Greetings my fellow creator.

A few weeks, I hopped on a call with one of the most professional copywriters I know - Andrew.

Andrew is a great guy, and on our call, I asked him to roast the sales page for my course.

…And beyond 2 pages of google docs with notes on how could I improve it…

I left the call with one more takeaway:

I’m not even close to being as good at copywriting as I thought I am.

And because my pride couldn’t handle that (kinda)...

Guess what I decided to dedicate this summer for?

Yup.

It’s copywriting.

And in today’s letter, I’m going to share a 6-step process I’m going to use

(that you can use to acquire any other skill).

Excited?

Awesome - me too.

But before we dive in…

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Alright - we’re talking about learning skills. You already know that.

I also assume that you already know about the importance of learning skills as a creator, since you’re subscribing to this newsletter.

But still…

I wanna take a little detour here, and give you my philosophical take on why building skills is now more relevant to creators than ever.

This is the exact question you were asking in your head, isn’t it?

Okay, maybe not. But I’ll tell you anyway.

The short answer is…

The creator economy is changing at a faster rate every single day.

• AI is evolving

• algorithms (and platforms) are changing at the speed of light

• more people are joining social media every single day

The list goes on.

And all of that raises an important question:

How can you secure your future as a creator?

Well, the answer is…

Study the Skill Hierarchy:

The Skill Hierarchy…and The Lindy Effect

Are you getting a hint of why did I tell you about The Lindy Effect?

No?

Okay, so for the slower ones…

According to the Lindy Effect, we can find out what skills are likely to stay relevant in the future, based on how long they’ve already been relevant.

That way, you can find out what skills should you focus on if you want to “future-proof” your brand.

There are 3 levels:

1. Specific Skill (e.g. how to go from 0 - 1,000 followers in 3 months in 2023)

2. Foundational Skill (e.g. persuasion)

3. Meta Skill (e.g. learning how to learn)

Specific Skill is very specific (duh), and stays relevant only for a short period of time. The things that worked to grow a following in July 2023 might not work 6 months later (they're short-term).

So instead, it would be better to learn a skill that’ll likely stay relevant for decades (Like persuasion. Persuasion is nothing but human psychology, and human psychology doesn’t change - or at least doesn’t change as fast as algorithms).

But…to build any of those skills (whether specific or relevant) you need to have the meta-skill (e.g. learning & thinking).

Now don’t get me wrong:

As a creator, you should focus on all 3.

As they say:

“The most powerful brands are short-term catchy & long-term sticky.”

So with all that being said…

Let me finally reveal the 6-step process to supercharge your learning ↓

Step 1: Pick the right skill

The first step to success is to pick a skill that naturally pulls you.

That’s why you should pursue your curiosity, not trends.

If everyone is shouting “Starting a YouTube channel is the best side hustle!” but you don’t like being on camera…

Good - start writing online. And you better like writing. Cause I’m watching you...

Haha, don’t worry. Just fooling around.

Onward:

Step 2: Set a specific intention

I’m not learning copywriting in general. I’m specializing in sales page copy.

So whenever I read a book or watch a video on copywriting, I only extract the information I know I could when writing a sales page.

Specific intention → narrow focus.

Narrow focus → better results.

Skip this step, and you’ll waste 100s of hours on something you’ll never end up using.

Got it?

Alright - now that you’ve picked the right skill & set a specific intention, it’s time to start learning.

Step 3: Principles over tactics

I bet you’ve heard of the Pareto’s Law:

20% of actions lead to 80% of results.

Speaking of learning, this rule doubles its importance.

The question is:

How do you identify the 20%?

And the answer is…

Identify the core principles of the skill first.

How?

1. Search on Google (or YouTube) “X things every beginner should when learning [skill]

2. Consume the top 3 resources from the top people in the field

3. Find where the advice intersects

Ta-da. Those are your principles.

Make sure to put them in a good use.

Step 4: Immerse yourself

Do you like that quote?

Meet its author - it’ me.

(No need to clap).

Jokes aside…

Progress becomes inevitable when you put yourself in an environment that supports it.

And that's why you should…

• invest in communities

• join cohorts

• join social media groups (or create your own)

Because when you get in spots like that, it forces you to…

Step 5: Practice

Remember my call with Andrew?

I came into that call thinking highly of my copy skills, yet left humiliated when I confronted the hard truth.

And I bet that you’ve felt this feeling at least once in your life before as well.

But you know what?

This is a good thing.

Whenever you feel like you suck, that's when you're growing.

So put in the reps the uncomfortable reps.

It’s better to feel like fool a little every single day…

Then look like a clown on a call with a pro copywriter.

Now moving on to the last step…

Step 6: Iterate

If I wouldn’t have the call with Andrew, I wouldn’t realize that I need to improve in the first place.

That’s why you should…

Invest in getting feedback and mentorship.

Invest in communities (deja vu?).

Invest in courses.

You can’t do the same thing 10,000 times and call it progress.

Don’t focus on putting in 10,000 reps.

Focus on making 10,000 tiny improvements.

In other words:

Learn skills like your future depends on it. Because it does.

Alright friends, that’s it for today.

Have a great week ahead, and don’t forget to…

1. Pick a skill

2. Set a goal

3. Focus on principles over tactics

4. Immerse yourself

5. Practice

6. Iterate

Talk next Sunday,

– Claudia “Invest In Your Skills” Stellner

P.S.: If you’re interested in improving your copywriting skills as well, then Andrew is the go-to person. Each one of his tweets & threads is full of value. You won’t regret it!

P.S.S.: If you’ve got 1 more second to spare…