Today I want to give you an idea for a new newsletter, free for you if you want to run with it. But first, a bit o’ background:
A couple days ago I was at the gym, stretching and listening to one of only two podcasts I ever listen to, Mike Mandel’s Brain Software Podcast.
In this episode Mike had a guest, Scott Adams of Dilbert and Trump fame/infamy. Adams has written a new book, and he’s going around to promote it.
I finished listening to that podcast but I was still not done with the gym. The podcast app jumped to the new episode of the second of only two podcasts I ever listen to, the James Altucher Show.
In this episode, James had a guest, also Scott Adams, still promoting his new book.
That’s the background. It’s relevant because Adams’s new book is called Reframe your Brain. It’s all about reframes — different ways to look at situations, changes in perspectives that make you happier, wiser, or simply more effective.
My point in telling you this is to show you that now is a good moment to launch a newsletter, one I have been thinking about for along time, exactly on this topic.
I was planning on launching this newsletter myself.
But I simply have no time to do it along with this marketing newsletter you’re reading now and the other health one I’ve got running.
So I’m giving you the idea if you want it, for free.
The name I thought of for this newsletter was Great Reframes. It would be in the vein of Letters of Note, in case you know that.
Each issue would simply give readers an interesting and valuable reframe, along with a bit of a story or historical anecdote to make it stick. For example, your first issue could cover one of the classic and most powerful reframes of all time:
“Pain is just weakness leaving the body”
… which is how Arnold Schwarzenegger hypnotized himself into pushing harder at the gym, and how he ultimately won seven Mr. Olympia titles.
I’ve been collecting such reframes for a while. I got a few dozen of ’em so far. They’re everywhere once you get yer antennae up.
Scott Adams collected a bunch of his own reframes into his book. Scott’s book is both a resource for you if you choose to launch this newsletter, and it’s also free publicity, a horse to ride, an occasion to justify your new newsletter. The time to get going is now.
“Yea sure,” you say, “but what about the money? Weakness leaving the body is nice and all, but how about some money entering my wallet?”
If you want to monetize this newsletter, then you got a few options, depending on what you like to do:
You can position this Great Reframes newsletter as a resource for investors, along the lines of Morgan Housel’s Psychology of Money.
You could make the reasonable claim that a change in perspective is an invaluable investing tool. At the end of each issue, you could simply pitch stuff that would be interesting to investors — exclusive access, high-priced analysis.
Or if you want to promote yourself and your writing services, you could position this as being an inspiring resource for entrepreneurs and hustlers.
You could get entrepreneurs all motivated and inspired with your reframe, and then simply suggest they hire you to write whatever it is you write, since you’ve just demonstrated you can do it well.
Or you could go full-consumer, and simply aim this at self-help junkies. Give them a new reframe in each issue, and then sell them courses, retreats, coaching, whatever.
So there you go. In the slightly modified words of info publisher Bernarr MacFadden:
“Not having your own newsletter is a crime — don’t be a criminal”
… which is another good reframe for you to use in an issue of your new newsletter.
And as I said yesterday, if you do decide to create this newsletter, and you need a platform to actually send your newsletter and a website to get people to opt in to it, then I recommend Beehiiv.
Beehiiv is what I use for my own health newsletter, and it’s great, a rare piece of online software that works well and is a pleasure to use.
In case you’d like to get this newsletter started now, for free, go here: