John Bejakovic

Terminal Lucidity: Last call for Secret List-Building Technique

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I read an article recently that said, 60 to 70 per cent of dementia caregivers say they’ve witnessed at least one patient return to lucidity in the days before death.

The term for that strange phenomenon is “terminal lucidity.”

Nobody knows how to explain this phenomenon… but one thing is clear, a deadline clears the mind.

And now, with that somber bit of infotainment out of the way, let me remind you of Maliha Mannan’s Secret List-Building Workshop. The deadline to sign up for that workshop is tonight at midnight EST. And this is the last email I will send before the deadline.

Somber, I know.

But there’s still time to act. Hopefully, your mind is clear. To sign up now, or to read the full details and sign up after you’ve read them:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

Particular case study of profitable list growth

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“A large acquaintance with particulars often makes us wiser than the possession of abstract formulas.”

— Wiliam James

For the past several days, I have been promoting, hyping up, and teasing Maliha Mannan’s Secret List-Building Technique Workshop. Today is the last day I’ll do that.

The Secret List-Building Technique is one that Maliha has used, most recently, to get 140 new subscribers to her list, while making $1600 in sales as well.

During the workshop, happening tomorrow, Maliha is gonna lay out how she does it and how you can do it too.

Good, I thought… but would be gooder with more concrete examples, more “particulars,” as William James says.

Fortunately, copywriter Robin Timmers put Maliha’s technique into practice earlier this week for his own list.

The results for Robin were 316 new subscribers and $2,631 in sales.

I had a bright, or perhaps obvious, idea yesterday.

Maliha is gonna share her Secret List-Building Technique and her templates and her SOP in the workshop tomorrow.

It would also be nice to get the full details of how Robin implemented Maliha’s system.

Chances are, he did something slightly different.

And even if what he did is exactly what Maliha ends up laying out on tomorrow’s workshop… a second case study, a second particular, can give you a better understanding of how Maliha’s system works, plus the belief that it can work for you too. This can all translate into you actually putting Maliha’s Secret List-Building Technique into action, and getting yourself hundreds of new buyers and possibly thousands of dollars of unexpected income in the next few weeks.

I wrote Robin yesterday and asked if he would agree to have me interview him on the full details of how he grew his list and made himself money using Maliha’s Secret List-Building Technique.

Robin agreed.

We will do that interview Tuesday, and I will then share it as a free bonus with anyone who signs up for Maliha’s workshop. That training is happening tomorrow, and the deadline to sign up for it is midnight Eastern Time tonight. Tonight. TONIGHT. If you want to get in before the doors close:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

The trouble with newsletter ads

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Last year, Bejako send email with subject line:

“Do you (or would you) sell ads in your newsletter?”

Bejako get response from very high level marketer who read Bejako emails, who have many big business, have much influence, and make much money.

(I’ve even promoted something of this guy’s before in my newsletter, completely unbidden and with no possibility of making money from it, just because it was a great offer I wanted you to know about. Also, I’ll stop talking in my caveman third-person voice now.)

The very high-level marketer replied to my email and said he has “3 newsletters, 2 with about 40k subs and one with about 2k paid subs.” He then explained to me the trouble with newsletter ads:

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I know lots of folks with newsletters from [specific programs and offers and events he runs].

The biggest objection (to answer your question in your most recent mailing) that they, and in the past I, have had about ads is that we use the newsletters to sell our own products and services which yield significantly more than any ad sales, or rather than selling ads, we do affiliate deals which generally pay 50% of sales generated.

I think if you could solve that challenge for making ad space available within your list in a way that protects your brand and delivers on par with the opportunity cost of mailing a fixed-fee paid ad vs. send a self-promo or affiliate promotion, that might help you get more replies.

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I haven’t solved the challenge this high-level marketer brings up, but I know somebody who may have.

Specifically, I’m thinking of Maliha Mannan, and her system which she is creatively calling Secret List-Building Technique.

Maliha’s secret list building technique is NOT buying newsletter ads.

Yes, it produces results on par with a successful newsletter ad.

Unlike newsletter ads, Maliha’s secret technique is easier for a list owner with a sizeable and money-making list to say yes to. That’s because Maliha’s secret technique protects the brand of the person whose subscribers you would love to make your subscribers… and it pays “on par with sending a self-promo or affiliate promotion.”

Maliha is going to be sharing her Secret List-Building Technique, including templates, swipes, and an SOP, on a live workshop on Monday. To sign up:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

P.S. I’ve previously recommended newsletter ads as a way of growing your list. I stand by that.

At the same time, newsletter ads have their problems, including the one listed above, namely, that the best newsletters (having both size and quality) won’t want to run your ad.

