This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. As we begin an all new year, this is after all 2020, we're calling it the year of interaction. All year long, we'll be featuring questions and updates from our listeners. And let's just jump right in.
Let's talk today about building trust with your audience and converting them to paying subscribers. This question that you'll hear, I like it for a lot of reasons. It's relevant to many of our listeners. They have very similar goals. And I'm also a fan of this person's project.
And by the way, through this new series, we're going to have two different kinds of questions. One kind is general, like a question of, you know, what are the pros and cons of different shopping carts, for example, or what do you think about this particular online network or platform? And the other one is more specific because it relates directly to someone's side hustle. And the reason we're going to do these specific questions is most of us learn through example. And many of the questions that you'll hear are relevant to more than just the person asking them, just like today's is.
And that's probably true in general, but it's certainly true in this series. Also, I want you to have a chance to hear directly from many of the people in our community who are doing the things that you may have heard about in the stories for our first 1,095 episodes. So without further ado, here is a sponsor message. Then we'll have Joe Shira and then a detailed answer that might actually be helpful. You never know.
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Hi, my name is Joe Shira Madero, and I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. I've been listening to the Side Hustle School podcast for a while now. My side hustle is called Dreams Over Debt. Dreamsoverdebt.com is a blog and resource website dedicated to helping people get rid of their debt while pursuing their dreams. My question is how can I make an authentic and meaningful connection with my target audience in order to convert them to paying subscribers without coming off too much like a selfish salesperson?
Thank you. [Music]
Thank you, Joe Shira. As I mentioned, I'm a fan of her project. I also think it has a fantastic name. Did you hear the name?
It was Dreams Over Debt. I've known Joe Shira for a while. She was in our Side Hustle Society program. And when I first heard the name Dreams Over Debt, I was like, wow, that is so memorable and on point. And of course, there's a big market of young people in particular who are in debt because of student loans and whatever else.
So great name, clear target market. How can she connect to these people in a sincere way that builds trust and leads to them becoming paid subscribers? It's a two-part question, so let's break it down. Part one, to connect in a sincere way that builds trust, preferably without being a, what did she call it, a selfish salesperson? Well, you know, this word value, value is often used in various business-y kind of language, you know, and people say, oh, you know, adding value.
What does that mean? I think value simply means helping people. I think that's a much easier way to understand it. If someone has helped you in some way, then they have added value. All right, so if you just think about that helping people, that's going to be the way to build trust.
Then second, convert them to becoming paid subscribers. Now, when we talk about marketing, which we're gonna talk about quite a lot throughout the year, marketing simply means creating and presenting a compelling offer. Let's say I trust you. Let's say I trust that you're an authority in this space and I need some help. Well, what is your offer for me?
What is the service, what is the product? How much does it cost? Where can I go and sign up? All of those details are what makes up an offer. So I was taking a look at Joshira's website and she's got a blog there.
She has some of her featured articles mentioned at the top. I love the titles of these two, by the way. They are the seven steps I took to pay off over $70,000 in less than seven years. Great headline, clearly communicates a major benefit. The next one is joining the circus scene while paying off debt, because I believe Joshira was an aerial performer, if I'm not mistaken.
So that also kind of introduces an element of curiosity. I'm like joining the circus, how does that work? Then she's got dealing with anxiety and debt, also good. If you are in debt, you often feel anxious about it. And then love over debt, communicating finances.
You can probably understand why all of those are hot topics. So I think she's definitely on the right track with what she's sharing. But what is her offer? Here's the issue. Right now she doesn't have one, or at least it's not on the website, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
She does have an email signup form that appears to be the main action she wants users to take, which is great. And it could be that this free email series leads to an offer for coaching or consulting or something else. But she mentioned paid subscribers. So I'm not totally sure what the end goal is. In any case, the way that you build trust is by being helpful.
So just imagine that a young graduate reads her blog and applies themselves using her resources. She's got a bunch of tools and resources, a calculator, et cetera, and is then able to pay off some of their debt. Like even if they don't pay off $70,000, if they just pay off some or if they feel a sense of hopefulness after reading this, wouldn't they then trust her? So the two areas of focus to accomplish both goals in terms of increasing trust and converting to paid subscribers are to be as helpful as you can, which we were just talking about, and to work on that offer. Work on that offer, whether it's a paid membership or the consulting sessions, no matter what it is, spend some time really thinking about, okay, what is the premium service?
Once someone raises their hand and says, "Yes, I trust this process. What's next?" Have a clear answer for that. And if you don't have a clear answer for that, then that's what you need to spend time on. Those are your next steps. [Music]
Now, speaking of goals, later in the week, we're gonna have our first real classroom episode where we'll look at setting goals for your 2020 hustle.
And I'll explain more about that as it arrives. For now, if you have a question, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're gonna be featuring these questions and answers throughout the year, along with updates from listeners as they launch or develop their projects. As I may have mentioned, I'm really excited about this. I think you're gonna like it.
Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1097, 1-0-9-7. You can also now get a transcript of the entire episode and subscribe to a newly updated email series. Whoa, can you handle it? I can hardly keep up myself. Be sure you're subscribed because we are coming in hot for 2020.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
