This is specifically about the struggles of writing email newsletters, but I think it applies to a lot of content creators.
Right now, the bar for content creation is higher than ever.
Especially with AI in the mix.
There’s this huge pressure to make “incredible” content.
Here’s the pressure we’re all under as content creators:
We feel we MUST….
🔸Share “never-before-seen” insights
🔸Tell stories that are over the top, witty, or hilarious
🔸NEVER repeat what others are already saying (who often say it “better”)
While all that chatter is fritzing up the brain, here are other hurdles:
🔸We write half an email and “realize” it’s “not that good” and leave it there, unfinished in our content graveyards.
🔸A lot of us (especially copywriters) are also private and relatively introverted, so we don’t want to share TOO much info about ourselves.
🔸Because we have integrity, we hesitate and wonder, “Is what I’m saying really true? What if I give BAD info? What if this actually HARMS their business???”
🔸And if you’re a copywriter, it’s worse because you probably follow the cream-of-the-crop copywriters and feel like you’ll never measure up to them.
This painful cycle repeats over a few days/weeks and then we may incorrectly assume, “I’m not cut out for this.”
Remember, THAT IS NOT TRUE.
And I’m here to share a solution for this doom loop.
This is what you need to do.
JUST SOLVE PROBLEMS.
Don’t worry about it being the best.
Or whether it’s been said before.
Right now, you just need to focus on solving problems.
Here are some good first steps if you feel stuck getting your newsletter off the ground:
Step 1: Ask yourself, WHO are you trying to help?
→ If you know who you wanna help, go on Reddit-type forums and look at the questions (aka problems) they have. And then answer (solve) them in your newsletter. Done.
Step 2: If you don’t know who you help, ask yourself, who do you WANT to help?
→ And then go back to Step 1 and do that.
Step 3: If you can’t figure out who you want to help, determine who CAN you help.
→ Think about your skillset and help the person who is about 1 year behind where you’re at. And then go back to Step 1.
Step 4: And if you don’t know who you can help, you need to LEARN.
→ And then write about your learning journey. Even if it’s just ONE little learning, talk about that in each email.
This is great because, you will:
🔹See your own progress
🔹Teach what you learned, which allows you to understand it even better
🔹Build a library of resources for yourself (and others)
🔹Feel incentivized to learn, understand, and implement, because that will be your content.
And surprise, I’m doing the above right now.
I realized I’m always in my head, and unfortunately for me, it prevents me from taking action.
So I decided to listen to my mentor and do the whole “learn in public mode” and share/implement what I’ve been learning.
You can do the same!
But make sure to not just regurgitate cool-sounding-talking-points.
Like, I’m not saying, “Here’s what Professor Guru told me today – you should do it too.”
No.
I shared the potential struggles you may have (which are some of the struggles I had).
Then, I provided my personal process and various solutions based upon my own experience.
In a nutshell, if you can’t get your email newsletters off the ground and steps 1 through 3 are getting you nowhere, learn something, take what you learned, apply it for yourself, and share/teach those learnings every week.
It forces you to learn (which is fantastic), generate steady content, and build a writing habit.
And once you have that, you can start creating offers specifically tailored for your awesome subscribers.
That’s when things get really exciting.
I hope this helps!
Cin🙂
