Business Ideas

Personal positioning that gets $15,000/month retainers

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Last night, I interviewed Travis Speegle, who is a media buyer, and kind of in the elite of his profession.

Internet marketer Ryan Lee let slip once that Travis gets a $15,000/month retainer, just to start a new project.

I’m telling you this to set up the following quote, which you might dismiss otherwise. Travis was talking about how he moved to Puerto Rico to surf, and how that lifestyle choice influenced how he works with clients. And he said:

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The personal things, those things that we think have nothing to do with our business, are the things that make the biggest difference.

The thing that made the biggest difference in my business and where I am currently today is when I specifically decided that I was going to live my life and become a professional surfer and that I was going to treat everybody that hired me for anything as a sponsor to my surfing.

And I started telling that story. It was the best filter.

Anybody who couldn’t buy into it or was like, “That’s just stupid,” well they’re not a good client that’s not a good fit for me.

But anybody who did, super respected it, and bought into my life, my lifestyle, then I could almost do no wrong.

And things got better because it just attracted more of the people that would actually like to work with me, not just my style, or the results.

It just so happens that results come a lot easier when you work with the right people.

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Maybe you have your own takeaways from this, or objections to what Travis is saying.

I won’t try to convince you one way or another.

I’ll just tell you one thing I got from Travis’s “professional surfer” stance, and that’s the value of metaphor — of a super clear and easy-to-communicate image — both for the person who is talking and for the person who is listening.

This is just as true whether you’re pushing a product… a service… or, like in Travis’s case, yourself as a partner, expert, or leader.

But on to biz.

This week, until Sundae, I’m promoting Travis’s MyPEEPS, which gives you the core of Travis’s ~20 years of media buying and list-building experience for a one-time investment of $495 — significantly more affordable than Travis’s $15k/month retainer.

Plus, if you get MyPEEPS via my affiliate link, I will also include a bonus, which I’m offering for free, only this once, and which I would normally charge $500 or more for.

The free bonus is that I’ll ride shotgun as you build up your own list following the process in MyPEEPS, and give you my copywriting feedback and marketing input along the way.

For the full details on how this will work, or to get MyPEEPS and my free bonus as well:

​https://bejakovic.com/shotgun​

The reputation benefit of a bigger list

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My own email list — this one, about marketing and copywriting and influence — is tiny. But some of the people on my list have much bigger lists than I do.

One such person is Russell Nohelty. Russell is a bestselling author of fantasy books and comics. He also writes about the business of writing, and he runs Writer MBA, a membership program to help writers make more money.

Russell’s audience on Substack is over 70,000 people.

Last week, when I started writing about my plan to grow a new list via paid traffic, Russell reached out. He offered to share his experiences spending $30k since February to grow his audience.

Russell and I got on a call this past Monday. It was interesting and valuable throughout, but one thing in particular stuck with me, something Russell said about the reputation benefits of various list sizes. In Russell’s words:

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There were a couple of break points where everything felt different.

10,000 emails felt different than 8,000.

30,000 emails felt way different than 20,000 emails.

From my experience, talking to other people, 50,000, 80,000 — there’s different break points where people go, “Oh you’ve got 45,000 people on your list! Yes, I want to get in front of them!”

Promotions become easier. When you’re a Dream 100 guy like I am, you can reach out to almost anyone and be like, “Hey, do you wanna be in front of my 35,000, 45,000, whatever the number is, people.”

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I can imagine that somebody somewhere has just crossed his arms and frowned. “Well, I’d much rather have a small but mighty list than a stupid big list that doesn’t read or buy from me.”

Sure. It’s my policy as well with my own list. That said, you can have both a large and a mighty list — Russell does.

But here’s the sneaky thing:

All of us constantly use mental shortcuts to evaluate the people around us and the choices we have.

On the one hand, a large list is an immensely valuable asset for its own sake.

On the other hand, a large list is also an immensely valuable asset because of its reputation benefit. Because people treat you differently if you get one. Because opportunities open up which would be closed otherwise.

All that’s to say, if you got a business, and a list, but it’s not quite going how you’d like… then the solution might just be to get a bigger list. Maybe if you can make it to the next break point, like Russell says above, then your problems now might just go poof.

Which brings me back to my plan to grow a new list via paid traffic.

If you like, you can join me. You can build up your own list using the same process I will be following, and get my copywriting feedback and marketing input while we work alongside each other.

I can tell you right now that the investment for this offer is $497 to get started, plus $10-$15 a day for ads. If that doesn’t deter you, hit reply and tell me so, and I can give you more information.

Do you make this mistake with your customer database?

