We recently finished up the first round of my Newsletter Lab course, which, as you can probably guess, is all about writing newsletters.
Whenever I teach about newsletters, I always ask people about their biggest challenge/obstacle when it comes to writing them.
The most common answer has to do with not knowing what to write about and/or the idea that other people - people who have more experience and who really know what they're doing - have already said whatever there is to be said.
Why bother writing when someone else has done it better? Why send a newsletter when hardly anyone will read what you write?
Since this is such a common experience, I wanted to share two thoughts here:
- It makes a difference to your potential clients to hear it in your voice and with your perspective. Truly.
- All of those people who "know what they're doing" and have more experience than you? They started out feeling awkward and reluctant, too. You will not magically be ready to write a perfect newsletter one day without practicing. You will get better at it by doing it. Repeatedly.
The same advice applies to any kind of marketing. Showing up and doing the thing, even when you think no one is listening and it doesn't make a difference, is a stage you have to go through to get the ball rolling.
There is no way to avoid the awkward beginning phases and skip right to the "wow, this is working really well" part.
The more you do the thing, and the more you sound like yourself while doing it, the better you'll get and the more helpful it will be.
Hang in there & keep showing up.
Take care,
Camille
