Simplify. Then Simplify Again.

It’s been a few weeks since the last BCC email, but I’m back on a regular schedule now. (I produced a movie between April & May, and that massively disrupted my schedule while also being a dream come true!)

I’ve got a fundamental principle for you today:

Simplify. Then Simplify Again.

Here’s what happened – 

I have been gearing up for two big course launches on Craftsman Creative and in that process have being reviewing the way that I have all of my email marketing setup.

• Automated sequences
• Tagging & Segmenting
• Landing pages and forms
• etc.

What was instantly apparent is that a) I had no focus as to the approach, no goal or outcome I was working toward, and b) what I did have was extremely complicated.

Dozens of signup forms and landing pages that weren’t even published online anywhere, or were essentially doors that led nowhere. 

Some signup pages that had 56%+ signup rate, others with 0.28% signup rate:

It’s all over the place.

Initially I got frustrated and could sense that overwhelm starting to form like a dark cloud over my head.

But I’ve been working hard to NOT let that cloud form, so I took a breath, and changed my focus.

What I really had in front of me was an opportunity. A chance to simplify.

Yes, I’ve written about this principle before, hence the addition to today’s principle: then simplify again.

It’s not a singular process, simplification. Rather, it’s something we can do on a regular basis, like goal setting or getting an oil change. 

Here’s what the process looked like for me:

• Eliminate the forms & pages that aren’t performing. Replace them with other forms if necessary.
• Have a singular welcome sequence for the website that works for everyone who signs up to join the list.
• dial in on the audience and the messaging, the change I want to affect through my daily & weekly writing
• have a focus, a singular outcome that dictates all other decisions

That singular outcome is to provide so much value that people can’t wait to open their emails when they get them, and to share them with their friends and colleagues. 

That may be a lofty goal, and also hard to measure, but here’s how I’ve addressed those issues:

1. Sign up for Convertkit Creator Pro, which gives me the added ability to add a referral feature at the bottom of each email (Will start that next week, we had to reschedule the setup call today)
2. Create opportunities for people to go deeper with each email – meaning linking to other resources like my book, my courses, and our app.

There are a few emails that I open EVERY single time I receive them, and often click whatever they tell me because I TRUST that the writers are looking out for MY best interest, and that there is going to be even more value on the other end of that click.

(If you’re curious, Tiny Little Businesses, Derek Sivers (scroll to the bottom) and Brian Clark currently fall under that category.)

I hope you’ll join me by looking at your life, finding the one (or more) area(s) that you feel overwhelmed or frustrated or stressed out by, and take a different look at it. Find ways to simplify. Change your focus, and take action.

You’ll feel better and actually get more done by going through this process.

Then, in a few weeks or months, do it again.