I don’t want money

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I want freedom over my time.

I want the freedom to work from wherever I want, with whomever I want, whenever I want, and on whatever I want.

But that doesn’t mean sitting on the beach drinking cocktails all day.

That gets boring quickly.

No, I do want to work.

But it has to be work that allows for creative self-expression and interesting challenges to overcome. I want to keep pushing myself further and achieve more today than I did yesterday.

As the old adage says, it’s about the journey, not the destination—yet it never feels as such.

In short.

I don’t want less work.

I want less meaningless work so I can replace that time with more meaningful work. I might not even call it “work” anymore when it comes to it.

But that’s what it is.

Work I truly and utterly enjoy doing.

And the only way I can think of to get there, and more importantly, stay there, is to start building something of my own. To develop my skillset, build my own offers, grow my customer base, and become my own employer.

The specifics don’t matter. It’s about the big picture here.

That’s the ultimate goal. To be truly free to work on whatever I want while getting paid more than enough—which is only to rid yourself of all the symptoms that come with not being paid enough, not the goal in and of itself.

So no. I don’t want money.

I want the freedom of self-expression and meaningful work.

If you find yourself nodding in agreement right now. Then maybe it’s time to stop wasting any more time and get to it.

Also, if I can recommend an immensely valuable skill to learn that’ll be incredibly useful to you, no matter what path you’re going down, then it’ll be to learn and master the fundamentals of marketing, and more importantly, email marketing. Because that’s going to enable everything else you’ll be doing.

And for that, there’s no better place to be than Email Valhalla.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Email open rates are useless

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Well, almost useless, at least.

Let me explain.

First of all, you’re not in business to get your emails opened, are you? You’re in business to make money.

So what does that tell you?

Well if you had to choose between making $100 per email while having a 50% open rate or making $1,000 per email but having an open rate of 12%, which one would you choose?

So, we’re optimizing for sales, not for opens—an important distinction to make.

“But Alex, if you increase your open rate from 12% to 50%, wouldn’t you make more money?” In theory yes, in practice no.

I first learned this from email marketer John Bejakovic, who shared his odd discovery that all his emails with the highest profits had the lowest open rates. I share this discovery.

Why does this happen? Who knows? There could be (and there are) multiple reasons.

One of the most logical explanations has to do with the subject line. If a subject line is highly specific, then fewer people will open your emails. But the people who do will be better-qualified buyers, and thus earning you more money.

On the other hand. It’s not just all about money > open rates.

Open rates themselves are flawed. Over the years many ESPs have taken different privacy actions to protect their users. This means that the methods used to track if people opened your emails aren’t working anymore.

How do you even know if people opened your email in the first place? Well, that’s done through embedded images.

Whenever I send an email, my ESP (Beehiiv) embeds a tiny image, just one single pixel. If you open the email, you’ll automatically send a request to download that image.

But here’s the thing. A lot of people have images disabled. Aka, you can’t track them. And here’s the new change. Google, outlook, and many others intercept these images and alter them before showing them to you in your inbox. Also disabling the tracker that’s embedded.

So yeah. You can’t trust email open rates. And you shouldn’t take drastic measures regarding them.

But there’s something else you can trust. Those are the fundamentals of email marketing. Learning how to write quick and easy emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading every day. No longer do you have to follow rules and metrics made up by people who know nothing about email.

Just do you, write engaging emails, and get paid.

Interested? Learn more about how to do so here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


You don’t know how to ride a bike

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Here’s a fun fact for you:

You don’t know how to ride a bicycle.

Your body knows. But you don’t.

Don’t believe me?

Alright, let’s play a game to test it then, shall we?

Imagine you’re riding a bicycle. You’re currently cycling straight ahead on a flat road. No curves, no hills, no nothing.

So what are you physically doing?

Well, your feet are on the pedals, pedaling away, and your hands are on the steering wheel stabilizing (although the bike does most of the stabilizing on its own—but let’s ignore that for now).

So far so good.

Now, 20 meters in front of you there’s a curve to the right coming up.

Ok so you'll want to make a right.

But how?

I’m serious. Think about it. Put your hands in front of you as if you’re actually on a bike right now. What movement do your hands make in order for you to turn right?

Did you think about your answer?

…

If you answered something along the lines of, “I just turn the steering wheel to the right” then you, my friend, would’ve crashed and clearly don’t know how to ride a bike. At least not mentally.

I’m sure you would’ve made the turn just fine in practice.

But only because your body knows what to do.

See, there’s a lot of forces at play here. But to keep it simple. When cycling your body and your bike are moving at the same speed straight ahead and your center of gravity (of your body) is right above the bike, meaning you’ll stay upright just fine.

Now what happens if you suddenly steer to the right, just like that?

Well, then the bike will steer to the right (that’s true enough) but your body still hasn’t adapted yet. It want’s to keep moving straight ahead, at this point your center of gravity is off and you’ll fall.

In order for your body to adapt (and make the turn correctly) you have to do something called “counter-steering”.

Aka, you have to, ever so slightly, turn left FIRST before turning right.

This makes it so your body will start “falling” to the right, after which you’re able to actually turn your steering wheel to the right, so that the bike will catch your body as it’s “falling”, and successfully make the turn.

Yes, this is how turning works on a bike. This is a fact. No this is not made up. There’s actual science behind it. And yes you can quickly verify this yourself by simply googling “countersteering” and reading the wikipedia page that comes up.

In fact, here it is:

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“To negotiate a turn successfully, the combined center of mass of the rider and the single-track vehicle must first be leaned in the direction of the turn, and steering briefly in the opposite direction causes that lean” — Wikipedia

===

Why am I telling you this?

Well simply because it’s a phenomenal thing to realize. Ask this to all of your friends or colleagues. I can guarantee almost nobody will actively know this.

And yet, I’m pretty sure almost everyone will make that turn correctly (all the while constantly “counter-steering” in the process.

It's the simple fact that your brain & body work together in such spectacular and almost magical ways, sometimes (read: often) even beyond human comprehension (for now at least).

At the end of the day, “knowing” something isn't nearly as important as having experienced something.

You can read all you want about counter steering. It won't help you turn your bike until your body (not your mind) figured it out through first-hand experience (that mean by trial and error).

Bottom line?

You “learn” by doing, wether you mentally realize it or not.

So if you want to improve, let's say, your email writing skills? Then writing an email every single day quite possibly the best thing you could do (there's nothing even close to the amount of improvement you'll see)

And to help get started doing just that, check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


My biggest newbie-selling mistake ever

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I used to hop on many sales calls back in the day.

Back then I was still very much running a client-based business. Specifically consulting clients.

But there was one problem.

A large one holding me back from getting a vast amount of clients… or any other “success” metric, for that matter.

The problem?

I was needy.

I just needed to get those clients. I needed to close them, no matter the cost. To convince them to give me money—even though, in some cases, I just made up my offer a few hours prior to the call.

And as anybody intuitively knows… it doesn’t pay to be greedy.

You need to understand that in every interaction, whoever needs the result less has the power. They have the upper hand. They have the bargaining power. This goes for everything. From sales calls to applying for a job, going on dates, selling second-hand products, asking for a raise, buying a car, deciding where to go on holiday next year, hell even deciding where to eat.

So if you want to make the most out of every life situation, understand this:

You are the prize.

They need to pass your qualifying process. Not the other way around.

Even if you don’t feel like you’re the prize, figure out your shit and find a way to feel like the prize. No matter what process or growth you have to go through to end up feeling like it. Work on yourself. Get yourself physically, mentally, and physically right. All of these will aid in every aspect of your life. And the result will be a mindset shift that’ll serve you for decades to come.

And while this is a mindset shift you can technically make at all times.

There is a practical element you could do to make it easier for you to reach this state of feeling like the prize.

More specifically, the act of getting results.

No matter how paradoxical—or obvious—it sounds. Getting results will help you get more results. Not just because of the case studies, the referrals, the social proof, or anything else of the sort.

It’s all because you’ll trust in yourself and your ability to get results. Which means you won’t ever be needy ever again.

You know you can easily get results again, no worries.

There’s more than enough fish in the sea, that’s for sure.

This also applies to your emails.

A needy email will never sell. It’ll only hurt you.

Speaking of important email lessons. If you’d like to master the art of writing daily entertaining emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, check out my flagship course, Email Valhalla, to learn all about it.

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


The secret to unlimited drive and motivation

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For the past week or so I’ve been completing daily programming puzzles as a part of the yearly Advent of Code leading up to Christmas.

It’s going well so far—better than it ever has compared to my previous track records, at least.

But there’s a curious thing happening.

You see, most days, I finish the puzzle in under an hour, sometimes two. But once every few days, like yesterday, it easily takes me up to five or six (6!) hours to finish this one puzzle.

