Welcome to Postcards from Paradise, my Sunday thoughts, interesting finds, and stories/takeaways from wherever in the world I’ve landed.
Today’s paradise is a Premier Inn at Gatwick Airport, (writing this while watching ‘Independence Day’ on the TV!)
Tomorrow morning I fly to Chiang Mai in Thailand for 8 weeks, to get my head down and make the most of Q4.
This is the big one for my travel cards. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, the lot. If I can’t sell a giftable product at Christmas, I can’t sell it at all.
Why Chiang Mai? Cheap, warm, filled with nomads and solopreneurs to talk shop with and minimal distractions other than plenty of Khao Soi’s and good foot massages!
So, this Sunday’s postcard.
1. This week’s numbers
A few weeks ago I wrote about my goal to build a $10k/month ecom business while travelling the world. Well that goal is alive and well.
Here’s how things have gone this week:
Shopify - 16 sales, $703 revenue
Amazon - 12 sales, $360 revenue
Total - 28 sales, $1063 revenue
Whoop, whoop! 🥳
Still a long way to go, but every sale feels like a little victory at the moment.
Gratuitous sales pitch: If you’ve got a travel lover in your life and you’re wondering what on earth to buy them for Christmas, may I humbly suggest a pack of my fabulous This Big Travel Challenge cards? 50 scratch-off adventures in one little box. You’re welcome. 😂
2. If people can’t understand it in seconds, you’ve got a problem
This week someone took a hard look at my Amazon listing for the cards and gave it to me straight.
One of my biggest problems is that you can’t instantly see what they are. You have to explain them.
Which is one of the reasons I’m putting so much effort into video ads right now. In a few seconds, I can show people exactly what the cards are and how they work, whereas on Amazon, a handful of images have to do all the explaining.
So I’m working on that.
And it’s the same with everything. Your business, your book, your blog, your Substack. If people can’t quickly understand what you’re offering and why they should care, they’ll probably scroll on.
I took my own medicine this week and tightened up this Substack too.
It now says what it does in one line: How to fund your freedom and make life after 50 your biggest adventure yet.
If you’re building something and you’re not sure your message is clear enough, try this prompt in Claude (or ChatGPT):
Here’s how I describe my [Substack / business / product]: [paste it].
Here’s who I want to reach: [describe them].
First, tell me in one sentence what a stranger would think I do. Then give me 5 one-sentence versions that say who it’s for and what they get, each under 20 words. Be blunt about anything vague.
Fair warning, it doesn’t hold back. 😂
3. Meet my new housemate
For my first month in Chiang Mai, I’m house-sitting.
I wasn’t planning to, because accommodation there is so cheap anyway. But I’m going without my husband, (I wrote about grabbing life solo here), and the thought of having a gorgeous pug to look after gave me joy.
And this is no ordinary pug.
Meet Puglo, a rescue pug who’s been to 23 countries and has 21,000 followers on Instagram.
It’s my first time taking care of a celebrity! I’ll let you know how it goes (believe me I’ll be quizzing him for some social media tips) 😂
4. Known well, not well known
This week I was listening to Shaan Puri on the My First Million podcast, talking about what he’d do if he started again from scratch as a creator.
If you’re thinking about launching anything online, chances are you’re a creator of some kind too, so it’s worth a listen. He’s super down to earth & a great story teller.
Something he said has really stuck with me through this week:
Don’t focus on becoming well known, focus on becoming known well.
I love that.
Too often we focus on numbers as a measurement of success. The fewer followers or subscribers you’ve got, the less successful you must be, and the more you’ve got, the better you must be doing.
And it’s so easy to get caught up chasing algorithms, worrying about views and making decisions based on what you think people want to hear.
But if instead you focus on being known well, you can forget so much of that noise and concentrate on sharing what matters to you. What you’ve experienced, what you’ve learned and what you think might help someone else.
Which, ironically, is probably when you start creating your best content.
5. Posts You Might Have Missed
Here’s my posts from this week:
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading! Let me know below what you’re working on this week, or where in the world you’re reading from. I’d love to hear.
See you from Chiang Mai. 🌴🇹🇭
Jo x