YOUR SUBSCRIBERS TRUST YOU SO SEND THE FREAKING EMAIL

I hear “my inbox is overflowing, I can’t keep up” all the time, and how that somehow means that your newsletter will get lost in your subscribers’ inbox and your creative project is then doomed to obscurity.

Now that’s some stinking thinking!

I subscribe to lots of newsletters. I have over 100 unread newsletters right now. But there are names in my newsletter folder that I’ll always read. Names that make me smile.

You can be that for someone else, trust me.

Some people will make time for you. Not everyone, but a handful. That’s how it works.

Alert fatigue is a real thing. Subscription fatigue, too. If people don’t open your emails, or they need to unsubscribe, cancel, or leave your community, let them.

“You need to trust your members enough to know they can decide what’s best for themselves,” said Kristen Tweedale in our recent talk (listen below).

“You’re not a mommy or a daddy—you’re an adult community leader. So act like it. You’ll be a better leader when you give your members agency. The more trust you give, the more you get back. When you treat people like the adults they are, they usually show up as the adults you want them to be.”

Send the email. Heck, send two. Who cares? You’re the artist. Make your work, and then occasionally yell about it. No one is paying as much attention as you are. If it’s too much, or too loud, they’ll unsubscribe great – bye. For everyone else, welcome home.