Like my clients, I'm an empath and a highly sensitive person (HSP) writing for other Sensitive Superheroes; if you're like me, you dislike scratchy clothes, loud noises, most crowded social gatherings, too. These seemingly innocuous stimuli can trigger episodes of heightened anxiety and panic attacks in us, which can be debilitating at times. But hidden within our highly specialized wiring are superpowers waiting to be embraced.
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Deciding what was valuable enough to teach...
Published 7 days ago • 2 min read
This is the second in a series of posts about transitioning from a newsletter writer to an educational creator.
Yesterday, I wrote about feeling like an imposter
You can click the image to read the post if you missed it.
I’d become convinced that writing solely as a newsletter writer—especially under Substack’s limited monetization model—wouldn’t meet my revenue goals.
I wanted a more robust creation cycle and portfolio.
An educational creator writes and rounds out his services to meet readers, customers, and clients where they are.
“A newsletter can only meet the needs of a reader, while an educational creator meets the needs of a customer via products and DFY/DWY services and that of clients via coaching and mentoring.*”
Yet, I still remained uncertain about what specific knowledge I possessed that would be valuable enough to teach others.
What was an authority topic (AT) others would be willing to pay me to teach?
I inventoried my everyday skills
What everyday skills did I take for granted that others might be interested in?
I listed my unconscious competencies (stuff I did without thinking), such as:
Sitting zazen (silent Zen meditation)
Walking Kona, the WonderDoodle
Brushing my teeth (oh yeah, that’s a bestseller waiting the happen 🙄)
Reading about my ATs
Writing and selling mini-books
Writing and selling mini-courses
Aha! I’d happened on the ATs that I knew others were interested in and I was excited about.
These two topics made the shortlist.
I examined the intersection of my ATs
Authority topics often overlap and their boundaries become fuzzy, and that’s OK.
When combined, the two sub-topics a over (mini-books and mini-courses) opened a new category of possibility; they could both be included under the umbrella of an educational creator.
Finally, I investigated problems I’d already solved
Problems I’d personally solved seemed perfect candidates for courses others would value.
Bullet Journal (and later, my own system - Zen Journal)
A number of years ago, I was a user of the Bullet Journal system. I was active in Bullet Journal creator Ryder Carroll’s forum of users and rapidly became an authority. I created modifications (mods) that expanded the system’s function and effectiveness. After a while, I packaged what I knew into a series of Special Reports and sold over $5,000 worth to others using the system. [After Carroll threatened to sue me (I still can't understand why when all I did was increase his brand awareness and boosted his sales), I stopped selling the reports.]
I underwent meditation teacher training with Lodro Rinzler and Adreanna Limbach, a husband and wife team that writes The Laundry on Substack.
I'd written and publish a mini-book, The Practical Buddhist: Buddhism Without the Robes & Ritual, and numerous mini-courses.
These I knew were easy to leverage when structure correctly.
In hindsight, the answers were always within
I just needed to delve into my history and uncover them.
The topics that ultimately proved most beneficial to students, customers, clients, and clients were a combination of digital products (Ebooks, mini-books, reports), coaching (meditation and online business topics), and Done-For-You /Done-With-You services.
Following these three straightforward guidelines, I created a path that involved several newsletters, websites, and services.
...
Tomorrow, I'll talk about the difficulty I experienced structuring my expertise into teachable lessons and the system I devised to overcome it.
Like my clients, I'm an empath and a highly sensitive person (HSP) writing for other Sensitive Superheroes; if you're like me, you dislike scratchy clothes, loud noises, most crowded social gatherings, too. These seemingly innocuous stimuli can trigger episodes of heightened anxiety and panic attacks in us, which can be debilitating at times. But hidden within our highly specialized wiring are superpowers waiting to be embraced.
You know the type... The poolside YouTube videos The 'anyone can do it' mantra you've heard time and again It makes me ill, and I can't stand it anymore. It's not all jealousy 🧐 Sure, I'd love to have millions in the bank. But, I'd rather hang on to my self-respect, too. This photo is the closest I’d ever come to showing off. It was taken in April of 2020 when I bought the first new car I’d ever purchased -always been a pre-owned kind of car buyer- at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic....