EP13 - Justin Weiss's shift from side projects to successful product launches

03/09/15 • 42 min

Stacking the Bricks: Creators and Entrepreneurs You Can Relate To

"The idea that, oh well, I shouldn't charge money for this because... some reason.

Justin spent years noodling on side projects. He made every excuse in the book for not charging for them, including some we haven't often heard:

At the time, it seemed like, 'Why should I charge money for this? This is a passion project of mine.' So I should just release it for free."

But last year, he decided to make a change.

Justin took 30x500. In the first 3 weeks of droppin' ebombs on his blog, he added his first 50 mailing list subscribers. (ebomb, n: our special brand of educational content marketing.)

He kept at it, just an hour or two a few times a week. He researched his audience using Sales Safari; he wrote ebombs; he came up with a simple formula, really, to make writing those ebombs dead simple.

He started a book on the wrong foot; threw it away. Twice. Then he went back to basics and wrote, launched, and presold a beta book. He revised and shipped a finished book. He's made nearly $20k in sales so far. He didn't get on Hacker News or Product Hunt, just built his blog, built his list, and sold from there.

All on an hour or two a few times a week, in the morning, on the side

Justin also has a job and a little kid.

If my prose seems rote and workmanlike, it's because that's exactly what Justin did: He used 30x500 to take something people angst about, that they treat like their BIGGEST EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE EVER, and turned it into something he could simply do, the same way, over & over until he had created a wonderful result.

It's not that his book itself is formulaic, but the process to create it could be a formula. And maybe his ebombs have a distinct pattern to them, but they help people, and people share them, and nobody's complaining.

The process isn't exciting. The results are.

If I could snap my fingers and teach the entire world something, that would be it: The drama of "creative work" rarely helps, and often hurts. It's energy and value just... burning off.

If you're in the place now where the "fun" and "excitement" has worn off and you want to get real and make a product that helps people, and one that earns you money... well, you definitely want to listen to Alex's interview with Justin today!

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"The idea that, oh well, I shouldn't charge money for this because... some reason.

Justin spent years noodling on side projects. He made every excuse in the book for not charging for them, including some we haven't often heard:

At the time, it seemed like, 'Why should I charge money for this? This is a passion project of mine.' So I should just release it for free."

But last year, he decided to make a change.

Justin took 30x500. In the first 3 weeks of droppin' ebombs on his blog, he added his first 50 mailing list subscribers. (ebomb, n: our special brand of educational content marketing.)

All on an hour or two a few times a week, in the morning, on the side

Justin also has a job and a little kid.

The process isn't exciting. The results are.

If I could snap my fingers and teach the entire world something, that would be it: The drama of "creative work" rarely helps, and often hurts. It's energy and value just... burning off.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

EP12 - "I'm shipping ebombs, now what?" - From Pain to Product with Nick Piegari

Click here to watch the video of the ebomb that you hear in the intro of this episode -> https://unicornfree.com/2015/so-youve-got-some-safari-and-ebombs-now-what-pain-to-product-coaching-part-2

ebomb, n -
our special 30x500 term for "actionable educational content marketing". Yeah, cuz that's a mouthful. So drop a knowledge bomb on 'em. Ebomb 'em.

Sooo... you've got some Sales Safari data, you've got some quality ebombs under your belt, now what?

How big should your ebombs be?
What if it feels like you're exhausting a small watering hole?
How do you go from ebombing to a product?
What thing should you try, if your ebombs aren't getting great traffic or signups?
What's the best way to open up (and sell) a (free) ebomb?
When's the right time to start on the product, anyway?
Ummm soooo... if you hear things over and over in the watering holes, what do you do with it?
What if the pros in your audience... uh... aren't in love with you?
How is it actually kind of magical and productive to be annoying?

These are all topics we talk about in our newest "Pain to Product" coaching session with Nick Piegari from Fixing Your Video. Since taking 30x500, he's been doing Sales Safari and using the results to create great video ebombs!

He actually made us a special "pop-up-video" version, just for you, that includes all of the elements of Sales Safari that went into creating the ebomb – pains, dreams, fixes, worldviews, and more. P.S. VH1 please don't sue us, or Nick.

If you remember back to our last coaching session with our friend Amanda (not a 30x500 student... yet?), we worked with her at the very beginning of the 30x500 process. Nick's further along — by a lot! — so we can dig into the meatier issues that you'll need to tackle once you're in motion.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

EP14 - What are your New Years Pants?

Why are we talking about Amy's pants on a business show? There's a connection, we promise. You know this is gonna be good.

Stacking the Bricks is back for 2016!

Special thank you to everyone who reached out and told us that you missed the show in the time since our last episode. We missed making them for you!

The good news is that with the new 30x500 Academy "construction" complete, we're able to focus our attention on you this year and that starts with bringing back the show. It felt SO GOOD to get back on a microphone!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.