WARNING: This post contains a bunch of cool stuff you can win. Don’t read this if you don’t want cool things. Like, homemade, awesome, ultra useful things. If you’re triggered by door prizes, meat draws and raffles, do not continue reading.
Last February, I started an email newsletter. The idea came about while driving to a rehearsal with my friend Austin. He mentioned how shitty it was trying to promote anything on social media. Facebook, instagram, and all those other sites will limit how many people see your posts. The only way to reach all your fans, followers and subscribers is to buy one of their less than ideal promo plans. One way to get around something like this Austin said, was to have a newsletter. This immediately spiked my interest. The idea of being able to send stuff directly to those who were interested seemed logical, sensible and kinda fun.
I’ve always enjoyed writing on my blog. It’s a great vessel for me to tell my stories and share the photographs of what I’ve experienced. However, after many years of guiding and outdoor instructing, I also wanted to tell people about all the little tricks that made my life easier and the blog didn’t feel quite like the right platform.
After humming and hawing for months, I put together a couple winter camping tips, wrote up a recipe for my favourite snack and talked up my newest album. Just like that, the Great Olivier Newsletter was born! The first newsletter was sent to 14 people (my roommates, immediate family and a couple of friends) and I quietly wondered if this project would ever make it to another month. Nine months later, I’m up to a whooping 69 subscribers!!!!!
It’s not much and I won’t be quitting my day job anytime soon, but it does feel special to have that many dedicated newsletter readers. No one’s unsubscribed yet, and on average over 90% of people who receive the newsletter will open and read it.
In my last newsletter, I wondered if it would be possible to get up to a hundred subscribers. It’s a big number and a true classic if you ask me. What other three digit numbers feel so big and so high. Back in kindergarten, we’d all take turns going in front of the class to count out loud. Those who made it to one hundred (to us, the biggest number ever) were crowned champion and got a sticker. It was glorious.
Kluane National Park - a picture to keep this post interesting
So here’s where you might come in. If you haven’t read the newsletter, check it out! You can read the current edition as well as all previous newsletters here. If it’s something you think you might like, sign up! You’ll never get more than one email a month and it will never cost you anything.
Ok ok, I know that if I’m going to get you to sign up, I gotta give you a little something in exchange. Let me introduce you to my little friend over here called door prizes. When I hit 100 subscribers, I’m going to enter everyone into a draw for some cool homemade stuff that I’ll ship to your doorstep. Homemade stuff eh? YAH! Homemade awesomeness!!!
Waterproof’ish Pouches
I’ll be making one or two pouches to give away. These things are made out of HyperD 300, a super tear resistant, almost waterproof fabric and are topped with a YKK waterproof zipper.
Depending how much fabric I have left, they’ll have a one to two litre capacity. I just made one to use as a first aid kit and it’s awesome!
Custom Print
Door prize number two is a 12x18” print of your choice. Frame it and throw it up on your wall for some living room artwork, chuck it on the ceiling above your bed for some inspiration, or glue it to a piece of cardboard, cut it up and make yourself a puzzle.
You can look at some of my prints here, but the winner will get to pick from of my catalogue of over 100 000 pictures (spoiler, 80% of them aren’t great).
Bejewelled Tote Bag
The final door prize is a sweet, custom tote bag. These bags look great, feel great and excel at carrying the daily things. They even come bejewelled with a cool label of your choice.
Bejewel it with your initials, your favourite kid’s initials, or whatever else you want (caveat: simple shapes only).
Sign up today, tomorrow, or in the month or two and get a chance to win one of these items for free, shipped right to your doorstep and made by yours truly. Best yet, nothing is branded, so you don’t even have to plug the newsletter if anyone compliments you on your swag. I hope you continue finding the newsletter enjoyable and helpful and let’s all hope we get to a hundred subscribers soon :-).