Editor's note: Sponsored rider Brett Davis takes us on a photographic tour of the Brooks Range in Alaska, in three parts, as he ventures from Fairbanks to Coldfoot and reflects upon the accomplishments therein. Read the second part here and the third part here.
It all started with a passing comment as Doom and I rode past each other during my mountain bike commute home from the office. "Hey! What do you have planned for the summer? Let's do a trip together," turned into Wednesday evening planning sessions, email inquiries to those who could possibly help us, the creation of equipment and food lists, the building of bikes and homemade pfd's, shake down rides and paddles, and eventually a flight to Fairbanks, Alaska. We were headed to the Brooks Range to ambitiously tackle a plan that involved completing a loop in this beautiful, yet very harsh, landscape via both packraft and fatbike. We had a two-week window (which included travel to and from Alaska) in which to complete the journey that had started as a couple of exchanged words on a dusty trail outside of Durango, Colo. My partners for this adventure were two local Durango hard men—Steve "Doom" Fassbinder and Jon Bailey are both incredible bike riders, well-versed in tackling unusual and "out of the box" escapades such as what we were now attempting. This was going to be fun!
For those who have spent any time in Alaska, you know that our 49th state is home to many characters and eccentrics. Our experience was no different, and I could easily fill this blog post with stories from the odd, bizarre and comedic encounters Jon, Doom and I had during our first and final days in the last frontier. From a dog named Ringo Star to Godzilla costumes and "end of the world" deals involving the Russians, and, of course, the quick consumption of 20-year-old bottles of scotch, we were properly embraced and welcomed to this wild land. Nonetheless, these other escapades will have to be saved for another forum, as this is a tale of an adventure by both bike and pack raft.
With food and bear spray obtained, as well as transportation, we made our way north beyond the Arctic Circle. Our starting point for this journey was just over the divide of the Brooks Range on the north side of the Atigun Pass. This northern most range of North America extends nearly 700 miles from east to west and is one of the most remote and least-disturbed wildernesses of our continent. In its entirety, the range is bisected by only the Dalton Highway that follows the Alyeska Pipeline for more than 400 miles from just north of Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean at the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Because of its remoteness, it is rarely visited, and the grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, caribou and birdlife that call this region home are largely uninfluenced by human presence. One will not find trail maps with popular campsites or must-see highlights marked on them. Instead, it is "a choose your own adventure" in a truly wild land, where one slight mishap could have dire consequences.
Our ambitious exploration began at a bridge above the "Atigun River 2." After a day of flight travel, another of prep and nearly 10 hours of bumpy driving up the Dalton Highway, we were at our starting point. The put-in was a concrete boat ramp leading to a stream of water that would quickly put us deep into one of our planet's seldom-explored lands. After stowing 11 days of food and equipment into our packrafts, securing our bikes to their bows and donning drysuits, we pushed off. It was 7 PM. Once leaving the boat ramp, we would be on our own with little chance of outside assistance. Our safety and success would be determined by the wherewithal and experience of our team of three. A phone call out or the push of an easy button was not an option.
The Atigun Gorge has been paddled by many an adventurous soul. Whether or not it has ever been navigated utilizing packrafts loaded with fatbikes and food for 11 days is unknown. We navigated the continuous class II & III boogie water with focus and wonder. A miscue on a line could lead to consequences that would jeopardize the success of the trip. On the other hand, it felt amazing to put into action what we had been planning for the past couple of months. Reality for me is always better than my dreams. After our first significant wildlife sighting (a wolverine) and negotiating around a class IV drop, we paddled into the Sagavanirktok River and found our first camp. It was 12 AM, and the midnight sun was shining brightly. Jack Daniels emerged and a celebratory swig was passed as we reveled in the completion of phase one. We were in the Brooks Range!
Waking at 9 AM, we assembled our fat two-wheeled machines, and stowed away our packrafts for future use. The Blackborow would now be my mode of transportation for the next five to six days. Outfitted with a handlebar gear sling (packraft and break-down paddle); a frame bag (food and bike repair essentials); and an Salsa Alternator rack (more food), my trusty steed was ready for what lay ahead. After a brief photo session of easy riding on the sandy beach adjacent to our camp, we were ready to see what the day had in store for us. Could we actually ride these go-anywhere-machines in this environment? The Brooks Range is void of all trees, as the climate is too harsh to support such growth. Instead, it is a mountainous region containing rocky outcrops, tundra, moss and arctic tussocks—the potential bane of our ability to ride.
