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


When simply buying your stuff isn’t enough

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Let’s talk about consumption.

More specifically.

How to get people to consume your product or service (potentially for a very long time) instead of merely buying it.

But first… why would you bother?

After all, they’ve already purchased the product. You’ve already been paid, haven’t you?

Well, that’s true enough.

But as every person behind a successful business knows, it’s never about the first purchase. In fact, more often than not, most businesses actually LOSE money on the first purchase. Instead, what matters is how many follow-up purchases you can get your customers to make.

Or, in other words, you don’t want onetime-only customers. You want repeat customers.

And the best way to get those?

You guessed it. You get repeat customers by ensuring people consume your products from start to finish and leave them satisfied enough so they’ll come to trust you and what you deliver… and want to keep buying from you.

As for how to motivate consumption, I’m working on something behind the scenes to talk about just that.

But for now, check out this bit from Nir Eyal’s Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products:

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“The more users invest time and effort into a product or service, the more they value it. In fact, there is ample evidence to suggest that our labor leads to love.”

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The implications should be clear enough, no?

In that case, do yourself a favor and put some time and effort into clicking the following link, which will teach you more of the same about how to build habit-forming products (and get people to consume, rather than merely buy): https://alexvandromme.com/hooked


Keep it short

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Once in a while, I’ll write an extremely short email.

For instance, I once wrote an email that was only 2 sentences or 31 words long—and it was a tremendous success.

We often see marketers write elaborate sales pages with thousands upon thousands of words—so much copy you have to scroll for ages until you reach the bottom.

You could’ve made yourself a cup of tea, done the dishes, finished writing your next email, scheduled a week’s worth of blogposts, eaten 500 banana, and read the entirety of the Bible in the meantime.

That’s how long some of them are.

So it’s only natural that we think longer copy is always better copy.

Except that’s not the case.

You simply don’t need to know how to write long copy to make sales. Some of my biggest paydays came from 300-word emails.

And that’s the essence of my flagship course Email Valhalla: how to write simple emails that get sales and keep your readers reading day after day.

Interested?

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


Running some sneaky “experiments”

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In the past, I’ve run some sneaky “experiments”.

More precisely.

I deliberately wouldn’t send an email at the “usual” time I send them.

Why?

Well, I once heard Josh Spector, who runs a 40,000+ email list called For The Interested, mention in an interview a little tactic to see whether you really have “fans” on your list.

Or if it’s just a bunch of readers who don’t really care much about you.

The tactic?

Don’t send an email for a day—or send one a lot later than you normally would.

Then just wait and see whether people will message you asking about your missing email. If you do get one or more of these questions, then you’re doing it right (remember, if one person asks something, a hundred are thinking it).

So that’s what I did once in a while.

And lo and behold.

I usually receive a few such questions (obviously not from the same people because they already know this happens).

But doing so shows you the power of daily email and building that relationship.

That said.

If you’d like to learn how to build a relationship with your reader by writing simple, yet entertaining, daily emails that just so happen to get you paid in the meantime as well…

Well then look no further than my flagship course Email Valhalla.

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


Reading recommendations just for you

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It’s no secret I love to read.

If anything, I might mention my reading habits too often. Perhaps even at the expense of making more sales because instead of yapping about what I’m reading (or how I’m reading) all the time, I could instead mention other cool facts, interesting stories, and controversial opinions which would undoubtedly lead to more sales.

But I don’t.

See, most people would greatly benefit from developing a better reading habit (not to be confused with those “you have to read at least 52 books a yaer!!!” type people).

As it stands, I’m a writer.

Sure some purists out there might object and say I'm “not a real writer”. Yet the fact remains, I press keys on my keyboard, which makes words appear on my screen (often quite a lot of them), which I then publish on the internet for many others to read. And this process is getting me paid.

So yes. I’ll call myself a writer.

And, as most people intuitively realize, there are two major “practices” writers do to become better at their craft (and yes, you have to do both).

