The Million Dollars In My Inbox
I have so much email I could cry. Sometimes I break into a cold sweat watching the number of messages pour in. Sometimes I wake up from a dead sleep and sit straight up in bed thinking about my email. Other times I take one look at my inbox and just want to go back to bed.
Every time I catch myself feeling that way about my email, I remind myself how fortunate I am to have every single one of those messages…
Every email represents an opportunity. Some of them allow me to make a difference, or help someone get their business started. Some grow my business. Some let me help people get over a frustrating technical hurdle. Some relieve my stress or frustration. They all serve a purpose in my business.
Every single message comes from a real person, and is a chance to make a profitable connection. That may be a friendship that I need for personal support, a sale I can make, a person that will share with someone else how I’ve helped them, an assistant ready to take on new tasks, a peer interested in doing a joint venture.
It’s all about connections.
Make it a point to make connections in your business – of any and every kind. That’s where the success is. Consider every opportunity. Create opportunities.
I’ve decided that there’s a million dollars in my inbox. I’m sure of it, actually. Every day I sit back down to it and address as many individual messages as I possibly can. I’ve made a sport of it, in a way – like searching for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The million dollars is in there. Probably not all in one little black pot, but spread out across hundreds and hundreds of messages.
I’m not really in that whole millionaire mode, but it does make doing my email more fun. 
Someone asked me recently when was the last time I saw the bottom of my inbox. I said… 1996. Someday I shall see it again!
Best,
p.s. Yes, I still answer my own email. No, I’m not that great at keeping up with it. If I happen to owe you one, let me just apologize now. I make a serious effort 
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Lynn…
You are so very correct…
Without emails you have no connection. Sometimes it’s tough to wade through them but each one is a living breathing human.
A possible friend, partner, customer, or visitor.
My best to you.
Joe
Follow me @joemarsh on Twitter.
You couldn’t be more right Lynn. Relationships really mean a lot and the only way to build them is to connect. They say “It’s not what you know, but WHO you know” and that holds a lot of truth. You can be from nothing, have nothing, but through connections and relationships and continually building them, you can become something.
Follow me @mikestenger on Twitter.
Dang! I was just leaving a comment on a different post, and when I hit refresh, this new post pooped up!!
I often wonder how you handle all the email you get. Back in July CJ and me were barely keeping up and we’re not even a little famous. You (Lynn) are REAL famous! How do you do it?!
Gary Anderson II
Follow me @GanderCo on Twitter.
Lynn,
What a fantastic way to look at an overflowing email account. There are so few “high” profile people that actually check their own accounts.
Not that using an assistant is a bad thing {hello, i handle clients email all of the time. lol}, but it’s still so awesome that you find your email that rewarding.
I do hope you don’t get too backed up over your cruise that it stresses you out, though. That’s no good
Nell
Follow me @http://www.twitter.com/casualeveryday on Twitter.
Wow Lynn,
I love this article. What a beautiful reframe from the ‘pesky’ intrusion of email that we can all get into.
Keeping in the forefront that those contacts are valuable is a great lesson.
Thanks for showing up and shining your light!
Follow me @thereseskelly on Twitter.
Lynn, considering how busy and popular you are (did you know you were popular?
you do awesome at getting back to people. Maybe you just make an extra effort to get back to those of that are so damn interesting and fun to read and write to/with!
Happy New Year!
Mike
Follow me @immikemurphy on Twitter.
Hey Lynn,
Somewhere among those thousands of emails is some pictures I sent you of my kids with the golf balls you sent us. Thank you so much for those. They will definitely get used when we get out of these sub zero temps. Brrrr it’s cold out. Hope you have a great cruise!
Follow me @#!/4wardmotion on Twitter.
Lynn,
Your post is a great reminder of the worth and value of each person!
Follow me @RichAvery on Twitter.
Lynn
As Nell mentioned earlier, the fact that you even intend to read your own email rather than just outsourcing it speaks volumes!
Thanks – I’ll be patient.
Andy
Sustainable Insights
Follow me @SurveyWriter on Twitter.
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Lynn
Email management (juggling, dissecting, disseminating, destroying LOL ok maybe not destroying) is a fine line between genius and insanity. At one point in my life we had limited storage on corporate email servers, so you constantly had to archive it to a back up drive. At least now you can keep it all and eventually get to it.
Too bad the software can’t highlight the Million Dollar emails!! That would make it much easier wouldn’t it!!
Follow me @scottlovingood on Twitter.
What a great way to see things. I have that mentality at least half the time, thank goodness.
Follow me @ on Twitter.
Whew…I just unsubscribed from numerous “opportunities” today! hahaha
Seriously, though, that’s a great way to look at it and something I need to get better at. Thanks for giving me some much-needed “perspective”!
Follow me @shaneeubanks on Twitter.
I have newsletters and such that I’m subscribed to automatically filtered into their own folder in my inbox – so as not to distract me from the “real email”
That way I can read it on my terms, or use the search box to find anything I need.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Do you use Gmail?
Follow me @cheftony on Twitter.
Rarely – only for some things. I use Outlook so I can make use of Calendar, Tasks, Reminders, etc.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Lynn,
that’s a good way to look at the tons of emails you have, but you also need to separate those useful “good” emails from the “bad” ones sent by the spammers out there, those “bad” emails are just a pure waste of anyone’s time.
But i do think it would help if you could have a dedicated email manager to help you manage all those emails you have, be it on a part-time or full-time basis…any available vacancies ? *lol*
John (Follow me @johnyeng on Twitter)
Follow me @johnyeng on Twitter.
That is a fabulous way for us all to look at the flood of email that we get lost in sometimes! Thank for the fresh perspective!
Follow me @lisamariemary on Twitter.
Remember what my guy Gary Vaynerchuk says…it’s always “better than zero”. He gets mad crazy email and answers every one, people find huge value in your personal touch, I know I already do…great blog, one I hope to be able to post up a big success story soon..
Keep rockin, and hope you have a good portable device to crush up email when you have a spare 5 or 10 minutes, it’s my first rule of How To Hustle!
Follow me @cheftony on Twitter.
I must admit that there are so many unread emails in my inbox. Why? Because I already set my mind that all of those emails only contain nonsense discussion about something. However, sometimes, I missed some opportunities that are easily available for me. To avoid any regrets in the near future, like you, we must also have that million dollar in my inbox thinking. Who knows, that might be true soon.
Lynn,
Today was the first day that I got a small glimpse of what you are talking about when David Perdew mentioned my NAMS Video project in his email. I can only imagine what your email inbox is like. I hope I will need to brush up on my Outlook rule filtering capability someday.
Chris Cobb
Follow me @chriscobb on Twitter.
Hi Lynn,
What a refreshing and interesting way to look at emails. I have now develop a system of labels for my newsletters in order to read them properly at the right time. It’s so easy to skim through each day and miss valuable information.
Also remember when you feel overwhlemed by the volume of emails that someone has taken the time to give you the information that you often asked for in the first place.
Follow me @JudithsAtkinson on Twitter.
touching experience
i never cried before but i always pleasant when see money comes in to my paypal account
i’m an internet marketer but don’t have any friends yet…do i need blogging?
Follow me @soependi on Twitter.
Hi Lynn,
I was just thinking this morning as I was answering my emails that maybe I should outsource this task. It takes up a lot of my time. A couple of months ago I decided to only check my email no more than 3 times a day, and some days, depending on my private client schedule I don’t check it at all.
So when I saw the topic of your email, I was hoping that there would be some great out-sourcing tips for me. Then I read your post and I had to laugh!
You see, as I was answering today’s emails, I thought about how my group energy healing work is so unique that people have a lot of questions. Answering their questions helps me to synthesize all that I’ve learned over the years about Resonance Repatterning and proxy group healing. In addition I can take my email answers and turn them into blog posts and articles. So I look at answering email as a fun way to get myself to write educational pieces about my work.
And as I was considering out-sourcing my emails, it also occurred to me that answering my own emails has given me the opportunity to nurture more personal relationships with my clients and prospective clients. Thanks to emails I’ve established some tight connections with people that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
So in short, I whole-heartedly agree with your spot on take on emails!
Follow me @ElizTobin on Twitter.
Oh, Lynn – that is why you are so very special, and rare in this internet world. I know I get overwhelmed too, because I also personally answer my emails. It brings joy and it brings overwhelm, but I also love being connected and I’ve made amazing friendships during the past 7 years of growing my Diana’s Healthy Lifestyles Sunrider Whole Foods online, and have also been rewarded financially and abundantly, and I know it is all worth it.
I have tons of people in my life that I know, like and trust — and many of them know, like and trust me too!
What more can you ask from life?
Thanks for sharing this, Lynn – inspiring as always!
Diana
Follow me @DianaWalker on Twitter.
Lynn, you always make me laugh. When I saw the first few lines of this post, I knew I had to read the rest of it. You’re right, though. We should look at our email as though there’s a million dollars in there somewhere. I never thought about filtering the newsletters to their own folders. That’s a brilliant idea. I do try to respond to all emails that come from a person (as opposed to those pitching the latest product launch), but I’ll admit I do get behind. Thanks for sharing this info!
DeAnna
Follow me @deannatroupe on Twitter.
This is a great way to look at the ever flowing mountain of email! Especially, since I’ve been working on cleaning that up today.
Follow me @retta719 on Twitter.
Great positive way to think of one’s email. Thanks for your tips to filter all the subscriptions into folders – it makes a huge difference.
Follow me @AlexNewell on Twitter.
Lynn, what a terrific perspective.
Unanswered email weighs on me- I can’t ignore it for long, and some days it sucks the productivity out of me- simply dealing with it!
I can see where you are coming from. I have a bunch of email addresses and i have to check them 3-4 times a day, if i don’t I’ll go nuts.
I actually like my email (weird huh?) I’ve always answered my own email as well. I love the thought of meeting people and talking with them one on one ~ sometimes we even go so far as getting on the phone! Those are definitely worth the time. We need to always remember that if we want our emails answered then why wouldn’t we want to answer our own?
Follow me @reginabaker on Twitter.
Oh, Lynn, what a great post! I can totally relate.
One question tho – IS there a “bottom” of an inbox? =)
Have a great cruise!
Jennifer
~PotPieGirl
Follow me @potpiegirl on Twitter.
It’s like finding out if there really is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow… LOL
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
I can tell that your Busy Lynn. Emailed you a long time ago, and have not received a response as of yet. Could have gone to your junk too
Follow me @ArticleDirec on Twitter.
Yeah, no telling. You’re welcome to try again
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Hi Lynn
It’s nice to hear that all of your email is from a human. I get so much, filter it, and still I receive tons of spam…I sometimes don’t get messages I want, but for sure the ones which tell me how to grow certain parts of my anatomy that I don’t have will get thru like clockwork
Follow me @msmerle on Twitter.
I seem to go through periods of not wanting to deal with email. When I get sick of so much of it in my inbox, I try to unsubscribe to some of the things I really thought I wanted to receive to make room for those items that could be my million dollar connection. Sometimes just changing the font will help me visually to not dread reading the 500 emails sitting there.
I answer my own email too. Heck I still do everything.
This year I am making a concerted effort to say “thank you for writing” FIRST and trying to work on a connection with the person somehow. If there is one thing I know, I am NOTHING without my readers. A good portion of my readers are also homebound and I am told by many that my blog is one of their only connections with the outside world.
And, though it may not be the norm, I pray for my readers. I need them and I want them to be blessed. I get blessings from them daily it seems. I am thankful for my peers and blogging friends too – THIS MEANS YOU Lynn!
Have a great year everyone. Be inspired. Decide to be successful and act like you are even if you don’t think you are there just yet!
Ginger
Follow me @adlibcorner on Twitter.
The Law of Attraction. Yep- you got it going on Lynn! On a scale of 1 to 10 youre a 15. Youre a natural talent online doing what people like and the best part is you are real person with honesty,integrity and character. I dont want anything im just being honest. LOL
Follow me @chastill on Twitter.
I hate when somebody does not reply my mail. The feeling is something akin o being slighted or ignored.
A quick reply is welcome and I always appreciate the promptness of reply.
It i good to know someone cares about mails.
Follow me @arunpalsingh on Twitter.
You really have to be objective though and realize that not all email makes it through, and sometimes even if it does it still slips through the cracks. It’s rarely ever personal.
I assure you, a negative thought will always make it back in a reply
Not hearing anything at all just means they didn’t receive it or haven’t gotten to it. And may not. It happens. A lot.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Right on Lynn. It’s easy to begin taking business for granted when you’ve been successful enough to get buried in it
Keeping your head on straight is tough sometimes but focus gets more important than ever. Success comes at a cost.
Follow me @christiantjr on Twitter.