Offline 💧 Dreams, Print Newspapers & Delightful Days

Well, that was cute last week. 🫠

I've been writing emails on the internet for what now, 16 years? And never have I had an email do THAT.

I know you saw it. I knowwwww you got those wonky weird bullet points. I know you were thinking, "Ash, C'MON OLD GIRL." And, yes, I about diiiiiiiiiiiiied when the first person wrote in to tell me.

So naturally, of course I got on the ukulele with Kit (who I've used to send my newsletters for 3,000 years), because I could not imagine how the test messages I sent myself prior to sending were flawless 💅🏻, but somehow when it went out to you?

It transformed into a drunk, digital me.

BEHOLD, Exhibit A:

Shats? Well, yes, I do suppose technology shat all over that email.

So, because I know you are ON THE EDGE OF YOUR VELVET CHAIR, let me tell you what the engineers said, so you don't make the same mistake. (When you're launching something. And want to crawl into the river.)

Here is the short version:

Don't copy/paste your text into the email editor, or it will betray you and eat all of your worldly ambitions.

Here's the full version:

What's weird, however, is I didn't exactly do that. What I did do was copy/paste from another email I had set up in Kit, because I wanted a different template.

But what's *really* weird, is that old text I had *definitely* edited out, somehow made its way back INTO this email. Like the word "Republican." Definitely edited that out. And still, it ended up in the jumble that got sent out. 😵

ALAS, the lesson we learn here is: well, I'm not sure. This is unusual. But, duly noted: copy/pasting makes things wonky, even while working in-app. Though I really wish it would have given me the wonky preview, instead of lying to my dumb face and telling me it was perfect and then sending you some trash.

So, I am sorry about the trash!

The good news, however, is I SHALL NOT BE DETERRED. I am like an email wildebeest. And today, we shall carry on with all the things—despite, perhaps, with less exciting formatting. 🤣

You ever think about career trade-offs: what do you have to give up in order to have X???

Yeah, you might want to make oooodles of money and run away in one of those British Landrovers 🐶, but, what do you have to do to get there?

And, are you willing to do it?

I've come to the conclusion that most of us are not willing to do the things it takes. Not as a character slight, but because some of those things really, genuinely suck. Do you really want an inbox full of thousands of customer service emails? (You'd have one if you sold stuff on Amazon.) Do you really want to have to get on video and do your hair and makeup everyday? (You'd have to if you want to be an influencer.) Do you really want to run launches and apply pressure and have to sell yourself? (You'd have to if you want to be a personal brand.)

These kinds of careers are about to be OUT.

You know what's about to be in?

Analog, everything.

• Writers, writing again from the woods
• Photographers, going back to the darkroom
• Illustrators, reaching for their paintbrush over their iPad
• Craftspeople, hand-carving one-of-a-kind masterpieces
• Globemakers, carefully gluing on each section of map
• Explorers, writing in leather-bound journals about the world they see
• Artists, sketching from park benches and open plains
• Thinkers, giving talks and engaging in public domain

The future is offline.

I even saw this the other day in a mall in New York's Finger Lakes (which is only 1.5 hours from where I am, so I am going there more oftennnnnnnnnn 😈):

So, yeah: if a brand generating $1.96 billion in revenue each year (37% of American Eagle's total sales) is taking the risk of attaching the word "offline" to their brand, it's because this is a hot play. They aren't dumb—they're watching trends and data.

It's a brand positioning play ahead of bigger cultural shifts.

But, IMO, it's not about anti-internet as much as it is anti-overstimulation.

It's permission to slow down.

Don't we all want that?

Offline is soon going to become a status symbol of its own.

It's no longer "I'm top shit and here are my millions of followers," but rather, "I'm top shit, so I don't need followers." Because, if you really are top shit, you can afford to be offline. It means the internet doesn't rule you—or your finances.

Offline will come to symbolize care, and craft, and a return to that which is meaningful, in a world where anyone can use AI to make anything cheap in seconds.

That's the word right there: cheap.

Everything about AI feels cheapened, and the more AI apps that are thrown at us, the more AI is added to our software, the more AI becomes the default, the more we will seek out authentic human experiences that make us feel alive, not used.

And, they will be outside.

Part of the reason I bought the farmhouse was to be outside.

Outside is about to become really, really cool again. I predict that outdoor apparel brand sales are about to spike like crazy. 📈 Blessings to the person who has enough foresight to create the disruptive outdoor apparel brand lite for newbies who know nothing about which kind of tent to buy, or which kind of hiking boots would be best, or which kind of pack you need. Imagine how much fun you could have writing a website like that? Writing the product descriptions alone would be SO! MUCH! FUN! (If this is you, please reach out, I must be brought onto the team immediately.)

The interesting challenge with this cultural shift is going to be for online marketers: how do you re-write the playbook, when nobody gives a shit about the online world anymore?

But, more so, how do the people offline making things...market things?

One interesting answer I'm already seeing a lot of is a return to printed zines + newsletters, thanks to this company I think is the absolute bee's knees, Newspaper Club. (LOVE them.)

For example, I'm dyyyyying over The Lonely Hearts Club, a print newspaper for people who are “tired of swipes, taps and algorithms.”

Each issue contains 185 personal ads from people all over the United Kingdom. 🥰 They charge ~$50 to place a 40-word ad in the newspaper, and the only way you can reply to the ad? With a handwritten letter, addressed to the member's unique code (which they then personally forward on!) No DMs or emails allowed.

ISN'T THAT FREAKIN' GREAT? So, so smart. So analog. So now.

Here's the official website for The Lonely Hearts Club, where they have the best tagline ever:

Won't it be wild if we see a real return to more print, more direct mail (but done beautifully, not mass consumerly), more things back in our mailbox, over our inbox?

Curious: would you start a print newspaper / newsletter if it were fun to do, and easy to print, and they'd ship it for you, and you knew you'd make money?! ⬇️

Have you heard of Ghost? They're a smart, slick, lightweight publishing / website / newsletter platform that replaces Wordpress or Substack, for example, that's open source and run by a non-profit structure...which means they’re less pressured to suddenly pivot, shove ads in your face, or yank the floor out from under creators.

ANYWAY, got this pop-up the other day when I was playing around: ⬇️

LOVE. IT.

More companies need to prioritize delight-as-product-feature. It's not a fluffy add-on. It's conversion grease (which should really be the name of someone's marketing newsletter).

Not to mention, when you're a start-up and everything you do is copy-able? And (you think) the only thing you have left to compete is to lower your price?

Remember that the #1 thing that nobody can copy . . .

. . . is your copy.

Because that's infringement.

And so, making yours as unique as possible is essentially adding on a feature that NO ONE CAN COPY, EVER EVER EVER.

Why wouldn't you, right?

Most people view this as a "nice-to-have" afterthought, but it's not. Customers need a reason to pick you. And, these small touch points matter.

We figure that if someone took the time to make such a small detail pleasant and well-considered, you assume the whole product is going to be pleasant and well-considered.

A tiny smirk in the UI signals care. Care signals competence. Competence lowers perceived risk. Lower risk increases conversions.

That’s not fluff. That’s behavioral economics. And I am here for it.

The deadline ends ⚠️tomorrow⚠️ to join me in Dead Voice Club, where you’ll learn how to write more fresh, fantastic, human & authentically with me, Ash!

The best part, however, is that I’ll also be showing you how to apply it—strategically and with the intent to sell your beautiful wares with integrity and fun—to anything you need to write this year: sales pages, website pages, landing pages, email sales sequences, evergreen sequences....maybe even your own print newspaper? Ha! (Yup, it’s 22+ classes inside of one.)

Learn alongside me this whole year, find your voice again, have FUN with it, and have me as your cheerleader for 50% off as an early adopter. (While we’re still makin’ things cute in there and building out the library!)

I'd love to see you there.