Noah Kagan was #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint.com, and is the Chief Sumo (founder) at SumoMe, which offers free tools to help grow website traffic. To keep things extra spicy, he’s become a taco connoisseur and created 4 separate products that have generated more than 7 figures.
This podcast conversation is about all of the tools and tricks he uses to do it all.
Noah was my co-teacher in the “Starting a Business” episode of The Tim Ferriss Experiment, which is now the #1 TV season across all of iTunes. In the episode, we help a novice entrepreneur named Cindy to develop and launch her business in a single week. See all the details here, and be sure to watch the bonus hour of behind-the-scenes footage.
But back to the current podcast…
Noah and I cover a ton, including his favorite tools, apps, books, routines, and more. It ranges from apps for preventing distractions, to how he blocks out time every Tuesday for learning, to how he gained 40 pounds of (mostly) muscle in the last six months or so.
If you loved the resource-rich business interviews with Ramit Sethi and Tracy DiNunzio, you’ll love this one.
So, here’s the interview, chock full of tools, cursing, and sexual innuendo…
You can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: Are you afraid of doing the “coffee challenge” that Noah describes? If so, why? If not, please do it and share the results in the comments. Feel free to share any other experiences with “comfort challenges” like those in The 4-Hour Workweek.
Scroll below for all show notes, links, resources, etc….
Links from the episode:
- SumoMe: website, Twitter, Facebook
- Noah’s blog
- Peter Thiel
- Alfred App
- Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator
- Schedule Once ($99 a year option)
- Andrew Warner
- Followup.cc
- Perch.co
- Myfitnesspal.com
- Quest protein bars
- Tuft and Needle
- My Pillow
- Parachute bedding
- Steve Pavlina
- Tucker Max
- Monthly 1K
- Darren Rowse
- Shane Snow
- Taco Deli
- Gary Halbert Letters
- Kopywriting Kourse
- Draft
- Hemingway
- The Pleasure of Finding Things Out – Richard Feynman
- Mybodytutor.com
- Coach.me
- Stickk.com
- Dietbet.com
- Withings Scale
- The Online Coach – the SHUL workout
- Pavel Tsatsouline
- Travis Brewer
- Email1k.com/tim
- RAD Roller
- Evan Williams Bourbon
- Charlie Hoehn
- Videofruit.com
- Nutribullet
- Datpiff.com
- Travis Scott
- Wale
- Promise Ring
- Router that Noah recommends
Books Mentioned
- The Martian
- Go the F**k to Sleep
- Who — Here is Noah’s short and personal book report on Who. I have about 10 pages of notes from this book. It’s well worth purchasing (I prefer Kindle version so I can highlight and export).
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
- Essentialism
- The Ultimate Sales Machine
- Million Dollar Consulting
- The Sales Acceleration Formula
- Smartcuts
- SPIN Selling
- Ogilvy on Advertising
- Small Giants
- Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!
- Starting Strength
- Practical Programming
Show Notes
- Noah’s ad for living in Austin, TX [1:39]
- Noah’s favorite tools he’s using right now [6:26]
- Noah’s health/fitness routine [13:43]
- Noah’s mattress and bedding recommendations [17:08]
- Why Noah organizes his dollar bills in his wallet [25:14]
- What the coffee challenge is [30:54]
- The 3 most important (but undervalued) things people should spend more time learning [45:43]
- What REALLY changed the game for Noah in his writing style [47:59]
- Why Noah blocks out 2 hours every Tuesday morning just for learning [58:54]
- Noah’s tips for adding muscle [1:03:01]
- Noah’s business rules [1:17:00]
- Noah’s challenge to build your email list (prize included) [1:27:00]
- How to get a custom email address added to your Gmail [1:33:30]
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
1) #NOAH
2) Went from 300-over 3000 subscribers last week
3) The most important lesson I learned: Set a goal (3000 in my case) and focus on just that and nothing else. Also, the importance of testing and tracking daily to improve conversions (I got a consistent 50-65% conversion across advert channels after nailing down my ideal ads and landing page)
4) (Pick me Noah!) I did your monthly 1k program and made my 1k in a week last June
#NOAH
These results are probably not impressive to anyone but myself, but thought I would post them anyway! I was a little late to the party with this episode and I only listened to it today.
As soon as I had access to facebook, I put on a funny picture of myself and wrote a short spiel about starting an email list. That was 3 hours ago, and since then I have had 7 of my friends sign up. I’ve also posted to linkedin but I don’t really use it, and I don’t use twitter or anything else so facebook is it for easy-access leads.
So I’ve gone from 0 to 7 in 3 hours. There’s still 2 days left to go so I’m hoping to improve that number substantially.
The most important lesson for me has been the realisation that there are people out there in my social circle who are interested in what I have to say. I’ve been afraid of putting myself out there for the fear of only hearing crickets in return. The responses so far have been very positive, and a number of subscribers have already asked me for help with specific problems.
This motivated me a ton, so I registered a domain name and created a super-simple email signup landing page which I plan to use to increase subscribers. I’m looking forward to the next 48 hours and beyond to see where this takes me.
Thanks for the inspiration!
#NOAH
Great podcast with some excellent takeaways. I would love to meet Noah to chat about fitness, business, and entrepreneurship. I’m a CrossFit gym owner, ironman athlete, and at the moment dabbling in gymnastics + olympic lifting; trying to become competitive at CrossFit! Also, Austin is one of my favorite cities!
In 15 months, we’ve grown our email list to ~2,000 at Urban Life Athletics. We’re opening several new locations and need to build our web traffic + email list in the process.
Great podcast episode, couple of questions though: Doesn’t gmail restrict the number of emails one can send at one time? How do you automatically add an email address to a contact group in gmail for someone who wants to sign up to your email list?
Best. Episode. Ever. (So far). I say this because it actually got me up and doing something. I only listened to it today, made the post for the email list as Noah instructed (I did both Facebook and LinkedIn), and after only two hours have 4 subscribers so far.
#NOAH
This is my first post ever! Awesome content Tim and Noah. Thank you guys so much for sharing your tips and tricks for absolute beginners. Also I have purchased a copy of the ‘The Tim Ferriss Experiments’ and love it!!! Especially the one on starting your own business. The behind the scenes on that episode was very helpful because it dug deeper and went to the core of the problem. As I was watching the episode I could actually relate to some of the fears Cindy Manit on a much more individual level. I felt like Tim and Noah, you guys did a great job unearthing the situation. And I have to add in; hats off to the camera crew for capturing Cindy’s emotional situation so well!
Ohk back to the challenge. I do not have a business/mailing list/product yet. I have taken up this challenge to test whether the theories that you guys mention would work (and also to win the trip to Austin and meet the masterminds :)) and it was indeed sooooo nerve racking. I hadn’t expected it to be scary since I post random stuff on facebook all the time. I feel as soon as the task was boxed into a “Business Challenge” category even posting a simple message on facebook made my heart skip a beat.
I did do it! I love art and craft and put up a simple message along with a picture of my craft (I figured it was more appropriate to put a picture of my art instead of my own picture in this case.) The message was something like this:
“Hey folks! I am planning on starting a new blog on arts and crafts. Email me at [Moderator: email address removed] with a “Yes” if you’re interested and want to be one of the first peeps to be notified when it’s up.”
Anywho it felt great after I posted it. And I thought I wouldn’t recieve any responses. But, I received some really good comments and motivation. Although only 2 people have emailed to join the newsletter I got a whopping 16 likes on it. It may not be huge in terms of a numeric value, but it was a huge leap from absolutely nothing. I left a comment once again asking people to actually email me if they wanted to join. Most of the people commented and liked it. I was wondering if I should send a personal message to all of my friends on facebook. I’m not sure if it’s cool to just pesonally facebook message 300 people. To me that feels a little spammy. Thoughts?
So I feel I learned a lot of things through my experimentation process here:
1) As soon as a simple message was boxed into “Business” category I had butterflies in my stomach
2) Which makes me think I need to get rid of this mental block
3) I was also surprised by how many people were actually excited about the newsletter and also motivated me
4) I can actually start a newsletter and people will read what I paint and make!!! That is awesome.
5) Even if I do not have a newsletter for this; like you guys mentioned I can always say I have another big project that I am working on and maybe have people sign up for that.
6) I can have a real product and a real business and people will sign up for real!
Thanks so much!
PS: I did not know about the plus trick (for filtering) for email addresses that you guys talked about. It is super cool and I am using it all over 🙂
#Noah
I already have a fitness mailing list that grew from 140 to 1300 subscribers the week before this article went up, from one hit guest post on MyFitnessPal. I started inviting people to join in my email signature and asking people to forward to friends at the end of every newsletter I send out, and posting articles to social media. Up to 1390 subscribers and climbing- not all of that can be off of this challenge, I’m guessing it contributed 50 or so.
I also got accepted as a regular contributor to LifeHack.org last week, and got two guest posts accepted to other sites (TinyBuddha and TheChangeBlog), and am working on four other guest posts which have gotten tentative acceptance of the article concept but still need to be written. Also pitched one to HuffingtonPost, waiting to see if it gets accepted.
Most important lesson I’ve learned, particularly from the MyFitnessPal post: figure out who the readers of the site you’re guest posting for really are, and what they read it for. Then customize the post for them. I had a previous article for MFP that only got like 50 subscribers, because it was about caffeine. The second one got almost 1300 because I understood that people reading the blog will respond far better to articles about fat loss. I then discovered that their readership veers heavily towards older women, which I’ll take into account in the next article I write for them.
I think I’ll end up with three to five thousand subscribers by the end of this month, depending on how soon my posts get published. By the end of next month, I’ll have 5000 subscribers, maybe even 10,000.
Best episode ever! I can definitely see myself listening to this again.
Best episode! Will definitely be listening to it again.
About 10 mins into this episode and I had to switch to another podcast: “Facebook’s #30 Employee” is quite a snub. Having read the comments here, I will make another attempt at listening to the whole thing: there might be a thing or two to learn. The episode with Samy Kamkar got me interested in this podcast: down to earth people are always a joy to behold.
#Noah
3 sign-ups so far. Awesome podcast. My wife and I are trying to take the leap from being “wantrepreneurs” for years now. Looks like we’ll need to put a little more manual work into getting this email list going.
1. #NOAH
2. I didn’t significantly grow my list…I have a list. I learned however to add to it with he non-automated social media tools (email me about blah blah), which I am doing today in anticipation of a new product launch.
3. Important lesson: Simplify. It doesn’t take complex tools or time to collect key email address from motivated customers.
#Noah
I started a new list from scratch for this challenge and followed the instructions. Not easy at all. I do not recommend using Gmail canned responses. It’s a mess even for a really small list. I’ve used MailChimp before and it’s free so once the list grows a little more I’m switching back.
5 subscribers so far. 7 said they would, but again a link is easier to join than using an email and it left a lot of people confused on how to join. Over 20 people liked my selfie if that counts for anything. lol
I have other email list I’ve grown from scratch. The most is 90 subscribers in about 6 months with it on auto pilot with no email sends.
Another I have set up to filter RSS feeds and then bundle the stories together to send out monthly. 16 subscribers there.
#NOAH
Hi Tim and Noah, I grew from 0 to 7 people in 3 days!
Lesson: Even if grew only 7 people, is still 7 people who are highly interested on the sujet of preventing injuries in boxing. What I learned is that: there is always opportunities, and we always find the answers by being in the action by simply doing !
Thank you !
Ps: I really enjoy doing the experience!
Coffee shop Challenge sounds intimidating… although in China, the culture is you negotiate everywhere, on everything…I would have no problem with that in China…
I couldn’t catch the name of the second film Noah mentioned. It’s called “Something Crystal”. Anyone?
I am shocked that you didn’t know who Wale was?
#NOA
Voy a crecer el newsletter de Arigato Magazine de 174 personas que tenemos hoy a 1000 en 2 días.
Mi blog habla sobre anime y cultura Japonesa. Actualmente tenemos más de 150,000 visitas al mes, pero todavía no hacemos dinero de ello, por eso me gustaría conocer a NOA. Estoy seguro que puede funcionar.
Yes, all the time, I always ask for a military discount. Some places, like SF, have next to no veterans living there, and asking for a veterans’ discount usually results in befuddlement and confusion from the register operator unlike where I live where every other person is in the military and most businesses offer a military discount. If I receive the befuddled look, I usually ask for a discount because I served in the Iraq war. If I don’t get it, I usually get the manager to get me the discount. I get annoyed when I don’t get it and the cashier operator has that fuck you look. Your really get the gambit of responses when asking for a discount from, oh yeah, to, sorry asshole.
#Noah
Tim, hope you can reply to this question soon before the contest from Noah’s podcast ends. After listening to the podcast a few times and giving it some thought over the weekend, I believe I want to try as well. My question has to do with submitting proof of what I am about to do. Do you want actual links of the newsletter website and metrics because I also am reading your footnote where you say ” Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam.” Obviously I am assuming that for this contest and for the contestants to show proof of what they did the rules on sharing urls might be bend or I can of course fade out the actual website urls. Thank you TIm for everything and good luck to everyone
#NOAH
Even though I was a SUMOME user, I wasn’t gaining traction, mostly because I was “wishing” my list would magically start growing itself. My challenge was to get to 100 subscribers from the tragic 9 subscribers I currently had.
Results: I have tweeted, emailed my contacts, and talked to two clients about my list today. Visibility is Key! I have contacted a bunch of people and have grown my list to 29 (at 5pm today). I will update again by Tomorrow!
Most Important Lesson: Results are about FOCUSED ACTION, not about focused podcast hearing. Using our mediums is easy, once you “stop being a little *itch” and just go for it. (Lesson Learned). Also, I need to work a little harder on my emails, more specifically, getting a Mentor (using another word, obviously). I’ve taken action and made a list of my top 11 most influential people in my line of business. I’ll be spending some time to email them individually…. I’m sure Tim & Noah are glad they weren’t part of the 11 (I had to take them off) for the sake of not wasting (their) time. I already feel like a better version of myself pre-podcast. Honestly!
Great Interview. Really, what I like best about Noah is the no bs approach to getting started. What I Love about Tim is his practicality and his ability to get the right tools in his listeners’ hands. Together, they created some actionable magic.
Next Book: 4 Hour Body, Essentialism.
Next Task: Getting a Mentor. And never looking back.
P.s. If I win, I challenge #NOAH to a Salsa eating contest.
Awesome Job taking some action! This is very cool! Curious why you have decided that you would be wasting Noah’s and Tim’s time? Why give up on yourself so early or talk yourself down like that? I’m pretty sure that Noah and Tim are the ones who get to decide who is wasting their time. (but if you decide that you are, then of course you are!)
That’s a great question Scott. I don’t know why I assumed that… and I shouldn’t! In the podcast Noah mentioned not sending them a mentor request (or something along those lines) so I guess I took it literally… But you are completely right. They should be the ones who decide to say no, not me. Thanks for the advice Scott!
#NOAH
I grew my list from 0-70.
I discovered that I just need to put myself out there. I have this idea that I know will impact thousands of people in the beauty industry. I don’t know why I was “waiting for permission” to release my idea into the world. The reaction I got was incredible. I am incredibly thankful to Noah and Tim for giving me the push off the ledge. The train is rolling out. The best thing is that I now have an audience counting on me to produce content.
Tim you mentioned your particular penchant for Vans shoes. Which model adorns your feet? I’d love a comfy shoe that can go to the office.
coffee challenge completed. I doubled to 20% at a St****cks and got it. Next two times have not worked. Small task for the ROI on what I think is possible.
#Noah Just growing my mailing list for the Aged Care Revolution from 0 to …… will wait and see!
Hey Gen, It seems that we have a similar interest. How can I subscribe to your list.
This was one of the best pod’s ever. Love the back a forward and already on mybodytutor and dietbet!!
#NOAH
Just listened to the podcast today. Got home, got to work.
I’m not sure about these other people… but I just wanted to follow what was talked about in the podcast. Not trying to get creative here, just trying to get into action.
I’ve written the post, posting on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn, also going to share on some private groups I’m part of.
Setup a filter in gmail to send the canned response and apply a label.
Nothing yet, but I’ll update tomorrow 🙂
As of right now 9:50am PDT, I have generate two people directly interested from a combination of my personal blast and email signature.
I got one person who sorta accidentally signed up (hard to explain, but kinda funny).
I had a good amount of retweets from some other people with decent twitter followings, unfortunately, didn’t see anything off of that.
What I’ve learned:
Either my offer wasn’t strong enough, or my normal following is not incredibly interested in this topic.
I could potentially get better results by offering more of a direct tangible benefit for signing up like “3 Secrets to X” in order to have a a higher perceived value initially.
Either way – it’s been a fun experiment, and I think I’ll be working on some other methods to try and grow the list. We’ll see how it goes 🙂
Thanks for the challenge.
Stay focused and think outside the box. You have the first piece started – motivation. Keep going. Look at areas and chat boards that have topics that you are focused and post. Good luck!
Wow what a podcast! Don’t know if it’s just me and the state I’m in but Noah has got me into the marketing again. Such a boost to both my regular business and my side-projects! Became a member of both his blog and sumome. Launching my first newsletter tomorrow and building my list (has been on my Nozbee to-do list for about 14 months).
Also diving in deeper into Tim’s stuff because of this.
OK guys going to get off you dicks now! Awesome stuff Tim and Noah
Cheers!
I asked for a free car at the car dealer, couldn’t believe the guy told me to piss off. I was so totally confident of getting it.
What an incredible game night I have had because of this podcast. First episode I have heard from you and I am beyond inspired. I am just starting tonight but we’ll see what happens. I want that trip BAD.
WHAT. A. BLAST. OF. AN. EPISODE!
Seriously! Pavel Tsatsouline, Kevin Kelly, Maria Popova, Josh Waitzkin – and all the others hold loads of information and practical tips but this ep just put the extra shovel on the pile as we say in Germany 🙂
Just did the coffee challenge twice: Once for coffee, once for Adana Kebap – got the 10% off both times. So I payed double and promise to work harder on rejection 😉
#Noah
2. just started my mailinglist and drove from 0 to 87 in 2 days. Hope to keep up that growth rate. Tomorrow I will put your instructions to work for a client
3. the most important lesson is as always: Just start. I was beating around that mailing-list bush for a long time. So it is like with so many positive things: Just start, make the first little steps and results will happen. Mostly the good ones.
4. Why I would like to get mentored by Noah: First, because I feel like the older I get (40 atm) the more I learn. But: I want to learn how to give something back as well. So for me it would be a bit like meta-mentoring.
Tim, a tip for your feet:
I was walking in Vans, Chucks and Visions half of my life. A bit more than two years ago, I switched completely to vivobarefoot
Barefoot-Shoes that look quite nice – a range from sneakers and running shoes to really beautiful and expensive leather shoes.
The difference for me is: The front is MUCH wider so my feet have more space to move, as in normal sneakers that tend to squeeze the toes together.
Maybe you want to give them a try.
http://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/mens
#NOAH
Went from 0 to a grand total of 12 subscribers #rookie
Lesson learnt: need more Facebook friends. But also found it heart-warming how supportive friends and family were for the cause. Thanks Tim & Noah for the call to action. Now to start writing that newsletter 😉
Hi Tim,
In this episode and in one of the Random Shows you mentioned that you keep specific books in a visible place in your house.
Which books do you keep there?
Cheers,
Brad
#NOAH
Even though I was a SUMOME user, I wasn’t gaining traction, mostly because I was “wishing” my list would magically start growing itself. My challenge was to get to 100 subscribers from the tragic 9 subscribers I currently had.
Results: I have tweeted, emailed my contacts, and talked to two clients about my list today. Visibility is Key! I have contacted a bunch of people and have grown my list to 29 (at 5pm today). I will update again by Tomorrow!
