We set an alarm for 3:15 a.m. so we could get dressed and leave my parents’ house by 4.

That would give us ample time (more than my husband thought we really needed, but he knows I have airport security line dread) to get to the New Orleans airport 1.5 hours away and catch a 7 a.m. flight to Orlando.

From there, we’d Uber to Port Canaveral and board the Carnival Mardi Gras around noon ET, with time to spare before final boarding at 3.

So as my phone beep, beep, beeped I thought a little 9-minute snooze was no biggie.

At 3:24, though, I jolted to reality when Sal announced that at 2:15 the airline sent a text saying our flight was canceled.

CANCELED.

No “we’ll get you on the next flight out” offer.

No explanation for the cancellation.

Just CANCELED.

After a quick search for alternative flights, we made what felt like an extremely risky decision:

TO DRIVE.

11 HOURS.

On the chance that if we arrived between 3 and 4 p.m. ET (yes, after final boarding), that they’d take pity and let us on the ship.

We got the girls out of bed in a frenzy and were on the road at 3:45 a.m. with an ETA of 3 (but that obviously accounted for no stops or traffic… on a spring break Saturday).

We made great early progress.

Quick gas and bathroom stops.

Light traffic in the wee hours.

All good… ish.

Customer support opened at 9 ET, but even calling right at that moment got me on a “higher than expected call volume” loop that eventually became “give us your number and we’ll call you back.”

The call back came an hour later, and even then I was on hold for 20 or 30 minutes before I heard a real person’s voice.

She took my information and said she’d email the people in charge at the port in hopes that they’d make an exception. Our ETA at the time was 3:15 p.m. ET, but we knew we had at least one more gas stop to make.

While she had me on hold, Sal and I heard a low whistling sound that lasted about 10 seconds.

No.

No. No. No.

I muted myself and asked what that meant. I was on hold anyway. Desperate that my only line to the cruise gods was going to reassure us they’d get us on the ship.

Sal was monitoring the slow-but-steady loss of all electrical elements on his SUV.

The SAME SUV whose condition for its age he’d been bragging about the day before.

“They say at 200,000 miles, it’s just getting started.”

Goodbye power steering.

Goodbye air conditioning.

Goodbye clock display.

He was thinking maybe it was the battery and if we just kept it running it would get us there.

But, no.

20 minutes later it died on the side of Interstate 10, just east of Tallahassee.

And I was STILL on hold.

Sal’s expression said he was ready to give up.

But when I whispered, “Uber?” he nodded, “Yeah.”

I switched the hold over to speaker and tapped the app in hyperspeed.

Someone could be there in 25 minutes.

I went so fast it prompted me to slow down to approve a price first, but I didn’t really want to know.

He was on his way.

And, of course, the customer support rep came back on seconds later.

“They’ll call you as time gets close to leave dock to see how you’re tracking.”

Great.

Sal organized roadside pickup for the SUV and we told the girls not to lose hope.

Our 9-year-old took deep breaths and held back tears.

Our 12-year-old helped us all stay positive. “This will work!”

The Uber driver showed up, we packed our bags into his trunk, and we were moving again.

We left a vehicle on the side of an interstate.

ETA 3:45.

This could work. Our driver was intrigued by our story and now committed to the cause.

We hit the Florida Turnpike and several rounds of stop-and-go traffic.

ETA 4.

And then, CRASH.

He rear-ended someone in creepy, crawly traffic.

NO.

I’ve never seen 2 people settle a fender bender that fast.

They took pictures of the damage and each other’s license plates in what felt like 5 minutes.

Our 9-year-old was losing hope.

I held her hand.

She took even deeper breaths than before.

ETA 4:20.

We passed through Orlando, Sal coordinating SUV repair (turned out the mechanic shop address was wrong and the tow truck driver recommended taking it to a different one) while I figured out that the airline was going to reimburse us up to $600 per person for alternative transportation.

And then we were there, ship in sight, still at the pier, and we rushed up an escalator to an older man who was shaking his head NO.

“Please.”

“Here’s how our day went.”

Cue real tears welling in the eyes of our daughters (maybe some in mine, too).

“Let me check with my supervisor. Do you have your vaccination cards and negative tests?”

Y’all.

They let us on the boat at 4:45.

And we had a blast.

…and a story that is almost painful to tell because I’ve had babies and this day was actually more stressful.

How to improve your newsletter with this story?

Persevere.

Give up and you miss the boat.

Ashley Guttuso  

New Not A Newsletter Released Earlier This Week

This month’s “Not a Newsletter” by Dan Oshinsky is packed full of newsletter links, tips, and best practices that are not only practical but helpful, too. Highlights include:

• 50 Content Ideas for Email
• Questions (and Answers) about Email Marketing Fields
• The Role SMS and Email Can Play in Newsrooms

He also includes an article from Yanna-Torry Aspraki, an email deliverability expert, answering the question, “How do they know if I’m a good or bad sender?”

Set aside some time to read the full March edition (yes, it’s a Google Doc) here.

inboxcollective.com  

Is Your Newsletter Written And Formatted With These Reader Habits In Mind?

Scott Baradell explains how these 8 web browsing habits should be considered when creating content in this FastCompany article. While he applies them to web browsing, they apply to email, too.

Here’s one that stuck out to me: “People are impatient.”

Check out the other 7 habits in the article and audit your newsletter.

Discovered via theCLIKK.

fastcompany.com  

Substack Chatter

Substack’s recent activity, including an app launch, has people talking, and opinions are strong. Here’s a roundup:

• There’s an overwhelming exodus of Substack writers due to Substack’s “refusal to tackle misinformation and hate speech.” Meera Navlakha shares the specifics in this Mashable article.
• In 2018, Nathan Baschez became Substack employee #1. Now he’s sharing some thoughts about Substack’s ideology: “Often when people face a conflict between an immediate desire and a moral principle, they find a way to bend the moral principle to make it fit the immediate desire.... Are these ideas violating the letter of the Substack law? No. But they do seem to me to flirt with the line, and I suspect this flirtation will only increase over time.” Note: You need to be a subscriber to read this featured post in Every, which was once The Everything Bundle, reported to be leaving Substack in January.
• JD Graffam (Curated’s owner) shared some thoughts on Substack’s decisions on LinkedIn starting with this: “Substack is gaslighting us.”

How Much Effort Are You Giving?

“I’m convinced that remixed (curated) content is largely a waste of time for writers and readers”

If you’re re-reading that sentence, you’re not alone. Jakob Greenfeld dismisses the value of curation. Why include it if I do think curation has value? Because it’s better to understand opposing opinions than to ignore them, and I do think he makes some strong points.

Here’s what I agree with:

“Valuable content that truly advances the conversation and gets the attention of people you really want to connect with is never effortless.”

Feels like what he’s really against is lazy curation. Me, too.

Curate the thoughts and ideas of others, but use them for context building and to think and express new, fresh thoughts and ideas.

Discovered via For the Interested.

jakobgreenfeld.com  

Will These Marketing Predictions Prove True?

Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs, recently shared 7 predictions for B2B marketing in 2022. Here’s the short version:

1. Community is valuable
2. B2B marketers will (finally) learn from B2C marketers
3. Dark Social’s impact increases
4. Build on Tik Tok
5. No more display ads
6. Subject matter experts are needed
7. Companies rethink how they do attribution

Be sure to watch the post’s video and read the full explanations of these predictions.

Any you agree or disagree with?

linkedin.com  

The Ins And Outs Of Topic Clusters

Are topic clusters worth it? Jake Sheridan breaks down what they are, why they’re important for SEO, and how to build one in 10 minutes here.

