Jeff Bullas

That is a critical privacy question to ask.

Short Answer: A non-friend can only see a small, static version of your profile and cover photo, your name, and a tiny part of your ‘About’ info. All your posts, photos, and stories are completely hidden.

This feature is designed to put a privacy wall around all your significant content formats, making them visible only to your confirmed friends.

When a stranger lands on your locked Facebook profile, they cannot click or enlarge your profile picture or cover photo; they just see the small thumbnails. More importantly, all your content formats are hidden. This includes every text post, image, or video you have ever shared, even if you had previously set that content to ‘Public’. The ‘Lock Profile’ function retroactively changes all your past public posts to ‘Friends’ only and ensures all future content is set the same way, giving you a comprehensive privacy shield.

Cheers,

Jeff

That’s a very common question for people needing a break from the main feed.

The Direct Answer: Yes, you can. Deactivating your Facebook account will not deactivate your Messenger, so you can continue to chat with your family and colleagues.

The system is designed to let you take a break from the public-facing image and video content of the main Facebook platform while retaining the private, text-based utility of Messenger.

When you go through the deactivation process, your main Facebook profile, along with all its photos, posts, and videos, will become invisible to everyone. However, your Messenger will remain active. Your friends and family will still be able to find you in their chat list and send you text messages just as they do now. You can continue to use the Messenger app on your phone or the Messenger website to send and receive text messages and media files. The only thing you must not do is log back into the main Facebook website or app, as that action will reactivate your entire profile.

Cheers,

Jeff

A very common and very real frustration for every email developer.

Short Answer: The best and only reliable way to test an HTML email is to use a paid, third-party email testing platform. These services show you screenshots of how your email will render across 100+ different email clients and devices in a matter of minutes.

This is a non-negotiable step because you are not coding for the web; you are coding for a broken, inconsistent ecosystem of email clients.

The core problem is that email clients, especially the various versions of Microsoft Outlook, do not follow modern web standards for rendering HTML and CSS. Outlook famously uses the Microsoft Word rendering engine, which will ignore your code and break your layout in ways you can’t predict. Apple Mail, Gmail, and Android apps all have their own different and incompatible rules. It is physically impossible for you to manually test all these combinations.

This is where a service like Litmus or Email on Acid becomes essential. You send your draft email to a special test address, and their platform automatically renders your email on real devices and clients. It then presents you with a comprehensive report of screenshots, showing you exactly how your text, images, and layout will look in everything from Outlook 2013 on Windows to Gmail on an Android phone. This allows you to spot and fix any rendering bugs before you send the email to your entire list, saving you from a professional disaster.

Cheers,
Jeff

Nice summary — I agree: focus on reply rate and stop sequences when someone replies. That’s the fast, pragmatic win.

Here are three simple AI workflows you can pick from (start with one, get it working, then add another):

• Email-only sequence (fastest): AI writes initial email + 2 follow-ups. Automation sends and cancels on reply.
• LinkedIn + email (higher touch): Send a short LinkedIn connection note, wait 2 days, then send the AI-crafted email if connected or no reply.
• Meeting-first play (quick qualification): AI creates a one-question opener that asks for a 10-minute call; follow-ups add a short case study or benefit.

What you’ll need

• Lead list (CSV or Google Sheet)
• Google Sheets or simple CRM
• Automation tool (Zapier / Make / CRM sequences)
• Gmail/Outlook or SMTP sender
• AI (ChatGPT or OpenAI via Zapier)

Step-by-step: Email-only workflow (do this first)

1. Create a Sheet with columns: Name, Company, Role, Email, KeyFact, Status, LastSent, Reply.
2. Build automation: Trigger = new row or Status=Ready.
3. Action A: Call AI to generate Subject + Email 1 + Follow-up 1 & 2 (use the prompt below).
4. Action B: Send Email 1 from your account. Schedule follow-ups at +3 and +7 days if Status still = No Reply.
5. Reply detection: Use Gmail filter or Zapier Gmail trigger to set Status=Replied and cancel follow-ups.

6. Monitor: Log opens/replies in the sheet; tweak subject or opener weekly.

Copy-paste AI prompt (use exactly)

“You are a professional outreach writer. For this lead, generate: 1) a 6–8 word subject line; 2) an initial cold email (max 110 words) with a 1–2 sentence personalized opener referencing {KeyFact}, a one-sentence value statement showing outcome, and a single clear CTA asking for a 10–15 minute call; 3) two brief follow-ups (each 30–60 words) that reference the prior message, add one new micro-benefit or social proof, and offer the same CTA. Tone: warm, concise, non-salesy. Output as Subject:, Email 1:, Follow-up 1:, Follow-up 2:. Variables: {Name}, {Company}, {Role}, {KeyFact}, {Offer}.”

Example output (what to expect)

Subject: Quick idea for Acme Co
Hi Lisa,
I noticed Acme recently launched a new retail line — we help retail marketing teams cut acquisition costs by 20% with targeted customer reactivation. Would you be open to a 10-minute call next week to see if this could help at Acme?
Thanks, [Your name]

Common mistakes & fixes

• Mistake: Bad personalization from scraped data. Fix: Only use one verifiable KeyFact and keep it short.
• Mistake: Follow-ups continue after reply. Fix: Test reply detection and cancel logic before scaling.
• Mistake: Too many touches. Fix: Limit to 2–3 emails and always add one new benefit per follow-up.

