UPDATE: This riddle has been solved. You can find the answer in the comments below. But for your own benefit, I advise you to read the riddle and mull it over yourself. It will be worthwhile, because the real answer will stick in your mind better, and might actually be at your fingertips when you need it. ORIGINAL POST: Let's play a riddle. This riddle is based on a true case study, but the names, nationalities, and animal species have been changed to protect the interestingness of the riddle. Here goes: Wang Wei is Chinese. China is the world's largest producer of pork. In the interests of capitalizing on some of their massive pork production, the Chinese Communist Party has tasked Wang Wei with increasing the export of Chinese pork. Wang Wei goes and researches the topic. He decides to zoom in his efforts on France. He finds three interesting things: FIRST, the French already consume large quantities of pork, particularly in the forms of various hams and charcuterie. SECOND, the French consume something known as "steak tartare," which is basically raw cow meat minced up and seasoned. THIRD, the price the French are willing to pay for cow meat they will consume raw in the form of "steak tartare" is FIVE TIMES as high as the price they will pay for cow meat that is to be cooked or roasted. Wang Wei sees an opportunity: ====>>> "Pork tartare" <<<==== ... basically, raw pork, minced up and seasoned, and served up to the French at a price five times higher than that of equivalent hams, pork chops, or salami. PROBLEM: The French, though they are fine with eating raw cow meat, and though they will eat their fill of pork cooked, smoked, or otherwise thermally processed, think that eating raw pork is 1) disgusting and 2) unsanitary because it can cause salmonella. Wang Wei happens to have proof that the Chinese pork, unlike pork from other countries, is perfectly safe to eat raw and will never cause salmonella. He also has tried "pork tartare" himself, as prepared by some of China's top pork chefs, and he has found it to be delicious.

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!

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!

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.

Glad to be here! And here is my intro: I help frazzled home cooks unlock their kitchen confidence so that they can cook what they want with what they have without stress or overthinking. In my offline life I run a tiny whole foods shop in a tiny rural town in North Wales. I grew up in Greece, but somewhat unexpectedly ended up in rural Wales via Berlin and London.