“You have an application for your email list? Isn’t that up to me to decide if I’m on your list or not?”

And herein lies the problem…

Earlier this year, I turned off all external opt-in points to my email list. Like most businesses with an email list, it used to be you could just go to my site, fill out a simple opt-in form, and immediately start getting my emails.

The same is true for 99.9% of online marketers.

“Build the list!”

It’s what we’re always told, right?

But I started noticing something a few years back…

My email list is where I give out my best strategies, insight, and wisdom I’ve picked up over the last 10 years in the business-building and marketing trenches.

My email list is where I share takeaways I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars for… maybe more. If you took ACTION on 50% of the stuff I send out it would change the course of your business. Period.

But I started noticing that even though I was pouring my heart and soul into this email, very few people were taking action on the stuff I was sending out.

But it wasn’t my list’s fault.

It was my fault.

I had not done a great job at showing them how to use the list to the best of their advantage.

Rather than just continue to pump out pure gold with little to no action, I knew a change was in order.

So here’s what I’m doing to change it: making my email list exclusive. You now need to apply to get in and, if I like the application, I’ll let you in.

Think of it this way…

When I go to my gym, there’s nothing inherently different about the equipment there than the bargain-basement gym down the street.

Sure, it’s a little bit NICER.

But it still functions the same way as the bargain gym:

I lift things up and put them down.

So why do I choose to spend 3x as much for a membership at my gym as opposed to the bargain gym?

It’s all about exclusivity and access.

The friction point of pricing forces people to choose: in or out.

Most choose “out.”

The higher the friction point (in this case, price), the more you perceive the value.

My email list (and your email list) works the same way:

• The easier it is to get in, the less likely someone is to see it as valuable.

• The more friction (in this case, access and exclusivity), the higher the perceived value.

If I’m honest, I’d gotten to a point where the results of the folks on my email list didn’t match up with the high-quality content I’d been sending out.

Contrast that with the people who buy our courses and programs and the difference was night and day.

One group didn’t see results.
The other group did.

The main difference: one was free (email list) and one wasn’t (course/product).

That’s it.

I’m not saying this to get you to buy something from me.

I’m talking about taking action. And with the free info, no one was taking action. That’s why I realized: we need some friction.

So we made two changes:

Change #1: I kicked out the folks on my list who hadn’t opened an email in the last 6 months.

Change #2: put up an application for the top entrepreneurs, business-builders, and agency owners who want to join my list moving forward.

And honestly…most will choose “out.”

They’ll see there’s an application and they’ll think of three things:

1. “I don’t care enough to fill this out.”

2. “Who is THIS guy with the nerve to have an application for his email list?!”

3. “Oh man…I hope I get in!”

I want a list full of 3s.

Why? Because the friction (exclusivity) frames the value of the list. The 3s will be WAY more likely to open, read, and take action on the emails I send in the future.

(This is an experiment, so I’ll let you know how it goes in the months ahead.)

If you want different results, you gotta do different things.

And that’s why you need to apply to get on my list (which you can do right here if you’re ever interested).