AP 0076: Email Lists: Which Address You Should Use If You Don’t Want to Share Your Home Address?

AskPat 76 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here. Welcome to Episode 76 of AskPat. So happy you're here.

Today's sponsor is AWeber, my company of choice if you're going to start to build an email list. If you are, congratulations, 'cause you are much smarter that I was when I first started. Seriously, one of the biggest mistakes I made was not starting an email list. When you create an email list, you can send emails to all of your subscribers. You can collect subscribers all over your website, however many pages you wish. I use AWeber because it's easy to use. Great customer service. Check it out! If you go to AWeber.com/askpat, you can get a trial for $1. Please go ahead and check it out, and don't make the same mistake as me.

Today's episode, which has to do with email, comes from Eric. Eric, let's hear your question.

Eric: Hi, Pat. This is Eric from the UK. My question is regarding the address you should use at the bottom of your newsletter. As you probably know, with tools like AWeber and Mailchimp, they require you have a physical address at the bottom of your newsletter. If people are running home-based businesses and they want to keep their privacy, what would you recommend as an alternative to using your home address? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

Pat Flynn: Eric, thank you so much for your question. This is one of the first things I ever had to deal with when I started my online business. The first thing I did was get this address. That allowed me to then create a business bank account, to get my checking account, and also, all that good stuff that comes with actually having a business. It's really important to separate your business stuff, and your personal stuff, as much as possible. Especially when it comes to email, you want to do that. You don't want to put your home address down there, especially if you want to keep your privacy. The reason you have to have an address when you send out mass emails, is because of an act called the Can-Spam Act. C-A-N – S-P-A-M Act. This was an act of 2003, which is a bill or …. It's a legal set of rules for commercial email. It established requirements for commercial messages. Again, this is US only. However, if you're using the US service, like AWeber, or Get Response, or Constant Contact, or Infusion Software, any of those, where you can build an email list and then you send emails out to people who have subscribed to those lists, an address, a physical address has to be at the bottom of all of those emails. Most of those surfaces or all of them, will automatically put that address in for you. You put it in a field in your settings, or in your account in those services, and then it will automatically put that … They'll be required to. They will automatically do it for you. You can't take that address out. The question is, “What address do you use?” You don't want to use your home address. That will reveal where you live. That's not very good. You just want to be careful with that sort of thing.

What I did, is I got a UPS inbox, or mailbox, at a physical UPS location. That is an address you can use. Can you use a PO Box? Well, no. A lot of these services won't allow a PO Box because, that doesn't show it's a real business. That shows it's a mail box. Yes, the UPS Box is a mailbox too, but, it has a physical address that looks just like a regular address. For example, mine is 9450, Mira Mesa Boulevard, suite C224. That C224 is just … Suite C is the building, that they're in. That particular suite in that area, that street mall. 224 is the number of my mailbox But it sounds very official and that works for these emails. I have 9450, Mira Mesa Boulevard, suite C224, San Diego, California 92126. Of course, I don't mind sharing that here. That's my business address, but, it goes to my UPS box, and it's at the bottom of all my emails anyway. Also, I love sharing that, because sometimes you'll get thank you notes and things like that. That's what I use. That costs about 50 bucks a month. It's a little bit on the more expensive side, in terms of getting an address that you could use for these emails.

That is a great question, Eric. This is something that people don't think about until they sign up for something like AWeber or others, and then they are required to put an address and then they have the option of putting their physical home address. Then they're like, “I don't know what I should do!” Though UPS wasn't as good. Again, you cannot use a PO Box from the United States Postal Service. There are other solutions out there as well. You can use a business address if you have a friend, or you have a co-working space; that could work. You want to make sure you check with that co-working space first, before you add that co-working space's address.

There are other services like EarthClassMail.com and also TravelingMailbox.com. These are really cool. It allows you to send, or to … It gives you a physical address. A real address. What it does is, when mail is sent to that address, it's actually sent to Earth Class Mail, and that particular suit number is your number. Then they forward that email to you, or, they forward that mail to you, or they send it directly to your home address. People sending that email—I keep saying email—people keep sending mail to you, they'll send it to Earth Class Mail or the other one, travelingmailbox.com. It goes there, and then they forward it to your home! That works. People aren't getting your exact address; they're getting Earth Class Mail address or your Traveling Mailbox address. It's a little cheaper; you can see the plans there. On Traveling Mailbox, I'm looking to have an extended plan for 100 incoming envelopes a month, 80 page scans; they actually will scan your mail too. They'll open it and scan it and send it to you via email, which is great. You don't have to wait for it to come to you, especially if it's urgent. Five mailbox recipients, one scan pack, not exactly sure what that is. It's a prepaid envelope, every month, to stuff with your receipt, documents … Okay, so everything they receive, they put and then they ship it to you. That's 25 bucks per month. With Earth Class Mail, looks like it's around the same, 25 bucks a month, plus a one-time fee to set up.

Those are some of your options there in terms of getting a physical address, which again, is really important. You'll need that especially when you get your business banking account, and you start to put in your addresses with other services you're working with. You just want to, again, separate as much business as personal as possible. Especially if you have an LLC, you don't want to pierce the corporate veil. You don't want to mix those two things. If you … For whatever reason, if you go do to court, if you are seen mixing personal and business together, too much, or maybe at all, and I'm not a lawyer. I recommend hooking up with a professional. But, that just shows that you don't have a business. That you aren't treating it like a business. That is my recommendation. I use UPS. There's also EarthClassMail.com. You could check that out. Make sure you read the reviews for these things before you sign up with them. Also, TravelingMailbox.com.

I hope that answers your question, Eric. Thank you so much. I hope that gives all of your some background on why you need to do that, and what your options are. Eric, an AskPat t-shirt is going to be headed your way. For those of you who have a question, head on over to AskPat.com. You might get it featured here, and also get a t-shirt sent to you as well.

I also want to thank our awesome sponsors today, which is AWeber. AWeber is the company that I used to build an email list, and send broadcast emails out whenever I want, to my entire list of about … Right now, it's about 75,000 people, which is awesome. You're all amazing if you're on that list. If you're not, hopefully, I'll see you on there soon. I also love it because it allows me to create a really, really good follow-up sequence. Automatically. They call it the autoresponder series. I can keep in constant contact with all of my subscribers. Pretty much over a year, 'cause I've rewritten those emails. They get out sequentially. Again, AWeber. Great customer service, great interface, easy to use. Thank you, AWeber, again. If you go to AWeber.com/askpat, that's my referral. My referral link, AWeber.com/askpat. They also have a $1 trial that you can check out. Thank you for that.

Today's quote comes from Marilyn vos Savant. She says, “Being defeated is often a temporary condition; giving up is what makes it permanent.” In the journey of online business, you're going to be met with plenty of roadblocks. Trust me; I've gone through several. I have wanted to give up several times. I knew that if I give up, then that's the end. You're going to be defeated often, but, just keep going. Don't make failure permanent. Use that as a learning experience so you can just do it again, but wiser. Take care. Thank you. I'll see you again the next episode of AskPat.