That’s why, at least in this moment in the course of human affairs, I believe Maliha’s system is superior to newsletter ads. If you wanna find out more about it, the link is above.

How I’d sell unsellable affiliate offers

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I’ll pay off the subject line in a second, but first let me give you an example of what I mean by an “unsellable affiliate offer”:

A couple weeks ago, I asked my list for intros to people who have good offers I haven’t heard of, which I could promote as an affiliate.

I offered, along with my lifelong gratitude and knight-like service, to pay out 10% of what I make on my first affiliate promo as a finder’s fee.

I got a response to that from a copywriter I’ve known for a long while. One of his clients is currently selling a mid-ticket membership ($500/quarter), helping people improve their close rates on sales calls. The copywriter wrote me:

“I assume some people on your list are coaches and consultants who take their own sales calls, or freelancers who take their own sales calls. If you’re in that group and you can improve your close rate by even 5%, it can add 20K-60K/year to your income.”

Yes but—

From what I’ve seen, people on my list really don’t want to learn to sell in person. If anything, they want the opposite — how to make selling superfluous, as hopeless as that is.

For another thing, I’ve found it super difficult to promote other people’s subscription offers. I think there’s a transfer of trust there that’s almost impossible to make, at least for me.

I told this to the copywriter. He came back and said:

“Makes sense, thanks for the explanation. If you were in my shoes, trying to figure out how to use affiliate marketing to grow [client’s offer], what would you do?”

At the time, my best suggestion was to make a completely different front-end offer — a $300 or $500 course that has some sexy mechanism that makes me believe I can get good at selling (or get equivalent results) in spite of my own limiting beliefs on the topic.

That’s something I could possibly, maybe, squint-so-hard-tears-come-out imagine promoting as an affiliate.

Another option would be to create a complete book funnel, get that working (meaning, testing and figuring out the right book title, sales page copy, bumps, upsells, etc.), collect proof that it all works, and then approach affiliates with that.

I now have a third suggestion, which I would sooner make than either of the two above, because it’s easier to do and more likely to succeed.

And that is to do what Maliha Mannan is going to be teaching this Monday, just two short days from now, inside her Secret List-Building Technique workshop.

Specifically, I’d make list owners the offer that Maliha will be teaching inside of this workshop.

I know that, if somebody made me this offer, even somebody who is looking to promote something like a paid community about person-to-person sales, I would most likely agree to it, for three reasons:

1. Because it would make me look good to my audience

2. Because I wouldn’t have to do any extra work

3. Because I would have a real chance of getting paid

Like I said, Maliha’s workshop is nigh. There if still some time to sign up for it. For more details:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

How I decide which affiliate offers to promote

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A few weeks ago, a list owner I know here in Barcelona asked me how closely I vet the affiliate offers I promote?

My answer was that I vet them closely enough that I can believe in them myself.

For one thing, I don’t want to promote schlock to my list because I want to do right by you, and I want you to trust me and stick with me long-term.

But even short-term, and purely mercenary, if I cannot believe in an affiliate offer, it won’t sell. I won’t be able to promote it with my usual stifled enthusiasm, plus it’s a good bet that the same doubts that are rolling around in my head will roll around in your head too.

I am currently promoting Maliha Mannan’s Secret List-Building Technique workshop as an affiliate.

Earlier this week, before there was any workshop planned or any affiliate opportunity, Maliha posted inside my Daily Email House community about a sexy result that copywriter Robin Timmers had gotten by applying this secret technique.

As of now, Robin has gotten 316 new subscribers and has made $2,630 ( €2,349) in revenue, and that’s before these new readers hit his 10-day welcome sequence with all its offers.

When Maliha posted about this result, I already knew what the secret technique was. I knew it was a new combination of a few well-known and proven things in the direct response world. I thought it was clever, and now this new case study confirmed it for me.

So I replied to Maliha’s post with:

“Really really impressive! Can you do the same for me? I’ll pay you”

And so yesterday, Maliha and I got on a call, and agreed to a deal, where she will put her Secret List-Building Technique into motion for me, and I will pay her to do so.

I don’t know if you want to pay Maliha to do it for you, or if she’s willing to do it for you even if you pay her.

I’m telling you all this to say I believe in Maliha’s Secret List-Building Technique, enough to offer to pay her for it, before I ever thought of promoting it to you.

If you want to find out what Maliha’s secret technique is, and use it to quickly grow your email list, while making yourself money, then Maliha’s workshop happens next Monday.

For more details on it, or to sign up, before time runs out:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

“10/10 list-building technique will use again”

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Yesterday, I started promoting Maliha Mannan’s Secret List-Building Technique workshop, which is happening live, next Monday, and costs a mighty $97.

Maliha is doing that workshop on the back of a strong and recent proof element.

She has been using her Secret List-Building Technique this year, with success, in private.

A few weeks ago, she taught her Secret List-Building Technique to Dutch copywriter Robin Timmers, who applied it himself this week, and who commented yesterday inside my Daily Email House community, “10/10 list-building technique will use again.”

Robin also wrote me in private to update me on how his implementation of the Secret List-Building Technique is going (it’s underway as we speak). Says Robin:

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210 opt-ins as of yet.

Too bad that whole PHP thing ruined today, but we’re gonna extend the promo for another day.

I wouldn’t be suprised if I end up with +300-400 subs and €4K in total sales.

But most importantly: I can use this secret again and again and again and again to grow my list AND get paid.

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Maliha doesn’t have a sales page for her Secret List-Building Technique workshop, just a post she wrote up inside Daily Email House, which she is updating as folks ask questions.

If you’re wondering who this Secret List-Building Technique workshop is for… who it’s not for… what you will need in order to be successful… what will absolutely preclude you from being successful with it… and if you want some hints about what this secret technique is — not “run ads,” or “run cross-promotions,” or “write SEO posts,” or “post on LinkedIn 9 times a week.” — then here are the (now expanded) details:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

Announcing: “Secret List-Building Technique” Workshop

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Earlier today, TMZ broke the story that Maliha Mannan, who runs The Side Blogger and has an email list of close to 10k readers, and Robin Timmers, “the largest copywriter in the Netherlands,” who has much expertise but an email list that is not as big as his expertise warrants, successfully teamed up.

Maliha shared with Robin a secret list-building technique she has been successfully using this year.

This secret technique is not “run ads,” or “run cross-promotions,” or “write SEO posts,” or “post on LinkedIn 9 times a week.”

Whatever Maliha’s secret is, Robin found out what it is, and then implemented it. And the results, as originally unearthed by TMZ and then published inside my Daily Email House community, of which Maliha and Robin are both active members:

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The *system* is still ongoing, but within just two days of this 6-day implementation, Robin is up 139 opt-ins and €2641 in total sales.

By the end (this Thursday), if things keep at the current rate, he expects 300-400 opt-ins and €5-6K in revenue generated (potentially).

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Says Maliha, this secret list-building technique works for everyone, but is particularly good if you’re an expert who is new to list-building, or you do not have a big enough list to collaborate (for swaps and such) with other big shots quite yet.

If you’d like to learn Maliha’s secret or even implement it yourself, she will be running a live workshop about it next Monday.

Maliha will share her secret mechanism itself plus give you templates, swipes, and a checklist — in case you’re like me, impatient and hard-of-focusing.

Maliha is making her Secret-List Building Technique workshop, and all associated assets, available right now for the astronomical price of $97.

I don’t know what results you might get if put this secret technique into action. If your results are anything like Robin got or is likely to get, this will be the best and highest-yielding bet you will make this year.

For more info or to sign up, before this opportunity disappears:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/secret-list-building-technique-live-workshop

How to teach sg if you’re not an expert

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Yesterday, I sent a DM to an expert I know:

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Hey [firstname]

Could we talk about me sending you some money on the regular?

I’m hoping I could license one of your things to teach

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The background is:

I’ve gone through a training this guy has. I learned a valuable, named process he has. I have been using it since myself.

But his named process is not my thing. I didn’t invent it. I can’t claim I contributed enough to make it my own in any way. What’s more, I really don’t have any proof that it’s been effective for me personally.

I could of course just take somebody else’s stuff and teach it as if it were my own.

Plenty of people do this.

But it opens you up to accusations of being a hack, a copycat, a charlatan.

Not only that, but it makes selling hard. If a tree falls in the woods, but you don’t have a testimonial to prove it, did the tree really fall? The same with teaching ideas that you claim are valuable but cannot back up with personal or customer case studies.

That’s why I did what I did.

Much better than being called a charlatan, or not making any sales, in my mind, is to go to the expert who invented sg and offer to license his process/expertise, so I can teach it, with his full endorsement and blessing, while being able to say, “I got this directly from expert ABC, who has gotten results DEF with it.”

You can do the same. There’s nothing stopping you from having an endless amount of valuable stuff to teach, and proof to back it up, even if you’re not an expert on it.

Of course, if you are an expert on some things, the way I am on some things, this is still a great way to pad out what you can teach, and create new offers easily, and get new and valuable results for the people who pay you money.

Btw, the expert I wrote to yesterday suggested we get on a call immediately (offering to send people money regularly will do that). So we got on a call, and we agreed to the details within about 7 minutes. The deal is, I don’t have to pay him anything up front, but just a share of what I will make. So I will be teaching his process, prolly inside a workshop I put on some time soon.

