Curious about creating a welcome sequence for your newsletter subscribers?

How do you know:

• What to include?
• How many to send?
• How long each should be?

A creator asked me this recently, so I'll share my answer.

Here's how to create a welcome sequence people love... I frame my welcome sequence as a 7-day crash course.

So it's less of a lead magnet and more of a thanks for subscribing.

It's a mix of repurposed content and new, but I use it to onboard people into my ecosystem.

Here are the 4 questions I used to build it...

Here are a few things you didn't know about the differences between therapy and coaching... Therapy and coaching use many of the same foundational skills.

But they use these skills to help their clients achieve different outcomes.

For example...

I turn 34 years old today.

I'm not going to share 34 lessons.

But here are a few I've built my life around that help me be more intentional every day and make the most of the time I have left... When you're angry, don't say that thing you really want to say.

There's no such thing as winning an argument.

Only losing a friend.

I write about the psychology of human flourishing and fulfillment.

So why am I creating a course on how to become a world-class coach?

Because I believe... Becoming a coach helps you explore your creativity, connect with incredible people, and build a lifestyle business.

I can work 2 hours/week as a coach and make the same I did working 40 hours/week as a therapist.

What do I do with those other 38 hours?

Whatever I want.

World-class coaches charge $500-$3,500 an hour.

Here are the 7 skills they learn first... 1. Build Rapport

Rapport is about building a safe and supportive relationship with the people you work with.

World-class coaches create psychological safety so their clients feel comfortable enough to do deep introspective work.

Have you heard of the metaphor of the Stoic archer?

If you're a solopreneur or content creator, you should.

Here's why... The archer controls:

• How much they practice.
• How accurately they aim.
• How well they string their bow.
• How deftly they calibrate every arrow.

But there's one thing they don't control...

When we don't trust our ability to make the right decision, it paralyzes us in place.

Here's a simple strategy to learn to trust yourself and your decision-making skills... My first question is: why *don't* you trust yourself?

• Do you have Imposter Syndrome?

• Are you objectively competent enough to make an informed decision, or do you need to learn more?

• What does your track record suggest about your ability to make the right decision?

My first live course:

• Generated $27,000 in a single month
• Got tons of great reviews
• Was simple to run

Here's how I made it awesome.

Steal these 6 strategies if you want to do the same: 1. Create a Minimum Viable Tech Stack:

@podia (landing page, payments, CRM)

@ConvertKit (recaps, reminders)

@Spotify (bitchin' tunes)

@circleapp (community)

@Zoom (live sessions)

@Adobe (vid editing)

@Vimeo (recordings)

@canva (assets)

You can go leaner, though.

If you've ever:

• felt trapped in mediocrity
• believed you're meant for more
• wanted to build a life of purpose

Pick up The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Here are 11 of the best insights from it: Lesson 1: Everything, and Everyone, Has a Purpose

Trying to live up to other people’s expectations is a surefire way to misery.

Each of us has a purpose.

But it’s up to us to give ourselves permission to pursue it.

Onboarding surveys are the closest thing to a secret weapon course creators have.

But most don't use them to their full potential.

Here are the 5 questions I use, and why they're so powerful... Onboarding surveys take the guesswork out of what to teach in your course.

Students literally tell you what they want to learn or achieve by the end of it.

I spent $22,434 on cohort-based courses last year.

Here are the best: @david_perell's Write of Passage

You'll learn:

• Frameworks for great writing

• Clarity on your unique voice and value prop

• Discipline to publish every week

writeofpassage.school

If you're serious about learning the true value ($$$) of your time, read this... Do you know how much an hour of your time is worth?

This concept will change how you approach work and help you make better decisions.

Here's how to do it...

Thinking about creating your own live course?

Here are 7 mistakes course creators make and how to avoid them: 🧵 Confusing lecturing for learning.

The less you talk, the better.

Here's a simple format for an hour session:

10 minutes: 1st Concept
5: Solo writing prompt
15: Breakout
-
10: 2nd Concept
5: Solo writing prompt
15: Breakout
-
Total:
20: Me talking
40: Students doing

Are you great at giving advice, but suck at taking your own?

Here's a strategy to help you get out of your own way and break through plateaus: 🧵 Create a Mental Advisory Board.

Here's how:

Pick 3 people you wish you could go to for advice.

They can be:

• Living
• Dead
• Real
• Fictional

Got your 3?

LFG...

Without clarity, your future will always feel draped in a fog of uncertainty.

Here are 15 questions I use as an Executive Coach to help entrepreneurs clarify what matters and make better decisions: 🧵 1. If this had been your last 7 days alive, are you satisfied with how you spent your time, energy, and attention?

What would you do more?

What would you do less?

I spent $22,434 on cohort-based courses last year.

Was it worth it?

Here's what I learned:🧵 This thread covers:

• The 5 best CBCs I took and what was inside

• Why I made the investment

• Were they worth the money

• Who should take them

• What’s next

How to overcome Shiny Object Syndrome and focus on what matters: Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) comes down to struggling with 4 core components:

• Prioritizing
• Sustaining focus and effort
• Choosing delayed over immediate gratification
• Identifying opportunity costs and second-order effects of decisions

Let’s dive in:

I'm a fraud.

I’m not really a psychologist or executive coach.

At least, according to what "traditional" schools of thought say: What image pops into your mind when you think of a psychologist?

A bald white dude all prim and proper in a sweater and khakis, scribbling on a clipboard as you talk about your relationship with your mother?

What entrepreneurs need most is the first thing they deny themselves.

Without it, they can't innovate and stay trapped doing low ROI work.

Here’s what it is and how to cultivate it 🧵 Most entrepreneurs I know struggle to unplug and rest.

This keeps them in a cycle of feeling drained, wasting time, struggling to identify leverage, and being unclear on the long-term vision for their company.

76% die with the same regret.

Here’s how to avoid joining them:

🧵 Tim was an attorney who’d practiced law for a couple decades.

A few years ago, he switched from law to working on his dream: writing a book.

He’d put it off for years due to fear.

One day, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

How often do you sit down to do one thing, then end up getting sidetracked by 10 others?

It's called "yak-shaving."

We're all guilty of it.

Wanna learn more about it and two unorthodox strategies to stay focused?

Let's dive in:🧵 Yak shaving is when you start to do one task, then get sidetracked with a related one, then another, and so on—until you’re nowhere near working on your original task.

Carlin Vieri, an MIT Ph.D., coined the term in the ’90s after watching an episode of Ren & Stimpy.