This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
I begin today with a shout out and a thank you to everyone serving in the Armed Forces as well as the family members of those who are serving. I know from my own experience that being a family member can be a thing of its own. I grew up somewhat in a military family, at least half my family, my mom's side of the family and I know there's a lot of change and uncertainty involved when it comes to moving somewhere. I lived in the Philippines for two years as part of that process when I was being moved around as a kid because I had a step-parent who was in the military, so you have all these questions like where are you going to go on the next deployment or the next assignment or mission or whatever it is, what's it going to be like when you're there, how do you handle schooling for your kids and such. I guess in my case it was easy because I was just like six years old, I just showed up.
But looking back, I imagine it was a bit more work for my mom to figure all that stuff out. So shout out to everyone in the military and the families, today's story, it's actually not a story, it's a question, question from a listener, an army veteran wants to help new military enlistees get a leg up in training. What's the best format for his material? It's a great question. We're going to dive into it.
How can I publish my army enlistment guide right after this quick message from our sponsor. Hey Chris, this is Doug. I've been listening to the show since last year. I recently completed my active duty service with the army after 10 years. I had a great experience, but there's a lot I wished I'd known before enlisting and a number of life hacks I picked up along the way.
I found some networks and Facebook groups for young enlistees or even people who are thinking of joining the service, but I'd like to sell a guide that compiles a list of the very best actionable advice, covering everything from housing to how to choose where to list. Since that's an overlooked point that can make a difference later on. Is there anything wrong with this idea? If not, how can I sell thousands of this guide? Or at least how can I sell enough to make it worthwhile?
Thanks for any advice. Doug, thank you for your service. This is an excellent example. I just want to hijack the question for just a moment to remind our listeners of something which is this question, who is your ideal customer? Don't forget, always be thinking about that.
Who is Doug's ideal customer? It's not enlisted members of the US military. It's not people who are actively in the military right now. It's not people who were in the military and now they're in the reserves. It's not people who have been discharged from the military.
It is new enlistees who are entering the US military or as he said, people who are considering it. Now, in fact, I would suggest, well, first of all, the point there is that it's a very different market, very, very different people. They think a lot differently. If you're going into something, you think differently than somebody who's been a part of something for a while, your needs are quite different. And in fact, I'd suggest he focus even more specifically than that since enlistees who are very young and single will be quite different from those who are coming in with partners and children or who just might be a little bit older or you could even get much more specific than that, but let's just say we're going to look at enlistees who are coming in potentially with partners and children looking at housing because I think that's important.
So now that we have that settled, is there anything wrong with the idea? Doug asks. Easy answer there. Not at all. Nothing at all wrong with that.
It sounds very helpful. So how can Doug sell thousands? I also admire that ambition. Well, first he's going to write the most helpful guide possible. He's going to make sure that he compiles all that information, all those tips he has, those facts, he's going to write the most helpful guide possible.
Second, he's going to get feedback and possibly some testimonials ultimately. But first, feedback from his target audience. He's going to offer them a free early version in return for that feedback. When you're offering something for free, it's pretty easy and not very risky. You're not going to get a lot of backlash if you go and post in subreddits or Facebook groups and say I'm working on this guide and eventually it's going to be for sale.
But hey, right now I want to offer it for free for anybody who's going to help me make it better. I want to give him feedback. Third, once he does go to sell it, he's going to price it pretty low. I think $50 or less, maybe even $25 or less. I mean, I'm not suggesting $5, but maybe $25, $20, something like that.
A lot of people entering the military at a young age or a junior level don't have a lot of money. And after all, his goal here is to help them. So you don't want any appearance of trying to take advantage. But fourth, he's going to network. He's going to go back to those Facebook groups, to his subreddits, to Quora.
I think Quora is a great option for this as well. People are posting questions all the time. So go and start answering questions and responding to threads. Nothing too promotional and often nothing promotional at all. Just answering questions and being a resource about housing, about schooling, about what are those things that he wished he had known 10 years ago.
And at the end of each post or answer, he includes a discrete but not an invisible link to the guide. So that's how it gets started. That is the process that can take place over the next 30 to 60 days, let's say. As for how it sells thousands, well, somehow it has to go from this level, this grassroots effort to taking off and being recommended by someone with a large audience that reaches a good number of people in his target market. So that can be our focus for another time, but perhaps that comes through the helpful advice he's posting or perhaps through more direct outreach over time.
But at some point, he's going to need somebody to put this forward for him since he doesn't have a lot of platform of his own right now and say, "Hey, everybody, you need to check this out." There might be some other paths as well, but I think this is a pretty clear one. You create the most helpful guide possible, you get some feedback and input, you start posting helpful answers and resources, and you go from there. Try it into your path. Good luck, Doug. Let us know how it goes.
And listeners, if you have a question, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're going to continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. I'm so glad you're out there. Do something today to take care of yourself. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School.
