Justin LoFranco is the founder of the Morning Chalk Up - a daily CrossFit newsletter with many, many thousands of subscribers. Justin has an extensive background in political campaign work - and was able to use his insight and know-how to deliver long-form, text-based content to CrossFitters when everything else seems to be moving in the direction of short, controversial videos.

Check out more from Justin and the Morning Chalk Up here:

• Instagram: @jaylowone//@morningchalkup
• Website: www.morningchalkup.com
• Facebook: @morningchalkup
• YouTube: @morningchalkup

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Show Notes

• [01:54] Using mountain climbing as an expression of fitness outside of the gym - and finding something enjoyable, then escalating it until it’s a challenging and difficult task to complete.
• [12:38] People say that long content is dead and that bite-sized pieces on social media are the future: "I just decided to go the opposite direction. Let's focus on on doing words right. Not driving clicks.”
• [18:17] Getting into the weeds with e-mail marketing: segmenting audiences, measuring user behavior and the degree to which the Chalk Up finds these kinds of analytics valuable
• [24:14] Who are the archetypal readers of the Chalk Up: Every day CrossFit athletes, coaches and affiliate owners, elite athletes, elite coaches, CrossFit industry, and CrossFit media - and how flipping from focusing on the elite to focusing more on the affiliate community resulted in growth.
• [33:16] Finding the right balance between the aspirational content of the CrossFit Games vs  seeing every day people accomplishing something great. “Who you think you are as a brand may not be who your customers think you are.”
• [39:33] Justin’s background in politics: in political campaigns, you need to get buy-in from every day people and you need to convince them the a candidate is the right person from the job. However, CrossFitters are already bough in. “I don’t need to convince a bunch of CrossFitters that they want to read about CrossFit”
• [49:02] The CrossFit community doesn’t have the cynicism of the political climate. Even though the Chalk Up will cover controversial topics, the goal is not to fan the flames of outrage or drive clicks.

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Pat Sherwood
• Ben Bergeron
• Jason Khalipa
• Jason Khalipa's podcast with Justin LoFranco
• Tia-Clair Toomey
• Josh Bridges
• CrossFit
• CrossFit Games
• OPEX
• Big Dawgs
• South Loop Strength & Conditioning
• Legion Strength & Conditioning
• Wodapalooza
• Sean Hannity
• Anderson Cooper
• Donald Rumsfeld on "Unknown Unknowns"
• John Kerry "Flip Flopper" advertisement