You’ve chosen a mentor and hired a business coach. What else should you do?
Do you remember when all newsletters were printed on paper and came by mail? I do. In the 80s when I co-owned an Apple computer dealership in Toronto, we had a one page one. It was even before desktop publishing. We would type it (on computer), print one, give that to a printshop, tell them how many copies to make, pick them up, fold and stuff them in envelopes, put a label for each customer on the envelope (Yes. We had a database program.), put a stamp on each and go to either a mailbox or the post office to mail them. WHEW! No wonder we were one of the few companies that did them.
Ezine or newsletter? What are they called?
They’re now electronic and are called either ezines (pronounced like magazine) or newsletters. We use them because it’s “free” to start and because postage is too expensive (here in Canada in 2020, if you qualify, the cost to mail a newsletter starts at 51 cents to mail and takes 3-5 days for delivery).
Why subscribe to newsletters?
There are several reasons and each newsletter ALWAYS has a way to unsubscribe. It’s the law in Canada and the U.S. So subscribe to several for now. You can always unsubscribe.
Subscribe to ones run by people in your business (your competitors). Here’s what to look for:
- do they publish in text or in html and give you a choice of either one
- what do they write about (you may want to write blog posts on their topics)
- do YOU learn something (you should always be learning and this one way)
- do they give you solid information or do they just advertise their products (the rule of thumb is 80% knowledge and 20% sales)
How do you know which newsletters to subscribe to?
- Ask your mentor and your coach what they subscribe to. That’s why I had you get a mentor and a coach to start.
- Read websites and go to the ones the business owners suggest.
- Ask other people at networking events.
What newsletters do YOU subscribe to and why? Tell everyone so they know. I get ones about blogging, writing, online business, marketing to women, small businesses, about networking events here in Toronto, …. You can see that I subscribe to many.
Every once in a while I “clear the clutter on my computer” and unsubscribe to a few. How do I decide? Well for me they’re often ones I don’t read any more. You’re just starting so which ones have you chosen?
Originally posted on February 8, 2012