Personal Change

Very smart man: The unconscious is not what you think it is

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I came by the following inspiring idea via Justin Murphy’s Other Life newsletter.

The idea itself comes from Bertrand Russell. Russell was what you might call an all-around very smart man. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature — he did write some 70 books and 2,000 articles — but he was really a philosopher and mathematician.

I’m telling you this because the idea in the following quote is not provable, but is the result of introspection. The fact that Russell was very smart might give it some extra weight when you read it. Anyway, here’s Russell’s idea:

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My own belief is that a conscious thought can be planted into the unconscious if a sufficient amount of vigour and intensity is put into it. Most of the unconscious consists of what were once highly emotional conscious thoughts, which have now become buried.

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Like I said, I found this inspiring.

In this view, your unconscious is no longer some dark ocean, which has its own impulses that toss you about like a little raft on the surface.

Your unconscious is not even some bizarre supercomputer that you can tap into via visualization, NLP, or psychocybernetics.

Instead, your unconscious is just what went on in your head previously — experiences and thoughts deposited, compressed, perhaps fused together via pressure and time.

The reason to be inspired is that what you think about today will be with you in the future. This gives you both power and responsibility, like Peter Parker, regarding what you’re doing and thinking right now.

Incidentally, a great way to think about worthwhile stuff and to do so with intensity is to write.

​​When you’re writing, you will come up with distinctions and observations you wouldn’t come up with if you try to hold on to a few thoughts in your head.

And if you’re already writing, you might as well publish it, and send it out into the world. If you figured out or discovered something good, others will benefit from it too. And that comes back to you in time. ​​Besides, writing to others will make you try harder.

All of these are are reasons why personal daily emails, like what you’re reading right now, are a great format.

And if you do decide to write daily emails, with a view to power and responsibility, then you might as well do it in the most valuable way using my most Valuable Email trick.

I’m tiptoeing the line here of giving away too much of what this training is about.

So let me just say Most Valuable Email is about putting vigor and intensity into thinking about marketing or copywriting or influence.

​​It’s about writing a fun and often shareable email about it.

​And it’s about having new skills and attitudes planted deep into your unconscious, from where they can emerge, months or years down the line, exactly when you need them.

For more on Most Valuable Email, or to get started right now:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

The best presentation Rich Schefren has ever given

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On a road trip with a friend through Ireland this past August, I listened to a podcast that featured Moby, the bald, skinny, spectacled techno producer who’s sold some 20 million records worldwide.

Moby told an intimate story about a night before the 2002 MTV Awards.

I didn’t know, but Moby was apparently one of the biggest music stars in the world at that time.

For the MTV Awards, he was being housed in a fancy hotel in Barcelona — “one of the most elegant hotels I’ve ever been to,” he says — in one of the hotel’s four penthouse apartments. In the other three apartments were Madonna, Bon Jovi, and P. Diddy.

And yet, the night before the awards, Moby started to feel suicidal.

The reality was had been given everything — money, fame, appreciation — and yet he wasn’t happy. He had tried to drink his troubles away, but even that didn’t work.

So there Moby was, in his penthouse apartment, trying to figure out how to open up the big glass windows so he could jump out and end the misery. (He couldn’t figure out the windows either.)

This story struck me when I heard it. But really, if you listen a bit, you will hear the same story from a lot of people who go from absolutely nothing to absolutely everything.

It feels great for a while. A pretty short while.

But if it turns out that this is really all there is to it — living in the penthouse apartment, in an elegant hotel, with Madonna and P. Diddy as neighbors, with all the money and fame and achievement you could ever want — what follows is first emptiness, then craziness:

“Is it my fault? Am I such an idiot that I cannot appreciate all this? How messed up am I?”

Or…

“Was I so blind to pick the the wrong goal? Did I work like a dog all my life to get to the wrong destination, one I never really wanted?”

Or…

“Is it that there’s no sense in having any goals to begin with? Is all achievement and striving ultimately a race to disappointment?”

These are ugly questions. Maybe you started feeling uneasy just reading them. ​​It’s no wonder that people who find themselves ruminating on such questions often start to feel crazy or even suicidal.
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Good news:
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The answer to all three questions is ultimately, “No, that’s not it.”

I could go into the psychology and neurology of it, what I know of it, but really, it’s much better to hear a story or three about it, and to be inspired along the way.