Immediately after leaving camp, we entered "tussock land." These compact tufts of low vegetation are difficult to hike through, let alone attempt to navigate by bike. We had been warned about these ankle-breaking features—many a hiker had struggled to make their way across such terrain. In our planning we wondered how a bike would fair and hoped that this venture would not be a backpacking trip with bikes.
The reality of navigating this terrain quickly set in with the easy riding of the shoreline now replaced with pushing our heavy bikes through an expansive marsh of tussocks. Add hungry mosquitoes and warm temps from the blue bird sky above, and you have the making of a very sweaty sufferfest. Our first couple of miles were spent pushing our loaded steeds while covered head to toe in rain gear and headnets. It is amazing how mosquitoes can seek out and find any exposed skin—even if it is only one square inch of uncovered flesh from my cycling gloves. The tussocks and mosquitoes did little to dampen our drive or moods: Long ago, while sitting carefree in a Durango brewery, we accepted that our intended adventure would include such challenges. Mentally we were prepared to suffer, but hoped that this trip would lead to more saddle sores than blisters on our feet.
As we pushed forward up the valley towards the pass that would drop us into our intended destination for the day, we began to gain insight into the terrain. With patient observance, we began to find rideable lines. The southern aspects were rocky and tussock-free versus the valley floor or the northern aspects, which were thick with vegetation and water. Our crank arms started to rotate, propelling us forward. Slowly we began to understand the subtle nuances of this new land. The initial 100-yard sections of riding linked into 200 yards and then 300 yards, and so on. Soon we were pushing less and riding more.
After a much-needed break and lunch at 3 PM, we turned north and began to climb to a drainage that would drop us into Accomplishment Creek. We slowly contoured along the east side of a steep picturesque gorge for a couple of miles before dropping into its cobble-filled bottom. Wahoo! Having each spent plenty of time riding such terrain in the desert of southern Utah, we were all well acquainted with the complexities of riding over baseball- and bowling ball-size rocks. Our 5-inch tires were well suited for this type of terrain.
As we climbed towards the pass, the barren mountainous walls began to close in and suffocate our ability to ride. The final push was on. Soon we were each in our own private battle against the terrain as we manhandled our loaded machines up the unrelenting escarpment above. Enduring the never-ending attack of blood-seeking mosquitoes, we pushed, pulled, carried and willed our way to the top of the pass. At 8 PM, we breached the pass and gazed down the 4 miles into Accomplishment Creek. Our camp for the evening was just a few miles away.
The descent off of the pass was nearly all rideable as we bounced around and over tussocks and other low-growing arctic vegetation before finding more cobble riding. Having been on the move for more than 12 hours, we rolled into a beautiful campsite along the banks of Accomplishment Creek at 11:30 p.m. It was time for another late-night dinner, then a welcome crawl into our sleeping bags. What a day! Sleep found me easily as my mind reflected upon what we had accomplished that day … we actually were able to ride bikes in the Brooks Range. Wahoo!
Sorry about that Steve. Some settings were not correct and we have re-imported. Looks like you had a one heck of a trip. Nice work.


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International Airlines Group (IAG) Cargo, has reported revenue of €1,173m in 2018, an increase of 7.2 percent on 2017 at constant currency and overall yield for the year was up 8.1 percent at constant currency.
IAG Cargo posts 7.2 percent rise in revenue in 2018
STAT Times Air Cargo March 1, 2019
March 1, 2019: International Airlines Group (IAG) Cargo, has reported revenue of €1,173m, an increase of 7.2 percent on 2017 at constant currency and overall yield for the year was up 8.1 percent at constant currency.
The company said that it reported record revenue in a market that became more challenging as the year went on.
The cargo division of IAG informs: "Sold tonnes were up 0.2 percent and CTK volumes were down 0.9 percent whilst capacity grew by 3.8 percent."
The airline group attributes the notable increase in business to growth in its Constant Climate and Critical products.
Lynne Embleton, CEO at IAG Cargo, commented: "Revenues from our Constant Climate product have increased by 9 percent, and we have invested in a new multi-million-euro Good Distribution Practice certified Constant Climate Centre in Madrid to help meet growing demand for pharmaceutical shipments, in particular to the South American market. The importance of our Constant Climate service was highlighted in August when we transported over 5.3 tonnes of the diphtheria vaccine to Venezuela to fight an outbreak of the disease.
"In July we launched a new Critical Service Centre with a specialised customer service team dedicated to serving customers of our highest priority, non-off-loadable product. Our Critical consignment count grew by 35 percent, supporting must-fly shipments of products including aerospace and machinery parts, in-demand retail products, and technology components.
"Our 2018 global rebrand brought our carriers together under one brand, highlighting the strength of our network with 350 destinations. Our network grew capacity on key routings into Latin America as well as adding a new destination between London and Nashville. The strong growth across our hubs was supported by additional Aer Lingus capacity out of Dublin, carrying pharmaceuticals, automotive and aviation parts, and a popular local beer.
"We continue to focus on innovation to provide the best customer service and improve how air cargo works. IAG Cargo undertook the first airside trial of an autonomous vehicle at a UK airport this year, and as part of the Hangar 51 global innovation programme, we have been working alongside three innovative start-ups to trial new technologies to improve our operations.
"We have also invested heavily in IAGCargo.com, with a significant increase in online bookings and the addition of a new in-house web development team that works closely with customers to make monthly improvements to our website. Our FORWARD.REWARDS programme helped us substantially grow our SME revenue, and membership continues to grow to nearly 1500 members worldwide.
"2019 looks set to be a more challenging year, with airfreight capacity growth outpacing growth in demand. Our focus on customer service, products and technology will allow us to continue developing our business as we seek to become the carrier of choice for customers worldwide."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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August 2018 Brown County Match of the Month | Scott Clark & Zack
Each month, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Wisconsin shines a light on the relationships that we are helping build within our community. This month we would like to acknowledge our featured Match of the Month. Please help us congratulate Scott Clark (31) of Green Bay and his Little Brother Zack (15) of De Pere.
Where did you hear about Big Brothers Big Sisters?
Scott: I knew about it because my mom was a Big when I was young.
Why did you want to become involved?
S: When my Mom was a Big, I remember her Little (Ursula, my brother and I called her Ursi), coming to our house and playing with us and was kind of a big sister to me. I saw the positive impact my Mom made in Ursula's life. For example, my mom was really into arts and crafts. Ursula ended up starting her own business making purses. It was so inspirational to me that doing something so simple can impact a child's life when they become an adult.
Why did you want to have a Big Brother or Big Sister?
Zack: Originally so I could have someone to hang out with during the summer then it turned into much more than that and I am thankful for that.
What do you do when you spend time together?
S: We love B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings)! We play the countdown trivia every time. It's a great back up plan if we don't have any specific ideas. We've gone on bike rides and to the park. We've been to every museum in Green Bay and Oshkosh (some more than once), and we like going to different sporting events. Our favorite is the Gamblers Hockey team. Zack has a huge interest in cars, so if we can find any events related to cars we try to go. Our birthdays are two weeks apart from each other, so we have a tradition (three years running) of going to Badger Sports Park. We love riding go karts and playing laser tag.
Is there something in particular that stands out as a memorable time with your little?
S: We once got indoor club tickets to a Packers preseason game (through BBBS). It was Zack's first Packers game and it was an amazing experience! We found out you could order food if you downloaded an app on your phone and kept ordering nachos, cracker jacks, and beef sticks.
What is your favorite memory with your Big?
Z: Every year we go to Badgers Sports Park. We do go-karts (which I dominate in) and we do laser tag.
Is there something in the future that you would like to do together or that you look forward to experiencing together?
S: I haven't been to a car show with Zack yet, so that's on the list. I know he's excited for his driver's license. Maybe I'll let him pick me up after five years of giving him rides (haha!). There is a virtual reality arcade in Green Bay, and that's on our list of things to check out.
Is There something you would like to do together in the future, and why?
Z: I would like to go to a car show with him, so I could show/teach him more about almost every car.
What have you enjoyed about being a big?
S: Zack is an only child and has lived with his Mom most of his life. In ways, I feel like an actual brother to Zack. Also, that I'm acting as a positive influence in a young person's life and I don't need to do a lot to do that. All it takes is spending time together, listening and hanging out on a regular basis.
In what way has being matched with your Little affected you and your life?
S: Being matched with Zack has made me enjoy the simple things in life. I don't need to do anything extravagant to have fun. Going out for a bike ride is simple to do, and for a kid it's a big deal. It creates positive and fun memories.
What is something that you learned from your Big?
Z: To laugh more.
How has being matched with a Big made a difference for you?
Z: I've definitely grown socially, I was very shy at the beginning.
What would you say to others about Big Brothers Big Sisters and to others who are thinking about becoming a Big?
S: DO IT! It's a life-changing experience and it's only a one-year commitment. Trust me, you'll want to do it for longer than that. It has been a great five years being matched with Zack.
Categorized in: Match of the Month
"I enjoy seeing the excitement on his face when we hang out, the conversations and seeing how that has changed as he is growing up. I enjoy just knowing that myself and all the other Bigs are making a big difference in kids' lives even if we don't always realize it right away."
Kyle Shawano


Labor Day weekend in Heber-Overgaard would not be complete without the annual Pine Needlers Quilt Show—the biggest 'little' quilt show in the mountains. This year's show will be held on Saturday, September 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Capps School Gymnasium, 3375 Buckskin Canyon Road in Heber. Admission is $2.00 and parking is free.
Heber-Overgaard is in the cool pines of the Mogollon Rim on Highway 260 between Payson and Showlow, just 2 1/2 hours from Phoenix.
The annual quilt show began in the 1990s at the Rim Country Senior Center in Overgaard with quilts draped over chairs and tables. Over the years, the Pine Needlers have grown this much-anticipated show and expect more than eighty beautiful quilts, all made by members, at September's event. The show is non-juried but those attending will have an opportunity to vote for their favorites for the Viewer's Choice Awards.
There is a wide variety of other opportunities for visitors to enjoy during the show. The very popular Best of the Rim Boutique offers an abundance of unique handmade items for sale. It's a great place to get a start on your Christmas Shopping!
Early birds get first choice of delicious homemade breads, pies, cakes, cookies and other tasty treats from the Pine Needlers' Bake Sale. Needless to say, it sells out every year! The show also includes several vendors selling everything from fabric, notions, handmade coiled baskets to wearable art and jewelry.
Of course, you will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets to win the outstanding 2018 Raffle Quilt. "Rim Country Cabin," is an original design, pieced by several of the Pine Needlers members and quilted by member Marilyn Giblin. Prior to the show, it is being displayed at Rim Country Quilts and Papercrafting in Bison Ranch, Overgaard. The last display is at the Rim Country Roundup in Payson. Tickets sell for $1 each or six for $5. The drawing for the winning ticket will be in the afternoon of October 13th and the winner will be notified by phone.
The Kid's Corner is a very popular stop at the show where members share quilt crafting with the children. Each child leaves with fun inspiration or possibly a special fabric creation all their own. They also have a chance to win a small quilt.
Since the first show over 20 years ago, the Pine Needlers have focused on using the funds raised by the quilt show to help others in the community. Some of the organizations or activities they support are: Safe House, Hope House, Santa's Kids, the School Nurse's needs, Community Food pantry, the Senior Center and the Chamber's Fireworks Fund.
The Pine Needlers have several ongoing charity projects they also contribute to in non-monetary ways. They make quilts to honor local veterans and wounded service members. These quilts are given to the recipients during a biannual presentation held by the quilt group. They also donate quilts to victims of sexual trauma in the military. Children are not forgotten and quilts and other items are given to children entering into foster care in Navajo County.
The Pine Needlers meet the first Monday of every month at Faith Lutheran Church, 2750 Mogollon Drive, in Overgaard. For more information about the group, visit: www.pineneedlers.weebly.com.


Above: Airbus HQ at Toulouse.
It is believed that employee contact information was accessed in the security breach suffered by Airbus, which has said it is taking measures to improve its security defences.
In a statement Airbus said: 'This incident is being thoroughly investigated by Airbus' experts who have taken immediate and appropriate actions to reinforce existing security measures and to mitigate its potential impact, as well as determining its origins.
'Investigations are ongoing to understand if any specific data was targeted, however we do know some personal data was accessed. This is mostly professional contact and IT identification details of some Airbus employees in Europe.
Irra Ariella Khi, CEO of City-based VChain said: "The security breach against Airbus is another example that current processes for storing sensitive data are not fit for purpose. Holding data on centralised, vulnerabile systems is making it easy for hackers. We urgently need to move to systems built using privacy by design principles – where data security and obscurity are built into the system – and data is not in a box that is inevitably breached.
