12 favorite problems, POP writing & how to ask better questions

Hi friends,

12 favorite problems? What’s that about?

It’s an exercise at the start of every Building a Second Brain and Write of Passage cohort, inspired by Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.

Feynman famously said:

“You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while, there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!”

By writing down and defining the problems you want to solve, your brain will subconsciously start looking for solutions. (Like when you want to buy a certain type of car and suddenly you start seeing that car everywhere.)

And when you make your 12 favorite problems public, you attract like-minded people who are grappling with the same challenges or have a solution to offer.

Soon, you’ll start seeing meaningful progress towards solving your problems.

Here are the 12 favorite problems that keep me up at night:

  1. How can I ask better questions to spark deep conversations?
  2. How can I balance learning, creating, and resting? How can I integrate more time for play and rest into my life?
  3. How can I travel more slowly?
  4. How could online courses replace a traditional education?
  5. How can I turn online connections into long-term partnerships and friendships?
  6. How can I sustain and nurture friendships when not seeing each other in person for a long time?
  7. How can I consistently improve my writing and copywriting?
  8. How can we create life-changing, transformational learning experiences in online courses that exceed in-person events?
  9. How can I become a better coach and mentor for those around me?
  10. How can I help more people discover the life-changing magic of online courses?
  11. How can I live a life true to myself while balancing the needs of my family?
  12. What’s my definition of success? How can I get into a state of “enough”?

Try this out yourself! What are your 12 favorite problems?

Now, here’s what I want to share with you this week.


✍️ Copywriting

How could you make your marketing fun? It doesn’t have to be a chore!

POP Writing: How to get your ideas stuck in your readers’ heads

The answer is making your writing POP…

  • Personal
  • Observational
  • Playful

This is my favorite framework from Write of Passage, and I’ve unpacked it in this thread.


🤓 Online Courses

Keep this in mind when designing your course curriculum!

How to choose the right online course for your needs

With more niche courses out there than ever, you have plenty of choices. If you feel like a kid in the candy store, you need a process to decide which course to invest in. Here are 6 aspects to consider.

A masterclass in online course marketing: Keystone Accelerator 

Billy and Tiago are practicing what they preach and turned the launch of the Keystone Accelerator itself into a (free) masterclass in online course marketing.

I highly recommend getting on this email list!

The second cohort starts in October, and I’m joining as an alumni mentor and copywriting coach. Let me know if you have any questions about the course!


📈 Productivity

Yes to fueling your brain with fresh air in the morning!

Why we should strive to ask better questions (and how to do it)

I’m fascinated by the hidden art of asking great questions…mostly because I realized that I suck at asking them. So, I’ve gone on a quest to get better.

In launch mode,

Julia

Your Copywriter & Online Course Specialist

PS: The launch of Minimum Viable Video‘s third cohort is also in full swing!

We applied what we’ve learned in the Keystone Accelerator and packed a ton of value into our launch sequence.

Not trying to brag, but I’m pretty proud of these emails.

You can read them here…

And if you want to jump on the list to get the next ones, sign up here.

PPS: Missed last week’s newsletter? I wrote about 3 exciting course launches, 4 stages of copywriting, and 7 counter-intuitive lessons. Read it here. 

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Julia Saxena

I help course creators pack their cohorts with their ideal students and deliver a transformational learning experience. Follow me on Twitter for daily essays about all things copywriting, online courses, and productivity.

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