$1 per subscriber?

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Earlier this week, I wrote an email about a 36-hour promo that promises to pay you $2-$6 per subscriber on your list. To which I got a response from a new reader, who wrote:

“If you could even help me get to $1 per subscriber that would be quite valuable to me. Do let me know if this offer can extend to me as well.”

(For a bit of background, this dude has a list of 6k names… of people who are likely to have money to spend… the majority of whom got onto his list by buying a course he sells via Facebook ads.)

For reasons that don’t matter here, I didn’t think the 36-hour promo I was advertising would really fit his situation. I wrote him to tell him so.

Then, like a true salesman, I let the conversation drop and went on with my day.

Except, after a night’s fitful sleep, that bit about “help me get to $1 per subscriber” came back to me.

I realized I’m pretty confident I can help this guy get to making at least $1 per subscriber — $6k per month — from his list. Maybe more. I wrote to tell him so.

The upshot is we’ll get on a call tomorrow, and talk, and see if it makes sense for us to work together to make that $1 per subscriber happen.

And then, like a true salesman, I let this whole topic drop and went on with my day.

Except, after another night’s fitful sleep, the slow and creaky wheels of my mind started turning, and turning, and turning. Eventually, a drop of thought dripped out.

Maybe, I thought, maybe other people on my list are in this same situation and could also use my help?

Let me find out:

If you have an email list of at least 2000 names, but you’re not making $1 per subscriber per month, maybe I can help you get there.

Or if you are making more than $1 per subscriber per month, maybe I help you add in another $1 or $2 or $3 to that.

In case you’re interested, hit reply. Tell me a bit about yourself and your list. And we can talk in more detail.

Nasty follow up

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How would you move the following interaction along?

I have this potential partner. He was referred to me for an auction, because he has a nice-sized community and assets he could legit auction off, and he wants to monetize them all better, without doing much work.

So as per auction protocol, I wrote him a pre-auction-poll post — basically a way to float the idea for an offer to auction off, and see if there’s interest enough.

I sent him the copy a couple weeks ago to post in his community.

“Love it,” he said. “Will run this next week.”

Next week came.

Next week went.

The guy ran a price-increase promo during that time, so I figured, “Ok, maybe that takes precedence. Let’s wait it out.”

This week came… and the guy started promoting something else. No sign of my pre-auction-poll post.

I followed up with him yesterday to ask if he’s still interested in running an auction.

“Yes!” he said. “Let’s say next week. Lots of irons in the fire at the same time.”

So in a nutshell, two weeks ago it was next week… this week, it is again next week. Mañana, mañana.

So? How would you move this along?

I’ll tell you how an expert in followup would move it along.

Not me. I’m not the expert.

I’m talking about somebody with much more experience in 1-1 selling, and following up with people.

I chatted with said expert today and asked what he would write to my potential auction partner. The followup expert gave me this move-it-along script:

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

I winced at this.

It sounds kind of passive aggressive. Even nasty. Or maybe it just sounds like it’s gonna make my potential auction partner feel bad and possibly cause some kind of conflict.

Will it? Won’t it?

I just sent it over to my potential partner right before writing this email. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, I would like to point out a very simple but incredibly powerful fact of life.

The fact is this:

You can feel however you feel, and still act alongside that.

In other words, there’s no need to feel natural and easy and pleasant all the time without exception.

There’s also no need to suppress fears, doubts, or negativity you might actually be feeling.

You can feel however you feel, without suppressing it, without feeling guilty about it, without thinking that you need to wait until you change your inner state… and you can still act, alongside that turmoil or tension inside of you.

And with that bit of inspiration, I’d like to point you to a discussion about increasing your prices, which I started today inside my Daily Email House community.

At the end of that discussion, I made an offer, to run a price-increase challenge together this month, in a group, with support and feedback so you don’t feel alone, uncertain, and in danger of making a big mistake.

