#FtheHustle ~ 036 – Stay Curious Ponyboy
July 15, 2021 July 21, 2021 /
I’m totally dating myself with that subject line, but I couldn’t resist.
If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a hat tip to a line from the movie “The Outsiders.” The actual line from the movie is “Stay golden Ponyboy.”
I couldn’t post the actual gif with the line because it’s a little morbid. The character Johnny (played by Ralph Macchio, ie., The original Karate Kid), is laying in a hospital bed after having rescued children from a burning building. He’s about to take his last breath and he whispers to his friend, “Stay golden Ponyboy” (that’s Ponyboy above).
Ponyboy is kind of the odd man out in his group of friends (they were the “greasers”… i.e., the kids that didn’t fit the mold and society looked down on).
However, Ponyboy loved to read and learn.
That gif above he’s reciting a Robert Frost poem “Nothing gold can stay.”
The meaning of the poem seems a little sad, but it’s also a reminder that nature knows what it’s doing.
So does your audience.
Which is where the curiosity in “Stay curious Ponyboy” comes in.
I’m LOVING all the changes that are happening in the digital space right now! I’m so curious about where this is heading.
Being curious completely prevents me from being overwhelmed or feeling like I have to change everything I’m doing.
Au contraire my friend.
I’ve been saying for a while that the market place is maturing, but a better way of saying that is from legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz.
In his epic book, “Breakthrough Advertising”, he talks about something called “Market Sophistication.”
Market Sophistication is the term used to describe the level of awareness of your marketplace.
In other words, your audience has a greater knowledge that they’re being marketed to.
This isn’t a bad thing, it simply means we have to be better at what we do.
Which also means the people who think starting and growing and online business is easy will find out much sooner that it’s harder than they thought.
It’s way easier to put up a website today than it was 10 years ago, but you still have to know who you’re serving, what their problems are, and how you can solve them.
Then you have to know how to communicate that to your ideal customer.
All of which takes work.
Work that a lot of people aren’t willing to do.
But you are. 😉
The easiest way to succeed online is to be willing to do the work that most other people aren’t.
This really is an exciting time to be a creator.
Speaking of doing the work…
Jarvis 7-Day Book Writing Challenge Update!
By the time you get this, I’ll be 4 days into the challenge. The challenge itself consists of live daily calls (which I missed yesterday due to a power outage – #PuraVida, right?), training, and resources.
I’ve got my book outline just about done and am starting to write! My goal is to have the rough draft done by next Monday, then to start editing.
I’ve spent a lot of time working on framework: meaning, defining the avatar, writing, and rewriting (and rewriting), the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action), and mapping out the chapters.
Getting the core message down of this book is part of a bigger plan, so it’s imperative that I get this right (for now anyway).
I’m using the ‘Hero’s Journey’ as my framework for my outline… which is pretty fun. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to tell you the rough draft is done!
A Little Brainpower 🧠
This concept has BLOWN my mind. I’ve been a subscriber of Andre’ Chaperone for a few years, not sure how I missed this, but it completely resonates with me AND… it speaks to what I was mentioning above and getting better at what you do. Read “World Building 101 for Marketing” here.
Related: The 5 Levels of Market Sophistication
If I could convince anyone with an online business to do ONE thing it would be to learn to write effective sales copy. I have a handful of go-to resources I use as guides. This article is being added to the list. Read “Salesletter Formula: 21 Effective Ways and Guides to a Good Sales Piece” here.
Related: This 20-point copywriting outline was behind my first million-dollar sales letters!
Tool Time 🛠
Fortunately, I’ve had some time to test and try a few things this past week. I’ve found a couple of things I love and a couple worth checking out.
- Course platform: Holy moly has this come a LONG way… and I think I may have found my happy place. Thrive Architect was my very first page builder… and the brand-new, updated Thrive Apprentice is amazing for your courses. Check out Thrive Apprentice here.
- Video: I love a good training video as much as the next person, but sometimes you need to speed things along. This Chrome extension will let you increase the playback speed of any video! Get Video Speed Controller here
- Audio: Sometimes you need the audio version of an article, but there isn’t one. Convert written content to audio and listen in your favorite podcast app or in the browser. Try Audiblogs here.
- Lead generation: I’m sure I’ve shared this before, but this is hands-down my favorite lead generation tool! Still available for lifetime pricing. Get ConvertBox here.
Life in Costa Rica 🌴
Thought I’d mix it up this week… these sunsets never get old. #PuraVida
I hope you’re having a fantastic summer.
Until next week,
Kim
This issue was brought to you by Jarvis (formerly Conversion.ai).
