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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



    C – es verdad. I look forward to hearing the results of your A / B / C / D test.

    Keep it colorful, Neville! And have a great wood dragon year. 🙂

    Link to comment

    Hey Neville, you're always "giving it away" great content, so I thought I retribute something today with some unsolicited SEO advice for swipefile.com since you mention being on your Feb Goals.

    Hard/Long = You need to make this site UGC first - I understand if you want to keep "control of it" and you can. Make it into a subdomain or directory, for example, to separate user submitted content from yours. This will create the type of content that G loves it, and it's a great way to scale with your site theme model. Think urbandictionary.com as a benchmark.

    Easier/Quicker = Enable comments - this is another way to increase your term coverage via UGC as well.

    Hope this helps. Happy to chat if you need more details.

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Hey Yuri! 

    I actually did that before, and we were posting many times a day on SwipeFile....I think the problem is it ended up having SO MUCH STUFF that just wasn't great, or didn't teach a lesson, and it got hard to use. 

    For example I thought I could just use all the stuff from:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/vintageads
    ....but after seeing 5 old timey ads, the lessons from them diminish. 

    Open to ideas though, and have a re-design ready for SwipeFile, as well as comments probably!

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Thanks Arman!

    I feel the same way as your article so far, glad I cut it off for a bit just to kick the dependency aspect. 

    I still will drink caffeine though, it's very fun 🙂 

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Just breaking the dependency of it in the mornings, not giving it up forever. The give-up time was two weeks...then when I go to Costa Rica later this month I'll start drinking again 🙂 

    Link to comment

    I think B - simple but memorable with the image. If not B then A because I like the "write how you speak piece" but the small text under seems like no one will read it, would remove that as a 5th experiment!

    Link to comment

    I know you're busy.

    But this email is all about YOU.

    You write emails so why don't you hold yourself accountable with US, the clients, consumers, and members who hang on your every word by writing about your trials and tribulations on a daily NO CAFFEINE DAY.

    Might be interesting how that drink or should I say LACK OF it affects your writing style.

    I'd definitely read that talks about your trials for sure and find out what you're feeling, how it's affecting you, your sleep, how you accomplish your today list and even if it SAVES you MONEY.

    THANKS FOR A GREAT SWIPE TODAY.

    no-coffee.png

    "Unbelievable! This Is Neville's Brain OFF Coffee!"

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    Oh man the first few days without caffeine I was kinda useless 😂

    A few days in now and I'm back 🙂 

    Link to comment

    You've gotta get that caffeine problem licked! 😂

    So three years ago I did a month of your course and then ended up pursuing romance writing. I've now written my first series of three, and the first will be published March 12 across all platforms. I just wanted to give you a head's up... if you know any fans of page-turning romcom suspense, feel free to send them to my Goodreads review page and let them decide for themselves whether they wanna pre-order this puppy! Fiona's Fury  

    Thank you for continually providing interesting info and fantastic weekly inspiration. 💖

    PS. Love all the photos of you lounging around reading sci-fi books!

    Link to comment

    Picture: I like the purple one, it stands out heaps better than the green ones (surprising since I love green)

    Essay: I am a pharmacist and healthy eating coach and I thought I might share a tip that could help you with your caffeine experiment! For the next two weeks, instead of saying you can't drink coffee, you could try and say "I am not a coffee drinker" to yourself and others and see if that makes a difference in your ability to go without. (Also, watch your food intake coz going off caffeine can cause you to eat more, and watch out for the withdrawals! My boss suffered from massive headaches and the sweats when she went off it.). Hope this helps, can't wait to see how you go!

    Link to comment
    • Administrator

    I'll release the results of the split test on Friday, the new winner did nearly 200% better than the old one 😬

    As for the caffeine withdrawals I felt pretty crappy the first 3 days, just low energy and "not fully awake." 

    Now I'm back to normal it seems, in a week or so I'll have my first sip of coffee again and it'll be awesome 😎

     

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    maybe you would like to know that the aircraft speed chart is not MPH its Knots. 

    Another question to ask is if its true airspeed or indicated airspeed? 

    Link to comment

    How was the caffeine experience?

    Any influences on your writing/thinking? 

    Thinking about quitting caffeine for the entire month of April.

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    • Administrator

    To be honest it's been pretty great just being able to get up and go with zero caffeine.....I would highly recommend it even as just a reset!

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