Susan does - as she shared with me in a recent e-mail. Susan said that her three biggest fears regarding developing a newsletter are:

She won’t have enough to say.

She won’t keep it up regularly.

She’ll annoy people.

Susan is attending the Effective Newsletter Teleclinic that will happen on Tuesday July 8. We’re going to cover these topics in-depth during that class. But, let’s explore them a little bit here, shall we?

1.  Finding enough to write about. Your inspiration for newsletter topics is going to come directly from your experience with your clients. Article fodder abounds when you think about recent conversations you’ve had with clients, recent conversations you’ve had with people that are related to your business, industry news, etc…

There are 1,000’s of topics. If you keep a documented list of topics, or some sort of inspiration file, it will help you when it comes time to write an article.

2. Keeping a regular schedule. With the busy-ness that we each face during the day, it’s definitely concerning to think about sticking with something on a regular basis.

It’s important to choose a newsletter schedule that is exactly right for you and fits into your schedule. Once you start a newsletter - it must be consistent. Not only will people forget who you are if you stop sending your newsletter, but people will really come to rely on the information you provide.

3. The risk of annoying people. This is what opt-in is all about. You must get permission from people before you add them to your newsletter list. And, you must make it easy for them to unsubscribe. Being added to a newsletter list without consent is a sure-fire way to make someone mad (I’ve been added to lists without being asked before and it’s not something I’m ever happy about… and if you’ve been added to a list without being asked you know what I’m talking about…).

But, if you have some way for people to grant you permission (like the handy form that’s here), and you make it clear and easy for them to unsubscribe - you’re golden. Yeah, some people will still be irritated (and we’ll talk about why that is and what to do about it in the class), but those numbers are teeny tiny and you don’t really need to worry about those folks.

Creating a newsletter can surely stir up a lot of anxiety - and a lot of questions. It’s one of the best things you can do to generate steady client and income flow in your business - and it’s not as hard as it looks - even though it can seem pretty overwhelming.