Edition 17: Find Your Client's Real Pain and Appreciate How Much You're Evolving
Content creators far too often point at the wrong pain in their content. Evolution's on my mind lately. How things change in a few decades, huh?
I know my ideal client’s pain point.
They talk about it all of the time and I’ve read a lot about their struggles.
My solution solves for what I know they’re struggling with.
The solution you offer isn't effective because you built it.
It's effective because it eases a particular type of pain.
Not surface-level pain, but rather the pain just below the surface.
That type of pain is keeping your potential clients up at night.
Do you know what their REAL pain is, not just the obvious pain?
You Have to Dig a Little Deeper to See What’s Below the Surface
It takes time to dig down a little deeper to figure out what’s really bothering your ideal client.
For example, the “below surface” pain my clients are dealing with is the stress of FOMO they have by not having content working in their favor, and the stress caused by the lack of time to do it themselves.
The surface-level pain is just the lack of time to do it on their own.
See the difference?
Don’t stop when you’re satisfied with what’s causing your client pain. Dig a bit deeper to get below the surface to see what’s really there.
When you incorporate these questions into your sales process, it’s an easy way to vet out your products and solutions to make sure what they deliver upon is what is actually needed, and that misalignment isn’t causing unnecessary issues.
Recognizing How Much We Change and What I’d Tell My 25-Year-Old Self
I’m about to turn 45 in a few months and have been reflecting some on how much life changes in a few decades. How much we change in a few decades.
The struggles, the wins, the losses, the frustrations, the loss, the evolution - none of it would have been predictable 20 years ago. But that’s life.
It’s up to us to be accepting of ourselves, our evolution, and the paths we’re cutting out. No one else is going to provide you that self-acceptance. It’s squarely on your shoulders, and fully in your control.
I wish I would have known that at 25, along with several other things.
Here's what I'd tell 25-year-old Kris:
* Things aren't nearly as dire as they seem. Find a way to be grateful.
* Do everything you can to keep your friendships, because they'll fade.
* Take decisive action. If something is miserable, fix it.
* Your happiness is no one else's responsibility.
* The world often is not fair. Deal with it, and adapt.
* Enjoy the moment. Soon enough you'll be 45.
Wherever you are in your life, make sure that 20 years from now you don't have to write something similar.
Be grateful and calm down. Things could be worse.
Focus on your friendships. Call that friend - NOW.
Find an action orientation and live in it.
Take responsibility for your happiness.
Develop a thick skin.
You'll need it.
Be gentle with yourself.
Always Be Thinking About Diversification In Your Content and Your Offers
You don’t want to be told what to do. You want to choose what to do.
Right!? Right.
Therefore it’s essential to provide people options in your content and your offerings. Show them some written content, some videos, some slide decks, a GIF with a story, a poll, a long-form piece, etc.
Keep the mix fresh so people don’t get bored and think you’re a one-trick pony. People want variety and they want to pick and choose how to interact with you and follow the content they enjoy the most.
Accordingly, think about what you offer as a solopreneur or business owner. Do you have an entry option, a mid-tier option, and a high ticket option?
If not, you probably should. That diversification of options allows people to start working with you at a level which they’re comfortable.
The entry option should be low-cost and low-risk so people can get an idea of what you have to offer beyond your free content. The mid-tier option takes things to the next level and solidifies a relationship with you as a provider, upon which you can eventually capitalize in your high ticket option.
Check out my entry option below. 😉
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Introducing a Workshop: Building Awareness Through Proven LinkedIn & Content Strategies
After a long time as a lurker, I fully dug in to LinkedIn a year ago.
My early content was awful. But it improved quickly.
Now, my content here is 100% the driver of my business growth.
So many people helped me along the way.
It would take me days to shout out all of them.
But most know who they are, and they're appreciated.
I'll hit my first $10K month this month.
The clients with whom I work, ALL came from LinkedIn.
I haven't spent one dime on advertising.
All of the interest has been organic.
Partially due to content strategy and application.
Both of which helped me drive 920K views in the past 14 months.
But also through the methodical, intentional way, I build relationships.
So many people shared so much with me early in my path.
So now I want to do the same for y'all.
I'm hosting a two-night intensive workshop, Building Awareness Through Proven LinkedIn & Content Strategies on the evenings of Wednesday, September 8th, and Thursday, September 9th via Zoom.
This workshop will cover:
* How to properly optimize your LinkedIn profile for search
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... and much, much more
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* A recording of the intensive for future reference
* An outline of everything we covered in the intensive, and
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If you're unavailable to join live, no problem!
A full recording of the intensive will be available via a YouTube private link by mid-September!
I'll be emailing everyone on the waitlist full details (including pricing) no later than August 26th. To join the waitlist, fill out the simple Airtable form linked below.
I hope to work with you in the intensive!!
Til next week:
Dig a little deeper to find your ideal client’s below surface pain points. That is where your services and programs should be focused.
Be gentle with yourself. Make sure that 20 years from now you don’t have the regret of leaving things on the table which you could have handled.
Give people options in your content, and in the offerings you have available. Let them choose the level of commitment they want and how they want to interact. Don’t try to force everyone into the same box.
Also, I’d LOVE to hear your feedback about Content Notes!
Like the GIFs? Think they’re annoying as hell?
Taking any value out of the content?
Too afraid to unsubscribe even though you hate it?
Hit me up at kris@krishughes.com and let me know.
I want to make this what y’all want it to be, so we all have a good time with it!
Happy Weekend!