Motivation

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.

My Prime Directive for writing this email newsletter

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A few weeks ago, marketer Matt Giaro interviewed me for his podcast.

Maybe because Matt also writes daily emails, or maybe because he’s into direct marketing, but he asked me questions I actually enjoyed answering and had something to say about.

The result is that this podcast appearance is one of my less horrific ones.

At one point, Matt asked me how I think about tying up my emails into the offers I’m making.

I told Matt how I think about that. But then I told him something that I think is much more important.

​​In fact, it’s my Prime Directive for writing this email newsletter.

It has never been to make money.

Maybe you think I’m signaling how good of a guy I am by telling you that. That’s not it. Consider this:

My Prime Directive also hasn’t been to provide value for my readers, or even to entertain them.

Nope.

My Prime Directive for this newsletter is very unsexy, very uninspiring, and a bit inhuman, almost Borg-like.

It’s simply… to keep this newsletter going day after day.

I’m writing this email from the Athens airport, waiting for my flight to Barcelona.

I’ve been in Greece for the past 5 days. It’s a kind of vacation, though each day I found a break in my “vacation time” to write this daily email.

Perhaps that’s because I’m a bit of a obsessive-compulsive beaver.

Or perhaps it’s a perfectly logical, rational decision. In the words of Morgan Housel, the author of The Psychology of Money:

“What I want to have is endurance. I want to be so unbreakable financially in the short run to increase the odds that I will be able to stick around as an investor for the stocks that I do own to compound for the longest period of time. If you understand the math of compounding, you know that the big gains come at the end of the period.”

… and I’d add, it’s not just stocks. This is also true for other assets, such as skills you’re building, knowledge you’re stacking up, content you’re creating, or email subscribers you’re attracting.

That said, just because my Prime Directive is rather inhuman — “resistance is futile, another email will follow tomorrow” — doesn’t mean I can’t on occasion try to make these emails valuable to you.

So let me take this moment to remind you of the old chestnut, which is no less true because it’s preached so often:

The best time to finally start something you have been putting off for an eternity — is today.

It doesn’t have to be an email list you write to daily.

There are plenty of other good investments out there, which you can start investing a nickel’s worth of time, energy, or money into right now.

But if you don’t hate writing… and if you happen to like flexibility and independence… then an email list of engaged readers is a good investment to start today.

And if you want some practical tips about how to do that in a way that meshes with your sense of self, assuming you’re not a natural-born salesman, then the podcast I did with Matt might be worth listening to.

The topic for that podcast was “How to send daily emails that make money without selling.”

The topic came up because I heard from a few people that it never seems I’m selling in these emails.

Of course, that can be because there are times I’m not actually selling anything, like today. (The Borg can subsist for months without food.)

On the other hand, there were also unbroken periods — stretching for years at a time — when each email I sent ended with a CTA to buy a paid product I was selling.

And yet, people somehow didn’t find it salesy… and they wanted to know how I do that.

If you’re curious too, I break it down in the interview with Matt. The link is here:

Riveting, personal story to fill my mistake quota

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Hold on to your seat, and prepare to be riveted by the following true and very personal story:

Two days ago, I meet up with my friend Adrian. Adrian suggests we go out to dinner tonight, just him, me, and my dad. (Adrian is also friends with my dad.)

I say fine.

Adrian and my dad and I text yesterday to confirm the place and time for the dinner. We quickly agree.

But then it turns out Adrian’s wife would like to join also, along with their 3-year old daughter. Oh, and can we move dinner three hours earlier because of his daughter’s bed time?

I’m not thrilled by the idea — the early dinner, the wife, the kid. I honestly tell Adrian the earlier time doesn’t work well because I also have a family lunch to go to in the afternoon.

He says he’ll check with the wife.

Throughout the rest of yesterday, there’s more tussling over WhatsApp. And then finally, in the early evening hours, Adrian decides to go back to the original plan, the original time, and the original company for the dinner.

TA-DAAA! The end.

Now that you’ve read this, I want to apologize. I know this story was only riveting in how stupid it was.

​​But how else to get the following point across in a way that sticks?

A couple months ago, I bought a book called Suddenly Talented by Sean D’Souza.

Sean you might know — he’s an Internet marketer who’s been in the game since before Google, and I’ve written about him often in this newsletter.

Sean is best known for his unorthodox marketing ideas. But he’s branched out also — to courses and workshops about cartooning, photography, and learning and skill acquisition, which is what Suddenly Talented is about.

I actually haven’t read Sean’s book yet.

​​But there’s a WhatsApp group for everyone who’s bought the book, where Sean holds court and explains his ideas about how to get good at anything, and quick.

