If you want to quickly build a responsive email list in the next 30 days — especially if you’re just starting online and don’t have a lot of money — the following strategy can get the job done. Here’s the story: Several years ago, I was struggling to build my email list and nothing seemed to work.

Well, why not? They are the problem, right? Here you are with a blog or a product or a charity you believe will change the world, and yet no matter how excited you are about the possibilities, no matter how much faith you have in yourself, you can’t help being worried: You don’t know. You can’t know. And it bothers you.

We have a great bookstore in my town — the kind of place you picture in your mind when you think of a great independent bookshop. It’s perfect for browsing, with lots of comfy chairs to relax in. The books are displayed enticingly. There’s a little coffee shop so you can relax with an espresso. They get your favorite writers to come in for readings, so there’s always a sense of event and excitement.

On the snowy, northeastern Christmas of my 11th year, our parents gathered all five kids around the kitchen table to deliver the news. We were moving to San Antonio, Texas. I was devastated. Texas? I imagined what our new home would look like. We’d be miles from any neighbors — who all walked straight off the “Hee Haw” set — with a dusty, rock-filled front yard punctuated by the occasional tumbleweed rolling by.

Everywhere you turn these days, you hear about authenticity. They say you’ve got to be real in order to connect with today’s social media savvy audiences and consumers. But it’s not necessarily true. Go out and be “real” when you’re having a bad day, and people will quickly call you out for not reacting in the “right” way.

As a professional copywriter, there’s one question that tends to pop up constantly from my readers and clients … “Can you teach me to write like you?” My knee-jerk answer is usually something like, “Um. No. There is no other like me! I reign supreme! Me! Me! Me!” OK, I’m not really that egocentric.