Business Ideas

If nobody is taking you up on your coaching offer

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In the words of Bob Marley:

Sun is shining. The weather is sweet.

Make you want to launch a new offer that has some heat.

To the rescue. Here I am.

Over the past few months, I’ve heard a frustration from a number of readers who offer coaching. Here is a sample:

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I can’t get people to buy from my emails.

I have good engagement ( I think. I get a good amount of replies, and even more when I ask questions.)

I THINK my copy must be at least halfway decent because I have a self liquidating front end funnel on Facebook. Good take rate on upsells. People seem to like the products.

But I barely make any sales from daily emails.

Maybe 4 or 5 a month on a list of about 700.

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I followed up with this reader to ask what offers exactly he is making to his list. It turned out two kinds:

1. The upsells from his front end offer, and

2. Coaching

Like my reader says above, there’s a good take rate on his upsells when he sells his front-end offer. I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that most of the sales he does make on the back end come from people taking him up on those upsells as well.

Which leaves coaching…

… which nobody wants.

Now here’s my pet theory:

For the past couple of years, we were in this moment. Perhaps it was covid, or perhaps the fact that everything moved online. But everyone became a coach. And magically, coaching was selling, because… it was the moment.

But my long-running suspicion has been it will eventually get harder to sell coaching. Which is precisely what I’ve been seeing from readers like the reader above, who are offering coaching and seeing a response rate of a little over 0.

And now, I don’t mean to pry, but I do have a question for you.

Do you have the same problem? Do you offer coaching? And nobody’s buying?

To the rescue. Here I am.

I have a possible fix for you, which I’m calling the New “Wanna Get High?” Offer for coaches (a nod to Bob Marley above).

In case you’re interested, hit reply and tell me a bit about what you do, and who you do it for. In turn, I’ll tell you more about my New “Wanna Get High?” Offer, and you can then decide if it’s right for you.

The “magazine model” for your paid membership or continuity offer

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A couple days ago marked the 1-year anniversary that my Daily Email Habit service has been going out, day after day after day, to members all around the world.

Following that announcement, a new subscriber to Daily Email Habit wrote in and asked:

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Wow. Happy Bday to your DEH!

I am curious to see the first seven. Any chance to send them to me?

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My response was some icy staring across the Internet, a bit of finger tapping on my desk, followed finally by a cold hard NO.

Like I’ve been telling people since I launched Daily Email Habit:

I don’t send out previous puzzles to new subscribers. The idea is Daily Email Habit works like a magazine subscription — you get the issues that go out from the time you subscribed, and not before. It’s a way to encourage people to sign up now rather than later.

After hearing my cold hard no, the DEH subscriber above replied to say:

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I know. I was just curious to see how it started. I respect your answer. It sounds fair and smart.

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I’m a-telling you this because this week, I launched a new 1:1 coaching program.

On Tuesday, I got on the first call with one of the coaching clients who already signed up. Let’s call her Ms. X.

Ms. X runs a paid membership and wants to increase the number of paying subscribers and reduce churn.

But like lots of other people who run memberships, she has so far been promising new subscribers access to everything inside her membership, including all the stuff that happened before they subscribed.

But what’s the incentive to join today… when joining tomorrow will give you everything you get if you join today, plus some more stuff… plus you get to hold on to your money for an extra 24 hours?

Not much incentive.

Fortunately, Ms. X already came to that conclusion before she even got on this coaching call with me.

At this point, her bottleneck is technical. Her membership software makes it hard to restrict/allow access to different members like this.

My Yoda-like suggestion was, “Many simple option you fail to see.”

I suggested some low-tech ways to deliver content that’s only available to current members. Ways that make it easy to test out this idea for impact. If this magazine model makes a difference, as it most likely will, then Ms. X can worry about the long-term tech later.

A magazine model is something to think about if you too are running or are thinking of launching a paid membership, or really any kind of continuity offer.

Not only will treating your membership like a magazine give people a legit reason to sign up today rather than tomorrow… but it will give them a reason to stay signed up instead of churning (thinking they can always come back later and get everything they missed in the meantime)…

… and if your subscribers are anything like my subscribers, when you introduce and stick to this “magazine” rule, you might hear them say, “I respect your answer. It sounds fair and smart.”

In other news, I have already signed up a few coaching students since launching this coaching program a few days ago. I am also looking for a few more.

The coaching I’m offering is specifically about list monetization, or as I say, about using your email list to pay for a house.

The coaching is 1:1, and runs for a year.

It’s also reasonably low-cost, because accountability and whip-cracking are not a part of it.

In order for me to be useful to you at all with this coaching program, I need to see you have some runway already.

In case you’re interested, hit reply and tell me a bit about your situation with your list.

Specifically, I’m interested in things like how many people you have on your list… how many new people you’re getting in an average week… what kinds of offers you’ve made so far… and how that’s gone for you.

“The Bible of persuasion” (was $1,997, now $0.99)

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Boy I got something hot for you.

Super hot.

It sells for $1,997 right now… is worth millions if you apply it thoroughly… but you can get it today for $0.99.

Thanks to Daily Email House member Anthony La Tour, I got clued into an amazing fact earlier this morning. In Anthony’s words:

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So recently, I’ve been getting things ready for a road trip from Oregon to California tomorrow for Thanksgiving with my wife and the kids (wish me luck… this is their first time). As I was scrolling around Audible for something to pass the time on the road, I came across two new “audiobooks” from Dan Kennedy:

Mind Hijacking & Magnetic Story Selling

These are NOT audiobooks. They are recordings from the seminars he gave. In the case of Magnetic Story Selling (which is HIGHLY useful for writing emails), multiple seminars.

Magnetic Story Selling is currently being offered at $1,997 just for the physical book. The price of the seminar ticket alone for Mind Hijacking was over $7,000.

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For the purposes of this email, I just wanna focus on that Magnetic Story Selling book (print version) that Anthony mentions.

I checked, and sure enough, it’s selling for $1,997 online right now.

Also included as bonuses are several Dan Kennedy seminars, including one called Influential Writing.

I first heard about that training some five years ago from Internet Marketer Rich Schefren, who said it was one of Dan Kennedy’s two best trainings.

I got my hands on it after that (don’t ask how).

I’ve since gone through Influential Writing many, many times.

It’s on my phone and I used to listen to it while walking on the beach. It’s shaped my ideas about writing an email newsletter more than just about anything else has, outside Ben Settle’s initial advice to get started and to make your emails “infotaining.”

And now, if what Anthony says is right, you can get the recording of the Influential Writing seminar as part of the Magnetic Story Selling audiobook… not for the ~10k that it cost initial attendees… nor for the $1,997 that it costs as part of the “multimedia book” being sold on Russell Brunson’s site… but for $33 on Audible, or for $0.99 if you sign up to an Audible subscription.

I wish I had known about this last week, because I would have definitely included it inside my Black Friday Bundle Collector’s Edition of amazing and secret deals. As it is, it’s too late, and too good for me not to share.

If you want to influence people via the written word, then Influential Writing is, as one of the testimonials says, “the Bible of persuasion.” Nothing else comes close. And if you wanna get this audiobook version, which apparently includes it:

https://bejakovic.com/mss

Is this a stupid idea?

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I had an idea. I wonder if it’s a ridiculous or stupid idea, or if there is in fact any interest in it.

Maybe you can tell me:

Would you be interested in doing unlimited 1:1 coaching with me, get on as many calls as you want, for the next year…

… with the goal of losing 30lbs and fitting into your old jeans?

No, just kidding.

I’m thinking yearlong, unlimited 1:1 coaching with me, so you can turn your emails into money, and monetize your list, and ultimately use it to pay for a house.

There would be some caveats to how this coaching would work, and I would want to see you already have some runway to build on.

To make up for it, the price would be ridiculously or possibly stupidly low.

So can you tell me, what do you think of this idea?

If you think it’s stupid, this is your chance to write in and laugh at me.

If on the other hand you’re intrigued or even excited by the possibility of having me coach you 1:1 so you can turn your emails into money, then write in and tell me so, and maybe we will end up working together.

Sex and copywriting?

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I got a question or two from a reader yesterday:

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I am looking to help people have a better sex life! I don’t have as much experience helping people with this issue as I would like. Curious if this copyrighting work will be useful for me due to the sex topic nature?

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I wasn’t 100% sure what this reader was asking — it sounded like there were two questions there:

QUESTION 1: “Is copywriting relevant if you sell ‘teach you a better sex’?”

