In a financial pickle? Let your email list be your hero! Here are 3 times my list saved me from financial distress— with some tips on how to make sure it can happen for you, too.
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Transcript
Holy mackerel on a stick. You are listening to the email sound booth podcast. I feel so lucky. I can’t believe it. This is episode 42. And today I want to share with you three times in my life that my email list pretty much saved my life. Booty. Uh, so let’s just roll into it. And what prompted this, um, this episode was a comment I saw in our email sound booth, uh, Facebook group.
And it was talking about someone had just built a website for a client, um, because, you know, You know, his site was close to 20 years old and for money purposes, he relied on Google search alone. It says he made five figures per month from people finding him through Google. Then when Google had all their updates, uh, overnight, he lost all his money.
All search traffic. He did not have any list built, never emailed anyone, had no marketing. Uh, so when he stopped appearing in searches, his business came to a screeching halt. And just like this commenter put, this is why you need an email list. He could have been sending once a week emails, um, but he wasn’t right.
Um, so because I do send. Once a week emails or sometimes more depending on the time of year and what we got going on Um, there have been times where you know, especially in my rv blogging days where Sponsorship contracts dried up ideas dried up whatever but I was able to use my email list To save me.
This is the importance of the email list So I just wanted to share those today as a little I don’t know inspiration Inspiration Motivation to keep going with your email list. I mean, y’all, I’ve been emailing at least once a week, nearly without fail since 2016. So if you’re not there yet, don’t worry, but I want to give you a little bit of motivation and inspo today.
So the first time my email has saved me or the first example I want to give you and yeah, really the first time it like truly. Saved me was back in July 2019. I was an RV travel blogger as most People know and so this was in my RV travel days. I’ve been emailing for What about three years at this point?
But I was traveling with I was married at the time. So my then husband How old was Chelsea? She was almost five. So she’s four and a half. Um and I And to be honest, uh, sorry to my husband, um, we had very little money. I say sorry to him because he’d probably be embarrassed, but it is what it is, right? We had very little money.
My husband at the time was doing RV mechanic stuff, but it was, it was hit or miss, right? Um, you know, really depend on the campground cause he would literally just put up a sign, um, you know, heads RV repair or whatever it was called. And, You know, people will come or they wouldn’t, right? And I knew that I needed to get going.
I knew I had this email list. I needed to do something with it. And this opportunity popped up to be a part of this paid bundle. Back in the day, there was something called ultimate bundles. I think they’re still around, but back in 2016 to 2020, they were really, really big. So I entered, they were doing a travel bundle.
So I entered this paid bundle thing and I thought well we’re not going to get any money right now because this is affiliate income But when stuff really dries up is when we’re traveling and we were going to have to travel. This is july We’re gonna have to travel in like september or october to warmer, uh, climate.
So we’ll really need the money then because we’ll be traveling. We won’t be in one place for, uh, very long. And there’s just less RVs in the fall, right? There’s a lot in the summertime because people have time off work, right? So I said, okay, I’m going to enter this thing and I’m going to, I know I have my email list.
I know I can win this thing. My email list is awesome. Uh, they love me. They love. Anytime, you know, I can do promotions, so I’m going to enter this thing and, you know, when the affiliate cash comes out in 60 days, we’re going to be fine. So, first of all, and sorry, I’m out of breath today, uh, if you don’t know, I, I struggle with some, like, food and health problems.
And sometimes I get really out of breath and today I feel out of breath, but I wanted to record this anyway. Uh, it’s low iron. Don’t worry. I’m taking care of the problem. Okay. So anyway, first I should mention with this ultimate bundles thing, I got 70 percent of any sales I made. That was another reason for doing it, right?
Then, uh, according, or I can’t remember because this was so long ago, but I know that if you got first, second, or third, you got additional prizes. And I’m pretty sure first prize was like an additional thousand or two thousand dollars or something. So I was like, I’m just gonna freaking go for it. And then I knew that if I got new leads, right?
Because it’s a bundle, right? They pay for the bundle. People got my course for free, my RV maintenance course. Then they’re going to get on my email list. I’m going to be able to sell them other products. For example, I had a summit with other people. I knew they could be, you know, potential for that. I had a book that I could sell as a trip wire, et cetera.
So there was. Uh, excuse me, I’m so out of breath today. There were opportunities for growth, right? For more money. Uh, so I did this, I ended up doing this 12 days of travel tweaks. And I looked at what was in the bundle, and I’m just telling you this because it’s interesting and it’s honestly one of my best ideas I’ve ever done.
So please steal it. Um. Bye. I looked at the products in the bundle and I was like, okay, I can, I can feature 12 products, one every single day. Right. And that’s what I did. So I looked through the products. Oh, yep. This’ll be good. This’ll be good. And every day I sent out an email featuring, you know, this travel tweak.
Uh, let’s say for example, uh, you know, if there was like a travel calendar, right. I would say, Oh, you know how to make your travel easier, have a calendar. Oh, by the way, in this bundle. You can get the calendar for free and every day I did that for 12 days and yes spoiler alert I did end up coming in first place.
I got that thousand dollar bonus Um, and I can’t remember the exact amount I won But it was It was less than 5, 000, but it was more than three. I remember it being like, uh, Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I just made that much money, uh, type of a thing. So of course it came in very clutch as the cool kids would say.
You know 60 days later when I got that cash in a lump sum It was just around the time we were traveling from the connecticut area back down to florida It was more than enough gas money more than enough food money And it even allowed us to you know, stay in campgrounds on the way instead of having to stay in parking lots It allowed us to book a nice campground when we got to florida Etc.
It was it was awesome. I’m still really proud of that Uh, and I could not have done that if I didn’t have my email list. Yeah, of course. I put it up on my blog You know, I went live every day But really almost all the sales came from that email list. All right the second time My email list saved me was in July 2019, or I’m sorry, y’all, I just shared that.
Can you tell I’m looking at my notes? I should just, I don’t even know why I take notes. I ramble anyway, was it September 2022? So fast forward, I’m now teaching email marketing and my truck breaks down. If you don’t know, I drive an 89 Bronco and when it breaks down, it breaks down, right? And it’s. The parts are cheap, but the labor is not.
It takes a lot, especially, like, have you ever tried to remove a rusty bolt? It takes hours, right? So my truck breaks down, the estimate is something like 8, 000, and at this point in my, in my business game, I have 8, 000 in my bank account, but that’s pretty much all that I have, right? Set aside, anyway, you know, obviously I always keep money And maybe this is another podcast episode.
I always keep money for operating expenses, salary, etc. But I had saved 8, 000. I had about, I think I had 7, it was like just the right amount to spend all of it. And I thought, oh gosh, well thank God I have this money. And then I thought, well wait. Thank goodness I have my email list. I shouldn’t even have to spend this money.
I can run a flash sale and I will just tell people, Hey, my truck broke down, so I’m running this flash sale. I was very transparent. I know you should always be really transparent with your list. Even if you’re writing an email that you think is too long, just say, Hey, I think this email is too long, but I don’t know how to shorten it.
Keep reading anyway, right? Be transparent. So I said in the flash sale, Hey, this is totally out of the blue, but my truck broke down, which was also totally out of the blue. I need help. Uh, I’m going to do, I think it was like 20 or 25 percent off. All my products. Um, and you know, basically help me out. I’m going to help you if you, if you ever wanted to buy something from my store.
Uh, but you know, you, you’re somebody that waits for a discount. Here you go. And I was able to, it was just a 48 hour flash sale. I was able to cover 75 percent of those repairs. So it was a little over, uh, 6, 000 we made. Um, Hello, that’s amazing. If I didn’t take my email list, seriously. Throwing a flash sale would have just been like, eh, whatever.
She’s just trying to get money. But because I was consistent, remember I always share about my email staircase, follower, friend, customer, right? Friends know that you are invested in them. Friends trust you, right? So because I had been investing in my list for a very long time, at that point, people trusted me, they wanted to help and they thought, Hey, I’m getting a good deal.
It’s a win win. And so, yeah, I was able to make, you know, I think just, it was right around the 6, 000 mark and cover 65, or I’m sorry, 75 percent of my repairs, which was great for my bank account, uh, great for the, the mind of my bookkeeper, right? Because she always panics when, if things get, I don’t want to get too low.
