My refined mailing list has been a total success story. An extremely high OPEN rate (and it’s actually even higher since Constant Contact admits it can’t always tell who’s opened it), that is more than twice their standard.
However, when I looked at the OPT-OUTS (a mere 1.4% of my list), often my heart is totally broken (well, sorta.)
Last night, however, fresh from a delicious dinner with Susan and Belle, I had a completely different range of reactions.
One person who opted out was a friend that I’d once been quite close to several years ago –– like talk-every-day close –– and then a lot less so. Nonetheless, I still get her business’ emails every week or two, and I’m happy to support by clicking on their CHASE “like me for $250,000” campaign or whatever.
What I found surprising is the “why now” factor. I mean, I send an email blast once a month at the most, even skipping months.
Frankly, since even though we’re not close friends anymore (and frankly it’s a relief since she was definitely in the “super high maintenance” category that I really can no longer accommodate), I nonetheless respect her talents and accomplishments and my feeling was, “It’s just nice to be casually in touch and informed about each other’s lives.”
And honestly … It hurt my feelings a bit that she went through the trouble of unsubscribing –– of being part of the 1.4% — rather than just deleting or opening and skimming the content.
But then it hit me like a tremendous thunderclap: for the last few years when we’d been hanging out, I came to realize that she was my secret weapon, my inverse prophet. You see EVERYTHING she advised me to do or not do was actually completely WRONG (for me), and that I could depend on.
If she said to break-up with someone, then it was time to hang-in there and vice-versa.
There’s even a famous story involving several well-known persons where she kept saying, “That will NEVER happen,” until it actually did.
It’s not that she wasn’t intelligent. She certainly was/is. However, her take on things was always completely inaccurate for me and my life.
Here are two specific examples:
Example 1:
When an acclaimed private yoga client of mine received a nasty New York Times review, I chatted with her about whether I should mention it. She was vehement that I should not. But when I discussed this with an older, wiser friend, I got the opposite advice which completely confirmed my gut instincts. Why pretend I hadn’t seen the review when by saying, “That writer is an idiot; I saw the same thing he did and it was brilliant and everyone in the audience agreed completely” I would not only be making someone feel better, I’d be stating the truth. So I did, and this (rarely) badly reviewed person was extraordinarily grateful and appreciative and my endorsement made me into a minor hero of the moment.
Example 2:
When I was working on YOGA IN BED, my opt-out friend and I were driving in a rental car together for some field trip (I forget how and why, just where). I shared the proposal for the book and her response was completely negative. “I just don’t think anyone’s going to want this. It’s just basic stretches in bed.”
That, of course, was the entire concept in a nutshell.
I nearly slammed on the brakes and dropped her off in the middle of the interstate (without cab fare), but sure enough –– post REGIS & KELLY, and hitting #1 for all of wellness on Amazon and 16 foreign editions later … I was right.
And now … she’s opted out of my mailing list and while at first I felt hurt, and then irritated, I suddenly felt … elated.
You see, said person also has an acting bent and I had in fact, not only cast her in numerous private and public readings, I’d also even written a part for her in a previous script that had been shopped around but not produced.
And the same goes true for the script that my producer feels is movie-star ready, based on the book my agent is about to auction off –– meaning, there’s a small part that was designed for her.
Thus, given that said person has proven to be consistently wrong about all her predictions about my life, I can only conclude one thing:
OPTING OUT of my life right now can only mean that this project is about to turn Volcanically Hot and propel all involved stratospherically ahead.
Frankly, there’s now no other possibility.
Thank you, REVERSE PROPHET –– for the inverse of your wisdom confirms that everything I’ve dreamed of is about to come true.
Praise the Dear Sweet Lord … AMEN!
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