50: Email Marketing for Teachers: What to Say (Without Feeling Salesy) | Liz Wilcox

Speaker A: Hey, teacher friend. Welcome to Online Business for Teachers, the podcast for educators who are tired of being tired and wondering if there's more out there. Are you up late googling online jobs for teachers or how to make extra money from home? Do you dream about starting a business, working from home, or finally getting paid for the resources you've already created without adding more stress to your plate? I'm Monica Lopez, a former teacher who was burnt out, overwhelmed, and secretly searching for a way out. I wanted more time with my kids, the freedom to work from home, and a way to make money doing something I actually enjoyed. That's when I discovered the simplest path. Creating and selling my own teacher resources using the skills I already had. Now I help teachers like you turn your ideas into income with step by step guidance. Real talk about finding time to grow your business and the mindset shifts that help you believe it's actually possible. So close those lesson plans and grab your favorite drink. It is your turn now. All uh, right, today's episode is a really good one. Especially if email is something that you know you should be doing, but you either overthink it or just don't know what to say. I am talking with Liz Wilcox today and she keeps email marketing super simple. She's known for helping people build real connections through email and actually make money from it. And she does all of this without over complicating it or spending hours writing these long emails. She has built a multi six figure business from a 9$40 offer without ads, which I know a lot of you are going to be very interested in. She teaches email in a way that just makes sense, especially for teachers. Like, you don't need to be this amazing storyteller or feel like you're bothering people. You just need to know how to connect with people, which is something that you already do every single day in your classroom. So. So in this episode we're going to be talking about what to actually say in your emails, how to stop feeling salesy, how often to send emails, and how to keep it simple so that you actually stay consistent. This conversation is going to take a lot of pressure off of email if you have been feeling super stressed about it. All right, you ready? Let's go. All right, Liz, introduce yourself real quick and then, um, we're going to go straight into some questions and I'm sure everybody has. Go ahead.

Speaker B: Okay, well, what's up my friends? My name's Liz. And you know that feeling you get when you listen to an awesome podcast like Monica's or you join A webinar. And there's always. There's always just some kind of, like, weird lady screaming at you about email marketing. And, you know, for every dollar you spend with email, you can get $40 in return.

Speaker A: Now go, go, go.

Speaker B: Hit send. Hit send. And then, so you log in, you get excited, right? You log into your activecampaign or your kids kit or flodesk, whatever you use, and, you know, you launch a new broadcast, and then you suddenly feel kind of dumb maybe because you don't know what to say. Well, what's up? I'm Liz Wilcox, and I help eliminate that problem. Yes. Even for you. I help you write, uh, newsletters in usually about 20 minutes or less. And I'm sure we're going to talk about that today. So I'm super excited.

Speaker A: Yes. So welcome, welcome. Okay, so, so everybody knows Liz, but I know that so many of the listeners here have, like, a million questions. My listeners are mostly beginning teacher, uh, sellers. So they are probably starting out with email. And I know they're super nervous with, you know, what do I say? And I, uh, think most of the beginners are just worried about sounding salesy. And they're just trying to get, like, some type of routine pattern with sending these emails because, you know, this is totally new to them. So if you're talking to somebody who is totally new to email marketing, but they have all their things set up, and it's like, okay, now what I do, how do I communicate with these people authentically? What would you say?

Speaker B: Tell you? Don't worry about being salesy. Listen, these people that are on your email list opted in to hear from you. Yes, I want to hear for m. More from Monica. Yes, I want to, you know, I want to see more resources from Shahara. Right. They opted in. They already gave you their consent. Right. To sell to them. So don't worry about being salesy. And by the way, you know, yeah, sure, nobody likes to be sold to, but we all love to buy. Okay. I think NSync has a song about it. Buy, buy, buy. That was about purchasing, right? So don't worry about being salesy. Just like Monica said, like, let's try to make a real connection with people. And so what I teach and what I want to offer you is just a couple things to make sure you connect with your audience. Number one, just show that you are invested in them. Right? We are looking for them to invest in us, right? To buy our products, get our resources, uh, join our membership, whatever. But first we have. They have to know that we are invested, so it could be, you know, hey, I just bought a new podcast mic for my podcast. It's going to sound a lot of better, a lot better now. Hey, I just spent three hours creating lesson plans around these, uh, you know, curriculum guidelines. Hey, I just, you know, I. I worked with my principal on this brand new Whatever. Whatever. I can't wait for you to check it out.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: That shows that you are invested in them, right? Invested in the potential customer. And again, nobody's going to invest in you and your resources before they know that you are invested in them. Um, so show things like, you know, professional development. Uh, you know, even time spent can be an investment. Right. The second thing is to become relatable. So for me, I like to share. I just mentioned in sync. Bye, bye, bye. Right. I love the 90s, so I'm always bringing that up. You know, I think if you join my membership, one of the first questions I ask you is like, NSYNC or Backstreet Boy. So, Right. Like, that has nothing to do with email marketing. Nothing to do with the $9 you're gonna pay me a month. Right? But it has everything to do with making that connection, becoming relatable, and teachers, oh, my gosh, I'm getting fired up. Because you have such an advantage here. You know, how to connect with people. Right? Like, what is harder than getting, like, a third grader, seventh grader, ninth grader, like, invested in algebra, invested in finding X.

Speaker A: Right? Like, that's hard.

Speaker B: But if your student feels a connection to you, like, oh, yeah, Ms. Lopez, I, um, I just really want to make her proud. Right? Then that kid is going to invest, then that kid is going to pay attention. If they feel like, oh, Ms. Wilcox, Ms. Wright, uh, you know, Mr. McFadden, like, he cares about me and he. He gets my struggle, then that kid is going to work harder. Right? This is the same in the inbox. Just become relatable. Like, oh, Liz loves the 90s. I love the 90s, too. Uh, maybe I'll give email a shot. Right? And so. Oh, gosh, I just love working with teachers because y' all have such an advantage. You do this every day, all day in the classroom. You show how invested you are with your students. You become very relatable to your students, and then they can put in the work. They'll put in the work for you, Right? That's the same thing in the inbox. And the third thing is just to stay top of mind, right? It's like, uh, you know, when a teacher goes on Maternity leave and they come back. It might be a little awkward at first, right? You don't want to go on quote, unquote, maternity leave with your email list, right? Don't ghost them. So emailing about once a week is enough to show you're invested, to become relatable and, uh, make those connections and make those sales.

Speaker A: Awesome. Those are like, really, really good points there. But now I have more questions, so. Yeah, so, okay, so you talked about, like, really connecting with the audience, but then again, you don't teach storytelling. So what's the difference between, you know, Talking about the 90s and then also like, wait, but storytelling is not your main focus. Like.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, so store, uh, everybody and their mother will tell you. Tell stories, tell stories, tell stories. Um, but, you know, a lot of us aren't, you know, professional screenplay writers, right? A lot of us are. We're really good at the lesson plans. We're really good at math, science, whatever resource you're selling, whatever subject you're into, you know, and maybe we don't have time to sit and write this five paragraph essay for our newsletter. Speaking of, it's a newsletter, not a novel, right? So get in, get to the point and get out. So what I teach instead of, you know, these big long stories. And again, teachers, you all do this every day. All day with students are just personal updates. Just those little personal touch points to get the student to get the email reader more connected with you. So for me, a personal update in an email is just two to three sentences about something you've done since the last time you emailed them. Right? It's the same as when your students enter your classroom. You know, you've got a couple minutes maybe for banter before you've got to get into the subject, you know. Hey, what'd you do over the weekend? Oh, I went to the dog park, uh, with my husband. Oh, this really funny thing happened. But you're not going into this floor full drawn out story. You're just kind of giving the highlights, right? And then. Okay, let's get to work, you know, okay, you know, open your books or, you know, get out your laptop, whatever, Right? Um, and so that's the same thing in the inbox, you know, the first at the top of your email, you know. Hey, Shahara. Hey, Nahaku. Um, you know, since, since last week, I recorded three podcast episodes, went on five dog walks, and, you know, burnt two dinners, you know. Anyway, what I really wanted to talk to you about is this new resource I created. Uh, if you're a third grade math teacher. You're going to love it. Check it out here. I just wrote that newsletter in what, 30 seconds, right? You got a personal touch. Uh, point. Oh, she burns dinner. So do I. Right? Or she burns dinner. I'm a great cook. I should send her some food recipe blogs.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And so we're relating to her. Um, oh, she did five lesson plans. Uh, me too. Gosh, I'm exhausted. Oh, third grade math teacher. That's me. Click. Right. And so we're making those touch points. We're getting connected without having to tell this long, drawn out story. Now, to Monica's point, if you've got a good story, totally tell it.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I mentioned in the classroom, your kids come in, I went to the dog park. If you had something really crazy and wild or funny that happened at the dog park, you might take a couple extra minutes to tell that story. Right? But if nothing really happened, of note, you, oh, we went to the dog park, whatever. Get out your laptop, right? Pull out your iPad. And so really just depends. So if you have that really good story that you think people would like to hear and you know you can tell it well, please go ahead, put it in the newsletter. But again, it's a newsletter, not a novel. You want to get in, get to the point and get out.

Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So it's essentially storytelling, but not really because you're not writing the full story. It's just like a quick update about what's going on just to kind of connect and just so they know a little bit about you. I remember to that point and I'm going to tell my story. Uh, last year my mom had knee surgery and I honestly did not know what to send to my subscribers. I was stressed out. I was the one taking her to all her doctor's appointments and all the surgery, everything. So I was taking care of all of the things. And so I didn't know what to email that one morning and I just opened up my laptop and I said, knee surgery. That was my subject line. And then real quick, I said, hey, my mom is having knee surgery and it's really on my mind. So I don't know what else to tell you. But hey, here's such and such. And I actually had people respond to me and say, I'm so glad you are sharing this with me because I've been thinking about it. And I was like, wait, I'm emailing you about ESL resources, You know, but it was a connection that was made between me and this one random Person who I don't even know, but it was, it was really cool to be able to help that person in a way that I had no intention of doing. So. Right?

Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. You never know what's going to connect and you don't. Again, to what Monica's story just said. You, you don't have to go all out into this long, drawn out story to make that connection. It can just be really, really simple. And I had this question in one of my live Q and A's for my members last week and they, they said, well, Liz, you know, a lot of people, I read their emails and it just feels like they're telling too much of their business. Right. Like, I, you know, I signed up for tips on xyz. I don't want, you know, I don't want to have to read about their life every week. And I love the, the example Monica just shared because she said, hey, my mom had knee surgery. You know, da, da, da. Anyway, like, here's something to check out. Uh, you know, I'm feeling stressed, but, you know, I wanted to email you anyway. Right. Type of attitude, type of vibe. And that's, that's super perfect because, yeah, you, you can let people in without letting them in. Right. Monica didn't have to go on and on about how scared she was for her mom and how difficult the recovery has been or, you know, why she's so distracted and how many errands she had to run that day. Just saying, hey, mom had knee surgery. It's made me super busy so that, you know, I kind of forgot to email you or whatever. That's enough. In fact, I had surgery last week at the time of this recording. And I wrote very similar subject line. Subject line was surgery. And I think the preview text was, you know, writing you anyway. And it was like, I didn't say what kind of surgery I had. I didn't talk about anything like that. I just said, hey, I had surgery. It's, it's knocked me out more than I thought I would. But the show must go on. Here's a couple links, uh, that I want to share with you. So, like, Monica, so many replies. Oh, I hope you feel better. Um, you know, I don't think anyone even asked me what kind of surgery.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Because clearly I didn't mention it. So, you know, they respected that boundary or whatever and they, um, you know, hope you feel better. Quick recovery, Liz. Uh, thanks for sending those links. Now go back to bed. Right. And it's just that quick connection piece again without having to tell the long, drawn out story that we often sometimes see in email.

Speaker A: Yes, yes, I agree with that. Okay, so we open up our email with some type of random thing that's going on in our life, but we ultimately want to make sales from our emails. Yes. And you mentioned every week. I know some people say every, like, twice a week. Uh, is there a rule about how many times. I know I'm asking two questions at the same time here. Like, is there a rule about how many times per week? And is there. How do, like, you know, how was it?

Speaker B: Who.

