The weekly run down: business, writing and performance growth.

One tactic to grow your business

📰 TL;DR: there’s an alternative to mass emailing 1000 people a day with an offer. While it can work, everyone is doing it and it’s hard to cut through the noise. The solution: do the work first and reach out with proof.

People would rather see proof than listen to a sales pitch.

If you’re using outreach as a way of gaining clients, then try this mental shift before shipping your next campaign.

I’m sure you’ve received sales messages and gotten annoyed. Most sound the same. They promise the earth and ask for a commitment to a total stranger. Human psychology hasn’t changed much over the years, so let’s remember the basics:

People require trust and they are likely to reciprocate something which you do for them.

The framework:

Ditch the vague offers and do some free work. 

Forget the term free, because even if you don’t sign them as a client, you gained experience.

Example:

If you’re a designer looking for clients, start critiquing people’s landing pages and send them solutions and mock-up ideas in Figma.

You’ll be surprised at how well this is received. You’ll learn a lot more about the process through sending 10 of these a day than 1000 emails.

This works because:

• It shows people what you’re capable of.

• You show an understanding of their product.

• It’s crystal clear what you’re offering.

• People are impressed by this level of detail.

• You’re left with a portfolio of critiques to show future leads.

That’s it.

One copy tip:

📰 TL;DR: Make your emails easy to read: label each section > Hook the reader in with a headline > follow up with actionable steps.

The number one rule is to hook someone’s attention fast. If your email is a long block of text, chances are it won’t get read.

The solution:

1. Make it easy to skim: create section headings with jazzy names

2. Make use of a TL;DR section

3. Give further insight if the reader wishes to read further

This makes it easy for the reader to decide if they want to read on and prevents them from getting lost on the page. The key is to make sure your content is just enough to add value, but not overwhelm the reader.

Tip: remember that emails are a sales funnel moving a reader closer along the process of buying from you.

One performance tool

📰 TL;DR: use the power of NSDR (non-sleep deep rest) to reset your day and tap into the benefits of sleep. In less than 20 minutes. Search for a Yoga Nidri playlist on Youtube > find someplace quiet > plugin and follow the playlist.

You may or may not be a person who naps, but you should definitely be a person who tries NSDR.

Coined by Andrew Huberman, the practice is an accessible and practical way to bring you benefits such as:

• Reset your day.

• Catch up on sleep debt.

• Improve cognitive function.

The best part: it only takes 20 minutes.

The practice:

Yoga Nidri is the most common practice and you can find countless guides on Youtube. Most only take 20 minutes and avoid you laying down following some guided breathing and body scans.

The result: wake up feeling rested and energised, ready to go again.

One favourite Tweet

James Clear with another wisdom bomb. This is how you make friends in real life: you typically find common ground and interests to bond over. Well, guess what, the same works on the internet.

1. Build cool stuff.

2. Document your journey.

3. Share it with the world.

Build in public update

📰 TL;DR: this week I’ve iterated my second version of Lemon Leverage and created a productized service, instead of just being another agency/freelancer.

The idea: create a productized service in the form of a monthly subscription for copywriting services.

The thinking behind this:

This was a slight penny-drop moment when I saw something similar being done with a design agency. Instead of acquiring one-off projects, I’ve decided to switch to a subscription-based model.

The offer:

We’ll still be focused on landing pages, email copy and SEO articles. The key difference: clients can sign up for a flat fee each month in return for unlimited copywriting requests to help scale their business. It’s cheaper and less hassle than having an in-house writer.

Check out the new site here.

Tom Scourfield

Curious Entrepreneur