That’s all I got for you right now.

I spent much of my time today planning out how to proceed with the “$1/subscriber” promise that I started teasing yesterday. More on that soon. If you missed yesterday’s missive:

https://bejakovic.com/talk-low-and-talk-slow/

“Talk low and talk slow”

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Lately I’ve been watching a lot of “behind the scenes” documentaries about various movies I have seen and liked.

That’s how I saw an interview a few days ago with actor Michael Caine, who you are most likely to know as Alfred from the Chris Nolan Batman movies, but who really has quite an acting career behind him.

In the interview I saw, Michael Caine was talking about the early days of that career, back in the 1960s, when he first became a star and was getting a lot of publicity.

One day during that time, Caine was sitting in the Beverly Hills Hotel lobby, when who walks by, dressed up in full cowboy gear, coming from a movie shoot, but the biggest movie star of the day, John Wayne.

John Wayne spots Michael Caine. And spurs jangling, leaning to the side, John Wayne comes over.

“Kid,” he says.

“Yes, Mr Wayne?”

“I just got a piece of advice for you. I see you’re doing well. If you wanna last long in this business… talk low and talk slow. It’s stood me in good stead. Goodbye kid.”

Maybe you’re smarter than I am, and can read some sort of useful meaning in John Wayne’s piece of advice. To me it just sounds like one of those cryptic things that people say to sound profound, maybe to others as well as to themselves. It doesn’t hurt that it rhymes.

My point for you today is that you can ask people what the secret to their long-lasting success is. Odds are fair that you will get back some version of “talk low and talk slow.”

Fact is, most people cannot pinpoint what their success comes down to, or won’t share. And even if they can and will, odds are still fair that what’s brought them success won’t work for anyone else, and in particular, won’t work for you.

That’s why I think it’s better to ask people who have managed to help others succeed, and not just had success themselves.

I am telling you that as a blatant pre-pitch for the promotional extravaganza I’m about to embark on.

As I mentioned in a recent email, I have for the past 6 months been advising the owner of a sizable email list, who only used to make about $0.30 per email subscriber month after month, and who wrote me once to say that $1/subscriber per month would be a great result for him.

I started giving him advice. He started applying my advice. After a few months, he started making $1/subscriber, first one month, then two months, and now three months in a row.

How?

Well, that’s what I’m gonna be promoting over the coming days.

As for today, I can tell you the first thing this list owner and I agreed on, and the first change he made to his email marketing. was to start emailing daily.

You’ve probably heard me give that advice before. That’s because it’s foundational. The sooner you start, the sooner results will come.

If you want to start seeing results sooner rather than later, and you want my help starting a daily email habit today:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

$100 contest conclusions

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Earlier this week, I ran a Battle Royale-style contest inside my Daily Email House community:

I asked House members to come up with public justifications for charging less than they could, as opposed to saying, “I’m just very affordable!” The last contestant standing (in a pool of blood and gore) would win a grand prize of $100.

The results of the contest:

112 comments in a little over 24 hours (a number of those comments were mine, but still)…

… a really comprehensive list of “reasons to be cheap,” which I then collected and grouped inside a “Reasons To Be Cheap Playbook” and put in the course area…

… and most important, an increased chance that each of the House members who thought about this topic, and participated in the contest, and contributed their own ideas will remember all this the next time they are pricing their products or services. That means they are likely to do a better job with their next offer… sell more of it… and preserve or improve their standing instead of compromising it.

I recently went through an old training by marketer Travis Sago. As a throwaway, Travis said the following about groups:

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The Facebook group [this training is so old that it was before Skool was invented] is not there for a sense of community. This is the biggest thing I learned this year. The Facebook group is there for your leadership.

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I’m telling you all this in case you yourself run a group, whether on Facebook or on Skool or somewhere else. Consider Travis’s insight above, that your group is about your leadership and not a sense of community. Try this idea on for size, and see if it changes how you interact with your members and run things in your group.

I can tell you I’ve started doing this consciously, and will be doing more of it in the future.

One way is via more contests like the above.

The goal is not just to throw away money in the hope of getting a bunch of comments or group “engagement.”

The goal is to gradually get more House members results — new and different kinds of money-making promos, offers that sell at a price point you couldn’t imagine, list growth strategies that get buyers into your world.

I don’t mind paying $100 here and there to motivate people to participate, take the first steps to getting big results, and inspire others, because — well, I’ve got self-serving reasons up my sleeves. But my self-interest and your self-interest can be aligned, and that’s what I’m working on.

If you’d like to be a member of Daily Email House when the next Battle Royale contest goes down, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/house