A few years ago, Ben Settle revealed that he now makes over a million dollars a year from his emails and info products.
Bob Bly has long said how his own, twice-a-week email newsletter, plus collection of $39 ebooks, earns him a healthy 6-figure income to complement his client work.
And last December, it leaked out that Daniel Throssell’s 2021 email income was “significantly higher” than $250k.
So where does that leave me?
I’ll tell you where.
It leaves me on the stage of the Email Player Haters’ Ball, receiving the award for best Email Player Hater. Like Dave Chappelle in his Playa Haters’ Ball skit, I’ll start off my acceptance speech by saying:
“First off, I’d like to thank God Almighty for giving everyone else so much… and me so little. [boos from the crowd] I hate you… I hate you… I don’t even know you, but I hate your guts. I hope all the bad things in life happen to you, and nobody else but you. [more boos]”
I won’t tell you exactly what I made over the past year from this newsletter. Let’s just say it’s equivalent to a modest salary. It’s certainly much lower than Daniel, Bob, or Ben make from their newsletters.
But in spite of my joke Email Player Hater status, I’m not stressing about my newsletter earnings.
In part, that’s because I tell myself that every blockheaded and self-defeating thing I do with this newsletter serves a deeper purpose. It allows me to stick with it for the long term.
But also, I don’t stress because of something I do instinctively, or rather something I don’t do:
I don’t compare myself to others, at least when it comes to business and money.
Over the past six days, I’ve been telling you about the six characteristics of a positive mental attitude. Today it’s time for the last one:
Self-to-self comparisons.
The idea is that if you want a positive mental attitude… then don’t be a player hater or a player admirer.
Don’t look at all the people ahead of you on the great treadmill of life, and don’t stress how they are all the way up there… and you’re all the way back here.
Instead, simply compare where you are right now to where you were yesterday, yestermonth, and yesteryear.
And that’s it. The end of my 6-part, positive-attitude, let-me-put-you-to-sleep series.
Maybe you feel that was a little abrupt. Maybe you’re even left feeling a little unsatisfied.
After all, self-to-self comparisons might be good. But isn’t there value in looking to others for inspiration?
And didn’t I even say in my email yesterday that it’s good to be inspired by a vision that’s tinted by envy and bitterness?
True.
And that’s not the only confusing and conflicted part of this positive attitude stuff.
The fact is, if keeping a positive mental attitude were easy and simple and direct, then everybody would be doing it, all the time. And everybody would be happy, healthy, and on their way to being successful, all the time.
Of course, that’s not what you see at your local Bed Bath & Beyond.
Having a positive attitude consistently, or at least when it matters, isn’t particularly natural to most people.
The good news is, being aware of what it takes is step one. That’s what you have now.
But it will still take some repetition, practice, and maybe even juggling for this to have any chance to sink into your subconscious. For it to be useful the next time you might be recovering from a bad injury… or learning how to play the tuba… or building out an email-based business.
To help you get that repetition and practice, you can always reread these emails. Or just sign up for my email newsletter, and let me do all the work for you.