 All right, so a lot of people over the years have asked me to teach a class about email marketing. Well, I've always felt it to be so simple that I didn't know how to teach a class about it. And so I'm just going to share with you as much of my strategies here on this video as I can because I think it really is as simple as do not annoy your email subscribers. And when you begin the relationship with your email subscribers, do not make them merely tolerate you, but make your content sought after that they actually want to subscribe. And why am I saying this? Because most email marketing strategy, the grow your email list will teach you to use a lead magnet. What's a lead magnet? What does that even mean? A lead magnet is a magnet to attract leads. What is a lead? It's another human soul who might actually be interested, not just might be but are interested in your message or your work and might become a potential client for you. Why are we calling them a lead? And this comes out of mainstream marketing frameworks, which is comes out of corporate marketing, where they are analyzing huge amounts of data and they're approaching, you know, they're, they're looking at the market as a whole and it's very disassociated from how you and my dear solopreneur wants to form a connection with our ideal viewer, ideal client. I'm calling them a lead. I don't call any of you leads. You see what I mean, like already, when you start learning mainstream marketing, you're already getting disassociated from the actual business that you want to relate to other human beings in your business, which is from a sense of soul to soul connection from a sense of heart of service. So again, you're going to learn and other how to grow your email list. Use a lead magnet. Okay, I've told you what a lead is. It's someone who might become a potential client but a magnet. Do you go to attract people, potential clients, do you go around using a magnet? No, a magnet is to attract, you know, an inanimate metal object. Right. So it's this idea and you'll see sometimes in marketing graphics a little magnet. It's like this ridiculous. I mean, I get what they're trying to do but it's just, it also suggests that the lead, you know, being attracted to the magnet has no sovereignty. You know, it's not like you're using a magnet when you use a magnet on a piece of metal, the metal doesn't go, I'm coming over to this magnet because I actually really like you. I've considered it and I'm going to follow you because out of my sense of desire for connection, no, it's just if there's no, there's no empowerment. It is a control over rather than an empowering of somebody. Do you see where this is going? A lead magnet? Okay, what is a lead magnet? What do they mean? I can usually teach you to create some kind of video series or some kind of quiz or some kind of PDF, you know, resource, and someone's supposed to go to your website and there's a pop up perhaps or not a pop up either way it's like, oh, get this very special thing by putting in your email address. And then in small print. And yes, you'll keep on getting my emails, my marketing emails as well after that. What is the relationship, how is the relationship starting? It's starting with subtle deception. And it's also starting from the person, you know, salivating over your free gift so called and go, well, I got to put my email address and this things look so good. Without the intentionality that I'm looking forward to this person's ongoing emails. I do it differently. And I'm going to show you on screen how I do it. But first let me explain the results of how, you know, since I changed my strategy. I used to use a lead magnet of a free webinar. It's one of the most sophisticated forms of a lead magnet because a free webinar means they're not just downloading something that they're probably never going to open. But do you think people are opening the thing they download from you? Seriously, how many of them do you have no idea because you can't track it first of all, usually. But, and even if they open it are they really setting an intention to can to engage with it. Most don't. Most don't. So a web a free webinar is much more sophisticated because they actually show up or they, they are, they're probably intending to show up to a thing anyway. So a free webinar as a lead magnet. I built up an email list of over 10,000 subscribers so I know what I'm talking about. This is already back in 2011 I got to 2011 2012 I got to 10,000 maybe even earlier, I got to 10,000 subscribers using a free webinar. And guess what, my email open rates. So the rate at which my subscribers opened my ongoing emails was lower than industry average. Let me just first explain how many people should you expect to open your emails when you send it out to an average 100 subscribers of yours, or average 1000 subscribers of yours. Well, given the current research, it's about 22%. So you send it to 1000 people you expect about 220 to open it send it to 100 people you expect about 22 people now the smaller your email list to hire the open rate so some of you are like George I've got a 50% email open rate 40% Well how big is your email list it's a several hundred people that's not big at all. Of course if you have under 1000 people. You know you can expect to hire 40% open rate but once you get past 2000 3000, you know or somewhere around that range even over 1000. The email rates go down to 20 to 30% and then larger ones, you know usually around 20% or so, sometimes lower. Having built an email list of 10,000 plus with a free webinar, my email open rates were between, I don't know 12 to 17% at that point. It's really low it's lower than it's about it's just about how sometimes half of the average. Well, guess what about 2015 or so I switched my strategy from building a larger email list with free webinars. Or any other gift and simply saying, listen you can join my email newsletter to get my ongoing best emails or best best content, or not join. It's up to you you can follow me on social media, or to make sure you don't miss the best of my content you can join this email newsletter in other words, I started looking at the email newsletter as a service of convenience to my audience. Not as a gotcha. Now I can market to you. Of course I still include offers in my emails at the bottom of my emails. Notice this, whenever you get one of my content newsletters. I give you what you came for first before then at the bottom. I'm not afraid fear is one of the reasons why so many people go into mainstream marketing. I'm trying to say you know what marketing and business itself is not just about growing a business and making more money. It's a practice. I believe actually it's a stage for spiritual development. I know that sounds highfalutin, but yeah, like I said fear versus love versus how do I apply love and connection to my marketing strategies and that's not how you look at what what you're learning out there is more most of it's based on fear and control. So I'm saying, well, I don't want to force them to join my email newsletter by dangling this salivating carrot, or the carrot that they'll salivate or whatever. You know, no, I want them to join my email newsletter because they want to receive my ongoing emails. Okay, so I switched my strategy in 2015. I started to not have it and that had not have a freebie. There's no lead magnet. It's simply, you want to join my email newsletter to get my best emails. If you do, go ahead and, and it's, and let me show you my screen for what my, my website looks like. Okay, for joining an email newsletter. Oops, I'll share this with you later. Let me go ahead and share with you. My, my, my homepage. There it is. Okay, yeah, that that's my homepage, right. Okay, so notice there's no pop up. There's no pop up interrupting you because again, how are you starting the relationship with your email subscriber. Are you going to annoy them with the pop up, because you might say oh it's not annoying. Yes, yeah it is. It's at least mildly annoying that they came to your website, expecting to maybe learn about you read your content and then there's this pop up, like, you know, and probably dangling some carrot, you know. Okay, there's no pop up number one and number two. Even if you scroll down, there's no, you know, like big opt-in box is deal. Usually they put the opt-in box above the fold, but even if you scroll down I have no opt-in box even below the fold what's an opt-in box it's where you'd like type in an email, maybe your first name to get their freebie or join your email newsletter. No. Instead, people simply know, oh, I want to join George. It's either up here newsletter, or it's at the bottom of the screen newsletter, you can choose either one. And at the top of the screen if you click here, you can actually look at the archive, recent archives. Okay, so you can see the recent newsletters and you can fully read them without signing up. Okay, because I actually put this on my LinkedIn profile. Anyway, this is my full email newsletter. Okay. It's as simple as this. Actually, it's interesting. It's interesting. It's actually, since I'm not signed into LinkedIn, notice I'm incognito. I'm not signed into LinkedIn. They don't show the full thing. I never realized because I've always signed into LinkedIn. But at least you get enough of it. Let me see another one. Okay. Yeah, this is the full thing actually. Yeah, this is the full thing. So the full newsletters are available the last three. You know, that's plenty. That's three months. And then if you want more, you sign up for it. And now let me show you what the signup page looks like. Okay. The signup page is almost purposefully challenging the potential subscriber to say, I'm not going to dangle you any carrot. I'm not going to try to charm you persuade you into signing up. No, I don't, I don't, I'm not going to do any of that. I want you to sign up because you actually want to sign up that you may you heard about me or you read my stuff on social media. You watch my videos, whatever, but you were like, No, I don't want to miss George's best. I want to sign up. You see how non and not only is it not not that attractive. Okay. It's, it's minimalistic. It's simple. But it asks you for more than you typically would expect for an email newsletter. I asked you for your full name, not just your first name because people, people usually when they when they send you an email Now, hello, Susan, like as if they were again deception as if they were emailing you personally some kind of love note or something like ridiculous. No, I when I send you an email newsletter notice I do not address you at all. I said I start my email newsletter simply saying my best post of the month. There's no dear Susan, dear John, nothing or hey Susan like as if I was sent no, I want you to know I'm sending this to you and about 5000 other people. This is not personal. George this is this is terrible. I mean, yeah, I'm being very honest with you. And then let me let me let me before I go on I should tell you. My email open rates are now more than 50%. Let me show you that first. So my email open rates are now more than double industry average. Let me go ahead and show you proof on on on screen here. Let me find my correct screen to share with you. There it is. Okay. So this is I'm opening the kimono as they say and revealing the numbers to you. Okay, so these are my my email newsletters going my monthly email newsletters going back to April, March, etc. And I have just north of 5000 email subscribers which is not small. It's not huge, but it's not small. And by this point by several thousand in, I should be an industry average of open rates of 22% or so. Look at my look at my open rates, 56%, 52%, 53, 54, 58, 54. Okay, my click rates are also higher than average. I think average click rates are. Last I checked was two to 3%, something like that. So, you know, higher higher than average. And so, but people are certainly opening it. And my, my newsletter subject lines are not salivating and charming and persuasive. No, it's very, very, very boring. You might even say 2023 September, should you charge what you were 2023 August a not for fame but it's boring. But yet I still have such a high open rate. Why, because I start. So I should tell you well George didn't you say you have 10,000 subscribers what happened to it. Back in 2015, I removed 90% of my email subscribers what. Yes, I did. Why. Because I realized I have built an email newsletter of mostly people who just wanted my free webinar and not ongoing connection with me there. They're not bad people it's just the way I started that relationship. Join my free webinar. And by the way, you're going to keep getting marketing emails from me. It's not a good way to start the relationship, even if it's content emails I don't care. You know, you start over connection with somebody by deception. That's what a lead magnet does. I mean, sure, you can have fine princesses. Yes, you can uncheck this box if you don't want to receive out but it's not the intention. The intent your intention right as the email newsletter writer is for them to be your hope your your intention is for them to be receiving your ongoing emails with with eagerness. But what's happening is they're merely tolerating you. You're not sought after with your email news. They're tolerating you with with. Oh my gosh, I joined this person's webinar I got their PDF or and now I'm just I'm getting their thing on a regular basis they're tolerating you. Stop it. Right like that's not what you want. No, nobody wants that. The truth, however I should say is that of course a lead magnet or freebie builds an email newsletter faster. I told you I within a few years I had 10,000 plus, but 90% of them didn't care. So I removed them. I still kept my about 1000 or so, but then I had built it I then I gradually built it up to this day. As you can see now with the numbers 5000 people who are at least half of them every single time and it's probably different. It's probably all of them, you know, all of them at some point are opening and those who do not open for like over a year right notice what happened. I prune my email list on a regular basis in April I had 5400 Sunday in May why 5000 one because I removed a bunch of people I removed about 300 people who weren't opening who hadn't opened in. I forgot it was nine months or a year or something like that I just I removed them. So I have I'm ongoing Lee saying I don't want to clutter your inbox. I only want you to receive my email news if you actually want to get them. So, this is why I don't recommend a lead magnet and this is why most of the people teaching your marketing are not long term thinkers. And this my general, I guess, concern or complaint with much of the marketing you're learning out there is that they say this stuff works, send lots of emails, then lots of reminders and, you know, you'll sell more you send lots of emails. You know how many emails I send. I send a monthly newsletter for those who want to do that but I was going to show you I hadn't finished showing you yet. My sign up, my sign up, my sign up page asks way more than most people do. Okay. And, and, you know, I require all of these fields I require the full name require obviously email I require how you heard about me was a through an affiliate who would who it is now. I require you to tell me whether you want to receive it once a week or once a month. So I essentially have two email newsletters right there already. And then country I think is, it's not required I really should require it but anyway us it doesn't matter as much to me before you can confirm subscription. Okay. Now, it's like, how many emails do I send, either you get my once a week email, or you get my once a month email. And then once you join my email newsletter you also get a confirmation message saying, by the way, I have a separate email newsletter. You just want, if you want to make sure you don't miss my ongoing launches might my announcements for my products and my services yes, I have a separate email newsletter of almost 2,500 people about half half the half my subscribers decide to join that one. And stay subscribed to get my you know how many you know how many sales emails I send when I'm launching a product how many reminders is total of two per month. I announced the product or the course or this coaching spots. And then I send one other email that month reminding them that I sent the original email to per month. Most launches you're going to hear oh aggressively send many emails, but well yeah you do make more sales in the short term. But you see, most people teaching you stuff. They sent a bunch of emails and they saw some sales more sales and they did when they sent fewer emails they go, I'm going to teach this now is sending more emails works. I've been around longer than they have. And I can tell you more emails and eventually burns out your list and you'd be like five to 10 years later you're like, marketing is as hard as ever. Whereas I'm here 14 years after I started my business 2009 and eight years after I changed my strategy because 2009 and start my business I was doing mainstream marketing, sending lots of emails doing lead magnets doing free webinars that you know the very sales the webinars all the stuff that you'll learn out there. And I burned out my audience I burned myself out 2015 I changed everything started with a new strategy and now I'm eight years in. Most people aren't even around in their business for eight years full time I'm full time for since 2009. I started, I'm very lucky I got going pretty quickly with clients and things like that and I've stayed like that full time. Since then. And now I'm eight years into an authentic marketing strategy and I can tell you the results are better than ever my marketing is easier than ever when I want to sell something. And I get more sales and I did last year. It's just like like that. Why, because I care about the connection I have with my audience. I don't start with a lead magnet. I respect your inbox. I am. I, I do things to be sought after rather than pushing myself on you. You see the difference. You wouldn't know that with learning short term because yes, if you use a lead man, you'll build up a faster email list faster, more subscribers than me faster, you will. If you send more emails, you'll make more sales in the short term, and then you start noticing over the years, not months, maybe, but years. Why is my marketing continually harder and harder or has remained hard and not easy like George, George's is easy. It's it's about the relationship. It's also about your own conscience. You know, you're not doing something that is truly heartfelt. And that shows it shows in your own self sabotage. And it shows by people having a doubt about you some skepticism towards you, because you send too many emails over the years it takes years to discover this. And then it's like it takes another few years to recover. So my question is, do you want to have to do that, or do you want to just start by doing the right things. But it takes patience. That's the hard part that's that's where my medicine is hard for you to swallow, because it takes patience. You can go with the mainstream marketers and make money faster probably actually make money faster maybe, but it's not you're not going to be able to make sustainable money you're going to burn out. You're going to have millions and you're going to say like, this stuff is hard. You'll continue being hard for the rest of your life, or you could be patient for just a few years. Maybe a year I mean making money would talk about that in other videos you can make money faster with a more connected heartfelt strategy. But in terms of the email marketing stuff, you need to be patient, and it's going to take a few years, but then you're going to have a sustainable income for life. How would you like that. I think it's easier over time. How would you like that. I hope you choose the long term, more patient method, which means how do you get joy now, how do you get fulfillment now. I know you're impatient. Most of us are impatient. You lean into the joy of connecting with your subscribers on a weekly basis. You can do it weekly do weekly do a monthly do a monthly you lean into that joy. You, while you have a small email list you try to get to know each subscriber by replying to them saying thank you for joining my list I'm so curious. What kind of content would you love from someone like me, you know, right now I have two large email list I can't get to know each of you anymore that's my disadvantage do you see what I mean. You have an advantage that I don't have. You still have the time. Alright, and the energy to get to know each person. I, there's no way I can do that anymore new subscribers come daily and I, I, you know, all I can do is to try to care with my heart on these videos and when they become customers and I try to care through, you know, through answering their questions and things. You have an advantage, lean into the caring for each subscriber, and you will stand apart for sure. And then that joy that caring will lead you probably to more clients faster, and you can let that joy sustain you with the patients to this kind of marketing that I'm talking about that that makes your business easier and easier over the years. I hope this is helpful. Thank you for for watching. I hope you got something from this. And, essentially, I that's my email marketing course I just taught it to you. Essentially, it's like having and continuing sending us few emails that you possibly can still on a regular basis once a month is a minimum. And some of you are I know I often get the question Oh George I haven't sent my email, send email to my newsletter for years now or for months now, can I still recover. How do I recover. Just send the next email. That's all don't make a big deal you're the only one making a big deal out of it your subscribers are like, Oh wow I have. Yes, sure if you haven't sent it for a year six months two years. You'll probably get more unsubscribes when you send that new because they for some of them forgot about you. But don't make it a big deal. Just send them what they sign up for the value that you provide the heartfelt authentic value you provide. And you can. Sure you can mention briefly. You've been gone but you're looking forward to being in touch with them again but don't make it a big deal you're the only one making it a big deal. Get back into it and just do it at least once a month and an email newsletter. I just taught you my entire email marketing course for free. Because it's really as simple as that and everything I've just said in this video you might watch it again, and look at my email newsletters look at how I do it, try to emulate that. I spend 15 minutes per email newsletter that I write, I don't, because I've already written the content or recorded the content on social media ungated without requiring people to sign up for me. My newsletter has no exclusive content. This is yet another point where I disagree with the mainstream the mainstream says no your email newsletter you got the most important in your porn asset in your business that's baloney. The most important asset in your business is your integrity actually, and your practice of creativity fitness those are the most important assets. Right. And the relationship you have with your audience, not only on the email newsletter, because people cannot open your email newsletter they don't tell you this people say. Email newsletter is the most important asset in your business. They don't tell you, oh, by the way, they might never open your emails again after a while. No, the most important asset in terms of the audience connection is the audience connection. And the audience might prefer to look at your Facebook posts or your threads post or your YouTube videos, they might actually open that more likely so why aren't you showing up in these different places wherever you want to show up on the consistent basis, showing your heart and your value. And then letting your email newsletter be a free service of convenience like I've already said, that's how I look at it to the people who definitely don't want to miss through email they like receiving email they don't want to miss your best content and your offers as well. That's how I look at it that's why my open rates and click rates are higher than average. And that my marketing is getting easier and easier over the years. So that I can lean more and more over the years into more expression experimentation of my authentic and whole creativity. So I hope this is helpful. Do what I do, because I believe in it and I teach what I do as well, but look at my new newsletters notice how I do it I spend 15 minutes back I didn't say I spent 15 minutes because what am I doing 15 minutes. Let me show you again. In 15 minutes. I'm just putting something like this together it doesn't I copy and paste the first few paragraphs of my latest article. I put it in there, I put a link to it I put a video to it because I usually record as you as you're watching right now this is the video I record companion to my article. And I also have on Instagram I put the recent. Of course it takes 15 minutes I'm just copying pasting a few things, making them click more to if they want to read not making them because some of them they might not want to. I keep it minimal says if you don't want that don't worry scroll to the next one. Do you want that don't worry scroll to the next one if you don't want any of it no worries. This is what I'm selling coming up if you don't want that no worries at all, you know, move on, move on with your life right. So YouTube, you know, so, so that's why it takes me 15 minutes per email newsletter and none of it is original. All of it is connected just to the original content I put on social media. That's ungated. You see, so I hope this is helpful. Maybe this is blowing your mind or or not I'm looking forward to seeing your comments below and any questions you have. I'll do my best to respond when I can. And thank you for for watching thanks for joining me on this journey. Be well, take care.