Tag: authority
Your Red Thread & Building Authority (Part 2)
Your Red Thread & Building Authority (Part 2)
Transcript
Excellent.
In the last session, just as we all file back in, if you don’t have to be off camera,
please come on camera we can see your lovely face.
Katie said I would love a session on setting up an agency for the record. Anyone else. That’s pretty awesome.
I anybody who’s been in ten XFC or past masterminds with me knows I get very frustrated when people are like, no.
No agency, and I’m like, there’s so much opportunity. It’s making me crazy.
So it’s good.
Yeah. So we can definitely talk about that. Well, like, definitely in the new year. So, Jessica, for you, I know you have homework around agency thinking.
Just have some questions ready to go in the new year. And then when we see, you know, that stacking up, we can just book something, somewhat randomly pop. Possibly in January.
But Sarah is here. And if Sarah, if you can make a note of that to follow-up. Noted. Thank you very much.
That’s what the check mark was for. There’s no no. No. Oh. Loading. Oh, shoot. There’s a check mark.
Did you put that in chat?
Yeah. Ah, there’s a check mark. Okay. I didn’t see it. My bad.
Alright, here we are. We are talking about what you are planning to do. In Q1, just calendar year, Q1. I don’t know what your fiscal year is, but, that is January, February, March. How are you going to be acting on your authority building plan the page, what have you decided to do? I would love a volunteer, just a reminder that A lot of the things that you might take and apply to your own plan are that phrase caught not taught, right? So you might pick up on things to do on your own plan by watching us talk through someone else’s plan.
So please do paid this as a moment to take your notes, and apply to the session to, your own, sheet.
Who would like to volunteer instead of being called on by me, which is the alternative if there are no volunteers?
Jessica, do you want to? I saw a random flipping of the hand, and I’ll take that as a I don’t mind. You’ve torn me apart before Joe. It’s I’m open to your feedback. Okay.
Let’s see what you’ve got. K. Now remember, I’ve been sick for the few days. So this is the result of my illness.
So just share my screen. Yes, please. Okay. Yeah. Because I can tell you this is not the detail I would normally need to, but sorry.
Okay. Alright. So we have I will own e commerce sales strategist.
Do you see updating that based on what we just talked about last time?
In the last session just now? Yeah. I think that it would I would just change it to that seasonal sales, probably.
Since, yeah, it sounded like everybody had a resounding the seasonal sales could lead you to, being the Bernee Brown of yeah. So, yes, I would.
Why wouldn’t you say I will own, quote, unquote, be the Bernee Brown of e commerce by January twenty twenty six? That’s a real question. There’s it sounds like an assumption, but it’s not.
Mostly it’s just a self confidence issue.
Like, I I listened to you when you said put in the idea of seeing that in a LinkedIn profile.
It’s bold and I yeah.
But then I have something to live up to. So, yes, I could say that.
I think that you will say that. That’s what I recommend that you do. Just put it in there.
And then now you have a bigger objective, which I find always better. The ten x is easier than two x idea.
By January twenty twenty six, okay, so that Jeff can retire from the hardcore labor that he does. Okay.
My target of e commerce CEO is head of growth in CMOs. We’ll see my name two times a week, every week because the following efforts.
You have you are doing a lot Yeah. For the same things across all quarters.
Your book, seasonal sales psychology, but you don’t have a talk associated with that. You’re going to have one, but there’s no note there. So the book is Seasonalsales Psychology and you want to be in first draft writing by March. Is that accurate?
No. I think with the book, it was so the beginning of January would be come up with the book concept. A rough draft of it and then outline it but no, I think by March, I’d still I guess I was hoping that in March, I’d be gathering the research the data and start potentially drafting in q two.
Okay. So if you like any of the questions, etcetera, look to me, like, you were getting into the first draft, but you’re saying that’s, like, the more complete version of the outline? Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking. Perfect. Okay. Cool.
You will have a bunch of content.
So you’ve got the signature offer, and then you’ll be doing How come this the newsletter is only January?
Oh gosh. Sorry. I yep. Because I over oversight. It’s an oversight. Okay. So you will do more in January, February, March.
No. So the goal with the newsletter would be at minimum. So here’s what I had to do because this I don’t know for whatever reason the check marks work for me, but then breaking it down as hard. And I had to think about how would I do all this content and make it consistent.
And so the only way I could think about it was, okay, I’m gonna do my big thing will be podcast YouTube. It’ll be a video. Video. And then I’m going to commit to recording.
I at least fifteen minute video every week and then I’m going to modify, repurpose whatever in all these other channels.
That was the only way I could think of it. Really. So that was kind of why I checked off so much and the why I put things there was because I kind of had that in my mind one video could become all sorts of things including like a weekly newsletter would be some some version of whatever I talked about in the video that week. Does that make sense?
Yes. Everything should be working together. Absolutely. I’m only slightly So I’m wondering, you have research for the book happening in February and March.
But you need the research for the book in order to write the newsletter, do the podcast, and even have a medium blog.
So that all needs to move up.
Further.
Okay.
Yeah. So yeah.
If you’re going to start. Otherwise, if the research does happen in February, then the newsletter of the podcast, and the blog can’t start until February because what are you gonna write about? You’ll need research. Yeah. So I would update that. Also, where is your note on You just told us something about this, plan that you have for the podcast on YouTube, but I don’t see it noted anywhere on here. Well, I just put just nap.
But then you have that podcast on YouTube, but where’s Then you had a whole thing you talked through, but it’s not written anywhere on here.
Oh, yeah.
Yes. I can write I didn’t am write that in. Yeah. That’s just something I know because I’ve done I I don’t know. I don’t know how I know that, but I know that strategy.
Okay. I would write it in, put it under place. So it’s super clear to you. Yeah. Even when you get a cold, you’ll always remember what is going on. Right? So that’s my measure, like, if I’m sick or tired.
Will I still be clear on what to do?
Why do you have what was your reasoning for a blog on your own domain?
Like at wright and Maine dot com or something like that. I think because I think because of the I know the it’s not I think because I had started building SEO on it and I had gotten some results from it that I thought, well, if I keep doing it and it’s only a repurpose, like, if I can you easily use AI to turn my video transcript into an SEO optimized blog post.
Why wouldn’t I post some version of it on my blog? I guess that’s why.
Okay.
But sharepoint, maybe it’s not worth the time. Well, and we’ll see because spoiler alert, the next initiative after after everybody’s done with Q1 with filling this in is then you go and you block out your calendar in full. So that’s where you’ll see, do I have time for a blog?
I would recommend pulling back on initiatives rather than adding more. How many of these are you currently doing? Do you have a newsletter right now? No.
Do you have a podcast on YouTube right now? No. Not enough of it. Have a blog on your site or None of it, Joe.
You know none of it other than the I’m listening to those everyone. Right? None of it. Like, the book.
If you have none of those things yet, suddenly starting all of those things is a recipe for disaster largely. Right? So it’s setting yourself up for failure unless something else is changing like like, well, I’ve just hired two people. Then maybe, right?
And this is for everybody. So it’s nice to want to do all the things. Then we have to focus on just the things that we can do that are the best levers to pull. So If you are looking at that now, you’ve got newsletter or podcast that appears on YouTube, medium blog and your own blog.
What would you have to get rid of two of those. What would what would go?
Oh, I well, I’d I’d keep the YouTube videos. Because it’s the main content.
And then I’d probably just start the newsletter.
Cool. So let’s just uncheck.
Blogs, both of them. Okay.
And then you can make the bold move to delete.
That content underneath those columns.
Then that leaves you with something that you might actually be able to do. Potentially. Right? And then you can focus better on those things. Keeping in mind.
Lenny’s newsletter, a few people in Europe talked about it already. Lenny doesn’t have a blog, Lenny has a newsletter, Lenny has a podcast as well. Those are the two things. Lenny doesn’t even have a book. So you don’t have to do everything you just have to do one or two things consistently and like have your point of view, do them really well, keep showing up and doing them.
So yeah, that’s for everybody.
Figure out what that talk is going to be. And does it have to happen in q one? Do you have to start thinking through this in q one? What conference season?
And this is where you’re thinking through for everybody, when you’re thinking through, where do I want to speak on stage? Then you need to go and look at when those events happen. So if you’re like, I want to speak at, social media marketing world or whatever it’s called, well, that happens in February. So Let’s scrap that.
You can work on that on pitching them or getting in front of them in some way. Next fall. They’re gonna be thinking of their speaker lineup.
So think through where you want to talk, and we’ll think through more of this stuff as we go. Don’t worry. It’s not like, oh my gosh, there’s so much to do now, but we’re at the point where we’re starting to put the basic roadmap together. Like, and then we’ll work out some kinks in that. But with that, if you are not planning on doing talks in Q two, or even Q three, like the beginning of it.
Then don’t worry about that as something to work on right now. You can instead move those along to q two and three. So right now you have, I see under column under row twelve, pitch and execute this, seasonal sales offer and, etcetera, etcetera, just cut those paste them in Q2 or Q3. Then you know you have it, but it’s not puttering up. Oh, shit, I have so much to do.
Okay?
You’ve also got under book all of your outline stuff. So maybe put that under book outline instead of under book, and, then you don’t have to worry about the writing of it either. It doesn’t look like I have a job project to do in q one.
And then the product high service, cool, figuring out YouTube, LinkedIn, email list, What’s your thought on the email list? So you have outside of the newsletter, you wanna an email list, you don’t have a core lead magnet under the first block.
So what are you what’s your plan? What’s your future use of the email list?
Well, sorry. So The only reason I checked that after I had attended Purna’s product packages, productized services, and I’m still kind of thinking through this whole package productized service of the seasonal sale and when Printer was talking about she was talking about you know selling your pack just through email. And I was like, oh, that’s a really good point. If I have the newsletter, that’s not really, you know, I’ll need I’ll need automations and sale a sequence around selling that package. So that was that was honestly that was why I checked it at that point. I was like, oh yeah, I need to think about that later.
You’re right. There needs to be other things before we probably even get there. Yeah. Potentially.
Right? So, there’s lots of good ideas. And you have to rank Burna’s package idea, where does it fit? And it might, but is it gonna be a Q1 initiative for you?
I would move email list out. I would cut it, move it down to q two or q three.
Yeah. And then you’ve got guesting on podcasts.
So next to those ones all down in this third block, where it says guesting sponsoring, use the notes column, that big merge, those merge fields right next to it, to tell yourself what it is, and then to tell us too. So, are you are you guessing on podcasts which ones are they, or are you planning on sponsoring them? Because maybe you have more money than you have time.
And so think through that and then put a note there. So you’ve got research, e commerce podcasts, and then pitch them.
Pitch assets to those podcasts? Well, so, yeah, I don’t have, like, the, you know, a lot of times, like, the media kit and all the info that I’ve I know they ask for. So I just put that in as a I need to make sure I have all of the stuff for pitching them.
So you’d have to create unique assets for these podcasts.
Well Is that accurate? Yeah. I mean, I need something. Yeah. If they’re asking for my, you know, my, all the imagery or the info about me, like, all that stuff. I have not put together hack with all that stuff. Oh, so, like, your headshot and your files and, like, links.
Yeah.
But I haven’t done a lot of pitching. So this was literally again. No. That’s okay. It just feels like it’s so it’s like a like, a five minute job.
So I don’t think it belongs on your sheet. Okay. Yeah. It’s just that once you actually do it, and I think it’s a fair thing to talk about. Like, It doesn’t it’s it’ll be.
Jessica Noel is, and then you’ve written it because you can edit it later and just throw your headshot in there.
Call it a press kit, and it’s it’s done. So but it’s good that you have it. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just a little low level for this.
It’d be a nice thing to check off your to do list. It would happen really fast, and you’d be like, cool. I’ve got one done. So that could be a good reason to put it on you if everything feels too big.
But make sure you list out what podcast you want to be on. Put that under the notes field right next to it. Same seeds for YouTube and delivering your core webinar. Cool that you have those noted under begin in other queues.
Just put those over in. Leave these columns blank because this is the more you have in here, the harder it is on your brain. In my experience at least. Okay.
Any additional notes or thoughts or Jessica on q one efforts and efforts overall?
Have some feedback.
I need SOPs so bad. So please. I’ll repeat that chain. It’s, so I’m a bit of a project geek. So I I everyone looks at project management a different bit differently.
How I look at this is there’s, you have your quarters, but there’s actually twelve weeks. So the way I I’ll just tell you how I would approach it each is deliverable. So the book is a is a deliverable.
I would take that book and break it down over twelve weeks and then put the many deliverables within that and focus on Joanna says, like, focus on the twenty percent of the book that’s gonna achieve eighty percent of the result. Right? There’s little things that you’ll you’ll pick up as you you go to publish. Like, you’re not gonna be able to think of everything.
Like, focus on in each week. One would be I’ll share something after as well, like, finish chapter two or finish draft of chapter three. Like, very be very specific and the exact outcome that you wanna accomplish during that time. And another trick is to also make sure that it’s a noun, like, just to anything you put in there as long as it’s a noun, then you can pretty much rest assured that it’s it’s deliverable.
Right? And then when you get into creating tasks and stuff, then ask then add your verb, But be very careful. Like, a book is is a big project. Like, it’s a I’m I’m working on a book now.
But it I you may find it helpful to just to do that, like, take the book, break it down into twelve weeks, then figure, okay, what are you gonna use to, promote that book? Okay. You’re gonna have your podcast. So then how can you connect the two. Okay. You’re gonna need this to do this and then fit that into the twelve weeks somehow, like thinking blocks like that. That’s what I do.
A good tool that uses a, not a mind map. A, yeah, I think it’s a mind. No work breakdown structure. You know, they start at the top.
And then they go down and just use nouns and you should be you should be good to go. I’ll share mine how I did it, and it may help. Oh, it’d be great. Thank you.
Yeah.
Others, you’ve gone through this yourself. Yeah.
Chris? I have a question for Jessica.
Since I thought about it as well, and I came to a decision for mine, but how are you dealing with the newsletter and email list. Do you have two separate ones? So the substack ones and your websites one? Or what?
My plan was to do, yeah, I was gonna do like a subs sub stack and then my, own, my own site website. Yeah.
List. Yeah. Which I need to which I just completely am starting from zero because like I said, I stepped away for about a year and a half. So those that all had to be cleaned. Yeah.
Have you thought I already about how are you using the websites one? So I are you gonna send, I don’t know, like, sales emails?
Or No. You don’t have a lead magnet?
No. No. Based off of what we talked about today, I I yeah. I’m not sure. I have to think that through. I’m gonna take some time to think about that.
Good. And share?
Sure.
Well, thanks, Jessica.
That’s great. So, next steps for you and for everybody will be to start digging and first go through really clean up, what you’ve got there with an eye on, like the reality of it. Focusing only on the most important things to do. And then it’s time to start breaking it down into a way that you can act on it.
I strongly recommend using your calendar, maybe even just creating a separate calendar in Google calendars, that’s like my to do list so that it doesn’t interfere with other things. However, I do my to dos all my project management right in in my main calendar.
So I find it really useful. I find that most of the tools people try to use to manage their time They just, especially as a solopreneur, you just end up going back to your calendar. Like, it’s the single point of, like, it’s everything. It’s your, it’s your life. On the page, so go in and start blocking. And that’s where I know people struggle with theme days.
But you gotta block your time out to get those projects done. If you’re not doing it consistently, you might as well not do it at all. Because it’s just gonna be a big distraction and a waste of time.
So that’s your challenge in time for January one.
K. Can you get that done, Jessica?
Nice. Okay. Cool.
Fantastic.
K. Who wants to go next? We’re only gonna look at one more.
I don’t wanna go, but can I ask one quick question about the book? Yeah. Is that alright?
Yeah, so I have an idea for a book. I’ve I basically wanna do like, the evergreen course formula. So, like, kind of like the product launch formula, but an evergreen version.
But I I would when you said the before about getting it in airports at the top. I was like, yeah, I would quite like that.
But to do that, I I think I I I believe I need some impressive case studies, like, proof that I’ve made people millions if I’m gonna make it like this amazing book. So would you recommend I do a book now that’s kind of smaller fry, but still on day whenever green and hold out for that. Or, yeah, I’m not sure whether I should wait until I’ve got studies or just do something now? This is the the constant question is do I wait? Do you know how many how many people get their shit done by by waiting?
Like, none. Yeah. But if I if I write a book that without those case studies, it won’t be as epic as it would be if I did it later.
Like, I mean, is it just a case if I write a different book and hold out for that one? I mean, I get what you’re saying, and I hear people ask this question all the time, like, do I wait? But The time. But then you also say be patient and think long time. So But it’s all You can also yeah. And on the go ahead, Chris.
I was saying you you you can also update the book. I see a lot of authors, like, write the book and then do the updated or revised edition, right, where you can add those stuff in the case studies.
Yeah. That’s And the feedback is custom here. Right? In most cases, I have and I’ve talked about this in past, like, masterminds. Like, the number of what I would call monsters I have created is hi.
People who run with an idea when they’re not ready for it, and you’re like, whoa, pump the brakes on that. But I would start, and in your case, Abia, do know a good amount. Not a lot about you, but I’ve known you for a little bit now.
Don’t hold yourself.
Back.
There are three fears that people have rejection, which is what you’re talking about, judgment, and success.
If success is a fear for you and if rejection is a fear for you, know that those are fears.
They’re not necessary early real. Now that’s what I’ve been coached on. Those are the three fears that I’ve been coached through.
And I would say, take that to heart. You’re afraid of rejection. Is it real?
Look at all of the books that are published out there that don’t you don’t have to have fifteen studies.
You’ve got one pitch that you’re going to either pitch to, publisher or to self publishing organization like page two. These are the groups that will help you get your book out, and a traditional publisher will get it into airports. So if you wanna go the traditional publisher route, route, you have to then write, and now is the time to write your pitch letter that you would send to an agent. How can you make your book sound awesome? And that’s as far as you really have to go with it.
Is that you have done this before. So you don’t there’s two I find that there’s way too many people who say I’m not ready yet, I’m not ready yet, and then they watch as people who are less ready than they are go flying past them.
That’s me saying that has created monsters before who then slam into a wall when they go running by and it’s like, holy shit, I wasn’t ready for this at all, and like they slam into a wall or they fall off a cliff. That’s a possibility.
It is, but that’s the risk we take as entrepreneurs too that I might fly into a wall or fall off a cliff.
Very rarely does it actually happen, though, especially if you’re conscientious with the way that you’re going about it and even asking the question proves that you are conscientious about this. So I would say Go with the big idea first, go with the big dream first, and then let actual rejection.
Stop you or hold you back or bring you back to a point. And I don’t mean one point of rejection. I mean Holy shit. I’ve been pitching this It’s my six hundred pitch, and I’m still getting rejected. It’s probably time to rethink this, not the first one. Don’t let the fear of rejection.
Stop you. Let someone actually reject you. Then, then you can actually work with that. Does that make sense?
Yeah. Yeah. That’s helpful. Thank you. I know it’s scary. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it.
People it’s not scary for it, and they’re doing it.
Yeah.
The fears. The three fears. Alright. Anybody else have a question or something that they wanna share with Abby even?
No.
Cool.
Randall says, so if you are thinking traditional publisher, should we be identifying perspective agents now and quoting them on social media. Potentially, a lot of them have newsletters as well that are really, really useful.
So like go one sub stack and just look for, literary agents, yeah, if you wanna go traditional.
Yeah. And there’s a lot of information out there, out there about going traditional versus not.
April Denver is self published.
Both times. So you don’t you don’t need to go traditional at all. Nobody expects it anymore, but if you wanna be in an airport, Maybe. Maybe.
Okay.
Are we ready? Yeah. Self publishing. Pay two is like sixty grand, I think, to have them help you publish, but that’s a lot of hand holding along the way.
Page two, everybody there comes from a traditional publishing background. So you’re getting all of the benefits, without having to wait two years to publish. And have earned seven percent of this. This way, you earn a hundred percent, and I don’t think you should go into this.
To make money off your book, but it’s an important consideration. When you think of how many books you might actually sell, because you’re gonna be the one doing all the promotional work anyway, whether you go traditional or self publishing, it’s your platform that’s going to sell it. So there’s a lot to be said for self publishing.
Cool.
Who wants to share?
Monique.
Can I ask this is so curious? I have spent some time on this notion of how to publish, and I’m I’m guessing there’s some curiosity around it. So I looked at page two They have a case study where there’s actually an author who gives their article about like their whole process. So it’s really worth, I think, a read to anybody who’s interested.
Nice. Just page page two alone has an interesting resource.
The self publishing route though, can you describe that? Like, I’ve heard a little bit about it. And the idea that you’re just doing it through Kindle and you’re kinda getting it out there, is there a version between page two and self publishing that is a bit of guardrails, you know, to get you and and maybe there’s somebody out there who’s offering a workshop or a course on it.
I’m smiling at Jessica.
So Jessica has we have I worked for copy hackers on contract for a year getting our Rich rider series out the door.
Abbie Ghost wrote most of those, like, two of the three books as well.
So there’s definitely talent in the room that can walk through, like, how to self publish without going the page two route. Those for me when I asked them to work on these projects for us. Those were Lead magnet books, just using Amazon as a search engine, really. So, that was the idea there, like a better qualified searcher finding us on Amazon.
It wasn’t authority building.
It was a different initiative there. But Jessica or and or Abby, do you wanna share anything with Monique, or is this like a separate conversation we might need to have? I think we should. I think it’s a really great conversation.
I would be when I’m sorry. I forgot who was king. I apologize, but whoever was talking about traditional publishing, my question was why why why do you want to go traditional you’re doing all the work. And I don’t know.
So, I definitely think it’s worth a workshop. I know, Abby, you’re has tons of ideas about how to if you wanna talk to somebody about getting a book written, Abby’s your girl. And she she doesn’t I’m so excited, by the way, can I just say, heck? Yeah.
I feel like this is the unlock I need. And I’d even love to dangle this idea about as you’re writing a book, do you release a chapter as a lead magnet? Like, is there that push on some aspects of using chapters as they get written as material. And I just I’d love to throw it out there because it feels so big.
Like, kinda feels like this thing that’s bigger than than it should be, but if it’s broken down and used and played with in different ways, in a in a way that’s a process, it would really change my my calendar that I haven’t quite nailed down just so you know.
I think it’s just works up, Joe, in my opinion. Yeah. We could we should definitely talk about it as we get into the new year for sure.
Because there’s a lot to be said there. Right. Yeah. Everything’s content, release it, release chapters if you want to, release it over time. But but strategically, right? Like, so you’re not just putting your important chapter out to crickets.
So what can you do to really push and make the most of one or more released chapters.
Also, this fear of how big your book has to be, if you go traditional, they make you write an eighty thousand words book, and that’s just it. Eighty thousand words doesn’t matter unless you are seth godin. And, like, otherwise, you’re writing eighty thousand words and good luck getting them to sixty to eighty and good luck getting them to say anything to a thirty thousand word book, which is, again, what, April. April and I have a separate thing that we do together, which is why I talk about her quite a bit and her book publishing and her workshops so, yeah, that’s thirty thousand words for obviously awesome, self published, made thirty thousand words because you can read it in the average four hour flight, which is what her audience does.
So you don’t need a massive book, you don’t need to follow all the old rules, either. Like, traditional publishers, they’re called traditional for a reason. Like, it’s not a flattering word.
You can do a lot on your own. But yeah, let’s let’s talk about those. I did chat out also Tim Gral, who has worked with a lot of traditional, traditionally published authors like Daniel Pink to get them on the best seller list, follow him it’s absolutely worth everything.
Just one insight. One insight is that one unlocked. Right? Stacey?
I just wanted to say there’s someone I know from a a a member group of consultants that I’m in who does that thing, you know, the cut she’s got a traditional publishing background, and she does the sixty to seventy five thousand dollar you know, package to help people do their book. But she also she has a a a newer service that’s, I think, in the maybe fifteen hundred dollar range, where she kind of gets you all teed up. So you get kind of the benefit of all the goodness of her background and knowledge, and and a map of a of, you know, the the game plan for you to do. I think that I’m gonna do that for my, my next book, but she’s somebody, you know, she may be willing to, you know, do a visit in talk to us or something like that.
If there’s a if there’s enough interest, I’d be happy to, check into that or whatever. Yeah. That’s cool. I think that’s a it sounds like it’s an in between option that’s, you know, giving you the benefit of her expertise, but without the, without the high price tag of the, you know, do it for you route.
Yeah. I’m also curious what the people who, yourself, included Stacy, people who are using AI to help generate ideas and, like, find gaps and ways in, would say about, like, just the getting started too, not the not the help with writing necessarily, but, thank you. I’d I’d be happy to to share information about that at some point in this session if you want to. I did a challenge, maybe, I don’t know, three years ago, to write a book in seven days with AI, and then I did.
Brode and published a book on Amazon in seven days.
Not much of a book. It’s kind of a bar book, but it’s but it but I did it. So Yeah. Yeah.
I know, like, writing the book is a different thing and not recommended for AI, but, like, the starting stuff. Totally. Cool. Okay.
Awesome. So we’ve only got ten minutes left.
Who would like to quickly share their sheet.
What they’ve got? Right. Thanks, Christopher.
Right. Sharing.
Can you see my screen? Mhmm.
Oh. Okay.
I will own message market for a B2B SaaS by end of twenty twenty five, so I can make, two hundred thousand with thirty k of it and passive. So hundred and seventy in services and thirty k in, okay, product course sales and pay for my living expenses course sales while setting myself up to reach one million per year by twenty twenty six. My target of market managers, heads of growth, product marketing and founders will see my name. Two times a week every week because Yeah. Actually, one thing wrong here is that the two two hundred k is actually by end of twenty twenty four. But I will own message market fit by end of twenty twenty five.
Change it. Yeah. That’s because I don’t think I can own it by end of twenty twenty four, but I can reach to another k. I think you own it now. Sorry. What’s the, yeah, like is it I I am so curious about deadlines.
I I like a realistic anything. I like real.
But at the same time, like, there’s also the why not now question? Like, why not? Like, I saw that you had posted that someone said did you invent the term message market fit or something like that?
Yeah. I don’t know. So there’s, like, a signal.
I see some people using it in d to c.
Few maybe fewer in b to b, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that I still haven’t haven’t got, like, a clear idea of how to structure my processes, and it’s something that I’m gonna work on, like, the beginning of the year. I don’t know, maybe as I started working on it, then I see, like, a clear value prop that I can offer.
Maybe I get more confident.
Right now, maybe I don’t feel as confident, but maybe just a temporary thing.
Yeah. Confidence is weird that way. You will build the train and the tracks at the same time. In business. So you are building your authority while also coming up with your authority in a lot of cases. Like, what’s your IP?
And, you have to own it immediately, which is tricky, but just know that it’s not unnatural. It’s what everybody does unless you’re in academia, in which case, oh lord.
Okay. So we have the marketing manager’s heads of growth product marketers and founders. It’s a lot of people.
They are. Let’s see where you think they are.
Can you scroll down so we can see more, just to the bottom section, the very bottom one?
Oh, you have okay. So you wanna get in front of these people. I don’t see anywhere on your sheet.
Where those people are.
I mean, I’m using I think they mostly are LinkedIn and Twitter.
But I added Instagram and YouTube just because I’m doing the podcast as the starting thing for all my content. Basically, So podcast, then I’m gonna repurpose us to YouTube videos, and then I’m gonna repurpose all of the content on LinkedIn and Twitter mostly. Which I think we can swear those people are mostly LinkedIn and Twitter as well. Maybe second to Harry.
Where do you have a list of where those people are?
Well, what do you mean a list? Like a social list? Or just Yeah. Like, what does your what does the head of growth at intercom.
Where do they consume content that’s tied to master market fit? Yeah. I’m seeing most of the on LinkedIn.
Definitely. LinkedIn and newsletters of other people in b two b. Okay. So newsletters of other people. Yeah.
How do you know?
How do you know they’re on LinkedIn or the reading other newsletters?
Just been even just in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing outreach for the podcast, so I have nine people booked. And I’ve been looking at a lot a lot of posts. I see a lot of, Yeah. I’ve been basically filtering LinkedIn for these roles, and I’ve been reaching out and seeing them comment on other people’s posts.
Yeah. Okay. Cool. So these are people that you want to hire you Yeah. Who are on LinkedIn.
Yeah. Exactly. Cool. When it comes to newsletters, what newsletters are they reading?
Yeah. So probably stuff Lennie’s newsletter.
April done for his positioning newsletter.
I follow this other one. It’s called growth waves, even though it’s a bit more d to c.
But there are a couple of newsletters, mostly on sub stack, beehive, yes. Some people have their own, unconvert kit.
Can’t can’t come up with the names now. But I’m seeing some of them.
Okay. It sounds really gassy. And, like, that’s sort of the stage we’re in, but This is also something that everybody needs to be thinking through. There’s no point in just randomly doing stuff.
Right? So if your objective here is to get in front of let’s narrow it down to heads of growth at B2B SaaS. So if they’re ahead of growth, I would also indicate in your before you say B2B SaaS, like, or or along with that, how big they are? Are they a hundred million a year?
Are they ten a year? Are they early stage or series B? Where are they? Put it in there because that will dictate where you go.
And with that, if their heads are gross, there are Slack communities that have that are filled with women’s CROs, special Slack groups just for them. With three hundred women’s CROs in there, just sharing with each other how they do things. So I want you to think more about where your prospect really is. I’m saying this to you, Christopher, but that’s for everybody.
Mhmm.
Randomly putting stuff out there.
It’s hard. It’s a hard play. It’s it’s time consuming it’s exhausting when it doesn’t work.
So So you so you would have slack in under, like, under these. Right? And that’s just a great time. That’s an example.
This is the part where you go, oh, I didn’t know they were on Slack. I wonder where else they are. And then you go make a list. Of all the places they are.
I chatted out. You sparktoro.
That’ll help you find people who are influencing your audience. It’s what? Forty nine dollars a month to find out where your people are at so you can go pitch them.
So, yeah, there’s communities galore when it comes to SAS. There are private communities, goal. It’s something that it’s something that I can also ask sneakily in my podcast, like, at the end, I’m I’m just gonna ask, tell tell our audience where do you like to go to for some content to read stuff. Totally.
Yeah. Because Lenny’s newsletter, you can’t pitch. You can’t get there. He invites a very select group of people in.
So but who’d where does Lenny go? Who who does Lenny like watch? These are the kinds of things that you need to go out and do. And then he needs, of course, ignore Lenny because he’s like, possibly because it’s so difficult, to get on there. There’s other ways to grow your authority. So we have to choose really good one. And I know you didn’t say Lenny’s newsletter, but it’s an example that comes a lot up a lot in B2B SaaS and in tech in general.
So that’s homework for you. Where are your people at? Where are the people who influence your people at? How do you get into that network?
And faster.
If you you can own message market fit, you can own it faster.
And then you really need to be clear on, I think, what might clutter things up a bit for you is you’ve got, you want to do course sales while also doing services.
I don’t know what percentage is what when it comes to your one million a year for twenty twenty six? Is it still gonna be? Course sales are like is that fifteen percent of your total income, twelve percent, something like that, or are you ramping up more at time in which case you need to work on growing your email list now. You need to work on mastering Instagram so that you can use many chat and other tools to sell on Instagram and DMs and things.
Right? So this is the kind of stuff to start thinking through. And just like I said, this is different feedback than what I gave Jessica By the way, we were focusing on something else for Jessica. We’re focusing on something else for you.
Everybody in the room has to focus on all of these things and more.
But you’ve got a lot loaded up in q one just like Jessica did. So don’t because you don’t have any of these things. You’ve got your podcast. Right? That’s good. You’re working on that. That’s great.
But all the other stuff glad that you have your book, etcetera, down in q two and three. Your book outline though, unless do you plan on writing a book, Chris?
Yeah. It’s something I I right now, maybe not, but also maybe because I’m a bit still unclear on Like the whole plan.
Yeah. Choose.
You have to decide. Is it happening in twenty twenty four or not? And it’s la you’re allowed to say no. But then you have to have something else that you work on as hard as you would work on a book.
Yeah. Probably, then I would say right now, if I had to say now, I will probably say no to the book in twenty twenty four. Good. Then uncheck it right now.
Boom.
Oh, maybe the talk, the talk, maybe not even the talk.
Okay. Stuff already. So uncheck those next to them so that they’re no longer Yeah. Extraction.
Yes. Cool. So then we have your newsletter and your podcast sound like the big swings for content you are making, then you’ll have content that you are creating with other people, which you have down below. So get really clear on what authority you’re borrowing, like whose authority you’re borrowing, and the only way to know that is to go do some research.
Yeah. I hear you right here. Basically, I’m gonna do the research in January, basically.
Yeah.
I mean, Yeah. To me, that seems like a really minor thing. Like, you could get a VA to go research this for you. And, like, here’s twenty five dollars.
Like, my that’s it. It’s done. Right? So, be careful what you’re spending your time on.
Yeah. I mean, I I also added here, like, research just because I know this is gonna be quite a light activity.
Just because I have a lot of other stuff that I’m doing. There’s a lot. Your your first month is a lot of thinking.
So making lists, doing research, defining a value prop, adapting a process brainstorming.
There’s a lot of thinking there, and you’re you’re not gonna feel like you’re making a lot of progress. So just like go in and just like Shane was saying put nouns in place if that helps you better express to yourself that you’re going to be working on a thing, because there’s just there’s too much thinking there.
For somebody who’s the only doer in their organization.
Yeah. Actually, something that I mess up. It’s which is the podcast I’ve already booked. I know, like, eight episodes for for January. So this needs to be updated.
What’s the value for the podcast? Like, why do people listen to your podcast?
Let me let me look it up. Where do we have it?
Here, I have a document. Is it interview style?
Yes. Interview with, basically, marketers, founders, product marketing people.
I ask a question, Joanna, while you’re I love what you were saying about finding them in communities.
And this is one of the things that I’ve been noticing.
Like, Saster community, I offer it. It’s, with Jason Lemnick. He I’m kidding. It’s amazing, but I’ve never felt the ability to, like, reach out or to showcase Yeah. Experience or insights. So I don’t know if there’s a POV at some point on that.
You know, once you get in and or how you get and then not burning yourself in that moment where you’re, like, trying to find your people slowly, but quickly enough that you’re kinda creating opportunity. So Yeah. I mean, I think a good thing about a Slack community when you get invited into it. So make sure you’re in there for the right reasons.
It’s it’s the like new forum where in the past you could be part of a forum or like a more public online community and get a lot more out of it.
This way you’re just in there sharing value with other people, and then they hire you. And that’s like or and then they say like, wow, you know that. How did you know that? Can you teach our group about this? Can you run this?
So One, it’s, yeah, getting allowed into these groups, but there are so many of them. There’s so many of them. West has product led growth as a free Slack community.
And they’re not all good. Don’t get me wrong, but some are a really great place. To spend your time and add value, and then it comes back afterward. Yeah.
So just There’s lots. Dan, Dan Martel has another one. Like, there’s lots out there. Just again, if you don’t want to do the research, hire a VA to look up where these where these are.
And that’s their job. Yeah. I love it. Cool. Yay.
Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. So what did you wanna show us here, Chris? Just to see my screen here. Yep.
Okay. Yeah. So the podcast, by by position. So, basically, interviewing b2B as founders, operators in marketing, growth, and product, we dive into deep into their messaging strategies from how to do research, implement and test their copy, The goal is to help B2B pros understand their customers and turn their knowledge, plus their own expertise into powerful high converting copy that resonates.
Yeah, and basically I’m gonna do this. This is this interview segment that I’m doing to start.
Combination of interviews and casual chats with b to b as leaders discussing their company’s messaging strategy approach to research and copy writing, I see peak creation internal alignment on voice positioning anymore.
So this is kind of the idea for now.
This is the document that I’ve been sending people, like, super rough just to to book these interviews.
Mhmm. Anybody have any notes for Chris?
And probably, I definitely need a clearer and more, like, personalized value proposition for sure.
I just think you need to make sure that what you’re doing is going to light you up enough that you can promote it. Really well. You’re creating a product here. That’s what it is. It’s a content product.
You need to spend a lot of time promoting it.
So just make sure it’s the podcast you would stop everything to listen to. I know that sounds like, oh, man, that’s so big. You can do it. That’s your if that’s your job, tell yourself that’s my job to make this the best freaking podcast.
What what do I love about a podcast? You to find that out, you put your headphones in and you go for a walk listening to your favorite podcast, and then you like steal all the ideas for how they run it. Right? Of them are higher production value and cost a lot of money.
So you have to figure out, are you willing to invest money in this? Are you willing to sell to thirty thousand dollar projects and spend that money on an incredible podcast production company or not. Right? You don’t have to do that, but that’s your objective is to say what product am I building here?
And how do I make it the product that when I promote it, I will love talking about it. That’s where you need to get. And if this is it, cool. Done.
Solved. And if you think, well, that’s not what I’m doing it for, I just wanna, like, get get stuff out there. Just know that there are a lot of podcasts, just like there are a lot of newsletters and a lot of blogs and a lot of YouTube channels that people put content on, but nobody shows up for. This isn’t for you, Chris.
This is for everybody.
So whatever you’re creating, make sure you have a clear value prop and it does inspire you. It does light you up. Okay?
Mhmm.
K. Let’s look at your sheet. I have my my reasons and, yeah, yeah, I see points.
Cool.
Okay.
Any other notes for Chris on this?
I guess I was just gonna say, because I I to build off of what Joe said to you about all the podcasts out there, I’ve been noticing that I kind of have gotten sick of a lot of the podcasts. I used to like when podcasts were just kind of coming out and They all take that interview style and that’s what my old podcast was like too and I I was just curious have you seen the the, YouTube channel, the hot wings, hot, whatever where they interview celebrities while eating hot wings. Have you seen that? Oh, yeah.
I think it’s all the media. Yeah. Good. Okay. So the thought I had as you were talking about it was, I was like, messaging is such an abstract thing that of people like hire a brand voice for and then they never implement and no one it’s so abstract.
And I was like, I wonder what the hot wing’s version of a messaging thing would be. Like if you had to do that same kind of a hook where it’s not just interviews, there’s some sort of unique twist on it. I don’t know. I was just curious what your podcast would be like if you had to come up with something that was a little bit out of the box and diff does that make sense?
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Because I feel like I don’t know. For me, I’m just not hooked the way I used to be in podcasts.
And I feel like it’s You have an opportunity because your topic is I think for a lot of people, so I don’t know. Hard to grasp. At least is for me. So I don’t know.
I was just was curious if I put that challenge to you of what would your hot wings version of your podcast be like. Yeah. What would you do with that? You know?
That’s great. Yeah. That’s great. Thank you. And and and it’s one thing that I’ve been thinking about as I as I’m building this thing.
I’m super curious about, like, these people learning, like, the insights from the company. So I think that’s motivating for me, but also I want to make want to make this thing kind of unique and, yeah, I’ve been thinking about some stuff. I have nothing, like, defined yet, but this is a great idea. I I will definitely keep in mind.
Yeah. Finding that hook. Exactly. Like, the interesting or funny or expected thing.
Does anybody have any ideas? Nope.
Anyway, I think it’d be really fun to play with what you can do.
Doesn’t have to be that difficult either.
Yeah. Cool. Do have an idea. And this is Chris. Like, you have, messaging market fit.
Remind me. Right? Yeah. Message market fit. Yep. Yeah. You may wanna because there’s product market fit.
There’s all those other great, you know, you may wanna I love this idea of picking a fight with one, you know, in sort of bringing people on who stand for each of them and, like, you’re kinda in a lot of ways growing each other’s opportunity to define.
Just much like I’ve I’ve kinda created value creation as an area, but like value led growth is the area that I’m ultimately wanting to grow towards and there’s customer led growth, there’s product led growth, you know, and so it’s kinda I’ve been debating. Do I you know, gently and kindly and have a, like, a fun debate about, like, what’s what happens first and why, you know, what the opinions on customer led growth versus product led growth versus value led growth is. And that’s sort of the area that I’ve been behind value propositions and value creation been really thinking about.
So find your cousins. I guess put them in a room together. It’s like that fun Yeah. Yeah. So far into, like, the stuff that I’ve been looking into, there’s definitely product market fit. So a lot of people are discussing which one two goes first.
I see a lot of people saying it should get product market it should validate product market fit.
First showing, like, draft messages, then you get the problem market fit, then you test message market fit again. It’s like a back and forth. Yeah, there’s a lot of, things that I could use.
Yeah.
You gotta win those those listeners.
Yeah. Problem solution fit. Yes, Stacy just said. Exactly. All the all of them. It’s great.
Cool.
Dig it. Chris, thank you for sharing. Thank you, guys. Thanks. Next steps for everybody. Refine what you’ve put together and, simplify it for q one. You can’t do everything in q one.
I think we also have learned, like, also don’t focus on just thinking in that time in q one or in January, make sure there’s some doing going on so that you’re making progress. It’s good to think first, but there’s gotta be something that you can start acting on, good to get those wheels in motion.
Organize this in your calendar or your your task management solution, whatever, work for you right now for managing your time, use it to put this, that you’ve just graded together, so you actually get it done. And if you feel uncertain about something or if it’s like, oh, this feels hard or you’re avoiding it for some reason, bring it to the group.
Avoidance usually means like you should just work through it because it might just be something to stop doing or to do differently.
So so bring it Monique? Yeah. You wanna share your oh, wait. In the new year, you wanna share it?
Or I I could do it now. I mean, I I loved FYI, I have a young family. So I found like some of the sessions are when I’m shuttling kids around. So I haven’t been able to maybe throw myself in the hot seat, and I have listened to all the chats and the sessions and loved everyone’s feedback. So I don’t wanna take the space now if, others are playing for, but I’d love to just put it out there to know, share what I have been thinking and get everyone’s collective thoughts on it because I know I’ve been doing a lot of slacking less talking.
What is out there right now? And then I know everybody is dropping off because we’re over time, but what is it? Just tell us the thing, and then you can, like, name it and claim it. So I have been claiming value propositions, for tech companies.
And then as I’ve worked through it, and I know there’s been some discussion around, and I forget what universe of like DMs or not is value creation has really come out of that for me in a bigger sense, but it’s more strategy than it is, a singular focus. So what I’ve been really thinking about is product led growth, as it is sort of the catch phrase du jour, I would say. But it’s around really being I always look at it if there’s vision statements, there’s mission statements, there’s brand positioning statements, and where in my world of previously, like, the value proposition is where the work of creating aha moments for what you’re solving for for the user is it’s where everything comes together from under underneath it.
Benefits and features kinda all get distilled. Like Dropbox was as we all probably know was cloud storage, but it really created this point of differentiation around syncing storage and documents across all your devices as the value prop.
So that’s the work I’m doing and I have frameworks and I have work I’ve developed That’s a little bit different than, because I am link Canvas certified as a with Ash. I’ve done that work with him. And, and see the value of it, but I’m in strategizer. I’m familiar and used it a lot, but the value prop canvas, I kinda go a little bit in a slightly different direction but not entirely off mark. So I have experience.
Sometimes it’s capturing that.
Either through IP and frameworks that I create or just leveraging tools that already exist and taking my experience of getting really hard work done of being tight on value props. It’s really hard for technical founders.
And I’ve been consulting and helping founders and they’re really struggling with their value props. And so from the technical stand standpoint, they need help.
And that is the work that I’m doing.
I would love thoughts. Is value props for tech companies enough? Like is there enough work to be done out there or is the value creation or the value led growth?
Something that feels like is some, you know, a bigger platform for me to live in and that’s in a nutshell.
Where I’m at?
I have given you my thoughts on that previously.
So I stand by my original note for you, Monique.
But yeah, I know we’re at the end of our time, and I know Stacy, do you want to comment on this, or is it something unrelated to what Monique is saying? Oh, no. I was gonna I didn’t realize we were out of time. I was gonna show my, my spreadsheet.
Oh, okay. I mean, I can stay who I have a hard stop twelve minutes, but I can stay on, for those of us that would be awesome if if I can get, like, a couple minutes, that’d be great. Sure. Absolutely.
Yeah. Anybody have any notes for Monique about value propositions for tech company value? What was the other one? Value creation for tech companies? Mhmm. Yeah.
For value led growth? May maybe the only thought that I have if you use value led growth would be probably to clarify the distinction between product led growth and value led growth because I’m not I’m not sure, like, would people understand what the difference is and Yeah. I mean, product is value as well. So what kind of value are you talking about? Specifically, maybe There may be there’s a different way of saying it or you can preface it or add something after that makes it clear.
Just the that’s the only result that I have.
Yeah. Mhmm. Good. Okay. Let’s discuss over in Slack too, Monique, but thank you for sharing it.
I still get value propositions for tech is perfect. But Okay. Yep. I think April’s built something huge on positioning, which sounds small out of the gate.
And then you’re like, oh, no. It’s massive, the need. And I think the same is true for value proposition, massive need.
Okay. Cool. Stacy, please share, and we’ll wrap up in ten.
If everybody if anybody has to go, cool beans, got it. Thank you for staying on. If you can stay, that’s great, and give some notes to Stacy and maybe take some for yourself.
And, yeah, then I’ll follow-up in Slack with next steps.
Alright. Okay. So I My thing is not necessarily to build my own authority, but to to build the authority for my my one thing is my product. So it’s establishing the the product, Sassy, as the ultimate AI sidekick for marketing professionals.
And the hot minute is my, super short, podcast where Sassy is actually the host of the podcast. And it does a little, promo. It’s, you know, be become a smarter marketer in a minute a day.
And then So I have that starting going through the cycle of the letters of the alphabet. Season one would be twenty episodes. So there’s like a is for whatever, b is for whatever. That’s what the daily episodes are. That would, start January second.
I’m not sure if five days a week is the right thing if I should do it two times a week or three times or seven or whatever. So I’d love thoughts on that.
My website I’m working on now launching that by the end of December, including an explainer video. I have a a customer story project in process as well. And then I also have, an email series that’s like an evergreen educational thing called Sassy Sharp’s Secret LanguageLab Lab that goes through one literary device and in a in every email and explains the literary device and gives examples of it. These are all things that the, the software can do, like, if you want, you know, anaphora headlines or something like that. So so there’s that. That’s a one hundred email sequence.
And then narrative campaigns are story based campaigns for each different market segment. So I have all all these different segments that use my software, fractional CMOs, copywriters, messaging strategist, brand strategist, I have different, different messaging sort of dialed in for each one of those.
And then as far as the, channels, what I wanna do is take op minute and syndicate it everywhere since it’s short form, I can can launch it as a podcast, but also put it on all the socials as well.
And then my main promotion is a dark social syndicating the podcast, and then I’m just gonna get a publicist because that’s easier, and I don’t have time to futz with all that stuff myself.
Love, getting the podcast, getting the, publicist.
Any notes? I’ve been doing a lot of talking. Who would like to share?
I would just like to say Stacy. I’m in awe of how quickly you act on everything I feel like we’re on opposite ends of a spectrum. So, yeah, just my note being, like, love the ambition of the, like, the hundred email sequence and the daily publication.
Yeah.
And also the decisiveness with which you said get a publicist.
Thank you.
Agree. I think what you are able to accomplish in a short period of time is a lesson in making action and just going with it and testing.
I think you asked a question about how often frequency podcast frequency. Yes. Yeah. I I feel like do what you’ve like, it seems like you can do things really quick and and if it’s easy for you to do it? Why not? Because once you got them created, you can probably just keep using them. Right?
So twenty six.
Once those are done I figure I can do a season, and then I can, you know, release that, and then I can probably have a little bit of a pause in between, and and re promote, you know, sort of like the way a television season does reruns.
Repromote the existing ones, on social.
But, so it’s it’s like if I do, you know, if I do four days a week, I can stretch it out for to be six and a half weeks worth of promotion. If I do five days a week, it’s gonna be, you know, five days five weeks worth. So, I I was thinking, you know, seven days a week would just be too much.
You know, I don’t I’m I’m more interested in, like, if if something is good and it only takes two minutes to listen to, would you listen to it every day, or is that too much?
What’s that NPR has every morning? They have like a five minute podcast that goes out. What’s it called? Don’t remember.
Because I don’t listen to podcast, but listen to NPR, and they always say it, and they’ve been saying, like, advertising this thing for couple years now, so I doubt it’s not working.
I do like the idea of daily.
In a season, of course. So you’re not committed to life in doing this. It’s it’s do you think seven days a week instead of just five? It I’m really making it actually daily.
I was thinking five since it’s a business podcast. I don’t know. And when do people in business list in two podcasts. So, like, that’s kind of when does it fit into their routine?
Where is it? And so if it’s like, I only listen to podcasts when I on the treadmill.
And I go on the treadmill three days a week, then we can’t plan our, like, then we have, you know, you can. Guess at what day they’re on the treadmill and when. Right. Well, and also if if the episodes are really short, they’ll probably listen to two of them back to back Oh, yeah.
You’ll just Binge. And you might wait a long time though for them to stack up. Like, most of us do with, like, series on net Flicks. Like, I won’t watch it until there are six episodes.
We’re also just gonna be annoyed. So you might wait longer. But I don’t know. It depends on how sophisticated your podcast listener is.
Do they have these routines established that you’re trying to fit into?
Two minutes sounds like because also with it being, like, syndicated on social, they could also listen to it in their instafeed or, you know, on tip talk or whatever, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Which is interesting. If I can get the same content on Instagram, Anyway, there’s, I think, something to think through there.
When do you listen to your podcasts?
I don’t listen to podcasts.
Well, I think that’s interesting. I don’t. I don’t. That that that’s why I made this so short. Like, I don’t have time to listen to people talking for an hour to get one nugget. I want just the nugget.
That’s the that’s kind of the philosophy behind this. That’s what’s funny is just so also on PR. There was a whole episode last week about, podcasts and why people listen to podcasts. And the the interviewer asked that question. Like, why do you? And someone called in and was like, I don’t because it doesn’t make sense for you to, I just read the newspaper.
And what the these these guests were all saying was, that’s why I like podcasts. They force you to sit quietly and just listen to something for a while. So the medium itself, it creates fans out of people who just want to than listen for a while. So that doesn’t mean people won’t want a two minute podcast every day, but it’s it’s worth considering, especially if you’re not somebody who listens to podcasts.
So you’re it’s like writing a book when you don’t read books. You’re probably not gonna go about it the right way without doing a bunch of research on it and then starting to read too. So probably worth doing. Listen to a bunch of podcasts, see what is cool about them, like the ones that you do like, the ones that are top rated out there.
And then if two minutes a day is still your hook, then I would think through when should a person slot this into their day is it walking into the office? When do they already have their earbuds in and they’re listening that you can then stack on top of that experience that they already have. Does that make sense? Mhmm.
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it’s such a natural fit for, like, while you’re making your coffee first thing in the morning, like, and the hot goss. I just feel like you could be, like, while you’re waiting for the Nespresso machine to heat up, yeah, you just put your airpods in and listen to this like, perfect length of time.
Yeah. It takes two minutes to brew carbon espresso.
Yeah. So maybe it’s not called the hot minute. Maybe it’s something that’s more directly tied to having to the time that you’re standing in front of the coffee machine. It forces a habit on people. I’ve already recorded a bunch of the episodes in its hot minutes. So I don’t know if I wanna go back if we do everything.
That’s fair. But I would maybe position it in your marketing around. So help people know when to listen to. Right.
Yeah. I think that, yeah, kinda giving him a hint of, like, of of of watching it. I even talk about a coffee and tea in the, in the in the little intro blur, but changes every day. So it’s like, you know, it mentions mentions hot beverages.
Oh, that’s good. Right? So there’s, like, there’s a thing there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I know we’re at the end of our time. Okay. Thank you so much. Oh, this is great.
Yeah, I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk more about it, but cool. Exciting. And I love how clean and slimmed down. It is.
That doesn’t mean everybody needs to do it that way if you’re watching the recording. It doesn’t have to look like Stacy’s. Don’t worry, but this is good.
Okay. I’m an animalist.
That’s good.
Thank you. Thanks everybody for staying on too. And, then I’ll follow-up Slack. So we’ll see you over in Slack afterward. Okay. Thanks y’all. Bye.
Transcript
Well, we’re gonna dive, like, right in. Right in. Right in. And for those who are just joining CSP, perhaps you haven’t, done, obviously, your q one goals with us, but maybe you had them yourself and have had a bit of time to reflect on what you had set forth for yourself and where things have landed, what essentially has gone according to plan, not according to plan, better than plan, kind of, what the heck just happened.
This was never part of the plan plan. But, really, this is an opportunity to to share, and I’d really encourage everyone to take some space on this on this session. Right? We could go square by square and just hear about your reflections from q one, what your takeaways are, what you’ve assimilated and digested and taken away from it, or maybe even if you need a little bit of conversation reflection to get that from the group as well.
Cool. Has everyone taken at least some moment even if it was a passing casual moment, to reflect on their q one?
Sweet.
Cool. We’ll we’ll open it up, like, right away. Like, who feels ready to go and just share about what those reflections have uncovered. And, yeah, floor is yours.
I’ll start off since I’m a newbie, and I don’t know what to expect.
But I did have a meeting last week, and one of the things I learned was that I am on track to hit last year’s revenue goal, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to double last year’s revenue goal. So I’ve got some work to do, but it’s good to know that the business is trending in the right direction since last year was my highest revenue year. And, we did have a rocky start, meaning, a lot of work to do in January for different clients, and they were doing challenges.
And the economy was economying, so some buyers were not buying in the speed that they normally did. But we finished, March strong because we had our highest, revenue month, for the month of March for one of my clients who I’m on a base pay plus commissions sched structure. And this was our first month on that structure. Actually, January and February, we were testing it, and I did not hit the revenue goals that I wanted.
And then this month hit it out the park. So I was able to apply some of the lessons learned, and now I need to multiply those results. Mhmm.
But those are the two reflections that I have just from talking to Joanne last week.
Mhmm. Amazing. So would you say that, like, the March you just had, right, if that continues if that trend line continues, does that get you towards that doubling your revenue goal?
It can. Yes. But I need to do that with probably two more clients, to really solidify it. But at least I have an idea on what it takes.
The problem is I need two more of me, to really do that because I’m tired.
I’m, like, still in my pajamas, because I’m so exhausted.
And yesterday, I was sick, and I still had to do work. So I need to figure out something else because I can’t do March over and over again and then expect to be healthy. It’s just not gonna be it’s not gonna happen.
Yeah. Do you mind, like, just since it’s your first call, just giving us, like, a little bit of an overview? Like, what’s your agenda?
Alright. So I’m Aquania Esquarnet, the one bold enough to show up on a meeting with my mom.
And and I am the creator and founder of the Purpose of Money, a platform that teaches, women how to build wealth one dollar at a time through life insurance, real estate, and investing.
However, my email marketing business is actually my secret six figure business. I started in twenty twenty, and I did it because a client who I interviewed for online magazine and I wrote blogs for asked me to write emails to launch his digital book, which became a digital course, which became his million dollar business.
And then he referred me to all his friends. So I’ve built a email marketing business with no website, no public really announcement that I do this, but referral only, which means I’m also limited to the income that people refer to me. Right?
So last year, I made a decision to do a eighty twenty. So twenty percent of my revenue, I would like to continue to come from financial coaching and life insurance and real estate investing. And I want the other eighty percent to come from email marketing because when I looked at my numbers last year, I saw that most of my revenue was from email marketing.
With that said, I don’t really have I’m I my brands as the email strategist is ghostwriter for IG influencers, mostly people of color who talk about taxes, financial literacy, taxes and financial literacy for the most part, and a couple of coaching clients. They have digital products and digital coaching programs.
And, I do storytelling based email marketing.
So the reason I joined this program specifically is because I’m not really a sell, sell, sell, email person. I like to tell a story, hook you to the story, introduce the product.
But I do have a desire to become a stronger sales copy person. And so another one of my goals is to improve my sales copy so I can get to the sale conversion faster and then, scale my business so that I don’t have to do all the writing.
Mhmm.
Amazing. Got it.
And reflecting back on, like, what went really well in March. Right? Obviously, that revenue share, that base plus percentage.
What was the thing you delivered, right, and kind of the strategy behind it?
Yeah. So the thing that I delivered well was automations.
Not just setting them up, but creating emails in advance. I am a a habitual procrastinator.
So I like to do things in real time. I get ideas on emails in real time. So sometimes it does behoove me to write them in real time because something on the news might inspire a trend that does really well. But there are some of my clients who their lives planned out way more than mine, and they could just have everything set up and go. So my life was a little easier for the set up and go automated emails, but I still have room to pivot if the automated emails weren’t working.
That happened this past weekend. We had a challenge for a client. It started on Monday, and I was eight tickets away from my goal to pass the last challenge. And the fancy HubSpot automation was not converting.
So I I knew it wasn’t the or I suspected it wasn’t the copy. I suspected it was HubSpot and the fact that it’s a new URL domain.
So I took those emails out of HubSpot, put them in our old platform MailerLite, excluded the people who already opened the email, and I made, like, fourteen sales in a day. So I realized, you know, in real time, sometimes it’s not the copy, sometimes it’s the tech, and I have to be available to pivot. But that’s what I also did well in March is I pivoted. I I set it up, but then I watched it, and I monitored, and I changed.
Mhmm.
So yeah. So that went well. What didn’t go well is some of my clients, also pivoted their strategies, and I’m kinda grateful I didn’t do all the emails because then I would have just been doing double the work. Mhmm.
I think what didn’t go well is the VA that I have that I have draft some things that I’m comfortable with her writing.
The copy was not spot on, so I ended up having to rewrite all of it. And it was surprising because she’s been with me over a year, and her quality of work used to be better.
Mhmm.
So I’m I am contemplating, finding a replacement, or at least someone who’s a dedicated writer and not just an admin support role.
Mhmm.
And so those are the biggest things that I can mention.
Very cool. So it sounds like heading into q two, the two things that you are desiring the most, right, is, like, leverage since you can’t replicate it yourself month after month. Right? Mhmm.
And that leverage, right, can come through people. It can come through systems. Right? I’m not sure if AI is applicable in your case or if you found a way to integrate it yet.
Yeah. Mhmm.
Yeah. I do use chat GPT. I pay for it. I train it, and it has helped produce faster. There’s some stuff I still say is crap and I throw it out, but, I started as a base and then I make it better.
Mhmm.
That’s the extent that I use AI. Now if there are other ways to use AI, please tell me. Because I do wanna remain relevant, and I don’t like when people read stuff and they know it’s AI. So, like, what’s that balance? How do you still look like a human writing for a human?
Mhmm. Certainly. Yeah. There’s ways to dial in the output for sure. And, obviously, that’s worth practicing and refining, right, because of what it saves you in terms of, you know, your own personal time as well as potentially hiring and then chiefing and reviewing.
Correct? Mhmm. So there’s that aspect, and then there’s the whole systems aspect, right, and all the other things you could do to create leverage. And I’m not sure if you’ve connected with Shane yet.
He’s our, coach inside CSP who is, like, the master of all things AI. Right? So I definitely encourage you to show up to his sessions and, like, just tell him how it is. Right?
Like, this is what’s going on. Right? How do I create a system for this? Or where’s what’s something I’m not yet seeing because I don’t know what I don’t know in terms of AI capabilities?
But in terms of creating leverage, it sounds like that might be one of the quicker opportunities. And then the other one, which you’ll likely encounter over and over again in CSP, is essentially refining what your signature offer is. Right? Like, really getting it down to something that’s replicable from client to client to client so that there’s less customization, less reinventing the wheel in terms of how you get clients to how your sales process is to how you deliver it. Right? If all three of these things can be fairly standardized with, like, eighty eighty percent standardization between them all, that’s gonna save you a lot of time, and you could get more efficient in all those processes. Does that make sense?
Yes. And I never thought about that.
Sweet. Cool. Well, there’s gonna be a lot to think about, and I don’t wanna overwhelm you on the first call. I’m just grateful to have you here and have you set the standard that’s showing up for PJs. It’s totally cool, and I might follow that I might follow that lead next time.
But I will get dressed. I have a webinar later, so I will get dressed. But today, I just wanna focus on the work and not the look.
Awesome. Cool. Well, thanks so much for, leading us up. Appreciate you. Cool. Who wants to step in next?
I get Caitlin, do you want to or me?
You go ahead. You spoke first. I’ll go I’ll go after.
Okay. So I just did some reflection on my q one, and I had big goals for q one, that I don’t think were realistic or sustainable.
So looking back at that, I was like, okay. Because, you know, there’s a lot of things I wanna do. Get start writing my book.
I was I had a big goals for prospecting, which I did some of it, but then I ended up selling one of my standardized offers, which was really cool.
Mhmm.
And so I got busy with that. And then I was like, oh, no. Since I have to do this, like, I’m I’m starting to see the cracks and everything, and I’m like, okay. I need to optimize some things.
Right? So I’m working with Shane, and we are gonna create some systems and optimize the offer, which is a little bit nerve wracking because, you know, Joanna was like, it needs to be able to be done in, like, five to six days, and that’s not gonna happen with what we’re creating. But Mhmm. It’s okay.
But yeah. So I did at least hit my goal for closing at least one, standardized offer. And, yeah, I don’t really have a lot to say.
Amazing. And the offer the standardized offer that you did close, is that one completed yet? Like, fully delivered?
Yes. They are setting everything up right now to test it, and I can’t wait. So that’ll be awesome.
Yeah. Very cool.
And then the one you’re kind of, like, refining right now, is that essentially It’s like the it’s a yeah.
It’s just adding on to this because right now, I’m writing advertorials and sales pages. But then we’re gonna add in the ads, the checkout page, like a nurture sequence, and then figure out, like, what metric I can map to each one of those so that we can prove that we’re increasing revenue with everything that I do.
Very cool. And, like, I know I know delivering it in five days sounds like a stretch, but, like, based on what you’ve analyzed so far, like, what is the conservative goal of, like, delivery?
Well, it depends on what I all take on. So for this project, since I really wanted a case study, and, hopefully, that’s what we get out of this, I stretched myself more than I should have, and I was like, I’ll do the design too because I have a background in design. So I did the design, and that ended up taking really, really long.
So if I were to, like, take that off the plate and have the systems built, I think that it could probably be done within, I would say, two weeks. I’m being, you know, maybe Yeah. Conservative there. But, yeah, two weeks.
But, yeah, we’ll see how it goes. Mhmm.
Amazing. Cool. And right now, you have, like, everything you need for building the systems and testing, you know, different kind of, I’m not sure if you’ve integrated AI into it. I’m sure you are if Shane’s involved.
But We haven’t got that far yet.
We’re just, like Mhmm. Kinda just seeing what we got, and then we’re gonna start building the system. So the dust hasn’t quite settled yet, but it’s going to.
Amazing. Cool. Well, keep us posted on that. And I guess, like, what is, like, the one thing in q two that would define it as a success? Like, a fully back on track like that.
I guess just having knowing that the system is ready to go and that, you know, it’s I can I can launch it because I I’m also doing my SQL? Right? Because I realized during the audit that I didn’t really have one. So I’m doing two things for q q two. So, the way that I’ll know that I’m successful for q two is to have those two systems built, the SQL funnel, and optimizing my offer and the positioning of it and then just mapping everything out for the next client.
Sweet.
So those are two big rocks, in terms of, like QL, is your sales qualified lead funnel.
Somebody asked in the chat. I just saw it pop up. But yeah. So Yep. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, I think if you know those two things, right, that could really set you up for an epic q three and q four.
But Exactly.
Did you feel like you need and want to attach a revenue goal to this quarter, or is it really about playing more the mid curve in?
Right now, it’s just the system that I want built.
Then after I see how that’s functioning, then I can Yep. More accurately attach that goal to it. Awesome. Yeah.
Very cool. Is there, like, one thing you’d want any of us to hold you accountable to this quarter, like, on any kind of check-in or just make sure you’re on track?
Just that I get those two things done, I guess. I mean, that’s yeah. That’s my goal.
Awesome. Yep. Thanks, Cody.
And we got Katie who is enduring the ice storm in solidarity with me. I just saw your email that went out, and I’m like, it’s not just me. Someone else is enduring it.
I know. Right?
Yeah. We’ve had legit ice storms here in Quebec. And, because it’s April, right, and q two, and you don’t expect ice storms in q two, I totally ran out of, like, driveway salt to, like, de ice things, and I have, like, a big, long, slopey thing because I’m in the mountains.
But one thing I learned today is that if you don’t have salt, you can use fireplace ash, and you feel extra witchy when you use fireplace ash. So yeah. Exactly. Right? I feel witchy today. That’s my mood.
And it worked. So there we go.
Oh, gosh. You had tornadoes, Cody.
Yeah. I live in Kansas. So, it’s like in in April, we get tornadoes, and, they’re all over the place. There was, like, three or four of them in the state within, like, two hours of time.
And my daughter is terrified of tornadoes because we actually had one a couple years ago in our city, and we could see it from our porch. And I took pictures of it in video, and that was huge. You know? And ever since then, she’s been really scared of it. So now, like, it’s a big you know?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don’t blame her. Like, tornadoes are freaking scary.
Right? They are. Yeah. Yeah.
Cool. Well, I mean, hopefully, these ice storms and tornadoes and all forms of natural disasters chill out in q two. That’d be nice.
Cool.
Who’s up next?
I’ll go. Yeah.
Yeah. Hello.
And welcome, Aquania and Myrna.
I think those are our two new ones. Nice to see you.
So, q one.
So I have, like, a a course side of my business, and, you know, then I’ve got the clients. And so with my workload, I just wanted to get consistent on Instagram.
Mhmm. And I did that. And that is, like, all I needed to to do in q one. So it’s like that layer is in there.
We did also do stuff, like, built out, like, a robust testimonial, like, video testimonial, collecting system.
I used the one inside copy school.
So that felt good and just like other SOPs, SOPs and stuff are always happening over there.
So did that.
Over on the client side of things, I’m actually excited because it really was the bare minimum that I had to do. Like so the CRO stuff, like, the standardized offer and then the news retainer.
I did I wanted both of my copywriting clients, my main ones, to transition over into that, but one did. So Mhmm.
That was kind of all I wanted there.
I did want to do more market research for my standardized offer, and so I kinda need I did a little bit, but this coming quarter, I wanna do more.
So yeah. So, I mean, that that was q one. It was just getting through the workload and getting consistent on Instagram and the bare minimum for setting the foundation of starting to layer in the standardized offer.
And now I’m so happy because quarter two, one of my retainer clients, we parted ways. And that is, like, the best thing that I think could happen because now I’m like, I have space now I to build up the standardized offer, and that’s, like, my conversion rate optimization offer. Yeah. And that is what I want to sell from here on out.
So, yeah, my first q two goal is just to get my SQL up. Like, I was purposely not even working on that because it just wasn’t a focus. I just needed this, like, course stuff. So get my SQL stuff just in nine grid or something on Instagram, just some initial information.
I don’t have the bandwidth yet to create content, for that side of my business. I have a separate Instagram account for my CRO stuff. So just nine grid SQL because I have some networking stuff coming up this month.
And I’m launching my course, doing a live launch. So I wanna just keep it at that. And then if I could maybe have, like, one more baby step with my CRO stuff, like like, maybe towards the end of the quarter, find the bandwidth to also properly be, like, building an audience around that.
Okay.
And I did yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s it. I I did buy, like, a a course the other day from Latisse Hudson of, like, just setting up Facebook and Instagram ads.
So maybe if I do, like, just a really even if it’s just audience building Yep.
I like her promise of, like, just three or five dollar in ad spend a day. Mhmm.
So I think maybe playing with that, doing the beginnings of that for the course side of things for next quarter.
Yeah. That’s a superpower if you can acquire that skill. It takes so much pressure off. But I love that. I love how you’ve, obviously, like, let go of one of those retainer clients and feel amazing about it.
I definitely resonate with the relief when you let go of something that was taking up a bunch of bandwidth that isn’t the thing. Right? Isn’t the thing now. Is it isn’t the thing later, and it just liberates that energy.
So, yeah, I love that.
In full transparency, they let go me.
No.
We’re we’re we’re gonna phrase it the other way around.
Yeah. But they were, like, they were very easy to work with for, like, over a year, but they did there’s lots of stuff, like, a couple little, like, red flag things. Like, we would sell out their launch every time we live launched. Like, I made her so much money.
We just had another not I made her. I was a part in making that. But they were the type where, you know, we’d make, like, one twenty five, one fifty sales in a launch, and then they’d be like, alright. They they would just wanna randomly double it for the next launch instead of Yep.
Instead of mapping the math. And I would try to so I I they were always disappointed. And I’m like, you had a multi six figure launch, like, again, and we had to, like, stop sending the sales emails again because you sold out of your seats. So it’s all good.
So the client that I do still have, she is, like, my dream client. I am, like, fully in control of their marketing in all their back end. They trust me with everything. But yeah.
So Cool.
Yeah. Clients are gonna client. That’s, like, the one thing that has been true for the last ten years that I’ve been doing this at least.
I have I have, like, a similar case, like, a client that, like, the last launch I did for them, like, just absolutely crushed. It was one of their most successful. And, like, now it just delivered everything for the next one, and it’s, like, sabotage city. Right? It’s like, where did this come from? And it’s like, I took in a client. So Mhmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
But that’s awesome. I think, like, if I could just, like, add one thing. Like, I’ve been having so much fun just, like, testing and playing around with Instagram ads. Like, the cost per lead on that and, like, high quality leads from boosted carousels to webinars has been crazy good.
So if you can have if you can have carousels that feel like organic content Yeah.
But yet slide into, obviously, the thing thing.
Yeah. The cost per lead on that has been amazing on US based audiences.
All you’re doing is just boosting here and there, or do you also have So I’m boosting every carousel, essentially.
I haven’t been testing with boosting reels, like, one piece one style at a time.
But carousels, especially if you can master the art of the first slide having a really compelling hook while also still being hyper relevant to your audience. Right? You don’t wanna make the mistake of, like, a crazy good hook that’s going to resonate with too many people that just ain’t it. Yeah.
But if you can master that balance, yeah, I’d be so curious to see what your cost per lead is. Right? I think the the one challenge I’m seeing, right, is, like, obviously, people going from Instagram straight into, you know, another ecosystem, like, where they’re not in a buying state. They’re in, like, a dopamine scrolling state.
But if you can capture the email on that next thing, do. Right? You can also test that with, ManyChat instead. But, yeah, different ways to go about it, but definitely seeing positive indicators on the Instagram side.
And Awesome.
It so beats, like, posting four times a day to try to grow organically. So yes.
Yeah. Okay. Cool. Thanks for that. And I’m glad those are working out for you. That’s I’m happy for you. That is awesome.
Cool. So, like, what’s one thing that would really make q two, like, an epic, this worked quarter for you?
Having the SQL funnel done and starting to create content, on that side of things, just the beginning of things, Having a sec somehow without having that set up, still, like, getting a client. I I am there’s a couple cool things happening this month in person.
Mhmm.
So if I could turn a relationship there into a CRO client, that would be an epic win. And then if my launch did decently, just somewhat decently, that would be an epic win.
And yeah.
Awesome. Cool. Well, we will be following up on all of the above.
Okay. Cool.
Awesome. Thanks, Caitlin.
Thanks, Ray. About to ask questions.
Go for it. Kayla, are you up for a receiving question?
So your client who because I have this issue with one of mine, but we normally combat it with data. Right? Like, hey. Last time you did this, and so based on the leads, the conversion rate, like, the most you’re going to make is this. And then the the low goal is this, which you proved they made. Right? So are they basing their their feelings on data, or do you think they just wanted to work with someone else?
I think so. The for the first thing, like, they do claim to be doing a lot of stuff, like, in terms of data.
Mhmm.
But, they, like, kinda keep me at an arm’s length. Like, I’m so and I kinda haven’t pushed it. But with, like, their goals, I would kinda question it and be like, hey. You’re, like, you’re you’re doubling your sales goal without doubling your email list or, like, close to doubling your email list. Like, that is certainly a stretch, but they would be like, we’re confident we know, like, based on how their Facebook ads are doing, based on how x y and z. They’re like, we we’re confident we know that we can get there. And it would be like a mystery of, like, how they could get there.
But, you know, with your second question, yeah, I think there also is, like, a level of they said they wanna bring it in house. They want to be able to pivot quickly.
They said that, like, they didn’t always have and their one valid thing is I’m terrible with deadlines. Like, I will be the first one to tell people that I struggle.
And and it’s just because my workload is too big that I couldn’t let anyone go because financially, I’m like, no.
So I know that that hindered me. Like, so if anything for me to, like, review and look back on, I’m like, I know that. But I would, like, unabashedly just be like, I’m late. You’re getting it when you’re getting it. So that did kinda knit me and kick me in the butt this time. But, yeah, I I for, like, I I don’t know. Like, I don’t know if it is a performance thing or if they just wanna in house, they just wanna take over, they just think that they can do better.
I don’t know.
That’s really good, and it’s actually really helpful for me. So some I have one client who also is taking their email marketing in house, but to save money. And I couldn’t take the in house job because it was too much of a cut for me. And then the other thing that you said that, so I can definitely relate to that, and that is happening with some people.
But, yeah, I do try to focus on data, and I try to keep my own stats as much as possible.
But I understand what you’re saying, and I think you’ll be happier.
So Yeah.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.
Awesome. Who wants to jump in?
I’m happy to go.
Yeah. You’re up, Katie.
Okay. So I opened my goal setting doc and then got kind of overwhelmed with frustration, so I didn’t read the whole thing.
I think maybe, Cody, this is similar to what you said, but, like, my my key one goals were very ambitious and perhaps, you know, written from that belief that, like, I will become a new person in the new year who has different habits and and, like, a different relationship with time management.
So the goal that was accomplished was that I closed my first ever client for my signature offer.
So that’s great. That’s a huge win, especially since I have been marketing it since, like, September.
And this was the first one I feel I’m like, life habit of mine is that I always go to the biggest, most complex thing and then just keep going with that versus starting with an easy sell and then working up to the big complex thing. Mhmm.
But this is the second time I have proven that if you wait long enough, it will eventually work. So it’s not the fastest way, but it did work.
But that has obviously unlocked all these other challenges of per my goals.
Like, what I what I did read was twenty twenty five will be a success if at the end of the year, I employ five people and I’m generating four hundred k in revenue.
And that was based on I would really like to be hiring copywriters because I like strategy and marketing and sales, and I don’t really like delivery.
Like Mhmm. I just all of my really, like, excitement about the project kind of goes up in smoke, like, once the project’s closed.
Mhmm.
So in this ideal world, I’m hiring a copywriter.
Also, I’m you know, we’ve got the optimization retainer on the back end. So I’m I’ve got this one project sold, then we’re going into the optimization retainer.
I would like to hire and train and keep selling.
And yet, in the real world, never delivered this offer before. So, like, zero SOPs exist. I’m very much making like, not that I’m making up as I go along because I have been refining the framework, but I’m applying the framework for the first time.
I’m kind of figuring out, like, do these hypotheses actually Mhmm.
Work. Right.
So that I’m like, the the this this will go live mid May.
Retainer kicks in June first.
And you know what? I’m still marketing, but I also like, do I even have the bandwidth to sell another one right now?
Like, I could book a call. I mean, I’ve I’ve said that I only wanna sell one signature offer a month, so, like, they would be starting in May.
But I still don’t even know that I have the capacity on my own to be, like, you know, on calls with people, like, doing the doing the sales qualifying stuff.
So I don’t know if it’s that I need a reality check or that I need, like, some systems in place to help with that. But, yeah, I’m, like, celebrating the win while also kind of looking forward for this quarter being like, what is a realistic expectation, and how can I get that get the realistic expectation as close to my ideal as possible?
For sure. What’s the price point on your offer again?
Twenty k.
Right.
So if you did close one tomorrow at twenty k, would you be able to figure it out, like, between maybe getting like, a second one?
Yep. If you sold a second one tomorrow, like, would that excite you, and would you be able to, like, get the help you need to deliver it, or it would put you into panic mode?
It would probably put me in panic mode, but I tend to do well ish in panic mode. Like yeah. I feel like yeah. Go ahead.
So so you’ve created like, you’ve already done the work for the one you sold. Right?
Like, it’s being deployed in May No.
It’s so I did they bought the audit. I broke off the the research phase as an audit. They bought that. So that has been delivered. And now, just on Tuesday, we had the kickoff call for, like, the copy like, the actual execution and implementation. So the writing and the implementation is happening over the next four to six weeks.
Got it. Cool. So that’s gonna be your opportunity, right, to systematize it even, like, minimum viable SOPs for it. Right? Like, don’t get, like, the perfectionist mindset here and feel they need to be, like, beautifully and perfectly documented.
Okay.
But but just gauntlet thrown.
Okay.
Like I’ve seen this a lot.
But, like, simply, like totally. Like, document your process of delivery, right, from, like, what am I thinking about? What am I doing? What am I delivering? Right? And you could definitely use AI systems to turn that into a checklist. Right?
And then, right, once you’ve done that, you’ll either have some SOPs, right, to ideally maybe partner with somebody, right, who is already fairly competent. It’s probably not gonna be refined enough to take somebody who’s never in copy before, right, and have them deliver, like, up to your standard.
Or perhaps you’ll have the confidence of, like, next time I do this, perhaps I could do it in half the time, right, where your dollar per hour literally doubles. Right? And I think that’s an ideal place to get to first.
One thing I’ve noticed with standardized offers is, like, you know, the efficiency scale. Right? Like, from project to project to project. Right?
I get better. I get faster. I get more confident, and my systems get tighter. Right?
So, ideally, right, you can get to a place of confidence following this one where almost you’re like, I want to do the next one. And just like, I love the goal of seeing how much I can make per hour. Right? Like, I’m like, you know, make the sale for ten grand, fifteen grand, and, like, how many hours can I do this and then still deliver up to my standard? Right?
And I would challenge you to do that. Right? Like, calculate how many hours it takes, create the SOPs, and then, like, get excited about slashing the time to deliver the same quality in half. Right?
And see if we can I like that?
My ADHD likes the gamification of that. It’s like, normally, I hate time tracking, but I’m like, I like the idea of challenging myself to be better.
Yeah. It’s so much fun. Like, I mean, at least I geek out on it. Because this wasn’t a game that I was able to, like, play with myself, like, two years ago.
Right? Like, without AI, without a standardized offer, this game doesn’t exist. Mhmm. But with those two yeah.
Like, it is within the realm of possibility to cut delivery time in half the second time you do something, which I think is really fascinating and really cool to lean into.
So, yeah, I’d, I’d encourage you to bring some joy in that gamification if that’s how your brain kind of aligns with it.
And once you’ve done that, I’d say, like, once you’ve delivered the second one or the third one at a level of efficiency that, like, you know, gives you confidence to sell more of these things, that’s when maybe you can consider, like, getting some help. And maybe at that point, like, you’re so freaking efficient with this thing that you just feel amazing making twenty grand in five days because that’s what you could do. Right? And I don’t think anyone would really complain about making twenty grand in five days of work. So, yeah, see where that lands. But in the meantime, if, like, your funnel is, like, obviously working and up to speed, like, I’m guessing that’s where this client came from, like, from your workshop funnel?
Or no.
This came from a a direct pitch.
Okay. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Is that something that you’re gonna be replicating, like, in your marketing process?
Or Yes.
But, yeah, I have kind of gone into this. I’m, like, potentially success sabotaging mode of being like, okay. Now pull back all pull back all marketing in case somebody else reaches out and you can’t handle it. But, yeah, I do think that pitching works really well just because the offer is contingent on their existing offer suite and ecosystem.
It helps for me to hand select.
Right. Very cool. I love it. Get out of self sabotage mode. I think it’s the ice storm that’s messing with your brain.
Right? No one want like, I definitely didn’t wanna do work today. Like, I saw that and, like, I’m gonna self sabotage every opportunity I ever have because I just wanna stay in bed. But no.
You got this.
I think it’s I did work in the dark with a candle burning, and it was really cozy, so I thought I want the witchy vibe.
Because you lost power or you wanted the witchy vibe?
I just wanted the witchy vibes.
Right? Nothing wrong with that. Cool.
I think. Right.
Yeah. Congrats on that sale. I think it validates it. Your marketing works. Your sales works. And now, obviously, you’re refining delivery, and that’s gonna give you confidence through q two. So, yeah, keep us posted.
Thanks, Katie.
Alright.
Anyone else wanting to share their q one, their q two, their own version of their own witchy vibes?
Or I guess I’ll go.
Alright. You’re right.
Let’s just say that, my q one went to shit in a very quickly.
Went to shit in February. I got really, really sick. So February was lost, half of March.
So now I’m basically starting over.
But, really, it’s q two is about being consistent with the newsletter, actually creating a newsletter, and then getting my SQL funnel built up.
So really getting that authority and then the funnel going.
Cool. Which one has, like, priority for you?
Like, obviously, we’re gonna get Priority for me priority for me is gonna be the newsletter, really building that authority Mhmm.
For my standardized offer.
Yep. Sweet. What do you see as, like, the connection between the newsletter and selling your standardized offer?
Really, the newsletter is gonna be around, my standardized offer is, lead gen and sales funnels.
Mhmm.
So, it’s really kind of everything to do with funnels, emails, ads, CRO, just kind of building my authority that way.
I do have a project I’m working on right now. So, hopefully, I’ll have well, according I I did see Cody. I did see Shane’s deal the last month. Mhmm. Oh, you lucky duck you.
Yeah.
Nobody’s sure what they mean. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, oh, hey.
Let me help with that.
That’s like, yay.
But I liked his idea of you don’t need the the case studies is, like, you need to show the metrics and the ROI of what you can offer the company.
And since I don’t have any case studies right now, it’s like, oh, I like that idea. That, I could sell.
Yeah. I I thought that was very eye opening too.
Yeah.
So it’s like, okay. I don’t need to worry about a case study. I just need to get these get the newsletter consistent, get the funnel built, and then, really, when I get somebody in, you know, pitch them with the ROI calculator and show them what I can make them.
Yeah.
So that’s kind of where I’m going for q two.
Oh, so by the end of q two, we have a newsletter that is up and running. Is it a weekly newsletter?
Or biweekly.
Biweekly. So twice per week or once every two weeks?
Once every two weeks.
Is there a standard of what biweekly means, or am I right task which one it is? Because I’ve been confused my entire life.
Biweekly is you usually once every two weeks.
Okay. So what would be twice per week?
Or wait. No. Biweekly. Not weekly. Monthly. God.
Bi monthly.
Not enough coffee this morning. Sorry.
Not enough.
Alright. We gotta reload. It’s both. Right? You could anyway.
It’s both. Yeah. No. Biweekly is bullshit. Yeah. That would be way too much. Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember, like Oh, bimonthly.
So once every two weeks. So two newsletters a month.
Very cool.
So never promise a month.
Let’s just leave it.
There you go. Never promise your clients biweekly calls because they’re definitely gonna expect one and you’re gonna deliver the other.
So Yeah. So Cool.
Sweet. So we look forward to seeing newsletter established biweekly and your SQL funnel. Correct?
Yep. Yep.
Sweet. Awesome. Cool. Alright. Who has not shared yet? I’ll go. Perfect. You’re not.
Do, and separately, since I since I’m just starting all this, I had already made, kind of a a year’s plan, and I realized that that’s probably the problem.
I shouldn’t be doing a yearly plan. I should really just be doing right now now a quarterly plan. So, the quarterly plan that I put together, it just it didn’t even happen. It it’s and and I listened to all of you talk, and I wrote down a lot of notes because I was like, well, why are my goals not realistic and sustainable? Why does everything feel so overwhelming?
I think part of it is that I didn’t know what I was committing to. I wasn’t sure if the path that I’m on is even the right one. So it felt like I’m writing these goals, and I and I was still developing my vision of what I want out of all of this.
It’s kinda why I’m here. And Mhmm. But I didn’t really know, like, you know, I’m I’m I was starting to do things before I’d actually thought through things. Mhmm.
And I realized also that I do everything myself, and I don’t have enough time to execute everything. You know? I’m I’ve got a a three day a week client retainer project for the rest of the year that I am working on that does take up time.
I have this little client that I just cannot seem to just offload and get done.
I’ve got a personal I’ve got a major move happening.
So I’m like, oh my god. This is all you know, it’s all taken all of this out. But at the same time, I know, you know, it’s partly my own standard of work is too high. I do I don’t have necessarily a standardized offer system, and and that’s something we’re actually working on right now.
And and I also feel like some of it is a mindset problem. It’s my inability to focus on one thing instead of trying to do all of the things at once, which is a big panic. Right? It’s, I feel like I’m constantly on a hamster wheel and panicking about what I haven’t done versus just getting something done. Mhmm.
So if I ask myself, well, what do I wanna get done in q two?
I I think the answer is that I need to do something that revolves around systems and creating systems and not revenue goals because I’d Yep. Because I do have a revenue, you know, revenue coming in no matter what with this other client that covers what I need.
Perfect.
Yep.
So that that’s first.
You know, I think that, you know, there’s a lot of things I could be doing first. Clearly, I could be doing things like, you know, working on my visibility, my authority. I could be billing I have, like, zero email list because I usually I don’t get clients that way. Mhmm. But that’s not gonna work for what I wanna do. And so or do I focus on defining and building that standardized offer that I need to be building along with really developing this framework that I’ve been creating?
Yeah.
So yeah. Or should I be testing it on an actual real client? And I’m worried that if I test it out on a real client at this point, because it’s not really done yet, is that it will dis distract me from actually building up the system.
Mhmm. Right. Well, you touched upon, like, one thing that is, like, super relevant to everyone, and it resonates with me. Right?
That, like, capacity is always gonna be a constraint. And when I make goals, I overestimate capacity. Like, just guilty of it. Right?
For some reason, I think that my business exists outside of me as a human being with biology. Right? And, you know, doesn’t quite work that way. Right?
Like, you know, kids get sick. People get sick. Right? People get tired. Ice storms happen.
I slip on ice. Tail bones break. All these things happen.
And sometimes you just don’t wanna, and then you do wanna. Right?
So, yeah, it’s like capacity as a constraint could be a limiting factor, could be a beautiful thing. I think once you get real really honest with it, right, like, it just cuts away so many of the things that you could be doing, but it just doesn’t crack the list. Right? Like, from everything you just said, there are a few things that serve you, like, long term, right, with where you wanna go.
Right? I think, like, systems, a standardized offer is part of a system. Right? And I think if your financial needs are covered in the interim, that’s like a beautiful place to start.
Right? Like, you can create leverage from this position you’ve already earned. Right? You can leverage all the stuff you’ve already done, all the financial resource you already have and have ongoingly, and use this period to set yourself up for the next chapter of your business.
And I think that’s a great place to be, and it just begins with acknowledging capacity. Right? You just said it. Like, I have two days per week, right, to really dial this in.
Right? That’s, like, how many hours per week realistically. Right? Because I don’t know if you can hit eight hour days.
I can’t hit them, and I’m Yep.
Like No.
Not right now. I’m in that one. Yep. Now with the correct today even trying to move and all that stuff. Yeah. I’m lucky if I get four hours a day of solid work right now.
Totally. And magic can happen with four hours a day if they’re being properly applied. Right? Yeah.
So it’s like there’s so much danger in overestimating how many hours you have and then running into the reality of, like, oh, shit. I don’t have that. That’s where overwhelm comes into play. That’s where self defeat comes into play.
Right? But it’s, like, eight hours a day. How are you going to, you know, apply those to really be a pivotal turning point?
It it’s, it’s burnout. I mean, you know, I’m coming off of two years of of severe burnout with Mhmm. This client that I let go in January.
Right.
And I’ve shifted to a client that is much more appreciative, much more the work is much more strategic. It’s not just a shit ton of copy and, you know, like like, I was doing an entire launch in on in three weeks. Everything being designed, copy, and everything. And I just I was doing that for three years, and I can’t do it anymore. And Yep.
I think I’m still getting used to the idea of space Mhmm.
And what it what space does mean and and, you know, and what does it mean to be not burned out. But I think it’s also about trying to do something consistently that will restore the confidence that I have in my abilities. Because right now, I think that that client has just trashed my confidence.
Mhmm. And we were doing consistent six figure launches. It’s it’s crazy. You know? And and but we were doing, like, ten launches a year, and I can’t Mhmm. You know? I I I need to focus that energy on myself, and and that’s a really hard shift right now.
Yeah. And you’re just coming out of that. Right? You said that that stopped in January?
Yeah. Yeah. And I picked up this other client in February.
So Yeah.
Luckily, this client is just it’s it’s a totally different pace, and they wanna do things right. And it’s it’s just so different, and I’m doing different work.
Yeah.
I’m not really copywriting anything.
I’m doing, like, strategy, and I’m doing wireframes, and I’m doing, you know, helping with that kind of work. And so it isn’t the Mhmm. It’s definitely like Sherbet right now. Mhmm. All very different.
Does your system relax if you assure that it’ll never have to do that shit again and run through that? Like, does it mean when you say that?
Yeah. It’s interesting. I hadn’t really thought of it that way. But yeah. Yes. I mean, the day that I quit, I was like Yeah.
Being on air, and there was a different palatable release, I guess, that happened. Yeah.
You know?
Just yeah. It it is.
It’s it but I think my nervous system is still, like Mhmm.
It makes sense. Right? It’s been running on that for a while.
I think It’s a lot it’s a lot of PTSD from being there.
Yeah. What might be useful and, like, take it as an invitation, not as a hard recommendation. But from this place that you’re in right now, you get to set your own standards, right, for what this chapter of your business and career look like. Right? And it could be, like, three to five things that you’re available for and not available for. Right?
And just repeat them and just assure your system that, like, these standards are nonnegotiable. Right? We’re not gonna settle for this kind of dynamic where we’re on a constant creation cycle, right, without Yeah. The ability to take a breath, right, where your new standard might be working with clients who appreciate you.
Right? That’s not a standard for every copywriter. Some copywriters will just, like, do the job if that’s the job and the relations are what they are. Right?
But, like, you do set that standard for yourself. And I think coming from a place of burnout, that would probably help you a lot.
It it does. And that and that actually was the standard for working with new clients at this point. Mhmm. It’s a it’s a very different standard because I’m, you know, I took a cut in in what I’m bringing home in revenue, and that’s okay for now. Yeah. But I see it as a necessary reset in order to you know, I made this I made this expert a lot of money over the last five years.
And Mhmm.
You know, her her parting words to me were basically like, well, I wasted all this money on marketing over the last Oh, gosh.
And I was like, oh my god.
You know? And and coming from that sort of abusive feeling, it’s I just will I’ve learned a lot to never put myself in that position again.
Yeah. Yeah. I’m sorry that lesson was so harsh, but I’m happy to see that you are translating those into pretty fierce boundaries. And, hopefully, over the coming weeks and months, your system will continue to relax, and you’ll feel essentially, the new chapter that you’re leaning into from it.
But, yeah, it’s it’s crazy. Client clients will climb. Right? We said it earlier. Right? Like, I’ve had clients too in the past, right, where, you know, I’ve tried to convince them with data and beliefs can be rigid.
Right? What they want is rigid. Right? And, obviously, data and calculators and ROI improving all this is super helpful and necessary.
Like yeah. Some arguments, some battles, some dynamics just aren’t meant to sustain is what I realized. And I think that when you have confidence in your abilities and your skills and your who you are, right, it’s like there’s no such thing as, like, you know, losing a client. They’re scanning the opportunity.
Like, what you can do with cleared up bandwidth and cleared up mental space and cleared up energy, like, it’s probably far more valuable than what we settle for in suboptimal situations. So, yeah, I think that’s something to proceed with confidence on. And I could just keep yapping for two more minutes to, like, fill the space, but I wanna know if there’s any, like, closing thoughts, reflections from anyone here. And, yeah, floor is yours.
Hey, Roy. Can I just quick share mine?
Yep. Oh, of course. Sorry.
No. No. No. You’re cool. I first quarter, I just let myself off the hook with all things authority. I didn’t have to worry a ton luckily about client stuff because I was booked.
Mhmm. So and this is gonna sound insane, but second quarter, I’m not letting myself off the hook with authority. I’m figuring it out, but I think it’ll match. My number one target is I kind of have three core offers that I really need to decide what’s the standardized offer and what’s really either needs to be cut or maybe further down the line as I develop the book agency stuff. It’s at the different stages of writing, publication, and ongoing.
So, anyway, so the target is to sell at least one of each of those offers in this quarter for all sorts of other reasons. Right? It’ll I have to build my authority to get those in. I have to do cold, warm, all that kind of stuff. And then also the SOPs and all that will continue to get better as I do it. So, yeah, that’s basically it.
Yeah. And do you feel like you have, like, a clear pathway for selling all three offers?
Like, do they have similar marketing or a similar avatar?
Similar in that yes. Just different stages because, obviously, they’re different stages of the process. But, yes, I think so. Prana and I walked through, how I could do it. So I have kind of a thirty day challenge. She’s kinda a gauntlet she threw down for me. So I have, content marketing kind of cold pitching, all the things, basically.
And I’m guessing you’re already a few days into the thirty day challenge?
I am. Alright.
So when should we be following up with you?
Let’s see. Well, I it ends officially on April thirtieth, so May first. And the only thing I might need accountability on is I did get a project in closed yesterday, but it wasn’t one of the three. It was, like, a pre project to prove value to my standardized offer, and I tend to do that. I instead of holding to my guns or really figuring out the sales call or what I need to do to convince them on the standardized offer, I’ll adjust and you know? Does that make sense? And so I kinda created another freaking offer, and I it’s I don’t wanna do this, but it might convince them to invest in the standardized offer after this project.
But Is it is it profitable for you to prove yourself in that way?
Like, it’s a next question out of rhetorical one.
No. Yeah. I figured it out, and it’s it is profitable. It’s something I can quick turn around. And, I mean, I always love I don’t like turning turning away good decent money. So, for me, it gets me excited anyway.
Mhmm. And I love the person. So yeah, the I think it’ll be okay, but I could be sing singing a different tune in a few weeks. Who knows?
Alright. I think it’s a good test. Right? But, ultimately, like, you know, with three and a half offers, that could get complex pretty quick.
Yes.
And I’m sure by the end of the month, you’ll have greater clarity on what stays and what goes.
Exactly. That’s what I’m that’s all I want is just clarity.
So Very cool.
Awesome. And sorry if I’m missing you.
I was looking at, like No.
No. No.
It number squares. Thank you.
Yeah.
I appreciate the time.
Awesome. Beautiful. Well, any, closing thoughts or reflections?
Is there time for a question?
Yeah. Totally. If anyone doesn’t need to jump off, definitely feel free. But, yeah, I’m, I’m not in a rush, so go for it.
Okay. Thank you.
So totally switching gears.
I’m working on so this is the first time I’m in my client’s tech, and we set up a split test of their evergreen sequence. So we’ve got the control, and then we’ve got the new sequence.
And I realized yesterday, I might have made a mistake.
In the automation, should I have so the the old sequence, it has, like, the thousands of people who went through it before. So when I just do quick glance looking at, like, open and click rates, it’s the the thousands of people. And then, obviously, the new one is, like, the sixty people who came in yesterday.
Mhmm.
Did I mess up? Like, I because I’m thinking, like, I should have just duplicated the old sequence, like, started everything at zero.
Mhmm.
So my question is, should I just go to the client and try to make this change now, or is there a workaround I could do for April and then make that change in May to, like What’s it? Figure out the What what system are they in?
Kit.
Kit. Are you able to just kind of, like, track the monthly of the old ones so that you’re not seeing all the old data?
I haven’t figured that out easily. I I haven’t.
Maybe. I don’t think so, though, because there’s no filters to to customize, like, date range when I’m looking at the reports of a sequence.
Right. I would double check just to see if there’s any ways to filter the data to only get a snapshot of the last seven days, fourteen days. Right? Because you you definitely want to have a comparable side by side time period of both. Right?
Because, like Yeah.
Those thousands of people who’ve been through that sequence before, I’m guessing that’s been over the last year or two.
Or Yeah.
Yeah. Right? Mhmm.
So different context. Right? You know, different exposure. You definitely wanna compare, like, leads now versus leads now, right, to get a true accurate snapshot.
So, yes, if that’s not possible via, filtering, if at all possible, yes, to, like, duplicate it right and, yeah, get it clear. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Is anyone more techie than I am have any, feedback on that? Yep. I think just like oh, go ahead.
I was gonna say, yeah, Caitlin, your your gut is right. You should have duplicated and then set that against your new.
Yeah. I’m not familiar with kits, so there has to be a way to filter date filter, or there should be.
Yeah. I’ll ask their support team.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I there was so much other stuff. I was, like, figuring it out, and it was taking all so long.
And then I’m like, shoot. What, like, an obvious oversight? Like, how did I do that? But okay.
Cool. Thank you, everyone.
It’s easy to do. I’ve done that before.
Now you know. Lesson learned. But, yeah, you definitely don’t wanna have your funnel go up against results from a different context, right, and people who’ve experienced different things. So yeah.
Cool.
Alright. Well, hopefully, no more natural disasters.
And, yeah, I’m still here for the witchy stuff. So keep that up, spreading ashes, lighting candles, and doing all the things. But, yeah, have an amazing day to everyone, and definitely keep in touch on the chats and reach out on any follow ups from anything today or even just things you’re looking on that you feel I could help with. I’m here for it. So welcome to the new folks. Thanks for showing up and sharing so bravely and awesomely, and, talk to you guys soon. Bye for now.
Power-Packed Positioning
Power-Packed Positioning
Transcript
Alright. Let’s see. I have my training all lined up.
I wonder if the time change threw people off.
Ah, yeah. That’s this is actually because my calendars aren’t synced with the No. I have a I have trouble with, tying in my the CSP calendar on my iPhone.
Oh, so Yeah.
I can if I have to go into Google Calendars to see it. So sometimes I miss CSP events.
Oh, that’s unfortunate. Oh, I did not I don’t know why that happens. It should sync across calendars.
So, okay, Nicole’s here as well. We’re about three minutes in. Hello.
We’re just waiting to see if a couple more people join in our usuals. I think Abby is there usually, and, Jessica’s there as well. So we’ll just wait another minute or so. Otherwise, I was telling Carolyn she can have the privilege of a personal training.
Love that.
Alright. Let’s see. Yeah. So we’re at eight. Yeah. We’re, like, four minutes past. I think we can go ahead and start.
And if anyone wants to join in, then, yay, they can. Catch up.
Cool. Alright.
I’m gonna share screen, and we are going to talk about amplifying positioning.
So here’s the thing.
Positioning is key to our businesses. We all know it, and you all just had a great session apparently with Kira. I know I haven’t had a chance to watch the replay, but I’m sure it would have been great. So my goal here is to just kind of build on that and help you amplify your positioning. So here’s what we’re gonna be talking about, creating your own definition of positioning, the worksheets you have.
I would love for you to actually fill it out and share it with me in Slack talking about how are you gonna go ahead and amplify a positioning because it’s so, so important, especially as, you know, everything feels noisier and more crowded. So I would love for you to go ahead, create your own definition of positioning, understand why amplification is necessary. It’s not just enough to say, oh, this is what I wanna be known for.
What comes after is so so much more important. And then, of course, we look at three key strategies for I have examples of how you can actually use them for, like, just kind of holding yourself accountable in terms of what would you do next month, what would you do in the next week, what would you do on an ongoing basis. And then, of course, like I said, create your short term and long term application plan. So the examples would help you do that. Okay. We’ve had Jessica joining in as well. Hey, Jessica.
We are just getting started with amplifying your positioning.
So positioning is all about like I said, it’s getting noisier. So this is what helps you create a distinct space in your prospect’s mind, especially to distinguish yourself from others who may be in the same space. We may all be writing copy for pretty much all same kind of businesses. We may all be work SaaS copywriters, then how is a company supposed to choose you over others? Or if, like me, you write for creative entrepreneurs and course creators, coaches, and consultants, then how do you stand out?
Amplify your positioning is what helps you do that. It helps you not just develop, but also magnify and intensify your positioning. So when you amplify your positioning, you amplify your reach, you amplify your reach, you amplify your impact, when you amplify your impact, you amplify your income. It’s what I have seen over the last more than a decade of building this business is that anytime I wanted to be known for something, once I get clear on that, which is what all of you would have or have already been working on. Once you get clear on what you’ve been wanna known for, then it’s your job to just amplify it.
Speaking from personal experience because we started as oh, so I started as a mom blogger. Our business then started as a social media management company, and then I you know, we pivoted into copywriting and launch strategy and sales strategy. So every time, whether it was I was when when I was starting as a mom blogger or we started the business or we, you know, pivoted into copywriting, every time. Once I got clear on my positioning, I made it my job to be really, really well known for it, and that is what has helped us to build this business to this level.
So super important. I’m gonna, like, quickly touch after this on the mistakes that most people make with their positioning that I see a lot of service providers make, and it really breaks my heart. But most importantly, what I if there is one thing that you take away from this session, it is that your positioning is tied to everything that you do to market your business.
It is not a separate entity. It is not something that, oh, my you know, it’s my brand identity. Yes. That’s part of your positioning.
Your positioning is a part of how you show up to market your business.
With that, what are the mistakes you wanna avoid?
First up, thinking that your positioning is just talking about your positioning is just limited to your website copy. So you’ve got, like, a great tagline. You’ve got great about page.
Yeah. Or thinking that only your logo or brand identity make up your positioning, it’s a part of that. The the photos you use, the colors you have, all of that is a part of your positioning.
It’s not the only thing.
And then finally, inconsistency and confusion with your message and authority. If you wanna be well known for something, you have to be super clear about what that is, and you need to be consistent in sharing it.
Quick note on consistency. Consistency does not mean does not mean perfection. Consistency is not the same as perfecting it.
You may show up consistently, and it may not be it may still be raw. You know? The way you show up may still not be very edited. You may have videos that could be more polished. Sure.
And that will happen, and that shouldn’t let you stop you from being consistent when it comes to sharing what you wanna be known for.
So don’t please don’t let a, you know, a desire for perfection hold you back.
I have I why am I so passionate about it? Because I’ve done that. I wanted everything to be perfect before I, you know, started talking about it. And I realized that the only person who’s actually getting impacted by that is is me, and that’s not in a good way because I’m just holding myself back from sharing what I know, sharing what I wanna be known for, sharing, you know, what sharing our positioning, waiting for it to be perfect.
So, yeah, be very clear and be very consistent, but don’t let perfection hold you back from amplifying your position.
So what’s part of your positioning then?
A lot. Your story. And not just your origin story, but also your growth story is part of your positioning.
I share our story so often with some of you who may have you know, like, people who followed us for years, you may feel like, oh, I’ve heard this one before.
Sure. But you will always have people who have no idea about how you got started or how you’ve grown or why you do what you do. So your story is a part of your positioning, and you should share it often. Your process is a part of your positioning, one hundred percent. If you have proprietary processes that you use in your business or to get your clients the results that they they get, that is part of your positioning. Be known for it.
Your background, your brand identity, of course, is a part of your positioning. Your thought leadership, you know, like yours those high points of view, your authority content you share, your packages, your products, your offers, they’re all part of your positioning, your specializations, your skills, your strategic partnerships, the people you decide to network with, collaborate with, you will be known, again, by what you offer, who you connect with, because you will be talking about what sets you apart. You will be talking about what makes you you in all of these places, in all of these ways.
So all of this is part of your positioning.
Make no mistake.
Not talking about this is going to be a you know, I hesitate to say this, but I probably need to because when you overlook talking about things like your your process or your packages or your background or your story, you’re actually putting yourself at a disadvantage.
And you’re probably blending in way more than, you know you’re blending in with everybody else who may be doing the same thing.
So if you wanna stand out, you need to start owning who you are, what you do, how you do it, who you work for, who you connect with, collaborate with as a part of your positioning. And, yeah, I’m going to be seeing positioning a lot in this, but that’s, like, pretty much the the creating.
So yeah.
Okay.
Let’s talk about amplifying, yeah, your positioning.
So first things, you wanna amplify your authority. Like, super, super important.
Get comfortable with amplifying your authority.
I like to call these value shots. You can call them whatever you want to, but point is you wanna start amplifying your authority by using digestible pieces of content that create a standard position for you. Some of you may already be doing this. You know, the podcast that you’re pitching or the podcast that you’ve started or the blog post that you’ve written or the guides or the guest post or the talks. The point is you need to start thinking about how can you give your audience tools and techniques that share your expertise, but in many cases, also prepare them to work with you.
Think about these value shots as what does your audience need to know or do or believe before they’re ready to work with you. So I’ll give you an example because so I write a lot about, you know, oh, you need to like, for instance, offer optimization is a big part of my process. Right? I would often talk about what makes for a good offer. I would often talk about, you know, what you need to sell an offer, what mistakes people are making with their offers.
Why? Because I need people to be ready with a good offer before they come to work with us.
I need people to have the foundation of a great offer in place so I can then optimize it. I’m not in the business of creating the offer from scratch. It does not help me if they come to me with an offer that’s missing crucial pieces because then we waste a lot of time, and then then they they’re not even gonna get the results that I can, you know, help them get. So I make it my job to help them have those foundational pieces in place.
So the for you, you share these these value shots, like, call them because they’re an easy way for you to build a stronger connection with your audience and a great way for you to build expertise and authority as well.
So how can you establish yourself as a distinct, unignorable voice in your niche?
Share spiky points of view.
If you disagree with something, if you have, like, a contrarian thought that goes against your industry, think out loud.
If you have an inspiring backstory like I was telling you, like, tell it to everyone everywhere.
If you’ve tested strategies out, The whole nurtured for newsletter nurtured for sales newsletter thing, like, was something that I tested out with clients.
I’ve since gone on to talk about it on podcast. I’ve, you know, have pitched events to talk about it.
I have, like, people booking us out for them months in advance.
So it’s not like newsletter is nothing new, but the fact that you can use it to also sell makes it that much, you know, more attractive to my audience. Once I tested it out with a couple of clients, I knew I was onto something, and that meant I’m going to talk about it everywhere in as many ways as possible.
So what I would love for you to do is think about how are you gonna amplify your authority over the next month. Is it sometimes it can feel like, look. Oh, you know, if I say next week, you may not feel right enough, but I would love for you, whether you, you know, the three of you here or, you know, if you’re watching the recording, think about it. Like, think about how are you gonna amplify your authority over the next month and share it with me in Slack.
You know? Are you gonna pitch a talk? Are you gonna write a guide style post? Are you gonna share those safety points of view on social? Are you gonna reach out to a podcast that you’ve been wanting to be on?
Just pick one thing. It’s you know, and start that.
What are you gonna share? How are you gonna do that? And where are you gonna share it?
Okay. This one is, again, something that I personally had to get very comfortable with because of several reasons. One, introvert. Two, have been raised.
Eldest daughter was raised to not, you know, talk a lot about what and, you know, not come across as feeling, like being braggy or arrogant. I was always an overachiever.
So, you know, it was yeah. Anyways, I had a lot of work to do around this, but amplify your awesome publicly and oh, sharing your results. Know that when you’re running a business, you need to do it. It’s just part of just owning who you are.
It’s part of your positioning. It’s a business decision. And the best way to be known for what you do is to share when you do it and share it twice when you do it well. So which is why I talk a lot about the kind of projects I’m working on.
I talk a lot about the results our clients are getting. I it’s taken me a while to get really comfortable with it.
There are people who are naturally comfortable with it, and I think that’s amazing. But if you’re not, know that it’s okay to take baby steps towards it. But please get used to talk amplifying. You’re awesome. Talk about your process. Let clients see how you differentiate yourself from everybody else.
And here’s the thing. It is so much easier for clients to make a decision when they see the kind of, you know, work you do. It is so much easier for them to see you as an expert when they can see others like them who trusted you, worked with you, had a great experience with you.
I include testimonials and proposals, in-depth testimonials with photos. I include social proof even when I’m working with a client.
I make it a point to talk about the kind of like, share a similar client experience or a case study.
So or, you you know, other credible markers. Like, instance, if I’m, you know, on a podcast that I know a client would enjoy, I will send it to them.
Or an event that I’m speaking at, I will let them know about it. I’d ask them if they’d like to attend. So point is think about, again, this whole session, I want you to start thinking about how are you going to amplify all of this positioning that you’re working so hard on.
And for this one, I wanted to you to think about what how can you amplify your awesome in the next week? So what results, social proof, credibility markers, accomplishments can you share in the next week? Where will you share them, and how will you share them? So, again, gently accountable to this. I would love for you to share with me in Slack.
I’ll share tag me, like, let me know. Okay. Perna, I’m gonna be sharing a video testimonial, an endorsement from a mentor, a podcast appearance, any video to me is processed up over there next week or any one of the above. I’ll I’ll share these on Instagram and LinkedIn.
The testimonial could be a reel. The mentor endorsement will go on LinkedIn. The podcast will go on both. This is an example, but you get the drift.
So get comfortable.
I would love for you to do this. I would love for you to when you share it, tag me so I can, like, publicly cheer you on as well.
We need to get super, super comfortable with amplifying our awesome. I feel like so many of us hesitate in doing so because we don’t wanna feel like we’re bragging or we don’t wanna, you know, take up too much space. Whatever be the reason, we need to think of this as a business decision and just move forward with it.
Next up, amplifying your presence.
Show up more often.
Easier said than done, but, trust me, you can do it.
Pick your platforms and show up. Similar to amplifying your awesome, amplifying your presence is often linked to like, we tend to worry a lot. Like, at least I’ve and for all of these things, I’m speaking from personal experience because I’ve, like, literally been there. And, again, you may not be feeling this way, which is great for you.
I think that’s amazing. But if you are, know that you’re not the only one. You it’s natural to be like, oh, but how? How do I do this?
Or what if I get rejected?
What if no one shows up?
Very valid fears.
But a fear of showing up is nothing but an inner gremlin urging you to keep playing small, insisting that you stay hidden.
That is what, at least, I realized. And, you we have Kirsty who does mindset, so she would be able to speak more of this. But once I realized that this is just you know, it’s I can easily flip this. I can easily reframe it. This is just, like I said, an inner gremlin holding me back, and I’m not gonna let that happen.
Because what if I get rejected? But what if someone says yes?
What if no one shows up? But what if someone does? So it’s really easy to do that, but it’s super important again, in this case, for you to pick your platforms and pick and then show up there consistently because that makes you comfortable. Consistency does has this other great advantage.
The more you show up on a particular platform, whether that’s a stage or a or a social platform or going on podcast or writing blog posts.
The more you do something, the more comfortable you get. The more comfortable you get, the more confident you are. The more confident you are, the more impact, the greater results. You know? So it’s just it’s kind of a ripple effect, and the best part, it doesn’t even take a ton of time.
So, again, feel feel feel less when you’re standing out. Like, reframing it would really, really help. So this is more of an ongoing thing. You will always come up against like, for instance, when I decided I wanted to start speaking on stages, my greatest fear was like, what if I mess up?
But then what if I don’t? What if I nail it out of you know, crush it? And for me to do that, what do I need to make it happen? How can I make it happen?
So think about where you may be playing small when it comes to positioning.
Be honest with yourself.
What stories are you telling yourself about your authority, your credibility, you know, your results? Whatever it is that you feel like, oh, it’s not quote, unquote, good enough.
Are those stories true? Are they a fact?
If yes, then how can we change that stories? Because stories are just that. They’re stories. They can be changed.
And if not, then how can you reframe them? How can you move past that?
It’s this is more of a mental step when it comes to amplifying your positioning, but trust me, it’s sounds cliche, but it’s a game changer. Once you start doing this, it becomes so much easier for you to make those big asks that help you amplify your positioning and be known for who you are. Like, if you wanna be unafraid, you wanna feel confident, you wanna feel brave making those big asks, you need to start by addressing what’s going on inside when it comes to showing up in a big way.
So really spend some time thinking, well, this is this is like an ongoing step.
And if any of you are in this place where you feel that you’re playing small when it comes to your positioning, feel free to, again, like I said, tag me in Slack.
And we can chat about it there.
But this is a huge, huge step for you to start showing up in a big way on those big stages and be absolutely unafraid when it comes to owning who you are and what you wanna be known for.
Your positioning at the end of the day is your point of difference. I absolutely love it when clients tell me why they, you know, wanna work with me because every single time, it comes down to my positioning, and it shows me that it’s working.
So people may rip off your packages. They may copy your content, your updates. It’s happened with us many, many times over. It will continue to happen. Honestly, unless, of course, it’s like a word by word copy and someone’s, like, plagiarizing a copy. I’m, like, not gonna send a cease and desist for someone I see is copying a package that we’ve created or is writing an update that’s similar to ours. I mean, that’s not a worthwhile use of my time or our team’s time.
But because of what I know is they cannot copy as our unique positioning.
And our positioning, again, it’s not permanent. Right? It will evolve.
Your positioning will set you apart. And if you continue to amplify it, people will recognize you instead of recognizing your competition. It just works works that way. We have so many people telling emailing us, telling us, oh, you know, I saw so and so, you know, using your branding, like, you know, the food and coffee branding.
Did you know that? Yes. I do. Does it bother me? No. I mean, I don’t own the food and coffee, you know, connection.
A lot of people can make that connection, but I love it that they people think of us when it comes to food and coffee coming together. So that’s just a very small example, but there are so many other cases. Point is your positioning is your point of difference. Once you start amplifying it, it becomes that much easier for you to be recognized and known for a particular point of view, for known for a particular expertise, known for a particular skill set.
So go forth and follow positioning.
Alright.
Time for q and a for the position related questions or copy reviews.
Hi, Heather.
I have a position oh, hello.
Yeah. I have a position question. Can you hear me okay? Sorry. I’m in the car.
Sure. No.
No. Can you hear me?
We can.
Go ahead. So this is kind of it feels like a silly question, but it’s actually a real question.
I mean, obviously, we need to do the work of defining our positioning.
But do you ever find that, do people have success with hiring or partnering with the hype person?
Reason I ask is I hate promoting myself. I’m really, really terrible at it, but I’m really great at promoting other people.
And because I think it’s hard to sell yourself, sometimes.
And so I was just curious if you’ve ever seen people, like, I don’t know. You know, maybe they’re a little bit timid about being, amplifying their own positioning. Their position assuming their positioning is clear, but maybe they have trouble amplifying their own and maybe they have their assistant, like, you know, write their authority. I don’t know. Like Yes. Under someone.
Yeah. Okay.
Absolutely.
So many people, like, way back in the day, when we were starting out, like, I would’ve we when we were starting out, we did not have a budget to hire. But point is, like, if we had the budget to hire, I would have wanted to speak to at least, if not, hire full time, like, speak to someone who was, like, quote, unquote, positioning, amplification, or high person, like you said. You know? I would, I can and there that is exactly why so many people do also work with ghostwriters when it comes to their social content or when it comes to their, you know, their blog posts and all of those. So, yes, I think, that is definitely an an option.
An option.
Okay. Cool.
Thank you.
You’re welcome. Any other questions?
Ask you okay.
Yeah. Can I pose, I’m I’m struggling a bit with the positioning?
So, basically, I it’s been a huge evolution since CSP started in November. I think you probably heard in some call me discuss the seasonal sale holiday sale opportunity.
And I I think that, of course, is still a pretty blue ocean all that. However, what I’ve really come to realize is is that there’s there’s it seems to be a difference between what people are looking for, which for me is email strategy, email copywriting, executing, even management, that kind of thing. And then the like, for example, I was on a call two days ago, and it was with a audit client.
And they, we were just kinda talking about a lot of things. But, basically, it was like, oh, you could do our whole seasonal Father’s Day for them is a really big one, and they haven’t planned it yet. And they were like, oh, you could, like, do the entire campaign? And I said yes. And she goes, well, this it was just a bad time for the clients in terms of their seasonality, so their this is their low. So she was kinda trying to figure out budget and what we could move forward with since I delivered the audit.
And while she wanted to move forward with email as well and the retainer style and everything Joe’s teaching, it she has to be careful with her budget. And so I just kind of what I’ve what I kind of am struggling with is while the blue ocean seems to be there with seasonal and holiday sales and being able to be that person, I so much of what I wanna also deliver is email marketing, and that’s what people are coming to me for.
And, ultimately, I’d like to create an email marketing agency. And, of course, seasonal sales can be a part of that for sure.
Mhmm. There could also be a campaign package with that. But what I’m struggling with is people don’t seem to be seeking out a seasonal sale strategist, an expert on that.
They are definitely coming to me through email. So I’m struggling even on a basic level with, okay, my homepage.
How should I position myself on my homepage? What should I prioritize? I initially did change it to all real focused on seasonal and holiday sales. But it’s it something isn’t work isn’t feeling right, and it’s keeping. And that is the block for me with moving forward with doing all the work of authority building and all that because I’m just sitting there going, but what should I leave with, and do how should I bring in the other one?
And you know what I mean? Is this making sense, or am I just rambling?
No. No. It is.
It is making sense. And it this, okay. So, yeah, I completely agree that, you know, seasonal sales is a huge flow, an opportunity. Like, for for me and the course creator market, the newsletters and the flash sale sequences, all those are really great, but those are not the ones that I lead with because I know that’s, you know, something that our clients, they when they see the opportunity, they go, yeah. Okay. That makes total sense.
But that’s not who they’re looking for.
They’re looking for either a launch copywriter or an evergreen funnel copywriter. How do I position myself over there? So I focus on ROI. I talk about ROI focus. I may change that to something else later, but every conversation I have with a a client and the process that I walked them through shows them the ROI of every step. Like, even the research phase, what’s the return on investment for them?
Why would they like, because for a lot of clients, they’re like, oh, but that’s onboarding. You would you know, that’s your your thing.
No. It’s not. You know? It gives you clarity on who you should be talking to, how you should be talking, but we already know that. Okay. But then why aren’t your launches converting? We’re obviously missing something.
And Mhmm. Then I walk them through what my report messaging recommendations report looks like, etcetera, etcetera. Anyways, point is there may be a case for you to position yourself as an email marketing strategist who specializes in or an email marketing copywriter or an, you know, whatever you wanna call yourself who specializes in uncovering hidden sales or businesses.
Seasonal sales can be a part of that. But, also, a win back sequence could be a part of it. You know, welcome sequence could be a part of it. So point is maybe you need to use your seasonal sales as, of course, an authority builder.
You, you know, you definitely wanna start talking about it because not enough people are talking about it.
But you may also wanna think about, is there a way for you to look at how you approach businesses as a whole, how you approach email marketing as a whole and kind of lead with that instead.
Not to confuse any further, but I feel like if you’re seeing that people aren’t really looking for a seasonal sales strategist, maybe a case for broadening it. It could just be that you’re not talking about it often enough. You know? So it could that could totally be the case that, you know, you’re not showing up on stages often enough and, you know, just drilling home the point that, you know, seasonal sales are a huge missed opportunity for most businesses.
Yeah.
So you need to kinda look at both the things and make a decision there. Like, have you been giving it your hundred percent as far as yes. As far as your positioning goes, or have you been, you know, like, half heartedly, kind of saying, yes. I do this, but then also talking about a million other things. Because a lot, you know, a lot of this is about being really brutally honest with this brutally honest with yourself.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Mhmm.
Sorry about that.
That’s a really valid point.
I have a question, Jessica. Have you considered positioning yourself as the email strategist who turns discounted customers into full paying customers?
Well yeah. So broadening out to that, because that was where seasonal and holiday kind of led me was just this idea of, either how do you turn people who came into your, you know, your ecosystem via a fifty percent off Black Friday deal? How do you turn them into someone who will come back and buy it full price?
That’s definitely an angle which then I, you know, I think you and I spoke about the, the ditch the discount. So I I am leaning in with that. I think that’s just, it’s easy to for me, I just there’s a disconnect with it. I wish I I just need, like, a I don’t know if I need, like, some sort of chart to make it clear to me, but I’m always sitting there going, okay. I can have Ditch the Discount as a newsletter and a podcast and make and I can go into all sorts of things related to the phrase ditch the discount. You know? Mhmm.
But when it comes to my, okay. So, like, what’s in the hero section of my home page? And then what what is that messaging hierarchy?
That has always been a struggle for me when I don’t have one clear, like, this is how I wanna someone to find me and then start investigating me and then to start potentially working you know, like, the whole customer journey, that for me has been very difficult to figure out what that looks like.
And and, yeah, I’m doing this because I’m imagining, like, a a a upside down pyramid or something. You know?
Visual.
So, yeah, that’s what I’m kinda struggling with.
See, I feel like answer your question, Caroline. Sorry. Go ahead. No. No. I feel like, saying that you can turn you can help turn discount customers, for lack of a better word, price, to full paying customers and increase the lifetime value.
I was yeah.
That messaging would really resonate. And then as a part of that, as Perna mentioned, you could you could highlight seasonal sales as one aspect of it, but there’s so many ways that people come in discounted. I mean, you go to a website and they give you a pop up, sign up, and get ten percent off. I mean, or I see something on Instagram and it’s sale for whatever, temporary sale may not be seasonal, but, you know, for a week, there’s a discount, so then I might sign up.
But I may never shop there again.
Mhmm. Mhmm.
I feel like that’s it feels like it would be a problem, a big enough problem. I feel I suspect that retailers are thinking about this.
I don’t know. It just to me, it seems like it would resonate if you were to just talk about returning discounted customers into full paying ones and increasing lifetime value of that.
So if you so if you were putting on it, like, so, obviously, I’ve been focusing a lot on ecommerce, and not that that couldn’t change.
But my point is if you were a business owner, let’s say, ecommerce, and you saw that I was, like, the person who was focused on turning discount buyers into, you know, full price customers or loyal customer or whatever you wanna say. If you saw that, I guess my question is, would you expect that what my primary solution for you would be, like, to go with CSP and what Joe’s teaching in the intensive, a standardized project that is an email program audit. Would that connect for you? Because that, to me, I I’m, like, not seeing that as the, oh, here’s the solution matched with the problem.
I think you would have to front that you tackle this problem via email.
Okay. That you know, and just talk about how impactful email can be to create loyal to create a loyal customer base and how you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not implementing correctly.
Yeah. Got it. Okay. No. I see. Thank you.
I would also add to that is, like, yes, definitely make a connection with email. But I almost feel like there’s a case here for you to consider.
Would would positioning yourself as the ecom email copywriter who helps businesses or companies increase customer lifetime value be, you know, a clearer value prop for them because that’s something they understand.
And how you help them do that is then through through seasonal sales.
My only disconnect and, again, this is not to, again, confuse any further. My only disconnect here is if you’re talking about ditching the discount and then you’re selling them on seasonal sales, are you saying you would not be telling them to discount their products then?
No. So, yeah, so what we did discuss this, Joe and I, in another call, and it was like, ditch the discount doesn’t necessarily mean never discount. It just means ditch your reliance on the discount as your primary way of selling your products.
Okay. And then how does seasonal sales fit in?
Well, so and then and then well, one, that’s my question is, does it?
That that’s kind of been that’s the, like, funny part about CSP is it was like, yes, seasonal sales. But then as I dove into it more, it was like, oh, there this reliance on discounting all the time is really a problem and the philosophy. But so I mean, in so this client that I was talking to, yes, their, Black Friday and all of that, the holidays are a huge time for them. And so, of course, like everybody, they lean on discounting at that time, and it’s almost weird if you don’t.
Right? However, it’s a very male, audience, and so Father’s Day for them is a huge seasonal sale. However, it is not. They don’t have to lead with a discount.
They lead with more of bundling and that kind of stuff with maybe free shipping or something Yeah. That they don’t have discount.
Okay.
So does that answer?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does. I just feel and, Jessica, you need to do a lot more, educating your audience.
Like, then the amplifying your party part needs to be one that you need to go all in on because like us and, you know, and we are people like, again, your audio your customers are gonna have the same questions. And then that’s your job to clear up those questions in as many ways as possible, in as many places as possible. And then I think so, yeah, the positioning’s great. It’s just that you need to think about, okay, how am I going to start talking more often about it?
Okay.
Okay.
I think I’m just gonna have to get over the fact that people my website is always an evolution anyway, and I’m not for perfection on it. And I know that, like, now I mean, it’s always been Yeah. Sometimes, and I’m not great. But I just think where I’m, like, every time I feel like I wanna iterate on it or change it up, I’m sitting there just going, what?
Well, like I said, where should I start at the top? I don’t Oh. Yeah.
So think about yeah.
Start at the top. Like, literally, start at the top. Think about it like, okay. Someone comes to your website. What’s the first thing you want them to know? So, hey. You’re on this page because you want more sales and you want more sales without having to lean on discounts all the time.
And I’m the email copywriter who’ll show you how to do that.
So maybe just start there. Like, keep it simple. But point is, will will this require more, you know, more education?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Do you see that as a problem, or is that just it’s that’s always.
Because it sometimes seems that when I look at no?
Okay. No. It’s not a problem. Okay. I’ll I’ll have like, for instance, in our case.
Right? So everyone’s the launch copywriter. Everyone’s like, oh, yeah. I can you know?
I started differentiating myself by talking about the fact that I’m not an order taker. I would wanna look at why do you need a sales page. Maybe you don’t need a sales page. Maybe you need something else.
Right? Mhmm. And now now there are a lot of copywriters who talk about it, a lot of them who’ve been through ready to sell, who, you know, have made proper optimization a part of their process. Being the strategist is part of the rest.
That’s the whole goal there.
But when I started talking about, you know, looking at all your courses before I write for the course you’re hiring me for, clients didn’t know why. Like, the other copywriters I’ve worked with would either just write the sales page they hired them to write or would write the email sequence. Literally, every testimonial I had from everyone, from Pat Quinn to, like, the, you know, crafters that I wrote for, the gardeners or everyone talked about the fact that they loved that I would go deep into their business.
Was it it wasn’t something that they even knew they needed.
But once they got it, it was like, oh my gosh. This is amazing.
So it’s not a problem. It’s just something that and you like I said, like, you will need to really, really talk about it every opportunity you get. So yeah. It will it is it hotter?
Maybe.
But then is it better?
Generally, when things are hard, it’s, you know, it’s great to do them because that means the rest of the competition is not doing it.
So Yeah. At least that’s how I would approach it. Yeah.
No. Thank you. That I I you just gave me a a extremely valuable coaching session. I can’t believe I just got that. Thank you so much.
And thank you so much.
You are the same thing. Awesome. Cool. Great. Any other questions? Any copy review requests? Nope.
All good.
I wish I did.
I’m not preparing any copy.
That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. Cool. Alright. I would honestly, like, for at least Nicole, I know you’re you’re part of CSP, but I’m part of Copy Hacker’s team.
But, again, for the three of you, if you like, I would love to hear how you’re gonna be applying your positioning over the next week and the next month. Seriously, like, tag me in in Slack. Let me know. I feel like all of you need to be shining brighter, when it comes to different status.
So yeah.
Thank you so much, Perna.
You’re welcome. Thanks so much. See you all in Stockton. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Worksheet
Worksheet
Transcript
Alright. Let’s see. I have my training all lined up.
I wonder if the time change threw people off.
Ah, yeah. That’s this is actually because my calendars aren’t synced with the No. I have a I have trouble with, tying in my the CSP calendar on my iPhone.
Oh, so Yeah.
I can if I have to go into Google Calendars to see it. So sometimes I miss CSP events.
Oh, that’s unfortunate. Oh, I did not I don’t know why that happens. It should sync across calendars.
So, okay, Nicole’s here as well. We’re about three minutes in. Hello.
We’re just waiting to see if a couple more people join in our usuals. I think Abby is there usually, and, Jessica’s there as well. So we’ll just wait another minute or so. Otherwise, I was telling Carolyn she can have the privilege of a personal training.
Love that.
Alright. Let’s see. Yeah. So we’re at eight. Yeah. We’re, like, four minutes past. I think we can go ahead and start.
And if anyone wants to join in, then, yay, they can. Catch up.
Cool. Alright.
I’m gonna share screen, and we are going to talk about amplifying positioning.
So here’s the thing.
Positioning is key to our businesses. We all know it, and you all just had a great session apparently with Kira. I know I haven’t had a chance to watch the replay, but I’m sure it would have been great. So my goal here is to just kind of build on that and help you amplify your positioning. So here’s what we’re gonna be talking about, creating your own definition of positioning, the worksheets you have.
I would love for you to actually fill it out and share it with me in Slack talking about how are you gonna go ahead and amplify a positioning because it’s so, so important, especially as, you know, everything feels noisier and more crowded. So I would love for you to go ahead, create your own definition of positioning, understand why amplification is necessary. It’s not just enough to say, oh, this is what I wanna be known for.
What comes after is so so much more important. And then, of course, we look at three key strategies for I have examples of how you can actually use them for, like, just kind of holding yourself accountable in terms of what would you do next month, what would you do in the next week, what would you do on an ongoing basis. And then, of course, like I said, create your short term and long term application plan. So the examples would help you do that. Okay. We’ve had Jessica joining in as well. Hey, Jessica.
We are just getting started with amplifying your positioning.
So positioning is all about like I said, it’s getting noisier. So this is what helps you create a distinct space in your prospect’s mind, especially to distinguish yourself from others who may be in the same space. We may all be writing copy for pretty much all same kind of businesses. We may all be work SaaS copywriters, then how is a company supposed to choose you over others? Or if, like me, you write for creative entrepreneurs and course creators, coaches, and consultants, then how do you stand out?
Amplify your positioning is what helps you do that. It helps you not just develop, but also magnify and intensify your positioning. So when you amplify your positioning, you amplify your reach, you amplify your reach, you amplify your impact, when you amplify your impact, you amplify your income. It’s what I have seen over the last more than a decade of building this business is that anytime I wanted to be known for something, once I get clear on that, which is what all of you would have or have already been working on. Once you get clear on what you’ve been wanna known for, then it’s your job to just amplify it.
Speaking from personal experience because we started as oh, so I started as a mom blogger. Our business then started as a social media management company, and then I you know, we pivoted into copywriting and launch strategy and sales strategy. So every time, whether it was I was when when I was starting as a mom blogger or we started the business or we, you know, pivoted into copywriting, every time. Once I got clear on my positioning, I made it my job to be really, really well known for it, and that is what has helped us to build this business to this level.
So super important. I’m gonna, like, quickly touch after this on the mistakes that most people make with their positioning that I see a lot of service providers make, and it really breaks my heart. But most importantly, what I if there is one thing that you take away from this session, it is that your positioning is tied to everything that you do to market your business.
It is not a separate entity. It is not something that, oh, my you know, it’s my brand identity. Yes. That’s part of your positioning.
Your positioning is a part of how you show up to market your business.
With that, what are the mistakes you wanna avoid?
First up, thinking that your positioning is just talking about your positioning is just limited to your website copy. So you’ve got, like, a great tagline. You’ve got great about page.
Yeah. Or thinking that only your logo or brand identity make up your positioning, it’s a part of that. The the photos you use, the colors you have, all of that is a part of your positioning.
It’s not the only thing.
And then finally, inconsistency and confusion with your message and authority. If you wanna be well known for something, you have to be super clear about what that is, and you need to be consistent in sharing it.
Quick note on consistency. Consistency does not mean does not mean perfection. Consistency is not the same as perfecting it.
You may show up consistently, and it may not be it may still be raw. You know? The way you show up may still not be very edited. You may have videos that could be more polished. Sure.
And that will happen, and that shouldn’t let you stop you from being consistent when it comes to sharing what you wanna be known for.
So don’t please don’t let a, you know, a desire for perfection hold you back.
I have I why am I so passionate about it? Because I’ve done that. I wanted everything to be perfect before I, you know, started talking about it. And I realized that the only person who’s actually getting impacted by that is is me, and that’s not in a good way because I’m just holding myself back from sharing what I know, sharing what I wanna be known for, sharing, you know, what sharing our positioning, waiting for it to be perfect.
So, yeah, be very clear and be very consistent, but don’t let perfection hold you back from amplifying your position.
So what’s part of your positioning then?
A lot. Your story. And not just your origin story, but also your growth story is part of your positioning.
I share our story so often with some of you who may have you know, like, people who followed us for years, you may feel like, oh, I’ve heard this one before.
Sure. But you will always have people who have no idea about how you got started or how you’ve grown or why you do what you do. So your story is a part of your positioning, and you should share it often. Your process is a part of your positioning, one hundred percent. If you have proprietary processes that you use in your business or to get your clients the results that they they get, that is part of your positioning. Be known for it.
Your background, your brand identity, of course, is a part of your positioning. Your thought leadership, you know, like yours those high points of view, your authority content you share, your packages, your products, your offers, they’re all part of your positioning, your specializations, your skills, your strategic partnerships, the people you decide to network with, collaborate with, you will be known, again, by what you offer, who you connect with, because you will be talking about what sets you apart. You will be talking about what makes you you in all of these places, in all of these ways.
So all of this is part of your positioning.
Make no mistake.
Not talking about this is going to be a you know, I hesitate to say this, but I probably need to because when you overlook talking about things like your your process or your packages or your background or your story, you’re actually putting yourself at a disadvantage.
And you’re probably blending in way more than, you know you’re blending in with everybody else who may be doing the same thing.
So if you wanna stand out, you need to start owning who you are, what you do, how you do it, who you work for, who you connect with, collaborate with as a part of your positioning. And, yeah, I’m going to be seeing positioning a lot in this, but that’s, like, pretty much the the creating.
So yeah.
Okay.
Let’s talk about amplifying, yeah, your positioning.
So first things, you wanna amplify your authority. Like, super, super important.
Get comfortable with amplifying your authority.
I like to call these value shots. You can call them whatever you want to, but point is you wanna start amplifying your authority by using digestible pieces of content that create a standard position for you. Some of you may already be doing this. You know, the podcast that you’re pitching or the podcast that you’ve started or the blog post that you’ve written or the guides or the guest post or the talks. The point is you need to start thinking about how can you give your audience tools and techniques that share your expertise, but in many cases, also prepare them to work with you.
Think about these value shots as what does your audience need to know or do or believe before they’re ready to work with you. So I’ll give you an example because so I write a lot about, you know, oh, you need to like, for instance, offer optimization is a big part of my process. Right? I would often talk about what makes for a good offer. I would often talk about, you know, what you need to sell an offer, what mistakes people are making with their offers.
Why? Because I need people to be ready with a good offer before they come to work with us.
I need people to have the foundation of a great offer in place so I can then optimize it. I’m not in the business of creating the offer from scratch. It does not help me if they come to me with an offer that’s missing crucial pieces because then we waste a lot of time, and then then they they’re not even gonna get the results that I can, you know, help them get. So I make it my job to help them have those foundational pieces in place.
So the for you, you share these these value shots, like, call them because they’re an easy way for you to build a stronger connection with your audience and a great way for you to build expertise and authority as well.
So how can you establish yourself as a distinct, unignorable voice in your niche?
Share spiky points of view.
If you disagree with something, if you have, like, a contrarian thought that goes against your industry, think out loud.
If you have an inspiring backstory like I was telling you, like, tell it to everyone everywhere.
If you’ve tested strategies out, The whole nurtured for newsletter nurtured for sales newsletter thing, like, was something that I tested out with clients.
I’ve since gone on to talk about it on podcast. I’ve, you know, have pitched events to talk about it.
I have, like, people booking us out for them months in advance.
So it’s not like newsletter is nothing new, but the fact that you can use it to also sell makes it that much, you know, more attractive to my audience. Once I tested it out with a couple of clients, I knew I was onto something, and that meant I’m going to talk about it everywhere in as many ways as possible.
So what I would love for you to do is think about how are you gonna amplify your authority over the next month. Is it sometimes it can feel like, look. Oh, you know, if I say next week, you may not feel right enough, but I would love for you, whether you, you know, the three of you here or, you know, if you’re watching the recording, think about it. Like, think about how are you gonna amplify your authority over the next month and share it with me in Slack.
You know? Are you gonna pitch a talk? Are you gonna write a guide style post? Are you gonna share those safety points of view on social? Are you gonna reach out to a podcast that you’ve been wanting to be on?
Just pick one thing. It’s you know, and start that.
What are you gonna share? How are you gonna do that? And where are you gonna share it?
Okay. This one is, again, something that I personally had to get very comfortable with because of several reasons. One, introvert. Two, have been raised.
Eldest daughter was raised to not, you know, talk a lot about what and, you know, not come across as feeling, like being braggy or arrogant. I was always an overachiever.
So, you know, it was yeah. Anyways, I had a lot of work to do around this, but amplify your awesome publicly and oh, sharing your results. Know that when you’re running a business, you need to do it. It’s just part of just owning who you are.
It’s part of your positioning. It’s a business decision. And the best way to be known for what you do is to share when you do it and share it twice when you do it well. So which is why I talk a lot about the kind of projects I’m working on.
I talk a lot about the results our clients are getting. I it’s taken me a while to get really comfortable with it.
There are people who are naturally comfortable with it, and I think that’s amazing. But if you’re not, know that it’s okay to take baby steps towards it. But please get used to talk amplifying. You’re awesome. Talk about your process. Let clients see how you differentiate yourself from everybody else.
And here’s the thing. It is so much easier for clients to make a decision when they see the kind of, you know, work you do. It is so much easier for them to see you as an expert when they can see others like them who trusted you, worked with you, had a great experience with you.
I include testimonials and proposals, in-depth testimonials with photos. I include social proof even when I’m working with a client.
I make it a point to talk about the kind of like, share a similar client experience or a case study.
So or, you you know, other credible markers. Like, instance, if I’m, you know, on a podcast that I know a client would enjoy, I will send it to them.
Or an event that I’m speaking at, I will let them know about it. I’d ask them if they’d like to attend. So point is think about, again, this whole session, I want you to start thinking about how are you going to amplify all of this positioning that you’re working so hard on.
And for this one, I wanted to you to think about what how can you amplify your awesome in the next week? So what results, social proof, credibility markers, accomplishments can you share in the next week? Where will you share them, and how will you share them? So, again, gently accountable to this. I would love for you to share with me in Slack.
I’ll share tag me, like, let me know. Okay. Perna, I’m gonna be sharing a video testimonial, an endorsement from a mentor, a podcast appearance, any video to me is processed up over there next week or any one of the above. I’ll I’ll share these on Instagram and LinkedIn.
The testimonial could be a reel. The mentor endorsement will go on LinkedIn. The podcast will go on both. This is an example, but you get the drift.
So get comfortable.
I would love for you to do this. I would love for you to when you share it, tag me so I can, like, publicly cheer you on as well.
We need to get super, super comfortable with amplifying our awesome. I feel like so many of us hesitate in doing so because we don’t wanna feel like we’re bragging or we don’t wanna, you know, take up too much space. Whatever be the reason, we need to think of this as a business decision and just move forward with it.
Next up, amplifying your presence.
Show up more often.
Easier said than done, but, trust me, you can do it.
Pick your platforms and show up. Similar to amplifying your awesome, amplifying your presence is often linked to like, we tend to worry a lot. Like, at least I’ve and for all of these things, I’m speaking from personal experience because I’ve, like, literally been there. And, again, you may not be feeling this way, which is great for you.
I think that’s amazing. But if you are, know that you’re not the only one. You it’s natural to be like, oh, but how? How do I do this?
Or what if I get rejected?
What if no one shows up?
Very valid fears.
But a fear of showing up is nothing but an inner gremlin urging you to keep playing small, insisting that you stay hidden.
That is what, at least, I realized. And, you we have Kirsty who does mindset, so she would be able to speak more of this. But once I realized that this is just you know, it’s I can easily flip this. I can easily reframe it. This is just, like I said, an inner gremlin holding me back, and I’m not gonna let that happen.
Because what if I get rejected? But what if someone says yes?
What if no one shows up? But what if someone does? So it’s really easy to do that, but it’s super important again, in this case, for you to pick your platforms and pick and then show up there consistently because that makes you comfortable. Consistency does has this other great advantage.
The more you show up on a particular platform, whether that’s a stage or a or a social platform or going on podcast or writing blog posts.
The more you do something, the more comfortable you get. The more comfortable you get, the more confident you are. The more confident you are, the more impact, the greater results. You know? So it’s just it’s kind of a ripple effect, and the best part, it doesn’t even take a ton of time.
So, again, feel feel feel less when you’re standing out. Like, reframing it would really, really help. So this is more of an ongoing thing. You will always come up against like, for instance, when I decided I wanted to start speaking on stages, my greatest fear was like, what if I mess up?
But then what if I don’t? What if I nail it out of you know, crush it? And for me to do that, what do I need to make it happen? How can I make it happen?
So think about where you may be playing small when it comes to positioning.
Be honest with yourself.
What stories are you telling yourself about your authority, your credibility, you know, your results? Whatever it is that you feel like, oh, it’s not quote, unquote, good enough.
Are those stories true? Are they a fact?
If yes, then how can we change that stories? Because stories are just that. They’re stories. They can be changed.
And if not, then how can you reframe them? How can you move past that?
It’s this is more of a mental step when it comes to amplifying your positioning, but trust me, it’s sounds cliche, but it’s a game changer. Once you start doing this, it becomes so much easier for you to make those big asks that help you amplify your positioning and be known for who you are. Like, if you wanna be unafraid, you wanna feel confident, you wanna feel brave making those big asks, you need to start by addressing what’s going on inside when it comes to showing up in a big way.
So really spend some time thinking, well, this is this is like an ongoing step.
And if any of you are in this place where you feel that you’re playing small when it comes to your positioning, feel free to, again, like I said, tag me in Slack.
And we can chat about it there.
But this is a huge, huge step for you to start showing up in a big way on those big stages and be absolutely unafraid when it comes to owning who you are and what you wanna be known for.
Your positioning at the end of the day is your point of difference. I absolutely love it when clients tell me why they, you know, wanna work with me because every single time, it comes down to my positioning, and it shows me that it’s working.
So people may rip off your packages. They may copy your content, your updates. It’s happened with us many, many times over. It will continue to happen. Honestly, unless, of course, it’s like a word by word copy and someone’s, like, plagiarizing a copy. I’m, like, not gonna send a cease and desist for someone I see is copying a package that we’ve created or is writing an update that’s similar to ours. I mean, that’s not a worthwhile use of my time or our team’s time.
But because of what I know is they cannot copy as our unique positioning.
And our positioning, again, it’s not permanent. Right? It will evolve.
Your positioning will set you apart. And if you continue to amplify it, people will recognize you instead of recognizing your competition. It just works works that way. We have so many people telling emailing us, telling us, oh, you know, I saw so and so, you know, using your branding, like, you know, the food and coffee branding.
Did you know that? Yes. I do. Does it bother me? No. I mean, I don’t own the food and coffee, you know, connection.
A lot of people can make that connection, but I love it that they people think of us when it comes to food and coffee coming together. So that’s just a very small example, but there are so many other cases. Point is your positioning is your point of difference. Once you start amplifying it, it becomes that much easier for you to be recognized and known for a particular point of view, for known for a particular expertise, known for a particular skill set.
So go forth and follow positioning.
Alright.
Time for q and a for the position related questions or copy reviews.
Hi, Heather.
I have a position oh, hello.
Yeah. I have a position question. Can you hear me okay? Sorry. I’m in the car.
Sure. No.
No. Can you hear me?
We can.
Go ahead. So this is kind of it feels like a silly question, but it’s actually a real question.
I mean, obviously, we need to do the work of defining our positioning.
But do you ever find that, do people have success with hiring or partnering with the hype person?
Reason I ask is I hate promoting myself. I’m really, really terrible at it, but I’m really great at promoting other people.
And because I think it’s hard to sell yourself, sometimes.
And so I was just curious if you’ve ever seen people, like, I don’t know. You know, maybe they’re a little bit timid about being, amplifying their own positioning. Their position assuming their positioning is clear, but maybe they have trouble amplifying their own and maybe they have their assistant, like, you know, write their authority. I don’t know. Like Yes. Under someone.
Yeah. Okay.
Absolutely.
So many people, like, way back in the day, when we were starting out, like, I would’ve we when we were starting out, we did not have a budget to hire. But point is, like, if we had the budget to hire, I would have wanted to speak to at least, if not, hire full time, like, speak to someone who was, like, quote, unquote, positioning, amplification, or high person, like you said. You know? I would, I can and there that is exactly why so many people do also work with ghostwriters when it comes to their social content or when it comes to their, you know, their blog posts and all of those. So, yes, I think, that is definitely an an option.
An option.
Okay. Cool.
Thank you.
You’re welcome. Any other questions?
Ask you okay.
Yeah. Can I pose, I’m I’m struggling a bit with the positioning?
So, basically, I it’s been a huge evolution since CSP started in November. I think you probably heard in some call me discuss the seasonal sale holiday sale opportunity.
And I I think that, of course, is still a pretty blue ocean all that. However, what I’ve really come to realize is is that there’s there’s it seems to be a difference between what people are looking for, which for me is email strategy, email copywriting, executing, even management, that kind of thing. And then the like, for example, I was on a call two days ago, and it was with a audit client.
And they, we were just kinda talking about a lot of things. But, basically, it was like, oh, you could do our whole seasonal Father’s Day for them is a really big one, and they haven’t planned it yet. And they were like, oh, you could, like, do the entire campaign? And I said yes. And she goes, well, this it was just a bad time for the clients in terms of their seasonality, so their this is their low. So she was kinda trying to figure out budget and what we could move forward with since I delivered the audit.
And while she wanted to move forward with email as well and the retainer style and everything Joe’s teaching, it she has to be careful with her budget. And so I just kind of what I’ve what I kind of am struggling with is while the blue ocean seems to be there with seasonal and holiday sales and being able to be that person, I so much of what I wanna also deliver is email marketing, and that’s what people are coming to me for.
And, ultimately, I’d like to create an email marketing agency. And, of course, seasonal sales can be a part of that for sure.
Mhmm. There could also be a campaign package with that. But what I’m struggling with is people don’t seem to be seeking out a seasonal sale strategist, an expert on that.
They are definitely coming to me through email. So I’m struggling even on a basic level with, okay, my homepage.
How should I position myself on my homepage? What should I prioritize? I initially did change it to all real focused on seasonal and holiday sales. But it’s it something isn’t work isn’t feeling right, and it’s keeping. And that is the block for me with moving forward with doing all the work of authority building and all that because I’m just sitting there going, but what should I leave with, and do how should I bring in the other one?
And you know what I mean? Is this making sense, or am I just rambling?
No. No. It is.
It is making sense. And it this, okay. So, yeah, I completely agree that, you know, seasonal sales is a huge flow, an opportunity. Like, for for me and the course creator market, the newsletters and the flash sale sequences, all those are really great, but those are not the ones that I lead with because I know that’s, you know, something that our clients, they when they see the opportunity, they go, yeah. Okay. That makes total sense.
But that’s not who they’re looking for.
They’re looking for either a launch copywriter or an evergreen funnel copywriter. How do I position myself over there? So I focus on ROI. I talk about ROI focus. I may change that to something else later, but every conversation I have with a a client and the process that I walked them through shows them the ROI of every step. Like, even the research phase, what’s the return on investment for them?
Why would they like, because for a lot of clients, they’re like, oh, but that’s onboarding. You would you know, that’s your your thing.
No. It’s not. You know? It gives you clarity on who you should be talking to, how you should be talking, but we already know that. Okay. But then why aren’t your launches converting? We’re obviously missing something.
And Mhmm. Then I walk them through what my report messaging recommendations report looks like, etcetera, etcetera. Anyways, point is there may be a case for you to position yourself as an email marketing strategist who specializes in or an email marketing copywriter or an, you know, whatever you wanna call yourself who specializes in uncovering hidden sales or businesses.
Seasonal sales can be a part of that. But, also, a win back sequence could be a part of it. You know, welcome sequence could be a part of it. So point is maybe you need to use your seasonal sales as, of course, an authority builder.
You, you know, you definitely wanna start talking about it because not enough people are talking about it.
But you may also wanna think about, is there a way for you to look at how you approach businesses as a whole, how you approach email marketing as a whole and kind of lead with that instead.
Not to confuse any further, but I feel like if you’re seeing that people aren’t really looking for a seasonal sales strategist, maybe a case for broadening it. It could just be that you’re not talking about it often enough. You know? So it could that could totally be the case that, you know, you’re not showing up on stages often enough and, you know, just drilling home the point that, you know, seasonal sales are a huge missed opportunity for most businesses.
Yeah.
So you need to kinda look at both the things and make a decision there. Like, have you been giving it your hundred percent as far as yes. As far as your positioning goes, or have you been, you know, like, half heartedly, kind of saying, yes. I do this, but then also talking about a million other things. Because a lot, you know, a lot of this is about being really brutally honest with this brutally honest with yourself.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Mhmm.
Sorry about that.
That’s a really valid point.
I have a question, Jessica. Have you considered positioning yourself as the email strategist who turns discounted customers into full paying customers?
Well yeah. So broadening out to that, because that was where seasonal and holiday kind of led me was just this idea of, either how do you turn people who came into your, you know, your ecosystem via a fifty percent off Black Friday deal? How do you turn them into someone who will come back and buy it full price?
That’s definitely an angle which then I, you know, I think you and I spoke about the, the ditch the discount. So I I am leaning in with that. I think that’s just, it’s easy to for me, I just there’s a disconnect with it. I wish I I just need, like, a I don’t know if I need, like, some sort of chart to make it clear to me, but I’m always sitting there going, okay. I can have Ditch the Discount as a newsletter and a podcast and make and I can go into all sorts of things related to the phrase ditch the discount. You know? Mhmm.
But when it comes to my, okay. So, like, what’s in the hero section of my home page? And then what what is that messaging hierarchy?
That has always been a struggle for me when I don’t have one clear, like, this is how I wanna someone to find me and then start investigating me and then to start potentially working you know, like, the whole customer journey, that for me has been very difficult to figure out what that looks like.
And and, yeah, I’m doing this because I’m imagining, like, a a a upside down pyramid or something. You know?
Visual.
So, yeah, that’s what I’m kinda struggling with.
See, I feel like answer your question, Caroline. Sorry. Go ahead. No. No. I feel like, saying that you can turn you can help turn discount customers, for lack of a better word, price, to full paying customers and increase the lifetime value.
I was yeah.
That messaging would really resonate. And then as a part of that, as Perna mentioned, you could you could highlight seasonal sales as one aspect of it, but there’s so many ways that people come in discounted. I mean, you go to a website and they give you a pop up, sign up, and get ten percent off. I mean, or I see something on Instagram and it’s sale for whatever, temporary sale may not be seasonal, but, you know, for a week, there’s a discount, so then I might sign up.
But I may never shop there again.
Mhmm. Mhmm.
I feel like that’s it feels like it would be a problem, a big enough problem. I feel I suspect that retailers are thinking about this.
I don’t know. It just to me, it seems like it would resonate if you were to just talk about returning discounted customers into full paying ones and increasing lifetime value of that.
So if you so if you were putting on it, like, so, obviously, I’ve been focusing a lot on ecommerce, and not that that couldn’t change.
But my point is if you were a business owner, let’s say, ecommerce, and you saw that I was, like, the person who was focused on turning discount buyers into, you know, full price customers or loyal customer or whatever you wanna say. If you saw that, I guess my question is, would you expect that what my primary solution for you would be, like, to go with CSP and what Joe’s teaching in the intensive, a standardized project that is an email program audit. Would that connect for you? Because that, to me, I I’m, like, not seeing that as the, oh, here’s the solution matched with the problem.
I think you would have to front that you tackle this problem via email.
Okay. That you know, and just talk about how impactful email can be to create loyal to create a loyal customer base and how you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not implementing correctly.
Yeah. Got it. Okay. No. I see. Thank you.
I would also add to that is, like, yes, definitely make a connection with email. But I almost feel like there’s a case here for you to consider.
Would would positioning yourself as the ecom email copywriter who helps businesses or companies increase customer lifetime value be, you know, a clearer value prop for them because that’s something they understand.
And how you help them do that is then through through seasonal sales.
My only disconnect and, again, this is not to, again, confuse any further. My only disconnect here is if you’re talking about ditching the discount and then you’re selling them on seasonal sales, are you saying you would not be telling them to discount their products then?
No. So, yeah, so what we did discuss this, Joe and I, in another call, and it was like, ditch the discount doesn’t necessarily mean never discount. It just means ditch your reliance on the discount as your primary way of selling your products.
Okay. And then how does seasonal sales fit in?
Well, so and then and then well, one, that’s my question is, does it?
That that’s kind of been that’s the, like, funny part about CSP is it was like, yes, seasonal sales. But then as I dove into it more, it was like, oh, there this reliance on discounting all the time is really a problem and the philosophy. But so I mean, in so this client that I was talking to, yes, their, Black Friday and all of that, the holidays are a huge time for them. And so, of course, like everybody, they lean on discounting at that time, and it’s almost weird if you don’t.
Right? However, it’s a very male, audience, and so Father’s Day for them is a huge seasonal sale. However, it is not. They don’t have to lead with a discount.
They lead with more of bundling and that kind of stuff with maybe free shipping or something Yeah. That they don’t have discount.
Okay.
So does that answer?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does. I just feel and, Jessica, you need to do a lot more, educating your audience.
Like, then the amplifying your party part needs to be one that you need to go all in on because like us and, you know, and we are people like, again, your audio your customers are gonna have the same questions. And then that’s your job to clear up those questions in as many ways as possible, in as many places as possible. And then I think so, yeah, the positioning’s great. It’s just that you need to think about, okay, how am I going to start talking more often about it?
Okay.
Okay.
I think I’m just gonna have to get over the fact that people my website is always an evolution anyway, and I’m not for perfection on it. And I know that, like, now I mean, it’s always been Yeah. Sometimes, and I’m not great. But I just think where I’m, like, every time I feel like I wanna iterate on it or change it up, I’m sitting there just going, what?
Well, like I said, where should I start at the top? I don’t Oh. Yeah.
So think about yeah.
Start at the top. Like, literally, start at the top. Think about it like, okay. Someone comes to your website. What’s the first thing you want them to know? So, hey. You’re on this page because you want more sales and you want more sales without having to lean on discounts all the time.
And I’m the email copywriter who’ll show you how to do that.
So maybe just start there. Like, keep it simple. But point is, will will this require more, you know, more education?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Do you see that as a problem, or is that just it’s that’s always.
Because it sometimes seems that when I look at no?
Okay. No. It’s not a problem. Okay. I’ll I’ll have like, for instance, in our case.
Right? So everyone’s the launch copywriter. Everyone’s like, oh, yeah. I can you know?
I started differentiating myself by talking about the fact that I’m not an order taker. I would wanna look at why do you need a sales page. Maybe you don’t need a sales page. Maybe you need something else.
Right? Mhmm. And now now there are a lot of copywriters who talk about it, a lot of them who’ve been through ready to sell, who, you know, have made proper optimization a part of their process. Being the strategist is part of the rest.
That’s the whole goal there.
But when I started talking about, you know, looking at all your courses before I write for the course you’re hiring me for, clients didn’t know why. Like, the other copywriters I’ve worked with would either just write the sales page they hired them to write or would write the email sequence. Literally, every testimonial I had from everyone, from Pat Quinn to, like, the, you know, crafters that I wrote for, the gardeners or everyone talked about the fact that they loved that I would go deep into their business.
Was it it wasn’t something that they even knew they needed.
But once they got it, it was like, oh my gosh. This is amazing.
So it’s not a problem. It’s just something that and you like I said, like, you will need to really, really talk about it every opportunity you get. So yeah. It will it is it hotter?
Maybe.
But then is it better?
Generally, when things are hard, it’s, you know, it’s great to do them because that means the rest of the competition is not doing it.
So Yeah. At least that’s how I would approach it. Yeah.
No. Thank you. That I I you just gave me a a extremely valuable coaching session. I can’t believe I just got that. Thank you so much.
And thank you so much.
You are the same thing. Awesome. Cool. Great. Any other questions? Any copy review requests? Nope.
All good.
I wish I did.
I’m not preparing any copy.
That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. Cool. Alright. I would honestly, like, for at least Nicole, I know you’re you’re part of CSP, but I’m part of Copy Hacker’s team.
But, again, for the three of you, if you like, I would love to hear how you’re gonna be applying your positioning over the next week and the next month. Seriously, like, tag me in in Slack. Let me know. I feel like all of you need to be shining brighter, when it comes to different status.
So yeah.
Thank you so much, Perna.
You’re welcome. Thanks so much. See you all in Stockton. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
How to Write Useful Books with AI
How to Write Useful Books with AI
Transcript
There we go. K. Everyone, everyone can see? You’re good? Okay. So, today, we’re gonna go over, how to write useful books.
And the premise is based around I don’t know if anyone, has read it yet, but there’s there’s a great book called Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. And, it’s a very systematic approach to to writing the book, and a good analogy is Joe’s research and discovery phase. It’s really getting into the mind of cost of the customer, understanding the problem, that they wanna solve, and then crafting a promise or solution to solve that problem. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take that concept, that he talks about in the book and the step by step process, and we’re we’re gonna use AI, to streamline a a lot of it today.
Now the book is essentially broken up into here’s a a diagram of each phase of the book, and, essentially, it’s broken down or the process is broken down into scoping.
And scoping includes really, you know, who you’re writing for, what they care about, what problem are they trying to solve. And then based off that, you craft a clear, clear promise.
Then more importantly, you you decide who the book isn’t for and what the book isn’t gonna cover. And then once you have that information, you can start drafting your table of contents, and then you create something that’s called a recommendation loop. And I’ll give some examples, in a minute on what that is. And And then you’re using this information to essentially, you can survey people, you can interview people.
I gives I’ll show you how to do that. If you really wanna do that, I’d I’m gonna write a couple of books, and I’ll show you where I’m at with these. I’m not gonna do that. I think that with AI, you can get enough information, session today, you’ll have what’s called a scoping document. And the scoping document will be similar to this.
And the scoping document will be similar to this, which is gonna be your table of contents, your top ten problems, the the interview questions, really getting into the mind of the customer that then you can use to start creating your book. And then, of course, I’ll get into that sort of the the process where I’m at it with it and whatnot.
The let’s start at the first step on that. And the first step he talks about is really it’s define your ideal reader and the specific problem they wanna solve. So this is this is copywriting in a sense. You know, you wanna you wanna know who you’re writing for.
Oh, you’re you can hear me okay? There’s oh, I thought I heard a noise in the background.
Now he defines the problem as loosely or the problem is loosely defined as a skill the reader wants to develop, a fear or frustration they have, or a question they need an answer to, or a goal they wanna achieve. So when you when he says problem, he’s defining it very loosely.
The whole concept of the book is really to you wanna get into the mind of the customer, we call it, and copywriting direct response. In this case, we’re getting into the mind of the reader. We’re trying to really understand, the core problems so we can truly write a book that is useful.
The first step, of course, is to write your clear promise. Now he talks about the way he frames the promises, the key in framing of promises around solving a core problem or frustration or achieving a tangible outcome. So, again, it’s a skill I wanna develop. It’s a fear I wanna alleviate. It’s a question I want an answer to, or it’s a certain goal that I wanna achieve.
There’s a great quote by April Dunford, and she said most books are idea books. You know, that they don’t give you one little word about how to get it done. My book is going to be a book about how to actually do it. And that’s really one of the concepts of this is it’s, it really is writing a useful book, and it’s gonna teach you the actual step by step process. So it’s not theory, and that’s the overarching concept.
The key to identify a very specific problem, and there’s there’s certain processes that you you go through, and I’ll show you how to do them with with AI. But, you state the the problem, then you make an explicit promise.
How he defines the promises, it’s, you’re providing a clear path to that solution or desired outcome that they want. The promise should focus on teaching actionable methods, not sharing ideas. So he gives a great example of a promise of, a book. And this this is a a book that’s very popular, How to Stay Alive in the Woods. You look at that, you and Celine know what it is, and that’s a great example of solves a problem, and it’s a clear promise.
Here’s some examples of problem and promises.
And he the way he structures it in the book, it’s almost it is essentially a formula that you can use, which is great for AI because AI loves patterns. But, he gives some clear examples. So here’s an example of a problem. I’m struggling to gather reliable, customer feedback and insights as an entrepreneur.
The promise is this book will teach you proven techniques to conducting insightful customer interviews to deeply understand your customers’ needs and build products they truly want. So that’s a that’s a great example. Another problem, feeling stressed and unprepared when facilitating workshops or presentations. What’s the promise? Follow the step by step framework in this book to design and deliver engaging impactful workshop workshops that wow your audience.
Here’s another great one. Wanting to develop a consistent writing habit, but lacking motivation or desire.
This book provides a structured plan with actionable daily exercises to help you build a sustainable writing practice and make progress on your goals.
And then the last one he gives is, desiring to be more productive and make better use of your limited time, learn productivity strategies based on the latest research to eliminate wasted time, energy, and focus so you can improve the most your most important goals.
So in this case, as you can see, you’re you’re clearly aligning the the promise to the problem.
Once you understand the problem, you align a promise, and you state your promise, then you go into what he call what he calls as drafting your your table of contents. Now, again, there’s specific requirements on this.
You’re gonna add detailed subsections under each main section to further break down the specific lessons and takeaways.
You’re gonna test your table of contents, by having teachable conversations, he called them, where you attempt to actually deliver the promise value to your potential reader step by step. He suggests interviews and and, surveys. We can use AI for that. But, again, I’ll give you both message. You you can choose which one you want. Here’s a great example of the before and after for a table of contents. This was an actual book where the table of contents was just pine, willow, popular oak.
This table of contents, it just lists the names of different trees, but it doesn’t convey what the reader actually learned out each one. And here’s a here’s a great example of a good table of content. So instead of pine, it’s pine for fire starting wood and bandaging injuries. Willow for carving, weaving, finding water as a and as a pain killer, poplar for carving, kindling, containers, and treating infections, oak for construction, crafting, cold fires, and medicine.
So it it it it’s very specific, and it describes a specific outcome from each in the table of contents. So it’s very important.
The next one is writing your cover, and, again, it’s a formula.
And it’s for your cover, he says, you know, you write your clickable cover that makes an unmistakable promise about the value benefits that you will receive.
So the cover should make a clear promise, of course.
The title or the subtitle should explicitly describe who the book is for, the benefit outcome, and the text and imagery conveys a a core promise at its glance. And you’ll notice a lot of this stuff is is pulled from copywriting as well. A lot of this stuff is sales letters.
It just framed differently. Even the the the problem solution, formula that he says to use to write your promise is is literally problem solution or problem acetate solution for copywriting as well. And, again, if you’re gonna use the cover, he gives this multiple times. It’s how to stay alive in the woods.
So what we’re gonna do now is we’re gonna go through this this process that he talks about, which is scoping, and we’re gonna apply the steps using AI. So what I’ve done is I’ve created and I’ll give everyone access to this at the end. So, we’re covering this part, and this is gonna be like I said, this is gonna be enough for you to have your table of contents, have your book, ideas for your book title, and then you can start showing it to people and then start drafting your book as well. The writing and the drafting phase at the end, I’m gonna show you how to use chat or get chat t GPT to emulate your writing style or a specific writing style that you wanna emulate.
In my case, I’ll explain. When we get there, I’m writing a book on effective delegation. There’s a specific book that I really like, and I like that writing style. So I’ve I have AI analyze it and do a style guide and produce a style guide that I can input and use as a database.
And then moving forward, it’s gonna emulate that for me. So I’ll teach you how to do that at the end as well.
So here’s the first prompt for the scoping, and I’ll I’ll do a couple of them as well depending on how much time we have. Now the first step is you really you wanna define your, the top ten problems that your ideal reader wants to solve.
In this prompt right here, we are we’re instructing chat TPT or whichever you use, to look for the most pressing problems of your ideal reader, based on the specific criteria. The criteria we’re using is directly from the book.
These are exactly the criteria he’s saying. Now we got this from and I’ll I’ll show you a trick on how to get this information from is you can take these books that you wanna analyze and you can you can create your own dataset from them.
You can you you can create your own knowledge base, and then you can use AI to craft prompts that follow the specific instructions of the book. And I’ll show you how to do that, in a minute as well. So the first step is we wanna take this. I’ll do two example audiences to show you.
Let’s start with, in my case, I wanna start with pop it in. I’m gonna go with, let’s go first time managers. So ideal reader, just replace this.
And then what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna you can use chat GPT for this, which which will give you pretty good results.
Or another one is you can use is scholarly GPT. So what’s great about that one is it’ll pull, its knowledge from a massive dataset of, papers.
So we’ll we’ll do that one next and you can see the difference. Now these a lot of these are spot on if you read them, and it’s quite detailed as well. So once it lists the ten, then it’s just a matter of your you take that ten.
You can put it in your scoping document because you’ll save it for later.
But, we’ll go through.
One that I another one I’d wanna do as an example and just to show you how, you can get some pretty detailed information, especially on the research and discovery phase, is, let’s do it with scholarly and let’s do it for new dads.
Right?
And just to show you how broad, you can you can make this. So this will be new dad. You can also do it new new, new moms entering the workplace, new dads entering the workplace. There’s a lot of you can choose any topic, and it’s really gonna help you dig deep. Now what’s cool about the Scholarly GPT is that it’s basing it off of actual studies and whatnot so that you’ll find the accurate the information is pretty accurate.
And the same sort of concept, you just you take this in, add it to your scoping document, and then you can move on to the next step. Now, I don’t wanna it’ll it’s a run out because of the time. But the next step on that would be now the step is optional here is to in the book, he recommends, to take once you know the the top ten problems, so a new dad’s case, you know, in this case, it’s gonna be balancing work and parenting, sleep deprivation, financial pressure, lack of personal time. As a new dad, I can tell you this is all a hundred percent accurate, as well. Dealing with mental or no physical health neglect, adapting to change self identity. So a lot of these, what do you suggest now doing in the book is to take this information and to write a survey.
So, again, you can use chat GPT for that. I included a prompt if you do wanna do do that. There’s a a GPT called survey, creator GPT. I’ll open that for you.
And what you can do is you can paste the there we go. You can just paste this prompt, if you do wanna do that inside of that. And what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna, create a survey that has two parts. It’s either a survey question or a survey interview that you can send to different people.
I put the output in here for you. You can see what it looks like.
And this is the output. It’ll put it on a scale of one to ten. And because you’re we I recommend that that GPT that you use because it follows best practices for surveys and whatnot.
And then, of course, you would send this or interview, your one reader. In this case, it’s new dad. And you’re essentially trying to figure out, okay, which which resonates with them, the most. And then based off that, we would move to the next step.
So the next step after that is, you know, let’s say that we we are we speak to dads. We’re like, okay. This problem really resonates or it’s first time managers. In this case, what we would do, I know I went through this right here. Let’s go to this is a new dad.
Okay. Here’s the delegation. So I’ll go through I know it’s delegation, time management and delegation.
So what you do is you take this prompt and copy it. Now what this is gonna do, it’s gonna really dig deep into that specific problem, and it’s gonna use the criteria from the book, that we talked about. Because now we know the problem. We wanna understand the goal.
We wanna understand, what we talked about earlier, any questions they have. We also wanna understand any frustrations or problems that they have, related to that specific problem. So we’ll put that in here, paste it, and go up target audience. Here we go.
So first time managers.
And now what’s gonna do, it’s gonna based off the criteria of the book, it’s gonna really dig deep and so you can get in into the mind of the, the reader.
And this is building now we understand the top ten challenges. We we’ve narrowed that down to getting into the understanding the the mind of the customer, the the reader, and crafting our table of contents and also our book title as well. Now what I did in this case is you just copy and paste it, put it in your scoping document, and you can study it later. And it’s pretty detailed stuff. Like, it it it talks about personal and professional growth, why they’re motivated profile. It goes into detail quite a bit.
And if you do read the book, you’ll see that these are aligned with with everything that he mentions to, to do. You may not agree with all of it, but we’re using his criteria to, define the to define the stuff. So next is to, get an even deeper understanding.
Now now we know it’s first time managers. We know the problem. The core problem is effective delegation.
Now we wanna get in to deeper understanding. And we for effective delegation, we wanna know which skills they wanted to develop. So we’re gonna ask AI, specific questions, including why questions.
We’re gonna we’re gonna wanna know the the, the skills it wants to develop, the frustrations and the fear, any specific questions, and then any goals. And then we’re gonna ask we have specific criteria that he discusses in the book to get an even deeper understanding. So So what we’ll do is we’ll paste this.
And remember, all of this information we’re gonna be using for our table of contents and our book cover as well, which is I was pretty surprised the book. The GPT nailed it quite well. So we’ll paste this in.
Here it is. So d and this is deeper, deep in our understanding of the most pressing problem identified earlier, which, of course, was the delegation for our reader. We click on this. And now it’s gonna give me specific skills that the the reader wants to develop, specific questions it wants, answers to.
Because remember, we’re we’re promising something in this book. Right? So it has to be actionable because it has to be a useful book. So what we’re doing is we’re layering in and layering it, and we’re we’re getting to the meat and potatoes.
But because we’re going it from different angles here, we’re coming from a skill development angle. We’re coming from a fear and frustration angle. We’re coming from an answer and question angle. We’re also coming from a goal angle.
We can tackle different promises, and we can test which ones resonate better. So that’s that’s the ultimate, goal that we’re doing here. So, again, copy and paste this, put it in your, your scoping document.
Now the next step when that’s done is now we get a handle on our most pressing. And I’m I’m sort of going through this because we’re limited on time, but, ideally, you’d wanna analyze this and and read through it. I did this do with copywriters as well. So I’m gonna there’s a book called, Creative Under Pressure that I’m gonna write because it identified with copywriters.
One of the biggest challenges is wanting to, maintain creative or be creative when they’re still facing all these tight deadlines and they feel rushed.
So that’s a pre engaging topic. So I’m gonna write a book on that as well.
Let’s do the next step. Craft a tangible promise. So this is the fun part. Now we know the problem, the core problem, delegation, you know our audience. Now we’re gonna ask ChatGPT to craft a clear promise that we can start testing. And, again, this is the structure of the book, to the letter, including the skills, the promise that they need, the fear frustration, the promise that addresses that. We paste this in.
So here we go. So the first one is the need to craft a promise, is skill development. So many new managers struggle with establishing authority while maintaining a positive relationship with former peers. Here’s the promise. If your new manager finding it challenging to balance authority with, camaraderie among your team, then this book will teach you practical leadership skills. The next one is understanding the fear and frustration.
The another one is the identify the problem, new managers. Asserting authority is a good one. You know, if you’re a new manager pondering how to assert your authority effectively without alienating your team, this book will offer you clear guidance. So what we’re doing now is we’re aligning the the promise based off the, problem, but this we’re we’re categorizing the problems, again, based off skill, fear, question, or goal. Now once we’ve done this, we have our promise, we have our need.
You can go on to the next step, and you can test this if you want. You can take this prompt, put it into the survey GPT. And what what that will do is it’ll craft a series of, survey questions that you can either email, or if you want to, you can interview them. And the goal of that is to determine which promise out of everything we just mentioned sort of resonates with the reader, and then you can you can use that to move on to the next step, or you can just use chat tp t. I’m not gonna do this because I’m I’m pretty confident in the results that that chat chat t p t is writing. I’m gonna move on to the next step.
He talks about in the book, you know, who the book is for and not for.
So what I’m gonna do is now I know that the the reader, I know the core problem. Now I wanna draft who the book isn’t for is not for. And I wanna not only decide who the book oops. Sorry about that. Okay. So the next step is we’re gonna we wanna write, or decide who the book is for, who the book is not for, and what the book will not cover. So now Chat EPT understands our audience, the core problem.
It also has a handle it can also tell us, okay, who is the book not gonna cover, and it’s gonna write that for us here. Again, these are all the requirements that it talks about in the book, with clear examples of each one. So then it’s just a matter of pasting it in. Now this is important as well because this is gonna be one of the first sections on your book that, and he talks about, you know, you wanna highlight exactly who the book is for, who it’s not for.
So when I look at it right away, I’m gonna say, you know what? This book is for me. It’s not for me, and I’m gonna make that decision. And not to go really broad, because if you go broad, you get a lot of four star reviews.
It’s like, oh, this was a good book, but it wasn’t really for me. You wanna avoid that. And by highlighting who this for isn’t for and being ultra specific, new managers who wanna learn how to delegate, It’s not for, leaders with a lot of experience.
It’s not for non manager skills. Like, it it’ll break it down for you. I’m gonna include this in the the table of contents. So I would copy and paste this, put this in the scoping document.
The next step here is to write a recommend recommendation loop. Now this is cool because a recommendation loop is he talks about it, and we’ve all done this where, okay. I have a problem, and let’s do presentation. So I have a presentation coming up. You know, I’ve never done a presentation. I need to learn how to do this.
I’m talking to a friend at work. A friend says, yeah. Yeah. I I was doing presentations.
I read this great book. You should check this out. Oh, what is it called? I go read the book.
I implement it. I hold a successful presentation, and then I recommend it to someone else. That’s called a feedback loop. And in the book, he recommends that you write that, and it’s a dialogue between two people based off your specific problem, which is which is pretty cool.
So I’d paste that in as well.
And remember, I’m I’m layering this off of, each step. So now it’s gonna analyze it based off the problem, and it’s gonna write a a, a recommendation loop for me.
And, of course, what I would do before is you you take that. Here’s the recommendation that it, it did before, and it breaks it down for you. It’s triggering the need, mentioning the stress, and it’ll create a dialogue from start to finish. In this case, it’s, you know, she’s, Saris is is struggling with her colleagues. She’s struggling with her new roles in the manager and delegation, and Tom gives her advice, recommends this book. She applies the book, and then they call it closing the loop where she she’s like, hey. I had a great experience, and then she recommends it to a colleague.
So that’s what that’s what it’s, he refers to. And, so this is gonna write a complete recommendation loop for you as well. And, again, copy and paste that, put that in your scoping document, and move on to the next step.
Now we get into the fun stuff, which will be the table of contents. Now table of contents is, it’s, we talked about that before. It’s there’s a specific criteria he says to focus on. It’s solving the problem. It’s actionable.
So we’ve taken all the criteria from his book. We’ve taken the exact output that he suggests, and he gives some great examples. So we’re just gonna copy this in.
And now ChatGPT knows, who the book is for, who the book is not for. ChatGPT knows the core problem we wanna solve. It’s recommended potential promises, to solve that problem, identifying a goal, a challenge, or frustration depending on which angle we wanna go with. Now based off that information, gonna go ahead and it’s gonna draft a table of contents for me.
Now the, and now what you wanna do at this stage is you’ll take this table of contents and you can start testing it with people. You can put it in front of new managers.
You can ask people for certain feedback. You can tweak it. If you’re not happy with the first run, then, of course, you can, you can just have it rewrite it as well.
So I took this well, it’s running through because of time right now. Put it I put it into the table of contents here, and, it was spot on. It, I like this one better because it it it laid the foundation. One trick I had, if if you do so he does mention too, if you’re gonna write a useful book to make sure that it’s it’s timeless.
Right? It’s it’s not to not to align it with certain technologies that won’t be around in, say, a year or two years. Right? So one thing that I did is they’re the business book here on, like, the top one hundred tools you need to succeed.
And in that is the delegation process or as other business, frameworks that are using the financial world, like balanced scorecard.
So you can take these proven timeless frameworks and you can ask AI to, draft a table of contents around this framework that then aligns with your reader and the problem they wanna solve. So that’s gonna solve sort of the timeless take that we were talking about.
Next step we do after that is the book cover. Now this this is a fun one as well.
The book cover is there’s certain criteria that, we talked about in there. Now this one, you want to update a few things, on this as well. So you wanna paste this in just because it’s a bit more accurate. And it’s gonna give you ten potential book titles. So I put first time managers and most pressing, which is delegation, which we figured it out.
So now it’s gonna suggest some book titles.
Some of them you like, some of them you won’t. Some of them for there’s other titles I gave, and I’ll show you in a second that I love.
The copy running one, I absolutely love.
And, the the original title that it said, I made some tweaks to it. Now this is the criteria he recommends as well. You could use, copywriting formulas here if you want. There’s other formula that you can find. Test that. But this is based off the criteria he suggests that’s embedded into the into the, the prompt.
So now you have your titles. And, of course, you can you just you paste it in here. And now you have your table contents. You have your, your title.
You have everything done in the first part that he talks about, which is your your scoping document. So you’re like, what’s the next step? So the next step is to, take this information and you can use some type of writing tool. What I use is, it’s a lifetime value.
I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard of Atticus.
So there’s three books that I’m I’m gonna start, writing. The first one is the one we just went over, is the effective delegation for first time managers. I think that’s a great a great title.
This is the outline that I talked about, which is based off the framework. So it’s, I have my outline. I have the premise. I have the title. I can start testing it, and these are the the the other headlines that I I may test as well. And that’s all from the scoping document. It took me about a half hour to put this together.
The other books that, based off other research I did, the other book I wanna write is, of course, write useful books with AI, which is the process I’m going through right now. I’m gonna take that and I’m gonna write a book on it, as well. Well, that’s an obvious no brainer. And then this one, which is really cool, is creative under pressure.
I went through that exercise, and I told you earlier that copy that was one of the top challenges that I realized with copywriters is this need to feel to be creative.
But how do you juggle that, especially with all these tight deadlines? So it’s offering actionable tips and incorporating AI or some angle I have to think through on it.
So you put your title in there, you put your headline.
And, on the next step in here, another this is a big one as well, is the drafting.
So, this is all about writing, and you may agree or disagree on this approach, but, the there there’s plenty of books in that right now that are a hundred percent AI written that are making a lot of money.
If you wanna go that route and there’s a certain style you want, this is how you can do it. What you’ll do is you’ll take and I’ll include the prompt for you as well.
You can copy and paste this prompt into, chat GPT or any any that you want. And what this is gonna do is it’s gonna write a style guide for you based off your writing that you want. Now when I say style guide of your style, what I’ll do is let’s start a new one here. I’m gonna paste this in. This is a book that I really, really like. This is a book on delegation that, was was number one seller. It sold really well, and it tells an engaging story.
It, it’s not dry. It’s like a new manager. What he is what he experiences. There’s a lot of dialogue. It’s just a great writing style that I like. So all you need to do is if you find a book that you like or someone else’s writing, it could be a blog, it doesn’t matter what it is, then just go ahead and copy the whole chapter and paste that into the prompt. And you wanna find the the section here where it says examples right here, and just go ahead and replace that.
Okay? And then enter. And ChatTPT is very good at this. Claude is very good at this as well. So it’s gonna analyze this writing style, and it’s gonna write us, a, style guide for me. It’s gonna look for pattern recognition, adjectives, adverbs, and it is spot on. And it’ll give you an example, at the end, this will pass one hundred percent AI detectors, guaranteed.
It’ll it’ll show as one hundred percent human writing because it’s basing it, of course, off the human human writing. Right? So when this is done, you can take this.
And just before you’re gonna write a book or if you just wanna do an outline, with your spit draft or what it is of that chapter, you do very high level. And then you can copy and paste this, and you can see how it’s doing the dialogue, which is just exactly how I wanted. You would copy paste this in here. Save this as your style guide somewhere. You could put it in the prompt if you wanted to.
Okay. And just, write like me.
And now you have your own personal style guide that you can use. And when you’re starting, a prompt, you can just, you know, copy this, put it in here. This is gonna tell ChatGPT exactly how you write your your the style guide, everything it needs to know to emulate your running stuff. And then you can just put your outline here or what you wanted to write. It’ll emulate that for you as well.
I’ve done that with with these sections. So here I’m at with the to taking that process. And keep in mind, this this was a day. Okay? This is, like, maybe three hours getting to this step.
Effective delegation for first time managers, table of contents, the the the book titles that I’m gonna test, the introduction, the all the chapters, what’s book covers and what it doesn’t. I have all that in a scoping document. So I can just take this, copied it, put it in my writing style, and chat GPT will write it. Here’s the first, here’s chapter four foundations of delegation.
Here’s what it’s written so far. It’s the dialogue I want. It tells an engaging story of a new manager who’s learning how to delegate. He has the specific problem that I’ve discovered, the specific scenario, the specific problem, sort of promise, and it also uses the framework from this business book as well. So it’s timeless as well. Right?
And I’ll repeat that process through each, for each one, including the preparing to delegate, and then I’ll just rinse and repeat.
A tip on this is to, especially if you’re looking at a certain, topic is to, if you can find it, like, this was on AppSumo when it was available. This this is a database. So what you can do on these is is find a book or a topic that you like, and then you can add let me go to chatbot here.
You can go in and you can create a prompt, for it. You can upload the book. Okay? So all of these are books here that I that I’ve uploaded, including, like, patient dataset.
So it’ll only pull from that. And then you can you can instruct it to act as a writing coach and that author, and you can put your prompt in here. And then you can use this as a reference guide when you’re doing your research as well. Now a a trick on this as well, if you’re if you’re reading a book and you wanna create your own prompts or or concepts, is, ask this to use the book as its own dataset and then ask it to explain the concept in the chapter.
And once it’s explained the concept, then ask it to write step by step actionable, process to achieve that concept and then ask it to turn that instructions, that step by step process, go to chat GPT, and explore. You’re gonna see different different type of, GPTs that you can use here. One of them is called, prompt.
Here we go.
And you can pull this up. There’s prompt engineer, prompt perfect. That that’s a that’s a good one. You can paste those instructions into prompt perfect, and it will write a prompt for you to achieve the exact outcome that the author suggests based off his criteria.
As you can see, yeah, that’s pretty powerful, and you can align that with different books, and different strategies that you want depending on the angle that you wanna use. So if you can get a hold of this, definitely do it because you can build your own your your own datasets.
That’s it, in a nutshell.
I’m gonna put this online in one of the groups.
It’s gonna take me, I imagine, about two weeks to publish the book on delegation.
I’m gonna publish it to Amazon. I’m gonna put it up, and then we’ll see how it goes. But, it’ll be interesting. And then I’ll share additional processes on that as I go through it as well and all the prompts. So go ahead and bookmark this, this page, and I’ll share it with everyone as well.
And just a systematic process. You know?
Go step by step and and learn as you go, and then you’ll see different opportunities and and go from there.
Any questions that I can answer for anyone?
Jess had one. How are you planning on testing the titles?
Well, that’s you can do a survey. Right? It’s you can I can put it in front of people?
You can find first time managers. Right? You can test them. You can do interview questions, or you can send a survey if you want. K. Easy.
There’s a test I forget what it’s called. There’s a tool we’re at. You can actually pay as well, the split test. And people you can use Google Ads if you wanted to test book book titles as well or book covers.
I’m not gonna do any of that. I think that AI is to the point right now where I can get a pretty good idea. Like, I’m I’m more than comfortable with launching with effective delegation for first time managers. I think that’s clear.
It meets the purpose. It’s spot on. I’m not gonna see how it goes. But, but, yeah, the you can, and I’ll I’ll forget I forget what tool it is, but I’ll I’ll send it over.
He talks about it in the book that you can use to test as well.
I think Naomi just she chatted over Liza.
That’s the only chat that I use to, test different ads.
So you can It could be.
It could be.
Testing, and there’s a really wide variety of criteria you can choose from.
What’s it called? Sorry. It could be the one I’m talking about.
It used to be called UsabilityHub, and they’d be branded as Listener. And you can do five second tests. You can Yeah.
That’s the one.
Upload up until six different yeah. Yeah. I you can do without a subscription, you can do tests with one question, I think, one or two questions, and then just pay for that test.
And I think it it’ll cost, like, fifty dollars per test.
Yeah. That’s the one he talks to. I’m pretty sure that’s the one he talks about in the book.
Yeah. It’s a great, great platform. I’m busy over here.
Is anyone here writing a book? Anyone have any plans to write a book at all?
Abby and I are both writing books right now.
Are you using AI at all?
Or I don’t I would imagine.
I don’t take my word for it, but I I don’t think Abby is. I am. So, but this is really helpful because I’ve, I don’t know. What I’ve been coming across lately when I’ve been doing work is, between chat g p t, and then I’ve been getting into Claude, and then, oh, I just started on another one.
But I found it interesting because I did the same process the first few steps, kind of similar to yours but different. And I couldn’t believe I was using ChatGCT four, like, the whole thing, and I did it two different times and two different things, and I couldn’t believe how incredibly different the outputs were.
And, so I was like I don’t know. I think where I go a little bit wrong with AI is I like to see the different outputs among the different tools, and I struggle to stick with one because I like a piece of one, but then I like a piece of the other. And, and then I don’t know which one to commit to, and then it gets really jumbled when I’m trying to keep, you know, the whole conversation going with the chat so that it remembers and tracks and I don’t know. So that’s just been my I don’t think I have ADHD, but I definitely have an organization problem. So I you know, that’s just what I’m working out with as I write the book. So I appreciate the process, Shane.
Are you using Scholarly to, the so when I did the the spot on what Scholarly is really good as it’s, like, list the specific problem of this group, and then it links and it references actual studies.
Yeah. No. I haven’t. I was actually searching for that because I I hired a freelancer to do some work for me, and I’m like, I know there’s one where they will reference journals and things like that. So I appreciate you saying that. Yeah. I need to get it.
It’s in there, the link. I did link to it as well as it prompts.
And I did use Scholarly. I found the results were, were really good with Scholarly. There there’s a few of them in there that and the I like how it references. Another, search engine I’ll share my screen with you.
This is a really good one you’re gonna like.
And I’ll do one with you right now is have you used, perplexity at all?
No. So perplexity is cool because what it does is so let’s take this the core problem here. Okay. Here we go.
Most pressing problem. So what it’ll do is it’ll actually pull different references from the Internet, and, I use this one quite a bit. So let’s go here. This is fine.
Identify the most pressing problem of, let’s do, like, first new dads. Right? And what it’ll do is it’ll search, and it’ll pull and link to the actual references that it pulls. So this is searching Bing right now and using Bing.
And it’ll it’ll still stick to this criteria, but it’s gonna give you it’s gonna link to actual sources as well. So try this one.
Okay. Love it.
Difference between perplexity and Scholar GPT is what one scholar is peer reviewed and perplexity is just pure quality.
Everywhere. We it’s, like, pulling different like, this will pull from Reddit forms. Like, see all these here. Right. These are all the places it’s pulling it from.
Yeah.
What’s cool is that you can see like, some of these are yeah. A hundred percent is gonna be right. Some of them are are, you know, advice for dads. Some of this I can okay.
Just a heads up. Let me let me also explain this. I can control these rankings as well. So we’re we’re doing this now where these are pretty easily to, to manipulate these rankings as of now because they’re trying to figure out their algorithm.
Like, back in the days of Google when it first started, you know, it was easy to rank.
And the thing to be careful about this is, like, if I put in into this right now, I said, you know, will AI take over an industry?
It’ll say no. But then if you look at the sources that it’s referencing, these people have a vested interest in AI not taking over the industry. So you have to difference with this one.
However, now this one right here, scholarly, this is gonna pull from, is, two hundred million plus resources built in. Like, it’s an actual database, and these are, like, Google Scholar, PubMed.
So you can pretty much trust these results. Right? You still wanna verify, obviously. Right?
But you’re gonna you’re gonna get some pretty good you’re gonna get some pretty good information from this, and it’ll reference the sources as well. What I would do is another option, if you’re doing your research, is to take this. Okay? Find a assign a study or a journal and upload this to so all of these files here, these are books. So if you buy a book from Amazon, okay, you buy a book, you can upload to your own dataset, and then you have your instant look, I don’t read books anymore. I ask for summaries, and I and I create a bot that analyzes the book for me, just answers it when I need the information.
That’s a better approach to take if you can.
And then find a journal or a study and then just create prompts and a bot, like a chatbot, to analyze the different stuff. Right? Like, we use it for datasets for patients, write great leads, all that stuff, and that’s what I do now anyways. This is great for research. Amazing for research.
On that note, Andrew wants to know if you can recap the different tools and GPTs used in the process and what they do and how they connect.
Just so they’re all all the you mean the tools is in, the prompt tools or the different I think the one that I’m most interested in is how the one that you were just showing us, the four AI, where you can build the knowledge base from books. Like, it Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Connect to chat GPT. I got it.
My I was just curious about So this isn’t connecting to chat GPT.
This is, this is creating your own knowledge based dataset. Okay? So this is this right here is and and that’s a different so chat GPT pulls from a a a data it’s itself well, not self learning, but it pulls you can create your own dataset from this. So I can upload a book, a document, and then I can create a bot to only analyze that specific book or document and become an expert at that and then ask you questions.
Okay. And and what’s what’s stopping you from, like, I don’t know, putting a a PDF of the book into, the custom GPG, like, knowledge base instead. Like, why, like, why doesn’t that work as well as this?
Because this is this will there’s a with this specific tool, it’s not, it’s not just chat chat DBT. This one you can use, Claude. You can use a a bunch of different, bots as well. So if you open this up, you have different options, and you can also pull API. So you’ll get different results from different ones.
One of the issues is with chat g p t, it may not accept because it’s copyright. Right? It as soon as it reads that like, if you put this into, perplexity, it won’t do it because it it’ll say it’s copyright.
Even though it’s my like, I’m not selling it. I’m not doing any wrong. I’m using it from my own knowledge. I’m not sharing it.
Right? So you this just allows you to to bypass. It’s not it’s more like a third party. That’s why I like it.
And more importantly, the different, you can use you’ll get different results on what you go with. Right? And you can also do your own custom, API, and you can actually get it to do stuff if you want it to as well. You can do this with chat GPT if you want.
It’s not gonna be I prefer this, as well because it it remembers it. It’s always there, and you can just kinda build on it. Right?
Yeah. That was close.
You mean, I think you can get this still, I think you I don’t know if this lifetime this was a lifetime deal, and it’s a steal if you can get it. You get, like, more than enough credits, and you’ll save a lot of cash.
And you got it on that too well?
Yeah. I don’t know if let me see if it’s still available. This is the best one I found.
This is amazing for research. Absolutely incredible for research. Here it is. Research anything with AI.
Now it’s off. If it if it comes back again, I’ll let you know, and I’ll let everyone know. But it’s it’s spot on. It’s, I love this.
This is, like, one of the best tools that I use.
Who doesn’t? Right? And you you can hook this up to Evernote and create your own knowledge base. Right?
All that stuff. All those little bits of information that you’ve always saved and you don’t know what you’re doing with it, you have instant access to it with AI. Right? And you can you can sorta have fun with it.
That was great. Yep. Pardon me?
I said that was great. Yeah.
It’s fun. Combative. It’s, it’s fun. I’m I’m gonna publish the book.
You guys can hold me that too. I’m gonna I’m gonna put the link on. I’m gonna publish the book on delegation in about two weeks, and I’ll add to the process as we go through in including the right like me.
And let’s see how it it goes. Right? There’s there’s a lot of books on there making a lot of money right now that are hundred percent written by AI.
So Mhmm.
Jess has a question.
So if you’re going back through and checking to verify that everything’s accurate, Shane, do you have, like, scope on that? Or, I don’t know. I I, again, hired a freelancer to help me out with, a talk I’m gonna be doing been doing using AI to kinda, I don’t know, just put something together. And I did pay and then, also, I hired the same freelancer when I was doing a competitor audit component of an email program audit.
Mhmm.
And and so I I just was curious if you had any suggestions about when you’re using AI but need to verify any tips, things like that? Because I found in the first like I said, the first time I did the g chat g p t competitor audit, it seemed very spot on when I went to verify on all the competitor sites or socials of what they were leading with messaging wise. Then I did it again on ChatGPT, and I literally asked it.
We’re making assumptions. Right? You’re not whatever.
And he goes, yes.
These are just industry, assumptions, whatever. And, and it was completely off from what each company was really leading with in their messaging, whatever. But, anyway, my point is is, like, I’ve realized the need for a lot of double checking and triple checking, And I was just wondering what your experience was with that with AI.
It it depends on the topic. Right? Like, if you’re talking data where, you know, actual numbers and stats, for sure. But, like, delegation, I’ve been doing it all my life. I’m basing it.
I’m asking AI to, because one of the concepts that’s useful is, like, make sure it’s timeless. Right? It’s it can it can be applied now or twenty years from now, and and I’m just using a proven framework on a business, so I don’t need to verify anything. Yeah.
If I was asking for statistics on delegation or along those lines, I would hundred percent verify it. Right? But if, you know, but it it depends on on what year you can ask. Can you can control it in the prompt.
So, k, we do use we do write stuff for for doctors. Okay? And we do JR, which is he’s twenty years old. He’s not a doctor.
He writes articles using AI on very medical like like, pro like, very medical content, prostate cancer, and he pulls stats. But what he does is he uses we we take, like, the prostate society, we take that database, and we tell AI to only use information from that database. So we’re controlling the source.
Okay. Right? And and if you do that, then it’s not it’s not making any assumptions. And you can in the the tool that I showed you, if you read those those prompts, like, I’m very specific in what I’m saying.
Right? It the the this is this is what I say for the for the book, and this this will give you an example. So I say, as a nonfiction coach, your job is to help students write useful nonfiction books by applying the strategies and tactics from the book, write useful books. The main focus is on is providing clear, actionable tactics for writing useful nonfiction books.
Please provide answers using only the language terms and strategies found and write useful books. When explaining concepts, use direct quotes or closely paraphrase the book’s content without adding information from other sources.
So you see I was very clear and specific about what I wanted it to do. Yep. As long as you you can like I said, like, we this is HIPAA. This passes HIPAA compliance.
Okay? So that’s a perfect example. We have the requirements for HIPAA. We give AI access to it.
We have, the dataset on prostate cancer from a reputable source. And any studies that are peer reviewed, we give access to that. And then we create prompts based off what I just said. And we have a twenty year old who has no medical experience writing detailed white papers about a medic that are then signed off by doctors.
Okay.
So it’s all you can do it. There’s two frames of thought, though. A lot of people say not to write a useful book or do stuff that you’re not familiar with. I don’t buy that stuff. I think you can learn anything. You just have to take time to learn it. I don’t I don’t subscribe to that.
But other people say only do what you know. Data always verify unless it’s your own dataset, but even verify anyways. Right? Like, we do we do social media posts where it’s, like, about health, health topics.
Right? Like, it’s it’s prostate awareness month, whatever it is, and then we’ll we’ll pull stats from a dataset. But but we these stats are from reputable sources. Right?
And you can control the your AI bot to pull from those sources.
Okay. So it’s all it’s all about data. It’s all about where it’s getting information from. Right? That’s what it is. But that’s why I love these tools because you can you can the trick is not to and we didn’t call it a trick.
Forget if you use ChatTPT or any of these tools, have your own knowledge base. Yeah. Create your own specialized knowledge base around a specific topic and train your bot on that to become an expert, and it will. Right? So I have a bot for Gene Schwartz. I literally have his book, and I’ve been using it. And now when I have a question, I ask Gene.
Right? And the dataset is his book. Who doesn’t right? It’s like having access to him. Right?
That’s all.
Thank you.
Pretty cool. Right?
Yeah.
I love it. We’re in a different world. Isn’t this crazy?
I have a question that, maybe should have been asked earlier.
But these books, are you using them just to sell, or is this a lead generation tool? And if so, how do you start thinking about what topics to cover in the lead generation tool?
Sure.
So there’s problem.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that’s the reason why. Right? You you you can definitely use it for a lead gen tool. Like, if you’re especially with those, you know, you’re going into, your specialization and your one thing, then let me share my screen. I’ll show you what I do. And, again, it’s all about AI is broadly defined, and I I include AI as different tools that you can use.
But here you can go, like, the delegation. And there’s tools that it’ll analyze. You’re on Amazon. There’s tools, Chrome tools that you can use, which will tell you the different, keywords that people are searching for that topic, and it ranks them by popularity. Right?
So you can, in this case, I would I would use it for lead gen. Like, it’s solving a specific problem. If I was if I owned a business website, I would possibly offer this as a lead magnet. Who knows?
Or you can launch it on this to build your credibility. Right? And now you’re a published author. Depends what it is.
Some people do make a lot of money. There’s there’s, there’s millionaire this guy right here, Chat GPT millionaire.
Where is it on this? He makes about I think it was, like, five k a month.
And it’s, and it’s a hundred percent written by AI. Right? So there is money to be made. It just depends on what you want to you wanna do. I don’t I’m just doing it for fun. I if I make money, great.
We’ll see how it goes. But I am there is demand for it, hundred percent, and I’ll probably make some money. We’ll see. I’ll share everything with you guys. What do you wanna write your book for? Is it what are you thinking?
Well, I’ve gone on a several podcast lately, and I keep getting asked about about creating buyer personas that work, because for a lot of tech companies just really struggle to come up with a clear picture of who it is that they’re targeting.
Okay. Yeah.
That’s true.
Not something that I necessarily thought would be popular, but a lot of my, a lot of podcasts that I’m going on are demand gen managers. They’re talking about ABM or, PPC, and, those are also my target customers. So Okay.
I thought that would be sort of an interesting middle ground because it’s clearly something popular. And, also, it is not really a service that I offer, but it would be sort of a gateway into a service that I offer. Meaning, like Okay. Creating and optimizing landing pages.
Yeah. Hundred percent. So there’s a lot, like so you wanna I think it’s Gene Schwartz. Like, he talks about, you know, it’s all about demand.
Right? Like, you you wanna anything you do, you make sure that there’s a a need or a want. Like, I’m using my own words, but there’s tons. Right?
So I what I would do is, you know, you look at Amazon and you can see other people have written books. I would purchase those books, download them. I would analyze the reviews. I would actually upload all these reviews inside of ChatTBT, and I would create a dataset.
And I would I’ve from those reviews, I would have it summarized. I would I would PDF I would create a PDF of this. Probably do it now if you wanted to. And then just upload it to, the tool that I have to analyze it.
Then you then I would use, like, SEMrush, to look at keyword data and different things. Like, this is also this is buyer personas.
This is great for volume, but look at this. This is a table of contents in your book. Right? Is it this this is telling you how to outline your book based off real data.
So there there’s a massive need, a hundred percent. I would go a layer deeper, and I I would go, like, forget buyer persona. Like, pick a specific, you know, what are they trying to do with the persona? I would dig deeper on that.
Mhmm. Like, here’s a chapter, buyer persona, and example. These are lead magnets. Hundred percent.
And then I my my brand is called Story Logic, and so I was gonna tie it into different story elements, like how what is the villain in the buyer persona? What is the assistant?
What is Story brands does that plot line.
Have you heard of My Story Brand?
So they do great. Demo solution? Oh, different.
No. I’ll show you here. So, here it is.
Create an account and, it’s it’s hero’s journey, basically, but it’s well done.
So they they take the hero’s journey, you know, Star Wars, Jaws, all those books. And, basically, what they do is they they do exactly what you’re talking about. So this and in the end, you can print this, but it follows the the here the it’s a version of the hero’s journey, basically. Right? And it’s a character who starts the problem, meets a guide, gives them a plan. And then what they do is they take this and they they align this to, story brand.
But the thing is that these are oftentimes not something that tech companies are looking at.
Shit. Are you sure? Really?
I I feel like a lot of the because I work with tech companies that are very, very technical, and very complicated. And so they struggle to understand how to take these concepts and apply it to technology because it feels very consumer ish for them. It feels very, it it feels too b to c. That’s the sort of feedback that I get there. They’re not thinking in that sense.
You wanna know a lot more about features and Benefits.
And different target demographics, and they’re thinking about campaigns and keywords. And it’s just this kind of language is they even if they’ve heard of it, they don’t know how to adapt it to their, to their use case.
So we I can tell you what I know works and what we do is you can take especially for that, like, if what they’re really saying is they they wanna better understand their their, their audience so they can they can make more money. Right? They wanna they wanna get in the mind, essentially. So you can if you look at this, and this is the angle that StoryBrand does, is this right here is actually a sales page.
It just it’s it’s aligned differently. It’s left to right. But if you stack these, it’s a sales page. So if you look at the the templates that they have, these are the different templates, and we sell these.
This is if you if you look at this, it’s it’s a story.
Right? And that’s the sell. And you could they spin this for b to c, but you could easily spin that for for for b to b or or tech, whoever you wanted to target.
You could use the hero’s journey and just stack it so it tells a great story from start to finish. And then that’s that’s this does that make sense? Like, this overlay on top of that?
Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I I think it’s great. It’s just I don’t see that many people doing this for a very technical enterprise level b to b item.
But why? I don’t understand. I know. That’s interesting. Why wouldn’t it?
I don’t know why. Because, I mean, like, I I think that a lot of a lot of people in these fields are and people in upper management are typically engineers, and so they tend to be very, very technical.
And they’re not thinking in a creative storytelling kind of way. They’re thinking about the product, and they’re thinking about getting the product out the door as quickly as possible. And then I also think that, a lot of times, the marketing leaders are or the successful marketing leaders are more involved in campaign management. So they’re thinking about bids, and they’re thinking about keywords and platforms and ABM and different strategies like that, and the sort of storytelling layer comes in later, it’s not the top priority.
But it should. Hasn’t Yeah.
I I agree. I agree. I’m just trying to explain. I especially, I most of the clients that I work with are Israeli, and Israelis are known for being extremely practical, extremely, just pragmatic. They wanna get things out the door. They wanna start campaigns. They wanna launch things, and the strategic element of things sort of falls to the wayside.
So Yeah.
Because it if they’re logical, then they would see, like, it’s it all starts with with keyword. Like, the keyword data on Google is basically the mind. It’s it’s understanding what people are searching for, and you use that to feed your campaign, your AdWords. Like, we make a lot of money with Google Ads.
It starts with keywords. I can tell instantly by looking at a keyword where they’re at the buyers or any stages of awareness, whatever it is. Right? Like, that’s that’s this that would be a pretty easy sell.
I don’t know. That’s weird. I’ve heard that. Maybe maybe I’m just in my own world.
I don’t know.
It’s not it’s not just Israeli I mean, this is this is what I hear. This is what the podcast hosts are asking me. Anyway, I appreciate the answer. I do have to jump.
Yeah. But yeah. Thank you.
Sounds like an opportunity, though. If you if they don’t if they don’t know it, then and it’s like it’s such a no brainer, like, it sounds like you could sell them pretty quick.
Yeah. I mean, I I don’t know if it’s something they don’t know or if it’s something that’s hard for them to flush out and hard to actually execute.
It’s too theoretical.
Well, how are they creating ads, though, if they don’t understand how how are you writing an ad if you don’t understand who you’re writing ad for?
Not not that well.
Well, you can. It’s impossible. It it it sounds like they just need to be informed. Like, it’s like, that’s an opportunity to create a process.
Right? Like, it’s a system that will help them achieve the the outcome they want, which is just that’s what I would do. Anyway, that’s why it’s so weird. I never heard that before.
Yeah.
Each is on.
Thanks, Shane.
Yeah. No worries.
Yeah. Thanks so much.
Any other, questions?
Have fun, everybody. I’ll I’ll share this as well. And I said, give me feedback on my book because it’s I’m gonna publish it. Give me two weeks and see how it goes. Hopefully, I get some good reviews.
And Yeah.
We’re looking forward to seeing it.
Alright.
Thanks so much. Okay.
Resource
Resource
Transcript
There we go. K. Everyone, everyone can see? You’re good? Okay. So, today, we’re gonna go over, how to write useful books.
And the premise is based around I don’t know if anyone, has read it yet, but there’s there’s a great book called Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. And, it’s a very systematic approach to to writing the book, and a good analogy is Joe’s research and discovery phase. It’s really getting into the mind of cost of the customer, understanding the problem, that they wanna solve, and then crafting a promise or solution to solve that problem. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take that concept, that he talks about in the book and the step by step process, and we’re we’re gonna use AI, to streamline a a lot of it today.
Now the book is essentially broken up into here’s a a diagram of each phase of the book, and, essentially, it’s broken down or the process is broken down into scoping.
And scoping includes really, you know, who you’re writing for, what they care about, what problem are they trying to solve. And then based off that, you craft a clear, clear promise.
Then more importantly, you you decide who the book isn’t for and what the book isn’t gonna cover. And then once you have that information, you can start drafting your table of contents, and then you create something that’s called a recommendation loop. And I’ll give some examples, in a minute on what that is. And And then you’re using this information to essentially, you can survey people, you can interview people.
I gives I’ll show you how to do that. If you really wanna do that, I’d I’m gonna write a couple of books, and I’ll show you where I’m at with these. I’m not gonna do that. I think that with AI, you can get enough information, session today, you’ll have what’s called a scoping document. And the scoping document will be similar to this.
And the scoping document will be similar to this, which is gonna be your table of contents, your top ten problems, the the interview questions, really getting into the mind of the customer that then you can use to start creating your book. And then, of course, I’ll get into that sort of the the process where I’m at it with it and whatnot.
The let’s start at the first step on that. And the first step he talks about is really it’s define your ideal reader and the specific problem they wanna solve. So this is this is copywriting in a sense. You know, you wanna you wanna know who you’re writing for.
Oh, you’re you can hear me okay? There’s oh, I thought I heard a noise in the background.
Now he defines the problem as loosely or the problem is loosely defined as a skill the reader wants to develop, a fear or frustration they have, or a question they need an answer to, or a goal they wanna achieve. So when you when he says problem, he’s defining it very loosely.
The whole concept of the book is really to you wanna get into the mind of the customer, we call it, and copywriting direct response. In this case, we’re getting into the mind of the reader. We’re trying to really understand, the core problems so we can truly write a book that is useful.
The first step, of course, is to write your clear promise. Now he talks about the way he frames the promises, the key in framing of promises around solving a core problem or frustration or achieving a tangible outcome. So, again, it’s a skill I wanna develop. It’s a fear I wanna alleviate. It’s a question I want an answer to, or it’s a certain goal that I wanna achieve.
There’s a great quote by April Dunford, and she said most books are idea books. You know, that they don’t give you one little word about how to get it done. My book is going to be a book about how to actually do it. And that’s really one of the concepts of this is it’s, it really is writing a useful book, and it’s gonna teach you the actual step by step process. So it’s not theory, and that’s the overarching concept.
The key to identify a very specific problem, and there’s there’s certain processes that you you go through, and I’ll show you how to do them with with AI. But, you state the the problem, then you make an explicit promise.
How he defines the promises, it’s, you’re providing a clear path to that solution or desired outcome that they want. The promise should focus on teaching actionable methods, not sharing ideas. So he gives a great example of a promise of, a book. And this this is a a book that’s very popular, How to Stay Alive in the Woods. You look at that, you and Celine know what it is, and that’s a great example of solves a problem, and it’s a clear promise.
Here’s some examples of problem and promises.
And he the way he structures it in the book, it’s almost it is essentially a formula that you can use, which is great for AI because AI loves patterns. But, he gives some clear examples. So here’s an example of a problem. I’m struggling to gather reliable, customer feedback and insights as an entrepreneur.
The promise is this book will teach you proven techniques to conducting insightful customer interviews to deeply understand your customers’ needs and build products they truly want. So that’s a that’s a great example. Another problem, feeling stressed and unprepared when facilitating workshops or presentations. What’s the promise? Follow the step by step framework in this book to design and deliver engaging impactful workshop workshops that wow your audience.
Here’s another great one. Wanting to develop a consistent writing habit, but lacking motivation or desire.
This book provides a structured plan with actionable daily exercises to help you build a sustainable writing practice and make progress on your goals.
And then the last one he gives is, desiring to be more productive and make better use of your limited time, learn productivity strategies based on the latest research to eliminate wasted time, energy, and focus so you can improve the most your most important goals.
So in this case, as you can see, you’re you’re clearly aligning the the promise to the problem.
Once you understand the problem, you align a promise, and you state your promise, then you go into what he call what he calls as drafting your your table of contents. Now, again, there’s specific requirements on this.
You’re gonna add detailed subsections under each main section to further break down the specific lessons and takeaways.
You’re gonna test your table of contents, by having teachable conversations, he called them, where you attempt to actually deliver the promise value to your potential reader step by step. He suggests interviews and and, surveys. We can use AI for that. But, again, I’ll give you both message. You you can choose which one you want. Here’s a great example of the before and after for a table of contents. This was an actual book where the table of contents was just pine, willow, popular oak.
This table of contents, it just lists the names of different trees, but it doesn’t convey what the reader actually learned out each one. And here’s a here’s a great example of a good table of content. So instead of pine, it’s pine for fire starting wood and bandaging injuries. Willow for carving, weaving, finding water as a and as a pain killer, poplar for carving, kindling, containers, and treating infections, oak for construction, crafting, cold fires, and medicine.
So it it it it’s very specific, and it describes a specific outcome from each in the table of contents. So it’s very important.
The next one is writing your cover, and, again, it’s a formula.
And it’s for your cover, he says, you know, you write your clickable cover that makes an unmistakable promise about the value benefits that you will receive.
So the cover should make a clear promise, of course.
The title or the subtitle should explicitly describe who the book is for, the benefit outcome, and the text and imagery conveys a a core promise at its glance. And you’ll notice a lot of this stuff is is pulled from copywriting as well. A lot of this stuff is sales letters.
It just framed differently. Even the the the problem solution, formula that he says to use to write your promise is is literally problem solution or problem acetate solution for copywriting as well. And, again, if you’re gonna use the cover, he gives this multiple times. It’s how to stay alive in the woods.
So what we’re gonna do now is we’re gonna go through this this process that he talks about, which is scoping, and we’re gonna apply the steps using AI. So what I’ve done is I’ve created and I’ll give everyone access to this at the end. So, we’re covering this part, and this is gonna be like I said, this is gonna be enough for you to have your table of contents, have your book, ideas for your book title, and then you can start showing it to people and then start drafting your book as well. The writing and the drafting phase at the end, I’m gonna show you how to use chat or get chat t GPT to emulate your writing style or a specific writing style that you wanna emulate.
In my case, I’ll explain. When we get there, I’m writing a book on effective delegation. There’s a specific book that I really like, and I like that writing style. So I’ve I have AI analyze it and do a style guide and produce a style guide that I can input and use as a database.
And then moving forward, it’s gonna emulate that for me. So I’ll teach you how to do that at the end as well.
So here’s the first prompt for the scoping, and I’ll I’ll do a couple of them as well depending on how much time we have. Now the first step is you really you wanna define your, the top ten problems that your ideal reader wants to solve.
In this prompt right here, we are we’re instructing chat TPT or whichever you use, to look for the most pressing problems of your ideal reader, based on the specific criteria. The criteria we’re using is directly from the book.
These are exactly the criteria he’s saying. Now we got this from and I’ll I’ll show you a trick on how to get this information from is you can take these books that you wanna analyze and you can you can create your own dataset from them.
You can you you can create your own knowledge base, and then you can use AI to craft prompts that follow the specific instructions of the book. And I’ll show you how to do that, in a minute as well. So the first step is we wanna take this. I’ll do two example audiences to show you.
Let’s start with, in my case, I wanna start with pop it in. I’m gonna go with, let’s go first time managers. So ideal reader, just replace this.
And then what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna you can use chat GPT for this, which which will give you pretty good results.
Or another one is you can use is scholarly GPT. So what’s great about that one is it’ll pull, its knowledge from a massive dataset of, papers.
So we’ll we’ll do that one next and you can see the difference. Now these a lot of these are spot on if you read them, and it’s quite detailed as well. So once it lists the ten, then it’s just a matter of your you take that ten.
You can put it in your scoping document because you’ll save it for later.
But, we’ll go through.
One that I another one I’d wanna do as an example and just to show you how, you can get some pretty detailed information, especially on the research and discovery phase, is, let’s do it with scholarly and let’s do it for new dads.
Right?
And just to show you how broad, you can you can make this. So this will be new dad. You can also do it new new, new moms entering the workplace, new dads entering the workplace. There’s a lot of you can choose any topic, and it’s really gonna help you dig deep. Now what’s cool about the Scholarly GPT is that it’s basing it off of actual studies and whatnot so that you’ll find the accurate the information is pretty accurate.
And the same sort of concept, you just you take this in, add it to your scoping document, and then you can move on to the next step. Now, I don’t wanna it’ll it’s a run out because of the time. But the next step on that would be now the step is optional here is to in the book, he recommends, to take once you know the the top ten problems, so a new dad’s case, you know, in this case, it’s gonna be balancing work and parenting, sleep deprivation, financial pressure, lack of personal time. As a new dad, I can tell you this is all a hundred percent accurate, as well. Dealing with mental or no physical health neglect, adapting to change self identity. So a lot of these, what do you suggest now doing in the book is to take this information and to write a survey.
So, again, you can use chat GPT for that. I included a prompt if you do wanna do do that. There’s a a GPT called survey, creator GPT. I’ll open that for you.
And what you can do is you can paste the there we go. You can just paste this prompt, if you do wanna do that inside of that. And what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna, create a survey that has two parts. It’s either a survey question or a survey interview that you can send to different people.
I put the output in here for you. You can see what it looks like.
And this is the output. It’ll put it on a scale of one to ten. And because you’re we I recommend that that GPT that you use because it follows best practices for surveys and whatnot.
And then, of course, you would send this or interview, your one reader. In this case, it’s new dad. And you’re essentially trying to figure out, okay, which which resonates with them, the most. And then based off that, we would move to the next step.
So the next step after that is, you know, let’s say that we we are we speak to dads. We’re like, okay. This problem really resonates or it’s first time managers. In this case, what we would do, I know I went through this right here. Let’s go to this is a new dad.
Okay. Here’s the delegation. So I’ll go through I know it’s delegation, time management and delegation.
So what you do is you take this prompt and copy it. Now what this is gonna do, it’s gonna really dig deep into that specific problem, and it’s gonna use the criteria from the book, that we talked about. Because now we know the problem. We wanna understand the goal.
We wanna understand, what we talked about earlier, any questions they have. We also wanna understand any frustrations or problems that they have, related to that specific problem. So we’ll put that in here, paste it, and go up target audience. Here we go.
So first time managers.
And now what’s gonna do, it’s gonna based off the criteria of the book, it’s gonna really dig deep and so you can get in into the mind of the, the reader.
And this is building now we understand the top ten challenges. We we’ve narrowed that down to getting into the understanding the the mind of the customer, the the reader, and crafting our table of contents and also our book title as well. Now what I did in this case is you just copy and paste it, put it in your scoping document, and you can study it later. And it’s pretty detailed stuff. Like, it it it talks about personal and professional growth, why they’re motivated profile. It goes into detail quite a bit.
And if you do read the book, you’ll see that these are aligned with with everything that he mentions to, to do. You may not agree with all of it, but we’re using his criteria to, define the to define the stuff. So next is to, get an even deeper understanding.
Now now we know it’s first time managers. We know the problem. The core problem is effective delegation.
Now we wanna get in to deeper understanding. And we for effective delegation, we wanna know which skills they wanted to develop. So we’re gonna ask AI, specific questions, including why questions.
We’re gonna we’re gonna wanna know the the, the skills it wants to develop, the frustrations and the fear, any specific questions, and then any goals. And then we’re gonna ask we have specific criteria that he discusses in the book to get an even deeper understanding. So So what we’ll do is we’ll paste this.
And remember, all of this information we’re gonna be using for our table of contents and our book cover as well, which is I was pretty surprised the book. The GPT nailed it quite well. So we’ll paste this in.
Here it is. So d and this is deeper, deep in our understanding of the most pressing problem identified earlier, which, of course, was the delegation for our reader. We click on this. And now it’s gonna give me specific skills that the the reader wants to develop, specific questions it wants, answers to.
Because remember, we’re we’re promising something in this book. Right? So it has to be actionable because it has to be a useful book. So what we’re doing is we’re layering in and layering it, and we’re we’re getting to the meat and potatoes.
But because we’re going it from different angles here, we’re coming from a skill development angle. We’re coming from a fear and frustration angle. We’re coming from an answer and question angle. We’re also coming from a goal angle.
We can tackle different promises, and we can test which ones resonate better. So that’s that’s the ultimate, goal that we’re doing here. So, again, copy and paste this, put it in your, your scoping document.
Now the next step when that’s done is now we get a handle on our most pressing. And I’m I’m sort of going through this because we’re limited on time, but, ideally, you’d wanna analyze this and and read through it. I did this do with copywriters as well. So I’m gonna there’s a book called, Creative Under Pressure that I’m gonna write because it identified with copywriters.
One of the biggest challenges is wanting to, maintain creative or be creative when they’re still facing all these tight deadlines and they feel rushed.
So that’s a pre engaging topic. So I’m gonna write a book on that as well.
Let’s do the next step. Craft a tangible promise. So this is the fun part. Now we know the problem, the core problem, delegation, you know our audience. Now we’re gonna ask ChatGPT to craft a clear promise that we can start testing. And, again, this is the structure of the book, to the letter, including the skills, the promise that they need, the fear frustration, the promise that addresses that. We paste this in.
So here we go. So the first one is the need to craft a promise, is skill development. So many new managers struggle with establishing authority while maintaining a positive relationship with former peers. Here’s the promise. If your new manager finding it challenging to balance authority with, camaraderie among your team, then this book will teach you practical leadership skills. The next one is understanding the fear and frustration.
The another one is the identify the problem, new managers. Asserting authority is a good one. You know, if you’re a new manager pondering how to assert your authority effectively without alienating your team, this book will offer you clear guidance. So what we’re doing now is we’re aligning the the promise based off the, problem, but this we’re we’re categorizing the problems, again, based off skill, fear, question, or goal. Now once we’ve done this, we have our promise, we have our need.
You can go on to the next step, and you can test this if you want. You can take this prompt, put it into the survey GPT. And what what that will do is it’ll craft a series of, survey questions that you can either email, or if you want to, you can interview them. And the goal of that is to determine which promise out of everything we just mentioned sort of resonates with the reader, and then you can you can use that to move on to the next step, or you can just use chat tp t. I’m not gonna do this because I’m I’m pretty confident in the results that that chat chat t p t is writing. I’m gonna move on to the next step.
He talks about in the book, you know, who the book is for and not for.
So what I’m gonna do is now I know that the the reader, I know the core problem. Now I wanna draft who the book isn’t for is not for. And I wanna not only decide who the book oops. Sorry about that. Okay. So the next step is we’re gonna we wanna write, or decide who the book is for, who the book is not for, and what the book will not cover. So now Chat EPT understands our audience, the core problem.
It also has a handle it can also tell us, okay, who is the book not gonna cover, and it’s gonna write that for us here. Again, these are all the requirements that it talks about in the book, with clear examples of each one. So then it’s just a matter of pasting it in. Now this is important as well because this is gonna be one of the first sections on your book that, and he talks about, you know, you wanna highlight exactly who the book is for, who it’s not for.
So when I look at it right away, I’m gonna say, you know what? This book is for me. It’s not for me, and I’m gonna make that decision. And not to go really broad, because if you go broad, you get a lot of four star reviews.
It’s like, oh, this was a good book, but it wasn’t really for me. You wanna avoid that. And by highlighting who this for isn’t for and being ultra specific, new managers who wanna learn how to delegate, It’s not for, leaders with a lot of experience.
It’s not for non manager skills. Like, it it’ll break it down for you. I’m gonna include this in the the table of contents. So I would copy and paste this, put this in the scoping document.
The next step here is to write a recommend recommendation loop. Now this is cool because a recommendation loop is he talks about it, and we’ve all done this where, okay. I have a problem, and let’s do presentation. So I have a presentation coming up. You know, I’ve never done a presentation. I need to learn how to do this.
I’m talking to a friend at work. A friend says, yeah. Yeah. I I was doing presentations.
I read this great book. You should check this out. Oh, what is it called? I go read the book.
I implement it. I hold a successful presentation, and then I recommend it to someone else. That’s called a feedback loop. And in the book, he recommends that you write that, and it’s a dialogue between two people based off your specific problem, which is which is pretty cool.
So I’d paste that in as well.
And remember, I’m I’m layering this off of, each step. So now it’s gonna analyze it based off the problem, and it’s gonna write a a, a recommendation loop for me.
And, of course, what I would do before is you you take that. Here’s the recommendation that it, it did before, and it breaks it down for you. It’s triggering the need, mentioning the stress, and it’ll create a dialogue from start to finish. In this case, it’s, you know, she’s, Saris is is struggling with her colleagues. She’s struggling with her new roles in the manager and delegation, and Tom gives her advice, recommends this book. She applies the book, and then they call it closing the loop where she she’s like, hey. I had a great experience, and then she recommends it to a colleague.
So that’s what that’s what it’s, he refers to. And, so this is gonna write a complete recommendation loop for you as well. And, again, copy and paste that, put that in your scoping document, and move on to the next step.
Now we get into the fun stuff, which will be the table of contents. Now table of contents is, it’s, we talked about that before. It’s there’s a specific criteria he says to focus on. It’s solving the problem. It’s actionable.
So we’ve taken all the criteria from his book. We’ve taken the exact output that he suggests, and he gives some great examples. So we’re just gonna copy this in.
And now ChatGPT knows, who the book is for, who the book is not for. ChatGPT knows the core problem we wanna solve. It’s recommended potential promises, to solve that problem, identifying a goal, a challenge, or frustration depending on which angle we wanna go with. Now based off that information, gonna go ahead and it’s gonna draft a table of contents for me.
Now the, and now what you wanna do at this stage is you’ll take this table of contents and you can start testing it with people. You can put it in front of new managers.
You can ask people for certain feedback. You can tweak it. If you’re not happy with the first run, then, of course, you can, you can just have it rewrite it as well.
So I took this well, it’s running through because of time right now. Put it I put it into the table of contents here, and, it was spot on. It, I like this one better because it it it laid the foundation. One trick I had, if if you do so he does mention too, if you’re gonna write a useful book to make sure that it’s it’s timeless.
Right? It’s it’s not to not to align it with certain technologies that won’t be around in, say, a year or two years. Right? So one thing that I did is they’re the business book here on, like, the top one hundred tools you need to succeed.
And in that is the delegation process or as other business, frameworks that are using the financial world, like balanced scorecard.
So you can take these proven timeless frameworks and you can ask AI to, draft a table of contents around this framework that then aligns with your reader and the problem they wanna solve. So that’s gonna solve sort of the timeless take that we were talking about.
Next step we do after that is the book cover. Now this this is a fun one as well.
The book cover is there’s certain criteria that, we talked about in there. Now this one, you want to update a few things, on this as well. So you wanna paste this in just because it’s a bit more accurate. And it’s gonna give you ten potential book titles. So I put first time managers and most pressing, which is delegation, which we figured it out.
So now it’s gonna suggest some book titles.
Some of them you like, some of them you won’t. Some of them for there’s other titles I gave, and I’ll show you in a second that I love.
The copy running one, I absolutely love.
And, the the original title that it said, I made some tweaks to it. Now this is the criteria he recommends as well. You could use, copywriting formulas here if you want. There’s other formula that you can find. Test that. But this is based off the criteria he suggests that’s embedded into the into the, the prompt.
So now you have your titles. And, of course, you can you just you paste it in here. And now you have your table contents. You have your, your title.
You have everything done in the first part that he talks about, which is your your scoping document. So you’re like, what’s the next step? So the next step is to, take this information and you can use some type of writing tool. What I use is, it’s a lifetime value.
I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard of Atticus.
So there’s three books that I’m I’m gonna start, writing. The first one is the one we just went over, is the effective delegation for first time managers. I think that’s a great a great title.
This is the outline that I talked about, which is based off the framework. So it’s, I have my outline. I have the premise. I have the title. I can start testing it, and these are the the the other headlines that I I may test as well. And that’s all from the scoping document. It took me about a half hour to put this together.
The other books that, based off other research I did, the other book I wanna write is, of course, write useful books with AI, which is the process I’m going through right now. I’m gonna take that and I’m gonna write a book on it, as well. Well, that’s an obvious no brainer. And then this one, which is really cool, is creative under pressure.
I went through that exercise, and I told you earlier that copy that was one of the top challenges that I realized with copywriters is this need to feel to be creative.
But how do you juggle that, especially with all these tight deadlines? So it’s offering actionable tips and incorporating AI or some angle I have to think through on it.
So you put your title in there, you put your headline.
And, on the next step in here, another this is a big one as well, is the drafting.
So, this is all about writing, and you may agree or disagree on this approach, but, the there there’s plenty of books in that right now that are a hundred percent AI written that are making a lot of money.
If you wanna go that route and there’s a certain style you want, this is how you can do it. What you’ll do is you’ll take and I’ll include the prompt for you as well.
You can copy and paste this prompt into, chat GPT or any any that you want. And what this is gonna do is it’s gonna write a style guide for you based off your writing that you want. Now when I say style guide of your style, what I’ll do is let’s start a new one here. I’m gonna paste this in. This is a book that I really, really like. This is a book on delegation that, was was number one seller. It sold really well, and it tells an engaging story.
It, it’s not dry. It’s like a new manager. What he is what he experiences. There’s a lot of dialogue. It’s just a great writing style that I like. So all you need to do is if you find a book that you like or someone else’s writing, it could be a blog, it doesn’t matter what it is, then just go ahead and copy the whole chapter and paste that into the prompt. And you wanna find the the section here where it says examples right here, and just go ahead and replace that.
Okay? And then enter. And ChatTPT is very good at this. Claude is very good at this as well. So it’s gonna analyze this writing style, and it’s gonna write us, a, style guide for me. It’s gonna look for pattern recognition, adjectives, adverbs, and it is spot on. And it’ll give you an example, at the end, this will pass one hundred percent AI detectors, guaranteed.
It’ll it’ll show as one hundred percent human writing because it’s basing it, of course, off the human human writing. Right? So when this is done, you can take this.
And just before you’re gonna write a book or if you just wanna do an outline, with your spit draft or what it is of that chapter, you do very high level. And then you can copy and paste this, and you can see how it’s doing the dialogue, which is just exactly how I wanted. You would copy paste this in here. Save this as your style guide somewhere. You could put it in the prompt if you wanted to.
Okay. And just, write like me.
And now you have your own personal style guide that you can use. And when you’re starting, a prompt, you can just, you know, copy this, put it in here. This is gonna tell ChatGPT exactly how you write your your the style guide, everything it needs to know to emulate your running stuff. And then you can just put your outline here or what you wanted to write. It’ll emulate that for you as well.
I’ve done that with with these sections. So here I’m at with the to taking that process. And keep in mind, this this was a day. Okay? This is, like, maybe three hours getting to this step.
Effective delegation for first time managers, table of contents, the the the book titles that I’m gonna test, the introduction, the all the chapters, what’s book covers and what it doesn’t. I have all that in a scoping document. So I can just take this, copied it, put it in my writing style, and chat GPT will write it. Here’s the first, here’s chapter four foundations of delegation.
Here’s what it’s written so far. It’s the dialogue I want. It tells an engaging story of a new manager who’s learning how to delegate. He has the specific problem that I’ve discovered, the specific scenario, the specific problem, sort of promise, and it also uses the framework from this business book as well. So it’s timeless as well. Right?
And I’ll repeat that process through each, for each one, including the preparing to delegate, and then I’ll just rinse and repeat.
A tip on this is to, especially if you’re looking at a certain, topic is to, if you can find it, like, this was on AppSumo when it was available. This this is a database. So what you can do on these is is find a book or a topic that you like, and then you can add let me go to chatbot here.
You can go in and you can create a prompt, for it. You can upload the book. Okay? So all of these are books here that I that I’ve uploaded, including, like, patient dataset.
So it’ll only pull from that. And then you can you can instruct it to act as a writing coach and that author, and you can put your prompt in here. And then you can use this as a reference guide when you’re doing your research as well. Now a a trick on this as well, if you’re if you’re reading a book and you wanna create your own prompts or or concepts, is, ask this to use the book as its own dataset and then ask it to explain the concept in the chapter.
And once it’s explained the concept, then ask it to write step by step actionable, process to achieve that concept and then ask it to turn that instructions, that step by step process, go to chat GPT, and explore. You’re gonna see different different type of, GPTs that you can use here. One of them is called, prompt.
Here we go.
And you can pull this up. There’s prompt engineer, prompt perfect. That that’s a that’s a good one. You can paste those instructions into prompt perfect, and it will write a prompt for you to achieve the exact outcome that the author suggests based off his criteria.
As you can see, yeah, that’s pretty powerful, and you can align that with different books, and different strategies that you want depending on the angle that you wanna use. So if you can get a hold of this, definitely do it because you can build your own your your own datasets.
That’s it, in a nutshell.
I’m gonna put this online in one of the groups.
It’s gonna take me, I imagine, about two weeks to publish the book on delegation.
I’m gonna publish it to Amazon. I’m gonna put it up, and then we’ll see how it goes. But, it’ll be interesting. And then I’ll share additional processes on that as I go through it as well and all the prompts. So go ahead and bookmark this, this page, and I’ll share it with everyone as well.
And just a systematic process. You know?
Go step by step and and learn as you go, and then you’ll see different opportunities and and go from there.
Any questions that I can answer for anyone?
Jess had one. How are you planning on testing the titles?
Well, that’s you can do a survey. Right? It’s you can I can put it in front of people?
You can find first time managers. Right? You can test them. You can do interview questions, or you can send a survey if you want. K. Easy.
There’s a test I forget what it’s called. There’s a tool we’re at. You can actually pay as well, the split test. And people you can use Google Ads if you wanted to test book book titles as well or book covers.
I’m not gonna do any of that. I think that AI is to the point right now where I can get a pretty good idea. Like, I’m I’m more than comfortable with launching with effective delegation for first time managers. I think that’s clear.
It meets the purpose. It’s spot on. I’m not gonna see how it goes. But, but, yeah, the you can, and I’ll I’ll forget I forget what tool it is, but I’ll I’ll send it over.
