About Me
So you’re one of those people who likes to click around and read the About page?
Understandable – I kind of like to do that too…
So here’s the deal:
My name is Frane Matić.
(But a lot of people – even those close to me – just call me „Frankie“.)
I’m from Croatia and I’m an economist (or at least I have a master’s degree in it) – so I was originally supposed to end up with a career in climbing the corporate ladder…
(Or even academia – I did turn away the opportunity to stay at uni, post-graduation, and work as an assistant teacher in finance.)
NOTE: And as of November 2025, I’ve started undertaking MBA-level Accounting studies. No, it does not interfere with the work I do here – the curriculum caters to people who already work. And no, don’t ask me why I’m doing it.
So by now I wager you’re probably asking…
„Economics… finance… how the hell did you get into marketing/email marketing – for sports nutrition brands as well?!?“
Well…
I hope that the last bit is obvious:
I have been into bodybuilding for almost a decade now – I started in 2017.
(And I have also been into sports – in general – for most of my life. I like all sports. Except CrossFit. Lol no.)
So the decision of choosing what niche/industry to specialize in…
… was very obvious to me.
I have an edge – an unfair advantage – here, and it would be stupid not to play up to my strengths.
As for how I got into marketing & email marketing specifically?
Well… honestly?
For the Money.
By accident, I discovered there’s quite a lot of money to be made in marketing…
So I thought to myself: “Hey, I’d like a piece of that pie!“
But while that ended up being my initial motivation…
…it quickly faded. Because I actually started loving what I do – I enjoyed the process.
I found out that I always had some kind of an inherent attraction towards being a student of human behaviour & nature – buried somewhere deep inside.
(And what is marketing if not that?)
And I’m thankful that happened – because just money has never ever been a strong enough motivator for someone to become truly great at something…
I would never have developed “Email Storyselling“… I wouldn’t be here today… you wouldn’t be reading this right now…
Because I probably would’ve quit a couple of months in if just moolah stayed my primary driver.
But anyway:
So while I do have academic credentials behind me… alongside two internships AND a C2 level English proficiency diploma from Cambridge…
Most of my qualifications are entirely “street acquired” and glorified via self-promotion.
But credentials are boring – I wager you’re more interested in what put me here today…
More specifically:
How I discovered this huge gap, this chink in the armour, on the email marketing side of the sports nutrition industry…
How?
Well, it was during the time I spent at a marketing agency while still at university.
But if you want the soup to nuts story…
I’ll have to rewind the clock to the summer of 2023:
I was helping my parents re-paint their living room…
So naturally, we had to go buy paint cans, right?
And when we did?
We immediately remembered how much of a pain in the neck they are:
They’re heavy… hard to open… hard to close… hard to pour from… and just straight up no fun…
At one point, I turned to my dad and said:
“We’re in the 21st century, hasn’t anybody come up with something better by now?”
You see…
Paint cans have been around a long time…
So most people assumed they’re that way for a reason…
But Dutch Boy did not.
Dutch Boy, a U.S. company, realised that there really was no good reason for paint cans to still be stuck in the 19th century…
So all they did was switch the can:
They removed the screwdrivers… added a handle… resealable lid and a built-in pour spout.
Literally the exact same paint as others – just different packaging.
And they’re killing it – deservedly so.
(I went online and ordered all the paint needed to finish the living room – happily and pain-in-the-neck free.)
All of this happened because they simply went and asked themselves…
“Why not?”
And then it hit me – a light bulb appeared above my head:
Almost everything that’s done – or isn’t done – is usually just a result of fear or inertia or a historical lack of someone asking…
“Why not?”
So one day at work – while I was still at that marketing agency…
I asked myself something along the lines of:
“Why do we still do emails this way? It’s ineffective technically and, well… on a philosophical and psychological level too. I keep seeing those long-form plain-text emails killing it in the finance space. Why does nobody take the principles from there and apply them here?”
So that’s why I’ve spent over two years – every day– reverse-engineering the principles & secrets behind marketing emails that work like gangbusters in the finance space…
… and creating my own system/method so it can be used & applied in an industry where nobody is doing it:
(And I’ve labelled it: “Email Storyselling”.)
In this industry.
And when I say nobody? I mean it:
I told you that I’ve been into bodybuilding since 2017, right?
Which means I’ve had touchpoints with – at the very least – HUNDREDS of sports nutrition brands…
And NONE – none of the ones that I’ve had contact with, do anything even remotely similar to what I do.
So if someone is doing the type of Email Marketing that I do – “Email Storyselling”…
…then I sure as hell ain’t aware of it.
Anyway,
So after sinking roughly 4500 hours into this over the span of two years – while dealing with university obligations at the same time too…
…I decided it’s time to put it all into action…
And here we are today.
Satisfied your curiosity?
Good.
Because this is all you’re getting.
I am generally a very private person – you’ll notice I don’t have any social media. And yes, that includes LinkedIn.
(And honestly? I highly recommend it. My quality of life has only improved since I made this decision a couple of years ago…)
So for anything more private…
My life, hobbies, business, marketing, and more…
… you’ll have to subscribe to my daily newsletter.
Because:
A) I have no ambitions in ever being a big public figure…
B) I’m not so keen on sharing private details with total strangers who won’t even share their own name/email with me…
So if you want to do that and also get my Free Book: “Emails Without Bite: The 7 Email Marketing Blind Spots Your Sports Nutrition Brand May Be Heftily Paying For“ as a welcome gift for hopping on board…
Click this button below: