27 April 2020
This week's additions focus on marketing, mindset, and product, with new digests from Joanna Wiebe, Noah Kagan, and Founders. Highlights include Your proposal is a sales page — write it like one. Users validate your copy so clients don't become the judge
Showing 41 digests for 27 April 2020.
Using conditional messaging to send more relevant emails
Joanna Wiebe
April 30, 2020
One email can behave like dozens of targeted sends.
Swap offers, testimonials, and hooks per subscriber tag.
Pitch this instead of full segmentation to win client trust.
Practical SEO tools and free Google resources for non-experts
Joanna Wiebe
April 30, 2020
Search Console shows exactly which keywords drive traffic to each page.
A Chrome extension can replace 15 minutes of manual Search Console navigation.
Google's free tools tell you why your site is slow — and what to fix.
Closing techniques
YouTube
How to script a launch sales video using the big idea framework
Joanna Wiebe
April 30, 2020
Closing techniques
10
Copywriting
8
Niche selection
6
The big idea is named from the end result, never invented from scratch.
Your path to the big idea makes your offer impossible to replicate.
Honor the prospect's new identity before they believe it themselves.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Jason Calacanis: Building a media and investing empire from scratch
Acquired
April 29, 2020
Founder interviews
10
Fundraising & VC
7
Pivoting
6
Lost a $12M media empire in the dot-com crash, rebuilt in 18 months
First Sequoia Scout turned $700K into $100M+ backing Uber and Stripe
Angel investing requires 20–40 bets, not 1–5, to capture outlier returns
How a speaker box manufacturer pivoted to PPE during COVID-19 lockdown
Bill Gallagher
April 29, 2020
Pivoting
10
Management
8
Outsourcing & delegation
6
CNC speaker machinery repurposed to manufacture FDA-approved face shields
Revenue collapsed 80% in a week — full workforce rehired within a month
17 years of Asia sourcing unlocked mask supply when US shelves were empty
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Working from home productively: tips on focus, energy and team culture
How I Work
April 29, 2020
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
8
Work-life balance
7
Align deep work to your chronotype — most people get this wrong.
Stopping mid-sentence makes re-entering flow almost effortless.
Remote culture is built by rituals you repeat, not values you state.
How to build a lead generation quiz that grows your mailing list
Joanna Wiebe
April 29, 2020
Funnels
9
Content marketing
7
Quizzes convert because humans are hardwired to want personalised insights
Reverse-engineer from your business goal before picking a quiz topic
Quiz results need four sections: ego boost, action steps, brand intro, next step
Four productized services freelance copywriters can sell today
Joanna Wiebe
April 29, 2020
Business models
8
Sales systems & CRM
7
Conversion rate optimisation
5
Adding a buy button beats invoicing — clients must pay online at purchase
Split any service under $1,000 to dramatically improve conversion rates
Copy School templates let you deliver four services without starting from scratch
Crisis leadership lessons from General Stanley McChrystal
Masters of Scale
April 28, 2020
Management
9
Resilience & grit
7
Long-term planning
6
Why admitting you don't have a plan earns more trust than faking certainty
If you have 20 priorities, you have none — real courage is cutting
Organizations run on pre-crisis muscle memory longer than leaders realize
Resilience & grit
YouTube
What a difficult ayahuasca experience taught about courage and self-discovery
Noah Kagan
April 28, 2020
Resilience & grit
8
Identity & self-belief
7
Running shirtless into the dark wasn't the failure — coming back was the point.
No one is coming to save you; the answers are already inside.
Any deliberate challenge works; ayahuasca is one tool, not the only one.
Facebook Ads Strategy for Growing an Email List
Noah Kagan
April 27, 2020
Paid ads
9
Conversion rate optimisation
8
Copywriting
6
Instagram Stories remarketing gets email sign-ups for half the cost of prospecting
Dark posts accumulate social proof across ad sets, directly lowering CPMs
Fix the landing page opt-in before scaling spend — low CPC with zero conversions is a page problem