Dear Permission to be Powerful reader,
People say they’re not gonna pay $1 per month to read Permission to be Powerful.
A lot of people will say no.
That’s okay.
Because this is not really about the people who say no.
I’m looking for the people who say yes.
This is me creating a filter.
This is a social experiment.
See, I’m thinking about this publication...
And it’s the weirdest thing.
I’m seeing the fine line.
This is what my eyes are seeing:
It’s the difference between everybody treating me like the chauffeur...
And everybody treating me like Mike Tyson.
The work doesn’t change.
The relationship changes.
You’re going to get an email from me every week on Permission to Be Powerful.
And I’m going to have this hook and that hook...
And this killer headline...
And another story you want to read.
If you’re subscribed, I’m going to start sending you a blog post every week that you cannot access.
And if you keep opening my emails, which you will, you’re going to find yourself wanting to read the article and not having access.
You’re going to feel that cold sting of being on the outside.
And you’re going to want to get in.
Everybody has to make one simple decision:
Is Permission to be Powerful worth reading for a dollar a month?
It’s the lowest-friction sale of all time.
A dollar a month forever?
That’s just your activation fee.
One dollar a month.
Cancel anytime.
That is one tiny square unit of you saying yes.
One tiny signal that says:
“Yes, I value this.”
“Yes, I want to be part of this.”
The price creates tension in a way that free doesn’t.
And that tension is the key to delivering a better reading experience.
Because when something is free, you never have to decide whether you value it.
So you don’t.
This is basic human psychology.
We place more value on things we have to choose.
Price creates tension because now you don’t have it.
Now you want it because you don’t have it.
There’s an in-group and an out-group.
You’re on the outside, and you have to decide whether you want to come inside.
It’s like Morpheus with the red pill and blue pill.
You have to pick a pill, bitch.
Right now, you’re blue-pilling this.
That’s totally fine.
You’re staying in the world where you casually consume Permission to be Powerful.
And that’s fine.
The red pill is different.
It’s deciding to participate actively.
You have to answer the question:
“Do I want this — yes or no?”
And it’s a very simple choice.
Listen, you have to pay me a dollar to read it.
Just to read it.
You have to decide if you trust me enough.
You have to decide:
Are you willing?
Are you willing to give me your money?
A lot of people will say no.
That’s okay.
But it’s not really about the people who say no.
It’s about creating a different relationship with the people who say yes.
Because once you have made that decision about me, you treat me differently.
You are not just casually consuming.
You have invested.
You are paying attention.
You have expectations.
You are part of something.
And I think that creates respect.
I think it creates order.
Structure.
Boundaries and expectations upfront.
This is me being a good leader.
This is something I learned from Vacation Vault.
Free audiences create enormous amounts of attention.
They can read.
They can click.
They can enjoy what you make.
But paid audiences behave differently.
A paid audience is smaller, but they are actively choosing you.
They crossed a psychological line.
They said:
“Yes. This is worth something to me.”
And I think people underestimate how important that decision is.
Because the payment itself is not the important part.
The decision is.
Once somebody has paid you, even a small amount, they have attached value, identity, and expectation to what you are creating.
They are not just passively consuming anymore.
They are participating.
That is what became obvious to me with Vacation Vault.
The people who joined were different.
They paid attention differently.
They interacted differently.
They were not just people passing through.
They had made a decision.
And that is what I want to create with Permission to Be Powerful.
Not just a giant audience.
A group of people who actively choose this.
I am setting up the parameters of the relationship from the beginning so that everybody has a better experience.
That is what this is actually about.
Because I actually think if you are paying for it, you are not going to skip it.
Even if it’s only a dollar.
Once you have purchased from me, even one dollar a month, something changes.
Now you have expectations.
Now you’re invested.
Now you’re paying attention.
You are not just skipping my email because you are actually waiting for it.
I think this is a complete rethinking of positioning.
This is not about the money.
I will never become rich charging a dollar a month.
What it comes down to is making each and every one of you experience my writing from a different place by making one decision.
One tiny decision.
A decision to step inside.
Tony V.
Editor-in-Chief
Permission to be Powerful