She’s a great bookkeeper. Uh, anyway, it was awesome. My email list totally saved the day on that. And speaking of my bookkeeper, we’re actually going to rewind here and talk about, it was, uh, I think June 2021. So about a year before, uh, the, the Bronco breakdown, we’ll say. Angelica, my bookkeeper, we had it, we had a meeting, we have a meeting every week, or I’m sorry, every month and we get on the call.
She’s pulling some numbers and she said, you know, Liz, you just didn’t make enough in the last two months. I’m going to have to pull from your savings account to cover your salary and expenses. And who, if you didn’t get from number two, I really don’t like pulling from my savings account. My savings account, My friend i’ve got a pretty uh, deep financial insecurity.
Um, and so pulling from my savings makes me A little a little less than excited we’ll say So I was like, okay. Well, I don’t like that. You know, we’re gonna have to do it So we’ll do it but I thought lint’s like what the heck is your problem? Why don’t you have because at the time it was I just needed 6, 800 a month to cover my expenses and my salary.
I was like, why didn’t you make 6, 800 in the last two months? Well, it was because I was focused on, uh, you know, different things. I was trying to get clients. It was summer and, you know, in the, I’m going to talk I live in, the northern hemisphere, like the summer is kind of slow. And so I was, but I was determined and I thought, well, what if I just go to my email list instead of trying to find clients outwardly, like through referrals and on Facebook and wherever, what if I just ask my email list?
So I set up a page, of course, there’s always a little bit of work. They’re not just going to throw money at you. Okay. I set up a page that had all the services. Oh, actually, let me pause. What I did first is I sent out an email and I said, if I could write anything for you, what would it be? People replied, about pages, podcast pitches, sales pages, uh, an email sequence, sales emails, my welcome sequence, this, that, and the other, right?
I actually had quite a few replies and you know stuff like the about page or the Podcast pitching I wouldn’t have even thought of so I took all those ideas. I literally went to Liz Wilcox calm I Created a page on that site and I just put some prices, you know about page a hundred bucks podcast pitch 65, you know because I just I just needed money.
I wasn’t worried about Uh, you know, Oh, what can I, can I price it right? Whatever. I just, I didn’t want to dip out of that savings account again. So I sent that out to my list. I said, Hey, you guys told me you wanted ABCDEFG. I’ve now put ABCDEFG on a sales page. You can go and buy it. directly, like no sales calls, anything.
And so people bought, I sent them a series of questions instead of getting on a call, right? Because this, people bought quite a bit and I was able to, for, you know, July, August, September increase my monthly revenue by 000. So now it was, Yeah. Very close, if not over hitting 10, 000 a month because of this page.
And no, people didn’t search Liz Wilcox and go to that page and buy. How did people buy? They bought through the email list, me putting it in every email, you know, PS don’t forget you can purchase. Right here. P. S. Don’t forget. You can buy this right here. Right? So, anyway, that, those are three times my email list has saved me financially, is what I mean.
Right? It has given me money and it has saved me when I have been in a pickle. So next time you’re in a personal finance pickle, I hope you can have a story like this to get you out of it. And of course, if not, Remember, I’m the Fresh Princess of Email Marketing. I’ve got your back and coming up for Black Friday, November 25th through the 29th, I’m going to open up my annual pass where you get a year inside my membership for 108 bucks plus all my other products for free.
So if you’re listening to these stories and you’re thinking, Oh my gosh, Liz, that could never meet me. My email is, is dead or never responds. You know, a year full of templates you’re going to get so that you can, uh, you know, stay consistent, start to make connections, follow that email staircase, all that’s built into the template.
And you’re going to get, you know, pre launch templates. You’re going to get pre selling templates. You’re going to get an entire launch course. It’s 500. You’re going to get that for free. You’re going to get, uh, you know, an entire week on metrics. Also, if you just say, Liz, my list isn’t big enough. To you know make any significant income next year.
We’re also doing three list building challenges So the entire year we’re going to be growing that list. That is 108 bucks open november 25th through the 29th Let’s get you out of those financial pickles with your email list All right. I’m liz wilcox. You are awesome Go to lizwilcox. com slash waitlist to get on the waitlist for that annual pass And I will see you on the next episode of the email sound booth.