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Back in the early 1990s, the New Jersey Nets — the NBA team that’s now the Brooklyn Nets — had a rather clever way of cutting costs:

Each season, they saved on hard drive space by deleting the names of the previous season’s ticket holders.

After all, who’s got space for all those names, addresses, and phone numbers of people who had paid thousands of dollars for season tickets?

Besides, if anybody had not renewed their season ticket this year, then what was the point of keeping their contact data? The Nets could just go out and run TV ads or radio ads or maybe go knock door-to-door to fill any unfilled seats.

Maybe my tone is not sarcastic enough, so let me make it clear:

If you do a good job selling to a cold audience — to people who have never bought from you before — you can hope for about a 2% conversion rate.

In other words, 1 out of every 50 strangers might decide to give you some money, carefully, guardedly.

On the other hand, if you do a modest job selling to a warm audience — to people who have bought from you before — you can hope for about 20% to 50% conversion rate.

In other words, 1 out of 5 people might decide to give you more money, or it might be as high as 1 in 2. Plus, the selling tends to be easier, and the price more flexible.

All that’s to say, the Nets’ habit of regularly deleting customer records was an act of criminal negligence. It probably cost the organization millions of dollars in profits over the years.

Of course, it’s not much less negligent to save customer records and never do anything with them.

One ecommerce client I worked with had a database of about 150,000 buyers. It just sat there inside Shopify, while the client worked furiously to optimize Facebook ads and bring in more new customers.

But you see where I’m going with this, so let me wrap it up:

Step one is to stop wiping your hard drive clean and throwing customer records away.

Step two is to start selling those customers.

If you want to get it done for you, write me and maybe I can help. Or if you want to get it done yourself:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/

If your open rates are excellent but your sales suck

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Yesterday, I wrote an email about a magical, far-off place called Affiliate World. I even invited you to meet me there.

​​To which, I got a reply from James “Get Paid Write” Carran, whose newsletter I am a reader of. James wrote:

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I’m obviously not in the right crowd because I spent this entire email thinking affiliate world was a thing you were making up for the email until I got to the end and realised it was a conference 😂

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James is right — i didn’t explain Affiliate World at all.

I didn’t mention it was a conference, or that it was in Budapest until halfway through the email, or anything about the dates. I figured there was no point — either people are already going and they know, or there’s no way I will persuade them to go with this one email.

Lazy?

Maybe.

Self-defeating?

Maybe.

But I remember hearing something about this a long time ago in an interview with marketer Travis Sago.

Travis a kind of nice-guy Ben Settle. Like Ben, Travis is an expert email copywriter and direct marketer. Like Ben, he has a cult-like following. And like Ben, he has made millions with his own online businesses and has helped others make millions too. One curious thing:

Travis says he writes his email subject lines like he has to pay for each open.

Rather than trying to get everyone to open, and hoping to somehow persuade or convince or explain to them why it’s in their interest to take the next step before they click away… Travis uses each email to select from the audience a tiny pocket of highly qualified people.

There’s a broader approach here – efficiency as a business principle. It’s how Travis has been able to build up a multimillion business selling little $39 ebooks… and how he was later able to build up a second multi million business, selling $5k and $10k and $25k programs and masterminds.

I don’t practice Travis’s subject line approach with this newsletter, not every day. But maybe it’s something for you to think about on this Sunday, particularly if your open rates are excellent but your sales suck.

And in case you’d like to know what to write once people open your emails, so your emails not only get opened, not only get read, but also make sales, you might like:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/

You, me, Affiliate World?

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Are you going to Affiliate World? If you are, let me know. I need the encouragement.

I’ve been reading about sales trainer David Sandler’s “traps for success.”

For example, when Sandler used to cold call on prospects at their offices, he would park his car in a downtown garage, knowing he only had enough money on him to pay for either lunch or parking.

He liked lunch, and so he spent his money during the day.

That would mean he’d have to make some sales calls, and close at least one, and get at least a few dollars of deposit, if he wanted to get his car out of the garage and drive home at the end of the day.

That’s why I’m asking if you’re going to Affiliate World.

I already know some people who are going. I’ve thought about it myself.

Last year, I went to two live marketing-related events. After each was done, I was juiced and I told myself I should do this more often. Plus this year Affiliate World’s happening in Budapest. I love Budapest — I lived there for 11 years.

At the same time, thinking about being herded onto a plane… and staying in some dungeon-like Airbnb… and paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege of feeling guilty if I don’t talk to a bunch of strangers… all that’s making me hesitate.

So I’ve set a trap for myself. I’ve told myself I will go to Affiliate World if at least five people I know will also be there.

That’s why I’m writing you. Will you be there?

Let me know. We can meet, talk marketing, or not talk marketing — after all, there are many other interesting things to talk about.

And maybe I can even show you around. Or not show you around — after all, maybe you truly enjoy talking to a bunch of strangers, and it sounds like Affiliate World will be a very stimulating place.

Stop prospects leaving against medical advice

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By the time the doctor had walked into the room, the patient was already half-dressed. He had ripped the IV from his arm, packed his backpack, and was making for the door.

“I have stuff to do,” he said. “Call me when you know.”

The patient had come in a few days earlier, feverish and sweaty. He had been admitted, and he was waiting ever since for biopsy results, because there was a good chance the lump in his throat was lymphoma.

What to say to him? What to do to keep him from bolting out the door?

Think about that for a minute.

It might be relevant even if you’re not a doctor, but if you run a business — as long as you deal with troubled customers or clients, provide highly specialized treatment, and ask for a lot of money and trust in return.

So you got your answer?

Good. First, let me point out what the doctor didn’t do:

* He didn’t command. “THOU SHALT NOT LEAVE.” That would be futile and simply untrue.

* He didn’t persuade. “10 jaw-dropping reasons why leaving hospital treatment today will shorten your life! (page 14)”

* He didn’t cajole. “Please please please don’t do this. How about we give you a 10% coupon for your next purchase of medical services?”

That’s not to say that any of those approaches is bad in itself. They all have their place. It’s just not in a hospital room, and maybe not in your business.

So what did the doctor do to get the patient to calm down… go back to his room… and agree to stay until he had gotten a proper diagnosis and possibly treatment?

You can read all about it here, from an amazed resident who witnessed the scene:

https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/teaching-doctors-the-art-of-negotiation/

Dan Kennedy’s “stealth tactic” for client attraction from scratch

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Yesterday, I got on Skype. I live in Spain, I have a Croatian phone number, and Skype is my only way to dial an American landline and not pay ridiculous charges.

Skype connected.

“Hello?”

“Hi Steve. It’s John Bejakovic. We were in contact on LinkedIn. Is now an okay time to talk?”

“Hi John. Yeah, absolutely. I was expecting your call.”

Last week, I cold-contacted this guy. We weren’t even connected on LinkedIn but I sent him a message out of the blue.

Earlier this week, I guess he finally opened up LinkedIn because he replied. We exchanged a couple more messages. At the end of it, I got him to agree to a call. He sent me his home phone number.

We did the call yesterday. ​​I was asking questions and he was willingly answering. ​At the end of the call, I also got him to give me his home address.

Now, this wasn’t a business-getting call. But… it coulda been.

The same strategy I used to get on a call with this guy and to even get his home address is one I heard Dan Kennedy advocate in his Business of Copywriting Academy.

Unfortunately, that training is hidden inside the ancient infrastructure at AWAI. That means it’s hard to buy, and impossible to promote as an affiliate. It’s a shame, because the training is really interesting and really valuable.

One idea that’s stuck with me is a kind of Trojan horse for client getting, something that Dan says he would use himself if he needed to. In his own words:

“Let me give you my stealth tactic. Here’s what I would do if I was starting from scratch, right now, and I wanted some clients in Cleveland. If and when I retire and I decide to spend six months out of the year in Orlando, if I then feel I want a couple clients, I will use this strategy exactly as I’m about to describe it to you.”

Dan is famous for 1) never leaving suburban Ohio and 2) for never using the Internet. ​​That’s why he’s talking about using this strategy locally in Cleveland and Orlando.

​​But the same strategy works online too. Again, I used it just yesterday on LinkedIn and Skype, though I wasn’t looking for client work.

So I got a deal for you:

As I wrote yesterday, I’m considering putting together something new, a kind of offer research service that tracks unique and effective offers. In particular, I’m interested in offers that are 1) working now, and that 2) don’t rely on authority or a personal brand.

Have you spotted any such offers recently? Or better yet, have you bought any such offers recently?

If you have, write in and tell me about it.

If the offer you tell me about is unique and actually matches the two criteria above (working now, not relying on authority or personal brand), then I’ll reply to tell you Dan Kennedy’s client-getting stealth tactic — what he would do if he needed clients today.

And by the way, Dan’s stealth tactic is not limited to getting copywriting clients. It’s relevant if you want clients of any kind, or partners, or just connections for your own ends, like what I was doing with the guy I contacted on LinkedIn.

In other words, this tactic can work whenever you really want a connection with a specific person or profile of person.

​​And if that sounds attractive to you, then think of an offer that matches my criteria above. Write in with it, and I’ll tell you what Dan would do.

