The biggest mistake I've made with this list

The story on why I started this email list over 7 years ago and how it relates to CTAs.

In my last email I talked about why it’s important to include a call-to-action (CTA) in every email you send (to your email list - which you should all have by the way…).

It also got me thinking of a mistake I’ve made, with this very list, that relates to why it’s crucial to always be soft selling something in your emails (but done the right way - again, read that last email to learn how).

First, some more background.

Most of you don’t know that I started this email list about 7 years ago.

It was about a year or two into the start of my “career” and first business, back when I was growing a small immigration law firm here in Toronto. I don’t fully remember why I did it, but I do remember getting to a point where I just felt like I needed to express myself more.

I was spending all of this time building a business, I had finally got it to a decent place (at the time I was probably billing around $12k per month on average) and also learning so much about business (from experience, reading books, my mentors, etc.).

I think it was a combo of wanting to share my experiences and also because, even back then (way before the email list craze that resurfaced a few years ago), I could see the long term value of building an email list.

So I started one.

It started very small and very simple, I think I sent 1 email per week just sharing the ups and downs of what had happened in the week before, which now that I think about it, isn’t too far off from what it is now.

Although now I send more than 1 email per week to a lot more people, and I like to think my writing quality and value provided is even higher.

The problem back then that I still face now (and that I hope to save you from), is that the email started out purely as a passion project, almost like a business journal to share my experiences, help you learn from my mistakes and to become a better writer.

But it wasn’t a business and I never had anything to sell.

Now you might be thinking, “so what?”

Especially because I had my own business that was doing well and supporting me, I never started the email list to make money anyway. But the problem, which I’m now relating back to our lesson from last week on CTAs, is that if you don’t train your audience to expect the CTA, they won’t be conditioned to follow it.

We are creatures of habit and this applies to everything, so that’s why when I was talking about CTAs in every email, it’s because you don’t want your audience to be scared off by them. And one way to do that is to always include them (properly, as I laid out in the previous email).

Unfortunately for me I didn’t know this 7 years ago, which is that if you send too many emails without any CTAs, your audience will be less likely to take you up on them if/when you decide to. So even though you might have a nice big list and send them valuable content and maybe even have an incredible product or service to offer them, if you never do, it only becomes harder to do so later on.

Part of why I’m telling you this is because, quite honestly, I’ve now gotten to a point where I do want to turn this (amazingly awesome?) email list into more of a side hustle, and I want to do it in the most genuinely helpful and valuable way possible.

And in order to do that, as everyone should do when thinking about adding in a product or service for the first time (there’s a meta lesson going on right here, right now…), I need to do some good ol’ market research.

First, this email list will continue as usual, always free, and always with a TON of value to continue reading each week. So nothing to worry about, at all.

Second, I want to get some feedback from you on some of the stuff you’re struggling with the most right now so I can get an idea of what kind of resources I can build out to provide even more help (to those who need it).

So here’s my ask, to those of who you have been reading these emails and getting value from them:

Number 1, please take 5 seconds to vote here (this helps more than you think):

Number 2, if there’s some other business topic or issue you’re really struggling with, let me know by hitting “reply” or booking in a quick 20 minute chat with me here. Not only do I genuinely love talking to subscribers about their businesses and giving my advice, but I have absolutely nothing to sell you and it gives me really helpful info so I can work on creating even better content.

So if you have any issues with your biz you want some advice on, make sure to book in or hit “reply” and let me know.

Thanks so much and have a great day,

- Josh Schachnow

Canadian immigration lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai