Just got a interesting email from someone who was very upset with me that I did not respond to his business plan he sent me completely unsolicited. Then yesterday I was talking with some folks who thought I did not like them because I never responded to their emails.
Here is the deal:
I donate my time at least 50 days per year at conferences all over the United States where I am EASILY found (just look at the photo gallery) and talk to people about what they are doing. I am not talking about the 20 minutes I get on stage either… from the time I get up I head to the conference expo hall or public area and talk to people until basically last call (and sometimes even later at where ever the after party is).
I often turn down business meetings at these events just because I hate to exclude people and I personally just really enjoy helping people and the social interaction in general.
Generally by the 3rd day my voice is completely gone from talking so much.
When I am not at conferences I have to run a business (which pays for me to goto conferences) …. actually many businesses to run. And as much as I would love to go over your business plan, chat with you on AIM or give you feedback I simply can’t.
My general day is to get up with my kids at 6AM goto work at 7:30 leave work at 5pm work out until 6:30 spend time with wife and kids until 9pm then goto sleep or work until midnight or so….
Do I respond to people occasionally? Sure but its usually very short and 99% of the time people will respond with more questions and even want more details and stuff…
Basically when I am away from conferences for me to take time out to give you free business advice I am either taking away from our companies profitability or taking time away from my family… neither of those are good options =)
So hopefully this makes sense and people understand.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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Getting Press for Your Website, Application, or Service 
The Gestalt Protocal 
How To Get People To Promote Your Stuff 
{ 137 comments… read them below or add one }
We totally understand you Shoe. It would take you days to answer questions if all your RSS subscribers decided to ask something..
days? to answer 22,000 questions? try months.
Years maybe
I actually think reading all those emails could kill you before you got to the “years”.
FOREVER! I feel ya man!
I have always been presently surprised with answers to questions. I don’t ask the “how can I make money online questions though.” The keeping it simple motto works well. Sending a business plan seems crazy…
I guess If you want Shoe to answer your questions you should also enclose a check for a predetermined amount of $$$.
Let’s say if his hourly rate is $100, if you expect him to spend 30 minutes in total on your question, then enclose $50..
I think that’s putting his hourly rate pretty low.
I’d say at least $200 per hour, so you better hope you’re asking a damn valuable question!
$100/hour is extremely low.
Time is a limited resource. Use it how u see fit. Do people really expect free advice? Keep on Keepin on Shoe.
I know it would take me a lifetime to respond to so many emails, phew!
Good post! I like how you just layed it out there for everyone and basically told them to get over it.
He should have sent you a t-shirt instead :.)
yeah exactly. shows how much he reads the blog.
P.S. I can’t wait until my shirt gets here.
Truth. First time I met Shoe, he was surrounded by rock stars, and had no idea who I was. I walked up and introduced myself and he was polite and humble.
I totally get this post. I run a Barbados travel site with no where near (not even in the same ball park) the readership, and I still get about 30 emails per day asking for really detailed info. Emails Like:
” So I’m coming to Barbados on the 5th, but my daughter is lactose intolerant, do you know of any good hotels that will tailor their dinner menus around this? Also, how is the weather between the 2nd and 3rd week of September? Thanks”
Haha, you guys may think this is an exaggeration, but I this is almost word for word on an email I just received. Multiple this by 30 a day (plus followups), and you can see how this could be a serious time commitment. Don’t get me wrong, I love helping my visitors out, but I’m just one person.
Shoe, I can’t even imagine how you could even answer 1% of the emails you get given your traffic…
I have a property management company, you would not beleave the number of people who regularly call and email us wanting advice on what to do with thier tenants who aren’t paying. I have a commonly asked questions Faq sheet I send out, but it would be impossible for us to help every person and then also do a good job for our clients that actually pay.
I try to be helpful, but there is no way I can answer every single email wanting free advice or spend an hour on the phone with every person that calls wanting to know what to do.
I agree with you 100% on either you are taking time away from your business or time away from your family.
Having sent Jeremy at least 10 emails myself asking for 15 minutes of his time, I can relate to the way the originally sender feels. On the same hand, I probably get 200+ daily emails from my own readers, and unfortunately, never get to all of them. As much as I try… it just don’t happen!!
