Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Adding flair, Jennifer Anniston style

The movie Office Space has so many hilarious moments.  One of my favorite scenes is when Joanna (Jennifer Aniston) gets lectured by her manager Stan for not having enough “flair”.  

Flair is little buttons and trinkets on their uniform.  If you haven’t seen the movie, you can see the scene here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vdcw415OcQ  

Here’s how their conversation went down:

Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager : Fifteen is the minimum, okay? It’s up to you whether or not you just want to do the bare minimum or…

Joanna : Okay. So you… you want me to wear more?

Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager : People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, okay? They come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude. Okay? That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun. 

Joanna : Yeah. Okay. So more then, yeah?

Yaas, more flair Joanna!  

And the same is true for you too!  People can get your “hamburger” from anywhere.  The flair you bring to the party is what sets you apart.  

Jesse Cole who owns a minor league baseball team and more than one yellow tuxedo (cause you’d think one would be enough), said this in his book Find Your Yellow Tux.

“We have a responsibility to entertain our customers.  If you’re all about selling and nothing more, you’re going to lose out eventually.”  

Think about this…

How can you add more flair to your emails?  To the atmosphere you create?

Your processes…and your procedures?

To add more flair to your email  marketing subscribe to my daily email tips at https://adamstreet.net .

Adam “flair” Street

The first step to writing better emails

I was at the farmers market by my house, waiting to check out.  The lady directly ahead of me kept tinkering with her cell phone.  She’s lazily putting her stuff on the conveyor belt and I’m trying not to get frustrated. 

I look left.  I look right.  Yup. This lane is still probably the fastest option out.  

She finally starts moving forward with her items.  She’s not quick about it and I imagine she’d do it a lot faster if she stopped fiddling around with her phone.

Is she texting?  Is she on Facebook?  Who knows.  I wish she could get it together though because I’d really like to get outta here with my “two things”.  

Who is this lady?  She is most of the people that are looking at your emails (and social posts too for that matter).

We want to believe that our readers are at home opening our emails with undivided attention and discernment.  This was true in the 90’s maybe but that was a LONG time ago.  

Now when your list is reading your emails they’re in line at the bank, grocery store, or at the gym.  Or worse they’re ‘reading’ while they’re texting and watching YouTube.  Or driving!!!

Your first step to writing better emails is understanding that the people who will read them are more ADHD than Hammy from the movie Over The Hedge.  Hammy is loving and adorable but a tough nut to crack with average emails.

Better to put in the work using a little flash and Blockbuster Storytelling to capture Hammy’s focus than to make believe your reader is some unicorn that’s giving your email her undivided attention.

To learn how to write captivating emails (even for ‘Hammy’s’ at the grocery store), subscribe to my newsletter at https://adamstreet.net for daily emails.

Adam

Having influence that fills a room

About 20 years ago I started a website called SaveComics.org.  

Comic book sales were flattening.  I thought if comic book artists came out of the shadows (most of us work from home) we could introduce kids to our industry and get more children reading comics again.  

My goal was to find other like minded pros so I could get the movement going throughout the country.  I found others who loved the the idea.  One was even in Canada so our cause became an “international” one.  

We made educational material and we spoke publicly but the movement eventually fizzled out.

I never expected us to grow into a ginormous movement or anything but we did good work.   That’s the power of finding and being around like minded people.  

Gary Bencivenga is one of the greatest copywriters like…ever.  He had what he called The Credo Technique. Gary said if you stand for something you’ll never stand alone.

This sets you apart in a very overcrowded, monkey-see monkey-do, marketplace.  It also brings about a level of influence you can’t get any other way.  

Perry Marshall talks about two types of influence.  

Level 1 Influence makes you rich.  

Level 2 Influence does that  AND changes the world.


“Influence is when you are not the one talking and yet your words fill the room; when you are absent and yet your presence is felt everywhere”.

– TemitOpe Ibrahim  

Standing for something is the surest way to attract and bond with your kindred spirits.  They will become your most loyal comrades and your best clients and friends. 

Or you can “Tom Brady” it and try to not hurt feelings and be everything to everybody.  

For free daily tips and insights on how to stand out and increase your influence with email. Sign up for free at https://adamstreet.net .

Adam

I love what I do! How come I can’t sell it?

Remember Seth Godin’s Marketing in Five Steps?

We left off with step 3.  Let’s recap:

1.  Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling , and a contribution worth talking about.  

2.  Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

3.  To tell a story that matches the built-in-narrative and dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest viable market.

And now four… Spread the word.

In the book Seth says this is the step everyone gets excited about.  I agree.  A lot of people do enjoy droning on about their course, or new book coming out.  But plenty of people have anxiety about it too.   Cause after you build it there’s a question you gotta answer.  

How the f*@k do I promote this?

Let’s face it.  It’s not like you’re The Rock who gets paid $1 million to promote his movies.  You probably can’t do like Tom Cruise did years ago and jump around on Oprah Winfrey’s couch either.

There’s tons of ways to promote your biz but one of the biggest hangs ups I see is people think they have to be loud, annoying, or not themselves.  

Whether you buy ads or start cold calling your friends like you just became a distributor for Amyway.  Do what is best for you.  Not comfortable.  Best.  

In Kevin Garnett’s book KG AtoZ, he recalled a quote from Chauncey Billups.  “Just because someone doesn’t play with the same fire as KG, it doesn’t mean they’re soft.”

Put another way…

Just because you don’t have poise on camera like Marie Forleo, promote like Steve Jobs, or have a booty like Kim Kardashian.  It doesn’t mean you aren’t good at spreading the word.

You love what you do.  Show that love to other people.

Adam

Mamby Pamby Land: Fun to visit but don’t stay there

I read a post the other day by an info marketer who struggled with getting leads.  Just about any business on Earth can relate to this problem, right? 

She said maybe she needed to create free weekly content, start a podcast, or maybe her team could do more on social media .

This gal is an accomplished info-marketer.  So I was surprised she never mentioned e-mail marketing.  Which is odd because e-mail still blows the socks off most digital sales methods.  Especially over time.   So I asked her about it.

She said, “I already crush at that.”  

Even John Holmes would call that answer cocky…

After her response, I was out.  Everyone else kept talking about SEO, funnels, limited time offers (LTO), and all the normal business paradigm stuff.

She may be “crushing” her e-mail marketing but I say she’s living in Mamby Pamby Land.  You know why?  Because she is NOT building relationships with her e-mail list if her sales are sucking wind.

She’s focused on finding a lot of people and saying YOU need to buy this before the sale price ends or before this bonus goes away.  And before you know it you’re back head-hunting for more people.

You can run a business like this but it’s exhausting.  Us artist paradigm types are different.  

And when you use a Blockbuster approach and entertain and teach with your e-mails a strange phenomenon happens.  Your readers actually give a shit about you and read what you say.  

Maybe they buy maybe they don’t but they stay on your list.  And the longer people stay on your list the more they usually buy.  

I may not have a list the size of Tony Robbins’ but I can spot an e-mail marketing problem.  I’m not a nutritionist either but I can tell you eating  a box of brownies will make you fat.

I just call them like I see em.

If you’d like to know how I could help you attract super high-quality, clients who are fans of your work holla at me:  https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam