Business Ideas

Intro – You / Me

by

A few days ago, I got an email with the subject line:

“Intro – John / Matt”

I’ve gotten emails like this before, and I always open them eagerly. They normally come from one person, who I know, and introduce me to a second person, who I don’t know.

Not so in this case.

This email was from a guy named Matthias, who I don’t know, introducing me to himself (Matthias aka Matt), who I still don’t know.

That was a little subject line trick I wanted to share with you.

It reminded me of how Gary Bencivenga used to get get a great “endorsement” for his offer by having the offer owner say something about his own product, and then having that formatted like a testimonial.

I don’t know if I would use this “Intro You / Me” trick myself, but there’s no doubt it put me into a different, more favorable state of mind, at least right when opening the email, than I would have been in otherwise.

The bigger point is is that it matters immensely how you first position yourself when you try to open up 1-1 conversations with people.

One option is the above approach, to position yourself as a helpful and disinterested bystander, connecting the person you are reaching out to with a valuable new contact.

That’s not bad, but it’s not great either.

What’s much better is to adopt the positioning I talked about during a live workshop I put on a few years ago, called Water Into Wine.

On that workshop, I talked about positioning I had used to open up conversations (and eventually do deals) with business owners who wouldn’t have even opened my email had I come in presenting myself as a copywriter or a service provider.

I charged $197 for Water into Wine when I ran it. I haven’t made it available since. I am making it available now, and as part of my “Hogwarts of Influence” event, specifically in the “Dumbledore” tier. For more info on that:

https://bejakovic.com/core-promise-pwyw/

Announcing: PWYW recording of last night’s Core Promise workshop

by

Last night, I hosted the inimitable, unrepeatable, wonderful Core Promise Workshop and Q&A call.

To start, I had a bit of a presentation where I broke down, as economically as I could, the two components of a good promise, and why they are often at odds with each other.

That was all right because I got to use, as examples, the 5-Oscar-winning thriller Silence of the Lambs and the Silvester Stallone flop, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.

Then came the fun part, where I ran through a buncha audience member questions, including:

#1. What core promise a copywriter should make when selling his or her services (hint: don’t sell your services)

#2. How to research what promises to make in an entirely unfamiliar professional industry where you know nobody (no, my answer was not “go on Reddit”)

#3. How to make your promise unique if you cannot (or refuse to) guarantee specific performance outcomes like “we will 3x your LTV”

#4. How to structure a core promise for a paid community

So altogether, a fine evening. And then, once I finished, I checked my email. I saw a message from one of my more dedicated readers, who had registered for yesterday’s call. She just wrote:

“I slept through big promise call…”

Unfortunately, the moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on. Yesterday’s workshop was live, and is over.

But thanks the wonders of space-age technology, there is a recording. As I announced a couple days ago, I am only making this recording available as a paid offer.

How paid?

Well, you can choose three levels at which to pay for this recording:

1. The Hermione Granger Level

2. The Severus Snape Level

3. The Albus Dumbledore Level

Each level comes with its own set of magical and mystical bonuses, meant to turn you into a persuasion wizard of greater and greater power. If you’d like to see the levels, and what’s on offer:

https://bejakovic.com/core-promise-pwyw/

Want investors bidding to purchase your newsletter?

by

This is for you if you own a newsletter, email list, Skool community, or Facebook group… and if you would ever consider selling it.

I’ve got a network of thousands of business owners, online investors, and ordinary folks who want to speed up the time it would take for them to make money online.

Many of them would love to purchase your email list, newsletter, or community, if you would be open to selling it, whether because you have bigger priorities, or because your passion has moved elsewhere, or simply because you need the cash.

Crucial point #1:

These are folks who will treat your newsletter or community right if they purchase it.

The people in my network realize that money online is made via long-term relationships, value, and trust.

They will do right by your audience and make the ongoing experience for your audience great.

In short, your folks will be in good hands if you decide to sell.

Crucial point 2:

I can make sure you are paid fairly and even generously.

Selling normally means having to talk to a dozen potential buyers, many of who try to lowball you or haggle you into the ground.

