#FtheHUSTLE ~ 075 – A Tried & True Old School Strategy

Finding the sweet spot between the right amount of free content vs. paid content can be a challenge (not to mention deciding what to charge).

If you’re not careful with your free content you can easily grow an audience of people who expect free from you… all the time.

On the other hand, you have people like Justin Welsh who has such a good strategy for his free content that he’s created a one-person business doing almost half a million dollars a year (I think it’s higher than that).

I did something for free this week that I’m going to try to do a couple of times a month.

It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I’ve never put forth the effort to create a strategy around it.

I simply did a presentation for someone else’s audience.

I do a handful of summit talks every year (I have two coming up that I’ll share with you), but this was a small group and it was just a training presentation.

I didn’t have anything to sell (although I would recommend having something to sell if it’s O.K. with your host or at least an opt-in offer) but…

• It was a lot of fun and the group was engaged and asked questions
• I now have a presentation I can build on and use over and over again.

One of the reasons I love doing live presentations is the engagement. To hear questions directly from the people attending is GOLD.

Not only do you get insights into where they’re struggling, but you also get exact data on how you can improve your presentation.

You can also take the presentation and repurpose it.

I like automations as much as the next person, but engaging with people live (over Zoom or in-person), takes it to a whole different level.

All that being said… if you have an audience and are interested in a free training on email marketing, reply and let me know. Let’s get something scheduled.

A Little Brainpower 🧠

Living in Costa Rica the title of this article grabbed my attention (even though I haven’t seen a sloth yet 😉). Great tips on simple words that get huge click-through rates. Read “Use “Sloth” Words In Your Titles for 57% Higher CTR.”

Related: Why You Don’t Need to Overthink Your Headlines

It’s no secret I’m a fan of newsletters (she says in her own newsletter). Would you leave your job at Google to launch a newsletter? This creator did. Read, “How this founder ditched the Silicon Valley formula to start a newsletter.”

Related: How I’m Growing My Newsletter Like Fire

JUST RELEASED!

My good friend Mike Killen just released his brand new book, “Sell Futures, Not Features” and it’s LIVE on Amazon! You can get it on Kindle, paperback, hardback, or audio (depending on when you click through, the launch price for Kindle is .99).

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or product creator, “Sell Futures, Not Features”, will show you how to uncover hidden desirable benefits that are so powerful you can’t help but sell more of them – even if you HATE selling (or don’t want to be a cheesy salesperson).

Congratulations, Mike! 🥳

Tool Time  🛠

Just when I thought I’d seen all the course platforms I found another one! (And no, I’m not switching). I also discovered another tool that makes selling digital products a piece of cake!

• Course platform: I found this through a recommendation from the program I’m in. It focuses on wellness creators (but anyone could use it). Check out HeyMarvelous here.​
  
• Sell digital products: This looks pretty easy to set up and you can integrate with your email service provider via Zapier. Start selling with Simple Goods for free here.
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• Free slide decks: Hat tip to my friend Piccia for this one! Completely free PowerPoint and Google slide deck templates that look great! Check out SlidesCarnival here.​
  
• Twitter to Instagram: Twitter threads are all the rage. Now you can turn a Twitter thread into an Instagram Carousel. Try Posted free here.

CEX – Creator Economy Expo

Doesn’t the world need an event for content creators that doesn’t focus on platforms we can’t control?

Your wish is our command. CEX – Creator Economy Expo is the event developed for content creators, by content creators. May 2-4th in Phoenix.

I’ve done this in the oven too 😂 … ALWAYS test the center of the lasagne!

Newsletter Recommendation 👇

Dylan’s newsletter, Growth Currency, is packed with tips on growing a quality newsletter. I was a subscriber and connected with Dylan already when we connected in a small newsletter group on WhatsApp (brand new, testing it out).

​Subscribe to Growth Currency here