Katelyn Bourgoin 🧠's Linkedin Analytics

Got an idea for a new offer but feel stuck? No. You don't need to "niche down"... (Despite what the gurus promise) You need to "problem-up". My Problem-Up Method will help you find profitable problems to solve AND specific buyers who will pay handsomely for your solution. How does it work? Follow these 5 steps: __ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 Smart businesses target specific *moments* (not just specific buyers) __ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 *𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆* 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 The "job" is shorthand for the progress the customer wants to make. Your prospective buyers know where they want to go... but they're struggling. They *hire* products and services to help them overcome obstacles and get their jobs done. When you get clear on their job... you can design better solutions. __ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 3: 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁) While high-level JOBS are often universal... the PROBLEMS people face when trying to get a job done are heavily influenced by their specific context. Ask yourself: "Who might face unique struggles when trying to get the job done?" High potential target buyers are: → Aware of the problem (or feel symptoms) → Experience big pain trying to get the job done → Already pay for alternate solutions (even if those solutions look totally different than what you're envisioning) → Are accessible to you (you understand them and know how to find them) __ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 4: 𝗗𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 *𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴* Dive deep and explore all many, many, maaaaaaaany pains and problems those different buyers experience when trying to get the job done. Find the overlapping problems across different buying segments. Then rank those problems to identify the ones that are uniquely painful and expensive that—and this part is important—YOU are uniquely qualified to solve. __ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 5: 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 People buy painkillers. So you've gotta rework your offer so people understand the *problem* you solve, *when* they'd buy, and *why* it's different. __ This is how you Problem-Up. When you solve bigger problems... you'll earn bigger paychecks. Cool, right? __ P.S. If you wanna launch a new scalable offer that people will actually pay for... And you're overwhelmed by ideas and feel stuck... I'm building a new workshop to get you unstuck. Let me know if you wanna join the waitlist and get first dibs 🤓

Problems > Personas Too many smart people make the same dumb mistake. (I know it's dumb because I've made it myself, more than once.) They build a product *they* want to build: → "I want to launch a course" → "Let's build a productized service biz" → "Nothing scales better than software" → "Communities give recurring revenue, baby!" Yup. They're focused on what they want. Then, when sales are slower than hoped, they assume they're just not targeting the right people. Sometimes that's true. But the more common issue is that they're not solving the right problem in the right way. You've gotta start with problems and work backwards to the solution. You can't start with your product and then try to figure out where to sell it. I've made this mistake. It hurt. Bad. Can you relate? __ Pssst: I've spent the last 7 weeks building a new hands-on workshop to help you find painful problems worth solving and people who will pay a premium for your solution. It's coming soon. 1600+ people are already on the waitlist for the workshop. Join them here: https://lnkd.in/eE9nH2ck

You know people want solutions to their specific problems. But which problems are worth solving? If you want to create an offer that sells, you need to solve those pants-on-fire kinda problems. The "take my money NOW" kinda problems. I call these FIRE problems 🔥🔥🔥 __ A FIRE problem is: F - Frequent (it occurs often or the symptoms of the root problem are felt often) I - Intense (it really hurts) R - Requires fast action (it feels urgent) E - Expensive (it costs a lot of money directly or indirectly) __ Entire empires have been built on solving FIRE problems. Did you know Tylenol started as another headache medicine in a crowded market? Sales were slow, so they did some customer research. They discovered that some of their most loyal customers were panicked parents with feverish kids at 2 AM who couldn't wait for morning to see a doctor. They needed a solution NOW. So Tylenol changed their message. Rather than selling "headache relief," they became "the fever reducer pediatricians recommend most." Same product. Different FIRE problem. Sales exploded. Today, there's a specific Tylenol brand for many different problems: → Fever → Muscle pain → Sinus Headache → Menstrual Cramps Same basic ingredients. Different problems. Smart, right? __ The business world is changing rapidly. But smart entrepreneurs focus on what *doesn't* change. Smart entrepreneurs build products that solve burning problems. Where there's FIRE... There's opportunity. What FIRE problems are you solving?