That’s six hours of non-stop staring at my screen, trying to think of potential solutions, translating it into code, checking for errors, endless debugging, discovering new edge cases, and going over the processes once again.

And yet, it feels like a breeze.

The hours fly by. I stay focused, hyperfocused, in fact, and would easily be able to keep this up for another six hours (and probably ever following day as well).

You might think this sounds miserable, and maybe for you, it would be.

But man, I can’t tell you how almost “natural” this comes to me. How ‘motivated’ and excited I am to finally get it to work, and ultimately how ‘happy’ and ‘at peace’ I am during the entire process.

Sure I might bang my head on the keyboard once in a while, but that’s part of the process. And even that is enjoyable in its own way.

This reminded me of some lessons I learned while reading Psycho-Cybernetics.

Just take the following excerpt taken straight out of the preface:

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“Creative striving for a goal that is important to you as a result of your own deep-felt needs, aspirations, and talents (and not the symbols which the “Joneses” expect you to display) brings happiness as well as success because you will be functioning as you were meant to function.

Man is by nature a goal-striving being. And because man is “built that way,” he is not happy unless he is functioning as he was made to function—as a goal striver. Thus true success and true happiness not only go together but each enhances the other.”

===

This excerpt gives a new and helpful explanation as to why I experience these coding puzzles the way I do.

I picked up a new goal—one I’m genuinely interested in and determined to achieve.

The process of doing what man is “built to do”—striving towards a goal—is where you’ll find true happiness and success is to be found.

That’s why it’s so important to have goals, projects, dreams and aspirations.

What kind of goals?

The type where you’re creating something new.

This doesn’t have to be something completely new, that’s nowhere to be found in the whole wide world. But it has to be new to you. To bring to life a book you write, a song you composed, a painting you created, even a promotion you worked for, a deal you closed, a certificate or degree you studied for, a fish you caught, or something as simple as a sweater you knitted.

Creation is what we, as human beings, were meant to do.

And creation is what will keep you healthy, sane, and even thriving if done correctly, for decades to come.

Speaking of which…

If you’d like to learn my entire process for ideating, creating, and launching profitable digital products in 21 days or less, then I’d highly suggest you check out my course Product Creation Made Easy.

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


Standing out in a crowded marketplace

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Once upon a time, I received this testimonial from long-time reader, Aaron, who wrote:

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Alex delivers gold nuggets of information and inspiration every day. I enjoy his authentic, direct perspective. He is really passionate about what he does. Walks the walk and puts in the work to grow.

When I first started on Twitter, I signed up to many copywriter email lists because who better to learn from than them. Over time, I vetted out creators like Glenn, Tatsuya Thomas, and Virgil Brewster. While keeping Kieran Drew and Alex around. Can't wait to see where he goes.

===

I want you to read that last paragraph again.

Too often I hear people struggling and moaning, thinking they have no chance of breaking through in a “saturated market” with many (and I mean MANY) big creators, experts, leading figures, and authorities in the field.

But here’s the thing.

People aren’t drawn to knowledge, results, or previous war stories.

They’re drawn to personality, reliability, commitment to the craft, and engaging stories—all of which you can give people right now, right here. No matter your prior experience, no matter how long you’ve been in the industry already, no matter how many followers you might have on a certain social media or which business you’ve previously worked with.

More.

It’s never been easier to “breakthrough” than it is now.

Modern technology allows you to reach everyone, everywhere, and at any time you desire.

The only things required are the will to create, the commitment to show up day after day, and knowledge of the simple foundations that transcend products, media, markets, ideas, philosophies, and everything else we’ve come up with as a species.

Even more.

You don’t need to be on social media to make this happen (god forbid if this is the only place people can hear from you).

The best place to make all of this happen is straight in their inbox, where there’s no competition, no algorithm to obey, and no fear of your message not getting delivered.

Which leads me to Email Valhalla.

It’s my flagship course that teaches you all of these simple fundamentals you require to make it work. To build your business with a focus on freedom, simplicity, and enjoyment—your email empire.

Check it out today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


The ironic tragedy of life

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In The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel writes:

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“Optimism is a belief that the odds of a good outcome are in your favor over time, even when there will be setbacks along the way.”

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So it is in life as well as business.

Sure, it won’t always feel as if life is getting better moment by moment.