7-day action plan (do-first, test-fast)

1. Day 1: Import 50 leads to Sheets and add one KeyFact each.
2. Day 2: Build Zap: new row → AI prompt → send email; schedule follow-ups (3, 7 days).
3. Day 3: Test to 5 internal emails; confirm reply detection works.
4. Day 4: Send first batch of 20 live prospects.
5. Day 5: Fix any send or reply issues; update templates if tone’s off.
6. Day 6: Review opens/replies; change subject lines if opens <20%.
7. Day 7: Tweak copy with AI and send next 30–50 based on what worked.

Final reminder

Start small, measure reply rate, iterate weekly. The combo of AI speed + a single human review will get you predictable meetings—fast.

That’s a vital email to get right.

Short Answer: The best practice is to send a simple, well-timed email that uses clear text to ask for the review and a bold, unmissable button that links the user directly to the review submission form.

The strategy’s success depends entirely on making the process frictionless at the exact moment the customer is most satisfied.

First, timing is everything. You must send this email after the customer has had enough time to actually use the product, but while the initial excitement is still high. For a physical product, this is often 7-14 days after delivery, not the date of purchase.

Second, the text in the email must be simple, personal, and have a single goal. Use the customer’s name and mention the specific product they bought; including a small image of the product is a powerful visual cue that personalises the request. The text should be polite but direct, explaining that their feedback helps other customers. Don’t crowd the email with other promotions; this email has one job.

Third, and this is where most people fail, you must remove all friction. The email must feature a large, clear call-to-action button with unambiguous text like “Leave Your Review.” This button must not link to your homepage. It must link directly to the review form for the specific product they bought, ideally with the star rating ready to be clicked.

Cheers,
Jeff

That’s a very common concern.

Quick Answer: You use scarcity and urgency safely by ensuring your text-based copy is professional and honest, not gimmicky. Spam filters are triggered by a combination of factors, including high-pressure phrases, poor sender reputation, and spammy formatting, not just by the mention of a real deadline.

The key is to communicate your genuine offer with clarity, rather than resorting to high-pressure tactics.

Spam filters look at the whole picture. An email with text like “BUY NOW!!! ONLY 3 LEFT ACT FAST!!!” is a massive red flag, especially when combined with all-caps text, bright red fonts, or excessive exclamation marks. This is a classic spam tactic. A far safer and more professional approach is to write clear, honest text, such as “Our mid-year sale ends this Friday” or “There are 50 units of this item remaining at the sale price.” One is a high-pressure scam; the other is a legitimate commercial announcement.

Your email’s design also plays a critical role. An email that is just one large promotional image with very little supporting text is a common spam filter trigger. You must ensure you have a healthy balance of descriptive text to support any promotional images. The safest and often most effective way to create urgency is to use a dynamic image, like a live countdown timer. This visual element creates a powerful, real-time deadline without you having to write any risky, high-pressure text.

Ultimately, if you have a good sender reputation built on sending high-quality content that people want, you have a lot more leeway. If your content is consistently good, a simple line of text like “Sale ends tonight” will be seen by filters as helpful information, not a threat.

Cheers,
Jeff

Getting your videos suggested is the key to exponential growth.

Short Answer: The best way to get suggested is to strategically create video formats that are topically similar to other popular content and to package them in a series to increase session watch time.

The algorithm suggests videos that are frequently watched together, so you must format your content to be the logical “next video.”

To get suggested, you must first ensure your content formats clearly signal their topic to YouTube. This involves using a keyword-rich text format for your title and description, and even ensuring your audio format, the script itself, mentions relevant terms. Secondly, you need to master your visual format, meaning your thumbnail, so it is compelling and thematically consistent with the videos you want to be suggested next to. Thirdly, the most powerful strategy is to create episodic video formats, such as a playlist or a multi-part series, as this encourages viewers to watch your own videos back-to-back. Finally, you must use your video format’s end screens and cards to create a strong handoff, explicitly guiding viewers to another one of your videos and proving to the algorithm that your content is binge-worthy.

Cheers,

Jeff

This is the most common question new creators ask.

Short Answer: Start with your smartphone. A modern phone’s video format is more than sufficient, and your focus should be on mastering your audio format and content structure first.

The quality of your video format is far less important than the quality of your audio and the value of your ideas.

New creators often obsess over the wrong thing. While the shallow depth-of-field from a DSLR video format looks professional, a viewer will abandon your content in seconds if the audio format is terrible. Your smartphone already produces an excellent video format. You should first invest in a high-quality audio format by getting a separate microphone. Secondly, you must master your text format, meaning your script, to ensure your ideas are clear and engaging. Thirdly, you need to learn how to combine these formats with good lighting, which is more important than the camera itself. Only after you have mastered these fundamental audio and text formats should you consider upgrading your main video format hardware.

Cheers,

Jeff