A New Chapter
Welcome to Trial & Error 1.0
Hello friends,
My goal for Trial & Error has always been to inspire people to try new things in life. Often it takes seeing someone else do something before people will take the leap themselves.
After parsing through the results of the survey from last week I’ve done some brainstorming on ways I can take Trial & Error to the next level. Think of the first few months of T&E as the Beta version. Now it’s time to launch the 1.0.
I love doing this newsletter, but I can’t invest significant time into it for free. So I’ve been trying to figure out how to create a paid tier for the more dedicated fans.
All of my new efforts with Trial & Error will continue with the mission of inspiring readers to try new things.
Here’s the plan as I have it for now.
Free Tier (1 Email per month)
The free tier is exactly what Trial & Error has been so far: a monthly email with a story on products, jobs, hobbies, diets, etc. that I’ve tested out over the last month. If that’s all you want, then great! You won’t need to do anything to change your subscription status or anything like that. I’ll never make the monthly email paid.
T&E Club (4 Emails per month)
The paid tier is only $5 a month or $50 if you pay for all 12 months at once. The T&E Club gets three extra emails a month over the free tier. For the cost of five songs on iTunes in the year 2007 you get all this:
Good, Bad, Funny, Dumb (Bi-Weekly) - This will be a short email every Friday featuring exactly what the title says, the good-est, bad-est, funniest, and dumbest thing I’ve seen, read, or done that week. Hopefully you’ll discover some new things each time and be entertained. Maybe you’ll read a great article or watch a hilarious video. Maybe you’ll find out about a great new restaurant or a book I read (lol jk I finish like one book a year). This is where little things that I test out will be discussed. Some things aren’t worth a big monthly article but are still interesting enough to share. I’ll also update you on past issues, like telling you that I still have not had to charge my truMedic IMPACT theragun despite consistent use.
Trial & Expert (Monthly) - This is where the value really is. Each month this bonus email will feature an exclusive interview with an expert in a certain topic where they will provide you with inside information on how to do something very specific. Think about this like a recipe given by a master chef that only T&E Club members can read. Sometimes, it will actually be a recipe from a master chef. Sometimes it will be a specific workout to try. Other times it’ll be the best way to organize your garage or how to ask for a raise at work. The expert might be world-famous or someone you’ve never heard of. The point of this email is to give you exclusive access to advice that you can try out in your daily life. One month the advice might not be up your alley and the next month it might change your life. A fair tradeoff for $5 a month.
Potential Discounts on Products: I don’t want this to be a main selling point because as someone pointed out in the survey, it can feel like cheap advertising. But I will just say this, as I discuss with PR people about their products I am sometimes given discounts to offer readers. I will only offer these discounts to the T&E Club.
There are several reasons I called this newsletter Trial & Error. The obvious one is that I’m trying things out and often that will result in me making serious errors, like forgetting to put on gloves in the cryotherapy chamber, but the other reason is that the newsletter itself is a trial for me. I’ll keep experimenting with it until I can find the best mix of content and the content that can create the biggest audience.
That’s where I need your help. If you ever like anything you read, whether it’s in the paid tier or the free tier, please, please, please share it with friends. Post about it on social media. Forward the email along. All of these things are incredibly helpful in me growing this.
I’ll be sending the first Good, Bad, Funny, Dumb next week and it will be free to give you a taste of what’s to come. In the mean time I’m coordinating with experts to fill up several months of Trial & Expert content and I’m scheduling out a lot of Trial & Error projects as well. I’m super pumped about the future of this thing, thanks for being along for the ride so far.
If you’d like to sign up for the T&E Club you can click the button below. There’s an option to become a Founding Member which is essentially where you give me however much money you’d like over the subscription minimum. Anyone who does will get the chance to join me on the adventure of your choice and can also make me try anything (legal) for the newsletter.
Need one more nudge? Click this link and sign up before July 26 and you get an extra $10 off the annual plan. That works out to $3.33 a month!