Build a lean, profitable, low-stress “one email a day” style business
The complete roadmap to launch, grow, and scale a profitable email list, even if you’re starting from scratch.
If you’ve ever felt like your business is a mess, you’re not growing fast enough, you’re not taking home as much profit as you should be, and you wish everything was just simpler, then this is the most important message you’ll ever read.
Here’s why:
There’s this great quote from the book Clockwork that I absolutely love:
“Growing a company is very different from scaling it. Most businesses grow. Very few scale. You grow a business by doing more to get more. You scale a business by doing less to get more. There are very different orientations. Extremely different.”
– Mike Michalowicz, Clockwork (Revised & Expanded)
I bet you’ve fallen into this trap.
You started a business so you could have freedom. Except now you’re working 50+ hours a week and it feels like everything might implode if you take your foot off the gas.
You started a business because you didn’t want to be like your “normie” friends who all took “the blue pill.” They all went to college, got a good, safe job. And they all seem to be doing better than you. Health insurance, stock options, bonuses, PTO, perks, work life balance. They’re not taking their work home with them. Their minds aren’t focused on “business” all weekend when they’re playing with their kids. Did you make a mistake? Sometimes you wish everything was easier.
You started a business because you wanted to help people. Yet you’re so disconnected from the work you want to do because you’ve added so many layers of complexity, you don’t know your ass from your elbow anymore. It seems like the only way to grow and get space is to hire even more agencies, more team members, and build even more funnels (and hope and pray they actually work this time!)… all while you’re watching what little profit you have evaporate.
What if it didn’t have to be this way?
What if your business could be simpler?
What if you could make all the sales you needed each month to be happy?
What if you didn’t need a huge team and layers of management just to do the work you want to do?
What if you didn’t need some insanely complicated marketing funnel.
What if you could just write one email a day… make a bunch of sales… and then log off for the rest of the day?
Well…
The funny thing is…
This dream can be your reality
I was talking with a successful business owner a while back. He has a big team that helps him run his 8-figure business.
I was telling him about how my business operates:
I wake up and make some coffee
I write my daily email
Sales come in
I do whatever I want the rest of the day
Sometimes I’ll send some voice memos to my consulting clients. Sometimes I might work on a new product I’m building. Sometimes I might call a few of my friends to shoot the shit about business. Sometimes I’ll take my kids to the park, or the arcade, or the pool, or just play in the backyard.
I work a part time schedule. And my business makes 7-figures/year. My list has only 12,958 subscribers. Not a big list, compared to all the other business owners in my space with 50,000 – 100,000+ subs.
This business owner told me: “I remember when my business used to be that simple. I kind of miss it.”
This is what happens.
The longer you’re in this game, the more complex things become. But complexity is a choice.
Simplicity is a choice, too.
“Chris cuts through the BS and gets you moving… If you want someone who’ll challenge your thinking, cheer you on, and help you stop overcomplicating the work.”
– Orly Wachter MS, RD
How I turned my email list into a 7-figure/year business
I remember reading through the Gary Halbert letters, many years ago. I was always enamored by how some of these old school “direct mail businesses” used to work.
They were so simple:
Run an ad to get people’s mailing addresses
Send them direct mail letters to sell products
Profit
I read stories of direct mail entrepreneurs who built multi-million dollar companies by doing just this. They just keep sending more and more letters to more and more people.
Of course, back in the day, direct mail was the only option. They didn’t have the internet.
Nowadays, it’s even easier.
What was once old is now new.
Here’s how I run my business:
I drive traffic to a squeeze page and capture email addresses
I send a daily email
Profit
My daily email usually takes me about 20 minutes. Sometimes I’ll write a short one that takes 5-6 minutes. Sometimes I’ll write a longer email that takes around a half hour.
This is the engine that drives my business:
I don’t do a lot of social media. I’m not concerned about getting “likes.” I don’t want to dance like an asshole to trending audio on social media. I’d rather spend time each morning writing an email every day that drives sales. This is why I make a lot more money than people who spend every waking moment on social media. You can’t deposit likes in your bank account.
My daily email keeps me top of mind. Some people send one email a week. That’s cool. I probably make 7x as many sales as these people do because I’m in my subscribers inbox every single day.
Daily email turns subscribers into superfans. People who read your emails every day are more loyal. They buy more often. They stick around for years. They are, what Kevin Kelly calls, your 1,000 True Fans, who buy every product you release.
Sometimes I’ll take my daily email and post it on social media. This gets thousands of eyeballs on my “content” and drives even more people to my email list. Nothing better than free list growth from work you’ve already completed. I’m not wasting time spending hours a day creating social content that makes $0 in sales (that’s what most people do).Profit
I make sales every single day of the year. Because I am always promoting a solution to my subscribers’ problems. People overcomplicate this stuff. It’s really not complex.
Daily email compounds. Each email I send builds a stronger bond with my subscribers. If people read my emails every day and they’re only reading your emails 1-2/month, they’re going to buy from me, not you. Understand? It compounds attention. Your writing abilities compound, to the point where after a few weeks, you’ll be able to write an email that converts in your sleep. And I’ve noticed that my revenue and profit have compounded over the years the longer I’ve kept up with my daily email morning routine.
I take my daily emails and turn them into autoresponder sequences. I started doing this a few years ago, and the results have been insane. I have 12 different automated sequences (that I created by repurposing my best daily emails) that sell my products and services on autopilot… even while I’m away from the computer.
Daily email helps even out your cash flow. There’s nothing worse than seeing little to no cash coming into the business in between big launches and promotions. My daily email helps me raise average daily sales volume so cash flow stays flowing.
I don’t really give a shit what happens with social media algorithms. There’s no algorithm with email. You own the channel. You don’t own your social audience. Your social media audience can be throttled, shadowbanned, or shut down for any reason, or for no reason at all, without warning. You can wake up tomorrow with no Instagram account. But no one can take your email list from you. It’s traffic you own. And it’s where all the profit is hiding in your business.
Most list owners are sitting on a goldmine. There’s hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars of potential revenue that’s just sitting there, in a lot of people’s email lists. The only way to “mine it” is to start emailing and start selling.
I can work from anywhere in the world. All I need is an internet connection. I have no boss. I am the boss. I have nowhere to be. I own my time. I have choice freedom and time freedom.
Daily email gives you influence. It helps you become “niche famous.” It’s your own platform, where you can do and say whatever you want. Why do so many billionaires own media outlets? Because they value (1) influence, and (2) distribution. It’s like owning your own newspaper that thousands of people read each day. With a big enough list, you can unlock some incredible power and opportunities. (Plus, all of my best clients come from my email list.)
An email-based business has very small start up costs. I started my business with a $29/month Kit (ConvertKit) account… and turned it into a 7-figure/year business, just by writing every single day. The leverage you get by growing an email list is truly insane.
It’s like real estate, but better. It’s digital real estate. With daily email, you own space in your subscribers inboxes each day. My list pays me every single month, without fail, because I sell solutions to my subscriber’s problems.
Daily email allows you to make a great income even with a small audience. It’s kind of insane. In 2022 (Jan 1 – Dec 31 fiscal year), Business Inside wrote an article about my business because I made $996,000 in revenue with a list of 6,266 subscribers:
