4 lessons from my 9-day promo for Daily Email Fastlane

Last night, I concluded the promo for for Daily Email Fastlane. That’s the workshop I’m hosting tonight, right now, as this email goes out.

Good news: I sold more tickets to Daily Email Fastlane than I was expecting.

Bad news: At $100 per sale, it’s still not enough to buy a Rolls-Royce.

But that’s okay. This workshop was most of all an experiment, in a few ways.

I’ve collected the data. It’s now time to analyze it.

Some of what my analysis shows is standard daily email propaganda. What I mean is, the data supports the basic idea I was plugging all week long, about the value of writing daily emails for your personal brand. For example:

#1. 87% of people who signed up for Daily Email Fastlane have bought other courses or trainings from me before. Many have been on my list for 3+ years.

Would they have stuck around and been willing to buy from me now if I failed to stay in touch with them during that time?

#2. There was also a handful of first-time buyers. Most of them have been on my list for weeks, months, or in one case, closing in on a year.

In other words, it took dozens or hundreds of daily email “touches” to close this first sale… but it wasn’t very hard to do.

In fact, I even had fun writing some of those dozens or hundreds of emails over the past weeks, months, and year.

#3. I made sales with every email I sent out during this promo. This tells me I probably could have sent out still more emails and made still more sales.

All these conclusions are probably obvious to you. And they are only really useful in case you too send daily emails, as validation, or want to start sending daily emails, as inspiration.

But I do have one extra tip for you.

It’s relevant whether or not you choose to send daily emails.

In fact, it might be more relevant if you don’t send daily emails.

This tip doesn’t come from the sales data. It comes from the replies and comments of the people who ended up signing up for the workshop.

It’s this:

Many of those who joined told me they were sold by the core idea I had for this training. The core idea was to share the common elements among 3 daily emailers I’ve coached, each of whom is uniquely successful in his own way.

The way I came up with that core idea wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t a unique moment of inspiration, either.

It was routine, and something you can do too.

It’s simply an application of my #1 strategy for creating offers of any kind, in any niche.

You can use this strategy to create offers that sell… even if you don’t have your own coaching program for authority, even if you don’t sell marketing advice, even if, like me, you don’t bother to set up a sales page.

You can find this strategy described in detail towards the end of chapter 1 of my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters. For more info on that:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

Talk different

Today is the last day to sign up for my Daily Email Fastlane workshop, which means it’s TIME:

TIME ​​to feature bits of self-serving feedback I’ve gotten from readers who have already signed up.​​

I have one such bit below.

​​If you read on, you will see it serves my purposes perhaps all too well.

Still, it might just be worth reading for your own self, because it does also illustrate a deep marketing truth.

Yesterday, I got a message from Ashley Gainer, who is a copywriter, former journalist, and current host of the Copy Chatter podcast.

Ashley had signed up for Daily Email Fastlane, so I wrote her to ask what her situation is in regard to daily emails, and how I can make the workshop as useful to her as possible.

​​Here’s a part of what she replied:

===

I’ve been sending a daily email to my list for 2+ years. Your “takes” on the how and why of copywriting and marketing in general are often so different from what I normally see with the chest-thumpers — I want to know more about your approach.

===

Ok, so now that I’ve slipped in this bit of self-serving feedback, maybe you can read it again and see that deep and obvious marketing truth:

If you want people to buy from you, even products that are kind of vague and mysterious like Daily Email Fastlane, then make sure you talk different from other people out there.

I don’t mean just talking all ungrammatical or doubling down on your own slang.

I mean fundamentally having unique things, different things, surprising things to say.

Easier said than done, right?

​​How in helminth do you come up with different, unique, surprising things to say, particularly every day?

Good news:

​​That’s one of the commonalities I’ve found among three successful daily emailers I will be using as case studies inside Daily Email Fastlane.

Honestly, I’m dissecting what these guys do as much for myself as I’m doing it for you.

Because if I could only have five fundamentals of human psychology as applies to marketing and copywriting, one for each of the fingers of my left hand, then contrast would be one of them. In fact it would be the thumb.

That’s why during Daily Email Fastlane, I’ll go into this “talk different” topic, and give you a practical technique I’ve seen used by all three of these daily emailers to say something unique as often as they like.

Daily Email Fastlane is happening tomorrow night, live on Zoom, at 8pm CET, with a replay if you cannot attend live.

But the deadline to sign up is today, Wednesday, less than 12 hours from now, at 8:31pm CET. If you’d like join me and find out how to talk different:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

The green beret of direct marketing calls out my sloppy campaign

For the past week, I’ve been promoting the Daily Email Fastlane workshop I’m putting on this Thursday… in a slightly sloppy way.

I have been promoting this workshop without a promise, without a sales page, without even any detail about what you’re getting or how it’s going to look.

And yet, I’ve made a solid number of sales so far. There may be a lesson there.

But now, the deadline is nearing. In fact, the deadline is tomorrow, Wednesday May 22, at 8:31pm CET, less than 24 hours from now.

This means it’s time to stop fooling around.

Fortunately, last night I got a buffet of questions from Dr. Ivan Carney.

Doc Carney has been described by people in the know as a “green beret of direct marketing and a consummate direct mail mind.”

He was not sold by my promotion over the past week. And he wrote me to ask:

===

John, I’m unclear

Is this a one time deal or a weekly deal?

How long is it going to be in this session?

Is there going to be a Q and A?

Do we get any PDF’s or formulas?

This is a group setting right?

Is there a guarantee?

What if I don’t do daily emails?

What if I do daily emails and they haven’t worked?

Is this easy?

Can I do it?

Will it work for me?

Dr. Carney 🙂

===

I’m not sure whether Doc Carney has these questions for real, or if he’s just trying to point out the gaps in my marketing. In any case, I’m grateful for his message.

As for his questions, which might be of interest to you as well:

1. Daily Email Fastlane is a one-time workshop, delivered live on Zoom, this Thursday, hopefully with a live audience though that’s yet to be proven. (There will be a recording and some people have written me to say they won’t be able to attend live.)

2. The workshop will last between an hour and as long as it takes to cover the material I want to share and to answer questions that come up.

​​I’m guessing around 2 hours total but I’m willing to stay as long as even one person in audience, should there be one, remains standing.

3. There will be no PDFs, formulas, magic incantations, charms, amulets, or fairy dust given away as part of this workshop.

​​I will however share practical information and aim to inspire you to actually go out and apply it to your own daily emails for your own personal brand.

4. There is no guarantee for this workshop, beyond the fact I guarantee that I have and will continue to put in work to make it useful and entertaining for you.

5. If you don’t do daily emails, then ask yourself whether you can see the value in sending emails daily to an audience that’s come to know, trust, and perhaps even like you a little, however grudgingly.

If the answer is no, then this workshop is not for you.

If the answer is yes, then this workshop might be for you. I will share ideas and techniques to help you get successful with sending daily emails for your personal brand, even if you have tried doing so before and all that happened was a loud explosion with some black smoke seeping out.

6. “Is this easy?”

It’s as easy as paying me $100 and showing up to a Zoom call.

7. “Can I do it? Will it work for me?”

Let’s see. The payment link below has worked for a bunch of other people so far. I believe you too can successfully use it, as long as you act before the deadline.

Maybe try it out for yourself now? Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

How to buy the jury in the courtroom

Legend says the greatest con man ever done lived was Joseph Weil, aka The Yellow Kid.

Starting at age 14 and up to his death at age 100, The Yellow Kid conned thousands of people and stole millions of dollars.

​​Fine, so did lots of other con men.

But even among con men, who are known for their understanding of human nature, the Yellow Kid was unique.

For example, The Yellow Kid spent very little of his 100 years in jail. That’s because he could buy a jury like he was buying a Snickers bar.

Most of the time, the Yellow Kid would bribe a juror outside the courtroom — at dinner, during lunch, in the bathroom.

But the Kid could even buy the jury right in the courtroom, during the trial, right under the judge’s nose.

How?​

​​​From the mouth of one of the Kid’s colleagues:

“The Kid would pick out a soft guy in the jury and smile at him. If he smiled back, he’d be the guy. Then Yellow would wink at the juror and pass some money to another grifter so that the juror could see it. Then he’d wink again, and if the juror winked or nodded, the fix would be in.”