Want to know a secret? I still get INSANELY nervous before every live talk... I'm talking "sweaty palms, need to pee every 12 seconds, mentally planning my escape route" nervous. This photo? Pure performance art. I'm smiling like I own the damn place while my internal monologue is screaming "ABORT MISSION" on repeat. Even after hundreds of talks, my pre-stage ritual still includes sweating through my shirt and wondering if anyone would notice if I faked a medical emergency. Plot twist: Public speaking is a HUGE part of my business. And I do it often... scared. I could have built a business that didn't require me to speak or teach. Many smart people do. But the scary stuff? That's where the magic happens. The stuff that makes you want to throw up is usually the stuff that makes you money. The same applies to your business: → That new offer you've been overthinking to death? → That pivot you've drafted 17 versions of but haven't pulled the trigger on? → That price increase that makes your stomach do gymnastics? Your next level is hiding behind that wall of terror. Sometimes being an entrepreneur means feeling the fear and doing it anyway. What scary thing are you avoiding that could totally transform your business? __ P.S. I'm hosting a live workshop next week to help people design a scalable offer that sells. 250+ people have already signed up... and I need to pee just thinking about it. Will I see you there?

Bad messaging kills good products… (And dreams) Why? When a product isn’t selling, entrepreneurs assume that *the product* is the problem. Sometimes that’s true. But oftentimes the root problem is *how you’re talking about the product.* Don’t rush to change your product. Fix your messaging so people get it, want it, and buy it. Do you agree?

Why should you share your wins publicly? Because the persuasiveness of a message is tied to the messenger. Sharing your wins positions you as credible. Even if it can sometimes feel "icky". Ya feel me?

1. First you earn attention… ↳ 2. Then you earn trust ↳ 3. Then you earn wallets ↳ 4. Then, when your solution overdelivers, you earn hearts (and referrals) Skip any of these steps and you’re ngmi — Pssst: which step are you struggling with right now?

I was planning to write a post today about the challenges of being a working parent but… My toddler is home sick from daycare so no time to write now (Ironically, this quick post probably says more than I’d planned to say)

The AI copywriting gurus are lying to you. (But you already knew that) Those "million-dollar prompts" they're selling? Most are garbage. You're right to be skeptical of big claims around AI copywriting products. LinkedIn is flooded with crappy prompt templates that produce generic copy that sounds like it was written by a robot. But here's the truth: AI can help you write good copy. You just need to teach the damn thing properly. Let me show you how I do it... I wanted a bot that helped me write better headlines, so spent a full day building a GPT prompt. My prompt? A monstrous 4,000+ words with a supplementary PDF. And it works. (You're reading the post right now because of a headline this bot wrote) Here's a glimpse at my process: 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 1️⃣ 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 I told my bot to think like copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz. He wrote Breakthrough Advertising in the 70s and used copies of it still sell for $500+ on eBay today. When AI embodies greatness, it stops writing like, well... AI. __ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 2️⃣ 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 (𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼) Most people tell AI what they want it do. I teach it how to think about the problem The quality gap happens at the *thinking* level, not the instruction level. __ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 3️⃣ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 In Breakthrough Advertising, Schwartz shares 38 headline writing techniques. These are gold for training the bot, but Schwartz's examples were dated. So I used AI to find modern examples of each headline style. Better examples = better output. __ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 4️⃣ 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 You can't write a potent and persuasive headline if you don't understand the customer you aim to reach. The same is true for AI. I instructed my headline bot to ask the user 10 questions to gather context about their customer and the product they're selling. The bot gets into the nitty gritty, asking about the audience's pain points and awareness levels. Why? Because someone who already knows they need your solution needs a completely different headline than someone who doesn't even know they have a problem. __ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 5️⃣ 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 First drafts are never perfect. So I created a refinement system where users can iterate on promising headlines until they actually work. Whoa—that's a lot of work, right? Yup. It is. But *this* is what's needed to get an output that doesn't suck. Anyone promising magic results from some 3 line prompt is selling digital snake oil. But if you're willing to do the work, you can get AI to work for you. I love nerding out on this stuff. Do you? __ P.S. My Headline Generator bot is just one of 9 bots included with my PAINKILLER Messaging System. And we've built a bunch of crazy new bots for my Buyer Breakthrough workshop next week. Are you coming?