If raising your prices is something that you know you should be doing, but you just don’t feel great about it, maybe now is a chance to act alongside how you feel?

In case you’re interested:

https://www.skool.com/daily-email-house/price-increase-promo

OFFER

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Yesterday, at the bottom of a 500-world email, I made an offer.

It got a lot of qualified response, so let me rerun it, this time at the start of the email, after a big bright subject line that says OFFER.

If you might be interested in:

A 36-hour email promo that pulls in between $2-$6 per newsletter subscriber, and…

…requires little or more likely NO additional delivery (no coaching calls, no cohort groups, no WhatsApp access, no new products to create or obligations to fulfill), and…

… sells a $300+, old-hat product that you’re not selling much of any more…

… and that’s fun for your list and fun for you…

Then the fact is, I already have a system to do exactly this.

I’ve proven it myself on a few occasions.

But I would like to get some more case studies for it, and quickly.

So I’ve got an offer for you:

Are you interested in running a 36-hour promo to your list, pulling in between $2-$6 for each person on your list, selling stuff you already have, and having fun in the process?

And would you like to get my help? For free?

If you would, hit reply, and let’s talk.

Dude X’s tactical tip for cold traffic funnels

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Today, I got a tip for ya that applies to cold traffic and warm traffic alike.

I’m in the community of this dude, let’s call him Dude X, who is an expert of running low-ticket ad funnels.

Today Dude X wrote about a student of his who was running an low-ticket course to cold traffic… and it wasn’t selling good.

What’s worse, the sales the student made didn’t ascend in any way (in other words, the buyers who bought the low-ticket course didn’t buy anything more).

And this in spite of the fact that the student’s course was a really solid course, with tons of info, templates, tutorials, etc. It was something she could legitimately sell for $500… but she was selling it for $20, and struggling.

Why??? Here’s what Dude X wrote:

===

Everyone already has tons of information. They don’t need more.

What they need is a quick win. Something they can do. Something they can finish. Something that gets them a result.

So going back to this student.

When we changed her offer from a strategic offer to a tactical offer, everything shifted.

A strategic offer tries to teach everything. The whole picture. The full system. All the pieces.

A tactical offer helps people do one thing fast and get a result.

===

So that’s my tip for you. Sell an opportunity to get a quick and easy result. And since this is a newsletter all about implementation, I asked myself, how do I put this to use?

A few days ago, I floated the idea for a new offer I called Daily Emails 101.

Basically, my idea was to sell this as a low-ticket offer to cold traffic.

And even though I never properly defined what this offer would be… I suspected already that it’s too vague, that it promises too much and is likely to deliver too little in terms of actual results, and to do so to the wrong kinds of people.

After reading the thing above from Dude X, I thought to myself, what’s a small specific step that would get a quick win for the kinds of people I want on my email list?

Immediately an idea popped into my mind:

A 36-hour email promo that pulls in between $2-$6 per newsletter subscriber, and…

…requires little or more likely NO additional delivery (no coaching calls, no cohort groups, no WhatsApp access, no new products to create or obligations to fulfill), and…

… sells an old-hat product that you’re not selling much of any more…

… and that’s fun for your list and fun for you.

The fact is, I already have a system to do exactly this.

I’ve proven it myself on a few occasions.

But I would like to get some more case studies for it, and quickly.

So I’ve got an offer for you:

Are you interested in running a 36-hour promo to your list, pulling in between $2-$6 for each person on your list, selling stuff you already have, and having fun in the process?

And would you like to get my help? For free?

If you would, hit reply, and let’s talk.

What’s up with my hiring

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Last week I wrote an email saying that I’m hiring an assistant. I got a buncha replies to that, some encouraging, others frustrating.

I wrote back to everyone to say I’m working my way through the replies, and that I will be in touch if I think there’s a possible fit there.

I’ve had a few people proactively follow up with me since. “Do you have an update regarding my application?”

The update is that on Friday I hired somebody. I’m also interviewing a second person to hire on Monday. I figure, now that I’ve decided on hiring, why not go big?