I can relate Jeremy!
On a side note… the one time I DID get a VERY fast response was in regard to asking permission to post an Aprils fools joke on my own site. If you recall, April 1 was just a few days before “The Elite Retreat” (April 3, 08) this year, and I sent an email asking what you thought about an April Fools joke titled: Shoemoney Goes Broke – Files Chapter 7 – and May have to Cancel Elite Retreat!
I know… not too funny, but he sure did answer quickly! Of course… that may be why he WONT answer now!
Mark
Catchy email titles are definitely a good way to get attention
If i am not willing to answer all emails i received, i just ignore them. I will not publish them on internet and do a hahaha on that. If i got silly questions, i must understand that i deserve them also.
What are you talking about? Stupid questions does not come from stupid content.
Exactly. They come from stupid readers.
Totally understandable being the busy guy you are.
What a jerk! You really would have us believe that you would rather spend time with your wife and kids AND do your job than spend your day chatting up your fans?
That’s cool in my book… until I come a callin’ and you blow me off. Then it’ll have to be settled in the ring.
Fight… Fight…. Fight…. Fight!!!! lol
I would destroy his fists with my face!
Hahaha! :d You’re very funny!
Totally understandable, if everyone was asking questions all the time you would not have a life or even time to write here.
If anyone wants to know something there is always the Q&A posts or the Shoemoney show where there is an open question time.
I would have to agree – there are quite a few chances to get questions answered. It’s just a matter of watching for those windows of opportunity.
Or, show him you deserve respect and he’ll answer anything you send over.
ha, one step at a time
is there anyone from your staff to help you with your emails ?
That’s a bit tricky I think, since many people are very touchy and may get the impression they aren’t worth a personal answer…
Dillsmack has sent me a response or two on technical stuff, but most of his staff just isn’t up to the same technical level or even business level. Still, they’ve got to have a lot going for them if Jeremy keeps them around.
Just get someone to answers question on your behalf, I don’t see anything wrong with that assuming it is the same answer that shoe would’ve given in the first place.
not to mention hands on is the best approach.
I’m guessing people that e-mail shoemoney want to talk to shoemoney, nevermind that the shoe crew could probably field most questions without skipping a beat!
I hate email. ppl I know can text me and email can wait.
Exactly, it’s nothing personal, you just don’t have the time. Some people just can’t ever think about anything but themselves…
At BlogWorld, you talked to me and my manager for a good 15 minutes, and gave us plenty of advice. We will honestly always be grateful for that.
Lucky… -))
i dont blame you for annoying them
with all the resources out there on your blog , google etc……
lol i meant ignore
What are some types of things people email you about?
I suppose a lot of emails about the SERP Tool and rest all for other help
You’d probably cut down on the stalkers if you’d answer their emails once in a while. Would it hurt you to tell them what you’re wearing occasionally?
Well, some people just don’t understand another’s situation so well because they’ve never been in such a situation. Maybe you could do like one of those Q&A posts where maybe the first 10 people to ask a question via a comment will get their questions answered on the blog with maybe even a free backlink. I’m quite positive that this will reduce your emails by a bit at least. Maybe a weekly thing? 10 questions a week would be a pretty good tradeoff for less emails with most asking similar questions, right?
The Q&A sessions here ARE good material. People just need to have their questions in the back of their mind, so when it comes time they can be in the short list of comments and get an answer!
but mr. moneyshoe I want to make $$10000 with your help on the internets, please come to my site and click on my ads so I can make $$$$.
Thank You
lol, I hope you’re not serious..
He is…. lol
Most likely, well ok let’s hope not.
I want to say that he’s joking.
I don’t know… the synopsis of his business plan sounds like pure genius
lol
It will take you increasing your traffic to make money off your ads. Asking one person to come to your site to click on ads is not good enough. Do research on how to increase traffic on your site and building readership loyalty from your visitors.
Do loyal readers actually click ads? Wouldn’t they be the ones most subject to ad blindness?
