Monday Flow #3
A weekly email template for female founders who are tired of relying on social media to keep their business visible.
Hey folks!
Things might be looking a little different around here, and that’s because this bish did some housekeeping last week! I’ve been making more of an effort here on Substack notes as I’d like to reach more people on this platform, share these newsletters with more people who will find them useful, and I want to connect with more women’s health workers and advocates.
This newsletter started out as a sort of journal of my life settling into Sevilla, what I’d be thinking about when I went out on my runs, and a random assortment of thoughts and tribulations. In this current iteration, which is a lot more marketing-focused with personal essays thrown in, it didn’t feel right to continue with the name “Running, Uncensored” so I have simply removed the Running part to make it a bit more what this newsletter is all about: talking about subjects that typically get censored on Insta and such, the impacts of this censorship, and how female founders can reclaim their space online and connect with their clients and customers through email newsletters.
I’m planning a newsletter around what exactly I do for work, as I know some of you are like wait, what is censorship and how does this impact me?! What even is email marketing?! What is women’s health advocacy!! What are all these webinars your promoting! So I promise, this newsletter is on the cards and will be sent out within the next month!
However, I have an even more exciting newsletter coming out later on this week with the lovely Lindsey of The Angry Uterus Club. Lindsey set up this online group for any person dealing with chronic pain, off the back of Lindsey’s own problems with endometriosis and getting constantly gaslit by her own GP. I interviewed Lindsey last week and we discussed her road to getting diagnosed, the problems within healthcare that women face, and her reasoning for setting up a group for folks with chronic pain. I’m in the middle of editing it so expect it to be in your inboxes by Thursday morning!
And now onto this week’s email template!
This week, we’re pulling back the curtain. Peep-show style.
If you missed the last couple of weeks, we’ve already covered the Gratitude Email and the Summer Reading List. This week we’re getting a little nosier.
It’s giving ✨Behind The Scenes✨
Not to bore you with all of the psychological details and stats behind why people spend money, but there’s so much more to simply pressing pay at the online checkout.
They buy because they trust your brand, because they want to support your business over all of the others that may well be the same as yours, or maybe they buy because they reasonate with your values.
And one of the quickest ways to build confidence in your clients or customers is showing people how something actually happens.
It doesn’t have to be the minutiae, nor does it have to be your accounting processes! But I am absolutely sure there is a task you do day-to-day that will pique people’s interest like nobody’s business.
Whether you press flowers, coach women through burnout, design brands, run retreats or paint naked ladies, there’s always something your audience has never seen before.
Show them!
The funny voice notes to your business coach.
The colour-coded Notion board.
Google Chrome with 47 tabs open.
The whiteboard covered in half-thought-out ideas.
The tea that went cold while you were researching.
The client questionnaire nobody sees.
Your client onboarding process.
The sticky notes half hanging off the wall from ideas and inspo you’ve needed in the lead up to a product launch.
Your app features and benefits design list.
Because what might feel ordinary to you is usually fascinating to someone else.
And I also think that in this day and age where Instagram fatigue is sooo real and we’re sick of seeing perfectly posted and edited photos, that it’s refreshing to see the messy middle!
I must admit, this form of email is hard for me to apply to my own business. Although it’s something I’d love to challenge myself to try. This is week 3 of these emails, and when I’ve sent out all 12 I’m going to then repeat the challenge, except by applying all of these templates to my own business! So see you in approximately…. yep, 12 weeks when I will be sharing a BTS of my own!! I shall call it email-inception, I’ll document how I write my emails inside of an email. Hehe.
For now, my BTS this week is me surrounded by three different email platforms, approximately twenty four tabs open, a notebook full of scribbles that only I can decipher, and a forgotten iced coffee.
And a special shoutout to El Riches who is currently building a platform for women’s health affiliate marketing. In her newsletters, she’s sharing behind the scenes at what building her business looks like!
🩸 Your Monday Flow
This week’s newsletter personality is August: The Behind The Scenes Email.
Instead of teaching something today, you’re inviting your readers into your world.
Show them what happens before the polished Instagram post goes live (we all have a camera roll chock full of 30 of the exact same photos!) or before the workshop goes live.
As always, anything in brackets is yours to customise. Read it out loud before you hit publish and be sure to delete anything that sounds too polished!
The Template
Subject line ideas:
Come behind the scenes with me
Welcome into my lair/realm/workshop/workspace
A little peek behind the curtain
The part nobody sees
Hi (name),
If you’ve ever wondered how (your offer/service/product) comes together... then today’s your lucky day! Because I’m giving you a very exclusive sneak peak into my BTS.
I think we spend way too much time only showing the finished version of running a business.
Here’s what this week actually looked like...
Step one
(Talk about where an idea starts.)
Maybe it’s a client conversation in the DMs.
The 68th random note on your notes app at 11pm.
A random shower thought (someone needs to create a waterproof whiteboard for the shower, for real).
Or a voice note to yourself while out for a walk.
Explain it like you’re telling a friend.
Step two
(Show your reader the messy middle. If you’re a product-based business, add in some images here! Not too many, as you don’t want your newsletter to be overloaded with images that slow down loading speed).
What’s harder than people expect?
And what do you find surprisingly easy?
What usually changes halfway through?
At what moment do you know this is all coming together, or where you need to burn it all down and start again?!
This is the bit people love reading because it gives a great angle on how you problem-solve and get creative with the products/services you create for your clients/customers!
Step three
(Show the finished result.)
What does all that work eventually become?
A product?
A client transformation?
A workshop?
An email?
Connect the dots so readers understand why your process matters.
So much more than a highlight reel
Because I think we all spend too much time comparing our behind-the-scenes to someone else’s finished product, when rarely are things simply an overnight success.
Every business has messy drafts and half-finished ideas.
Days (and weeks!) where absolutely nothing flows together.
That’s completely normal and my certainly looks like this.
I’d love to know... What’s a part of your work people never get to see?
Hit reply and tell me!
I read every reply, and they’re my favourite part of sending these emails.
Speak soon,
(Your sign off)
🌊 The thinking behind this email
Behind-the-scenes emails work because they invite people into your world instead of standing on a stage talking at them.
When readers understand how you work, they stop seeing you as “someone who offers a service” and start seeing you as the person they trust to do it.
And feel free to reveal just enough that people can picture themselves working with you, or seeing how much time and effort you put into the craft they will then buy from you.
Speaking of replies, can I ask you a favour? If you’ve been using these templates, hit reply and let me know.
Knowing these Monday emails are helping someone finally press send makes my day.
(And if you’ve got a newsletter you’re dreading writing, tell me. I might build a template for it!)
See you on Thursday for Lindsey’s interview!
Maria
I’m so glad I finally am on your main newsletter 😅 Looking forward to applying the template (or attempting to!) 💖