Speaker A: I forgot the author. Jab, jab, jab something. Or.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Gary Vaynerchuk or whatever his last name is. As far as, like, how to sell. Yeah, yeah. So, well, number one, the, the rule on frequency is how, how many times do you think you need to touch base with a person before they'll buy? Right. Because this is not just emails. Email marketing. Right. We want to turn these subscribers into customers. Right. Um, and so that might be different for everyone. If you're a local photographer, do you need to email twice a week? No. Right. Like, I would probably unsubscribe if I was getting that many emails from my local photographer. Right. Um, but if you are an online course, uh, creator teaching photographers how to make their first dollar, you might need to email more frequently. Right. I don't know you, I've never met you in person. I'm, uh, not sure I want to book with you. Um, and so you might need to email more. Remember we talked about those three things? Uh, showing you're invested, becoming relatable, staying top of mind. How often do you need to email to stay top of mind? Usually once a week is a good cadence for almost any business. So really strive for that once a week. And then as far as, like, oh, how many times should I sell, when should I sell, et cetera. To be honest with you, I sell in almost every email. Now, that does not mean that every email newsletter that I send out is a sales email. But I can do that personal update Monica and I were talking about. Oh, you know, I took my dog for a walk. Now I'm writing you, uh, I want to give you three tips for your welcome sequence. Tip one, Tip two, Tip three. All right, I hope this helps, you know, get, get to tweaking your sequence. Okay, bye, Liz. And then in the ps, I might say, oh, by the way, if you want to go even deeper and you want somebody to hold your hand, I have a welcome sequence workshop. It's 50 bucks. You can get it here.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: So even without the sale, that's a very valuable email. Right. I'm making that connection piece with the personal update. I'm giving three tips that they can take right away to, you know, log into their ESP and start making changes to their welcome sequence. And then if they feel like they need more help, they can actually purchase from me. So I don't necessarily believe. Oh, I have to send five emails before I send a. Send a, uh, sales email. I'm constantly selling to my list because y', all, it's like the 711 on the corner. Like, not everyone is stopping at the same time. Just because you're selling doesn't mean I'm ready to buy. Right? And so for me, I try to make my email list like that gas station on the corner. The pump is always there. You can always buy whenever you're ready. You know, I drive a 1989 Ford Bronco. Okay. I need to get gas all the time. I'm always buying, y'.

Speaker A: All.

Speaker B: And I'm. And I'm single and I have no family in town. And so I'll be darned if I'm going to be the lady on the side of the road or with a gigantic truck.

Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.

Speaker B: With no gas, Right. That's going to be an expensive tow.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And so I'm getting gas all the time. But if I was driving maybe like a brand new Mini cooper that gets 40 miles to the gallon, I might only have to go once a week. Once every two weeks. Right. Those are your customers, right? Those are the people on your email list. And so you've got to be the 711 or the circle K or the Tom Thumb, um, on the corner. And that's always open. So always be, you know, whether it's in the PS or it's just a mention. Hey, I've got three new resources. You can check them out over on this page, you know, whatever. You can always be selling to your list as long as you're doing those things. Monica and I have already talked about showing up and being invested, becoming relatable and staying top of mind.

Speaker A: Okay, Those are amazing points. So basically, I guess what I hear you say is like, establish a relationship with your people and just get to know them and let them get to know you. And then they're not going to think that you're being really salesy. Is that kind of what I'm getting?

Speaker B: Right. Yeah. Amen. Once you have that relationship, you can a hundred percent be making offers. It's not, it's you're not, y'.

Speaker A: All.

