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...
18 days 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...
20 days 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...
22 days 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...
about 1 month 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...
about 1 month 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...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I used to wear a pair of black modal pants that weren’t quite sweats, but definitely not “real” pants either. Let’s call them “lounge pants,” even though the only lounge they’d be suitable for is the BK Lounge (what we used to call Burger King). I thought they were cute. Yes, the elastic was shot. Yes, the butt was a little saggy. OK, a lot saggy. But from the front, in the mirror? Still passable as “just going for a walk” pants. Why dress up? One day, I wore them for a stroll...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, I just repeated a post I've already repeated countless times. How meta, right? Here's the deal: Not wanting to repeat something you’ve said before is like not wanting people to see you in an outfit twice. (She says, as she panics about what to wear on stage in 3 weeks at Atomicon that she hasn't worn on the speaking stage before...) ⠀ Think about it: will they really notice? If they do, great! That means it was notable. And they’re paying *almost* as much attention to you as you...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, In my email the other day about soup (not really about soup), I talked about the writing exercises we ran through at our Shrimp Club retreat, and how brilliant the writing was that came out of them. Your fellow Shrimper Vanie wrote me back (I love it when you Shrimpers reply) asking, “Do you really make your shrimpers write as brilliantly as you do??...Cuz not everyone has your personality and [that’s] what’s so hilarious. How does that translate to other people who don’t have a...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, I have an ongoing problem. (I mean, besides my nightly ice cream habit and crepey neck skin.) It’s that “authentic” is probably the most overused word here in the online space, AKA The Space. Has been for all 16 years I’ve had my business. And, when it comes to personality, marketing, content, writing voice, etc — all the places we're drawn to the real deal and want even more to be it — there's no perfect substitute for the word. I do have a shorthand for achieving authenticity in...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