He talks about it in the book that you can use to test as well.
I think Naomi just she chatted over Liza.
That’s the only chat that I use to, test different ads.
So you can It could be.
It could be.
Testing, and there’s a really wide variety of criteria you can choose from.
What’s it called? Sorry. It could be the one I’m talking about.
It used to be called UsabilityHub, and they’d be branded as Listener. And you can do five second tests. You can Yeah.
That’s the one.
Upload up until six different yeah. Yeah. I you can do without a subscription, you can do tests with one question, I think, one or two questions, and then just pay for that test.
And I think it it’ll cost, like, fifty dollars per test.
Yeah. That’s the one he talks to. I’m pretty sure that’s the one he talks about in the book.
Yeah. It’s a great, great platform. I’m busy over here.
Is anyone here writing a book? Anyone have any plans to write a book at all?
Abby and I are both writing books right now.
Are you using AI at all?
Or I don’t I would imagine.
I don’t take my word for it, but I I don’t think Abby is. I am. So, but this is really helpful because I’ve, I don’t know. What I’ve been coming across lately when I’ve been doing work is, between chat g p t, and then I’ve been getting into Claude, and then, oh, I just started on another one.
But I found it interesting because I did the same process the first few steps, kind of similar to yours but different. And I couldn’t believe I was using ChatGCT four, like, the whole thing, and I did it two different times and two different things, and I couldn’t believe how incredibly different the outputs were.
And, so I was like I don’t know. I think where I go a little bit wrong with AI is I like to see the different outputs among the different tools, and I struggle to stick with one because I like a piece of one, but then I like a piece of the other. And, and then I don’t know which one to commit to, and then it gets really jumbled when I’m trying to keep, you know, the whole conversation going with the chat so that it remembers and tracks and I don’t know. So that’s just been my I don’t think I have ADHD, but I definitely have an organization problem. So I you know, that’s just what I’m working out with as I write the book. So I appreciate the process, Shane.
Are you using Scholarly to, the so when I did the the spot on what Scholarly is really good as it’s, like, list the specific problem of this group, and then it links and it references actual studies.
Yeah. No. I haven’t. I was actually searching for that because I I hired a freelancer to do some work for me, and I’m like, I know there’s one where they will reference journals and things like that. So I appreciate you saying that. Yeah. I need to get it.
It’s in there, the link. I did link to it as well as it prompts.
And I did use Scholarly. I found the results were, were really good with Scholarly. There there’s a few of them in there that and the I like how it references. Another, search engine I’ll share my screen with you.
This is a really good one you’re gonna like.
And I’ll do one with you right now is have you used, perplexity at all?
No. So perplexity is cool because what it does is so let’s take this the core problem here. Okay. Here we go.
Most pressing problem. So what it’ll do is it’ll actually pull different references from the Internet, and, I use this one quite a bit. So let’s go here. This is fine.
Identify the most pressing problem of, let’s do, like, first new dads. Right? And what it’ll do is it’ll search, and it’ll pull and link to the actual references that it pulls. So this is searching Bing right now and using Bing.
And it’ll it’ll still stick to this criteria, but it’s gonna give you it’s gonna link to actual sources as well. So try this one.
Okay. Love it.
Difference between perplexity and Scholar GPT is what one scholar is peer reviewed and perplexity is just pure quality.
Everywhere. We it’s, like, pulling different like, this will pull from Reddit forms. Like, see all these here. Right. These are all the places it’s pulling it from.
Yeah.
What’s cool is that you can see like, some of these are yeah. A hundred percent is gonna be right. Some of them are are, you know, advice for dads. Some of this I can okay.
Just a heads up. Let me let me also explain this. I can control these rankings as well. So we’re we’re doing this now where these are pretty easily to, to manipulate these rankings as of now because they’re trying to figure out their algorithm.
Like, back in the days of Google when it first started, you know, it was easy to rank.
And the thing to be careful about this is, like, if I put in into this right now, I said, you know, will AI take over an industry?
It’ll say no. But then if you look at the sources that it’s referencing, these people have a vested interest in AI not taking over the industry. So you have to difference with this one.
However, now this one right here, scholarly, this is gonna pull from, is, two hundred million plus resources built in. Like, it’s an actual database, and these are, like, Google Scholar, PubMed.
So you can pretty much trust these results. Right? You still wanna verify, obviously. Right?
But you’re gonna you’re gonna get some pretty good you’re gonna get some pretty good information from this, and it’ll reference the sources as well. What I would do is another option, if you’re doing your research, is to take this. Okay? Find a assign a study or a journal and upload this to so all of these files here, these are books. So if you buy a book from Amazon, okay, you buy a book, you can upload to your own dataset, and then you have your instant look, I don’t read books anymore. I ask for summaries, and I and I create a bot that analyzes the book for me, just answers it when I need the information.
That’s a better approach to take if you can.
And then find a journal or a study and then just create prompts and a bot, like a chatbot, to analyze the different stuff. Right? Like, we use it for datasets for patients, write great leads, all that stuff, and that’s what I do now anyways. This is great for research. Amazing for research.
On that note, Andrew wants to know if you can recap the different tools and GPTs used in the process and what they do and how they connect.
Just so they’re all all the you mean the tools is in, the prompt tools or the different I think the one that I’m most interested in is how the one that you were just showing us, the four AI, where you can build the knowledge base from books. Like, it Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Connect to chat GPT. I got it.
My I was just curious about So this isn’t connecting to chat GPT.
This is, this is creating your own knowledge based dataset. Okay? So this is this right here is and and that’s a different so chat GPT pulls from a a a data it’s itself well, not self learning, but it pulls you can create your own dataset from this. So I can upload a book, a document, and then I can create a bot to only analyze that specific book or document and become an expert at that and then ask you questions.
Okay. And and what’s what’s stopping you from, like, I don’t know, putting a a PDF of the book into, the custom GPG, like, knowledge base instead. Like, why, like, why doesn’t that work as well as this?
Because this is this will there’s a with this specific tool, it’s not, it’s not just chat chat DBT. This one you can use, Claude. You can use a a bunch of different, bots as well. So if you open this up, you have different options, and you can also pull API. So you’ll get different results from different ones.
One of the issues is with chat g p t, it may not accept because it’s copyright. Right? It as soon as it reads that like, if you put this into, perplexity, it won’t do it because it it’ll say it’s copyright.
Even though it’s my like, I’m not selling it. I’m not doing any wrong. I’m using it from my own knowledge. I’m not sharing it.
Right? So you this just allows you to to bypass. It’s not it’s more like a third party. That’s why I like it.
And more importantly, the different, you can use you’ll get different results on what you go with. Right? And you can also do your own custom, API, and you can actually get it to do stuff if you want it to as well. You can do this with chat GPT if you want.
It’s not gonna be I prefer this, as well because it it remembers it. It’s always there, and you can just kinda build on it. Right?
Yeah. That was close.
You mean, I think you can get this still, I think you I don’t know if this lifetime this was a lifetime deal, and it’s a steal if you can get it. You get, like, more than enough credits, and you’ll save a lot of cash.
And you got it on that too well?
Yeah. I don’t know if let me see if it’s still available. This is the best one I found.
This is amazing for research. Absolutely incredible for research. Here it is. Research anything with AI.
Now it’s off. If it if it comes back again, I’ll let you know, and I’ll let everyone know. But it’s it’s spot on. It’s, I love this.
This is, like, one of the best tools that I use.
Who doesn’t? Right? And you you can hook this up to Evernote and create your own knowledge base. Right?
All that stuff. All those little bits of information that you’ve always saved and you don’t know what you’re doing with it, you have instant access to it with AI. Right? And you can you can sorta have fun with it.
That was great. Yep. Pardon me?
I said that was great. Yeah.
It’s fun. Combative. It’s, it’s fun. I’m I’m gonna publish the book.
You guys can hold me that too. I’m gonna I’m gonna put the link on. I’m gonna publish the book on delegation in about two weeks, and I’ll add to the process as we go through in including the right like me.
And let’s see how it it goes. Right? There’s there’s a lot of books on there making a lot of money right now that are hundred percent written by AI.
So Mhmm.
Jess has a question.
So if you’re going back through and checking to verify that everything’s accurate, Shane, do you have, like, scope on that? Or, I don’t know. I I, again, hired a freelancer to help me out with, a talk I’m gonna be doing been doing using AI to kinda, I don’t know, just put something together. And I did pay and then, also, I hired the same freelancer when I was doing a competitor audit component of an email program audit.
Mhmm.
And and so I I just was curious if you had any suggestions about when you’re using AI but need to verify any tips, things like that? Because I found in the first like I said, the first time I did the g chat g p t competitor audit, it seemed very spot on when I went to verify on all the competitor sites or socials of what they were leading with messaging wise. Then I did it again on ChatGPT, and I literally asked it.
We’re making assumptions. Right? You’re not whatever.
And he goes, yes.
These are just industry, assumptions, whatever. And, and it was completely off from what each company was really leading with in their messaging, whatever. But, anyway, my point is is, like, I’ve realized the need for a lot of double checking and triple checking, And I was just wondering what your experience was with that with AI.
It it depends on the topic. Right? Like, if you’re talking data where, you know, actual numbers and stats, for sure. But, like, delegation, I’ve been doing it all my life. I’m basing it.
I’m asking AI to, because one of the concepts that’s useful is, like, make sure it’s timeless. Right? It’s it can it can be applied now or twenty years from now, and and I’m just using a proven framework on a business, so I don’t need to verify anything. Yeah.
If I was asking for statistics on delegation or along those lines, I would hundred percent verify it. Right? But if, you know, but it it depends on on what year you can ask. Can you can control it in the prompt.
So, k, we do use we do write stuff for for doctors. Okay? And we do JR, which is he’s twenty years old. He’s not a doctor.
He writes articles using AI on very medical like like, pro like, very medical content, prostate cancer, and he pulls stats. But what he does is he uses we we take, like, the prostate society, we take that database, and we tell AI to only use information from that database. So we’re controlling the source.
Okay. Right? And and if you do that, then it’s not it’s not making any assumptions. And you can in the the tool that I showed you, if you read those those prompts, like, I’m very specific in what I’m saying.
Right? It the the this is this is what I say for the for the book, and this this will give you an example. So I say, as a nonfiction coach, your job is to help students write useful nonfiction books by applying the strategies and tactics from the book, write useful books. The main focus is on is providing clear, actionable tactics for writing useful nonfiction books.
Please provide answers using only the language terms and strategies found and write useful books. When explaining concepts, use direct quotes or closely paraphrase the book’s content without adding information from other sources.
So you see I was very clear and specific about what I wanted it to do. Yep. As long as you you can like I said, like, we this is HIPAA. This passes HIPAA compliance.
Okay? So that’s a perfect example. We have the requirements for HIPAA. We give AI access to it.
We have, the dataset on prostate cancer from a reputable source. And any studies that are peer reviewed, we give access to that. And then we create prompts based off what I just said. And we have a twenty year old who has no medical experience writing detailed white papers about a medic that are then signed off by doctors.
Okay.
So it’s all you can do it. There’s two frames of thought, though. A lot of people say not to write a useful book or do stuff that you’re not familiar with. I don’t buy that stuff. I think you can learn anything. You just have to take time to learn it. I don’t I don’t subscribe to that.
But other people say only do what you know. Data always verify unless it’s your own dataset, but even verify anyways. Right? Like, we do we do social media posts where it’s, like, about health, health topics.
Right? Like, it’s it’s prostate awareness month, whatever it is, and then we’ll we’ll pull stats from a dataset. But but we these stats are from reputable sources. Right?
And you can control the your AI bot to pull from those sources.
Okay. So it’s all it’s all about data. It’s all about where it’s getting information from. Right? That’s what it is. But that’s why I love these tools because you can you can the trick is not to and we didn’t call it a trick.
Forget if you use ChatTPT or any of these tools, have your own knowledge base. Yeah. Create your own specialized knowledge base around a specific topic and train your bot on that to become an expert, and it will. Right? So I have a bot for Gene Schwartz. I literally have his book, and I’ve been using it. And now when I have a question, I ask Gene.
Right? And the dataset is his book. Who doesn’t right? It’s like having access to him. Right?
That’s all.
Thank you.
Pretty cool. Right?
Yeah.
I love it. We’re in a different world. Isn’t this crazy?
I have a question that, maybe should have been asked earlier.
But these books, are you using them just to sell, or is this a lead generation tool? And if so, how do you start thinking about what topics to cover in the lead generation tool?
Sure.
So there’s problem.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that’s the reason why. Right? You you you can definitely use it for a lead gen tool. Like, if you’re especially with those, you know, you’re going into, your specialization and your one thing, then let me share my screen. I’ll show you what I do. And, again, it’s all about AI is broadly defined, and I I include AI as different tools that you can use.
But here you can go, like, the delegation. And there’s tools that it’ll analyze. You’re on Amazon. There’s tools, Chrome tools that you can use, which will tell you the different, keywords that people are searching for that topic, and it ranks them by popularity. Right?
So you can, in this case, I would I would use it for lead gen. Like, it’s solving a specific problem. If I was if I owned a business website, I would possibly offer this as a lead magnet. Who knows?
Or you can launch it on this to build your credibility. Right? And now you’re a published author. Depends what it is.
Some people do make a lot of money. There’s there’s, there’s millionaire this guy right here, Chat GPT millionaire.
Where is it on this? He makes about I think it was, like, five k a month.
And it’s, and it’s a hundred percent written by AI. Right? So there is money to be made. It just depends on what you want to you wanna do. I don’t I’m just doing it for fun. I if I make money, great.
We’ll see how it goes. But I am there is demand for it, hundred percent, and I’ll probably make some money. We’ll see. I’ll share everything with you guys. What do you wanna write your book for? Is it what are you thinking?
Well, I’ve gone on a several podcast lately, and I keep getting asked about about creating buyer personas that work, because for a lot of tech companies just really struggle to come up with a clear picture of who it is that they’re targeting.
Okay. Yeah.
That’s true.
Not something that I necessarily thought would be popular, but a lot of my, a lot of podcasts that I’m going on are demand gen managers. They’re talking about ABM or, PPC, and, those are also my target customers. So Okay.
I thought that would be sort of an interesting middle ground because it’s clearly something popular. And, also, it is not really a service that I offer, but it would be sort of a gateway into a service that I offer. Meaning, like Okay. Creating and optimizing landing pages.
Yeah. Hundred percent. So there’s a lot, like so you wanna I think it’s Gene Schwartz. Like, he talks about, you know, it’s all about demand.
Right? Like, you you wanna anything you do, you make sure that there’s a a need or a want. Like, I’m using my own words, but there’s tons. Right?
So I what I would do is, you know, you look at Amazon and you can see other people have written books. I would purchase those books, download them. I would analyze the reviews. I would actually upload all these reviews inside of ChatTBT, and I would create a dataset.
And I would I’ve from those reviews, I would have it summarized. I would I would PDF I would create a PDF of this. Probably do it now if you wanted to. And then just upload it to, the tool that I have to analyze it.
Then you then I would use, like, SEMrush, to look at keyword data and different things. Like, this is also this is buyer personas.
This is great for volume, but look at this. This is a table of contents in your book. Right? Is it this this is telling you how to outline your book based off real data.
So there there’s a massive need, a hundred percent. I would go a layer deeper, and I I would go, like, forget buyer persona. Like, pick a specific, you know, what are they trying to do with the persona? I would dig deeper on that.
Mhmm. Like, here’s a chapter, buyer persona, and example. These are lead magnets. Hundred percent.
And then I my my brand is called Story Logic, and so I was gonna tie it into different story elements, like how what is the villain in the buyer persona? What is the assistant?
What is Story brands does that plot line.
Have you heard of My Story Brand?
So they do great. Demo solution? Oh, different.
No. I’ll show you here. So, here it is.
Create an account and, it’s it’s hero’s journey, basically, but it’s well done.
So they they take the hero’s journey, you know, Star Wars, Jaws, all those books. And, basically, what they do is they they do exactly what you’re talking about. So this and in the end, you can print this, but it follows the the here the it’s a version of the hero’s journey, basically. Right? And it’s a character who starts the problem, meets a guide, gives them a plan. And then what they do is they take this and they they align this to, story brand.
But the thing is that these are oftentimes not something that tech companies are looking at.
Shit. Are you sure? Really?
I I feel like a lot of the because I work with tech companies that are very, very technical, and very complicated. And so they struggle to understand how to take these concepts and apply it to technology because it feels very consumer ish for them. It feels very, it it feels too b to c. That’s the sort of feedback that I get there. They’re not thinking in that sense.
You wanna know a lot more about features and Benefits.
And different target demographics, and they’re thinking about campaigns and keywords. And it’s just this kind of language is they even if they’ve heard of it, they don’t know how to adapt it to their, to their use case.
So we I can tell you what I know works and what we do is you can take especially for that, like, if what they’re really saying is they they wanna better understand their their, their audience so they can they can make more money. Right? They wanna they wanna get in the mind, essentially. So you can if you look at this, and this is the angle that StoryBrand does, is this right here is actually a sales page.
It just it’s it’s aligned differently. It’s left to right. But if you stack these, it’s a sales page. So if you look at the the templates that they have, these are the different templates, and we sell these.
This is if you if you look at this, it’s it’s a story.
Right? And that’s the sell. And you could they spin this for b to c, but you could easily spin that for for for b to b or or tech, whoever you wanted to target.
You could use the hero’s journey and just stack it so it tells a great story from start to finish. And then that’s that’s this does that make sense? Like, this overlay on top of that?
Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I I think it’s great. It’s just I don’t see that many people doing this for a very technical enterprise level b to b item.
But why? I don’t understand. I know. That’s interesting. Why wouldn’t it?
I don’t know why. Because, I mean, like, I I think that a lot of a lot of people in these fields are and people in upper management are typically engineers, and so they tend to be very, very technical.
And they’re not thinking in a creative storytelling kind of way. They’re thinking about the product, and they’re thinking about getting the product out the door as quickly as possible. And then I also think that, a lot of times, the marketing leaders are or the successful marketing leaders are more involved in campaign management. So they’re thinking about bids, and they’re thinking about keywords and platforms and ABM and different strategies like that, and the sort of storytelling layer comes in later, it’s not the top priority.
But it should. Hasn’t Yeah.
I I agree. I agree. I’m just trying to explain. I especially, I most of the clients that I work with are Israeli, and Israelis are known for being extremely practical, extremely, just pragmatic. They wanna get things out the door. They wanna start campaigns. They wanna launch things, and the strategic element of things sort of falls to the wayside.
So Yeah.
Because it if they’re logical, then they would see, like, it’s it all starts with with keyword. Like, the keyword data on Google is basically the mind. It’s it’s understanding what people are searching for, and you use that to feed your campaign, your AdWords. Like, we make a lot of money with Google Ads.
It starts with keywords. I can tell instantly by looking at a keyword where they’re at the buyers or any stages of awareness, whatever it is. Right? Like, that’s that’s this that would be a pretty easy sell.
I don’t know. That’s weird. I’ve heard that. Maybe maybe I’m just in my own world.
I don’t know.
It’s not it’s not just Israeli I mean, this is this is what I hear. This is what the podcast hosts are asking me. Anyway, I appreciate the answer. I do have to jump.
Yeah. But yeah. Thank you.
Sounds like an opportunity, though. If you if they don’t if they don’t know it, then and it’s like it’s such a no brainer, like, it sounds like you could sell them pretty quick.
Yeah. I mean, I I don’t know if it’s something they don’t know or if it’s something that’s hard for them to flush out and hard to actually execute.
It’s too theoretical.
Well, how are they creating ads, though, if they don’t understand how how are you writing an ad if you don’t understand who you’re writing ad for?
Not not that well.
Well, you can. It’s impossible. It it it sounds like they just need to be informed. Like, it’s like, that’s an opportunity to create a process.
Right? Like, it’s a system that will help them achieve the the outcome they want, which is just that’s what I would do. Anyway, that’s why it’s so weird. I never heard that before.
Yeah.
Each is on.
Thanks, Shane.
Yeah. No worries.
Yeah. Thanks so much.
Any other, questions?
Have fun, everybody. I’ll I’ll share this as well. And I said, give me feedback on my book because it’s I’m gonna publish it. Give me two weeks and see how it goes. Hopefully, I get some good reviews.
And Yeah.
We’re looking forward to seeing it.
Alright.
Thanks so much. Okay.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Publishing My First Book
Things I Wish I Knew Before Publishing My First Book
Transcript
Beautiful. So five probably way too unfiltered things. I wish I knew before publishing my first book and that I’m actively, like, as in in this moment, self correcting with my second. So, obviously, Many of y’all have, yeah, been sharing, stating, committing to writing books in twenty twenty four or on the verge of committing to it.
Potentially on the verge because of unanswered questions and fears and concerns and anxieties and all these things around what the process may entail or may not entail.
So, yep, I wanna clear all that up, not just in this session, but beyond this session. So I am declaring myself available for questions on Slack, right, about, that process and obviously how I can assuage fears and steer you to the best of my ability, right, in the most streamlined, efficient, productive, and profitable path towards, getting your books out there. Because despite what I’m gonna share in this presentation, I am a huge advocate of writing your book, and you writing your book, not AI writing your book, you read in your book and all the amazing brilliant things that can come out of that. So having published twice in twenty twenty three, the person was May twenty twenty three. When it came out, and the most recent one, three weeks ago, about three weeks ago, maybe about a month ago.
The first one, hybrid slash traditional, I’m still ambiguous on where hybrid begins and more traditional ends.
I’m just like, yeah, you’re hybrid. Sure. I get it. So I still don’t really understand the difference.
And one self publishing, which I absolutely understand what that is. It’s me publishing my own thing with full control, full oversight of the metrics and all the things that go into it.
So, yeah, with that experience and a lot of experience over the last two years on that, definitely have some thoughts, warnings, and words of encouragement. So necessary disclaimers. This is all, of course, my personal experience, observation, things I’ve gained and gathered in dozens of con conversations with other authors while I was going through this process, and it’s, of course, limited by my own. Understandings, perceptions, conversations, and at conclusions I’ve drawn by them, drawing through them.
And I’m open. To other discussions perspectives experiences in all the nuance within it. So I really see this more of a mastermind style discussion, then a, this is what you must do and should do, although I will have some instances where I probably say, don’t do this. But, yeah, I’m open to it all, being masterminded and conversed because there’s certainly nuance within it.
So first, the necessary warning. Right? I think, like, this is the main takeaway I want everyone to have here because this is where I’ve done, like, the most ragey around the industry where I’ve heard the most, like, horror stories, stories of regret, stories of, like, overwhelm, even stories of, like, business bankruptcy of people just throwing ridiculous amounts of cash to try to get a best selling book with a bias that it would work, right, and that they’ll be James Clear by next weekend. Right? And, yeah, the publishing industry, whether you know, of course, there’s many people within it, right, and many people with varying degrees of ethics.
But overall, I found it to be quite predatory. And I know that’s a big harsh word. I’m not afraid to use it here. So what you may be offered, I was offered these things. I don’t know why I was offered these things. I don’t know how I got on the list of people who offer these things, but I got on the list of people who offer these things. And I had to run this gauntlet and stiff arm the fuck out of people offering these things.
But, yeah, there’s a price tag to all the things you may have seen out there. Right? People raving about being a New York times best seller, we probably all seen the social media posts, Instagram posts of someone you know, like taking a selfie, showing, like, their book on the list with a whole, caption, post around how it’s dream come true, right, how they bailed English class and were told they would never be a writer. And look at you, missus Elliot. I’m a best selling author right now.
You could buy that experience. You could buy that redemption story.
It’s literally available for sixty thousand dollars.
I was offered it.
I had no intention of spending sixty thousand dollars. I did not need to assuage that childhood wound.
To show my mom and my dad that I’m a best selling author, although, yeah, that inner child was present. I just had to have chat with chat GPT tell them, told space for that part, and then I saved myself sixty thousand dollars.
So that has a cost. Wanna be, on a times square billboard. Probably also seen that post of people pointing to the billboard. Look, my book in New York Times Square, can’t believe it.
Never thought this would happen in a million years. But you kinda could have predicted it because you could buy it for fifteen thousand dollars. I was offered this. Once again, I rejected it mostly because I hate New York City and wouldn’t have flown there to take the selfie.
Anyway, so, yeah, that, on the lesser scale, You have paid reviews, you know, companies that will review your book, right, for anywhere between, like, three hundred dollars to a thousand dollars per review I’ve seen, which is kinda crazy.
One review doesn’t move the needle, and it paying for reviews, and all you’re doing is paying for reviews, you’re not even gonna get enough reviews to move the needle. So, yeah. There’s that.
Paid podcast appearances. I was offered a ton of these, said no, mostly because I just didn’t feel like having conversations about my book by the time it was published, and we can talk more about that later in this presentation.
One thousand dollars for paid Instagram shutouts or some accounts out there with, you know, like, three hundred thousand followers.
Bookgram, book a gram. I think that’s what it’s called on a hashtag.
Yeah, you could pay anywhere between a thousand dollars for a shout out to three thousand dollars for a package of them.
I was offered that multiple times. And then, yeah, coaching companies that will charge fifteen thousand dollars or more to help you write and launch it.
Mixed results. I’ve definitely seen and observed some people get decent results out of it.
And mostly what I’ve seen is people ending up with a book, that they’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money, even just producing, with the hope and expectation that once it’s out there, it’ll just be out there. Right? And then they’ve kinda lost steam and lost budget when it comes to actually promoting and moving into things. So that is a really common story that I have seen.
So these opportunities, thrive on the fallacy that your book just needs an initial spark or push.
And then will cash fire go viral on its own. Right? So that’s what these opportunities tend to pitch in my observation. This is absolutely false, right, and it kinda prays on people’s biases, believing that their book is destined for mass success.
Cause why wouldn’t you believe that? You absolutely should believe that and hold that belief, but don’t let that belief be weaponized against you by these opportunities that won’t be part of getting you there. So in my experience, all that as follows, a momentary spike of purchases will indeed get you on a best seller list for one to two days, whether it’s an Amazon best selling category, or in your times or a USA today, All that is doable, all that is true, you can get on that list for one to two days, maybe a week, but it will do nothing beyond it. Right?
And this is not opinion. This is verifiable with certain tools. Helium is one tool. You can look into kind of expensive use more for, like, Amazon, ecomm, and Kindle Rockett, more specific for, books, but you can literally check.
I’ve done this work.
Where you see someone, you know, posting the New York Times bestseller. You know, I made it.
I’ll look at those books right now, but six months later, and they’re moving maybe, like, I don’t know, like, four to ten, copies per month. Right? So that spike doesn’t sustain. It drops way back down. You’re not acquiring real fans, real qualified leads out of it.
On those, like, offers to get you onto New York Times best seller list. Usually, what happens is you have to discount your book to ninety nine cents, right, or a dollar.
And then it gets blasted out to these massive lists of, like, a million or more people right, who essentially signed up and raised their hand for wanting cheap and discounted or free books.
So you’ll get that spike. These aren’t likely to be buyers who will take you up on your buyer ticket offers or your services.
Yeah. You’ll just get, the screenshot, right, and you’ll get the social post, if you want it. So that’s essentially what, you’re getting out of that.
What you really need is real readers who are qualified or your higher ticket program services offers and workshops. So I’ve witnessed or overheard Oh, far too many stories of people who burnt through twenty, fifty all the way up to a hundred thousand dollars only to end up with a book that a year later moves, like, barely any units.
Right? And no one talks about this. As why would they? It’s a little embarrassing. It’s a little cringe.
It’s, a tough thing to admit elements of regret in the process that one was so invested financially, emotionally, and energetically. And so it doesn’t get talked about a lot, which means, Yeah. It just keeps on happening. So that is my warning.
Can we agree that warning has been heated? I’m gonna stop my share because I really need to make sure that this warning has been heated. Have I gone cool? We’re not gonna pop for that.
I will show you amazing.
Cool. Thank you for the heads up. Really interesting insight there.
Yeah. Why? On that note?
Because a lot of the hybrids, you know, are are and I’ve even looked at a few of assessing their services and even their services of what they provide are not the same.
Mhmm.
And it’s so confusing around, like, what what the minimum starting is.
Like, there’s no Mhmm.
Initial. This is what you get, and and it’s not clear. So it’s it is it feels like an up sell all along the way.
And, yeah, I just would love your perspective on it. Like, if you do want support, and I know you’re probably gonna go into this, It feels like you have to ask a lot of an industry you don’t know anything about and be somewhat knowledgeable. So Yeah.
What if that if that raises anything for you?
Yeah. The offers of the hybrid publishers are so ambiguous.
The typical response I’ve heard right in my own, like, process of going through some of them and then hearing other stories is that, like, you kinda get threaded along. Right? And, like, you’re coming at it with the bias and the belief that this is gonna blow up, and you’ll put in the money you need to put into it. And once it’s out there, it’ll be out there and it’ll just catch fire because that is what you should be believing because you’re writing a book. Right? Why would you write it unless you really believe it would take off?
So, yeah, it’s really easy to get strung along. I’ve heard stories, right, where, like, you know, the hybrid publisher, if you will, right, will they’ll design your cover, right, they’ll assign an ISBN, they’ll do the interior layout.
They’ll get it distributed, right, on different platforms.
And when you haven’t done this before, all that sounds so valuable because it sounds so confusing and overwhelming, right, and it was for me. I remember I went with the publisher the first time around because, like, I don’t know the first thing about turning this Google doc into a good looking book. Right?
And the truth is is, like, the upcharge that these Harvard, they’re making money on that. They have margin what they’re charging you on that. I’ve seen literal examples.
There’s a hybrid publisher I was looking at, like, two and a half years ago for my first book. And, you know, they I think it was, like, a ten thousand dollars starting package right where they’re, like, well, design your ebook. We’ll design your print book. We’ll assign it the ISBN.
We’ll give you your initial keywords for descriptions in Amazon SEO.
I went on fiverr. Right? And one dude on fiverr had as his testimonial on case studies books from that publisher. Right? So they’re just outsourcing it to fiber.
And this guy was charging, like, five hundred bucks for all of that. This publishing is charging ten grand, and maybe they have, like, a few other things they were doing on top of it.
But I’m like, no. Like, they are making money off off They’re not making money off of your book blowing up and becoming atomic habits. Right? They’re making money on getting authors, selling them on the dream of becoming best selling authors.
And it’s a very easy out for a publisher if you don’t become a best seller. Right? It’s like you didn’t promote it enough. Your book wasn’t good enough. We did what we were supposed to do, but the stuff they’re supposed to do, really little and really inexpensive.
So, yeah, like, all those things that intimidated me the first time around and had me just say, yes, oh, someone else to do it. Second time around, I’m like, this will this will feel so much more self empowering to just learn to do it myself. Right? And Mhmm. I hate learning to DIY. Like, I’m so quick to hire on so many things.
But, yeah, honestly, like, It may not be perfect, but, like, this is my new one. I designed this cover on Canva, right, and I like it better than my first cover.
The interior layout, like, not, like, I’d say, like, eight on ten, like, good enough.
Fifty five bucks from a legit dude in the UK, Clear Communication. He did it over Christmas y, which I didn’t even expect to. He designed the spine. He designed the digital version, as well as the paperback for fifty five bucks, right, like total, amount per hour, per total on a twenty four hour turnaround. That was the thing I had the most freak out I’m like, I would hire a self I would hire a hybrid publisher and take that five grand, take that ten grand, because I just don’t even wanna care about these things.
Start a DM conversation with a guy on fiber who’s done it, like, thousands of times. Right? And Yeah. Like, that was just my own, like, comfort edge to feel like I could do that on my own.
But, yeah, so glad I did. So, yeah.
Hybrid publishers know what you’re getting. Like, I think if they have legit distribution and reach and can promote your book, not just produce it and leave you to promote it, then there could be merit there. If all they’re doing is producing it, probably not worth it because you’re just gonna end up with something that you’re going to have to promote anyway.
Other things I’ve noticed in my own publishing process, y’all are writers. Right? You know your material better than anyone else. You know how to write.
Like, I don’t think you need to pay for an editor. Like, that might be lost from this. I don’t think you need to do it. I regret doing so, and I love my editor.
He was great. Like, nothing wrong with him. I don’t feel like it improved my book for the money I invested as well as the delay in going through revisions. That’s the other thing I really hated about working with a publisher.
Is you’re going through revisions, you’re feeling like it may not necessarily be making it better. Right? Because as an author, you’re typically gonna be really happy with that draft that you’ve polished. Right? Maybe not your first draft, but your your final draft. Right?
You inherently probably don’t want anyone to touch it at that point. Right?
And to go through a year of revisions without feeling like it’s really making it better, and the tedium of reviewing it each and every time, that was, like, painful for me. Right? And I think by the time the book got published, I didn’t even wanna look at it anymore because I was so exhausted by my own message and my own material, that the last thing I wanted to do was conjure up excitement about this thing that I had become tired of, if that makes sense.
That got ranty. Right? But the short version of it is if all they’re promising is book production, probably not worth it unless you’re really, really, really, really, really, really, like, I’m not confident, overwhelmed, and feel like they have, like, the right reputation, but, like, speak to other authors who’ve worked with them if you can, get their honest feedback, like, people might say, yeah, it was fine. It was good.
Right? And, like, push back. Right? Like, when you do it again, that’s a really good question.
And if they delay on the would you do it again, you get, like, an, because that would be my response. If someone asked me today, like, you work with that publisher again, I’d hesitate. Right? I’d try to salvage the good things about it just to defend my ego of having made that decision, but ultimately, you know, like, I’d self publish in a second.
So yeah.
Is that is that helpful? Cool.
Alright.
I think I think the fiverr thing is an area I’ve already gone to to check out and, like, such an interesting thing that you saw that thread of those books being, you know, Because because here’s one of the things I don’t know what other people are thinking about. I’ve actually thought about testing an ebook, rather like a smaller booklet, like a mini book rather than the whole process just to learn it in a way that is lower risk.
Yep.
To the bigger book. So I’d love people’s thoughts on that as as a way to be like, hey, let’s just do this.
Let’s and if it’s a manual or a workbook or I and I’d love your perspective on it.
Mhmm.
You know, it it’s it feels like why not? Because the the whole, and I’ll let people know that I’m having gotten some materials from some companies. They say that you won’t get published till, like, twelve to eighteen months after your manuscript. After your manuscript. So we’re talking, like, two years.
Yep. That’s part of my rant. Yeah. And your your material better be evergreen. Right?
Like, That data do you mean.
Right? Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah.
Cool. Well, I think the warning’s been heated. So I’m gonna jump back in and get really really practical data. Sweet. So, observation number one, your publisher probably He would probably will do a whole lot to promote it. This is my personal experience and also observed in conversations with, yeah, well over a dozen business and personal development authors, across a range, right, hybrid publishers, traditional publishers, some of the bigger publishing houses that you may be familiar with as well.
It’s likely gonna fall mostly on you to market your book, which I think is a good thing and an empowering thing.
A publisher can be helpful, absolutely in distributing across all digital book plat forms, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Indigo, all the kind of, like, smaller ones as well. And maybe, Keart, maybe getting on some shelves, which very, very, very, very, very big maybe.
If they’re saying they can do that and will do that, I would push back and ask them what percentage of books they published have are currently on shelves. Right? Like, put them in that position to qualify that because that is typically one of the bigger selling points they try to make. And, actives are only so much shelf space and so many books.
So, yeah, I would push back on that. Self publishing on Amazon KDP or super, super fast and simple. And roughly eighty percent of the US book market. So if you’re looking for, like, a literal eighty twenty, Yeah.
So publishing on Amazon KDP is that literal eighty twenty for the US book market, at least. You retain higher royalties. It’s about sixty percent. On paperback and Kindle.
And if you are doing paid advertising, you have more control over cash flow and reporting with in my view is the most most important point. So, when I was playing around with Amazon ads before, my book came out. So as of it’s kinda like going through that, like, uploading process and the interior design process and all that, I really wanted to, like, acquire that skill. And I remember, like, why not? I’ll just, you know, run ads use my last book as a test, as a test case.
And, it was really exciting and also really sad because the ads started working, like, right away. Like, I sold two copies of the book, via ads, essentially on day one at a, quote, unquote profit thing is I don’t know if I was I don’t know how much I was actually making or losing on it because Amazon takes their cut, the publisher takes their cut, And worst of all, right, with Amazon, you know exactly what you’re getting as your royalty, and you’re getting it within sixty days. Right? A publisher, it has to go through two tiers of reporting. Right? I think Amazon pays the publisher in sixty days, then the publisher pays you maybe sixty days later, so you might be on a hundred and twenty day cash flow delay.
And, of course, they’re double dipping on the, on their cuts. Right? So your margin is lower.
Your delay of getting the money back to reinvest is much longer, and makes it pretty much impossible in my view to cover advertising on a book that is going through a publisher. And this is, like, the most painful thing for me in retrospect. Right? Cause I realized, like, okay. I know how to run Amazon ads. I’m getting results, like, totally not optimized, like, totally one zero one strategy.
I wish I could do this all the time, and I can’t because, yeah, the margins aren’t there, and the delay on cash flow isn’t there. Or is there. So, yeah, that kinda sucked. So that is a really important reason to consider self publishing or at least, you know, if you are working with a hybrid publisher, just get really clear on, royalty structure, and if you’re getting paid directly your Amazon sales or if it’s going through those two layers.
So number two, your book probably won’t go viral or gain organic traction on its own.
It might. Right? And I just wanna set, like, fair expectations, a rule of thumb, is that a could take twelve to eighteen months and over five hundred reviews for a book to start really taking on a life of its own.
You’ll likely need to work for those initial two three thousand orders that could yield those five hundred or more ratings and reviews and incentivize ratings and reviews, meaning your topic has to be pretty evergreen. Right? If it is going to have its best year in year two and year three and year four, the topics you’re discussing and the strategies and the tactics, that you’re talking about probably can’t go out of style. You need to be pretty sure that content that end of material you’re covering is gonna have longevity.
So this is a really important point, especially in the marketing or the copy or just the business sphere in general. Like, you’d really wanna be talking principle based or tactics that you are certain aren’t going to be disappearing in the next few years.
You can, of course, support it with short term spikes, right, getting on podcasts, shout out, launches, either internal launches or affiliate launches, but where I would focus my energy, right, is the everyday sales engine that moves copies every single day. Right?
Your first five hundred to a thousand sales will could be your hardest and costliest Amazon is a social proof driven platform. It’s really, really, really difficult for someone to buy a book that only has one rating or kind of like the one next to the five stars. Right? They’re like, do I wanna take that risk or do I wanna go to this book that, you know, has been showing up on my, recommended products forever, right, and has over five hundred ratings and reviews. So that’s just kind of how it is. That’s just the buying behavior there, social proof driven. So it gets easier.
As you get more reviews and your ratings increase the amount of ratings you have. So your cost to acquire a reader will decrease over time. So there needs to be some degree of a threshold at least at the beginning in my view to absorb a certain cost to acquire a reader, which brings up another important point. Don’t over identify with being an author, like, this pug, like, I really wanted to be this pug when I was growing up. Like, I wanted the knitted wool scarf or best into glasses, I want to feel like a writer writer.
Yeah. So, like, you know, when it comes to your book, especially the book that you’re writing as part of your business, you get to decide, right, you wanna be an author author or a business owner who happens to be an author the former will invest a lot of energy bandwidth and attention in writing and selling their book. The latter knows precisely where the book fits within their sales funnel, most likely top of funnel knows its purpose, which would be lead acquisition and nurture someone who literally has a physical copy of your thing is reading it. It’s interacting with it. It’s seeing it on their copy table or in their office.
All that is amazing. You’re literally in their home, and knows how much they’re willing to spend to acquire a reader. Now this is and band stuff, we could do a whole workshop on this.
It’s relatively simple math to figure out.
But, yeah, you want to know or have a hypothesis of what a reader would be worth to your business.
And therefore, how much you are willing to spend to acquire a reader. These are really important metrics to know, no one’s really talking about it, even kind of the bigger book writing coaching businesses, I brought this up at a conference where one of them was kind of promoting their thing and, like, no, this just isn’t within that consciousness or that conversation. So yes, you get to be a business owner and know where it fits within your funnel.
And the latter also has a clear ascension path from leader to client and is excited, right, eager to spend money to acquire a reader with full competence of their economics.
Next, you’ll need to launch and think long term. If you can only choose one, think long term. Right? So my first book had bit of a launch, right, I had a list. I had small humble list, maybe three thousand people between my list and my partner lists.
The new book hasn’t had any list. Right? I literally just came up with the pen name two or three months ago. Right? No listen to space, no reputation, no authority, no nothing.
If you’re gonna choose one, do the long term, launch if you can, but put the appropriate level of energy into your launch. Right? And this goes back to, like, do you wanna be an author or a business owner who has a book? So you can You can, but should only hit up your list or social on your book so often.
Right? You don’t wanna, like, burn out your list per a five dollar royalty. Right? There are other things you need to be discussing as a business owner or other conversations you need to be having.
Other things you need to be marketing. Right? So give it the appropriate level of attention, lump style, a lot of publishers and book coaching companies, right, will really push you, right, obviously, because, you know, it’s better for them to push it every day. Right? Like, be the thing that you promote and talk about all the time on all your podcasts, all your, blog posts, all your emails to your list, and that’s a decision you get to make. Right? Do you really wanna, like, use that well earned attention, on promoting your book all the time, right, or give it its appropriate space?
What I recommend, right, an initial launch with bonuses, right, early reader early reader bonuses or pre order bonuses, of five to seven emails like max max max, max, with an upsell or a booking application on the thank you page. Right? Like, make this more than just your book. Make the bonuses, other authority building things you’ve done, whether it’s a presentation, a workshop, a master class, how that thank you page be, you know, a short video, right, that says, like, amazing.
Right? If you need help with this, this, and this right now, then is a conversation we can have. Right? So you have the authority about the book, and you also have the, application for people who are ready to have that conversation at.
So Yes. Make it fit and work within your current business structure.
Don’t over engineer for a successful book launch.
Hit up your socials, but once again, your business owner with a book. Right? Don’t make it all about that.
And understand, right, the initial surge can move you up to number one, any releases in your category, which is great. It’s fun. Like, I posted a screenshot in Slack yesterday, right, that I was number two in new releases on Amazon for a pretty cool category of business, business motivation, I think. Right?
Like, right next to noah Kagan. I’m like, that’s a win. That’s fun, and it’s just that. It’s just fun.
Right? It doesn’t mean much more than that.
The ranking via any short term spike won’t sustain. Right? It’ll be gone tomorrow. Right? Like, I could take this screenshot of that same category today, and I think it’s like number eight or number nine.
Right? So it’s like, a short term win, like, it’s fun, it’s exciting, and it’s not what you should be optimizing for. So the ranking via that spike won’t sustain no evidence.
I’ve done a lot of research on this. No evidence that it will actually help you sell more organically because your audience probably isn’t navigating to the best selling books of a certain Amazon category looking through it and deciding what they wanna read next off of that. Is probably not how they’re browsing or making buying decisions.
So, get cozy, spending to acquire a reader or a lead my favorite platform for that is Amazon ads.
It’s cost per click, meaning you don’t pay for impressions, which is really, really cool if you’re, like, MU author or trying to build your authority in space, you don’t pay for those tens of thousands of impressions you’re getting for free alongside the other authority figures and thought leaders in your space that you want to be associated with. That it’s really, really cool.
Yeah. So that’s a really cool aspect of Amazon ads. And you get to target, right, keyword phrases that your problem or solution aware audience would be typing or looking for. Right?
So, in my case, right, that looks like, a keyword I think I’m running that is doing really well for me is, like, best books on money mindset, best books on money mindset twenty twenty four. Right? So these are the phrases people are typing. You find the search volume for these.
You use a tool for it. I use, Kindle Rocket.
I think there are some other higher paid ones like Helium, where you see how much search volume is being, generated for those keywords, but use keywords, right, that your target audience, someone who would be qualified for your higher ticket services or courses, would be using and then you get to form a hypothesis where you get to engineer, you get to engineer the reality where a book reader is the warmest possible lead in your business just based on the words they were typing or the other books they were looking at before find your books. So that’s what’s really cool about Amazon ads.
And yeah, I love the fact that you get tens of thousands of impressions for free. Right? And I think it does take I couldn’t find a stat on this. I’ve been looking for it. I’m like, how many impressions does it take of your name of your boat before someone?
Makes that buying decision. Right? So, yeah, I think, like, I read somewhere that it could be seven, it could be ten.
I think on Amazon right now, it’s probably, you know, at least fifteen to twenty. If you’re book just showing up on the feed, showing up as sponsored books, like, before someone’s like, oh, this is really showing up a lot for me right now. Like, oh, this person’s name is showing up a lot for me right now. Let me click through and actually, I know a bit more about this person.
So yeah, Amazon had big fan of it. Really easy to get started with it. Like, I got started with it, I think, like, learning it in an afternoon off of Udemy course or some YouTube videos to get masterful at it, obviously, it requires some optimization into next work, still in the process of that. So I can’t really report, but your cheat code and all that is being willing to spend and lose money on acquiring a reader.
So the vast majority of folks that are running, book ads on Amazon, are publishers or authors who need to be profitable on their book sale. Right? So I’d estimate that ninety five percent of people who are running book ads aren’t thinking lifetime value or backend. Right?
They are they are authors and they are publishers. Right?
So this is a really important point. Like, your mindset going in time zone ads is you can be bold, right, in your bidding strategy.
You can have a certain threshold of being willing to spend money to acquire a reader. You don’t need to be profitable on your book.
And of course, the confidence in this comes through, once you actually look at the metrics of your whole funnel, right, like we could talk about that. I don’t know if we’ll have time today, of what, like, a book funnel looks like, but you need to be able to know what a book reader is worth within sixty days or ninety days. Right? And therefore, know how much you’re willing to spend on, acquiring a reader.
So where I’m at with this little experiment? So this was my first book, seven initiatory fires of modern manhood, really mouthful like, a big mouthful. A lot of words to say. Like, I think this is why I didn’t do podcasts because I didn’t wanna have to keep saying that word out loud.
But it was cool. Right? Like, I don’t have regrets about this process. I definitely don’t have regrets about writing it. So that two years to write it, amazing, fulfilling, self revealing. I really wrote it to coach myself through a lot of the things that I was experiencing, the part that sucked a year and a half to publish it, between the publisher’s timeline.
Yeah, and obviously when you write something that is kind of in the self development, spirituality realm, like, the things you feel and think about. Right? Three years later, differ a little bit. Right?
And I didn’t really feel incredible about, hardening ideas that were so real and raw three years ago. And now I’m like, I’ve kind of evolved beyond some of those ideas. A lot of them, I still feel so strongly about and others. I’m like, yeah, I don’t know.
My thinking and feeling about this has evolved a little bit. So, yeah, that delay didn’t really work for me. So by the time I was at, I just wasn’t as hyped about talking about it. I got hyped about other people reading it and experiencing it and having conversations about it.
There are definitely some cool experiences.
I think, like, I got tagged on a post from, Soleai, a hip hop artist who I think it’s married to Atlanta Mooreette. Yeah. That was it. I’m like, that’s amazing.
Canadian, you know, fresh when I I was like, fourteen years old, amazing. It’s in their living room now. Maybe. I don’t know.
I just made that up. The part that it’s in their living room. We have no evidence of that. But definitely some cool wins out of that, so I don’t regret that.
But, yeah, all in all, I think I paid five thousand dollars on that deal initially, right, to get with that publisher. And I honestly can’t remember what I was paying five thousand dollars for.
I was just like, thinking long term. I’m like, this book is gonna sell hundreds of thousands of copies. It’s five thousand dollars, no bank. Whatever. Let’s just get it done.
Another two and a half to three grand maybe. Book editors and formatters, once again, amazing people love them.
But I don’t necessarily know that it made anything better.
I despised their initial cover designs. I ended up pretty much designing my own on Canva and giving it to them and saying you know, improve on this or do this, but better. And they just pretty much did that. So that kinda sucked.
Apparently sold over four hundred copies, but unclear reporting, and to be honest, like, I just haven’t seen a royalty check yet. And I don’t understand their reporting. Haven’t really had the time, the energy or the desire to go into the forensics of trying to understand it. Which is frustrating, and I feel a little handcuffed in this one.
Right? Cause I know that I can advertise it well. If I use my unpaid media and I use my own copywriting skills, but I just don’t really have the capacity or the capability to put paid dollars behind something that is on a literally, like, a four to six month delay to get the cash flow back on that sale Mhmm. With some yeah, with pretty much all margin taken out between those two layers, Amazon and the publisher.
So I’m handcuffed. Right? I have skills to promote it and market it now, and I just can’t justify doing it. So, yeah, that kinda sucks.
Had to survive that gauntlet of being pitched. All these promotional services that’ll be shared at the beginning.
And I likely made my ROI in indirect ways. So when, so I do have a paid men’s group that I run every Tuesday night to co facilitate. We had a higher ticket program that we ran over the summer on, certifying people to become MEM’s coach facilitators, which is awesome.
The book helped indirectly. Right. So when leads just weren’t ready for that, I was able to share the book, they would buy it. They would get comfortable with me based on kind of reading the ideas, the authority based on, you know, just having the book, and some of those did turn into members of the group, as well as, part ticket certification clients.
But, yeah, indirect. Right? So overall, I don’t regret writing the book. I love the process of writing that book. I love that it’s out there. I love that it’s making an impact.
I do regret.
The method I used to publish it and the delays and the timelines that felt in retrospect highly unnecessary and now have me kind of handcuffing how much I can actually do to, promote it in ways that, Yeah. I just can’t track the ROI so easily or recoup the investment on paid ads so easily.
Book two, shadow money, sixty days to write. Jim idea inspired on, like, work I was doing in that men’s group. So, yeah, there’s some more indirect ROI, a thousand words a day. Really easy to commit to. I think, like, that was usually a coffee shop visit, sixty to ninety minutes, usually. So very easy to commit to on a schedule.
This part blew my mind taking five days to publish on Amazon KDP, fifty five dollars for the interior design, made my uncover in Canvas. So spent fifty five dollars to produce this, for both the Kindle and the paperback, created a mid tier program to support read or acquisition cost. So that’s something I could talk about maybe later. What time is it? You’ve got ten minutes.
So, yeah, created a mid tier program to, offset the cost of advertising so that I could be willing to spend money to acquire readers, offer to lead magnet literally on page one, which brings readers into that mid tier funnel.
Learned Amazon ads one zero one in an afternoon. No big launches to any lists or socials, because, yep, it’s a pen name. It’s a person who didn’t exist, three months ago. So a twenty day result, four hundred and fifty to five or, yeah, four hundred and fifty dollars in Amazon ad spend. Once again, totally not optimized. I’m not trying to break even on it. I’m just letting Amazon do its thing.
There is probably a lot I could do to, optimize my ad spent and my OSS on my Amazon ad spent.
But here’s yeah, the nuts and bolts of it. So seventy three units sold, most importantly real and qualified readers. So three hundred and fifty dollars in royalties, so not quite break even on the Amazon ad spend, which I am more than happy about, I think, like, seventy three readers at a hundred dollars loss.
I don’t know, I’m paying, like, a dollar fifty per reader right now, which I’m really happy about.
One unit of the mid tier sold, for a hundred and eighty dollars. So possible there are you beyond breakeven.
One high ticket coaching package came out of that. Or two thousand dollars just as a test run. So profitable there, reader to list conversion. So this is something I’m tracking. So the funnel that readers are moving into is just for book readers. It’s not being muddied by any other channel.
Reader to list conversion approximately fifty percent.
So half of the people who are actually opening the book and reading the book are getting on the list.
List size is a hundred and fifteen, that includes other people who didn’t buy the book. So that’s why that number is a little higher than it would be, numbers wise.
But it’s cool. Right? Real readers when real readers buy it, opportunities open. So I had one, One fellow in Spain, right, who has a decent sized list wants to translate all the materials into Spanish, just really resonating with everything I’m sharing.
Really cool little win there, invitation to a major podcast in February. That just wouldn’t have happened, right, kind of spark magically just by having this done. So not mind blowing crazy results and wins, and I’m already far more profitable than I was with my last book, and this is really just twenty days in with so much room to optimize so much room to grow. My goal is to move at least for the first three months, a hundred books a month, right, a hundred real readers per month, with the hypothesis that the cost to acquire a reader will go down month by month as it gets more social proof, gets more traction, get some more opportunities to speak on podcasts.
And, yeah, so grinding for those hundred readers initially and letting it kinda snowball from there as I layer in more optimized strategies. So that is What I got? Let me get off this screen, stop share, catch a breath.
Oh, is that too ranty, guys? Like, I don’t know. It wasn’t too great. Alright?
No. No.
No. I’m not super informative. Okay. Cool.
I wanted to see you lose your shit. Like, where was the real world thing? It’s way too chill.
That was way too chill it.
Yeah. I mean, I was, like, I mean, me being close to losing my shit still looks really common collected, but, the conference I went to, right, like, which was sponsored by one of the, one of the bigger kind of, like, self publishing coaching companies. And they’re cool. Right?
And, like, so much of it just felt off. Right? Signing the dream of, like, you need a book. It’s gonna be your legacy.
Right? Not your legacy if you’re selling two or three copies per month. Right? So it’s like, yeah, a lot gets invested that doesn’t get recouped, and there’s so much, like, shame and regret around it that just people don’t have those conversations.
And I think the path to doing it well and doing it sustainably, is there. I just don’t see a lot of people doing it. So it felt really empowering to, like, create that path and create that hypothesis for myself on this one. And, yeah, so far, so good. It doesn’t generate you know, copywriting service money yet, and it’s pretty cool to see what it’s able to do, like, twenty days in. So Yeah.
That’s interesting. You say that I went to the last fifty books conference and it was in Vegas in November.
And I really resonated with that decide if you’re an author or a business owner happens to be an author because my experience at that conference while it is predominantly fiction authors and and small publishers a bit.
It was really obvious to me that these folks were business owners first despite the fact that their predominant income was books. They still would be the first ones to say, oh, okay. Well, my series, this series of mine, the it’s the readership isn’t there. It’s not doing what it should.
Boom. Done. I’m not writing anymore. That’s not, you know, that’s not ROI positive anymore. So they it was just really obvious to me that while they were writers and artists and creatives and all those things.
They were very much business minded and it was cool being in a room of so many people with that.
I think we’re creatives or, you know, kind of portrayed as these.
Well, we don’t do numbers and we don’t do And I was like, nope. All these people pay attention to numbers and they hear.
So, That’s awesome.
Yeah. It was it I mean, it’s different. I realized in non fiction versus fiction. There’s just a drastic difference, but I still was really impressed by the business mindedness of the group.
So Yeah.
That’s cool. And and there are some, like, really, like, like, I was throwing a lot of shade at, like, some aspects of the industry. There are some, like, really good and affordable, like, companies out there that are empowering authors to know the number side of it. Right?
Yeah. Kendall Kendall Printer comes to mind. They’re really good in terms of, like, what I’ve seen and learned from and, like, really affordable stuff.
But, yeah, there’s just, like, the the most predatory aspects I think that I’ve witnessed and seen a lot of regret and remorse of are, like, the promotional specs, like, to get on best seller list ones. Mhmm.
And it’s just like yeah. Kinda like sad and cringe to throw so much money at that, and you are getting over promise. You are getting over promise that you’ll get on that list, and it’ll kinda sustain. That’ll be that spike you need, because everyone feels like everyone’s confident in their book, and they feel like it just needs that initial push, right, and the rest will take over.
And, yeah, when you’d, like, look at the raw numbers, like, when you actually look, and I I went through this exercise because I didn’t want my own bias to cloud it. Like, I so there there’s one company I I won’t name names, right, that, like, offers a service. You see the testimonials, right, of those authors on that page.
Look at their books now, how much volume are they actually moving? Where is it actually ranked on Amazon now, right, a year later?
And the numbers are the numbers. Right?
Like Mhmm.
So I think that also I I sometimes wonder because if I didn’t make it clear, the conference is it’s for indie author.
They’re like small little kind of I’m not even sure I call a publisher because that feels not portrayed accurately, but it’s indie authors.
And I kind of feel like as an indie author, it also forces you to pay attention to the numbers because who else is gonna do for you, you know.
Right.
And so that was the I don’t know. I I just thought indie author becoming an indie author first to me like to monique you mentioned, should I just put something up? I think yes. The faster you can put out a book and publish it and get it on a platform where you can see any number.
It doesn’t matter. Zero, whatever. I think that’s the better way to go. That’s what Abby and I have been talking a lot about with my book because I feel like the seasonal sales psychology book feels bigger and I want more to it.
And I feel like that’s keeping me from let’s get something out there.
Let’s, you know, let’s do something simpler, get a book out there and learn fast.
Her. That’s so I’m totally with you on that. If you were doing that, that’s what I’m I’m thinking I’m gonna shift to that as well.
So Yeah.
I kinda yeah. I kinda feel like there’s the mini version, right, where I’m I’m would love your thoughts on this ride if you’ve seen people do this. Like, it’s a lead magnet and and or you give a discount code to the Amazon. And I don’t I don’t know the version of that funnel, but the idea is If you publish it and it’s on Amazon, it brings a whole bunch of credibility than a lead magnet download book that someone gets sent that no one really reads because it was free off your website. And so I kind of feel the same way. Like, why not publish it? Why not make it a book somebody can buy, get printed?
And have it as soft copy. I’ve heard that, I would love your stats. Like, what percentage of the sales are actually soft like print printed books rather than downloaded books. I think it’s like ninety percent usually as a ratio.
Yeah. I could give you the exact numbers right now.
Right. Do you have the do you have is it how do you drill down your numbers on that?
Give me one sec.
Alright. So Right now I’m, just on my KDP dashboard, suite.
So, yeah. I mean, I’ll show you what the reporting looks like there.
Sweet. So, yeah, this is this month. It shows you how many people many pages have been read on Kindle Unlimited if you make it available for Kindle Unlimited.
So this doesn’t account for, like, people who everyone who bought, like, the candle version. This is just for those who access it versus kindle unlimited.
There we go. So paperbacks, seventy percent, about thirty pis thirty percent ebook, shows country breakdown.
Yeah, I think the ebook had a higher percentage because I didn’t know what I was doing at the beginning, and I’ve made the ebook available for, like, a week earlier than the paperback. The paperback’s only been out since January seven not even twenty days yet.
Whereas the ebook was available before. So, yeah, I think that would account for it. But, yeah, probably closer to a seventy five percent twenty five percent ratio.
Mhmm.
Otherwise.
Yep. And you can you can obviously optimize for that. Right? So I think, like, I would want to optimize for more paperbacks than kindles, right, just because I think having something physical in their home that they’re seeing every day, is amazing for, like, the nurture and just you being top of mind.
Right? So I would absolutely optimize for pay for back. The simplest way to do that, right, is just make the price gap such that, like, you know, I don’t know, like, thirteen bucks per kindle and seventeen bucks for a paperback. It’s like, yeah, why would I order the kindle?
Unless, I really, really like reading on it any reader.
So Mhmm.
Mhmm.
Yep.
And so how does they pay on, like, a print on direct or purchase? How does that work?
Yeah. So with, KDP Publishing, in particular, you don’t pay anything upfront. Right? So you upload your book. Right?
You upload, like, the dimensions of it, right, all the files, and then it’ll give you, right, the cost to produce at the raw raw costs. So for this one, it’s like four or five bucks.
But you’re not paying for any copies because it’s print on demand. So you don’t need to, like, print you don’t need to pay for an initial run or anything like that.
It’s just, like, comes off of your margin. Right? So if you sell it for seventeen bucks, the first five bucks is used to pay for production, and then you have your royalty on the remaining twelve bucks. So yeah.
Yep. But no no inventory, obviously, which is amazing. If you are speaking at a conference, Oh, gosh. This is so much easier with Amazon than it is with a publisher.
Right? So a publisher, I have this conversation once because they’re the US. I’m based in Canada. I’m like, if I wanted to if I’m doing a workshop in the US, can you just ship it to them, right, directly?
Right? Ship it there. They’re like, no. We gotta ship it to you first in Canada.
Right? So crazy duties with a minimum order quantity, then I gotta ship to the US. Right? At that point, it’s not even worth it.
I’m paying, like, thirty bucks per unit to just get give away free books.
Amazon, right, like, so easy to order order, author copies at a discount at cost. Like, you get it at cost. Right? And, yeah, you could have it shipped wherever you wanna ship it. So a lot easier.
That in itself is a huge insight. Wow.
Yep.
Yep. And once again, I don’t know if every publisher is like that. That was just the conversation I had with, the one I used.
He is interesting when Joe write books in kinda similar and I our stats for the paperback to Kindle version. Now we started with Kindle so that probably impacted it as well. But Mhmm. We’re like opposite yours. Paperback versus Kindle is Really? Oh, yeah. Is completely up similar way more people taking ebooks but if you think about it like Joe’s initial books way back when, you know, ten years ago that classics kind of.
Those were ebook only unless you printed it off yourself or something. You know, so I wonder if there’s also that She kind of set in place a I do ebooks. I write ebooks digital.
Yeah.
You know, but anyway, I just thought that was funny because you’re his Maybe.
Yeah.
Yeah. I think, obviously, it’s just like a hypothesis as I just really see a paperback sale being more valuable than a Kindle because I forget about all the books that I have on Kindle, because I don’t see them. Right? My iPad has essentially been hijacked by my son to watch, like, yeah, YouTube videos and frankly the turtle. So, like, I don’t even see my kindle anymore.
But, yeah.
Cool. Any other questions?
Yeah. I have a couple. Oh, after you you, Abby, I have a couple I’ve written out.
Hey. Sure. You can You are first. Here you go.
Well, I have one pen name. I’m so curious about your pen name and and what made you decide to do pen name.
Yeah. I mean, all my, yeah, all my books are essentially pen names now.
But Yeah. It was, like, really clear to me to not, like, muddle brands.
Right?
Initially, like, yeah, I’ll be totally honest. It’s, like, the first book I release, I’m, like, no one knows me in the space for this thing, and it feels weird, and it feels awkward.
And I kinda wanna, like, hide a little bit behind it. So, yeah, totally admitting that.
Like, the first book there were elements of not wanting to be seen and wanting to hide, got through that shit, and then it just kinda like made sense. It’s a different brand in a different industry with a different voice and different socials. So let it have its own name, practically speaking, right, like, if you Google Ryan Schwartz, like, you’re gonna get, like, the copywriting stuff, and then you’re gonna get literally, hundreds of other running shorts just because it’s a super common name. So I really wanted to have names that I could rank number one for on the books. That felt really important right off the bat.
As well as getting And what do you mean?
What do you mean by that when you say rank for names? Oh, based on on Exactly.
So if you, if you Google Hendrix Black, for example, like my book will be first page, all first page will be me, essentially, which felt important and not been a good enough reason to run with that.
And, yeah, so I think, like, that’s really the main reason for pen names is the authorship is just in different spaces and different brands, and I wanna rank on the first page or those names.
Cool. And it’s cool to be different people. I don’t know. Like, I know. It’s just fun. Like, live out the names that your parents didn’t have the courage to call you. Like, Why wouldn’t I do that?
Yeah. My dad was gonna call me Siddhartha.
As in like the Buddha?
Yeah.
Could you imagine how embarrassing that lady? Like, the her the Herman Hasssey novel, like you read that and got inspired or I don’t know.
He was just, yeah, happy in the nineties.
Oh, yeah. That would’ve been kinda cool. Like, do you regret not being considered that?
No. No. At all. I think I would have gone by Sid. Like, I feel like Sid’s a cool name, but Samantha.
Good book. Yeah. That could be a pen name once you start writing your own spirituality books.
So, you know, yeah.
It’s a good segue into my question. So I’ve I’ve a mindset question. I’m a total newbie at mindset, but I’m I’ve been reading it about it for making money. And I’m like, okay.
So, like, you wanna, like, attract, like, wealth abundance, like, I’m trying to get into that. But then when I think about my book, like, you know, I’m excited about it, but I’m also kinda like, yeah, like, you know, probably five people will buy who follow me on LinkedIn. Like, I’m totally like, yeah, like, no one’s gonna buy it. Like, do you have any, like, advice on what kind of mindset you should have?
Cause I don’t wanna set high expectations, but I’m also, like, my expectations are so low that that can’t be good for, like, actually attracting, you know, for actually thinking I’m gonna sell any.
Yeah. I think, like, there are definitely mindset and energetic components of that. Like, I would check-in, like, how do you feel if it was selling hundreds of copies? Like, this part of you freak out about that. You’d be like, oh, they’re reading my stuff, they’re judging. They’re, you know, like, tune into the parts of you that may not want it to take off as well that may be kind of like halting and sabotaging the process.
I think that that is valuable work to do.
I get really excited about your book and how it fits within your business. Like, that gets really exciting. Right? Like, it just ties.
And so brilliantly with what you already do, anyone who’s read your work whether it’s your copy or client’s copy, whatever. It’s like, shit, she can write. Like, I wanna read that. So, some, I mean, on the mindset stuff of, like, will it sell?
Right? I think I think it’s, like, the wrong question. The right question would be like, do I want it to sell and what will I do to insure itself? Cause there are pathways to sell books and move volume.
Right? Like, I didn’t have an audience for a made up name called the Money Shopping, and it’s sold seventy five copies this month. Right?
And real readers who are in my inbox right now is, like, loving on the work. Right? And So, yeah, like, your readers are out there.
It’s actually quite easy and simple.
To get your book in front of them using Amazon ads and to write keywords and getting it, yeah, getting it displayed as a sponsored product on those because I do leading. Right? Like, I gotta look at my stats again. Right?
But, like, you you are a bad ass at and money. Right? Like, that was one of the books where I bid really aggressively to get mine as a sponsored book next to that. Mhmm.
Right? Because even if people aren’t clicking through, I’m getting that impression on that association hundreds of times per day. Right? And it might take six months of people seeing my next to that one.
Before they’re like, oh, maybe I should check out this one as well.
But, yeah, that’s something you could do. Right? So, like, you can bid really aggressively to have your book next to Jeffwalker’s launch, right, and Amy Porterfield’s two weeks notice. Mhmm. And, you know, those evergreen trees are gonna be to it, like, for months.
And then people will be like, who’s exactly? Right?
To Sedarta the marketer. Right? Like, that’s that’s your pen name. And, yeah, I think, like, you can engineer that with in a really predictable way. That’s not something you have to think. Will this happen? Like, you can create that just with a bold bidding strategy on your cost per click.
Like, it will be there next to Laura Belgrave. It will be there next Sandy Porterfield. It will be there next to Jeff Walker or Ryan Lavac or Whoever, if you want your book to be next to. Right?
Mhmm.
You will rank for how do I launch an online course, right, if you want to rank for that keyword so, yeah, there are ways you can pretty much guarantee your book will move volume.
It’s obviously harder to guarantee that your book will blow the fuck up and turn into atomic habits. Right?
Which, like, I looked at the volume. I think he’s making or the book is making on amazon dot com, like, over eight eight hundred grand a month right now. Like, which is insane.
It’s wild. It’s absolute madness. And that is the best selling book on Amazon. Like, So it is what it is.
But the thing is is when the book is just a component of your business, you don’t need it to sell half a million copies, right, to do really, really, really well. Like, because you have your mid ticket course already done, that complements it.
Like, it’s as simple as, like, you create your book on page two.
Like, you have the lead magnet, right, that gets them into the Evergreen funnel. And you have the course directly if they’re interested in, like, taking to the next level. So, like, I give that opportunity right away so that they could skip the funnel.
But you will know, like, if you duplicate that funnel, for book readers, you will know what a book reader is worth within sixty days, like, really easily.
And then you could reinvest, and it becomes your lead gen strategy for your course and for your services. And you can compare that with, like, is this more profitable? Is this bringing better leads than Facebook ads or worse leads.
So, yeah, you can control the outcome to a certain degree of moving volume, you can’t control while it blow up. Yeah. But you can definitely control where it appears.
And yeah, to a certain degree, you could definitely control, like, volume, especially with your skills. Right? And, like, yeah, writing good descriptions, good cover. Good cover is probably one of the more important things well.
Yeah. There’s, yeah, there’s a lot there. Like, I didn’t realize you could control, like, where your book appeared next to.
One follow-up question, just like, around mindset if that’s okay. Like, I mean, this is a really, really basic mindset stuff, but I think it’s partly, like, I just don’t wanna be disappointed. Like, in business, I’m kind of fine to make moves if I fail, but I just feel like with a bug because it’s something I’ve wanted since I was like, about four years old. It’s just like feels like I like, it would kind of break my heart if I put it out there and people hated it or didn’t buy it. Like, you have any, like, advice around that, or does that did you feel like that?
Yeah. So, like, when I really tune into the honesty of, like, the emotions there, or, like, they’re mixed on the first one. Like, I’m disappointed. It’s not selling more. I feel angry to some degree that, like, I want to control its movement, but feel a little handcuffed out the economics.
So that’s, like, frustration that I compartmentalize.
Right? Again, I’ll admit that truth.
Yeah. Look, like, it’s natural to really desire it to do well. Right? Like, why would you do something without that desire?
I think, like, there are elements of that risk and that vulnerability, right, where, like, it may meet your expectations. It may exceed your expectations.
It may not exceed those expectations. And I think you could definitely yeah, there’s definitely, like, work to be done on, like, preempting that disappointment and that fear and that sadness. Right? Like, that is mindset work, that is a personal growth work, that is, like, the emotional clearing work, and that is available to you.
And, right, like, I think.
To to a certain degree, yeah, and we could keep we could keep having those conversations, like, in the mastermind and on Slack because I think, like, when we’re all taking this, like, next leap, Like, there are definitely vulnerable components of that. Right? And we do wanna be assured success on whatever we do to make it feel safe. Because otherwise, like, it it sucks, and it stings to not meet your own expectations for something you’re doing, especially the thing that feel really important to you from, like, dear to your heart.
But yeah, I think, like, there’s definitely work that can be done effectively to, like, clear those emotions, clear those fears, and then get really resourceful and determined around optimizing for success. And I do feel like there’s more.
I I think that there’s a lot we could do, to create the probability of success. Not necessarily guarantee it, but in the book world, if you have a really good book on a topic that people, like, are actively looking to learn about, Right?
Yeah, you can really kind of, like, feel good about the probability of success there. Right? And just making sure you’re doing the eighty twenty to really, like, drive for that.
But, like, for you, for example, like, if you really wanna feel like you can ensure that success. Right? Like, you can have the outline of the book. You can have the cover design, right, and, like, go to five or ten, like, past clients, colleagues, friends, right, in the space with that audience, like, how does this sound, right, is this something you would, you know, help share with your list, right, like, down the line? You can almost, like, preempt your fear by getting kind of like a verbal confirmation from, you know, the donors of over ten thousand people. Like, what do you share this? Right?
To assuage that beer.
Yeah.
Mhmm. Thank you.
I I have a question for you, Ryan, about I guess, like, where would you go if you want? And I think Jessica, you were saying this. Like, if if we’re going down this journey, We don’t wanna get caught up in the industry of what you experienced. Mhmm. Who who are those people that’s still so new, I find even like where to even start an outline.
Like Google, I’ve I’ve started writing my book, and I’m like, oh my god, I get so lost in that Google doc where I can’t remember where things are, and I’m like brain dumping. And so the process of actually organizing the thinking in a way that’s not great creating work after, like, this continuum of work. That that is so I I feel like for me, the tools to do it right and efficiently of, like, either thumbnails or or index cards or just that would be super helpful because I think a part of the dream of going to somebody else, they could teach you all that is what the hope is to shortcut.
And if there isn’t that an absolute need and the confidence is just in like you said, the doing the words and keeping it organized, in testing with people and maybe having some accountability partners in this group. And then, oh, by the way, when you’re ready, let’s, like, hey, Roy can be the person that says, you know, send to this person, check-in with this person. These are the people that will keep it, initially on the inexpensive side to publish. That would be so helpful for me as like, hey, just take these five steps. Do this?
Yep.
Systemize it like this. And these are the people.
Yeah.
So what I’m hearing is I just the initial part getting started with, like, the outline and the structure is kind of a bit of an obstacle right now. Mhmm.
Yeah. I have a lot of stuff being written out, but it’s the keeping it organized.
Yeah.
So you have it written out. Like, are you confident in the structure element, and that’s just about, like, keeping the pieces organized within it?
Or Yeah.
I have a I have a book outline.
Okay.
But it’s sort of like I like the chapters to almost the index cards. Like, I know that maybe and I’ve been thinking Trello is probably the most visual way of doing it, but maybe there’s a better way of doing it.
Yeah. I mean, trello’s good. I like I mean, you could have columns for each chapter, right, and cards for each components within it.
I’ve used actual, like, cue cards in the past, index cards, sorry, like, literally putting them on a board, right, or on my floor, right, because I have, like, messy floors.
So use what works for you, like, on the last so so when I wrote screenplays, I was a lot more structured because there are more moving pieces. The last two books, right, the structuring to flow are so clear. Right? And, like, what I found was, like, the more I tried to organize, the more overwhelmed and stressed I got, where I felt relaxed and relief is when Google Docs started populating, right, and I had a table of contents and detractors. And each chapter had a very similar structure, right, and how it was presented.
But I felt a lot of my anxiety was disappearing as the thing was actually getting done. Right? So I feel like just even committing to that writing cadence of, like, however many words per day, you feel confident you can accomplish And knowing that in, like, six weeks, you’ll have a certain output that is self organizing. Right? Like, that might feel really good.
Yeah.
Does that does that help? And, I mean, I wish I was, like, more organized myself. I organize as I write, and I know that’s not always, like, the most ideal thing. But, I feel I feel most confident when I see the thing actually getting flushed out.
That’s just how I work. Yeah.
So I I have a thought, and I just I don’t know what you think about this. So page two that was recommended, they’re they’re I mean, I’ve looked at their services and they start at, I think, thirty five thousand dollars.
For, for who?
Page two. Yeah.
Okay.
I haven’t I haven’t gone so far yet as I hope to meet with them at some point, like, just to learn about theirs. But I don’t know if that’s the real cost, but that’s what they sort of shared.
Mhmm.
I was I was actually really blown away by it. I thought the whole you know, hybrid publishing was like maybe fifteen thousand max.
Mhmm. So one thing you can do pretty easily. Right? Like, this is a twenty minute exercise, right, is like, they have all these books on their homepage, you can definitely see how much volume they’re doing.
Yeah, some of these books I definitely recognize. Right? So, like, they’re doing well, like these books, but are those the outliers? And did they succeed despite or because of Right? Like, I think that’s an important part.
Let me see what their services are.
So our team of editors designers project managers and sales and marketing professionals take close attention to detail while giving you full control over every decision.
Yeah. I mean, I’d be really kind of like, H two books are sold around the world both online and in brick and mortar stores, we have a team of a hundred plus sales reps through our distributors.
Post twenty five agents selling translations on our behalf.
Yeah, honestly, like, at that price point, thirty thousand dollars or even ten thousand dollars, like, This is where this is why, like, when I published my second book, I’m like, I don’t care how much I’m losing on Amazon ads right away I’ve saved over ten thousand dollars. I’m just getting it here. Right?
Yeah, I get a lot more excited about saving that money and turning it into, like, real ROI on a real measurable funnel than a, kind of a ambiguous thing they’re doing. Right? We have sales reps that are actively doing this and that, but they’ll never guarantee an output or an outcome out of that. Which has you fill in the gaps of the best possible scenario because, of course, you want the best case scenario.
Right? So it’s like, I I went through a similar process. Right? Like, we have sales reps.
We have connections to all these stores. And, of course, I’m defaulting to the optimistic side of, okay, these sales reps are gonna get my book, and I’m gonna be at an airport flying here, and I’m gonna see it there, and I’m gonna have that moment taking a selfie into airport, being like, my book is here. Right? And, like, this is where the brain and the heart naturally wants to go.
You just don’t have control over that, and they won’t give you a guarantee on that because that’s not how they work, and not every one of their books ends up in a store. Right? And they may or may not give you an accurate percentage of, you know, how many of their clients actually get there.
Yeah, that’s a bit of a judgment call, but, like, my intuition is if it’s a five figure investment, and you can likely create a similar product, the book itself, for you know, under a thousand dollars. Right? And that’s if you hire a really good book cover designer.
I get really excited about having nine thousand dollars of marketing and ad budget on a measurable funnel. That’s just me.
Yeah. I totally agree with you. I mean, you’ve convinced me that while I was already trying to make sense of it in a in a very complicated way. Like, I actually put information in a chat, GBT, and my tell me what these services have in common. And it was like, I don’t know. Like, it was very so if, like, if if it’s complicated at the beginning and then you go down at the contractual agreements stage, like, it gets even more complicated and confusing.
And it just felt like it was dampening the whole you know, opportunity. And then you add in the after manuscript fifteen to eighteen months or something, you know, very long.
Yeah. To me, that’s like the deal breaker. Right? It’s like fifteen to eighteen months is a long time in, like, business terms. Right?
I know.
You have your, like, workshop already done. Right? Like, the workshop you wanna be presenting?
Yeah.
I just got, like, intuitive hit, like, create the book version of that that slides into the, like, we’ll do the workshop together. Right?
Well, and that’s kinda what I was thinking. If I like you said, it’s like the manual that you sell that, hey, you can buy and go and do it your on your own or what if we all did it together? Yeah.
That that is sort of the mini version idea of, like, So and then and then that sort of builds and you get the experience off of just that and you get to make it something that you can have authority on.
You can, like you said, get it out out and out the door, maybe three or four months.
Yep. And it’s part of your product suite. Right? Your fractional work well as your workshop work, it connects with both those opportunities.
Right?
Yeah. And it guarantees that any reader of that is likely going to be the right audience, right, for those higher ticket packages, which is not what you get, right, even bookstore distribution ninety nine point nine percent of people who will work on a Barnes and Noble and, like, browse, like, probably not your ideal market.
Right?
Yep. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, and once again, there are parts of us that really want that experience. Right? I really, really wish I could go to the local bookstore in Montreal that I used to spend so much time in and pull my book off the shelf and be like, look, I did it.
Right? And, like, the price we pay just for that validation is, like, crazy. Right? And marketers definitely prey on that.
But it’s not necessary. Like, you can rank for all the things that you need to rank for on Amazon.
And you can build a funnel that really tracks the KPIs and all the metrics you need to know, like, how much is a reader worth for you? And how much are you willing to spend to acquire a reader and compare the lead quality of that reader with your other lead gen sources.
That’s awesome. Would you be willing to share the people that you worked with on your your book?
Yeah. Totally. I mean, I think there’s only, like, one person because I designed the cover.
I would invest in getting the cover done. Right? Like, second time around. I think this is just part of my own, like, ragey reclamation of, like, like, the publishing industry.
And, yeah, like, playing around with Canvas because it makes me feel more talented than I actually am.
But, yeah, let me just kinda, like, drop you that link here so that I don’t forget because he was awesome. That’s gonna be awesome.
So there are a lot of I mean, it’s fiber. Right? So, obviously, there’s a lot of people who aren’t so great, even with a lot of five star reviews, because I don’t know how they get all those five star reviews, but they do.
But this one guy was really good.
So this name is Damien and let me drop it in chat.
Yep. So he’s in the UK, super professional, once again, like, as far as, like, interior layout and back cover and spine and all that, probably, like, a seven and a half to eight on ten, right, but for fifty five bucks, Canadian, I think.
So Yeah.
That’s crazy. That’s so cool. Night and day differences between your first and your second one and like I know it must have driven you crazy and you mentioned it because, you know, you’re You know, you you love math. You’re in direct response.
So you can see those metrics usually. And you’re like, what’s going on? What can I optimize? What can I optimize?
What’s going on? And then the second one, like, You mentioned it’s nothing wild, but man, I disagree. That’s, like, crazy to see not only when you can break even what your ROI is. You know your LTV going into it.
You know your KPIs, just gonna have to ask anything to see that, like, in the cost, the those margins are wild to say the least. Like, what?
Right. Yeah.
Yep.
Right. That’s exactly it. When you’re familiar with the direct response, like, you just can’t tolerate things that you can’t track. What’s going on? I know this works.
Exactly.
But I’d say, like, that would be the number one reason I would never work with a publisher or hybrid publisher is the double layer of reporting as well as the delay in the cash coming back in to reinvest. Right? I think that that is, like, unacceptable for a marketer. Right? To accept, like, four to five months delay on, like, you sell a book and the revenue from that book comes in.
Yeah. That part ain’t cool. So Yeah.
And this has been, like, so valuable information, Ryan. I can’t even tell you, like, probably saved me time, energy, a struggle. Right? Because I think truth is when you meet with people in this industry, you likely wanna keep some sort of, I don’t know, connection with them, or you feel like I don’t wanna string a law. Like, there’s a whole bunch of emotions I think that really can go down this road that in a way that maybe is unique in its industry.
That it plays on legacy.
And I think you’ve just been like, I I’m grateful that you put this together.
Thanks a lot.
That they prey on the dream. They’re like, we know that they want it, you know.
Yeah. It’s it’s the bias, right, because you just naturally see yourself. Selling millions of copies, and it is possible. Right? But, yeah, I think, like, Yeah. I think I think the self empowered path, right, of just having control over your own marketing and the speed of which it gets out, right, is so vital.
And I’ve seen that case play out a lot, right, the eighteen month delay. And then, like, as an author, as a creator, you sometimes moved on, right, from those ideas and the strategies.
And then when you have to get on podcasts to promote the thing, you wanna talk about something else at that point, right, or your strategies or thinking or best practices have evolved, it’s just, like, weird. So I think, like, the speed of thought moves a lot faster than the speed of traditional publishing. And to me, that’s like a really big, challenge, but Yeah.
So, Rai, one last thing I lead a women’s financial mastery series for about twenty women where we actually go through and so interesting that you have this side brand of yours because I do too. And this is my big struggle I’ve had, and it’s in the same area, which is crazy.
Where we un unlock and untangle all the money messages and issues that have held back women owned particularly their wealth rather than, you know, just pay equity being in its gap of you know, eighty two cents on the dollar. Women in US, single women retire with thirty two cents on the dollar to to the males, save wealth. So it’s kinda like breaking down all that. And I’ve struggled with this too. Like, you seem to have, which I didn’t know about two areas that you’re really kinda like drawn to.
And that has been one for me. And I I love that you’ve done this in a way that makes me helps also helps me realize, like, I felt like I was abandoning that passion of what I love doing in supporting, the conversation around, literacy information and in the and I think there’s a struggle I’ve had around being the one thing that I’ve developed, which I’m excited about, but I’m It’s how to be too excited about two things, and I know that’s not the purpose of a one thing, but it is also great to hear that you have to lives in some cases.
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s such an important point. Right? And in my personal experience, right, like, I’ve had a lot of difficulty abandoning really vital parts of myself. Right? And work that just wants to be created. Like, I have abandoned those for periods of time, and I’ve never felt great about it.
I think, like, yeah, working in sprints has definitely enabled that. Right? Like, I wrote that book with a thousand words a day over fifty five days, published it, right, like, around a holiday season when things were a little bit more quiet on the other biz other side of the business. And now things are kind of, I wouldn’t say passive, right, but not a huge time allocation right now.
I’d say, like, my one recommendation would be, like, you know, choosing the one thing within the one thing. Right? Like, my copywriting work and my client work there and my teaching and training work is pretty streamlined and focused and disciplined.
Same thing with the other books that I create and the companies around them. Like, my men’s book filters really clearly into a Tuesday night men’s circle, right, that I co facilitate.
Like, there’s not a lot of variability around that.
So yeah, it’s like being really disciplined within those lanes, if that makes sense.
Yeah. Totally. I’d love to know your men circle. I I do have a lot of, guy friends who are talking about the need to connect with, like, genuine guys who really wanna, you know, be be present in the way that they didn’t learn, you know, as kids growing up through their There’s there’s, you know, observational parenting styles, but I’d love to know if you’re if you’re sharing that side of what you do.
Yeah. Of course. I’ll be happy to share that. We’ll be reopening, space for that soon.
So, yeah, I’ll give you a ping. Cool. But yeah. I mean, I find it really personally important, right, to make sure that the things that are vital, important to you, have lanes of expression, right, otherwise, just kinda feels shitty and brings a bit of remorse and regret at some point in my view.
So Yep.
Happy to keep the combo going as y’all go deeper into your work, but, probably appreciate the conversation.
Nolan, are you working on a book as well? I didn’t catch that initially.
I am kind of, like, yes. Definitely. It’s in the line. Like, I’m reading where I’m right now about my things.
I’m still trying a hundred percent dialer, and it’s all about, like, behavioral marketing. And I’m reading this book, called. Actually, it’s over there, but it’s called, using the science in behavioral marketing. It’s super fascinating.
It’s, like, exactly the kind of stuff I wanna wanna write about and it’s just, like, every word that I read is just like resonating with me fully. So I’m trying to absorb all the behavioral marketing content I can find out there so I can kinda see what’s going out there, what’s working, and what’s not working.
Mhmm. Awesome.
And there’s actually not like a ton on it.
So it’s it’s kinda fascinating.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Well, I’m here for all all the questions. I’ll go deeper on those paths. And, yeah, thank you for entertaining my cathartic rant, and, hopefully, there’s some useful tidbits within that.
So a ton. A ton.
Cool. Yeah. Thank you, Ryan.
Alright. That’s it. Have a good one. Take care. Yeah.
Please have a good one. Take it easy.
Your One Thing
Your One Thing
Transcript
Today’s session is to go through and really do our best to nail down the general category at least of what you want to own.
What should be your thing. There are questions galore about this, and that’s good. If you have questions, bring them up, and we’ll actually start by tackling any questions you might have. And then we’ll see if those questions reveal that everybody needs to kind of like go off and work for a few minutes on their thing alone, then we’ll pause and we’ll take some time to do that. But if it’s like, no, let’s let’s workshop some then we’ll do that. So we’ll see how today goes based on what y’all are wondering.
I have found that when I’m having, DMs with people about this, about what they’re supposed to own or what they should own.
There are a lot of questions around, Hey, I don’t know anything about the thing that I wanna own, or I haven’t really done that much of what I want to own. And so I just wanna preface this with I get that it feels counterintuitive to say I own this now.
But that’s how people do it. It doesn’t mean you have to, but just know that that happens for anybody I’ve talked about this, if you were ever in, anybody here who was in ten x freelance copywriter or even still is. I have talked many times about, And there’s actually bonus videos, which I think you have access to. Pep Laya, who runs C XL and also Winter He came in as a special guest years ago to talk to our mastermind, and he’s told it like it was, which F is good at doing, and it, he said, like, I just decided one day I was going to be the person for Convergent Optimization.
And he had literally no background in it. And a year later, he’d spoken on, like, fifteen stages already about it. So if you feel like you have to wait until until until I keep hearing that word, it’s not I’m not ready yet. I have to wait until.
Would encourage you to just suspend that. You can go back to that way of thinking in six months.
If it’s like I it’s not working, then allow yourself to go back later. You don’t have to kibosh it entirely. But suspend disbelief. You’d be shocked, at how many people have just said this is my thing now, and then that’s their thing. And that’s, like, you just now you can focus to make your thing. If you say this is it, then you make it that. Now the challenge is, hey, There are already a lot of people in that space that can feel like, well, if I can’t own SEO copywriting because they’re so many people in SEO copywriting, which there aren’t, by the way.
Okay, fine.
That doesn’t mean you still can’t own it. Though, but we might wanna, like, work through your feelings that you have about that and the reality of the competition out there. So keep that in mind. Now who has questions about owning their own thing? Or, Ryan, Shane, if you want to tack anything on to what I’ve just set.
Okay.
Jessica, you raised your hand. Do you wanna go ahead and chat and say it?
Sure.
That’s alright. So I I did try a lot of options, Joe.
You know that I’ve done a lot of things.
But I inevitably kind of circled back around that.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Circle back around to something I was kind of going into a couple years ago, and so it doesn’t quite fit into one of the stages of conversion copywriting say, but so my idea was, I used to get I I was really into the idea of being the person that’s Well, sorry.
No. I just muted. Make sure you’re on mute if you’re not talking, please. Thanks. Go ahead.
So I kind of I guess I just wanted to be the person for seasonal and holiday sales.
Okay.
And promotions.
Okay. There’s a lot that goes into that.
So that’s why I was like, well, there, you know, it goes across the entire conversion copywriting process. And there’s all sorts of things you could dive into with that optimizing the offer, email strategy, I mean, all the things, right? But I I don’t know. I was I guess I was just hoping for feedback.
Yeah.
I mean okay. My notes, and then Shane and Ry, if you wanna add anything, My initial notes are that’s cool. One, because it would actually help you build a lifestyle that although you’ll be very busy from August to November, you’ll not be quite as busy the rest of the year. I mean, holidays happen obviously all the time. There’s always like a president’s day sale or something like that.
So I think it’s cool. You’re right that it covers everything, but you could work through that. I can say that I don’t know anybody who’s the go to person for seasonal sales or for, holiday based campaigns. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
But I if they exist, I haven’t heard of them, and I don’t know if others have. So it does feel like a space you could own. You don’t have it doesn’t mean you have to, like, know everything about email and everything about sales page or anything like that. You would have to know how to talk with your clients and coach them through understanding the difference between selling during Black Friday and selling the rest of the year.
Where your offer would probably be the thing that you’d be working more on, with clients and in a book you write or whatever that thing might be instead of doing a lot of customer research where it’s not evergreen, so you don’t really have to, like, you’ll have to, but you wouldn’t have to know that or be an expert in it.
Ry says seasonal sales, psychology.
Yeah.
You could sell out books on that pretty easily and give cool workshops at e commerce, events in particular.
I don’t think you’d be able to target SAS very well.
So you’d be kind of narrowing down to e commerce, but e commerce isn’t narrow. That’s really, really big. There there are a few e commerce companies out there. So you’d be fine. Ry or Shane, anything you wanna add?
Yeah. I hear a lot too, like, the I’m not an expert, but I think, like, that’s that’s one of the least things to worry about. You you can learn it.
It’s not just dive in, make mistakes, figure it out. You will learn it. I promise. I think for me, it was or what I’m saying is, like, find something you’re passionate about.
I think that’s probably one of the most important things. And, obviously, like, there’s demand, but you can that’s important as well. But I think you have to like what you’re you’re doing. Right?
That’s that’s key.
Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like, like, there’s so many expertise and knowledge gaps within these things that we we tend to think that everything’s figured out. Right? And there are so many gaps here, and there’s so much that is ownable within seasonal sales, right, from the offer creation side. I’ve seen so many different offer formats over the last few days.
Like Kajabi is hitting me up with, like, an upgrade to pro for two grand. Right? It’s not a cheap deal. Right?
And then it renews at, like, four thousand a year. Right? So there’s conversations to be had about how you actually optimize for LTV, right, within seasonal sales? Like, no one’s having that conversation.
And it’s such an important conversation because Add costs are crazy during Black Friday. Right? The cost to acquire a customer during Black Friday or seasonal sales could be higher than other times of the year. Right?
So it’s like there’s a whole blog post, right, or a whole block to have just around how to optimize for LTV while your cost to acquire customer is higher during a seasonal sale. Right? So there’s so much terrain that isn’t owned yet is also really freaking important. So, yeah, I love it.
Yeah. All I would say then is Jessica, if you don’t see any reason, if it doesn’t break easily, like the idea doesn’t break pretty easily when put under a little bit of pressure, such as this conversation, then tell yourself, okay, I own this now, and stop thinking of other things and don’t let other stuff in. Julian, did you wanna add to this conversation?
Okay.
So I had to do a follow-up question to what well, what you said initially Joe and then what Shane brought up because I totally get what you’re saying about, like, I haven’t done it yet, but you can just choose it.
And that makes total sense. And then, but then Shane mentioned, like, oh, pick something that, you know, you know, you’re gonna like doing. And I think that’s where I’m having to disconnect is, like, if I haven’t done it, how do I know that I’m gonna like doing it? And, like, what if I choose something? And then I’m like, I don’t actually doing this.
Yeah. So, yeah, I just wonder if you could speak to that, like, how to give a sense of whether you’re like it or not if you haven’t really done it.
Yeah.
I think that’s a good question.
And then we’ll we’ll go with Chris because you had your hand up after, before.
So I maybe someone else can dive in.
There are definitely moments when I don’t love conversion copywriting. And I’m like I mean, I’m a creative at heart. I’m not a salesperson, like, I’m creative.
And so I like sales. I have learned to like it. I learned to like it because I found things that I like about it.
But I don’t walk around going so glad I’m in sales.
I’ve always been a creative person. So creative copywriting is the thing that probably would have made more sense, except the world didn’t need more creative copywriting.
That’s all anybody was doing was creative copywriting.
So that’s why I didn’t do that.
I knew I would get gold stars from people, and I’m very gold star driven.
So I knew I’d get gold stars from clients if I was able come in and say, here’s how we’re going to increase your conversion rate just by changing your words. So I found the thing that I like about conversion copywriting. I need that reward from clients, and you don’t get that for creativity unless you’re gonna work at a big agency and get awards.
Which wasn’t in the cards either. I lived in Victoria, BC.
There’s no agency there. Now there is, but there wasn’t at the time.
Anybody else wanna wanna attack on or or add any new thought on, liking what you don’t do? Like, what if you don’t like it? Have you Any thoughts? Yeah. Rita.
I wanna know what Randall said. That was exactly what I was gonna bring up. If anyone has an experience from Newport.
And amazing, really, bright humor as well from these podcasty questions. There it is. So did they categorize you?
Cal Newport is, like, I love him.
I will fangirl that man, the end of the earth. But he talks about, which was something that, like, go find your path and do things. I don’t have, like, a huge passion around social ads. That’s not I didn’t, like, wake up one day and go, oh my god. Thanks for god. This is so amazing.
But I I paid attention along the road.
And I found out that when I love working with the people that I love working with, which to prevent it to figure out.
I like making really cool people. It happened to be a lot of just, like, seven and eight figure female founders of online businesses. I like making crap out of money, and we have a lot of fun. And we like talking about private jet problems.
And, like, all of these really crazy things, That fills me up. That’s fun. It’s challenging. I love the mastery of it.
I’m really driven by, like, mastery of things. And so for me, it hasn’t always been, like, I can get confident about anything if I decide to be. And that’s just because I get to get good at it. It’s interesting.
It’s kinda hard. I like doing hard things.
But for me, it’s been more about that. Is that, like, you could put me anywhere and I’ll figure it out. I I could be passing it by running with Donald. They’ll do it like a bad ass.
So, like, but I have that cultivated that makes it over the years. So I think it’s less about dropping into a thing, at least for me, Right? I’m I’m not gonna drop into a thing and be like, oh my god. I found the answer to the, you know, the magic of the universe.
I’m just gonna get really good at it. And then I just, like, keep paying attention for what feels good where I’m having fun, what feels easy, and then just keep iterating along the way. Because in the fourteen years, I’ve been in business I’ve done everything from web designs to JavaScript to analytics and data to etcetera. And it’s just been, like, this huge process of iteration over time.
Really paying attention to what I love and what feels easy. So that’s how I’ve now I’ve done the thing and Cal newport all day long. Amazing amazing beard at at that. I think tackling that in a different way than the, like, go in the woods, find your passion.
The angel can have this thing about it. That kind of thing. Like, I just found that a re his take really realistic and it it landed in my analytical mind really nicely.
I’ve done something, like, similar where we have, like, I feel I do affiliate marketing as well, and I’ve done some affiliate stuff. I’m like, I don’t, like, I like cats they’re great, but, I’d I don’t own a cat. I’m a dog person. I know Joe, you’re you’re a cat fan.
You don’t have to choose.
I have a dog right here right Okay.
I love dogs, but there’s more money in pets. You can there’s less competition. And I always find it helpful to sort of, like, what’s what’s my vision? What am I trying to achieve in life? Right? And then I link that to the broader picture, and that helps.
It’s for that little for you. And there’s other topics. Like, there’s there’s a lot of money to be made in, drones, but, like, drones? What you know, it’s it’s just a it’s a boring bland topic. So I don’t know if that helps anyone at all.
Yeah, I was gonna add something around the not liking what you do, because for me, my, like, thing actually emerged from really disliking something. So I like working with course creators.
So I assumed that meant I had to do live launches.
And I I hated them because I would get, like, sick every time I did a live launch because it was just so much fresher. And then that actually led me to create my evergreen process, day one evergreen.
So I think as well as, like, finding what you love, to find your thing actually, like, finding what you hate and what you don’t like can also inspire you to kind of, you know, like, I’ll hate something change something, make something better kind of vibe.
Making money tends to to make you like things more too. Right? If all of a sudden you’re making money from it, it’s a little easier to digest, I guess, or you can pay for that therapy, right, if you need it?
Like, no matter how much people pay with live launches, like, it just makes them so like, physically sick.
Like, I have to go and update them anymore.
That’s fair. That is fair.
She says that she’s in the middle of a lunch. Cool. Chris, did you wanna go ahead a question earlier?
Yeah.
It’s related to, like, the niche. Right? So I kind of narrowed down to one thing that I want to do message market feed for b to b SaaS. That’s what I actually think I want to do.
But when it comes to the niche, like b to b SaaS, b to c, how do you decide, how do you think about that? Is that something that comes with your one thing? Or is that something that you decide after you decided the one thing or or what?
Do you have one? Do you have to choose a niche? Sometimes you don’t.
And how can you maybe make that If you do have to, if you feel like you have to, instead of that you want to, some of us just want to. I’ve wanted to work with small startups.
Because I like them a lot.
April, Dunvard, wants to work with tech companies because she has always worked with big tech companies other people want to work with a certain kind of group. So there’s the who do you want to work with? And if you don’t want, to. Do you need to niche? You can specialize without meaching, especially if your specialization is narrower.
But that’s my take on it. Only niche if you have to or you really want to.
Anybody else? Yeah. I know Niching is like understood to be the thing to do. But I think we conflate meeching and specialization a lot into one thing, where a specialization is like, here’s what I really, really well.
And it does come up.
I was also thinking in terms of, if I am if I want to own, like, the message market fit should I be the b to b SaaS message market fit guy or the message market fit guy?
Then that’s I’d have the same answer as before.
Like, do you think you need to If you want.
Yeah.
Does it does it help? And are you worried that you’re gonna get somebody who’s like, I’m a course creator. Help me find message market fit. And you’ll be like, I don’t know how, or I don’t care about your business, that kind of thing.
Right? And if you’re like, yeah, there are groups that I don’t want to work with, then Yeah. Then narrow it down and say SaaS. And people always say B2B SaaS, and I struggle so hard to find B2C saaS.
Like, there’s not a lot of b to c SaaS.
I actually worked for one.
Campbell, what did you who did you work for? I work for, a us, there was basically, like, an Instagram, like, promotion thing and was selling, like, influencers or, She’s a business.
Just people on Instagram, but even just, like, normal people who would want to followers or likes.
Spray is always always a little at it.
But, yeah, I’m currently using one.
Are you?
I’m currently using what yeah. It’s a personal business.
I’m in a program where she teach my coach teaches communication. So this is an app called Utley and it helps, like, it it just helps me find the filler words.
It comes on meetings, records the meetings, and then points those Yeah.
Okay. Cool. Cool.
Got it. I’m working for one right now too.
Okay. Wow. It’s, like, everywhere. I guess I only work for b to b set. So it’s, like, it’s hard to imagine.
Okay. Cool. Well, then, fine.
Chris I love the box, Chris.
At it.
David Olgaly there. I’m just I’m staring at those amazing books behind you there.
I do have some feedback on that, the the Nashing down. So I’ll give you an example. We did just that eighty six years ago, where, we offered, GMV services for physicians. And we could have niched down to the different, like, primary care versus cosmetic, but we found it was about solving patient problems.
So by, you know, by just targeting physicians, whether it’s cosmetic or primary care, we could create systems around that. We didn’t have to change things up. But if you go to if if you’re b to c versus b to b, you can’t apply the same systems to both. I think that’s important as well.
Right? Cause you wanna automate as much as possible. Right in the end. So I would take that into consideration as well.
Yeah. A question I like to ask is, like, you know, which boardrooms are actively saying, oh, shit. We have a product market fit problem. Right?
Yeah. I was just thinking about that.
Where is that an active conversation. Right? And different ways to go about it. Right? It could be, you know, a sub niche thing.
Right? Or it can also be a product or company maturity thing, right, year zero to one Right? Or a repositioning once they realize they have a problem, you know, five years down the road and things have cooled off. So it’s like there could be a whole other industry to own of repositioning right or re product market bidding once you realize, oh, that wasn’t quite it.
We’ve kinda hit a ceiling here and nothing’s budging. So, yeah, just a different way to view it.
Oh, thanks.
Cool. Who was up next with another question? Hands go down, and that always sucks. Who was after Jillian before? Rita, your hand, was up, but was at to comment?
Okay. Rita, you were up, and then Elias.
Okay. So my question is it’s a little bit it’s a little alphabet, so this will be like a fun a fun thing to talk I have a thing, that is successful and lovely. And but it feels like a really complex thing to talk about. And so I always, if I’m in the right room with the right people, so this may not actually be a problem, it is never an issue to talk about because I’ll say, oh, I do this thing and they’re like, Excuse me.
You do what? Let’s talk about this more. So I know, like, when it lands with the right people, it’s good. And so essentially, like, I do social ads for customer acquisition.
Or my agency does, but it sounds really obnoxious. There’s a whole lovely group of people who is working right now doing some of the stuff.
And and we focus on that customer acquisition, like, bringing in new customers into online sourcing program businesses at break even or better. So we like to do break even funnels. Port note we don’t like to. We’re just really good at it and it’s like useful.
So that that is what we said, sir, then we do do all the launch and stuff as well, and all of the support that goes with from an online business and with programs and traders, but that’s not. Right? Like, that’s the other stuff.
But what we that’s really what we do specialize in, and I think I think it’s our special sauce too because it’s something that’s quite different than what a lot of social ad companies do.
And so it’s just it’s full of jargon y words, like customer acquisition.
Breakevens, things like that.
But when I say, like, Facebook ads and tunnels, right, that positions us in the Russell Brunkins of the world that positions us in, like, some other spaces that we don’t necessarily fit in.
Yeah. So I guess some thoughts, some questions, anything that would kind of help. Like, I’m just really looking to simplify that so that people really understand.
Or does it matter? Because when I’m in rooms with the people that understand that, they don’t have questions other than can we get on a call and talk about numbers?
Right?
So Yeah.
So what do they get excited about? Because break even doesn’t sound exciting. To me. What’s exciting?
Really? I can break it even. I get mad at ads all the time. I’m like, how can what am I doing here?
Like, I don’t understand the business model I don’t know why we keep running.
So that’s confusing.
But see, I think that’s why breakeven would be exciting because you’re like, could you imagine actually running out and not being the thumb because they actually bring you just as much money and or profit on the front end, and then you have all this luxury in the back end to sell your back end offers. Right? Because your front end’s actually paying for itself.
And so require a back end. Yeah.
So the, like, depending the vast majority. Yeah. I’ve got one client that doesn’t have a back end offer.
That’s fine, but most people, they need to have some sort of front end and then have like that basically whatever their main core offer is on the back end, for that to work well. And, yeah, because that’s true, breakeven isn’t cute.
Which is the part where they get excited though? Is it, like, at what point?
It is that. It’s usually like when we talk about, like, how can we actually design a system that builds brings customers onto your list and actually has them paid for while they land there because you’ve got it removes cash flow problems from the business, which is especially obviously quite trendy. From there right now, as people don’t want to, you know, outflow tens of thousands of dollars like out of your thing on lunches where everyone gets really ill putting out technically hundreds of thousands of dollars for some lunches and then they’re waiting for that to come back. So in this particular climate, kind of having something that cash flows within twenty four to forty eight hours, like when it’s working, obviously, like, this isn’t magic.
That when it’s when all the fun was set up and everything’s going, they actually get cash flow back into the business really quickly.
It’s really like, lovely for them. And then they also all the optimization and testing that happens to get people to then move into core offers and then few bigger offers in the back. And there’s just a lot more grace there because they don’t have all of this money and capital problems sitting out there and ask.
Stacy, do you have a question or do you have something to add to what reason?
I have I have a question. Yeah. What’s the common denominator between these clients?
They’re all part of the business or program and course creators.
Okay.
And so usually, like, a million plus in in revenue, like a lot of them around.
So they’ve already been in business for a few years and have a certain list or whatever. I mean, what yep. So given then, it seems like the thing to do. I don’t think that there’s a problem with using, insider language when you’re targeting an insider group of people. This is, you know, my my opinion, obviously, but because I think that that can filter out customers that are not best fit customers for you.
You you know, I I do something what I I mean, I call it engineering ejection. I want the people who are not a good fit for me to fall off. I don’t wanna deal with him at all because Right. Why? You know? That’s a waste of my time and energy and resources.
So, I think insider language can be a great way to do that. But if you add something to it, to to sort of couch that that’s the type of audience that you’re targeting, you know, that we work with with with, you know, course creators who are expert at blah blah, you know, show that you’re targeting someone who has expertise in paid social advertising.
In other words, the that you’re that that something to label them as insiders. I don’t know what those words are right now because I don’t have enough information, but did does that make sense at all?
Yeah. I think that makes sense when it comes to, like, the next step for me at least, which is, like, if Sounds to me, like, we’re still trying to figure out the part before that, which is like this break even or better idea ish.
Is that accurate Rita?
Yeah. It’s kind of the because I I agree with, like, Stacy, well, like, when it when I’m having a one on one conversation, when I’m, like, talking about that piece or, like, having a sales call or an accept call or what have you, that part’s really easy, right, to, like, because I’ve got a diagnostic thing that we go through and all of that stuff. Definitely, like and that’s exactly what we do is, like, we wanna screen out a lot of people, like, if someone hasn’t run ads before they’re usually not a really good fit for us, things like that. Like, I want them to have, like, experience the pain.
And I want people to hate ads a little bit. Like, those are usually people, that are fun to work with. And But then, like, that one step away from those people, right? Like, when we’re talking to, like, or do I even need to talk for general audience?
Most of the marketing that I’ve done has been a relationship marketing, like, really thoughtful relationship funnels, around, like, masterminds teaching in people’s groups, like things like that, audience aggregators of my ideal client.
So I’ve never done anything that would be like I don’t know. I usually get, like, you know, after someone’s mastermind. Right? They’re like, oh, I’m gonna do mastermind and they’re like, that’s where I get my people from.
There’s always been like the secret backdoor.
What I do requires an awful lot of trust as well. And so there’s a lot of trust transfer that comes with that, which has always made sales really easy for me.
We do that with Google ads. Like, there’s gonna be keywords that I know, just off the keyword, what’s the stage of awareness is. Right? And if it the more product aware or late late solution aware.
I know, hey, that’s that’s gonna be a quick win, but then the other ones we’re gonna have to nurture. So maybe like, I get it depends, right, on the stage of awareness and just tweak the copy based off that. Even if you want it, but then is it gonna take longer to qualify them get them to that point. Right?
Then you’re gonna have to have a whole system, so to speak, set up. Right?
So Uh-huh.
So we’re really talking about are we talking about profitable ad funnels or is there some what I am just and I’m and I’m trying to figure out, like, okay, what would your what’s your book about? Like, if you were to write a book, Rita, what is it about? What are you saying. Don’t worry about the work of it, but what is it about?
Good question.
I could try to come up from them, like, what would be the thing?
Like, potentially profitable ad funnel, Maybe.
It just it really feels hard to simplify all the things that, you know, we all do.
But but that’s really like the core of it. It’s just that people need new customers and we help them get those profitably. Like, that really is the core of it And when people are coming to us that, like, the big pain point is, like, I’ve tried to spend money on them. They’re expensive, which I think is relative.
Right? They’re only expensive if they don’t break they don’t make money, enough money. And when they do make money, they’re not expensive at all. So it’s you know, there there’s no pieces to it.
But they’re really just coming out of Vegas. I need more inflow. I need more awareness.
I need more leads. The back end of the business works. Like, we don’t work with people that don’t have a back end. Like, if they don’t have product market fit, if they don’t have really good sales records, like, if they don’t have really great customer service and excellent reviews, like, we don’t usually touch them.
They won’t let us see inside the course, all that kind of stuff. So that part is done, and we’re just really helping them leverage their time. These are usually people that have been like creating content forever and really want to, like, simplify that a bit. Right?
Take a little bit of the stress off themselves.
Are you helping them prove ROI?
Is that essentially what you’re doing? Do they have do they know their numbers going into it? And then you have a system to help like, they’re running ads, but they don’t know what’s working because they don’t have the system in place to prove ROI. And then you help them implement that?
Or I would say, like, rarely did I have that?
I think you’ve had, like, one. It’s amazing. Just so everybody knows.
Everybody knows.
A million dollar business. I’m like, who’s measuring what?
Nobody says? Nobody knows. Nobody knows anything in this world is crazy.
So illuminating. They’ll be like, it’s okay. And we can all be secretly a mess behind the scenes.
But but you help them set that up as well.
Like, yeah, like, we we we take care of all of, like, the measures of the funnel tracking so that they get really clear, transparency on it and also get, like, a level of competency and and control around being the well, the levers we’re pulling.
Right? This is how you identify constraints and attack them with different strategies and optimizations and things like that. So we’ve really We just they feel like a lot more empowered because it’s like this is what you do. This is how you fix it because obviously like there’s these things take maintenance all the time with optimization and testing.
So, yeah, like, lots of that, lots of measurement, and helping them understand how it all works. Because a lot of them just because, like, in the heyday of, like, course and program creators, the modules are still kinda there. But the the margins are so big that a lot of them didn’t even have to worry about it. Right?
They were just throwing money at lead gen. Like, it was just going out of style. And they just didn’t have the margins that they had to worry about that as much, and that’s definitely become something we’ve seen in the last couple of years where people are talking about that a lot more. That they actually they can’t just lead gen to lead gen.
They actually need to lead gen and prove it. Right? Because they just don’t have the cash flow that they used to. They’re not sensitive to it.
Yeah. Yeah. Like, they’re definitely, like, no one used to talk about cash flow on calls and now they’re now people are talking about that.
Because it’s getting more expensive advertising. They’re like, they could get away with it because of the high ticket item. And now they’re like, oh, what’s going on?
And they’re like See, I wouldn’t I see that as much.
I will I will always I will not I do it on platform CPMs and impression costs. I’m not necessarily more. Other than COVID Haiti, when we were all on our phones and it needs so many to make so much inventory, it was, like, ridiculous. Like, outside of those times, the CPMs, I was just, like, checking all the VPN this morning, right, for everybody and, like, even just good, like, Black Friday tomorrow, it’ll go up tomorrow. But relatively speaking to, like, pre covid or, like, last year?
No. No. Like, not not in our verticals anyway. Obviously, it’s a very small part of the internet, but Yeah.
So I guess, yeah. That’s that’s the like, how do we talk about this to people that might be a good fit as Shane like a little bit more problem aware potentially, a little bit earlier stage.
Because in the in the going out bigger and wider and talking to more people, I feel like we would need to be there, or do we just say like a whole tool around this, like, to be honest?
If that helps. Like, ROI Connector literally solving this problem with Google ads because no everybody’s advertising, but no one knows if they’re making money. And then so we take into account gross margin.
And that was our cell. Like, as soon as you you explain to them, like, the difference between, like, in our space, it’s cost per lead. It’s not cost per acquisition. You have to go a layer back.
And then you have to take into gross margin. Everyone optimizes their own return on ad spend. It’s not real ROI. And as soon as you, like, I would pull up the Google screen and say, they define this as ROI, but it’s not.
Like, you’re you could still lose money and then their eyes light up. Right? They’re like, oh, crap. And then then you sell them a solution.
Which is the tracking. Right? And then we book it up to Google ads. I find that works.
But then there’s pressure too. Right? Because then you gotta You gotta maintain that. Right? Is there any met something curious about, is there any metrics that, the clients responsible for, though?
Like, in our space, it’s it’s, closing ratio. Like, we can do everything right, but if their closing ratio is really crappy, they’re gonna lose money. So we have to work with them on consult of selling and help them build that up. Do you find anything similar in your space?
We do for the selling piece. Like, if they, like, we have some people that do sales, some people that don’t, and they just, like, straight through off a one time sales page. And so we do the opt like, we do all the funnel optimizations that they add touch. So if there’s any, you know, any sales pages upsell, the email sequences, all of that kind of stuff.
We work on improving that because most of them don’t have a very mature most of them don’t even have an experimentation.
Program within their businesses let alone a mature one. So they usually do that really poorly, so we come in and help them with that. So we’re basically kind of iterating more profit into the business. For them over time. And then we have we just we have referral partners for, for selling and things like that. We don’t hang out there, but we do send people off there for for folks that are having struggles with that on their teams.
Sounds like a cool you guys sounds like a really cool service.
You’re offering us a lot of value.
We decided it’s fun.
Yeah. Exactly. Design it’s fun, and then it is.
We decided it’s fun. Well, there’s endless challenges. To it. Right? And and it fits, like, my natural tendencies are, like, I used to be a social worker before I is it this?
I don’t know how that’ll happen. But the, like, I love the relationship part of things, but then I also went to university for data analytics and microbiology and all sciencey stuff. So it’s like the data and the people and the, you know, all of the empathy, all, like, it’s just like this neat little combo of, like, way my brain was made to work, and it just happens to work really well for ads and marketing.
So Isn’t it funny when you show people positive marketing or why they get happy?
It’s so crazy.
But it’s so rare.
You’re like, really That’s why.
I played because it’s like a white plate.
It’s mind blowing in.
Think about like Well, in fact, should be able to run a spreadsheet for people and just show them really simply, like, inputs here, outputs here, understanding, like, all of that stuff.
And then to go, oh, this isn’t actually that hard. And then and then being able to, like, empower them to focus on the, like, the things they have the most control over because certain things like CPMs, Right? While we have some limited control over that, we we don’t ultimately, you know, control audience and auction and all those things. So it’s it’s really cool to be able to say, like, let’s focus here. This is where you actually most impact.
And Yeah.
Yeah.
Mark, good for you. Take it for you.
We’re going, like, ten million though. That’s a, like, that’s a broad stroke. Ten million.
Like, you work with the life coach school.
No.
We do. Yeah. I work with work with school. Yeah.
I don’t know where I saw as you were talking.
I was listening. Don’t get me wrong, but, like, you had front end acquisition as a line. I’m trying to think of, like, and once you’re a LinkedIn profile, and the line is paid social marketing funnels customer acquisition. So I feel like I don’t know. And I noticed in the interest of time, is there would owning front end acquisition for ten million dollar course businesses work or training businesses or coaching businesses or whatever that thing is? Let’s break it. Does it not work at all, Rita?
No. It does, like, most of our our best humans, like, the often start with them between one and three million and then, like, our core group is between ten and twenty or ten and fifty, pardon me, million.
You can say profitable, friends hand acquisition profitable, whatever.
I love profitable. I love profitable.
Okay. That gets me something to work with. I don’t wanna get her on more. I’ll need to go in the woods and quietly have some thought. Yeah.
Okay. Good.
Thank you, everybody.
If anybody else also, it’s mastermindy time. So while my dog barks in the background at the mailman, Feel free to chime in and chat with anything that you’re thinking that can help Rita or anyone. Elias, do you wanna go next?
Yeah. If anybody doesn’t wanna follow-up on Reader’s reach out as question.
Oh, yeah. I’d love to.
Go for it.
Alright. So, my question is kind of a follow-up on what Chris asked about, you know, choosing a nation. Making it our own. So, my question is, what exactly is expected of us when we select an issue?
Let’s say we we figure out that this is this is what we we we like the most in the conversion governing process. And then we find out that there are dozens of other copywriters doing the exact same thing. So, how do Are we expected to, you know, bring something unique in that in that specific niche as well? Because so what happened today is, me and Chris, we hopped on a call today, and we both realized that both of our, thing is message market fit.
So you’re both interested in, you know, nailing that. So then that got me thinking.
Is it is it expected of us that alright. Now that I’ve I know that message market spin is my thing. I’m expected to, you know, give it a spin that nobody else ever has.
Not necessarily. I mean, the spin is kind of you and what you bring there. Like, they are buying into you and likability and all of those persuasive back or does that go on?
It’s it’s kind of like, you know, competition’s good. It means that someone else is doing marketing for you. And, like, you can, you can leverage that too.
So I think, like, so a lot of people are doing it. I didn’t invent the work behind conversion copywriting, direct response, copywriters have done everything that I do since forever. It’s just we added a little more VOC.
If there is something we changed, it’s that, and then we just plunked it over in the tech world, which doesn’t use direct response, like it should still to this day, sadly.
So, no. You don’t have to it doesn’t have to be unique.
It’s good if more people are trying to do similar things. It’s good for marketing. It’s easier to get that. And it probably means that the world is looking for those things. The reason that you’ve landed on message market fit because the world is frustrated with message to market fit. If that’s not the reason, then it’s worth unpacking.
But I’m gonna guess here that that’s the reason. The uniqueness is how you go about it, and that might You can start by just saying, I own this. So what if Chris owns it too? I own this.
And then figure out how you own it and be a thought leader. And as you do that, you’ll very likely stumble upon your way of doing it. It’ll be some research you come across changes something with how you’re thinking. And now you’re like, whoa, I need to add this to my process or whoa, I actually, like, this is a more narrow view of message mark could fit.
And this is what I’m finding that I’m owing as you go. So competition is good. Don’t worry about it. Yeah.
You know, it’s the process. Right? It’s it’s your it’s how you solve their problem. It’s like, do your conversion copywriting is there’s a there’s a three step process. Right? It’s a proven process. Is it three or five now?
I think we’ve added to right?
Seven now?
The seven? No. Is this still three?
The core is three.
Okay.
Yes.
But I’ve seen people try to change that and build off that, but everyone reverts like, even when people call conversion copywriting, it’s still no. Like, it’s a three step process. Here’s what you do, and people try to change it. But that’s an opportunity, like, even if it’s competitive, like, say Chris Christopher’s in there.
It’s like, what’s he doing? No. Here’s my process, my five step or three step, and it’s gonna get better results than the competition. Right?
Because then it’s like an apples to oranges comparison, if that helps.
Yeah. Yeah.
And make it into a nice graphic and do all the other stuff.
And how you bring into life in your authority building. Do you have a more engaging newsletter that talks to certain people in different ways? When you get on a podcast, how do people hear you? Like, it’ll turn into because we’re all individual personalities. Your personality matters who you show up as is gonna be a big part of why people choose to listen to you eventually buy your book, invite you on stages, things like that. Yeah.
Correct me, if I’m wrong, you know, it’s like market sophistication as well. Right? If you focus on all of these credibility boosters and trust, like, everyone has it, like, as seen on and you know, recommended by, but it’s that’s an opportunity for you to sell your process and then leverage all of this trust and, like, ability to reinforce that. Right, why it’s better than the competition. That’s your opportunity. Right?
That’s what I would do.
Yeah. Agreed.
Yeah. Cool.
Alright.
Johnson’s note taker just told us there’s only a few minutes left in this meeting. I can go over for those who are stuck So don’t worry about it if you’re like, I need to talk more about this.
Any other questions?
Who would like to oh, wait. Esther Grace, go ahead and then we’ll do Stacy, and then Randall.
I just had one question.
So how much should the products or productize services or services you want to sell in the future, influence what we choose or sort of one thing. Like, if someone is deciding to be a messaging expert, for instance, that already kind of boxes it into. You kind of have to work with the companies one on one to figure out their messaging.
So that’s just one thought I wanted to ask you.
I wouldn’t worry too much about that yet.
That’s, like, it’s it’s quite execution level. So try to stay strategy level for now, so up. What what am I going to own? And then out of that, you’ll start to be able to shape what that is, but I wouldn’t let execution influence strategy start with the strategy, the the the what you’re going to own, then you can get into how that is brought to life in your marketing and in the products that you sell. Is that help, Esther Grace?
Yes. That helps. Yeah.
It it will mean that. I mean, in a lot of cases, like so for me, I don’t look at product type services as, like, strategic offerings. I’m like, practice services are a really great way to grab some cash when you want cash. Or if you’re like, hey, I only wanna work like, a week in the summer, like, at for the four summer months, I’m gonna put in a max of a week of, like, working with clients.
So I might sell a VIP week. But that’s not strategic. That’s just like reacting to what I want in life. It’s not going to shape a roadmap necessarily.
A recommendations report, if you’re a messaging analyst, you are gonna have a hard time escaping, delivering messaging reports. Like, you’re gonna have to do it versus being someone who comes in and focuses only on editing. They’ll never have to worry about a recommendations report. They’ll just, like, do the work.
So but think about that later. Unless, it’s so critical to you that you never do a messaging recommendations report, in which case I’d say, well, then don’t do message strategy. Like, you won’t want to be involved in that. But you’ll already know if you, like, hate doing something, And I think that will, like, automatically filter up the things that would require that you do that.
And if it doesn’t, we’ll we’ll get there. But mean, I think that’s that’ll be an edge case. Stacy?
Yes. Okay.
I wanted to say something instead of I’ve just been sitting and commenting on everybody else and not talked about myself. So, I am not, don’t have my thoughts super well organized, so I’m gonna ramble a little bit. But my primary goal right now is has to do with my software company, which I definitely know that I want to make that the software, the Eai software for marketing professionals.
Okay.
So that I’m absolutely certain of. When I’m kind of not certain of is how I’m gonna interweave doing that with maintaining my my personal brand.
I do I’m the thing that I’m known for is doing all the things. I’m a polymath, so I I am an ex expert in many things. I have I have tons of authority in multiple areas. I have tons of original intellectual property, frameworks, I have written a book.
I’ve, you know, got lots of marquee clients great reviews, all all that stuff. I already have, like, the, you know, celebrity status thing, but because I am a polymath and do many different things. I’ve never been known for one thing other than doing all the things. Okay.
So my my client My personal client lifetime value is, you know, six to seven figures per client.
In tech, minimum project size is usually a hundred thousand. Right now, I’ve the the for the past year, I’ve been mostly focusing on my software. And then I’ll do, like, a twenty or thirty thousand dollar copywriting or digital project every month or other month kind of interspersed with that. So I already have everything all productized standardized pricing for my copywriting services.
All that stuff. So I I guess I’m just wondering, you know, do I can I can I say both things at once, or do I just need to focus on being the software company or marketing festivals for now while I’m growing that? And I should mention also that my my litmus test for the company was I started it just with, like, ten people were the first customers. And I said, okay.
If I can get this to a hundred people paying a hundred bucks a month while it’s in beta with no marketing and no giving them anything for referring other people simply by word-of-mouth because people are telling other people because they really love it. Then I know that I have something here, and that’s where I am now. So I’ve just hit a a hundred customers. So I have ten thou ten k MRR right now.
My next goal is to get to a hundred k MRR. So that’s where I am open to whatever anybody wants to say.
To celebrate Good for you.
Yeah. That is. That’s amazing.
That is awesome.
Awesome for yourself in particular.
Good for you.
I will share this story with you and, hopefully, it will tell you what my answer for that question is then we can go around and share.
I’ve probably told this before because I’ll never forget this. I was in a mastermind with Nathan Berry, founder of ConvertKit, before when ConvertKit was in its earliest stages.
He was known for his, book called Authority, and, he was a designer. He did, like, design stuff.
So we knew each other for a couple years. And we were in this mastermind, and he had just launched ConvertKit. It was maybe a year old. It wasn’t making any money wasn’t promoting it yet.
And we were sitting around in this little, like, session in Las Vegas, the mastermind participants, And someone said to him, Nathan, when are you gonna launch your authority course next? And he said, I’m never launching it again. And we’re all like, what are you talking about? It pulls in, like, a hundred grand every time you do it?
What are you talking about? Of course, you’re going to? And he said, no, I’m all in on ConvertKit.
And now it’s worth nearly a billion dollars.
I don’t think you can do more than one thing at a time successfully.
You you can’t Elon Musk maybe.
But then it fucks with you clearly.
So you can’t do more than one thing without being absolute wild exception. Now Stacy, you might be an absolute wild exception. I wouldn’t wanna put my money on being the absolute wild exception though.
I would say if Well, I will say I I am an exception in to to some degree.
And and I have founded or cofounded nine companies.
So just to, you know, six, seven, and and eight figure just everything you said, and I think that’s wonderful.
I’m saying the people who get the most out of the thing focus on the thing. So if you can afford to and, obviously, Nathan had to go through a lot of, hey, ups and challenges along the way. He’s like, I wish I had taken out a loan back when I was making a hundred grand every time I did a launch because now I could use that loan, but the bank give me a loan because I have this freaking startup and they don’t think that ten thousand MRR is anything to write home about. So I get there will be a hard times.
But you ask the question for a reason. I think your resistance is that you’re a polymath, and you have seen success with doing lots of things. You’re like, why can’t I keep doing lots of things. And the world will tell you whether you can or whether you can, but you asked the question, and I think that’s a big part of it.
I think a part of you knows you’re going to have to focus or something has to change that’s not having to do directly with focusing. If I were you, you have money in the bank and you can afford it and you’ve got good signals that your software is bad ass and we’re in an age of AI.
The only thing stopping you is that you’re good at lots of things, and that could be the stumbling point. Yeah.
And my and my personal, my real, you know, underlying goal is that I do wanna I’ve never I haven’t built a nine figure business yet, so that’s my my thing that I wanna do. So Yeah.
Are you involved in these other businesses, or have you sort of delegated it off, created your system?
That that’s been over a number of years. I I don’t there’s one that I’m still loosely involved with, but I’m not active in the company. So, no. I don’t have any demands on my time for any of those other things.
Yeah. Sounds like you and I. I’m I’m in the same boat, like, a bunch of different stuff going. Like, I lucked out in a lot of way where I just I created systems and delegated and and stepped back.
But it’s tough. Right? I think is, like, we’re in our heart. We’re entrepreneurs. Right? And we we have bright and shiny.
See opportunity. We go after it, but that’s the trap. Right? Lack of focus as well.
Right? So I’ve been there. I hear you.
Cool. Alright. Who was up next? A Randall, you were up next. Yeah.
Thanks. So I am going to, pick landing pages. I guess, persuasion for landing pages.
Right.
And I’m working my way through, ten x again.
And, I so I guess and the other things I’m working on are, are the persuasion, big biography that, Vry helped me put together. So you know, getting the background work on that. I guess one of the things I’d be looking for somebody else is also thinking landing pages is, a copy buddy for the letter from the second module.
So if anybody remembers that exercise, I think, What did you you had a different name for it, but you took the letter from admin at Find Network?
Yeah. Exactly. Yep. The letter. Yeah.
Yeah. So, yeah, I guess the challenge for me is that I am still full time, with this start up. And I I think I can you know, put together my framework, make some tweaks and do some more landing page work for this company for now. And then it’s just a matter of timing and what I decide to do in twenty twenty four.
But, but I’m thinking that, you know, I I guess I go from being an employee to a contractor with this company as I’m building more clients or perhaps even before. So I’m I’m in position to, Yeah. Build that authority. That’s gonna be difficult to do, you know, while working for, the start of what dare I say, some whimsical moments from leadership.
Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool.
And as we go, it might be like, is this a situation where you can own the entirety of persuasive landing pages, or is it like persuasive landing pages for x, x grade or whatever that I mean.
I’m thinking tech for now, but, Yeah.
That’s The early stage, is it like series b?
Do you have, like, do you is there a group you like to I like series b? I like working with series be tech companies. That’s why I mentioned them.
There’s just something different going on there. So it might be worth just, like, thinking through.
Yeah.
Because the problem is Nice. There’s a lot of work for me to do still, but That’s cool though.
And you were looking for a copy buddy, someone to review your letter?
Yes.
If somebody else is thinking about landing pages, that’d that’d be great or if somebody just wants to take a look.
You know, different case.
So, yeah, copy feedback.
Alright.
Is it paid or organic traffic?
What’s that?
Is it paid or organic traffic like landing pages?
Well, this is relatively new for me. So, I’m I’m I’m an aspiring monomath unlike Stasis.
Abby, did you put up your hand to look at the letter? Oh, wait. Sorry. You’re just on mute. Sorry.
Sorry. I said I’d be really happy to go over it. I’m pretty harsh.
Nice.
That’s great.
That’s great. I’ve got a a deep masochistic street. So that sounds great.
Yeah.
I’d be I’d be I’d be really happy to go over it.
Give me give me a week, Abby, but that’s awesome. Thank you.
Excellent. Sweet. Thanks. Okay. Cool. Thanks, Randall.
Alafaya ish.
I think that’s right. Isn’t it? No.
It’s Olivia. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. I think it’ll be easier easier for you because my nine my name like, all these script apps transcribe visit Olivia.
So it’s very similar to you guys.
It sounds like Olivia. Okay. Okay. That helps. Yeah. Thanks.
So I just wanted to get, like, all your great greens on what I’ve been thinking and what what what I think the setback is.
So as I mentioned earlier, I want to own humor copywriting.
And for now, I wanna get started with the funnels and course creator space.
Now what I, like, the last time the questions Stacy asked is, like, how how do you communicate the end benefit? And then I I I read something really interesting with stick with me is when humor fades away when someone is exposed to the joke, like, more than one time. And I was thinking it’s this similar with messaging. Like, when when the ten k dream was launched, like, everybody wanted that. But now, it it seems like a red flags.
Like, maybe someone would be genuine, but whenever we see someone saying, oh, I’ll, like, make you ten k in a month or so. Unless that person has public civil rights of your authority, it seems like a red flag now because everyone seems to be talking about that.
So I I kind of am thinking that I want to use humor in a way to say that whatever messaging you’ve been sharing, it will it will it will stand out because it will not be set in a in a it will be set in a different way. I wanna add an example to that in the chat.
Okay. Great. I read that to myself. Sorry.
No problem. So the idea is, like, Like, then can I, like, own it? My question is, is it is it that big that I can go and say, okay. Like, can I make an entire business out of saying that?
Okay. I’m and then what are what are people who say that? Okay. My business is a US business, and I cannot like, how do I tackle that objection?
Because humor doesn’t only mean that, okay, I cannot work with serious business. It actually just means that we have a different take on what you’ve been saying till date.
Oh, sorry.
No. No. And something that I, like, I I love comedy, and, I think this is a a really cool area to go into.
But way back when I was, like, researching about the psychology of comedy and something that came up, and it just feels relevant to what you were saying.
Is that, a key component of comedy is, and and what makes something funny is surprise. It’s it’s it’s the setup, and and the punch line is a surprise. It’s it’s leading in one direction, and then it goes another, and that tickles our brains and makes us stuff. So if you, you know, you you’re talking about how do you position it as something that, companies need, I mean, it’s it’s and and it makes you stand out.
I mean, that’s exactly what comedy does. It it’s a surprising way of presenting something, that people haven’t expected. So if you and there’s, I mean, I think there’s studies out there that that support this. So there’s a there’s a ton of content you could you could put out there around that that helps your leads understand why comedy would help you, help them make more money?
Is is that what it’s about making? Is that the ultimate goal, like, using comedy in your copy is gonna lead to more conversions and that’s gonna lead to more sales. That’s the is it? Okay.
Yes. That is and and to my surprise, like, I was going through some reports recently, and it said that ninety five percent of consumers ask brands to be funny but only five percent of brands meet that need.
So there’s, like, the this nine sorry.
Data to support this? Like, to support it? Yes.
Yes. Yes.
And, like, there there are people reporting more sales through humor, and there are also reports on that. I’ve actually included one of one of the reports in my retread as well. So I know there is a huge gap But I’m just curious that why aren’t brands doing that? Like, if there’s so much need, like, what’s what’s stopping them and Are there any objections? Like, are people saying I need that? Versus they don’t need that, but they just see say that they need that?
Like They don’t know.
Marketers aren’t funny though. Like, marketers aren’t funny, and most brands aren’t funny, and people reviewing copy aren’t funny. So it’s, like, it’s clear why it’s not getting out there. When you try to be funny, it usually backfires on you or falls flat.
And everyone’s, like, that was awkward. So I think that’s part of it. But I do think further what John said, I don’t know that funny has to be the thing because it’s scary. Because you’re like, but will it fall?
Like, everything. There’s a reason most of us will never get on stage until a joke.
It’s intimidating.
So it’s one thing to say, okay. You can outsource that to me. But I feel like the surprising angle is potentially more interesting, more evergreen, bigger opportunities to scale that with cool companies and it might also force you outside of just comedy. Leanna Patch has been a comedy copywriter for several years and maybe more to come, but it does feel like to me, I’m like, well, the surprising there’s also other ways to be surprising that’s still emotional.
Like, the surprise of a tearful email, not saying that, not saying melodrama or anything, but, like, there are there are lots of ways to be surprising that you could help companies explore for those who are like, humor’s not our gem. Like, we’re saved the children.
We’re not going to be using humor at any point, obviously. And you could say, well, they’re not my audience then, but this is just an example.
Is there another way to be surprising that you could unlock for them because that could be interesting. And secondly, I will add before I let others talk because I’m talking to a blue star. Doesn’t need to convert. When we think about the whole part, the whole process of building a customer through marketing, The pieces you add on to make that customer come to life to transition a person into a customer.
Emotion happens along there and it doesn’t have to be the final step. It can be at different parts in that. It can be top of funnel. It can be middle, and sure it can be bottom.
But I wouldn’t be in a rush to tie it to conversion. It’s a happy outcome if you get a conversion.
But I don’t know that you have to focus on that sort of growth. It could be growth really nicely at top of funnel as well.
But I don’t enjoy top of funnel. I’ve tried that, and I really love the sales part. I’m good at that. Like, I’m good when it comes to money and making money.
This is I I’ve yet to test if humor helps there. Like, I’ve not worked like, I’m currently working on the sales page, and I will be testing it on that. To see how well it lands.
But when when I was going through some of Liana’s work, and I was just, like, her recent, ecom project, And what I’ve realized is humor doesn’t necessarily need to be jokes and copy. It just needs to be, like, you know, some elements and fragments of comedy. And sometimes it’s not even funny. It’s just how well it because as the more I’m studying comedy, I’m seeing how well aligned it is with conversion copy principles.
It just adds that screen writing part, like, I think, which even why it does, like, it it it just adds to that. And screenwriting has humor in it.
In some forms.
So I’ll share some very brief experience here, because I love infusing comedy. And also the resistance points that I anticipate and or have heard over the years, right, is like it’s too much of a departure from our brand voice. Right? And the second you start trying to infiltrate such a sacred thing that feels so static there’s naturally gonna be resistance.
And I know you just had, like, you’re not into top funnel. I’ve had so much fun infusing comedy Top funnel, which are isolated tests. Right? Like, you’re gonna get very little pushback of saying can we test this ad set.
Right? And I remember the best performing comedy piece I wrote was so isolatable. It was like a two minute or Yeah. We created three versions of it.
Sixty seconds, ninety seconds or two minutes, and it was a total spoof on the whole, like, my father was a farmer and a father before he. Right? And it was, like, a riff on one of those, like, old school commercials before that industry. Right?
And it was their best performing ad for months. And, of course, it’s tied to ROI, right, because you’re measuring all the metrics from that ad set.
So isolatable. Right? They don’t need to change their brand voice, their tone, all the things.
Another place to test if that’s very isolatable. Right? Like, emails. Right? I think, like, over our launches, like, even with Joe, right, we’ve had a few that were, like, outliers from the traditional copy Hackard’s voice. Right? And it was easy enough to just put it in there without changing the tone of everything.
So that would be my recommendation to overcome resistance is just have them in isolatable areas where it doesn’t feel like it takes over the brand voice as a whole?
And what are your thoughts on, like, working with brands who has like, poo pourri is coming to my exam my my mind who have some sort of, like, fun element included, and then because what I, in my research, like, currently last week, ever since I’ve been thinking about re threat, is that human writers are very scarce.
Because half of them are taken by television. And then, like, in marketing, why actually that that gap is there as Joe mentioned? Because The very scarce, and I’m not saying I’m great at it. I also be learning at it as I’ll build the expertise, but it’s just I’m inclined towards it.
So I’m just thinking, will there be a very small market if I only target brands that are already fun?
I mean, smaller, right, than if you were able to create, like, state or test for brands that were, like, humor curious. Right? You definitely don’t wanna have, like, you know, companies that are gonna have folded arm refusal every time you bring it up. Right? They’re to be some degree of openness for that sales cycle to even be worth your time.
But yeah, like e comm startups could be really interesting. Right? When you look at the track record of companies that launched brand off of bunny videos, one of my good friends, like, launched an eight figure ecomm brand. I think it was, like, twenty sixteen dollar dollar shave club, dollar something club and, like, yeah, dollar dollar beard club.
Sorry. It was the spoof on dollar shave club, so dollar beard club. Right? And that started with a funny video.
Right? Like, there was no brand. Nothing. They shot this video. It went viral because it was funny.
And then they’re like, oh, fuck. We have a fulfillment problem. Like, how am I gonna get all this, like, beard oil to people?
So, yeah, I think, like, where are people gonna be most open to the conversation? I think ecomm startups, right, you said, like, poopery? Was that the name of it?
Poopery. Yeah.
Squatty potty. Right? Like, all these e com startups, like, exploded, right, off of funny. Yeah. Exactly.
But let let’s take it easy on all these. We’ve named two. So there are not that many brands out there that are willing to go all in on comedy, which is, again, for me, that’s a that’s a pause.
I I would pause before saying, I’m the comedy copywriter.
I think that this is the kind of thing where you scale back and say, like, what’s the, but what is it? Like, either what’s really good about comedy and then figure that out.
Or what’s like the outcome of comedy? Are you relatable brands?
Are you a emotion? Like, what else is it? I vote I I wouldn’t if I were I wouldn’t go all in on comedy. I would find a way to make comedy what you deliver, but not call it that.
I wanna add something. Can I?
Every yeah, please.
If you suppose you want to own conversion comedy, first of all, you have the issue of proving that that’s a viable thing. Right? So I think what you have is an opportunity to AB test something with comedy and something without comedy and see if, in fact, the comedy does give it a lift in which case, then you have data, and you don’t have to worry about overcoming your resistance problem as much anymore because you can say you know, here’s what I did, and here’s the results. You know?
Exactly. Like, a a wrench and say, okay. Like, let’s define the data though. Right? You can, you can if you increase conversion rate doesn’t mean you’re gonna increase sales. Right? Like, are you at what level are you gonna show, like Right.
Well, it has to be a well structured test, not not one structured to prove your point.
And Yeah.
Has with bias built in.
Sure.
I would even suggest, like, maybe just don’t don’t worry about this stuff. Don’t AB Tessa. I think of like Laura Belgrade and she never calls herself a funny copywriter, but she’s funny and people read her work. And she said, I think in her the six figure book, she’s like, when people see your copy and they love it, they all hire you because they want to overlap yourself. So maybe you don’t need like, say I’m a funny copywriter, maybe, like, take Joe’s advice, take a step back, but just be funny and those brands come to you. Like, you don’t need to start that conversation. Like, they will want you to write like you write yourself for them.
Yeah.
Because I think Sorry.
No. Go ahead.
Well, I was just gonna say Go ahead.
No. Let’s let Johnson go and then you can go.
I was just gonna say it’s I think we kind of touched upon it. It’s it seems like comedy is, it’s the same, problem with comedy for brands as it is for real people.
It is super high risk and potentially high reward, but the the the damage you you could potentially inflict to, to, to perception of a brand.
If you make a go out there and you do a funny campaign and everyone thinks it’s absolutely lame.
You’re you’re gonna be, that that’s a really risky proposition. Whereas, I think, like, what Joe was saying earlier, you know, there’s something broader there. There’s something with a with a with a broader appeal and and something that’s much safer. If you can tie it into, I don’t know. Yeah. Like the psychology of, catching people’s attention. I mean, yeah, you could do that with humor, but you like Joe said, you could also do that with emotional storytelling, and I’m sure there’s a bunch of other things.
Okay. No.
I I I I love what you all said.
Okay.
Go for it.
So, so I I love what Abby said, but I’m just thinking that if, like, Laura, since she has this huge prime, but to in order to stand out, don’t I need, like, word to describe it. Like, if I just go and say, I’m a conversion operator for course creators, don’t I just blend in the crowd verse versus if I say, I’m a conversion command director for course creators who plans in the conversion principles or uses the frameworks of comedy, not necessarily, like, have humor or a scotty, then there’s more chance for me to get notice.
You you need something to own. It’s absolutely true. We’re just saying rethink comedy as the word.
So it might be like surprise driven conversion be writing or unexpected or something like that where the idea is you’re going to unlock new growth for people by having unexpected ways of messaging x where unexpected could be funny. And maybe that’s your default, and that’s like what you actually do focus on. But people don’t need to hear that.
Personality, I think, and then good point, it might be not quite enough because personality sounds like you’re gonna come in and just do brand voice or something like that.
But that could be it too. But I would say explore something, like, kind of mind map comedy. So you put comedy in the middle and you just start, like, shooting off different words around it and see what, like, might fly, try out different ones in your LinkedIn profile in that line under your name, just whatever it is, if it’s personality driven conversion copywriting or the world’s most surprising conversion copywriting or whatever that is that you want to do. Yeah.
There’s a whole industry on this. I’m noticing, like, there’s proven humor frameworks and formulas that people use. I didn’t realize that.
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool.
Okay. So work on that and then let us know everybody who we will talk do after this. But, thanks for those who are sticking on as well.
We have Abby then Adnan.
Cool. So yeah, I feel like this is a very Joe question as you dealt with this in your business. But so, yeah, my thing is they wanna ever agree I love it. I believe in it. Like, I totally wanna, like, make it the solution, of course, Grace is you want passive income.
But My audience is just all copywriters. Like, it’s like ninety percent copywriters, and I know, like, because, you know, I’ve did where I get featured is, like, copy hackers in the copywriters club and I’m probably doing, like, the world authority building. But I feel like I have this audience there and so many people are resting me for coaching. I’m like, Maybe I should be monetizing this, but then I don’t wanna distract myself on day one evergreen because I am so passionate about it and I really believe in it.
So, yeah, how do you Like, I guess this is maybe this is more an execution question, but how do you navigate it when, like, the the distraction thing, like, do you just stick with your thing? Or do you are you like, okay. I can have two things? I mean, that just feels greedy, but do you have any advice?
Like, I have some advice.
Yes.
We we do have that situation.
I would say, why are you publishing on copy hackers? Why are you doing things for copywriters if you don’t want to copywriters.
So there’s that to consider, but it’s like, well, because I did it. So it’s happened. Okay. Fine.
Have something you can serve to audiences.
You can. It’s just harder, and you’ll probably have to hire people in there even if it’s like VAs and stuff like that to handle it.
If copywriters are already finding you, One, do you like working with copywriters?
Okay. Good. So they don’t take energy from you. They give energy to you. Okay. Good. So that’s good.
So kind of table that. And then there’s the evergreen side of things, if you had to choose. Copywriters or evergreen course businesses?
I think it’s, like, two c two, like, cake of pizza. Like, Bye. I mean I have to choose.
Yeah. I guess.
I have to, but today, you know, ultimately, they wanna agree because I do believe, like, the copywriters will find me anyway.
Like, copywriters still buy my course.
I just I feel like there’s this opportunity there. And I’m like, I have this audience and I’m not monetizing it. And should I monetize it, or should I just focus on my thing?
Or both. Right? Like, you can. Depends how you monetize it. It depends what your calendar looks like. Depends, you know, what your priorities are on a day to day basis.
So if you were like, okay, every Monday is my day to work with copywriters, that’s it. That could be a way to approach it. Right? Like, it’s really tack ago.
Like, it’s way down at execution rather than strategy. Like, Monday is when I post on LinkedIn to copywriters, and I take my three copywriters that I coach, and we have sessions together. And that’s my Monday, and I’ve monetized it because I’m coaching these copywriters on that day. The rest of the week is focused on Evergreen course business stuff.
And that’s where you wouldn’t any longer publish anything on copy hackers, unless it’s talking to Evergreen Course creators, which wouldn’t make sense.
But then you start, like, focusing on writing the book on Evergreen courses. And I would say that’s where, like you say, the copywriters will find you. They do. They just find you. So Yeah. You can serve both, but you’ll need to make one a priority.
Yeah. Yeah.
I think that that’s answers there, and I’ll just leave it there and take that on board. Thank you.
Okay. Cool. Thanks, Adna.
Know we’re pastime, so I’ll I’ll try to be quick.
So I I’ve tried to work through things that I have done and I like to do. So and I’ve narrowed it down, and maybe you can tell me, like, if I’m just all over the place here, but SaaS emails, SaaS web copy and UX. So these are three things. And then I listed a bunch of things that I can kind of offer or would like to offer.
So am I being too broad too broad here or should or or should we be more specific into like, hey, I do SaaS pricing pages for web for websites or like If you say I do SaaS pricing pages, it’s really easy to own that and to master it too. Like, Okay.
Easy.
And I say easy not you can do it in ten hours. I say easy. You can take the next two years to do it and be masterful by the end of it. And over that time, share things and prove your expertise as you go. Right? So that’s easy compared to trying to be all SaaS, which could take your entire lifetime.
So that’s the easy option.
Okay. Is that something you wanna do? Because honestly, I did this certification program for SaaS copywriters and pricing pages.
Somehow, nobody came out of it caring about pricing pages. And I’m like, they’re the most interesting thing in SaaS in my opinion.
Like, what I’m actually working on handing that.
That’s the those samples for for the certifications.
So Oh, good.
I think page is one of the things that I was like, hey, this is something I I like to do. So Yeah.
Like, it’s the site of conversion. I know what it’s crazy to meet. And then there’s the customer, the visitor facing versus the actual customer, like there’s two different ones that you can work with. Anyway, there’s so much you could do there.
I would say if you can focus on one thing because there are a lot of SaaS copywriters out there. I don’t think there are enough of them, and I definitely don’t think there are enough great ones out there, but there are a lot of SaaS copywriters out there. So I would focus on a thing. If it’s SaaS, I would go more narrow than that and identify, like, which are the ones you like writing, and then which are the ones that people struggle with.
The most. And by people, I do mean your ideal client. So if it’s like sprout social, I wanna work with sprout social or companies that are fifty million to five hundred million a year, which is really big range, but still, then you’d see, like, what are the emails that they struggle with the most. And then you could easily, I think, focus in on just getting really good at those emails.
Don’t even know what they are, but if you could find that out and work on it and then just build authority on that.
That’s it. That’s like, job’s done, boss. You have a whole business now.
Do you think it it it it will take away from my focus if if I was to say, okay.
Let’s say SaaS pricing pages and just onboarding emails for, I don’t know, trial to pay it or or or like retention emails.
Connect the two. So if you’re like, I like pricing pages and I like emails, do they naturally fit together in a way where then the the two puzzle pieces click together become a new thing and you name that new thing.
Okay. Okay.
Does that make sense?
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because, I mean, if you’re in that free to sorry, trial to paid, you’re gonna end up landing on that pricing page anyways.
Yeah. Okay. Exactly.
Yep.
Thank you.
Yeah. Totally. Cool. Fun. Yeah. Excited. I just want someone to own pricing pages already. Jillian.
That’s so funny. I just did the pricing pages course this week and I was like, this is so and I put that to my my list too. Like, I was like, oh, maybe I’ll just do pricing pages. I see a question. Like, I was like, can you just own, like, something like a page or a deliverable or something.
So that yeah. It’s fine that you brought that up, but there was another one I wanted to ask you about because I’ve I did the same thing that Adnan just mentioned is, like, what are the things that I’ve done? What do I like doing? And I’m kinda broke down possibilities from there.
So I had my deliverables that was one, but then I also have about research, and I’ve really only done customer interviews because that doesn’t surveys haven’t made sense for the clients I’ve worked with. And I like that, but then I was trying to think about how to narrow that down. And it came across I didn’t even know about this, but I wanted to get your thoughts on, like, lost customer interviews or lost customer now.
Oh, cool.
Is that a thing? Because I just haven’t heard I had never even heard of that and I was like, oh, I was trying to think of like a more specific angle than just customer interviews, which everyone does.
Yeah.
So I don’t know. Why is your thoughts on that? Are people doing that?
Is that, like, what’s I don’t know.
If people are doing it, they’re not making noise about it.
So is that because it’s not valuable, or is it What what got you excited when you heard about it?
I think just because I never hear anyone talking about it and I’m like, oh, this seems like it could be like another piece that’s maybe missing.
But I don’t know because I don’t have much experience in that space.
Yeah.
I’m thinking about, like, focusing more on SaaS. I’ve only worked with a few SaaS companies, but I’m thinking of making that more my foot, like, my checking out my focus. So I’ve been trying to research. So I don’t know that much about SaaS that I haven’t worked in it. So I’ve just been doing some research, but don’t know, like, what really makes sense for them.
Yeah. Shane, what were you gonna say to Jillian?
No. I love that. I think that’s super that’s exactly the way to think. I think that’s brilliant. I like it personally.
Yeah. Yeah. It’s really so okay. And then if we try to break it, like, how is it possibly a bad idea?
Outside of that you haven’t done it, that’s fine. That’s totally fine. You’ll learn how you’ll you can find.
What’s bad is I would say one, a assumption that people might make, a business might make is we lost them because they’re a bad fit. So I don’t wanna know anything about them anyway. They’re a bad fit.
Do you have to overcome that?
Which you can do, with thought leadership. Anybody else have ways to break this idea.
Yeah. Use that data to especially when you’re getting into paid traffic, use that data to to not target. Right? You need to know who you’re targeting versus who you’re not. That’s that’s an angle you can go with it.
Okay.
So let’s support it here.
Ways to do, webinar negative webinar survey.
Or interview. Like, sorry, write a webinar negative web so people who left negative webinar reviews, and she turned it into a whole email So the thing if it’s about the, like, you you ask that if they want to lose it, maybe there could be something that could be talked about there.
Anyone else? I think go explore it, Jilliam. Yeah.
I think that’s the the product team is gonna be excited about that. You know? That’s who that’s who cares about that. Is more than marketing? It’s the product team.
And product has more money than marketing. So that’s good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can close more projects for more money.
It looks like Chris says he does SAS cancellation interview surveys sometimes.
Harder to get them to provide feedback, but really cool.
Yeah, curious to hear.
Yeah.
Maybe I’ll follow-up with Chris about that.
Yeah. The harder it is, the more you can charge as long as it’s, like, high value. Like, what are they going to get out of learning about these lost customers.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah. And like would it be I guess that would kind of move me away from copy would just be more like recommendation. It’d be more like findings and recommendations. Would that be what would come out of that?
Or I guess would it be copy recommendations too?
Don’t necessarily I mean, what do you you can go as far as you want to. Yeah. So if you wanna stop at just making recommendations, you can you can do that. Yeah. Just be more consultative rather than, which is, again, a good thing execution just never makes as much money as consulting strategy.
Yeah. I like it. Thanks for yeah.
You could even be the person who, like, finds, like, turns all the negative stuff into gold, like, find all their bad reviews and all, but just find, like, everything that’s bad about the company and find ways to turn that into value.
Cool. Awesome.
Anybody else have anything? I know we’re thirty minutes over. Anything in order to get you to a place where you can say here’s what I’m going to own.
We’re good. Okay.
So Very helpful.
Good. Wonderful.
So I will post just in general, in our general channel, in the Slack group, I’ll, post where to add in your one thing, just like declare it, state it, it’s your thing. And then we can start digging more into that stuff as we move into December.
Cool.
Alright y’all. Cool. If you have any questions, pop them in slack as always. I don’t think we have any more sessions this week.
But, yeah, we’ll we’ll follow-up more next week. And I want you to feel really good about what you’ve landed on So if you’re leaving this session still unclear or if, like, a couple days passed and you’re like, I don’t know. Don’t keep that to yourself. Bring it out and we can we can work through it with you. Okay?
Alright. Thanks, everyone.
Have a good rest of your day.
Bye, everyone.
Bye.
The Instagram Posting Calendar
The Instagram Posting Calendar
Transcript
My Wonderful.
Alright.
Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy.
Cool. People are joining. I’m gonna let that happen and get a little adjusted here.
Cool beans.
Good.
Okay. How’s everybody doing?
Having a good start of week so far?
Wow. Everybody hates Monday. Okay. That’s fair.
No prob alright. Alright.
Yeah. Full on hate of Monday. Nobody even reacted other than Sarah.
This is bananas.
Okay. Alright.
I’m gonna I gave a thumbs up.
Okay. Okay. Good. I missed it somehow.
I’m I’m just I just rolled out of bed, so, you know, I’m not quite all here yet.
What time zone are you in?
It’s ten, but I’m kind of a night owl. So I I go to bed really late, and I get up nine ish. Oh, okay. I’m having my morning coffee right now.
Oh, that’s good. I am the opposite. I’m asleep.
Why I never I never make, Verona’s groups because they’re I’m still sleeping.
Yeah.
Alright.
Well, cool.
Awesome. So today, you are here for the one session that I would not have paid any attention to years ago at my own peril. So I don’t have a whole bunch of regrets in, my business, but not getting started on social media sooner is is one.
As Nicole, who’s our social media lead, like, drinks her coffee feeling perfectly confident in her role. She’s like, Joe needs me. True.
So it’s a thing that my team has tried to get me on board with before.
Years ago, Mike was doing this big YouTube initiative, and I was like, no. It’s not leading to anything blah blah blah. Shut it down, and now it’s fully his job.
It’s like all YouTube, almost all the time. Nicole is our full time social media lead focusing entirely on Instagram.
And, yeah, these are things that I learned a little late. So I wanted to this is important for a lot of reasons. I’ve told you already that we have this, like, intensive starting in April, for new people who are looking to get, on track with having a much more, lucrative freelancing business.
And in that, we’ll be teaching a framework that, a model, basically, that then leads people to need to use social media a lot more. So today, we’re gonna focus on Instagram, because it’s really critical for the things that we’re going to teach going forward.
There’s a lot that if you’re not on Instagram, it’s really gonna be a struggle, some of the training that we have going forward, and you’ll be like, oh, I wish that I had done something. So just start today. If you’re already on Instagram, cool. If you’re not, honestly, I hope you heed my advice.
I really regret not being on Instagram earlier. So, I would strongly encourage you even more than building your list at this point, getting on Instagram is a pretty big deal. So we’re gonna talk today about, your Instagram posting calendar because one of the biggest challenges that I know I had and that people have is, well, what would I like, what would I even share? Like, Instagram is this visual medium, and I’m a writer.
What am I gonna talk about other than here’s how you should be writing copy, and do I really want to teach how to do things on social media? Like, is that how is that gonna work for me in getting clients? So a lot of good questions come up. And if you have any questions about using Instagram or frustrations or anything that you want to share, chat them out. We can start talking about those or just, like, come off mute and share anything that you might want to about hesitation around using Instagram. But we’re gonna dig in and come off at any point, by the way. And I will eventually hear you talking over myself in case I don’t see you.
But do come off and feel free to share anything as we’re going. I am gonna dive right in to sharing the, the worksheet that we have prepared for today.
Okay.
Again, for those who just joined, I was saying that not getting on Instagram sooner is, one of my business regrets, and I really, really, really encourage you to take it seriously starting now. Don’t worry about how many followers you do or do not have. We’ve got, what, eighteen thousand followers. It’s not a huge following at all, but it’s good. It’s good and only bound to pay off further.
So we can get into more of that, and we will get into more of those things as we move on in our training.
Just because we’re focusing on Instagram doesn’t mean that other social spaces aren’t important. As I mentioned, Mike owns YouTube for us. LinkedIn is currently not a big thing for us. We have lots of followers on there, etcetera, but, we’ll talk about LinkedIn as we move forward, and we’ll be using LinkedIn more for sales reasons going forward.
But just put aside any, like, oh, I just wanna work on LinkedIn, or I just wanna do Pinterest or something.
Let’s just focus on Instagram. Also, Nicole was doing, Pinterest stuff for us, and the results very quickly were, like, not there. So, we paused on that in case you’ve thought about, like, other things that you could be spending more time on. If you’re gonna make, you know, quote posts for Instagram, then you might as well make them for Pinterest too, but but you really don’t wanna spread yourself too thin.
Just keep that in mind. Okay. So this little framework, this little model showing to the side here is like our sunshine growth model. It looks like a sun.
That’s why it’s called that.
And we’ll be getting into that in the intensive freelancing.
If you choose to participate in that, it’s included for you anyway. So, it’ll be really good to participate in that if you want to starting in April. More about that in Slack soon. Okay. But this is really critical now because, Meta has recently, and this may not be news to some of you and it will be to others, has added features to Instagram that are purely for business purposes.
So not at all for personal fun stuff, but just for business. Knowing that and then seeing what they’ve added as we go, we’ll get into more and more of that. It’s a really it’s it’s clearly their future strategy is more around making sure businesses are using Instagram as much as possible, and there are a lot of cool solutions out there that make that even easier. And I’m not just talking about schedulers, but way better stuff.
Again, as I mentioned, for some of the things that we’re gonna talk about going forward in CSP, you will need to have an Instagram account. If you don’t, you’re just gonna, like, skip that week. And then the next month, you’ll skip another week.
And, eventually, I think you’ll see that there’s a need for this and have to go back and retake those lessons. So you might as well just start right now.
Like building a list, building a social following is something that probably should have started yesterday, but definitely not tomorrow. Not continue don’t continue bumping it down the line like I did.
And I’ve heard this a lot. So some of the challenges or reasons not to use Instagram are like, well, my audience isn’t on there.
I only speak to, you know, enterprise level businesses, and they’re not on Instagram. And it’s like, well, you’re not going after the business account because you’re gonna talk to the social media person there.
It’s definitely I mean, the data shows that Instagram is filled with CMOs.
A lot of CMOs, forty seven percent of CMOs in America are women, and half of people on Instagram are also women. That doesn’t mean that half of the women on there are CMOs or anything weird like that, obviously.
But just know that with so many more women becoming CMOs and so many women who are CMO aged on Instagram, it’s a really good opportunity that feels silly to disregard just because your mom has an account on there.
So and even if it’s not your mom, it’s it’s a big opportunity.
People who are not targeting people that you might be targeting are all over that. People who are targeting your ideal are also all over Instagram, so get your butt on there.
One of the things also that stands out as an objection to getting on Instagram is, I don’t have a designer, Joe. And, like, I I can’t I’m not a designer. Now some of you actually are designers.
But if you’re not, I’m not. And before I had somebody, on my team who could design things for me, I used, creative market a lot. Creative market is a very good solution. You can go here, to get a whole bunch of templates. You have to pay for them, but it’s, like, nine dollars to download, like, an incredible amount of Canva templates for Instagram. So don’t let that stop you, from moving forward with some really cool stuff. Okay.
So the thing that we’re trying to solve today is not, hey. Do Instagram overall, but you should get on Instagram. You should keep on Instagram if you’re already on there.
And then we need to figure out what goes on your Instagram. So we’ve spoken already in Coffee School Professional about your red thread, your one thing, whatever, like, you basically specialize in and own or working towards owning, obviously, that’s a really good starting point for the content that you’re going to put on Instagram. But, like, where do you go with that? So a good, a good practice is to theme as much as you can, especially if you plan on handing this work over to a VA, which is a very good idea for a lot of you to do given that a lot of VAs are already skilled in, if not coming up with ideas for Instagram, in taking your Canva templates, putting in stuff that you tell them to, and then scheduling that in Sprout Social or whatever tool you might use. So but what they need is direction on what it should be about. So a good rule of thumb or not a rule of thumb, actually, a a good practice is to theme as much as you can.
Theming goes a long way. This is not my recommendation. This is my coach recommended this to us, one of my coaches, which is to theme your, year. So each month of the year, go through thinking about your example, like, your thing that you own and theme it. So you can say in the month of January, you’re gonna focus on for me, I would focus on specializing.
February could be a month that’s focused on tools. That doesn’t mean you only ever get to talk about tools. You can still say on Valentine’s Day in February, something else, But this will at least help you set up a plan for what you will talk about, generally speaking, each month. So if you’re like, okay. I need quotes. If you go to your VA and say, quote post as we actually know at copywriters quote post do pretty well.
So if you’re like, look, VA, in April, we’re gonna do systems training on Instagram.
Can you go and pull, you know, thirty quotes for me on systems, on systems for freelancing, systems for business, on why systems are important, on why nobody likes a system until they get a system, etcetera, etcetera, or do whatever you wanna do with AI to generate stuff like that.
But then at least you’ve got something to hand them. Right? You can say here’s what to do, and they can go forward and do that. Without a theme, you’re just like, I don’t know.
Copy?
So we want to, theme our months. There’s a worksheet in here for you.
And within each of those months then, you will need a subtopic.
So, obviously, a subtopic for, like, systems is is really, really dry. But if we were to do, like, November geek systems are important, by the way, but also quite dry. Geeking out on research, then week by week, you might have your different subtopics on research. Like, week one is gonna be all about serving.
Week two is all about interviewing. Week three and so on and so forth. Right? So we can write those out.
And now even further, we know or our VA knows what to talk about in those months or in those weeks. Sorry. Months overall.
So what I would like you to do is before we move on, I’d like to pause and have you go through and just for the next six minutes, just jot out just from April through to the end of December what those themes might be for your business to post about on Instagram.
Okay?
Doable?
Alright. Cool. Six minutes, then we’ll come off mute.
This.
Cool. Cool. Sorry if you have to click a button again to agree to stay in the meeting.
We’re gonna do the subtopics as well because I don’t want to kind of just start the work and then bail on it.
But I what I wanna talk about before we get into the subtopics, unless you already started, which is cool, is that there are so many kinds of content you can put out there. It’s really like, bananas to me to think of all the different formats in which you can share a message so that it doesn’t if you’re like, oh, this is tiresome, which is my thinking on a lot of stuff. It’s like, how how what else how else do we say this? And sometimes it’s just say it in a different format.
Right? So it could be the same message shared in lots of different ways. But what I would like you to do is not necessarily use this right now, but really kind of just scan this if you didn’t already when you got the worksheet earlier. If you haven’t had a chance to look through it, now is a good time to look at the very many kinds of things you can share and then, of course, the format that you’ll share them in.
We do have Nicole here from our team. If you have specific questions, I didn’t tell her that I’d be offering her services to you today.
I’m not necessarily. But, if you have questions because I don’t do the posting, so it’s not like I’m part of the creation of the content, but I don’t I don’t know what happens. Like, I don’t do anything after that. I send we have a drop box where I drop a bunch of stuff, like videos I’ve recorded or photos or whatever.
And, we have a channel for social media stuff in Slack, and then we also have, like, Google Sheets of ongoing quotes and other things that we might wanna add to social media. And then we have this mechanism, which is important, which is at the start of every week, Nicole and I have a meeting about what’s coming up that week. And then at the end of the week, Nicole shares out results in Slack so that everybody can see them. And that’s a mechanism that, Chris, the CEO of Wistia, shared with me that he did that, and I loved this.
Just really straightforward. Like, I know we don’t wanna have more meetings in our lives, but we kinda have to have some more meetings in our lives. So if you do have a VA or somebody else on your team who’s gonna be posting for you, then it’s really good to have a meeting with them at least once a week to just see that you’re on the same page with the content that’s being shared with the message, with how it’s written, especially if you’re getting a VA to do it, and they might not be a copywriter or have the same sense of what’s important that you do.
And this having something like this sheet showing on the screen right now is also useful because then they can come up with more ideas, and you can also say, like, oh, man. We also have a content meeting at the end of the week. Just a side note as I’m looking through this, because a lot of what you’re going to do throughout the week is content you can share. It just doesn’t feel like it.
Right? So snippets from client calls can be, something that you share out. Obviously, not the part where the client is talking, but where you are. There can be really good stuff hidden in all of the work that you’ve been doing all week long, but your VA or the person working with you on social media won’t know know anything about it if you don’t share it with them.
So we actually have another meeting, which I was just mentioning, on Fridays where the team gets together, and it’s called, get content out of jail or something like that. And we have a worksheet, that or a spreadsheet where we all throughout the week type in things for meetings like this meeting. Like, Joe, there was that moment when, Katie asked you this question and you had this answer.
That should be shared on social media, your answer. And so it’s a mechanism, like, another mechanism to make sure that we’re getting the most out of the existing content we have. So it’s not always a matter of sitting down for a block of time and just, like, recording yourself talking. That’s good too. But there’s lots of places where content is, like, hiding, content you could share. So refer to that sheet and start, like, coming up with ideas.
What I would like you to do for just three minutes, if you haven’t already, is get into assigning a subtopic for the month of April.
Okay?
Week by week. Cool. Cool.
Alright.
Cool. So with that, I’m going to speak to this last part, but that’s really a, like, a homework for you to do going forward.
The last part is a, weekly calendar where you’d put in what the week is, what your subtopic is. And then, again, this is if you struggle to come up with what, to post about. If you already have this, obviously, as I’ve mentioned, you’re good.
But here are some these are actually really common themes, so it might be possibly too common going forward. Again, this is something that my, coach shared with us.
But, actually, some of these are shifted around. So I I tried to get a little more creative than just sharing exactly what my coach said for us to do. Motivation Monday, so that could be, like, where you’re just talking to your audience about something to be motivating for them. Trending topics, Tuesdays, results, Wednesdays, those are case studies, other things basically that you’ve done to prove out results.
Thorough Thursdays is going long on something, going deep on a topic, really digging into it, in a in a quite thorough way, and then q and a or ask me anything or FAQs, Fridays.
Those are just ways you can come up with content.
And then, again, the more you’re assigning this for somebody else to do, the more you can say, okay. I know I have to make some, q and a videos for you for Friday, so I’ll get those to you on Tuesday. And really does better work with them so that you stay on track and actually get results out of the work that you’re doing. Obviously, we’re not talking here about measuring how things are going. That’s not the subject for today’s training. What we just wanna do is make sure that we’re starting to get to a place where you are posting and then going back over later and making sure that it’s working, and your frequency is working, and the topics you’re sharing are working for the goal that you have in mind. So these are worksheets that you would fill in weekly, like the week before, or have them all ready to go well in advance depending on how you like to organize your time.
So that’s all I want to share with you for Instagram posting today. But what I really can’t emphasize enough is how important it is to get started now or to keep going if you’ve been doing it and, like, you’ve been sporadic about it or you just maybe you like, it’s easy to give up. I find it easy to go, like, well, forget it. There’s only one of me and there’s just not enough time, but worth it.
Try to find a way to sneak it in. Try to find things that are gonna shorten shorten the time for you to actually get that stuff out there. Don’t force yourself to post five times a day if you can’t even post once a day. Just start with once a day, and then go from there.
Okay.
Any questions or thoughts on this? How are we feeling about Instagram or our businesses?
Yeah. Katie.
Okay. I just wanna share, like, this is really well timed for me because I the last couple weeks have been playing this game with myself where I’m trying to get, like it’s, like, twenty five points on Instagram every week, and, like, a reel is, like, three points. A story is one point. I’m trying to, like I’m, like, going for volume.
Yeah.
But, yeah, gamifying it a little bit.
So if anybody is with me on trying to, like, get more out there, then that’s the strategy I’m Okay.
Tell me more about this game. I because I love it. How does it work? What do you do?
Like, what is the scoring system?
It’s literally, like, three for reals, two for stories, two, like, two well, two for post one and then one for, like, minute that I talk. I do a lot of when I go pick up my kids from day care, I do, like, talking head story. That’s my easiest one.
Reels are the hardest because I hate video editing.
And, this is really interesting, this what you’ve just shared because I have started doing all of my Instagram myself again because I found that it was, like, way too much back and forth with my VA. Yeah. She’s, like, not a design person or a copy person. So, yeah, this is me, like, taking back the reins from Instagram and trying to just see how much faster I can ship things than, like, putting a big strategy behind it, and making it, like, a bigger thing than I think it needs to be.
Okay.
So and the game does the game exist to make it so that you want to do this stuff?
Oh, sorry. No. Go ahead.
I track, like, micro wins in my paper diary, and that’s where I just give myself points.
Okay. There’s no I mean, the question about what’s your prize, I’m like, oh, yeah. I should probably give myself a reward of some kind, but I haven’t been doing that so far.
Oh, now you get to come up with a a prize.
That’s fun. It’s awesome.
Cool. Who else wants to get in with Katie and make a game out of it?
I love this. Yeah. I don’t know. I think anytime we can have a game involved, then you’re just like, competition’s on.
You gotta do it. No? No. Fun. Anyway, I love that, Katie. Good job. And I know that it can feel like a lot, to have to put together these systems, like SOPs to document all this stuff, all the work upfront, in order to hand it off to a VA, but it is the leverage that will help.
Right? So if you can get to a place where you can document this the work and have some themes, have templates in place that are like, don’t mess with this, especially, like, if you buy something on Creative Market and say, this is how it’s gonna look for the next three months, just use these templates, then that might be something because, obviously, there’s lots of ways to spend your time, and social media is important.
It’s just not gonna be, obviously, forever the most important thing for you to do. Has anybody read the E Myth Revisited yet?
Read it. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m not done the I scanned it years ago, but a lot fell out of my head. And, I’ve been listening to the audiobook, like, while I was painting this wall and, when I’m just, like, getting dinner ready and stuff like that.
That’s really interesting, when it comes to systems and the smart way to get yourself out of working in your business and more on your business, which is obviously the goal for basically everybody. Yeah. The E Myth Revisited. It’s a horrible title. I have no idea what he was thinking.
There’s no E Myth, and I don’t know about revisiting it. So it it’s very odd, But behind that horrible title is is a very it’s a good book. It’s a good book for a small business, especially if you find yourself expanding only to shrink because something got hard because the VA sucked at that or whatever that thing might be. And so you’re like, oh, I’ll just do it myself.
Oh, okay. I’m gonna grow. No. I’m just gonna do it myself.
It’s it’s really good at coaching you through that. And so yeah. Have a look.
Okay.
Anybody else working on Instagram? Anybody wanna share anything they’re doing on Instagram, Abby? Yeah.
Yeah. Instagram is, like, the debate of my life at the moment. As I said, I’m trying to grow my following on that, and I’m just finding it really hard. I wonder if you have any tips around visibility because I I’ve had, I think I mentioned. So I have my VA basically repurposing my LinkedIn content, and then I make some videos and stuff. So we’ve been posting every day ish for about three months, and I’ve gained maybe, like, a hundred followers, and no no results.
So, yeah, do you have any tips, like, getting in front of the right people? Like, using hashtags? Like, do I need to be engaging with accounts?
What’s the yeah.
I think there’s probably a lot that, like, Nicole and even Mike could say about getting putting content out there that people like. I if, Nicole or Mike, you wanna think about anything you’d wanna share there.
Come in here real quick if you’d like, Joe.
Yeah. So I just wanna before you jump in, I just wanna preface it with sometimes getting a lot of followers isn’t the point. Okay. Go ahead, Mike. Sorry. Thanks.
Yeah. It’s funny because, like, this is a a bit of an aesthetics we’re talking I’m coming from a YouTube perspective, but, like, I’m going through a a course right now called channel jump start for YouTube, which is kind of like done run by Daryl Eaves, who’s like mister beast’s data guy when it comes to YouTube. So he’s a YouTube guy. Right?
And the one thing that came away is a really big He doesn’t even care about subscribers. He cares about, like, who active viewers are. So I know Instagram, YouTube, not quite the same thing. But one technique that’s being done for the research side for us is we’re actually doing what’s called a dummy account.
And we what we do is we actually I’ve created a YouTube channel or a YouTube account that’s, like, not even I don’t touch anything, but I only make sure I go and watch the stuff that’s really hyper relevant to my niche. And then what’s happening is the algorithm’s gonna start suggesting that stuff to me, and then you take the the cues from that to say, okay. Here’s how people, like, edit it. Here’s the topics.
Here’s how the sort of thing. I don’t know if that would come across for Instagram, but it feels like something that could probably work where you actually created a separate Instagram account where you you’re just really hyper focused about only looking at stuff that’s, like, really relevant to your niche and then seeing if the algorithm will start suggesting more stuff to you, and you can take cues from that as, like, okay. How are people talking? Like, what’s the stuff that’s getting engagements?
What are people reacting to? And what’s the structure of it? Because just like copywriters with a a framework, you kinda break it down and figure out what the, what framework these creators are using.
Because most of them are playing you know, you start seeing the same stuff over and over again Mhmm.
And maybe not necessarily in a bad sense. But if the two things to look out for there is just, like, is it getting lots of attention and is getting lots of recent attention, I think is what you wanna look at. Because if something’s got a million views from, like, three years ago, it’s probably not relevant now. But, like, stuff that’s, like, hot and fresh right now, that’s probably where you wanna be looking.
So is it enough to just think, like, if I create better content, better relevant, likable content is gonna get seen? Is that kind of Yeah.
I’m just gonna kinda jump in here if that’s okay, Mike.
Yeah. So, I think with Instagram, like, it is a quantity game, but it is still quality over quantity, if that makes sense.
Like, if you’re just putting out whatever things that you haven’t really spent any time on or haven’t really thought through, it’s not going to get a ton of engagement, because people can kinda see through that. Like, people are looking for quality on there.
But, one thing that I find kinda helpful is going through kinda like what Mike’s saying is going to, like, the really popular accounts, like, in your niche or in your specialization and searching through their account, like, within the last few months and finding, like, the reels that have the most views, the you know, anything that has a lot of comments, lot of likes, and things like that. And then just kinda take you’re not stealing their content, but you kinda take it as inspiration for your own. And it’s like, hey. What did they do that did so well, and how can I kind of make that my own?
And then it kinda makes your strategy a little bit easier too because you’re not constantly just trying to come up with ideas out of nowhere.
So Mhmm.
Yeah. That’s helpful. Oh, sorry.
Go ahead, Adam, please.
Yeah.
No. I was just gonna say yeah. Because I feel like my content’s good quality, but it’s kind of boring. Like, I don’t feel like the hooks are good enough, and I don’t, yeah, maybe, like, that would help kind of, yeah, watching their videos and stuff and seeing, like, how other people are hooking people in because I just feel like I’m kind of sharing good stuff, but, like, no one cares.
I think you’ll notice too, especially when it comes to, like, video content, like reels, YouTube shorts, that sort of thing, like, hook becomes so important because, you know, they have the option to swipe away so quick. So you have Mhmm. Like, the three seconds to really get speak directly to what they’re actually interested in and then deliver on it.
It’s so hard. So it’s, like, legit so hard.
And we will get into like, the more we’re out there trying different things, we’ll be sharing those here, including, like, rules that we’ve developed for editing videos, and things like that so that the pacing is really good, because that’s obviously important. Right? But it’s like, if you don’t have rules set out, like, a basic checklist of this must be true as we move through a video, then you’re you’re just not gonna do it. Right?
But it’s as simple as just often as simple for me to say. Nicole and Mike are like, hold on. But it’s as simple as just putting together that list of, like, what are some of the rules we have? Like, every three seconds, the scene has to change, things like that.
Right? That can get people watching. But, again, Abby, I wouldn’t worry too much about all of the followers. Like, the one of one coach I have that I didn’t find on social, though, I found through other memes.
He has very low following, like, given the size of his business, but it’s just for him, not about that. It’s like he just wants one good follower that he can then connect with and close.
And so I know it can be frustrating, especially since number of followers is a bit of a signal to the world.
Yeah. That’s oh, you’re a big deal or you’re not, but I wouldn’t worry, honestly, too much about that.
Yeah. I think because the purpose in my head of doing Instagram is because I wanna get invited to podcast, and I want I want people to reach out to me. So I feel like all the while I have, like, a tiny following. Like, it’s like not only do I not look like a big deal, but I look like I’ve I’ve been in business for five minutes, which isn’t true. Yeah. So that’s kind of my, like, thinking with the with the followers.
Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, yeah, it does.
And it’s been like I know for Nicole, we have an objective for her by end of twenty twenty four for how many followers she needs to have. But as we go, that could change because it could become very clear that number of followers, again, not that important. It’s important, but what is something else that would matter for a podcast for somebody on podcast to invite you? What are some other things that need to be true that you could actually solve?
Yeah. I feel like once I get to a thousand, I’ll stop worrying about it. I just feel all the while is under a thousand. It’s just too small.
Yeah.
Well, it’s I’ll take it.
Comment.
Yeah. Well, no. We will because, again, every new follower is an opportunity. Mhmm. So yeah.
I can second that. I don’t manage an Instagram account for myself, but I manage an Instagram account for one of my clients. We have a thousand followers, and I get messages all the time. It’s a very niche industry.
It’s, commercial beekeepers. Not everyone who reaches out to us is relevant. But, yeah, I get messages all the time from beekeepers all over the world. Mhmm.
And then the other thing I’ll say is it took a lot of experimentation.
I to be perfectly honest, I really hate social media. So I came in knowing almost nothing about it. But it was my first client, and I I need to get started.
And we did a lot of experimentation, and we got very, very little engagement. And then all of a sudden, I posted, like, a video that one of our one of the people from r and d took with his cell phones of putting queen bees in boxes, and it was, like, forty five seconds and that was it. And it got fourteen thousand views. And it was, like, no high quality production, just, like, an interesting an interest like, a tiny little element of a larger research study with very little context, but it was authentic and it was interesting, and people liked it. So, like, I would say a lot of experimentation will get you there because you can’t always predict what people will like and what people won’t like.
Mhmm. Yeah.
Cool. Thank you.
I love that. And I second an interest in beekeeping.
Yeah. Can you drop the account in the chat? I wanna I wanna see.
Local gardening center has a beekeeping class coming up, and I’m like, I might wanna learn about bees. Could be I don’t wanna keep them, but I wanna make sure I’m not killing them for starters.
Interesting. Okay. Cool. Yeah. So and, like, I’m I also I know nothing about social media, hence, taking so freaking long to do anything about it. It wasn’t until my friend, Jia, was like, Joe, get on social media. And I was like, oh, it’d probably be on social media.
And then we both Mike and Nicole went on, and that became their core focus.
But I didn’t and that’s why I don’t like, we have I’m learning a lot and hopefully sharing the good stuff as we go and then the things to avoid as we go. But, yeah, one of the bigger takeaways for me so far in the last year of finally taking this more seriously is don’t worry so much about followers. Like, Mike, like you’ve said, worry more about, like, are they watching or a lot of people watching your stuff rather than that. So can you make it more interesting?
And then you can, of course, pin the really popular ones to the top of your Instagram page. Right? And that’s that’s maybe even a better signal for people who would book you on a podcast. If you have, like, three really core videos or whatever that have lots and lots of views, then that can look really good to that person who’s gonna book you versus lots of followers, which which could mean nothing.
You can buy followers.
Although This could also be a good opportunity to, see where to find good content.
Like I said, if you got, like, a an account with a thousand followers, but they got a video that had fourteen thousand views, that’s a pretty good signal that the content is really resonating with people because it’s reaching outside of their own grasp. And like I said, if someone has a thousand followers, who knows how many of those are actually active followers too? Because a lot of people subscribe and then just don’t see stuff. Right? So, I mean, like, it’s yeah. When thinking about your content, just try to find the stuff that’s, like, really performing well outside of what their actual, sphere of influence is, and then that should be able to take some good cues from that.
Yeah. Thank you. Can I ask a follow-up question, Jo? Or does anyone else wanna jump in? Because I’ve asked a few.
No one put their hand up. Go for it, Abby.
Yeah. I guess it’s kind of, like, maybe a mindset question. So when I’ve been looking at other accounts to see what content I like, like, I obviously like yours. But I think what what I like about yours is it’s it’s very divisive, and you just you speak with such authority.
And I I struggle to do that or to take kind of hot takes or be edgy because my kind of it I’ve kind of just approached my content, I guess, more with, like, curiosity and being like, oh, one thing that I’ve tried that’s quite cool, but it’s not it’s not hooky. It’s not punchy. It’s not divisive. And I’m just still kinda like, well, who am I to really talk with authority about this stuff when and, I mean, who who is anyone really?
Because it’s like with marketing, it’s just every you know, everything goes. It’s all just bullshit.
Honestly, I mean, I do think a good point that you need to keep in mind is who is anyone, really?
Like, I don’t know.
It’s like, really. Like, I think of one person in particular who I am now like, you are so full of shit. You don’t know, like, what?
But man, does he speak with authority, and so many people buy into and it’s like, he’s a good dude, etcetera, etcetera, but so full of shit.
Seriously taking something that one person told him, and you find the source and go like Mhmm. Fucking stole that from that guy and didn’t cite him either. And now you’re acting like it’s your idea. It’s so annoying to watch, but it does speak to, like, who is anyone anyway. This guy, you don’t have to be him to do it right. Right? But but I think a good takeaway from knowing that some people are full of shit is you’re not full of shit.
So why people should find you. They should find you. Right? Like, it’s better for them if they find you than if they find the people who are full of shit. But the ones who are full of it are out there chirping up a storm. No one can stop them.
Meanwhile, you’re being reasonable and thinking, well, why should I say that? And should I say it that way? And they’re just like, and everyone’s loving it.
So I don’t know. To me, I’m like and it it’s not gonna click immediately, but I think this is maybe gonna start you down the path of appreciating that you have good stuff to say. I said I said the s h I t word a few times there.
But, but, yeah, nobody like, some people are really, really smart, know a lot of things, and they’re typically the one you find way far down the road after you’ve sorted through all the nonsense of people who are just full of crap.
So the more you can share yourself more loudly I know it doesn’t mean you have to be divisive or divisive, however you wanna pronounce it.
But what can you say and then boost? Spend a little money to boost that thing, to get people to maybe ignore the one who is full of crap and listen to you. And I do think that a good person to follow, who I do not think is full of crap, is Alex Hormozi. If you’re gonna do stuff on Instagram, just be the you, the Alex Hormozi of your world.
Honestly, I think, like, we can all just freaking copy the best. He’s not full of crap. In my experience, who knows? But doesn’t seem full of crap. So I don’t know if that’s helpful to you. Like, just, like, borrow his confidence and just do it.
Yeah. I mean, it’s Right? Like, you don’t have to be anything different. You can still be Abby being that. Right?
Yeah. But Abby isn’t getting engagement. Like, it’s not you know, I don’t think I just don’t think my approach is is engaging.
Like, I’m I’m not engaging the way I’m showing up on social media. Mhmm. Like, there’s gotta be another part of me that I can channel.
Yeah.
Because, I mean, it’s not like I care so much about course creators thinking, like, I’m full of shit. It’s more like, I don’t want, like, you or Prana to, like, roll your eyes at something I put out there. Like, that’s more the fear.
Oh, no. Don’t worry about that. Not to roll my eyes. Honestly, it’s, I was in a session, book writing session, and I we posted about this on Instagram.
I was in a book writing session with Donald Miller from StoryBrand who has published fiction. I didn’t know that.
And he was saying that you wanna make sure you don’t do anything.
Basically, you have this whole spiel a spiel about don’t humiliate yourself. Don’t embarrass yourself.
Important people are gonna be reading your book, so make sure you have created something that’s that they wouldn’t think is dumb or something. And I was like, but that’s where, like, scared writing comes from. Then you write really contained stuff. Like, Gertrude Stein didn’t give a shit what you thought about her. And then everyone was like, I love Gertrude Stein, because she was reading the craziest stuff. Like, that’s not a sentence. That’s not even a book.
But she didn’t care about that. And I think, like, don’t care about that. Don’t care about what I might think or might think. Honestly, don’t care about it.
Tarzan k doesn’t give a shit what I think about her stuff because I’ve rolled my eyes a million times at that shit, but I respect what she’s doing. I think you can do the same thing too. I would not don’t let people in there. Don’t let me or Verna or anybody else in there at all, please.
It’s just gonna hold you up.
Can I can I also offer a suggestion? Because I’ve been reading a lot of content, Abby, and I think it’s really good. But I think that, sometimes you write a lot, and you may wanna, like, experiment with different, like, styles. Like, maybe it’s not a controversial thing. Maybe it’s just, like, formatting, like trying sometimes do something a little bit shorter or, like, playing with shorter sentences or just because, sometimes it’s it’s hard to read a lot on social media. Like, it might be you may not have to be a personality that you’re not if you’re not a very controversial, outspoken person, if that’s not natural to you.
Like, may maybe maybe that’ll help, but it it may be, like, there might be things in writing that could help people actually get through the the message.
Because you have a lot of interesting things to say, but it’s just a lot of content.
As long as they I mean, it’s it’s good content.
I just think that for like, if you broke it down into several posts Yeah. Then Usually, I write, like, blog posts as on LinkedIn.
Yeah. No. That’s that’s really helpful feedback.
Well, that’s a good thing too because if you got a giant piece of pillar content, you can turn that into so many pieces of micro content too. Right?
Are you familiar with, Gary Vaynerchuk’s sixty four pieces of content strategy or whatever?
Oh, I’ve heard of it, but not for a while. I’ll check that out.
Yeah. The big basis is you just have like, he usually says, like, you take a big podcast or something like that. Right? And then you just keep going.
One thing is a reel. One thing is a quote post. One thing is a little video snippet. And so from you know, it’s not about reinventing the wheel now.
So if if you already got these nice long pieces of content, then you can just turn these into so many pieces of micro content that speak and fiddle on those gaps.
Mhmm. Yeah.
Oh, this has been so helpful.
Abby, Stacy asked, and I wanna know too. What’s your, insta what’s your Instagram?
It’s at AC content. Follow for follow.
Love it. Okay. Hold on. I’m looking at that. Talk amongst yourselves.
I’ll put it in the chat.
There’s, one thing I did kinda wanna mention, that can be kinda helpful for getting engaged is kind of coming up with just, like, your own little engagement group. So you can have, like, a group chat on Instagram, and then every time you post, you just post in that group chat saying, hey. I just posted. And then everybody commits to liking the post, leaving a comment, and then sharing it on their story or whatever.
And then you just kinda keep doing that, every time you post. There’s just, like, a small group of, like, no more than ten people, but that can help your reach a lot.
I know it’s worked for other people. So just a suggestion.
Yeah. Katie, Jessica, Caroline, anyone who’s doing Instagram.
No. I have a question. Can I ask a follow-up question about that, Nicole? Sure.
So I heard someone recently talk about these again again because this was big back when I was doing my first online business in network marketing. Like, that was the thing. You create a pod, you know, whatever. But what I was wondering was, how does that jive with the, training the algorithm?
Like, for example, I’m not really a course creator that right now, I suppose. That ab that would hire Abby right now. Right? But then and we’re all kind of copywriters.
We’re in different niches. So how does that because I don’t know. I just all I know is eventually, ecommerce people. And I would imagine other people feel that too.
So how does the pod does there is there an impact? Does it just don’t worry, focus on the engagement? What do you think about that?
Yeah. That’s a good question. So the algorithm is kind of funny like that because everybody has their own personal algorithm. So whatever’s coming up on your feed is the stuff that you’re just interested in.
And so, like, yes, if you are liking other people’s content and their course creators, then, yes, you’re going to end up seeing more of that on your feed. Yeah. But it’s not going to help, like or it’s not going to hurt, say a bunch of course creators are liking your content, but, ecommerce people are as well. It’s not going to make less ecommerce people see your content just because course creators are liking it and stuff, if that makes any sense.
No. It makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Cool. So, like, I wouldn’t worry about that. Like, I think it’s good to just get general engagement off the like, right off the bat. And then that way, push it to other people who are interested in it as well.
Okay. Cool. Thanks. Yep.
I have a question for somebody who knows more about Instagram algorithm because based on what what I understand, you wanna have one audience that you focus on. And that’s one thing I’d like, I just noticed on on Abby’s, profile. She’s got two completely different audiences that are labeled in the, you know, sell more courses with day one evergreen or become a nomad copywriter, which would seem to be, you know, a splitting of attention there. And would it be a good idea for her to have one focus instead of having two different things with different audiences?
Yeah. My BA told me to do that.
Oh, but that’s a good question. Because at one point, Joe, wouldn’t you have kind of had that? Because you kind of have you have multiple audiences, freelancers, and then the not, I guess, everybody else. But right? You have that.
Yeah. But we have had to make a call on who we want to target. Okay. Yeah. So we really Yeah. Refined that. That’s pretty recent, though.
So yeah. But it’s Yeah. Fair.
It’s a fair I found that just targeting, like, a specific like, we’re targeting, freelancers who are, like, wanting to grow their business and, like, take the next step.
Like, that’s our main target, and it’s, like, a certain caliber as well.
We end up getting other people, of course, like, as you will, but, like, it’s just like it’s just like copywriting when you’re writing for one reader. Like, you’re thinking Instagram account’s the same way.
So it’s like, yes. Some of our content speaks to a broader audience, but for the most part, like, when we’re thinking about it, we are just targeting just one.
Yeah.
It is worth thinking about too in terms of strategy because, like, if all the stuff, AI algorithms, all these things, it still comes down to people.
So, I mean, like, if you think about who if you have a really hammered down avatar, like, not just like, oh, I’m going after twenty five to thirty five year old women that want this if I’m going after Lisa. Lisa’s twenty seven. She’s a grad student. She did this.
She did this. She did this. She likes to watch when she’s not online, she’s reading this book. She’s playing this sport.
Like, if you start figuring out who that one person is and your content speaks to that one person, you’re gonna probably start resonating more. Because I think if you like I say, if you spread too thin, one risk you do have is, like, if it doesn’t serve that person for what they signed up for off the value prop of the content they maybe followed you for and then they get something different, it might send them to feel like, yeah, they’re not really, feeling it the same way as if, you kinda keep consistently messaging to that person. So I think that’s one thing that it is one thing to consider, I’d say.
You can also, like, base it on different channels. Like, when I’m posting on LinkedIn, I’m a lot of times, I’m talking to investors more so than, like, beekeepers or growers for this specific account.
But it also can depend on the time of year. Like, when it’s sales season, I might talk to the customer. And when they’re trying to raise a a round, might talk to investors. Like, there is some room for flexibility either on different channels or different times of the year based on your priorities.
Can I just add, we’re not talking really about what to share, on social media right now, but I I think a good rule of thumb is not to share how, if you can help it? We’ve had to pull way back on sharing how, and, so far, it’s been useful to do that.
Leave the how for when they hire you or buy your product or whatever that might be. But try to shift away from from teaching how to write copy, how to plan something, Abby, in your case, how to do day one evergreen, more about why you should, where you should, when you should, all of that kind of stuff, what to do, but not how to do it. So I think that can be useful to keep in mind, especially if you’re finding that a lot of copywriters are following you. Jessica, for you, they’re often, like, if you have how content, copywriters will follow you, for sure. So try to shift away from that, then you might get fewer of the wrong people. Yeah.
Worksheet
Worksheet
Transcript
My Wonderful.
Alright.
Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy.
Cool. People are joining. I’m gonna let that happen and get a little adjusted here.
Cool beans.
Good.
Okay. How’s everybody doing?
Having a good start of week so far?
Wow. Everybody hates Monday. Okay. That’s fair.
No prob alright. Alright.
Yeah. Full on hate of Monday. Nobody even reacted other than Sarah.
This is bananas.
Okay. Alright.
I’m gonna I gave a thumbs up.
Okay. Okay. Good. I missed it somehow.
I’m I’m just I just rolled out of bed, so, you know, I’m not quite all here yet.
What time zone are you in?
It’s ten, but I’m kind of a night owl. So I I go to bed really late, and I get up nine ish. Oh, okay. I’m having my morning coffee right now.
Oh, that’s good. I am the opposite. I’m asleep.
Why I never I never make, Verona’s groups because they’re I’m still sleeping.
Yeah.
Alright.
Well, cool.
Awesome. So today, you are here for the one session that I would not have paid any attention to years ago at my own peril. So I don’t have a whole bunch of regrets in, my business, but not getting started on social media sooner is is one.
As Nicole, who’s our social media lead, like, drinks her coffee feeling perfectly confident in her role. She’s like, Joe needs me. True.
So it’s a thing that my team has tried to get me on board with before.
Years ago, Mike was doing this big YouTube initiative, and I was like, no. It’s not leading to anything blah blah blah. Shut it down, and now it’s fully his job.
It’s like all YouTube, almost all the time. Nicole is our full time social media lead focusing entirely on Instagram.
And, yeah, these are things that I learned a little late. So I wanted to this is important for a lot of reasons. I’ve told you already that we have this, like, intensive starting in April, for new people who are looking to get, on track with having a much more, lucrative freelancing business.
And in that, we’ll be teaching a framework that, a model, basically, that then leads people to need to use social media a lot more. So today, we’re gonna focus on Instagram, because it’s really critical for the things that we’re going to teach going forward.
There’s a lot that if you’re not on Instagram, it’s really gonna be a struggle, some of the training that we have going forward, and you’ll be like, oh, I wish that I had done something. So just start today. If you’re already on Instagram, cool. If you’re not, honestly, I hope you heed my advice.
I really regret not being on Instagram earlier. So, I would strongly encourage you even more than building your list at this point, getting on Instagram is a pretty big deal. So we’re gonna talk today about, your Instagram posting calendar because one of the biggest challenges that I know I had and that people have is, well, what would I like, what would I even share? Like, Instagram is this visual medium, and I’m a writer.
What am I gonna talk about other than here’s how you should be writing copy, and do I really want to teach how to do things on social media? Like, is that how is that gonna work for me in getting clients? So a lot of good questions come up. And if you have any questions about using Instagram or frustrations or anything that you want to share, chat them out. We can start talking about those or just, like, come off mute and share anything that you might want to about hesitation around using Instagram. But we’re gonna dig in and come off at any point, by the way. And I will eventually hear you talking over myself in case I don’t see you.
But do come off and feel free to share anything as we’re going. I am gonna dive right in to sharing the, the worksheet that we have prepared for today.
Okay.
Again, for those who just joined, I was saying that not getting on Instagram sooner is, one of my business regrets, and I really, really, really encourage you to take it seriously starting now. Don’t worry about how many followers you do or do not have. We’ve got, what, eighteen thousand followers. It’s not a huge following at all, but it’s good. It’s good and only bound to pay off further.
So we can get into more of that, and we will get into more of those things as we move on in our training.
Just because we’re focusing on Instagram doesn’t mean that other social spaces aren’t important. As I mentioned, Mike owns YouTube for us. LinkedIn is currently not a big thing for us. We have lots of followers on there, etcetera, but, we’ll talk about LinkedIn as we move forward, and we’ll be using LinkedIn more for sales reasons going forward.
But just put aside any, like, oh, I just wanna work on LinkedIn, or I just wanna do Pinterest or something.
Let’s just focus on Instagram. Also, Nicole was doing, Pinterest stuff for us, and the results very quickly were, like, not there. So, we paused on that in case you’ve thought about, like, other things that you could be spending more time on. If you’re gonna make, you know, quote posts for Instagram, then you might as well make them for Pinterest too, but but you really don’t wanna spread yourself too thin.
Just keep that in mind. Okay. So this little framework, this little model showing to the side here is like our sunshine growth model. It looks like a sun.
That’s why it’s called that.
And we’ll be getting into that in the intensive freelancing.
If you choose to participate in that, it’s included for you anyway. So, it’ll be really good to participate in that if you want to starting in April. More about that in Slack soon. Okay. But this is really critical now because, Meta has recently, and this may not be news to some of you and it will be to others, has added features to Instagram that are purely for business purposes.
So not at all for personal fun stuff, but just for business. Knowing that and then seeing what they’ve added as we go, we’ll get into more and more of that. It’s a really it’s it’s clearly their future strategy is more around making sure businesses are using Instagram as much as possible, and there are a lot of cool solutions out there that make that even easier. And I’m not just talking about schedulers, but way better stuff.
Again, as I mentioned, for some of the things that we’re gonna talk about going forward in CSP, you will need to have an Instagram account. If you don’t, you’re just gonna, like, skip that week. And then the next month, you’ll skip another week.
And, eventually, I think you’ll see that there’s a need for this and have to go back and retake those lessons. So you might as well just start right now.
Like building a list, building a social following is something that probably should have started yesterday, but definitely not tomorrow. Not continue don’t continue bumping it down the line like I did.
And I’ve heard this a lot. So some of the challenges or reasons not to use Instagram are like, well, my audience isn’t on there.
I only speak to, you know, enterprise level businesses, and they’re not on Instagram. And it’s like, well, you’re not going after the business account because you’re gonna talk to the social media person there.
It’s definitely I mean, the data shows that Instagram is filled with CMOs.
A lot of CMOs, forty seven percent of CMOs in America are women, and half of people on Instagram are also women. That doesn’t mean that half of the women on there are CMOs or anything weird like that, obviously.
But just know that with so many more women becoming CMOs and so many women who are CMO aged on Instagram, it’s a really good opportunity that feels silly to disregard just because your mom has an account on there.
So and even if it’s not your mom, it’s it’s a big opportunity.
People who are not targeting people that you might be targeting are all over that. People who are targeting your ideal are also all over Instagram, so get your butt on there.
One of the things also that stands out as an objection to getting on Instagram is, I don’t have a designer, Joe. And, like, I I can’t I’m not a designer. Now some of you actually are designers.
But if you’re not, I’m not. And before I had somebody, on my team who could design things for me, I used, creative market a lot. Creative market is a very good solution. You can go here, to get a whole bunch of templates. You have to pay for them, but it’s, like, nine dollars to download, like, an incredible amount of Canva templates for Instagram. So don’t let that stop you, from moving forward with some really cool stuff. Okay.
So the thing that we’re trying to solve today is not, hey. Do Instagram overall, but you should get on Instagram. You should keep on Instagram if you’re already on there.
And then we need to figure out what goes on your Instagram. So we’ve spoken already in Coffee School Professional about your red thread, your one thing, whatever, like, you basically specialize in and own or working towards owning, obviously, that’s a really good starting point for the content that you’re going to put on Instagram. But, like, where do you go with that? So a good, a good practice is to theme as much as you can, especially if you plan on handing this work over to a VA, which is a very good idea for a lot of you to do given that a lot of VAs are already skilled in, if not coming up with ideas for Instagram, in taking your Canva templates, putting in stuff that you tell them to, and then scheduling that in Sprout Social or whatever tool you might use. So but what they need is direction on what it should be about. So a good rule of thumb or not a rule of thumb, actually, a a good practice is to theme as much as you can.
Theming goes a long way. This is not my recommendation. This is my coach recommended this to us, one of my coaches, which is to theme your, year. So each month of the year, go through thinking about your example, like, your thing that you own and theme it. So you can say in the month of January, you’re gonna focus on for me, I would focus on specializing.
February could be a month that’s focused on tools. That doesn’t mean you only ever get to talk about tools. You can still say on Valentine’s Day in February, something else, But this will at least help you set up a plan for what you will talk about, generally speaking, each month. So if you’re like, okay. I need quotes. If you go to your VA and say, quote post as we actually know at copywriters quote post do pretty well.
So if you’re like, look, VA, in April, we’re gonna do systems training on Instagram.
Can you go and pull, you know, thirty quotes for me on systems, on systems for freelancing, systems for business, on why systems are important, on why nobody likes a system until they get a system, etcetera, etcetera, or do whatever you wanna do with AI to generate stuff like that.
But then at least you’ve got something to hand them. Right? You can say here’s what to do, and they can go forward and do that. Without a theme, you’re just like, I don’t know.
Copy?
So we want to, theme our months. There’s a worksheet in here for you.
And within each of those months then, you will need a subtopic.
So, obviously, a subtopic for, like, systems is is really, really dry. But if we were to do, like, November geek systems are important, by the way, but also quite dry. Geeking out on research, then week by week, you might have your different subtopics on research. Like, week one is gonna be all about serving.
Week two is all about interviewing. Week three and so on and so forth. Right? So we can write those out.
And now even further, we know or our VA knows what to talk about in those months or in those weeks. Sorry. Months overall.
So what I would like you to do is before we move on, I’d like to pause and have you go through and just for the next six minutes, just jot out just from April through to the end of December what those themes might be for your business to post about on Instagram.
Okay?
Doable?
Alright. Cool. Six minutes, then we’ll come off mute.
This.
Cool. Cool. Sorry if you have to click a button again to agree to stay in the meeting.
We’re gonna do the subtopics as well because I don’t want to kind of just start the work and then bail on it.
But I what I wanna talk about before we get into the subtopics, unless you already started, which is cool, is that there are so many kinds of content you can put out there. It’s really like, bananas to me to think of all the different formats in which you can share a message so that it doesn’t if you’re like, oh, this is tiresome, which is my thinking on a lot of stuff. It’s like, how how what else how else do we say this? And sometimes it’s just say it in a different format.
Right? So it could be the same message shared in lots of different ways. But what I would like you to do is not necessarily use this right now, but really kind of just scan this if you didn’t already when you got the worksheet earlier. If you haven’t had a chance to look through it, now is a good time to look at the very many kinds of things you can share and then, of course, the format that you’ll share them in.
We do have Nicole here from our team. If you have specific questions, I didn’t tell her that I’d be offering her services to you today.
I’m not necessarily. But, if you have questions because I don’t do the posting, so it’s not like I’m part of the creation of the content, but I don’t I don’t know what happens. Like, I don’t do anything after that. I send we have a drop box where I drop a bunch of stuff, like videos I’ve recorded or photos or whatever.
And, we have a channel for social media stuff in Slack, and then we also have, like, Google Sheets of ongoing quotes and other things that we might wanna add to social media. And then we have this mechanism, which is important, which is at the start of every week, Nicole and I have a meeting about what’s coming up that week. And then at the end of the week, Nicole shares out results in Slack so that everybody can see them. And that’s a mechanism that, Chris, the CEO of Wistia, shared with me that he did that, and I loved this.
Just really straightforward. Like, I know we don’t wanna have more meetings in our lives, but we kinda have to have some more meetings in our lives. So if you do have a VA or somebody else on your team who’s gonna be posting for you, then it’s really good to have a meeting with them at least once a week to just see that you’re on the same page with the content that’s being shared with the message, with how it’s written, especially if you’re getting a VA to do it, and they might not be a copywriter or have the same sense of what’s important that you do.
And this having something like this sheet showing on the screen right now is also useful because then they can come up with more ideas, and you can also say, like, oh, man. We also have a content meeting at the end of the week. Just a side note as I’m looking through this, because a lot of what you’re going to do throughout the week is content you can share. It just doesn’t feel like it.
Right? So snippets from client calls can be, something that you share out. Obviously, not the part where the client is talking, but where you are. There can be really good stuff hidden in all of the work that you’ve been doing all week long, but your VA or the person working with you on social media won’t know know anything about it if you don’t share it with them.
So we actually have another meeting, which I was just mentioning, on Fridays where the team gets together, and it’s called, get content out of jail or something like that. And we have a worksheet, that or a spreadsheet where we all throughout the week type in things for meetings like this meeting. Like, Joe, there was that moment when, Katie asked you this question and you had this answer.
That should be shared on social media, your answer. And so it’s a mechanism, like, another mechanism to make sure that we’re getting the most out of the existing content we have. So it’s not always a matter of sitting down for a block of time and just, like, recording yourself talking. That’s good too. But there’s lots of places where content is, like, hiding, content you could share. So refer to that sheet and start, like, coming up with ideas.
What I would like you to do for just three minutes, if you haven’t already, is get into assigning a subtopic for the month of April.
Okay?
Week by week. Cool. Cool.
Alright.
Cool. So with that, I’m going to speak to this last part, but that’s really a, like, a homework for you to do going forward.
The last part is a, weekly calendar where you’d put in what the week is, what your subtopic is. And then, again, this is if you struggle to come up with what, to post about. If you already have this, obviously, as I’ve mentioned, you’re good.
But here are some these are actually really common themes, so it might be possibly too common going forward. Again, this is something that my, coach shared with us.
But, actually, some of these are shifted around. So I I tried to get a little more creative than just sharing exactly what my coach said for us to do. Motivation Monday, so that could be, like, where you’re just talking to your audience about something to be motivating for them. Trending topics, Tuesdays, results, Wednesdays, those are case studies, other things basically that you’ve done to prove out results.
Thorough Thursdays is going long on something, going deep on a topic, really digging into it, in a in a quite thorough way, and then q and a or ask me anything or FAQs, Fridays.
Those are just ways you can come up with content.
And then, again, the more you’re assigning this for somebody else to do, the more you can say, okay. I know I have to make some, q and a videos for you for Friday, so I’ll get those to you on Tuesday. And really does better work with them so that you stay on track and actually get results out of the work that you’re doing. Obviously, we’re not talking here about measuring how things are going. That’s not the subject for today’s training. What we just wanna do is make sure that we’re starting to get to a place where you are posting and then going back over later and making sure that it’s working, and your frequency is working, and the topics you’re sharing are working for the goal that you have in mind. So these are worksheets that you would fill in weekly, like the week before, or have them all ready to go well in advance depending on how you like to organize your time.
So that’s all I want to share with you for Instagram posting today. But what I really can’t emphasize enough is how important it is to get started now or to keep going if you’ve been doing it and, like, you’ve been sporadic about it or you just maybe you like, it’s easy to give up. I find it easy to go, like, well, forget it. There’s only one of me and there’s just not enough time, but worth it.
Try to find a way to sneak it in. Try to find things that are gonna shorten shorten the time for you to actually get that stuff out there. Don’t force yourself to post five times a day if you can’t even post once a day. Just start with once a day, and then go from there.
Okay.
Any questions or thoughts on this? How are we feeling about Instagram or our businesses?
Yeah. Katie.
Okay. I just wanna share, like, this is really well timed for me because I the last couple weeks have been playing this game with myself where I’m trying to get, like it’s, like, twenty five points on Instagram every week, and, like, a reel is, like, three points. A story is one point. I’m trying to, like I’m, like, going for volume.
Yeah.
But, yeah, gamifying it a little bit.
So if anybody is with me on trying to, like, get more out there, then that’s the strategy I’m Okay.
Tell me more about this game. I because I love it. How does it work? What do you do?
Like, what is the scoring system?
It’s literally, like, three for reals, two for stories, two, like, two well, two for post one and then one for, like, minute that I talk. I do a lot of when I go pick up my kids from day care, I do, like, talking head story. That’s my easiest one.
Reels are the hardest because I hate video editing.
And, this is really interesting, this what you’ve just shared because I have started doing all of my Instagram myself again because I found that it was, like, way too much back and forth with my VA. Yeah. She’s, like, not a design person or a copy person. So, yeah, this is me, like, taking back the reins from Instagram and trying to just see how much faster I can ship things than, like, putting a big strategy behind it, and making it, like, a bigger thing than I think it needs to be.
Okay.
So and the game does the game exist to make it so that you want to do this stuff?
Oh, sorry. No. Go ahead.
I track, like, micro wins in my paper diary, and that’s where I just give myself points.
Okay. There’s no I mean, the question about what’s your prize, I’m like, oh, yeah. I should probably give myself a reward of some kind, but I haven’t been doing that so far.
Oh, now you get to come up with a a prize.
That’s fun. It’s awesome.
Cool. Who else wants to get in with Katie and make a game out of it?
I love this. Yeah. I don’t know. I think anytime we can have a game involved, then you’re just like, competition’s on.
You gotta do it. No? No. Fun. Anyway, I love that, Katie. Good job. And I know that it can feel like a lot, to have to put together these systems, like SOPs to document all this stuff, all the work upfront, in order to hand it off to a VA, but it is the leverage that will help.
Right? So if you can get to a place where you can document this the work and have some themes, have templates in place that are like, don’t mess with this, especially, like, if you buy something on Creative Market and say, this is how it’s gonna look for the next three months, just use these templates, then that might be something because, obviously, there’s lots of ways to spend your time, and social media is important.
It’s just not gonna be, obviously, forever the most important thing for you to do. Has anybody read the E Myth Revisited yet?
Read it. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m not done the I scanned it years ago, but a lot fell out of my head. And, I’ve been listening to the audiobook, like, while I was painting this wall and, when I’m just, like, getting dinner ready and stuff like that.
That’s really interesting, when it comes to systems and the smart way to get yourself out of working in your business and more on your business, which is obviously the goal for basically everybody. Yeah. The E Myth Revisited. It’s a horrible title. I have no idea what he was thinking.
There’s no E Myth, and I don’t know about revisiting it. So it it’s very odd, But behind that horrible title is is a very it’s a good book. It’s a good book for a small business, especially if you find yourself expanding only to shrink because something got hard because the VA sucked at that or whatever that thing might be. And so you’re like, oh, I’ll just do it myself.
Oh, okay. I’m gonna grow. No. I’m just gonna do it myself.
It’s it’s really good at coaching you through that. And so yeah. Have a look.
Okay.
Anybody else working on Instagram? Anybody wanna share anything they’re doing on Instagram, Abby? Yeah.
Yeah. Instagram is, like, the debate of my life at the moment. As I said, I’m trying to grow my following on that, and I’m just finding it really hard. I wonder if you have any tips around visibility because I I’ve had, I think I mentioned. So I have my VA basically repurposing my LinkedIn content, and then I make some videos and stuff. So we’ve been posting every day ish for about three months, and I’ve gained maybe, like, a hundred followers, and no no results.
So, yeah, do you have any tips, like, getting in front of the right people? Like, using hashtags? Like, do I need to be engaging with accounts?
What’s the yeah.
I think there’s probably a lot that, like, Nicole and even Mike could say about getting putting content out there that people like. I if, Nicole or Mike, you wanna think about anything you’d wanna share there.
Come in here real quick if you’d like, Joe.
Yeah. So I just wanna before you jump in, I just wanna preface it with sometimes getting a lot of followers isn’t the point. Okay. Go ahead, Mike. Sorry. Thanks.
Yeah. It’s funny because, like, this is a a bit of an aesthetics we’re talking I’m coming from a YouTube perspective, but, like, I’m going through a a course right now called channel jump start for YouTube, which is kind of like done run by Daryl Eaves, who’s like mister beast’s data guy when it comes to YouTube. So he’s a YouTube guy. Right?
And the one thing that came away is a really big He doesn’t even care about subscribers. He cares about, like, who active viewers are. So I know Instagram, YouTube, not quite the same thing. But one technique that’s being done for the research side for us is we’re actually doing what’s called a dummy account.
And we what we do is we actually I’ve created a YouTube channel or a YouTube account that’s, like, not even I don’t touch anything, but I only make sure I go and watch the stuff that’s really hyper relevant to my niche. And then what’s happening is the algorithm’s gonna start suggesting that stuff to me, and then you take the the cues from that to say, okay. Here’s how people, like, edit it. Here’s the topics.
Here’s how the sort of thing. I don’t know if that would come across for Instagram, but it feels like something that could probably work where you actually created a separate Instagram account where you you’re just really hyper focused about only looking at stuff that’s, like, really relevant to your niche and then seeing if the algorithm will start suggesting more stuff to you, and you can take cues from that as, like, okay. How are people talking? Like, what’s the stuff that’s getting engagements?
What are people reacting to? And what’s the structure of it? Because just like copywriters with a a framework, you kinda break it down and figure out what the, what framework these creators are using.
Because most of them are playing you know, you start seeing the same stuff over and over again Mhmm.
And maybe not necessarily in a bad sense. But if the two things to look out for there is just, like, is it getting lots of attention and is getting lots of recent attention, I think is what you wanna look at. Because if something’s got a million views from, like, three years ago, it’s probably not relevant now. But, like, stuff that’s, like, hot and fresh right now, that’s probably where you wanna be looking.
So is it enough to just think, like, if I create better content, better relevant, likable content is gonna get seen? Is that kind of Yeah.
I’m just gonna kinda jump in here if that’s okay, Mike.
Yeah. So, I think with Instagram, like, it is a quantity game, but it is still quality over quantity, if that makes sense.
Like, if you’re just putting out whatever things that you haven’t really spent any time on or haven’t really thought through, it’s not going to get a ton of engagement, because people can kinda see through that. Like, people are looking for quality on there.
But, one thing that I find kinda helpful is going through kinda like what Mike’s saying is going to, like, the really popular accounts, like, in your niche or in your specialization and searching through their account, like, within the last few months and finding, like, the reels that have the most views, the you know, anything that has a lot of comments, lot of likes, and things like that. And then just kinda take you’re not stealing their content, but you kinda take it as inspiration for your own. And it’s like, hey. What did they do that did so well, and how can I kind of make that my own?
And then it kinda makes your strategy a little bit easier too because you’re not constantly just trying to come up with ideas out of nowhere.
So Mhmm.
Yeah. That’s helpful. Oh, sorry.
Go ahead, Adam, please.
Yeah.
No. I was just gonna say yeah. Because I feel like my content’s good quality, but it’s kind of boring. Like, I don’t feel like the hooks are good enough, and I don’t, yeah, maybe, like, that would help kind of, yeah, watching their videos and stuff and seeing, like, how other people are hooking people in because I just feel like I’m kind of sharing good stuff, but, like, no one cares.
I think you’ll notice too, especially when it comes to, like, video content, like reels, YouTube shorts, that sort of thing, like, hook becomes so important because, you know, they have the option to swipe away so quick. So you have Mhmm. Like, the three seconds to really get speak directly to what they’re actually interested in and then deliver on it.
It’s so hard. So it’s, like, legit so hard.
And we will get into like, the more we’re out there trying different things, we’ll be sharing those here, including, like, rules that we’ve developed for editing videos, and things like that so that the pacing is really good, because that’s obviously important. Right? But it’s like, if you don’t have rules set out, like, a basic checklist of this must be true as we move through a video, then you’re you’re just not gonna do it. Right?
But it’s as simple as just often as simple for me to say. Nicole and Mike are like, hold on. But it’s as simple as just putting together that list of, like, what are some of the rules we have? Like, every three seconds, the scene has to change, things like that.
Right? That can get people watching. But, again, Abby, I wouldn’t worry too much about all of the followers. Like, the one of one coach I have that I didn’t find on social, though, I found through other memes.
He has very low following, like, given the size of his business, but it’s just for him, not about that. It’s like he just wants one good follower that he can then connect with and close.
And so I know it can be frustrating, especially since number of followers is a bit of a signal to the world.
Yeah. That’s oh, you’re a big deal or you’re not, but I wouldn’t worry, honestly, too much about that.
Yeah. I think because the purpose in my head of doing Instagram is because I wanna get invited to podcast, and I want I want people to reach out to me. So I feel like all the while I have, like, a tiny following. Like, it’s like not only do I not look like a big deal, but I look like I’ve I’ve been in business for five minutes, which isn’t true. Yeah. So that’s kind of my, like, thinking with the with the followers.
Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, yeah, it does.
And it’s been like I know for Nicole, we have an objective for her by end of twenty twenty four for how many followers she needs to have. But as we go, that could change because it could become very clear that number of followers, again, not that important. It’s important, but what is something else that would matter for a podcast for somebody on podcast to invite you? What are some other things that need to be true that you could actually solve?
Yeah. I feel like once I get to a thousand, I’ll stop worrying about it. I just feel all the while is under a thousand. It’s just too small.
Yeah.
Well, it’s I’ll take it.
Comment.
Yeah. Well, no. We will because, again, every new follower is an opportunity. Mhmm. So yeah.
I can second that. I don’t manage an Instagram account for myself, but I manage an Instagram account for one of my clients. We have a thousand followers, and I get messages all the time. It’s a very niche industry.
It’s, commercial beekeepers. Not everyone who reaches out to us is relevant. But, yeah, I get messages all the time from beekeepers all over the world. Mhmm.
And then the other thing I’ll say is it took a lot of experimentation.
I to be perfectly honest, I really hate social media. So I came in knowing almost nothing about it. But it was my first client, and I I need to get started.
And we did a lot of experimentation, and we got very, very little engagement. And then all of a sudden, I posted, like, a video that one of our one of the people from r and d took with his cell phones of putting queen bees in boxes, and it was, like, forty five seconds and that was it. And it got fourteen thousand views. And it was, like, no high quality production, just, like, an interesting an interest like, a tiny little element of a larger research study with very little context, but it was authentic and it was interesting, and people liked it. So, like, I would say a lot of experimentation will get you there because you can’t always predict what people will like and what people won’t like.
Mhmm. Yeah.
Cool. Thank you.
I love that. And I second an interest in beekeeping.
Yeah. Can you drop the account in the chat? I wanna I wanna see.
Local gardening center has a beekeeping class coming up, and I’m like, I might wanna learn about bees. Could be I don’t wanna keep them, but I wanna make sure I’m not killing them for starters.
Interesting. Okay. Cool. Yeah. So and, like, I’m I also I know nothing about social media, hence, taking so freaking long to do anything about it. It wasn’t until my friend, Jia, was like, Joe, get on social media. And I was like, oh, it’d probably be on social media.
And then we both Mike and Nicole went on, and that became their core focus.
But I didn’t and that’s why I don’t like, we have I’m learning a lot and hopefully sharing the good stuff as we go and then the things to avoid as we go. But, yeah, one of the bigger takeaways for me so far in the last year of finally taking this more seriously is don’t worry so much about followers. Like, Mike, like you’ve said, worry more about, like, are they watching or a lot of people watching your stuff rather than that. So can you make it more interesting?
And then you can, of course, pin the really popular ones to the top of your Instagram page. Right? And that’s that’s maybe even a better signal for people who would book you on a podcast. If you have, like, three really core videos or whatever that have lots and lots of views, then that can look really good to that person who’s gonna book you versus lots of followers, which which could mean nothing.
You can buy followers.
Although This could also be a good opportunity to, see where to find good content.
Like I said, if you got, like, a an account with a thousand followers, but they got a video that had fourteen thousand views, that’s a pretty good signal that the content is really resonating with people because it’s reaching outside of their own grasp. And like I said, if someone has a thousand followers, who knows how many of those are actually active followers too? Because a lot of people subscribe and then just don’t see stuff. Right? So, I mean, like, it’s yeah. When thinking about your content, just try to find the stuff that’s, like, really performing well outside of what their actual, sphere of influence is, and then that should be able to take some good cues from that.
Yeah. Thank you. Can I ask a follow-up question, Jo? Or does anyone else wanna jump in? Because I’ve asked a few.
No one put their hand up. Go for it, Abby.
Yeah. I guess it’s kind of, like, maybe a mindset question. So when I’ve been looking at other accounts to see what content I like, like, I obviously like yours. But I think what what I like about yours is it’s it’s very divisive, and you just you speak with such authority.
And I I struggle to do that or to take kind of hot takes or be edgy because my kind of it I’ve kind of just approached my content, I guess, more with, like, curiosity and being like, oh, one thing that I’ve tried that’s quite cool, but it’s not it’s not hooky. It’s not punchy. It’s not divisive. And I’m just still kinda like, well, who am I to really talk with authority about this stuff when and, I mean, who who is anyone really?
Because it’s like with marketing, it’s just every you know, everything goes. It’s all just bullshit.
Honestly, I mean, I do think a good point that you need to keep in mind is who is anyone, really?
Like, I don’t know.
It’s like, really. Like, I think of one person in particular who I am now like, you are so full of shit. You don’t know, like, what?
But man, does he speak with authority, and so many people buy into and it’s like, he’s a good dude, etcetera, etcetera, but so full of shit.
Seriously taking something that one person told him, and you find the source and go like Mhmm. Fucking stole that from that guy and didn’t cite him either. And now you’re acting like it’s your idea. It’s so annoying to watch, but it does speak to, like, who is anyone anyway. This guy, you don’t have to be him to do it right. Right? But but I think a good takeaway from knowing that some people are full of shit is you’re not full of shit.
So why people should find you. They should find you. Right? Like, it’s better for them if they find you than if they find the people who are full of shit. But the ones who are full of it are out there chirping up a storm. No one can stop them.
Meanwhile, you’re being reasonable and thinking, well, why should I say that? And should I say it that way? And they’re just like, and everyone’s loving it.
So I don’t know. To me, I’m like and it it’s not gonna click immediately, but I think this is maybe gonna start you down the path of appreciating that you have good stuff to say. I said I said the s h I t word a few times there.
But, but, yeah, nobody like, some people are really, really smart, know a lot of things, and they’re typically the one you find way far down the road after you’ve sorted through all the nonsense of people who are just full of crap.
So the more you can share yourself more loudly I know it doesn’t mean you have to be divisive or divisive, however you wanna pronounce it.
But what can you say and then boost? Spend a little money to boost that thing, to get people to maybe ignore the one who is full of crap and listen to you. And I do think that a good person to follow, who I do not think is full of crap, is Alex Hormozi. If you’re gonna do stuff on Instagram, just be the you, the Alex Hormozi of your world.
Honestly, I think, like, we can all just freaking copy the best. He’s not full of crap. In my experience, who knows? But doesn’t seem full of crap. So I don’t know if that’s helpful to you. Like, just, like, borrow his confidence and just do it.
Yeah. I mean, it’s Right? Like, you don’t have to be anything different. You can still be Abby being that. Right?
Yeah. But Abby isn’t getting engagement. Like, it’s not you know, I don’t think I just don’t think my approach is is engaging.
Like, I’m I’m not engaging the way I’m showing up on social media. Mhmm. Like, there’s gotta be another part of me that I can channel.
Yeah.
Because, I mean, it’s not like I care so much about course creators thinking, like, I’m full of shit. It’s more like, I don’t want, like, you or Prana to, like, roll your eyes at something I put out there. Like, that’s more the fear.
Oh, no. Don’t worry about that. Not to roll my eyes. Honestly, it’s, I was in a session, book writing session, and I we posted about this on Instagram.
I was in a book writing session with Donald Miller from StoryBrand who has published fiction. I didn’t know that.
And he was saying that you wanna make sure you don’t do anything.
Basically, you have this whole spiel a spiel about don’t humiliate yourself. Don’t embarrass yourself.
Important people are gonna be reading your book, so make sure you have created something that’s that they wouldn’t think is dumb or something. And I was like, but that’s where, like, scared writing comes from. Then you write really contained stuff. Like, Gertrude Stein didn’t give a shit what you thought about her. And then everyone was like, I love Gertrude Stein, because she was reading the craziest stuff. Like, that’s not a sentence. That’s not even a book.
But she didn’t care about that. And I think, like, don’t care about that. Don’t care about what I might think or might think. Honestly, don’t care about it.
Tarzan k doesn’t give a shit what I think about her stuff because I’ve rolled my eyes a million times at that shit, but I respect what she’s doing. I think you can do the same thing too. I would not don’t let people in there. Don’t let me or Verna or anybody else in there at all, please.
It’s just gonna hold you up.
Can I can I also offer a suggestion? Because I’ve been reading a lot of content, Abby, and I think it’s really good. But I think that, sometimes you write a lot, and you may wanna, like, experiment with different, like, styles. Like, maybe it’s not a controversial thing. Maybe it’s just, like, formatting, like trying sometimes do something a little bit shorter or, like, playing with shorter sentences or just because, sometimes it’s it’s hard to read a lot on social media. Like, it might be you may not have to be a personality that you’re not if you’re not a very controversial, outspoken person, if that’s not natural to you.
Like, may maybe maybe that’ll help, but it it may be, like, there might be things in writing that could help people actually get through the the message.
Because you have a lot of interesting things to say, but it’s just a lot of content.
As long as they I mean, it’s it’s good content.
I just think that for like, if you broke it down into several posts Yeah. Then Usually, I write, like, blog posts as on LinkedIn.
Yeah. No. That’s that’s really helpful feedback.
Well, that’s a good thing too because if you got a giant piece of pillar content, you can turn that into so many pieces of micro content too. Right?
Are you familiar with, Gary Vaynerchuk’s sixty four pieces of content strategy or whatever?
Oh, I’ve heard of it, but not for a while. I’ll check that out.
Yeah. The big basis is you just have like, he usually says, like, you take a big podcast or something like that. Right? And then you just keep going.
One thing is a reel. One thing is a quote post. One thing is a little video snippet. And so from you know, it’s not about reinventing the wheel now.
So if if you already got these nice long pieces of content, then you can just turn these into so many pieces of micro content that speak and fiddle on those gaps.
Mhmm. Yeah.
Oh, this has been so helpful.
Abby, Stacy asked, and I wanna know too. What’s your, insta what’s your Instagram?
It’s at AC content. Follow for follow.
Love it. Okay. Hold on. I’m looking at that. Talk amongst yourselves.
I’ll put it in the chat.
There’s, one thing I did kinda wanna mention, that can be kinda helpful for getting engaged is kind of coming up with just, like, your own little engagement group. So you can have, like, a group chat on Instagram, and then every time you post, you just post in that group chat saying, hey. I just posted. And then everybody commits to liking the post, leaving a comment, and then sharing it on their story or whatever.
And then you just kinda keep doing that, every time you post. There’s just, like, a small group of, like, no more than ten people, but that can help your reach a lot.
I know it’s worked for other people. So just a suggestion.
Yeah. Katie, Jessica, Caroline, anyone who’s doing Instagram.
No. I have a question. Can I ask a follow-up question about that, Nicole? Sure.
So I heard someone recently talk about these again again because this was big back when I was doing my first online business in network marketing. Like, that was the thing. You create a pod, you know, whatever. But what I was wondering was, how does that jive with the, training the algorithm?
Like, for example, I’m not really a course creator that right now, I suppose. That ab that would hire Abby right now. Right? But then and we’re all kind of copywriters.
We’re in different niches. So how does that because I don’t know. I just all I know is eventually, ecommerce people. And I would imagine other people feel that too.
So how does the pod does there is there an impact? Does it just don’t worry, focus on the engagement? What do you think about that?
Yeah. That’s a good question. So the algorithm is kind of funny like that because everybody has their own personal algorithm. So whatever’s coming up on your feed is the stuff that you’re just interested in.
And so, like, yes, if you are liking other people’s content and their course creators, then, yes, you’re going to end up seeing more of that on your feed. Yeah. But it’s not going to help, like or it’s not going to hurt, say a bunch of course creators are liking your content, but, ecommerce people are as well. It’s not going to make less ecommerce people see your content just because course creators are liking it and stuff, if that makes any sense.
No. It makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Cool. So, like, I wouldn’t worry about that. Like, I think it’s good to just get general engagement off the like, right off the bat. And then that way, push it to other people who are interested in it as well.
Okay. Cool. Thanks. Yep.
I have a question for somebody who knows more about Instagram algorithm because based on what what I understand, you wanna have one audience that you focus on. And that’s one thing I’d like, I just noticed on on Abby’s, profile. She’s got two completely different audiences that are labeled in the, you know, sell more courses with day one evergreen or become a nomad copywriter, which would seem to be, you know, a splitting of attention there. And would it be a good idea for her to have one focus instead of having two different things with different audiences?
Yeah. My BA told me to do that.
Oh, but that’s a good question. Because at one point, Joe, wouldn’t you have kind of had that? Because you kind of have you have multiple audiences, freelancers, and then the not, I guess, everybody else. But right? You have that.
Yeah. But we have had to make a call on who we want to target. Okay. Yeah. So we really Yeah. Refined that. That’s pretty recent, though.
So yeah. But it’s Yeah. Fair.
It’s a fair I found that just targeting, like, a specific like, we’re targeting, freelancers who are, like, wanting to grow their business and, like, take the next step.
Like, that’s our main target, and it’s, like, a certain caliber as well.
We end up getting other people, of course, like, as you will, but, like, it’s just like it’s just like copywriting when you’re writing for one reader. Like, you’re thinking Instagram account’s the same way.
So it’s like, yes. Some of our content speaks to a broader audience, but for the most part, like, when we’re thinking about it, we are just targeting just one.
Yeah.
It is worth thinking about too in terms of strategy because, like, if all the stuff, AI algorithms, all these things, it still comes down to people.
So, I mean, like, if you think about who if you have a really hammered down avatar, like, not just like, oh, I’m going after twenty five to thirty five year old women that want this if I’m going after Lisa. Lisa’s twenty seven. She’s a grad student. She did this.
She did this. She did this. She likes to watch when she’s not online, she’s reading this book. She’s playing this sport.
Like, if you start figuring out who that one person is and your content speaks to that one person, you’re gonna probably start resonating more. Because I think if you like I say, if you spread too thin, one risk you do have is, like, if it doesn’t serve that person for what they signed up for off the value prop of the content they maybe followed you for and then they get something different, it might send them to feel like, yeah, they’re not really, feeling it the same way as if, you kinda keep consistently messaging to that person. So I think that’s one thing that it is one thing to consider, I’d say.
You can also, like, base it on different channels. Like, when I’m posting on LinkedIn, I’m a lot of times, I’m talking to investors more so than, like, beekeepers or growers for this specific account.
But it also can depend on the time of year. Like, when it’s sales season, I might talk to the customer. And when they’re trying to raise a a round, might talk to investors. Like, there is some room for flexibility either on different channels or different times of the year based on your priorities.
Can I just add, we’re not talking really about what to share, on social media right now, but I I think a good rule of thumb is not to share how, if you can help it? We’ve had to pull way back on sharing how, and, so far, it’s been useful to do that.
Leave the how for when they hire you or buy your product or whatever that might be. But try to shift away from from teaching how to write copy, how to plan something, Abby, in your case, how to do day one evergreen, more about why you should, where you should, when you should, all of that kind of stuff, what to do, but not how to do it. So I think that can be useful to keep in mind, especially if you’re finding that a lot of copywriters are following you. Jessica, for you, they’re often, like, if you have how content, copywriters will follow you, for sure. So try to shift away from that, then you might get fewer of the wrong people. Yeah.