Speaker B: The way I look at it is the best way I can help you is through my paid product, right? That's why there's a paywall, because I can't give it away for free. I can't help everyone, right? And so my products are for serving, not for selling. So, yeah, I'm gonna give those three tips for your welcome sequence, and then I'm gonna say, oh, by the way, if. If you really want my help, I did this workshop over here, right? I might give m. I think I brought up third grade math teachers, right? I might give you, you know, three things I've learned in the last three years about teaching third graders. Oh, yeah, by the way, I offer a membership where you can join. It's for third grade teachers only. And, you know, it's got a new math lesson uploaded every day, right? I can't give that away for free, but that's the best way I can serve you. I can send you my tips and things that I learned all day long. I could start a podcast. But the thing you really need and the thing I'm really good at are those lesson plans that's in my membership. That's 20, $50 a month, whatever, right? And so, again, thinking of your products as serving is a whole new lens and a whole new way to talk about them to your email list. Because you. You really care about that email list, right? You're not just, oh, you know, you're. You're not getting into teacher resources because you're not a teacher, right? Like, you're a teacher. You know, you're good at X, Y, Z. Hey, I think other teachers could use this. This is. This is my skill set, right? And so you're already going to naturally start to make those connections with your list, especially after listening to this. And so just saying, hey, the way I can truly help you is through XYZ product. It's. It's going to come off a lot more natural, and you're gonna. You're gonna do great. I'm so excited.

Speaker A: Okay. Yes. That I truly believe that a lot of people just, you know, have the. They make up all of these things in their head of like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna actually sell to people. And they just get all up in their head and think, oh, my God, no, I can't do this. I'm gonna be bothering people and they're gonna unsubscribe and all of these things that we all have in our head before we begin selling And I know, I remember from, you know, the very beginning of my teacher business, I would, like, sweat when I was about to send this, my very first few emails, and I thought, oh, my God. And then people would unsubscribe and I would just cry, like, oh, my God,

Speaker B: they don't want me.

Speaker A: You know, I bothered them. And what do you say to those people who are super scared to even start emailing?

Speaker B: Yeah. So listen, I. I don't think we brought this up yet. I'm. I actually used to be a teacher, so. I have a bachelor's in elementary education and I have a master's degree in educational leadership because I wanted to be an administrator one day, open up my own school, change the world, right? But then I realized, oh, my gosh, uh, life is expensive. I need money. I need money. You know, call JG Wentworth. I need cash now, okay? Like, we teachers are so selfless. Like, you really don't get into the profession because you want to make a lot of money, right? But now you're at this turning point of, you know, whether it's a want or a need. I want more money. I need more money, whatever it is. Like, do that unapologetically. Baby cakes, I know you have a stomach. I know your grocery bill is rising, okay? And I also know you have a knack for education. You have a knack for serving. This is a real calling to you and a true talent and skill. So why shouldn't you get paid? Especially you're selling to other teachers. They understand the value of saving time, right? And if I can buy your resource, save time, that's worth the 10, $20, whatever you're charging, right? I know you're undercharging. I know you're like, $20, $3, baby, $3, whatever, right? And here's the thing about, like, oh, they're gonna unsubscribe. They're gonna be mad at me. Listen, and I. I hate to say it this way, but, you know, when you are in a classroom, you already know some of your kids. They're never going to get the hundred percent A plus on the quiz, right? There are some kids that are going to struggle. There are some kids that no matter what you do, are not going to care, etc. Etc. Right? That's the same with your email list. There are some people, no matter what you say, no matter whether you sell or you don't sell, they're going to unsubscribe. They're going to not open the email. They're never going to Buy whatever. But you got to still do your job, which in the classroom is to teach that lesson, to do your best. Right. To try to reach all the kids. But at the end of the day, you can go, uh, they still got to go that 10%, right? Yes. And that's the same with your email list. You can do all the things. You could join my membership, you could. You could pay for every and all gurus out there, whatever you want to call them. Right. And there still be some people that never buy from you. Unsubscribe immediately, stay on your list, and unsubscribe a year later after never buying. Buy once and never buy again. But it's your job to keep selling, to keep emailing, to keep growing your list, and to keep growing your business.

Speaker A: Yes. And, uh, you know what? I have to remind myself of that all of the time. Especially during, like, slow seasons or when you give it your all and then you don't get what you expected or you were hoping for. And it's like, okay, what's the use? But what keeps me going is, okay, these handful of people, and I can. I can count on my fingers how many people have been with me since the beginning. Because they still reply and they still buy my resources, and I'm like, okay, if they are there, then I am here for them.

Speaker B: Amen. I love that. Amen, right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: That's so. That's so good. And it's so true. And it feels. And if you haven't made your first sale yet or if you're just starting and the sales are trickling in, like, that first sale. Never lose the feeling of that. Like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe it worked. You know, like, oh, my gosh. A straight. Especially when it's, like, a stranger. When it's not. Like, one of your other teacher friends or something was like, wait, you know, uh, Shahara, right. Bought that. I don't. I don't know that person. Oh, my gosh. It's worked. Like, never lose sight of that feeling, y'. All. I have made thousands of sales, and that's not even a brag thing. But every time I go to. Because normally I don't have any notifications really, anymore. But for some reason, my PayPal purchases still go to one email. Okay. And every day when I look, I'm like, oh, uh, Monica Lopez joined my, uh, list. Oh, my gosh. Amazing. And I get so excited. Yes. It's like, you have a new automatic payment from Megan G. Oh, my gosh. And I literally scroll Down. I'm like, for what? I'm like, oh, for my lifetime Pass. Sweet. Oh, my gosh. I just made $84. What was that? Oh, that was at 8:46am oh, my gosh. I was driving. I, uh, was driving and I get so excited. Even though this happens every day, never lose sight of that because it's going to help you to that original question Monica asked of, like, how do we get over that? It's going to help you get over that. When you, when you lose sight of the excitement, then it starts to become a grind. Then it's like, I, uh, put in all this work. What's the use? Yeah, but never lose sight of that excitement. If you can help one person, then it was worth it because one turns into two, two into three, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker A: Yes. Yes. Okay. So in that case, since you are leading up to all of this, and I guess this conversation is leading up to all of this, tell us about your membership. Specifically for, like, teachers, you know, those people who are just getting started, don't even know where to start, what to say, all of those things. What can your membership do for them?

Speaker B: Yeah, so I, again, I'm a teacher at heart. I consider myself an educator. And when you get in the membership, you'll be like, oh, yeah, this lady is an educator. Like, she, she get it. You'll see my, like, lesson plans. You'll see the format of my templates, and you'll be like, that's a lesson plan, baby. Actually,

Speaker A: here's the objective.

Speaker B: Yeah. So my membership is called email marketing membership and full disclosure is $9 a month. So, you know, I'm not trying to, you know, sell you something. That's ridiculous. Um, so it's a, it's a weekly newsletter, template club. So all the things that we talked about of, you know, showing you're invested, staying top of mind, becoming relatable. My templates do that. So once a week, every Monday morning, you get a template that comes with a video walkthrough, you know, for, for our verbal and visual learners.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You get an email explanation. You get a few subject line examples. You even get two swipes, which are like a plus model examples. Right. That's the first lesson of teaching. Right. You have to be a model. Um, and you also get the template, like fill in the blank, mad lib stick style and what it does and who it's designed for. Really are those people in the first few years of their business or the first few years of email marketing, where it's like, what the heck do I write? Okay, Liz, you tell me. Personal update. But what does. What does that really look like in action? Oh, uh, you see, you can drop hints that you can sell in every email. How am I supposed to do that? So every week you get that template and you see it in action, and it literally is plug and play, copy and paste. Um, and I have lots of teacher examples. You can literally search the word teacher. Teacher examples will pop up. Because I, you know, I just believe in you. I believe teachers and educators. We have the leg up in this online business thing. We have a leg up in this email marketing thing because we already know how to connect with our students. And that's all we really need to do to get people to trust us to purchase our products. So this will show you how to make those connections, how to show you're invested, become relatable, etc. And then you know how to sell. So my dream for you when you join is to, number one, just make a commitment. Hey, Yep, I'm going to try this for the next 90 days and then send out those newsletters. Build that bridge between, you know, hey, I just have this new subscriber to. Hey, uh, this new subscriber feels connected to me now they're ready to buy.

Speaker A: That is amazing. Yes, it sounds like it's super helpful, but I do have to ask, how does AI play into your prompts and all of the things that you teach?

Speaker B: I love this question. So I have never used AI in my membership. I started. The membership is now over five years old, so it was like before AI. Right. So, um, I don't use AI to create the prompts, just FYI. But I, I encourage you to use AI if that's part of your brain process. So a lot of my members will take the template and put it into AI and say, you know, hey, my. My name's Nahaku McFadden, and I, I, you know, sell on teachers, pay teachers, and Etsy. I'm really looking to sell more of this kind of product. Um, you know, can you take this template and write it from my voice? Uh, these are my brand voice guidelines, and you don't have to have these, but you could say, you know, uh, this template feels more X. I want it to feel more Y. Uh, can you rewrite this for me? And I. And I have a lot of students that do that, and I'm more than happy for you to do that for you, y', all. I believe in you so much, and I believe that email can and will work for you. So whatever tool you need to use, including AI, to make this as easy as possible for you, that's what I want you to do.

Speaker A: Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so we get the okay from Liz Wilcox to use AI with her stuff. Uh, I think that's a big deal right now just because AI has become like a part of what we do as business owners. But I also believe that there's so much AI out there now that you can just spot it. You know, you're, you're scrolling through Facebook and. And then somebody posts something, you're like, oh, that's AI. You just scroll past it. So I think there's danger in trying to do all of that.

Speaker B: Yeah. So let's talk about that really quick. Like the difference, uh, between, you know, using my templates and just going AI. Because a lot of people have been surprised that my membership still exists because they're like, well, don't people just use AI? It's like, okay, well, I don't write the templates with AI. That's. It's literally coming from Liz's brain. My brain.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And so if you use the template in conjunction with AI, the base is not AI. So it's not going to be like, oh, this was, this was written by AI. Right. Because really, it was written by a human with 10 years of experience writing newsletters. I've been writing newsletters every single week for 10 years now. And so these are tried and true ways of connecting with your audience. And the thing about using my templates is there's a human behind the strategy. Right. If you don't know email strategy, even just the basics of what we talked about today, you know, investing relatability, staying top of mind. If you don't input that as your strategy into the AI, it's going to be what Monica said, oh, I could tell this was written by AI. Or it's going to be super random. Right. If you use AI, just AI to use. Hey, write me a newsletter today about xyz. It's going to be random. My templates, you can use them week by week or you can jump around. They're designed for either, but they're always following a pattern and they have a, uh, strategy and tactics already built in. Again, AI doesn't know to do that unless you tell it to, unless you know the strategy. And so the templates, to toot my own horn, you know, already have that built in strategy. You know, they're, they're going to be less, um, scattered. And also, you know, people are, they're gonna make. They're built for that human connection where AI is just built to follow the task you gave it.

Speaker A: Right? Yes, yes, I agree with all of that. Okay, well, I don't want to take too much of your time. I know you have a lot of things to do, so. Yeah. Do you have any last thoughts that you want to tell, you know, our listeners and just how to connect with you or just any.

Speaker B: Yeah, sure, sure. So I first the last thing I'll tell you and something we have in the membership. We have a creed and it's, it goes like this. You know, I don't overthink email. I don't disappear on my email list. I just hit send. So that's what I'd really like for you to take away after this listening. Don't overthink it, babe. It's really about human connection. Please, please, please don't disappear on your email list. We talked a lot about staying top of mind and at the end of the day, just hit send. You're gonna get better and better and better. And if you'd like to learn more about the membership or more, you know, you just want to check out some of my emails. See what I mean? You can go directly to lizwilcox.com in the top right hand corner there's a hot pink button. You're going to get an entire welcome sequence already written for you so you can welcome new readers onto your list, get them prepped to buy. You're going to get three newsletter samples directly from email marketing membership so you can see what kind of things we've got going on in the membership. And if that's not enough, you're going to get 52 subject lines for a week or I'm um, sorry, a week. A year. 52 subject lines for a year. Full of prompts, writing from scratch totally sucks. Let me do it for you, Liz Wilcox.com hot pink button. And I'm sure Monica will put a link, uh, directly to the membership if you want to check that out as well.

Speaker A: Yes, I am definitely going to do that. Oh my gosh, these are a lot of gold nuggets here. So I am so excited to get this out to my listeners and it's going to be amazing and I thank you so much for being here and yeah, awesome. Thank you.

Speaker B: Yeah, can't wait to see what we all do with email. Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Yes, thank you. Hey teacher friend. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If this show is helping you dream a little bigger, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick review. It means the world to me and it helps more teachers find their way to this podcast. I'll meet you back here next week. Take care and keep dreaming. Bigger.