But when you expand your view, and look at life as a whole, you’ll more often than not find the quality of your life has been increasing consistently over time—however volatile it may be.

As Chris Williamson said in one of his Modern Wisdom podcast episodes, starring Matthew McConaughey (who heard it from Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard):

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“The ironic tragedy is that life has to be lived forward, but only makes sense in reverse.”

===

Anyway.

I’m not pretentious enough (yet) to act as if I know the secret to life, or even to pretend what to make of all of this.

The only thing I know is how I’ll (ab)use my own long-term optimism.

And that’s by continuing to write these emails day after day, keep honing my skills, never stop experimenting with different offers, trying angle after angle, seeing what sticks and what doesn’t, and doing everything in my power to make each new day better than the last.

Which brings me to the point of my email where it’s time to promote some offer. And what better to promote than my beloved Email Valhalla, which will show you how to write simple, yet highly entertaining emails day after day that people love to read.

All while getting paid, of course.

For more information, click here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


My secret to enjoying life more often

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Whenever I put more effort into my business—aka whenever I write more emails, create more content, or talk to more people—I earn more money.

But above all, I enjoy everything a lot more.

It doesn’t just work with business stuff.

I also enjoy reading more if I read more often instead of less.

Now, I’m no expert, no psychologist, no other special type of person who studied stuff like this and can confidently say why this happens.

But I can tell you my experience. And I can guarantee this is no fluke.

In fact, try it out yourself.

Take something you don’t absolutely despise doing. Something you find at least something interesting. And just do a lot of it.

You’ll become better at it. Start to discover the hidden intricacies of the skill you’re pursuing. And you’ll start to appreciate everything you’re doing—and can do—a whole lot more. Which often ends up with you enjoying the activity even more.

I’m not saying you can’t enjoy stuff you don’t do often. Or you can’t enjoy stuff you’re not good at.

Far from it.

I enjoy playing the guitar and I’m awful at it.

But most of the time, your enjoyment only becomes stronger when you actually put in the time and effort to develop the skillset and the understanding to appreciate everything you (or even other people) are doing.

Which brings me to my point.

If you don’t feel like you enjoy writing emails. Or you don’t see it paying off monetarily. Then maybe, just maybe, you’re simply not doing it enough?

And in that case, maybe check out Email Valhalla to help you increase the volume (and overall quality) of your email writing game.

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


For my programmer people

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For the past 5 days (I started late) or so I’ve been enjoying getting myself tested an challenged by a coding challenge every morning.

Now, I’m definitely no expert programmer by any means. But I know my way around Python, C#, and a bit of Java on the side.

After all, I did study programming during my years in university (not the main focus, but it was included in my curriculum) and I’ve been honing my skill in game development over the years as a hobby.

If you have no interest in programming whatsoever, feel free to ignore this email—I’m assuming that’s most people reading this email.

But in the small chance you are, I just have to share this with you.

It’s called Advent of Code and it’s a website/event where every year leading up to Christmas, there are daily challenges being put online and you’re tasked to provide an answer—anyway you like.

No specific programming language required. I’ve even seen people do this using Excel.

But in case you like to code or you want to start learning how to code, then this is an excellent motivator and I’m glad to be able to share this with you.

I’m in no way, shape, or form affiliated with the people running the Advent of Code. I don’t get anything from convincing you to check it out.

This is purely a “I just want to let you know because I enjoy it so much” type of email.

Click here to see what I’m talking about: https://adventofcode.com/


10 commandments I’d advise anyone to follow

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The least they’ll do is get you paid more.

Anyway, here I go:

  • Don’t just educate—entertain and elevate as well

  • Email daily—nobody ever made less money by more frequently speaking to their customers, entertaining them, and letting them know about your offers

  • Don’t be boring—being boring is the biggest sin in all of marketing

  • Screw perfection, embrace your flawed self

  • Actively try to find the limits of everything you do (and see whether you can cross them)

  • Nobody likes an expert as they do a leader

  • Write like you talk—accent, grammar mistakes, and typical speech patterns alike

  • Share stories and share’em often

  • Answer the questions you receive publicly

  • Be a real person, share your opinions (especially, but not limited to, the controversial ones)

  • Join the Email Valhalla supremacist fan group.

Every single one of these has drastically helped me more than you could ever imagine.

But who am I to tell you what to do?

So as with anything, test them out for yourself and see how it goes.

And about that last one…

…more information about Email Valhalla, and how to build a better email business, can be found here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla