Curiosity

What’s the point of a blog anyway?

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Came a question from an interested reader:

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“I noticed a while back you don’t post every email of yours on your blog. Why not? Is there a strategy or bigger picture reasoning behind not doing so?

Been wondering about that for a while now.”

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Great question.

But before I can answer that directly, I have to clarify something first, just be sure everyone’s on the same page.

See, the purpose of any single blog out there is always the same: to attract readers.

Forget where they come from, what they’re looking for, how they got here, or anything else that might confuse you. For now, the only thing that matters is that every single blog shares the same purpose of getting attention and attracting readers.

Now, that’s only the first degree purpose.

Behind wanting to “attract readers” there’s another purpose, always. Even people who write for the joy or art of it such as fanfics or what have you still have the second-degree purpose of feeling a sense of accomplishment and, most importantly, approval from others when they see other people are reading their stuff.

This “second-degree purpose” might differ from business to business.

In my case, that’s to build my email list. After all, my email list has been, and will forever remain so however long I continue doing what I do, at the center of my business. It’s what powers everything else and makes everything I do possible.

So, naturally, the only reason for me to even host my blog is for people to stumble upon it one way or another, check it out, enjoy what they read, and, this is the crucial bit, ultimately decide to opt-in to my list.

At that point my blog effectively loses its functionality for that specific person… but that’s ok because the only purpose of my blog was to get people to opt-in to my list, which it, at that point, did successfuly.

This brings me back to the original question.

Why don’t I publish all of my emails on my blog?

Well, think about it yourself. If I did publish every single email on my site, why would anyone even bother subscribing to my list? All they’d gain would be the “convenience” of not having to check my site manually. At most they’d lose out on some gift or a lead magnet I give to people who opt-in. But none of that is making much of a case, at least not a strong one.

No, there needs to be an air of mystery, intrigue.

People need to be excited and curious to want to find out more, to discover everything there is to discover, to get all of the privileges, known and unknown, of being an actual subscriber to my list, not just an incognito reader on my website.

There are other reasons, of course, but this is definitely one of the most important ones to realize.

As for best practices of what to do when people finally opt-in to your list, you might want to check out my flagship course, Email Valhalla, to get an answer to that question: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


Netflix comedy special waiting inside

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What's a writer's favorite dinosaur?

A thesaurus.

Now, perhaps this silly little joke won’t land me a Netflix special together with Dave Chappelle, after all.

But it more than fulfilled its purpose.

More specifically.

For the reader (that’s you) to continue reading this email. Which, if you’re currently reading this, did its job.

See, whereas the subject line of the email serves the one and only purpose of making people open the email (unless you’ve already established a relationship with your reader—at that point, the subject line matters a lot less than the “from” line), the opening line instead serves the one and only purpose of getting people to read the second line, and then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on.

Now, there are many ways to write great opening lines that make people continue reading.

One of which is to be different than every other email in your reader’s inbox, to say something unique, to be entertaining even and make them smile—or at least chuckle internally.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there.

You’ll want to follow up your email with something education, informative, inspirational, or anything that gives your reader the feeling of being worth their time—simple entertainment won’t have people coming back for more every single day after all.

The simplest way to do so is by tying the topic of the opening line to a useful lesson or insightful anecdote.

After that it’s simply a matter of connecting everything together and packaging it up into an enticing and simple-to-follow call to action.

So if you enjoyed this mini-masterclass in grabbing attention (and keeping it) when it comes to email writing, then you’ll want to check out my flagship course Email Valhalla which will teach you all about how to write emails that get you paid while keeping your readers reading day after day.

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


The smell of cold piss on molten lava

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I just returned from a three-day trip with a small group of friends of mine.

It was a lot of fun, a nice change of pace (I didn’t do anything work-related at all—not even checking my emails or how my promo was going), quite adventurous at some points, and especially tiring when we stayed up until 6 in the morning playing board games (that’s not your usual “stay up way too late” culprit, now is it?).

Funnily enough, one of the main things I learned during and still remember from that trip was a funny little word used to describe “the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil” (courtesy of Wikipedia).

Or, as smart people would call it, petrichor.

So, as you may (or may not) know, I just had to start digging for other such scents.

I then quickly learned about bibliosmia, coined by Oliver Tearle, an English lecturer and author, in 2014 and which refers to “The pleasant smell and aroma of a new (or any) book, caused by the gradual chemical breakdown of the compounds used within the paper”.

The hunt was on. I had so many questions.

How many other scents, smells, or even tastes and sounds have been given unique names of which I’m not aware?

When does a scent become unique or special enough to be deserving of a name?

What’s it called when cold piss falls on molten lava?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t answer all of them.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that I got curious. I let my inner child come out and went looking for what some people might consider stupid answers to even dumber questions.

This is the key to creativity. Which in turn is the key to happiness. And that happiness can easily affect a large number of people who just so happen to be connected to me some way or another thanks to the vast network of modern globalization—further aided by my deliberate intentions to share this curiosity, my findings, and my joy with the world; which in turn might inspire a select few people to do the same and continue expanding the range of global network and reach an uncountable amount of people all over the world.

Many people might say entertainment lies at the root of civilization.

And they’re definitely not wrong.

But there’s a real argument to be made that curiosity lies at the root of entertainment, and thus civilization by extension.

Whether this newfound knowledge about the names of certain scents is of any use to you remains to be seen.

