Business Models

Here’s how I did it:

The first thing I did was create and host my very own WordPress site on which I could publish all of my emails online.

Combine this with learning some SEO basics (a whole lot less than you might think) to get visitors to my page and teasing Email Valhalla course on sign-up… and you’ve already got a semi-passively (I still have to write the emails after all) functioning business right there.

Not only that, but I’ll keep earning based on past emails I’ve written—emails that will only grow in numbers and get better in quality the more I write.

To me there’s truly no better business model out there.

Find me another business where you can earn a living by writing whenever you want, from wherever you want, all the while helping people accomplish their own dreams, getting thank-you emails on the regular, and, last but not least, doing all of this without an income ceiling limited by any one resource such as time, distribution, money, or costs.

I’m not saying other business are bad (they’re not), or people doing things differently are stupid (they aren’t).

Just saying that’s not the way I like to run things.

I like to keep it simple, efficient, and with a freedom-first aspect.

Anyway.

If you’re only using social media to grow your business, you’re seriously missing out.

Go get your online real estate up and running.

And if you’re not even building your own email list yet, what are you waiting for?

Check out Email Valhalla today and get started right away: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

I know many people who live and die by their numbers.

Every offer they make, every email they write, every decision they make is all backed up by market research, customer surveys, focus groups, testing groups, and everything else you can think of.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work.

It does. In fact, it might even be the best thing to do. It might even be the most profitable (especially in the short run).

But it’s not how I roll.

For one thing, you become a slave of the market, always chasing where the demand goes—always testing, always iterating, always dependent on the whims of your customers.

You’re essentially choosing to be the one who chases instead of the one who is being chased.

You’ll never truly lead your market (which is a whole discussion on its own).

But more.

You’ll never truly have the freedom to do exactly what you want, when you want, and for how long you want it.

You don’t build a business that survives—even thrives—for years, decades, even generations, by being the one who chases.

Still more.

I doubt anyone who does business this way can ever feel truly fulfilled—which is one of the main reasons I don’t do data.

Everything I do, everything I create, everything I sell is stuff I think is cool (and helps my customers, important not to overlook this part). It’s stuff I’d do regardless of whether I get paid for it or not (the only difference is that I can do a lot more of it when I do get paid).

So here’s something important for you to consider.

If you’re a data person. And you’d like to optimize everything you do for maximum profitability. And you’re prone to chasing whatever the market wants (i.e., you saw AI is “the next new thing” and jumped on the bandwagon, until the hype dies down and you’ll jump to something like VR when it’s “the next new thing”).

Then it’s probably not doing you any good to listen to anything I have to say. Let alone try to implement what I do for your own.

Our businesses (and business philosophies) function differently.

Which isn’t a bad thing. But it’s something to consider.

That said.

If you do share the same philosophy to business. If you aim to build something that’s truly yours, do the leading instead of the chasing, think long term, and stick to whatever you think is cool regardless of what others say.

Then you should check out Product Creation Made Easy.

It’s my entire product creation framework where I show you how to create products you think are cool and stuff you want to create—while still making sure it’s something people would want—all the way from ideation to having a profitable launch and beyond (i.e., to keep getting sales months and even years after the initial launch).

Here’s the link for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/product

It only takes you one Google Search to be bombarded with dozens of articles, blogs, videos, courses, podcasts, interviews, or social media posts telling you how to monetize an email list.

More.

90% of those (if not more) will tell you to get as many people as you can onto your list (or newsletter as they’re most likely referring to), disregarding the quality of the readers you’re inviting to be on your list and then to continuously run ads or accept sponsorships.

And while this isn’t a bad business model per se—especially not for people who just like to write long articles and not have to worry about anything else—it’s far from the most effective, reliable, or even the simplest method there is.

Again, I’m not saying that type of model is bad.

It’s just not for me.

I would much rather build a small but extremely focused and high-quality (quality over quantity here) email list filled with readers eager to read what I write and buy what I offer them.

The only downside to this type of business model?

You need something of your own to sell your readers. But seeing as you’re on my list, chances are you’ve got that covered already (or will have soon enough).

In this case, many of the so-called “list-building hacks” other people can’t shut up about don’t actually work for us. Running paid ads to your (free) email opt-in won’t do you any good. Neither will social media giveaways where you ask for people’s email addresses in exchange for some random freebie they’ll receive—most, if not all, of the social media game will actively work against you since that’s very much a quantity over quality type of medium.

You might have noticed that all the above methods I mentioned share one common theme.

They all focus on getting people on your list by promising them FREE (!) stuff.

Unfortunately, the people you’ll attract this way are the same type of people who’ll get angry at you for trying to sell them something—even if it’s a $5 product that might literally change their lives forever.

These types of people won’t help you run a business—which is what you’re trying to do after all.

A better way is to pre-qualify and pre-sell people as soon as they enter your world through one of the many portals you’ve scattered around the internet (I’ll dive deeper into this specific topic of “building your world and opening portals” in other emails—as well as in an upcoming course all about business worldbuilding).

That means, to immediately let them know you plan on selling them something.

Don’t hide this fact. It’s not only stupid, crooked, and absolutely visible to everyone with half an eye sticking out their ass. It’s also the smartest thing you could do. Doing so sets the stage for the future and it repels any and all cheapskates who won’t ever buy anything from you anyway.

This doesn’t mean you HAVE to sell them something straight away… but a simple tripwire (before or after joining your list) or one-time offer when they subscribe to your list (even if they choose not to buy) goes a long way.

I’ll go deeper into how to grow an email list in my flagship course, Email Valhalla, which teaches you everything you need to know to run your own email-centered business as a creative, including how to write simple and effective daily emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day.

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

Everything is slowly turning into a subscription model.

From your daily entertainment to your groceries, the clothes you wear, the books you read, the music you listen to, the hobbies you practice, the perfumes and fragrances you use, the cars you drive (if that market won’t completely turn into a subscription-based Uber-like “get driven by autonomous vehicles" service eventually), the traveling you might want to do, hell, chances are even the phones you’ll buy and every other gadget or consumable you can think of will become subscription based.

It might not be this year.

It might not even be next year.

But I promise you, everything will and shall turn into a subscription model—even the things you couldn’t believe were possible.

So what should you do when it comes to subscriptions?

Should you follow? Should you be different for the sake of it?

Well, that’s not something I can answer for you. As with anything, it depends. I don’t know what you do, what you sell, who you sell it to, how much you’re charging for it, how much it costs you to sell it, how easy it is to deliver, how often people use it, how many people want it, and a lot more other vital pieces of information you’d need to make a decision like this (anyone telling you there’s a one-size-fits-all answer is trying to sell you horsecrap).

What I do know is that a lot more people are trying to jump into the subscription business (as will I eventually, not going to hide it).

And with that there’s also many people who are making the big mistake (unless they’re already a big industry name, then they can do whatever they want) of trying to sell the continuity as the first thing the customer sees.

In case you didn’t know, it’s a difficult sell to get someone to hand you money ever single month.

A better way to do things?

Sell something low-ticket first (alongside selling yourself). Build up trust. Show them you know your stuff. Help them get a feeling of satisfaction.

Only after that, offer them a subscription to get more of the same (with more convenience and/or a better price) or offer them more (and better/more in-depth) complimentary stuff.

Something to think about and take into consideration.

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn how to sell, whether it’s a continuity or not, and more specifically, learn to sell it through email, then check out Email Valhalla where I share all the tips, tricks, deets, and secret sauce.

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