I am an opportunity seeker, in the most miserable sense of the term. I got started in high school, by responding to classified ads in the back of the local newspaper. I then followed the bizopp advice of online gurus... I bought courses... I invested in software because I thought it was the future. I keep looking for hot new things, secrets, and shortcuts. I've spent tens of thousands or possible hundreds of thousands of dollar chasing various business opportunities. It almost never works out. Sometimes it does. In fact, on a few occasions it's worked out so well (getting into copywriting, starting my own email list, creating info products) that it's allowed me to survive and even thrive. It's the reason I'm able to be here right now, writing you. Thanks to the many decades of my opportunity seeking, I've come up with 3 questions that help me evaluate new business opportunities these days. I am willing to tell you what these 3 questions are. I am wanting to tell you. I am WAITING to tell you. Except, I know from previous experience that if I just tell you, nothing much will come of it. So I'd like to invite you to think for a moment. What are some questions you might ask yourself to evaluate a business opportunity? Write them below. There are no wrong answers. If your question matches any of my questions, I'll let you know. And one way or another, if there is engagement enough and different questions enough, I'll gradually share my own business opportunity evaluation questions as well, even if nobody comes up with the exact same ones. But if folks aren't very interested in this... I am fine putting these back into the Bejako Trunk of Valuable Ideas to Keep for Myself. [Update: This riddle has been answered. You can find the answers below among the comments. But before you get to those, it makes sense, for your own benefit, to think about how you would answer this riddle. It's much more likely to stick in your mind in that way and to be useful to you in the future.]

This year, I got a couple DFY clients via my email list: One was a weekly-newsletter-writing gig. I just sent an email out to my list with the invitation. One qualified person replied, we talked, and agreed to work together. Another was an advertorial-writing client. I sent out an email saying I would write advertorials on commission only. A copywriter who's on my list offered to put me in touch with a business owner he knows, and that business owner turned into a client. But two random success stories is hardly a system. The fact is, I've gotten a handful of DFY clients via my list over the years... but I really wouldn't say I have a repeatable and ready way to do it. But maybe you do? Or you don't but wish you did? Or none of the above??? Let me know, I'll appreciate it:

In another thread, @Vasileios Apostolou asks: "Btw, can you create an 'email your way to a luxury handbag for your wife' offer or something?" Why yes I can. I wonder if you would be interested in such an offer? Important fact: I know nothing about luxury handbags. But I asked ChatGPT how much a typical luxury handbag sells for: Louis Vuitton: $1,800 and up Gucci: $2k and up Prada: $2k and up The "and up" goes pretty high. But as for a reasonable middle, if such a thing exists for luxury handbags, ChatGPT told me $2.5k. Let's round it up to $3k. If you have an email list and previous offers you've made to your list, then a luxury handbag around the $3k mark, for yourself or your wife, is def possible. YOU might not think it's possible. (Well, not with that attitude!) So I am offering to do it all for you. (My attitude is pretty positive.) If you have an email list and previous offers you've made to your list, I will do the following: * Come up with a new offer from your existing assets * Position your new offer and price it appropriately, either at a luxury level or at least at a level that is likely to make you the most money, while sidestepping the hesitation you might normally feel about charging what you're worth and what your audience would pay * Run a limited-time promo and sell this offer to your list * Come up with all the copy, including emails and offer page copy (if this offer ends up being priced at $1k+, I will also sell it for you over email, with 1-1 back and forth communication with prospects, rather than sending people to a generic order page) * We split any resulting money 50-50, with the goal that we each make at least a luxury bag's worth of cash or more ($3k+ for each of us) * After the promo, you get to keep all the assets — offer, emails, copy — free and clear. Rerun this promo every year (this year's luxury bag will be next year's pauper's bag)... or put the offer into your welcome sequence... or turn it into a lead magnet or a front-end offer you sell to cold traffic or affiliates. You don't owe me a cent after the first promo is over, however much money you make from this in the future.

I know some folks use Berserker Email, which prevents you from uploading images in emails. But in general, do you add images to your emails (if you can)? I like sharing one or two from time to time. But it's mostly text that I send. Also, do you use any templates for your email design or it's just plain HTML text?

I'm curious, what experiences have you had selling recurring offers to your list?