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You know that guilt you feel when a coach or business expert asks you, how often do you email your list and you kind of mumble something about meaning to be more consistent? Yeah, we need to talk about that, because that guilt, it's based on someone else's rules for someone else's business. You probably didn't start your own business to follow someone else's rigid rules.

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So let's dive into how to nurture your email list when you don't have time for weekly newsletters. In this episode, ready to break free from the solopreneur struggle. Join me as I peel back the layers to a thriving online business without the guru hype or the burnout. I'm going to show you the proven strategies and tools that I use so you can build a sustainable digital business without sacrificing your well being.

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Welcome back to ease and impact thriving as a solopreneur. I'm your host, Frankie Jay, and if you're new here, this is where we cut through the noise of what experts, the gurus are selling, and get real about building a business that works with your life, not against it. Before we dive in, if you are finding value in these conversations, hit that follow or subscribe button, not because I need vanity metrics. In fact, I don't even look at how many subscribers I have, but because I don't want you to miss the episode that could be a breakthrough for you. So today we're talking about email specifically, how to stay connected with your list when you barely have time to check your own inbox, let alone write weekly newsletters.

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And here's what I hope you'll realize by the end of this episode that you're going to stop measuring your email success by how often you send and start measuring it by whether your people actually want to open what you are sending.

1:45
You'll realize that the pressure you feel to email weekly, daily, or whatever schedule that latest expert is preaching may not be actually serving you or your audience. What serves them is showing up when you have something worth saying and they want to listen. So let's start with a little bit of a reality check your audience doesn't actually want to hear from you every day. I know someone has probably told you that daily emails are the secret to six or seven figures or whatever figure they're selling courses about. But let me share how I think about this. I personally hate daily emails as a regular thing. They clog up my inbox. I end up skimming or ignoring most of them, and then eventually I just unsubscribe out of pure email fatigue. So why on earth would I subject my audience to something that I hate, unless it's something genuinely time sensitive, like a workshop happening tomorrow, or price change deadline? Daily emails are just noise, and your audience has enough noise already.

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Now, the other side of it, your audience does need to hear from you in order to feel like they get you and what you're out there doing in the world, and, of course, how it helps them. So once every two to three months with a sales email about your latest course or coaching opportunity is not going to cut it. That person might likely not remember who you are by that stage, and think, why are they selling to me? I don't even know who they are.

3:10
So here's what actually works for me, and maybe it'll work for you too. I'm super consistent with one piece of content you're listening to it now, my weekly podcast. Now, that's my kind of anchor. Everything else flows from there when it makes sense, not because of some arbitrary schedule it says it should. So think about what your anchor is, or could be. Maybe it's a weekly video, a detailed social post, or, yes, a podcast like mine. Whatever it is that's not just content, it's the start of a conversation.

3:44
Your email can then become the continuation of that conversation, not a whole separate thing that you have to create from scratch. For me, sometimes that looks like sending out a simple new episode is live email with a couple of bullet points about what's covered. Other times, when I have more energy, it's sharing the thing that didn't make it into the episode. You know, the tangent I edited out, or an additional thought I had after recording

4:08
the key is it's not creating new content. I'm extending what I've already created. Now I try to send a second email at the end of the week. Try being the operative word here. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't and you know what? The world doesn't end when I skip it.

4:25
When I do send it, it's usually something like quick thought that was sparked by a conversation with a client or a friend, a resource I stumbled across that relates to that week's topic, a question I'm pondering that I'd love my audience input on,

4:41
and I'll often include a reminder to that week's podcast or another one, if it's relevant to the topic. It's never a big production. Honestly, it can't be, because it requires too much effort. It simply won't happen. And something that doesn't happen, well, can't help anyone. But here's another sort of unpopular opinion, long.

5:00
Emails are selfish.

5:03
Look, I said it, unless you're telling an incredibly engaging story or teaching something that genuinely needs that space, I think you're asking too much of your reader's time and attention. I hate long emails. You know, the ones you open up and your first thought is, I don't have time for this right now, and then you never go back to it.

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So I don't write them. I like to keep my emails short and to the point. And if they need to be longer, they're often structured with some clear breaks or subheadings or bullets, you know, ways for people to skim and get the information they need to focus on, because that's what I appreciate as a reader. So that's what I create as an email writer? Let me share a framework I like. When you do decide to sit down and write an email, it's incredibly, maybe embarrassingly simple. Just start with one main point or idea

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why it matters to them right now, your audience and perhaps one way they can apply it this week. Done, that's it. No elaborate stories unless they directly serve the point. No, while I have your attention, let me also tell you about these five other things.

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One idea clearly communicated with a practical action.

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That's an email worth opening. So here's something I really want you to hear.

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You have permission to email your list when you have something valuable to say, not when the calendar says it's time, not when some experts formula said you should when you have value to add to their day. Sometimes that might be twice a week. Sometimes it might be once every two weeks. The frequency it matters less than the quality of the connection when you do show up. But I do want to talk a little bit about the fear of sort of pissing off your audience. Yes, some people will unsubscribe, but here's what I've learned to understand and accept when that happens, people don't unsubscribe because you email them. They unsubscribe because you email them stuff they don't want or need. So there's a huge difference between Oh another email from them

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versus oh good an email from them.

7:13
And that difference has nothing to do with the frequency and everything to do with the relevance and value for people who unsubscribe because you sent them one valuable email a week. They were never going to buy from you. Anyways, they're just freeing up space for people who actually resonate with what you're doing. So let's talk sort of real application. Let's talk about repurposing in a way that actually you can do it.

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So take your anchor content. For me, it's my podcast, and after I record, I usually have the main points I covered, something I wished I'd said the question, the content raised, or a relevant resource or tool. Any of those can become a quick email. You don't have to do all of them. Just one the email doesn't retell the entire podcast or whatever content it is that you're going to use as your anchor. It might just say in today's episode I talked about X, but here's the part I didn't mention and give a brief insight. Or in today's episode, I talked about x, and if this resonates, here's one thing you can try this week. That's a complete email. It takes five minutes to write. It provides value. It stays connected to your audience without overwhelming anyone, including yourself.

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Here's my truth, I'm consistent with my podcast because I've made it a non negotiable. I don't know what clicked in my brain and make that happen, but it's scheduled, it's planned. It's part of my weekly rhythm, and I create them every week. I don't even batch them,

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so my emails, they're consistent. Ish, I've decided that's okay, because consistent ish with genuine value beats perfect consistent fluff every single time

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your version of consistent might look different. Maybe it's every Tuesday, maybe it's twice a month, maybe it's when you have something important to share once a

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month. The point is to find consistency for yourself, not by someone else's rulebook.

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So I want you to remember this, your email list is not another content consumption machine that needs constant feeding. It's a group of real people with real inboxes and real time constraints, just like you respect their time by showing up when you have something worth saying, make it easy to read by keeping it short and well structured, and give yourself permission to find a rhythm that works for your business and your life.

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Start with whatever content you're already creating consistently. Let your emails extend those conversations, not create new ones from scratch. And please, please, please stop feeling guilty about not emailing weekly or more frequently if that's what you've been led to believe, if that doesn't serve you or your audience. So if you've got questions about making this work for your specific situation, drop them in the comments. And who knows your question.

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Question might become next week's episode. Thank you for spending this time with me today and until next week, keep creating that impact with ease.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai