Hold on to your butts, Reader, it’s Black Friday!
Today’s email is another one I wrote for Danielle Leslie—I worked with her for over five years, so there’s quite a library there.
If you’ve been following along with this little trip down memory lane, you’ll recognize many similar themes from Pt. 1, the Lovecraft Country email. Danielle was really creative and visually expressive, and she was always deeply obsessed with some trippy, cosmic weirdness. It gave me so much material to work with, even when I was writing really straightforward sales copy.
There’s a specific thing I used to do when I wrote for Danielle, and yes, it’s teachable—but only if you’re a writer who writes for other people. If you’re writing for yourself, you’ll do something similar (but different). Helpful, I know. ;)
$500 off The Craft starts tomorrow (Saturday)!
Hi, Reader. 🙂
So this one time my friend Shaun hosted a party and invited us to dress up as anyone from our past, present or future.
I chose Josephine Baker, and I did *not* come to play. Ya girl was in character the WHOLE NIGHT. 😂
Josephine Baker was a dancer, singer, and actress. She was #TheFirst Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics.
She helped the French Resistance during WWII. She refused to perform for segregated audiences.
I count her among my ancestors, even though we're not actually related, because what I see in her, I want to embody in my present & future self.
She was irreverent. She created her own rules. She lifted up the women around her, and she believed in herself SO HARD. Always.
Also. Those finger curls were on point.
So I'm curious who *you* would've chosen to show up as, Reader .
Who do you want to embody?
What kind of person do you want your future self to be?
In case you've missed it, I'm hosting my final Live Masterclass on Saturday, November 26 at 1pm EST/10am PST. You can find out more & get registered here.
And one of the big themes I'll be talking about is the past, present, and future you.
How you can embody all of those identities, right here, right now—and how launching an online course can open the door to that kind of embodiment.
It's deep :)
I hope you can join me this weekend.
Much love,
Danielle
Aaaand that concludes our trip through the vault—three original pressings of vintage Sam.
Times have changed from the heyday of 2020; the amount of money I helped Danielle make that year is truly staggering. And unsustainable.
We don’t do it like this anymore, do we? We launch less aggressively; we try our very hardest not to annoy the shit out of our readers; we work so hard to sell in ethical and honest ways.
We’re doing pretty good. But still, there’s something to be gleaned from the shine and swagger found in these old emails.
If nothing else, they remind me what I’m capable of. And they force me to ask myself what 2020 Sam might have written for a scrappy little ruffian like Indie Copy Studio.
I hope you have an awesome Friday. I’m currently deep into my annual tradition of attempting to watch the entire Lord of The Rings trilogy (extended versions!) in one day.
For Frodo!!