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Thinking Clearly — Archive of past newsletters Volume 1

#106 – How do you frame your expertise?

Screen shot 2013-10-08 at 08.04.19

Full handwritten version

 

Hello Amazing!

The success of this newsletter has completely surprised me. I personally hate most newsletters because they don’t feel relevant to me, so when considering this project I spent time really trying to frame the right topic. I think this can be relevant even if you never launch a newsletter on your own.

Set the frame

You can do this for yourself personally or maybe for a company newsletter or both.

Begin by writing a list of topics that you know a lot about.

On a new piece of paper create a coordinate system with frequency on the x-axis and audience on the y-axis.

Mapping

Pick the topics from the list that you are most excited about. For each topic ask yourself:

  • How often does this change/need to be updated? Every minute? Every decade?
  • How many people do you think will find this to be relevant for them?

It can work well to discuss these questions with a friend. Place each topic on the map.

Does any of these already fall within the newsletter spectrum (monthly-weekly)?

Reframing

For each topic ask yourself:

  • How can I reframe this core of expertise I have, to be more abstract/general? This is like going left on the map.
  • How can I turn it into a specific and concrete application? A way to use it? (going right)
  • Will this reframing make the topic relevant for more or less people?

 

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