#11 Exposure, Proximity and "The Letter"
Proximity is everything
We just wrapped up another Guardian Academy Event.
These events are critical. You can read why here.
Here’s a fun fact you probably didn’t know - even if you were there.
Becky Robbins is Tony Robbins’ first wife. For fourteen years she was behind the scenes building an empire. I mean, she did everything other than speak on stage.
Okay, you probably knew that already. But did you know...
Saturday, when she was sitting in front of the room with me, is the first time she has spoken or been interviewed about… what we talked about?
And it was powerful.
This weekend we had
Akshay Nanavanti
Becky Robbins and
Joe Polish
…as participants and contributors.
We also had a surprise FaceTime appearance from Jeff Madoff - the man behind Victoria Secret’s top performing Super Bowl Ads and a new play that I am certain will be on broadway soon.
The full set of replays is reserved for Guardians, but I’ll share what I can when they become available. But the truth is this…
Nothing compares to being in the room, workshopping and casual conversation at lunch, dinner and in between sessions. That’s the real magic. It certainly doesn’t have to be one of the rooms I’m in - but if you feel stuck, get yourself in the right room with the right people ASAP.
The Certainty Summit is next weekend here in Seattle.
The Letter - An “Over The Shoulder” Look at Bringing It Back
I had a direct mail newsletter for two years.
It was $97 a month, it was fun to build and some of our best clients and partners were readers of “The Letter” first. As you can see, I put a lot of thought into naming it “The Letter”. I’ve spent the past few years considering re-launching it.
This morning I decided:
The Letter:
Some details and the thought process behind them:
Full details will be available later. The purpose of sharing this is to, hopefully, expand your thinking a little by revealing the logic, reasons and evidence for making the decision.
There will be up to ten "Founding Members".
Founding members will get a discount as long as they are members and random - but cool - shit sent to them. These will be the people that are doing cool things, have momentum and would benefit from things like private events and get togethers.
Founding members will get their invite via direct mail.
Welcome Package with two "Force Multiplier" books.
These books are just mini-courses in written format that you can highlight, earmark, reference, or takes notes on.
Quarterly mini-books.
"Bumpers" style books are sent out quarterly. - monthly office hours for QnA and implementation support
Just Some Facts:
Most of the concepts and principles that will be covered in the Letter can be found for free or much cheaper on the interwebs. Bumpers and Rigging The Game can be found on Amazon for a few bucks. YouTube has thousands of free courses.
If you value your money more than your time right now, it might make more sense to piece it together using free or less expensive resources.
The Power in the Letter is:
1. How it will be organized.
2. The focus and the intent. There are no digital versions so there are fewer distractions.
3. The "forcing function". When it shows up at your door and sits on your desk, it's much harder to ignore or forget
4. Simplification. The internet can be overwhelming. 15-20 pages of "just do this" each month can mitigate a lot of the overwhelm.
It’s not: “reach as many people as possible.”
Instead it’s: “simplify things for the right people”
Transparently, there is no expectation of profit. It will go entirely back into the product.
The benefit to me is:
Distribution (direct mail) My companies and partners get an additional distribution channel. One with little competition right now.
Focus and Intent. You get more out of the same content simply by reading it without notifications or distractions.
Quality. There is no edit button once the letter is sent, this is a forcing function for me to become more effective at communicating via the written word.
Education. It's less efficient doing a paid newsletter through direct mail instead of remotely. But... mail is a very powerful thing to learn long term. To make this a great product, I have a lot to learn. The only way to learn is to do.
Infrastructure. We have discussed both paid and free newsletters, catalogs, and magazines for @WolfDenLabs and @TheGuardianAcad
The Letter is a forcing function to build the infrastructure to optimize the direct mail process for my companies - but also to help others that want to do the same.
Filtering. The Letter will not be cheap. And, as I said above, most of it can be found for free. Subscribers will be aware of both, obviously.
If they choose to subscribe and stay subscribed it tells me that they:
1. Have the means to do so
2. Are getting a positive return, which means they're implementors
3. They like (or at least know how) to read.
^ This allows me to make offers to only the people that we can help the most - which allows me to NOT have to make offers to anyone else - we can just put out free stuff to be helpful.
Like anything I share - I am NOT suggesting this as a one-size fits all. Just sharing in hopes that it helps expand your thinking. There are simpler alternatives:
Paid digital newsletter like substack. The Guardian Academy will be using this model if you want to observe from afar.
Paid subscriber options on Twitter, YouTube, Gumroad, etc
Before pulling the trigger on something, give it some thought. I gave a lot of thought of a paid tier of this substack as an alternative. My desire to get something tangible in the hands of the right people and my love for physical products tipped the scales in favor of direct mail.
Don’t model this blindly.
It gets me closer to what I want. Make sure whatever you decide to do gets you closer to what you want.
Onward.
Nic
EDIT 1 Re: Paid Letter
A drastic discount will be offered to the following:
Wolf Pup Holders
Guardian Academy Members
CCA Graduates
EDIT 2
I am considering two policies to improve the overall product and keep product quality top of mind:
Policy 1: If you unsubscribe I still love you. However, you will not be allowed to re-subscribe later. A break in the experience is a hit to the overall experience. This is not a cash grab or short term cash opportunity - decisions will be made based on: best product/experience, not the most short term profit.
Policy 2: Limited enrollments per time period. As an example: ten a week. So if 35 people go to sign up, the first ten will get locked in, the cart will close and the rest will be put on a waitlist. This allows us to audit and improve the process for every ten subscribers - it also makes for better office hours calls.
Again, this is being built as an experiment for 100% product focus, so that will drive the policies.
EDIT 3