Shannon Vondy, AKA Mrs. Vondy, sent one email and generated $2,600 for her wedding photography business in 2020 amidst the height of the pandemic. 

A few months later, she did it again and brought in $1,400. By the end of that year, email brought in an extra $13,000 in revenue for her. 

Needless to say, she was sold and knew she had to support other small business owners in taking that leap to email their list, build a deeper connection with their audience, and ultimately increase their clients and sales. 

In this bonus episode, Shannon shares the first steps to getting started with email marketing as a creative or photographer and highlights a few of the valuable tools that can support you with developing the skill. 

01:23 — How one email generated $2,600 on a print sale for her wedding photography clients and $13,000 for her first year using email 

04:25 — Taking an “it’s just an email” approach

06:46 — How to use email to show your personality and connect with your clients 

07:57 — What to do when your email list isn’t engaged

11:48 — How service-based business owners can use email to close more clients

15:57 — How to be consistent with emailing your list 

17:45 — Prompts versus templates

24:00 — Making templates on brand for you 

25:44 — Structure allows creative juices to flow

26:57 — How to get started with email 

🛍️ SHOP THE EMAIL CLUB 

Get $25 off almost anything in The Email Club template shop: COPYONCALL

https://www.theemailclub.co

💌 GET A FREE WELCOME EMAIL 

https://www.theemailclub.co/free-email-template-coc

CONNECT WITH SHANNON AKA MRS. VONDY

Shannon aka Mrs. Vondy, is your friendly neighborhood email obsessed marketer & strategist. She offers done for you email services for busy biz owners and done WITH you services via the Email Club Membership and Email Template Shop.

After running a successful photography business for 13 years and growing her email agency to 6 figures in less than 2 years, Shannon also coaches business owners on how to book better clients and run more successful, profitable businesses!

When she’s not dreaming up emails, or coaching biz owners, Shannon’s likely binging Netflix while snuggled up with her hubby and her two rescue huskies.

https://www.instagram.com/mrs.vondy

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Shannon: 00:00:00

The most simple one is just start, just start, do it imperfectly.

Shannon: 00:00:04

I know that's uncomfortable, but even when I first started my email

Shannon: 00:00:07

list, I didn't know what I was doing.

Shannon: 00:00:09

I didn't know a hundred percent where I was going to go with my email list.

Shannon: 00:00:13

Am I going to talk about email in my email?

Shannon: 00:00:17

And I didn't know.

Shannon: 00:00:18

So I was like, you know what?

Shannon: 00:00:19

I'm just going to kind of share.

Shannon: 00:00:21

What feels good to me.

Shannon: 00:00:23

You are listening to The Copywriter On Call podcast.

Shannon: 00:00:26

I'm your most Sarah Gillis copywriter, word, magic maker, and owner of

Shannon: 00:00:31

what Sarah said on this podcast.

Shannon: 00:00:33

You'll feel empowered to show up online in a way that has you saying, that's so me.

Shannon: 00:00:39

Let's get started.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:41

Welcome back to a special bonus episode of The

Sara Gillis: 00:00:43

Copywriter On-Call podcast.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:45

I'm your host, Sarah Gillis, and I am clocking some on-call hours today

Sara Gillis: 00:00:48

with my email coach and the founder of the email club Shannon a k a.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:52

Mrs.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:52

Vondy hello.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:53

Thanks so much for being here.

Shannon: 00:00:55

Hey, thanks for having me.

Shannon: 00:00:57

I am so excited to be here.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:58

Yeah, I can't wait to chat with you all about email

Sara Gillis: 00:01:01

and swipe files and why they are so game changing for everyone.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:04

But would love to start with you introducing yourself and telling

Sara Gillis: 00:01:08

us who you are and what you do.

Shannon: 00:01:09

Sure.

Shannon: 00:01:10

I'm Shannon, a k a Mrs.

Shannon: 00:01:12

Vdi, I'm the founder of the email club.

Shannon: 00:01:15

Sometimes dove the email queen or an email coach.

Shannon: 00:01:18

I'm kind of like the calli of names when it comes down to it.

Shannon: 00:01:20

I guess I just, they just keep adding on at the end.

Shannon: 00:01:23

But yeah, so I, Fell in love with email marketing when I sent one email to my

Shannon: 00:01:28

list and I made $2,600, and I thought, oh, this is what everyone is talking about

Shannon: 00:01:34

when they say you need an email list.

Shannon: 00:01:36

Because I had been a business owner for 10 years and wasn't using

Shannon: 00:01:40

one, so I, had a very eye-opening experience with email very quickly.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:45

so tell us what made that email convince you or change your mind

Sara Gillis: 00:01:49

that emails worth spending your time.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:51

What was your previous business and why did this kind of.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:54

Or I guess previous, current, both all the things.

Shannon: 00:01:57

Yeah, a little bit.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:58

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:58

Tell me why this changed everything for you.

Shannon: 00:02:01

yeah, so I have been a wedding photographer and then for

Shannon: 00:02:04

10 years and then the pandemic hit.

Shannon: 00:02:07

And basically cleared my entire calendar.

Shannon: 00:02:09

And so I started helping a friend of mine with email marketing who I knew

Shannon: 00:02:13

from online, and she was stuck at home with two little kids and needed help.

Shannon: 00:02:16

So I started helping her and I started to learn what I needed

Shannon: 00:02:19

to do with email marketing.

Shannon: 00:02:21

And I thought, I'm just going to, just going to try it.

Shannon: 00:02:23

I'm just going to see what happens.

Shannon: 00:02:24

So that's when I sent the one email and I thought, do other

Shannon: 00:02:27

business owners know about this?

Shannon: 00:02:28

Do they realize this one exists?

Shannon: 00:02:31

And two, Is awesome.

Shannon: 00:02:33

And how come nobody's helping them?

Shannon: 00:02:36

How come there's no, at the time, I feel like now maybe you

Shannon: 00:02:38

hear about a little bit more.

Shannon: 00:02:39

At the time there weren't really a ton of done for you services.

Shannon: 00:02:42

There weren't a ton of people, or I'll say there were people teaching

Shannon: 00:02:45

about email, but it tended to be like over my head most of the time.

Shannon: 00:02:49

I didn't know what they were talking about.

Shannon: 00:02:50

And I am now obsessed with email, so it's kind of funny that I didn't

Shannon: 00:02:53

understand what they were saying, so I started the email club.

Shannon: 00:02:56

At the time it was Mrs.

Shannon: 00:02:57

VDI emails, now it's the email club.

Shannon: 00:02:58

And I just was like, I just need to help other business owners

Shannon: 00:03:01

know how important and helpful and amazing this is in your business.

Sara Gillis: 00:03:06

Absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:03:06

So what was the email you sent?

Sara Gillis: 00:03:08

Was it a sale?

Sara Gillis: 00:03:09

Was it a, hi, this is who I am and how I can serve you

Sara Gillis: 00:03:12

in the midst of the pandemic?

Sara Gillis: 00:03:13

What?

Sara Gillis: 00:03:14

What was it?

Shannon: 00:03:15

Yeah, so, I sent an email, it was a sale.

Shannon: 00:03:19

I ran a print sale to my current clients and they went done for it.

Shannon: 00:03:25

It was

Sara Gillis: 00:03:25

so awesome.

Shannon: 00:03:27

think I actually only went up.

Shannon: 00:03:29

I made, might have sent, sent two emails, but I, I don't think I sent more than

Shannon: 00:03:32

two emails over that weekend either.

Shannon: 00:03:34

So it, normally, I would recommend sending more.

Shannon: 00:03:37

So it's kind of crazy to think that Had I actually done it the

Shannon: 00:03:40

way that I would recommend doing it now, what would've happened?

Shannon: 00:03:42

How much more I would've probably earned.

Shannon: 00:03:44

But what was funny is after doing that, I actually was skeptical.

Shannon: 00:03:47

I thought, this is just a fluke.

Shannon: 00:03:48

This is just a one time thing.

Shannon: 00:03:50

I thought, there's no way.

Shannon: 00:03:51

So I, I ran it again.

Shannon: 00:03:52

I ran another print sale probably like five ish months later

Shannon: 00:03:56

and made another like $1,400.

Shannon: 00:03:58

And so I was like, oh, this, this.

Shannon: 00:04:01

Works, and at the end of the year, I'd actually made $13,000 from just

Shannon: 00:04:05

email marketing in that business.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:08

That's fantastic.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:09

And in the midst of the pandemic nonetheless, when you were

Sara Gillis: 00:04:12

like, okay, how do I make money?

Sara Gillis: 00:04:15

Here it comes.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:16

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:17

I love

Shannon: 00:04:17

I, I mean it, I literally said, I sent one email that saved

Shannon: 00:04:21

my business and changed my life.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:23

See, that's the power guys.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:24

That's the power.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:25

Okay.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:25

So one of the most favorite things that you say that I keep in my mind

Sara Gillis: 00:04:30

all the time is it's just an email.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:32

This resonates so much with me, not only as a copywriter, but just

Sara Gillis: 00:04:36

as like a communicator in general.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:39

But I would love to hear your thoughts about where that comes from

Sara Gillis: 00:04:42

and why you think it's so effective to getting us out of our own way.

Shannon: 00:04:45

Yeah, I mean, I think as business owners we have

Shannon: 00:04:48

to wear a lot of hats, right?

Shannon: 00:04:49

There's a lot of things we have to do.

Shannon: 00:04:51

There's a lot of, pressure to do it all too.

Shannon: 00:04:54

For some reason, it seems like, if we were corporations and had a huge team of

Shannon: 00:04:58

people doing things, it wouldn't be as like, Quote unquote judged, like that.

Shannon: 00:05:03

But as small business owners, it's almost everything is on our plate

Shannon: 00:05:06

and it almost feels, especially when you're starting out, you almost

Shannon: 00:05:09

feel guilty to offload some of it.

Shannon: 00:05:11

And so I think when hearing something is simple of It is just an email it's

Shannon: 00:05:14

kind of a relief to think, oh, that's one more thing I don't have to be perfect at.

Shannon: 00:05:19

That's one more thing.

Shannon: 00:05:19

I don't have to learn how to do really well, it's just an

Shannon: 00:05:22

email at the end of the day.

Shannon: 00:05:25

So I would guess that's probably why it resonates so much.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:28

Yeah, and I think too, that desire to be perfect,

Sara Gillis: 00:05:31

we're never going to be.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:33

And so holding that on our shoulders as like, well, I can't do this

Sara Gillis: 00:05:36

because it won't be perfect.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:38

That is dispelling that myth right there, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:05:41

You can do it even if you have a typo.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:44

Even if you forget to attach something, forget to put a link

Sara Gillis: 00:05:47

in, like it's just an email.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:49

You can send another one.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:51

Or you can just try again the next day and do it better.

Shannon: 00:05:55

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:05:55

Exactly.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:56

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:57

It's such a relief for me.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:59

I say that to myself every time I write an email to my list,

Sara Gillis: 00:06:02

it's like, it's just an email.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:03

I hope it resonates.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:04

I hope it reaches and I hope at the end of the day, sure, people want to work with

Sara Gillis: 00:06:08

me, but it's just an email, and if they don't, then I can try again next time.

Shannon: 00:06:12

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:06:13

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:06:14

It's just that simple.

Shannon: 00:06:14

And I think we think we get in our heads, right?

Shannon: 00:06:17

We're not saving lives usually.

Shannon: 00:06:19

I mean, most, business owners I imagine listening to this, are not like doctors.

Shannon: 00:06:23

So, we're not saving lives here.

Shannon: 00:06:25

We're just trying to run our businesses and live our lives and find some semblance

Shannon: 00:06:31

of freedom and ability to not feel like we're living paycheck to paycheck.

Shannon: 00:06:36

Right.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:37

Right.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:37

Absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:38

And I think too, email is just another way to express yourself and

Sara Gillis: 00:06:42

to communicate to your audience who you are and why you do what you do.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:46

So I would love to hear your thoughts on how email is really another way that

Sara Gillis: 00:06:51

we can just show people who we are.

Shannon: 00:06:53

Yeah, I mean, it's honestly a lot like building another community, like any

Shannon: 00:06:56

other social, it's not a social platform per se, but like a social platform.

Shannon: 00:07:02

It's very similar in that way, that you want to build trust, you want

Shannon: 00:07:05

to nurture, you want to give value.

Shannon: 00:07:08

And the reason that email is so powerful is that.

Shannon: 00:07:13

You have a direct line.

Shannon: 00:07:14

You're not fighting an algorithm to get to your, ideal people.

Shannon: 00:07:17

And also these people, if, if you've done it right, they have raised their hand to

Shannon: 00:07:22

say they want to be on your list, right?

Shannon: 00:07:24

So they're already warmer than most people because they're

Shannon: 00:07:27

interested in what you have to say.

Shannon: 00:07:28

They have taken the next step.

Shannon: 00:07:30

They have said, I want to hear more from you.

Shannon: 00:07:32

And that's why email tends to be so much more powerful than

Shannon: 00:07:36

kind of any other platform.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:38

Right, that invitation to greet someone in their inbox on

Sara Gillis: 00:07:41

a regular basis, that's a big deal.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:44

Like that's a privilege.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:45

And I mean, like you said, if you do it right and you treat it right, it can be

Sara Gillis: 00:07:50

a really great avenue for communication.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:53

And it's not just a one way street.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:54

Right?

Sara Gillis: 00:07:54

We want people to reply to our emails.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:57

So what do you say to people who are like, I email my list, but they ghost me?

Sara Gillis: 00:08:00

Nobody replies.

Shannon: 00:08:02

I mean, and that's going to happen sometimes, right?

Shannon: 00:08:04

It doesn't necessarily mean that they're not resonating either.

Shannon: 00:08:06

I think we've, it's kind of crazy.

Shannon: 00:08:08

We've come into a society now that We expect instant gratification.

Shannon: 00:08:12

Social has kind of trained us to expect a, almost, I find myself doing that on social

Shannon: 00:08:16

too, of like, oh, no one liked my story.

Shannon: 00:08:19

Is it good?

Shannon: 00:08:20

I'm like, why am I worried about this?

Shannon: 00:08:22

But you know, it can, obviously, it can happen to anybody.

Shannon: 00:08:24

So I think that it's one of those things that we've kind of trained ourselves

Shannon: 00:08:27

to get a, like, get a comment, get, a reply, whatever, almost instantly

Shannon: 00:08:31

an email that's not as common.

Shannon: 00:08:34

So I would say if you feel like you're wanting to get more replies, something I

Shannon: 00:08:39

always think is I try and write my emails to one person more than like an entire,

Shannon: 00:08:45

thinking of an entire list of people.

Shannon: 00:08:48

I think, how can I write this to just one person and make it feel

Shannon: 00:08:51

like we're having a conversation.

Shannon: 00:08:53

And I, find that that works pretty well.

Shannon: 00:08:55

And also just sometimes just testing different things, trying different things.

Shannon: 00:08:58

I like experimenting with different things, so I think that's why

Shannon: 00:09:01

email's so exciting for me.

Shannon: 00:09:02

But, just seeing what people resonate with or asking.

Shannon: 00:09:04

Sometimes we ask really complicated questions and people just don't have the

Shannon: 00:09:08

time to respond to those kind of things.

Shannon: 00:09:10

So can you simplify it?

Shannon: 00:09:11

Can you make it like an A or B, like five A or B?

Shannon: 00:09:15

Or often more than, I mean, replies are great, don't get me wrong.

Shannon: 00:09:18

I do think replies are great, but often more than anything, thinking

Shannon: 00:09:22

about what they need to hear, what they, your subscriber needs to hear,

Shannon: 00:09:26

wants to hear, needs help with.

Shannon: 00:09:28

Giving them something like that is probably more valuable than getting

Shannon: 00:09:32

hung up on needing that reply back.

Shannon: 00:09:35

Does that make sense?

Sara Gillis: 00:09:36

I.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:36

Yeah, I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:37

I think that you're absolutely spot on.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:40

We are programmed to be like, well, I posted this 30 minutes ago, nothing, and

Sara Gillis: 00:09:44

it's just a little different game with email, but at the same time, at the very

Sara Gillis: 00:09:48

core, we're just trying to communicate.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:50

And I just encourage people, if you get an email from somebody who you're

Sara Gillis: 00:09:55

on their list and you resonated with it, send them a note like it,

Sara Gillis: 00:09:59

it feels so good to get a note.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:01

I sent an email a couple weeks ago with a blog post all about writing

Sara Gillis: 00:10:04

your contact page for your website, and I got two email replies and I was

Sara Gillis: 00:10:08

like, oh my gosh, I'm on fire today.

Shannon: 00:10:10

It's like winning the lottery.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:12

Yeah, it just, it just made my day that somebody took the

Sara Gillis: 00:10:15

time to reply and say, I really needed to hear this blog post.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:18

I really needed to, refresh my contact page.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:21

Or I never thought of it that way.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:23

That's just awesome.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:24

I love that.

Shannon: 00:10:25

And I don't know what, what it is about our inboxes feeling a little

Shannon: 00:10:28

bit more, maybe it's more personal.

Shannon: 00:10:30

So it's like if you reply like, I, we have no problem, or at least I don't,

Shannon: 00:10:34

have a problem like DMing someone something, but when it comes to replying

Shannon: 00:10:38

to their email, it feels so personal.

Shannon: 00:10:40

So I love what you're saying too, of just I'm always all about like, if

Shannon: 00:10:42

the more you give, the more you'll receive kind of thing too, right?

Shannon: 00:10:45

So yes, I think it's a great idea.

Shannon: 00:10:47

If you like somebody's email or found their, something in their content

Shannon: 00:10:50

helpful, let them know or don't be scared to reply back to them because

Shannon: 00:10:54

like you said, it might just make their day and you could build a really

Shannon: 00:10:57

cool connection with somebody that maybe doesn't get that many replies.

Shannon: 00:11:01

Lots of followers on Instagram, for instance, might be more willing

Shannon: 00:11:06

to have a conversation and get to know you more in an email than they

Shannon: 00:11:08

would on a DM when they're getting hundreds a day or something like that.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:12

Yeah, absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:13

And I think too, thinking about email as that conversation starter, I often

Sara Gillis: 00:11:19

try and make sure that when I'm writing my emails and with your help for sure,

Sara Gillis: 00:11:23

that it is thought provoking in some way.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:26

That it peaks interest in some way.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:28

I don't want to share something that everybody knows that everybody,

Sara Gillis: 00:11:31

takes for granted as knowledge.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:32

I want to share some, new twist on that or some idea that they can really

Sara Gillis: 00:11:37

think about and might cause them to think about things differently.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:40

So I think that also is a great way to just put a little flare in your emails.

Shannon: 00:11:45

Yeah, put a little bit of yourself in there.

Shannon: 00:11:47

I always like to have a little personality.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:48

Yeah, I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:50

So tell me a little bit about how this has worked for you and for your clients

Sara Gillis: 00:11:54

in terms of your done-for-you services.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:57

So helping them to craft emails that really reflect who they are and their

Sara Gillis: 00:12:01

heart for their service or their product.

Sara Gillis: 00:12:04

What happens as a result of that when you are really showcasing who

Sara Gillis: 00:12:08

you are and your heart behind it?

Sara Gillis: 00:12:10

What happens as a result when you're showing up as yourself?

Shannon: 00:12:13

I think people really, especially now, I think they want to feel connected.

Shannon: 00:12:17

They want to know who they're buying from, who they're supporting,

Shannon: 00:12:20

who they're, if it's actually going to help and work, right?

Shannon: 00:12:23

because so many, there are so many options out there now.

Shannon: 00:12:27

What sets you apart?

Shannon: 00:12:28

What makes you the solution to their problem?

Shannon: 00:12:31

So I think knowing your ideal client really well, or ideal subscriber,

Shannon: 00:12:37

whatever case we're in here.

Shannon: 00:12:38

And just having that really strong sense of getting to know them, them getting

Shannon: 00:12:45

to know you, it tends to lead to people wanting to either buy more, support you

Shannon: 00:12:49

more, and also share more about you too,

Shannon: 00:12:52

sometimes it's not always about getting the sale, because it in the, it's a deep

Shannon: 00:12:56

conversation if I, I really want to go there, but, we don't have that much time.

Shannon: 00:12:59

So the biggest thing is, is like email is a marketing platform, right?

Shannon: 00:13:04

So, It's hard to judge exactly what thing is going to push people into a sale.

Shannon: 00:13:10

What actually shoves them to go, okay, this is the time,

Shannon: 00:13:14

this is the right option for me.

Shannon: 00:13:16

But I always like to think of email and any other marketing platform you

Shannon: 00:13:19

use as an omni marketing channel.

Shannon: 00:13:22

So the more people see things, it's the rule of sevens, I think it is.

Shannon: 00:13:25

Although now it's probably like rules of a hundreds to see things.

Shannon: 00:13:30

For anyone who doesn't know, the rule of seven is you have to

Shannon: 00:13:31

see something seven times before, you're going to buy or take action.

Shannon: 00:13:36

And I'm sure like now it's a whole lot higher because of our attention spans.

Shannon: 00:13:39

But I like thinking of email as something that, that's just another thing that's

Shannon: 00:13:44

going to help you to get that quote unquote rule of seven in front of people.

Shannon: 00:13:48

So it's another way to get them to.

Shannon: 00:13:52

Consider your offer and understand how you are going to help them, and

Shannon: 00:13:55

or get to know them if, again, if you're not ready to sell something.

Shannon: 00:13:59

At this point, just like getting to know them and then when you are ready

Shannon: 00:14:02

to sell, they're ready to buy from you because they understand that you

Shannon: 00:14:06

have their best interest at heart.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:08

Mm, there's a trust there.

Shannon: 00:14:09

Exactly.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:10

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:10

I think that that's so key with any, any type of marketing is you have

Sara Gillis: 00:14:15

to create that level of trust, and I love that email does that simply

Sara Gillis: 00:14:19

just by showing people who you are.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:22

I think that we have such a fear when it comes to showing up in our

Sara Gillis: 00:14:26

businesses, whether or not we're solopreneurs or we have a team,

Sara Gillis: 00:14:30

or we have products or services.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:31

And I think it's just always worthwhile to try and showcase who you are, even if it's

Sara Gillis: 00:14:36

just in little tidbits, little snippets.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:38

That you're comfortable with getting people that opportunity to know who

Sara Gillis: 00:14:43

you are and why you do what you do.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:45

That's just, that's gold.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:47

Not only for creating connections, but also for eventually asking for that sale.

Shannon: 00:14:52

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:14:53

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:14:54

And I mean, I think we've all been guilty of sending the

Shannon: 00:14:57

email when we want something.

Shannon: 00:14:58

I heard this analogy from someone else.

Shannon: 00:15:00

I don't remember exactly who it was, but I do want to give credit where it's due.

Shannon: 00:15:04

But they were saying imagine you met somebody at a party and then

Shannon: 00:15:07

you didn't hear from them for six months and it wasn't, you weren't

Shannon: 00:15:11

like mad at each other or anything.

Shannon: 00:15:12

You just, life, you know who got in the way?

Shannon: 00:15:15

But then in six months they write and ask you to buy something.

Shannon: 00:15:18

It's like, are you going to you?

Shannon: 00:15:21

You probably don't really remember who they were and why you connected so well.

Shannon: 00:15:26

I mean, maybe you do.

Shannon: 00:15:26

Maybe it was a really great connection and you do, but Most people probably don't.

Shannon: 00:15:30

So it's like that's kind of what you're doing when you're sending an email once

Shannon: 00:15:33

or just getting them on your email list and then not asking or doing anything

Shannon: 00:15:37

for six, eight months or whatever.

Shannon: 00:15:38

And then just, but being like, oh, I guess email and I'm guilty of this.

Shannon: 00:15:41

Don't give me, I'm, when I say this, this is, I have done this in my own business.

Shannon: 00:15:45

It's just like, well, why aren't they buying?

Shannon: 00:15:46

And it's like, well, because I didn't talk to them

Sara Gillis: 00:15:48

Yeah, I didn't have the conversation.

Shannon: 00:15:51

Yeah, so why would I expect them to remember who I am and what I

Shannon: 00:15:54

do and why I'm, why it matters to them.

Sara Gillis: 00:15:57

Yeah, I'm so guilty of ghosting my email list

Sara Gillis: 00:16:00

before I joined the email club.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:02

I hadn't emailed my people probably in four or five months, and I was like, okay,

Sara Gillis: 00:16:06

I need to fix it because it feels icky.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:08

It's like, why do I even have them on my list if I'm not going to serve them,

Sara Gillis: 00:16:12

communicate with them, give them value.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:14

And so joining the email club was huge for me just to have.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:18

A group of people and yourself included, to hold me accountable for like, okay,

Sara Gillis: 00:16:22

I said I was going to email every Tuesday and I better actually do it.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:25

But not only is the accountability game changing inside the email club, but you

Sara Gillis: 00:16:29

also give us access to templates and I would love to dive in and talk about that.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:34

So tell the people what an email template is or looks like.

Shannon: 00:16:38

Yeah, sure.

Shannon: 00:16:39

I'm glad you like it because it's, I, have so much fun in there and, and

Shannon: 00:16:42

I feel like so many of the members are getting actual results from

Shannon: 00:16:45

sending email, which is my life goal.

Shannon: 00:16:48

But yeah.

Shannon: 00:16:49

So an email template is, essentially we write.

Shannon: 00:16:53

Templates for the members, you get three every month.

Shannon: 00:16:56

And it's somewhat mostly written for you.

Shannon: 00:17:00

You kind of customize your own brand to it.

Shannon: 00:17:02

We give you prompts within the template too of like, tell a story about a time

Shannon: 00:17:07

this happened and then, sell this offer or push to reply or push to go to something

Shannon: 00:17:13

more for more value, those kind of things.

Shannon: 00:17:15

And so I think that that, and you tell me if this is true, but I

Shannon: 00:17:18

think it helps so much because it kind of gets you started, right?

Shannon: 00:17:21

I feel like that's kind of a secret to productivity is basically how can

Shannon: 00:17:27

you get the ball rolling, get the ball pushed down the hill a little bit.

Shannon: 00:17:30

And then once you do, it's like, oh yeah, this, I can do this.

Shannon: 00:17:33

This is already basically done for me.

Shannon: 00:17:36

I just plug in my little info and off it goes to the world.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:41

In the email world.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:42

I love it.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:43

I think too, that.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:44

I mean, I find the templates really, really valuable, but I also find the

Sara Gillis: 00:17:49

prompts that you give us really valuable and they're two different things, but the

Sara Gillis: 00:17:53

prompts sometimes are exactly what I need.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:56

I just need that kernel of an idea to jump on.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:58

But when I'm literally I've told you this.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:00

When I'm in launch mode or when I'm in the midst of crazy hockey season with

Sara Gillis: 00:18:04

my kids, I need all the help I can get.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:06

So those templates become game changers.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:08

So tell me what the difference is between that little prompt

Sara Gillis: 00:18:11

and then that bigger template.

Shannon: 00:18:13

Yeah, sure.

Shannon: 00:18:13

So, the prompts are basically like, we'll give you ideas for what to talk about.

Shannon: 00:18:18

They're to essentially what you just said to spark creativity,

Shannon: 00:18:21

which I, I'm like you.

Shannon: 00:18:22

I kind of find sometimes I need a little bit of both.

Shannon: 00:18:25

sometimes I just need an idea, a little kernel of something to get

Shannon: 00:18:27

my ball rolling on the idea I have.

Shannon: 00:18:30

Or sometimes, like you said, we just have really, really busy times in

Shannon: 00:18:34

our lives and we don't have time to sit and piece together an email

Shannon: 00:18:38

or we just don't have the capacity.

Shannon: 00:18:39

I've been finding, I've been running out of energy or mental

Shannon: 00:18:42

capacity with things a lot.

Shannon: 00:18:43

And so then the template is much more written it's mostly done for you.

Shannon: 00:18:46

Most of everything you need is in there.

Shannon: 00:18:49

It's just really adding your own personality, adding your own story

Shannon: 00:18:53

so that it is about you and not just a story about, me as a wedding

Shannon: 00:18:57

photographer and you're a copywriter.

Shannon: 00:18:59

That'd be weird.

Shannon: 00:19:00

yeah, so that, hopefully that kind of explains the difference.

Shannon: 00:19:02

So one is obviously mostly written.

Shannon: 00:19:05

You just, again, plug in some stuff and then the, the prompts give you, a

Shannon: 00:19:09

kernel of an idea, like, five things that changed your business and then you

Shannon: 00:19:14

would go, or even like three things that you use in your business every

Shannon: 00:19:17

day that you couldn't live without.

Shannon: 00:19:18

And then those are, ways for you to put in your own.

Shannon: 00:19:22

Maybe you want to tell a story around it, maybe you just want to list three things.

Shannon: 00:19:25

Maybe you just want to talk about books you're reading, you could

Shannon: 00:19:28

do whatever you want with it.

Shannon: 00:19:29

And that's why I, I think it works.

Shannon: 00:19:31

And it sounds like it does work pretty well for you to be able to

Shannon: 00:19:34

kind of pick and choose what you need either that week or that month.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:38

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:39

One of my favorite hacks when I write for clients is to look at magazine

Sara Gillis: 00:19:43

covers and see what magazine covers say.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:45

So they're obviously I wouldn't use this for a blog post, but

Sara Gillis: 00:19:47

like 101 things to do this year.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:50

And it's like, okay, well that's catchy.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:52

How can I spin that and create content around it or create.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:56

A really great blog post or a really great user experience

Sara Gillis: 00:20:01

in terms of the client guide.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:02

How can I spin that and take that cutesy headline and make it work for this client?

Sara Gillis: 00:20:07

And that's one of my favorite hacks.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:08

And the prompts allow for me to do the same thing.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:12

I love the opportunity to just scan through and say, okay,

Sara Gillis: 00:20:15

three must dos if you have.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:18

And then I'm like, okay, who am I writing for today?

Sara Gillis: 00:20:20

What can I use that for?

Sara Gillis: 00:20:22

And I, it works for me too.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:23

So it's.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:24

Double bonus.

Shannon: 00:20:25

Do you find too, because we give, subject lines as well in there.

Shannon: 00:20:29

And I, I actually sometimes find those work as prompts as well, because sometimes

Shannon: 00:20:34

I'll see a subject line or even if.

Shannon: 00:20:36

One of my hacks too is go through YouTube titles or even

Shannon: 00:20:40

just my inbox of subject lines.

Shannon: 00:20:42

And sometimes that gives me, I'll see one like you're saying like, it'll be like

Shannon: 00:20:46

I open the door, or whatever, and you're like, oh, what could I do with that?

Shannon: 00:20:50

You know what, I like it.

Shannon: 00:20:51

I always gives me like these, so I, I'm curious, do you find that the

Shannon: 00:20:54

subject lines do that for you too?

Sara Gillis: 00:20:56

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:56

And honestly, the emoji game in the subject lines has made me level up my own.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:01

I love a good emoji.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:02

But all of the great subject lines that you include have emojis.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:06

And so now I'm just like, it's just an email.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:08

Don't take it so seriously.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:09

Plop it an emoji.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:11

It's just, it's, yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:12

Freeing.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:13

Freeing.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:13

For sure.

Shannon: 00:21:14

I have been dubbed the emoji queen, and I'm pretty proud

Shannon: 00:21:16

of that, so I do have to make sure I get my emojis in somewhere.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:20

I mean, gifts too, girl.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:21

You got it.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:22

Nailed.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:23

Nailed.

Shannon: 00:21:24

I just, I just like these, I, I'm a visual person.

Shannon: 00:21:26

What can I say?

Sara Gillis: 00:21:27

Yes.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:28

Yes.

Shannon: 00:21:29

do we live without emojis?

Sara Gillis: 00:21:31

I mean, honestly, honestly,

Shannon: 00:21:33

I don't know how I communicated before

Sara Gillis: 00:21:35

no.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:36

I've definitely started to include them in everybody's swipe files that I create and

Sara Gillis: 00:21:40

everybody's copy and it's like, you know, if they don't like them they don't have

Sara Gillis: 00:21:43

to put them in, but it helps me express myself, so I'm going to put them in.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:47

I think it's fun.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:49

Love it.

Shannon: 00:21:49

could be taken mad, but if you put a little heart after

Shannon: 00:21:52

it, then you know you're not mad.

Shannon: 00:21:53

And we're good.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:54

Yeah, exactly.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:55

I had to introduce my parents to emojis in text messages because

Sara Gillis: 00:21:58

they would put periods at the end of every sentence and I'm like, stop

Sara Gillis: 00:22:01

being mad at me in text messages.

Shannon: 00:22:03

I don't want to go off topic, but I do feel this is relevant.

Shannon: 00:22:05

I saw a TikTok about communication versus generations and millennials get hurt.

Shannon: 00:22:13

We're both millennials.

Shannon: 00:22:14

We get hurt when people just send like a thumbs up of, we're like, are they mad?

Shannon: 00:22:17

Is that passive aggressive?

Sara Gillis: 00:22:18

What happened to us when we were kids that makes us like question

Sara Gillis: 00:22:22

everything and the intentions of everyone.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:25

It's crazy.

Shannon: 00:22:26

your parents are probably boomers and they just answer or Gen X, either

Shannon: 00:22:29

one, and they just answer very succinctly, and we as millennials need a little love.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:34

yeah, yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:35

My mom gave me the okay period the other day and I was like, no, I can't.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:40

Were you mad at me?

Sara Gillis: 00:22:41

That's literally what I wanted to say.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:44

Glad it's not just me.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:44

I'm glad it's not just me.

AD: 00:22:46

If you're loving this episode with Shannon as much as I am, I've

AD: 00:22:49

got a few exciting bonuses for you.

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Shannon is sharing a free email template with the copywriter on-call audience, and

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you can find that link in the show notes.

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Plus Shannon's offering listeners of this podcast a $25 off coupon for

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almost anything inside of her template.

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You can use the coupon code copy on call.

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Now back to the show.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:21

So as a copywriter, templates are my jam as well.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:25

I love a good template.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:26

I call them swipe files, but I'm just wondering why do you think it's

Sara Gillis: 00:23:30

such a game changer for somebody who's getting ready to implement

Sara Gillis: 00:23:34

something new in their business that they might not have ever done before?

Shannon: 00:23:38

I think it just kind of, no, it's several things, right?

Shannon: 00:23:41

It gets us started again on our own idea, but also I think it gives

Shannon: 00:23:45

us a little bit of validation.

Shannon: 00:23:47

It kind of tells us we're doing it right,

Sara Gillis: 00:23:50

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:23:51

because especially if you've never done it, if you've never launched

Shannon: 00:23:54

something or if you've never, had an offer, or you're maybe new to that offer,

Shannon: 00:23:59

you're not sure if you're doing it right.

Shannon: 00:24:00

You're kind of is this going to, and I mean, there's no guarantee that

Shannon: 00:24:03

what the swipe file or, the template is going to do it for you either.

Shannon: 00:24:08

But I think it just again, gives us that little bit of validation

Shannon: 00:24:10

that well, okay, this did work.

Shannon: 00:24:12

For this person.

Shannon: 00:24:13

Funny enough, That actually reminded me of I had a launch sequence from

Shannon: 00:24:18

someone and I ran it and I ran it for myself, and then someone else had the

Shannon: 00:24:23

same one and wanted me to run similar.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:26

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:24:27

was one of them that did not work for either of us.

Shannon: 00:24:29

And it was very interesting to see that there was a template

Shannon: 00:24:32

in there that was just.

Shannon: 00:24:33

hitting with either of our audiences.

Shannon: 00:24:35

And I mean, it's, I did, I do remember looking at it being I

Shannon: 00:24:38

don't know about this one, but I was like, oh, let's try it.

Shannon: 00:24:41

So sometimes I think that that's another learning lesson too, right?

Shannon: 00:24:44

If you go through some of these and think, Hmm, I don't know if

Shannon: 00:24:47

that one suits me or my brand.

Shannon: 00:24:49

It's okay to either not use it or change it so that it does maybe use

Shannon: 00:24:53

it as inspiration to create something that is you, but don't feel like

Shannon: 00:24:56

you always have to word for word.

Shannon: 00:24:59

Copy or word vomit what someone else has done.

Shannon: 00:25:02

Because again, back to our whole personality thing, if we bring it

Shannon: 00:25:05

back to who we are, people see that.

Shannon: 00:25:08

They feel that they want that.

Shannon: 00:25:10

They don't want someone else's energy in there.

Shannon: 00:25:13

So I say this because it's like use them with a grain of

Shannon: 00:25:15

salt, make sure you are also.

Shannon: 00:25:17

Not just using it to fill something, oh, I just need to send an email, so

Shannon: 00:25:21

I'm just going to use this template and not think about how it ties in

Shannon: 00:25:25

with my offer or my services, or how I am as a person, or how I will teach

Shannon: 00:25:30

or train, or whatever it is you do.

Shannon: 00:25:32

So yeah, I mean, I, I think that they're great and I think that

Shannon: 00:25:36

they're a great way to get the ball rolling and get, I mean, we're

Shannon: 00:25:39

probably all creatives anyway, right?

Shannon: 00:25:40

So use that creative brain, use it to your advantage to.

Shannon: 00:25:43

Make it your own.

Sara Gillis: 00:25:44

I think a big part of what I have found with swipe files is

Sara Gillis: 00:25:48

that sometimes these to-do items or these tasks are so big in our minds.

Sara Gillis: 00:25:54

If I were to, walk up to a business owner and be like, okay, let's

Sara Gillis: 00:25:57

write your about page, they'd be like, oh, where do I start?

Sara Gillis: 00:26:00

What does that even look like?

Sara Gillis: 00:26:02

What should that look like for me?

Sara Gillis: 00:26:04

And so I love the structure.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:06

That a template or a swipe file can give because it just gives you something

Sara Gillis: 00:26:10

to put your arms around and say, okay, I know I can think of one thing to

Sara Gillis: 00:26:14

go here and two things to go there.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:16

Or I know I can put together all of these things in this order and have

Sara Gillis: 00:26:22

something be relatively coherent.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:24

That's my game changer.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:26

I feel like that's a real big key to having a swipe file or a template that

Sara Gillis: 00:26:30

works is it just gives you something to, you can put your arms around.

Shannon: 00:26:34

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:26:35

Exactly.

Shannon: 00:26:36

And again, it's that, validation Getting you started so that you have something.

Shannon: 00:26:40

because again, that's the worst part, right?

Shannon: 00:26:41

You're a writer.

Shannon: 00:26:42

You know, when you sit down and you just look at a blank screen with

Shannon: 00:26:44

a blinking cursor and you're just like, I don't know what to do here.

Shannon: 00:26:48

So I think a template is a great, again, what you just said is a

Shannon: 00:26:51

perfect way to start your structure to get the creative juices flowing.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:55

absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:26:57

My last question for you is if you could help offer advice to someone who wants to

Sara Gillis: 00:27:02

start using email more effectively, but maybe they just, they're nervous, they

Sara Gillis: 00:27:07

don't know where to start, what would you tell them is a great first step?

Shannon: 00:27:10

Okay.

Shannon: 00:27:11

So many ideas here.

Shannon: 00:27:12

So first of all, the most simple one is just start, just start, do it imperfectly.

Shannon: 00:27:18

I know that's uncomfortable, but even when I first started my email

Shannon: 00:27:21

list, I didn't know what I was doing.

Shannon: 00:27:23

I didn't know a hundred percent where I was going to go with my email list.

Shannon: 00:27:27

Am I going to talk about email in my email?

Shannon: 00:27:31

And I didn't know.

Shannon: 00:27:32

So I was like, you know what?

Shannon: 00:27:33

I'm just going to kind of share.

Shannon: 00:27:35

What feels good to me.

Shannon: 00:27:36

So I just started talking about it and saying, Hey, I'm starting an email list.

Shannon: 00:27:40

If anyone wants to get on it, I'm probably just going talk about like

Shannon: 00:27:42

my favorite recipes and my like

Sara Gillis: 00:27:44

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:27:45

yoga videos I like on YouTube or whatever.

Shannon: 00:27:48

Right?

Shannon: 00:27:48

I just kind of didn't take it so seriously.

Shannon: 00:27:51

I just started and it pivoted, it changed.

Shannon: 00:27:53

I did.

Shannon: 00:27:53

Now I do talk about email in most of my emails, but at the

Shannon: 00:27:56

time it was, I didn't know.

Shannon: 00:27:58

So I just kind of started.

Shannon: 00:27:59

So I would say just start, and I think that people do get hung up on.

Shannon: 00:28:03

You have to talk about business in your business emails, but you don't.

Sara Gillis: 00:28:07

mm.

Shannon: 00:28:08

no rule here that you have to talk about.

Shannon: 00:28:10

In fact, I think people prefer that you don't only talk about business.

Shannon: 00:28:14

I mean, kind of proved that last week, that people want to hear about weird.

Shannon: 00:28:19

Stuff on your mind, so don't feel like you always have to share about business

Shannon: 00:28:23

and lessons and things like that.

Shannon: 00:28:25

You can Totally, I've talked about chocolate chip cookies

Shannon: 00:28:27

and Christmas ornaments

Sara Gillis: 00:28:29

Mm-hmm.

Sara Gillis: 00:28:30

And Steph Curry.

Shannon: 00:28:31

and stuff.

Shannon: 00:28:32

Curry,

Sara Gillis: 00:28:32

email.

Sara Gillis: 00:28:32

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:28:33

that was, yeah, that was a funny mail.

Shannon: 00:28:35

I think I talked about Snoop Dogg in an email too.

Shannon: 00:28:37

Yeah, so I mean, it's, you can go anywhere with it.

Shannon: 00:28:40

And I, I think that, that's helpful if, if technically we're looking

Shannon: 00:28:43

for actually getting started.

Shannon: 00:28:45

It's not as hard as you think, I promise.

Shannon: 00:28:46

Literally just pick an email provider.

Shannon: 00:28:49

It really does not matter which one.

Shannon: 00:28:50

Pick the one that you like.

Shannon: 00:28:52

I think Sarah and I both personally like Flow Desk, because it's

Shannon: 00:28:55

easy, it's pretty, it's affordable.

Shannon: 00:28:57

Mailer Light's another really great option for a free version of something.

Shannon: 00:29:00

So you could a free version of the email provider, so you could do mailer light

Shannon: 00:29:03

too, if you want to really go just free.

Shannon: 00:29:06

I find Neat.

Shannon: 00:29:06

Flo desks is a little bit more user-friendly, but

Shannon: 00:29:08

Mail Miller light's not bad.

Shannon: 00:29:09

And then, Create an opt-in page.

Shannon: 00:29:12

So a way for them to get on your email list.

Shannon: 00:29:15

Any email provider will walk you through this in the backend of how to do it.

Shannon: 00:29:18

It's really not hard.

Shannon: 00:29:19

I promise.

Shannon: 00:29:19

I promise we're not, Sarah and I are not hugely technical people

Sara Gillis: 00:29:23

We are not.

Shannon: 00:29:24

And then the last thing is just start inviting people.

Shannon: 00:29:28

I think people get in their head, they need to have this and like, freebie

Shannon: 00:29:31

is a free resource to get people on your email list, or you need to

Shannon: 00:29:34

have a whole sequence of emails that welcomes them when they come in.

Shannon: 00:29:38

You don't, you don't, you literally don't even need, I mean, I recommend you have

Shannon: 00:29:42

a welcome email when people join your list, but you don't even have, I didn't

Shannon: 00:29:46

have one at first when I first started.

Shannon: 00:29:47

Just start inviting them to your list and start emailing them every week.

Shannon: 00:29:51

because the more you do it, I like every week.

Shannon: 00:29:53

You don't have to do every week.

Shannon: 00:29:55

You can do every other week, but I like every week.

Shannon: 00:29:57

Cause it works well for my brain, it works well for my schedule.

Shannon: 00:29:59

Just do it practice at each time.

Shannon: 00:30:02

I, every week and I'm sure Sarah, you feel the same way.

Shannon: 00:30:04

It gets easier, right?

Shannon: 00:30:05

Every time we do it, it's easier.

Shannon: 00:30:07

So just keep going

Sara Gillis: 00:30:09

That's key.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:10

That's so key.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:11

And honestly, I think too, I.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:13

Just relieving all of the pressure to have it all done and perfect.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:17

Like we were talking about right at the beginning, yeah, would it be great

Sara Gillis: 00:30:19

if you had this beautiful welcome sequence and this wonderful freebie

Sara Gillis: 00:30:22

that everybody wanted and you were able to grow your email list overnight?

Sara Gillis: 00:30:26

Sure.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:26

But that's just not feasible at, at

Shannon: 00:30:30

Or necessary.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:32

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:30:33

you don't have to have it, but I, I do find that that trips people

Shannon: 00:30:35

up quite a bit is oh, I need to have this and that, and it needs to be, No,

Shannon: 00:30:39

just, just start emailing them like just pick a day, a week and start emailing.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:44

Yeah, that's been a real game changer for me too, is picking

Sara Gillis: 00:30:46

a day of the week and sticking to it.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:49

And I started, when I first started with the email club, I'm like,

Sara Gillis: 00:30:51

okay, I'll email them twice a month.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:52

I cannot handle more than that.

Sara Gillis: 00:30:54

And I found myself wanting to write more emails, which blew my mind because

Sara Gillis: 00:30:59

before I would do anything to avoid like sitting there and staring at the blank

Sara Gillis: 00:31:04

screen because that blank screen is so intimidating when you are a writer.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:08

I'm a writer, I should be able to do this.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:10

But.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:11

Yeah, it's so fascinating what happens when you start to see the value you're

Sara Gillis: 00:31:16

providing and you get that feedback, whether it's a specific email reply or

Sara Gillis: 00:31:22

somebody else that you know that's in your circle subscribing to your list.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:26

That's a beautiful thing.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:27

And like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if you start out wanting

Sara Gillis: 00:31:30

to email your list every so often and it gets more frequent.

Shannon: 00:31:34

Yep.

Shannon: 00:31:34

I'm so happy to hear that.

Shannon: 00:31:35

Cause that's exactly what's happened to me.

Shannon: 00:31:37

I've almost gotten to wanting, I don't yet, but I want to almost

Shannon: 00:31:40

email twice a week and I never ever would've thought that'd be me, ever.

Shannon: 00:31:44

So it's just one of those things, like you said, as you start doing

Shannon: 00:31:46

it, you start thinking, oh, I could put that in my email this week.

Shannon: 00:31:48

And it's just, it, I don't know.

Shannon: 00:31:50

I think it becomes fun.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:52

Yeah, I'm so absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:31:53

Once you relieve the pressure and you stop trying to be perfect, and you

Sara Gillis: 00:31:56

just show up and provide value and share who you are, it becomes fun.

Shannon: 00:32:00

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:32:01

Mm-hmm.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:02

Super.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:03

Well, thank you so, so much for being here.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:05

I am sending you a big virtual hug and cannot wait to share this episode

Sara Gillis: 00:32:09

with the copywriter on-call audience.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:12

Be sure to check out the email club.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:14

Like I said, it has been wonderful for the way I communicate with my

Sara Gillis: 00:32:17

audience and the way I make money.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:20

As always, thank you so much for listening.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:22

Until next time, this is your copywriter on call signing off.

Sara Gillis: 00:32:26

Thanks again, Shannon.

Shannon: 00:32:27

Thanks for having me.

Shannon: 00:32:30

Thanks for listening to The Copywriter On Call podcast.

Shannon: 00:32:33

If this episode has you feeling all sorts of inspired to show up as yourself online,

Shannon: 00:32:37

click that subscribe button so you don't miss my stories or practical advice to

Shannon: 00:32:41

help you express your quirky, vulnerable, and authentic self online chat soon.