#58 Weekly Dan — AMA with ChatGPT

Last Tuesday issue :(

Hello there

This is the #57 Issue of Weekly Dan.

Every Tuesday, I share an actionable essay for Solopreneurs.

But today’s issue is different.

---

This is the last Tuesday issue of my newsletter.

From now on, I will only send you a Friday issue with golden nuggets. Here is why:

• I kinda write an actionable essay in MakerBox Blog every Wednesday (subscribe here to get it tomorrow). Two essays in two days is too much for me.

• I want to make Friday's issue x10 better (you will see for yourself this week)

So, yeah. This is the last time we see each other on Tuesday (🥹🥹🥹)

It was a remarkable run. Here are my 3 favorite Tuesday issues.

• #48 Weekly Dan — My challenges

• #38 Weekly Dan — 4 Levels of Positioning

• #26 Weekly Dan — 10 more hours

I wanted to do AMA today.

But forgot to collect questions in the previous issue.

Luckily, I have a ChatGPT to help me out. Let’s roll.

1. How do you uniquely position digital products in crowded markets?

Here is a time-and-true framework:

1. List all possible competitors to your product (both technological and traditional)

2. Pick one competitor that people mention most frequently. It will be your nemesis

3. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your nemesis

4. Pick one weakness that is a deal-breaker for a huge target audience segment

5. Build your whole positioning around it

For example, this is how Beehiiv differentiated from Substack (flat pricing vs. revenue commission).

There is more nuance. But this framework is a good starting point.

2. Share a standout solopreneur marketing success story.

I love what Lilian is doing on Twitter.

He nailed design-led growth. Every feature update goes viral, with dozens praising his design skills.

A great example of audience building without threads and giveaways.

3. What's your strategy for balancing free vs. paid content?

Always start with paid products.

I heard this story a million times:

1. A creator builds an audience with free content / products

2. They try to monetize the audience with a paid product

3. Audience rejects monetization because it thinks it’s a scam

Here is a better alternative:

1. Create a paid product

2. Build an audience around your paid product

3. Introduce some free products (if your Conversion Rate isn’t sufficient)

But don’t introduce too many free products. Usually, one freebie at the moment is enough.

4. Can you suggest unconventional marketing tactics for solopreneurs?

Here are two:

1) Sell your main product for $1 for 24 hours. You will get tons of emails to upsell later.

2) Add a quarter subscription. Not everyone is ready for your annual subscription.

You can read 13 more here.

5. How do solopreneurs effectively use storytelling to stand out?

Your fight with a nemesis is exciting. Just as any battle between good and evil.

But here is a thing.

Nobody wants ONLY to watch you win.

People want to see your challenges and failures too. Because they make your wins more significant.

Takeaway? Spend at least 40% of your time sharing the dark part of your journey.

6. What's the impact of collaborations on solopreneur success?

Partnership marketing is great for the scale stage. Do it.

But if you are only getting started, there is a more important thing. You must build a network of 10-20 Entrepreneurs who care about your success.

They will write you wonderful Product Hunt comments, retweet your launch tweets, and share honest feedback without charging you money.

And the best part — you can build this network without awkward Zoom calls. Just engage with their content on Twitter and connect in DMs.

7. How should solopreneurs adapt to changing social media algorithms?

Build an email list.

The sooner, the better.

8. What are key email marketing optimization techniques for solopreneurs?

People love curated content.

Spend 1 hour filtering last week's best content to get tons of clicks. If you get tons of clicks on free content, you will eventually get tons of clicks on your paid products.

9. How can customer feedback drive digital product innovation?

There are 2 models for Solopreneurs:

1. You know your niche well enough → You can ignore most negative feedback and rely on your vision

2. You don’t know your niche well enough → You need to listen to feedback

Each model has a risk of building a terrible Frankenstein.

But picking one approach will save you a lot of time.

10. How will emerging technologies shape indie entrepreneurship and marketing?

My three predictions:

1. You either leverage AI or human-touch

2. Audience building is a must for every indie business

3. Micro SaaS for different target audience segments → Vertical SaaS for one target audience segment

I am terrible at human touch.

That’s why I will build a vertical AI-powered SaaS for Solopreneurs.

---

That’s it!

Now you know me better.

Thank you for reading this last Tuesday's issue. It means a lot to me 🫶

Mind to give me some feedback?

See you on Friday with 7 (?!) golden nuggets for Solopreneurs ❤️

---

Absolutely not a CTA 🙃

Learn the only 5 acquisition channels Solopreneurs need in 2023

Actionable ebook + Positioning workshop.

Download it here.

---