That subject line makes my stomach drop. Every time I see it coming across as test messages as my team and I are preparing this email, I get a little punch in the gut – even though I WROTE the subject line and I know I’m testing this email!
I don’t want to make a huge mistake. And I definitely don’t want to get an email from someone telling me I did.
Part of me is always expecting it though.
Recently I did a major launch and sent daily emails to my list. I don’t do this often but it was a program I really wanted to make sure everyone knew about. I know there are ways to segment email lists and 9,000 things I’m doing wrong. But sending those emails to the whole list was the choice I made.
I knew better; but I did my best.
I knew people would unsubscribe (very few did!) and I had to trust that those people weren’t meant to be on my list.
Then I got the email…. The “You’ve made a huge mistake” email that I spend so much of my time dreading and fearing.
What’s worse is that the email was from one of my favorite clients. Here’s what she said:
“You’ve been sending me marketing emails every day, which really feels like spam… It makes me want to stop opening your messages… Not good. Please kindly stop marketing to me every day…”
Ugh! I made a huge mistake.
This, of course, is my biggest fear, and at the same time worrying about it makes me not want to do any marketing at all. If I stay small I won’t make huge mistakes.
I wrote back to my friend/client:
“I wish I could do it perfectly and have the right lists and the right number of emails to make everyone happy. I really do. Like seriously sign me up for being perfect.”
I so desperately want to do everything right with my business and what I’ve learned in the 4 or 5 years I’ve been doing it is that – I can’t!
I can’t avoid making mistakes and you can’t either – not if you want/need to get your message out there.
There will be mistakes in your book, mistakes in your Facebook posts, mistakes in the emails you send.
So we get to decide. Do we mute our voices and avoid making a huge mistake? Or do we risk offending people, annoying people, maybe even hurting people by putting ourselves out there.
As much as I want to be perfect, I want to make a difference with my message more. I’m sorry that this means I’ll get unsubscribes or people who think I’m a spammer. I’ll continue to try to improve my processes and make fewer mistakes. But I wake up every morning knowing, I’m probably going to make a huge mistake in someone else’s eyes – maybe even someone I really admire – and that’s just what I have to do to make the difference I want to make.
Maybe each huge mistake is really just a little badge of courage….
How will you be brave today?