First is to write frequently and write a lot.

Second is to read frequently and read a lot.

The more types of writing you read, the better. Good writing, bad writing, literary writing, junk writing, persuasive writing, pop culture writing, technical writing, and every other type of writing you can imagine.

A simple method to start reading is to read whatever interests you most.

That’s an extremely underrated (and weirdly effective) method to go about reading.

But in case you still don’t know where to start, no worries—I got you.

Because as of today I’ve created a recommended reading list on my website where I post what I’m currently reading, as well as every book I’ve read so far that I found either extremely enjoyable or insanely valuable (mostly both).

It’s not a big list by any means. (Not yet, at least)

But it’s enough to get some people started and give some honest recommendations.

Anyway.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/reading-list/


Know who your customers are

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Once upon a time, I received the following email from a long-time reader who got his hands on my Product Creation Made Easy framework (and who prefers not to share his full name):

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I have a couple more items to go but just wanted to let you know that I've had a number of 'a-ha!' moments.

Favorites include: Prevalidation and minimal viable product and ideation.

Another thing that I personally appreciate is that it's not spread out in 50 modules. This hits the important things and gets me started – great for busy folks like me.

So far – easy 5-star product.

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I’m partly sharing this to boost my ego and tell you about my confirmed 5-star-worthy product and how it helps people create profitable digital products in 21 days or less from start to finish—that is, from ideation, all the way to launch and beyond.

But that’s not all.

More importantly, I’m sharing this to show the importance of knowing who your customers are. In my case, that’s, more often than not, busy folk working a job, taking care of their kids or other family members, while using almost all of their remaining hours to work on their creative passions and build something that’s uniquely theirs.

More.

Whether you’re writing a book, recording an album, working on a video game, running a fitness business, tending to your garden, improving your cake-baking skills, or getting your digital marketing agency up and running (all of which are real examples of people I spoke with on my list)… When creating a product, any type of product, a written digital course, a mentorship program, poetry, a card game, or a limited-time small-scale rollercoaster experience in your backyard, when creating such a product, all the principles are—and will always remain—the same.

Now, some gurus or experts you follow might not like to say or hear this.

But that’s only so they can feed (and sell) you the same crap over and over again by disguising it as somehow “being different” or “only working in this market”.

Which is nothing more than a pile of crap.

Everything inside Product Creation Made Easy is as evergreen as it gets. It’s always been useful, it will always remain useful, and it’s as applicable in your market as it is in the next guy’s.

The only downside?

There’s no hand-holding or spoon-feeding.

I give you the tools, the reasoning, the examples, and the know-how to create your next (or even your first) profitable digital product in 21 days or less. But I can’t create it for you. That’s something you’ll have to do yourself.

It’s as they say, you can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Anyway.

Here’s the water, go and drink some: https://alexvandromme.com/pcme/


Email daily, you lazy bum

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For reasons beyond my understanding, some people don’t like to hear this.

But it needs to be said: The more emails you write, the more money you’ll make. It really is that simple.

There’s no secret trick, no special method, no crazy life hack.

You email more, you earn more.

You have to realize that most people, especially when they’re new to a market, will subscribe to a bunch of different newsletters and email lists.

Almost nobody stands out from the get-go (and that’s ok).

But now imagine that, after they subscribed to a whole bunch of email lists, out of everyone, you’re the only one sending daily emails—something that could very well be the case, since most people don’t bother.

In that case one of two things will happen:

1) They get annoyed and bored of your emails and unsubscribe. This is a good thing because they would never buy anything worthwhile from you, anyway. They don’t see the value in what you’re giving them, so they would never spend a dime on any of your products. It’s good to rid yourself of these people and only keep the people who understand the value of what you offer.

2) They see your name 7x as much as all the other people and build a relationship with you that’s 10–20 times stronger because you’re the only one who’s putting in the constant effort to show up and check in on them. You’re giving value and entertaining them day-in, day-out.

Already they’re much more likely to buy from you than from anyone else.

