if your email list doesn’t feel real, this is why

Happy Monday!

I’m leaving for a 3-week safari across Uganda and Tanzania on Friday.

This trip has been in the works for over two years..

And as you can imagine, I’m pretty psyched about it :)

The #1 thing I’m looking forward to is the gorilla trekking.

Getting to see a silverback gorilla up close and in nature is going to be incredible.

I suspect it will be similar to the first time I saw an elephant when I was in Southeast Asia.

There’s something so majestic and regal about them.

(Except with gorillas, apparently you have to remember NOT to make eye contact… unless you want to get torn limb from limb 😅)

Anyhow:

I’ve had to grab a ton of new gear over the past few months to prep for the trip…

Including:

- Camera
- Binoculars
- Power bank
- And Meta glasses

Among other many things.

Now, up until recently, the trip didn’t really feel real…

But as soon as the packages started arriving and the Africa gear began piling up in my office…

Suddenly, it felt very real.

Why do I bring this up?

Aside from wanting to bask in my pre-trip excitement…

The same thing applies to email lists.

Most list owners can tell you how many subscribers they have…

They can log into their CRM and show you a dashboard with opens and clicks…

But a list is a pretty abstract thing when it only exists as a number inside your software.

it doesn’t really feel real until it does something while you’re away from your desk.

Whether it’s a reader replying to an email you wrote a week ago…

Or a sale coming in while you’re eating dinner in the middle of the Serengeti.

That moment where you look at it and think…

“Holy crap, this thing actually works!"

And if that moment hasn’t happened for you yet…

It doesn’t mean your list is broken.

Instead, it usually means you haven’t done the “prep work”…

Aka cultivate a real relationship with your subscribers through daily storytelling.

This is how you transform your email list from an abstract database into a concrete and cash-flowing asset.

Day by day…

Story by story…

And email by email.

The same way I prepped for this trip, box by box.

That’s all I got for ya today, though ✌️

Jim Hamilton

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