The guy I hired yesterday, marketer and computer programmer GC Tsalamagkakis, is somebody I’ve known for a good while.

He has been active in my Daily Email House community for over a year. He was one of the top bidders in my “I endorse YOU” auction. We’ve talked on multiple occasions previously. I know he’s worked with and gotten results for other people I know and respect.

GC wrote me flat out saying that he’s not applying to be my assistant, but that maybe he can help me automate some of the stuff I’m doing or want to do?

We talked and defined an easy test project.

GC wanted to do it for free.

I told him I appreciate the sentiment but I insist on paying him, both for his sake and for mine.

He quoted me a price.

I thought it was too low. So I decided to pay him 4x what he had asked me.

Do you think that makes me a good guy? Or a creep who’s trying to virtue signal by writing about it here?

You can think what you like, but I can tell you I’m neither very good nor am I trying to signal whatever goodness I have here.

This is simply me working myself mentally into this hiring game.

A couple days ago, I mentioned a discussion I’d listened to between Frank Kern and Dean Jackson, about sticking to what you’re irreplaceable at, and hiring out for everything else. Said Frank:

===

There’s three ways to get rich. You can invent something. You can inherit something. Or you could invest. And I think all business people are ultimately investors.

That’s all we do. So if you think about that, and you think about the hiring of a “who,” it’s not an expense, but a means to multiply capital.

I pay my “who” that does the automation stuff close to 300 grand a year.

And people are like, “My God, you could get it so much cheaper.”

And I say, “Well I might-could, but assuming I’m getting about a 20% annual return on my investment in a ‘who,’ would I rather get 20% of 50 grand, or 300?”

===

That 20% return is pretty much how the math will work out for the test task that GC did for me.

He’s automated some stuff for me that was previously spread out across a couple software subscriptions.

As a result, I will be able to shut those subscriptions down, and save enough over the coming year to make back what I paid GC, and make about a 20% return on top of that.

There is a bigger point here, and it applies to you also. I’ve heard it stated in different ways:

“Turn costs into a profit center.”

“Find a way to make it work for you.”

Or, like Frank Kern says above, “Think of it like an investment.”

This applies if you’re hiring, yes. But it also applies if you’re buying courses, paying for subscriptions, running ads, or simply spending your money and time. All these could simply be costs. Or, with a change of perspective and bit of determination, they could be opportunities to multiply capital. It’s your call.

Come with me

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A couple weeks ago, I got a message from copywriter Theo Seeds about my new 10 Commandments book (“thought it was excellent”).

Theo shared a real-life sales story related to one of the commandments in the book, Commandment IX:

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I have a story you might find interesting about “committing to the bit.” When I was 18 I spent a summer selling pest control door to door in New Jersey for a company called Aptive. When I first got there, one of the VP’s of Sales of the company, Kyle Neilsen, was in Jersey doing trainings for the salespeople who had been there a few weeks already.

Here’s one thing he said. “I love when I see a house with anthills in the yard. What I do is I knock on the door, and then as soon as they answer, I say ‘lemme show you something,’ make a ‘come with me’ motion with my hand, and then turn around and start walking towards the anthills. Either they follow me outside and I make the sale, or they don’t follow me outside and I just keep walking towards the next house.”

===

Persuasion wizard Dean Jackson calls this filtering for “cooperative and friendly” prospects. It’s one of the five stars of Dean’s “five star prospects” classification.

About those five-star prospects, Dean says:

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Nothing you do will turn someone into one if they’re not already. You can’t create them. You can only DISCOVER them. The only difference is… some prospects are ready right away while others need more time to show their “true feathers.” And that’s where your record-keeping helps.

Once you get into this mindset, this understanding that you can’t turn someone into a 5-star prospect… That gives you freedom and takes away all the stress. You don’t have to spend all your energy convincing someone in the hope they convert anymore. All you need to do is patiently educate and motivate them regularly…

… and wait till they become ready to take the next step.

===

If what Dean says makes sense to you, I have something to show you. Come with me:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

Question for info product creators

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Have you ever created an info product that sold well to your own list?

Would you like to transform that product into a product that sells well to affiliates’ lists also, mine among them?

If so, hit reply, and let’s talk.

How business owners can stop chasing every shiny object like a dog chasing soap bubbles

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I have a new plan. I’m trying to get in shape. I’m walking walk two hours a day as part of my plan. I’m listening to podcasts and courses to keep myself occupied while I walk.

I want to share a good idea with you that I just heard while walking around Barcelona in the rain, getting in shape, and getting wise at the same time.

The idea came up in a discussion between Dean Jackson and Frank Kern.

Both Dean and Frank are successful, influential, long-tenured Internet marketers who have made, I’m guessing, tens of millions of dollars for themselves and prolly hundreds of millions for clients and partners.

The discussion I listened to today was about focusing on what you’re irreplaceable at, and getting others to do the rest. Familiar enough stuff.

(It’s the “who not how” distinction, which Dean originated, and which his partner Dan Sullivan then turned into a best-selling book.)

At some point, Frank Kern threw out the following, less familiar thought experiment.

Imagine, says Frank, that you are a typical small business owner who has gotten to a certain level of success by working hard, and who is trying to get to the next level by working even harder.

The classic “10 million irons in the fire.”

And then imagine, in Frank’s words, that:

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… you are personally enjoined — legal term there — you are personally enjoined from doing any of this stuff yourself, except coming up with ideas.

Which means now you have to pay for the “who.”

What that would bring — and I know the listener is probably like, “okay don’t tell me I have to do this, this is horrible” — what that would bring is incredible clarity and purpose in the execution of the ideas.

If you had to pay to execute on every idea, you would immediately get yourself out of the “I’ve got 10 million irons in the fire” thing. Because you’re paying for it, right? So it’s like, well crap, if I’m paying all that…

===

Maybe I found this insightful because I’m actually in the process of hiring an assistant, and maybe I’ll even end up hiring two. Always insightful hearing what you want to believe.

In any case, if you’re running your own business, particularly if you’re a “solopreneur,” one-man band, one-woman show, this might be a worthwhile thought experiment to put to yourself the next time you come across a hot new opportunity you cannot wait to jump on.

“What if I were enjoined to not do any of this myself, and I could only pay somebody to implement this for me?”

If your answer is a shudder, then consider whether this hot new opportunity, which you don’t find worth paying money to implement, is worth paying for in a different, much scarcer currency, namely your own time and energy.

On the other hand, if you find that you are okay hiring, then you’ve got options. You can still do it yourself. Or you can hire. Or you can even hire two people.

Anyways, I gotta go make popcorn and drink a beer. That is not part of my getting in shape plan. But it is important.

Meanwhile, if you want to hear Dean and Frank’s full discussion — recommended if you are more busy and less productive than you like — here’s where to go:

https://www.morecheeselesswhiskers.com/podcast/147

I finally get a nice review

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For the past 10 months or so, I’ve been running ads on Amazon for my new 10 Commandments book.

Over the past month or so, it seems like Amazon is finally running out of people who are passionately interested in the connections between con men and pick up artists and Hollywood screenwriters.

To wit:

My sales have gone down… my cost of sale has gone up… and for what seemed like a stretch of months, all I got were carping reviews from disgruntled readers, who I guess should not have been reading the book in the first place.

Fortunately, with the coming of spring, it seems my luck is changing.

A few days ago, I got a nice 5-star review by a hypnotist and copywriter, Manuel Herrera Carillo. Manuel’s review is long but I will reprint it in full, for one because it strokes my ego, for another because it may convince you to give my book an open-minded read. Says Manuel:

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I am a hypnotist and also copywriter. Sometimes the mind thinks that it cannot be impressed or amazed anymore, and a book like this tells you otherwise.

We live in an age of cognitive calluses. We scroll. We skim. We assume we have seen every trick. The brain folds its arms like a bored aristocrat. Then along comes John Bejakovic with a lantern and a grin, and suddenly the room rearranges itself.

This is not a book about scams.

It is a book about gravity.

The gravity of attention.

The gravity of desire.

The gravity that pulls a thought from maybe into yes.

Bejakovic gathers an unlikely council: con men, pickup artists, magicians, salesmen, propagandists, stand up comedians, Oscar winning screenwriters. On paper, they look like strangers forced to share a train compartment. In practice, they are all fluent in the same ancient language: influence.

The ten commandments are not moral instructions. They are psychological pressure points. Each chapter peels back another layer of the theater curtain and shows you the machinery. Not in a clinical tone, not with academic frost, but with stories. And stories are the original hypnosis.

As a hypnotist, I recognized the rhythm immediately. Pattern interrupt. Authority. Framing. Tension. Release. The subtle dance between certainty and suggestion. He does not describe persuasion as manipulation in a dark alley. He describes it as choreography. If you understand timing, you can lead. If you understand expectation, you can bend it.

As a copywriter, I found something even more unsettling.

The principles are transferable.

The same mechanics that allow a magician to misdirect a crowd allow a headline to seize a wandering eye. An so and so and so on.

Combine this principles with AI and you obtain a nuclear bomb of influence.

===

I don’t know how to what Manuel suggests, to combine the principles in my book with AI, in order to obtain a nuclear bomb of influence.

But maybe you can tell me, if you know more about AI than I do, and if you’ve read my book?

And if you know more about AI than me but you haven’t read my book:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

Secret offer knowledge that’s too valuable to trumpet loudly

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I’ve been going through Dan Kennedy’s Opportunity Concepts seminar recordings.

There are two great, truly great, Dan Kennedy seminars.

One is Influential Writing, in which Dan explains how to create a cult of personality in your writing. Basically, it’s what everybody with a personal daily email newsletter is doing or should be doing.

The other great Dan Kennedy seminar is Opportunity Concepts. It tackles the other side, not the copy but the offer.

Opportunity Concepts teaches you how to repackage, reinvent, recreate what you offer as an opportunity — something so new, so distracting, and so sexy that people want it based on its own merits, even if they don’t know you, even if it sounds preposterous, even if it’s expensive.

So today I’m going through Dan Kennedy’s Opportunity Concepts, maybe for the fifth time ever.

The seminar sold for $10k when Dan put it on live back in 2011.

The recordings sold for $1,500 after that, but are no longer available anywhere, including eBay or Dan Kennedy’s site.

(Don’t ask me how I got ’em, but I got ’em a long time ago, for free, though legally.)

So I’m going through Dan Kennedy’s Opportunity Concepts. And I decide on a whim to google “Opportunity Concepts.” There’s not much out there. but…

… there is a page on the Dan Kennedy’s website, saying that Opportunity Concepts has been turned into a book called Selling Opportunity.

The only way to get Selling Opportunity is to sign up to the Diamond Level of Dan Kennedy’s membership/newsletter.

The Diamond Level costs $297/month.

Much better than either $10,000 or $1,500, and really a drop in the bucket considering the value of this info.

But then, on one last hunch, I decide to go to Amazon.

I search for “Selling Opportunity.”

And there it is.

A recording of Dan Kennedy’s Opportunity Concepts, sold as an audiobook published by Nightingale-Conant… for $15.

I bought it immediately, even though I already have it.

I skipped around through it, just to see if it really is the Opportunity Concepts training.

It is.

Some parts are missing (a couple guest presentations, for example).

But most of it is there.

If you like, you can get Opportunity Concepts, reinvented as Selling Opportunity, below.

I won’t trumpet it any more. You either know or you don’t know what this is worth. If you don’t, that’s okay. If you do:

​https://bejakovic.com/opportunity-concepts