Have you ever sat waiting for a flight at an airport bar and overheard an interesting conversation? That sort of what being subscribed to a daily email list is like, for me at least. Except it’s just one person talking to herself. Which makes it even more interesting?!
I kid – and actually, an email newsletter is typically a two-way conversation because many of you respond.
In fact, a dear friend and subscriber remarked to me the other day, “I’m sorry I haven’t been reading your emails lately.” To which I had to laugh!
Because I don’t expect her or any of you to read all of my emails. Of the 6 high-frequency email lists that I subscribe to, I rarely read any of them daily. Even though I have the right temperament for reading daily emails (some people just aren’t wired that way). So I don’t expect anyone to read each of mine.
The Continuous Publication
Nor do I expect any, one single email I write to give you an “aha moment”; so you shouldn’t feel like you are missing something amazing. My goal here is to help you inspire your marketing and business development strategy with small, bite-size ideas that, over time, help you make better decisions about investing in marketing. (And by “better”, I mean “less financially risky” and “more personally rewarding” … and a few other things).
Some of these lists I fail to read faithfully are brilliant publications. And they remain brilliant even if I don’t catch every episode.
Taken as a whole, for example, Philip Morgan’s Indie Experts newsletter and the Seth Godin’s daily newsletter are more interesting, useful, and in-depth (yes, in-depth!) than pretty much any business book. Because it’s not about the one, odd email – it’s about the ongoing stream of consciousness that you catch bits and pieces of. Taken together, they comprise a publication.
Here are three “streamed publications” I am currently subscribed to that I can easily recommend:
Seth Godin
Seth’s Blog. Is it a blog or a newsletter? It’s both and Marshall McLuhan((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message)) would be impressed by how seamlessly Seth’s content fits the parameters and expectations of both mediums. It’s come out at high frequency since the dotcom boom imploded and I have been reading Seth off and on since then. As far as I can recall, he has published near-daily for 13 years in a row.
If you could boil it down to one phrase, Seth’s newsletter is about ethical marketing.
But his newsletter long ago transcended marketing to address big-picture stuff: not just business strategy, branding, etc., but life, death, truth, and purpose. So I listen intently when he stoops low enough to talk about things like the state of software development, client services, or Google and SEO.
Philip Morgan
Indy Experts, by Philip Morgan. Philip Morgan was inspired, I believe(?), by Seth Godin’s publishing practice; Philip has been publishing at high-frequency (which he defines as *at least* 3 times a week) since January of 2016. His focus has evolved from the subjects of positioning and specialization to the question of how to develop expertise through – in part, at least – high-frequency publishing. Emphasis on publishing, not just writing.
Other parts of the expertise cultivation equation include research and last – and definitely not least – doing great client work. As Seth Godin has said, the job of a freelancer (and he defines consultants as freelancers, too) is to (a) get great clients and (b) convince those clients to let you do great work.
What better way to improve your expertise than doing great work? I don’t think there is one, but writing a lot helps. Philip has a talent for weaving strategic advice with a long-term impact on profitability (create space in your time to work on your business) with practical advice with a short-term impact on profitability (eschew marketing automation).
Jonathan Stark
Jonathan Stark’s newsletter. Jonathan is the only high-frequency newsletter publisher who truly publishes daily. As in, every single day of the year, rain or shine, or death – I remember once reading an email he’d written after coming home from a friend’s funeral. It was a great one, too. If I recall it was one of many, where he made the point that life is too short to bill hourly.
During most of my life as a services professional I have billed hourly but, man, do I wish I had a do-over. If there’s just one thing I could change about the “group-business” I co-owned (as opposed to my current solo-business), it would be how we priced or failed to price. Priced, not billed. Because to sell yourself by the hour is not pricing at all; it’s just billing. Hourly billing may have its place in limited contexts (namely: sold in pre-paid blocks), but as a go-to compensation model, it’s ruined many businesses and is bad for both clients and providers.
Others
By the way, I am subscribed to other writers as well, but these are the (the best of) the *daily* lists I subscribe to. There are others I subscribe to to keep their subject matter within my ambient awareness, such as Neuroscience News and The New York Review of Books Daily. And then a couple more from Internet marketing consultants which are fascinatingly bad yet consistently published; I won’t call them out on this list.
Some lists I periodically filter out of my inbox so I can read through a week’s worth at a time on Fridays. Then unfilter later when I am in the mood for daily reading. But Seth and Philip’s, and sometimes Jonathan’s, I read pretty much every day. I often re-read Seth’s best posts before I nap or sleep to let my subconscious evaluate them. ((That sounds like Marianne Williamson ideation, I know, but there’s noncontroversial science and convincing anecdote to back it up.))
So it’s pretty funny to meet people who say they never use email!! If you happened to open this one, reply and let me know if there are any high-frequency newsletters you enjoy.
Have a nice Wednesday evening,
Rowan