[Psych Psundays] Why don’t you… yes, but

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I thought to introduce a new little series I could do every week, Psych Psundays.

I’m not a psychologist nor do I play one on TV, but I am interested in pop psychology. I read books about it, and I have a kind of live lab via this newsletter and other marketing I do. Plus I have a mind myself. I keep tabs on it. Sometimes I learn stuff that way too.

Let’s see if this new series could be interesting to you or not, and if it is, how long I can keep it going.

The first installation of Psych Psundays starts off with a reader question I got a few days ago:

===

Hey John, how are you? I just wanted to ask if you could recommend a resource for audience building without video based content.

I’m writing daily emails but I can barely grow my newsletter, Twitter is filled with AI and it feels hollow.

The little subscribers I’ve gotten are from communities where I shared a little value with a link in my bio.

What would you recommend?

Thanks a lot and I hope you have a great weekend.

[name]

P.S. You don’t owe me crap of course so feel free to ignore this and go on with your day!

I just thought I’d ask you because I love your daily emails, it’s actually why I started writing daily.

===

I didn’t reply to this guy.

On the one hand, I enjoyed the flattery.

On the other hand, I suspect this was an attempt at playing a game, one that I no longer enjoy.

Right now, I’m reading a book called Games People Play by a guy named Eric Berne. The book was kind of a big thing back in the 1960s. It’s basically about repeated “games” — patterns of communication that people engage in, not for the stated and obvious purpose, but for ulterior motives.

The first “game” discovered by Berne was called “Why don’t you… yes but.” It’s the game I feel my reader above is asking me to play with him. It goes like this:

First, one person brings up a problem, say, they can’t grow their newsletter.

Then other person (or persons) jump in with suggestions:

– Why don’t you get on Twitter? Yes, but Twitter is filled with AI and feels hollow

– I hear YouTube works well, why don’t you try that? Yes, but I don’t want to create video content

– Why don’t you just keep posting in communities if that’s worked for you? Yes, but that takes way too much time

– Why don’t you try running ads? Yes, but I can’t afford ads

– Why don’t you try doing list swaps? Yes, but my list is too small for list swaps

– Why don’t you just invite perfect prospects to your list one by one? Yes, but that would be so slow and anyways who would say yes

The fact is, there are 1,001 ways to grow your newsletter. There are entire (free and high-quality) websites dedicated to cataloguing those ways. I myself have written about the topic dozens of times, including earlier this month.

But none of that really matters.

Because the point of playing “Why don’t you… yes, but” is not to get a workable solution, but to keep going until all the suggestions run dry, and the original person asking for advice can say, “See, I knew they had nothing for me.”

Ok. So now I probably sound like a dick, and a conceited dick at that.

I mean, have I really told you anything new here? Or have I just put a fancy new label on something that everybody already knows and does, while singling out a poor reader who just asked a question?

Fine. Let me tell you something else I read in Games People Play, which might be genuinely new and useful to you. Says Berne:

===

While almost anyone will play this game under proper circumstances because of its time-structuring value, careful study of individuals who particularly favor it reveals several interesting features.

First, they characteristically can and will play either side of the game with equal facility.

This switchability of roles is true of all games. Players may habitually prefer one role to another, but they are capable of trading, and they are willing to play any other role in the same game if for some reason that is indicated.

===

I can tell you that, until not too long ago, I myself was a ready player of “Why don’t you… yes but.”

Like Berne says, I happily played either side. I would both bring up frustrations and dismiss offered solutions… and at other times, I would also offer advice, have that advice dismissed, and then offer more advice.

I played either side happily because it made me feel smart and righteous.

Curious thing:

I noticed recently that I don’t play this game much any more.

These days, if people offer me advice, I nod. If it’s somebody I trust and respect, I do exactly as they say. Otherwise, I just let it go.

And on the other hand, when people come to me with their frustrations, I also nod. And then I say, “That sounds frustrating. What do you think you will do?”

Maybe, maybe, this change is tied to a bigger change in me, to being more proactive, less of a “thinker” who is mainly interested in collecting information, and a little more of a “doer” who at least sometimes tries and sees what will happen for real.

So that’s my mildly inspiring takeaway for you on this Pysch Psunday.

Maybe you are a habitual player of “Why don’t you… yes, but.”

If so, it’s not any kind of lifelong condition. If you like, you can change, starting right now.

And if you are having trouble getting yourself to take action, in spite of knowing what you should do… well, maybe Eric Berne is right about the “switchability of roles.”

I could tell you how to apply Berne’s idea to become more proactive, more of a doer. Except it would kind of defeat the whole point of this email.

HYPE!!!

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Yesterday, I sent an email that I modeled on an old business opportunity ad. The results so far:

61 responses, many from people who are surprisingly qualified and serious about the offer.

My personal suspicion is that I got 2x-3x the response I would have gotten had I simply written yesterday’s email in my usual way, by sitting down and improvising and “doing my best.”

Dan Kennedy, in his Opportunity Concepts seminar, which I promoted a couple weeks ago, says that the 1st step of changing the positioning and presentation of your offer to counter the incredible amount of resistance in your prospect’s mind is simply to add HYPE!!!

Hype gets a bad rap.

Hypey ads are often held up as tasteless, manipulative, and outdated, in contrast to honest, authentic, and helpful marketing that many modern gurus try to peddle.

To that I just shrug and say, YOU DON’T GET IT.

Hype is at its core is not about putting in a ton of exclamation points or astonishing/mouthwatering/jaw-dropping adjectives.

Instead, hype at its core is simply copy that focuses as little as possible on you and your product, which ultimately nobody wants… and instead focuses as much as possible on your prospect and his sorry situation today… and beyond that, on the shiny, happy, rich outcome your prospect would gladly be living tomorrow.

Who knows.

Maybe one day I will put on a workshop called HYPE!!! Maybe it will be all about converting your existing honest, authentic, and ineffective copy to be more opportunity-minded, more prospect-oriented, and more response-getting, the way I did with my email yesterday.

Meanwhile, if you’re curious to see the old-timey ad I modeled in my email yesterday (the ad ran almost 100 years ago, and ran for years), you can check it out here:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/theres-a-reason-why-old-ads-work

How an ex-copywriter makes $12k/month in a new kind of part-time job

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Makes more in a day than he used to in a week. Started in his spare time — without special qualifications or connections. Works just 15 hours a week. Profit from his experience — begin now — make big money — learn how from this Free Email.

I’ll be honest with you:

I just spent an hour+ reading old “business opportunity” and “new career” ads in Google Books scans of 20th-century magazines.

Reason is I have a legit new career opportunity to clue you in to, and I wanted to get inspiration for how to best tell you about it.

You marketers working your head off for poor pay — You freelancers worried about making ends meet — You copywriters who want to break away from an uncertain job — You ambitious service providers longing to get into a big-paying, uncrowded profession — Listen!

Yep, listen.

I can put you in touch with an ex-copywriter who switched to a new kind of part-time job.

It’s paying him more than he ever made before while working less than he used to.

It allows him to work at home, in his bathrobe, or to take his family for round-the world trips and check in to his job on his laptop.

It’s fascinating work, which he can feel good about.

He’s gained respect and authority.

He gets plenty of leisure time to do with what he wants.

Let This Free Email Tell You How

No up-and-doing man or woman who wants to do more, be more, and have more, can afford to close down this email without hitting reply.

It costs you nothing to learn all about this money-making opportunity. You take not the slightest risk. You cannot possibly lose anything. And you can gain much.

If you’re a copywriter or other breed of marketing freelancer… if you already have clients, but you find the career prospects unstable, or the work underpaid or uninteresting, or the clients too demanding… then hit reply to this email and express your interest in this mystery new career opportunity.

I can put you in touch with the ex-copywriter I am talking about here, so you can profit from his experience.

The simple act of replying to this email may bring you bigger success and greater financial independence than you perhaps think possible.

If you will never write emails for your business

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I talk a lot about the value of having an email list and writing to the folks on there personally, regularly.

