For those who haven't made a sale yet...

[Robin 133]

Get to an email conversation first?

That's a good idea. I'll try it.

 

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[Andy Black]

That's a good idea. I'll try it.

This progress thread might help:

EXECUTION - Building long-tail Google Ads campaigns for fun and profit

TL;DR: A decade ago I helped a startup acquire 15k signups a day using Google Ads. Since then we generate leads for clients, but don't store the lead data. We've not done email marketing to date but did a quick test to grow an email list with Google Ads HERE. We're going to start storing the...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Posting on the forum can sometimes be an action fake. But I think taking too long to say anything makes it look as though nothing is happening. Which is not 100% the case.

It is possible. I believe it is possible. Or early next week.

Early May is launch. This week is start to test. Will also need some beta testers. @Awakened2022 expressed desire to perform this.

A few days. If not a week and some days. The material in terms of content is already there. Almost everything. The approach to design is clear.

Had to reason out with my partner concerning moving fast. Gave him some evidence and he took some hours to ruminate it then agreed of his own accord. And he saw ealy May as doable. Now busy working.

Working early morning. Between lessons and late evening.

Partners cannot be left behind.

I know the time promised up there is elapsed. But we agreed to release or launch early May. Had to convince my partner against delaying till late mid year.

Had to reason out why some things won't add any value to a quick rapid progress revision book. The book is designed to make someone work their a$$ till they brand something on their brains. And ace it in exam.

My son is in Senior Four. Tag me when you need a beta reader. Good luck. I might become your first sale.

Will post a link to Google Docs file of something like a chapter and give viewer rights. By end this week.

I believe your son if he makes a good job of this material will ace really great.

~Isaac~

 

[Awakened2022]

Posting on the forum can sometimes be an action fake. But I think taking too long say anything makes it look as though nothing is happening. Which is not 100% the case.

Early May is launch. This week is start to test. Will also need some beta testers. @Awakened2022 expressed desire to perform this.

Had to reason out with my partner concerning moving fast. Gave him some evidence and he took some hours to ruminate it then agreed of his own accord. And he saw ealy May as doable. Now busy working.

Working early morning. Between lessons and late evening.

Partners cannot be left behind.

I know the time promised up there is elapsed. But we agreed to release or launch early May. Had to convince my partner against delaying till late mid year.

Had to reason out why some things won't add any value to a quick rapid progress revision book. The book is designed to make someone work their a$$ till they brand something on their brains. And ace it in exam.

Will post a link to Google Docs file of something like a chapter and give viewer rights. By end this week.

I believe your son if he makes a good job of this material will ace really great.

~Isaac~

Keep us posted.He will be home for the holidays early next month. My offer as a beta reader still stands unless picking coffee gets in the way.

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Hey Fastlane family

Today I did a random test on the material I have developed on the active and the passive voice in English.

I was helping one of the girls polish her spelling. She is struggling to spell the letter.

Then I requested her to check one of the document and she chose the one that has the active and passive voice.

She the choice because she said she had never passed the active and passive voice before.

On reward the one to two pages, she was on an exercise and I asked her to respond to it. She aced the first 2 numbers with ease. Yet the next numbers exposed a loophole in her understanding that I had to correct.

She passed it for the first time. And exposed a problem immediately, which was corrected promptly. She appreciated it.

I believe if she were given more time with the material she would have mastered the aspect easily.

Here is a link.

THE ACTIVE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

docs.google.com

Check it out.

My Headmaster pledged his support and sort of offered to make all students own a copy.

My partner's Headmaster made a similar pledge.

Isaac

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Hey Fastlane family

Today I did a random test on the material I have developed on the active and the passive voice in English.

I was helping one of the girls polish her spelling. She is struggling to spell the letter.

Then I requested her to check one of the document and she chose the one that has the active and passive voice.

She the choice because she said she had never passed the active and passive voice before.

On reward the one to two pages, she was on an exercise and I asked her to respond to it. She aced the first 2 numbers with ease. Yet the next numbers exposed a loophole in her understanding that I had to correct.