Looking for a partner for my longevity list

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I was massaging my ears this morning and watching a training hosted by marketer Ryan Lee.

Maybe you know Ryan — he’s been doing business online for 20+ years. He has coached and collaborated with and gotten endorsements from people like Russell Brunson and Ryan Deiss and Brian Kurtz and and Todd Brown — all big names in the Internet marketing space, in case you don’t know ’em.

Anyways, Ryan said:

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Biggest mistakes I’ve made by far, I just let a list go or I shift and I get out of that.

If I would have stayed in like the fitness market, just doing fitness stuff from 23 years ago, I’d probably be a billionaire.

Or if I got a piece of everyone’s business I taught, I would definitely be a billionaire by now. I’ve done fine, but I know, seeing what happened.

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When I heard Ryan say this, I let go of my ears. “Hmm,” I said. “HMM.”

Because back in March, I let my longevity list go.

For over a year, I had been writing a weekly newsletter to that list. The list was small but growing. Readers loved the content. But I didn’t have good offers to promote, and in spite of a year of work, I couldn’t make it pay.

I had had enough. So I stopped mailing it. It’s been sitting there ever since.

And it’s still getting people opting in to it… and even people writing in and asking me when I will write more newsletter issues.

The answer is, never. I have too much other stuff to do. But I had the idea this morning to look for a partner for this longevity list, somebody who would actually like to handle the regular writing part.

Maybe that partner could be you?

Before you start imagining that future, here are three facts of life:

# 1. I’m looking for a partner, not an unpaid coaching student or a drunk intern.

If you can write and enjoy research, then this could be a fit.

But if you cannot write, or if you’re sloppy with research, then it won’t work. I’d rather not send anything to this list than send a tossed salad of fluff and garbage. And while I have systems in place to help with the research and writing… and while I’m happy to give my feedback and ongoing input on the content… I also do not want to be constantly looking over your shoulder.

#2. This will only make sense if you are interested or rather obsessive about health and the science behind it.

If that’s not you in real life, this will not make sense — you will hate the day-to-day work, and the result won’t be very good, not in the long term.

#3. The list is not making any money right now.

If you need money yesterday, or by the end of the today, or by the end of this week, then this is not for you.

On the other hand, if the list ever does make any money, we can split it the way partners split stuff.

About the last part:

Even though the list is making zero money right now, it’s not impossible that it could make money, even right quick.

In part that’s because some things have changed since March — I’ve had a few potential good offers pop up.

Another reason is that, while I don’t want to spend time writing that longevity newsletter each week, I am willing to do other stuff.

Such as, finding offers to promote… finding partners for various JVs… growing the list… or even putting in money — assuming we have some hope of getting that money back.

Again, I am really looking for a partner. Writing is one thing you can contribute, but if you have other things to contribute too, then great. I’m also willing to do my part, long term.

This means we will have to like each other, have complementary skills and resources, and have some kind of common vision.

It’s highly unlikely all these things will line up. But maybe it’s not impossible.

If you’re interested, hit reply. And write me something to convince me that you’ve read this email thoroughly, that you could be a good fit for who I’m looking for, and that you’re actually interested in this idea, long-term.

Jacob Pegs testifies about the JB effect

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Back in May, on the last day of my promotion for the Daily Email Fastlane workshop, I got a message from Modern Maker Jacob Pegs.

Jacob was one of the three daily emailers I had profiled inside that Fastlane workshop. In brief:

1. For about two years now, Jacob has been posting on LinkedIn as a way to build an audience (he’s built it up to 40k LinkedIn followers)

2. He’s been driving those followers from LinkedIn to his daily email list, where he promotes a lean stack of info products and a group coaching offer

3. A few days ago, Jacob wrote that he had just crossed the 60% mark of his $1M goal for 2024. According to my math — and I was a math major, so you can trust me — this means that Jacob has made $600k so far this year.

I’m telling you about Jacob for two reasons.

One is to show you what’s possible, and even how quickly it’s possible, if things line up right.

Two is that in that email back in May, Jacob sent me a nice testimonial/case study, and it’s now time to trot it out, with only a three-month delay.

Jacob approached me back in April, because he wanted to improve his copywriting and email game.

I mean, clearly it was already working great. But he wanted it to work even greater.

So we did a kind of one-month “Up Your Skills” engagement. Over the course of a month, I gave Jacob my feedback on his emails, and I told him how I might tweak some of the copy he was writing. Result, in Jacob’s words:

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Here’s a good bit of feedback for you from our latest engagement, which might help as an honest testimonial 😅 —

Something about your writing style kept me glued from start to finish.

I’d go to make a coffee, the kettle would finish boiling, and I’d delay the coffee to the point I’d have to reboil the kettle again!

Because, I had to finish the email. I couldn’t quite pin point what it was, but it made me reach out to you.

3 weeks into our mentorship, I’m getting the same feedback from my list (screenshots attached).

15 sales in, and they can’t “quite pin point how.”

Maybe it’s the JB effect.

And it’s definitely in the fast lane.

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Like I said, Jacob already had everything lined up. He was making sales. He kept his readers reading day after day.

But Jacob did make changes to his emails during that time we worked together. I noticed the changes. It seems his audience noticed them too, and in a positive way. ​​​​

Maybe you’re in a similar situation to Jacob?

Not necessarily the same numbers with the money and the audience size… but maybe you have offers that are working, and you’re writing regularly to get your people reading and buying from you?

And maybe you’re wondering how much further you could take it?

If you are, I’m guessing it doesn’t make sense to do a long, extended, open-ended coaching program.

​​But maybe a one-month “Up Your Skills” engagement, like I did with Jacob, might make sense.

In case you’re interested, hit reply. No pressure, and no promises at this point. But I’ll get back to you, and we can talk in more detail.

The final bit of Jim Camp gossip

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This past Tuesday, I wrote a behind-the-curtain email about negotiation coach Jim Camp.

​​Camp is widely respected and cited as a negotiation authority. His ideas are quoted in books and on TV and by dudes like me.

But if you dig a bit, it seems most of Camp’s advice about negotiation was swiped, often verbatim, from sales trainer David Sandler.

Problem:

The claim that Camp swiped Sandler’s ideas is based on textual analysis, by looking at Camp’s book side by side with Sandler’s book. It could be just one hell of a coincidence, or maybe there’s some kind of other explanation than plagiarism.

Solution:

I got a reply to my email on Tuesday from a reader named Ron, with some first-hand experience. ​​I’m reprinting it here in full because it’s juicy, and because there’s an interesting bit of human psychology hiding on the surface of it.

​​Take it away Ron:

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Thank you John, I’ve tried to tell the same stories to the IM crowd for years and no one seemed to notice.

For a backstory, I took his Camp Negotiation coaching program back in 2009 and it was pretty silly, just a guided text followed by a quiz website (basically rereading the book to you), and my “advisor” was Jim’s oldest son.

At the end of the course, ironically, the module was “no closing” and it was on how closing sales was so 1950’s and you should just ask what do we do next and the prospect should tell you they’re in.

Well after finishing the course, his son called me to show me their new software (which was just a clunky CRM and with little negotiating tips pop-ups to remind you of the techniques) and after the demo, he tried to get me to buy it and I said no thanks.

He goes all weird and tells how I’m going to miss out on all these profitable deals and blah blah blah, and he’s getting pretty aggressive. I chuckled and said “so, no closing right?” He got all butthurt and hung up.

Anyways, I later found out Jim Camp was a franchisee for Sandler (the sales training business was sold city to city as a franchise model) and when his contract was up, Jim just rewrote the book and made up his own terms and sold his programs that way.

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So there you go. That’s the gossip. I can’t confirm or deny the franchisee part of it. All I can say is it makes sense to me personally. And with that, I’ll leave off this Sandler/Camp drama.

But what about that interesting bit of psychology I promised you? It’s there in Ron’s first sentence:

“I’ve tried to tell the same stories to the IM crowd for years and no one seemed to notice.”

This is a curious human quirk that I’ve noticed a few times before.

For example, back in the 1970s, a man named Uri Geller seemed to be blessed with the supernatural powers of telekineses and telepathy. Geller was making the rounds of TV talk shows, bending spoons and reading the insides of sealed envelopes.

Audiences watched with their mouths agape, certain that Geller was living proof that there’s more to life than we see, and that there are enormous untapped powers latent in all of us.

Then Geller was exposed as a fraud by a magician named James Randi.

Randi replicated Geller’s act completely. He also worked with TV producers of the Tonight Show to devise a scenario where Geller couldn’t do of his supposed telekinesis or telepathy.

Geller came on the show, unaware of what was going on. And for 20 awkward minutes, while Johhny Carson patiently smoked his cigarette and waited, Geller tried and failed to do his usual routine.

And the result?

Nothing. Geller’s fame, and people’s belief in his supernatural powers, remained untarnished.

You can draw your own conclusions from this, in particular about how it relates to marketing and money-making and persuasion.

I’ve drawn my own conclusions. And the most important and valuable one is the one I wrote about in the inaugural issue of my Most Valuable Postcard, two years ago. If you’d like to find out what that is:

https://bejakovic.com/mvp1/