Marketing tactics, channels, and tech change rapidly. People don’t. The best marketers find new ways to evoke old emotions.

If you pay $5M for a 30-sec Super Bowl ad, what matters more: having the funniest ad? Or boosting sales? In 2010, Snickers did both... Do you remember Snickers’ "You're not you when you're hungry" ad? This ad helped Snickers rebound from a 3-year sales slump. In fact, they grew market share by 17% in the 1st year alone. But why did it work? Was it because it was funny? Nope. There are many examples of funny ads that went viral but didn’t actually grow sales This ad worked for 3 reasons: #1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 If you're getting hangry, that's WHEN you need a Snickers. It is a universally shared buying trigger. #2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 When you're hungry, you make dumb mistakes. And while the ad was funny, the underlying message was deadly serious. Here's why... humans are pack animals. We rely on others for survival. If you're hungry, you could make a fool of yourself and be shunned by your pack. People got the message: being hungry is risky. #3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆 Snickers' painkilling promise was clear: Packed with peanuts, Snickers satisfies. This 5-word slogan positioned Snickers as the go-to candy bar if you needed to stave off hunger. This ad is celebrated as one of the best Super Bowl ads ever. And Snickers is still using this campaign today—12 years later—and they're still the world's #1 candy bar. The lesson? When you deeply understand the problem your product solves and who cares a lot about that problem... you win. __ P.S. Is anyone else craving a Snickers now? __ P.P.S. I've spent the last 7 weeks building a new hands-on workshop to help you find painful problems worth solving and people who will pay a premium for your solution. It's coming soon. 1800+ people are already on the waitlist for the workshop. Join them here: https://lnkd.in/eE9nH2ck

IYKYK 😭 PSA: If your client thinks they've "niched down"... but all they've really done is cherry-picked a few demographic traits describing the customers they *want* to serve... they're in trouble. (And so are you because you won't be able to help them) People don't buy things because of *who* they are. They buy things because they have specific *problems* to solve. Smart marketers start with problems and then work their way up to their ideal target market. I call this *Problem-upping*. And if you wanna sell more stuff, it's a game-changer. When you solve bigger problems, you earn bigger paychecks.

Business is hard. Yeah, you wish it were “easier”… But you don’t actually want it to be “easy”—not really. That would take all the fun out of it. Embrace the suck.

This is the best advice I ever got about choosing a target market: “You can’t boil the ocean. Get more specific.” But here's the thing... "Specific" doesn't necessarily mean being specific about *who* you serve. It's not about saying, "we serve seed-stage AI-powered CRM SaaS companies in the mid-west with CEOs named John." Yeah, this example is extreme. But it points to a common mistake smart people make. They choose a hyper-specific target market and think it will solve their growth problems. But people don't buy things because of *who* they are. They buy things because they have specific problems to solve—problems that other solutions don't solve. So... yes. You should get more specific.. About the *problem* you solve. When you solve bigger problems, you earn bigger paychecks. Do you agree?

5 years ago I was just a marketing consultant who was nerdy about behavioural science… I decided to start a newsletter so I could explore my interest and attract future clients for my insights agency. Today Why We Buy 🧠 is read by 63,000 smart people around the world. It was even named as one of the “top marketing newsletters” by Forbes. Crazier still… I’m seen as an expert in buyer psychology. The lesson? You don’t need a long list of credentials to start writing about a topic. To paraphrase James Clear, everyone feels like an impostor when they start something new. But you become an expert by writing about it. Start creating. Future you deserves it. I'm curious... In 5 years from now, what will you be known for? Share in the comments for accountability.

Will AI kill the online course business? I hope so. (And I'm in the "course" business) Let’s be brutally honest: most online courses suck. Now don't get me wrong… I love the *business* of online courses. You create something once and sell it over and over. What's not to love? But as a student, I hate the typical learner experience. Most online courses are designed for the way people *should* behave... instead of how they *actually* behave. People don’t want endless information. They want answers. They don’t want to “study.” They want to act, achieve, and see results—fast. Or better yet, they want the work done *for them*. Yet most courses still drown you in 40+ hours of boring video lessons, slap together a PDF workbook or Notion template, and then tell you to "get to work". Then when you don't get the results they promised, they blame you for not being "dedicated enough". Spoiler: You’re (usually) not the problem. Their outdated, one-size-fits-all product is. AI will kill bad online courses. And that's a good thing. Because it will force course creators to level up. The best creators won't just teach you. They'll equip you with AI tools that: → Brainstorm ideas with you, tailored to your goals. → Generate actionable plans for your business. → Provide real-time feedback to keep you on track. → Turn overwhelming tasks into effortless wins. This isn’t education. It’s transformation. AI is rewriting the rules. The era of passive, bloated courses is over. The future belongs to creators who use AI to make success feel inevitable. Less lecture. More breakthrough. And I am f*cking here for it. Are you? __ P.S. I spent the last 7 weeks building a new kind of workshop. My new Buyer Breakthrough workshop will help you zero-in on a scalable product idea people will *actually* pay for... in just 2 hours. We've built the world's first smart workbook. It has one specific purpose: to get out of your own head so you can do the strategic work that would normally take weeks—or longer—in just hours. I'll drop a sneak peek in the comments.

Don’t stress if people copy your ideas. That just proves you’re on the right path. And remember: They can see what you share but not what you’re building. So the copycats are always 3 steps behind.

Should entrepreneurs talk about how much money their business makes? (Or is it cringe?) My take is backed by science. But first a quick story… So the other day, I wrote a post that mentioned the revenue my businesses did last year. ($1.2M cumulatively). Someone left a long-winded comment basically saying that 'truly successful' entrepreneurs ‘don’t talk about money’. And she would know because—as she was quick to point out—she was close family friends with many of the wealthiest families in Nova Scotia. She implied that talking about money was a lowbrow move. Well, she might be right. The truth is that I don’t know what the mega-wealthy talk about behind closed doors. I didn’t grow up hanging around the country club or sailing the bay. I grew up with a single mom on welfare. But I do know one thing: While uber-wealthy people may not publicly *talk* about money... they go to great strides to *show* their money. → They drive luxury cars → Take their families on pricey European ski vacations → Wear designer clothes → Donate entire buildings in their name *This* is how they talk money. Behavioural scientists have a name for this: Costly signalling. Costly signalling is an age-old persuasion method in business. Showing your wealth creates the perception that you’re successful, which in turn builds confidence. But here’s the thing… I don’t care about luxury cars or designer bags. (We still drive a 2011 Toyota Corolla that just won’t die) I *DO* care about two things: 1.  Signalling that I know how to grow online businesses—sharing my revenue shows I’m *actually* doing it 2. Inspiring *other* people to believe that *they* could do it too When we see someone who comes from a similar background overcome challenges and achieve success, it strengthens our confidence that we can do it too. This is known as ‘Self-Efficacy Theory’. I didn’t come from money. I wasn’t some straight-A student or prodigy. No one would have bet that one day I’d be rich. But luckily, I discovered people like Marie Forleo, Dan Martell, and Amy Porterfield. These people talked openly about their businesses and revenue, which showed me what was possible. And if you don’t know something is possible… you can't achieve it. So yes, you should talk about money. You never know who you might inspire. Do you agree?

Here's a dirty little secret that the "passive income" gurus don't want you to know: It's easier to sell a $20,000 service than a $200 course. Every service-based business owner wants to "stop selling time" and sell something more scalable. Maybe that's your dream too. But here's the truth: It takes a whole lot of unsexy work to get 100 people to open their wallets and hand you $200. (I know from experience) You need to: → Create content consistently to stay top of mind → Pour time and money into planning your course launch → Spend months (or years) building trust with prospective buyers → Figure out how to package your course so people *get it* and *want it* None of this stuff is "passive"—it's an enormous amount of active work. Yup. If you look at an hour-for-hour comparison, you likely spend significantly less time delivering a $20,000 service than you would getting 100 people to buy your $200 online course. And your $20,000 customer is probably happier too. Why? Most people don't want to learn how to DIY. They just want the outcomes that come from learning the skill. If they can get outcomes without the effort, they'll happily pay much more. And here's where things get interesting... __ AI has changed the game for scaling service businesses. The smartest service providers are quietly building AI-assisted delivery systems that: → Cut delivery time by 70%+ without sacrificing quality → Allow them to serve 3-5x more clients with the same team → Deliver better, more consistent results for clients → Create massive profit margins without needing a big team or the headaches of course creation __ This isn't some far-off future. It's happening right now. The highest-earning online businesses of 2025 won't be course creators. They'll be AI-augmented service businesses that deliver done-for-you results in a fraction of the time, with happier clients who never have to lift a finger. There's a massive arbitrage opportunity for those who get in early. You can charge the same premium prices while your delivery costs plummet. Exciting times, right? __ But before you rush off to build your bot army... remember: People buy painkillers. So the real question isn't "How do I scale my service biz with AI?" It's "What painful problem am I uniquely qualified to solve?" When you solve bigger problems, you'll earn bigger paychecks. So start with the problem before you jump to solutions. __ P.S. Need help zeroing in on the right problem to solve? My new Buyer Breakthrough workshop will help you find painful, expensive problems to solve—and buyers who’ll pay a premium for your solution. We're building the world's first "smart workbook" to accompany the workshop. This AI-powered tool will help you do work that would typically take weeks in just 2 hours. It's bonkers. I quietly announced the workshop to my email list last week, and 1600+ people are already on the waitlist. You can join them here: https://lnkd.in/eE9nH2ck

I did 300 customer discovery interviews before launching my last tech company. We still managed to build the wrong thing. 5 big mistakes that people (including me) make when interviewing buyers: — Mistake #1: Asking people what they want. As Steve Jobs famously said, "It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want." Customers are experts in problems—not solutions. Start by understanding what people do today and where they struggle, then work backward to a solution. — Mistake #2: Asking people about future behavior. Humans are lousy at predicting how we’ll behave in the future. If you ask people Qs like: > “Would you use this?” > “How much would you pay?” They’ll try to answer honestly but their answers can lead you astray. Don't ask people what they think they might do. Explore what they’ve actually done—ideally what they’ve recently done. You'll get much more reliable answers this way. — Mistake #3: Relying too much on opinions. We all have opinions and we looooove to share them when asked. But while opinions can be insightful... they can also be dangerous. Our opinions don’t always match our actions. Take opinions with a grain of salt. — Mistake #4: Talking to the wrong people. If you wanna figure out how to get buyers it helps to talk to: Actual buyers This seems obvious but it’s often overlooked. Just cause someone matches your ICP doesn’t mean they have the answers you need. This brings me to mistake #5... — Mistake #5: Talking to people at the wrong time. WHO you talk to matters but WHEN you talk to them can matter even more. The most helpful answers will come from talking to people who have paid—or want to pay—to solve the problem you solve. You can talk to: > People who recently bought from YOU > People who bought from a COMPETITOR > People who are CURRENTLY in the buying journey — Customer discovery interviews are crazy powerful...If you avoid these common mistakes. Remember: whoever gets closer to the customer wins. Want more customer research tips? Follow me for more and subscribe to my newsletter “Why we buy” (link in the first comment) #marketing #growth #buyerresearch