Discovered via Marketer Crew.

ahrefs.com  

New Tool Alert: Stylebot

Want to make your company style guide available in Slack or Teams? A recommendation for Stylebot showed up in my LinkedIn feed and it looks pretty interesting.

Discovered via Alexis Grant.

stylebot.app  

Publishing Challenges Of All Sizes

When it comes to publishing, both giants and niche companies face similar challenges, including: subscriber growth, ethics and morality, profitability, and more. This week’s Publishing Insights take a look.

• The Financial Times now has 1M digital subscribers. Sara Guaglione’s Q&A with commercial chief Jon Slade sheds light on how they did it.
• When it comes to consent buttons and data protection, we have a long way to go. Medialyte identifies 5 dark patterns, or “manipulative designs” that publishers should discontinue.
• The Arizona Agenda, a Substack-funded local news publication, is sharing how it’s going and “meh” may be the best way to sum it up. ​​Rachel Leingang and Hank Stephenson have the full story here.
• How can publishers reach countries at war? Digiday shares how lifting paywalls and creating new channels is working in Ukraine and Russia.
• Just how profitable are niche podcasts? According to the Press Gazette article by Charlotte Tobitt these podcasts with small but engaged audiences have the potential to make six-figures.

Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Taking Sponsors Can’t Work For Your Newsletter

In this issue of The Rebooting, Brian Morrissey writes this, “Ads are still a great business model.” Why? Not Boring is proof. The one-person media brand is on track to be a $1 million revenue business.

Discovered via The Rebooting.

substack.com  

Can You Monetize Your Expertise?

1. What single topic of expertise is your focus?
2. What separates you from other experts in your field?

Josh Spector poses these questions (and 4 others!) he advises asking yourself if you’re hoping to monetize your expertise.

joshspector.com  

How To Strategically Clean Your Email List

Hey everyone, Seth here.

In this month’s issue of Not a Newsletter, deliverability expert Yanna-Torry Aspraki shares some best practices around list management, avoiding spam traps, and how cleaning your list of unengaged subscribers is ultimately good for your newsletter.

You can read all of Aspraki’s insights here.

If you want to follow Aspraki’s advice and clean your list in a strategic way, you can do that in Curated by using the Activity Filter in the Email Subscribers page to send unengaged subscribers a reconfirmation email. It asks them if they want to stay subscribed to your newsletter. If they don’t click “Stay Subscribed”, then they’ll be unsubscribed from your list.

Note: Engagement is filtered by how long it’s been since a subscriber clicked a link. Try using 6 months or a year to see what percentage of your total subscriber list might be ready to unsubscribe.

You can learn more about our reconfirmation workflow here.

Curated Crash Course Today At 4 PM Central

Curated Crash Course is today at 4 PM CT!

As usual, the first 30 minutes include a tutorial on getting started with Curated followed by a Q&A session that begins at 4:30.

This is built to be a come-and-go Zoom call, so feel free to hop in whenever you can and leave when you have to.

If you have any questions about Curated or newsletters, we created a Google Form where you can submit them.

Seth will answer them live at Curated Crash Course during the Q&A segment of the session, but if you can't make it, he’ll send you a recording so you can see your questions answered.

zoom.us  

New to Curated? Make a copy of this Getting Started with Curated Checklist to help launch your newsletter (public, private, or paid).

Register For Ann Handley’s Upcoming Email Writing Webinar

You know we are big Ann Handley fans around here, so this week your Opt In Challenge is simple: register for this webinar: “Writing for Email: Top Tips with Ann Handley”. It’s sure to be good.

Details: Thursday, March 24 @ 11am ET / 4pm GMT

Host: Our friends at Sparkpost (Curated’s ESP!)

Discovered via Really Good Emails.

sparkpost.com  

Like this newsletter?

Let me know. Reply, email me at Ashley[at]optinweekly.com, or find me on LinkedIn to hit me with some feedback. I’d love to know what you think.

Happy newslettering,

Ashley Guttuso