A massive course. A 200-page book. A membership site with all the bells and whistles.

Then nothing. No sales, no traction, just frustration.

Because big products are a gamble. You pour months into something before knowing if anyone will even buy it.

Mini products, on the other hand, are the opposite of a gamble. They’re quick, focused and easy to launch.

Instead of spending six months making something perfect, you spend two weeks making something useful. You test it, sell it, refine it.

When you do that over and over, something magical happens:

• You get data. You learn what sells, what flops, and what excites people.

• You build trust. People buy small things before they buy big things.

• You make money. Not someday—now.

• You create momentum. Mini products stack up. Before you know it, you’ve built a whole ecosystem of valuable content.

It’s my way of starting everything:

• Started selling $5 about pages on Fiverr. Then, I made $250K and started getting 5-figure clients.

• Got my first 20 paid subscribers with nothing more than posting 2x per week.

• Made $2000 selling mini products on Gumroad.

People don’t need more noise.

They need something simple and worth paying for.

A mini product can be a subscription—if you keep it focused, easy to deliver, and valuable to the right people.

At the end of a year, you won’t just have a few sales. You’ll have proof—real proof—of what your audience actually wants.

Plus, you’ll learn how to sell your big products. Can’t sell big if you can’t sell small.

So start small. Sell something simple. Then do it again. And again.

That’s how you win.

Till next time,
Maya

PS. If you’re ready to create your first (or next) mini product, I’ve put together a step-by-step guide to help. You can get it here. Paid subscribers can get it for free with the 100% discount code they’ll find below.

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There’s no way to make money online if you’re not selling.

Sure, you can argue with me that Medium or YouTube pay creators to “just create”—but it’s still a hard sale to get attention.

I’ve worked with over 2000 solopreneurs in one capacity or another, and most of them struggle to sell.

What’s sad is that their mistakes are totally fixable—they just don’t know how to fix them.

I can make you a sales powerhouse in 1 hour.

Give me 1 hour of your time and I’ll teach you:

• What to sell

• How to sell it

• To whom to sell it

It doesn’t matter what you want to sell: my strategies are based on my extensive sales experience (including being a Corporate Sales Director) and work on anything.

• I’ve sold $240K worth of copywriting services on Fiverr (and got interviewed by Business Insider for it).

• I’ve sold another $250K worth of copywriting & consulting services to big businesses.

• I’ve sold $10K worth of paid memberships + digital products (and I launched my paid Substack last December and my first digital product in June)

Ready for the Sell Anything webinar?

The Sell Anything Webinar will show you: 

• The sales process - and what to sell at each stage 

• The products that will sell best - and how to know whether you have "product-market fit" fast 

• The customers that will buy - and how to single them out in the sales process. 

Paid subscribers will find a link to the recording below.

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Eve Arnold makes $25K+ per year writing on Medium. 

I make $50K selling writing on Fiverr. 

And Substack opportunities are even more insane. 

While it’s easy to think thoughts like: 

• The market is too saturated 

• I’m too late 

• I have nothing to offer 

• I don’t know how to stand out 

These are just emotions. It’s your fear and limiting beliefs playing tricks on you. Don’t let them win. 

Did you know 10 years ago when I started on Fiverr, I thought I was too late? It’s funny when I think about it now. 

The potential of online writing is still huge. Whether you want to be a freelancer or write on Medium or Substack, you can, at the very least, make extra money to make your life better or easier. 

I’m on my way to close a $7–8K year on Medium. 

What would you do with an extra $7–8K per year? Take a nice vacation? Pay off credit card debt? Invest it? 

Here’s what: I’m not a huge fan of people talking about their results online all the damn time. The one great thing about it is it gives you an idea about what’s possible. 

Today, that’s exactly the kind of thing I want to do for you. Show you what’s possible if you’re writing online; specifically on Substack. 

Substack numbers make sense. 

There are 20 million active subscribers on Substack, and only 17,000 Substack newsletters, many of which lay abandoned. 

Most subscribers subscribe to multiple newsletters, and while we have discussed the impending subscribers' shock (where people will eventually remain subscribed to just 2–3 of their favourite newsletters), there’s still a lot of time and space for you to create someone’s favourite newsletter. 

You have multiple ways to make buckets of money. 

The obvious one is getting paid subscribers, and don’t get me wrong: this one alone has a 7-figure potential. 

The top 10 authors on Substack collectively make $25 million per year. It’s worth saying that this number has tripled in just two years, from 2020 to 2022, and keeps growing today. 

You might be thinking, “But Maya, I’m never going to be among the top 10.” 

First of all, you don’t know that for a fact. 

Second, you don’t need to be to make very good money. The top people on any platform are supposed to show you what’s possible; they’re the ones holding up the ceiling to show us how far we can go. 

