I opened up my email inbox this morning when I noticed a new email from JK Molina.

I don’t always read every single email of his, but this one I just happened to read.

In it he mentioned a play on words, “Customers in motion, stay in motion”, which I thought was slightly fun and clever.

The premise of the email was that 90% of your audience will never spend any money with you.

But that’s ok.

Because those 10% who do will spend a lot. They’ll see the value you’re offering. and they’ll be happy to invest in your products and services time and time again. All you need to do is give them slight nudges to first get them into motion—and then even slighter nudges to keep them moving.

JK didn’t go into any specifics in the email.

He was mostly teasing about his next offer—as he always does.

But that didn’t matter.

Why you ask?

Well it just so happens that, coincidentally, “keeping your customers in motion” is something I teach in Product Creation Made Easy as well.

More precisely.

I show you the follow-up sequences (some of which can be up to 90 days long!) I use when someone buys my products. These follow-up sequences easily account for more than double, sometimes even three to five times as much as I earned selling the product itself.

You’re literally leaving so much money on the table by not having these follow-up sequences. You might as well burn 80% of your net worth right now.

That’s how much of an effect these sequences can have.

Anyway, that’s enough for now.

If you’d like to learn more click here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/launch/PRODUCT

P.S. Product Creation Made Easy is currently in pre-purchase, which means you’ll be able to get it at a $120 early-bird discount ($129 instead of the full $249).

Here’s what to do to get it:

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

2. Buy it before Saturday, December 30th at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code PRODUCT at the checkout in case the discount didn’t get added automatically and make sure you see the price change before entering your info

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/launch/PRODUCT

One present I received this Christmas was a box set of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

I became obsessed with reading and writing this last year.

Before that I had read maybe 5 books in total (and never the full book) because a book assignment in school forced me to do so.

All of that changed this year.

I started out reading a lot of non-fiction business and self-improvement books.

But I quickly expanded to reading fiction as well. Starting with famous literary works such as A Farewell To Arms by Hemingway, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1984 by George Orwell, and many many more.

A few months later a friend of mine recommended me to read The Mistborn trilogy from Brandon Sanderson.

Little did I know that this would spiral me into the world of high fantasy.

I loved the genre so much.

It inspired me to start writing my own fantasy-themed Viking novel. And I’m even taking lessons from the genre as to how to run my business—as crazy as it sounds.

With all that said.

I simply had to pay homage to the founding father of high fantasy and read Tolkien’s works. Decades later and it’s still the most famous and well-loved fantasy series, making every other attempt almost look like a failed copycat.

One of the greatest facts I learned about the making of The Hobbit is how Tolkien didn’t have a clue where he was going with it.

Many people mistakenly assume Tolkien had everything planned out, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

And while some writers work that way.

Tolkien didn’t.

All Tolkien had was this idea of a few Hobbits living in a grassy plains area. He thought it’d be a nice, cozy, and fun story to read to his children as a bedtime story.

It’s only after C.S. Lewis—who was part of the same writer group—urged Tolkien to make the Hobbits go on an adventure outside of their homeplace, because it would be dreadfully boring otherwise, that Tolkien started coming up with any sort of real adventure on the spot as he was writing each page.

There wasn’t even a single mention of the famous ring until one of the final stages of writing when The Hobbit was almost finished.

Anyway.

This directly influenced how I work—both with my writing and in business.

I don’t plan out everything in advance. Which is also what I’m teaching in Product Creation Made Easy.

You start with a single topic idea/burning problem you want solved, then you immediately go on to validate it before even doing anything else. Next up is adding all the spices to it, such as the big idea, the unique mechanism, and actually turning it into an actual offer people want to get their hands on.

Here’s where most people would spend months perfecting it building out everything as they planned.

But not me.

And not you either.

Not anyone who cares about their speed of implementation, the amount of people they’ll be able to help, and the amount of profit they’ll make from it.

Nono, you immediately launch it as a product up for pre-purchase—just like I’m showing you right now. (I’m essentially proving to you just how good it works so you know just how much value you’re getting)

Only then, once it’s up for purchase—which has many benefits I won’t get into now—will you work on creating and finishing the actual product in less than 7 days using the simple method I teach even a 10-year-old could follow.

Anyway, there’s already so much I revealed in this email.

If you’d like to learn exactly how to ideate, create, and launch your very own digital product in 21 days or less then get Product Creation Made Easy today while it’s still in pre-purchase for $120 off the price it’ll have on launch this Saturday ($129 now instead of the full $249).

Here’s what to do to get it:

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

2. Buy it before Saturday, December 30th at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code PRODUCT at the checkout and make sure you see the price change before entering your info

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/launch/PRODUCT

One of the 10 books I received for Christmas is The 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters by one of my favorite email marketers, and whose emails I read daily, John Bejakovic.

It’s a short book filled with 10 commandments or principles from top copywriters such as Gary Bencivenga, Gene Schwartz, Jim Rutz, Claude Hopkins, Parris Lampropoulos, and more.

The first commandment reads, “Thou shalt put proof above all other copy elements”.

Then it tells a story of how Gary Bencivenga consistently outperformed every other living copywriter by utilizing the power of proof. Whether done by revealing his processes, showing prior case studies of his work, or by borrowing authority from other high-name individuals in the market.

He would bombard his sales letters with proof one way or another.

Customers are your biggest critics.

You need them to trust you and your product before they even consider pulling out their credit cards and investing their hard-earned money in your offer.

This brings me to my offer of this week called Product Creation Made Easy, which teaches you how to ideate, create, and launch profitable digital products in 21 days or less.

One of the modules goes in-depth into the creation and writing of your product’s sales page.

More specifically.

It’ll show you how to write the sales page of your product in such a way that builds instant credibility and authority with everyone who reads it—no matter who you are.

Throwing in proof by—correctly (do this wrong and you’ll have your sales plummet before your eyes not even knowing what hit you)—borrowing authority is only one of the methods you’ll learn.

These methods are all teachings I picked up from industry experts such as Ben Settle, Alex Hormozi, JK Molina, Dan Kennedy, Gary Bencivenga, and many, many more.

Product Creation Made Easy is currently in pre-purchase, which means you’ll be able to get it at a $120 early-bird discount ($129 instead of the full $249).

Here’s what to do to get it:

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

2. Buy it before Saturday, December 30th at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code PRODUCT at the checkout and make sure you see the price change before entering your info

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/launch/PRODUCT

I know everyone probably filled your inbox to the brim with Christmas emails yesterday.

But I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t wish you a merry Christmas myself.

So with that said.

Merry Christmas you crazy, banana-loving son of a bitch. I hope you had yourself a wonderful day yesterday, filled with lots of good food, amazing gifts, and a helluva good time with friends or family.

I know I did.

For one, I received a bunch of books yesterday—as well as a few days prior as an earlier Christmas gift.

In total I’ve received 10 extra books this Christmas—so you know what I’ll be doing for the next couple of weeks (probably months).

But that’s not all that’s happened.

No no.

If you’ve been on my email list for longer than 2 months you might remember the build-in-public promotion I did for my Abundant-Client System. Many people loved it—both the final product as well as the building in public journey itself.

See, what most people liked so much was that they could see me creating the product and all of the marketing components in real-time. If you bought the product early you could even see me create the product itself.

On such example was the sales page.

I started with a simple sales page that said everything it needed to say. And I kept slowly improving it over time. You could watch it evolve with every day that passed and every email you received.

Well, as for this week, I’ll be doing the exact same thing, but now for my latest product “Product Creation Made Easy”.

What’s it all about?

Well, it’ll teach you exactly how to ideate, create, and launch profitable digital products in 21 days or less.

You can go through it at your own pace and there’s absolutely no prior knowledge needed. Even a 10-year-old could follow the exact roadmap I’m teaching inside the product.

So here’s a summary of how it’ll work:

For the next week—that’s until this Saturday, December 30th at midnight CET—you’ll be able to get the product at the “pre-purchase” price of $129. After the deadline you’ll have to pay the full price of $249 instead.

I’m currently still working on and creating the product, so you’ll have the added benefit of seeing how I’m doing everything.

A real-time case study if you’d like. (just take a look at the sales pages at the time of writing this email, I don’t even have any visuals yet and the sales page is still extremely minimal).

After this Saturday I will have completely finished the product and you can go through it at your own pace.

To get the full details on Product Creation Made Easy do this:

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

2. Buy it before Saturday, December 30th at midnight CET to get it before the price increase

3. Use code PRODUCT at the checkout and make sure you see the price change before entering your info

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/launch/PRODUCT

Ascend 101

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

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“Build fans, not followers!”

