Are you sending your newsletter into a black hole?

Marco!

Marco!

Marco!

I was at the hot springs with a group of business owners this past weekend, soaking our bodies after a two and a half day Writing Intensive in Bozeman, Montana.

There was a family – couple adults, 6 or 7 kids – having an epic game of Marco Polo in the pool.

Earlier in the week, one of the women at the workshop mentioned that writing a blog and sending a newsletter is like “playing Marco Polo by yourself.”

No one responds.

No one lets you know if you are close, or getting closer.

And you feel kinda lonely and alone the whole time.

Or maybe that’s just me. When I started my company 6 years ago, I got my blog and newsletter habit going, I added my family, friends, and the few contacts I had into my mailing service.

I sent everybody an email telling them I had started a writing business and letting them know that I would be sending out writing tips once a week. If that didn’t feel wonderful, I told them, there was an unsubscribe button at the bottom of every email. I would not take it personally.

For nine long months, I sent that weekly newsletter without getting a response.

Except from my cousin in Minnesota, who lovingly pointed out a couple of typos.

As a Former Perfectionist, I was mortified.

At first.

(I’ve never been good at letting other people see my work before it feels ready for public consumption.)

But luckily, I realized that fixing typos in a newsletter wasn’t a revenue-generating activity. If my business was going to work, I needed to become a Recovering Perfectionist as fast as I could, and let go of my need to appear as though I never made a mistake.

(Can I get an uff dah?)

For nine long months, no one replied.

But I think of my mailing list as a commitment. A marriage. A relationship that I am sticking with, through thick or thin.

At the time, no one read my work.

(Maybe my mom.)

But luckily, I had the idea that I needed to let go of my need for external validation.

I would send a weekly newsletter, come hell or high water.

Even if no one shared, posted, replied, or acknowledged my effort.

Fast forward. I continue to send an email newsletter pretty much every week, and am lucky enough to get personal responses from my friends, colleagues and readers around the world.

These days, when newb business owners tell me no one’s reading their newsletter or blog, I ask them how long they’ve been consistently mailing.

Two weeks.
Two months.

Well, then, I say, keep going. Keep writing into what feels like a deep, dark void. Join those of us who – for no good reason other than our own stubbornness and grit – decided to keep sending content regularly to our audience, however small. (My list started as 90 people – mostly family and friends who aren’t part of my target market).

Along with your commitment to keep sending out great content on a regular basis as you grow your audience, the other thing that makes it feel less like you are playing Marco Polo alone is to have a collaborative community around you, giving you feedback on your ideas, content and copy.

This is why I created Write Club. Because it’s kinda rough when you are building up a relationship with the people on your mailing list, and no one is giving you feedback.

It helps to run your ideas past other business owners who get it.

And who tell you to keep going.

And who tell you when you are on the right track… and when you are starting to veer off course.

This is why I say “friends don’t let friends write marketing alone.”

Because you don’t have to play Marco Polo by yourself. It’s way more fun—and profitable–when there are people around you, giving you feedback.

Mighty thanks to mathewingram’s flickr photostream for the kids in the pool.