Now, even if you achieve 10% of the results of the 10th most successful Substack, you’re still making $100K (or more).

Only from paid subscriptions. 

And of course, you can also: 

• Sell products to your subscribers 

• Sell services to your subscribers 

• Sell sponsorships for your newsletter 

• Use the power of your audience to get book deals and then sell your books 

• Use the power of your audience to become a high-earning public speaker 

Really, the opportunity is endless. 

The audience is already here. 

Getting subscribers used to be a social media game, and a tough one. Massive growth used to require ad spend, too. 

Substack has changed the game. The audience is here, eager and willing to subscribe to anyone they like, even if they’re an absolute nobody. What a chance! 

Everywhere you turn, you see people with over 1000, over 5000, even over 10,000 subscribers. 

That’s insane! Do you know that if you submit a book proposal to one of the Big 5 publishers and you have 10K subscribers, you’re almost guaranteed a yes? At the very minimum, you’re guaranteed their serious consideration. 

Having a book in bookstores? That used to be a mind-boggling pipe dream. Now, it’s actually possible. 

If I have to choose one mistake I see a lot of Substackers make… 

I want you to make the best of these times of opportunity. 

It seems like anyone can, but not everyone will. Many will give up before they get traction, and I don’t want this to be you. 

There’s a lot of great advice out there about how to make it on Substack: write regularly, build a community, work on your headlines, show up on Notes. All great. 

One piece of advice I don’t see enough has to do with your Substack description. 

It’s the thing people see when they hover over your name on Notes… 

It’s the thing people see on your subscription page, right before they decide whether to click Subscribe or No, thanks…

It’s the thing people see when they click on your name to check you out after they read one of your comments. 

Now, imagine you’ve given all your energy to write great stories every week. Imagine you’re on Notes, posting and commenting (hopefully, commenting when you have something to say and not only to get attention). 

Imagine you’re really doing the work, only to have someone click on your profile and decide to pass. 

You don’t want that. 

The moment people read your newsletter description is a sacred moment. Your newsletter description is either the final nudge that’s going to get them there; or the thing that will make them reconsider. Because who needs another boring/unnecessary newsletter in their inbox? 

So how do you write a Substack newsletter description that’s absolutely irresistible and entirely you? 

That’s what we talked about in yesterday’s webinar, Irresistible Substack Description. 

Thanks to over 25 people who showed up! You’re such a supportive, amazing community. These are the kind of messages I got afterwards… 

If you didn’t catch the live webinar, you can find the recording below. 

If you’d like to watch it, but you’re not a paid member of the Smarter Solopreneurs community, consider becoming one because my goal is for all my paid members to build 6-figure businesses as fast as they can. ❤ 

Either way, have a wonderful weekend and keep showing up. As Marie Forleo says, this world needs that special gift that only you have. 

Paid subs will be able to see the link to the Irresistible Substack webinar recording below. ↘

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Your business success comes down to one thing: selling more.  

You want a bigger audience? “Sell” more of your free stuff.

You want to make more money? Sell more of your paid stuff. 

You want to change the world? Sell more. Hobbies don’t change the world. 

Selling is the essence of any business. 

And the sales process always starts with an irresistible offer. 

All successful solopreneurs can build irresistible offers. 

Nicolas Cole has built a multi-million dollar ghostwriting agency through cold messaging. How? Irresistible offers. 

Dan Koe has sold millions of worth of his digital products. How? Irresistible offers. 

Irresistible offers: 

• Create instant pull 

• Make people read all you have to say (so don’t tell me short attention spans are the problem) 

• And most importantly, make people buy from you. 

What is an irresistible offer? 

There are two parts of an irresistible offer: 

• What you’re selling. 

• How you’re describing what you’re selling. 

Ideally, you’d hit both right. 

Most people online don’t even get one of these right. They sell what they want to sell, and describe it defensively — not to sell it, but to explain why it’s a great idea. 

This is good news for you. Even if you get one of these right, you have a massive advantage. 

But you’re part of Smarter Solopreneurs now. We don’t half-ass things here. 

We’ve all seen irresistible offers online. 

Here are just a few examples of short-version irresistible offers: 

“The Copy Cure is a step-by-step online training course that shows you how to write copy that’s powerful, persuasive, and 100% YOU, so people will love — and buy — what you sell.” — Marie Forleo 

“Create Your Niche Of One. Write Follow-Worthy Content. Monetize Your Creator Business. Get instant access to the 45+ module Creator Course, 80+ article strategy library, monthly templates, top content drops, and question forums for serious creators.” — Dan Koe 

“This micro-offer strategy made me $16 million. Become a part of the Micro-Hacks Lab today for just $7 per month and get 77 science-backed micro-hacks. Each one of these has the potential to make you $1000 per month.” — Bushra Azhar 

Even though it’s easy to recognize an irresistible offer when you see it — it’s the one that gets you to stop scrolling and pay attention — irresistible offers are difficult to create. 

So let’s break them down and make it easier. 

The elements of an irresistible offer.* 

*Paid subs will also get access to the Irresistible Substack Description Webinar below.

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Even if you feel like writing is easy… 

Writing to sell is hard. 

And I know how many of you feel about this word: selling. Blah! 

It’s so encouraging to see how Substack creates paid subscribers out of thin air. You write your usual things, go about your usual day, and boom, a paid subscriber out of nowhere. 

Nice! 

Easy! 

So why are you reading this? 

Substack is about to become highly competitive. 

It’s already happening. Michael Simmons (blockbuster.thoughtleader.school) called it “Subscription shock.” 

Growth Rate: At first, readers subscribe to many publications. But as they build up a base of people they subscribe to, they get more discerning.

Churn: Once readers realize how much they’re spending and that they’re not actually reading what they are paying for, they unsubscribe from lots of publications.

Survival Of The Favorite: People stay subscribed to a handful of their favorite newsletters. 

And how do we become people’s favourite Substack? 

Enter copywriting. 

Copywriting is a highly undervalued marketing skill. 

Here’s something I want you to remember: 

Copywriters are the most expensive people in the room. 

They can sell fridges at the North Pole. 

Copywriting is about WAY more than just writing. 

It’s about: 

• Buyers psychology 

• Positioning 

• Market research 

• Testing (so knowing how to read the numbers) 

• Understanding the different marketing channels

• And then there’s some writing involved

More Substackers need to learn & use copywriting principles. 

You should, too, if you want to: 

• Get more paid subscribers 

• Keep more paid subscribers 

• Boost your credibility and be perceived as a thought leader in your field 

• Make people pay attention & subscribe in the first place (hard to get paid subscribers without free subscribers) 

Ready? Let’s behind

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Let me guess a few questions in your head. 

You’re wondering how to: 

• Start an online business when so many others are already ahead of you.

• Grow when you struggle to capture attention & make people subscribe or buy.

• Build the elusive “business of your dreams.” 

• In plain English, make enough money to quit your job, live your life, and contribute to this world with something you like doing.

99% of new solopreneurs struggle with clarity.

I’ve worked with thousands of solopreneurs as a copywriter. 

I’ve coached solopreneurs. 

I’ve seen solopreneurs’ questions under my articles & newsletters. 

The problems of new solopreneurs always boil down to a lack of clarity. 

When you lack clarity:

• What you want changes (so no time to achieve it)

• What you do changes (so no time to build on it)

• Your emotions change (and they’re difficult to manage)

• Instead of making progress, you move chaotically through bazillion options

Lack of clarity could destroy your potential. 

It’s worse than lack of skills, lack of audience, or lack of resources. 

Lack of clarity keeps you stuck. You don’t know which skills to learn and what resources you need. 

Yes, the world is full of opportunities, but you’re too confused to commit to any one option, which ultimately keeps you broke / stuck at a job you don’t like / unfulfilled. 

There are two types of clarity. 

• Inner clarity. This is deep self-awareness about who you are, what you want, what are your strengths, and what are your weaknesses. 

• Outer clarity. This is about external problems and solutions: finding the right opportunities, skills, partners, etc. 

What sells most on the Internet is outer clarity. Boy oh boy, you’d give your arm and leg to learn “how to grow on Substack.” 

And for some of you, that’s not even your business. You wouldn’t be happy pumping out content week after week for years and worrying about subscribers unsubscribing. 

Or worrying about Substack going down. 

Or worrying about finding sponsors for your content business (because, ahem, that’s what paid newsletters are). 

But you don’t consider this at all. Substack is the new shiny thing and all in we go. 

Then there’s a new one, then a new one…

What if you knew better? 

Imagine knowing exactly what business to build based on your unique talents. What would that level of clarity do for you?

Picture this: a roadmap that not only highlights your superpowers but also helps you navigate around disadvantages that could trip you up.

It’s like having a cheat sheet for success. 

That’s what having inner clarity is — and I’ve created the ultimate solopreneur assessment to help you figure it out. 

Who are you as a solopreneur? 

As a certified coach, I’ve studied and designed assessments before. I know about the Barnum effect which means people believe that vague, general statements about personality traits are highly accurate for them personally, even though they could apply to many people.

I know that many tests that claim to be scientific aren’t. Despite its popularity, the Myers-Briggs assessment has been widely regarded as pseudoscience by the scientific community.

On the other hand, the Big 5 Inventory model has been studied by psychologists and is considered to have the most scientific validity and reliability. Big Five has been proven to have precise, accurate measurements for its individual traits.

A few weeks ago, I decided to use my coaching & assessment know-how to design an assessment for solopreneurs. I reviewed various assessments, re-used some of their concepts, and sent this to a therapist to review.

After a careful review of typical entrepreneurial characteristics & few personality specifics of solopreneurs, here are the four types of solopreneurs I devised: 

• The Superstar. 

• The Artist. 

• The Visionary.  

• The Explorer. 

Each type of solopreneur has a certain type of business that’s ideal for them. Each has advantages and disadvantages. 

In the “What Type of Solopreneur Are You?” I’ve described the best business model for each solopreneur, and linked to a post that will help you build this business from scratch. 

I’ve also made a list of specific advice that will help you deal with areas for improvement based on who you are. 

Stop listening to advice that’s not the right one for you. Figure out yourself first; then you’ll grow confident & find it easier to make the decisions that will lead you to success. 

Here’s your access.

You can access the “What type of solopreneur are you?” assessment below. →

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Fiverr is noisy. 

If you’re a beginner on the platform, it feels intimidating — even if you’re not a beginner in real life. 

I understand you, but get this: Fiverr’s algorithm gives an initial boost to all new profiles and all new gigs. 

For a while, the platform will show your services among the first search results, and if you’ve optimised your profile and gigs for success, you’ll instantly feel it (straight in your wallet). 

But how hard is it to make money on Fiverr? 

Not hard if you know what you’re doing. 

In Fiverr, you can offer absolutely any kind of service. Whatever you can think of, there are people who are successfully making thousands of dollars offering it on Fiverr. 

And that’s the beauty of the platform. Fiverr attracts buyers. People go there not to read, or look around, or have fun: they go there when they need a service. 

Did you know Fiverr currently has 4.2M active buyers (which means users who have purchased at least one gig in the last year). 

That’s an incredible marketplace to be, if you know how to stand out. 

And with the Fiverr Launcher, you’ll learn exactly how to stand out. 

Tell me more about the Fiverr Launcher. 

Fiverr Launcher is the mini-course where you’ll build your Fiverr profile & your first few gigs so that you can get your first sale within one week. 

Yes, it could be that easy. 

The course includes: 

• 9 video lessons where I walk you through the platform and explain exactly how to do research & build your profile and gigs from scratch. 

• My Awesome Bio Builder formulas so your profile captures instant attention.

• My cheat sheet of Fiverr keywords for freelance writers + the process of finding the best Fiverr keywords for any kind of service or industry. 

• My proven-to-work template for gig descriptions that will have people run to get their wallets. 

• My exact quick-response messages so that you can close any lead. 

• My highly-optimised intake questionnaires so you instantly build a process for delivering your services. 
  

This Fiverr course works for any industry & is super easy to apply. You can have everything set up withing 2 hours. 

How do you know what you’re talking about? 

My name is Maya and I’m $230K+ Fiverr writer. (Also Top Rated, Pro Rated, and all that)

I’ve worked with over 2200 clients and my Fiverr business got me featured in Business Insider.

I’m also a part of Fiverr’s Sell Pro community so I have direct access to Fiverr employees showing me how to optimise my profile & gigs (and now, I'm showing you.)

How do I get the Fiverr Launcher?

You can either:

• Become a Smarter Solopreneurs paid subscriber and get access to all my separately sold products, including the Fiverr Laucnher, the Audience Builder, the “How to Create Best-Selling Mini Products, Fast” ebook and more.

• Purchase the course separately here.

If you’re a paid subscriber of Smarter Solopreneurs, you’ll find instructions on how to get the course below.

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If you know you want to be a solopreneur, but you don’t know: 

• What to do, exactly

• Who’s your ideal client, exactly

• How to monetize, exactly

• How to scale, exactly

• Basically, almost anything exact, 

…this is for you. 

10 years ago, I was you. God, it feels like yesterday! 

I made a lot of mistakes as a solopreneur, and 90% of them were about how long it took me to figure out what I wanted to do. 

So let me save you a few years. 

Secret to Success: Get clear on your dream business. 

In this newsletter:

• The two online business myths new solopreneurs believe (and how they’re sabotaging you). 

• The types of online businesses and what to expect of each.

• 7 questions that will bring you inner clarity and unstoppable motivation.

• How to research your industry so you uncover the secrets of the people who run it — and use them to map out your business success.

Two online business myths new solopreneurs believe. 

Depending on your natural levels of confidence, you believe one of two things: 

• That building an online business is too difficult. 

• That making money online is easy — everybody does it!

Here’s how these beliefs can mess you up & how to deal with them. 

Building an online business is too difficult. 

If you feel like: 

• You don’t have anything that great to offer. 

• You don’t know how to grow your audience online. 

• You don’t know what you want to talk about online: you have multiple interests that are too different.

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