Letters from Lori

Lessons on life, business, and the beauty of the solopreneur journey.

Hey fellow creators,

I was thinking about AI this morning, and how there is a clear divide among creators. One side loves how it helps their business; the other believes it's evil, and is stealing opportunity.

Most of us are both amazed and a little scared by what it can do.

Here's what I know:I'm running a very successful solopreneur business without the angst or hustle. The way AI helps me automate, systematize, and analyze makes me more productive, allows me to work autonomously, and finally work fewer hours.

Here's a use case:

This morning, I published my weekly Substack newsletter (The Real Creator). I had been looking over my Substack analytics and was a bit confused as to how my paid subscribers were truly converting.

I opened Claude, and used my Substack connection. This allowed Claude to dig into my data and return to me in a way I could truly understand. I was shocked to find that my top viewed newsletters were bringing in the least amount of paid subscribers.

And some of my newsletters with the least views converted to the most subscribers.

Claude "talked" to me in a way I could understand, and then I was able to use that data to create my newsletter which could help other writers with their own Substack goals.

I created a Claude 101 Ebook for those of you that might like to take it for a spin. You'll find it at the bottom of this letter.

Meanwhile, Superhuman is dropping in to share how AI can cut a workday in half.

Two-Hour Masterclass on July 15th

My first paid subscriber came in January. Four months later I was a bestseller. My first 5,000 subscribers were completely organic, straight off the platform, and I have the stats to prove it. Then the ebook business kicked in and started paying the mortgage on its own, separately.

Same engine behind all of it. Create something. Send it over email.

It wasn't the writing so much. It was the moment I got clear on who I was writing for. Not a niche, a who. My readers care about the transformation and the story first, and the money second. The day I understood that, everything changed.

I put the whole system in one place.

The Paid Newsletter Playbook: Build, Launch & Monetize on Substack.

How to find the one topic you could write about every week without running dry. How to identify your real reader. How to price it and turn a free list into paid subscribers. The exact structure I used to go from zero to bestseller.

This is a 2-hour Event. I'm including my Substack 101 Playbook and my notes! Get your seat zoom link here:https://stan.store/loriballen/p/the-paid-newsletter-playbook​

Walk and Talk Strategy

If you don't like AI, you may not like this strategy. But if you you can talk faster

than you can type, Claude can help.

I love to go for daily walks. 2-3 miles, 45-minutes or so. I take my phone, and I speak my thoughts, my challenges, my stories, my projects.

Afterwards, I ask Claude to interview me to help discover more on the topic. When I'm done, I have a chat with thousands of words, straight from my mouth.

From there, I can do anything I want with it. I can build frameworks, ebooks, email newsletters, coaching lessons, video ideas, blog posts, social posts and more.

I bring Claude in to help me with these ideas, organization, and production. It doesn't replace me, it assists me.

​Here's a video on the strategy. ​

Lori's Library

While you can learn deep and wide with my coaching program and resources at Ballen Academy, not everyone starts there.

That's why, in each newsletter, I feature one of my guides. This is a great way to get started on your exploration to see if my strategies are a good fit for you.