Howard Shaw

Am I ditching daily emails in favor of communities?

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Yesterday, I sent out an email about how my bank cancelled my debit card while they ship me a new one. I also dramatically stated I’ve been living on 200 euro in cash until my new card arrives.

In reply to that email, I got an offer from long-time reader, fellow Barcelona resident, and occasional coffee buddy named Matthias (not sure he wants me to share his last name). Matthias wrote:

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Hey John, just read your mail. Similar happened to me last month. If you need some cash, let me know, then I can meet you for a quick coffee or sth.

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Also yesterday, at the end of my email, which was really about how my Amazon book sales have cratered after I stopped paying for ads a few days ago due to the cancelled debit card — and dropped from 19 a day (last day of advertising) to just 2 a day (a couple days ago) — I asked readers to buy my book on Amazon, either because they are curious about it or because they want to help me goose sales until can get ads running again.

I have been promoting this book since May. I have written dozens of emails driving readers to the Amazon page for it.

Most of my best and most dedicated readers and customers have already bought this book.

And yet, I still made 11 new sales yesterday, and from what I can tell, all or close to all of those came via my email.

I’m telling you this because lately I’ve been talking a lot about the Skool community I’m running, and in particular the auction I ran last week inside that community.

(Maybe you heard? The winning bid in that auction was $31k. In case you haven’t heard, don’t worry, because it’s a fact I will be repeating several hundred more times before 2025 runs to a close.)

About that community and auction:

After the auction completed last week (with a $31k winning bid, just in case you forgot), I got lots of feedback and impressions from people who witnessed what went down.

One such bit of feedback came from Howard Shaw. Howard’s a Partner at Chester Toys, a UK toy wholesaler that’s been in business for 60 years. Howard also happens to read these emails, and he wrote:

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I think what showed during the whole auction was the affinity with your group – which I guess in no small part is down to people ‘knowing you’ from being on your list.

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Howard’s absolutely right.

Communities are great, and it’s been fun to build up something new.

But the fact is, my community wouldn’t exist had it not been for this email newsletter.

Not only in terms of members who form the core of the community, and who joined via these emails… but also in terms of engagement by those folks, which is there in large part because of the relationship that these emails have built up.

Fortunately, I don’t have to choose between having a community and an email list. It’s easy and profitable and fun to have both.

But if the direct marketing gods forced me to choose only one, then for all the reasons I’ve listed above, and for many other reasons besides, I’d choose an email list, and I’d MAIL IT DAILY.

Now, if you want some help with MAILING A LIST DAILY, and sticking with it for the long term, I’ve got just the thing to help you.

It’s my Daily Email Habit service. Speaking of:

Earlier this week, I got on a call with the winner of the auction I ran last week, Nick Bandy. (Nick’s winning bid, for the third and final time, at least in this email, was $31k.)

I grilled Nick about his current job (fractional CMO with a $12k/mo retainer), his life history, his list (about 800 people, all added since this spring) the offers he’s making the people on his list via daily emails, and then some.

At the end of our call, which lasted about two hours in total, Nick said about Daily Email Habit, which he wants to promote to his own list as well:

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That’s why I said Daily Email Habit so enthusiastically. I literally wouldn’t have started any of this if I didn’t buy that. I enthusiastically endorse this. It’s one of the best things I ever spent money on.

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If you wanna find out more about Daily Email Habit, or get going with this enthusiastically endorsed service today, so you can build up your own stock of human relationships with folks who support and drive on everything else you want to do online or offline:

https://bejakovic.com/deh

Mercilessly teasing my own mother

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A few weeks ago, I was back home visiting family. Before we started lunch one day, my mother sat me down at the kitchen table. She crossed her arms, and she said:

“Well? Are you going to tell me? I hope you don’t expect me to read that book to find out. So? What is the highest paid quality on earth?”

The story is that my mother has recently taken to reading this newsletter. And the day before the lunch, I had sent out an email about “the highest paid quality on earth.”

I teased that highest paid quality mercilessly in my email. At the end of the email, I still didn’t reveal it. I simply linked to a book where I promised you could find out what the quality is.

(By the way, why tease like this, including your own mother? Good question. I’ll talk about that another time.)

Meanwhile, I got a message from a reader, Howard Shaw. Howard’s a Partner at Chester Toys, a UK toy wholesaler that’s been in business for 60 years.

Howard actually did order and did read the book I linked to at the end of that email.

As a result, he did find out what that most highly paid quality is. But there were consequences.

To tell me about those consequences, Howard sent me a photo of the book lying on his couch. And he wrote under the picture:

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A book I was introduced to recently and that I enthusiastically recommend.

The point of this email? I am not sure.

Although I am currently looking to embrace some situations with enthusiasm, and searching out business options that I may have previously dismissed.

One of these came my way Thursday, and by Friday afternoon had meant a new client and a deposit already in the bank.

So I thank you for taking the time to re-introduce me to my enthusiasm.

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If you’re a particularly perceptive reader, you may have picked up from Howard’s message what the highest paid quality on earth is.

But does it really matter?

Did you have your mind blown as a result?

Or more likely, are kind of… disappointed?

And yet:

There’s Howard’s story. There’s new client where there was no client before. There’s the new money in the bank where there was less money before.

All of which brings me to the most life-changing idea I’ve been exposed to since I started learning about marketing. It’s this:

“There is an inverse relationship between the value of knowledge and what people are willing to pay for it. The most important things in life you’ve probably heard a hundred times before, but you’re not paying attention. When you’re in the right place and you hear it, you have that ‘aha’ moment and everything changes.”

I write more about that idea, and the A-list copywriter who said it, in my 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters.

Is this the first time you’re hearing about that book? It might be worth a look then.

Have you heard me talk about this book before? It might be worth a look then.

Here’s the link:

https://bejakovic.com/10commandments

3 most not-boring emails I wrote this year

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A few days ago, I sent out an email with the subject line, “A primer on worldbuilding.” I got a reply to that email from Howard Shaw of Chester Toys, a UK toy wholesaler that’s been in business for 60 years. Howard wrote:

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Don’t ask me why, but I just felt like replying….

‘​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​John Bejakovic ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​- never a boring email.

I always learn something or receive a nugget to ponder on.’

Anyways, all the best for the festive season and may 2024 be good to you.

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I followed up with Howard to ask if I could use his comment in an email. ​​He said he would be offended if I didn’t. So here we are.

“Yah great for you and Howard,” I hear you saying. “Quite the love-in. But what about me? Where’s your ‘not boring’ email now? I don’t see anything particularly interesting or valuable so far today.”

True. It’s hard to write something not-boring every day.

​​I know, because I just spent the past one-and-a-half hours going through the 360+ emails I’ve written since the start of this year.

Most of my past 360+ emails I just scrolled through. I vaguely remembered writing them. They did their purpose at the time. But I certainly didn’t need to reread them.

However, some emails I did reread.

A few of those made me chuckle.

And a very few made me stop and think.

The emails that made me stop and think weren’t the ones that got the most replies and praise from readers.

​​They weren’t even the ones that made the most sales.

But looking back from today, at the end of the year, these top emails were somehow most interesting to me, as ideas that I should remember or practice, or because they sparked a change in how I how do marketing or how I write.

Over the course of the entire past year, I noted down 14 such top emails.

I then narrowed them down even more to the most not-boring 3, using myself as a sounding board.

In case you are looking for some not-boring emails, you can find them below. Don’t read any of them. Or read just one. Or read all three if you have got the time and stamina.

And like Howard says, all the best for the festive season to you.

How to become in-demand in your niche even if you have no contacts, portfolio, or good sense

Why the bathroom is a great place to negotiate

10 lessons from the ClientRaker promo