What I’m offering instead is to run an auction, and get investors to compete with each other, and reveal what they are willing to pay, and do it publicly, in a way that gets other bidders to reveal what they would pay as well.

So do you want investors bidding to purchase your newsletter, email list, or community?

If you do, reply to this email.

It doesn’t oblige you in any way.

We’ll just talk about what you have, and if I can help you find a new home for it, and get you paid generously in the process.

Going it on your own

by

Yesterday, in a restaurant in Barcelona’s Eixample district, I organized a “direct response dinner.”

6 people (ok, 6 guys) where there, all of whom work in direct response.

There was a copywriter for an ecom retention agency… there was the owner of a big dropshipping business… there was the head of ops for a lead gen agency… there was the owner of a dating info biz… there was Thom Benny’s business partner Elmo… and there was me.

Over fish curry and ground beef, we talked about what’s up in life and business.

Halfway through the dinner, we switched seats to switch up the conversation.

At the end, everybody stood around outside the restaurant and talked some more and exchanged contacts. I announced I would make this a regular event.

A few years ago, I gave a presentation in Brian Kurtz’s Titans XL group. After that presentation, Brian and I exchanged a couple emails, and he invited me to join Titans myself.

I wrote Brian to say thanks, that I can see Titans is a good group, but that I know from past experience that I don’t function well or last long in groups. I said that even though I know it’s not smart, I always end up going it alone. To which Brian replied:

“Not that I need to teach you anything, John…but whether it’s my group or someone else’s (or one you manufacture on your own), “going it on your own” is a huge mistake.”

That has stuck with me for years. It was a key motivator for why I decided to create my Daily Email House community, and later, why created the Monetization Mastermind. It’s also why decided to organize the dinner last night.

I’m kind of weird and awkward whenever I’m invited to other people’s stuff. I don’t really participate. I look for any excuse to skulk out.

I could tell myself that’s silly, and wait for myself to change and become a better, more sociable, more well-adjusted person.

Or I could simply work with what I’ve got, and figure out how to do something with it. In my case, that’s meant following Brian’s advice, and “manufacturing” groups and communities of my own.

I’m telling you this because maybe it applies to you as well.

Maybe what applies is the specific idea that, if you don’t function well in other people’s groups, then you should manufacture one of your own.

Or maybe what applies is the broader idea to stop waiting for yourself to become a better person in order to get what you want. (Business coach Rich Schefren phrases this as, “Put your business goals ahead of your self-development goals.”)

Final point:

I personally knew everybody I invited to dinner last night, with the exception of James, the head of ops for a lead gen agency.

I had never met James before or interacted with him in any way. I invited him because he is inside Travis Sago’s Royalty Ronin group, and I figured anybody who is in Ronin is ok in my book and is worth meeting. (James turned out to be great.)

Royalty Ronin is the only group I’m a member of in any meaningful way, and the only group I’ve managed to stick around in for more than a few weeks. (I’ve been in Ronin for over two years now.)

That’s not because there’s magic inside Ronin that makes me into a chipper and regular participant. (I rarely post and I comment even more rarely.)

Rater, I stay inside Ronin and I keep lurking there because I’ve learned so much from Travis Sago, both via the ton of expensive trainings that he makes available for free inside Ronin… and via observing Travis and what he does. (This is stuff that might or might not make it into future expensive trainings, but it’s yours free if you only pay attention.)

If you wanna see if Ronin could work for you, whether you participate in groups or not:

https://bejakovic.com/ronin

P.S. If you do make it past free trial and stay inside Ronin, write me an email and let me know. I have some bonuses with your name on them.

An influence and positioning riddle

by

Let’s see if you can spot the pattern:

1. Today, I got a question from a paying subscriber to my Daily Email Habit service. The question was about writing daily emails. I wrote up my answer to that question and posted it inside my Daily Email House community, which has ~500 members, many of them also Daily Email Habit paying subscribers.

2. Earlier today, I got a question from one of the folks who joined my advertorial cohort, which kicked off yesterday, and which I charged $5k for. This cohort member wanted feedback on a couple advertorials she had written, and she had a question about cold outreach.

