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Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins

Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.

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Featured Post

Worst meeting ever

Hi Reader, I just got this email from Matt McWilliams… It’s about the worst meeting ever. Bryan, Here’s the message I want to get through to your readers Your audience must know that this masterclass could change their business. FLASHBACK: August 21, 2005 The worst meeting of my life. We were almost out of money. Our business was failing, and we needed a solution. We needed a miracle. And apparently I was the one in charge of engineering the miraculous turnaround. (YIKES!) FAST FORWARD: New...

a man writing on a white board with sticky notes on it

Hi Reader, We’re less than 30 hours away from my live masterclass with Matt McWilliams: How to 10X Your Sales WITHOUT Wasting Your Time on Social Media or Expensive Paid Advertising...All in About ONE HOUR a Day It’s a free online workshop. Matt is revealing his classified playbook for finding affiliates and starting and scaling an affiliate program. I went through his playbook, and one insight stood out: “Most of your sales will come from only a few affiliates.” This LIE is pervasive. Matt...

a hand holding a bundle of twenty dollar bills

Hi Reader, I worked with Matt McWilliams a few years ago. I even interviewed him for my podcast. He’s the guy successful entrepreneurs like Michael Hyatt, Ray Edwards, Jeff Goins, Lewis Howes, and Brian Tracy call to manage their affiliate programs. He’s created a confidential playbook for running massive product and book launches. He uses this confidential playbook to 10X the sales for affiliate programs in every conceivable niche for companies small and large (like Shutterfly and Adidas)....

A man taking a picture of himself with a camera

Hi Reader, Yesterday, I told you about my golden rules for affiliate marketing. In case you missed it: Promote products and services only if you use or trust it. Promote a product or service only if it adds value to your audience. Here’s an example: I wanted to overhaul my social media profiles earlier this year. I was rocking out with a headshot of me 8 years ago when I had more hair and fewer wrinkles! My pic wasn’t disingenuous, but I felt like a Tindr guy who turns up in real life and...

A woman sitting at a table with a laptop and a cup of coffee

Hi Reader, I’ve earned multi six-figures from affiliate marketing. Anyone can do it if they enjoy documenting how they use a product or service. It’s a great way to get paid to create content. But before you try affiliate marketing, remember these two promotion rules: 1. Promote products and services only if you use or trust it.2. Promote a product or service only if it adds value to your audience. I get weekly queries from companies looking for me to promote their products. I almost always...

A woman sitting on a window sill reading a book

Hi Reader I obsessed over picking the right genre for a few years. Should I write science-fiction, thrillers, mysteries, non-fiction, dystopian horror…? Do I even need to pick a genre? The answer was a resounding YES. Genre is a helpful constraint for writers and their audiences. Try and self-publish a book on Amazon KDP and they’ll force you to pick two or three genres before it goes live. You must pick something that defines your work. Selecting a genre doesn’t mean producing something...

A woman sitting at a desk using a laptop computer

Hi Reader I get lots of emails from readers and newer freelancers looking for paying writing work. Alas, I’m not hiring or offering paying writing work. I’d much prefer you spend time working on your business instead of someone else’s. That starts with building an asset you own, like an email list. It ends with creating a high-ticker offer like coaching and consulting. Building your content business is profitable, rewarding, and easy to do. That’s how I spend my days. I have no illusions,...

A woman sitting at a table using a laptop computer

Hi Reader I've built a Claude AI project for writers. It’s dramatically improved my content creation process. Here's how it works: I write my initial content (usually a 400-800 word email) based on research, personal stories, and reader feedback. Then, I use Claude AI as an editorial assistant to: Analyze potential flaws in my arguments Identify gaps in my thinking Suggest supporting content Help repurpose the content for social media I'm not using AI to write. I enjoy writing too much to...

a person is typing on a laptop keyboard

Hi Reader, Being polite to your list is expensive. I was chatting with a small business owner the other day. They’ve built a reasonably sized email list of several thousand subscribers. But they only send a newsletter about what their business is up to once or twice a month. “Why don’t you want to email your list more often?” I asked. “I don’t want to annoy my list,” the owner said. That’s a common objection from many list owners. But being over-polite is costing him sales. When I fired up...

A pencil is laying on top of a piece of paper

Hi Reader, For years, I ran a content publishing business. I published 100s of articles a month with the help of a team of freelance writers. I got millions of page views from SEO. I earned five figures a month from display ads and affiliate revenue. Last year, I let my editorial team go. I sold off most of my niche websites. And I changed my business model. Now, I run a daily newsletter. And I provide content strategy and coaching services to a few high-paying clients. When I posted about...