Have I already changed my mind on the em dash?

One of my favorite swipe files, partly because I can swipe from it without ethical concerns and partly because it has much of the “research” already completed, is my long treasure trove of past emails I’ve written for a similar audience or product. 

Some of these emails I’ve written are several years old, and chock-full of, how do I put this, less-than-ideal writing. Sometimes old copy comes across as clunky. Or unorganized. Or too unnecessarily long. 

Lots of potential problems with copy I wrote years ago. 

(One of the best ways to measure your progress too.) 

Anyway, one mistake I found absolutely littered throughout old copy was overuse of the em dash. Any time I didn’t know where to take a certain sentence—em dash. And there were quite a few sentences that had these em dashes for this email I was swiping from to put into my “VIP Automation” flow I created for a client a few years back (which, to date, has generated a whopping $430k in revenue). 

And so, this made me challenge myself to rely less on the em dash. 

While it certainly can help flow and copy and persuasion, rely too much on anything and it becomes a crutch, so say all the human wisdom. 

And you know what? 

There is likely something you’re doing in your copy too that’s more of a crutch than a tool. 

Seek these out and snuff em out of your copy, cully. 

But… 

The only way to do that is by having a treasure trove of copy written several years ago. My “swipe file” of myself goes back at least 6 years. And you can only create something similar by starting today and getting your reps in frequently. Daily if you can. 

Such is the secret of growth. 

It ain’t always fun.

It’s almost never sexy. 

But tis the way - for better or worse. 

Don’t want to climb up the admittedly steep learning curve yourself? 

Well, the sprinkle of good news here is grammatical mistakes, bad writing, and overreliance on literary devices (such as my beloved em dash) won’t crush your revenue or make your audience hate your guts. 

And if it does upset some Karen grammar nazi on your list? 

Good riddance! 

They were’nt gonna buy anyway. (See what I did there hehehe) 

And if you’re in business like I’m in business, I’m in the business of chasing good customers and chasing bad customers and bad leads away. 

Need help setting up this qualification tool in your email strategy (while growing your email marketing revenue by mayhap 264.1%)? 

Hit reply, and let’s chat. 

John