You’ve probably seen dozens of people shout this platitude. Everyone seems to be regurgitating the same advice, the same feel-good platitudes, but almost nobody knows what it truly means—let alone how to do it.

I literally only know a handful of people who do.

So let’s dive into it. What does it mean to have a “fan” instead of a “follower”?

Here’s my personal definition: Someone who consumes your content no matter what you put out there. Regardless of any topic. Just because of who that person is and how they make you feel.

That’s the power of a true creator who knows how to build fans.

They’re able to teach you stuff you didn’t know about, topics you didn’t even care about before, and show you perspectives you never would’ve taught about.

All because you pay attention, regardless of the topic.

Immediately this rules out all creators who all repeat “you need to put out more value!” Because if you need to rely on tons and tons of value, then you already lost.

But don’t panic.

I’ll show you 3 techniques that help you create actual fans instead of mere followers. (you don’t even have to apply all 3 to be successful, just 1 is good enough)

1) Be a leader, not an expert

Look, I get it.

You want to prove your knowledge and your authority. You want to show you’re an expert. But being an expert isn’t actually what you need.

You want to be a leader.

Why?

Because people listen to experts, but they follow leaders.

And you don’t care about people listening to you. That doesn’t pay the bills, nor does it allow you to make a big impact. You want people to follow you—you want them to take action and improve their lives.

That’s why you want to be a leader.

2) Build a relationship based on trust

Think about this in terms of a sales context.

If someone were to knock on your door randomly and asks for $1,000 while promising you $10,000 next week. You probably won’t accept his offer.

And why would you?

You don’t know the guy. His offer sounds sketchy as hell. He doesn’t show any signs of credibility or authority.

You simply don’t trust him.

See, it’s the same with content creation.

Every tweet, every podcast, every video, every thread, every email, everything you post is making a promise one way or another.

Every piece of content is an offer.

And nobody will take you up on your offer if they don’t trust you.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on relationship-building. One single person who trusts you with every cell of his body is worth more than a million random followers who don’t know a single personal thing about you.

Invest in building trust.

If you make a promise, keep it. If you make a mistake, be transparent about it.

Be trustworthy.

3) Actively bring them into your world

This is the ultimate all-in-one solution.

But it’s also the trickiest one.

You want to build a world of your own. One in which people want to remain at all times. One in which people love to buy from you. One in which people actively look for you if you’re gone.

You do this by delivering an experience no one else can deliver.

Stay in contact with your followers at all times. This means massive volume.

Send daily emails, write 5+ tweets a day, go on podcasts, organize challenges, create communities, and engage in constant conversation and communication.

Make yourself heard at all times through different media.

The more the better, and the easier it is to be unique and stand out.

Combine this with being relatable, sincere, and entertaining, and there’s no chance you’ll fail.

One of the best examples I can give is the unique email system I use (and teach in Email Extraordinaire) to make myself stand out in the sea of creators, filled with creators whose followings are 100 times bigger than mine.

Building a world is a lifelong journey.

But there’s simply nothing else that comes even close to it.

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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 get you up and running, ready to earn $1,000–$5,000 per month in the next 60–90 days

3. Check out my products: Ranging from every resource I ever read to my entire framework to land clients consistently and effortlessly. It’s all waiting for you to claim it.

It’s 15:07 (CET) as I’m writing this email.

I have only 5 minutes left to write this email.

Now, I didn’t do this on purpose. I woke up late and completely lost track of time.

But the stress of deadline coming closer is exciting. And it’s a good way to test my skills.

It’s also entirely possible.

That’s exactly why email is so powerful.

I can write something whenever and wherever I want. And it can serve me whenever I want.

It can even serve me multiple times.

I could use this particular one in an email sequence that might still be in use 10 years in the future.

And it’d still be making me money.

That’s the power of email. It’s the power of digital leverage.

Nothing you write is ever a waste. And the more you write, the bigger your empire gets (and the more you get paid).

There’s no limit to it. Literally none.

So why haven’t you started yours yet?

And don’t give me any of these excuses:

• I can’t write

• I don’t have an offer yet

• I have nothing to write about

• I’m waiting until I have more followers

• I don’t have enough authority to have an email list

• I haven’t gotten permission from Huitzilopochtli, one of the four main Aztec gods

I’ve heard all of them before. (Okay, maybe not ALL of them)

But I’m here to tell you that all of those excuses are a load of BS.

• The only way to improve your writing is to start writing now

• You’ll develop an offer and even a curriculum through the culmination of your emails

• You do, you just don’t know it yet.

• Why? Better to start early. If you can’t help your 100 followers, how do you expect to help 10,000?

• You build authority by having an email list, not the other way around

• This one might take me a bit longer to fix

If you haven’t realized the core message of this email by now.

Start your email list today.

Not next week, not tomorrow. Do it today.

You’ll thank me later.

P.S. If you book your call in the next 24 hours instead of leaving it at just the one clarity call, you’ll get an extra check-up call a month after our first call, where we’ll look at the progress you made since the first call, how it went, what went well, what went wrong, and how we can make it go even better—completely free of charge.

This all but guarantees that you’ll achieve your goals.

But, a reminder, you’ll only get the bonus if you schedule a clarity call in the next 24 hours. That’s until Sunday at 15:12 CET—the moment my Sunday email goes out.

Book your call now so you won’t forget.

You can also book a call many weeks ahead. So if you’d like to hop on this offer, but haven’t currently got the time to hop on a call with the holidays, don't worry.

Even if you book a call scheduled to happen in late January or early February, you’ll still receive your bonus and will receive an added check-up call a month after your first one.

Schedule your clarity call at a date & time of your choosing here: https://calendly.com/alexvandromme/clarity-call

 

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “Why don’t you mention your promotions and product launches on Twitter?”

I received this question more than 10 times during the past 2 days after I spoke about my “failed” promotion last week.

And because, as the saying goes, “if one person asks a question, ten are thinking it”—let alone if 10 people ask—I thought I’d share my thought process with you today.

See, my reasoning is twofold.

First, I simply can’t be bothered.

Yes I’m certain I could earn more money, sign more clients, and sell more products if I were to mention and actively sell on my timeline. But I don’t enjoy doing so.

I don’t like to sell on the timeline—that’s what my email list is for.

So that’s the first reason.

Second, and a more “reasonable” answer perhaps, it’s my way of giving something back to you and to all the other people on my list.

I’m intentionally limiting the people who have access to my products, services, promotions, and bonuses to those on my email list.

Look, yes obviously I’m creating content, writing emails, offering services, and coming up with valuable products because I want to get paid.

I need to eat after all.

But I’m not desperate to get paid. I don’t just accept anyone and everyone as a customer. I just simply don’t allow just about anyone to give me money.

I’m very selective about that.

I can count more clients I refused to work with than I can the ones I did. That doesn’t bother me.

Maybe you’re calling me crazy right now.

But in that case, I’d call you inexperienced in the way of dealing with clients. You have no idea how enjoyable it is to work with good clients and how absolutely awful and outright painful it is to work with your average Joe.

In a sense, you could say I’m not trying to build a business. I’m building a lifestyle. One that’s enjoyable at all times.

And that requires extreme filtering.

With that said.

It’s a good practice to remind your audience of your offers frequently.

So let me remind you of my clarity calls:

A clarity call is a one-hour call where I’ll help you get full confidence and clarity on your next steps to build & monetize your creator business.

We’ll carefully go over where you’re currently at and what your goals, problems, and vision for the future are. After that I’ll teach you some methods and frameworks I use that are bound to help you out. We’ll create a roadmap for you to follow so you know exactly what to do to reach your goals in the upcoming months.

And because you’re on my email list, I’ll add a bonus if you invest in a clarity call in the next 48 hours.

The bonus?

Instead of leaving it at just the one clarity call, you’ll get an extra check-up call a month after our first call, where we’ll look at the progress you made since the first call, how it went, what went well, what went wrong, and how we can make it go even better—completely free of charge.

This all but guarantees that you’ll achieve your goals.

But, a reminder, you’ll only get the bonus if you schedule a clarity call in the next 48 hours. That’s until Sunday at 15:12 CET—the moment my Sunday email goes out.

Book your call now so you won’t forget.

Schedule your clarity call at a date & time of your choosing here: https://calendly.com/alexvandromme/clarity-call

P.S. You can book a call many weeks ahead. So if you’d like to hop on this offer, but haven’t currently got the time to hop on a call with the holidays, don't worry.

Even if you book a call scheduled to happen in late January or early February, you’ll still receive your bonus and will receive an added check-up call a month after your first one.

That’s assuming you book your call in the next 48 hours.

Once again, here’s the link: https://calendly.com/alexvandromme/clarity-call

“Very good is an everyday occurrence and hardly worth mentioning.”

That’s a line from the book Purple Cow by Seth Godin, which I’m currently reading.

It’s an amazing book filled with lessons and insights beyond belief. I can’t recommend it enough. But for some reason, that line above is what really stood out.

See, the book is all about how to create remarkable products and experiences.

It gives you lots of lessons, case studies, and examples to pay attention to. A framework of what to do essentially.

But the line above tells you what NOT to do.

Which I find a lot more useful and interesting.

See, many people think that to be remarkable, to stand out so much that people do the marketing for you, to become a worldwide phenomenon everyone has to talk about, you need to be incredibly good.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you take a flight from Paris to Tokyo, and the service was great, you had a pleasant flight, and the food even looked like actual good food.

Then nothing really happens, does it?

That’s what you were expecting. Everything was so good. You’re not going around town screaming about your experience.

Now imagine the same scenario, but everything was awful, you had to deal with the most rude and ignorant people you ever met, the food was handed to you in a bucket they used for cleaning the plane, and to top it all off, the seats next to you was reserved for 2 monkeys!!

Now that’s something you’re going to share with everyone you meet.

That’s the true meaning of remarkable.

Now I’m not saying to make your service awful.

But I am asking you to think outside the box. Don’t look at the standard of how most people do business and try to match that.

Be daring. Be willing to stand out.

Do something so weird and so unseen in your market, while still delivering a good experience, but in its own unique style.

Have some monkeys join your next coaching call.

Anyway.

If you, just like I, found that to be extremely insightful, then check out the book Purple Cow right here: https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable/dp/1591843170

P.S. This isn’t an affiliate link.

I’m not getting paid a single cent to share this.

It’s just me giving you a valuable recommendation.

I’ve been bouldering on and off for the better part of the year now.

And there’s so much cool stuff to learn. Things that would’ve never crossed my mind.

I used to look at people climbing stuff in movies or on YouTube videos and it all looked so simple. You grab something with your hand, then move up your legs, push on them, stand up, grab the next thing, rinse and repeat.

How hard could it really be?

Sure, you needed both stamina and muscle to hold yourself and push yourself repeatedly for a prolonged period of time. But to think of technique, body position, weight distribution, and a lot of other stuff simply never came to me as something you had to do.

Boy was I wrong.

So I’ve been learning a lot.

Figuring out all the techniques, practicing things over and over again, utilizing specific exercises to help reach specific goals.

There’s one “exercise” in particular that’s been really helpful for me.

And that’s trying to complete (or “send”) a problem as fast as possible. Get on the wall and just go. No thinking. No wasting time. No figuring stuff out, just go and keep it moving.

You might think this leads to all kinds of problems, but it’s quite the opposite actually.

One of the biggest problems of beginner climbers is thinking too much. Getting so stuck in your head that you fail to execute the right moves.

The thing is, our body is so advanced that if you just leave yourself to it, you’ll figure out what to do and how to move your body. It’s absolutely mind-boggling how fast the body adapts and just executes certain movements without us even thinking about it—without us even realizing it or even knowing why we do something.

You just do it instinctually.

That’s the purpose of the exercise.

If you’re going fast, you don’t have time to think. You have to rely on instinct, feel, and experience—a recipe for much smoother and better climbs.

And that’s not just applicable to bouldering.

It’s applicable to almost everything we do. Even email writing.

I get so many people asking me for tips or tricks about how to get faster at writing emails, how to create more content, or just how to get more stuff done throughout the day.

My answer?

Stop thinking so much.

You know what to do. You know how to write. You know how to tell a story—you’ve been doing so all your life already.

What’s holding people back is the fact that they’re thinking too much. “How do I transition to my sale?”, “Where should I start my story?”, “Is this worth including?”, “Is it better to write this in one paragraph or 2?”.

All these questions are robbing you of your productivity.

Just pick an idea and start writing. Just keep it going. Ramble on for a good 10 minutes. No stopping allowed.

At the end of those 10 minutes, you’ll have yourself a finished email.

Yes you might want to edit here and there. Clean up some of the blaring spelling mistakes you see, and round up the rough corners. But the biggest chunk of your writing is done.

It’s exactly how I wrote this email.

You learn a few base rules and just get to it. You keep climbing as fast as possible.

And talking about those base rules.

I teach those and much more about how to write extraordinary emails that make sales and keep your readers reading day after day in my flagship course, Email Extraordinaire.

Click here to learn more: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/EE

Yesterday I wrote an email titled “Who wins? Marcus or Bob?”; read that one if you haven’t yet.

It was a story about 2 fictional people I created, Marcus and Bob.

They both wanted to build a creator business, but went about it in different ways and with different philosophies. The gist of the email was about how I believe full transparency and honesty, even though it’s slower to get started, is the correct way to build a sustainable and profitable business.

I didn’t think about that example out of the blue though.

Full transparency is a belief I recently reinforced in myself and something I’ll be striving towards at all times—including with this email.

See, last week I was running a promotion for a new offer I came up with called Ready, Set, Launch.

A quick summary:

It was a $100 14-day challenge where I would help 10 participants ideate, build, and profitably launch their first digital product. I created a whole curriculum, made some training material, and scheduled 4 live calls throughout the 14 days where I’d cover important topics such as methods to validate a product, what questions to ask when settling on the delivery of your product, and the promotion framework and pricing strategy I use to make product launches a guaranteed success.

I don’t remember when I came up with the idea of doing a challenge offer like this, but I immediately loved the sound of it.

So last week I finished the details of the offer and decided it was time to promote. My first email went out Monday, December 11 and I immediately sold the first of 10 spots.

I was ecstatic.

You don’t often get sales with the very first email. Most launches are slow and the actual sales only really start coming in 2 days before the deadline. So already I knew this was going to be a success.

It wasn’t.

Over the following days, I didn’t sell a single spot. Not one.

I didn’t think much about it. Surely more people would buy the final day. Right?

Well, kinda.

It was in the last 40 minutes of the promotion that I got my second sale—which also turned out to be my last.

I didn’t know what to do.

I built most of the curriculum around the fact that there was a community aspect involved. And a lot of the promises were about the added value of this. Would this event be as valuable for the participants with only 2 of them?

Maybe. Maybe not.

I wasn’t sure.

If there’s one thing I don’t want to do, then it’s to deliver a sub-par experience.

So to play it safe I decided to cancel the challenge and refund both participants their investment. I didn’t want to leave them empty-handed though, who knows how excited they were about the offer, or if they had already made/canceled plans with the challenge in mind.

That said, I promised them that I’d turn the curriculum I prepared into a full-blown standalone low-ticket digital product, which they’d both receive entirely for free—as a thank-you for having put their trust in me when making their initial purchase.

Did I have to do this?

No. I didn’t.

But this goes back to my philosophy of honesty and transparency. So does the fact that I’m sharing everything in this email you’re reading right now.

Anyway.

You’d normally expect me to transition into an offer right now, don’t you?

Well, not today. I’ve got nothing to sell you.

Not even a link to click.

Instead, I want to play a game. A marketing game.

See, obviously my offer of last week underperformed. That’s not a big deal. But I have to look deeper into it and learn why it underperformed. What did I do wrong? What could I have done better?

I first thought about a few things:

• Was my copy not good enough?

• Did I address the wrong objections?

• Wasn’t I clear enough about my offering?

• Was it because I didn’t use a separate sales page?

• Is it because I didn’t have a strong unique mechanism?

And there’s definitely something to be said about all of those.

As I continued thinking I realized the problem was deeper than that. I was dealing with a fundamental problem that not even the best copywriter on the planet could’ve fixed. No amount of crazy bonuses, nor a tremendous supply of testimonials and social proof would’ve made this promotion an absolute banger of a launch.

But I’m not going to tell you right away.

Here’s the deal:

You’re on my email list. You’re most likely selling something, whether your products or your service—or you want to start doing so. Either way you’ll have to level up your marketing skills as well.

So this is an excellent exercise for you.

What do you think is the real reason why my promotion underperformed? What should I have done differently?

Reply to this email with what you think the problem was.

And I’ll get back to your theory, sharing my thoughts and ideas about your proposed problem (and potential solution) as well as what I believe the BIG problem that ultimately doomed the entire promotion (and how I could’ve fixed it).

Looking forward to seeing your guesses.