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: