ŷ������

The other day I was with a stone mason—UM, HIS HANDS ARE HUGE—chatting about business.
��

Stone mason: This one guy doesn’t even get out of his truck for less than $1500 a day.
��
Me: So, why don’t you do that?
��
Stone mason: I don’t have as much experience.
��
Me: How long you been doing this?
��
Stone mason: Twenty years.

��

And all I could think was:��imposter syndrome is robbing the fuck out of us all.

Case in point: ��dz�’r�� probably excellent at your craft. In fact, ��dz�’r�� probably better than most people, and definitely better than you give yourself credit for. But, you aren’t charging what you should because of one million reasons that have nothing to do with your actual skill set.

LET’S LIST A FEW, SHALL WE?

Not experienced enough (apparently you need to be 65 years old before you consider yourself worthy)
​Not unique enough (lots of people can do what you do—why would anyone pick you?)
​Not big enough (why would anyone pay a premium to work with you??? ��dz�’r�� small potatoes)
​Not professional enough (you don’t have a fancy website and therefore you are TRASH)
​Not recognized enough (you don’t have raving testimonials or case studies from celebrities so you might as well just throw in the towel)
​Not impressive enough (there are people out there doing way cooler stuff—you don’t stand a chance)

��
We won’t even talk about the fact that ��dz�’r�� feeling plump right now and don’t want to get headshots.

But, for real: the reason why ��dz�’r�� scared to charge a healthy, happy rate for your most excellent work has nothing to do with the quality of your work itself, and everything to do with the mental narrative around your work.

If you tell yourself that ��dz�’r�� an asswipe, ��dz�’r�� going to charge like an asswipe.

Should that be on a greeting card?!

Instead of focusing on yourself and all of your (natural) insecurities around business (especially when ��dz�’r�� new), let’s try something new and focus on the work product, instead.

Ask yourself one question:

What’s your signature move???

Maybe you go to weddings and paint the scene, instead of photograph it.

Maybe you write the world’s funniest Airbnb descriptions.

Maybe you find jobs for single moms in your hometown.

Maybe you build fireplaces out of stones exclusively from client’s ancestral lands.

Turns out?

One of the BEST ways to overcome imposter syndrome is by engineering yourself a hella cool competitive advantage.

Because, sure, lots of people can mow lawns. But not many people have enough strategic foresight to create an all-female lawn-mowing operation.

One blends into Google results as “just another lawn mowing company.�� (How to choose?!) The other gives people a��definitive, clear, exciting reason��to pick you. (I’m an 80-year-old widow and I’d feel more comfortable with women on my property—plus, how cool!)

Most businesses sell a product.

The best businesses sell a perspective.

Here’s how we see the world and here’s why it matters. If you agree, call us.

Because then it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got twenty years of experience. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a team of thirty. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the world’s fanciest website. It doesn’t matter if Oprah’s never called.

Greatness doesn’t come from bullshit.

Greatness comes when you decide to build something great.

Focus on that, and the only ones that’ll have imposter syndrome this year?

Are your competitors.

…and every other person who ever doubted you in the first place.

The post appeared first on .

HEY, KITTY CAT—and welcome to Middle Finger Fridays!

I’m featuring a new creator every Friday who’s out there smokin' it—and highlighting what I think they’re doing really, really right—as well as one or two things they can do even better to make that money.

Today, we’re hollering at a a REALLY fun pair of bloggers who call themself, delightfully, “The Senior Nomads”—but (!) how would they turn their catchy blog into a real revenue-generating business?

The name of this game:

Design your own intellectual property (plus a heavy helping of self-confidence!).

This one’s for you if you have a blog or an idea for one, but you're struggling to figure out how to actually make money (or, make a whole lot more). Also for you if you're doing a ton of 1:1 client work but haven't been sure how to grow past that.

Today, however, we're doing a special written edition because I really wanted you to see these ideas on paper. Let's get into it!

Meet: The Senior Nomads

Who: Debbie & Michael Campbell

Blog:

What They Do: Instead of retiring the traditional way, they've been living full-time in Airbnbs around the world! So far, they're nine years, 85 countries, and 290 Airbnbs in. (My kind of people!)

IG Followers: 16.1K

What They're Doing Really, Really Right :
The first thing I love is the EXCELLENT brand positioning—it’s immediately clear who this is for and what it’s about: Senior Nomads!

I teach a lot about the importance of picking a subcategory to own—and this is a great example of that. It’s much harder to compete with a blog about being a nomad in general—what’s the hook?—but by picking a subcategory, in this case “senior nomads,�� the hook is immediate.

This is a useful—and critical—lesson for all of us.

If ��dz�’r�� a photographer, so what?

If ��dz�’r�� a life coach, so what?

If ��dz�’r�� a copywriter, so what?

What ��dz�’r�� looking for is a newsworthy hook—that’s my litmus test. Would a reporter want to write about your work?

With “Senior Nomads,�� the answer is yes: there’s a distinct angle. A journalist would see this and think, “STORY MATERIAL.��

Maybe ��dz�’r�� a photographer on a mission to make burn victims feel beautiful in their skin. Maybe ��dz�’r�� a writer on a mission to help couples write more memorable vows. Maybe ��dz�’r�� a consultant on a mission to help more people start businesses in Scotland.

Whatever it is: it needs to feel bigger than you, in order to resonate on a world stage.

The key word: on a mission to __________. Can you fill in the blank in a way that would be compelling to a journalist?

The second thing they're doing really, really right: they have a book!

for reference.

This is a wonderful way to package your knowledge into intellectual property you can sell.

There's a low barrier to entry.

A book gives you insta-authority.

It also serves as an entry-level product that creates trust and likability to pave the path to a loyal fan who will trust and like you enough to invest in your business in other ways.

AND, they self-published it right on Amazon’s own Create Space—fantastic!

That said, I will make the caveat that a book is probably one of the last products you should create for your business, and that’s because it’s deceptively a lot harder to sell a $25 book than it is a $300 course—or sometimes even a $3,000 service. Three reasons:

—There’s no urgency built into books. People can buy it anytime, which means they’re never in a rush to do so. Two years after publishing , I still have readers telling me they just now got around to buying my book. This always comes as a surprise, but NOT as a surprise, because that’s what happens when a product is just available any ol' time: you lose any sense of urgency to engage with the work now.

—Despite a $25 price point being more economical, the smaller price tag conveys less value: you could have a $5,000 program packaged into a book, but because it’s in the form of a book, customers value the information less. Even if ��dz�’r�� trying to do them a favor by packaging it this way, it lacks the perception of high value—and that’s actually a problem for your customer, because they don’t take action in the same way that they will if they make a more serious financial investment.

—And, finally, people view books as a product of leisure. “When I have time, I’ll get around to reading that.�� Even if it’s could be the most important book of a person’s life, the book format must overcome the objection of time. That goes back to why urgency is important: people need to carve out time to make it a priority. That’s how they get results, and that’s how your business grows, too. So sometimes, it can be in everyone's best interest to facilitate the right environment.

THAT SAID, however, I still do recommend including a book into your final line of intellectual property, and that’s because it an excellent marketing tool that reaches people far and wide on places like Amazon, and since those people are proactively searching for that topic, they’re very targeted leads. So in this way, a book can be used as a killer marketing tactic rather than a main revenue strategy.

I also recommend including a book into your line of IP because of the instant authority it offers. Your profile is automatically raised in the minds of customers, because books have that nice halo effect. And that will help you sell the most important sale of all: the email opt-in.

And thirdly, I recommend including a book into your line of IP because when customers DO read it, it’s one of the best ways to make them fall in love with you! You’re there having a conversation with them on the page, in your voice, and if they connect with you and your message, this now serves as one of the best sales tools in your arsenal. The book does the selling for you. So that way, the next time you put out an offer to your email list, you already have the likability and trust factors working for you. Now it’s just a matter of offering.
And now, what they could do to turn their blog into a business—and really smoke it?

Improve the book title & tagline

I'd go with something like: The Senior Nomad’s Guide to the World: How to Sell It All & Travel in Style During Your Golden Years. The difference is that the original title, “Your Keys, Our Home: The Senior Nomads Incredible Airbnb Journey�� is focused on their journey, whereas the revised title is focused on a benefit to me, the reader. And that's useful when you're building a business around your knowledge, rather than just writing for pleasure.

Focus on getting subscribers on the email list

Your email list is your lifeline for everything. Right now, The Senior Nomads only have a very small one little button at bottom, hardly noticeable. I'd make this the main focus—and the main action you want visitors to take. Your website shouldn't be a giant buffet of choice: it should be a clear directive.

Introduce a strategic line of packaged IP designed to help others take the same leap.

There’s a ton of potential here. Because they’re nomads, they need to take their lifestyle into account and build a business that supports the lifestyle. They could do consulting calls, but traditional consulting is limiting in several ways: (a) You’re limited to helping one person at a time; (b) You’ve got to have a lot of availability to accommodate all different clients at different hours; (c) It’s an inefficient way of having a bigger impact: you’ve got to repeat yourself many times over again; (d) Your income will inevitably be restricted by the simple reality of time limitations; (e) It can be energetically draining if this is the main way your business earns revenue. (Though it can be really rewarding, especially if you get great clients!)

That said, it's a smart, modern business strategy to (also) package your intellectual property into a series of assets that works for you. The four I'd recommend are:

The Book �� focused on inspirationThe Program �� focused on a specific outcomeThe Membership �� focused on improving the skills necessary to achieving the outcome even faster / better / easier, i.e. you learned you need to write a newsletter every week, but you suck at writing. So, the membership helps you develop your skills around newsletter writing, among other things such as photography, social media, speaking on video, etc.The Mentorship �� focused on helping industry peers do what you do


So, for example, if Senior Nomads wanted to turn their blog into a profitable knowledge business, they might roll out an asset portfolio that looks like:

The Book: The Senior Nomad’s Guide to the World: How to Sell It All & Travel in Style During Your Golden YearsThe Program: The Senior Nomad SchoolThe Membership: Paid Newsletter + Skills Trainings + Community for Senior NomadsThe Mentorship: Want to build a business the way we have?


And if ��dz�’r�� an interior designer:

The Book: Interior Design for Tiny Homes: An Inspiration Book of Tips & Ideas to TryThe Program: Tiny Home Design SchoolThe Membership: Paid Newsletter + Skills Trainings + Community for Tiny Home LivingThe Mentorship: Become a Tiny Home Designer


And if ��dz�’r�� a pet photographer:

The Book: How to Get Started With Pet PhotographyThe Program: The Pet Photography SchoolThe Membership: Paid Newsletter + Skills Trainings + Community for Amateur Pet PhotographersThe Mentorship: Become a Pet Photographer

All of these, when working in tandem, are going to light up your business in a way you could have never imagined. The key is in learning how to build intellectual property assets that leverage your knowledge in new and modern ways.

It’s also about assuming a new level of authority for yourself. A lot of imposter syndrome can creep up here, because who are you to write a book / design a program / run a membership / mentor others? It requires a new level of self-confidence than 1:1 client work or consulting does. When ��dz�’r�� performing 1:1 client work, ��dz�’r�� applying your ideas. However, when ��dz�’r�� creating intellectual property, ��dz�’r�� selling your ideas. You’re standing up and saying: this is what I know to be true, and it’s worth your investment.

But, you know why it’s so effective?

Because that’s leadership.

And that’s also why there’s so much opportunity for YOU, right now: the world is full of people who are willing to apply an idea. However, there are far fewer who are willing to test their own.

Be brave. Be curious. Be willing to experiment. And believe in your fucking self.

For that, my friend, is the most important ingredient to success of all.

See you next week!

Ash

The post appeared first on .

Summer meadows.
Queen Anne’s lace.��
Picnic blankets made of blue and white gingham.��
A laughing four-year-old boy (so long as the fucker is laughing).��
A skinny footpath leading down to the ocean.��
Cherry cordial.��
Flirty jokes.��
Tattooed forearms.��
Fresh, crisp corn on the cob.
Thick farm-churned butter.
And time. So much time. Life moves so much slower here, like it’s actually yours to spend.��

Doesn’t that sound fantastic? I think that sounds fantastic—even though I don’t have a kid nor tattooed forearms, and I’ve somehow made it to thirty-seven without ever trying cherry cordial. (I clearly have some rectifying to do.)��

You know what else sounds fantastic?��

A cobblestone street in Stockholm. A scarf tied under your chin. A baby blue trench coat swishing elegantly past your knees. A camera in hand—the heavy kind that says something. You stop for a coffee. Pull out a sketchbook. Start drawing the scene: the people, the style, the way it feels to sit there at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday. The server asks you if you’d like another. You wink. Yes, yes, yes, you’ll have just one more. This is too good to abandon.��

But then there are the Cotswolds and the idea of renting a cozy little cottage with a thatched roof and a pub down the lane. I would become best friends with people named Beatrice and Basil, and there would be fires, and there would be blankets, and there would be tall, sky-high equestrian boots—and, yes, so many horses. I shall ride all the horses. They will love me like that one horse loved me that time in Asheville, at The Biltmore Estate. I had never felt more connected to an animal before, especially because I am not the type of person to use the phrase “connected to an animal�� in the first place. (IFKYK.)

And then, of course, you have the castles of Scotland. And the elephants in Kenya. And the gardens in China. You’ve got the tango in Argentina, and the warm wine in Chile, and the salt flats in Bolivia.��

Oh, but don’t forget Australia. And Indonesia. And Morocco. And Egypt.

The pyramids are a must.��

These are only a few of the reasons why it’s imperative to set your life up differently, now that the modern economy is here and you can do anything you damn well want: this is currency. ALL of this is an added form of payment you receive as an independent creator. It’s not just about a salary: it’s about time and experiences and joy and pleasure.

Those things are currency, too. And other jobs can’t compete. ��

Most jobs only come with one form of payment: a salary. In exchange, you offer up your time—and the majority of your life. There’s not a lot of room to say, “I’d like to get paid a quarter million a year while working only in the mornings…and also put me and my family up in a cabin in Norway for the summer, so I can swim in the lake every afternoon and write a novel with my tea when I’m done.��

Most people have to choose:��

Enjoy financial security at the cost of a healthy, spacious quality of life.��Have a healthy, spacious quality of life at the cost of financial security.��

Those have been the only two options for a very long time. But now, there’s a better way. A way that you can get paid in both hard currency ($) and quality of life currency. (QL$)

This is one of the principal core tenets of an all-new body of work I’ve been developing for some time now, that’s culminated into a framework that will help us do meaningful work we love and get paid in what I call an omni-directional pattern, enjoying an abundance of yes, money ($) but also quality of life (QL$): time, freedom, travel, purpose, pleasure, family, and experiences—instead of only get paid from one direction. (Money.)��

It’s designed to help you have more days in summer meadows with Queen Anne’s lace; more time pursuing passions in the streets of Stockholm; more time exploring the English countryside in a thick pair of equestrian boots (and figuring out if you should really tattoo your forearm?!)��

..while still being compensated generously in hard currency, with so much love and respect and admiration.��

The future belongs to creators; to digital nomads; to travelers; to thinkers; to artists; to writers; to wanderers; to professionals and families who are brave enough to try a new way.��

And I can’t wait to tell you—oh so very soon—how this exciting new body of work is going to prove it. Whether ��dz�’r�� thirty five or sixty five, there’s a path here for you.��

Big announcements coming soon. Subscribe below to receive an early invitation.��

XOXO,

Ash

P.S. Made it to Mexico City! If you want to see us eating eyeballs, pulverized worms, and insects last night, go peep before they expire. I have NEVER made such a face in public.

The post appeared first on .

The other day, someone said to me, “To be frank, I can’t believe you’ve never been to Mexico City�� to which I naturally replied, ”To be frank, I hope you have nightmares about teeny tiny Chihuahua dicks.��

Of course, I only replied that in my mind. But anytime anyone starts a sentence with “to be frank,�� you know whatever they say next is going to make you hate them.

“To be frank, you could stand to lose a few pounds.��”To be frank, I’m not in love with you anymore.��”To be frank, I’d rather drink by myself in a public restroom than carry on this conversation.��

(One time in Ireland I really did pick up my Red Breast, go downstairs to the bathroom, and sit in a stall to escape the torture.)

SO, LET ME START AGAIN: I’m on my way to Mexico City!

I know, it’s weird that, for a digital nomad who’s been on the road for 13 years, I’ve never been there. But, it’s also one of those places you ignore because it’s right in your backyard. So now I shall rectify this grave oversight, and hope that Hurricane Agatha doesn’t foil the plan. (I’m coming north from Central America right now, so I’m about to bump riiiiiiight into ‘er.)

I can’t wait to tell you about my experience.

In the meantime, I’ll say that most of the people who have been there are like, “Omg, ��dz�’r�� gonna LOVE it.�� Then there are always a few people who haven't been anywhere who are always left clutching their pearls—”Travel Karens,�� I call them—horrified over the idea. (Crime, violence, drugs, kidnapping, water, smog, traffic, intestines, eyeballs, insects, and the inability to pronounce “ferrretería.��)

While I don’t wish to minimize legitimate concerns—especially the prospect of eating eyeballs—I thought I’d mention it because, as you make plans to travel, work remotely, and try on a new life abroad, ��dz�’r�� going to get plenty of family, friends, and loved ones who, no matter where ��dz�’r�� going, fall into the latter category.

They’re gonna be scared. Full of fear. Nervous about this big idea of yours. They’ll want you to rethink your plans; go someplace sensible, like Florida. (”Or just stay here!��) And while most of them probably mean well (except for Aunt Sally and her vinegar soul), I hope you’ll still have the courage to do your own research and make your own decisions.

The people who are the most afraid of the world are the ones who have never engaged with it.

When your experiences are limited, so are your ideas—and there’s no way around that. You can’t gain wisdom without wandering. (And that doesn’t just apply to travel, but to your work, your passions, your hobbies, your life. Wandering = growth.)

On the other hand, it’s rare to find travelers who are��against��going. Perhaps that is because they know that the benefits always outweigh the risks. And perhaps that’s why a fellow traveler might be inclined to say to me on a Sunday, “To be frank, I can’t believe you’ve never been.��

Not as an insult to me, but as an insult to Mexico City herself.

Because the traveler knows the real truth:

���dz���پ������,��not��going hurts you more than going ever could.

The post appeared first on .

The other day, someone said to me, “To be frank, I can’t believe you’ve never been to Mexico City�� to which I naturally replied: ”To be frank, I hope you have nightmares about teeny tiny Chihuahua dicks.��

Of course, I only replied that in my mind. But anytime anyone starts a sentence with “to be frank,�� you know whatever they say next is going to make you hate them.

“To be frank, you could stand to lose a few pounds.��”To be frank, I’m not in love with you anymore.��”To be frank, I’d rather drink by myself in a public restroom than carry on this conversation.��

(One time in Ireland I really did pick up my Red Breast, go downstairs to the bathroom, and sit in a stall to escape the torture.)

SO, LET ME START AGAIN: I’m on my way to Mexico City!

I know, it’s weird that, for a digital nomad who’s been on the road for 13 years, I’ve never been there. But, it’s also one of those places you ignore because it’s right in your backyard. So now I shall rectify this grave oversight, and hope that Hurricane Agatha doesn’t foil the plan. (I’m coming north from Central America right now, so I’m about to bump riiiiiiight into ‘er.)

I can’t wait to tell you about my experience next week.

In the meantime, I’ll say that most of the people who have been there are like, “Omg, ��dz�’r�� gonna LOVE it.�� Then there are always a few people who haven't been there who are left clutching their pearls—”Travel Karens”—horrified over the idea. (Crime, violence, drugs, kidnapping, water, smog, traffic, intestines, eyeballs, insects, and the inability to pronounce “ferrretería.��)

While I don’t wish to minimize legitimate concerns—especially the prospect of eating eyeballs—I thought I’d mention it because, as you make plans to travel, work remotely, try on a new life abroad, ��dz�’r�� going to get plenty of family, friends, loved ones who, no matter where ��dz�’r�� going, fall into the latter category.

They’re gonna be scared. Full of fear. Nervous about this big idea of yours. They’ll want you to rethink your plans; go someplace sensible, like Florida. (”Or just stay here!��) And while most of them probably mean well, I hope you’ll still have the courage to do your own research and make your own decisions.

The people who are the most afraid of the world are the ones who have never engaged with it.

When your experiences are limited, so are your ideas—and there’s no way around that. You can’t gain wisdom without wandering. (And that doesn’t just apply to travel, but to your work, your passions, your hobbies, your life.)

On the other hand, it’s rare to find travelers who are against going. Perhaps that is because they know that the benefits always outweigh the risks. And perhaps that’s why a fellow traveler might be inclined to say, “To be frank, I can’t believe you’ve never been.��

Not as an insult to me, but as an insult to Mexico City.

Because the traveler knows the truth: sometimes, not going somewhere hurts you more than going ever could.

The post appeared first on .

HEY, KITTY CAT—and welcome to Middle Finger Fridays!

I’m featuring a new creator every Friday who’s out there SMOKIN�� it—and highlighting what I think they’re doing really, really right—as well as one or two things they can do even better to make that money.

Today, we’re hollering at an accomplished etiquette consultant in London who who is the QUEEN of media and PR—but (!) what happens when they get to your website and feel zero connection?

The name of this game:

Write an irresistible About Page that whips heads, slays minds, and makes people say “YEAH!��

This one’s for you if you have About Page shame and/or struggle to brag about yourself without sounding like an academic, overglorified cunt. (Hey, when in London, right?)

Let’s take a peek!

Until next week, my fun-loving friend!

Ash

The post appeared first on .

I remember my exact thought the first time I ever saw a sales letter: What a crock.

I was working with an old-school marketing consultant who was brought on board to work with me on a long-term campaign designed to grow the company in an aggressively short period of time.

We performed all sorts of fancy SWOT analyses, re-worked the company’s brand positioning, re-designed the company’s core messaging, devised our plan of attack, and began rolling it out��when it happened.

I was instructed to develop a direct mail letter campaign.

A direct mail letter campaign that followed a very old school, archaic, formulaic approach, including an opening line that began with, “Did you know that ________________________?��

I choked on my Lean Cuisine. (It was 2006, after all.)

Judging by the name of this blog, you can probably tell that “old school, “archaic,�� and “formulaic�� are three of my longest-standing arch nemeses.

How could I write such a thing in good faith!? Didn’t they know what they were asking me to do!? BETRAY the scared saint of creativity in the name of��.cliché and hackneyed? How would I explain my actions to the good people of��…okay, well, there were no good people to explain my actions to. But, whatever. I was on a roll.

Alas, my creative genes came accompanied by a set of obedient ones, and so, I had no choice but to obey. BUT—not before I convinced the team to let me perform a series of split tests, where I would rewrite a second variation of the same letter, essentially saying the same thing, but in a new way. An Ashified way. (As it would later become known).

I had a theory: data should inform what you say, not necessarily how you say it.

A lot of marketing content ends up sounding hyper stale and eye-rolley because everyone’s using the same exact formulas…and the same exact words. (”Burning questions,�� anyone?)

Turns out, the company I worked for had this problem: it’s why I was hired.

Their marketing had became constrained. Limited. Stunted. And, consequently, their results were, too.

Which is why I was THRILLED when my variation�� *fans self*—whooped the control. And ever since, this theory—that the data should inform what you say, not necessarily how you say it—has underlined my work as a whole, where fresh & original is the #1 requirement of anything that leaves my desk.

Later, when I opened my creative writing agency, I was hired to review the email marketing strategy for a national company whose target market was brides. They had purchased email lists from places like David’s Bridal and The Knot ( DID YOU KNOW THAT WAS A THING?!), and were sending out some real cliché cheese.

But cliché cheese is worse than moldy cheese: if yo�� email is cheesy, it’s literally invisible. (And tastes like a whole lotta “didn’t even notice that was in my mouth!��)

It's a form of ad blindness: you know how you completely and mercilessly ignore banner ads on websites? (I don’t even know how these are still in existence, honestly. Who do you know that clicks on those?!) The same thing happens to cliché cheese: people filter you right out of their mind. Especially when you use certain words that scream, in a large baritone voice:

THIS PERSON IS AN INTERNET SCUZZ FROM THE DEPTHS OF EARTH WHO THINKS I’M A FOOL & DOESN’T RESPECT MY TIME, TAMMY.

Talk about an impression none of us want to make.

Back when I was crusading to freshen up our direct mail approach, the world's eyes were already glazing over with yet another piece of exactly identical, sales hypey piece of horse dung being flung in their face from every which way. Driveway mail boxes jammed full of horse dung. And yet, so many companies aspired to fling some more horse dung. Everybody’s flinging horse dung—this must be what you do! Let’s fling some horse dung, everybody!

But, of course, when everybody’s flinging horse dung, you start identifying everything that looks like horse dung and smells like horse dung…as horse dung. Even when it’s a perfectly delicious chocolate mousse. (For the record, I actually think chocolate mousse is a mediocre stepchild dessert who really needs to rebel and JUST BECOME PUDDING, ALREADY. Then again, it was originally named “mayonnaise de chocolat�� so maybe this was an upgrade.)

So, what’s next for email marketing?

Well, anyone who wants to build a remote business they can run from anywhere in the world needs to understand something important:

You need to do email. But you can’t do dung.

Your income as a creator is directly correlated with your ability to write fresh, original content that perks up people’s butts and makes ‘em fall in love. You can pay for all the clicks you want: none of it matters if you can’t find the cli��.ahem.

Remember: People will pay attention when there’s something worth paying attention to.

Everything else?

Is mental spam.

And just like all spam?

It gets filtered out.

***

Need Help With This, Darling? I’m Hosting a Summer Writing Club ��
This is a fun summer writing mentorship for those who drastically want to improve their writing and make people fall in love with them through their newsletters, their online content, their personal essays, and the articles they write for the web.

Instead of focusing on messaging and copywriting, like I do in , or creative writing techniques, like I teach in , this is alllllllllll about the art and pleasure of writing well as a thought leader online: with authority, courage, flair…and a fascinating voice.

I’ll send you more info this week! (Subscribe to the blog to get notified.)My Colleague is Running a Series of SEXY Email Marketing Workshops
This * is all about selling with email. It’s all about how to set up an unstoppable welcome sequence, nurture new subscribers the right way, and figure out which metrics to track and which benchmarks to set. She also talks about the importance of storytelling in your emails, and I know from being behind the scenes with her that she’s sold many hundreds of thousands of dollars through hers. (Plus, she's a playful weirdo like me!)

The series starts tomorrow, from May 26th to June 7th. Go grab a seat for strategic email marketing smarts!
My Favorite Email Software is Still��
*, mothers. Thank smokey bones for these guys, who figured out that people sending newsletters every day want it to be: (a) Easy; (b) Pretty; (c) Powerful. If ��dz�’r�� gonna build an email list (and you need to), then I can’t recommend them enough.

*Sponsored link

That’s it for today!

A WHOLE DAY OF EMAIL MARKETING TALK.

Until Friday, when Ash finally figures out that Loom does not play well with her professional mic, and she needs to unplug it for better audio for her Middle Finger Friday videos. Whoops?

Ash

P.S. “Come get your burning questions answered!�� throws me into a brief coma anytime I see it in any subject line. I know I’m a perfectionist, but I hope this line gets eaten by an angry internet beaver.

The post appeared first on .

Is everyone you know talking about Portugal right now—or just me? Because I should warn you: this is the kind of place that causes DIVORCES.

Provence is that kind of place.

Florence is that kind of place.

And, oh yes, Lisbon is becoming that kind of place, too. The kind of place where leaving your partner might be an appropriate trade-off, if it means you get to stay.

When we first arrived in Lisbon in the fall, I posted this on :

“Woke up in Lisbon and I’m SCARILY obsessed. This is already high up on the list of “places we’d live if we had thighs of steel.�� The hills are a trip but I don’t even mind because everyone is friendly and the sun is shining and the vibe here just screams “young, energetic entrepreneurship”—and also “secret speakeasy gin bars through ancient alleyways,�� which is obviously also a plus.��

We had no big plans to do Portugal—it was a quick stop in between Spain, France, and the US. But as soon as we got to Lisbon, we realized we HAD to go back.

What is this vibe?! These people?! This food?! This place?!

They had told us the people were friendly, but my goodness: this was other level friendly. Our taxi driver was probably the nicest man I’ve ever met. The host in our bed & breakfast literally walked us outside, around the corner, and halfway up the hill to show us where to go. (They say that all Portuguese are famous for this: you ask for directions, they close their shop, find a babysitter for their kids, put on their best Sunday clothes, and personally escort you. It happened to us twice, so this might actually be true. ) Furthermore, I wanted the woman driving our tuk-tuk—Paula—to be my auntie. Even the lady who gave me my COVID test was a 5-star human being.

Beyond their friendliness, there was this undeniable creative spark I felt in the city, like everyone and everything was coming alive. Where had you been all this time? It felt a little bit like being in a big Santa’s workshop: hand-crafted cocktails of basil and cachaça were being lovingly made in this corner over here; in that one, a young girl is selling trendy orange geometric dresses to the beat of Ariana Grande. The next place I looked, a moody, prohibition-era bar had covered its shelves with figurines, and old army helmets, and fringey lampshades, and big, gilded mirrors. A building on the corner said “Workshops Popup,�� where I discovered a chef gives cooking classes in English, a maker designs fashionable raincoats, a producer of olive oil fresh-squeezes the olives within 12 hours of picking. The lobby of a new hotel splashed big, bold letters across the back wall: “Your love makes me strong. Your hate makes me unstoppable.�� Every place seemed to be reinventing itself. I even passed a truck delivering wines to local restaurants that said, “Wine, Spirits & Attitude.�� And nothing could be more appropriate.

Even more wild? Everyone spoke English like damn-near native speakers. Not that they should have to—American ethnocentrism is for morons—but admittedly it is kind of tricky when ��dz�’r�� trying to buy tampons in French and the person standing on the other side of the counter is tapping their foot impatiently, not offering even a hint of help, despite the fact that they speak English and COULD help you out if they wanted to…but don’t.

And, god, and it was so clean. Sparkling. The streets felt like they were made of fine china, carefully polished that very morning. Except, of course, where there was artful graffiti—like the grinning mouth on the front of one of the trams that rattled defiantly up the hill. It was just enough to give the city the perfect amount of grit—and, oh yes, attitude. That attitude, juxtaposed against grand, majestic architecture that rivals the likes of Italy and France, made it feel a little bit like Hansel and Gretel go to New York. Storybook, but make it edgy.

The architecture of a place is about so much more than a practical need for housing—and Lisbon knows this. Historically, they could have just plopped plain, sturdy buildings up the sides of their hills, of which there are many, but instead, they lovingly constructed each and every one with style, pride, and presence. You’ve heard of Portuguese tiles, no doubt: I was surprised to discover that this wasn’t just a tourism gimmick, but a true form of craftsmanship. Buildings are covered with ‘em! And we thought it was expensive to do a kitchen backsplash.

I am one of those annoying people who stops to take photographs of every other building, so you can imagine I spent endless hours roaming the city. Architecture makes me fall in love with a place more than almost any other factor: if there’s no good architecture, I don’t want to live there! (A beef I have with Costa Rica, by the way.) This is why I’m obsessed with London, Madrid, Charleston, Santiago—even Alexandria, Virginia. Their buildings were not made to be practical: they were made to say, “Go on, fuck with me��because I will fight for this place that I love.��

That’s what I see when I look at a building: a romance story. It is the story of a people and a time; the things they believed; the pride they had. It is a relationship to place; to a sense of belonging. But, most importantly, great architecture gives us our sense of self: it’s a reflection of what we think matters.

It’s a reflection of our priorities, our dreams.

And the people of Lisbon certainly have some. Dreams, that is: and also FISH THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE TO EAT. I know, what is this?! Who am I?! Alas, Portugal does this to people. It lures them into thinking they could be a different kind of person, someday.

A dress maker. A mixologist. An olive oil producer. A divorcée who’s uprooted her entire life to become someone new.

If you’ve been quietly fingering your options (wait, that didn’t sound right?), Lisbon is a digital nomad’s ecstasy.

Beyond all of my poetic waxing and waning, here are a few more reasons why you miiiiiight want to put this place on your list ASAP:The weather! They’ve got sunshine that’s not too hot and humid and sweaty, but “leisurely picnic on the grass�� kind of sun, which is clearly the best kind of sun. (No, seriously, the average annual temperature is 62 degrees, with over 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, compared to London’s 1,400.) (That’s okay, London, you’ll always be my baby!)Safety—Lisbon is one of the safest cities in the world, alongside Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Toronto. You can check out The Economist’s Safe Cities Index —see “Personal Security.��The hella reasonable cost of living. Digital nomads currently there are reporting that the average cost of living is $2,587/month—compared to Boston’s $5,999/mo, New York’s $5,566/mo, or L.A.’s $4,754/mo.The internet’s fast AF. shows that the average download speed in Portugal is faster than Canada. In fact, Portugal gets rated #19 in the world, whereas the United Kingdom is #54.It’s super walkable. This is always a top factor on my list. Granted, there are hills here, so it’s not the best choice if accessibility is a concern, but otherwise it’s fairly easy to get around, even if you grab a tram on the way back home.Family friendly and female friendly. Lisbon gets high marks for both. That’s a big deal. I felt way safer in Lisbon than I did in Las Vegas.Very friendly for LGBTQIA+ and rated low for racism. A progressive society�� hallelujah ! This makes me so happy: I want to be a part of an inclusive, forward-thinking community.Start-up friendly. It’s easy to do business, there are plenty of places to co-work, there’s lots of free wifi-in the city—and, like I mentioned before, it just FEELS like excitement & progress.Foreigners can purchase property. There are no restrictions on foreigners: plus, the government wants to incentivize foreigners to invest, so if you purchase a property worth a certain value, you qualify for residence in Portugal and it gives you to legally travel freely across Europe. That’s like having an E.U. passport. ��Whatttttt!It’s close to a lot of things. It’s 6.5 hours to New York, 3 hours to Rome, 2.5 hours to London, 2 hours to Paris.And, it’s friendly to foreigners (AS I MENTIONED.) This is a biggie! It’s no fun to feel like you aren’t welcome. Even though I LOOOOVED living in Santiago, Chile, I remember when I first got there in 2009, staff in a pharmacy once argued over who would help me. (They clearly didn’t know I was fluent in Spanish. )��This past year in Biarritz, France, the owner of a restaurant we frequented gave us THE MEANEST GLARE every time we showed up. And in Bordeaux, forget it: at a wine bar called Vins Urbains, we were practically mocked by a couple sitting nearby. (Even though the owner was suuuuper sweet to us: his attention almost seemed to fuel their spite.) Don’t even get me started on Zurich.

Yes, Lisbon definitely belongs on your travel list this year—though hopefully, it won’t result in divorce.

Fortunately, today’s creator economy means you CAN stay a while—and so can your partner, your spouse, your dog, your kids, and your 80-year-old grandma, too.

It is time for a grand adventure.

It is time to write yourself a new romance.

It’s time to take stock of who you are and what you believe; what things matter; what kind of belonging you want to feel.

You can be the person you wished you were ten years ago, before life got in the way.

You can be the one who uprooted everything to try something new.

P.S. I’ve been developing something I view as critical for the next generation of creators and digital nomads.

Something that’s designed to get creators, females, and historically resilient groups to the $250K mark in 24 months or less by focusing on the things most people don’t, while working 4-hour half-days so you can leverage your hours AND have a life…all while doing so from anywhere in the world.

This is really, really important to me, specifically as a digital nomad who views travel and pleasure as a form of income. What’s the point in working for yourself if ��dz�’r�� stuck to your computer and can never leave the house?

Here’s the kind of income I want for you:

$250K and��.take your family for an entire summer in Ireland. ������(Or Lisbon!)

$250K and…let’s rent you a design-forward apartment in Florence, surrounded by incredible wine bars, ateliers, & art galleries. ����

$250K and…let’s send you to Scandinavia in the spring to write, photograph, or draw from the hazy shores of a little red summer house. ����

$250K and…let’s give you the ability to worldschool your kids in a walkable and friendly neighborhood in Portugal, France, or Scotland, surrounded by luscious parks and green space and incredible schools. ����

You can have it all—as a female (YES.) As a professional. As a creator. As a family. As someone who wants to soak up the pleasures of the entire world.

Sound like a breath of fresh air?

It’s invitation-only to begin.

Subscribe to the email list below if you’d like to receive an invite once we’re ready.

XOXO,

Ash

The post appeared first on .

HEY, KITTY CAT—and welcome to Middle Finger Fridays!

I’m featuring a new creator every Friday who’s out there SMOKIN�� it—and highlighting what I think they’re doing really, really right—as well as one or two things they can do even better to make that money.

Today, we’re hollering at a walking, hiking, and biking tour company in Ireland who's been around since 1994—but (!) how do you stand out from the crowd when there's gaggles of other tour companies doing the same exact thing?

The name of this game:

Brand. Positioning.

This one’s for you if you have no idea what your brand positioning is (got ya!) and you can't decide if you want to hug me or arm wrestle me for making you watch this long-ass 29-minute training on how you can find yours.

Let’s take a peek!

Need more help with your brand positioning & figuring out your message?

You should totally grab the full version of my course on this, . (That's where I pulled that lesson from.) I offer it through my creative writing company, Meat & Hair, and it's SO good. If you have no idea how to differentiate yourself and find *your* message, this will help.

Until next week, my fun-loving friend!

Ash

The post appeared first on .

I’m convinced of two things in this life:

I will someday be a sheep farmer in Scotland.Just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s good: it just means it’s popular.

What am I referring to, cryptic little minx that I am? Oh, MOSTLY EVERYTHING, since marketing is the real force behind anything that’s popular. (It’s rarely a democratic consensus gone wild.) But, in particular, I think of social media this way: one of the most popular ways to spend time, under the false pretense that doing so is marketing. That being there everyday is the job.

But you are not marketing. You are being marketed to.

You are the product.

However, the makers of social media have done a brilliant job positioning their platforms so it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like ��dz�’r�� using it.

I’m obsessed with time. Not in a “MUST! BE! PRODUCTIVE!�� kind of sense, but in the “I want to experience so much pleasure in this world, I don’t have time to suffer fools.�� I am remarkably callous when it comes to selecting where I spend my time; perhaps from a lifetime in advertising, I have grown too accustomed to thinking in terms of ROI.

But, I get results.

I love results. I love testing the ways in which I can take a simple hour and turn it into money, or love, or influence, power, loyalty, respect, depending on what you need that hour to do. And that, perhaps, is one of the most important questions I ask myself every day:

What do I need this next hour to do?

It’s a different way of looking at time; one that respects the fact that it’s limited. It is easy to fall into a hole of TikToks, Instagram, emails, texts, the world’s demands for attention, when you don’t have any standards for your time.

If you don’t care how you need your time to perform, it becomes a free for all, doesn’t it?

When creators struggle to make money, one of the first questions I ask is: how are they spending their hours? And is that the best use of those hours?

Most often, the marketing giants behind the social media rat race have won. It’s not much different from the corporate giants who convinced the world to join the 1.0 version of the rat race.

Oh, what a cynical shit, I am! I know. But sometimes, being a cynical shit is good for you.

There is no such thing as success without indifference.

The shows this mind-blowing statistic:

��Female creators outnumber male creators by nearly 2:1—however, men were more than twice as likely to earn over $150,000 annually.��

Pay gap shows up everywhere. Except in the creator space, I often wonder how much of a contributing factor it is that females experience more pressure to show up and do cute videos, while their male counterparts have the luxury of spending more time in places that actually move the needle.

I also wasn’t surprised even one Swedish fish that this was also true:

��Full-time creators ranked the importance of email to their business at 8.3/10.��

Whew, mama! And, YUP, that’s 100% in line with my views on the subject. Email is god. If you’ve got a different religion, you’d better switch. It’s the key revenue driver of all creator businesses. (If you need help with this, is great.)

The report went on to state the following:

“This rating means professional creators think email is more important to their business than social media or paid ads.��

Yes. Yes, we do.

Just like the pay gap, I suspect there’s also a gap in understanding of how the creator economy works. This is why I get endless messages reaching out to me with, “How do I start a blog?�� instead of “How do I start a business?��

New creators are trying to mimic only what they can see, i.e. a pretty social media feed and a blog to match, because they can’t see the engine that really runs it: a business, powered by email, with smart, scalable offers in place. (If you're doing it well, anyway.)

But you know who is focused there? Men.

That’s the invisible advantage that no one’s talking about.

Men have the luxury of getting taken seriously without having thousands of vanity followers.

Men can spend more time doing the things that actually make a business money—so they can get it done and go enjoy their lives.

(As an aside, I’d actually be curious how many book deals are offered to men without large social media followings, despite the modern publishing industry making this a near-requirement for female writers.)

Regardless, creators overall need a new strategy. The income reporting as a whole shows that there is WAY too high a percentage of creators earning $10,000 or less, both male and female. The second highest category is $25,000 or less.

While every single thing creators put out there is admirable as hell, I KNOW this is representative of:

Creators lovingly trying to do what they see other creators doingWithout realizing that most of those creators aren’t making any moneyAnd therefore focusing on all the incorrect leversUntil the end of time, amen

So, I wanted to work on this problem.

And—I’ve been developing something I view as critical for the next generation of creators and digital nomads.

Something that’s designed to get creators, females, and historically resilient groups to the $250K mark in 24 months or less by focusing on the things most people don’t, while working 4-hour half-days so you can leverage your hours AND have a life…and do so from anywhere in the world.

This is really, really important to me, specifically as a digital nomad who views travel and pleasure as a form of income. What’s the point in working for yourself if ��dz�’r�� stuck to your computer and can never leave the house?

Here’s the kind of income I want for you:

$250K and��.take your family for an entire summer in Ireland. ����$250K and…let’s rent you a design-forward apartment in Florence, surrounded by incredible wine bars, ateliers, & art galleries. ����$250K and…let’s send you to Scandinavia in the spring to write, photograph, or draw from the hazy shores of a little red summer house. ����$250K and…let’s give you the ability to worldschool your kids in a walkable and friendly neighborhood in Portugal, France, or Scotland, surrounded by luscious parks and green space and incredible schools. ����

You can have it all—as a female (YES.) As a professional. As a creator. As a family. As someone who wants to soak up the pleasures of the entire world.

Sound like a breath of fresh air?

It’s invitation-only to begin.

Make sure you're on the email list to get an invite when we're ready.

XOXO,

Ash

The post appeared first on .