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The man who invented the ’email’, in 1971

Tech people can have weird thoughts – I know, I’m one of them!
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Every now and then, those thoughts can be transformational – just as this one was…👇
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​In 1971, a tech engineer guy was sitting at his desk wondering if he could send himself a message, from one computer to another (which was only 8 feet away from him).​
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You have to remember, back then, over 50 years ago, the only ways we could communicate with others was to phone them, meet in person, or send them a letter.
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​Ray Tomlinson (no, not the Jim Royale guy, that’s Ricky Tomlinson) worked as an engineer for a US company, helping design leading-edge tech like ARPANET (first ever digital network).

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Anyway, on that day, as he sat at his New York office desk, Ray wondered if he could use some code that he’d written and adapt it to deliver an electronic message to himself.
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He wondered if he’d be able to send it from his computer “computer1” to another one sitting on the next desk, “computer2”.
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I know, I know… simple now, but remember, this was before any of us even knew what a computer was!
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He had to come up with a way of addressing his “message” so that only the intended recipient had access to it.
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He chose to use the “@“ symbol – because he said that people sat “at” a computer, plus it was a rarely (if ever) used symbol – so his message was to be sent from “ray@computer1” to “ray@computer2”.
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His first message was “QWERTYUIOP” (I know, not exactly exciting content, but…hey, engineers aren’t necessarily renowned for their wordy craft!).​
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After hitting that “Enter” key, he zipped his chair across that 8-foot gap to check for his message… Eureka! It had arrived and he could read it! 🙌
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And so, this was the birth of what we now use ubiquitously, and refer to as “email”.
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Back then, Ray called it “SNDMSG”.
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Over five decades later and we now collectively send those “@“ messages more than 340 billion times per day!
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And despite what some say (and have been saying for the last 20 years or so), email is here to stay – and its use is on the increase, year on year (projected to rise to 4.6 billion users by 2025 – data source Statista).​
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If you’re not using email effectively to grow your business, then you’re missing out on huge opportunities.
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And you’re also not taking advantage of Ray’s ingenuity… 😊
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​P.S. Sadly, in 2015, Ray shuffled off this mortal coil but has left his legacy for many generations to come.​
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Is your website optimised for leads?

Your website is your digital showcase. It’s where people will come to check you out, and see what it is you actually do.

But here’s the thing, most solopreneurs don’t have their websites optimised to attract any visitors that do actually show up.

Instead, most people try to cram as much as they can on there, and start pitching from the get-go;

• “Buy this now…”
• “Click here to see…”
• “Let me tell you how good we are…”
• “We started 12 years ago…”
• “Yada yada yada…” – you get the gist.

But this approach only has one outcome – people navigate away quicker than they arrived!

The patience of the average website visitor has worn very thin these days, and if they don’t an immediate insight into what value you can bring them – they’re off!

There are 4 basic questions you MUST answer for every visitor, if they are to stay longer than a few seconds;

1. What is it you do?
2. Who do you do it for?
3. Why should I get it?
4. What do you want me to do next?

If you can answer these within 5-6 seconds, and everything is above the ‘fold’, then you’re at the races! (btw, the ‘fold’ is a term that stems back to newspaper print days when copy that appeared above where the paper would be folded, is deemed to be ‘above the fold’ – in digital marketing terms, it’s the equivalent of ‘before you scroll down’).

Below is an example of my website (which I change regularly to keep it fresh), answering these 4 questions;

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So, from the screenshot above, here are my answers to the 4 questions;

1. What is it you do? – “Email marketing training and setup”
2. Who do you do it for? – “for service-based solopreneurs”
3. Why should I get it? – “help you to grow your business”
4. What do you want me to do next? – “Start now, for free”

So, how about your website – would I be able to answer these questions if I looked at it today?

Send me the link if you want me to give you my 4 answers for your website home page.

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James Caan’s business had humble beginnings, and a unique office!

When multi-millionaire, James Caan, started his recruitment business, he chose a high end address in London to impress prospects, but could only afford to rent the broom cupboard.

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And rather than use his name for the business, he created what sounded like a high-end established firm, called ‘Alexander Mann‘.

He didn’t want to be James Caan from James Caan Ltd – the sound of James Caan from Alexander Mann had much more gravitas.

It obviously worked as he went on to sell the business to a private equity firm for £97m!

(btw, the company has since gone on to be sold another twice, firstly for £260m and then for £820m – nice bit of business by the first and second buyers!) 👌

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Cheers, John ​ ​ ​ If we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, then let’s fix that now! If you’re new around here, let me give you a brief intro to who I am and what I do; 👋 Hi, I’m John, a freelancer with 30+ years of experience in software development, business start-up and growth strategies, and digital marketing, specialising in email marketing. I help service-based freelancers grow their businesses by showing them how to effectively implement an email marketing system that’ll bring them leads, prospects, and new clients, complemented with proven success strategies for solopreneur-type businesses. ​