You Asked Me That Already and When I Answered...I'm Lame for Not Investing

More sales funnel failure...

There’s no shortage of people waiting to tell me what’s wrong with me based on my attitude about money.

I believe people deserve to get paid for their efforts; however, I think most of the time, these efforts are overpriced.

There’s a fine line between wanting to help people, and being focused on making money.

That’s a line I don’t want to dance around…

I’m not here for the millions.

I’m not here for the marble countertops.

I don’t need multiple homes. I can only live in one at a time.

I’m not out here getting massages and getting my nails done.

I’m here to help.

I want to help you. I want to help ex-cons, homeless, young people, old people, and anyone willing to put in the work and learn.

A tale of a broken funnel…

A couple of months ago, I had an email exchange with one of the writers I follow on X and here on Substack as well.

I have a talent for finding egomaniacs who sound smart and seem to have things figured out.

This is an exchange with the most recent iteration. I will not mention who it is as that’s not what this is about.

I looked at the offer...typical: Buy my thing for $497 - price doubling soon.

Then I got the "I noticed you checked out my stuff, but didn't buy" email, so I decided to respond...with hesitance.

You see, this is one of those people who likes to use people who email him as fodder to sell more stuff: "This is Ava. Her mindset is wrong. Don't be Ava. Buy my thing!"

I think this is so sleazy.

I feel like if I'm selling something and you don't want to buy it, fair enough. When I hit the grocery store and opt out of a steak, there's not some guy telling me my mindset is wrong. If you want a steak, you'll buy it.

Ok, I gotta know…

I noticed you’ve thought about joining [omitted], but you haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

Is there a reason you haven’t joined?

What’s holding you back? It’ll help me learn what we can do better on [omitted].

You can be blunt honest with me.

Hit reply and tell me the reason you haven’t joined [omitted].

And yes, it will actually be me who responds. Not some AI bot.

Talk soon,

[omitted]

So, I replied:

[omitted],

I hesitate to reply as I don't want to become fodder for your email. "Here's Ava and she's letting limiting beliefs stop her. Don't be Ava."

Quite simply, I don't have $497.

If I had $497, I wouldn't spend it on your challenge course thing. I would pay my bills.

I'm on your list because you provide value to me as a writer. I'm probably the hardest sell you'll ever encounter.

I've been writing online since 2001. I have 13-ish books. I've tried it all. I've seen it all. I've bought a lot of it.

I'm the definition of insanity. I keep logging into this computer every day and typing into the void hoping someday something will change.

I have a small list of about 100 people on Substack. I have a handful of clients. I'm currently stuck in that world to try to make ends meet....badly.

I'm doing my own thing. I'm exploring the realm of my own original ideas. I have a daily writing habit established, and I have faith that something amazing will rise from the body of that work one day.

People have lives and real situations and struggles. Sending you 2x my car payment just isn't in the cards for me.

I hope you don't use my story to sell more. I really dislike that business model.

All the best,

Ava

Hey Ava,

Your mindset is wired for scarcity. The reason is you refuse to get help from someone who's figured it out. 

Just showing up every day and doing the same thing with no real results and expecting things to change is the definition of insanity. Hope isn't a strategy. 

If you're ever willing to change your mind then let me know. Your email makes me sad. 

Regards,

[omitted]

I had a lot of thoughts hence the reason I'm writing about all this now, but I was very hesitant to go back and forth with him more than one more time for fear he would start whining about me wasting his time.

[omitted],

No need to be sad for me. While it may seem I'm treading a worn circle of directionless hell, I'm no quitter. Nearly half my life I've been at this online thing.

I've recently begun exploring words coupled with artwork and perhaps therein lies my calling.

[attached a piece of my art]

Not complete shite, right? All hand-drawn...no fonts.

As I said, I find value in your emails...I'm just not the target audience for your thing you're selling.

Thanks for your time...I'm sorry if you found it a waste.

Warm Regards,

Ava

I disagree. You're the exact target audience. Someone who's been doing it a lifetime and still has no traction. 

Not being a quitter doesn't make you successful. Some people should quit, especially if their hearts not into it or they've never got any results. 

Just sounds like you don't value your time. You'd rather waste decades going it alone and never getting help, than save time and just figure it out. 

Like I said, I don't get this mindset. Wishing you all the best Ava. Much love.

Regards,

[omitted]

He accomplished one thing he intended with his words....to make me think about what he said. He's all up in my head, rent free.

However, it's not in the way he wishes.

First off, he's stereotyped me as the average person. He doesn't know enough about me to make any of the statements in his email like:

• Has no traction

• Never got any results

• It sounds like I don't value my time

• I'd rather waste decades than ask for help

You must not know 'bout me!

• You just called my 100 subscribers "no traction", but I bet somewhere in that course thing you're selling, you say something like, "if you can get 1 subscriber, you can get 100, and if you can get 100, you can get 100,000."

• No results, you say? So, the decade I've spent working from home for myself is an illusion?

• I value my time more than anything. Time is a finite resource. Not only am I unwilling to give you $497, I'm also not willing to give you hours of my time to watch you drone on in videos about whatever you do to achieve success.

• Hmmm...so I wasn't asking for help when I used online resources to teach myself WordPress, Self-Publishing, and Book Formatting? You're right. I didn't ask for the help. I sought it out and found what worked for me timewise and money-wise.

This entire business model is garbage.

Here’s what I want to know…where did this guy learn this from? Who did he pay to teach him?

What Mr. [omitted] has are some canned high-pressure sales skills. His responses to me are designed to appeal to my emotions and deal with my objections...maybe even annoy me a little. Maybe I will get pissed enough to buy his thing just to prove him wrong.

Boom, he lines his pocket with my $497.

Maybe if he can convince me I'm frustrated enough, I'll buy his thing.

Boom, he lines his pocket with my $497.

My email makes him sad. Maybe if I'm ashamed enough for ruining his day, I will buy his thing to fix it.

Boom......you get the gist.

Share this? It will help me immensely and not cost you a dime.

I call BS on all of it.

I think the time of selling methods to get rich online is past. This scam machine has overrun it's bounds like an unruly river.

We are not talking about a piece of software or anything remotely tangible. For $497, you only get Mr. [omitted]'s experience, some vanity metrics to strive for, and what has worked for him once or twice.

Newsflash: There are no shortcuts to making money online. You cannot pay to win. The experience you gain by creating your own path is something you can't, and shouldn't try to sell or buy.

And again…

I guess I looked at it again because the guy sent out a promo code for $100 off. Generous, but still not affordable.

So what did I get?

I got the Ok, I gotta know… email again.

That’s broken.

I still don’t have whatever it is I need to prove my worth…including the $497 or $397.

Should I respond?

I might if I can come up with a troll. haha

I wonder how many times we can trigger the same broken email? He probably uses ConvertKit…it’s just Kit now. Not a fan.

Final Thoughts

Sales funnels are stupid.

I have some great stuff coming, and none of it includes a sales funnel…at least not on my end.

I can’t say I’ll never promote something that includes a sales funnel, but I can say anything I promote, I will have purchased myself.

Would you like to ask me anything?

Join my Discord community and participate in our first event on Wednesday. A Q&A with yours truly.