My Inbox is for MY Convenience Not Yours

Let’s go ahead and clear something up right now: If I give you my email address, it’s not an invitation to become my pen pal.

It’s not an invitation to check in on me daily. It’s not a digital permission slip to “nurture the relationship.” And it’s definitely not a green light to show up in my inbox more often than I hear from my own friends.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this: My inbox is sacred. It’s not some newsletter-friendly wasteland waiting to be flooded with discount codes, motivational one-liners, or guilt trips in subject lines like: “I noticed you didn’t open my last email…”

Yeah. I noticed you sent it. Let’s stop pretending this is normal.

Email Is the New Digital Doorstep (And Y’all Keep Tripping Over It)

Here’s how I see it: Your email address is your digital home address. It’s where you digitally “live.” And if I didn’t personally invite you over?

Don’t show up.

Would you walk into someone’s house every single day, unannounced, just to say: “Hey! Just checking in with something really important you’ll regret missing…” No? Then why is that okay with an email?

I didn’t subscribe to your newsletter so I could feel like I owe you engagement. I subscribed because in that one moment, you offered something that felt useful. That’s it.

And I sure as hell didn’t sign up to be emotionally blackmailed three times a week in a Mailchimp-powered guilt trip.

It’s Not That I Hate Newsletters…

…it’s that I hate what they’ve become.

Let me guess: you downloaded a freebie. Maybe a digital checklist. Maybe a template. You gave your email address because you were curious, not committed.

And now? You’re in the inbox Hunger Games.

Everyone trying to out-clever each other. Everyone sending “Just one more quick thing!” Everyone believing they’re entitled to your attention because you happened to click “subscribe” once, half-awake at 2:00 a.m.

Somewhere along the way, marketers convinced each other that access = ownership.

But I don’t belong to your list. And you don’t belong in my inbox like you pay rent there.

Let’s Be Real — Email Marketing Isn’t About Connection

It’s about conversion.

The digital world wants to romanticize it as “the most intimate form of online communication.”

Let me translate: “It’s the easiest way to sell to you directly without paying for ads.”

That’s it.

You think I don’t know that you’re writing me daily because there’s a sponsorship embedded in your ‘recommendations’? You think I don’t know you’re hoping your open rates look good for your next Substack brag post?

C’mon. I wasn’t born yesterday. I unsubscribed from three people while writing this post.

I Don’t Want to Write Emails Either

Let’s talk about that part for a second. Because this isn’t just about me not wanting to receive email. It’s about me not wanting to write the damn things either.

Email newsletters are exhausting. Not because I can’t write (clearly, I can), but because I have zero interest in faking sincerity once a week in a tidy format with the perfect blend of personal story + value nugget + CTA.

I’m not here to fake a friendship so you’ll maybe buy something from me later. If you want to read what I write? It’s on the blog.
If you want more of that? Great — go there. Bookmark it like it’s 2003. No login required.

So, Will I Ever Ask for Your Email Address?

No.

I don’t want your email address. I don’t want to “build a list.”

I don’t want to build a funnel, warm up cold leads, or create a sense of urgency that doesn’t actually exist.

I want to write things that matter. I want to publish them, walk away, and know that if you resonated — you’ll be back.

And if you don’t come back? No worries. I’ll still be here writing for the people who do.

TL;DR?

My inbox is for my convenience. Not yours.
Your newsletter doesn’t get a key.
Your welcome sequence doesn’t get a pass.
Your “quick check-in” is just digital loitering.

You want my attention?

Earn it with your work, not your frequency. Say something that matters. Then shut up and let it breathe.