Hi Reader, New writers and creators start with low-ticket offers. These exist at the bottom of an offer pyramid. That’s what I did a few years ago, and it’s a mistake. Here’s why: I started by selling books. Books are fun to write, but they take months to ship, and they don’t generate a great return. Other writers follow a similar approach with printables and low-price digital downloads. You’ve got to sell a lot of these to earn. I also scraped together money from the Medium partner program and freelancing. Freelancing is time-intensive. Partner programs are a grind. And you’re a slave to an algo (more about that tomorrow). Then, I moved up the pyramid to affiliates and sponsors. I’d multiple five-figure months from working with affiliates. Lucrative, yes, but affiliates regularly change and even kill their programs. And many programs are terrible. (I generated over $10k in sales for one grammar app, and they paid me only a few hundred dollars.) Now… Courses sit further up the offer pyramid. They’re profitable… if you can sell them. But course completion rates are low. And this type of content dates. I still sell courses but only as an add-on to what’s at the top of my offer pyramid: I work with a few Pro Writers every month and help them build a writing business. Here’s an example: I host two live writing workshops a month for a one-time fee. These workshops are actionable. I don’t sell on them. But ticket holders can upgrade to work with me if they want more help for a weekly fee. All I have to do is… Write a daily email like this one. Host two workshops a month. Deliver value to paying clients. I’ll show you how to develop your own offer pyramid. It includes creating one offer with increasing levels of access: Then, I’ll show you how to capture weekly recurring revenue and the big one-off payments that we all love. Tickets are just $97. They expire in 2 days. You in? Write on, |
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Hi Reader, Do you find writing content hard? Figuring out what to post online takes time. And that’s before factoring in writing the post and turning followers into email subscribers or, gasp, clients! I get it. Lurking online is easier than writing and pressing publish. Sometimes, I fool myself into thinking it’s “market research”. But I know if I don't press publish, I won’t grow my brand. I almost always feel better when I write a post and press publish. If you’re feeling stuck like me,...
Hi Reader, This week, I launched a private Telegram community for readers of this email list. My goal is to share insider content about how I run my six-figure content business and help you add $3k to yours by 2025. I also want to explore other distribution channels that don't rely on an algo. Then, I can share the results with you so you can do the same. After I launched my Telegram community, a few subscribers emailed me to ask, "Why not WhatsApp?" Well, I picked Telegram because of its...
Hi Reader, For a few years, I was a content strategist for a Fintech. One of my projects was improving a newsletter for small business owners. The newsletter enjoyed a lousy 5% open rate. The back of a cereal box was more engaging than the boring product content inside the newsletter that a developer banged out between coding sessions. So, we stripped out the boring product content and started sending customer stories and how-to guides. And open rates slowly climbed towards 20%. My open rates...