The email that made people leave ... [🐝U]

I opened my email dashboard…
& just sat there.

Hugging my coffee to warm up my hands.
Wondering if the snow & cold were finally making me hallucinate

Lowest open rate I’ve ever had.
Highest unsubscribes too.

That’s the kind of combo that makes you quietly wonder …
“is this where things start slipping?”

At first, I went straight into problem-solving mode.

“Alright… what did I mess up?”

“Was it too much?”
“Too blunt?”
“Did I finally say the thing I wasn’t supposed to say?”

Or did I finally say something they didn’t agree with?

But then I noticed something honestly unexpected…

Here’s what surprised me…

What really got me wasn’t how many…
it was who unsubscribed.

The unsubscribes weren’t random.
Or new…
They’d been here since the beginning.

These weren’t casual readers.
→ 95%+ open rates.
→ 80+ emails in a row.

The kind of people you assume are never leaving.
…until they do.

& this was the one that made them leave.

yeah, I admit … that hit harder than I expected.
& it led me to a slightly uncomfortable question…

How much energy should you spend trying to figure out why people leave…
before you accept that some people are just going to…
no matter what you do?

This is where it gets dangerous…

This is where most of us creators slowly lose the plot…
Most won’t admit it…
but this is where we tend to start playing small.

We write for the people already halfway out the door.

Softer opinions.
Safer takes.
Less edge.

Until one day…
the people who used to love your stuff
don’t feel anything from it anymore.

I’ve gone down that path before.

You start thinking you’re being “strategic”…
But you’re really just watering yourself down.

It never ends well.
Because when you try to reach “everyone”
You attract “no one”

Part of me was disappointed.
& another part was genuinely curious.

Because what you do next … when people leave … matters more than the fact that they left.

How some people respond to this…

I’ve seen creators handle this very differently.

They’ll respond by tightening control.

If you unsubscribe…
You’re out for good.
There’s no going back.

Others will remove you if you don’t open or click “enough”.

I even know creators who permanently ban you from their paid communities when you leave.
No second chances.

That’s one way to control an audience.
It’s just not how I want to build mine.

Here’s how I think about it instead…

I’m not trying to trap attention.
I want to earn it.

I share this when you subscribe:
I don’t want to be another newsletter clogging your inbox.

If you leave, you’re free to come back.
Any time.

No hard feelings.
No penalties.

Because this was never about trapping you.
It’s about resonance.
& resonance doesn’t happen by playing it safe.

Sometimes people grow out of what you’re saying.
Or you grow into something they don’t need.
Or the timing isn’t right anymore.

As you build something right now…

Don’t measure success by who leaves.

Focus on who leans in.

Because those are the people
you’ve actually been writing for all along.

Quick question …

Have you ever had something you put out…
make people quietly disappear?

Make it a great “leaned-in“ week!
EG

PS:

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Thanks for being here. 
Seriously! 
I do appreciate your support.

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