Hey friend,
What sets you apart from other people in your niche?
You.
You are a unique asset in your (future) online business. And yes, that also makes me cringe a bit.
I’m not good at personal branding. Whenever I talk about myself, I feel uncomfortable. Every time I do, a voice in my head asks, “Who are you to brag?”
Yet the most-heard comment from readers is that you follow me because I’m open about myself. I share my struggles and successes equally (probably more struggles as there are more).
But as you might have noticed, I don’t even have an about page. Everything I’ve shared about myself has been via blog posts and emails. And I’ve been lucky enough that you’ve been replying! That’s how I realized that I’m writing for people like myself.
My target persona is me
As I was preparing the landing page for the next email course, I realized I had yet to write up my “customer avatar” or persona.
I’ve written in-depth about target personas in the email course about empathy mapping. So, I used my own advice and created an empathy map.
As I started to combine the feedback I’ve gotten from you, I realized my target persona is me. Funnily enough, this is very much in line with the “Two-Year Test” I discussed earlier.
The result is a sort of manifesto written in the “we” form. I hope you’ll have a read (though take your time, as it’s a long rough draft of 2,500 words), and let me know if you feel I’m writing about you as well. Hopefully, it'll also serve as inspiration for your own Empathy Map.
Click here to read the persona description for The Email Course Playbook.
What I’m working on next
With my target persona clear, it’s time to properly test whether I can find more people like myself in the market. While asking for money for a product is the best test, asking for someone’s email address is a worthy substitute.
The easiest way to get my persona’s attention is with a well-written landing page. Now, I’m not great at creating landing pages, so I’ll have a lot of learning to do.
In the coming week, I’ll read up on the AIDA framework and tinker with ConvertKit’s landing page builder. I’ll share more about how that’s going in next week’s newsletter.
Speaking of AIDA, here’s what I’ve read this week and will read the next:
What I’m reading
You need to know something about me: I like to read several books at once. I don’t always read like this, but I read widely when getting into a new topic.
I also read a lot, finishing 2 to 3 books a week and abandoning several more.
Currently, I’m reading Dotcom Secrets by Russel Brunson, Launch by Jeff Walker, and Landing Page Optimization by Tim Ash (and others). They all discuss creating landing pages and email sequences to get people to act (be it to learn or to buy).
On Monday and Tuesday, I read Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick in two sittings. After getting it recommended half a dozen times, I had to read it as I’m writing a type of book that (hopefully) will be useful.
Rob and his business partner Devin also created a tool titled Help This Book, which I’ll use for beta reading The Email Course Playbook.
But more on that later.
What’s your sticking point in teaching your craft online?
For now, this is enough talking by me! Time to ask you a question.
In the write-up of my target persona, I uncovered many sticking points that sabotage me/us: perfectionism, too many interests, and self-doubt. So I’d love to know:
What is preventing YOU from teaching online and charging for it?
Please leave a comment or reply directly to this email. And yes, I’ll respond to every question, suggestion, or other thought you have.
I hope to read from you!
—Ramses