"Personal data of employees, operatives, or passengers held by those operating in the aviation industry is highly sensitive. The industry is highly regulated for a reason: data security is vital for ensuring safety. Whatever the motivation of the attack is, we should not be making it so easy to access data.
Dan Turner, CEO of Malvern-based Deep Secure said: "The Airbus breach is likely to become just another fleeting reference in the constant stream of data breaches we'll witness this year. Incidents like this show that, no matter how robust the company's security defences, traditional cybersecurity solutions are unable to detect the growing number of zero-day and undetectable threats that cybercriminals are creating.


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11 March 2019 / Email Marketing
[Solved] 10 obvious mistakes that you're making with cold emails
Cold email is an email sent to your prospective customer who never had a relationship with your business. It's a great way to generate leads unless you're making one of the 10 mistakes from this article.
It's not an easy job to get people to open your cold email. They don't know you or your company, then why should the bother opening your email?
But you can actually start generating hot leads through cold emails if you do it right. It's all about creating a relationship and providing value.
People who've executed cold emailing campaigns have only 2 opinions. They work or they don't work.
People who say cold emails work are the ones doing it perfectly and people who say they don't work are making one of the 10 mistakes below.
To help people send cold emails correctly, I invited Guillaume, CEO of Lemlist, on my podcast to talk about the 10 mistakes people are making while sending cold emails.
Before we dive into the mistakes, let's hear what Guillaume has to say about cold emails. Do they work? Do they don't work?
Guillaume: So I think that the people who are saying that it's not working are the ones that are doing it wrong and the ones that say it's working really well, they want to keep it as a secret.
To be honest, if you take all the top 500 companies, you know, like HubSpot, Salesforce, and so on. They're growing through cold email outreach. The reason why most companies fail is that lots of people believe that you can put your sales on autopilot and automate them everything. And even though it would be nice to be able to, just to grow your company like that by sending cold email, it doesn't really work that way. You still need to put efforts into it.
Let's dive into these mistakes and start sending better cold emails.
The subject line and focusing on wrong metrics
I think a lot of people you know are in essence to this mistake. I think the main mistake would be to focus on the wrong metric, even though I hundred percent agree with the fact that if people haven't opened your email, it means that it did not exist.
But the truth is, a lot of people are focusing on getting their email open, wherein the end, it is not what matters. In the end, the only metric that matters for you is how many meeting could you get? How many relations could you build, right?
If you start your subject line with something very deceptive, obviously you're going to get high open rates, but no good reply rate. So a lot of people actually work really hard on making the best subject line and putting kind of deceptive subject line. No, it's not deceptive, it is just a trick in the end.
And even if it's deceptive, when a person opens your email will be like, what the hell, the subject line was definitely misleading. Obviously, they're not going to reply. And that I would say is the first mistake I see often people do.
So don't think too much about the subject line. First of all, take all the cold emails you received and learn from them. I think what's something good as you started doing cold email is just like to bookmark all the cold emails you get. Have a folder in your emails, and every time you receive a cold email, good or bad, you put it in that folder.
Then once you want to create your campaign, you can go through all the cold emails you received, look at the ones you've opened and the one that you haven't opened.
Also, be casual. So as if you were working to be friends with me, as something like coffee and catch up kind of thing. If you want to build relationships, you can definitely go for coffee with someone. That's the minimum you can do or actually be like the opposite.
Be very, very specific. So let's say you find a good hook and then afterward, all you have to do is to find something you have in common with the person you're reaching out to. Right, like common interests, or it can be like an event. It can be anything that you both have in common, Just use it in the subject line. This was one of the subject lines that has really worked best for me.
It was before an event that I was going to SaaStr and I think my subject line was "Let's meet at SaaStr Paris and then I added like the first name of the person. So it's like six or seven words. So it's pretty long compared to what people usually advise you and I got a 90% open rate. The reason why it works is that it was very relevant.
No Targeting and No Segmenting
Lots of people are really struggling with targeting. They think that they can either buy lists or just go on LinkedIn, type CEOs and get all the CEOs and spam them. Your message is not going to be relevant to them at all.
You can you can get their job title, company size, B2B or B2C and industry. You need at least four to five different criteria to make sure that your message is going to be relevant to an audience. You need to work in buckets and I think that maybe 1 to 5 percent of people running cold email campaigns are actually working in buckets. If you segment your audience really well, you can actually get the conversion rates much higher and get much more replies.
When you're working in buckets, you're not wasting on leads. And you can actually work on your value proposition for each bucket and see which one is working the best. I think that the size of the good test on the bucket is around 300 to 500 people to start with and then you can obviously scale.
Doing what everyone else is doing
If you take email templates online, I'm sure that the first place you're going to find a template is from Yesware or HubSpot. I think that's relevant to everyone, in general. It's like whenever you're typing something on Google. you will find that the topics, especially in marketing, they are ruled with five or six players. We always go on to the same sites whenever we think about something interesting. Why? It is because those websites are investing so much on SEO, everyone is looking at them. Which means that everyone's using the same templates and they're not working right.
So the goal and also actually why we decided to build them this is just to explain to people that you can be different you know. By being different is when you actually get noticed. If you're sending the same shitty templates from HubSpot, like saying, "Hello, my name is blah, blah, blah, from company x, and my company is doing - value prop one, value prop two, value props," then you're no different than anyone else. If you're targeting is right, you might get some leads out of that. But overall, it's it's pretty shitty.
What you want to do in the end is to build a relationship. So mistake number three is don't try to to do like everyone else. To solve this mistake you to be like a standout.
Improper Call to Actions (CTAs)
So a lot of people really like having an open call to action. For example "When would you be free for a chat?" or "When is a good time to chat?" Or "Let's have a meeting next week." This is not good. The more choice you have, the more difficult it is. I mean getting your calendar is pretty nice because at least you know, the person can choose. So like book a meeting on my calendar is, let's say, is okay.
The worst would be "When can we have a chat?" I think the best is just giving two very specific options. So the person feels that they have to choose between these two dates, right? That's usually much more powerful and you can actually get the higher conversion rates. CTAs are the one thing which you should always include in your email and they should be closed-ended.
No Follow-ups
A lot of people are afraid to stop too early. Like, I wrote an email sequence and I have like, four to five follow-ups in total. The money's in the follow-ups literally. I had people getting back to me after my fifth or sixth email. So don't be afraid.
Following up is actually a way to leverage, just like adding more value giving a different angle on what you want to bring. It should be seen as an opportunity and not making noise. Lots of people don't have any ideas because they're like, send them maybe like two to three messages and then stop. Often people like stopping way too early, when they could actually get a lot more replies. I think if you have between 5 to 7 follow-ups, it's nice, but don't be too pushy.
No A/B Testing
We have amazing tools and most of them have the ability to run tests. I see a lot of people that are just creating templates, not testing anything and just sending it through. To me, each step you're should be tested, whether it's a subject line, whether it's the content of the email. You have the ability to check what's working best for your audience. And that's why it is so important to work in buckets so your results would be relevant and repeatable. It means that when you're A/B testing if you find something that's working, that if you actually like, you can redo it on the same type of audience, and you'll get the exact same results.
While A/B testing, the two things you can actually do is have two very different emails. Usually, whenever you're testing the scientific approach would be to change only one parameter. But if you're a startup and you have limited resources or capacity, I would suggest to do a bit more and be more engaging. Which is basically you change the subject line, and then you also change the text of the email. First, you'll be able to compare open rates to see what's working best, and then reply rates, which often is linked to the content. So you can obviously take different aspects of the email based on different metrics. For example, the subject will be based on open rates and content will be based on replies or clicks.
Not using images
A lot of people have been saying that images were decreasing the deliverability of emails. Deliverability is the ability of your email to end up in the inbox of your prospects. So a lot of people have been saying that without actually testing. It might have been the case like maybe like 10 or 15 years ago which was the very beginning of email marketing and some email platforms were not displaying images. But now, it's very different, and it doesn't have any impact.
Go with the testing images. Because if you start testing things, you will see what's working for me might be very different for you. What is really working well for me, in your case might not work at all. So in the end, the only answer being successful when doing email outreach is really about like testing, right? The more you test, the more you get the answers.
Not being human
Whenever you go on a website, you see the perfect copy, you see everything kind of perfect. If you look at all emails that you receive, whether it's marketing, or the newsletters or sales email, you'll see the way it's framed, like the way people are talking, it feels like it's very sales-y. You wouldn't actually write or send an email like that to a friend of yours. We really want people to understand that perfection in a sales pitch is being human and building relationships.
I think people making a mistake by wanting to be too perfect. You will build a relationship much easier if you treat the person you're reaching out to as a human being.
Keeping it about you
It's a common mistake that some people think that they all need to talk about is information about themselves, where they are, what they do, and why their product service is so great, and how they're going to change work. This doesn't work at all.
Instead, the first part of the message can be like, "I've read your blog post about blah, blah, blah, I really liked blah, blah, blah,...", trying to find a hook. It can be, "I saw that you like this post on LinkedIn", or "I saw that you wrote this article", or "I saw your last interview on a podcast" and so on. This feels personalized because these little things will make you stand out from robots.
Automation is really good when you're doing follow-ups, when you want to do things at scale, and so on. But really, personalization will never stop at adding first name and company name, and then you're going to start getting tons of leads and everything is going to be on autopilot. That's absolutely not true.
Send out emails where you're talking about the person because this is your hook. This is what will get the interest of your prospect. So even if a person is not interested, at least is going to say, "Okay, this guy is spending some time by sending me a very personalized message. I need to answer at least."
A lot of people just send a blast of emails, which I really don't advise. It's literally like the worst way to send emails and the best way to get banned and get your domain blacklisted. Always use G-Suite accounts that have the DKIM and SPF setup, and use a custom tracking domain. That way, you're able to track links, and it goes through your domain so everything is under your control. Use verified email addresses so your bounce rates are low. Even if a person is putting you in spam the internet service providers will see that you've done things by the rules.
It takes some efforts to set everything up. But once you've done it, you'll see the results skyrocket and you will know everything is safe. You'll be able to test a lot of different things and yeah then start like getting new customers.
Use relevant subject lines and focus on right metrics
Use proper targeting and segment your list
Use specific CTAs
Follow up 6-7 times
A/B test your campaigns and different aspects of your email
Use images
Be human. Frame your email like a conversation.
Keep it about them
Follow email rules
Do you have any best practices that you follow while sending cold emails? Leave them below for others and help everyone send better cold email campaigns.
Thank you Guillaume (Left) for doing this podcast.
You can connect with Guillaume on LinkedIn or check his awesome cold emailing tool, Lemlist.
Omnichannel eCommerce marketing automation strategy for your buyer's journey
In this episode, I invited Rytis from the Omnisend team to talk in brief about omnichannel e-commerce marketing automation.
[Podcast] Ultimate Video Marketing Strategy from the industry expert - Shane Barker
To have an expert's advice on Video Marketing I invited the Digital Strategist, Brand & Influencer Consultant, Shane Barker.


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text:
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Why Is Bobby Jindal Devaluing My College Education?
Posted on November 14, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist
ScienceBlogling Razib comments on Republican rising star Bobby Jindal's "very weak understanding of evolution, or, a purposeful misrepresentation" (bold Razib's):
…the whole article [by Jindal] is an illustration of the reality that extremely intelligent people can also be very ignorant. I have no doubt that Bobby Jindal has a world class mind; and he certainly succeeds and excels at any task which catches his attention. It seems clear to me that when it comes to science & religion he is out of his depth. His characterization of those who disagree with his own religious views is laughable in terms of the inaccuracies in the broad brush pictures which he paints for the reader, and that is surely a good indication of the superficiality of his knowledge base. Jindal can think fast and with great analytic agility, but without a base of facts to manipulate and put through the analytic grinder you produce no value added end product. In short: garbage in, garbage out.
Razib, who is a far kinder soul than the Mad Biologist, accounts for Jindal's ignorance thusly (bold Razib's; underline mine):
At this point Jindal had already received his undergraduate degree (with honors) in biology from Brown, but the whole article implies a very weak understanding of evolution, or, a purposeful misrepresentation. "Even if we grant Dawkin's assumption that human beings are the product of unassisted evolution, which is quite a generous gesture since there is much controversy over the fossil evidence for evolution." This may speak to the reality that most people with undergraduate biology degrees don't necessarily have a strong understanding of evolutionary theory; frankly, many are careerist pre-medical types who are more focused on getting the best marks in organic and biochemistry than they are on knowing even the most minimal details of population genetics (which will likely be introduced once or twice in an introductory course). Jindal applied to medical school so one can surmise where his focus lay.
Razib lets Jindal off far too easy. Why? Because Jindal and I both received degrees in biology with honors from Brown in the exact same year. Having gone through that program at the same time, there is no conceivable way that he received his degree not knowing that there is overwhelming evidence from the fossil record for evolution regardless of his focus ("the most minimal details of population genetics" have nothing to do with what Jindal erroneously claimed).
Like Razib, I'm willing to posit that Jindal is very bright. That leaves two possibilities: either Jindal was being willfully ignorant when he wrote the essay four years after he graduated, or he wasn't paying attention in class. Razib rightly concludes:
I don't doubt that Bobby Jindal is extremely intelligent, but if I had to guess what sort of person wrote the essay above I wouldn't have felt embarrassed assuming that the author was an average student at a Christian high school! This doesn't mean that Jindal isn't an efficient technocrat, his record speaks for itself. But I think that this piece would suggest he is not truly broadly educated.
And that devalues my degree.
This entry was posted in Conservatives, Creationism, Education, Evolution, The War on Science. Bookmark the permalink.
11 Responses to Why Is Bobby Jindal Devaluing My College Education?
ERV says:
hehehehe Ivy Leaguers and their kooky grade inflation 😛
**runs away**
Jeb, FCD says:
When I asked my fellow Louisianians how they could so readily support and vote for someone who so willfully ignores facts, they all bascially replied, "He probably doesn't believe, he's just saying that to get votes."
Good one, ERV. That grade inflation will come home to roost!
decrepitoldfool says:
Ouch. Did you know him?
Louisiana desperately needs someone who can address corruption in state government, and he appears to be that person. He appeals to all the people who voted for Bush, he is charismatic, and speaks much better English than Bush. He might end up as a tough-to-beat presidential candidate someday. 🙁
Mr. Gunn says:
Unfortunately, he does believe that. He's Bush Lite, '04 vintage, with all the conservative, religious, and Young Republicanism that one could possibly have. He was elected by non-New Orleanian Louisianans, i.e., white people from small Southern towns.
It's entirely possible that Razib's explanation – all he cared about was grades – is exactly correct. I see plenty of med students here in Louisiana who make excellent grades in classes yet remain incapable of reasoning using their memorized facts. So I'm sure he was exposed to it, but that doesn't mean he thought about it or even understands it. The man has been soaking in the political process since an early age, and only started to make inroads once he was picked by the Religious Right as part of their Operation "Get Christian Fundamentalists into Governmental Positions." Unfortunately, his run for Governor came at a time when the power structures in New Orleans that normally would have diminished his chances were disrupted.
Reasonable people can disagree, and I'm sure he's a nice guy in person, but I personally think that he's going to be a bigger disaster than Michael Brown. I'm actually quite scared of what's going to happen here as we're remote-controlled by the catholic church.
PalMD says:
Wow, Bobby gotz pwnd. Nicely done.
DOF – "Louisiana desperately needs someone who can address corruption in state government, and he appears to be that person."
I'd be great if he was this shining beacon of moral fortitude that some people seem to think he is, but chances are we're just trading one set of crooks for another, which makes the trade-off(allowing the catholic church to run the state) not really worth it.
Oh my gosh, Mr. Gunn, that is one depressing .pdf file. It just gets worse and worse as you go, and concludes:
"Was the purpose of that night served when so many individuals were inducted into the Church? Did I witness spiritual warfare? I do not have the answers, but I do believe in the reality of spirits, angels, and other related phenomena that I can neither touch nor see."
I saw him on TV a couple weeks ago. The camera loves him, and so does Faux news. My best guess is he's being groomed as the GOP answer to Obama. Damn.
Mike the Mad Biologist says:
ERV,
you're just jealous–you secretly wish you had turned out like Jindal….
DOF – Of course he is. He's so like the year 2000 version of Bush. Just another puppet for the Religious Right.
knotmyline says:
Jindal is not a stupid man and probably is not really against scientific research. He is creating a certain image as a politician and thus can never admit that publicly. His comments were directed specifically at a constituency that is either anti science or hates anything Democratic. He wants to gain their support for a presidential run. Expect him to continue blasting away with his political rhetoric regardless of truth, accuracy or factual basis. He wants to leave a specific impression in the minds of that unique constituency, of which, sadly there are many. Many like me will reject him, but there are plenty of our fellow citizens that will delight in his attacks and become even more ardent in support of him.
mirc says: