the JV clusterf#ck

a very sweary email about something important ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  I told my team I wasn’t going to use the word "circle jerk" in this email. …but I’m going to need a takeback. It’s about affiliate promotions. A while back, after three solid years of sweating my balls off promoting other people’s programs, I decided to take a year-long break from affiliate promotions.  My main concerns were: - I wanted to give our own programs a chance. I wanted Email Stars to be our main focus. I wanted to re-record the program from scratch and put the same promotional muscle behind it that I had previously put behind programs like Digital Course Academy, Impacting Millions and B-School. - My subscribers were getting caught in a clusterfuck of affiliate promotions, and it felt gross. For a long time in online marketing for digital programs, there was a culture of "I’ll promote your thing if you promote mine." Since the same five or six people were promoting each other’s programs, that meant that subscribers were getting passed around between email lists until they were completely sucked dry of their resources… …and still feeling like a loser because none of it was making them successful. It was just an endless parade of newer and shinier launch strategies. First courses, now memberships, then high-ticket masterminds and somewhere in the middle a live event. Email subscribers were treated like a commodity for trade. So we exited stage left. We told all of our promotional partners that we were taking a year off. We took that time to gather ourselves. We rebuilt Email Stars and created a new program about copywriting, then refocused our efforts on better delivery and promotion of those two products. Eventually, we added affiliate offers back in. We don’t promote with the same fervor, but we do promote other people’s courses from time to time. Not as an exchange. Not because they agreed to promote ours. The digital course industry, as a whole, is undergoing a metamorphosis. I’m not sure what it will look like once we get to the other side of the pandemic and economic downturn everyone says is coming. Right now, it feels like my digital course business (and me!) is being squeezed through a wormhole. But I still believe in the digital course business model and will continue to promote it. I reject the "work from anywhere / make your own schedule" rhetoric. It’s hard work, and it’s a job like any other. Not having to commute is nice. Starting my day at 9:30 is nice. (Tho I’ve done my share of 5ams.) Having a career as a writer, something I’ve wanted since I was 8 years old, is the fuckin’ best. The startup cost is still super low compared to, say, opening a Tim Hortons franchise. We plan to stick with this business model. Sometime in August, I'll start talking about Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy, a program I’ve promoted in the past. We’re promoting it again this year, and we’ll get a commission on anyone who signs up through our link. It’s where I got my training, and it’s a course I still refer back to a few times a year. Later this summer you’ll start getting emails about some of Amy’s free training about creating a digital course, followed by a lite promotion for her program, which is widely considered to be one of the best on the market. (By people like me 🙋🏻‍♀️) It would help us create a more effective campaign if you told us: - "[Yes, I’m curious about creating a digital course.]( - "[Nope, not interested in Amy’s program.]( - "[I already own Digital Course Academy.]( I really do believe in the material that Amy teaches in Digital Course Academy. There are few people in the industry whose ability to DELIVER on their programs is equal to their ability to PROMOTE their programs. I’ve seen a lot of shiny marketing used to sell piles of garbage. That’s not Amy. She and her team are some of the industry’s best, especially for those of you who like a step-by-step, do-this-then-do-that style of learning. Amy’s way isn’t exactly my way. In fact, we disagree about lots of things. But my style of marketing and delivery is fundamentally a variation of a method I learned from her. So I feel confident promoting her program. Whether or not you receive the promotion, I felt it was time for an update on where we stand when it comes to affiliate marketing. And I’m keen to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you like getting emails about other people’s programs? Is it super annoying? Have you purchased a program through an affiliate offer before? Were you glad you did? Hit "reply" and let me know. Tarzan Want to access your fave emails on the go? Subscribe to the [Tarzan Reads Her Emails]( podcast]( to, well, hear Tarzan read her emails. 🤷‍♀️ [New recordings released every Tuesday and Friday. Exclusively for my email subscribers]( Enjoy the email? Why not share it with a friend? [Facebook](  [Twitter](  [Linkedin](  [Email]( Inbox getting a little crowded? Looking to reduce the number of emails you receive? I hear ya, {NAME}! Simply choose how often you want to hear from me by clicking one of the links below. 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