Some creators are just so prolific. I used to look at those creators publishing every day on [name your platform] and wonder, "How do they come up with all of this stuff??" I've always been slow to form or share my opinions. Unless I'm asked, I generally keep to myself. Unfortunately, that's not very conducive to frequent publishing! But then I noticed something – when I was asked a question, I had no problem coming up with a coherent response. I realized that if I could simulate a question-and-answer environment, I could generate more content. And it worked – really well. Now, I see questions from my target audience as gold. Whenever I'm asked a new question, I capture it in my Problems & FAQs Database: Many questions can be answered quickly and simply, which is great because that helps with short-form content. Others are more in-depth and better suited for this newsletter. In fact, this newsletter was inspired by the question, "How can I come up with content ideas?" Whenever I see a good question, I save it to my Problems & FAQs database. If I'm on a call, my notes template has a quick capture area where I can enter questions into that database. Notice that this is called a Problems AND FAQs database – because while questions evoke specific answers, Problems are more flexible. When you capture core problems, you can explore several different solutions and approaches. If you're not getting asked many questions, no problem. Just identify other creators in your niche and listen to them being interviewed on podcasts or in videos. Between other people asking them questions and the publicly visible questions you see in the comments/replies, you can really start to build quite a list. Then, any time you feel stuck or uninspired, visit that database! You'll have plenty of prompts to choose from. Just imagine someone asking you that question and start answering. Recommended: Get this system with CreatorHQ ↗
Have your own win/announcement to share? Hit reply for consideration.
Last week was the 7-year anniversary of quitting my $80K/yr tech salary and starting this business. The first few years were rocky, but compounding is starting to kick in: My tweet about this got a lot of attention and questions. So, I started to write an overview of the first seven years so that I could explain what I did, what went well, and what I would do differently. ...but it started to get pretty long. So, before I commit to finishing this beast of an overview of the last seven years, I wanted to ask YOU if that's even something you're interested in reading. If you want to see it (including a breakdown of why expenses have increased year-over-year), hit reply and let me know. If I get enough responses, I'll get to writing! Cheers, PS: Did you see our new podcast artwork? 👀 |
Evidence-backed guidance for creators and solopreneurs. I study the world's best creators, run experiments, and share what I learn with 58,000+ readers every week.
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