Hypophora.

What’s a hypophora?

Well, it’s something you should do more often.

Why?

Because it makes people interested in what you have to say. It also keeps them engaged and curious to keep reading. It’s also one of the best ways to get information across—and make sure they remember it.

Even more.

All of the above makes it so you’re able to sell and get paid.

What’s the catch?

Nothing really. There’s literally nothing you can do wrong with this. It’s based on a psychological principle. One that’s been deeply rooted in people since the dawn of time.

And those are the types of principles you want to learn and use.

Not some trendy new tactic to cheat your way to making more money or getting more engagement that only last for a month until everyone starts using them and they stop giving results.

Not this. This works.

Always.

Alright, enough teasing.

What’s hypophora and how does it work?

Hypophora is where you ask a question and immediately answer it yourself—as opposed to a rhetorical question where you phrase the question in such a way that the answer sounds obvious (and doesn’t have to be said).

This works because it gives a conversational feel to your writing.

But even more, by asking a question you’ll also (temporarily) make people think. Perhaps even noticing that they don’t really know the answer to your question. This leads them to become interested and keep on reading.

Which brings me to the following:

There are only 3 days left until I double the price of Email Extraordinaire.

It teaches you exactly how to build your email list, fill it with subscribers who love to hear from you (even buy from you), write engaging emails that get you paid, and live a life supported by your freedom-focused business.

Sounds perfect, right?

Alright great.

So where’s the link?

Right here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

P.S. I’m doubling the price for my course on Friday, December 1st.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday, December 1st at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

And make sure you see the price change before entering your info

(I technically already doubled the price, but this discount code gives you the opportunity to get the course at the original price until Friday, December 1st)

Here’s the link once again: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

This is something I realized (again) just today.

And while it sounds obvious once you hear how I do it.

Most people easily overlook it.

I’d say 90% of people I talked to or joined this list didn’t use this to its full potential.

What am I talking about?

Asking a question at the end of your welcome email.

In my case, I ask people what they’re currently struggling with regarding their business. I get responses from new people joining my list all the time. And I don’t have to lift a single finger.

It keeps me up-to-date with what people are struggling with, gives me insight about (probably) the main reasons people join my list, and gives me topic ideas to cover in future emails, articles, or even premium-priced products.

The great thing for you?

It’s something I teach in one of my modules in Email Extraordinaire.

I take you from not even having an email list getting paid and keeping your readers reading day after day.

The whole set-up part included.

There’s also a lot of optimization based on proven and evergreen psychological principles, making sure you get more engagement, more sales, and more market insights without having to do any extra work.

Anyway.

I’m doubling the price for my course on Friday, December 1st.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday, December 1st at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

And make sure you see the price change before entering your info

(I technically already doubled the price, but this discount code gives you the opportunity to get the course at the original price until Friday, December 1st)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

This weekend’s chess tournament is over.

I played 9 games over the past 2 days. Six games on Saturday day and three on Sunday.

Aside from those games I also met and befriended many international students—including a group of Irish students who went to an Irish pub both evenings, so you know how that ended up.

My first day was a rough one.

I only won 2 games out of the first six I played. That should’ve been more and I underperformed on multiple occasions, making mistakes I shouldn’t have.

I’m not used to full days of playing at a relatively high level, so that might be the cause of it. Or maybe I just wasn’t focused enough for some reason. Who knows?

But what I do know is that I couldn’t let it bother me.

The only thing I could do was come back the next day, refreshed and ready to go and give it everything I had.

And give it everything I had, I did. I won three out of the three games that day, giving me a final score of 5/9.

An impressive score I’m proud of—and more than I expected.

Accomplished only because I didn’t let my past mistakes bother me. I knew I couldn’t change what happened. But I could still affect how things will turn out.

And that’s a skill everyone should have.

Especially people like you and I. Because in our business? Things will often go wrong, more often than you’d like to imagine. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

The only choice you have is to get back up and go at it again.

Speaking of.

Maybe you’ve tried giving this email business already before. Perhaps things didn’t work out for you back then. That’s alright. Those things happen. Stronger yet, it probably wasn’t your fault. You didn’t have the right information available to you, or you were listening to the advice of the wrong people, ensuring your endeavor was doomed to fail.

But none of that should hold you back from trying again and doing it better this time around.

And what’s the best way to go about it this time around?

By making sure you’re getting the right tools to succeed. Which brings me to my Email Extraordinaire course, teaching you all about writing emails that’ll get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day.

Here are some of the topics you’ll learn:

• The greatest superpowers of email you need to understand and why there's nothing else that comes even close to it

• An easy step-by-step guide showing you how to create your very first email list/newsletter in the next 10 minutes after getting the product

• How to create your very first welcome email to help you set the tone, build an immediate relationship with your readers, and keep them coming back for more

• 6 of the best methods to grow your list and get hundreds of news subscribers monthly whether you just started or have a list of 5000 readers already

• How you can become better than 95% of people telling stories without having to spend months or even years practicing (and why it matters)

• The invaluable power of telling great stories and how you can use those to almost guarantee you'll make a sale regardless of what you're selling

• The secrets to writing high-quality subject lines that make your reader feel the need to click on them without even knowing why they feel so attracted to do so

• How to keep your readers engaged and force them to keep reading regardless of whether you're writing a 219-word email or a 1,739-word email

• 7 of the best and easiest ways to monetize your email list today that'll make it impossible not to earn back the investment of this product in 30 days or less

• The #1 email copywriting technique you need to get people to become emotionally invested in what you have to say and make a sale every single time you write an email

• A list of all the different approaches you can take and how to execute them regarding the frequencies of your email so you can make this work even if you don't want to send daily emails

• My revolutionary new email strategy combines the best of both worlds of long-form weekly emails and short-form daily emails allowing for the most optimal results with relationship building, sales, gaining authority, and growing your list

• The 10 holy and lesser-discussed email commandments you need to follow to ensure that you'll make more money than you could ever imagine

There are 4 days left until I double the price of Email Extraordinaire.

So be sure to check it out right this moment—so you don’t forget.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday, December 1st at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

And make sure you see the price change before entering your info

(I technically already doubled the price, but this discount code gives you the opportunity to get the course at the original price until Friday, December 1st)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

Ascend 101

Lessons about building a one-person business, writing, and self-improvement

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I launched my Abundant-Client System last month.

And it went great.

But I didn’t just do it like you would create and launch any old course. No no I did it build-in public style.

Here’s how that worked:

I first came up with an idea for a product I wanted to make. Then I immediately announced it, wrote a sales page for it, and gave people a chance to buy it.

Yes, even though there was no course yet—literally nothing.

For the next 2 weeks I kept promoting it non-stop. And after the two weeks were over, the course would be officially done and “launched”, resulting in a price increase—adding some urgency to the mix.

But enough about how it works.

Why did I decide to do this and more specifically, what are the benefits?

Well, here they are.

And trust me, by the end of the email you’ll want to do your own build-in public product launch.

1) Strict deadline

The first big benefit of building your product in this manner is the obvious deadline.

You’ve promised your audience that it’ll be ready by a certain date. On top of that, some people may have pre-bought your product already, further solidifying the deadline.

There’s no way around it anymore.

You have to get this project done on time. And that’s a big help, especially if you’re anything like me.

I’m very much an “I only function close to deadlines”-type of person.

So forcing myself to get some work done by building in public is one of the most profitable decisions I ever made.

And I’m certain it could be one of the most profitable decisions for you as well.

2) Immediate feedback

You’ll be getting immediate feedback on how much people value the product you’re building.

In fact, you’ve got multiple ways to gauge people’s interest.

First and foremost, you’ve got the sales themselves. If someone bought your product, then that’s a clear indication they’re interested in it.

But most people won’t buy it immediately.

Trust me, 80%+ of your sales will come from the last 2–3 days of your promotion—urgency is one hell of a drug.

So what else have you got?

Well, secondly you’ve got link clicks, the number of times people click the link to your sales page or landing page—or even how many people sign up to your waitlist if you’d rather go for the waitlist approach.

This isn’t a clear indication that they’ll buy.

But it is a sign that the promise of the product was at least interesting enough to your readers to make them curious enough to want to read more. To find out whether or not the product would actually be a good fit for them. Maybe even to find out how much the product costs, which is also a big indicator that your product is in demand—or at least the idea/promise is.

Lastly, you’ve got replies.

You’ll be getting replies, comments, and questions about the feedback.

Ranging from in-depth questions such as “Will X be covered?” or “How much will you talk about Y in your course?” to simple and personal ones such as “Is this product for me?”.

Now, these are huge.

Every person taking valuable and precious time to write you a question about your product clearly indicates interest in your product and a huge chance that they’ll buy.

Even more, as the rule on social media goes, if one person asks you a question, 100 are thinking it.

So if one person asks about a specific topic in your course, that’ll more than likely mean that a lot more people are interested in that specific topic.

You might have got a winner in your hands in that case.

3) Faster earning cycle

Everyone and their aunt’s nephews’ cat talks about how important speed is in business.

Yet nobody seems to think about this at all.

Let’s do an exercise. Imagine you wanted to create and launch a product. But you weren’t going to do it build-in-public style.

So let’s say you give yourself 2 weeks to create a product.

But you don’t have a deadline to stick to, after all, nobody knows you’re creating a product, so what’s the rush, right? Right. So you’ll end up procrastinating and doing more “busywork” than actual work. Which means that it’ll take you about double, or 4 weeks, to create your product.

But that’s not all, is there?

You still have to sell it and get paid.

So now it’s time to start talking about it, do a promotion, get people excited, and do an official launch.

Well, let’s say that this would take you another 2 weeks as well.

Altogether it took you 6 weeks to go from idea to getting paid.

Now imagine if you did it build in public style.

You’d have an idea. Set yourself a public deadline 2 weeks later. Immediately start talking about it, sending promotional emails, and having an option so people can buy it early, before the product is fully finished and ready to be used.

All the while you’re building it and improving it as you go with the feedback you’re getting and the ideas you’re gaining by working on the promotion at the same time.

2 weeks later you’ve got a fully finished product, the promotion is fully over, you’ve been paid, and you probably made a better product than in the first example.

That’s 3 times faster.

You could get paid 3 times as often as in the first example AND you’ll be left with better quality products that will only get better and keep on selling as time goes on.

The value truly is limitless.

I hope you recognize the value of the build-in-public product launch.

With that said, I’m thinking of putting together a LIVE in-depth training soon to talk more about the specifics of exactly how to do this. And I’ll personally guide you along the process of creating and selling your newly launched product.

This means that I’ll essentially help you get paid for years to come.

Reply back to let me know if this would be something that interests you.

Cheers.

---

P.S. Whenever you’re ready. Here’s how I can help you:

1. Hop on a Clarity Call with me: Remove all of your uncertainty. Get clear on what you have to do, when you have to do it, and how. Let’s get you on the right track to achieving the freedom you deserve.

2. Work 1-on-1 with me: We’ll determine where you stand and where you want to go. Then we’ll devise a roadmap to get you from A to B. And we’ll work on getting you there in the next 60–90 days.

3. Check out my products (free & paid): Ranging from every resource I ever read to everything I know about content creation. It’s all waiting for you to claim it. Start your journey to financial freedom the right way.

I’m currently playing in a 2-day chess tournament as you’re reading this email.

It’s an international tournament specifically for university chess players. People are quite literally entering from all over the globe. I’ve seen multiple people from Ireland, Moldova, Germany, Morocco, Hungary, Turkey, Uganda, Spain, Finland, England, Lithuania and many more.

I’ve got no idea how I compare to most other people.

I’ll just have to do my best and see what happens.

That said, I did get some friends to enter and participate in this tournament with me as well.

More precisely, I basically forced some of my friends to join. One friend in particular had to put up with me reminding him about this opportunity every single day for the past month, until he finally gave in and signed up to enter.

He doubted whether he was good enough to enter something like this—he is.

But I kept telling him to just go for it. It’ll be a great experience and he’ll be proud of himself after joining.

Here’s the funny thing.

Apparently I was so excited and dedicated on getting him to join that I forgot to inform him on all of the practical details, going as far as forgetting how the tournament works, what we’ll be doing, and even where, when, and how long we’ll be playing.

I know because after a few weeks of me not shutting up about it he finally signed up, showed his confirmation to me, and then asked “Sooooo when is this taking place?”

Which is the most absurd thing if you think about it.

I didn’t inform him at all.

He knew next to nothing about the event, yet decided to sign up regardless.

And that, my dear friend, is the power of repeating your message. That’s the power of showing up every day, with that same energy, that same excitement, and that same commitment to an opportunity (an offer) you’ve got for someone.

That’s the power of daily emails.

You’ll be able to persuade people to make choices they wouldn’t make otherwise. Choices they sometimes, for better or worse, aren’t even fully informed about.

And as long as you stay responsible. As long as you use this power to help people improve their lives instead of misusing it in any shape or form. Then you quite literally have the ability to change the world for the better—while getting paid to do so.

Which is why I’m so adamant on promoting my course Email Extraordinaire.

Because there’s a true untapped potential in writing daily emails, especially if done well. A potential that allows you to change the world for the better, while getting paid for doing so.

And the knowledge on how to do so is all there.

Waiting for you to take action, get the course, learn what to do, and implement what you’ve learned.

Get the course here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

P.S.

I’m doubling the price for my course on Friday, December 1st.

Be sure to check it out right this moment—so you don’t forget—in case you’re even remotely interested,

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday, December 1st at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

And make sure you see the price change before entering your info

(I technically already doubled the price, but this discount code gives you the opportunity to get the course at the original price until Friday, December 1st)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

 

Two days ago I wrote an email talking about the pain and the misery I felt when I saw how some people (mis)treated their email list.

I got a few replies on that one.

One of which was from one of your favorite creators, Glenn.

Here’s what he wrote:

===

Underrated benefit of dailies – builds massive authority.

For example when I think of you – I position you above people with many x your following. Many such cases for daily senders.

===

The (not so) sneaky compliment at the end I purposefully left in aside.

Glenn stated an extremely powerful fact. One so powerful that it could single-handedly make your entire business work.

Sending daily emails builds massive and I mean MASSIVE authority.

It goes further than just “showing up” or “building a relationship with your reader”. It dives deep into the subconscious of your reader and sends a message that no one can ignore.

You know your shit.

It’s like Ben Settle, undoubtedly one of the greatest email marketers alive, said, “I you call yourself an expert, you should be able to have something to talk about every day”.

And this also works in reverse.

Have something to talk about every day and people will perceive you as an expert.

Even more.

Add your own takes, your own opinions, your own story, style, offers, and a feeling of belonging for your audience—something the great Dan Kennedy often talked about—and your audience won’t just perceive you as an expert, they’ll perceive you as a leader.

Something many times more valuable than being a mere expert these days.

Now, am I biased when it comes to daily emails?

Extremely.

I doubt you could name more than a handful of people who are more biased about daily emails than I am. (seriously, I dare you)

And yet, this has nothing to do with bias.

The power of sending daily is an indisputable fact. And one that could make you a lot of profit if you decide to test it out for yourself.

Speaking of which.

You might like my course Email Extraordinaire, which teaches you all about how to send daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day.

Quick note:

I’m doubling the price for my course on Friday, December 1st.

Be sure to check it out right this moment—so you don’t forget—in case you’re even remotely interested,

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday, December 1st at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

And make sure you see the price change before entering your info

(I technically already doubled the price, but this discount code gives you the opportunity to get the course at the original price until Friday, December 1st)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

You might have noticed that everyone and their weird uncle is having a Black Friday sale—except me.

In fact, the only thing I’m doing is increasing the price of one of my products in a week’s time.

Why is that?

You see, there’s actually a good reason for it.

And it has to do with making consistent and reliable sales—something I like to do very much.

The thing is, most people have trouble reliably and consistently selling a $50 dollar bill for $10. Instead they have to abuse certain tactics to get paid. They rely upon these tactics that only end up cheapening their brand, hurting them in the long run.

Tactics like discounts, or more specifically in this case, Black Friday.

Now, there’s nothing particularly wrong with Black Friday. But there is something wrong with how people approach it.

See, most people, they have some kind of offer. A product for example.

Often times one that isn’t selling well.

