This is the 400^th daily email I’ve sent since I started my newsletter in June 2022.

A momentous occasion indeed!

(*pops open the champagne*)

When I think back to the first bunch of daily emails I sent to my list (a merry band of 7 hardy men & women), one thing’s clear:

I had very little idea what I was doing.

As the days and weeks went on, this became increasingly obvious.

So I signed up to a bunch of other newsletters. I wanted to see what the best in the business were doing in the undercover, clandestine world of daily emails.

I joined an 8 week copywriting course to learn the fundamentals of engaging writing.

I invested in books & programs all about writing daily emails.

I studied, practiced and started honing my craft.

And, most important of all, I stuck with it.  I kept going.  Even when I went back to my old banking job last October and found a huge chunk of my weekday swallowed up by the 9 to 5.

Nowadays I have readers from exotic, far-flung places like South Africa, Dubai and Mexico City.

I even have one reader based in Romford!

And the fact that people across the world read my emails every day, reply to my emails and buy from my emails still makes me pinch myself.

These emails have come a long way.

Which brings me to the point I want to make:

When we start something new, it’s easy to focus on the fact that we’re not very good or we don’t know what we’re doing.

But facts like these are irrelevant.

If you’re just getting started you are, by definition, a beginner.  Which means you can take facts like these as read.

So the question isn’t where you’re starting out from.  A much more useful question is where do you want to go and how good do you want to be.

I’ve seen this idea play out in real-time with these emails.

And it’s equally true if you’re learning a new skill, picking up a new hobby or taking a big, bold step like starting a new job, side hustle or business.

Yes, you have to be okay with looking like a newbie.

Yes, you might have to swallow your pride.

And yes, there’s probably a learning curve.

But if you can shift your attention to where you want to get to, it doesn’t matter where you are today.

Something to keep in mind perhaps.

Here’s to the next 400!

 - Tom

p.s. I’m in a generous mood.

So I’m going to share another big learning from writing 400 emails.

This one isn’t a mindset shift.  Instead, it’s a learning directly applicable to writing a newsletter.

See, there’s one word which sums up my entire approach to writing these emails nowadays.  It’s a word I keep in mind every time I sit down behind my keyboard and start tapping away.

(right now is no exception)

And I’ve noticed the closer my emails align to this word, the more engagement they get.

It’s not a word like “inform” or “teach”.  And it’s got nothing to do with sharing stuff about my life.

In fact, it’s probably not what you’re thinking at all.

If you have your own newsletter, would like to have your own newsletter or you’re simply curious to discover the hidden ingredient which I think has taken my emails to the next level, I’m willing to spill the beans.

I feel like a magician revealing his closely guarded secrets.

But what the hell.  It’s a special day after all.

If you want to know this word, hit reply.

In your reply, let me know what you enjoy reading about in my emails and if there any specific emails of mine which stick in your head.

In return, I’ll email you back.

And I’ll share with you the one word which, 400 daily emails later, I believe holds the key to writing a newsletter which people look forward to reading and engaging with.