And maybe I’ve convinced you, and maybe you’re out there, writing your little heart out, and getting praise for it, and making sales from your emails week after week.

If so, great! I’m proud of you. Keep at it, and keep profiting. No need to read this email any further.

But…

If you are plenty convinced about the value of regular email marketing… and in spite of it all, you just know for a fact that you will never ever write emails regularly, because you hate writing, or because you’re too busy, or because you don’t like to put yourself out there like that… then what?

Then I got a solution for you. Here’s the promise:

* Reap the benefits of a regular email newsletter — audience loyalty, sales, referrals, higher prices you can charge…

* Without the ecstasy, or, if you prefer, agony, of sitting down and writing yourself…

* Via emails written in a true, quirky, human voice that AI cannot imitate, particularly over the long term…

* Without paying an arm, two legs, and maybe an ear for a competent email copywriter who is actually better than AI.

If that sounds good to you, here’s the deal:

Former Survivor contestant, subsequent RV blogger, and eventual expert email marketer Liz Wilcox offers something called the Email Marketing Membership.

Each week, members of EMM get a fresh new newsletter template, written by Liz, which they can simply drop into their own biz and profit from — no writing needed.

Once upon a time, in the early days of my freelance copywriting career, I actually worked for a business that offers this service to realtors.

That business charges each realtor $725/month.

Later, after I stopped working as a freelance copywriter, I offered this as a DFY solution to a business owner on my list.

I told the business owner I would not be writing the weekly newsletters myself, but would outsource them to a copywriter.

I asked for $2k/month. The business owner agreed to the $2k/month without batting an eye because he saw the value.

But…

Liz doesn’t charge $2k/month for her Email Marketing Membership.

She doesn’t doesn’t charge $725/month either.

Liz charges just $108…

… PER YEAR!

That’s right. As you’re reading this, Liz has opened up the yearly subscription window for her EMM, and it’s just $108 for the full year.

Liz only does this once every Haley’s Comet. The rest of the time, you can sign up for EMM monthly. Monthly is fine, but there are two reasons you might want to sign up now, and for the whole year:

1. Liz regularly puts on and charges for extra trainings on topics like sales pages, course launches, and communities. People who sign up monthly for EMM have to pay for this extra trainings. People who sign up for the year get all these extra trainings free.

2. I’ll add in $108 Bejako Bux, which you can use towards any purchase of any of my offers in the future, if you sign up to Liz’s EMM for the full year, using the link below.

Normally, I add in info products as bonuses when I promote an affiliate offer like this. But I don’t have something that’s a fit here.

Fact is, if you want to profit from an email list but you don’t want to write, then Liz’s handwritten, human, relationship-building newsletter templates, plus her email marketing training have got you covered.

(Hence the $108 in Bejako Bux.)

Final point:

Why so cheap? WHY???

Simple. Liz has 4,000 paying members inside EMM. 4,000!

Liz is living the Kevin Kelly “1,000 true fans” dream, except she’s got not just 1,000 true fans, but 4,000 of them.

Get 4,000 people to send you $105 a year… and you’ve got a pretty good life. And Liz has a pretty good life.

If you want to profit from Liz’s unique business model and from your email list, without doing any of that horrible writing:

​https://bejakovic.com/lizyearly​

P.S. If you take me up on this offer, forward me your receipt from Liz and I’ll get you your Bejako doubloons, I mean, Bejako Bux.

Today: PIP Challenge kickoff

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This morning I chuckled as I prepared the SOP for my PIP Challenge kickoff call.

In case that’s too many acronyms for you, “PIP” in this case stands for Price Increase Promo.

Starting later today, and lasting the next 3 weeks, I’ll be running a challenge with a group of list and offer owners.

I’ll personally help them run a promo to increase the price of one of their offers in a way that 1) makes them look good to their audience and 2) maybe even makes them money.

An “SOP” I imagine you know. Just in case, it stands for “standard operating procedure,” a corporate term that basically means, “how to”.

Like I said, I chuckled today while preparing the PIP SOP. That’s because, along with dutiful sections like “Which product,” “Which price,” “Which occasion,” “Which emails to send,” I also included several examples of price increase promos I’ve run, like:

* The time a broke and unmotivated reader asked for a discount, and I used that as the occasion of finally raising the price of an underpriced offer

* The “MVE 2: Judgment Day” promo I used to re-launch (and increase the price of) my Most Valuable Email program

* The time the FTC asked a federal judge to hold “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli in contempt of court, and I did a quick (and extremely lucrative) price increase promo on the back of it

At this point, my PIP SOP is pretty simple. But I still found myself asking questions and articulating answers that I hadn’t thought of before.

I know I’ll be using this SOP myself for future price increase promos I run to my own list. And as I’m going through this Price Increase Challenge, and working directly with people on their live price increase promos, I will be filling it out with more examples, more detailed answers, more templates, etc.

The PIP SOP is only available to the folks who join me for the Price Increase Promo Challenge, a select group I’ve named the Email Promo Pioneers, Class 1.

My Price Increase Challenge kicks off later today, Wednesday, at 8pm CET/3pm EST/12 noon PST. In case you are interested, here are the details:

===

Here’s my offer to you today:

* Magically boost the overall value of your business…

* Manifest an asset you can use to make easier future sales of all your offers…

* Raise your status in the eyes of your audience…

* Make yourself more interesting to affiliates…

… and maybe even make some money!

About that make money part, master copywriter Robert Collier once wrote that the most sales-making headline he ever found was:

“Before The Price Goes Up!”

That’s is precisely how I’m offering to help you achieve all the outcomes above.

Specifically, over the next 3 weeks, I’m offering to personally help you plan, run, and profit from a “Before The Price Goes Up!” promo to your email list.

Like Collier says, a price increase is a great way to make some sales.

But it has lots of other knock-on benefits, such as a boost in status… a higher-value asset that you can use to sell other offers more easily (via bonuses, or simple anchoring)… and creating something that affiliates might suddenly become interested in.

If you decide to join me over the next few weeks, I’ll help you overcome such insurmountable hurdles as:

* “But I don’t know which offer I should increase the price of! I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot or worse yet in the knee!”

* “But what will people think! How can I possibly increase the price in a way that doesn’t make me look stupid, greedy, or both? Surely there is no way to increase price in a way that makes me come out looking solid to my audience… right? Right???”

* “But what new price should I choose? It’s impossible to decide. The options are infinite…”

In case you didn’t pick up on it, I’m being a little bit sarcastic.

Yes, there are some questions you should ask yourself before running a price increase promo. But a promo like this is not tremendously complex, and there’s not all that much you need to know in advance.

Yes, I will help you make decisions about the questions above, and give you my advice and input and encouragement along the way. (I’ve run a bunch of price increase promos, some very successful, some less so.)

But that’s the smaller reason why you might want to join me now.

The bigger reason is simply to make sure you actually do this price increase now, instead of putting it off indefinitely… because you’re scared of making a mistake, or in the words of Joe Karbo, because you’re too busy making a living to make any money.

Speaking of money:

I’m calling this the Price Increase Challenge.

And I’m charging a sky-high, one-time fee, with an asterisk, to participate in this Price Increase Challenge:

$250*.

Two hundred and fifty dollars.

That’s a quarter of a thousand dollars.

A lot of money.

Yes, the usual arguments apply. If you have an email list and an underpriced offer, it will very likely be worth it to you to pay $250, and much more, to run a price increase promo now instead of in 6 months from now, or never. I listed all the reason why at the top.

But there’s also the asterisk.

The asterisk is there because I don’t really want your money.

What I really want is for you to run this price increase promo and to reap the benefits of it.

That’s why, if you join me for this challenge, and if you pay me $250 upfront, I will refund you the entire $250 if you actually run your price increase promo within 3 weeks of this Wednesday, when this challenge will kick off.

In other words… get my personal help and advice… get accountability… get the benefits of a price increase, including possibly making some money… and win all your money back. Recoup 100% of your capital, and make some nice interest too.

