Yesterday I sent out an email to my list, asking folks if they've tried getting clients via cold outreach. I got two classes of responses. Class 1: 1A. "Yes, I hate it. I hired an agency multiple times and every time I hated it." 1B. "So far, 17 days in, 70 prospects approached, 0 clients, countless menty b’s." 1C. "No, and wouldn’t ;)" Then there's class 2: 2A. "That is my primary method for getting clients." 2B. "Yes, John. Works very well for me. No fancy cold email stack. Just a 3-liner email with a very relevant problem that they'd wanna get rid of. Brings me every month $12K to $18K!" 2C. "I'm using cold outreach to get clients, and I'm doing very well with it. Personally, one of the best methods, especially if we are talking about cold email outreach." Quite the difference between Class 1 and Class 2. I'm curious, what has your experience with cold outreach been? Comment below. If we get enough comments, I'll share what my experiences with cold outreach have been. I'll tell you now, I've been in both classes above. If there's enough interest, I'll share what I think makes the difference. If there's not enough interest, as manifested by only a few people who reply to this, I'll just stuff this whole discussion back in the sock drawer.

I'm sure by now we subscribe to a bazillion things... But if I asked you to share ONLY 5... which 5 would you choose to share and why? I'll go first: - Kit (biz kinda depends on it) - Webtoons 🫣 (life requires entertainment) - The New Yorker (cuz I'm vain AF) - John's Daily Email Habit (cuz I like John) - Andertoons (cuz I like Andertoons) Share yours?

I had an email writing training today for emails that influence, and man... going through the archive, I realized I've written some pretty decent emails! Like... I should be doing something with these emails. It's such a waste to just... have these collecting proverbial dust in the archives, you know? But do what exactly??? What do you guys do with your emails???

I'm trying to figure out all the different ways I can grow my list with subscribers, buyers, or potential buyers. One of the techniques is what I shared a few weeks ago... where I promoted a freebie-to-affiliate offer and got a bunch of subscribers, many of whom then turned into buyers. But what else? Let's do the battleship thingy John does from time to time. I have 10 ways to grow your email list; #10 is what I already shared above. There are 9 more methods in the list (that I can think of)... some better than others in terms of subscriber quality... but yeah... tell me how you'd grow your list. 1. List swaps/cross-promotions [ @Chris Dyson ] 2. Newsletter ads 3. Affiliates [ @John Bejakovic ] 4. Social media content (organic) 5. Social media ads [ @John Bejakovic ] 6. Blogs (SEO) [ @John Bejakovic ] 7. Groups and communities [ @Svetoslav Dimitrov ] 8. Pay-per-lead acquisition (in a high-quality newsletter) 9. Licensing [ @Chris Dyson ] 10. Freebie-to-affiliate offers 11. Bonus: Buyer swaps via bundle sales [ @Honey Syed ] 12. Bonus: Just buy someone else's list for $$$$$$$$$$$ [ @John Bejakovic ] 13. Bonus: Begging your friends and family or using MLM-style some 3-foot rule or something [ @John Bejakovic ] 14. Auto recommendations from Substack/Kit/Beehiiv etc. [ @Karla Fernandes ] Go!

Today, I had a faulty-ish link in my email. And boy oh boy... the number of replies I got from people who just wanted to let me know that I made a mistake was... heartwarming! Some people didn't just email me once... they emailed me 2, 3, 4 times... Imagine all the green signals that sent to ESPs!!! Safe to say, my deliverability for the next few months is solid. Which got me thinking... kinda like John's marketing battleship from yesterday... how can we get more people to reply to our emails? I can think of only 4 ways... so maybe you guys can help me think of a few more. I already gave you the first one: Make a mistake. What are some others? Maybe think about it a bit... because the more replies you get, the more your deliverability improves.... and also, more opportunities to start a 1:1 convo. #1 → Make a mistake in your email #2 → Dean Jackson style 9-word conversation starter emails [ @Honey Syed ] #3 → Bribing [ @John Bejakovic ] #4 → Gamification [ @David Harrison ] #5 → Pattern interrupt with something funny or weird so replying feels natural [ @Honey Syed ] #6 → Be black and white to either piss people off and rage email you, or get them furiously nodding along and lovebomb you [ @John Bejakovic ] #7 → Personal reveals/opinion (not necessarily related to your niche) [ @John Bejakovic ] So... thoughts?