Yeah… Last summer, I was “attacked” on social media. I put that in heavy quotation marks because it wasn’t directly. More in the sense of a post that made me wonder, “Is this about me?” I don’t know if it was, specifically. But it easily could have been. The post — by someone I like and respect — criticized authors who’ve been published only once and then have the audacity to create and sell a course on writing and/or launching a book. Normally, I would’ve been like, “YEAH, YOU TELL ‘EM!...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, I was mighty proud of myself for showing up early on Tuesday for my Real ID appointment at the DMV. I was also confident about having all the right documents. Current license, check. Social Security card, check. Passport, check. Birth certificate, just in case. Completed application. Banking statement with address. Steven printed out a backup proof of residence. Had my eyeglasses. This wasn’t going to go down the way it did last time. That attempt flopped three times in one day....
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey! We just spent the weekend at my mom’s place in Connecticut for our annual family gathering — me and Steven, Mom, my sis, her husband, and their two kids. Sunday morning, while everyone's buzzing around the kitchen/dining room area, fixing themselves bagels and lox or scrolling their phones, Steven looks up from his laptop and asks me, “Hey, Hun, why does most of your income come from something called ‘KAJ’?” “Oh. That’s Kajabi.” “‘Kajabi'? What’s a Kajabi, what you call your lady parts?"...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey — do you know what time it is right now? I don’t. For July, I’m literally off the clock. Not available for anything scheduled. No group calls, no podcast interviews, no “virtual coffee chats,” no nothing that requires me to be conscious of hours or minutes. It’s kind of like an elimination diet, except instead of cutting dairy, gluten, or sugar — all of which I’ve cranked up because I’m in my morning croissant era — I’ve removed time. You could call it allergy testing. I already know I...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Those Atomicon attendees are action takers. They’re already sharing results from the tips I gave in my (ahem) opening keynote. How cool is that? They’re grateful, and I’m grateful. Grateful that I made it there at all. There was a moment a few days before, in the back of an Uber, when I thought I might not. See, I don't like travel stress. When I'm traveling, especially for work, I will pay what it takes to make things easy. That means shelling out for an Uber when any sensible...
3 months ago • 3 min read
It’s official, Reader: I’m now big in the UK. Hello from a city called Newcastle, where I was the opening keynote speaker at Atomicon yesterday. I’m pleasantly foggy, recovering from a mix of jetlag, missed meals, hardcore peopling, pre-speaking stress, post-speaking euphoria, and a desperate Uber Eats dinner after midnight (when everything was closed) from a place called “Pizza Daddy.” Before a Shrimper named Jeanet came to see me at a book event and said she’d be recommending me to speak at...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I wrote this on Friday, the day before leaving for the UK. Assuming all went well and my flight out of Newark (😬) wasn’t canceled or otherwise botched — say, by an air traffic controller operating all on his own who also happens to be a chimpanzee — I’m now settled in Newcastle on Tyne, getting over jetlag and chilling at the Hilton before I speak tomorrow at Atomicon. It’s also likely that I’m still basking in the afterglow of Thursday’s Make Your Point: The Story-to-Sale...
3 months ago • 2 min read
The time: 2:24 pm yesterday. The location: my bathroom. The action: me, panic-spraying dry shampoo in my hair, because there’s no time to wash it. My new Story-to-Sale Workshop, Make Your Point, is starting in five minutes. In my usual style before a new training, I’ve worked on my slides all the way up to 10 minutes out. It can’t be helped. “Last minute” is my factory setting. So, just as I’m about to brush on some blush and let Zoom’s flattering “touch up” filter take care of the rest, I...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Reader! I recorded a secret podcast the other day with three copywriting legends. I was their first guest. They had me on to talk about storytelling, and asked about my trademark move: “You’re so good at making the turn from the story to an offer,” one of the three hosts said. “Do you have a formula for that?” It so happens that I do! I’d call it more of a brainstorming method than a formula, but tomato/tomahto. Either way, it’s how my best emails achieve that rare combo of entertaining and...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! My voice, just coming back after a few days of laryngitis-turned-chest-cold, is rough and sexy right now. Or maybe it’s just congested and nasally. I’m hoping it’s the former, because I spent half my day recording and sending welcome videos to the early-bird applicants for Shrimp Club who’ve gotten in so far. A stuffy nose doesn’t really add panache — “Welcubb to Shrip Club!” Mucinex commercial isn’t the vibe I’m going for. But the group of Shrimpers who are joining? Now there’s a...
4 months ago • 2 min read
