Inbox Insiders Issue #3 - The Dark Side

Inbox Insider #3 - Sun Feb 16, 2025

Welcome to Issue #3 of "Inbox Insider": Your Email List-Building Backstage Pass

In this issue:

1. By The Numbers: What worked and what didn't
2. Deep Dive: Entering the Dark Side
3. Up Next: What I'm working on this week

Welcome to Issue #3

"Inbox Insider" is my Sunday newsletter sharing the behind-the-scenes of what I'm doing to grow my email list to 100,000.

I share what works, what doesn't, and how I'm growing.

Thanks for reading.

Let's dive in:

By The Numbers:

My Email List

• Total Subscribers: 13,760 (last week: 13,434)
• Added last week (net): 310 (last week: 236)
• 5* Subscribers (engaged in the last 30 days): 8,870 (last week: 8,455)

My Ad Account:

• Ad Spend: $1,375 (last week: $688)
• Gross Leads from FB: 627 (last week: 413)
• Cost per lead: $2.19 ($1.67 last week)

Ads Assessment:

• As you may have noticed, I got a lot more people on my list last week
• I doubled my ad spend (roughly)
• This is because I'm hosting a new, free workshop called Lead Magnet Build Week.
• I turned on ads on Wednesday and am going pretty aggressive
• The CPL for this specific campaign is much higher than my normal lead magnets ($4-5 CPL)
• BUT, I'm monetizing the new leads. On the TY Page, I sell a VIP Ticket to the "Build Week"
• Build Week Ads: $642 spent. $1,100 in VIP Upgrades. I'm up $450 (mostly b/c warm traffic is buying the VIP upgrade)

Instagram (@emailschool): Started Feb 1st, 2025

• Total Subscribers: 289
• New Subscribers last week: 59

Email School (Email-Focused Membership):

1. Paying Members: 178 (up 1 from last week)
2. Monthly Recurring Revenue: $2,940 (up $30/mo from last week)

Other Audiences:

• LinkedIn Newsletter (66 subscribers; +9 this week)
• Threads: 7 followers (+2 this week)
• YouTube: 577 (+7 this week)

Deep Dive: The Dark Side

Story #1:

The first book I read during Round 1 of Enterpreneurship was Relentless by Tim Grover.

He's the personal trainer to Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant.

One of the key points of that book is how these guys had a "Dark Side."

Not evil.

Rather, super intense moments of focus.

They may find themselves in the gym for hours, shooting thousands of 3-pointers with a steady glare.

No music.

No smiling.

Not doing it for anyone else... just doing it for themselves.

Relentless.

Story #2:

I remember hearing a story about when Elon Musk bought Twitter, he wanted people who were "hardcore."

People who would sleep at the office, code around the clock, and go into what he called "Demon Mode."

Now, if you've been following me for a while, you know that "dark side" and "demon mode" are 180-degree opposites of my normal, laidback lifestyle.

But something shifted in me last month.

I went out to Canada to spend a day with my mentor, Stu McLaren, who called me to a higher standard.

This newsletter is part of my expression as I enter the next level of growth.

So I've been thinking, plotting, and planning, and in the last 24 hours had a really exciting breakthrough.

I Woke Up At 3 a.m.

I didn't sleep last night.

I knew it would be a short night when my head hit the pillow.

The last time I remember a night like this was December 9th, 2022.

This was the day I was fired from my salaried job.

I went to bed on Dec 9th, 2022, and Feb 15th, 2025, with my mind swirling.

In '22 it was driven by fear and overwhelm. "Would I make it?"

Last night was driven by vision and excitement.

Same sleeplessness.

New energy.

Here's why:

I've made a lot of content. I've hosted a lot of trainings, workshops, bootcamps, and events.

I've written thousands of emails and done dozens (hundreds?) of launches.

I have a flagship offer called "The Laidback Launchpad," and it's awesome.

I love to sell it.

People love to buy it.

I love to deliver it.

And yesterday, I made it 5.6x more valuable.

I created a custom GPT that walks people through the entire 8-module experience.

I trained it on all my content, training, and worksheets.

I told it how to behave, how to frame its answers, how to keep people accountable, and how to keep them moving forward.

It's... incredible.

So, I went to bed last night with my mind swirling.

The possibilities...

The value I could add...

The speed with which I could create epic resources and trainings...

It's like the scene in The Wizard of Oz where everything goes from sepia tone to full spectrum color.

I tossed and turned until 3 a.m., then got out of bed to make coffee and plan out the week.

My Oura Ring said, "Hey, take it easy today. You got terrible sleep."

Thanks, but no thanks, Oura.

I'm on the dark side.

(For this week, at least).

Thanks for reading,

~ Cody

What's Next:

Here's what's on my radar this week:

1. I built out the entire system for Lead Magnet Build Week on YouTube. Watch it here.
2. Wanna see what I'm up to for Build Week? Register here (it's free).
3. Enrollment in Email School is open now, but the doors are closing soon.

That's it!

Thanks for reading this issue of "Inbox Insiders."

See you next week,

~ Cody