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Hey rebel solopreneurs 🦸♀️🦸♂️
Most creators spend 6 hours staring at blank docs trying to outline email courses.
They think about Day 1. Rewrite it. Move to Day 2. Get stuck. Start over.
Smart ones run 3 prompts in 10 minutes and turn any topic into a complete 5-day crash course outline.
⛳️ Why this works
You need email subscribers. Without them, you're shouting into the void with no way to convert readers into customers.
But here's the problem. Less than 10% of website visitors actually give you their email. Why? They need a compelling reason to let you into their inbox.
Free checklists? They download and forget. eBooks? They sit unopened for months. Discounts? They attract bargain hunters, not loyal customers.
Here's the thing...
Your email list is like a fishing net.
Most creators throw out tiny hooks. A checklist here. A template there. Looks helpful. But the catch rate is terrible.
Why? They're not offering what people actually want before they buy. Education. Trust. Proof you can solve their problem.
Educational email courses work differently. They deliver bite-size value over 5 days. Each email builds trust. Each email proves you know your stuff. Each email reminds them why solving this problem matters.
When you educate before you sell, two things happen. Readers trust you. And readers open their wallets for people they trust.
The best part? Educational email courses convert at 70% opt-in rates. That's 7X better than static downloads.
Turns out, education beats bribery every time. BOOM.
Let's see how Nina figured this out...
📋 Get better results with context setup. Setup in 5 minutes | Download sample
Nina runs a productivity newsletter.
But here's her problem.
Less than 10% of visitors signed up.
She'd offer a productivity checklist. Maybe 8% would bite. She'd try a free template. Still stuck at 9%.
Her list was dying. No growth meant no revenue. No revenue meant no business.
Nina knew she needed a better lead magnet. Something that actually made people want to join.
But every time she'd try to create an email course, she'd get stuck.
She'd open a blank doc. Type "Day 1: Introduction." Stare at it. Delete it. Try "Day 1: The 3 Most Important Things." Still blank.
Six hours later? Three half-written outlines. None of them good enough.
Here's what happened...
Nina found something. A framework from multi-million dollar newsletter operators. They called it the "Crash Course" system.
Changed everything.
Nina decided to follow these steps:
Step 1: Think WITH her AI sidekick through guided questions Step 2: Train her AI sidekick on the crash course template Step 3: Generate the complete 5-day outline automatically
Step 1: Think with guided questions to clarify reader value
Nina opened ChatGPT/Claude (her AI sidekick).
She needed a course outline. Not just any outline. One that actually made readers want to sign up.
But wait.
What should the course even teach? What problems did her readers have? What outcomes did they want?
She had no system. Just guessing and hoping something would work.
Here's what she tried...
The reader value prompt
I need to create a 5-day educational email course for my audience.
Help me think through what's most valuable by answering these questions:
1. What problems does my audience have? (List 3-5 specific pain points)
2. What outcomes do they desire? (List 3-5 specific results they want)
3. What are their biggest questions? (List 3-5 questions they ask repeatedly)
4. What platforms or tools do they want to learn more about? (List 3-5 if applicable)
After we answer these, help me complete this template:
"How to get {outcome} without {problem}"
My audience: [INSERT YOUR AUDIENCE DESCRIPTION]
My niche: [INSERT YOUR NICHE]
Her AI sidekick returned a focused analysis...
Problem: Don't know where to start with productivity systems
Problem: Feel overwhelmed by too many options and tools
Problem: Start systems but abandon them within a week
Outcome: Want to cut work hours from 60 to 40 without losing output
Outcome: Want to stop feeling guilty about unfinished tasks
Question: What productivity system actually works long-term?
Question: How do I stay consistent without burning out?
Topic generated: "How to cut your work week from 60 to 40 hours without losing productivity"
Three minutes of guided thinking. Clear topic. Clear value. Done.
Step 2: Train AI sidekick on crash course template structure
Nina had her topic. Now she needed the structure.
Here's the problem.
She'd never built a crash course before. She didn't know what each day should cover. Or how to sequence the information. Or what made a course actually educational versus just random emails.
She could spend hours researching course structures. Study other people's courses. Try to reverse-engineer what worked.
Or she could teach her AI sidekick the proven framework.
Here's what she did...
The crash course training prompt
I am going to train you to create 5-Day Educational Email Crash Course outlines.
The "Crash Course" is everything someone needs to know to get started on a topic.
Here's the template for a 5-day email Crash Course:
- Day 0: Introduction & Email Course Outline - "Here's what you can expect"
- Introduction to the email course and what participants can expect to learn
- Overview of the 5 things that will be covered in the course
- Day 1: 3 Most Important Things To Know
- {Big Point Of View}
- {Actionable Tip}
- {The 1 Secret To Success}
- Day 2: 3 Mistakes Most People Make
- {Mistake 1}
- {Mistake 2}
- {Mistake 3}
- Day 3: Steps To Go From Zero to 1
- {Step 1}
- {Step 2}
- {Step 3}
- Day 4: 3 Simple Upgrades To Accelerate Growth
- {Actionable Tip 1}
- {Actionable Tip 2}
- {Actionable Tip 3}
- Day 5: 3 Best Practices Moving Forward
- {Best Practice 1}
- {Best Practice 2}
- {Best Practice 3}
I will give you a topic and some additional instructions, then you will use this template to create a Crash Course outline.
Her AI sidekick confirmed it understood the structure.
Template loaded. Ready to generate. Next step.
Step 3: Generate complete outline with topic-specific content
Nina had the template trained.
Now for the magic part.
She needed actual content. Day-by-day breakdown. Specific lessons. Actionable steps. All customized to her topic about cutting work hours.
The old way?
She'd brainstorm each day manually. "What should Day 1 teach? Maybe time management basics? Or goal setting? Or both?"
Hours of second-guessing. Rearranging. Deleting. Starting over.
Here's what she tried...
The outline generation prompt
Please follow the Crash Course template and create an outline for this topic:
[INSERT YOUR TOPIC FROM STEP 1]
Please provide succinct, imperative, and action-oriented phrases or statements. Use 8-12 words per line.
Each phrase should convey a clear and direct piece of advice or instruction.
Use colloquial language.
Avoid jargon.
Her AI sidekick generated the complete 5-day structure...
Day 0: Introduction - What you'll learn to cut 20 hours from your work week
Day 1: Three most important things - Track everything, eliminate fake work, protect deep work blocks
Day 1: Big point of view - 40% of your work creates 80% of your results
Day 1: Actionable tip - Use time-blocking to protect your highest-leverage hours
Day 2: Three mistakes - Saying yes to everything, multitasking instead of focusing, skipping breaks
Day 3: Steps from zero to one - Audit your week, identify time wasters, create your ideal schedule
Day 4: Three upgrades - Batch similar tasks together, automate repetitive decisions, delegate or delete low-value work
Day 5: Best practices - Review weekly, adjust monthly, protect boundaries fiercely
Ten minutes. Complete outline. Five days of structured education.
Ready to write.
🏆 Nina's results after 3 months
Before:
Spent 6 hours outlining each email course manually
Abandoned 4 course ideas because outlining felt overwhelming
Website opt-in rate stuck at 8-10%
Growing her list felt impossible
After:
Generates complete 5-day course outlines in 10 minutes
Launched 3 new crash courses in 3 months
Opt-in rate jumped from 9% to 68%
Adding 400+ qualified subscribers monthly
Her process now:
Think through reader value questions (3 minutes)
Train AI sidekick on template (copy-paste, 1 minute)
Generate custom outline (paste topic, 2 minutes)
Review and adjust (5 minutes)
Total time: 10 minutes. Not 6 hours.
Her AI sidekick handles the course structure and sequencing automatically. BOOM.
🧩 Your turn
Copy each prompt above into your AI sidekick.
Start with Step 1 to clarify your topic. Move to Step 2 to load the template. Finish with Step 3 to generate your outline.
Generation time: 10 minutes. Time to full course: 2-3 hours of writing.
That's it, my fellow outliers!
Yours 'finding high-potent AI shortcuts so you work less' Vijay peduru 🦸♂️