Fundamentals

Focus on the fundamentals

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Just yesterday I started all over with a new project I’m working on.

Everything I did so far, for the last month or so, all of it for nothing. Starting again, from scratch, nothing to latch on to. Nothing to re-use, recycle, or repurpose.

Nothing…

Except for one thing….

The experience I’ve built up from the previous project and the knowledge I’ve gained about the process. This experience allowed (and will allow me) to get to the same place I was previously, which took me over a month to get to, in less than a week.

That’s what happens when you focus on the fundamentals.

When you prioritize learning the process, understanding the why instead of the what.

That’s why step-by-step framework and solutions are a trap most of the time. Sure, the process might get you great results, but they cause many people to lose sight of what’s important—to understand why the process works instead of merely being able to replicate it.

Because there will come a day when you won’t be able to replicate the same result following the same old steps. Something, somewhere will have changed. And you will have to change along with it.

Those who want to survive need to learn (and learn to adapt).

Speaking of learning the fundamentals…

In my course, Email Valhalla, I primarily focus on teaching you the fundamentals of great engaging email writing that keeps people reading day after day. If that’s something you’d like to learn then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


I’m learning to design fancy sales pages

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You may (or may not) have seen a couple of my sales pages already.

They all pretty much have the same 'look’ and feel to it, albeit personalized to the respective product it’s selling. It’s the same template, the same framework, the same structure.

It’s also pretty old-school. Those sales pages won’t be winning a design award any time soon, that’s for sure.

That said.

Things might very well change in the near future. See, I’ve started building a new “modern” salespage for a hobby product, aimed at a mass market audience. But not just any market. A visual and artsy marketing.

Meaning, a creative and visually pleasing design of my sales page can (it’s not guaranteed—nothing is) improve the performance of the sales page.

It’s been a lot of fun so far.

One thing I’ve noticed, for example, was how easy it comes to me. The underlying principles are all the same after all. So it the copy, the structure, and the psychology. All I really have to do is use my design skills to package it up nicely and make it look visually pleasing to the eye.

Luckily for me, I enjoy being creative and designing stuff.

Anyway, enough yapping about.

In case you haven’t picked up on the moral of the story yet. It’s that it pays to understand the fundamentals before you start tinkering about with the fancy stuff.

And when it comes to sales pages, it would be true marketing malpractice if I wasn’t going to mention one of my precious products I’m so very proud of, Sales Page Sorcery, which teaches you all the fundamentals of conjuring up brand new sales pages fast, easily, and effortlessly.

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


The Wolverine teaches business

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I rewatched Logan—the Wolverine movie—a few days ago.

And while this isn’t the first time I realized it, it made me think about how much your current state of mind or current interests and curiosities shape the way you look at everything you see and hear.

Here’s what I mean.

The movie revolves around Wolverine—an otherwise insane mutant whose abilities include having razor-sharp claws he can extend and retract out of his knuckles at will as well as super-human regeneration, aka, everything he gets wounded, it’ll heal almost immediately—making him virtually unkillable.

But that’s not what we see in Logan.

No in the film we learn that the Adamantium—the metal that’s fused with his skeleton and what his claws are made from—inside his body has been poisoning him, making it so he’s slower, weaker, slowly dying, and only barely regenerates.

What does this have to do with anything?

See, this time around while watching, my mind immediately went “oh wow, that’s a great marketing lesson”.

Let me explain.

When building a business, if done right, you can make it so you can steal Wolverine’s power of super-human regeneration, or in business terms, you can survive, recover from, potentially even thrive, from everything that happens to you if you’ve got your foundations right (such as building a great relationship with your customers, backing up your list, and making sure you stay in constant contact through email).

But, and this is a big but.

You can still get sick, your business can still deteriorate and lose its powers…

When the disease finds itself on the inside.

If you’re making mistakes, if you’re messing things up, if you don’t understand your business fundamentals or your vital marketing principles, then your business doesn’t stand a chance.

So there.

A lesson from the man, the myth, the legend, Logan, The Wolverine, himself.

Anyway.

One of the best ways I know, according to my biased, but experienced and more-than-qualified self, is through my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Click this link for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/


My long-awaited return to the boulder gym

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I’m going bouldering later today for the first time in months.

For the past however long it may have been, I couldn’t go because of an injury that had to recover.

But now, with lot’s of physical therapy behind my back, a lot of specific exercises, and a whole lot of patience, well now I’m finally going to get back at it on the wall for the first time.

Yet it’s still going to be a different session than I’d normally have.

See, I’ve been told to build it up from the bottom again. To go slow and see how it goes. My shoulder injury hasn’t yet healed completely so I can’t just go all out again, that could easily mess up my shoulder once again and send me back another few months.

There’s just one big problem.

Doing the easy stuff and taking it slow, as if I was a beginner (the advice my physical therapist gave me) is boring as hell.

So, logically I had to come up with a new game plan.

Instead of doing the usual bouldering stuff I’d do—only a lot easier—I’ll turn this first session into a technique session where I’ll spend the entirety of my time improving my movement and practicing the fundamentals.

I won’t just be going through the movements on easier climbs.

I’ll purposely turn the “easy” climbs (aka, not difficult on my shoulder) into real challenges of technical skill. The purpose won’t be to finish the climb. The purpose will be to finish the climb as flawlessly and as efficiently as possible.

This is called “forward intent”.

Aka, making something more difficult than it needs to be with the sole purpose of improving your craft.

Forward intent, as well as going back to the basics and practicing your fundamentals, is something you can (and should) do in business as well.

Add constraints to the things you do, really focus on practicing you otherwise wouldn’t, and don’t skip the “boring” parts.

And if you’d like to know a nice way to start improving your craft, especially your email writing ability, then check out my flagship course Email Valhalla, where I hone in on the fundamentals to get your email writing capabilities to the next level.

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