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#199 · How to Sell AI Systems In Lower Cost-Of-Living Countries

youtube ↗Cold Email

I'm struggling to get replies with cold email outreach. Could you share copy that worked well for you before you got famous and had social proof?

I don't want to share my actual email copy here since that's part of what I charge for in Maker School (I have shared it in some previous videos though, so digging through those can get you templates from before I locked that down). But the spirit of the answer: even before I had any social proof, the simplest straight-line copy structure is (1) identify yourself, (2) illustrate why your service matters using some form of proof or association with a positive outcome — you don't need to have worked with a million-dollar business, you can say 'I built a system that delivered X, Y, Z outcome' without clarifying it was for your own company, and (3) make a clear ask at the end. You won't get stellar reply rates with this — even a mediocre copywriter can expect somewhere around 1-2% — but that 1-2%, sustained long enough, eventually gets you meetings you can use to bootstrap, learn about your audience, and write better copy over time.

cold email copyno social proofgetting started

Related answers

youtube ↗Client Acquisition

I'm in high school with no social proof to show prospects. What would you do in my situation, and how can I prove myself to clients?

Everybody suffers from this exact problem at the start line — it's not just an entrepreneurial problem, it's the job-market problem too (a junior dev job asking for 10 years of experience). You have to go through this like everyone else, but there are ways to fake it until you make it. The simplest: take systems I build on my channel (a lot of the free ones, plus more in Maker School) and rebuild them yourself. Then ask what kind of business each system would help — often digital agencies, since that's my niche. Once you've built a few systems yourself instead of just copying mine, you can say things like 'I built an automated cold email system that enriches contacts and adds a thousand leads a day' or 'I built an automatic proposal generator.' That's real social proof, even if it's not client work yet — you can honestly say you built it for an AI agency (your own) without claiming it was a paying client. That's pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. From there, use that first thing you built to land one real gig, then use that gig's result to build proof for the next one, and so on.

no experiencesocial proofgetting startedhigh school
youtube ↗Cold Email

Someone sent Nick cold outreach that read: 'Yeah this is an outreach, but unlike those cheap [copywriters], I'm here to steal your time and money to prove that' with a linked doc of value (22 headline titles). How would you improve outreach copy like this?

The lowercase writing style implies he actually wrote it himself, which is a good sign if he's pitching copywriting services, but the line itself is grammatically off ('this is unoutreach' isn't a real phrase) — something like 'unlike everyone else in your DMs, I'm not here to steal your time and money to prove that' reads much better. I also like framing like 'I know the way to get ahead in this industry is to provide value upfront, so here's a bunch of value' before linking the asset. Using a Google Doc for the asset is smart — you can pack in extra links inside the doc without hurting your email deliverability the way multiple links in the email body itself would. And to go further with personalization, reference specific things about the person to prove you actually researched them, not just their business — I had someone build me an entire SaaS app in Lovable based on the principles from one of my videos and then reach out with it as their outreach, which is an extreme but very effective example if you genuinely like the person you're reaching out to.

outreach copypersonalizationlive critique
youtube ↗Cold Email

How should I position a case‑study‑based guarantee for leads and write effective cold‑email copy when selling, for example, business coaching to medium‑sized business owners?

I’d start by watching my “Sell an AI service in 10 hours” video and repurposing its copy framework. Jump to the 50th minute of that video where I walk through the exact copywriting process I use for AI services. The same structure works for coaches, consultants, and any service‑based business. Follow the steps shown there to craft a compelling cold‑email sequence that leverages your case study and speaks directly to the target audience’s pain points.

copywritingcold emailcase studybusiness coaching