Oh the torture, the pain, the agony!

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It saddens me to see how people mistreat their email lists.

See, I’m subscribed to a bunch of email lists. Most of them because of the content, value, and entertainment. But a few of them simply because of the people who write them.

They’re either friends of mine or they are other “successful” people who I want to see what they’re doing.

And so many people just disappoint me. Yes, even the “successful” people.

Sure, they might be successful with their Twitter growth or the money they make selling their offers. But that sure as hell doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing when it comes to email marketing.

And it shows.

Some of those people send me a few emails a week, sporadically.

No consistency at all.

One week I might get 2 emails, then none the following week, and then 3 emails the week after. Now although I don’t agree with their method and their chaos. That’s not the worst part.

The worst part is the content of those emails.

“Hey, my course is live, check it out!”, reads one email. Another one reads, “Hey I made this guide for some of my clients, I thought I’d share it with you as well, cheers.” And then yet another one reads, “My client Bob made $5k because of my awesome super magical and out-of-this-world coaching skills, which nobody else can do and he sure as hell couldn’t have done it without me. So get my coaching as well if you want similar results (even though you probably won’t)”.

It’s thrash.

Ok not all the emails I get are that awful.

Some do have something going for them. At least for the first few you get. But after the first 3 emails, you’ll realize that every single email is exactly the same. There’s no variation to it. They’re like a cooked piece of chicken without any spices.

Bland & boring.

I’m not here to bash these people. I sincerely wish them good luck in their business. But I hope that they pick up their email game soon and improve their craft. Because they’re missing out on a bunch of cash, credibility, authority, and growth.

The good news?

You won’t make any of these mistakes. You’re on my email list after all. You should know better.

Taking it even further.

I’ve taken it upon myself to teach people how to actually write emails that get you paid. How not to be the proverbial piece of chicken. How to stand out, not be boring, and how to keep your readers engaged so they keep coming back every single day and just love to buy from you.

And I’m teaching all of it in my flagship course Email Valhalla.

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


Misleading statistics

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Here’s something I heard the other day:

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There’s 8 billion people on Earth.

1.4 billion are Chinese.

You could then argue that about 1 in 5 (rounded down for simplicity) children born are Chinese.

So statistically speaking, you could say that if you’ve got 4 kids and you’re expecting a 5th, it will be Chinese.

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Now that silly little joke might not be all that useful.

But let’s think about some other statistics:

There are over 2 million podcasts.

Yet 90% of them never created more than 3 episodes (that’s 1.8 million gone already).

Even more.

99% of podcasts quit before their 21st episode.

So all you have to do is to publish 21 episodes to get into the top 1% of podcasts.

Think the top 1% isn’t good enough?

Here’s some other statistics:

The top 8% of bloggers make a full-time living.

The top 8% of YouTube creators make a full-time living

The top 11% of gamers on Twitch make a full-time living.

Now, yes, arguably these first statistics are for podcasts and I’m guessing you’re probably not running a podcast. And these second statistics are for different media so they’re not directly comparable. But I guarantee you that these numbers will look almost identical no matter what medium, market, or niche you look at (assuming it’s easy for newcomers to join the market, as it is with creator markets).

Point in case.

We’re currently—without a doubt—in a newsletter bubble. With millions upon millions starting and writing their own newsletters (even more than there are podcasts).

So how many of those do you think will get past 52 editions (I’m assuming a weekly newsletter because that’s what seems to be most popular)?

Hell, how many people do you think will even make it past 10 editions?

See, most people quit way too easily.

And one of the main reasons people quit is a lack of results early on.

Which is actually an easier problem to fix than you might think.

The big problem many of these quitters have, aside from not reading my emails, is that they try to figure everything out themselves.

They don’t ask for help. They don’t get support. They’re only looking for free solutions (and we all know ‘free’ is the most expensive option there is). And they think of every transaction as “getting scammed”.

You see, I kind of feel bad for these people. I pity them, I truly do. I also can’t stand their stubbornness and their “know-it-all” attitude.

And I’m allowed to say this because I even used to be one of these people myself when I was younger.

Young, stubborn, and arrogant.

Here’s some slight unrelated advice: never work with these types of people. They’re a pain in the butt and will do you nothing good. I write my posts, emails, landing pages, opt-in pages, welcome email, and everything I can write in such a way to heavily curate and repel these types of people as much as possible.

These know-it-alls simply don’t deserve to be on my list.

And that’s how I know you’re not one of them.

You’re here to learn, to improve, to get better, to invest in yourself and your future. And you sure as hell won’t quit without giving it everything you’ve got.

So with that said.

Maybe you’d like to finally go in and improve your email writing game. If that’s the case then consider checking out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


25 reasons you’re not earning more

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  1. You skip the foundations

  2. You play by the rules

  3. You’re not building your list

  4. You keep getting distracted

  5. You’re not making an offer daily

  6. You don’t have the right systems in place

  7. You’re saying ‘yes’ more than you’re saying ‘no’

  8. You blindly copy other people’s methods and frameworks

  9. You’ve put all your eggs in one basket you don’t even own (social media)

  10. You rather learn the new and shiny tactics than do the obvious thing

  11. You’re not selling what people are buying

  12. You’re trying to get a yes instead of a no

  13. You’re not taking enough responsibility

  14. You’re too focused on creating “value!”

  15. You’re sharing everything you know

  16. As well as giving it away for free

  17. You’re underpricing yourself

  18. You’re not talking to your customers

  19. You’re afraid to offend people

  20. You’re also afraid to stand out

  21. You’re not writing (enough)

  22. You allow everyone to buy from you

  23. You’re playing it safe

  24. You’re not having fun

  25. And lastly, you’re boring

Those are some of the biggest tips (and painful lessons) I’ve learned in recent years.

And if you’d like to learn how to fix some (if not all) of these, then consider checking out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


The quickest way to becoming deadwood

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Check out the following quote from the book Purple Cow by Seth Godin:

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“If you’re a marketer who doesn’t know how to invent, design, influence, adapt, and ultimately discard products, then you’re no longer a marketer. You’re deadwood.”

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I’d even argue that, in our current economic and business climate, you could replace the word “marketer” with “entrepreneur” or “independent creator”.

See.

No matter what you do, what market you’re in, or who you serve… at the end of the day, you’ll always find yourself in the marketing business.

Not a single soul, corporation, product, idea, or whatever else can exist (and remain relevant) without good marketing.

As Seth Godin mentioned, you need to know how to invent, design, influence, and adapt in your marketing, your offer suite, and your entire business if you want to remain relevant.

Now who am I to tell you how to do all of those? I doubt there’s anyone out there who could teach someone EVERYTHING they had to know.

But I do know a good place to start your marketing endeavors (and something that’ll never become obsolete while only continuing to grow bigger and more valuable as time goes on).

If you’d like to know what that is, then check out the following link here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Is the public stupid?

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A long time ago I picked up a good read titled George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones.

I first heard about it from Ben Settle, one of the greatest email marketers alive, who called it “one of the best biographies ever to come out that should be a must-read for everyone who does business.” (I’m paraphrasing).

Anyway.

As I was reading I came across this perfect passage. It’s something George Lucas said after a bunch of critics (who have no feel for the outside world and the common man) gave the first Star Wars an awful review, calling it the “infantilization” of film.

One critic even said, “What happened with Star Wars was like when McDonald’s got a foothold; the taste for good food just disappeared.”

Here’s Lucas’s response:

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“Why do people go see these popcorn pictures when they’re not good? Why is the public so stupid? That’s not my fault. I just understand what people like to see”

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Which brings me to my point.

Don’t get angry if people don’t “get” what you’re doing. Or if they don’t see the value in what you’re promoting. It’s not your job to convert them—not directly at least.

It doesn’t matter if you know what people need. They’re like dogs who need their medicine. They won’t have any of it.

So what do you do?

You wrap it up in ham.

You need to understand your audience. To know what people like to see. Then give them exactly that.

And only then, can you give them what they actually need by including the solution to their problem in the thing they wanted.

This is the same no matter what market you’re in

But when it comes to email?

There’s no better way to learn how to do this so so people will start craving your solution—to the point where they take out their credit cards before you even mention buying anything—than by checking out Email Valhalla Enough about this.

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


Self-published author poses the million-dollar question

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Once came a Reddit post titled “Are newsletters better than social media following?”

It went as follows:

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I see a lot of talk about newsletters on here and am about to publish my first (and possibly only) book. As I consider how to connect with readers and what to put as a hook to connect at the end of the book, I was wondering… isn’t social media more engaging than newsletters? Would an invitation to follow a FB page, for example, not be more effective at regularly having a dialog? Why or why not?

I appreciate you guys being willing to share your experience with a newb like me.

===

Short answer: email is superior in every way

Longer answer: Take a look at this and think about how “useful” this is.

You create a Facebook page, Instagram profile, Twitter account—or whatever social media you prefer—and invite all of your readers, customers, and other folks interested in your stuff to follow your profile.

Then, even though you’ve already got them to follow you (a difficult step on it’s own) you’ll still have to compete against hundreds of other people (friends, family, influencers, theme pages, other businesses,…) to get the attention of your followers whenever they happen to doomscroll (or zoomerscroll) through their homepage—most of the time while taking a dump at work to avoid working.

And as if that alone wasn’t enough.

If you do happen to grab their attention, then god forbid if you want to show them something nice, guide them to a new product of yours (a podcast you were on, a new YouTube video, your latest book, or even a free novella as a gift) because you will be heavily punished by the platform for “sending traffic away” aka, including a link that points to anywhere else but the social media you’re using.

Hell, let alone if someone doesn’t like something you post and decides to report you. With how today’s social landscape is looking, that could easily mean a total loss of your profile (losing everything you’ve worked for in the process).

You don’t even have to piss someone off to have it happen to you.

Many creators get their accounts banned or closed for no reason at all (and trust me because I’m one of them).

Long story short, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

Using email as the main form of communication between you and your customers is the only certainty and security you’ll ever have.

Make sure you’re using it.

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn more about all things email-related, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How many email lists/newsletters are you subscribed to?

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Chances are you’re either subscribed to 2 or 3 or subscribed to a shit ton of email lists, potentially as many as 50.

The latter is most often the case with people who are new to a certain market or industry—or still at a lower awareness level in the market.

And that’s a good thing.

That’s how it should be. Discover all there is to discover in your market. Learn about the different problems you (or other people) might be facing, the causes of those problems, their solutions, the specific products or services, and the thousand and one personalities and authority figures in that market.

But sooner or later, and this is always the case, I’ve never seen it not be the case, and I’m staking my entire net worth and everything I own on this fact, every single person will come to a point where’ve done enough “exploring”.

They don’t need to be subscribed to 30 email lists anymore.

In fact, they come to a point where they realize that 90% is bullshit anyway. They’ve learned what they needed to learn. They found the people they liked, the philosophies they wanted to embrace, and the solutions they enjoyed using.

It’s at that point when people cut the fluff, unsubscribe from almost every single email list, and only keep a handful of them around.

At most, they’ll keep 3 different email lists.

Take this message I received many moons ago from a long-time reader and fellow creator, Eshana:

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Alex's emails are the best! One of the very few daily emails I read. And I have subbed to about 50 haha.

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That’s the start of it.

And, even though I haven’t asked him, I’m fairly certain of the fact that he finally decided to take a few minutes out of his day to unsubscribe from a good 45 of those email lists.

But yet he’s still on mine.

And that’s one of the powers of daily emails.

Hook them in the exploratory phase, stay close to them, focus on the relationship with your readers, show up every single day, stay top of mind, be relevant, be engaging, be valuable, and you’ll outperform—outlast—99% of all other lists out there.

And I teach exactly how to do so in Email Valhalla.

Click here to check it out: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


What are people saying about my book?

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Here’s a review I received shortly after launching my latest self-published non-fiction book on Amazon, The Art of Loving To Write from game developed and owner of Eventide Games Studios, Aaron.

Check it out:

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“My book order arrived yesterday. I ended up finishing it around 50mins. Short and sweet.

Overall, the book achieves its purpose: gives you perspective and advice to make writing easy, fun and meaningful so you'll love doing it and won't want to stop.”

…

“It repeats a lot of the same ideas you have in your emails which bring a repetition element into the picture and lets the idea sink in more. That part I am fan of and it brings a breath of fresh air in a different form.

It also demonstrates and backs [my top-secret and tremendously powerful systems for making high-quality products as fast as possible]. Big brain moves.

I'm happy with the book.”

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So there you have it.

Short, sweet, and extremely useful (not to mention entertaining).

Just like you’ve come to know my stuff—which on it’s own is a valuable lesson to take home: make sure you develop a signature style over time so people know what to expect from you.

Anyway.

If you’d like to check out The Art of Loving to Write then click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/loving


Superman is a nerd

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The truth is, none of us know.

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

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

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

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


On getting shit done

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I’m always working on something.

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

This might look overwhelming to many people.

More.

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

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

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

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

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

My answer?

Public deadlines.

See, I’m a big procrastinator.

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

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

How?

By setting deadlines.

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

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

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

But there’s one problem.

What if there is no deadline?

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

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

The solution?

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

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

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

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

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

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

On another note.

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