She passed it for the first time. And exposed a problem immediately, which was corrected promptly. She appreciated it.

I believe if she were given more time with the material she would have mastered the aspect easily.

Here is a link.

THE ACTIVE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

docs.google.com

Check it out.

My Headmaster pledged his support and sort of offered to make all students own a copy.

My partner's Headmaster made a similar pledge.

Isaac

Someone may give feedback on the material. It is designed strengthen practice for developing proficiency while preparing for the standardised exam at end of cycle. @Awakened2022 may be very useful. Others may check it too.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Here are a few potential book title ideas for your book on English language skills for high school students and others:
1. "Mastering English: A Comprehensive Guide for High School Students"
2. "Intermediate English: Strengthen Your Language Skills"
3. "Ace Your English: Strategies for High School Students"
4. "English Essentials: A Guide for Intermediate Learners"
5. "Polish Your English: Techniques for High School Students"
6. "Excellent English: A Guide to Mastering Intermediate English for High School Students."

Titles generated with the help of ChatGPT.

The sixth one was my idea and ChatGPT added a few things.

 

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[Awakened2022]

I have checked the document and I must say, I am pretty impressed. I like that the examples you give especially in the longer passages are relevant to our times and will tickle the student's curiosity.

The document could do with a bit of editing by a third party since some of the errors might escape your eye.

Also, if you didn't intend the overall tone to be conversational, the word sure might be overused.

In the spirit of the new curriculum, could you come up with a scenario that requires them to use active and passive voices?

I am busy marking the end-of-term exams, and as soon as I go to the village(then I will have time on my hands), I will go through the document with a tooth comb.

Congrats on taking action. I am also working on my fast lane project.

Hey Fastlane family

Today I did a random test on the material I have developed on the active and the passive voice in English.

I was helping one of the girls polish her spelling. She is struggling to spell the letter.

Then I requested her to check one of the document and she chose the one that has the active and passive voice.

She the choice because she said she had never passed the active and passive voice before.

On reward the one to two pages, she was on an exercise and I asked her to respond to it. She aced the first 2 numbers with ease. Yet the next numbers exposed a loophole in her understanding that I had to correct.

She passed it for the first time. And exposed a problem immediately, which was corrected promptly. She appreciated it.

I believe if she were given more time with the material she would have mastered the aspect easily.

Here is a link.

THE ACTIVE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

docs.google.com

Check it out.

My Headmaster pledged his support and sort of offered to make all students own a copy.

My partner's Headmaster made a similar pledge.

Isaac

h

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Thank you very much mon ami.

Also, if you didn't intend the overall tone to be conversational, the word sure might be overused

A good one here. Will go check it out.

The document could do with a bit of editing by a third party since some of the errors might escape your eye.

Something to really consider. Very very serious. Errors must not be there. Got to sweep them out.

I am busy marking the end-of-term exams, and as soon as I go to the village(then I will have time on my hands), I will go through the document with a tooth comb.

Well done. My partner was in the same situation last week. I am in a school with lower numbers and finished pretty quickly.

Your feedback then will be gold I believe.

Ear to the ground

Congrats on taking action. I am also working on my fast lane project.

Well done for that. And thanks for giving time and knowledge on this thread.

Isaac

 

[Artiom O]

Here are a few potential book title ideas for your book on English language skills for high school students and others:
1. "Mastering English: A Comprehensive Guide for High School Students"
2. "Intermediate English: Strengthen Your Language Skills"
3. "Ace Your English: Strategies for High School Students"
4. "English Essentials: A Guide for Intermediate Learners"
5. "Polish Your English: Techniques for High School Students"
6. "Excellent English: A Guide to Mastering Intermediate English for High School Students."

Titles generated with the help of ChatGPT.

The sixth one was my idea and ChatGPT added a few things.

"Master English. A complete guide to becoming an excellent speaker"

Maybe this?

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

"Master English. A complete guide to becoming an excellent speaker"

Thank you. The word "master" seems powerful.

 

[The-J]

Alright this thread is pissing me off. As a recovering dabbler, the only thing I've become good at is getting the "first sale" so I think I can chime in here.

If someone isn't doing something they should be doing, it's because (1) they don't know what to do, (2) they don't know how to do it, or (3) they don't want to do it.

To quote Laurel Portie, if you aren't getting sales it's because you aren't having enough conversations. Therefore, if you want to make your first sale, you need to reach people and talk to them.

OK, now you know what to do, But how?

Lots of people have already chimed in. Long tail Google ad, that's pretty simple. Facebook ad. Social media post. Cold email. Cold call. Loads of ways to do it. Give them a way to contact you & tell them in no uncertain terms how to do it.

They've also talked about the message. Reflect the problem back at the prospect, problem-agitate-solve, etc. OK cool, you know how to do it.

So find your channel, find your message. Shouldn't take that long to have something that can be tested. Now you know how.

NO EXCUSES ANYMORE, RIGHT?

But that's not what most people here are on about. Most of the posts are about why they don't want to do a particular thing, and (correct) replies about how these are limiting beliefs.

My take: people are afraid to get the feedback they need to hear because it makes them feel bad.

Rejection sucks. Getting something you worked hard on rejected sucks even more. But a simple reframe might help this:

Sales is a disqualification process. You take a market, strip away people who don't need to solve the problem, who can't say yes, who don't buy into your USP, who don't have the money, and whose general plans don't include solving that problem... and you're left with the people that you need to talk to right now.

You might not know enough about your market to figure this out straight away but trust me, if you talk to enough people, you will know enough. You just gotta be willing to hear every objection in the book. But before long, you will have heard every objection and you'll be able to overcome it.

You'll learn more spending your first $1000 on Google ads (Whether you spend it in a month or in a year), your first 1000 cold calls or emails, etc... than you will sitting, thinking, and jotting shit down in a Google doc hoping to find the right answer.

(BTW if you hate cold calling, don't cold call. It's so simple. Cold email is way less intrusive, way easier, and scaling is just a matter of getting a bigger list)

It took me something like 9 months of being on TFLF before I sold one of anything, and that was because I was wasting time on stuff that didn't matter in order to avoid doing the stuff that did. Don't do that.

 

[Andy Black]

I was wasting time on stuff that didn't matter in order to avoid doing the stuff that did. Don't do that.

This seems very common.


This might help some of you guys:

• What can YOU do to make a sale in 7 days?

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Somebody who is to do book formatting asked for 1% of each sale of the book. That's the payment for his work.

We seem to be agreeing with it because it gives a way to start without money, which we actually don't have with liberty.

I also thought it would give us more leverage since he is an alumnus of one great school in the country.

The title adopted is "English Made Easy; A Guide to Mastering English"

My coauthor couldn't work as he had promised. Fell ill and is to start working today.

It worried me. Still worries me.

I added scenarios and sample activities of integration to mostly every grammar aspect and to most comprehension chapters.

I did comprehension chapters based on the themes of the revised curriculum.

This thing is taking too long. It worries me. I read Ready, Fire, Aim by M. Masterson and realised we need to quicken to make sales. Otherwise we are action faking.

Fingers crossed. But I need to get thing out in days. I can't keep loitering as if the world is mine.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

I had intended that first week of May would find copies available for the market.

 

[Andy Black]

Somebody who is to do book formatting asked for 1% of each sale of the book. That's the payment for his work.

We seem to be agreeing with it because it gives a way to start without money, which we actually don't have with liberty.

I also thought it would give us more leverage since he is an alumnus of one great school in the country.

The title adopted is "English Made Easy; A Guide to Mastering English"

My coauthor couldn't work as he had promised. Fell ill and is to start working today.

It worried me. Still worries me.

I added scenarios and sample activities of integration to mostly every grammar aspect and to most comprehension chapters.

I did comprehension chapters based on the themes of the revised curriculum.

This thing is taking too long. It worries me. I read Ready, Fire, Aim by M. Masterson and realised we need to quicken to make sales. Otherwise we are action faking.

Fingers crossed. But I need to get thing out in days. I can't keep loitering as if the world is mine.

Does it really need formatting done by someone else? If you had to make a sale this week would you need a co-author and a book formatter? What's the minimum you can put on the market, this week?

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Someone requested for a copy. She wanted to know the price. I am at a loss on this. The other books are way different from this one. But there prices are between 5$ and 10$ or thereabouts.

I have a hunch this one is better than most of them. Based on what benefits I discussed earlier in the thread. But putting a bizarre price may be self defeating. Putting a very low price may mislead with regard to value.

The price I had in mind is between 10$ and 20$.

I know the market will decide. But the price. The last thing I sold that I remember vividly is sugarcane.

 

[Andy Black]

Someone requested for a copy. She wanted to know the price. I am at a loss on this. The other books are way different from this one. But there prices are between 5$ and 10$ or thereabouts.

I have a hunch this one is better than most of them. Based on what benefits I discussed earlier in the thread. But putting a bizarre price may be self defeating. Putting a very low price may mislead with regard to value.

The price I had in mind is between 10$ and 20$.

I know the market will decide. But the price. The last thing I sold that I remember vividly is sugarcane.

Don't get precious about price. Maybe sell it on the cheaper side in exchange for a review? That way she perceives it as a good deal, and writes a review.

Get your first sale.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Does it really need formatting done by someone else?

I took this direction because formatting on phone is beyond me. I don't know how it is possible. He has a PC and is very able in using it.

The co-author issue is worrying.

Don't get precious about price. Maybe sell it on the cheaper side in exchange for a review? That way she perceives it as a good deal, and writes a review.

I think this works. But then what happens when I want to change the price later? Is that a bridge I will cross when I reach it?

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Just above 5$ a copy. Going to get a first sale.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Another decision to take is one volume of more than 300 pages or two volumes: volume 1 of about 200 pages of grammar and about 140 pages for volume 2 which is comprehension.

 

[Nazca]

1) What currently keeps a roof over your head?
Building something new for the beatbox community and creating music. I also love to teach with good will, mostly beatbox and music skills. Learning everyday is a lifestyle. Music, entrepreneurship, content creation.

2) What do people already come to you for help with?
I do workshop, lessons and collective classes, this is my main income but it is yet not enough to live properly. I am working to extend my activity to commission work and digital products.

3) If someone had a gun to your head and said you need to make a sale this week then what would you do?
I would launch a new digital product such as an e-book and would let my network know about this.

4) If money was no object what work would you be doing?
I would keep what I do now, and produce more music.

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Been scattering WhatsApp messages to people in my contact list. Targeting those who teach English. Sharing this with them.

THE ACTIVE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

docs.google.com

And asking them to place orders after reading it.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Also targeting administrators.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Targeting those who teach English. Sharing this with them.

And asking them to place orders after reading it.

To place orders for the whole book.

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Have sent out messages to 36 people. Have had a chat with 4 of them. One is a lecturer at a university and has given me two more contacts of class coordinators at the university.

I have messaged them too. One has replied. Started a chat with her.

7 have received and read the message but haven't yet responded. Some may respond later.

4 have received but haven't read yet.

The book is not yet published and I haven't told them the price yet.

 

[Andy Black]

Been scattering WhatsApp messages to people in my contact list. Targeting those who teach English. Sharing this with them.

THE ACTIVE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

docs.google.com

And asking them to place orders after reading it.

Good that you're engaging people now.

 

[Andy Black]

3) If someone had a gun to your head and said you need to make a sale this week then what would you do?
I would launch a new digital product such as an e-book and would let my network know about this.

What's stopping you?

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Looking to get a printer in my city that can help print.

Found two contacts on Google. One communicates well and the other communicates poorly.

The one that communicates well has offered to print a sample for my approval first. The other is determining how much I will pay already.

 

[Andy Black]

Looking to get a printer in my city that can help print.

Found two contacts on Google. One communicates well and the other communicates poorly.

The one that communicates well has offered to print a sample for my approval first. The other is determining how much I will pay already.

I'd say your priority is those conversations you're starting to have with people.