On top of that, eventually—and this happens to everyone—they get tired of getting so many emails from all these different people, and they’ll unsubscribe to most of the email lists they’ve subscribed to. But because you’ve spent so much time building a relationship with them, you’re one of the few that they’ll keep reading daily—if not the only one.

At that time you don’t have any competition anymore and you win simply because you showed up every single day.

On top of those examples. You’ll be the person who improves the fastest (you’re getting more practice in after all).

Not only that, you’ll also be seen as the one and only true expert—even a leader. While everyone claims to be the expert. Only you’ve put in the work to prove it.

So start emailing daily today.

And if you’re not sure where to start, then check out my flagship course Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


Algorithm this, algorithm that

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Wherever you look on the internet, whenever people talk about marketing, they just can’t stop bitching about algorithms.

And here’s the problem.

These people are all thinking too short-term. They forget to think about the bigger picture.

You’re on a platform. A platform that’s not yours. Anything can happen. You knew this when you signed up. So it’s your job to be prepared for the worst. To do the best you can, no matter what.

In the grand scheme of things, you should be building your own world—a place filled with people who want to be with you, hear from you, and buy from you. People who’ll go to the end of the world to find you.

These people ultimately don’t care about the platform, they care about being where you are.

So why are you keeping them ON the platform to begin with.

In that case, if the algorithm fucks you over (which it will), then that’s your fault.

As with any world you’re creating, you should have a place where people can gather. That place shouldn’t be a social media platform you don’t have any control over.

It’s on you to secure your own safety.

What does that mean for your online business?

You either create your own platform, which for many of us won’t be possible (yet), or you simply create an email list. Nobody can take it from you, no matter who decides what on some social media platform.

There are many other tips and practices that you can follow to not be affected by changes such as these. But this should undoubtedly be your first step.

If you don’t have your own email list, then create yours now. Like right now. This second.

And not knowing how to do so isn’t an excuse. Because I’ve got just the thing for you.

It’s called Email Valhalla and it’s a course I created to teach you everything you need about creating, growing, and even monetizing your email list.

Get it here to secure your future: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


To sponsor or not to sponsor

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Once in a while, I’ll write an email, plugging someone else’s offer, doing a sponsor deal, or even including a classified (or PPC) ad—like you saw me do two days ago.

The thing is, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that last year.

Not because I didn’t think I could do so (everyone can) but simply because, at least back then, I told myself I’d do any ads because why would I advertise for someone else’s stuff if I could just sell my own and earn more?

I still believe that, at least to a certain extent, but, as with anything, there are exceptions.

First, sometimes you just don’t care, don’t want to offer, or simply can’t offer (either because of a lack of expertise, time, or other resources) a certain solution that would help your readers out.

Would it then be fair to withhold such an opportunity from your readers?

No, of course not.

My main goal, first and foremost, will always be to keep the customer and the market in mind, think about what they want (read: need—the customer doesn’t even know what they want, let alone what they truly need), and how I can offer it to them.

So in that case, I’ll gladly refer people to someone else to buy from or do business with—and if I can get paid for it in the meantime, then even better.

Another one.

There’s always unused capacity in everything you do—daily emails are no exception.

Yeah, I can write daily emails selling my own stuff all the time (and I mostly do), but I can’t be running promotions 24/7, and even when I’m not running promotions, there’s always a diminishing return from sending more emails (most people don’t send enough emails to notice it though, me including). So withholding one email here and there to write an affiliate email or do a sponsored post is making use of the unused capacity and filling the gap or “less optimized” email you would otherwise have sent.

Last but not least.

It’s simple and doesn’t require much (if any) investment on your part (not every reason has to be profound, right?).

Anyway.

This has been an important lesson for me (and one I found valuable enough to share with you) and marks another clear sign of personal growth in my entrepreneurial journey of email marketing.

That said.

If you’d like to pick up pace in your own journey and learn more about email marketing and building, growing, and selling to your list then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla