Jump to content

    Blogs

    I want you to hand-copy this ad ⬇

    Get a piece of paper and hand-copy this Clixlo Price Comparison Ad:

    clixlo-price-comparison-before-after-ad-1024x1004.jpg

     

    Snap a photo of your hand-written Clixlo Ad and post it below.
    (...or email it to Neville@CopywritingCourse.com if you're not a member).
     

    We promise not to judge your handwriting skills!

    ⬇ ⬇ ⬇

    Headed to a billion dollars by sending emails - Nathan Barry of ConvertKit

    Currently valued at $320,000,000 and steadily growing (see live revenue here), Nathan Barry is marching  ConvertKit to becoming a billion dollar company. 

    It started off just sending emails really well, then morphed into a full suite of tools to help creators:

    It was neat to ask Nathan directly what he's seeing about newsletters, podcasts, video creation and more....because he gets to see behind-the-scenes of what all the top creators in the world are doing. 

    Here's all the topics we discuss in the pod:

    INTRO:
    Nathan Barry is the founder and CEO of ConvertKit. I am an everyday ConvertKit user myself. 

    ConvertKit

    • When you started ConvertKit there were a plethora of email services. I’m curious what made you even think this was something you could compete with? 
    • How do you find the core usage of people. Is this just talking to people?
    • I use CK. 
    • Of all the CK use cases, what are people most using it for?
    • Newsletters? Email for business? Podcasts? YouTube? All of the above?

    Content Marketing 

    • From your vantage point what’s going on here? 
    • Best practices?

    SEO:

    • I’ve personally noticed a tectonic shift in SEO in the last 3-4 years. Is this your feeling as well? 

    Social Media:

    • Can you give me your thoughts on each of these platforms (are they growing, driver of good leads etc).
    • Facebook
    • Instagram 
    • YouTube
    • LinkedIn
    • TikTok
    • Podcasting
    • Anything else?

    AI Stuff:

    • Is ConvertKit using AI in any way…and how do you avoid adding things that are “cool demos” but don’t have much real usage. 
    • What features (if any) are people asking for? 
    • With your insights into the writing world, where do you see things going? 

    Podcasting

    • What are the ways you’re seeing people succeed with podcasts.

    Newsletters

    • You might be at one of the very forefronts of newsletters, because instead of selective bragging you see real numbers. We get so many people who want to create newsletters, or ARE creating them. It reminds me of the new blog. 
    • What do you see working on newsletters?
    • What do you see NOT working on newsletters?
    • Can you give examples of newsletter who are killing it and what they’re doing? 


    Lightning Round (1 min timed questions):

    • What is the most popular trend right now?
    • How would you start a business today?
    • What is the most popular trend you’re seeing in your industry right now?
    • Best book that’s changed your life?
    • What business would you start if you had to start again today?
    • What productivity advice has changed your life?
    • Is AI going to replace all writing?
    • How did you get better at writing? 
    • Were you always good at writing? 
    • Tell me something about rich people 99% of people don’t know.
    • What would you do if you had billions of dollars and money was no object.
       

    Here are the 3 basic laws of flywheel

     

    This is the new way to grow as a creator in 2024.

     

    This is why people prefer recording podcasts live.

     

    You always need to include something in your newsletter that catches attention and sparks curiosity.

     

    Listen to the podcast:

    Let me know if you have any questions about what we talked about here! Also I'd appreciate you sharing this interview or getting people to subscribe to the channel!
    Sincerely, 
    Neville Medhora

    Nick Huber and Neville Medhora Interview Podcast

    Nick Huber, aka @sweatystartup, discusses his entrepreneurial journey in this interview. Topics include self-storage ventures, content marketing strategies, Twitter perspectives, writing habits, and key business insights like hiring and delegation challenges.

    Business:

    • Can you name all the companies you own? 
    • How are you monetizing

    Self Storage

    • This used to be the preferred business of Indian uncles. How did you get into it?
    • Why of all the different paths self storage specifically? 

    Content Marketing

    • What forms of content marketing are you in? 
    • How do you approach it? Just send out good stuff? Have a framework?
    • What is your biggest month or season?
    • How do you get people to buy gym equipment on a random April?
    • Have you experimented with video? Results?
    • Podcast or YouTube?

    Twitter / X

    • How do you view Twitter? Social Network? Town Square? A blog? 
    • You are unique that you’re this fund manager, but a mad shit talker 😂
    • I think about your Pappy Van Winkle post like 3 times a week.
    • Is shit talking innate, or a growth strategy?
    • Is Twitter where you get all your clients?
    • Social Media: What channels are best for you?

    Writing:

    • Are you scheduling out stuff or writing as it comes?
    • Do you schedule specific “writing time” or is it throughout the day?
    • Did you ever study copywriting?

    Clips Questions:

    • What is the most popular trend you’re seeing in your industry right now?
    • Best book that’s changed your life?
    • What business would you start if you had to start again today?
    • What productivity advice has changed your life?
    • Is AI going to replace all writing?
    • How did you get better at writing? 
    • Were you always good at writing? 
    • Tell me something about rich people 99% of people don’t know.
    • What would you do if you had billions of dollars and money was no object.

    It's pointless to hire someone who expects something you know you'll never be able to give

     

    What you tolerate, you get.

     

    Making a good work environment.

     Correct these aspects in your company to create a good work environment.

    The largest fleet of private jets is....

    You probably didn’t imagine this about Walmart

    Firing someone?

     Firing is hard, but even harder is being frustrated because an employee doesn’t change.

    Making decisions is a "muscle" to exercise.

     These are the two things that happen when you encourage your employees to solve problems.

    Don't have too many monkeys on your back.

     As a boss, you should be careful not to have too many monkeys on your back.

    What type of people should you hire?

     

    Two types of delegation.

     These are the two levels of delegation that will make you wealthy.

    This is what your employees truly want.

     

    This is the most challenging business of all.

     

    Listen to the podcast:

    "Should everyone start a podcast?" A Deep Dive with Danny Miranda

    All about podcasting, interviews, and what's new in the media game. Keeping it real with guests, building those connections, and rolling with the changing podcast trends. Plus, staying present, tech like VR, and Danny's "Art of Interviewing" course.

    Some of the lessons learned from this podcast:

    • Prioritize creating a comfortable and authentic podcasting environment.
    • Build connections with guests before recording.
    • Perseverance is crucial for podcasting success.
    • Focus on purpose and joy, not just metrics.
    • Valuable relationships often stem from podcasting.
    • Podcasting can aid personal growth.
    • Try podcasting briefly to discover your affinity for it.
    • Podcasts satisfy curiosity and encourage learning.
    • Networking is crucial for expanding online presence.
    • Active listening is vital for creating meaningful content.

    Danny feels like watching content in vertical format takes his brain away.

     

    This Is Why It's Important to Always Be Present

     

    One of the coolest things about ChatGPT is...

     

    What may seem odd today could easily become the norm in 20 years.

     

    This is the essential skill every podcaster should have.

     

    This is my trick to stay silent in group conversations

     

    The S.W.I.P.E.S Email (Friday December 15th, 2023)

    Swipe📁Wisdom🧠Interesting🧐Picture🖼 • Essay📄Splurge✍
    Edition: Friday, December 14th, 2023
    A fun email for Friday. I hope you enjoy!

     

    🎤 Listen to this email here:

    Swipe:

    In our community site Laurie Bell completed this A/B split test:

    Which of these Facebook ads will do better?
    A: White Background
    B: Black/Green Background

    Take a guess before reading further! 

    facebook-ad.jpg

    Which of these do you think would do better? A or B?

    Pick your guess. I'll wait....
    ....
    ........
    ............
    ................
    ....................
    ........................
    ............................
    ................................
    ....................................
    ........................................
    ....................................
    ................................
    ............................
    ........................
    ....................
    ................
    ............
    ........
    ....
    Version A (white background) was the winner! 

    It did about 3x higher conversions:

    winner.jpg

    See the full conversion details on Facebook Ads:

    conversion.jpg

    This test was pulled from inside our forum and performed by @LBellBell Love seeing these types of tests! The full winning ad looked like this:

    winning-ad.jpg
     

    Wisdom:

    I love this quote:

    "Choose a problem, not a product."


    It means that if you're trying to sell a product, don't think "oh this would be a cool product to sell." 

    Rather think: 

    "What's a problem people are having, and is there a way I can solve it, preferably at scale."

    question-confused-hmmm.png.00218821a746bc63522e6ce93ce6fe01.png

    Solving an actual problem is way better than "just thinking of something cool to sell."