Most Important Lesson: Results are about FOCUSED ACTION, not about focused podcast hearing. Using our mediums is easy, once you “stop being a little *itch” and just go for it. (Lesson Learned). Also, I need to work a little harder on my emails, more specifically, getting a Mentor (using another word, obviously). I’ve taken action and made a list of my top 11 most influential people in my line of business. I’ll be spending some time to email them individually…. I’m sure Tim & Noah are glad they weren’t part of the 11 (I had to take them off) for the sake of not wasting (their) time. I already feel like a better version of myself pre-podcast. Honestly!
Great Interview. Really, what I like best about Noah is the no bs approach to getting started. What I Love about Tim is his practicality and his ability to get the right tools in his listeners’ hands. Together, they created some actionable magic.
Next Book: 4 Hour Body, Essentialism.
Next Task: Getting a Mentor. And never looking back.
P.s. If I win, I challenge #NOAH to a Salsa eating contest.
#NOAH
Great podcast!
I’ve added 1,442 subscribers through Scrollbox and 318 through List Builder on different pages on our site – about 4% conversion with each.
I love SumoMe and recommend it to everyone I know. We use share too.
I’m in Boulder for Boulder Startup Week and just made my bed at the airbnb I’m staying at (which is awesome btw… if anyone is ever looking to stay in Boulder ask me where I stayed)
#NOAH
I took on the challenge with excitement because I’m a photographer and wanted to grow my online presence. I tweeted, posted to Instagram, Google+, added a post to my blog (with SumoMe) and even had my girlfriend retweet.
All that resulted in 0 subscribers. Not a single email address.
In that time SumoMe sent 20 pop ups and my site got about 150 uniques. I guess the number one thing I learned was, what Noah said about follows was wrong. Your starting follower base is very important when you try something like this. I had 5 followers on twitter when I started this, so even if my conversion rate was 2%, I’d still have zero sign ups.
I’m not knocking the system outlined in the podcast, because I think acting and working towards a goal is the most important thing when you’re trying to achieve something. I just need to find a way to get a modest level of viewers first. It’s a bit of a “if a tree falls in the woods” scenario.
If you’d like you can check out my site and thanks for another great podcast.
garrettgraham.com
#Noah
Currently (as of 5/12/15) I have added 13 new users around a newsletter on setting up a website on squarespace.
Lesson learned: Clarity. I feel like there needed to be a bit more clarity to my users as far as what they are signing up for.
I am working on some different headlines today.
Also, learning how much impact my socials can have verse just texting friends.
My text were a lot more powerful than my tweets.
#NOAH
I started a mailing list two days ago on learning techniques by posting a recent picture of me and a short message about what I wanted to start on the social networks that I participate in. As of yet, I’ve made it from 0 to 1 (Peter Thiel, anyone?).
The most important lesson I learned? Now, I expected some pretty negative reactions from some my contacts (This can be quite a hot-button topic to those of my relatives who are educators…). This didn’t materialize at all. The critical reaction that I envisioned was just that: imagined critique.
Just tried the “coffee challenge” and got 10% off my coffee. Also learned that my coffee shop offers a discount to downtown offices like mine. Never would have known that unless I had taken the challenge. Nice!
#NOAH
With bated breath, I clicked post on the heartfelt status update I crafted. I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a content strategy newsletter for the better part of six months now to share what I have learnt in almost 5 years industry. In came the first “HELLS YEAH” email. Thank you for giving me the push I needed to do so.
Friends and family started to like the status, a couple of favorites on Twitter. Nothing had happened on LinkedIn, the channel I thought might perform best because of my professional contacts in the industry. An hour went by, then two. A couple more people signed up, but nothing fancy. I got a nice email from a college friend saying how much he enjoyed my writing and things I shared in this respect and thus this was a no brainer for him. He was a great guy I had no idea would be interested in what I had to say.
I ended the day on 17 likes, 2 favorites and 10 emails signing up, 50% shy of my goal of 20 emails. No matter though. Those are my first 10 peeps upon which I will build my empire. If there’s anything I’ve learnt watching the TF Experiment, its that the goal isn’t really the goal. The goal is a tool to get a step closer – to give just enough dopamine to take the next step. And the next.
It’s been an interesting 24 hours. While people speak about this exercise getting them outside their comfort zone – I don’t think this was it for me. This was about me getting off my sorry ass and getting my assumptions handed to me like a head on a stick from game of thrones. It wasn’t about getting the 100 emails. It was about getting started. And for that, I have both of you to thank.
Also, Alfred rocks. Tim you should really get on this.
Tim, Have you heard of the Wendler 5/3/1 program? (Weight training methodology.) I’d be really curious to hear your thoughts on it, or if you can actually get Jim Wendler in an interview, either of these two options would be epic! [Moderator: link removed]
#NOAH
Did the Coffee Shop challenge at the gym when signing up, and got my monthly fee for £25 opposed to £30 🙂 Thanks guys.
Going to give #NOAH challenge a go too
Thanks for the shout-out Noah!
Hearing The Gary Halbert Letter mentioned on the Tim Ferriss Show is awesome!
1) #NOAH
2) Results: 8 email responses.
3) Most Important Lesson Learned: in the very beginning phases of a project, focus on the most simple next steps, they are likely the easiest ones to take. This was a very simple and easy step to take, and it’s one step closer than I would have been had I not took the step. I had minimal results, which is fine, and I think the reason why is because I asked my network to not only reply to the email address, but to also provide a question about what they would want to specifically learn about. Something I shouldn’t have asked until after I have provided value, with a newsletter or two. Steps build momentum, so thanks for initiating!
Wow, really good episode.
Noah is such a cool guy and really has deep insights to share.
Especially liked the “you spend your whole day either in your shoes or in bed” part. Amazing.
Thanks a Bunch, Tim!
#NOAH
Hey Noah,
First of all I’d like to thank you for this opportunity, you make us work on ourselves & grow by using specific techniques, and we get to possibly get mentored by you, that’s a lot of value in my opinion.
I realize a lot of people would love to have this opportunity, so I wanted to do something different to create proof, and tracked my progress these last 5 days on a landing page. Just click on the link to see a small summary. Enjoy!
http://www.the-raw-agency.com/contest-appsumo-tferrispodcast/
Went from 0 to 410 e-mails.
Most important lesson:
Adding the auto-reply “what can I help you with?” started a conversation with a few people who answered me with their needs. I regularly catch myself thinking I understand my customers/people, but I realize I could take more time to ask & listen. This confirmed again that I can step my game up by doing just a few simple things.
Alex – you have stepped things up into a new playing field. Well done my friend.
Thanks man, I appreciate the positive feedback!
Well done! I love the simple add of the auto-reply question and adding your email list to your email signature.
#NOAH Just listened to the podcast and heard about it this morning. (less than 24 hours left, let’s make some magic)
SIde note: Love the coffee challenge BTW, I just called adobe creative cloud and asked them to drop my subscription from 50 to under 30. They did… and they threw in a free month. Nice. Also recently got gotowebinar to give me several free months… oh and a free webcam oh and a back credit for the 1 month I just paid
So onto growing a new list I accept your challenge, here’s what I’m going to do to step it up: I have built another business on the side of my day job. I’m going to start a list for people who are interested in side businesses that leverage their strengths.
I already got 1 email saying “interested” from a guy named alberto before I even finished this comment!
I will be back with an update in less than 24.
HAHAHA. My first email was also from a guy named Alberto. That’s hilarious!
#NOAH Ok I’m back, I’ve got about 30 so far but here is what I did slightly differently.
I let people know that I was creating a course (which I have been) on how to choose, start and grow a sidebusiness (which I have done several times)
So now I have, not just 30 names on an email list, but instead, 30+ people that are interested in the offer that I will be sending them for a online course.
I set up a survey too (so I could collect verbiage for the pain points with to do a sales page later) which I about half filled out (after an autoresponder email went out saying “hey let me know that you got this by hitting reply and typing yup or sure thing or squirrel or something”
We will see how many actually purchase but there is no reason I can’t get on the phone some of these people and sell to them (assuming it meets their needs) that way.
What I Learned: No matter how many I get or don’t get, These are all people with real problems that are trying to start a side business. They are all wanting solutions to their problems.
With much less action than it took for me to build 0-1000 people on my first list (and in way less time) I now have potential customers that all want exactly what I’m selling.
That’s crazy.
That also means there really should not be any excuses!
Awesome Noah!
I would love the mentorship and tacos (mmm especially the tacos) but I think that in 24 hours. I got something that was just as valuable which was just moving past the headgames to focus on what counts, connecting with people and offering something they find valuable!
Thanks much!
#NOAH
Great podcast & always good to have a challenge thrown down!
I’ve started a little late having listened over the weekend. However, I’ve followed your tips and have gone from 0 to about 30 at the time of posting for a monthly British fashion newsletter I’ve been wanting to start for a long time.
The two most useful lessons I’ve picked up are:
– To make the most of what you already have. I had some good social media contacts I could use
– Starting is the most important thing
Thanks for the nudge!
You guys rock. I really loved the cast. Noah check out Verdes in Round Rock for those good tequilas. Ask for Jo-el, his passion for tequila really shows.
After listening to the podcast today I am following Noah’s advice and seeing if there is any demand for my help. If you want more information on how to get started investing by using options to take less risk shoot me an email. [Moderator: email address removed]
Solid Podcast Mr. Ferriss, one of my favorites of recent memory…saving this one for sure. I love Noah’s energy and raw passion for things. Definitely helped kickstart my creative juices for the day. A quick observation, in the show notes it says Evan Willams Burbon, but Noah mentioned Balcones Single Malt which isn’t noted. (I don’t think those are the same….could be wrong) Cheers!
#NOAH
I grew my Pre-Start Mail list from 0-400 in 2 days [Moderator: link removed] and planned on getting 3-5k in 2 weeks (Email me for proof)
I’m a 22-Year-old University Student for the UK, I’ve been running my business for 16 Months now. Started with all the money I didn’t have…my £1000 overdraft and the pressure of not having money for university, food or rent (I was threatened to be thrown out of University because of unpaid fees, but it was perfect opportunity as I had nothing to lose and everything to gain)
I’ve now turned £1k into nearly £200k Turnover, with a 60-70% Gross Profit, I reinvest all the money, and I am about to Launch my website in a couple of weeks) Currently I sell through multiple marketplaces, Etsy, Amazon(.fr / .de/ .co.uk) I have designed all my products myself and do the majority of things on my own, But since reading the 4HWW I have begun to outsource a lot of things, in one week I had 7 freelancers working for me on multiple projects. The truth about my business is I could have had a lot more growth, but prior to outsourcing it was hard to be able to manage turning over say £1,000,000 while being at university still.
I plan to get my business to a nearly fully automated stage by July and travel Europe for 3-4 months on my motorbike (Triumph Bonneville )while running my business from the road
I have since advised many start-up businesses, won multiple competitions and co-run the Entrepreneur Society for my University.
The most important lesson I gained from this was to not be scared to engage with your potential customers, as we all want the same thing!
I think this would be a great opportunity for me to grow and would help greatly for when I launch properly.
Kind Regards
Kane
There’s a saying from my town (Newcastle, UK) it goes “Shy bairns get nowt”, which means “Shy kids get nothing”, this is what I live by and what your task emphasised. Forgot to add that like as I’m currently finishing my dissertation at 2:21am… too bad I can’t outsource this 😉
Kane
Love the drive and what you are doing Kane!
List is currently at 555 without any more time investment, I have my final University exam on Thursday and plan to launch a massive competition straight after and to grow the business and list further to get to around 5000+. I have also implemented an [Moderator: link removed] strategy, paired with google news scraping, to compile a list of 700 relevant Blog Editors (First / Last Name + Email) for less than $20
Proof: http://s27.postimg.org/bnpfnc98j/emailproof.jpg
As a guy deep into internet marketing, I was on a totally different wavelength when you guys were talking about copywriting. I thought for sure you were talking about copyrighting! Was confused at first when I checked out the Gary Halbert Letters.
Coffee challenge accepted and conquered! The hardest part was going to a Starbuck’s and cheating on my organic, fair-trade, single-sourced beans and Aeropress on my counter! They should really give me %50 off when they source their beans for under $2 a lb.
Interestingly enough, I did a similar challenge after listening to episode 515: Good Guys npr’s This American Life. Great listen if you haven’t done so yet.
#NOAH
I’ve immersed myself in learning online marketing for the last 9 months or so for my primary business, and it’s working slowly. A month ago I decided to start a second business (trying to monetise a blog) and apply some of what I’ve been learning. I bought an older blog that was for sale and didn’t have any penalties. I’ve revamped the content. In two weeks, I have over 1,200 followers on Facebook. I paid $260 for those. 23 people have signing up for the monthly newsletter via the website itself. I have just added SumoMe to the website, so hopefully that will improve.
After hearing the podcast, I put up a photo on my personal Twitter account, where I have 1,600 followers. I had 7 retweets, 24 favourites and 1 direct reply. I boosted the post and got another 1272 “engagements”, but I’ve learnt that boosting is not worth doing.
In my post I asked for a personal message if they wanted to get the newsletter. I didn’t get any personal messages, so I’ve learnt that I need a better call to action. But I ran out of characters to include a link to the page.
Overall, I’ve learnt that the skills I have been learning easily transfer to another business, and this second site has had a far faster uptake than my primary business, because there’s more of a market.
Thanks for such a useful podcast.
Love the podcast…
Question: what style were Tim’s vans?
#noah
A quick thank you to Tim for orchestrating the podcast and Noah for your time. I’ve followed the TFS for several months but this is my first post. Cudos to you both for using a creative carrot to engage listeners. Lesson noted.
Until recently, I worked for a hedge fund with a very specific strategy. While I was well known in analyst circles for being well versed in this area, I wanted to break the conception of being a specialist and show peers that I knew other things. So, I went through a stack of business cards I had collected over three years and created a mailing list which goes out every Friday to initially 80 and now 127 professionals, 25 issues (and about 5 months) later. Most people on the list are far more experienced than me, some of whom you would know of and have actually interviewed on the show.
The newsletter called Interesting Things was initially a summary of eight things that I’d read during the week – usually business, finance, culture or psychology – as well as a quote and a joke. Every week I get a handful of replies regarding my opinion on one of the articles or just asking how I am going (particularly now that I am unemployed). Just last month I was in an interview with a portfolio manager in Hong Kong who unsuspectingly quoted a factoid that was in my previous week’s email – he had been forwarded Interesting Things by a mutual friend.
Inspired by your podcast with Matt Mullenweg (which I featured in my email and likened to Warren Buffett for his incredible simplicity and clarity of thought), I looked into how I could use the WordPress platform to share my experiences beyond the mailing list. I registered AdventureCapitalist.me and have spend the last month building the site, working on content in spare time with the goal of announcing the site to my mailing list over the coming weeks.
While I have no aspiration to monetise the site, I think it needs to add value to readers for them to bother following the site and for it to in essence promote itself – ie. let others sing your praises. Going forward, Interesting Things will only be one aspect of AdventureCapitalist.me with the aim to share my experiences as they happen in a way that is insightful for young entrepenaurs and investors.
I only just listened to the podcast last night, so the best I can do before your deadline is share my plan to grow my platform with you:
0) I have connected the website with twitter (@elroychristmas) and instagram(adventure_capitalist), which I will use to highlight new posts and as a photoblog. I am racking up content (on instagram in particular) before drawing too much attention to it. (DONE!)
1) Put together a list of 20 people I admire or would like to connect with and message them on linkedin or email, requesting to add them to my mailing list. (DONE!) – repeat this every week
2) Migrate the mailing list to MailChimp which can manage subscriptions (DONE!)
3) Add a note in the header of this Friday’s newsletter inviting recipients to forward the ‘subscribe’ link to the people they have email to email to in the past (that said, I like that people use my email as a tool to keep in touch with others… doing this could in fact detract value for some users. What do you think?)
4) Add a landing page that entices visitors to join the mailing list, a la kopywritingkourse. Thanks for the tip! I don’t know how to do this yet, but will work it this week.
5) As an indirect strategy to gain credibility with new readers I would like to start a podcast – I am fortunate to have access to some interesting and successful people and would like to share the conversations with others. I have compiled a list of ten people I know and admire that are doing things differently. The list includes: investors, self made businessmen, social entrepreneurs, adventurers and professional gamblers (will gladly share this list with you privately).
Some constructive criticism of my plan (particularly #3 and #5) would be very helpful. In any case, Tim, thank you again for giving me an example of what makes a podcast successful (the show notes are absolutely gold!) and to Noah for some handy links (trackpad speed, newsfeed eliminator and albert are simple but brilliant) and the carrot to set some goals for my AdventureCapitalist project.
Wish me luck.
Lloyd
#NOAH
2) Took my email list on Reflective Learning/Practice from 0 to 48 e-mails. (Email me if you’d like verification).
3) The art of the clear, simple ask. I went through three avenues: texting, facebook posts and shares, and email listserv blasts. Texting was the most effective from a batting average perspective. Already existing email lists were, however, nearly as effective by that metric, and way more effective from a time standpoint.
Either way, distilling the ask down to it’s bare essentials for clarity was crucial, and got easier the more I did it.
Tim,
Your podcasts keep getting better and better. Learned so much that got pages of notes from this one.
Wondering when you make a text available for podcasts like this one to help review what the speaker shared ?
Best regards,
Bill
#NOAH
Oddly, asking for a discount or free coffee has never been an issue for me, but asking people to give me something (their email) was terrifying. Of course, now I need to figure out the actual content 🙂 I have some ideas, but it will be great to see what kind of suggestions I receive through this venue!
I listened to the episode late this afternoon so I don’t have any numbers yet. Should I edit this tomorrow night?
#Noah Wow that was inspiring. After listening to this podcast today I think I am more motivated to get going right now today than I was all last year. Mainly because I love tacos as much as you do and my wife won’t ever let me eat them. My wife and I have a business together making popcorn and caramels, [Moderator: link removed] We were just on Oprah’s Favorite list last December. Our website which I manage myself and don’t know anything about, grew 1000% overnight and without a mailing list. We started organizing one today and have over 3k emails. Seriously, would love to chow down a taco together. I grew up in Fargo, ND, home of the taco shop, which is one of my favorite. I can bring some to you and we can compare what is better.
#NOAH
I grew from 0 to 3 emails. I suggested writing a newsletter about how to better deal with the stresses of the working world as a young professional. This was then designed to lead into eventually offering a 3 day retreat I’ll be running this summer called Camp Novo [Moderator: link removed] that is a summer camp for adults where all proceeds will go toward funding an actual summer camp for low income children in LA.
I went through social media and, from a tactical perspective, learned that “likes” don’t necessarily translate to emails. Having to copy/paste from one site to a new tab to email client leaves a lot of room for bounces. This is why in web analytics it’s generally a best practice to remove as many blockages on the path to conversion, but you’re also playing with occams razor in building credibility along the way.
However, I will say that I learned that there are at least a few people who are interested in my thoughts and opinions and for that reason also I am motivation to produce some content. If I can have an impact on even one life then that’s motivation to at least try.
Could you please make the season of your show “Complete my season” able? I have purchased a few episode, and want to get the behind the scenes, but do not want to purchase the entire season for $15 just to get them.
#NOAH
I’m super stoked about the email challenge. I ran home after the podcast and took my email game to the next level. I run a men’s grooming/lifestyle website and began trying a few things.
The result – in less than a week I’ve grown my email list from 455 subscribers to 484 subscribers. This is after unsubscribes.
Note sure if I can post a link here, but here’s a screenshot of my email growth:
Here’s my before on May 8th: https://www.evernote.com/l/AHZgvkDCoU1JSaPowVHRi3c9ogYmY7BREJ0
Here’s my after on May 12th:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AHb91In55b1KQarOKwgWCUhrBK6YG3s6_tw
Here’s what I did:
1. I tweaked the list builder app from Sumome and created a custom popup for my top trafficked pages (A tip I received from Noah’s newsletter). My conversions jumped from .5 to 1.5% overnight. Totally tripped me out.
2. I set up a contest. I reached out to a few PR’s we work with and got Gillette and Dove For Men to agree to launch a fathers day contest on our site.
We’re using the Kingsumo Giveaways app so all entries will be collected as email addresses. Not sure if this will count, because the giveaway “technically” begins after this competition is over, but I thought it was super cool.
Main Takeaways:
– Be super targeted on your messaging. Tailoring a unique popup for a specific page really helped increase our conversions.
– Contests are awesome. We’ve done a few contests before, but nothing like we’re planning on doing with Gillette and Dove. A good contest can double or triple your list almost overnight. Just make sure that the prize is tailored to your audience.
– 80/20 works with content too. I didn’t try to create a custom popup for every page. I looked at my traffic and found the pages that get 80% of my traffic. Those are the ones I focused on.
Nice BOLD move to reach out to Gillette and Dove!
Love it!
#NOAH
I’m super stoked about the email challenge. I ran home after the podcast and took my email game to the next level. I run a men’s grooming/lifestyle website and began trying a few things.
The result – in less than a week I’ve grown my email list from 455 subscribers to 484 subscribers. This is after unsubscribes.
Note sure if I can post a link here, but here’s a screenshot of my email growth:
Here’s my before on May 8th: https://www.evernote.com/l/AHZgvkDCoU1JSaPowVHRi3c9ogYmY7BREJ0
Here’s my after on May 12th:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AHb91In55b1KQarOKwgWCUhrBK6YG3s6_tw
Here’s what I did:
1. I tweaked the list builder app from Sumome and created a custom popup for my top trafficked pages (A tip I received from Noah’s newsletter). My conversions jumped from .5 to 1.5% overnight. Totally tripped me out.
2. I set up a contest. I reached out to a few PR’s we work with and got Gillette and Dove For Men to agree to launch a fathers day contest on our site.
We’re using the Kingsumo Giveaways app so all entries will be collected as email addresses. Not sure if this will count, because the giveaway “technically” begins after this competition is over, but I thought it was super cool.
Main Takeaways:
– Be super targeted on your messaging. Tailoring a unique popup for a specific page really helped increase our conversions.
– Contests are awesome. We’ve done a few contests before, but nothing like we’re planning on doing with Gillette and Dove. A good contest can double or triple your list almost overnight. Just make sure that the prize is tailored to your audience.
– 80/20 works with content too. I didn’t try to create a custom popup for every page. I looked at my traffic and found the pages that get 80% of my traffic. Those are the ones I focused on.
The clock is ticking!
1) #NOAH
2) 0-25; Not a huge fan of email marketing, since I believe it is a crowded medium. I much prefer to be an early adopter and wait for the masses to catch up (e.g. Meerkat).
3) Instead of posting the most important lesson I learned in the process of email marketing, I would much rather tell you of my most important lesson I have learned from this podcast and from the “Starting a Business” episode of you show. The gem that really stuck out to me was the “coffee challenge”. I have always been somewhat of a timid guy, and asking for things that I needed help with has always been a struggle for me. Whenever I had trouble with something, or needed a mentor, I felt like I was being a burden to person.
Why would they want to help me? I am sure that they have millions of other things that they rather be doing.
Getting past that mental hurdle is no easy task. People often tell you to just to go for it, or not to worry about it, but it is easier said than done. What has helped me the most is to think through it, and I mean REALLY THINK THROUGH IT! Logically go through the situation, and face fear that is irrational. For this example, you would come to the following certainties:
1. People tend to like you more when you ask them for a favor. Seems counterintuitive, right? This is known as the Benjamin Franklin Effect.
“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
Franklin found that people would often be willing to help initially, and after doing so, would justify the favor to themselves that they did it because they like you.
2. People don’t mind it nearly as much as you think they do. If a person came up to you and asked you for a favor, what would you think of them? Probably nothing negative. You may not be able to help the person for various reasons, but you do not think any less of them.
3. The worst thing that can happen is that they say NO. If they say no, where does that leave you? Well, it leaves you in the exact same place you started, except hopefully you learned something from it, and walked away a stronger person.
4. The best thing that can happen is they say YES, fix your problem, and become your friend.
“No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.” –Alan Watts
#NOAH
I grew my Pre-Start Mail list from 0-400+ in 2 days and planned on getting 3-5k in 2 weeks (Email me for proof)
We have this saying in Newcastle, UK… “Shy Bairns Get Nowt” ( Shy children get nothing), I believe this is similar to this challenge and a rule I follow daily, you don’t get anything without asking!
I’m a 22-Year-old University Student for the UK, I’ve been running my business for 16 Months now. Started with all the money I didn’t have…my £1000 overdraft and the pressure of not having money for university, food or rent (I was threatened to be thrown out of University because of unpaid fees, but it was perfect opportunity as I had nothing to lose and everything to gain)
I’ve now turned £1k into nearly £200k Turnover, with a 60-70% Gross Profit, I reinvest all the money, and I am about to Launch my website in a couple of weeks) Currently I sell through multiple marketplaces, Etsy, Amazon(.fr / .de/ .co.uk) I have designed all my products myself and do the majority of things on my own, But since reading the 4HWW I have begun to outsource a lot of things, in one week I had 7 freelancers working for me on multiple projects. The truth about my business is I could have had a lot more growth, but prior to outsourcing it was hard to be able to manage turning over say £1,000,000 while being at university still.
I plan to get my business to a nearly fully automated stage by July and travel Europe for 3-4 months on my motorbike (Triumph Bonneville )while running my business from the road
I have since advised many start-up businesses, won multiple competitions and co-run the Entrepreneur Society for my University.
The most important lesson I gained from this was to not be scared to engage with your potential customers, as we all want the same thing!
I think this would be a great opportunity for me to grow and would help greatly for when I launch properly.
Kind Regards
Kane
Inspirational stuff man. I learned a lot from reading this!
Thank you very much Jsbaik, It is much appreciated. If there is any specific tips or questions you would like to ask, I would be more than happy to help a friend out 🙂
Kane
#NOAH
Different… different… how would I be different … the question wracked my brain for hours.
Here were two world class ewok-punting-entrepreneurs, hosting an opportunity that many would kill for!
The best way I can put it — is that the last three days have been a wild.. brain-destroying.. and-completely-dead-tiring experiment.
And I mean it in the best possible way.
You see, I imagined with paranoid thoughts competitors of Godzilla like proportions.
Unstoppable machines with Megaladon sized lists and even bigger appetites (think epic meal time meets honey-boo–b.. oh god).
…ahem.
so… What in the nine hells could I do to win this?
My answer?
Shoot for the Got-dam hills and try to get the biggest names possible! Give them a Michael Corleone’ bed-horse and declare that they join my powerhouse mastermind list!
Ok maybe not the Corleone’ part but still.
And just to clarify… by biggest names possible — I’m talking previous demi-god of daytime TV OPRAH possible (I had to try).
However… limited mortal powers and jokes aside. I was actually doing this contest for my brother. I love the man to death and my god he needs some good news.
So I declared on my entry video if I were to win, I’d want him sent in my place: https://youtu.be/H8Bw-C8855s
I contacted everyone I could think of marketing gurus like Neil Patel, Seth Godin, Gary Vanyerchuk, all the way to popular bloggers like Benny Hsu.
Hell I even tracked down the best damn taco chef in the world René Redzepi to see if I could get him to opt-in. https://tinyurl.com/bestdamntacochef
The first night I was up until 6:30am in the morning, passed out, and went into work by 8:00am. I felt like The Hulk had fist bumped my eyes into a swollen bloodshot mess — hazily I made my calls to customers at my day job. I looked like this kid around lunch (even the asian part — I am half after all): https://tinyurl.com/lunchdisaster
Nuff said.
So here’s the lowdown on the most important lesson I learned from this contest:
Just because someone is in “your network”, does not mean they are IN YOUR NETWORK. Intros are still absolutely necessary.
To expand upon that… without a proper intro – you’re better off trying to sell Superman a Kryptonite suppository.
Getting people to opt-in to a mailing list requires a degree of trust, created either by someone known mutually, content you’ve created for them in the past, or a personal rapport.
Without these you’re going to have a bad time m’kay?
Which leads me to the second biggest lesson:
Famous people do care, and will find time if you contact them in the right way.
Special thanks to Seth Godin.
https://tinyurl.com/SethGodin-is-a-good-person
Last don’t neglect what you do have:
If you have them, reach out to family… you only get one. Thanks mom!
https://tinyurl.com/thanksforsupportinma
If you don’t have family, or they are not supportive, then reach out to mentors and friends for help or advice.
https://tinyurl.com/thanksforthebackupJeremy
https://tinyurl.com/mentorsmakeadifference
Benny Hsu (pronounced “shoe”) of Get Busy Living provided some awesome insights and even subscribed to my list.
https://tinyurl.com/BennyHsu-is-a-badass
Extra thoughts that may benefit other readers:
Not everyone who says they will support you, will necessarily take those steps. Even if it’s for something huge, with tons of urgency, people you’ve known for years may still not follow through.
People don’t have to be superstars for them to hold you accountable — again try not to neglect what you currently have.
You don’t necessarily need superstars to propel your own action — be resourceful — find opportunities within your current circle of influence.
Don’t invent excuses to avoid the important. Tim gave me this one 7 years ago in the 4HWW
The world’s best taco chef René Redzepi is currently on vacation. *I tried to get him for you NOAH! 😀
What could I have done better:
I needed a bigger incentive for action on the part of the list candidate, I didn’t provide them with enough value to leap.
I should have spent more time perfectly executing a few emails, rather than shotgunning and seeing what sticked — special thanks to Gary V. we didn’t make contact, but you still provided lessons.
https://tinyurl.com/thanksgaryv
+ I haven’t forgotten — the attempted Oprah contact!
https://tinyurl.com/Oprah-is-a-Bawse
Last link is to an extra doc detailing a play by play of my actions from the 10th-13th and the full email template I had sent Gary V.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUybj9kH7USYkKS1WFrSqcmuoT3lYrQrVE8poLOaK-A/edit?usp=sharing
Notes for Noah’s team:
I realize the extreme volume you’re likely going through, please view my submission video if you haven’t yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Bw-C8855s
The signup form I used for my list:
http://eepurl.com/bi1SrX
Results of experiment?
Seth Godin responded with a kind email
I gained awareness on the resources I have available today
I received advice + opt-in from a successful blogger Benny Hsu of getbusyliving.com
Special thanks to Nov + Dame Taylor, Jeremy Weisz, and Nick Aldridge, for their friendship and support.
And a final thanks to my brother Jason Rogers — you don’t know about the contest yet — but you’ve given me a ton of motivation that helped me push through any self doubts I may have had, or the difficulties I faced with being a dead tired watermelon faced kid at work.
Love you man, hang in there.
Way to hustle man!
Thanks bud! I appreciate the feedback — still going, I hate to bother people that have been gracious enough to read an email or message, but I need to do all I can to win for my brother — still here at my day job yet roughly two hours left.
Cool as hell news though (my grammar is weak being this tired ha), it was worth coming in with less than an hour of sleep today — 22k worth of sales closed at my job that would be in limbo had I not shown up. Rent covered another month. 😀
This is so positive and amazing! Good on you for thinking outside of the box and doing something awesome for your brother. I want to be kinder to my own brother now. Great stuff!
That means a ton! I’m still getting responses from some of the inquiries I had sent out, everyone has been extremely supportive. Inspiring that action makes the post worth so much more — thanks for taking the time to read it!! And kudos for wanting to do that! 😀
Charlie Hoehn is a complete badass — though he had to respectfully decline joining, he was gracious enough to get back to me. Definitely picking up his book Recession Proof Graduate! 🙂
Elliott Motherfreakin Hulse subscribed to my mailing list — THE ELLIOTT HULSE w/ nearly 2 million followers on YouTube. I am UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED!!!!! If you aren’t familiar with StrengthCamp, one of his channels on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/strengthcamp
I have followed this man for years, and his methods for approaching the world have shaped many of the perspectives I hold to this day. I am eternally grateful, I haven’t told my brother about the contest yet — but when I do he’s going to flip sh$%. THANK YOU ELLIOTT —
#NOAH
Hey, guys so far I went from 0-25 subscribers on my list in the first day.
But I wasn’t asking them to just sub I was actually asking them to fill out a questionnaire that has 13 questions.
http://myuproar.org/pre-entrepreneur-questionnaire/
I also have an opt-in through Aweber on my homepage: http://myuproar.org/
This is day 1 and I did the following:
https://twitter.com/UproarCharlie/status/598036851937517568
https://twitter.com/UproarCharlie/status/598036476299902976
https://www.facebook.com/charlie.meaden/posts/10153270856060499
These were ok, but I also picked up extra subs by private messaging people I thought would be relevant for what I am trying to create!
What I learnt: I learnt that asking people personally has by far the highest success rate even when asking for them to fill in a reasonably sized questionnaire.
Also when my twitter post with a random pic of my baby boy did better than the twitter post that was serious!
NEXT STEPS: Each day this week I’ll make 2 posts on FB and twitter and try one different way to ask for people to do my questionnaire through forums and maybe Reddit? 7 days of doing this, I would hope to surpass 100.
Hey Tim, Noah mentioned that he would provide his book report on the book Who, and you’d put it in these show notes. Will it be added later on? (I can read the book as well, but the report seems handy, as I can then evaluate to read the whole book, or just move on to the next bundle of paper that teaches me a thing or two about life-hacking.
Seconded! I was looking for this as well!
#NOAH
@prevention_hai
Listented to the podcast Sunday and have since been working to bring together infection prevention professionals to fight healthcare associated infections. Connected with a guy that has a similar mission and an email list of 13,000 and we are teaming up and spreading our message. I also connected with a Government Scientist in the UK and he is helping me further the development of my disinfection system for operating rooms. Lastly, I teamed up with a guy that has sold over 30,000 books on infection prevention and he invited me to a conference he is guest speaking at this fall.
My experience in the short time has been amazing and I lool forward to keeping the momentum rolling forward. I appreciate you guys stressing taking action and it all starts with 1.
Thanks for the content and motivation.
Bob
One of the best episodes yet. Lots of great resources provided and a motivating call to action that has worked for many people by the looks of twitter. The bar is high after this one! Hopefully the next episode will be able to reach it. Also, Noah Kagan seems like a great guy. Very Interesting person. Can’t wait for a round 2. ….[Moderator: sign up link and email address removed]
#Noah
Email subscriber challenge.
This podcast was inspirational.
My email list is regarding tips and updates relating to working as a health professional in the Aged Care sector.
Actions taken:
1. posted a request onto Linkedin (it is my only social media platform)
2. added a “subscribe now to my email list” in my email signature.
3. Added a please share this email, to the bottom of my latest update.
Results.
Unfortunately there was no growth but that was not the point of this exercise for me. My email list is very niche and my social network is very small so I am not too surprised.
Lessions:
1. It is all about taking action as well as having ideas.
2. A plan of attack is important and a strategy is vital.
3. Building an email list takes work and effort which is awesome because if it was easy then everyone would be doing it and it would loose its value.
Thank you Noah, I feel like I have won your challenge already.
Awesome episode!!! Listening to it again, thanks Tim and Noah!!
#Noah
First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to both of you for inspiring me to take action!
I have had a “blog” for over two years, wrote little content, and had zero subscribers. I listened to the podcast Monday afternoon and decided to take action and within 6 hours had 28 subscribers. I simply followed the steps Noah prescribed; I sent out 2 simple tweets, 2 FB post’s, and 1 LinkedIn post. I have since signed up for the course over at email1k.com and looking forward to continue growing.
The most important lesson learned over the last 36 hours has been for me to not worry about opinions of others and to put myself out there. To grow I need to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
I also work for a strength and conditioning company with locations across the DFW metroplex and Austin. I am looking forward to using the experience gained from this to grow our email list from 40k to over 100k.
Thanks again for the call to action guys!
PS- Noah, I can drive to Austin and save you a plane ticket!!
I’d love to go to Austin for a day, mentor or no.
#NOAH I build list of 300 people with 2 webinars in 2 weeks (webinars are quite new thing here in Finland). It was very scary to do because I’m little bit shy and this was my first time putting myself front of online audience. But Hell yeah I managed it and even succeed to sell 7 tickets to my blogging mastermind before I created anything
Most important thing I learned is that you have to validate your idea before doing anything. Thanks for teaching this valuable skill to me Noah.. Now I know that I can held more webinars and grow my email list with same strategy and then I can do big launch for my course.. All glory to Noah and Tim 🙂
#NOAH
Hey Tim & Noah, thanks for everything you do and share!
That’s what I accomplished during last days.
Mastermind online:
– I created Mastermind Group on Facebook and I invited people who read my book. 199 accept my invitation and list is still growing. In this group I give them bonuses like free content, promo codes but what’s the most important I solve their real problems!
– In 4 days I organised live event for my readers and 120people came!
I created Facebook Event for young entrepreneurs:
– 406 people click “join”
– when we saw it we decide we have to get their @ addresses so we convert them from Facebook to polish wersion of Eventbrite platform and 347 people give us their @! 😀
–
Event for psychotherapist
– I called my friend who trains psychotherapist and I told him we could organize first webinar for his clients. 341 people took part in webinar and I sold 137 copies of my book (we collected 338 @ + sold books)
I installed sumo.me on my websites
Websites with ebooks
– I contacted one of polish websites which sells ebooks. They have big mailing list. I gave them sweet discount and we created 1day promo offer. We sold 370 copies of my ebooks. In this ebook I added call to action “send me hello email, and I will give you some extras content for free”. In last 2 days I recived 74 @ from people who bought my ebook 😀
– I did the same with 2 other websites. And we sold 89 copies of my ebook and 13 people send me @ message
–
“Other people job”:
– I contacted friend of mine, and told him we could organize event about “creativity in business” (he knows a lot of people interested in such a topic)
– I told him I would take care of all technical things (signups, website etc. – as you might know I use polish version of toll which works the same as Eventbrite)
– He said yes, and he started promoting it
– After 1 day 7 people signup giving us their @. It’s going to take place in 2 weeks time, so I’m sure we would have at least 300 @ which converts to 150 people who come for first edition of our event
@ Gmail
– I checked the number of mail contact in my inbox: 3281
– I group it in categories and wrote 7 different @
– Then I sent right message to right groups with asking to join my newsletter
– Result: 873 people said YES + 2 other wrote: “fuck off” and one called me: “dick” 😀
Old @ lists:
– I forgot I also organized some events in a past
– I looked for that lists and found I have date base of 562 @ addresses of people who are interested in business, self help, marketing etc
– I sent them @ asking to join my newsletter
– 34 people joined my list
My phone:
– I checked I have 2300 in my phone
– I made 100 calls, 73 people answered, we chat for a couple of minutes and 61 people said they wanted to stay in touch with me, so I took their @ address and added it to my list manually. Such an old fashion way! 😀
–
Custom audience
– I took all @ I collected and that add it to the FBads system as a “custom audience” and now we are testing is it possible to sell them books by FBads even if they did not “react” on mailing maybe FB will make them buy 🙂
Lessons learned:
– remember that my “older brother” Noah Kagan is a bad ass so I should stick to his advices all the time 😀
– promote online things also by off line tools like phone or personal contact
– don’t ask people for help, but instead invite them in to the interesting projects and let them also earn money (win-win things)
– everything is “validate-able”! Stop investing time and money in to the things which are not validated before.
– stick to thing which works
– how to collect 1000 @? Get first @ than second, and third and repeat it until you reach first 1k @ (the same rule with earning first 1k$)
– remember “David beats Goliath” by tiny mailing list 😀
Once again million thanks for your help and everything you do! 🙂
I’m definitely going to use some of this stuff. Way to hustle man, you definitely put in work! Awesome.
#NOAH
In the past 3 days I grew my list with 18 new subscribers. Yeah, not an impressive number, I know. BUT, it’s more important WHO these subscribers are…
Noah talked about getting subscribers from your existing networks so I started thinking about which of my networks I haven’t tapped into. I belong to the my local Chamber of Commerce and have the email addresses of about 100 business owners who also belong.
I figure this is a great resource because these business owners have employees and their own business networks…there is potential for a HUGE multiplier effect if I get an owner on board.
What I did:
1) I scripted an email explaining how I’d like to help local businesses with their internal health promotion (I work in the health and fitness industry).
2) Then I gave this to a VA from Odesk and had her manually email each business owner so that it is as personal as possible.
3) When one of them responded with a “yes, I’m interested” I personally wrote back saying that they are now on my “VIP list” and that I have something really helpful on its way for their TEAM. (emphasizing TEAM was key…I want to prime them to distribute my stuff to their staff)
I know 18 new subscribers isn’t a lot, but these are super-quality leads.
The big takeaway from Noah’s talk…pretty obvious: Convert existing contacts into subscribers.
Fantastic idea about the Chamber of Commerce Dave. Going to reach out to one now too. Thank you. Good luck with your list!
#NOAH
Before I listened to this podcast I had 177 emails on my list (let’s just pretend like one of them isn’t mine).
After listening to this podcast, I took a picture of myself and uploaded it with a link to a free Weight Loss ebook that I had in my back pocket. That gave me 21 emails with a surprisingly large amount of communication with ex-lady friends.
I went into SumoMe (which I’ve been used for a little while) and imported the subscribers I’ve gotten from List Builder and Leads on previous blog posts. At this point I was up to 241 emails.
I posted a blog and sent out a newsletter yesterday which got a few more subscribers, but also lost some.
So I went from 177 –> 240 emails.
And I listened to more emo music (in private because it’s embarrassing).
I’ve learned a few lessons, but the most important is the power of the Cialdini effect of social proof. I didn’t pimp this blog nearly as much, and I got about 1/15th the traffic of my last elaborate blog post. Luckily, this is a mistake I can correct.
Other lessons learned: I get more traffic from Instagram than Twitter, using the Gmail trick turned out to actually be MORE work than just using the Mailchimp account I already have set up, and I’ve got work to do.
#NOAH
Results:
I posted onto Facebook, Instagram, Twitter that I was starting a newsletter on meditation. Through those channels I received 6 emails from Facebook, none from Twitter or Instagram. I also started to tell some people at the gym and I received two emails from gym employees.
That gives me a total of 8 emails that I did not have before and people who want to hear from me! So you can verify, I have screen shots of the Facebook emails and of the emails I received to my Gmail account.
Most Important Lesson:
At first I was really scared. I worried what my mom would say, I worried what my brothers would say, I worried what my friends would say. I thought people would judge me and ask me why I’m doing this. But honestly they where the ones that gave me their emails, they supported me with no questions asked. What this taught me was that you just need to put yourself out there. You never know till you try and if you don’t do it you’ve already failed. So if there is something that you are passionate about you should be proud of that and ask others to help you achieve that you want to do!
Well done Michael. I felt the same. Buzzing now about the newsletter. I intend to use mailchimp as it is drag and drop design and easy to use. Best of luck with your newsletter!
#NOAH
Late to the party. Just heard the podcast yesterday. I am starting a daily curated newsletter around demand generation, a subject I know very well. Sent out a tweet (@b2bmkt) this morning and tracking subscribers now. No numbers to report yet.
The important lesson learned was to just do it. I created a quick wordpress site for this effort in a matter a few hours. Something I’ve never done before. That’s a huge lesson for me.
Hey Bryant, good luck. I used Wufoo.com to generate a quick form. Its awesome and free at the beginning. You can also add an extra field asking people what they would like to hear from you. Good luck!
#NOAH
I started at 0 and now have 0.
Yes, zero.
I followed exactly what Noah says in the podcast. I have 106 FB friends (I deliberately keep this low, though I am starting to wonder if that is the correct thing to do). I posted a picture with verbatim what Noah says in the podcast. I’ve gotten 8 likes and one comment about the picture. No emails though. I listened to the podcast Friday and procrastinated and posted to FB, Twitter and Linked on Monday morning.
The lessons I have learned are that I felt scared, vulnerable and uncomfortable doing it, hence the procrastination.
I also have attached some feeling of self worth to responses by mistakenly thinking the number of emails I do (or do not) get reflects how people think of me. I have discarded that thought and have come up with a number of other factors that I am going to test, such as; I think that since I don’t post often to FB, people saw a picture and liked that so I will repost the “I’m starting a newsletter….” without a picture to see if that gets better response, I used a xxxxxxx+newsletter@gmail.com address (as Tim suggested) which did not create a hyperlink making it several steps for someone to send me an email and I am going to post with an embedded email hyperlink to test that, perhaps none of my followers think my topic was as interesting as I do and I will test a different topic.
Though disappointed with my results, I am excited to do some testing after the contest closes.
Hey Scott. Well done taking the step! I was as scared as you. I did the Coffee Shop Challenge before launching the newsletter and got £5 off my gym membership. Not a lot but was buzzing after. This def gave me some extra encouragement and a real buzz. Try the Coffee Shop challenge too and you’ll feel like youve had a great week.
PS – Remember that not all your friends seen your Facebook Post as Facebook limits your reach because you do not engage often on the platform. So you should def see an improvement next time you post.
#NOAH
I build a new Blog from 0 to 3.000 subscribers in 8 months. Everything started with reading OkDork and Blogs that were featured there. The most important lesson? Do the work. Continously. The dificult part is not doing the work itself, but overcoming yourself and the hurdles you throw in your way. As with the coffee challange: We first have to get over our inner fears before achieving anything else.
#NOAH
My email list grew from 0 to 0. My post looked like this:
I’m putting together a weekly newsletter about electronics. Many may say they have no interest in the topic, or see no benefit, but think for a moment what your life would be like if you had a device that solved your most frustrating problems.
I’ll share tips and tricks on how to analytically evaluate problems and find non-conventional solutions through today’s technology. At the very least, you’ll learn something cool each week!
No risk and no obligation. If you want to take a free ride on my crazy train, send me a “Heck yes!” [Email address removed]
I got a bunch of likes, but nobody signed up. What I realized is that I’ve wasted my time posting content to the wrong people. I realize that I need to find the right audience and focus my energy on them. Any suggestions?
Hey npulver, I too received a bunch of likes without signups. My most important lesson learned was to hustle because many will like, few will subscribe. When I posted on social, I received many likes and favorites, but few actually took the time to email me (using the google + hack). When I hustled a bit and reached out to those that liked my post, they then signed up. So I learned that you have to make it super easy on your potential customer and even with social, you have to hustle! Good luck and keep going! (I’m fairly new to this too.)
Also don’t hesitate to email them each individually and explain more of what you are doing. I put my message out and after little response, dove in and starting going down person by person. It works – takes some time, yet the people like to feel that you are talking to them, not just a community on your FB Wall.
#NOAH
Results: 4 to 52
Most Important Lesson Learned: Make is Easy and Hustle! Many will like, few will subscribe. When I posted on social, I received many likes and favorites, but few actually took the time to email me (using the google + hack). When I hustled a bit and reached out to those that liked my post, they then signed up. So I learned that you have to make it super easy on your potential customer and even with social, you have to hustle!
The Details: I tried three variations. First I used Noah’s method on a general topic newsletter that I thought everyone would be interested in and received zero sign ups. Next I niched down and created a focused newsletter idea for a smaller niche and posted in some private groups for that target market and received three sign ups. Last, I took an email list I started a month ago (4 subscribers), used Noah’s method on social, I then hustled and directly emailed, texted, and DM’d folks and received 48 new sign ups (for total of 52).
Noah: I live in Houston, so it would be no cost to you for me to come to Austin for the day so you can spread the love and pick two winners.
AMAZING episode guys, thanks for putting so much thought and energy into it.
#NOAH
Results: 4 to 52
Most Important Lesson Learned: Make is Easy and Hustle! Many will like, few will subscribe. When I posted on social, I received many likes and favorites, but few actually took the time to email me (using the google + hack). When I hustled a bit and reached out to those that liked my post, they then signed up. So I learned that you have to make it super easy on your potential customer and even with social, you have to hustle!
The Details: I tried three variations. First I used Noah’s method on a general topic newsletter that I thought everyone would be interested in and received zero sign ups. Next I niched down and created a focused newsletter idea for a smaller niche and posted in some private groups for that target market and received three sign ups. Last, I took an email list I started a month ago (4 subscribers), used Noah’s method on social, I then hustled and directly emailed, texted, and DM’d folks and received 48 new sign ups (for total of 52).
Noah: I live in Houston, so it would be no cost to you for me to come to Austin for the day so you can spread the love and pick two winners.
AMAZING episode guys, thanks for putting so much thought and energy into it.
Sorry for the double post everyone, not sure how to delete one of them.
Tim as always thanks for the great guests and insights.
Here’s my success story.
I signed up and added the Sumome’s List Builder and Share to my wife’s site thatmutt.com.
We started on Saturday (5/10) and in the last four days we’ve added 400%+ list growth to our Mailchimp newsletter on a monthly basis. (have screenshots) Based off the current conversions of the popup and our current traffic we should double our entire list in about 45 days.
I’ve played with a few popup programs in the past like OptinMonster, Sumome by far and away is the easiest to use. I am now a big fan and advocate.
#NOAH
I launched my online training service/blog on Monday, May 11th. My mailing list has since grown to 39 people and the Facebook page has 150 likes this week.
Proof – http://imgur.com/a/cFzsw
I’m currently working to convert more likes into mailing list subscribers, but I’m just happy I started. I’ve had this idea for a long time, and I’m pleasantly surprised with the results I’ve gotten from leveraging even my relatively small social network. I definitely learned that a sure way to get nothing done is to bemoan the resources you do NOT have, instead of leveraging the ones you do.
