A few days ago, I sent out a George Foreman-themed email asking for testimonials. Either for my newsletter and products… or for me personally.
I got back some good responses. Just what I was hoping for. For example, copywriter David Patrick wrote me to say:
“If John is behind anything, then I’m sure it’s going to be good. In fact, he may very well be the best thing to happen to America… at least when it comes to persuasion and influence! No, really!”
Others wrote in to say that I’m not only the best thing for America, but “maybe even the world”… that I am a “vital resource”… and one person, who shall remain unnamed, wrote in all seriousness with:
“John Bejakovic and persuasion. You can’t beat that. He made me like cats. Even though I used to hate them and they used to hate me. So he’s a great person to find out about a new product that’s about persuading stubborn prospects. Or cats.”
I also got less flamboyant, perhaps more useful testimonials. I will drip those out in good time, in upcoming emails and sales pages.
For today, I just want to point out something obvious that you might already know, but that I had to learn. In fact, I didn’t learn it until only a couple years ago, when I was writing a VSL for a get-rich-in-real-estate guru.
In one of his content videos, this real estate guru talked about his “buyers list” — the list of people you can flip a house to.
But a buyers list is so much more than that, the guru said.
He then rattled off all the connections, employees, business opportunities, sources of funding, and personal relationships that resulted from his list, and from the personal emails he would send to them on occasion.
“Huh, interesting,” I said, a dim light slowly flickering to life in my head.
Time passed. I stared into space.
The light flickered a little brighter. “Ohh… yeah… I get it now!”
Because it’s not just a “buyers list” that can do all that. It’s the same with any email list, when it’s built right and managed right.
The fact is, my newsletter list has given me — often without me even asking — business partners… JV partners… copywriting clients… consulting clients… free products… insider tips and valuable ideas I wouldn’t know about otherwise… job offers… podcast appearances… mastermind appearances… and many, many new relationships with people, some of whom even became my friends, mostly online, but in real life as well.
Like I said, I had to have somebody point this out to me. That a list is a relationship, and that it’s good for a lot more than just a certain kind of one-way traffic.
Maybe you’re amazed I could be so dense.
But I am far from a natural when it comes to promotion or marketing or business. And yet it doesn’t matter.
You can find a spot for yourself, and be successful in time, even if you’re not a natural showman, salesman, or “scheme” man.
Lots of people have walked the road before you. Many of them are willing to point out, sometimes even for free, just where you should put your feet to take the next step to success.
Such as for example, starting and running your own email list. It’s cheap. Easy to do. And it’s definitely worth it.
If you want to see, how I do it, sign up to my list. You might learn something about copywriting and marketing and business along the way. Here’s where to get started.