    Interesting:

    I went to a big house out in the burbs of Austin, TX and saw this sign on the gate 😂

    beware-of-dog-sign.jpg

    If you were a burglar, would you break and enter if someone had this sign?? 😬

    Picture:

    I finally saw a CyberTruck up close!

    nev-car-closeup.jpg

    I've seen a bunch on the road since they're being manufactured here in Austin, but this is the first up-n-close look I got: 

    TESLA-truck.gif

    I think this was the CyberTruck Joe Rogan shot with an arrow during an Elon Musk interview as it had a replaced door. 

    Also, this thing looks WAY COOLER IN PERSON than it does on camera. 

    It's hard to explain but it just looks different IRL!
     

    Essay:

    “Copywriting” is associated with writing words on a page, but my definition has always been: 

    “Installing information into another persons head and getting them to take action.”
    Copywriting-brain.webp

    The medium could be:
    - Writing
    - Images
    - Videos
    - Software
    - Combo of all above

    The medium may vary, the concept does not.

    Splurge:

    Get a world-class email newsletter custom made for your company:

    Do you work at a mid sized company that wants a done-for-you newsletter created and sent to customers? 

    newsletter-writing.webp

    • The emails are designed to educate, entertain, and sell.
    • They would go out every two weeks to the email list. 
    • They would be written by world-class writers. 

    If you are this person reply and let me know some details!
     

    I hope you enjoyed these Friday tid-bits!
    Sincerely, 
    Neville Medhora

    nev-head.webp

    The S.W.I.P.E.S. Email (Friday December 8th, 2023)

    Swipe📁Wisdom🧠Interesting🧐Picture🖼 • Essay📄Sketch✍
    Edition: Friday, December 8th, 2023
    A fun email for Friday. I hope you enjoy!

     

    🎤 Listen to this email here:

     

    Swipe:

    I learned a lot about pools from this simple Instagram Ad...the combo of showing an unfinished pool without water then highlighting (with text and arrows) the different parts of it was quite educational!

    texas-pools.webp

    I love simple things, that teach a lot.

    Wisdom:

    Sprinkling in some "Social Proof" is one of the simplest additions to sales copy.
    Look at this email footer, and how it gains so much credibility by adding a few words of Social Proof!
    social-proof.jpg

    Interesting:

    I personally think:

    Newsletters are just blogs!

    you-are-all-wrong.jpg

    Newsletters are usually a bunch of short posts and thoughts listed out. This is what most blogs were.

    The thing that newsletters solved versus blogs: DISTRIBUTION.

    When you publish a blog post it enters the void...

    ...but lets say you create this newsletter and send it out:

    email-animated-gif.gif

    ....when you publish the newsletter via email it gets read by 30% to 60% of your list!

    Picture:

    The founder of an A.I. company (Paul Yacoubian of Copy.ai) sent me this awesome Olivetti Lettera 32 manual typewriter from the 1960's!

    typewriter-one.jpg

    Watching the inner workings of this thing is fascinating. The amount of parts and precision for all this to work is pretty crazy:

    typewriter-2.jpg

    I've been typing on it for fun...there's definitely a learning curve (some letters are in different places so there's frequent spelling mistakes)!

    learn-to-type.jpg

    One interesting observation: Since you are manually putting ink on paper, and can't erase, you think VERY HARD before typing! 

    This is the opposite of a computer where typing has no penalty.
     

    Essay:

    I'm currently reading this great book about Prohibition, the banning of all alcohol from 1920 to 1933:

    Prohibition-book.jpg

    Originally it was called "The Temperance Movement" which pushed for moderate drinking and avoiding raging drunkenness.

    But like most well-meaning movements it got hijacked by radicals in the group. The radicals pushed for fully abolishing alcohol, and they passed a law that was wayyyy too restrictive (it banned all sales and distribution or alcohol).

    Eventually the law was repealed in 1933 because Prohibition massively backfired and caused MORE drinking and crime.

    Sketch:

    "Copywork" is the act of hand-copying a piece of marketing to better understand how the author laid it out and wrote it. 

    We recently did this with one of my favorite types of marketing: The classic "Before and After" format, which in a small space shows a transformation:

    clixlo-price-comparison-before-after-ad-1024x1004.jpg

    We asked people to hand-draw this ad and got tons of people joining in the exercise!

    copywork-images.jpg

     

    You can do the exercise yourself here:

    ⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

     

    ...if you respond to this email with your hand-drawn picture, I'll add it to the post!

     

    I hope you enjoyed these Friday tid-bits!
    Sincerely, 
    Neville Medhora

    nev-head.webp

    ×
    ×
    • Create New...
    Guest