This past summer I created an invite-only group called Monetization Mastermind. To start, I invited a small group of list owners I have done affiliate deals and list swaps with. The idea for the group is to make more such partnerships possible.
Initially, the group featured mainly list owners who sell courses around copywriting or email marketing, since that’s what kinds of offers I’ve promoted a lot in the past.
Over time, the group has grown, either by my invitation or by recommendation of the people inside. As a result, the profile of people inside has gotten more diverse, and has gone beyond course creators in the copywriting space.
So far, everybody who has joined this group has stayed inside, though some participate more and some less. But now I have the first person who has left the group. It happens to be one of the first people I invited inside the group. Two days ago, this dude wrote me to say:
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I think I’m going to quietly bow out of Monetization Mastermind. I’ve been making an effort to network outside of copywriting groups and focus on a different audience. While I appreciate what you’ve built here and have tremendous respect for you and the folks in here, I need to put my energy elsewhere.
Thanks for putting it together. You’re doing a lot of good here. I appreciate you letting me be a part of it.
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I don’t know the full details of this dude’s business.
On the one hand, it’s a tried and true strategy to take yourself and your offers to a new market, particularly one that is willing to pay you more.
On the other hand, based on what little I know of this dude and his business, my diagnosis is that his is an issue of offers.
Specifically, I think it comes down to a classic mistake, one I see others making all the time, and one I have made myself plenty of times too.
Internet Marketer Travis Sago, who is either unable or unwilling to speak other than in metaphor, calls this mistake “selling the hammer.”
The alternative being, selling the birdhouse, or the patio deck, or the chicken coop.
As Travis says, “Nobody is ever just buying a hammer. There’s an outcome they’re looking to get with that hammer”
Do I hear you groaning, or are you rolling your eyes right now?
I mean, this is really just that old chestnut about how nobody wants a quarter-inch drill, but a quarter-inch hole, except with other hardware, right?
Right.
But people find it surprisingly difficult to apply this super obvious and familiar lesson when it comes to their own hammers, ones that they have spent weeks or months designing and sourcing and forging.
Folks keep selling the hammer for years, or for as long as they stand, making new versions and crowing about the latest improvements… until they either wise up and start promising birdhouses and patio decks and chicken coops… or until they quietly bow out of the market, because their hammers are just not selling enough.
This got me curious.
Are you planning to launch an offer in 2026, an offer you need to be a success?
If so, I’m curious what offer you’re planning.
And I’m curious how you came up with your plan.
If you like, hit reply, unburden yourself, and tell me about your upcoming offer.
I’m not promising anything but to listen and maybe to ask some follow up questions.
But who knows, sometimes that can be the most valuable thing you can get, and can lead to insights that can make all the difference when you make the intimidating decision to actually go live.