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    The S.W.I.P.E.S. Email (Friday February 9th, 2024)

    Swipe📁Wisdom🧠Interesting🧐Picture🖼 • Essay📄Splurge✍
    Edition: Friday, February 9th, 2024
    A fun email for Friday. I hope you enjoy!

     

    🎤 Listen to this email here:

    Swipe:

    This is the average cruising speed of commercial aircraft, and you can see it leveled out at ~500mph and has stayed there for 45 years.

    commercial-airline-speed.png

    I love images like this that teach you "a little sumthin" in a quick visual!

    Wisdom:

    I heard a quote "The New Year actually starts in February" 😂

    I personally didn't do much in January this year, so here's to finishing my February Goals!

    feb-goals.jpg

    Hope you've got your goals set for this month and this year!

    Interesting:

    My buddy @RamonVanMeer sold his last company then started several companies in the pet space, and went on SHARK TANK trying to sell "Genius Litter" dressed as Albert Einstein 😂

    genius litter.jpg

    I can't wait to hear his experience of how they film the show!

    shirt-image.gif

    He got Lori, Mark, and Robert to invest in his company together at $250,000 for 10%:

    ending-hugs-shark-tank.webp

    You can see the negotiation here:

    What's really interesting is how he practiced his pitch at home with picture cutouts of the Sharks 😂:

    new.gif

    Picture:

    Here's an A/B/C/D Split Test I'm currently running on the Copywriting Course Homepage (where most of our email signups come from).

    Which variation do you have a hunch will win??

    I'll report back results next week on the winners!

    split-test-cc-signup.webp

     

    Essay:

    I'm just gonna do it: I'm not gonna drink caffeine for the next two weeks.

    I’ve tried tapering off and keep failing, so it's time to rip the Band-Aid and go cold turkey.

    I'm posting here for accountability.....otherwise I'll slide back into the sweet sweet sensation of caffeine 😬

    nev-caffeine.jpg

    My last caffeine was 10am yesterday (Thursday), I assume withdrawals will kick in within 24 hours from then.

    "What's the big deal?? This doesn't sound hard!!" That's what I thought, and every time I try to give up caffeine for a bit I cave after 2 days.

    I drink between 250mg and 400mg of caffeine per day in either the form of black coffee or sugar free energy drinks.

    I love caffeine, but it's now become a MUST HAVE in the morning and not an optional thing. I just hate that I'm dependent on it and want a reset.

    I purposely picked a weekend to suffer through the caffeine withdrawals so I don't have much work to do.

    February 22nd (two weeks) I'm allowed to have caffeine again

    Splurge:

    I just did an interview with my bestest buddy Noah Kagan about reverse engineering business and his book Million Dollar Weekend.

     

    SEE FULL NOTES -->

    • 0:00:27 Watch Noah go through the different split tests they tried to pick out the book cover.
    • 0:02:10 The way to design a book cover is look at it like a tiny little thumbnail, as if someone is browsing on Amazon on their phone.
    • 0:05:05 People don’t usually randomly get “lucky” with success, there’s often a ton more methodology behind those people. Tim Ferriss and James Clear examples.
    • 0:07:07 Most people are shy about marketing.
    • 0:08:18 If you build something people want, it’s easier to market it and tell people about it because you’re proud.
    • 0:08:34 Noah lists products he’s tried that DIDN’T work, easy to forget when you have success that tons of stuff didn’t work.
    • 0:10:19 Make sure people want the thing you’re about to sell. Start Today. Ask People. Stick With It.
    • 0:10:40 Cliches are true.
    • 0:11:35 Example: Guy built a podcast guest research tool for $20/mo. Meh. BUT if you send people more podcast listeners that’s more valuable. When you don’t have to convince someone to buy it, that’s when you know it’s valuable.
    • 0:12:22 I validated a newsletter writing service (or dis-validated). Get closer to the money. Help people save more money or make more money.
    • 0:14:00 The right answers are often simple and boring. The complex answers are more exciting. Keep things very simple. Complexity is not better.
    • 0:15:58 I’m calling it TwitterX from now on.
    • 0:16:11 Companies will do things end customers don’t care about, like new logos. Instead just gimme a cheaper price!
    • 0:16:37 Why did you wanna write a book? I wanted to embrace something that will take a long time. Have done self published books before, but wanted to do full publisher route. Started writing proposal on March 2020 and book came out February 2024.
    • 0:20:30 Noah’s book goals: 1,000 reviews. 25,000 sales in first 7 days.
    • 0:21:42 We got a publisher to agree to publish a book, and they didn’t care what it was about so long as you can sell 10,000 books.
    • 0:22:50 Almanack of Naval Ravikant self published, crossed a million in sales, but won’t appear as a NYTimes best seller.
    • 0:24:35 A book proposal needs stuff like how big is your audience, first full chapter, table of contents and market differentiation.
    • 0:25:00 Self Publishing vs traditional publishing. Traditional feels like you have to swing for the fences and take it more seriously. Self publishing is probably the future, but for now traditional still feels different.
    • 0:25:53 Noah asks Neville what he saw from his vantage point when creating this book.
    • 0:28:19 “Yesterday we did $284,000 in sales, but that originally started from a PayPal button and Gmail.”
    • 0:30:07 Find things that don’t feel like effort to you. Craft your life to include more of those things.
    • 0:32:56 Seinfeld said he loves the boring “long Shawshank slog through the sewer” which is why he lasted in comedy.
    • 0:35:44 Copywriting Course email marketers and freelancers making more money.
    • 0:38:29 We watched two of Noah’s videos, the supposedly “cheesier” one about asking yacht owners what they do was far more educational.t
    • 0:44:23 The Ten Year Rule: Can I do this for 10 years? Will it be easy or hard for me?
    • 0:46:05 Do you write much? For the book launch 30 days of content for social media, plus 5 emails for launch week, plus a weekly email. I really enjoyed doing the actual writing and marketing. Creating an email that’s so f’ing good that even if you don’t buy you enjoy it.
    • 0:47:05 There’s an absence of really good long-form blog articles. Seems like newsletters have taken over.
    • 0:47:43 I started writing on NevBlog again. No comments. No distribution. But it’s a cool place I can write in semi-peace.
    • 0:49:25 “The Artist’s Way” book. When you just sit and write stuff you can come up with more ideas than you expect.
    • 0:51:42 Where do you come up with ideas? Mostly just shared Google Docs
    • 0:53:43 How do you develop taste? You taste a lot of dishes!
    • 0:57:53 Do more of what works over a very long period of time.
    • 0:59:25 Noah’s guiding star to keep focus. “I hate losing. I like competition. I need an enemy.”
    • 1:01:55 Noah likes having a team because then outputting a lot of stuff is sustainable.
    • 1:02:28 Noah actually works very hard. Knowing him for years I see that when he works, HE WORKS, and he’s locked in for long periods of time.
    • 1:03:10 There are certain days I don’t do anything…but systems in place keep things going.
    • 1:03:58 “Anger is a gift.” Use frustration to work harder. Don’t mask it.
    • 1:10:15 Internet allows you to live way different lives than a few years ago that weren’t possible. You can live in a small town in Ireland and be the creative director of Red Bull.

    The marketing and behind the scenes he goes into is a masterclass in book marketing alone!

    Watch the interview here -->

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

    nev-head.webp

    47 Comments


    Recommended Comments



    • Moderator

    Good luck with the caffeine abstinence.

    Will you be replacing it with another warm, tasty, yet healthier drink?

    If so, which one?

     

    Link to comment

    Shark Tank is so interesting! 

    I'm guessing A...just coz of the additional info at the bottom!

    Good luck with the 'no caffeine' initiative... Indian masala tea is my go-to!

    Link to comment

    I did a caffeine taper over the course of a month… no withdrawals until the day I went from 45ml of coffee to 0ml. 

    Smarter to just go cold turkey. 🤘🏼

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    TBH cold turkey is just better for me....I think it's kicked mostly already! 

    I do miss the rush of caffeine in the morning, but in a week or so I get it back 🙂

    Glad I went cold turkey.

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    If you're looking for proof on how well this email works, I just bought a bag of your buddy's cat litter based on what you posted here!

    Link to comment

    B or D. Usually D but the hand drawn caricature eases the action friction. Although, depending on your target audience, it might signify lower quality content. 
    A the worst one.

    Let us know how it performed 

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    I think C is in the big time lead right now! I will send out results on Friday 🙂 

    Link to comment

    Picture D for me. Though it's lacking a little visual oomph with imagery, I like the fact that the name of the course isn't crossed out. Clear, bold, straight-talking. I do wonder though whether my eye was especially drawn to that one just because it has a different background colour.

    Good luck with the no-caffeine experiment and belated congrats on your engagement!

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Thank you Sarah! 

    1.) I actually think C is in the lead big time right now. Performed way better than the stick guy. 

    2.) The caffeine withdrawals are gone, although it's weird to not feel that caffeine rush in the morning, energy seems more stable (yet subdued) throughout the day.

    Link to comment

    Yea! Friday with SWIPES - right on time to make my day!

    Thanks, Neville.

    (By the way - that interview with Mike Feldstein, was your best yet! I listen to it most days.)

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Thanks so much Temi! A lot of people loved that Mike Feldstein interview, I was surprised how many because he's not a business person with any online presence at all. 

    Cool to see how it blew up!

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    I will be back on the horse in a week! I just wanted a break to kick the dependance of it....I think it's mostly gone already, cold turkey was the right move 🙂 

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Good guess, will release the results on Friday!

    Looks like I'm past the caffeine withdrawal stages and steady energy now 🙂 

    I do miss the surge of energy from caffeine though, and will have coffee in a week!

    Link to comment

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