This past Sunday, I sent an email with a link to a survey, asking people about their single biggest challenge when it comes to writing or profiting from their email list. One respondent wrote:
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Getting suitable copywriting clients to work with and how to find them and make sure they are suitable and are a good fit with both client and service provider happy with outfoem of the relationship. What are the most effective ways to find copywriting clients when starting out? (EXPECTING YOUR REPLY)
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Even though this respondent included his (pseudonymous) email address, I did not reply to him. Maybe you can guess what happened next.
I got an email yesterday from the same guy, replying to that email I had sent out on Sunday. He asked:
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Hey John!
How would you get your first copywriting client if you had to start with that?
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I nodded thoughtfully for a moment, and then I scrolled down to the bottom of the email and I unsubscribed the guy from my list.
Not because he’s pushy or entitled (though EXPECTING YOUR REPLY did rub me the wrong way).
I unsubscribed him because I have zero interest in writing about getting your first copywriting client. I also expect that, for the rest of my life, that will never ever change.
It would be a waste of time, both for me and for the guy above, if he were to stay on my list and keep EXPECTING MY REPLY, given that his single biggest challenge is to get his first copywriting client.
To my mind at least, the most merciful thing is to set this bird free so it can fly off somewhere else. Which is what I did.
You might feel this email is a kind of flex about how I’m so cool that I can casually send engaged readers away from me.
Well, it is that, but it’s also something more.
Because one thread I found in the survey responses came from various people who already run email lists. Their single biggest challenge is that the people on their lists are the wrong type of subscribers.
Too broad of an audience… or no money… or simply a different kind of profile to what the list owner is looking for.
I’d like to suggest to you that regularly sending away the wrong people is one part of getting more of the right people onto your list. We all define ourselves both by accepting and by rejecting. You can bond with someone because you both love the Beatles… or because you both hate the Rolling Stones.
By the way, I’m not saying there’s anything personally wrong with someone if they like the Rolling Stones… or if they are looking for their first copywriting client… or if they have no money right now.
I’m just saying we all have the right to choose what birds we allow to perch and nest inside our own private and walled gardens.
Of course, repelling the people you don’t want is usually not enough. You usually also have to do some things to actively attract the people you do want.
So lemme ask you:
Do you face the challenge of getting the right people onto your list? Or do you face the challenge of a list filled with subscribers you don’t want?
If you do, hit reply. I’d like to hear more about what you’ve tried to overcome this challenge, and how it’s worked out for you.
In turn, if I can give you any suggestions or advice to help you get more of the right kinds of people onto your list, I will.
Should I say it now? I guess it’s inevitable:
EXPECTING YOUR REPLY.