I’m not a grifter or a con man.

I’m also nowhere near as quick on my feet The Yellow Kid was.

But I have used the same strategy he used.

I’ve used it safely, legally, and you might even say ethically. ​​

I’ve used the Yellow Kid’s technique in my emails, to figure out which offers to create and promote.

A smile… rubbing some money together in my hand… a wink.

The fix would be in — an offer that’s almost guaranteed to succeed.

If you want to know the details of what I done, I’ll talk about it on Thursday during Daily Email Fastlane.

This is a workshop all about sending daily emails for your personal brand.

Daily Email Fastlane is built around the common elements I’ve seen in three very successful daily emailers I’ve coached. Plus, I’ll also include some of the best advice I gave them, the above courtroom “smile and wink” technique being one of them.

If you wanna sign up for Daily Email Fastlane, the deadline is this Wednesday at 8:31pm CET, less than 48 hours from. To get in before the deadline:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

Pick one of these 3 niches

Less is often more when it comes to marketing education.

Example:

I’ve heard marketer Travis Sago say he was once selling a biz op training, about providing some sort of marketing service to businesses.

The first iteration of the training didn’t work out well — Travis had to spend too much time helping his students figure out what niche of businesses to go after.

After it was all over, Travis took stock.

He paced and paced the floor of his laboratory, deep into the night.

And then, in the early morning hours, he had an epiphany:

For the second iteration of the training, Travis simply took out the niche selection part.

Instead, he made niche selection a part of the marketing and application process. When you signed up for the training, you had to pick one of three niches to be in.

Result:

Much easier delivery of the training, and much better results for the students.

I bring this up because I have my Daily Email Fastlane coming up on Thursday. This is a workshop about sending daily emails for your personal brand.

It’s the first time I’m ever offering this workshop.

I have learned a lot from Travis Sago, and I plan to learn from him here as well. So I will not be covering how to pick a niche in Daily Email Fastlane.

Instead, for anyone who does not yet have a niche, but is considering writing daily emails for themselves, my advice is to pick one of these 3 niches for your daily emails:

1. Personal interest

2. Previous experience (preferably, something you got paid for)

3. Make money

You can mix and meld these. My daily emails started out as #1 (interest in persuasion, influence, and personal development)… moved into #2 (talking about copywriting and marketing, based on the work I was doing for clients)… and I’ve since introduced #3, how to get adequately rich so you can live life on your own terms. Which brings me back to Daily Email Fastlane.

The above advice about niches holds whether or not you decide to join me for Daily Email Fastlane. If you want to write daily emails and build a personal brand based on those emails, pick one of the 3 niches above.

But if you want my advice on topics that are a bit further down the daily email road, then consider actually joining me for this workshop.

I will talk about 3 daily emailers I have coached. Each of them fits primarily into one of three categories above. And each built a nice lifestyle business, with one daily email at the center of it.

The deadline to sign up for Daily Email Fastlane is this Wednesday, at 8:31pm CET. If you know you want in, and you want to make sure you don’t miss the deadline, here’s where to go now:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

Not even Cialdini could coax, talk, or shame a solution to this problem

Towards the end of chapter 4 of Bob Cialdini’s book Influence, Cialdini shares a personal story that I want to share with you today.

I want to share this story with you because it serves my purpose.

But you might want to read this story because it can help you achieve your purpose as well.

Here goes:

Robert Cialdini, a world-famous expert in influence, persuasion, and communication, wanted to get his 3yo son to learn to swim without wearing an inflatable inner tube.

Each year, a bunch of kids in Arizona, where Cialdini lived, drowned in unattended pools. Cialdini wanted to make sure it wouldn’t happen to his boy.

So he tried a direct appeal — “Let’s teach you how to swim, son.”

NO!!! was the response. ​​Cialdini’s kid liked water, but he was terrified of getting in without the inflatable inner tube.

No matter how Cialdini tried to “coax, talk, or shame” his 3yo son, the boy wouldn’t let go.

Fine. Cialdini hired a graduate student of his, who was also a lifeguard and swimming instructor, to get his son to learn to swim.

