Yesterday morning, I finally bit the bullet and set aside a couple of hours to clear out my inbox.

This is usually a Monday activity for me, but since I was in Boise for 4 days last week, I’ve been a bit slow to resume my normal routines.  Hence the inbox cleaning on a Wednesday.

Anyway, after filing and deleting for over an hour, I could see all of my “must deal with this now” emails without having to scroll down the screen. Victory!

But then I noticed something weird. In addition to client emails, there were still a few emails from my various email lists, even though I’d sorted most of them into a “read it later if I have time” or “this is gonna be good” folders.

When I stopped to think about it, I realized that I’ve been using my inbox as a de facto “must read this now” folder. More importantly, the same few people ended up in that folder over and over again.

You don’t have to be an online marketing genius to understand that by reading their emails every week, I have just become an ideal email subscriber (and potential client) for at least 5 other businesses.

So instead of treating you to another video post on microdata video, I thought I’d share who these awesome people are.  I highly recommend checking out their email lists and studying both how they craft their individual emails and how they build up a presence that makes you super excited to open their next email.

 

Amy Scott – Nomadtopia

Amy currently lives in Argentina, although she’s been all over the world. In addition to teaching other entrepreneurs how to build their nomadic lifestyle, she blogs about everything related to roaming the globe. 

I especially love her emails because she talks about the travel part of running your business from a laptop, instead of the business aspects.

If you’re at all interested in building a nomadic lifestyle for yourself, check out the Nomadtopia website or ask to join the Create Your Nomadtopia Facebook group. And, of course, be sure to hop on her email list for all the latest updates. 🙂

 

Chris Guillebeau – The Art of Non-Conformity

Chris is a relatively recent discovery, within the last year or so.  As his blog title suggests, Chris writes a lot about his world travels, building unconventional businesses, giving back to the community, and traveling in general. 

Chris writes very much like he talks: simple and down to earth, but also interesting and informative. I especially love getting his emails because I’m never sure exactly what topic he’s going to tackle.  But, I always know it will be awesome and thought-provoking.

Chris is fantastic at writing engaging emails and in connecting with his community.  If those aren’t good enough reasons to check out his blog and hop on his email list, I don’t know what is.

 

JD Roth – More Than Money

My first experience with JD was at WDS 2012, wherein he gave the closing presentation after 2+ days of awesome speakers. He was nervous, genuine, and interesting without being gimmicky in any way. 

JD used to write Get Rich Slowly before he sold it.  Now, he continues to write for them, but he also writes More Than Money. 

I find his openness about both business and personal struggles to be fascinating. He’s never sorry for himself, but he always talks about things like a real human, as if you were sitting across from him at a coffee shop.  It’s worth following his blog / subscribing to his email list for his voice and writing style alone.

 

Marianne Cantwell – Free Range Humans

Marianne is, simply put, one sassy gal.  She writes about escaping the 9-5 cubicle grind to build businesses and lives that you love, and that give back to the world. Unlike Pam Slim (of Escape From Cubicle Nation fame), Marianne is more in touch with the psychology of being in business, not just the practical steps.

I’m not a touchy-feely kind of person when it comes to reading emails, so I like Marianne because there’s some of that, but not too much. 

Unlike Amy, Chris, and JD, Marianne shares a lot in her emails that never ends up on the blog (which can be frustrating, as I often want to share her emails on social media!)  Definitely worth a look-see, especially if you like smart, sassy writers.

 

Natalie Sisson – The Suitcase Entrepreneur

Last but certainly not least, I love everything about Natalie Sisson. From her accent to her website, she’s one simple yet well-travelled gal.  Like Amy Scott at Nomadtopia, Natalie writes about building a business that can be run from anywhere.

Unlike Amy, however, Natalie focuses a lot more on the business side of the equation. Her emails (and blog posts) are a great mix of interviews, online marketing tips, business lessons, and updates on her world travels.

Because she covers a great range of topics, I’m always excited to read her emails.  Definitely check her out, both for the content itself, and for the way she works her personality into everything she writes.

 

Your Turn

Now that I’ve given you a few fabulous emailers to follow, I want to know: who’s in your “must read” email cue every week?  Is there anyone else I should add to this list?  Let me know in the comments below!

~ Felicity

photo credit: Adam Foster | Codefor via photopin cc

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