And then something like Black Friday comes around. So they think “Hey let’s have a 60% discount on my product. People like discounts, so I’m sure to get a few sales and make some money”.

But here’s the problem.

First, you were already selling your product.

That means other people might have been thinking about buying it in the past. Some might even have bought it already.

Imagine the look on someone’s face if they bought your product for $100 and then a few days later they see that same product on sale for $40. Yeah, talk about a bad feeling.

They’ll feel cheated, to say the least, and will probably never buy from you ever again.

But let’s forget that for a moment, shall we?

Imagine the case for someone who hadn’t bought your product.

They now suddenly see your product for the very first time. Never heard of it before. It’s a cool product, looks interesting, and it promises to solve on of their biggest pain points.

On top of it?

It’s 60% off for the next 3 days!

So they buy it. Ok sweet, good stuff you think. That’s awesome, right?

Right?!

Well, not necessarily no.

Think about the longevity of this business model.

You’ve essentially thought that customer—and every single other person in your audience—that your prices are ‘negotiable’. Whatever you charge for your products isn’t what people should actually pay. Because people know, or think at least, that sooner or later, you’ll do another discount.

And that’s when they’ll buy your stuff.

So with one single move, you’ve completely eliminated your ability to make sales regularly and consistently.

Instead, you’re now forced to have regular sales periods, holidays, celebrations, and god knows how many other excuses to have promotions and add discounts. Which is the only time people will buy from you.

And maybe you want to build a business model that forces you to have to come up with regular discount periods. More power to you then.

But I’m guessing that’s not the case.

That’s exactly why I’m not doing any discounts myself for Black Friday.

And you won’t expect any of it in my course Email Extraordinaire either.

In it I’ll teach you timeless principles designed to help you make sales today, tomorrow, and every other day. Consistent, reliable sales. A viable and simple to sustain long-term strategy that takes you a few minutes a day. The last thing you’d need is a crazy planning structure to get the right discounts at the right time.

But remember.

I’m doubling the price for Email Extraordinair on Friday, December 1st.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday December 1st at midnight CET to get 50% off

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

(Make sure you see the price change before entering your info)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

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

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

Either they’re 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 on 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 Extraordinaire for an investment so low I should get thrown into a mental asylum, never to step foot in the open air ever again.

But there’s a catch.

I’m doubling the price for my course Friday, December 1st.

My advice? Check it out right now to get it before then.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday December 1st at midnight CET to get 50% off

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

(Make sure you see the price change before entering your info)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

I had a big business breakthrough 2 months ago.

I improved my social media growth, my email list growth, my hourly rate, my product sales, and above all, my overall monthly income. Things were going amazingly.

But that turned into a problem.

I got complacent. I stopped reaching out to people, decreased my number of daily tweets, and almost entirely stopped engaging with other people’s content.

For some reason I thought I’d gotten to a place where I could stop putting in the work.

But that was far from the truth.

I’d gained momentum, true. But when you get momentum, it’s important to keep going. Push it even harder. Use that momentum to reach unknown heights. Push it to its absolute maximum.

But I didn’t.

And I felt it as of late. Almost everything was decreasing. So I decided it was time for a change.

I’ll start pumping out crazy amounts of content—like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

40+ content pieces a week, new (or improved) offers twice a month, long-form almost every day, a lot more active conversations with my Twitter followers, hopping on friendly calls again, and re-awakening my consulting business.

I’m even thinking about starting a regular (bi-)weekly space again or just doing a full-out podcast—will look for people who are down to host one together, who knows what becomes of it.

I might even start a short daily video project talking more in-depth about some interesting topics that I’ve learned/discovered that day/week, who knows.

But why am I telling you this?

Well, first of all, accountability. I’ve never been one to make empty promises. I keep my word and so now I just have to do so. I can’t stand people who talk about projects they’re planning or promises they made only to end up doing nothing at all.

After all, your reputation is the most important asset you own.

But secondly, even though I got complacent and my growth completely fell apart, my income didn’t. My income remained stable and untouched.

And that’s all thanks to my email list.

As long as I keep writing my daily emails—which is the one thing I never stopped doing—then my income won’t plummet. I can always reliably predict how much I’m going to earn simply because of my email list.