Nope. Once again, the kid refused.

Not even the lifeguard’s professional techniques could overcome the boy’s fear of swimming without the inflatable inner tube.

Fast forward a couple days. Cialdini’s kid was attending a day camp.

One day, as usual, Cialdini went to pick his son up. And he saw a shocking, never-before-seen sight:

His kid was running down the diving board at the pool. He reached the end of the diving board and jumped into the deep end. No inflatable inner tube.

Cialdini rushed over, ready to dive in the pool and to rescue his certainly drowning son.

Except the kid wasn’t drowning. He was swimming.

Cialdini was stunned. He helped his kid get out the pool. And he asked the boy how come he could finally swim without his inflatable plastic ring.

Response:

“Well, I’m 3 years old, and Tommy is 3 years old. And Tommy can swim without a ring, so that means I can, too.”

You can probably imagine a bright-red handprint on Cialdini’s forehead as he slapped himself upon hearing that.

Point being:

We’re all looking for some kind of confirmation that what we’re trying to do is actually possible.

Examples from others can help there. But in order for it to actually help, those others must have the same limitations we have.

If you’re 3 years old, it doesn’t help much to see a 26-year-old lifeguard swimming without an inflatable plastic ring. But when you see 3-year-old Tommy do it, then that means something.

And now to my purpose:

If you are not yet writing daily emails for your personal brand, or if you are not yet successful with it, then next Thursday I’m putting on a workshop called Daily Email Fastlane.

A key part of this workshop will be the common elements I’ve seen among three daily emailers I have coached over the past 18 months.

​​These three coaching students have stood out to me in terms of the money they make, the stability of their income, and simply in how much they seem to enjoy their business and their life.

My claim is that seeing inside these guys’ businesses can help you overcome your own self-imposed or real limitations.

​​Because among these these three daily emailers, you can find at least one who has faced the kinds of problems that you might be facing now:

– a small list
– an unpromising niche
– leads without money
– imposter syndrome
– a genuine lack of credibility

And yet, these three guys turned out successful. Maybe seeing their examples can make you successful also, and quickly so.

If you’d like to join me for this workshop to try it for yourself, here’s where to dive in:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

The 10-word hangover jingle that doubled sales

This morning, I was reading Frank Luntz’s Words That Work. That’s how I came across the following ancient marketing anecdote, with a very modern takeaway:

Back in the 1960s, Alka-Seltzer, the upset-stomach effervescent tablet, wasn’t selling well. And advertising wasn’t helping.

Then the company ran a new ad with a new jingle:

“Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is”

Result:

Sales almost doubled. Customers were happier. Alka-Seltzer as a business was rescued and was eventually sold to Bayer in 1977, for about $1.4 billion in today’s money.

WTF happened?

Plop plop fizz fizz…

Sure, the jingle was catchy. But that’s not what rescued Alka-Seltzer. Instead, it was simple economics.

Until this ad, most people, hung over on a Sunday morning from the Saturday night’s bender, would plop one Alka-Seltzer into some water, stare while it fizzed up, and then chug it down to feel less awful.

After all, that’s how Alka-Seltzer was sold, and that’s what the instructions on the box said.

It worked ok. Clearly not great though, considering the straits that Alka-Seltzer was in.

Then a doctor at the Alka-Seltzer labs named Dorothy Carter suggested taking two Alka-Seltzer instead of one, in order to “break through the pain barrier.”

Sure enough, two pills made the hangover more bearable. Customers were happier. And so were Alka-Seltzer execs, after the plop plop fizz fizz campaign spread the message to the public, and nearly doubled Alka-Seltzer consumption and sales.

The very modern takeaway, as relevant today as it was in the days of Madison Avenue jingles:

Educate your customers on consuming more of your product. Increase the transaction size, not by telling people they’ll save money, but by telling them how to get better results.

This ancient anecdote and the modern takeaway have nothing to do with my upcoming Daily Email Fastlane workshop.

Well, they have something to do with it, but I will save that for the actual workshop instead of giving away everything in this email.

In case you’re curious about this workshop, here’s what to know:

This workshop will cover the common elements I’ve seen in three uniquely successful daily emailers I’ve coached over the past year and a half.

These daily emailers have stood out to me — in terms of the money they make, the stability of their income, and simply in how much they seem to enjoy their business and their life.

My claim is that, once you know the common elements of three very different, and yet very successful daily email business owners, you can take what has worked for them and have it work for you. You can get to success with daily email for your personal brand, in the fast lane.

Daily Email Fastlane will happen next Thursday, May 23, at 8pm CET, 2pm EST, 11am PST.

The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, May 22, at 8:31pm CET.

In case you’d like to sign up now, so you can be sure not to miss out:

Click here, sign up, get ahead fast, never stop

Daily Email Fastlane for women

Last night, I sent out an email promoting my upcoming workshop, Daily Email Fastlane. And for a bit, I was pleased by the number of sales that came in as a result.

I actually stayed pleased until this morning.

And then this morning, I got a reply from Adam Silver, an expert in user experience. Adam wrote me to ask:

“Did you hesitate to write ‘handsome mug’ as it doesn’t work for women? :)”

Adam was referring to the way I ended my email last night. I said there will be a recording of next Thursday’s workshop, but if “I can see your handsome mug live on Zoom, that’s even better.”

Suddenly, after reading Adam’s message, I stopped being so pleased with myself.

I hadn’t thought much about that “handsome mug” phrase while writing it. I didn’t think it mattered.

But now that Adam brought it up, I checked the stats.

It turned out that, out of the 10 sales that have come in since yesterday’s email went out, 9 are from men and only 1 is from a woman.

For reference, I normally get a healthy mix of both men and women buying my stuff.

So was this just a coincidence?

Or did that small phrase really kill a bunch of sales that women might have made?

Did I shoot myself in the foot with just two words?

Or… was it the exact opposite? Did those two words actually help me make those other 9 sales?

Because check it:

In emails and in copy more generally, it makes sense to call out your audience.

Maybe everyone in your audience could possibly benefit from your offer. But most people won’t reply unless they feel your offer is somehow uniquely for them.

The trouble is, you probably have lots of different ways to call out your audience. Lots of different ways to slice and dice your market. Lots of different ways to appeal to how people think of themselves.

So what do you do?

Daily emails offer an easy fix to this conundrum. You just call out a new segment every day, and see what works.

And so, I would like to announce I will hold a workshop next Thursday. It’s called Daily Email Fastlane, and it will help women benefit by sending daily emails for their personal brand.

Maybe you think I’m pandering. Maybe you demand to know why specifically women can benefit from this training, and from daily emails more generally.

Here’s why:

It’s my observation that, out of the hundreds of daily email newsletters I’ve subscribed to over the years, in all kinds of niches, the majority are still sent by men. In many niches, it’s a significant majority.

I’m not appealing to your sense of justice here. I’m appealing to your sense of opportunity.

In most markets today, women would have an immediate advantage by sending out daily emails. They would have this advantage by having unique positioning. By being different to what’s already out there. By simple virtue of being a woman.

And if you want more of a sexist, stereotypical reason:

From what I hear, many women are naturally good at building a sense of community, of forming relationships with others, of emotional bonding. More talented than many men in any case, and certainly more talented than me, somebody who has to relearn this kind of stuff consciously, on a daily basis.

But daily emails are all about forming relationships with your audience, and building a sense of community.

So it seems to me that many women would naturally take to sending good daily emails for their own brands… and it seems to me they would benefit uniquely from doing so.

And yet, like I said, it’s still mostly men who take advantage of daily emails.

I don’t know why that is. But I do have a fix for it, or rather a fast lane.

This fast lane is made up of the commonalities I’ve seen in three uniquely successful daily emailers I’ve coached over the past year and a half.

These daily emailers have stood out to me — in terms of the money they make, the stability of their income, and simply in how much they seem to enjoy their business and their life.

All three achieved success via daily emails, in spite of not being women. So imagine what you could do.

If you’d like to join me for this workshop:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

Announcing: Daily Email Fastlane

Next Thursday, I’m putting on a workshop which until now did not have a proper name. I’m sure you were on pins and needles because of the uncertainty. I am writing now to set you at ease.

I’ve settled on a name. That name is Daily Email Fastlane.

Hear me out:

Over the past year or so, I’ve coached a dozen or so people who write daily emails as a central part of their business strategy.

Out of that dozen or so people, three stand out in my mind — based on the money they make, the stability of their income, and simply in how much they seem to enjoy their business and their life.

I won’t name these people. But I’ll tell you this:

These three daily emailers all move fast. They write emails fast. They spin up offers fast. They go from “good idea” to “let’s see if it works” fast.

“Yeah that’s swell for them,” you might say. “But what about me?”

Well, that’s actually why I’m calling this workshop Daily Email Fastlane.

I can’t motivate you to move any faster than you normally do. That’s up to you.

What I can do, in fact what I’ve done, is to look at what else these three daily emailers have in common, such as:

– how they write their emails and make those emails good, even when they are not feeling creative

– how they structure their offers in a way that makes those offers 17.4x more likely to succeed (that’s my inexact estimate, but it’s in the ballpark)

– how they get their leads and how they think about leads

– plus what I advised them to do to take their already successful daily email businesses and make them even more successful

So that’s why this training is called Daily Email Fastlane. ​​Not because you have to move fast. But because I’ll show you the commonalities of three very different, and yet very successful daily email business owners, so you can take what has worked for them and have it work for you.

Do this, and you will get to success with daily email for your personal brand, in the fast lane, regardless of your natural speed.

Daily Email Fastlane will happen next Thursday, May 23, at 8pm CET, 2pm EST, 11am PST. It will be recorded if you cannot make it live. Though if you can be there and I can see your handsome mug live on Zoom, that’s even better.

In case you’d like to sign up:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-email-fastlane

Too busy NOT to send daily emails

Next Thursday, May 23, I will hold a live workshop. I still haven’t decided on the final name for it. For now, I’m just using the exciting placeholder, “Daily emails for your personal brand.”

Since yesterday, I’ve been having conversations with people who expressed interest in this workshop.

Many people brought up the same problem over and over, in different words:

“I’m too busy to send daily emails.”

“No capacity.”

“Time constraints.”

About that:

Many moons ago, in the unsteady and unreliable pre-daily-email era of my career, I had to write a sales letter for an ebook about meditation.

It was a formulaic sales letter, one of those built around 4 myths.

One of the myths I attacked was, “I’m too busy to meditate.”

My claim back then was, you’re too busy NOT to meditate. If you make a habit of meditation, you will get tasks completed more quickly and you will free up more leisure time.

I’ll make the same claim for sending daily emails.

There are many days when the only thing I get done, business-wise, is to write and send an email to this list.

I write about some idea that excites me or that I find fun. Sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes.

At the end of the month, I’ve written some 30 emails, which I can reuse, resell, or resend as I see fit.

I’ve also inevitably made sales due to those emails, which add up to a reliable 5-figure income each month.

Plus, in the process, I’ve gotten a bit better at selling. And I have 30 days’ worth of data from my list, which I can use to inform future offers or future marketing.

These daily emails aren’t the only thing I do. But they are the one thing I do every day.

Because ultimately, these daily emails have freed up lot of time for me. Personally, I use that time to take a walk, go to the gym, meet with friends, read a book, or simply stare off into space and think.

You might have better leisure-time preferences than I do.

But if you don’t have enough time to enjoy them now… well, to me that’s just an argument for sending daily emails.

Like I said, the workshop on actually doing so will happen next Thursday, May 23. It will be quick. That’s because I aim to make it very concentrated with practical info.

The cart for this workshop is open now, and it will remain open until I close it, next Wednesday, May 22nd, at 8:31pm CET.

I’ll have more to say about this workshop over the coming days. So if you’d like to hold off from making the decision whether or not to join this workshop, you can.

On the other hand, if you know already you want to join me next Thursday, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/daily-emails-workshop

P.S. Yesterday, I ran a contest for a free ticket to this workshop. I chose the winner at random from the people who replied to express interest. The winner this time around turned out to be Tom Render, of the Southwick Renders.

Tom, if you’re listening to this message, please come down to the DJ booth to claim your prize.

On the other hand, if you’re not Tom, then the only way to get inside this workshop is via the link above.