They might click as they level as some sort of payment for letting them read your blog
Shoe…
Don’t you know that once you become successful you have to give all your time to make others successful as well? It is your duty to make sure everybody in the Internet makes a good living! [/ sarcasm ]
LOL…. no true… it depends on how busy people are
Actually this blog is the ultimate contact program. You have the opportunity to respond to a posting, egage other people who have responded. I suppose you could think of a blog as a type of email systerm. That may be stretching it a bit but I think you understand what I mean…………goog job shoe……
People will almost always assume that the person they’re contacting has ample time for them. It’s pretty well engrained in human nature I think.
The downside to running web ventures is that there is always more that can be done, so naturally, bigger ventures = more work. Even just a handful of small sites can fill a person’s evenings every day of the week (assuming a day job). Everybody here probably knows that, but then again, human nature is a bugger to get past
I especially like the ones who have their business plan and will happily share with you 50% of the profits if you just build the whole website, make the product and do the marketing and distributing as well.
You like those? What’s your email? I have a couple ideas to run past you…
ha!
here’s one….
Step 1> Build me a website
Step 2> ?
Step 3> Make me lots of money
Please call me when finished!
Agreed.
Haven’t you posted about this before? I guess some people just don’t understand how busy having a full time job and a family can be. I know how difficult it is and last year I tried to throw school into the mix, not a good choice.
When people don’t understand something the first time, you have to say it again
Dude some people just dont appreciate time. They think its all about them and they are the center of the world.
It is like the situation where people get mad when you don’t answer your phone…uhm, it’s MY phone and I will answer it or not depending on my mood! Technology should help us- if you are it’s slave and think you are bound to answer every message, then you probably need to take a vacation in the jungles of Northern Thailand.
My plane leaves October 1.
Good post, I thought this would have been common knowledge, people are busy, deal with it..
This is why I ignore 95% of MSN spammers.
Thats is understandable Shoe
Sounds normal to me. I can’t imagine your DM’s or email in box. Mind drives me crazy. Super that someone tried to send you something and if you looked at it and contacted them back, they get lucky. Good for them to try if they were not really spamming. To get mad, that is stupid.
As Artie Lange would say……waaaaaaaaaa. I’m to busy making money to email people back….waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. maybe if you weren’t taking pictures with your $100,000 checks you would have more time to respond to every single email you get at all hours of the day…..waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
insert sarcasm here, lol
Completely understandable, and to be honest guys Jeremy has responded to most emails I ever send him.
same here…sent him about 2 emails and always got a quick response.
Haven’t sent shoe any emails but I’ve received quick replies from the e-mails I’ve sent John Chow!
I must say, VERY well put. I hope this person understands.
Great article I like it so much I submitted it to digg.
Way to set boundaries. In fact, you should put Boundaries by Henry Cloud on a suggested reading list. Also, if those people find you a valuable and very profitable resource then you should charge them 20% of what they think they will make from getting your advice. You could offer a call anytime during the weekday coach for around $50,000 per year
thanks for sharing Shoe..
Jeremy, If the business plan had any merit, YOU would have already fully vetted the plan previously and determined it’s profitability. There is no time to help individuals, that is why this wonderful archive of knowledge is provided here on your site ready for reading.
People looking for a fast track to the top, are usually out of gas by the time they reach it. c N. Chase 2008 (you can quote me on this…)
Respectfully, Nicholas
I’ve found that 99% of the people who want responses in this fashion don’t really care that you have a life. They only care what you can do for them. So, they’ll go to their blogs, write about how friggin rude you are and how you don’t respond or support people who come to your site, hoping to profit off of their bad attitude by trying to discount any effort you do make to help people.
Seriously, it’s their hang up, not yours. You probably won’t respond to this and honestly, I don’t expect you to. I realize you have a busy life and a schedule. Do I think you’ll still read it? Probably. Is that all I’m after? Maybe. Maybe not. I just thought I’d share my two cents for anyone reading this.
You should just say F- the haters. They just want you to teach them how to make a quick buck. It probably isn’t worth the time or effort any way. Those of us running actual businesses know it’s hard work and very time consuming. If people can’t understand that then they need to get a life!
On the other hand, when those people go back to their own blogs and hate on shoe, their readers will inevitably check Shoe out (assuming they don’t already know who he is). 5 minutes on Shoe’s blog and they’ll ditch the other guy to follow somebody that obviously knows what he’s talking about… and up will click Shoe’s RSS feed count.
It’s cool Shoe, it’s good you post it so those who don’t realize, will!
Cheers!
Yeah, I definately feel for you, I don’t have anywhere near that problem, but I can see where your coming from, the money you are bringing in and the family are the most important thing.
YA he has posted about this before, lots before, I think over the last year I have read this type of post about 12 times. Wait a second…….maybe Shoe is just rewriting his articles……JJ
He’s a good unless he loses to John Chow……lol
God, I wish I had that problem just now. If you want JS i’ll come answer your emails for you for a tidy sum. HA HA!
Good for you. Tell those selfish ***holes off
really not many people can understand that we might all have a very tight schedule and that the most of the times reall good things do take time to happen… LOL
Now atleast those people who never received an email back will understand that it wasnt anything personal, your just to busy.
again this is another consequence of being succesful I think.. People will come to you and beg and ask you to help them… Of course people will be upset not getting a respond from you but they just dont understand… and again you can’t please everyone/..
Could not help anyone. Their so much here. – ))))
You are a very busy man jeremy. Best of luck for your website.
Oh Shoemonies, why don’t you call no more? You went to the corner store for milk and never came back….LOL
There’s no way you will ever please everyone. So just keep on keeping on!
The only joy a man can have is from his family (wife and kids) never let other people force you to hurt them just bcos you wanna help out…
… I know you cannot just keep helping people while hurting yourself.
Well it’s a sign of being a success figure.. Keep it up
if people wants to ask short questions (like me), I thnk using twitter is a better choice
Nice touch Jeremy. Guess if people want the help they should go to Elite Retreat. Anyway, I will see you at BlogWorld and won’t give you any business plans.
How about a top 10 of the funniest e-mails you have recieved, although not the ones that have made it to the police department.
I understand where your coming from… I emailed you a while back and you never responded but to be honest I didn’t expect it. I took a chance that you might at least read what I had to say and if you didn’t have time to respond you wouldn’t. This post clears any questions about why you wouldn’t respond and I completely understand.
Agreed. Some people don’t realize that other people have lives to live & don’t spend their entire time online.
Couldn’t have said it better myself..
It’s good to know that you always find time for your family with your busy schedule.
Thats is understandable Shoe
screw emails. add this to your list of reasons not to be a big time blogger.
Makes sense. BTW, really cute pic of Joslyn in the onesie.
It’s hilarious that people get upset because you don’t respond to emails. If you want to get interaction, go where they go and extend a hand and offer to buy a drink.
What a bunch of brown nosers, not one negative comment? Shoe sounds like the professional athlete who won’t sign autographs. Your readers made you who you are, show them some respect. And all you commentors, there will be a Shoe worship service this Sunday at 5pm.
Brown noser my aunt fanny. If you really think that everyone has the time to sit down & email every person back, you’re living on another planet. Contrary to what you may think, there are people that actually have lives.
Their butt stinks. They need to get off the chair and catch you at a conference like everybody else.
I think, just do not understand those people who have nothing to do. Business people always have a little time.
But you still haven’t considered my business proposition!
I totally agree with Shoemoney on this, just this one topic has 92 replies; if half expected a response it would be physically impossible. I don’t know how Jeremy even has time to read them all.
Funny thing about asking for advice on the internet is when I e-mail someone about a product or service the people that respond the most are the ones who have little to offer.
If I ask pricing on a particular item/service just tell me the price, if I ask will your software do XYZ, a simple yes or no will suffice, I don’t need 40 e-mails and 20 voice mails about who you are.
I disagree. Personally, I find it rude and obnoxious to ignore emails. Even a short, “I’ll get back to you later” is better than dead air.
Mass emails come with the price of being a popular blogger as people rever you and seek your opinions or just want to say hi. This should be reciprocated. If you have no time, hire a VA, they are cheap and looking at your cheque, you can well afford a few!
*shakes head* Some people just don’t get it.
Why don’t they just save the email and exploit the Shoemoney Q&A? That’s what I do.
Thats very understandable. You have kids, a great job, and a lot of people following you on your blog plus places you have to go. Thats goo you can reply to the ones you have. Great effort.
Great way to share what’s going on — one simply can’t know otherwise, and there’s only so many hours in a day.
If only we all had clones! (Which poses problems in itself.)
I can only imagine the number of emails you get everyday , replying to each and everyone of them is almost impossible.
Who in the hockey sticks do those people think they are. When I need a response from the shoe, I just wait for a dark overcast night and beam my handy shoemoney signal up into the sky.
It is understandable that you can’t respond to each and every mail personally. I think its quite alright if you don’t respond to those mails.
this was a great post
With the amount of success you have received and the popularity you have achieved I am surprised you actually answer emails personally. I am sure most people would rather have automated responses or have someone reply to emails as if they were you.
No problem Jeremy. We can very well understand that with this kind of a schedule, its always difficult to answer anyone!
shoe man,there no how you can kill yourself all because of your porpularity online.If you must answer every e-mail,it then means you wil be having no time foreven yourself.You are trying-man.
I agree with your position on this entirely. You’re already giving away a ton of your time. As you point out the best way to get your attention is to show up at he shows!
Keep this in mind – every choice we make involves something we’re choosing not to do. So, if Shoemoney chooses to read and respond to you he may also be choosing not to work out or spend time with his kids.
The bottom line is you gotta watch your time – there are only 24 hours in a day and you can’t that time back!
We are just in awe of your fabulous success..and want some of it to rub off…of course…If I could find a way to sell a gazillion books..For Kids 59.99 and Over..YOu have a ways to go before you become a boomer…Anyway reading your site gives me hope daily.
you don’t even have to defend yourself on this one there is only one way to submit a business plan without consent and that is with unconditional respect!
This is pretty blunt: “Basically when I am away from conferences for me to take time out to give you free business advice I am either taking away from our companies profitability or taking time away from my family… neither of those are good options =)” You said the same thing at IzeaFest 2008 as well as, you also said that you want to help bloggers, so which one is it? Can’t have it both ways, two contradictory messages Shoemoney.
You are making money because of your readers and fans, their traffic. You could have worded your statement more diplomatically.
I had same situation some day, so that’s just totally impossible to answer even to at least half of the visitors
))
I could seriously spend ALL day answering emails- why would I want to do that? Isn’t that why God created Myspace, for wasting hours online?
Just kidding. I answer all my emails, even the ones about enlarging my penis. And I don’t even have one.
An enviable position to be in..unable to answer all e mails..I would love that problem a lot…
Sounds Reasonable….
I’m sorry Jeremy, I understand we all have super busy schedules as business executives, and being Daddy’s, but part of that responsibility is business etiquette. There are ways to inform people via “auto-reply”, etc. that you’re inundated with other tasks, and they should be used. Unless you’re a famous athlete, actor, musician, etc. There is no reason you can’t utilize auto-reply, and carve out an hour a day to kindly respond…it is rude not to, and very unprofessional. Not to mention “cocky”.
If you decide to become a DJ, you will discover that this kind of job should be fun as well as difficult. We’ve all observed how much fun this job can be and many individuals take advantage of the different perks that are routine with this type of work. Meeting famous people is one of those fringe benefits that arrives with the job. Don’t forget you are working to amuse people so they enjoy listening to you.If you decide to become a DJ, you will discover that this kind of job should be fun as well as difficult. We’ve all observed how much fun this job can be and many individuals take advantage of the different perks that are routine with this type of work. Meeting famous people is one of those fringe benefits that arrives with the job. Don’t forget you are working to amuse people so they enjoy listening to you.
It’s 2010 yet I still found this guys response very helpful to me personally- I frequently find myself feeling hurt and confused when I get no response to emails I send to my son and his little family (I live a 3 hr drive away). They are busy with very full lives-. I’ll now choose to believe that he does still love me…he’s just needing some white noise in his life…too much stuff to process. I miss them.