- How I AI
- Posts
- Narrowing down
Narrowing down
It's all about the list
Last week I wrote something that made me realize I need to refocus:
If you aren’t building your email list, you aren’t building a business.
Over the past few years, I’ve dedicated a lot of time to building email lists for myself and clients, writing newsletters, and creating funnels, automations and bots to streamline the process.
I manage lists of 100 (this baby newsletter you’re reading!) up to 55k subscribers.
In my coaching sessions, one topic consistently comes up: the importance of building your list.
I believe that the foundation of a successful long-term online business lies in having a list of engaged subscribers.
With that in mind, I’m narrowing the focus of this newsletter.
Stay subscribed if you want to learn how to leverage AI to grow your email list, write better emails, and build your business without sounding robotic, feeling overwhelmed by tools, or getting distracted by shiny objects.
If that doesn’t resonate with you, feel free to unsubscribe using the link below—no hard feelings.
Thanks for reading!
Nathan
QUICK QUIZ
In what year was the first email sent?Vote to see the answer |
Answer to last week’s Quiz: What does GPT actually stand for?
Answer: Generative Pretrained Transformer
HOW I AI’D THIS WEEK
After my lightbulb moment about “niching down” my focus in this newsletter, I needed to get clear about a lot of things.
First among these is the pains and problems my “ideal subscriber” has around growing their email list and emailing that list.
If I am clear about that, then I can create a newsletter that helps solve those pains and problems, and becomes truly useful for my ideal subscriber.
I turned to ChatGPT to help me.
Here’s what we came up with:
🧑💻 Who They Are:
Online entrepreneurs (primary audience)
Solopreneurs, freelancers, coaches, consultants, course creators
Possibly small agency owners or indie product builders
Mostly solo (or with a VA), doing everything themselves
They're trying to grow an email list, build a real business, and use AI to help—but:
They feel behind, overwhelmed, or stuck
They want to sound human, not like an AI-written sales robot
They doubt themselves more than they’d like to admit
They hesitate to sell because they fear sounding pushy or annoying
💥 What They Want:
To grow their email list with confidence and clarity
To write emails that sound like them—and actually convert
To use AI to save time, not waste more of it
To build a simple, repeatable system that brings in leads and sales
To feel proud of what they send (and not second-guess every word)
Ultimately: A steady, growing income from their online business that gives them freedom
Freedom from the 9–5
Freedom from up-and-down months
Freedom from feeling like they built a job that pays worse than the one they left
😬 What They're Struggling With:
Imposter syndrome: “Who am I to send this?”
Fear of being annoying, salesy, or sounding like a fraud
Inconsistent list growth and ghost-town newsletters
Feeling like AI should help—but not knowing how to make it work
Tool overload and prompt fatigue
Staring at a blank screen and never hitting "send"
Comparing themselves to people who “figured it out” faster
🧠 Psychographic Snapshot:
These are real people trying to build a real business online, not just rack up likes. They’ve heard email is important. They’ve dabbled with AI. But they’re juggling 17 priorities and a blinking cursor, and it all feels just a little too much.
They don’t want more theory. They want clarity, confidence, and systems that work without selling their soul or their Saturday.
I think that is spot on (because I am also my ideal subscriber, so these are the same things I’ve struggled with).
But only you can tell me.
If any of the above had you nodding your head and thinking “Yup, that’s me”, then:
A - PLEASE REPLY AND LET ME KNOW!!! It would be so helpful to me to know I am on the right track.
B - Know that you’re not alone. I have spoken to dozens, if not hundreds, of entrepreneurs and business owners struggling with just this. And that’s what I hope to help you with in this newsletter.
And if you want to be able to create a profile like this, then check out the prompt below in Steal this Prompt.
Brought to You By
Start learning AI in 2025
Keeping up with AI is hard – we get it!
That’s why over 1M professionals read Superhuman AI to stay ahead.
Get daily AI news, tools, and tutorials
Learn new AI skills you can use at work in 3 mins a day
Become 10X more productive
STEAL THIS PROMPT
Before writing any emails, you need to know who you're writing to. This prompt will help you create a detailed "ideal reader profile”:
You are an expert in psychographic research, helping me define my ideal email audience for my online business.
I'm going to brain dump everything I know about my ideal audience. Then I want you to turn it into a clear, concise, and emotionally grounded profile I can use as the foundation for my email marketing.
After I share my notes, organize my ideas into the following format using my words where possible:
Ideal Reader Profile
Who they are: [Brief description of the type of person]
What they want: [Top 2–3 goals they're chasing]
What they're struggling with: [Real problems or pain points]
What they've tried: [Common tools, tactics, or advice that haven't worked]
What they're afraid of: [Doubts, fears, or beliefs that hold them back]
What they believe: [A key value, attitude, or worldview that shapes how they act]
Format it cleanly in bullet points with bolded headers so I can copy and reuse it. If anything I said was unclear or contradictory, ask for clarification before generating the final profile.
HOW THEY AI
This isn’t specifically about email or newsletters, and it is a longer article, but it is worth the read to understand how to go beyond the surface level and truly leverage AI.
You are my new favorite person! You read (or skipped) to the bottom.
Please take a moment to let me know what you thought (and what I can improve).
What did you think of today's edition? |