Thank you Tim and Noah, for continuing to bring solid actionable information to people like myself, and for free no less.
#NOAH
Tim as always thanks for the great guests and insights.
Here’s my success story.
I signed up and added the Sumome’s List Builder and Share to my wife’s site thatmutt.com.
We started on Saturday (5/10) and in the last four days we’ve added 400%+ list growth to our Mailchimp newsletter on a monthly basis. (have lots of screenshots) Based off the current conversions of the popup and our current traffic we should double our entire list in about 45 days.
I’ve played with a few popup programs in the past like OptinMonster, Sumome by far and away is the easiest to use. I am now a big fan and advocate.
Biggest lesson: 1. make is easy for people to take action 2. don’t be afraid to ask for things
Love your #2 lesson, don’t be afraid to ask for things.
#NOAH (you bad m-fer. Love ya man.)
2) I finally made the ask and included a picture (which definitely helps). Picked up 8 new email optins within minutes! I’ve been growing my podcast audience and receiving regular feedback from listeners regarding how it’s helping them in their daily lives both business and personal.
3) My biggest lesson is one that I have to constantly remind myself: The answer is always no until you ask! As I said above, I’ve been receiving unsolicited feedback (some of it in person!) and I never thought to ask for their further involvement?! i.e. email, private groups, etc.
Hey Peter, checked out your website and podcast, looks pretty cool. I sent you a comment through your website to be added to your new email list.
#NOAH
Tim/ Noah-
Okay I tried this!
So from nothing… I got 5 emails. But I got I got 43 likes on and 19 comments on FB.
Interestingly, I got nothing on Twitter!
So what did I learn?
I learned that I shouldn’t wait for the right time! I need to start immediately. Fear of nothing and everything prevents you from doing something. Bring in the coffee challenge!
I also learned from my facebook friends that they really wanted a page on FB- which is what I will be doing. The process is helping me tighten and tailor what is really wanted.
My newsletter is on whisky, my passion. I used the @gmail addition [Moderator: email address removed]. From this I added the filters and canned responses which was really cool!
I also tried out LinkedIn. I initially was hesitant- whisky on a professional site? Then I thought, why not? I just did that this morning… let’s see what happens.
Most importantly- I may not have the most emails, but it’s got me started! I’ve also shared it on multiple Whatsapp groups and I have generated a lot of interest there as well. I’ve been asked to share my URL/ FB page once that’s up!
So I can’t wait!
Sorry for the long post… but I’m very excited. Thanks for everything!
#NOAH
***UPDATE
Results: Grown my list to 200! (110 customers, 57 from a network group, 4 affiliates and 29 from twitter)
Another Lesson Learned: Don’t assume! I should be contacting everyone. Let them decide if they join you or not.
*BIG THANKS to everyone else posting in this community! signing up for comment updates was almost as amazing as the podcast itself. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
And Thanks for the advice, Scott Barlow!
P.s. Noah, the Salsa eating contest is still on.
—————–
Even though I was a SUMOME user, I wasn’t gaining traction, mostly because I was “wishing” my list would magically start growing itself. My challenge was to get to 100 subscribers from the tragic 9 subscribers I currently had.
Results: I have tweeted, emailed my contacts, and talked to two clients about my list today. Visibility is Key! I have contacted a bunch of people and have grown my list to 29 (at 5pm today). I will update again by Tomorrow!
Most Important Lesson: Results are about FOCUSED ACTION, not about focused podcast hearing. Using our mediums is easy, once you “stop being a little *itch” and just go for it. (Lesson Learned). Also, I need to work a little harder on my emails, more specifically, getting a Mentor (using another word, obviously). I’ve taken action and made a list of my top 11 most influential people in my line of business. I’ll be spending some time to email them individually…. I’m sure Tim & Noah are glad they weren’t part of the 11 (I had to take them off) for the sake of not wasting (their) time. I already feel like a better version of myself pre-podcast. Honestly!
Great Interview. Really, what I like best about Noah is the no bs approach to getting started. What I Love about Tim is his practicality and his ability to get the right tools in his listeners’ hands. Together, they created some actionable magic.
Next Book: 4 Hour Body, Essentialism.
Next Task: Getting a Mentor. And never looking back.
P.s. If I win, I challenge #NOAH to a Salsa eating contest.
#NOAH
Grew from 0 to 17 in a couple of days.
It appears that direct messages and emails worked best for me. I tried a post on the monthly 1k page, and did not get a response. I also tried a reddit post with an incentive for a free sample. Didn’t get much traction either. I downloaded the SumoMe product to my website to get more email sign ups. I added a cool popup that says “keep it in touch, unless of course, your’re a weirdo”. I am sure this will work with time and more traffic to the website.
The most important message I learned is that personal connections are the best first group of people to reach out to. Especially when the message is direct. What I will do in the future is different A/B testing with Google ad words and reaching out to more of my personal connections via text, email and in person. It is easy for someone to ignore your Facebook post, but harder to ignore a personal message, email or face to face conversation.
Thanks!
Hanna
#Noah
0-4 in about a day and a half, I’m not stopping there, goal of 100 for end of may and then 250 for June.
More details on what it is I’m doing: [Moderator: link removed]
Lets say this, I did it. Finally I did something. In my life, I have been full of ideas, passion etc but I have lacked the “drive” to completion, the strive for perfect or nothing. The problem is, nothing is ever good enough, there for I don’t do it. There were 100 Million excuses for me not to do this, even more so this week but I’m not going to air out my laundry online, just shy of being a COMPLETE social outcast of all friends and family this past week. I discovered that Intention means nothing, action means everything.
I would love to join you for tacos in Austin, TX, although don’t hate my corn allergies!
all the best
j
#NOAH
I’m very thankful for this exercise, it came at the right time in my life, it propelled me to take action on my vision and to understand (this is my biggest insight) that we all have to start somewhere, and this is why we all creators do things, to inspire people to take action and is very gratifying when we see people start doing things, it’s a win win for both sides. Even if I don’t win, which I highly doubt I will lol, I feel like I’ve learned so much already and had huge insights from it. Thanks!
I can send a screen shoot or you can check out my fb profile, The numbers as of now and short story are:
28 likes, 4 shares, 17 subscribers in 2 days.(texted favorites on iphone too)
The long story with excuses included is:
I posted the picture on facebook yesterday (I only have 443 “friends” there and I don’t use tweeter or Instagram) I got 28 likes on my post, 4 shares but no emails from anyone, so I started to individually message every person that liked the post and 17 people signed up for the newsletter. So I wanted more subscribers, so I did something very scary to me and something I’ve being wanting to do for a while, I went to the park down the street and just hanged around the parking lot and started asking people if they wanted to subscribe to my newsletter, talked to 20 of them and no one signed up, I guess my approach wasn’t the best but it helped me realize I can deal with the rejection and everyone was really polite when rejecting me, lol, I’m going again tomorrow until I get better at asking people for action and to sign people up for my upcoming boxing bootcamp – after watching the episode on the TFExperiment I got inspired and learned a lot so I’m gonna start my own class at the park where I’m going to be charging people $5 in advance, and if they show up I’ll give them the $5 dollars back, this is just to ensure attendance and only until I pick up momentum and I have at least 20 people per bootcamp, after that I’ll let them do their first class for free and $5 after-Coincidentally, yesterday this guy(Mike) that used to work with me at the bar, came and I asked him to help me out with the bootcamps, he also has boxing experience so it was the first guy that came to mind when I first thought about the bootcamps, and he gladly accepted to help me, I’m also planning to pay him for his time to ensure his help since I’ve being dealing with my right shoulder ac joint injury since last November and just started chiropractic care 3 weeks ago.
This is no excuse, TMI, and might get me disqualified but, I listened to the podcast on Saturday, which I worked at the bar from 3pm-3:30am, then after getting off I had a huge fight with my girlfriend that extended until 7am and end up with me braking up with her on Sunday, we dated for a little more than a year(boooh hu ;/, I know),slept like 3 hours then got up and worked on the content for the newsletter for a couple of hours, then at 5pm I met with my Mom and baby sis for Mother’s day dinner at olive garden , which was great btw. I felt like ish Monday and yesterday I uploaded the picture on facebook and being working on this since.
This exercise taught me 3 things,
1)people want to help
2)there’s already an audience ready to listen to my message
3) to set up effective deadlines and to make accountability with the audience I built, so things get done on time. I start sending newsletter next Monday 18th, I’m committing to 6 newsletters about “healthy eating habits” and see where that goes. We are starting with the bootcamps on Saturday 23rd.
[Moderator: email address removed]
#NOAH
2). From 177 to 186
3). It is difficult to connect with individuals who are at the intersection of two different niches – 1. Video Game Fans and 2. Professionals/leaders – I write about leadership and business lessons, taught through video game metaphor (i.e. How Tetris can teach time management). I posted multiple times on twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn – while I did not add 1000 or even 100 to my list, I am now thinking about new and simple ways to add to the list. Technically I added one more through a different approach – I was wearing a T-shirt with a Nintendo controller and the words “Classically Trained” on it – while on the monorail in Disney World, another guy sees my shirt and complements it – our conversation immediately opened the door for me have him sign up on my mail list before we even got out of the monorail! Lesson learned: try more than just hoping people will giveaway their email for a PDF
#NOAH
I posted a selfie on the Instagram account for my book (@theflowerchef) and got *2* email replies: one from a woman in Panama and another from a lady who says she’s a big fan. It tweeted through IG.
What I learned: I was enthusiastic about the challenge and from past observation know that selfies or photos of myself get more or as many likes as pretty flower pics. I thought I would get more emails from the 1800+ fans. What I learned was that sometime I take for granted that people will click on a website link or know how to find me. I think it’s important to be as clear and straightforward as possible, and THAT was the reminder I needed to relearn. Giving the why and also what they will get in return is a valuable lesson. Out of everything though, asking people what they want to learn or know and then using that to make money is well, plain smart.
Would love to go to Austin and learn from a mastermind. As a 31 year old female entrepreneur, I am incredibly hungry to learn more, and learn it from the best.