It amazes me how many people AREN’T regular email users these days. My gosh. I’m on at least my Now Hear This, Inc. email SO much each day, that I don’t know how people can seemingly go days without checking their email.
Yes, I know, there’s a lot of junk. There are a lot of spammers. It can quickly and easily get to a point where you get discouraged from checking your email, as a result.
Heck, for that matter, if you’re a recording artist or an author (to give just two examples) and are in a position to regularly get rejections, then yes, I could see why you wouldn’t be too motivated to look at your email on a regular basis.
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Gosh, you don’t even have to be a creator to be someone who regularly gets bad news in their inbox, meaning, a job applicant who keeps getting the standard turndown letter from the various positions that they apply for.
Soon, the Unsubscribe button becomes your best friend.
But guess what? You need to check your email regularly. And by regularly, I mean at least once a day. It’s the legitimate emails, it’s the good stuff, it’s the opportunities you’ve been waiting for that are in there that you want to see – wait for it – in a timely manner.
Just as important, though, is to READ. I was talking to my best friend recently. He has his own (successful, thriving) business in Los Angeles and told me point blank, “People just don’t read what they should.” I had told him how I’d posted for a position I was trying to fill with Now Hear This, Inc. and that someone I interviewed asked how much it paid – even though it was in the listing!
Additionally, for my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, once an interview gets booked, I send the guest an email that tells them what I’ll need sent to me in advance as well as how they will contact me that day. The latter is in the second paragraph, not the fifth, and not the seventh. And it clearly states the Skype username (followed by “audio only, no video”) and then the guest call-in line.
Despite all that, I get people asking me, “Are you going to send the Zoom link?” Or others who want to know, “Is this video?” It’s everything I can do to not write back and say, “If you would read the second paragraph, it clearly states that…”
Heck, the very first email that I send, when I’m requesting an interview with someone, has a line in it that says, “Since the show is not done live, we can record on a day/at a time that is most convenient for you.” And yet I still get people that email me to ask, “Hey Bruce, just a question. Is this interview going to be live or are we recording for later release?” To quote a popular expression, ‘You can’t make this stuff up.’
Save yourself from looking like an imbecile and prevent the other person from getting annoyed (and possibly second-guessing why they even wrote to you in the first place) and READ YOUR EMAILS.
I know, I know, TLDR (too long, didn’t read). To that I say, too bad. If you’re not getting the opportunities you think you should be, maybe it’s because you’re presenting yourself as someone unreliable who doesn’t pay attention to detail and thus is being passed over for someone else who is a lot more thorough.
I realize that the last paragraph or two are not what you want to hear. But trust me, when a successful business owner in L.A. sees it, and a longtime publicist/podcaster is experiencing it regularly, it’s a problem. To quote a former boss of mine, ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’
Comments on this blog? I just launched a page on FeaturedUp so that the audience for my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast can send in their questions after listening to an episode of the show. However, readers here can use it too! There’s no cost, so take advantage of that platform to give me your feedback on the above!