- Marketer Milk
- Posts
- You're closer than u think
You're closer than u think
Three years ago, I decided to visit my best friend in NYC.
On the last night of my trip, while walking down Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, I felt a rush through my entire body that screamed MOVE HERE NOW.
At the time, I had no plans to move to NYC, so I wasn’t sure where this feeling came from. But I had felt it once before in my life. And listening to it then had completely changed the trajectory of everything.
So the next morning, before heading to the airport back to LA, I half-jokingly applied for a Head of Growth role at a fintech startup in New York. I hit submit, then got in my Uber to the airport.
In the car, just 30 minutes after sending my application, the CEO emailed me asking if I could meet for coffee in an hour. I told him no, and that I was on my way to the airport but could meet via Zoom the next day.
When I got to the airport, my flight got delayed. Then delayed again. Delayed one more time. And then canceled. I called my friend to ask if I could come back and stay an extra night at his place. On the ride back into the city, I emailed the CEO and told him we could meet for coffee in the morning.
That morning, while at Pret A Manger on Park Ave, I got the job offer on the spot.
It was the easiest role I ever got.
“I guess I’m moving to NYC,” I thought to myself.
Then, people told me how hard it would be to find an apartment and that I should start looking ASAP.
I toured a couple of places, applied to the first spot I saw, and got the place. Easiest rental process I’ve ever experienced.
It all seemed so easy, almost like it was meant to happen.
But four months later, I found myself extremely unfulfilled in my role. I didn’t care about fintech and the expected 11 hour days didn’t feel productive or sustainable.
My escape plan was to start freelancing for the first time. I would give my 2 weeks, and in that process, I would figure out how to sell SEO services to software companies.
So the next day, I put in my 2 weeks. But was told, “No need for 2 weeks, you can just leave right now.” Ouch.
I walked home feeling like a free man.
Then, it started to sink in. What did I just do?! My expenses are extremely high in NYC. I’m 4 months into a 12-month lease. I have 3 months of runway. I’m screwed if I don’t figure something out.
That night, I sat on the floor in my apartment on a freezing December night and had a full-blown panic attack.
What have I done? Why did I move here? How am I going to find my first client? Do I need to make a website for my services? Do I need to have process docs and a bunch of testimonials to get started? OMG! This is too much, how am I going to do all of this?
To try and calm myself down, I went for a run. I wasn’t even a runner before this. And on that run, I realized that if I think about the mountain of work ahead of me, I would lose before I even started.
I realized in order to do the things you want to do, you need to build momentum. And you have to start extremely small. My task for the next day was to send just 1 email to a company I’d like to work with.
That’s it.
Whether it took me 10 minutes or 5 hours, it was all I was going to do. Only one promise to myself.
So the next day, while at the NYC public library on 5th Ave and 42nd Street, I opened LinkedIn. Found a startup I knew I could help. And emailed the founder.
No outreach tools. I spent 3 hours crafting one email. I did a full analysis of the website, created a sample of an SEO content strategy, and told them I would write a blog post for free and rank it just to show them I knew what I was talking about.
I clicked send, closed my laptop, and went for a long run to try and dump all the anxiety out of me.
The next day, I did the exact same thing. 1 email, hyper-personalized, crafted with care.
And the next day, I did it one more time.
3 days passed by, 3 emails sent, and I got 1 reply that led to a call.
One week later, that call turned into my first $6,500/month client.
Then, I said no more outreach. I’m going to figure out my entire workflow with this client and deliver the best possible service. After a month, I felt confident enough to find more clients.
This time, I sent 3 highly personalized emails a day over 1 week. 2 calls came out of it. One client signed for $10K/month and another for $13K/month. Mind you, this all happened through email threads. I didn’t even have a website for my services.
In just 60 days, I went from having a panic attack in my bedroom, not knowing how I was going to pay my rent, to making more money than I ever did at a 9-5 job.
I say this story because I’m not special, and it’s not original. It happens to millions of people. Your life can change so fast. But you need to build momentum. And that doesn’t mean going crazy on day one. It means giving yourself grace and starting with an embarrassingly small to-do list and building on it.
When you make a promise to yourself, and you follow through, it builds your self-confidence. The biggest mistake you can make is promising yourself too many things at once. 1 small task and follow through. Show up in some way every day. And watch your life completely transform.
And here’s a last reminder: if life feels great right now, remember when it didn’t. Things changed. They always do. If life isn’t great right now, remember when it was. That time will come again. It’s all cyclical.
Good or bad, remind yourself you’re okay either way. Things will always work out for your good.
With that, let's get into what we have in store this week (lots of good stuff):
Marketing news from the past week
How to use Deep Research for GTM
David Protein’s email strategy
The best keyword research tools
Ads for high-price vs low-price products
Ad in the wild
Website of the week
Cool marketing jobs
And much more
🗞 In the news
🚀 All things growth & product
💭 Guess the riddle
What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?
Answer is at the bottom of this email
🤖 AI, emails, & copywriting
✍️ SEO & content marketing
🧠 Wild card
📣 Ad in the wild
A clever jab at a competitor 👀
💻 Website of the week
🏝 Cool marketing jobs
(If you’re a copywriter with SEO experience, and you’re looking for work, reply to this email with some work samples!)
Okay, that's it for now 💜. See you in the next edition!
What did you think of this newsletter? |
“Whatever you desire for yourself, affirm it for others, and it will help you both. We reap what we sow. If we send out thoughts of love and health, they return to us like bread cast upon the waters; but if we send out thoughts of fear, worry, jealousy, anger, hate, etc., we will reap the results in our own lives.” — Charles F. Haanel
Riddle answer: Your left hand.
🤳 Social media, paid ads, & branding