Oh, and you get the coveted title of Email Promo Pioneer, Class 1.

If you’d like to join me for this Price Increase Challenge, hit reply to this email, tell me you want in, and I’ll get you started.

How the hell are you supposed to make money on this?

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Yesterday, I announced my new Price Increase Promo Challenge:

* 3 weeks to run a price increase promo to your list, so you can make some sales, boost your status, and make selling in the future easier

* Get my personal help, advice, and encouragement as you plan, run, and profit from your promo

* $250 entry ticket, ALL OF WHICH I WILL REFUND YOU if you actually run the price increase promo within the 3 weeks of the challenge

To which I got a message from fellow marketer Nick “Ice Cold” Bandy, who wrote:

“How the hell are you supposed to make money on this?”

About that:

I recently listened to a presentation by Jeff Walker of Product Launch Formula fame.

(PLF, in case you don’t know, is the best-selling Internet marketing Course of all time, and has been responsible for probably a billion dollars+ in client results, as well as making Jeff some tens or maybe hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Says Jeff:

“Launch goals, that’s the first place I always start whenever someone comes to me to work with me individually or whenever I’m sitting down to do a launch. What do I want to get out of this? It’s very important to know what you’re after with your launch because you can actually fine-tune the various strategies to get exactly what you want.”

Hm, I thought. I’ve never really done that.

Sure, I’ve always known launches had knock-on benefits besides just making you money. Sometimes I looked forward to those extra benefits.

But for each launch I’ve done, sales have been my only direct goal, while any other benefits were only indirect and cloudy and unstated “would be nice” additions.

Jeff Walker is more of a strategic thinker than I am. In his presentation, he lays out 7 launch goals he has consciously gone after in the past:

1. Make money (nothing wrong with it)

2. Build your prospect list

3. Build your client list

4. Create additional products

5. Build JV relationships

6. Create social proof

7. Make an impact

I took Jeff’s lesson to heart and set goals for myself with this particular price increase promo beyond “make money” (I hope to make precisely zero dollars with this promo).

I will leave you to guess which goals those might be (I’ll tell you it’s three of the ones on the list above).

Meanwhile, my offer still stands.

The Price Increase Promo Challenge kicks off tomorrow.

If you’d like to join me and get my help, inspiration, and advice… if you want to run your own price increase promo, make some money, and achieve other goals like Jeff lays out above… and if you’re ok paying the high, high price of $250, all of which will be refunded to you if only you actually do the challenge honestly, then:

1. Hit reply

2. Tell me you are interested

3. Click “Send” (thanks to Nick Bandy for correcting my faulty and unclear CTA yesterday)

Announcing: Email Promo Pioneers, Class 1

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Here’s my offer to you today:

* Magically boost the overall value of your business…

* Manifest an asset you can use to make easier future sales of all your offers…

* Raise your status in the eyes of your audience…

* Make yourself more interesting to affiliates…

… and maybe even make some money!

About that make money part, master copywriter Robert Collier once wrote that the most sales-making headline he ever found was:

“Before The Price Goes Up!”

That’s is precisely how I’m offering to help you achieve all the outcomes above.

Specifically, over the next 3 weeks, I’m offering to personally help you plan, run, and profit from a “Before The Price Goes Up!” promo to your email list.

Like Collier says, a price increase is a great way to make some sales.

But it has lots of other knock-on benefits, such as a boost in status… a higher-value asset that you can use to sell other offers more easily (via bonuses, or simple anchoring)… and creating something that affiliates might suddenly become interested in.

If you decide to join me over the next few weeks, I’ll help you overcome such insurmountable hurdles as:

* “But I don’t know which offer I should increase the price of! I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot or worse yet in the knee!”

* “But what will people think! How can I possibly increase the price in a way that doesn’t make me look stupid, greedy, or both? Surely there is no way to increase price in a way that makes me come out looking solid to my audience… right? Right???”

* “But what new price should I choose? It’s impossible to decide. The options are infinite…”

In case you didn’t pick up on it, I’m being a little bit sarcastic.

Yes, there are some questions you should ask yourself before running a price increase promo. But a promo like this is not tremendously complex, and there’s not all that much you need to know in advance.

Yes, I will help you make decisions about the questions above, and give you my advice and input and encouragement along the way. (I’ve run a bunch of price increase promos, some very successful, some less so.)

But that’s the smaller reason why you might want to join me now.

The bigger reason is simply to make sure you actually do this price increase now, instead of putting it off indefinitely… because you’re scared of making a mistake, or in the words of Joe Karbo, because you’re too busy making a living to make any money.

Speaking of money:

I’m calling this the Price Increase Challenge.

And I’m charging a sky-high, one-time fee, with an asterisk, to participate in this Price Increase Challenge:

$250*.

Two hundred and fifty dollars.

That’s a quarter of a thousand dollars.

A lot of money.

Yes, the usual arguments apply. If you have an email list and an underpriced offer, it will very likely be worth it to you to pay $250, and much more, to run a price increase promo now instead of in 6 months from now, or never. I listed all the reason why at the top.

But there’s also the asterisk.

The asterisk is there because I don’t really want your money.

What I really want is for you to run this price increase promo and to reap the benefits of it.

That’s why, if you join me for this challenge, and if you pay me $250 upfront, I will refund you the entire $250 if you actually run your price increase promo within 3 weeks of this Wednesday, when this challenge will kick off.

In other words… get my personal help and advice… get accountability… get the benefits of a price increase, including possibly making some money… and win all your money back. Recoup 100% of your capital, and make some nice interest too.

Oh, and you get the coveted title of Email Promo Pioneer, Class 1.

If you’d like to join me for this Price Increase Challenge, hit reply to this email, and I’ll get you started.

Pirates, waddya gonna do

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Last week, Mercure and Svet Dimitrov, both members of my Monetization Mastermind group, ran a course launch.

The day after the launch ended, somebody who “bought” the course pirated the content and made it available for sale online.

Svet and Mercure investigated the offender!

And they found who done it!

“Now I got you, you son of a bitch!”

It turned out to be some girl in Illinois who had her credit card info stolen and who had no idea about the course.

In other words, nothing to do, nowhere to go.

I had almost the identical thing happen to me during a promo of Copy Riddles back in 2023.

The only difference was that I didn’t find Copy Riddles immediately for sale online. Instead, I found out about it when I got a chargeback a couple weeks after the promo.

Also some clueless girl from the heartland of America who had never heard of me or my Copy Riddles course.

I went to check the account associated with the name on my website, where the course is delivered. I saw a Ukrainian IP and all course pages cleanly swiped within 2 minutes after login, I’m guessing by a bot.

Waddya gonna do? I know what I did. I shrugged and put it out of my mind.

For this and many other reasons, I have long ago decided to avoid sailing where the pirates are, and to take harbor where pirates aren’t willing to follow me.

Specifically, I’ve decided to sail as little as possible on the risky, turbulent, pirate-infested Ocean Of Secrets, and to instead spend most my days cruising the safe, rich, and comfortable Sea Of Getting People Results.

That’s a metaphorical and philosophical shift, but it’s more than that. It’s also a matter of deliverables, and of the offers I’m making as well.

If you’d like an example, keep an eye out for my email tomorrow.

I will tell you about my Price Increase Challenge, which I will be launching next week, not with the goal of selling you hot and exclusive tactical info (“Raise your price exactly 18.2%!”)… but with the goal of getting you to actually run a promo to your list that boosts your positioning, and maybe even wins you a treasure chest of doubloons.

The lifesaving value of charging more

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It’s Saturday today. I’ve forbidden myself from doing any work on the weekends except writing this email.

But what the hell am I gonna do if I don’t work?

I sat on the couch. I looked around. I waited.

Eventually, I picked up a book.

Good thing.

Because I came across the following fun yet instructive story, which goes back to ancient Greece:

===

A stranger publicly said that he could teach Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, an infallible way to find out and discover all the conspiracies his subjects could contrive against him, if Dionysius would give him a good sum of money for his pains.

Dionysius hearing of it, caused the man to be brought to him, that he might learn an art so necessary to his preservation.

The man made answer, that all the art he knew was that Dionysius should give him a talent [eg. 25kg of silver], and afterwards boast that he had obtained a singular secret from him.

Dionysius liked the invention, and accordingly caused six hundred crowns to be counted out to the stranger.

===

If you so choose, you can extract many lessons from this story. Today, I will extract just one for you. It be this:

A higher price can be better for both you as the seller AND for your audience as the buyers… even if the deliverables stay exactly the same (or if the deliverables are nothing at all, as in the story above).

Paying a high price can literally be lifesaving for the buyer (again, as in the story above).

But even when it’s not a matter of life and death, paying a high price can be a boost to your buyers’ ego, reputation, and peace of mind. And what’s more important than those things?

I’m telling you this because a few days ago, in my Daily Email House community, I asked folks whether they are interested in running a price increase promo.

That was motivated by the fact that, as I’ve found out recently, a bunch of my readers who sell courses and ebooks and templates charge very little for what they sell.

That’s not good for them… and it’s not good for their buyers either, at least if the stuff being sold is lifesaving or at least potentially life-changing.

So I offered to help folks run a price increase promo over the next few weeks, as a challenge, in a group, to avoid feeling alone, or feeling like they’re going to screw things up, or feeling paralyzed from overthinking.

I will have more details on that “Price Increase Challenge” soon — the when, the where, and of course, the how much. And I will apply my own lesson. I’ll make the price VERY high, but in a way that’s good for you, if you choose to join me for this Price Increase Challenge.

Follow up on “nasty follow up”

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A couple days ago, I wrote an email about a “nasty follow up” script, which I got from a follow-up expert, to move along a potential auction partner who had started dragging his feet.

The script ran:

“Ok no sweat. You wanna put bringing in auction cash on the back burner until 2027? 2028?”

It didn’t feel very in character or natural for me to send this, but I closed my eyes and sent it nonetheless. I then wrote an email about it, which drew a lot of response from readers. A few samples:

#1. “Haha doesn’t sound like you at all”

#2. “That’s pretty polarizing. If you don’t care, then no problem. I’d probably just move along to something else until/if he changed his mind.”

#3. “Having just finished negotiating with a guttural-ly screaming 8 year old after he was forced to get a haircut (because he was looking like a mildly-clean hobo) my gut instinct would be to tell the guy that ‘putting the project on hold for so long doesn’t work for me. Good luck!'”

#4. “This guy broke his word to you, you could argue disrespected you. Would you want to do business with someone who doesn’t do what they say they will do? Also, his feelings aren’t your responsibility. If he feels bad because you’ve pointed out the incongruity between his words and actions… that’s not you being a dick.”

#5. “Curious how this works out. Not something I’d send but it doesn’t mean its wrong haha”

About how it’s working out:

It’s been two days now and the update is… nothing. Silence. No word from the dude.

Is he mad? Is our partnership over before it even started? Did I make a huge mistake?

Last night, I talked to the same follow-up expert, who also happens to be the person who referred the potential auction client to me in the first place.

I told the follow-up expert I had sent his message verbatim, and that I haven’t gotten a response since. He nodded in approval. “He’s always been slow to reply,” he said with a chuckle. “Here’s what I’d tell him next…”

In other words, in this follow-up expert’s world at least, the follow up doesn’t stop. Not until you get a clear yes or no, or better yet, “scram!”

This is all kinda new to me, at least when it comes to 1-1 interactions.

Fortunately, I’ve internalized it pretty good when doing 1-many interactions, specifically, when I’m hiding behind my email software and writing to thousands of people at the same time.

My approach is to keep following up… day after day… until my readers either tell me to scram (they unsubscribe) or they tell me yes, in the form of buying something from me.

I’ve found this simple habit — sending out a sales email every day — to be completely transformative to me, in terms of money, in terms of how I am able to work, and personally too.

If you would like to have something similar in your life, I’ve created a service to help you get started, and to make it easier to keep going. For more info:

https://bejakovic.com/deh