Last step of our exciting, polarizing, soon-to-be-wildly-profitable 9-Word Email Challenge! If you have followed along with Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3 so far... ... then this final step will be easy. Super easy. Simply: ====> 4. Send out your 9-word email ... and comment below to say that you've sent it out. That's it! You can send out your email: - To a single person, if that's what you've decided to do... - To a segment of your audience (eg. people who have already expressed interest in an outcome)... - As a broadcast to your entire list. IMPORTANT: Don't fall into the trap of adding in more fluff. "Hey there..." "... I'm curious..." "... so I was walking down the street, thinking what I'm gonna write you, and I've decided to send you a short handraiser email, here goes..." None of that. Just send out the question you devised in step 3, and watch what happens. Subject lines: You can quickly summarize what your question is about in your subject line: "Georgetown house?" (for the canonical, "Are you still looking for a house in Georgetown?" email) ... or you can simply use "question" as a subject line. That always works for me. "But what happens when they reply???" Aha. Then you come back here, comment below with the reply you got, and we work through the next step together. Simply post what reply you got, and I and others in this group can give you some good ideas for how to move the conversation forward. (If you like, you can prepare your first response to their initial reply, and post that along with your confirmation that you've sent out your email. That way, you can have a bit of a buffer and be prepared as soon as somebody replies to you. And they will reply.) Sounds good? Then get to it. I'll be watching you!

.... list. LIST. I sent my own 9-word email yesterday: "Do you have an email list of 5,000+ subscribers?" I got about 20 people, many of whom I had never heard anything from before, replying YES. For some reason I had never simply asked people on my list about their list size before, even though it's very relevant to what I do and the kinds of offers I make. In the past, I've danced around the topic, by asking people how many subscribers they get per week... or which software they use... or by not asking at all and by simply writing emails in the hope that the right people will reach out. My point is: You can ask. You can be direct. You can even be what might seem to you to be intrusive. The worst that happens is that people don't reply or (gasp) unsubscribe. (3 unsubscribes so far to my email yesterday.) The best that happens is you start a conversation that can be worth tens of thousands of dollars to you in the short- to mid-term, or that might open doors you cannot even imagine exist.

We need a thread for gratuitous fun: Stuff that has nothing to do with marketing, business, copy, daily emails... but that is fun for fun's sake. (Even a little bit of fun is better than none.) I'd like to kick things off with the attached (and real, not AI) photo of a beaver, which I put in an email a long time ago, apropos of nothing. If you have jokes, funny pictures, memes, ideas for "disconnected infotainment," put 'em in here. On Fridays... or really on any other days.

This challenge is about getting you out of any of the following grimy and depressing prisons: * Failed promotions and offers that nobody wants * Spending tons of time to write emails, and they still aren't making sales * Having a list, and knowing you should do something with it, but it's such a chore * No opens, no clicks, no replies * An old list that's either gone to sleep or died * No money, and rent is due How we get there is by sending a handraiser email to your list, and starting a conversation. This handraiser email is: * Short (A 9-word email is typical, but +/- 5 words won't kill ya) * Personal (It reads like a 1-1 email, not a marketing, broadcast, newsletter email) * Expecting a reply (The email takes the form of a simple question, rather than a statement or an invitation to click a link) You can find Step 1 of the 9-Word Email Challenge here. Today, we're on to Step 2!!!! (Thanks to @Lawrence Bernstein for cluing me in to the importance of using 4 exclamation points.) Step 2 is just as easy as Step 1, and maybe more so. Simply ask yourself: ====> 2. Who do I know (or know of) who would be perfect for my offer? SUPER IMPORTANT: Think of a specific person. One person. Somebody who would be a perfect prospect for this offer. (Yes, think of just one person even if you will be blasting this out to your entire list.) Do not waffle and describe an "avatar," or talk about the kind of person who would be right for this. You need to have a name in mind by the end of this step. If there's nobody you know (or know of) like this, then you have a bit of extra work. Go online and find a specific person like this. Depending on what your offer is, you can find perfect prospects on LinkedIn, or inside Skool groups (as either owner or member), or on podcasts, on forums, ... you get the idea. I cannot stress this enough. Find a specific, real, living person, with a name, who would be perfect for your offer. This will be crucial for Step 3 of this challenge.

Let's start to wrap up this exciting challenge up because: - The first step got 18 people participating - The second got 13 people participating We are now on the 3rd step. I figure we can't keep going much longer before we run out of people completely. If you've done the previous two steps, this third step will be easy. It's to look over your answers to Step 1 (your offer) and Step 2 (your one specific person to sell that offer to) and ask yourself: ===> 3. What short question could I ask my ideal person to just open a conversation? A couple easy handraiser questions: 1. If they joined your email list with a lead magnet that ties into your current offer, you can simply ask them if they still want the outcome the lead magnet offers: "Are you still looking for a house in Georgetown?" (assuming they signed up for Georgetown house listings or a Georgetown-area house pricing info) 2. If you wrote up an identifying fact about your idea person in your Step 2, description, you can simply call them out with something specific about them. Take Nick Bandy's recent email as an example, connected to his Step 2 description: "Do you run an agency with at least one employee or contractor?" There are many many other ways to craft your 9-word email. But rather than trying to spell them all out, I'll encourage you to just write up your best short question you can ask your ideal prospect to open a conversation... post it below in the comments... and we can workshop it together. Sounds good? Then get to it. I'll be watching you!