Where good stories come from

Finding answers in your past

Market-Driven > Marketing-Driven

Customers don't buy from the best companies...

What everyone wants...

The secret to becoming a "gifted" communicator

Jurassic Park is NOT about dinosaurs

The problem with society right now

When your favorite trick stops working

On being insecure.

11 ways to grow your email list

How to differentiate yourself

How to say something original

How to have conversations that CLICK 

Turn your guilty pleasures into sales pitches

The coaching bubble is about to pop.

"There's just no way." 

How to name your podcast or LIVE show

Grab life by the HOOKS

Fatherhood is...

How to write words that inspire action

A story to end your work week...

My prediction for The Coaching Economy

A marketing plan for expensive idiots

Reply

5 softwares I can't live without

Mainstream delusion

Ditch your competition at the hotel bar

Turning my annual binges into high-converting content

no one tells the truth anymore

In 30 minutes...

I asked Naval how to get rich & raise a family at the same time

The essential email flows

THINK IS A VERB.

4 a.m. in a thunderstorm

understanding.

(SHOT 22/30) - The "South Park" Rule

You can't "create" a persuasive message - you discover it

I hated reading & writing. 

Selling expensive services via email...

11 ways to grow your email list 

🚨 WARNING 🚨 LONG EMAIL: High-ticket funnel ingredients

Informed, not controlled.

Your emails need this

I'm finishing my book

Wasted effort

You had to be there...

"Boredom is the death of the sale."

WELL GEEZ, no wonder people ignore your stuff

This may be my biggest weakness (I need your help)

Jack Dorsey asked good questions...

Language is leverage.

It's been one year.

My meatball marinara nightmare

Earning influence

Meaningless marketing words

If Sam-I-Am had an email list.....

"I love diamonds."

The G.O.A.T. Of Imposter Syndrome

the beauty of word vomit

Another stupid quote by a guru

Why what works for others may not work for you

The futility of scripts

Tactics get tired too

Some thoughts:

The difference

2002 Zac

How to change behavior

My Daughter's Deception Has a Point

It's about time we put these "young'ns" to work

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">Sometimes (and by sometimes I mean a lot of the time)...&nbsp;I'm guilty of comparing myself to people who I perceive to be richer, smarter, and more successful than me.&nbsp;And recently, I was marveling in awe with my jaw on the floor at a fellow entrepreneur who is prolific. Constantly creating and selling new products... always going on new trips with his family... attracting the cheers and adoration of his many fans and followers. &nbsp;*SIGH*&nbsp;&nbsp;I suppose I'll never be as good as That Guy. &nbsp;But then the other night, Melissa and I took our two boys out for dinner. It was one of those "ain't no way in heck are we using ANOTHER dish in this kitchen" kinda nights. &nbsp;We let Easton pick where to eat, and he choose Panda Express 😐&nbsp;Now look, I don't hate Panda... it's just that after I eat there, I feel as though I've eaten a literal panda.&nbsp;Anyway - can you guess my kids' favorite part of Panda Express? That's right...&nbsp;<h2 style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px;; text-align: center">THE FORTUNE COOKIES</h2>&nbsp;So my boys inhale their fortune cookies like it's oxygen, and then they start asking me for more. And when it comes to my kids asking me for stuff, one of the things I'm very firm on is ASK THE DECISION MAKER. &nbsp;So I tell Easton "I don't have anymore fortune cookies.... you're going to have to ask her." I point to the nice girl standing behind the cash register.&nbsp;He grabs my arm and pulls me with him to the register, but I remain silent. He looks at me. I nod my head toward the register. The nice girl looks at us awkwardly.&nbsp;"Can I have two more fortune cookies?" he asks her.&nbsp;"Of course you can!" She hands me two cookies and he darts over to hand the second one to his brother. &nbsp;They crack open their second serving of fortune cookies and inhale them once again. Then, Easton reads his fortune...&nbsp;<h2 style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px;; text-align: center">"Remember to show gratitude to others."&nbsp;</h2>&nbsp;His eyes grow wide as he yells - &nbsp;"DAD. OH MY GOSH. I FORGOT TO SAY THANK YOU TO THE LADY AT THE REGISTER."&nbsp;&nbsp;Melissa and I burst into laughter while he..... does not go thank the lady at the register. He seemed perfectly content with merely realizing his error and getting a laugh out of us. But he did say something else after that...&nbsp;"DAD. YOU SHOULD WRITE AN EMAIL ABOUT THIS."&nbsp;Yes folks - we've reached the point of email marketing obsession where my 7-year-old is now giving me email ideas based on his fortune cookie adventures at Panda Express. I'm already training these kids to jump leaps and bounds ahead of their peers in *checks notes* storytelling and email marketing. Watch out. &nbsp;In all seriousness though, that's when it hit me: &nbsp;Why do I compare myself to others? What is the point of making myself feel so low all the time? I choose to spend my days raising beautiful kids and sharing my passions with them. &nbsp;<h2 style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px;; text-align: center">I'M THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD. &nbsp;</h2>&nbsp;And plus... I spend so much time with these young'ns that they're now doing my job for me. 😂&nbsp;What more can a man ask for? That realization felt nice.&nbsp;Now you know what this means for you, don't you?....&nbsp;If you've got a business and an email list you'd like to make more sales from, you can get not just me to write your emails for you, but you can also get my KIDS coming up with email ideas for you now. And I won't even raise my prices to reflect this extraordinary, not at all exploitative value-add! &nbsp;How 'bout that...&nbsp;To get a custom email marketing plan for your business, visit me here:&nbsp;<a href="https://zacgarside.com/" style="color: #0000ee; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#0000ee" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://zacgarside.com/" data-label="https://zacgarside.com/" data-tooltip-id="URmfbxxygVEar2LtzKMpV">https://zacgarside.com/</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;And remember to show gratitude to others</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
 line-height: 1.5em;
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">My two oldest kids are chatting at the kitchen table about a "prize system" their elementary school uses.&nbsp;Their school mascot is the "COLTS," and in the entryway to the school they have these large "COLTS" letters on the wall which the kids can sign their names on.&nbsp;My son is plotting how he can earn enough tickets in class to sign each letter one by one.&nbsp;As he's talking us through his strategy to be a good student and sign all the letters, my five-year-old daughter chimes in with her own strategy:&nbsp;"Instead of earning all those tickets, you could just take a pencil to the front of the school and sign the letters anyway."&nbsp;&nbsp;Hey - the kids got a point. I'm not sure what the school administrators would do if my kids tried to cheat the system like that, but I must say...&nbsp;I'm proud of her for thinking outside the rule book and coming up with a different path. And I'm certainly not going to stop her from trying while she's little like this and the stakes are small. &nbsp;Where in your business does it seem like there is only one way forward? If there were no rules, how would you change it?&nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">Nothing changes behavior like knowing the truth. &nbsp;Speculation doesn't change behavior. Only knowing the truth can do it. &nbsp;Suppose you're not very motivated to take care of your health. Nothing seems to work for you. What's the best way to change that behavior? &nbsp;Get your labs done and know your numbers. Have a doctor look you in the eyes and tell you based on the truth of your numbers what kind of risks your body is up against.&nbsp;That'll do the trick. &nbsp;How do you fix a struggling business? Find the truth. What do our customers really think of us? What do our numbers reveal? What truths are we ignoring because they scare us? What do our employees actually think about this place?&nbsp;Facing the truth is the greatest motivator of all. &nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside&nbsp;</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
 line-height: 1.5em;
 letter-spacing: 0.025em;
 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">I'm standing on the sideline Saturday coaching my son's soccer team when my blood begins to boil...&nbsp;We're getting clobbered. It's 9-0 and our kids look tired, outmatched, and ready to go home. &nbsp;The kids are 7 and the game is 50 minutes long. But we're getting beat so bad that they start asking me when it's gonna be over with 30 minutes still to play. My own son starts checking out, and I can feel the passionate Dad within me start to awaken. I shout so that he'll "refocus" and get back in the game. &nbsp;The other parents start getting flustered, too. We're giving up goals every 3-5 minutes and nobody likes to watch their kid take a beatdown like that. They start yelling to their kids, "RUN! CHASE IT! ATTACK THE BALL! DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" &nbsp;At one point you have me and five or so other parents all yelling orders at the kids. &nbsp;Suddenly, I'm brought back to when I was this age. When I was 7, I played on a little league basketball team with a coach who shouted a lot. He wanted to win, and he played the kids he thought would do the job.&nbsp;I was not one of them. &nbsp;Eventually, my mom asked him how my parents could help me so that I could play more. The coach, taking the question as an insult, berated my mom. He tore into my mom while seven-year-old Zac slouched on the bench in humiliation. "If I was better, this wouldn't be happening."&nbsp;&nbsp;I didn't play basketball again 'till 9th grade. &nbsp;That day from my childhood is why I always volunteer to coach my kids' teams. To keep scums like that out of sports.&nbsp;So now here we are, full circle. My son (who is the age that I was on that fateful day) and his soccer team are getting obliterated. And I, the coach, want to turn the tide and win the game. I want to start pulling out players who are picking daisies and put in our killers. &nbsp;But that's when that little boy version of me, still slouching on the bench in 2002, whispers to me: "Encourage them. Help them have fun."&nbsp;So finally, I stop shouting. I stop barking instructions and shut up. When the other team scores again, I gather the kids at center field and tell them to exhale. I tell them to reset, have fun, and stick with it 'till the end. I tell them I'm proud of them for continuing to chase the ball. Just keep going. &nbsp;The other team scores a few more times and the final score is 12-0. The kids all run to grab snacks after and head home. Everyone, including me, is done with this game and I take Easton back to our car. &nbsp;As I start the car, I look back at my son and say "East, I loved watching you play today. I had fun watching you."&nbsp;In response, he tears open a rice krispie treat and yaps my ear off about Minecraft. Thankfully, he still wants to play soccer. &nbsp;2002 Zac smiles and finally gets up off that bench he's been moping on for 22 years. He may not have had any fun that season, but he can help some other kids have fun now. &nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside&nbsp;</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">James Clear shared the following story in his most recent newsletter, and I'm jealous I didn't find it first:&nbsp;"There was once a very great American surgeon named Halsted. He was married to a nurse. He loved her—immeasurably.&nbsp;One day Halsted noticed that his wife's hands were chapped and red when she came back from surgery. And so he invented rubber gloves. For her. It is one of the great love stories in medicine. The difference between inspired medicine and uninspired medicine is love...&nbsp;[He] loved her to the point of invention."&nbsp;Source: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Clean-House-Sarah-Ruhl/dp/0573633983?__position__=0&amp;language=en_US&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;linkId=9def61c74765a6238fc10a9400f2c4e1&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl&amp;tag=jamesclearema-20" style="color: #0000ee; font-size: inherit; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" class="mention" colorlink="#0000ee" autoboldlinks="true" data-id="https://www.amazon.com/Clean-House-Sarah-Ruhl/dp/0573633983?__position__=0&amp;language=en_US&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;linkId=9def61c74765a6238fc10a9400f2c4e1&amp;ref_=as_li_ss_tl&amp;tag=jamesclearema-20" data-label="The Clean House" data-tooltip-id="lx9_FVYJjxyGcmYLUmwe_">The Clean House</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
 line-height: 1.5em;
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">Some thoughts I wanted to share with you:&nbsp;Why are we relentless that teachers and professors should have high test scores across all their students... but we have no problem enriching gurus &amp; thought leaders whose "students" have a 2% success rate? &nbsp;Why do we feel the need to us AI to summarize things? Shouldn't we just strive to communicate clearly so that no summary is needed? The need for a summary is a sign of communication weakness.&nbsp;Too much of persuasion advice is all stunts and no substance. Stop trying all the weird tricks. Just make a confident statement about how you help people.&nbsp;Coming up with Thesis Statements is actually a brilliant lesson from high school and college. Everyone should refresh their memory on that.&nbsp;Clarity is king. Ditch the fancy mumbo-jumbo and be clear. This applies to everything.&nbsp;To be a good communicator, state the problem you're solving, why the problem exists, and how you can make it go away.&nbsp;"A craftsman's approach fuels purpose and meaning." ~ Jim Clair&nbsp;What's on your mind? &nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</pre>

<pre style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap; 
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 font-family: Arial; font-size:16px; width: 100%; max-width: 900px">People aren't the only ones who get tired....&nbsp;The tactics we use to persuade people get exhausted too. &nbsp;What starts out as a novel approach to persuading your audience can quickly became a "hack" if everyone starts using it. &nbsp;In the long-run, it's best to win with empathy, patience, and clarity. &nbsp;Leave the tactics to someone else. &nbsp;❤️ Zac Garside&nbsp;</pre>

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