One idea will probably be familiar to you — it’s to get okay with making mistakes, whether you’re drawing, learning a new language, or trying to write a daily email.

But Sean takes it one step further.

​​In his own workshops, he actually gives his students a mistake quota.

​​​In other words, he tells his students that they have to actively and consciously make a certain number of mistakes before he will let them even attempt to do the thing right.

Result? I don’t know, but I can guess:

1. People loosen up. They realize that a mistake is not as fatal as it might seem in their imagination.

2. People actually learn something, by actively dancing around the “right” thing to do. In the words of Claude Debussy, music is the space between the notes.

“Fine fine,” you might say, “enough with the poetry. Does this really work?”

I don’t know. But it sounded interesting enough to give it a try. That’s why I opened with the pointless and uninteresting story above.

Don’t open your emails like I did.

Or do. Do it to teach yourself that hey, even a terrible email doesn’t really cost me anything, and hey, maybe I’ll even learn something by doing things wrong.

Are you convinced? Are you not convinced? It’s okay either way.

But in case this email triggered something in your brain, you might want to check out my Most Valuable Email training. It comes with a swipe file of 51 interesting ideas, many of which have proven valuable to me and to the people who have gone through MVE, sometimes even paying for the entire course.

If you’d like to find out more:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

I don’t want people to see me fail

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It finally happened.

Yesterday afternoon, I reached the entrance to my apartment building and, for the first time ever, I realized that I’d left my keys at home.

I’ve been paranoid about this for months, ever since I started living alone again.

I don’t know any of my neighbors. The friends I have in town are away more than they are here. My landlord takes days to respond to my text messages.

If I were ever to lock myself out, who the hell would let me back in?

Fortunately, a few weeks ago, I acted on this paranoia.

I hid an extra key to my apartment somewhere inside the building. That meant I would just need to get inside the building and I could get back into my apartment.

Like I said, yesterday I finally forgot my keys.

But as I stood there at the building entrance, with a backpack full of groceries and a large leek in my hand, I refused to ring any of my neighbors to let me in.

Instead, I sat down on the bike rack that’s right in front of my building.

And I started to wait.

And wait…

And wait… until finally somebody came out of the building, and I could rush in beside them.

Maybe you’re wondering if this email will ever get to a point. So let me get to it now.

Why didn’t I simply ring some neighbors, politely explain the situation, and ask if they would let me in?

Brace yourself:

It’s because I hate to ask and be rejected…

Because I never want it to be known that I need something, which I might not get…

Because I don’t ever want to try and be seen to fail.

Stupid, right? Even nonsensical? Particularly in such a low-stakes, perfectly natural situation as just ringing a doorbell to ask a neighbor to let me in?

If you think my reasoning yesterday was stupid or nonsensical, I completely agree with you.

In fact, that’s why I’m telling you about it. Because it’s easy to recognize stupid and nonsensical reasoning in others, and maybe draw a conclusion that you can apply to your own life.

This “don’t want people to see me fail” is a strong instinct inside me.

On occasion I indulge it, in small, trivial things, like yesterday.

But in other situations?

Let me just focus on the business stuff.

Every time I write and send a new daily email to thousands of people, a voice inside me says, “What if people think this is dumb?”

Every time I launch a new offer, that same voice says, “What if this bombs? Everybody will see!”

And every time I have an idea for a change in this newsletter, the voice pipes up again. “But what if it doesn’t stick? People will know I tried and failed…”

The fact is, people don’t know I tried and failed, not most of the time, and certainly not most of the people.

That’s because nobody looks at my emails and offers with 1/1000th of the care and devotion with which I look at them.

And as for the people who actually notice when I do mess up, or when I try something and it doesn’t go like I planned — those people actually tend to like me better for it. Go figure.

In a second, I’m gonna pitch my Simple Money Emails program. But before I get there, maybe there’s something you can learn from my sitting outside my building yesterday, leek in hand, and waiting and waiting.

Specifically, if you’re afraid that:

1. You will write daily emails and they will be bad, or that

2. Nobody will sign up for your list, or that

3. People will sign up for your list and then (gasp!) unsubscribe, or that

4. People will sign up for your emails but not buy from you, or that

5. Worst of all, you will start sending daily emails, but not be able or willing to stick with it, and the whole world will know that you tried and failed at this new experiment…

… then I’d like to propose that nobody will notice, and if they notice, they won’t care.

I can tell you this because each of the above has happened to me. (Regarding #5 above, this newsletter, which has been running non-stop for close to 6 years now, is my third or fourth attempt to stick with writing daily emails. I failed every other time.)

My point being:

In spite of all of those awful, horrible things happening to me, and even though I’m a sensitive soul, I’m still standing. I’ve actually learned a bit in the process, and I’ve built something valuable as a result of it all.

Maybe you can do so too.

And if you fail?

Nobody will notice. And if they do, they won’t think bad of you.

​​The table stakes are very, very low. If you try and fail, you haven’t lost much, if anything.

On the other hand, if you manage to stick with it, the upside is huge.

And now, for my Simple Money Emails program.

You don’t need this program to start your email list or to start writing daily emails.

But if you want a bit of support and guidance along the way… if that will help you get started… and if you want to get going now instead of just waiting, waiting, and waiting some more… then Simple Money Emails can be a good investment.

If you’d like to find out more about it:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/

Mr. Beyagi’s sage advice

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I was in my shed today, trying to catch a buzzing fly with just a pair of chopsticks, when a rebellious, dark-haired youth of about 17 barged in.

“Hey are you the maintenance man?” he asked.

“No,” I said, without looking away from the buzzing fly.

“So are you gonna come and fix the faucet?”

I grunted. “Not my job.”

“Unbelievable!” the youth said. “Well, will you at least teach me karate?” And then he launched into the following monologue:

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I’m at a point where I don’t know how to go about my karate practice. I have zero funds, no bank account, and just arms willing to fight. But how do I go about doing this?

Should I start my own dojo and market it as “Join me in my journey as a newbie karateka”? If yes, how do I attract students that way? When I have no credentials or any incentive for anyone to join my dojo for that matter.

I know it’s useless trying to beg for help, because this stuff is what other people pay you for. But I’m proud that I at least tried. I’ve never asked anyone for help before you.

I would appreciate a lesson about for aspiring karate masters. I’m not pitching myself in any way. All I ask is guidance.

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Maybe, maybe… if only I had a collection of rusted old cars. But I don’t.

So I guided this rebellious dark-haired youth towards the door.

I opened the screen door and nudged him through it. And as I closed the door behind him, I gave him some parting advice, in my best broken English:

“You go YouTube. Free. Watch. Apply. Then go Amazon. Book, five dollar. Read. Apply. Read next book. Watch next YouTube. Apply. Apply. Come back. Five year.”

In less broken English:

It might seem cruel not to take in this youth and give him proper guidance.

It might seem cruel to send him away.

It might seem extra cruel that those who have the greatest need find it hardest to get a bit of good advice.

Except frankly that’s bullshit.

There’s never been such an abundance of free and good information out there. Or if you don’t want free and good, then $5 and really good.

The fact is, there is nothing new under the sun.

What I do, what everybody else in the course and coaching business does, is package up and simplify proven old knowledge, make it fun to consume and easy to believe in, to save you time and headspace, if that’s the kind of thing you can afford and choose to pay for.

If that’s not something you can afford, no shame in that. But in that case, you have to use your other resources — time, ingenuity, willingness to work — to get the same results that maybe you could buy with money.

I don’t currently offer any trainings about starting your own karate dojo.

But I do have a training teaching you the fundamentals of karate itself, ie. writing emails that make sales and keep readers reading.

There’s nothing new in this training. But it is proven, via literally millions of dollars worth of sales. And it is fun and easy to read. And it will save you many hours of time, if time is what you value over the bit of money I ask for this training.

Hai? Then you go here:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/

Where did Justin Goff go?

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On Sunday, May 26, marketer Justin Goff sent a confessional email to his list, in which he said he will only be writing weekly newsletters from now on.

For 5+ years, Justin had been writing a daily email about marketing and copywriting.

He had been using these emails to sell new offers, like clockwork, each month.

By writing daily emails and selling new offers each month, Justin had become one of the more successful and authoritative bros in the space.

But Justin had had enough. This didn’t jazz him any more.

So he announced he was going to write fewer emails, create fewer offers, and take more time to hang out with dogs and play pickleball by the pool.

Fair enough.

I checked, though. And what I found is that Justin hasn’t been writing regular weekly emails since then.

There have been five Sundays since May 26. Justin has only sent 3 emails since. In other words, he missed 40% of his planned newsletters, even just writing an email a week.

Point #1: ​It’s easy to slip up with weekly emails.

​​In theory, weekly sounds easier than daily. And it should be. But in practice, weekly emails can end up being harder, at least in your perception and as a matter of consistency.

Point #2: In a business like creating courses, coaching, or content, or selling yourself as a guide or a guru, regular posting really is the only way to stay relevant.

If you are reading this right now, there’s a fair chance that you were on Justin’s list as well. Both he and I talk about similar stuff, and to the same circles of people.

Assuming you were on Justin’s list, ask yourself, have you missed Justin or his emails?

I can tell you I used to at least skim his stuff most days. But after he went weekly, it never crossed my mind he had been skipping emails until today, when I made up my mind to talk some industry gossip.

By the way, that’s not any kind of special dig at Justin.

I’m sure the result would be the same if I were to stop writing regular daily emails. Some people might notice the first day or two. A couple might even write in to ask what’s going on. But even they would forget by next week.

It’s not that the world is cruel or heartless.

It’s just that when it comes to easy, free attention, the Internet giveth and it taketh away. It’s part of the deal.

All that’s to say:

Write for yourself. Write for your business and your goals. Write because it makes it easier to write again tomorrow, and benefit from the inevitable compounding.

Find ways to make this acceptable and even enjoyable long-term.

Do this, and sooner than you think, you can become one of the more successful and authoritative bros or babes in your space.

And it doesn’t even have to eat too much into your pool time or pickleball with the dog.

I’ve written lots of effective 15-20 minute emails, which sold everything from coaching to courses to cat training guides, and which kept me in the audience’s mind for tomorrow.

If you’d like to find out how you can do the same, and right quick and easy, then take a look here:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/

A hard way to live

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There have been periods of my life — years at a time — when I’ve made a habit of walking up to strange but attractive women on the street, giving them a compliment, and starting a conversation.

It’s surprisingly hard to do.

Not because of the women. The worst that ever happens from their side is a polite thank you and a smile.

The best that ever happens — well, I’ve had two long-term relationships that started in this way.

No, the reason it’s hard is because of my own fears, insecurities, and the stories I tell myself.

For example, if I see an attractive woman walking on an empty street, I will think, “It’s not a great place to go talk to her… she will be freaked out because there’s nobody else around.”

On the other hand, if I see even one other person around, I will think, “It’s not a great place to go talk to her… everybody will be standing around and watching.”

In other words, right is bad, left is bad, and you don’t want to go straight either.

A hard way to live, no?

I’m telling you this because yesterday I wrote an email promoting a new book by Travis Sago. As I said in that email, I’ve listened to Travis and learned more from him this year than from anybody else.

Even though Travis doesn’t sell any courses for less than a few grand, and even though his yearly mastermind costs something like $50k, this book is a $9.99 summary of his best marketing ideas.

And yet, in reply to my email yesterday, I got the following message from a reader:

“It’s only got 42 reviews… not great”

I’m featuring this reader reply because I recognized myself in it. Maybe you can recognize yourself too.

Specifically, maybe you can recognize the part of the brain that likes to make living hard. It says things like:

“It’s only got 42 reviews… not great. It can’t be, if nobody else is reading it.”

Or…

“It’s already got 420 reviews… not great. Everybody else has read this, so I can’t get any advantage from it.”

The fact is, a good idea is a good idea, whether it comes in a new or old package, whether it’s popular or fringe.

I’m currently re-reading the Robert Collier Letter Book, which was published 100 years ago and which has hundreds of 5-star reviews. I’m also reading Travis’s book, which was published a month ago and has 42 5-star reviews.

I could give you more proof to back up Travis’s credibility.

Would more proof matter to you?

Maybe. Or maybe that part of your brain that likes to make living hard would still pipe up with a new story.

One thing I’ve learned over all those years of walking up to women on the street is that you don’t always have to accept all the stories your brain serves up.

Life can be easier, more successful, and actually more pleasant that way.

Also, if you’d like to get Travis’s book, and maybe learn something valuable, here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/sandwich

2 words to 8 figures

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Two years ago, I worked for a short while with a business owner who was simultaneously running three 8-figure direct response businesses.

He first started a Google ads agency getting leads for local bidnises. That grew to 8 figures a year.

Then he created a course teaching others how to start their own Google ads lead-gen agencies. That grew to 8 figures a year.

Then he started a publishing business, finding other good bidnis opportunities and marketing them using what he had learned with his own course. And I guess you can guess how big that grew.

All this was eye opening to me at the time.

This guy was reading the same books I was reading, He was talking the same language. He was using the same copywriting and marketing tricks and techniques. And yet, the results for him were three 8-figure business.

The fact is, I have no interest in running three 8-figure businesses.

Still, this made me realize the power of the knowledge I’m hoarding in my head and sharing in these emails. It also made me think I should think a little bigger.

Anyways, I wanna share one valuable thing with you that I learned during a call with this bidnis owner.

He marketed his course (bidnis #2 above) via YouTube ads. One of those ads got over 100M views.

As you can imagine, the ad made the usual promises of stacks of cash in your bank vault… never again having a boss… and walking barefoot on the beach in soft light.

But what about the actual deliverables?

Did the ad talk about those in any way? Did it describe the business opportunity to make people feel this was a real and achievable promise?

It did.

It did so using two words only.

Those two words were not “lead gen” or “ad agency” or “local business,” or anything like that.

Instead, the ad used two words that were completely unexpected. And yet, those two words sold the course and made the promise feel real and achievable in a way that none of those obvious phrases could have done.

You might know the business owner I’m referring to.

You might have seen his YouTube ads — in fact, odds of it are good, considering the reach his ads have had.

You might therefore know the two words I’m dancing around above.

But if you don’t know, or you just want to make 100% sure, or you simply want to hear me go into this topic in more detail, then you might like my upcoming Water Into Wine workshop.

During this workshop, I will tell you a magic formula for describing your offers in a way that makes them feel real and achievable.

This isn’t anything new.

Smart marketers, particularly direct marketers, have been doing this for 100+ years.

But I’ve helped my clients, when I had clients, do this for their own offers. I’ve also done it for some of my more successful offers.

And if you’d like to know how you too can do it, then here’s a bit more info on the Water Into Wine workshop:

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Next Thursday, June 27th, I will host a little workshop with a few people.

I’m calling it the Water Into Wine workshop.

It will be all about a specific technique for repackaging and repositioning your offers so they sell better.

If you currently have an offer that’s not selling, this technique can start selling that offer for you.

On the other hand, if you have an offer that’s selling already, this technique can sell your offer more easily and for more money.

The ticket to join the Wine Into Water workshop is $197.

The workshop will happen live on Zoom, next Thursday, at 8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST. It will also be recorded. So if you cannot attend live, you can still get your hands on this info and apply it to your own offers as soon as next Friday.

I’m not sure whether there will be a ton of demand for this workshop. In any case, I’ll cap the number of folks who sign up to 20 maximum.

Are you interested in joining us?

If so, just reply to this email.

I won’t have a public-facing sales page for this offer, and replying is the only way to get more info or get in.

Of course, if you reply to this email to express interest, it doesn’t oblige you in any way. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and help you decide if this workshop is or isn’t right for you.

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

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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

I teased, promised, and threatened, and yet it’s not here

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I woke up this morning, confused about where I am and what time it might be.

It’s day one of my U.S. trip. I’m only just beginning the adjustment to the time zone change from Europe. I expect the adjustment to continue until it’s time for me to fly back to Barcelona.

In my confusion this morning, I checked my inbox and saw the many dozens of emails that had accumulated since yesterday. One email stood out.

“Uh-oh,” I said to myself. “That’s a problem.”

Because yesterday, I teased, promised, and threatened that today I would start promoting an exciting and legit business opportunity for working copywriters.

Well, as that email informed me, this promo has now been postponed.

As with most legit business opportunities, you gotta get on a call before you can buy. And as I found out this morning, the guy who does these calls is “taking a step back for urgent personal reasons.”

So I will not be promoting this exciting and legit business opportunity in my email today. Instead, my teasing of this business opportunity continues, and I will be promoting it in the future.

Meanwhile, since I had to adapt my plan for today, I’d like to share the following quote with you. It’s from one of the most successful direct marketers of all time, Joe Sugarman, of BluBlockers fame.

​​Joe was talking about a glaring objection in a product he was selling once. And he wrote:

“I recognized this as a problem that had to be addressed in our copy. And since I look at problems as opportunities, I wondered, ‘Where is the opportunity in this serious and rapidly growing problem?'”

I read this in the early days of my business and marketing education. And that “problems as opportunities” bit has stuck with me ever since.

Here’s a second quote I read only yesterday. It comes from Brad Jacobs, who started 7 billion-dollar companies so far in his life, and who recently published a book about his experiences, titled How to Make a Few Billion Dollars. Jacobs writes:

“Embrace everything that comes your way, the good and especially the bad. And don’t just accept adversity — figure out how to capitalize on it.”

So there you go. My tip for you for today, via Joe Sugarman and Brad Jacobs:

Train yourself. Change your mind. And the next time you come across a problem — big or small — tell yourself to look at it as an opportunity. In time, this attitude may lead you to a few billion dollars.

In my case, the fact that my planned affiliate offer for today fell through is an opportunity to promote something of my own.

So let me remind you of my Simple Money Emails course. It’s all about writing easy and fast emails that you can use day after day to adapt to problems and opportunities in your business, and even to use them to build credibility and trust with your audience.

For more information on Simple Money Emails:

https://bejakovic.com/sme/