Email Rainmaker FAQ - Will Be Updated Over Time
A Guide To Navigating This Publication
Welcome future Rainmaker.
Not sure how you got here, but you’re probably wondering what this is about. So, below is a FAQ to determine “am I in the right place?” It will be updated regularly.
*The content layout here is influenced by the BowTiedBull and Guardian Academy Substacks.*
What is the Email Rainmaker?
A documentation of how I built a multi-million dollar one-person business by sending one email a day.
Here you will find strategies, tactics, tools, and stories from in-the-trenches to help you start and grow your business.
The main topic will of course be email. But will also include internet money, content, marketing, sales, and investing (real estate and crypto). My core strategy is to make money online, buy passive cash-flowing assets offline.
I’m writing the articles here as if I were giving it to myself 5 years ago, to get the best results in the fastest and simplest way possible.
I aim for every post to be actionable, insightful, and useful.
To learn more about our core principles check out the 10 Rainmaker Commandments here.
Why Are You Here?
You’re reading this post because:
#1 - Myself or somebody else told you to check out Email Rainmaker and here you are.
Take a look around to see if you vibe with it.
#2 - You work a 9-5 and feel like you aren’t living your purpose.
As you read through the articles here you may determine that an internet business is the right move to help you live the life you want. You’ll find posts here to help you get going.
#3 - You already have a business and want to make it better.
Maybe you’ve determined email is the missing link that could unlock the next level in your business. Maybe you’re looking for more efficient ways to generate leads and get customers/clients. Or maybe you just want to make a lot more money and you’re on the hunt for strategies, tactics, and tools to help you do so.
Whatever the case may be, you’re looking to improve your business and make more money.
And you’re in the right place to do that.
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Depending on your situation, you may at some point want to sign up for one of my paid offerings to help you go faster. I’ll be honored to help you if that day comes, but don’t rush it. Take your time and only pull the trigger when you are ready.
Why Am I Here?
To show you what has worked for me, and hopefully it will be useful to you too.
One Sentence Background: 4 years in a 9-5 as a Project Manager, built and sold an ecom business, built a lead generation agency, built a consulting / info business, own 10+ rental properties, have 6-figure stock and crypto portfolio, audience+email list of 100k+, written an email every day since January 2020, currently launching a new ecom supplement company.
I am not a guru. I don’t claim to have all the answers. But I can show you what has helped me to become a millionaire in my early 30s and live what I think is a pretty sweet life, with 100% control over what I do, when I do it, and who I do it with.
Self-sufficiency is a superpower. I’m committed to learning and becoming more self-sufficient every day. And I’m committed to sharing what works for me here, so that you can do the same.
If you’re here to consume all of my free stuff, that’s totally cool. Take action on what is useful for you. If you’re able to use the info here to remove anxiety, improve your financial position, build a better life for you and your family, and deliver more value to the world, I consider that a huge win. Just let me know so I can brag about you :-)
But I do offer ways of going deeper if you want to plug in to the community and have some more guidance along the way.
Paid Subscription and Q&A
Paid subscribers get access to the full spectrum of posts here and can ask questions related to the post in the comments.
They also get access to ongoing goodies like AMA sessions, templates, and in-depth business and campaign breakdowns.
Before you join though, spend time reading through the free posts to see if it’s useful.
I prefer to work with people who make a calculated decision to work with me, versus someone who bought on impulse. My best clients typically start as skeptics then sign on if they find it useful.
When you’re ready…
Here are some reasons you might decide to join.
Tone / Writing Style
My style is direct. It’s straight to the point, no fluff.
I write like I talk.
I write what I believe in.
I write from experience, not theory.
This site is not for soft people who want to be coddled. I have no patience for victim mentality and “woe is me” behavior. And frankly it annoys the hell out me.
Some call it tough love. Others find it mean. I’m just sharing my reality and truths from experience. And I’m choosing to tailor my message to the winners.
Winners like direct communication because it’s efficient. Time is money and they want both.
I hope by being direct with you, you’re able to build the life you want as efficiently and enjoyably as possible.
What Is A Rainmaker?
“A person who generates income for a business or organization by brokering deals or attracting clients or funds.” — Google
That’s pretty accurate for our purposes.
A Rainmaker is someone with the money-making skills to make it rain in any economy. They are skilled in marketing, selling, creating, writing, and speaking.
Self-sufficiency is a superpower and Rainmakers don’t depend on anyone to get what they want.
Rainmakers understand money itself doesn’t make you happy, but it removes anxiety and buys you access to things+experiences that do make you happy.
Rainmakers love leverage, where they get maximum output for every ounce of input.
When you become a Rainmaker you rest easy knowing that no matter what happens, and even if everything were taken from you, you could get up to a doctor’s annual salary within a few months.
Rainmakers love email for the reasons below.
Why Email?
Every day people are in their email inbox. I like using distribution channels where my people already are, and they don’t need to be educated on how to use it.
A study found 99% of email users check their email every day, with some checking 20 times a day. The first thing any website or company asks you for, sometimes even before your name, is your email address.
Email is a highly leveraged and profitable channel. Take a look at any “top marketing and sales channels” and you’ll find email in the top 2 of every list. The amount of work to send an email is no different whether you’re sending to 100 subscribers or 1,000,000,000 (leverage).
It’s the easiest way to build a lean, extremely profitable multi-million dollar business with just 1-3 people.
The biz plan is simple:
Build a list and mail it.
The Master Plan
Step 1 - You work a 9-5 but want a better life and know you’re meant for more
You know you’re underpaid and that a job isn’t going to get you to your goals.
Step 2 - You learn a valuable skill.
Spend 10,000 hours learning and practicing a skill.
If you don’t have already have monetizable skills, learn something related to making money. Copywriting and sales. Copywriting is really just salesmanship in print.
Reason to focus on money-making skills is it’s easiest to get someone to pay you $1000 if you make them $2000+ (money at a discount).
If you already have a skill that other people would pay to learn, you can skip to step 4.
Step 3 - You sell that skill.
There are 3 ways to sell and deliver your skill. All 3 of these can be delivered digitally.
You can start off with Done-For-You (DFY) which means you are doing the work for the client. This is the easiest to sell because you’re taking work off their plate, but hardest to fulfill as you grow. You will hit a cap on how many clients you can take on due to time constraints. That’s when you can move to…
Done-With-You (DWY) where you are doing the work with the client. This could be 1-on-1 or in a group setting. It’s harder to sell than DFY because now the client is taking a share of the work. The upside is it’s easier to fulfill and scale. The final stage where most people try (and fail) to start at is…
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) where you productize your expertise and the customer implements themselves. There is no involvement needed from you because it’s included in the product. This is by far the hardest to sell. You need an existing distribution channel (audience or email list) and a ton of proof showing your thing works. The upside is infinite scale because you’re just selling access to a digital product.
^This is the order I followed and would recommend for most people unless you already have a distribution channel and track record.
Step 4 - You use your skills to build a product business.
There aer 2 types of product businesses you can build.
Info / Digital Products. Recommended if you want to sell your advice. The profit margins can be 95%+ with this type of business because there are no COGS with digital products. You literally sell access to a product. The downside is you’ll have a hard time exiting the business since it’s tied to you. It’s primarily a cashflow business.
Ecom / Physical Products. Recommended if you want to build a brand not attached to you. Physical products are typically easier to sell because the customer gets to hold and use a tangible product. This is a business you can exit for 3-5x annual profit. The downside is profit margins are a lot lower than digital products, 20-50%.
You would use your Rainmaker skills to build, grow, and scale your own products instead of working with clients. Or at least have the option to stop working with clients.
Step 5 - You invest profits into passive / semi-passive cash-flowing vehicles.
I like investments that produce cashflow, which for me are dividend stocks and real estate. Depending on the market conditions I will also invest in riskier vehicles such as crypto.
For example, as I type this in March 2024, we are heading into another bull run. Bitcoin just reached a new all-time high and other coins are following. I’ve shifted a bigger part of my portfolio to crypto because of this, even if it doesn’t produce monthly cashflow like real estate.
Ultimately the goal is to reach “Financial Freedom” where your investment income pays for your lifestyle. You get there by producing income from your business and investing the profits.
Make money online. Buy cash-flowing assets offline. Repeat until financially free.
Financial Freedom
You are financially free when your investment income pays for your lifestyle even if you stop working. Food, shelter, travel, fun, etc. This number will be different for everyone depending on where and how you live.
Let’s say my lifestyle costs $30,000/month. I am financially free once I have $30,000/month coming in from investments.
So let’s say investing in rental properties is my main investing vehicle and I make $600/mo profit per rental property. I would need 50 properties to reach my financial freedom number of $30,000/mo.
Let’s say the average home cost with repairs is $100,000. That would be $5,000,000. And let’s say I need 20% down to pay for the homes. That means I need $1,000,000 to invest into buying 50 homes which would give me financial freedom. That $1,000,000 would come from business profits and compounding investment income.
Make sense?
I’ll be talking more about investing vehicles here soon.
Simple Financial Framework
We are builders first, investors second. We create value through our business then invest the profits.
The order:
Increase income
Decrease expenses and debt
Invest the overage
Increasing your income through an internet business or hustle is first. Why?
Unless you are lottery-level lucky, you aren’t going to become rich through investing. Investing requires you to have capital. If your job or business isn’t producing income, you have nothing to invest.
So get your income up first, pay off any bad debts you have, then invest the profits.
I like real estate, dividend stocks, and crypto as my vehicles.
Time x Frequency = Success
You may be just getting started. You may be feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.
That’s okay, it’s normal.
Here’s what to do:
Have an idea of your end goal. Your North Star.
Then take small, consistent steps every day to make your goal a reality.
I’m often asked how I got good at writing and sending money-making emails.
Simple. The same way you get good at anything.
I wrote an email every day (Frequency)…
And stayed at it for 4 years (Time).
One step at a time. One day at a time.