Yesterday morning, I saw the former president of the network where I used to write promos.

Great guy. Used to be my boss’s boss.

He didn’t notice me. I almost said hi but it was pre-coffee, and I see him often in that exact spot, outside of Jack’s Coffee.

I felt too boring and uncaffeinated today to stop and chat.

We’d just recently gone through all the “How’s your summer going” and “Who’ve you seen or talked to lately” and “I can’t wait for all these summer douchebags to leave Sag Harbor” talk.

You know those days when you don’t have any answer to “What’ve you been up to?” besides a useless “You know, not much, chillin’”?

I couldn’t bear to hear myself say it today.

But passing him reminded me of the first time I ran into him out here, a couple of summers ago.

On this same morning walk up and down Main Street (the one place there’s guaranteed shade), I heard someone call, “Laura!”

I turned and almost didn’t recognize him. He’d grown a Santa-meets-David-Letterman beard in his semi-retirement, and was now dabbling in new businesses.

He’s always been ahead of the curve: VR before anyone knew what it was, products the market “wasn’t ready for.”

We sat on a bench, caught up, and I asked about his then-new venture, which sounded very high-tech and cool but not yet successful.

“Nobody buys our stuff,” he said. “They don’t know what it is.”

I asked if he was using email marketing.

(That’s what email is for: telling people what the f you’re selling.)

He sipped his coffee and nodded. “We tried that.”

And?

“Well…someone on the team suggested we buy an email list…”

Oh, no.

“...And so we googled, ‘How to buy an email list.’ We bought a list of 4500 subscribers for 500 bucks.”

“How’d that go?” I asked, though I could already guess. I’m sure you can, too.

He laughed. “I looked up how many people opened our email, and it was like…”

WAIT FOR IT

“...eight.”

That’s what happens when you email people who never asked to hear from you.

Emailing people who actively sign up to hear from you is where it’s at.

I’ve made millions of dollars sending a few story-based emails a week to my subscribers, all here voluntarily.

(Save for a few who don’t seem to know how they got here or how to click the unsubscribe link.)

My first 6-figure launch came from 6,000 subscribers.

Not only that…

Shrimp Club alum Victoria Werner made $100K with 1,500 subscribers during Shrimp Club.

More proof you don’t need a massive list — just the right people.

That said, one of the frequent benefits of joining Shrimp Club? Your list grows.

Sometimes, by a lot.

Victoria went on to grow hers to 7000. (Screenshot in the PPS.)

Our annual Shrimpmukkah lead-magnet roundup puts your freebie in front of thousands of new people — including audiences you’d never reach on your own.

I’ll be doing it again for the upcoming round of Shrimp Club, which may or may not be the final one.

I never know from one year to the next, so if Shrimp Club is on your “someday” list, I recommend you make “someday” this October.

​Check out Shrimp Club and apply here.​

Of course, if you don’t have a business, newsletter, or creative project you want to grow…

If you don’t care about becoming a more compelling writer…

Or if, like my friend on the bench, you have plenty of money and can afford to tank your marketing…

Then Shrimp Club won’t be your jam.

And that’s fine. We can still be friends. We’ll hang on the bench. You, me, and your retirement beard.

xoLaura

PS - TL;DR: If you’ve been thinking about joining Shrimp Club, now's your chance.

PPS - Check out this DM from Shrimp Club superstar Victoria Werner, who sent me a list of her Shrimp Club wins…

...and remembered to add this:

7000 subs, and she started Shrimp Club with around 1500. 🤯She offers online PATTERNMAKING courses. Sewing. Just in case you thought you had to be in the online-biz space to benefit from Shrimp Club.

Psst! Since you're signed up to get my emails on a weekly basis, here's what you missed this week!

• ​This is blank?​
• ​[first name goes here]’s friends​

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