Simplicity

This email talks about simple and effective writing

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Everyone talks about simple, clear, and effective writing.

Yet so many people, including those who preach the way of simplicity, hardly ever write ‘simply’.

Why is that?

Well, for one, I’m guessing, many people have this image of ‘A writer’ as someone capable of writing this elaborate, literary, almost heaven-like, prose that shall be remembered for decades, if not centuries.

Just look at one of the most prominent figures in English literature, even to those who don’t know anything about literature at all, Shakespeare. Nobody ever said, “Oh I just love how simple, clear, and effective Shakespeare’s writing is!”

It’s almost always the beautiful poetry-like prose that gets quoted, remembered, and revered in everyday circles.

Or at least, that’s what most people think…

After all, we still highly revere and remember the writing of Ernest Hemingway who wrote simple prose, almost too simple on some occasions. Just look at this little gem:

“He came to the river. The river was there.”

Now, isn’t that just wonderful?

I don’t know about you, but I love that type of writing. People often overcomplicate literature and its prose. See, most people couldn’t care less about the literary merits, the outstanding poetic prose, or even the grammatical correctness of a novel. Instead all they care about is being told an entertaining story, something that will fascinate them for hours in a way that almost makes them forget they’re reading a story, all while they’re passing time on their way to work, on a flight, in the waiting room at the dentist, or even when just for winding down at the end of the day while getting ready to go to sleep.

Good writing, fiction or non-fiction alike, engages people.

That’s all it has to do.

And more often than not, simple and effective writing is the way to go about it.

Speaking of using simple writing to engage and entertain people. Check out Email Valhalla to learn all about it. Chances are, you’ll get paid for it as well.

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


There are only two parts to a sale

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Those are: opening the sale and closing it.

There’s nothing more to it. It really is that simple. And yet most people stay stuck on the closing part, while completely disregarding the opening.

There are, as with anything, many ways to open a sale, or more specifically in our case, an email. Anyone who claims there’s only one way to do something is full of shyte and undoubtedly trying to sell you something (often something subpar, if not straight trash).

But that doesn’t mean some ways aren’t better than others.

You could learn a few evergreen ways of opening an email (which I do teach in Email Valhalla) and solely rely on those. But that does keep your options limited and runs the danger of boring you out when writing emails (and if you don’t enjoy writing them, your readers won’t enjoy reading them).

So where does that leave you?

Well, in my case, there’s a simple litmus test I use every single time I write an email to determine whether an email opener is worth using.

Now, remember, I’m a simple man.

I like to do business in a simple way. I despise everything complex—complexity is often a smokescreen for incapableness—and never want anything to do with it. So beware that when I tell you my litmus test you’ll almost undoubtedly reply by saying that it’s super obvious, that everyone knows this, and that this couldn’t possibly be helpful or worth teaching people.

But to that I’ll have to ask you to remind yourself that knowing and doing are 2 very different things.

Many people will know this, yes. Almost nobody will think this is something new or revolutionary, really, it’s the most old and obvious thing there is. But then again, almost nobody actively reminds themselves of this litmus test, this simple question, when writing emails.

And it shows, because so many people fail at writing actual good, engaging, valuable emails that can sell.

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn my simple litmus test (and how to actually implement it instead of merely “knowing” it), get your hands on the 7 evergreen ways to open an email or anything else related to building an absolute beast of an email (business) empire.

Then check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


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/


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):

===

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.

===

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/


Short Email Saturday

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

Today is such a day.

So for your tip of the day: often times, less is more.

For the CTA (call-to-action) of the day: Reply to this email telling me your latest business-related purchase. I’m curious to hear what you’re up to and what peaks your interest.

Just hit reply.


Me write words

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Humans say “People dumb. Write simple.”

Me not agree.

Yes, difficult bad. But people dumb no.

Still write simple? They notice. People insulted. Not good relationship. People go. You zero sales. Business bad.

Better:

Write entertaining. Respect people. Do special. Yes write short. But use occasional difficult word.

Diversify.

That how humans like you.

Good relationship. Good business. Good sales. They happy. You happy. Everyone happy.

Yes.

For learn more good tips.

Go: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Complexity is overrated

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Complexity seems to be “in” right now, unfortunately.

And it makes no sense at all.

Everywhere you look, you’ll see some new social media influencer praising his new 50-step funnel, his 30 different opt-in pages, with 15 different lead magnets, for which he’s using 100 different ads, each meticulously being tracked to determine the optimal copy, creative, targeting settings, and every other option you could ever imagine.

The irony is that the same influencer, in reality, has no idea what they’re doing, is putting in hundreds of hours to get this all to work, and might only be getting a 5% increase in total revenue for his effort (if he’s even getting an increase in revenue at all).

See, both in live and in business, it’s always the simple solutions that perform best.

I’m obviously biased when I say this.

But I’ve never seen it not be the case, where a simple solution not only allows someone to 1) free up more time to work on more important things or not have to work at all, and instead spend their time doing the things they love most in life 2) understand how everything functions a lot better and a lot clearer, making it not only much easier to make their solutions perform better but almost guaranteeing the success of the effort they put in and 3) if they happen to work with clients, they’ll undoubtedly get better results because of how easy and simple it is to both explain their frameworks and implement the framework in the client’s business.

While complexity looks cooler and might attract newbies and shiny object addicts…It’s the simple solutions that attract the best customers, get the most optimal results, and make for a more enjoyable experience.

See, I have three main business pillars: simplicity, freedom, and enjoyment. If something doesn’t align with one of those pillars, I don’t do it.

And that should tell you a lot about my business models.

Anyway.

If you’d like to see for yourself how to thrive with a simple email business, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


To work or not to work

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I’ve been taking it slow the past few days.

In fact, I’ve barely been doing anything at all.

This reminded me of an interview with Mr. Beast I once saw where he was explaining his “work schedule”.

I use the word ‘schedule’ conservatively here.

But what he said is that he’d work all the time, every single day, until you just can’t do it anymore. He works until he burns out and only then does he take a day or two off to reset and start working again… until he can’t anymore and the cycle repeats.

Admittedly, he didn’t recommend anyone to try it for themselves, but I found it a logical and efficient approach.

Now, I’m far from a Mr. Beast.

I don’t work nearly the hours he works, but I can and will work a lot depending on the situation.

And on that note, taking a day or two off once in a while isn’t a bad thing.

(I can already hear the hustle bros and productivity community screaming at me)

But let this be a reminder.

Not every system has to be complex, not every system has to be perfect, and certainly not every system is a one-size-fits-all.

Even my systems and solutions aren’t.

They’re simply created and optimized for my life, my business, and my philosophy.

But then again.

If you like the way I do things and want to build a similar business. Then I’d highly recommend you to check out Product Creation Made Easy where I dive deeper into my whole product creation framework—which (next to how I do email) is the backbone of my entire business.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/product