The stock answer is that the brain is the biggest sex organ in the human body.

If you wanna take control of the brain, whether of your partner or your coaching client, then sweet, seductive words, including written words, are the way to do it.

And that’s why:

Back when I had copywriting clients, I actually wrote a good deal of copy for businesses in the sex and relationships niche on ClickBank, including sexy daily emails and sexy sales letters.

I also know of a coach on my list who has a high-ticket coaching program to make women’s sex lives better. She writes sexy daily emails.

I also know a coach on my list who has a high-ticket coaching program to make men’s sex lives better. The last I heard, he was also writing sexy daily emails, and was spending a lot of time fussing over his sexy Facebook ad copy and his sexy sales page copy.

So sex and copywriting?

Yes, sex and copywriting.

QUESTION 2. “What if I’m a coach but I don’t have a lot of experience?”

In that case, my best advice is to make a truly irresistible offer to prospects. Specifically, I’m thinking of an offer I will cleverly code name “Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer.”

The Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer is so irresistible it works even if you have little experience. The deal is simply too good for people to pass up, even if they aren’t 100% sold on you yet.

The Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer has worked to make sales for thousands of coaches, even those with little experience or credibility, across niches ranging across spiritual, business, relationships, and health. (Maybe even sex???)

But the real benefits of the Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer are:

1) The nice and quick income it provides, which translates good money even for an established coach,

2) An opportunity to upsell people into still nicer income,

3) Rapport and bonding and work with your clients and prospects, which in time overcomes that sticky problem of “I don’t have that much experience.”

This probably sounds fuzzy to you, and it is, because I don’t want to give away too much. I’m teasing this Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer, as part of my ongoing promotion of the Black Friday Bundle.

I wrote about that bundle yesterday.

11 offer creators, including moi, are bundling their offers, totaling $13 million in value (approximately), but selling for only $299.

I figure the real benefit of such a bundle is the thrill of buying a bunch of stuff, which has established real-world value, at a steep discount.

And since I figure that thrill of buying at a discount is the real benefit, rather than piling on free bonuses, which give no satisfaction, I am giving you four opportunities to buy more stuff, with established real world value, at a thrilling discount.

Yesterday’s opportunity:

1. “$25 Classified Ads.” A behind-closed doors opportunity to get in front of about 20,000 relevant prospects… advertise and test out your offers… get clients and partners… and grow your list… for what works out to $25 a pop.

Today’s opportunity:

2. Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer. A course that lays out how to make the Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer I teased above.

This course costs $997. That might not sound like any kind of a bargain, but if you consider that this Truly Irresistible Coaching Offer you make itself sells for $997, and is truly irresistible, then even one client, and this course will pay for itself.

Two clients, you will double your money.

Three clients, you will triple your money.

Four clients, I could keep going, but I suspect you see the pattern. And the pattern is that this is basically buying money at a discount.

Tomorrow and Sunday:

3 + 4. I will have more great deals to tease you with.

Of course, if you buy today, I will also tell you the other deals as I tease them out to the rest of my list.

In any case, if you wanna buy the Black Friday Bundle and get a great deal, and then have the opportunity to buy more stuff and get even more great deals:

https://bejakovic.com/greatdeals

If you move your tail for clients, but they don’t appreciate it enough

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Yesterday, because I am thorough in my research, I was watching old TV commercials from the 1970s, including one for the long-gone Continental Airlines.

It featured a bouncy jingle that’s still playing in my head:

We live to make you happy

We’re out to make you pleased

You’re flying Continental

Your flight will be a breeze

We’ll hop to make you happy

We’ll skip to prove it’s true

On Continental Airlines

We MOVE OUR TAIL FOR YOU…

… and then the refrain comes in, with a cross-section of all Continental employees — pilots, stewardesses, luggage handlers, admin personal, even the chefs who prepare the delectable meals — bleating “WE MOVE OUR TAIL FOR YOUUUU” over and over.

I looked it up, and back in 60s and 70s Continental really moved their tail to make their customers happy —  larger, cushier seats, full meals (the commercial shows a chef preparing a giant salad), and complimentary drinks (alcoholic and soft), as well as additional perks like amenity kits, pillows, and blankets, all for free, all at no extra cost.

Today, of course, that’s unimaginable. So many of the things that airlines offered for free back in the 60s and 70s are now available and then some on a flight – but you gotta pay:

– checked baggage

– meals

– alcoholic drinks

– seat selection

– pillows and blankets

Continental Airlines no longer exists, at least under its own name (it was gradually absorbed into United). I guess Continental’s customers didn’t sufficiently appreciate all the tail moving to make this a viable long-term strategy.

Maybe there’s a lesson there? Maybe? In any case, I will share my idea, and you can decide if it could possibly be useful:

You can charge for what you offer for free now, or for what everybody else offers for free.

This doesn’t mean offering worse customer service, or turning yourself into the RyanAir of your industry.

But the fact is, “FREE” is a norm — whether it’s checked baggage or “free strategy sessions” or simple “let’s talk and see if we can benefit each other calls.”

Maybe that norm is one that’s working out for you. But if not, it’s one you can change, because norms are not rules of nature, but simply habitual ways of doing things.

I’m gonna write a new book one day, expanding on this idea.

For now though, I’ll just point you to my latest book, the “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup artists, Magicians, etc.” This book is not free, but I really did move my tail to make it both fun and valuable for you. If you haven’t read it yet:

https://bejakovic.com/new10commandments

Don’t count on people remembering you

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Cautionary tale:

A few days ago, a dude joined my Daily Email House group. The description in his Skool bio sold that he had recently sold a media company and that he is now building a newsletter business.

I got curious. I wanted to look him up, and find more about this media company and newsletter business.

But the dude’s name is very common. I won’t say it here, but it’s on the commonness level of “Ben Johnson.”

In other words, it’s hopeless to find this guy online with a quick search, and there’s no link in his Skool profile. I shrugged, and had I not needed a topic for today’s email, I would have forgotten all about him.

Yesterday, I talked about how to make a long-term bet on list growth, which is to pick a platform you believe in, and then invest either your time or your money into it.

But there’s quick and cheap stuff you can do also.

Putting a link to your optin page in all your online profiles one of ’em. This probably won’t get you thousands of subscribers. But it might get you a few, and you never know who might be hiding among those few (me, for example).

There’s a bigger point here, which is not to count on other people to do the work of remembering you and seeking you out.

That’s one of the main benefits of an email list.

An email list gives you a chance to be the one who gets in touch with others, when it suits you, as often as it suits you, rather than hoping and waiting for them to think of you.

Of course, if you have more than one channel to reliably get in touch with people on your own terms, even better. which is one of the reasons I have set up my Daily Email House group.

Daily Email House is another way for me to connect and bond more deeply with readers. As you can imagine, I have to give people value and even fun in order to make it worth their while to get and stay inside the group.

If you would like to make this deal with me yourself:

https://bejakovic.com/house

Credit card companies hate this one weird trick

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I listened to an NPR podcast a few days ago that discussed “buy now pay later” plans.

Basically, it’s what I did last year when I offered a 10-part payment plan my Copy Riddles program:

1. The course normally costs $997.

2. for a few days only, I offered a 10-part payment plan: $97 today, and 9 more monthly payments of $100, adding up to exactly $997.

I ended up making a nice number of sales of Copy Riddles that way, and payments trickled in, without fail, throughout this year.

The podcast I listened to says “buy now pay later” has spread to all parts of the economy in past few years because of a new breed of companies that provide this kind of financing as a service.

Unlike credit card companies, these “buy now pay later” companies offer payment deals that add up to exactly the same price or something very close to it.

Because this is all happening in place of regular credit card payments, it has cost credit card companies billions of dollars in lost processing fees and interest payments.

Of course, credit card companies hate this, and are battling these new startups that threaten to eat their lunch.

But even if credit card companies end up successful in driving these “buy now pay later” companies out of business, there’s nothing preventing you from offering such a payment plan yourself.

The whole reason this new system has appeared is that customers love it, and end up buying way more than they would otherwise.

“Yes but,” you say as you look up from your glasses, pen in hand, eyebrows arched, “is that a good thing?”

The NPR podcast clearly tried to give this “buy now pay later” thing a sinister, manipulative tint.

They started out the episode by featuring a dumb and out-of-control 20-year-old girl, who ended up buying a bunch of overpriced bikinis, designer tights, and sneakers using these plans, because it all felt effectively free, until the payments started arriving in a pack.

All I can say is that the two times I ran “buy now pay later” plans, I saw that a bunch of people who bought were people who are successful and who I assume have enough money.

I further assume they bought because the payment plan made it psychologically easier to get something they already wanted, and not because it tricked them into buying something they couldn’t afford.

In other words, maybe “getting people to buy from you more easily” and “keeping dumb and out-of-control people from buying from you” are two distinct topics, rather than a single concern.

And now, entirely unrelated to today’s clickbait subject line:

I’d like to remind you of my Daily Email House group, where the mission is “Use your email list to pay for a house.”

I’m planning some exciting things for that community soon. In the meantime, I keep sharing stuff in there related to list growth and list monetization for free, including some stuff that I should really be selling. If you’d like to join us inside Daily Email House:

https://bejakovic.com/house

PSA: $34k worth of value for $500

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For the past couple days, I’ve been teasing the identity of an online guru who has just decided to shut down his course business.

I had been following the guy for the past couple years, and on Wednesday I easily and quickly made the decision to pay him $500 for a clearance bundle of his courses.

A buncha people wrote in, asking who this mystery online guru might be.

I kept mum because frankly I had hoped to promote this bundle of courses as an affiliate. I reached out to the team behind the offer and asked. I got back the following reply:

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Hey John,

We are not doing an affiliate offer on this. As this is a one time offer before we shut the doors, it is simply the only offer and best price we can share- with no affiliate offers attached.

Sorry about that but thank you for sharing and thinking about us😊

We appreciate you.

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… and yet, here I am, promoting this bundle to you, even though I’m not getting paid anything for it.

I think it’s a great deal, a great offer, and possibly life-transforming knowledge and skill.

I’ve been going through it since I bought it. I only have good things to say so far. I want you to know about it.

If you wanna read the full story, or spend $500 on something that has previously sold for $34k in total and that might transform your life:

https://bejakovic.com/epic

To all my dog trainers, pottery instructors, and professional alpaca whisperers

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Yesterday I got a question from Liza Schermann, the original “Crazy Email Lady” and current head copywriter at surging startup Scandinavian Biolabs. Liza wanted to know:

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Why so tempting??

I promised myself never to click through to the sales page of Daily Email Habit. It’s too good an offer not to buy, but I knew I wouldn’t commit. Yesterday, I gave in and clicked against my better judgement.

Anyhow, now I’m wondering:

The example you provide on the sales page is very specific to online marketing. Are most of the prompts geared towards this crowd? Or is it a mix, and people can adjust as they see fit for their own purposes?

I happen to be in this crowd, so it makes perfect sense to me. But maybe there’s a dog trainer, a pottery instructor, or a professional alpaca whisperer on your list who’s scratching their head wondering what to do with a prompt about daily emails (or something similar).

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I got variants of this question all week. In a nutshell:

Daily emails, like the kind Daily Email Habit gets you to write (including the sample prompt on the sales page) will work in any business or industry. The only caveat is you must be willing to put yourself (or some sort of avatar you write behind) as the face of that business.

In fact, that’s the point of daily emails, unpleasant though it may sound.

You’re ultimately selling yourself as the product, rather than whatever your “product” officially is. In the words of Dan Kennedy, a direct marketer who has managed to sell himself for millions and millions of dollars:

“The higher up in income you go, the more you’re paid for who you are, rather than what you do.”

So now the question becomes, are daily emails, the way Daily Email Habit helps you to write, a fit for you?

Only you can decide that.

Maybe you don’t like the business of selling you, even for a premium, and maybe you want your products or services to stand for themselves, at competitive market rates.

That’s a fine decision. In this case, don’t go the daily email route, because the relationship and authority you build up will only interfere with people buying from you on the strength of your product or price alone.

On the other hand, if you want to charge higher prices… or surround yourself with a moat that’s not easily crossed by marauding neighbors… or have a ready source of income whenever your business or personal life needs it… then daily emails work great.

And Daily Email Habit will help you write them, in an effective and (relatively) painless way, whether you are a dog trainer, pottery instructor, or professional alpaca whisperer.

But that doesn’t change the cruel truth:

The price for Daily Email Habit is going up tonight at 12 midnight PST, from a modest $30/month to an obscene $50/month.

If you’re considering getting in before the price increases for ever and ever, and you want the full info on DEH:

https://bejakovic.com/deh/