Again, I’m not saying that type of model is bad.

It’s just not for me.

I would much rather build a small but extremely focused and high-quality (quality over quantity here) email list filled with readers eager to read what I write and buy what I offer them.

The only downside to this type of business model?

You need something of your own to sell your readers. But seeing as you’re on my list, chances are you’ve got that covered already (or will have soon enough).

In this case, many of the so-called “list-building hacks” other people can’t shut up about don’t actually work for us. Running paid ads to your (free) email opt-in won’t do you any good. Neither will social media giveaways where you ask for people’s email addresses in exchange for some random freebie they’ll receive—most, if not all, of the social media game will actively work against you since that’s very much a quantity over quality type of medium.

You might have noticed that all the above methods I mentioned share one common theme.

They all focus on getting people on your list by promising them FREE (!) stuff.

Unfortunately, the people you’ll attract this way are the same type of people who’ll get angry at you for trying to sell them something—even if it’s a $5 product that might literally change their lives forever.

These types of people won’t help you run a business—which is what you’re trying to do after all.

A better way is to pre-qualify and pre-sell people as soon as they enter your world through one of the many portals you’ve scattered around the internet (I’ll dive deeper into this specific topic of “building your world and opening portals” in other emails—as well as in an upcoming course all about business worldbuilding).

That means, to immediately let them know you plan on selling them something.

Don’t hide this fact. It’s not only stupid, crooked, and absolutely visible to everyone with half an eye sticking out their ass. It’s also the smartest thing you could do. Doing so sets the stage for the future and it repels any and all cheapskates who won’t ever buy anything from you anyway.

This doesn’t mean you HAVE to sell them something straight away… but a simple tripwire (before or after joining your list) or one-time offer when they subscribe to your list (even if they choose not to buy) goes a long way.

I’ll go deeper into how to grow an email list in my flagship course, Email Valhalla, which teaches you everything you need to know to run your own email-centered business as a creative, including how to write simple and effective daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day.

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


Why do I write daily emails?

by

The short answer: I enjoy it

The longer answer: I enjoy it and it makes me more money.

Jokes aside, I could go over all the reasons why I write daily emails—aside from helping me make more money, being top of mind, having a better connection with you, my reader, and getting better at writing infinitely faster than someone writing monthly, weekly, or semi-daily emails.

But I won’t go into that today.

Another reason is that I find it motivating as well.

First of all, I get more responses. More people reply sharing how they liked my emails. It helps me stay accountable making it so I can’t take a single day off. I have to show up every single day, even when don’t feel like it—especially when I don’t feel like it.

I simply have to write something, come up with ideas, write a (hopefully) engaging story, and share the lesson in a way that hits just right, so it’ll be impactful to you as a reader, ensuring you’re getting a benefit from it and continue reading my emails the following day as well.

That’s far from an exhaustive list of why I write daily emails.

But it should be more than good enough to get you started.

So if you’d like to learn the craft of writing emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, then check out Email Valhalla right here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


What’s the hardest thing about self-publishing?

by

So read a recent question asked to hundreds of (aspiring) self-published authors.

The most common answer (it’s not even close compared to the second)? To quote one of the users, using the exact words they used:

===

“Marketing is such a pain in the arse.”

===

Which honestly saddens me.

Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming either. In fact, if done right, it can almost be a “set and forget” type of deal.

Sure, it might take a short while to get everything up and running. But once you do, you’re done… forever if you’d like.

Even if you publish new books, create new offers, venture out into new territory, everything you did the first time can be re-used, re-purposed, and re-peated to save you a bunch of time (and a lot of headaches).

So, if marketing can truly be that simple… then why are so many people finding it a “pain in the arse”?

My best guess?

Because there’s too much noise out there; too many so-called “experts” who truly have no idea what they’re doing, and haven’t achieved anything worthwhile themselves (or maybe they have but it was purely by accident and they have no idea how to reliably do it again, let alone for someone else in another market).

I dare you to look around, really look at who’s doing the talking, who people are following, what they’re doing, and what everyone has accomplished.

It’s truly the blind leading the blind out there.

Which brings me to the good news of the day…

Because of this exact reason I’ve decided to create a paid ads course, backed up by years and years of old-school direct response marketing (the type that brings immediate results, measured in $$$) specifically focused on independent creatives in the art & entertainment industry, with a very (and I mean VERY) big emphasis on self-published fiction authors—arguably one of the most difficult markets to do advertising in because there’s no real talk of “benefits” or “big ideas” many guru fanboys like to brainlessly yap about all the time, so if it works for them, you’ll be sure as hell it’ll work for anyone in the entertainment industry.

A fair word of warning.

The course won’t be sexy, nor will it contain a buttload of new trendy tactics. No exciting stuff at all. Just pure principles, simplicity, and effectiveness.

The bad news?

The course isn’t here yet (but it’s close!).

You’ll just have to sit down your sweet patooty and wait a bit longer.

Until then, consider checking out Email Valhalla to help you master my way of doing email marketing, which will act as an extremely profitable “supplement” to my way of doing advertising, making it so it’s virtually impossible not to succeed.

For more information about Email Valhalla, click the following link: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla