A mission for a Monday

Your mission… should you choose to accept it. That is of course the catchphrase from the TV series Mission: Impossible. Now, you’re not a secret government agent (probably), but your “mission” is a good thing to think about on a Monday morning. Because… When you do, it makes the rest of your week in business…

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Keeping yours… yours

I’ll admit it. I’m a little addicted to Facebook. It’s like the stash of chocolate cookies in the pantry. I keep wanting to take a bite. And I do. Now, social media can be a great way to promote yourself, particularly if you can market to a particular community – a local area where people…

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As enticing as the Black Sea Devil anglerfish

The Black Sea Devil anglerfish is the ugliest fish you’ve never seen. It lives in the deep, deep sea and is – basically – a ball of (bad) teeth. It lives so deep that it’s hardly ever been seen, until this week when it was caught on video. Ugly, ugly. Nemo it ain’t. Here’s the…

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Woodpeckers, questions and newsletters

Right now I’m reading a book called Why Do Bluebirds Hate me? It’s the sequel to Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Headaches? (That’s a question I’d wondered myself.) The author, Mike O’Connor, owns a bird-watching store – bird houses, binoculars, sunflower seeds… you get the idea. And he gets asked a lot of questions – hence…

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Your biggest asset

I was talking to someone a while back who said this: “Pulling the plug on my personal marketing was the dumbest thing I ever did in my career.” Whoah! Actually, recognizing where things went wrong and trying to fix them is actually quite smart. But he’s right to say that stopping his personal marketing was…

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Wake up and scratch head

Did you hear about the burglar who fell asleep on his victim’s couch? And meanwhile, the victim’s roommate was sitting next to him…watching TV. He thought the burglar was the guy’s friend. They only figured it out when the victim came back home and discovered his cellphone was missing. And so was the “friend”. Bizarre…

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Footprints, sand and sharks

One of my favorite things to do is walk along the beach. But not just any part of the beach. I like the fuzzy, blurry region where the ocean meets the land. Have you ever watched what happens to your footprints in this in-between world? They start well defined – all five toes. But after…

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So much more than that

It’s not “what you sell” that matters. It’s not you as a “real estate agent” that matters. Instead…it’s all the stuff that surrounds it. Let me explain. Here at Ready to Go Newsletters, we sell newsletters. But that’s not what matters. Yesterday Mayna, our long-suffering customer support manager (I say long-suffering because she works hard…

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And then they suddenly click

If you’re on Facebook, you’re no doubt familiar with “clickbait”. Clickbait is headlines that you just can’t help clicking on. The trouble is, when you click, often the resulting page doesn’t live up to the promise of the headline. For example: “Guess what the latest magic superfood is? The answer will surprise you” Or “10…

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Oh Henry! I need to think about it

My computer is coming up on five years old. That’s almost as old as my nephew. And while he is getting smarter, faster and better every day, my laptop… …. well, it’s feeling its age. So I am shopping for a new one. Now, purchasing a computer is not an impulse buy. It’s not like…

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How to convert more leads into clients

Time today to open the kimono and talk about these emails. If you’ve been here a while, you’ll notice that I send them out almost daily. That’s a lot more frequently than the monthly newsletters we offer here at Ready to Go Newsletters. Here’s why: I have been sending these emails for about a year…

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You already have the expertise

I was reading a question the other day on Quora. The question was: How do I find content for my newsletter? The question, while completely understandable, made me a little sad. Now, don’t misunderstand me… I realize that it’s hard to fill a newsletter. You have other things to do. That’s why companies like mine…

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Imagine if they called and said this…

It’s hard getting noticed out there. Sometimes it’s like banging your head against a wall. Or talking when no one is listening. So…. wouldn’t it be nice if someone actually appreciated the stuff you send them? We got this comment yesterday from Aaron, a real estate agent in Scottsdale, AZ: “By the way, I had…

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News from Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha!

Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha! – that’s a place in the Canadian province of Quebec. Population 1,318. Apparently the Ha!-Ha! bit comes from “ha-ha” – a kind of ditch that serves as a barrier without blocking the view. They have lots of ha-ha’s in the grounds of English country houses (think Downton Abbey and Lady Mary, down in a…

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Sprint or marathon?

I love my clients – especially those who want to go the extra mile. I was chatting with one today. He’s got lots of big plans – and they are excellent. Such as… Making a newsletter for a neighborhood Creating a drip campaign for new leads Developing another general newsletter to use as a business…

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You can’t start with the massive log

It’s getting cold up here so I decided to light a fire yesterday. Now, as anyone who has tried to get a fire going knows… it’s not always easy. And one thing you cannot do – however tempted you are – is to put that great, big, hulking log on… and hope for the best.…

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A road trip with chicken wings

We took 60 chicken wings on a three-hour drive the other night. You see…. exceptional wings lead to exceptional trips – we brought some home from a trip to the city and shared them with fiends. (I can’t believe we made it three hours without snacking when we stopped for gas.) It turns out that…

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3 scary newsletter mistakes

As it’s Halloween, I thought I’d share the three scary things I see people doing (and not doing!) with their newsletters. So here we go. Giving up too soon This is the biggie. Newsletters are for building long-term business relationships, and for nurturing prospects who take a while to buy. If neither of those things…

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Old lists and good zombies

I have a database here at Ready to Go Newsletters that goes back to 2009. (Yes, the business started a couple of years before that but we got a new IT system and…well…you know…) So there are people on the list whom we have been contacting for about five years. And you know what I…

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Beavers, land grabs and newsletters

A couple of years ago, a beaver decided to use our yard as its own personal Home Depot. Every morning we would wake up and there was another pointy tree stump. Somewhere nearby was a wonderful beaver McMansion, I’ve no doubt. I was watching a documentary about beavers the other day and, like most creatures,…

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