Here’s what just happened at the Olympic Games in Paris: 19 days of competition 329 events 10,500+ athletes 37 new world records But what do you actually remember? Simone Biles overcoming the ‘twisties’, coming back stronger than ever, then dropping to one knee to salute the teammate who beat her to the gold. Steve “Clark Kent” Nedoroscik soling the Rubik’s cube then taking off his glasses and executing a near-perfect pommel horse routine. Tom Daly crocheting medal holders for his fellow...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I was scrolling through my email, looking for things to delete, when I saw an email from a business friend. Out of loyalty, I opened it. The email was full of great, life-changing information. Sadly, what she wrote in the FIRST LINE guaranteed that almost no one would read it. What did she do wrong? And how can you avoid it? I’m glad you asked. I made you a video to explain, so that your emails won’t end up unread and in the trash. (it will also explain why there’s a cow in the title of this...
10 months ago • 1 min read
“How many emails can you write in a day?” The question shouldn’t have surprised me. I’m a creative writer and I help people with email marketing, after all. But I hadn’t really examined my own email-writing practice. So I’m doing the experiment now. How many emails can I write today, on a day I have set aside for batch-writing? I’ll let you know... I know this, though: writing goes much faster when you know what you want to say. If I’m writing a scene for a novel and I don’t know what I want...
10 months ago • 1 min read
A well-used bike rack outside an unassuming red-brick office building in Hanover, Germany is the only clue that the structure is full of students. Even less obvious is that something strange is going on inside, with Artificial Intelligence…and cats. The building is Hannover’s University of Veterinary Medicine and they’ve been working with researchers in israel to develop a machine learning algorithm to ‘read’ the cat’s facial expressions and assess their level of pain. Any good vet will tell...
10 months ago • 1 min read
"Be a frigging human being. That's storytelling in a nutshell." I had a blast this week interviewing email marketing legend and fast-talking New Yorker, Ryan Lee. Ryan has spent the past 25 years building (and selling) businesses and through it all he has relied on email to keep his audience close. We talked about how Ryan uses storytelling in his email marketing why he changed his approach recently and how that's working out how he ensures his storytelling is relevant and valuable to his...
12 months ago • 1 min read
I’m sitting here listening to the rain from Tropical Storm Ophelia drumming on the leaves of the big maple tree outside my window, and working on my slides for this Thursday’s first Clickable Content Workshop. (I love a rainy day from time to time. How about you?) Anyhoo…yes, the Clickable Content Workshop will be kicking off on Thursday with a key skill: the 5-Sentence Story structure that you can use over and over to write story-based emails quickly…and on any topic. (Yes, you!) But I know...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
“This changes everything.” High above the Kalambo Falls in Zambia, archaeologist Larry Barham was excavating a so-called Stone Age settlement. Digging deep into the sodden earth in the former floodplain, Larry and his team made a startling discovery that has upended our understanding about human history. How does this relate to you, your business, and how humans make buying decisions? I made a short video explaining it all, and you can find it here. Julie P. S. Save the date: Sept 28, 2023....
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
A year ago I was in a bar in Phoenix, Arizona, with a friend and…no, it wasn’t actually as glamorous as I made that sound. It wasn’t a dusty saloon with tumbleweeds rolling by. It was a clinically-white modern hotel lobby, without a single dust bunny, never mind a tumbleweed. Anyhoo, my point is, my friend was trying to convince me--a professional writers and storyteller-- to teach her a little bit about storytelling so that she could make her business emails more appealing. Your audience...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, I'm so happy you're here to hear more about storytelling for entrepreneurs. I'm checking the tires and rolling the maps, ready for us to set off on this journey together, but while I do that, I have a little story for you: Once Upon A Time It was 1977 and the long summer evenings of my British childhood were punctuated by the ‘thock, thock’ of white tennis balls hitting wood-framed racquets on every quiet street. For two weeks every June my whole world smelled of cut grass wafting...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read