sdickinson

Starting in February, Google and Yahoo are cracking down – hard – on unwanted emails.

Sounds great right? Things like scams, spoofs, and third-party emailers are the bane of all our inboxes.

Here’s the thing; those of us who have legitimate email lists that we have lovingly built with permission from each and every subscriber could get hit with the dreaded s. p. a. m. label. If we don’t have our platforms set up correctly with technical initialisms like DKIM, DMARC, and SPF (no, not sunscreen!) before the new regulations come into effect, Google and Yahoo are going to think our newsletters are not credible.
(If this is already melting your brain, book a call with me; I got you!)

When I first started in business, I didn’t have a website, email platform, or any systems set up. I started my newsletter sending out everything from a Gmail address. 

Once my list started to grow, I signed up with Mailerlite, continuing to send from the Gmail address.

That won’t work anymore.

The new regulations require your email to be authenticated in very specific ways, that not all email platforms require when you set them up. 

If you have a newsletter, it’s vital you check to make sure you are properly authenticated, and that your Email Marketing Platform is following the unsubscribe regulations.

If all of this starts to melt your brain (you’re not alone), don’t worry; I got you!

If you need to check to see if your email is authenticated, or if you already know you need help getting it ready for the updates, I have reserved some space on my calendar to help get you ready.

Book a call with me right now, and let’s make sure all that goodness you are sharing with your people doesn’t end up mistaken for canned meat.

Hi! I’m Sarah, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m a nerd.

A newsletter nerd, a crochet nerd, and a nerd nerd.  Give me a newsletter about a crocheted Doctor Who blanket, and I’m in my happy place! 

I also love my kids (I have 2). They are neurospicy, so life in my house is never boring. 

I was called “A good momma” the other day because I was well-prepared for a situation involving a toddler.

Sure, I’ll take that, with grace and gratitude.

But here’s the thing; I didn’t get to be a good momma on day 1.

As a matter of fact, Day 1 was quite the craziness of “What do I do?” “Am I holding them right?” and “Why are they not eating?”

In the beginning, it was really overwhelming.

I have forgotten diaper bags at home, run out the door without toddler snacks (heaven forbid!), and even left the most precious stuffie at Grandad’s house after a sleepover.

It’s taken practice, support, and lots of trial and error to get to the point where my instinct of preparedness is considered by someone else to be “a good momma”.

So what on EARTH does this have to do with newsletters?

Go start your newsletter. You might feel like you don’t know how to do it. That the tech is overwhelming, that you haven’t got a clue what to use as a freebie, and that it’s hard to come up with content ideas. (BTW, if this is you, book a call with me; I’m your solution!)

It might feel overwhelming, scary, or time-consuming at first, but once you get going, it gets easy. 

And I’m always here to help. That’s what community is all about. Just like it takes a village to raise a kid, it also takes one to build a business!

NOTE: Just to be clear: if you accidentally leave “Thomas”, the beloved, ragged, stained pillow at Grandad’s house, go to the grocery store without a container of Cheerios to snack on, or do any number of the millions of things parents do while trying to survive parenthood, it does not make you a bad parent!

We’ve all heard the term “in the zone”, right? Well, I want to tell you a little story about my husband, and how the right atmosphere can get you there.

Yesterday he was at work, and really wanted a sandwich for lunch. The problem was that the Mall where the sandwich shop was located was closing, and he only had 15 minutes to get there, get his sub, and get back to work.

So what did he do? He put in his headphones, put on the Mission Impossible soundtrack, set a timer on his phone…

And my nerd got in the Zone.

He told me that as soon as that music hit his ears, he was Ethan Hunt (the lead character from the Mission Impossible franchise). Everything between him and his goal was an obstacle.

Every automatic door, every leisurely walking granny, even the benches, decorated with their pretty potted plants.

As he briskly walked through the mall, lithely sidestepping customers to grab “the package” and get back to work on time, he couldn’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline.

It’s incredible how what we input affects our output. Just listening to the theme song that my husband associates with energy, daring, and focus, made him move faster and more deftly than he usually would. 

He was in the Zone, and his music put him there. Suddenly just going for a sandwich became a whole different experience.

I often listen to music to get into the zone when I am writing. Creating content comes much easier to me when I have just the right soundtrack playing in my head. It’s one of the ways I “get in the zone”. Vanilla-scented candles sure help too.

I’m curious, how do you get “in the zone”? What helps you to run faster, fly higher, and achieve more? Pop over to my Facebook page, or tag me on IG and let me know!

(BTW, he made it back, just in time…)

They will come…

I love this movie quote. It’s become synonymous in business with deciding to do something in faith, and knowing it will work. Faith is everything when doing something new in business!

But here’s the thing; you also have to do the work!

So now you’ve got your lead magnet in place. Your nurturing welcome sequence is all set up and ready to go, and you are ready to start collecting hundreds of emails. So where do you get them? 

The easy answer? Ask! Everyone you talk to, ask them. Having a coffee chat? Ask them if they’d like to join your newsletter list. Connecting on Facebook or LinkedIn? If your freebie is relevant to the conversation, ask them if they would like it, and to join your list!

The next step is to post it everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. 

That link on your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram profiles? Make it the landing page for your lead magnet sign-up form. Post it on every page of your website. You can even put it as part of your email signature.

You can also do a run of targeted Facebook ads, share it during in-person events, and don’t forget to mention it when you are guesting on a podcast or during speaking engagements. Be sure the host puts a link in the show notes.

Another super cool thing you can do is get a QR code. You can then save it on your phone, and if you are out and about, you can just flash it and people can sign up on the spot! Technology, am I right?!

Alright! You’re all set! Let’s get out there and build that list!

If you need any help or are just thinking, “Ugh; I just don’t have time…”, I got you! Book a free consultation with me, and we can chat about how I can help you create the entire roadmap for building your newsletter, whether you want me to do it for you, or just want extra guidance to do it yourself.

And If you haven’t seen “Field of Dreams”, you really should. It really doesn’t have anything to do with natural success, but it has everything to do with believing in yourself when others don’t.

Have you heard the term, “Launch Ugly”? Did you know that even movies are launched “ugly”?

If you’ve ever purchased a DVD or Bluray, you might have noticed an “alternate ending” or “Directors Cut” in the special features. Do you know why?

It’s because the people who make the movies send them out to be seen by audiences BEFORE THEY’RE DONE!

They take them for a test drive; they want to see how they perform and find out what their target audience says about it so that if there are things they need to change, they can make the changes.

When the audience comes back and says, “We don’t like how it ends”, they’ll change it. (The alternate endings are generally the original ones)

You may not be making a movie (if you are, super cool!), but you are putting something out to a specific audience. Waiting until your lead magnet or offer is ‘perfect’ before you launch it will likely mean no one will ever see it. 

Often as entrepreneurs, we can get stuck in analysis paralysis and overthinking when it comes to our lead magnets. “Is it interesting enough?” “Does it provide enough value”? “Is it something they’ll even want?”

Yes. Yes, it is. It’s all of those things, right now.

And if there are tweaks needed to make it even better? Your viewers will tell you! However, if you never put your freebie out into the world, you will never know.

Whether you’re making a movie or building a business, data is important to help you make what you’re giving your audience exactly what they want and need.

Launch ugly. Launch now. Do the thing!