[This was originally an email to my list (Subject: About that 1M…). Shrimpers get my best stuff. Are you one of them yet? C’mon, get on the list!] At dinner the other night, my friend Avo told my husband, Steven, “You better install Ring [security system] on your door and put cameras everywhere, because this […]
KEEP READINGcopywriting
“Salt your cucumber” and other handpicked Talking Shrimp emails
Here’s a curated archive of Laura Belgray’s Talking Shrimp emails. That’s me, referring to myself in the third person, just in case it’s good for SEO. That’s also me, hoping lots of people are searching for “archive of Laura Belgray’s Talking Shrimp emails.” Or maybe “Best email newsletter examples from Talking Shrimp.” And that’s not […]
KEEP READING11 cries for help and expensive business mistakes Marie Forleo dug me out of in 2009
TRIVIA QUESTION: Do you know who’s behind the 8-figure juggernaut of an online course called “B-School”? If you’re saying “Marie Forleo,” yeah, duh. That’s the obvious answer. But, as I recently discovered, it’s not the whole answer. Looking for an old email in my inbox, I stumbled on one between me and Marie. It made […]
KEEP READINGEvery kind of writing I’ve ever been paid for (and two kinds that paid $zero).
“You have to be EL James or JK Rowling to make a decent living as a writer! Don’t even try! Get a real job!” Ever hear that? Ignore it. There are countless ways to get paid to write. To give you some ideas, I went all the way back to the early Nineties – the […]
KEEP READINGHow to charge your worth
I see a lot of blogs and Facebook conversations about “earning the income you deserve” and “charging what you’re worth.”
Blog post vs. email — the death match
What should go in my emails and what should go on the blog? Can they overlap? Should they be the same, or different? I struggled with this one for a long time. Here’s what I used to do:
KEEP READINGHow to sell art, photography, jewelry, luxury goods, entertainment, cupcakes, and anything else that doesn’t "solve a problem."
Have you noticed this? Entrepreneurs* love to get on the digital soapbox and yell, “YOU HAVE TO SOLVE A PROBLEM! IF YOU DON’T SOLVE A PROBLEM, YOU DON’T HAVE A BUSINESS.”
KEEP READINGHow to tap your talent
At my first job that didn’t involve cutting lemon wedges and pouring draught Beer for drunk, off-duty doormen, my father came to meet me one day for lunch.
KEEP READINGMake your name by doing the unsexy work. (AKA Puff Is Pissed, AKA Grownups Eating Ice Cream And Crying)
At the company off-site, they had tubs of ice cream waiting for us first thing in the morning. Breakfast of cry-babies.
KEEP READINGHow to follow up without being a nagging, passive-aggressive psycho
I had a housemate in college who’d leave messages on my answering machine like this: BEEEP! “Hey, just checking in, I was just wondering what you were planning to do with the spaghetti pot and some of the other stuff you left out on the counter. I’d clean them myself, it’s no big deal, but with […]
KEEP READING“Mansplaining” should never have been a word. (On the dopiest portmanteau ever, and how to make your own)
Chocoholic. Faux-hawk. Netiquette. Tanorexic. Jazzercise, glitterati, Brangelina. I love a good portmanteau. You know, that kind of word that’s a combo of two words and usually a twist on a longer one. Cassingle. Showmance. Mathlete. Sometimes it’s called a frankenword. It used to be called a “Sniglet” – coined in the 1980s by comedian Rich […]
KEEP READINGAfraid to repeat yourself? Take a tip from every dumb ’80s sitcom.
“Did I ever tell you about my crush at Camp Well-Met? Her name was Laura Mills…” “We know.” “Have I ever told you about Grandpa refusing to take illegal kickbacks in his lumber business during World War Two?” “We know.” “Have I ever told you about my time-efficiency study for Eastern Airlines? It saved the […]
KEEP READINGThe F-word I don’t use (and maybe you shouldn’t, either)
“Are you a freelancer?” When someone asks that, I nod yes-ish and answer, “I have a copywriting business.” I’ll call myself a consultant, a professional copywriter, an independent contractor. I’ll say I’m for hire. A free agent. Available for projects. A business owner. But I don’t say “freelancer.” Why? Because it sounds poor. Poor, and […]
KEEP READINGScrew bitcoin. Cash in on email instead. (21 ways to do it better!)
Put on stretch pants and settle in. This is a meaty one. Or, if you’re short on patience today, you can skip right to the goods with this table of contents: 7 Reasons Email is Great For LAZY Creative Types 9 Reasons Email Is So Powerful For Your Business 21 Tips For Emails People Actually […]
KEEP READING