And it’s crazy how many people, especially creators, still don’t understand the raw power of an email list.

But as a faithful reader on my list, you certainly do realize the power of an email list. The power to keep a stable income. A reliable income as well, which only requires you to spend 20 minutes a day writing a simple entertaining email.

Which brings me to my course Email Extraordinare where I teach you all about how to grow & monetize your email list.

I’ll teach you all the systems I use to get you up and running in no time.

I’m doubling the price for my course December 1st. Check it out right now to get it before then.

To get the full details on Email Extraordinaire do this:

1. Read every single word at the URL below to make an informed purchase

2. Buy it before Friday December 1st at midnight CET to get 50% off

3. Use code EMAIL at the checkout

(Make sure you see the price change before entering your info)

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE/EMAIL

Many months ago, on a random Thursday evening, I found myself cycling back home after a cozy evening of playing chess.

That’s one of my regular weekly activities.

The chess club at the university organizes its weekly club evening every Thursday from 8 pm till 11 pm. I don’t always stay until 11 pm though. It depends on both the amount of work I want to get done the following day and the general vibe of the moment.

I left early that day.

It was still relatively light outside—it couldn’t have been later than 10 pm. There was quite a lot of traffic on the road. That didn’t bother me as a cyclist. I could just continue cycling on the bike line, not caring about all the cars stuck in a traffic jam.

But there was one biker riding his Harley Davidson who got quite bothered by the traffic jam.

I noticed it when he drove off the road and onto the bike line where I was cycling—together with about 5 other cyclists. I didn’t care much about it at first. He drove in front of me and as long as he didn’t knock any cyclists over it didn’t seem to matter much.

Those other 5 cyclists, however?

They cared. They all give him dirty glances and let out subtle, but not so subtle that we couldn’t hear it, grunts. Obviously, the biker’s selfish actions of wanting to skip traffic left a bad impression.

We drove a few hundred meters further when the bike lane and the road started to diverge. The cyclists would continue going straight, while the road itself would make a turn onto the highway.

It’s at this point that the biker realized he had to get back on the road.

There wasn’t much space however. Traffic was still jam-packed, mostly with big freight trucks. Nonetheless, the biker attempted to drive off the bike lane and onto the road.

The problem?

The bike lane was higher than the road. He had to drive off a curb while making sure not to hit any trucks or cars that were in the way. None of the trucks would make space for the biker to join either. They either didn’t see him or—more likely—didn’t appreciate how he tried to cut traffic and just wouldn’t let him.

Either way, the biker drove off the curb at an awkward angle.

He immediately lost balance and fell to the ground, damaging the side of his bike and losing one of his rearview mirrors in the process. The fall must have made quite the impact because the other rearview mirror shattered as well.

Meanwhile, me and the other 5 cyclists were still next to him, witnessing everything that happened.

I was the only one who stopped, waiting to see if everything was alright.

I saw the biker stand back up and remove his helmet. He was an older gentleman. Short gray hair, square face, quite rugged as well. Probably in his mid-50s to 60s.

He tried to get his Harley back up but to no avail.

It didn’t help that the ground on which he fell was also quite muddy and didn’t allow you to get a good grip.

I went over to him to help him pick up the Harley, making sure I was in a safe position and none of the cars nor trucks would hit me. It wasn’t easy, but after some trial & error, again, the mud didn’t make it easy and the bike was heavy, heavier than I imagined, we did it.

I helped him pick up his mirrors and went on my way.

To this day, I think about that interaction often.

It’s one of the most perfect examples of “you get back what you put in” I’ve ever seen. He tried to cheat the system and got punished because of it. Not only did he probably waste more time than by waiting in traffic. He also severely damaged his bike, costing him a lot of money.

Not only that, but he pissed off a lot of other people as well in the process. Resulting in nobody even stopping to help him.

I sometimes think about it, wondering about what would’ve happened if I wasn’t there. Would somebody else have gone back to help him? I’ll never know.

Anyway, let this be a reminder to always be humble, do your work, don’t try to cut corners, and be a respectable human being. Because you’ll get hurt if you don’t.

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