3. Yesterday afternoon, I got on a call with a business owner who I’m helping to better monetize his email list. We spent some time talking about email copy (I gave him a little tip about positioning) and then we moved on to talking offers, which is where the real money lies.

So, can you spot the pattern?

I’ll give you a moment.

No rush.

I’ll be right over here, eating a banana and getting a sip of water, while you prepare your answer.

Got your best guess?

Ok. So let me tell you what’s up:

Yesterday on that call with the coaching client, he said something like, “I’ll be able to increase the price of this offer in the future after I get some client wins that I can share.”

No doubt, case studies of client wins are valuable.

But I would argue that an occasional case study, even one featuring a very dramatic and successful turnaround, is less valuable than simply hammering home to people, day after day, that you’re the kind of person that others come to and pay for advice, guidance, and help.

In other words, it’s more valuable to be seen as a leader than to be seen as an expert.

It’s what I done above.

I told you I had people coming to me, paying me, getting my advice and guidance.

I didn’t say anything about the results of that advice and guidance. There was no “case study,” no “client wins.” I simply positioned myself as the wise old man (quite old) at the mouth of the cave at the top of the mountain, who others seek out for his wisdom (and old age).

Of course, if you can combine expertise and leadership, then you’re really in the money.

If you wanna flex both your leadership and your expertise at the same time, and if you’re willing to email regularly about topics like influence, marketing, or copywriting, then I’ll remind you of my Most Valuable Email program.

I’ve had a few hundred people pay me a few hundred dollars for this program. Here are the results that some of them have reported after implementing the Most Valuable Email trick:

#1. “… made me make 5 times more the investment in MVE”

#2. “The highest-converting single-email campaign sent to the non-buyers of all time”

#3. “My inbox is flooded with applause and response and compliments”

For more info on MVE:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

Last call for 1PAA cohort

by

I’m reading a book called No More Mr. Nice Guy, and on page 65 it says:

“Nice Guys have a difficult time comprehending that in general, people are not drawn to perfection in others. People are drawn to shared interests, shared problems, and an individual’s life force.”

The book is about 1-1, personal relationships. But the same applies to 1-many or business relationships.

Let that be the useful marketing message for today.

In entirely unrelated news, this is the last call I will make for the 1-Person Advertorial Agency cohort.

It’s come to my attention that this entire week, I’ve been promoting this cohort and insisting that it kicks off on May 1.

That of course is nonsense, since May 1 is well past.

The fact is I made a mistake, one I then copy-pasted over and over. The cohort actually kicks off tomorrow, JUNE 1.

Since I’ve been promoting this offer all week long, I imagine that you’ve either dismissed it as not being for you, or you’ve replied to me to express interest. But on the odd chance that this is the first time you’re hearing about this offer, here’s what’s up, in 3 points:

#1. The investment is $5k

The destination we’re headed to is advertorials that you can reasonably make $2k+ with the right clients, and that take max 1-2 days each to finish.

If you get just one such gig a month, I figure it’s worth $24k over the next year.

$5k is a reasonable investment to fix that.

That said, I am committed to getting you to where I say I will get you.

That’s why I’m breaking up the $5k as follows, so I have a stake in the outcome I promise to get you:

* $2k to start

* The remaining $3k when you make your first $10k from advertorial work

#2. I will help you get clients via the two methods laid out in 1PAA

One of these methods is Upwork (that’s where I got my biggest advertorial clients back in the day).

The other is cold outreach to promising brands with a ready-made advertorial.

(I suggest doing both of these methods in parallel during the cohort, for the quickest and best results.)

I will help you filter out who to approach, the messages to send them, the offers to make them. But you still have to do the work, as laid out in 1PAA.

#3. We get started next week, May June 1st, and we keep going until you get to $10k

The cohort will be organized as a month-long Skool group where I can answer questions and give feedback on copy and client-getting efforts.

1 month is plenty of time to pick/get a client, write an advertorial for them, and deliver it. (If you’re feeling very proactive, it’s enough to write and deliver 5 or 10 advertorials.)

After the month is done, I’ll keep giving you ongoing support and feedback over email (for any questions you might have) or Google Docs (for advertorial critiques).

Again, my promise is to keep working with you until you make $10k from advertorial work.

That’s it.

If you’re interested, reply to this email. Again, we start tomorrow, JUNE 1st.

How I’d get advertorial clients without Upwork, cold outreach, or a network

by

A couple months ago, I got back on Facebook in a BIG way. What I mean by that is that I started spending a few minutes there every couple days or so.

I was lurking, and trying to see what offers I would get pitched by the Facebook ad algorithm. (I was and am planning on launching my own cold traffic funnel, and wiser heads than mine say that you gotta do your research ahead of time.)

That’s how I came across a pretty, pretty brilliant offer.

It’s a dude who is running an ad… telling you he will write an ad to beat your best performing ad… and if he doesn’t succeed in beating it, he’ll give you all your money back.

(The offer started at $97 and has been going up each time he sells out the slots he’s got for the month. It currently sells for $247.)

From what I can tell, the dude has been running this since last November.

He has had 67 people take him up on it so far.

Out of those, he’s been able to beat their best ad 61 times, while refunding people 6 times.

In true Gary Bencivenga fashion, his landing page is FULL of social proof resulting from this challenge, including the refund requests from the 6 refunders, all of whom were complementary to his skill and business model.

Do you think that, out of any of the remaining 61 people whose best ads he beat, he got any long-term clients who are now paying him thousands of dollars a month?

My guess is yes.

I’m telling you this because right now, I’m promoting a cohort iI will run, starting next Monday, May 1st. The cohort will involve writing advertorials and getting clients who will happily pay for those advertorials.

So far, a few dozen people have expressed interest in this. I’ve been talking to them, or rather, emailing with them. I asked them for more information about where they’re currently at.

A few people have told me that they are either sick of looking for copywriting clients on Upwork or via cold outreach… or that they don’t have time or interest in looking for clients at all, and would rather outsource that to me.

I’m sorry to say, in that case, this cohort is not for you.

For one thing, I’m offering to help and advise with getting clients, not do it in your stead.

For another, the client-getting methods we will be using are the ones outlined inside the 1-Person Advertorial Agency course, which are (gulp) Upwork and cold outreach.

(The good news is, Upwork is where I got my biggest advertorial clients, and the way of cold outreach that 1PAA teaches is likely to be more effective and efficient than your usual kind.)

Still, if you hate the idea of Upwork and cold outreach for getting advertorial clients, then I just gave you a working alternative above. Spelled out, it goes like this:

1. Create a landing page with a headline that says something like, “FREE advertorial for your ecom brand”

2. On that landing page, explain your deal, which is basically that you will write them a free advertorial if they will pay you a commission in case of success

3. Explain who it’s for and not for (eg. must have a working cold traffic funnel, must be making at least X sales per day, must not be currently under investigation by the FTC, etc.)

4. Get people to fill out some kind of a form with whatever details you want from them in order to decide if you want to work with them, or to invite them on a screening call

5. Run super basic ads on Facebook for $20 a day to advertise this landing page

6. Update your landing page with proof as you get it

I’ve kick-started my own advertorial agency by reaching out to my list and network. Maybe that will be enough to get me all the advertorial clients I will ever want. Or maybe i will eventually tap out that demand, in which case I will do exactly what I wrote above, with that Facebook advertising strategy.

But if you like, you can beat me to it, and get your name out there in the world, and get clients who pay you for advertorials in the process, by doing what I just told you I would do.

In any case, the countdown to my advertorial cohort continues. Here are the high-level details:

I’ve made an agreement to write an advertorial for a client.

I’m inviting copywriters to join me and work alongside me as I do this.

You get my help with writing an advertorial following the 1-Person Advertorial Agency system.

You get my help tracking down, vetting, and closing a client (or partner business) using the two client-getting methods in 1-Person Advertorial Agency.

Plus, I’m promising to keep working with you and giving you my support and input until you get to $10k from advertorial work.

We start next week. In case you’re interested, reply now.

How much it costs

by

Last week, I wrote an email about 10 things that are working for me right now. One of the 10 was the following:

#6. Making a coaching offer that consists of a down payment to get started, and the rest conditional on success

I’m working with a few people on this arrangement right now. It makes selling easier. It makes delivery easier. It makes me more motivated. It makes coaching clients more motivated. It allows me to charge more than I might otherwise. I’m waiting to find out what the downsides, if any, might be.

I’m also making a new offer right now.

I’ve made an agreement to write an advertorial for a client.

I’m inviting copywriters to join me and work alongside me as I do this.

You get my help with writing an advertorial following the 1-Person Advertorial Agency system.

You get my help tracking down, vetting, and closing a client (or partner business) using the two client-getting methods in 1-Person Advertorial Agency.

Plus, I’m promising to keep working with you and giving you my support and input until you get to $10k from advertorial work.

So how much it costs?

$5k.

The destination we’re headed to is advertorials that you can reasonably make $2k+ with the right clients, and that take max 1-2 days each to finish.

If you get just one such gig a month, I figure it’s worth $24k over the next year.

$5k is a reasonable investment to fix that.

That said, I am committed to getting you to where I say I will get you.

That’s why I’m breaking up the $5k as follows, so I have a stake in the outcome I promise to get you:

* $2k to start

* The remaining $3k when you make your first $10k from advertorial work

If you’re not completely appalled by the above numbers, and if you want to find out if this opportunity could be a fit for you, reply now. We start next week.

TOTO, Nintendo, and Bejako: Titans of the surival-based business

by

Yesterday I read an article that’s been going viral around the world, and which tackles the seemingly pointless topic of “Why Japanese companies do so many different things.”

Example:

TOTO is a Japanese toilet manufacturer that’s been gaining ground in the US.

But besides excellent toilets, TOTO also makes excellent bathroom tiles, faucets, modular kitchens, photocatalytic coatings for buildings, and assistive equipment for the elderly.

And now, thanks to the growth of AI and the resulting demand for memory chips, TOTO has a booming new business making something called an e-chuck, which is a component of the semiconductor supply industry.

There are dozens of examples like this among Japanese companies.

Kyocera makes kitchen knives, LCD systems, and joint replacements.

Yamaha builds motorcycles, guitars, and industrial robots.

Nintendo started out as a handmade playing card company, tried to enter the taxi service and instant rice markets, and eventually settled on making Mario and Zelda.

A bunch of Japanese companies do a bunch of stuff, often entirely unrelated, at a very high and very profitable level.

How? Why?

I won’t attempt to summarize the viral article here. It’s over 5k words long, and it is itself based on summarizing a number of much longer econ research papers. Here’s just one relevant insight for you and me today:

American and Japanese companies are built up of fundamentally distinct “bundles of practices.” Among economists, these distinct bundles have gotten the names H-firm (typical American biz) vs J-firm (typical Japanese biz).

Elements of the H-firm you’re probably familiar with. Things like employee specialization, promotions and salaries based on performance, frequent workspace switching, openness to external capital.

Elements of the J-firm are much more foreign if you’re not from Japan. They include such practices as lifetime employment (even in times of economic crisis), hostility to outside capital, general employee knowledge rather than specialization, promotion and salary based on seniority rather than performance.

There’s one more distinction that’s relevant for us:

The H-firm is geared towards profitability and returns to investors.

The J-firm, on the other hand, is aiming simply at its own survival, even though it can be wildly profitable as it looks to survive.

It’s an interesting topic, and the viral article is worth looking up and reading.

But it’s not just idle curiosity why I’m sharing this with you. This whole distinction between J-firms and H-firms sounded familiar and personally relevant to me. I figured the J-firm is much more like my email-newsletter-based biz, which you might call the B-firm (for Bejako-style business).

The B-firm is also a bundle of practices, such as:

1. Selling yourself, your own personal attitudes and interests, rather than promising to solve a customer problem first and foremost

2. Regular and frequent communication

3. High prices

4. High trust

5. Customers who stick around and continue to buy for years, and often buy many different things, often entirely unrelated

Ultimately, the B-firm is also about long-term survival rather than short-term profitability, though the B-firm has been very profitable to me over the long term.

I’m telling you this in case you have an idea of what a “business” looks like.

Some of the most fundamental ideas we have about “business” are actually only assumptions, or rather, bundles of practices that make sense in a given context, like Silicon Valley or Wall Street.

Other forms of business exist, as part of other bundles, and can be very successful, and maybe much more palatable to you personally.

A final insight from that viral article:

In Japan, there was a trigger that caused the emergence of the J-firm bundle of practices. That trigger was the decision by the Japanese government, during the 1930s and 40s, to instruct firms to prioritize employees over shareholder profits, as part of the Japanese drive to build up military capacity.

Similarly, if you want to have a B-firm like mine, there’s a trigger that will in time pull in other practices, like high prices and customers who continue to buy year after year. That trigger is starting to communicate regularly and frequently with your audience, such as by sending daily emails.

You don’t need my help to start a daily email habit. But if over time you’ve decided that you want my help in starting your own daily email habit, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

10 things that are working for me now

by

#1. Pre-auction polls

I wrote up an email for a list owner (and potential auction partner) to test interest for an offer he thought of auctioning off.

The poll went out, and there wasn’t enough interest to run the auction. But the list owner got a bunch of coaching clients simply by following up with the people who did express interest.

The whole point of an auction is to get leads. But you might not even need an auction.

#2. The Most Valuable Offer

I had 9 people sign up. 5 actually put on their own Most Valuable Offer. Based on what I’ve heard from so far, everybody made sales and got leads for future offers. I will be running this offer regularly in the future.

#3. DFY newsletter service

I offered this a couple weeks ago. I got a grand total of two people raising their hands. One was not a fit. The other was, and we agreed to work together. This DFY newsletter service is also something I will be advertising regularly in the future.

#4. Asking myself, “What’s working for me now?”

In fact, that’s why I’m writing this email today.

And also asking, “What’s worked for me recently?” I asked myself that a couple weeks ago and I identified two offers over the past 6 months that worked dramatically better than everything else (the 1-Person Advertorial Agency promo and my “I endorse YOU” auctino). What’s next is to figure out how to deliver more of the same outcome, in new ways, or to new people.

#5. Daily emails

Not new, but worked for me before, and working for me still.

For example, I wrote recently about the value of having two tracks, a client and a student track. I ended up convincing myself with what I wrote in that email.

That led me to relaunch the DFY newsletter service. Soon will lead me to start offering more client work of a different kind (if you’re feeling like a detective, it’s something I mentioned above).

#6. Making a coaching offer that consists of a down payment to get started, and the rest conditional on success

I’m working with a few people on this arrangement right now. It makes selling easier. It makes delivery easier. It makes me more motivated. It makes coaching clients more motivated. It allows me to charge more than I might otherwise. I’m waiting to find out what the downsides, if any, might be.

#7. Making lists of 10 ideas, like this

My first idea is almost never the best one. And usually, idea 7 or 8 is something I never would have thought of but is surprisingly valuable. This is not something new I’m doing. I’ve been at it for years. But like daily emails, it has been working for me for years, and continues to work.

#8. My Monetization Mastermind group as a way to open doors

It’s a reason why to get introduced to people. A reason to get on a call. A reason to find more good people to get introduced to.

#9. Getting on calls with people

I’ve found it’s the fastest and most indepth way to communicate, at least if you work from home like me. You can get info out of people you could never get over email alone.

Whenever I talk to people, they always make some side comment that ends up changing how I think about a crucial issue. (Such as points 3 and 5 above, which were the direct result of getting on a call with somebody inside my Monetization Mastermind group).

#10. Weekly work budget

I wrote about this last week, but in a nutshell, it’s a total amount of time I allow myself to work each week. It’s forcing me to prioritize and focus. I’m getting more done in less time.

At this point, I could promote something, like my Daily Email Habit service.

But I’d rather know what’s working for you now. If you’re game, hit reply, and let me know.