So far I’ve had 3 false starts to this email.
What you won’t read in today’s email today are…
>> Any of the three excellent hooks I wrote.
>> The photo of my bruised and bloody leg from a racing mishap.
>> Scraps of dialogue from three different characters, including Barbara, my “inner CFO.”
>> How much I spent on my mastermind retreat, or the spreadsheet I made for Barbara.
>> A GIF of me in my new C1 racing canoe that I spent 20 minutes fiddling with.
Any of them could be great emails, but they all have the same problem: too much work. I’m set to host a retreat in T minus 5 hours. I don’t have time for inbox novellas.
Next week I’m off on a vision quest to Barron Canyon (I smell a GIF opportunity here, focus Tarzan!!) for four days, leaving me with about twelve seconds to knock out two weekly emails that say, “I’m the boss of this! You should probably join my program and do it with me!”
Thing is, Email Stars opens for enrollment in EIGHT DAYS(!) so now would be a really silly time to go rogue. And the fact is…
I never ghost my subscribers. Not ever.
Everything in my business hinges on subscriber relationships. And consistency is the crossbeam that holds the whole operation together.
So I thought today I’d pop in with some tops on What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Writing or Don’t Have Time To Write An Email.
- Don’t talk about how hard it is. I see this a lot. That makes your subscribers feel like a burden. They are not some drudge employer demanding emails from you every single week. They literally DO NOT CARE that writing emails is hard for you.
- Instead share WHY it’s hard (without saying that it’s hard). Got something on your mind that you’re not sure how to write about? Say so. Just be honest. Feeling pressed because your dog needs emergency surgery? There’s a story there! Tell it.
- Refer back to your “ideas bank.” You have one, right? That’s my #1 email tip—file your ideas away somewhere so you’re not starting from scratch every time. Here’s what’s on my list rn. I’m literally copy/pasting—
- My dead name. (That’s private.)
- I don’t know how anybody in the world could possibly function / run a business without a project management tool.
- I’m mad about Ahsoka
- Take a Week Off When You Need To. Just tell them. “Hi, I’m [x] and this week I’m away doing [x]. See you next week, BYEE. End of email! Include a pic to make it a bit special. I would do this next week since I’m away, but it would not be smart to miss a chance to talk about Email Stars, so I probably won’t. Only do this during non revenue-generating periods.
- Let good enough be good enough. Not every email you write will be the best email you ever wrote (unless you’re Tarzan—just kidding! I promise I’ve written some real duds!). That’s okay. Writing is a habit and the more consistently you practice, the better you get at it. It’s fine to send a B- email now and then. Just keep swimming.
Okay, now I really have to go.
Hopefully you’ll get to see some of the gems on my cutting room floor in a future email. But probably not, honestly. I rarely go garbage-picking. I could write a brand new email every single day, that’s how easy and fun this is for me.
Writing to you is my #1 favourite thing about my job.
I’ll leave you with this randomly selected image I sent to one of my retreat support people (“SOS. Bring scissors and thread, plz.”) because another one of my “don’t know what to write about” tricks is to scroll through my photo library and see if anything inspires me.
Now I’m off to toss this ball around with 5 really cool people.
If you’re struggling for ideas this week, I hope this helped.
XOT
