☀️ [30DC] Day 4 » Who’s the actual person

Some of us are using this challenge to build towards a sellable product; some are promoting an existing one; and some are using it for more personal projects – the variety is awesome.

For anyone with a customer, lead, or prospect waiting at the end, today is about drawing a box around that person.

In the interest of ultra simplicity, we’re not trying to define an entire audience, or an ICP, or build some complex customer avatar of a made-up person.

We’re just gonna pick one real human.

Let me quickly frame this up for you

Nedward (real person, not his real name) is a guy I’ve coached for a bunch of years. He’s a web developer, lives in the UK, and we usually communicate over WhatsApp.

He’s someone I really enjoy coaching – he gives great feedback, always puts in the work, and randomly sends me screenshots and updates on results for goals we’ve been working on.

When I write my daily emails, landing pages, or just about anything aimed at a solo self-employed creative, I write it as if it’s just for him.

Jasmin Alić on LinkedIn calls this the “Dear Son, Love Dad” formula – for him, he thinks of his little boy when he writes (to keep things simple) so he adds “Dear Son” at the top of his draft, signs it off “Love Dad”, then deletes both to publish.

Your task today 👉 Find Nedward.

Who that is might depend on what you’re building.

Ideal scenario

If the Shiny Object you’re working on for this challenge is something you’ve done before – meaning you have past customers who’ve actually bought it, or something like it – this will hopefully be easier.

Assuming one of those past customers is someone you like enough and can imagine having a conversation with – you’ve found Nedward 👏👏

Sub-optimal scenario

Your Shiny Object is a brand new thing with no past customer behind it. In this case, you’ll have to think a little deeper about who that person could be.

They might be:

• A colleague or friend who’s supportive of your work
• A customer you like, but for a different product
• Anyone you know who you always have a good conversation with

If you’re still struggling, try:

• Someone you’d like to say was a customer someday
• Someone famous you imagine getting along with

It doesn’t really matter who the person is… what’s important is that they’re real.

Everything you write from now, you’ll be writing it as if it’s going directly to their inbox and they’ll be reading it.

No need to write anything today… just find Nedward ✌️