Words from the great and wise American philosopher Justin Timberlake

A few months ago I subscribed to a bunch of coaches & course creators’ email lists.

So many of them say/do SUPER unethical stuff.

Some examples:

• Putting “Re:” in their subject lines (implying we’ve had a conversation before).

• Making super hype-y, obviously exaggerated claims.

• Saying “The sale ends on Friday, no exceptions, you have to buy by then”… and then sending an email on Saturday saying “I’m extending the sale for the next 24 hours!”

• You get the picture.

What they don’t realize is, every time they do something unethical, it costs them giant gobs of money.

Why? Because selling courses/coaching is about building long term relationships with people. Very few of us will spend $2,000+ to learn from someone we barely know.

If you did something shady and one of your friends found out, you’d lose a friend.

Same thing with your audience . Whenever you do something shady, you lose their respect.

And when you lose their respect, they don’t buy from you.

That’s why there are some studies that say that moral people actually make more money than immoral people.

Why? Because everybody trusts them, so they’re more willing to do business with them.

It’s not just science that says so. Some of the greatest and wisest American philosophers have said the same thing.

Warren Buffett constantly talks about how you only have one reputation — so you’d better not ruin it.

Or in fewer words, Justin Timberlake says “what goes around comes around”.

You are building a personal brand. Your reputation is EVERYTHING.

Don’t ruin it with cheap gimmicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOrnUquxtwA

P.S. I’m thinking of trying an experiment this week — I want to have a “fireside chat” on Google Hangouts on Friday evening where y’all can come and ask me marketing questions.

Is that something you’d enjoy? Let me know if so, and if I get enough interest I’ll do it!

Content sells

Last Thursday, the founder/CEO of a fairly large chess course business reached out to me.

We got on a call, and he mentioned my website.

On my website, there’s a little tab that says “read my emails” — where you can read all the emails I’ve been sending you.

Well, it sounded like he found that little tab, and read some of those emails — and they helped me stand out in his mind.

On Monday I had another intro call with a stand-up comedian turned business communication coach.

With him I don’t have to guess. Because he straight up mentioned that he liked my email from last week. (The one about the guy from The Sopranos who paid $7000 to get shot in the ass.)

The lesson I learned is: your clients are stalking you!

(In a friendly way, of course.)

Because nobody’s gonna hand you thousands of dollars without looking into you first.

(There are way too many internet scammers out there — so they have to know they can trust you.)

And the more money you charge, the more they stalk you.

They usually won’t admit they were stalking you. Lots of people will get on a sales call and never mention that they saw your content.

But they’re still stalking you. And whether or not they buy from you depends on what they find.

That’s why everyone should make content.

(Even if it’s not your #1 lead gen engine.)

Because when you make great content, your clients see it when they stalk you.

Then they’re more likely to decide they like you, and they’re more likely to actually pay you.

The lesson from this email is: making content works!

And the other lesson is: you should make more content!

You might not be making a ton of content right now because:

·      Because it takes a ton of time.

·      Because it’s hard to measure the ROI, and you’re wondering if it’s a waste of time.

·      Because you don’t think you’re a good writer/good on camera.

·      Because you don’t get immediate feedback from it.

·      Because it’s important, but not urgent.

·      Et cetera.

If you want my advice, here it is:

Whatever’s holding you back, just get over it.

Then set aside the time to make some blog posts/emails/YouTube videos/podcast episodes/whatever.

Because the more you prove that you actually know what you’re talking about, the more sales you’re gonna make.

(Even if you don’t want to build a full-blown media empire, just having a few good pieces of content can separate you from your competitors.)

I’m not spending much time making content right now — just 30 minutes every Wednesday writing an email.

It’s already paying off.

Will it pay off for you?

Best,

Theo

P.S. Need help making content, and don’t have time to write it yourself? Check this out:

https://theoseeds.com/brandvoice

Would you pay $7,000 to get shot in the ass?

Gangsta rapper Da Lux gets shot. He almost dies.

Now he's more popular than ever. His records are flying off the shelves.

Marvin, a member of Da Lux's crew, is jealous. He wants to get shot, too.

So he pays $7,000 to a mafioso to shoot him in a “fleshy part of the thigh”.

“But I don’t want to know when it’s coming,” he says.

One day, he’s picking up some hamburgers. The mafioso’s waiting outside. He shoots Marvin in the ass.

This is the plot from an episode of The Sopranos. It’s not a real story.

But it’s based on something real: most gangsta rappers aren’t actually gangsters.

(They just pretend to be gangsters, because they think it’ll help them sell records.)

The fake ones usually don’t have great careers. Most of them have a decent album or two, then fade from the public eye.

The real ones, who actually lived the life — like Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, and 50 Cent — usually last a lot longer. Because people can tell their music is real.

The online info-product space works the same way. Most people are faking it.

Tons of people position themselves as smarter than they actually are, brag about how great they are, and hide all their flaws.

The problem is, when you “fake it”, people can subconsciously tell.

(Especially the type of people who spend thousands of dollars on courses and coaching. Those are the people you want to impress. People like that tend to be pretty smart, and they tend to have pretty good BS detectors.)

The irony is, you don’t need to be fake.

If you're a rapper, you don’t have to pay $7K to get shot in the ass. Plenty of rappers — like Kanye and Eminem — build great careers by just talking about their lives.

And if you sell coaching or info products, you don't need to be fake, either.

You can build a great personal brand just by being yourself, warts and all.

(Even if you haven’t 100% “made it” yet.)

In fact, you usually make MORE sales by showing some of your flaws. It builds a stronger connection with your audience.

So even if you haven’t “made it” yet, I recommend just being yourself.

Be real, be authentic, and be vulnerable.

Tell your story.

-Theo