The best and most inspiring bunch of stories I’ve found on this topic come from business coach Rich Schefren, from a talk that Rich gave a year ago.

Rich answers all the questions above, and tells you what goals really are, and what they are for.

It was new and inspiring to me when I first heard it.

I still think about Rich’s points often.

And so I want to share his talk with you once again, and remind myself of it as well. In case you’re curious, here’s Rich on stage, giving the best presentation he’s ever given:

https://pages.strategicprofits.com/rich-diamond-day-c

What a first-rate roper needs

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The “big con” requires two central con men. One is the insideman; the other is the roper.

The insideman has the “opportunity” to get something for nothing, which is what ultimately seduces and dooms the mark.

The insideman stays put and waits for the roper, who goes out into the world and “ropes in” the mark.

A good roper needs to have: the gift of the gab; surface knowledge of lots of topics; the ability to pretend and act; a magic quality known as “grift sense”; and the willingness to withstand the high stress of constantly being exposed while trying to scheme and swindle himself into a mark’s confidence out in the wild.

That’s what it takes to be a good roper. But what does it take to be a first-rate roper?

David Mauerer, a professor of linguistics and author of The Big Con, asked this question to two big-con ropers back in the 1930s. here’s what one of them said:

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Will-power is the most important asset a con man can have. Have you ever watched a grifter who stayed in one position all his life and never advanced? It is pitiful to see how much mental energy he uses up getting nowhere. If he is a smack-player, he won’t try to get up any higher in the racket. Most failures wear themselves out with futile grifting and worry about keeping out of the can. They work themselves into a fever because they haven’t the will-power to stop and organize themselves for efficiency and try to get a big mark for the big store.

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(The “smack,” by the way, is a short-con game, as opposed to the big con, which is at the top of the confidence game hierarchy. Short-con games like the smack have lower stakes, lower earnings, and less prestige among grifters than the big con.)

Now, maybe don’t want to take any kind of business advice from criminals.

Fair enough. I can’t fault you, and I won’t try to persuade you otherwise.

Personally though, I found the above quote made me stop and think. To me at least, it applies even outside the world of confidence men.

The key words for me were continuing to “play the smack”… instead of having the will-power to stop and organize yourself so you can get to the next level.

Only you can figure out what it might take to get you there.

Maybe it’s skills… presentation… connections… attitude… experience… or an entire change in approach.

Again, only you can figure it out. And it will take will-power to get you to do so.

Anyways, if by chance you find out that it’s skills that you need, specifically copywriting skills, here’s how you can learn from the people who have made it to the absolute top of the copywriting racket:

https://bejakovic.com/cr/

The comeback secret of a humiliated Major League pitcher

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I read an interesting article this week about Colorado Rockies pitcher Daniel Bard, who was infected multiple times with the yips.

Bard started out a baseball prodigy. Even in his teens, he could throw at close to 100 miles per hour.

In one famous, high-pressure situation, while pitching for the Red Sox, Bard came on with the bases loaded.

He struck out Hall of Famer Derek Jeter with three pitches. Then All-Star Nick Swisher came to bat.

Bard first threw two strikes. But it was Bard’s third pitch that made history.

​​It was later called by Sports Illustrated “one of the nastiest, most unhittable pitches that the world has ever seen,” a 99-mph fastball that went straight at the center of the plate only to wildly dip into the dirt at the last millisecond.

Swisher swung through empty air and tossed his arms up in frustration. “It’s not supposed to move like that,” he said later.

All good — until one season, when Bard completely lost control where the ball was flying. He started to hit players. He sailed the ball high and hit the back stop. He threw to first base but instead the ball landed in the dirt.

The technical term for this condition is the yips. Nervousness, anxiety, whatever.

Bard had gotten tight, and no amount of deep breathing, meditation, or top-level sports psychology could help him.

That’s the inevitable intro I had to give you just to set up the following paragraph, which was the most practical and valuable I found in this interesting article.

Bard cured his yips eventually, and made it back to the Major Leagues after quitting. He even became a star pitcher once again. But the yips started to creep back in. Then the following happened:

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In the off-season, a friend who coaches at U.N.C. Charlotte suggested that he throw a two-seam fastball from an arm slot two inches higher than his usual position. Bard had spent years tinkering with his arm slots, to disastrous effect. But he understood his body and his mind better now. Instead of instructing his body, he tried imitation, thinking of pitchers with higher arm slots and mimicking them. The ball hissed out of his hand and sank. That fastball became his best pitch.

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In case it’s not clear, what I found interesting was this idea to mimic and imitate successful people, rather than tinker with your technique.

This can apply to whatever you’re doing.

Say copywriting.

One option is to sit down and say,

“All right, what’s the level of sophistication in this market? Should I use the if-then headline formula here? Or the how-to? Or the case-against? Or maybe it’s best to lead off with authority, to diffuse the readers’ skepticism?”

That’s the tinkering option.

The other option is mimicry. You set aside all the talk about sophistication and headline formulas and authority. Instead, you sit down, rub your hands together and say,

“Right. Say I’m John Carlton. In fact, let me put on a Hawaiian shirt. What would I focus on here? What kind of headline would I write if I were John?”

Is mimicry the optimal way to learn?

I don’t know. It prolly depends on your own psychological makeup.

But it’s almost sure that most skills are taught and learned via the tinkering approach, with almost no thought given to mimicry. That’s a shame, because mimicry can be a great way to get better, and fast, and painlessly.

But on to work:

It’s true, my Copy Riddles course does break down copy into component parts, and instructs you on what to do. It even gives you a tinker-y checklist of how to write good copy, from alfalfa to zucchini.

But the real strength of Copy Riddles is the mimicry part.

Write copy… see what A-list copywriters like John Carlton did with the same prompt… then do it all over, while mimicking, imitating, or channeling those A-list copywriters.

For more info on this approach, which has been endorsed by Major Leaguers like Gary Bencivenga, Parris Lampropoulos, and Gary Halbert, take a look here:

https://bejakovic.com/cr/

How I changed myself from lazy and aimless to disciplined and motivated

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I was talking to my mom a few days ago, and right before we got off the call, she paused.

​​”You know,” she said, “it’s really great you’ve become so disciplined and self-motivated.”

I grunted.

“I remember this one time,” she continued, “when you were 18 years old. And you said that the only hope for you is either the army or prison. That you needed that kind of outside structure.”

I don’t remember ever saying that, but it sounds about right.

For the longest time in my life, well beyond age 18, I was aimless, floating about from place to place, from habit to habit, as the days flipped by.

To top it off, I’m very lazy by nature. My big ambition in life was not to work. No wonder I concluded my only hope was either the army or prison.

So. How did I go from there to where I am today, being relatively disciplined, hard-working, even successful… with no army or prison along the way?

Honestly, I don’t know. ​​Time, small steps, and seeing the example of others definitely helped. Like I wrote a few days ago, when we’re unsure, we ping our environment for references.

I’ll say more about that in a second, but first, on to work:

Yesterday I started promoting the Infostack copywriter bundle. 14 ebooks and courses and trainings by copywriters, about various aspects of copywriting. The reason I’m promoting it is because I’m participating in it — my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters is one of the 14.

I said yesterday I will go through the bundle myself and tease the best individual content.

What in the hell was I thinking?

It takes a ton of time to do that, or at least to do it well. Gene Schwartz took weeks to build his “vocabulary” — to go through the book he was promoting and to underline all the interesting bits.

I have no time to do that with all these books and courses, and certainly not by Friday, which is when I’m ending this promotion. So I will just tell you the following, and then you can make up your own mind.

Much of the bundle, about half, is real newbie stuff:

Four Weeks to Freelance Writing… Stop Aspiring, Start Writing… How To Become A 6-Figure Content Writer… Get Paid To Become A Freelance Copywriter…

Sure, these guides have specific advice for you. How to motivate yourself, how to get going, how to get your first client, how to get paid that first $100 or $1,000.

But really, if you are a newbie, then I figure the actual value in this bundle is likely to be the example of a dozen different copywriters who have made it, who are doing what you would like to do, showing you that it’s possible, and maybe getting you to finally take that first step yourself.

Do you need to pay $49 for this encouragement or motivation?

Certainly not.

On the other hand, if that finally does click in your head because one of these copywriters connects with you, and encourages you to take that first step, and the step after that, then it will be worth much more than $49.

As for the how-to info in this bundle, again, I cannot speak to any of it because I haven’t gone through it. But I can speak to the four free bonuses I am offering if you do get this bundle.

I want to guarantee this bundle is worth your $49 even if you don’t go through a single one of the participating trainings, courses, or ebooks (except my 10 Commandments of course, do read that because it’s great). And so I’m offering you the following four bonuses:

1. Copywriting Portfolio Secrets ($97 value)

In this training, I show you how to build up your copywriting portfolio in the fastest and most efficient way, so you can start to win copywriting jobs even today. I show you the best way I’ve found to win 4- and 5-figure jobs I REALLY wanted, even when I wasn’t qualified for them, and how you can do it too.

I previously sold this training for $97. But it’s yours free if you take me up on my Infostack offer, which also includes my…

2. No-Stress Negotiation For Well-Paid Copywriters ($100 value)

This guide outlines my 7-part negotiating system, which I adapted from negotiation coach Jim Camp. This system kept me sane while I still regularly interviewed and worked with copywriting clients. Follow these seven principles, and you will end up making more money, working with better clients, and being able to stick to it for the long term.

I only offered this guide once before, as part of the $100 Copy Zone guide, which also featured….

3. How To Get Set Up On Upwork

This free bonus is an excerpt from a short self-published book I wrote once, How to Become a $150/Hr Sales Copywriter on Upwork: A Personal Success Story that Almost Anyone Can Replicate. It tells you how to actually get set up on Upwork — the details of your profile page, your description, your title.

If you combine this bonus with the two bonuses above — Copywriting Portfolio Secrets and No-Stress Negotiation — you have a great shot of winning a job on Upwork by the end of this week, or even today.

And finally, my bonus stack also includes…

4. Dan’s Timeless Wisdom (priceless, or $25k+)

Between August of 2019 and March 2020, I was in Dan Ferrari’s coaching group. As you might know, Dan started out as a star copywriter at The Motley Fool, and went on to become one of the most successful, most winning, big-money direct response copywriters working today.

Inside his coaching group, Dan dispensed copy critiques, marketing advice, and mystical koans to help his coaching students get to the next level.

At some point, I had the bright idea to start archiving the best and most valuable things that Dan was saying. I got 25 of them down, and they are all included in this document, which has until now only been shared with Dan and his coaching students.

(By the way, I never tallied up the exact and rather painful amount of money I paid to Dan for the coaching. It was north of $25k. I do know I made it all back, and then some, in just the first two months after I stopped with the coaching, thanks to just one tip I got from Dan.)

So there you go. If you want the Ultimate Copywriter’s SUPER Stack for its $555.86 worth of value and inspiration, yours for just $49…

… or if you want my add-on bonuses for their $25,197/∞ value, yours free…

… then here’s what to do:

1. Buy the Ultimate Copywriter’s SUPER Bundle at https://bejakovic.com/infostack

2. You will then get an automated email from ThriveCart with a link to a special, members-only page on my site where you can access the four free bonuses above.

Important:

Infostack’s bundle offer is live now and will go on for a week, but I will only be promoting it until this Friday at 8:31pm CET.

That’s how long my offer with the bonuses above is good for. Your gotta buy this bundle before Friday at 8:31pm CET to get my bonuses. So if you know you want them, why not get them now?

Getting praise for promoting failure

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Yesterday, I threatened to send you a testimonial in my email today. And when I get into a threatening mood, it’s hard to get me out of it.

So here’s what long-time customer Lucus Allerton wrote me a few days ago, in the wake of the Copy Riddles relaunch and the recent promo that Daniel Throssell did for it:

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This might be weird to say, but hopefully comes across as more sincere than sycophantic.

I’ve honestly been delighted at all the positive (even gushing) testimonials I’ve seen for your Copy Riddles course. Not just the ones showcased by you, but by Daniel Throssell as well.

I think your (growing?) recognition is well-deserved. You deliver insights via your usual understated way, but from the numerous courses I’ve seen, your course belongs in the gold-standard. The time you clearly took to prepare the materials has made a direct impact on the structure and quality of your examples and riddles. I think it’s really important that you promote ‘failure’ too. We often learn more from our mistakes than our successes. It was fascinating to see Daniel say even he was stumped, going through your course, and got some things ‘wrong’ by overcomplicating it.

I know from my own experience from trying my own bullets through your course, then seeing how much better the real ‘answer’ was sometimes, made it a much more impactful and helpful experience. It helped test how much I understood the concept, instead of only recognising it.

And it’s far better than only seeing the solutions upfront, as most courses might do.

But at this point I’m only stating things you already know.

I’m glad you’ve brought it back, because I honestly believe it elevates the overall quality of the copywriting course industry. There are far worse courses at much higher prices. Copy Riddles shows how good a copy course can be, and I hope it raises everyone else’s standards too.

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I have this long-running rule for my newsletter not to share obvious, bland insights, things that are true but have been said a thousand times before.

​​If I ever find myself wanting to say something like this, I have 3-4 different strategies to camouflage it, dress it up, make it at least somewhat new rather than the oldest of old hats.

Well, you gotta fail in order to get better… you learn more from your mistakes than your successes… there’s no more worn-out truths than that. And yet, it doesn’t make it any less true. Maybe the fact you read it today in Lucus’s words rather than my own can make it sink in finally.

And if that’s the case, and you want to learn copywriting via the “gold standard” — exercises that gets you comparing what you do (including making mistakes) to what A-list copywriters have done, starting from the exact same prompt — then go here:

https://bejakovic.com/cr/

I failed in my quest for the gift of the gab

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Yesterday I tried to win the gift of the gab. I didn’t manage it.

What surprised me was that I found I had really hoped for it. I was almost desperate to get it.

Background:

I’ve been vacationing in Ireland for a week. Yesterday was the last full day. It was supposed to be the climax — going to Blarney Castle outside Cork, to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Legend says that anyone who kisses the stone will be blessed with the “gift of the gab” — the skill of talk, palaver, flattery, “the ability to deceive without offending.”

But the kissing didn’t happen for me. The line to kiss the stone was impossibly long, down the stairs, out the castle, into the gardens.

My friend Sam and I had spent too much time idling around the Blarney Castle grounds, inspecting and enjoying the fern garden, the bee observatory, the lake with the gold treasure at the bottom of it, the horse paddock with no horses, the impressive botanical garden, the wish-granting magic stairs.

What a waste of time.

Because the line for the actual castle was building up in the meantime, putting a bigger and bigger barrier between me and the gift of the gab.

My point:

We all want something external, outside ourselves, a talisman, a magic spell, a divine approval, something to believe in as cause and guarantee for our success, and as a motivator to action.

Regarding my failed quest for the gift of the gab:

The last time I was in Ireland, 10+ years ago, was because I was competing at the European University Debate Championships, even though I had only taken up debating months earlier.

In the decade since, I met two of my long-term girlfriends — relationships that lasted multiple years — when I ran up to an unfamiliar girl on the street and started gabbin’ away.

And today, I have this gabbin’ email newsletter, which is read regularly by some thousands of people, and which provides me everything I ever wanted in life, at least as far as business goes.

Meaning, I shouldn’t really be desperate for a magic stone to grant me the ability to chat, chatter, and use words to connect with people.

And yet, yesterday I found myself scheming to get back to Cork at the very next opportunity, book a hotel near the Blarney Castle, and be the first person in line in the morning to kiss the stone and get that magic gift of the gab.

So I’m writing this email to tell myself as much as to tell you that power and responsibility aren’t in the Blarney Stone or really anywhere else you need to travel to. As Tolstoy wrote, the Kingdom of God is within you.

It can be valuable to remember that.

On the flip side, there’s no denying that something external to believe in will sell, and will sell big. It’s the allure of a new mechanism, as copywriters like to call it.

But let’s get off the ethereal plane and descend to a more mercenary plane:

Specifically, the plane of my Most Valuable Email course.

I’ve made sure that course contains a mysterious and magical mechanism, the “Most Valuable Email trick.” It’s a big part of the reason why many people have bought this course.

But as I make clear on the MVE sales page, what’s really most valuable is the process of applying this Most Valuable Email trick to yourself, which makes you a better marketer and copywriter every day, and which as a side-effect produces interesting and influential and even sellable content.

Or in the words of Spanish A-list copywriter Rafa Casas, who bought MVE right when I put it out:

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Thanks for the course. It’s true that it can be read in an hour, but it needs more resting time and practice to get the full potential out of it. Which is a lot.

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So if you want to develop and nurture and even cherish the gift of the gab that’s already in you, and learn to sell daily without offending, here’s the full info on Most Valuable Email:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

I’ve caught James Bond stealing, and I would coach him to do it all over again

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I recently watched several old Bond movies, including the first one, Dr. No.

I was surprised by the scene that introduces the debonair Bond, which only happens 10+ minutes into the movie.

Of course, it’s at a high-end casino, at a baccarat table surrounded by women in gowns and men in tuxedos. A beautiful, aristocratic brunette is playing against a man not yet shown on camera. She keeps losing, getting more and more angry, and insisting on playing again.

Her off-camera opponent drawls with a Scottish accent. “I admire your courage, miss…?”

“Trench,” she says with a touch of irritation. “Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, mister…?

The camera finally shows the handsome secret agent. He’s lighting a cigarette and looking immensely bored. “Bond. James Bond.”

Did you catch that?

“Bond. James Bond.” The most iconic item of Bond legend, along with the 007 designation and the stupid martini.

But even though it’s the main catch phrase people have associate with Bond for decades, it wasn’t his in the first place.

Mister Bond, James Bond, was simply mirroring what he had just heard from miss Trench, Sylvia Trench. You can even say he stole the cool introduction from the poor woman, along with her heart, and then made it his own.

And why not?

Over the past week, I’ve been lucky to draw the attention of a very successful and accomplished business owner, investor, and marketer.

He replied to one of my emails and gave me surprising encouragement and advice, including about creating high-ticket offers. $5k. $10k. $25k. Here’s a bit of what he wrote me:

“High-ticket copy offers are everywhere. I say the best artists steal from everyone to create completely new things that bring great value to the world. You might do just that as you create your value ladder, which I hope you are doing as you read this now.”

I read that yesterday morning, thought about it through the day, and started to apply it last night.

Today, I want to share it with you, in case you too have a list, and maybe even some offers, but nothing yet in what you might consider the high-ticket range.

Maybe like me, you’ve been thinking and waiting to create an offer in those higher price ranges. But like that very successful business owner wrote me, such offers are everywhere. You can mirror them, model them, and make them your own. Starting right now.

And if you want my help with that:

I offer coaching. I promote it as being coaching on writing daily emails. I do that because there’s something sexy to people about the idea of copywriting and email.

But the fact is, with the people I’ve coached so far, the coaching has been as much about creating new offers, or lead magnets, or ads, as it has been about writing emails. But don’t tell anybody that, because for some reason, email copywriting is really the thing that people want to be sold, and anything else might distract them.

I don’t often advertise this coaching program. I don’t often take on new students. I also don’t accept most people who express interest in this coaching.

But in case you are interested, reply to this email. Tell me a bit about yourself — who you are, what you do, who you do it for.

I’ll tell you if I think you’re in a place to benefit from the coaching. And if I think you are, we’ll get on a call to see if it’s a fit. A real fit.

Why I fired the same reader for the second time

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A couple weeks ago, before I even released my Simple Money Emails course, I got a reply to one of my daily emails, all in bold:

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Hi John,

How’s Simple Money Emails different from Most Valuable Email?

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Hm. A reasonable question. But I found something a little grating, a little accusatory in the specific phrasing of those 9 words. Maybe it was just the unnecessary boldface.

I looked at the name of the reader who had sent me the question. Familiar… definitely familiar.

I looked it up to confirm.

Aha. I knew him. And well.

Turns out, I had banned this guy from my list two years ago. He was the first reader I ever proactively unsubscribed, and has been only one of three readers I’ve banned in my five years of writing daily emails.

Somehow, he had made his way back to my list. And he announced his return with a subtly annoying question, all in bold.

No problem. I unsubscribed him again.

Because as I’ve written before, daily emailing is really about the long term. In order for that to happen, you have to be happy to come in to work every day. And if that means firing a particularly toxic reader once every few years, then so be it.

But you know what?

His question really is kind of appropriate, specifically now that I have had a large influx of new readers, and since these new readers know my new Simple Money Emails course, but they might not know Most Valuable Email, my workhorse offer.

So here’s the answer:

Simple Money Emails is just that. It’s a course that shows you how to write quick emails, often basic, but effective in making sales and keeping people reading.

On the other hand, Most Valuable Email is a course about an advanced email copywriting technique.

​​It’s based on a trick I have used repeatedly, which has gotten me exposure, built up my status and authority, and even led to a one-time random windfall of a few thousand dollars (a story for another time).

But all those nice results are not not why Most Valuable Emails are most valuable. They are most valuable because each time I use the Most Valuable Email trick, it makes me a tiny bit better at marketing and copywriting and influence.

I don’t recommend Most Valuable Email for every market. But if you’re in a small and chosen band of niches, then this trick can be most valuable for you too.

For the complete info, take a look below…

https://bejakovic.com/mve/

… and if you look up Most Valuable Email Swipe #12, included in the course, you can find out the story of the guy above, and why I fired him from my list in the first place.

The good, the coulda been better, the ugly of my Josh Spector promotion

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Last night, I finished the promotion I was running over the past week, which started when I ran a classified ad in Josh Spector’s newsletter last Sunday.

I had a free offer in the actual ad, Simple Money Emails, and a paid upsell, 9 Deadly Email Sins, for people who opted in.

I turned off both offers last night, as I said I would, once the deadline passed.

For my own benefit, I wrote up my conclusions about this experience.

If you like, you can read some of my conclusions below. It might be interesting to you if you’re looking to grow your list, monetize your list, run classified ads, or put on quick and simple offers that your readers appreciate and buy.

But as FBI negotiator Chris Voss likes to say, the last impression is the lasting impression. So let’s leave the good for last, and let’s start with the ugly first.

THE UGLY:

I haven’t made back my money on the Josh Spector ad.

I mean, I made a bunch of sales over the past week, but not enough from new subscribers, who came via the classified ad, to cover the $350 I gave to Josh to run the ad.

There’s a fair chance I will make back my money in time. But of course, there’s also a chance I won’t.

I have various hypotheses as to why it hasn’t happened yet. I might write about those down the line, but some include options in the next, coulda been better section.

THE COULDA BEEN BETTER:

I made a nice number of sales of the paid upsell last week — but at only $100 per sale.

The promotion I did last month, for Steve Raju’s ClientRaker, ended up with a comparable number of sales, but at 3x the price.

Had I raised the price higher, I prolly woulda made more money — there’s a lot of elasticity in info products. Maybe that way I would have already recouped my money on the Josh Spector ad.

But maybe it wasn’t the price. Maybe it was the copy, the core appeal.

Simple Money Emails is something I thought about carefully. I planned out that name, and the core appeal. The number of people who took me up on that offer confirms it’s something attractive.

On the other hand, as I’ve written already, the upsell, 9 Deadly Email Sins, wasn’t something I carefully planned or thought about — at least as far as the packaging goes, because the content is thought-through and very valuable.

I might have packaged up that same valuable content into a different-patterned box with a different-colored bow, and sold 50% or 80% or maybe 100% more.

THE GOOD:

One good thing was that I got a buncha new subscribers.

In fact, I grew my list 7% list over past week. From what I can see from new subscribers who have custom domains, these are high-quality prospects. Whether I manage to convert them in time is probably up to me.

The other good thing was I made a buncha sales to existing readers.

One of those sales came from somebody who joined my list back in 2019 (my guess is I had ~80 subscribers at the time). Several sales came from people who joined my list in 2020… and lots came from people who joined 2021, in 2022, and earlier this year.

Most people who bought 9 Deadly Email Sins bought multiple offers from me before.

The fact they are still with me is encouraging. It means I’m doing something right both with the products I’m selling, and with this marketing, the email that you’re reading right now. It must be engaging enough to keep people around, and reading, and buying, years down the line.

THE AMAZING:

I tell myself I have to have an offer at the end of each email. My offer at the end of this email is my Most Valuable Email course, which is amazing. But don’t take it from me. Reader James Harrison bought MVE last month, and wrote me about it last week to say:

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Also, a few days ago I finished going through your MVE course. I thought it was amazing. I especially loved what you did at the end, with the MVE Riddles. Not enough courses get their students actively using their brains.

Thank you for all that you do.

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Maybe actively using your brain isn’t something you’re into. But maybe it is. In that case, if you’d like an amazing way to do it, and to win bigly in the process:

https://bejakovic.com/mve/