What I do know, however, is that just by sharing my findings and curiosity with you, there’s a good chance you’ll go out there into the world with a newfound appreciation for something which in turn will aid your creative endeavours, giving you a boost which might help you become successful at whatever it is you want to do, and ultimately make the world a better place.

And if you’re curious about something else that might help you become successful, then I’d highly suggest you check out my flagship course Email Valhalla, which teaches you all about writing emails that get you sales while keeping your readers engaged and entertained so they’ll keep reading your emails for a long time.

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


How to legally and ethically manipulate people who ignore your emails into reading everything you write

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Yesterday’s email about the 5 best ways to pick up a chair (yes I really wrote that) generated a lot of responses.

One of which was from a long-time reader (not sure if he wants me to share his name) who’s been with me for well over a year now, I still find it crazy how I can say stuff like this, who wrote:

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It’s funny, since you built up trust with value before, I “fell for” the phenomenon you highlighted in the email.

If you hadn’t provided value before, I wouldn’t have been curious when I saw your email subject.

In fact there was a time when I ignored your emails and subjects altogether because I “don’t have time”.

I opened one that had a subject based on something I was curious about or was important to me, and that started the trust building.

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For all of you guru-loving fanboys, know “value” can mean a lot of things here.

It’s not purely informative or educational content. It’s sharing insight, getting emotions across, showing you care about your audience, making someone’s day a slightly bit better, proving you're consistent and able to show up every day, and motivating the people you care about (read: your customers) to join your consistency and do better each and every day.

But as with anything.

Not everything you create, write, post, publish, or put out will resonate with everyone (in fact, it shouldn’t). Even your own list of readers, young and new, is divided into many subgroups and subsegments each caring about a collection of different interests—many of those interests will (probably should if you’re doing it right) overall, yet not all of them.

That’s where daily emails come in.

You keep hitting people with a new email every day, a new subject line to catch their attention, a new angle to show them, new insight to share, new opportunities to bond about, and an extra bit of trust you’ve built with that reader.

You build trust every day.

But email daily and you’ll do it more than often enough to get to the point where people open your emails regardless of whether you’re talking about making 343.5T3 bazillion rupees or the 5 best ways to pick up a chair.

And on that note.

To learn more about mastering the art of sending daily emails, be sure to check out Email Valhalla right here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


The 5 best ways to pick up a chair

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Here we go:

#1: Grab both the back posts with each hand and lift it that way.

#2: Pick up the chair at the top rail with your non-dominant hand while using your other dominant hand to support (and lift up) the chair from underneath the seat.

#3: Turn the chair upside down and hold it by any 2 legs (attention: holding it up by the two diagonal legs, although perfectly possible, might feel a bit awkward)

#4: Sit on the chair and ask someone else (you might need 2 people to do this depending on how much you weigh) to pick up the chair while you get to relax (don’t lose your balance though).

#5: Just leave the chair where it is. No need for you to pick it up. That’s somebody else’s problem now.

Now, I don’t know how useful this information might have been for you.

But there’s just something about reading “X ways to do Y” that makes it so you just need to check out the email/article/video/whatever it is and see what’s inside.

That said.

More useful information (we’re talking 100’s of ways to do many things, mostly revolving around writing emails, growing your list, and getting paid) can be found here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How Dune teaches the perfect business-building formula

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I saw Dune: Part Two a few days ago in the theater.

I won’t spoil anything, so no worries

But I can tell you this: it was an amazing experience. Excellent storytelling, wonderful world building, and an incredible score that perfectly blends in with every other aspect of the world of Dune.

Long-time readers know about my love for everything Hans Zimmer so I won’t go into yet another deep dive of the score.

Instead, I want to talk about world building.

More precisely, how everything just fits together—including the shots, the filming style, the dialogue, the music, the VFX, the sound design, and everything else that has to be taken care of when adapting a book into a movie.

Now don’t get me wrong.

Frank Herbert put a lot of time and effort into creating a huge, complex, vibrant and interesting world. But adaptation is a whole different beast of its own (case in point, the many, many previous Dune adaptations that all failed miserably).

But no.

Everything just felt right this time around. As if this could have perfectly well been a new and original work.

There’s enough detail into every scene to make the world feel alive and real.

The exposition is done in a natural way, which does not overwhelm the viewer while perfectly bringing everyone up to pace to understand just enough to follow the story, yet leaving out a lot of information to make the viewer wonder about what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

Who’s who? What do some of these things mean? Even though you don’t understand everything and everyone (unless you’ve read the books), you can still feel when something’s off, when people have ulterior motives, when there’s more going on behind the scenes (which there always is).

It’s the combination of just enough explanation combined with a giant, complex, and living world that creates the feeling of curiosity and intrigue.

And that formula of creating the curiosity to learn more, to stick around, to want to find out what’s happing, and to become obsessed with the world you’re getting sucked into, well, that formula isn’t restricted to film or story alone.

You can apply that same formula to your business and create a world of your own.

A world that captures people’s attention, brings them in with just the right amount of exposition, and keeps them there by leveraging the power of your well-blended collection of characters (offers), worlds (media), music (personality), and entertaining teachings (storytelling).

(Read that paragraph over and over until it sinks in)

And while it’s not something you’ll create overnight. You can start building your world today.

How?

By learning how to write emails and creating the perfect environment to introduce everyone to your world—all the while building your email empire.

Check out Email Valhalla today if you’d like to learn how.

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